Christmas Holidays...

How I love the break from school! Sleeping in, watching Christmas movies, hanging out with friends without thinking that I should be leaving to go and finish a paper or study for an exams...its so relaxing!

I got to hang out with the Stouffville crew. Here are some of the girls!

My friend Stuart came to visit! He is a scouser from Liverpool. Here he is with Katherine (one of my good stouffville friends) They are both LTS students at Capernwray this year.

Here it Tim....being Tim.

Me and Mikeybabes!

Here are 3 of my favourite girls, Danielle, Marielle and Krista, who I took on a horse drawn wagon ride for their Christmas present! They are currently on the beach in Mexico. (without me!)

Here we are with Santa, our driver! We are so cool.

It was a wonderful ride through the countryside ending up in Milton where all the kids went crazy because Santa had arrived! "Santa" wants to buy a farm with his wife and open a home for troubled and abused teenage girls, using horses as a therapeutic method in their healing. I think it sounds amazing.

Mum and Dad in Zambia!

After over two years of hearing me talk and talk about my time in Zambia, my parents got to go there! They happened to be speaking at a conference in Lusaka (the capital) so then they arranged to go up to Isubilo in Ndola for 3 days, and spend time with all my precious orphans and children. It's been so wonderful for me that they have now experienced this! God is so good.

Here they are with my hero, Lontia Bwalya. She has leprosy and cares for four of her orphaned grandchildren. What an amazing woman; so courageous and full of joy, she's been a powerful inspiration to me.

Here is Mum with my beloved Mehetabel, whose story I have told earlier on this blog. She is growing big and is looking so healthy, which makes me SO happy!

Here is Dad experiencing "Saturday school" at Isubilo. The children don't have father figures in their lives, so they were very drawn to him.

For once in my life people were asking him "You're Hannahs Dad?" rather than asking me "You're Charles Price's daughter?"! It made for a nice change!

L'Arche Daybreak.

Last night I went with my parents, and Emily Yeskoo and her family, to a special Christmas carol service at L'Arche Daybreak. L'Arche is a community for mentally challenged people in Richmond Hill, and any of you who have read Henry Nouwen's work will know that he was a key figure there until he died.

It is built like an ark, and the interior is absolutely beautiful. It overlooks a lake, and the residents live in homes around the lake. There is a woodwork shop and a candle making shop where they learn skills each day. The main building has a wonderful chapel and many retreats are held there too.

I have mentioned Emily on this blog before, but not in a while. Emily is 13 years old and has MLD, a terminal neurological disease which has taken most of her physical abilities away and confined her to a chair. My family and hers have become very special friends over the past year and a half and I have the privilege of working with Emily every Wednesday. I also worked with her full time for 2 1/2 months over the summer. The richness and lessons that this family have brought to my life are irreplaceable, and I love them to death!

Emily has started going to L'Arche two mornings a week for special classes and worship times. The worship group she attends is called the "Spirit Movers" and they praise the Lord through movement in an incredibly beautiful and profound way. Last night the Spirit Movers were participating in the carol service, which is why I ended up at L'Arche. My Mum has been asking me to come for ages, this place has become her second home since moving to Canada and she identifies with the people and the community there more than anywhere else.

I watched beauty and freedom dance last night.

The service was beautiful, involving the telling of the Christmas story through carols, scripture reading, and dance. Each person who participated did so with such freedom; there was no expectations for a polished performance, or a schedule that had to be kept to; people were allowed to take their time, make mistakes (which weren't mistakes at all) and embrace us all into their world in each moment.
Emily's dance was a beautiful expression of praise, and she had such peace on her face as non-wheelchair dancers lifted her hands and spun her chair around in worship.

As the members of L'Arche expressed their love for Jesus, I sat and cried.
I felt handicapped.
Here they understood what it means to be free, to live a life of uninhibited love and worship. As soon as the final prayer was spoken, the room errupted into noise and dance. The piano played a lively tune and their excitement and joy knew no bounds. In complete freedom and with pure beauty, they danced and yelled and laughed and sang, their faces shining brightly with the glory of God.

The depth and profoundity of this moment cannot be captured in my writing, aside from to say that being there amongst them made me feel purified and that beauty was re-defined for me last night.


In the words of Henry Nouwen, "Knowing God's heart means consistently, radically and very concretely to announce and reveal that God is love and only love, and that every time fear, isolation or despair begins to invade the human soul, this is not something that comes from God. This sounds very simple and maybe even trite, but very few people know that they are loved without any conditions or limits."

These people know.
I want to know.

I want to get married
I want to get married
I want to get married
I want to fall in love....RIGHT now.

"Two from Galilee."

Here are a few pictures from the show. It was a great success, and in fact went better than any of us were anticipating! We have had good feedback and many were impacted by the message. Hopefully it is a stepping stone to the Alpha course for some people.




I played a Nazarene girl called Leah, as well as an angel and a belly dancer: quite the variety actress!
(The angel scene required a full body harness as we were in the rafters..SO fun!)

Two from Galilee...

Here is a taste of the show this weekend....more to come, but first I have to get through 5 exams.

Lobster anyone?

I would just like to share the fact that, I, while sitting here in my apartment gazing out at the snow covered world, am experiencing the discomfort of sunburn.

YES SUNBURN.

Yesterday I arrived at the dentists 20 minutes early, and so to kill the time, I decided that the tanning salon next door would be a great way to get a bit of colour before I am subjected to the bright stage lights this weekend. (ahhh the play starts in 3 days!) As I hadn't been in the sun since.......summertime, the lady put me in for the minimum time allowance: six minutes. For six minutes I stood in a "sun shower" feeling warm breezes and California like sunshine warming my skin. Delicious!I stepped outside into the cold Toronto afternoon and wandered over to the dentists office, feeling quite pleased with myself for such effective time management.

It is now 24 hours later, I am bright pink and I sting all over.
I am ridiculous.

Friends and such.....

These are my cousins, Beth, Sarah and Naomi. (9 year old Jordan is missing from this picture). They recently moved from South Caroline to Uxbridge so we get to live close to them again, happy times! (PS: Beth has featured in previous blogs such as the infamous fart machine prank)

This is my wonderful friend Andrew, who SADLY moved back to Australia this week! Andrew, come back!! It's been wonderful having him here for almost a year and getting to know him when he joined our college group. Luckily for me, I am going to spend next Christmas in Australia, and he's already promised me surfing lessons!

This is Jacob. He is great and he reads this blog.

This is Jo, Lauren and I just after we had jumped off a huge bridge at midnight! (taken at Fair Havens during the frosh retreat)

Ok......back to the papers!