Spanish Songs, Nicknames, Cheesecakes, Everything is Awesome.

Yesterday was my birthday, I am officially an adult. 

It was amazing. In the span of a few hours I went from being immature and oblivious, to being a knowledgable, independant and responsible adult.

Here's some advice from someone older and wiser than you, all you seventeen year olds out there: Turn eighteen.

Okay, honestly though, I feel the same. Just like I always have every time I turned a new age.

I didn't have a great epiphany this week, so I'll just talk about some other things which may or may not interest you at all.

Number 1 is my genius plan at work! Anyone who has been to McDonalds in Canada in the past year will have seen their self-order kiosks.

To the average person, it doesn't matter which kiosk is which, but as a Guest Experience Leader at McDonalds, it is really frustrating for me when I can't think of ways to make myself remember which one is out of printing paper, which one is frozen, etc.

They each have numbers, but I have all but given up on my ability to remember numbers.

So two days ago, I came up with a creative solution!

I christened them Beth, Theodore, Eliza, and Charles.

It's worked like a charm. My mission now is to get everyone at my store calling them by those names, which will not only make communication easier, but it will also be really funny.

Imagine.

"Who even took that order?"

"I don't know, OH! It was Theodore."

"Ohhh....Theodore!"

Seriously Ted. Get your act together.

"Beth needs printing paper!"

"Eliza is being stubborn again..."

"Why are you so mean to me? Charles is never mean to me. Charles is my friend."

"So one of your jobs as a Guest Experience Leader will be to ask guests to use the kiosks. These are our kiosks, Beth, Theodore, Eliza, and Charles. Eliza is the oldest. She's mean."

Hehehe. Yeah, it probably wouldn't ever go that far. But it's really fun having names for them.

The other thing I've been up to is choreographing to a Spanish song!

My sister Tirzah is going to Guatemala for a missions trip, and she's fundraising, so we're putting on a dinner for her at our church.

We know a bunch of Spanish worship songs since my other sister lived in Guatemala for ten months, so my younger sister and I picked one and choreographed to it to perform at her dinner.

The song is called La Cruz by Lead, if you want to look it up on Youtube.

Other than that....what have I been up to?

Well I got a cheesecake. That was a first.

#GELperks #regulars #niceoldguyatMcDonalds

Thus ends the update on my life.

I would just like to thank my mom, and my dad, and my sister, and my other sister, and my other sister, and my other sister, and my other sister, and my brother, and my other sister....

Haha, yeah. Such a mature eighteen year old. ;)

I will conclude with thanking everyone for the birthday wishes though! I worked yesterday, and we didn't get to have our family celebration, but the day was still really special.

And my sterotypical, but still really true, ending statement, Jesus is awesome!!!

Everything is awesome! (especially Jesus) Everything is cool when you're part of a team! (God's team) Everything is awesome, (especially Jesus) when you're living a dream! (The Kingdom dream)

Improvised Lyrics by Keturah Thomson

End Note:

I'm planning on going to Mississippi next summer! I still need help raising money, with a goal of $3,015! If you can donate at all to help me out, please email me at dancingfor1king@gmail.com

Keturah's Summer: Ballet Magnificat

Hello everyone!

This post is going to be a little different than usual, because I really just want to tell you all about my newest exciting adventure. Or at least, what I hope will be my newest exciting adventure.

You may have heard of a ballet company called Ballet Magnificat. If you haven't, they are America's premiere Christian ballet company. I saw their performance of The Hiding Place once when I was little, and have been inspired by them ever since.

Every year Ballet Mag runs a dance intensive in the summer, they have a 2 week and a 4 week program.

I've set a goal to go next summer.

The company is based in Mississippi, so that is where the intensive will be. The tuition is $1,931 and then there are travel expenses on top of that.

(You can watch a video and find out more about the intensive HERE)

I've tried for the last few years to earn enough money for classes, intensives, and equipment, but I've been finding more and more that this is quite a challenge. To really earn enough money, I would need to stop spending and just save money for at least a year, but I can't afford to lose that time of training.

All of the money I'm making from working is going toward classes for September-June of 2018, so I have to come up with some creative ways to raise money for the Summer Intensive.

One of my ideas is a Gofundme page! Super original, I know. ;)

I had to have a picture for my page, so I took the opportunity to have a little photoshoot just for fun. I thought you might like to see some of the pictures!

I feel like I look like a ballet-modern version of a Jane Austen character.

For all you concerned dancers out there, yes, my pointe shoes are fine.

I'm just going to take this opportunity to promote my brother Jon, he has a juice/smoothie business. He also sells apple cider. Go to the City Market on Walker Road, buy it.

My niece wanted to wear one of my ballet shoes. How could I resist? (She was previously playing with that stick on the ground. She gave that up for the shoe. There's a true dancer at heart right there.)

Anyway, if you'd like to support my trip, please consider donating HERE. :)

Here are a few IQWATWPBFA's: (If Questions Were Asked, These Would Probably Be Frequently Asked)

-What if you don't raise all of the money, or your application is denied, what will happen to the donations you did get?

Good question! If for some reason the trip falls through, the money will still go toward my ballet education. As I mentioned earlier, I have been struggling to just pay for regular classes, so if I can't make the trip to Mississippi, the donations will still be really helpful.

-....I had another question I thought of, but I can't remember now. So if you ask, or if I remember, I'll just update this later.

Even if you don't donate, (I know a lot of you have donated to help me with things before, so I am not expecting anyone to twice) please consider sharing this post, or just my Gofundme link on your Facebook!

Just one last note: Gofundme is a great tool, but it does deduct a small percentage from each donation I receive. If you see me in person semi-regularly, it might be better for you to find a way to get it to me in person, with cash or a cheque.

Thank you in advance for any way you are going to help me out!

~Keturah

The Call that Kept Calling

On Tuesday, December 6th, my Grandpa passed away.

As one of the younger grandchildren, I didn't know him as well as a lot of my siblings and cousins, so I don't have a whole blog post full of memories and feelings to write, but I wanted to share something that has really meant a lot to me.

My grandparents influenced a LOT of people. I think they saw a lot of fruit from their labor, but I'm sure a lot of fruit was never seen by them, and sometimes they saw fruit from labor they never saw.

What I mean by that is simply that God works in so many ways, and when people are following Him and open to being used by Him, He can use them in situations in which they can't even see Him working.

One of those times was 6 years ago, when he talked with his 11 year old granddaughter on the phone, on her birthday.

Grandpa always called us on our birthdays, I was happy to talk to him. He asked if I wanted him to start giving out $200 to people on their birthdays, I joked along and said yes.

But then he said something I don't think I'll ever forget.

"My eleventh year was a huge growing year for me spiritually," he told me. He said some more, something along the lines of it being a huge turning point and he grew really close to God that year.

I was really mad at him for saying that.

What he didn't know, was that I had started into the darkest season of my life a year earlier. Everything had been getting steadily worse, and I knew, going into my eleventh year, that it was going to be even worse.

I was purposely turning my back on God, and I did NOT want that kind of reminder. I didn't let on, I said something polite and tried to change the subject.

This dark season continued for the next two years. I became a Christian when I was 13, but before that, God never stopped calling me.

When I look back, I see SO many ways God called me during those three years, and one of the ways He continued to use was that memory.

It came back to me many, many times, and I remember thinking about that with so much regret when I became a Christian. God opened my eyes to the amount of people who had been praying for me, even though no one knew what I was struggling through, and He impressed it on me that my grandparents had prayed for me a lot.

I am so, so grateful for my grandparents.

I wiah I could tell my grandpa how much that phone call means to me now, but I can't. By the time I overcame my fear of telling anyone about that time in my life, he had developed alzheimers. If I told him, he wouldn't remember the phone call, and he might not even remember me.

But I look forward to seeing him someday when we're both in the company of our favorite person, and I can look into the face of the One who called me into relationship with Himself, and one of the ones He used to get my attention.

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, (I Timothy 2:1)

Percy Jackson (Warning: Spoilers)

I just finished reading Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan.

For anyone who does not know what this book is, it's the first in a series about modern Greek mythology, the main character being Percy, who is the son of Poseidon and a mortal woman.

I had mixed emotions about the book. It was intriguing, funny, mostly I would say a good book. On the other hand I couldn't get past a few things about the Greek mythology, because I am a Christian and it is contradictory to what I believe.

But laying that aside, I learned a few things from reading it.

First thing's first, I noticed a distorted version of the truth portrayed. Not just in this book, but in all Greek mythology, there tends to be a male god who has a child with a mortal woman, and the son is the hero of the story. Familiar? It sounds a whole lot like Jesus, being the Son of God and Mary, and being the "hero of the story." The difference is this, the children born of the gods of Greek mythology are half god and half man, and they are born because of immorality, most of the time.

Jesus was FULLY God, and FULLY man, and He was born of a righteous, perfect God, and a virgin.

The key points are left out, but other than that the story is basically the same. Interesting how Satan created a near replica of the truth for the Greeks to believe.

Another thing I noticed was this,

Percy goes to a camp called Camp Half-Blood, where they train all of the demi-gods. When he gets there he meets a lot of kids who are hurting, they feel depressed and sort of rejected, because their god-parent doesn't seem to care about them. Percy had the same sort of feeling, and it is totally reasonable, we naturally want to have a relationship with our parents. I think if we had a parent who was a god and they really didn't care if we lived or died or if they ever got to see us, we would feel rejected too.

I don't remember if Percy says it, or how the message gets across, but there is an attitude of, "It's not unreasonable for our parents to not care about us, they are gods. They have more important things I worry about."

Percy spends a loooong time journeying before he gets to meet his father, but when he does he only gets to see him for about two minutes and then he has to leave. He leaves knowing that may be his last time ever seeing him.

I have grown up hearing Pastors say that God is a personal God. I know that. It does mean a lot to me, but I can't really grasp the full meaning because I have grown up having the emphasis on how personal He is, and not how sovereign He is.

But I realized as I read the book that God is every bit as God as these gods are, and waaaaay more. Yet He doesn't ignore His children. He wants us, He wants a relationship with us.

And the other thing is that we don't have to make a long perilous journey to talk to Him for two minutes! (and be afraid of whether He will punish us for wasting His time) We get to be with Him 24/7!

Our God is so much better than the Greek gods.

Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant

A few days ago I attended an amazing funeral.

I haven't been to many funerals, and all of the ones I have been to were Christian funerals, so I can't say much about the comparison, but I can tell you what I found outstanding about it.

I didn't know the man very well, I had only met him in person once I think, maybe twice, but I knew just from the brief moments that I talked with him that he was a very godly man.

When I had just become a Christian I decided that I didn't want to call myself a Christian. I didn't want to tell anyone, I wanted them to figure it out for themselves. I wanted the way I acted, the way I spoke, even just the general way I portrayed myself to be all about Jesus. I thought that if I was a Christian, then I had Jesus in me, right? People say that the eyes are the windows to your soul, so if Jesus is in me, they should be able to see Jesus in my eyes.

This man had Jesus in his eyes. :)

The thing that amazed me about his funeral was that he planned it, and it portrayed what he loved most.

Jesus Christ.

And it was evident.

Right on the front of the program, (picked by himself) was 1 Samuel 2:30, Those who honor Me I will honor.

The verse was proven correct. There were tons of people there, all of them there because in some way or other, he had affected their lives and they wanted to honor him. He was honored by the number of people that were there, by the things that were said about him, by the tears shed for him, and by being taken to a place reserved for the people that Jesus loves. More than we can imagine God has honored him. All because he honored God in his life, and that was what he wanted to show. He wanted to tell people that if you honor God, God will honor you.

I love how even though the event was about him, he still pointed everything back to Christ.

Even though I knew him but for a short time, and I don't know that he even knew my name, I count in as a blessing to have met him. He was a great man, and a great example.

I realized as I stood and sang one of the hymns that this is what I wanted my funeral to be like. I don't want it to be about me. I want people to see that I loved God, and I want people to see how great He is.

I want my funeral to be celebration, because God has at last taken me to a place that I don't deserve to go to, because He loved me.

I want to leave behind the kind of legacy that this man left behind, and inspire other people, like he inspired me, to live so much for Christ that even their death can bring Him glory.

He Knew, He Knows, He Planned It

Going back to the main theme of this blog, finding little wonders and showing them to the world, I have a really cool thing to say. :)


God has a plan for you.


If you have grown up in a Christian home or in Christian circles you have probably heard this many times during your life, and if not, let this be the first time.

God knows what you have been through, He knows what you are going through and what you are doing at this moment, He knew before time began that at this moment you would be reading this and He knew what your reaction would be.


I have always thought this was cool, but now it is even cooler.


I was reading in Acts recently, and I came across a verse that really stood out to me, sadly I cannot remember what it was or even exactly what it said. But I do remember that it was about God planting us where we are, and that He put us where the best place and time would be for us.


He placed you in just the right spot.


The thought that went through my head was He put me EXACTLY where I needed to be in order to be saved.

When I was younger, at random times, I would wish I was a different person, maybe in a different family, in a different country, in a different time, just to see what it would be like, or because I thought I would do better in a different environment.

But His plan was for me to be in the family I am in, in the year I am in, in the country I am in, all because He knew it was best for me.

Talk about God taking care of His children!

As I thought about it more, I thought about how sometimes I will pray things like, "God, I know I am supposed to want You to come soon. I know I am supposed to yearn for the day when I can meet You and I do, but I want to travel the world first. I want to grow up and experience this life first."

I know it is a selfish prayer and usually I end it with saying something like, "Please change my heart to be only for You."

But I realized as I thought about that concept that if Jesus comes back when I am fifteen, He will have made me to be born fifteen years before His return because I am supposed to be fifteen when He comes back. Or if He comes back when I am seventeen, then it will be no accident that I am seventeen when He returns. Or eighty. Or still fourteen. Or sixty five. Or even not alive anymore, but whatever age I am, if He does return in my lifetime, it will all be part of the plan.

That, to me, is really comforting.

To know that God has such control over everything, that even time He has structured to fit His plan, that something that happens in a split second, that split second He has planned.

Isn't that amazing?

I was at my cousins' house this past week and at one point we were standing looking at an unfrozen stream, there were almost no words to describe the way it looked and sounded, it was so beautiful.

I remembered that thought then, and I realized that when God made that stream He knew I would look at it, even from that angle. He knew I would listen to it and think it lovely. 


Is this not a God worthy of praise?

Innocent or Pure?

You know those times when there is something so simple, so plain, but it takes you years to realize, and when you do, it is so profound?

I had one of those moments a few months ago, and it has stuck with me and been really encouraging, so I thought I would take a few minutes to tell you about it.

Here it is, plain and simple, Innocence and Purity are not the same.

I became a Christian when I was twelve. This may come as a surprise to some of you, as I have grown up in a Christian family with Christian morals and may have seemed to have been a Christian for a long time. (I am fourteen, for anyone who didn't know that) When I was twelve, my view of life changed so radically and I was sure of my salvation. Positive. There was no question about it, no more fear, no more doubt, I was saved.

I knew that the only way to be saved was by grace, since waaaaaay before I was a Christian it has been drilled into my head through Sunday school and other places that you cannot be saved by works, that it has to be all God. So I know this. However, sometimes I view myself as still being what I was, sinful, unsaved, imperfect, so I feel that I have to work and be good enough, measure up to God's standard, to be His child.

Have you ever felt that way?

One day I was outside, I don't remember what I was doing, taking garbage out or something like that, and I was trying to convince myself that I don't have to prove myself worthy, and in one moment I nearly lost all hope. That was the moment that Satan decided to take advantage of my moment of weakness and tell me, "You have sinned. It doesn't matter what God does, you will never be innocent. You are innocent when you have done nothing wrong, not when your wrongs have been forgiven. It doesn't matter if you are forgiven, you can NEVER be innocent again."

I turned my face to the sky, I knew God couldn't have lied to me, but this was true, I never would be innocent again. I had sinned.

Then, out of the blue, a verse came to me from the Beatitudes, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Matt. 5:8)

I still didn't see the difference, I just sat there and despaired, "I will never see God. I am not innocent. I can never be innocent."

But then words came into my head, "Innocence and Purity are not the same thing."

That simple sentence was all it took for me to realize, God never said 'Blessed are the Innocent.' True, no matter how many times you ask for forgiveness, you will still have your past behind you. The difference is that it does not matter anymore. Because Innocence is what was, while Purity is what is.

When God forgives, He doesn't take you back in time, He gives you a chance to become new, to be pure now. Your identity is not in what you were, or what you did, but in what you ARE.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Cor. 5:17)