If this was a practical joke, you better fess up!

So this afternoon, I came home after a very unadventurous day. Generally leaf pickers aren't the most enthralling. My regular routine is to take a shower and then take a nap, but today it was a bit more of an adventure.
I turned on my shower as usual, when I noticed something large and black in our garbage can, located between the shower and the toilet, in quite a tight spot I may add. The black blob took me off guard since Brent had just emptied the garbage the night before and I decided to take a closer look. I gingerly peered into the blue bucket and was confused by what I saw: Was it a toad? Wait, it looks like it has four tiny feet, but no tail, and it's really wide and flat....a bat?????? At this point, I was getting more and more frightened at my own thoughts. I decided that maybe I should get a flash light to shine some light on the situation but when I was about to turn on the tool another frightening thought came to mind: What if it is a bat and the light scares it and it flies out?! I quickly turned off the light and started to panic.
The first idea that came to my mind was to get a large box and cover the garbage can, take it out of the bathroom and leave it on the front porch for Brent to deal with. So I got the box and was about to put it on the garbage can, when I realized that the garbage can had to be lifted out of the tight spot to be moved. I started putting the box over the can, but accidentally bumped the bin and the head of the blob moved in a very quick and creepy way!!! like a BAT!!! My heart was beating a hundred miles a minute and I didn't know what to do! My water was still running, the bat had moved, the can is right by the door of the shower, the box is teetering over the can, but not enough to prevent the bat from escaping yet enough to block the door to my shower. There was no way I was going to shower with the bat in the room.
So, I quickly moved the box, turned off the shower, recovered the can, ran out of the room, closed the door behind me, and covered the crack of the door with a towel.....now what? There was still an hour before Brent came home and so I sat in my living room trying to distract myself from the thoughts, yet baffling at how in the world a bat got in my bathroom.
Brent came home abit early and my first words to him were, "You need to save me!" I told him the whole story, slightly embarrassed at my cowardly actions. As he was going into the bathroom, to "save me" he was like, "I'm going to take you seriously right now, but I may come out making fun of you.
So we went in with a box and closed the door behind him. I listened in fear and trepidation as he got the bat. At his signal, I opened the door, and he brought the monster outside and dumped it on the front lawn. Low and behold, it was a real, half-alive bat!! I told him he couldn't leave it on the front lawn and he had to move it. As he was moving it, the half dead rodent screeched and screamed at him, as I quivered on the porch. Into the bushes it went to die! Thank the Lord for my knight in shining armour! Boy I'm glad I'm married!

Now the question remains: HOW IN THE WORLD DID A BAT LAND IN MY BATHROOM GARBAGE CAN?!?! If this was a practical joke, you better fess up!!

Stay tuned for possible continuations of the bat adventures!

Do I Even Attempt to Revive This

So I don't even know if I dare to revive this old blog. I don't know why I would, or what I have to say, but my life continues to be filled with adventures and so I'm sure I could continue to find things to write about. But, who even reads my blog anymore? I'm sure you have all given up by now, and really I don't actually know if after this post I'm actually going to keep writing. But, whatever the case, here is my first attempt at trying to revive this old thing. Stay posted for my latest adventure.

Project Number 2!

The second project was strangely enough not as bad. Again however, I spent my entire weekend devoted to this stupid project but this time, I was done with one hour to spare and I didn't stay up all night. The project was for my Qualitative Research Methods class and I had to create a proposal for a research project. I again could choose any topic of my choice within the confines of the sociology of health. I decided to look at how single mothers perceive the effects of an intentional community on their health; basically came up with a sweet project looking at how awesome Women4Women is. Anyways, the paper was quite straight forward, but a lot of writing. I finished the paper today and the total amount of page s was...drum roll please, 40 pages!!! I have never written so much in my life. Mind you that does include a 9 page ethics proposal as well as a two page bibliography. But whatever the case, it was freaking huge! I am happy to say, that it is done and I only have one more paper to write this term! Praise the Lord!! (and to think that I'm taking spring courses! I'm not going to think about that yet)

Project Number 1

So, my adventures for the past few weeks have consisted of me sitting at my desk for hours apon hours, researching, writing, organizing and trying to compose a masterpiece! The first project was for my Popular Music in Society class with the fabulous Professor Nick Baxtor-Moore! The project consisted of choosing a topic (or your choice) about pretty much anything you want, but it had to do with popular music. It could be a genre of music, a time period, a social movement or a certain lyrical theme. I don't know what was wrong with me, but I chose the most bizarre topic in all the world and by the time I realized how crazy a topic it was, it was too late. I decided that I would look at a movement within South Africa called the Voelvry Movement. Basically a group of white Afrikaans speaking youth revolted against the apartheid government and created a whole wack of music. Sounds cool. Well, it is so obscure that it was next to impossible to fulfill the tasks of my assignment: a five page research paper outlining the subject, a 60 minute compilation CD illustrating the topic and full liner/listen notes to accompany the CD. The research was fine and I was able to come up with a five page essay (the yellow stack of paper), but the rest was hell. I first of all had the most horrible time trying to find the titles of songs that I should include on the CD; I then for the first time in my life illegally had to download the music; then I realized (duh!) that all the music was in Afrikaans! and then I had to find all the lyrics AND translations, never mind analytical material!!! It was insane and after staying up all night and finishing at 6:30 am, the day that it was due, I finished the project and handed it in! What an adventure!

I was there!

Wednesday February 13th: This was the day that I had been looking forward to for nine months; I was going to Winnipeg in hopes of witnessing my sister giving birth to her first child! I don't remember ever anticipating something with such urgency. The excitement was almost suffocating. There had been so much rigamaroll surrounding this flight, and now that it was actually here, I was beside myself!.....well actually, I was beside my sister, who some would argue is quite similar to me. Whatever the case, both Rose and I were beside each other in excitement!

Saturday February 16th: A gorgeous sunny Winnipeg day and we were bound and determined that little Maple needed to become more active! So we went for an all day walk down to the Forks. It was so great to be out in the fresh air, have Nathan fill the air with laughter, and have a new puppet to play in the breeze! Chatter, laughter, silence and anticipation continued to fill our day.


Wednesday February 20th: The due date had passed and still no baby!!!! Nath (ie. Sherwood) predicted that this would be the day of the great arrival and we were more than willing to jump on that bandwagon. Everyone was getting anxious and wondering if Rose and I were actually going to be here for the birth. Will our hopes and dreams come true? We were bound and determined to have it happen! So as they say, if you want a women to go into labour, make her wash the floors and that is exactly what we did. We cleaned all day and got the house all spic-and span for the baby to arrive! The contractions were going nice and strong and Rose and I left and let the two of the lovers have a nice and "relaxing" night ;)

Thursday February 21st: 9:00- Rose and I are woken by a shrilling phone ring! "Come on over. It's starting!" AH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is it! This is it!!!!! Soo incredibly excited! Our legs couldn't move fast enough and the grocer couldn't have taken longer! We finally arrived to the birth home and before we opened the door, we both stopped. "Just breathe." We calmed our selves down and lowered our voices to enter the sacred house. However, I think it was our "peaceful" spirit that calmed the baby right down too. We spent the day relaxing, as did the contractions.

Friday February 22nd: 8:30- "This is truly it! Come over. Deanna has been here since 12 last night. This is it!" ECSTATIC doesn't even come close to what I was feeling. Pour adrenaline pumped through my veins and we zipped over to Elice and Maryland and arrived once again at the anticipated location. We entered in, again trying to compose ourselves and the contractions just kept on coming! Deanna (the dula) was there and she was working; Maria was there and working; Nathan was there and working, at getting this baby out! Rose and I felt helpless. We tried to occupy ourselves for most of the day trying to find things to do while we waited on baited breathe. We ended up cooking and baking, "doing homework" and waiting patiently. It was during these long hours that it hit me: my sister is having a baby! My sister is in labour! My sister, is a SUPER HERO!!!

As the hours were gaining, my admiration for Maria and her Creator grew exponentially. For Rose and I, we didn't really have much that we could do for Maria directly and so I just prayed and watched through the crack in the door. We listened to the sounds, listened to the voices and listened to the most painful moments of Maria's life. It was incredibly hard to just listen and not be able to do anything to ease the pain. I found comforted in the fact that Maria's body was created for this moment, and I had to trust that her Creator knew what He was doing. As Becky, (the midwife) said in response to Maria's exclamations of exhaustion, "You're not dead. You're having a baby. You're fully alive. This is the most alive thing you're ever gonna do."

6 o'clock and the hard pushing began. Maria again was incredibly strong in body, mind and spirit. Amongst the pain and agony, she would sneak in some jokes and makes some corkey remarks, subconsciously comforting us all and releasing some of the tension in the air. I have never felt so much intensity in my entire life. The anticipation, the agony, the excitement, the praying, the sounds, the silence, the movements, the pacing; pure intensity. Waiting, and waiting, and waiting.


7:42- "Come over here girls! Here it is!" Rose and I leapt to our feet and ran to the door, just in time to see one of the most memorable, and incredible moments of my life. The baby shot out of the water, into Nathan's arm and onto Maria's chest! Tears steamed down my face and the greatest sense of relief filled the room. It was the most incredible moment. In one instant there was seven of us in the room and a second later, there was eight breathing beings in the room! Unbelievable miracle! A little girl entered in! As Maria so accurately put it, "you're in the world!"

I was there for that incredible moment. I was there for her first breath. I was there for her first cry. I was there to hold her new hands. I was there to see the miracle of life and was overwhelmed with love. My heart was bursting at the seams as I held her for the first time. It struck me how incredibly precious and fragile that moment was. This little face had never been seen before. This little creation, had never been held before. This little human was part of my family. No words can even begin to express the emotions that coerced through my veins at that moment. I was there, and this is my darling niece Mikayla River!

Shane Claiborne Talking about Life

This video is abit about what I've been thinking about. Thanks Mre, for posting your video on your blog. Maybe this will answer some of my questions.

Questions

My life has been full of adventure since September and my last post. So much so that my posts on my blog have been more than lacking, they have been non-existent. I wont bore you with a detailed update of my life: going to school, having a boyfriend, teaching art classes, cleaning houses, and yes, joining Facebook (I hang my head in shame), but instead I am going to solicit your opinion and your input into the questions within my head.
Community: I don't know about you, but this word has been bombarding me since September. I can not get away from it and wherever I go, I hear about it. It's not as though I want it to stop following me. It has just brought me a place of contemplation of what really does it mean. When I hear the word community, what do I think of? What do you think of? One step further: how do I live in community? Is it necessary for life? Am I suppose to live in community? What does that look like?
The discussions surrounding the word community are nothing out of the ordinary in my family, but actually quite the opposite. They happen frequently. Being apart of Christian circles for all of my life, the word community is not shied away from either. On top of that as a Mennonite, community is one of the first words in the dictionary. But, what does that all mean for me, Suzanne Klassen. How do I live in community?
In the summer I was talking to a friend about religion and what "my religion's" beliefs were. I found myself using the word community and family and unity quite often. For him and his adventures in religion he wanted the complete opposite; individualism, me- myself and I, no accountability to anyone else and I get myself where I want to go. I have found that this way of thinking is not unfamiliar to the university crowd and yet for me, I am constantly striving to build community. What is it about community that I find so attractive and yet Ian finds so appalling? In what ways do I live my life so that community is something that is longed for instead of shunned? What does community have to offer that individualism does not? Is there an ideal way to live out community? Who is to know and who is to tell?

The Unusual Applaud

The lights are dim, and the film begins to roll. The sound starts to play and I sit there in anticipation of what is about to be displayed before my eyes. A documentary: Man with the Movie Camera, 1929. I wait and low and behold, an orchestra soon begins to take position on stage. I love music. The film reels through from slide to slide, and I take in the action, but more importantly, my ears are saturated in the sweet sounds and melodies that ring in the air. I am elated at the quality and a smile is pasted on my face. The film continues from scene to scene and with each passing moment the same thought keeps flickering through my head. "Where in the world can I get my hands on this sound track?! This is amazing!!" Ninety minutes later
the finale comes to a close and there I am left in awe and wonder with my heart feeling warm, my eyes closed focusing on the auditory intake, and my hands naturally begin to clap and applaud the greatness of the performance that I have just witnessed. Startled back to reality, I find that I am not the only one clapping my hands together, but the class which I had lost consciousness of, has joined me in my appreciation. How marvelous! They appreciate this film (or this sound track) as much as I do! I exit the room in satisfaction and much to my chagrin the ears which were so beautifully treated by harmonies are rudely harassed with words of discontent. "What a waste of time. That sucked!?" In confusion and disbelief I become aware that what I perceived as greatness, another perceived as garbage; what I thought was appreciation, was merely mockery.
A week passes and I am reminded of the whole experience again. "Can you explain to me the unusual applaud at the end of "Man with the Movie Camera?" Yes I can sir. But my explanation only captures the one set of hands that started it all.