The Last Week

My next blog post will be written after a week at home.

Time flies! I can't believe these two months are nearly over. This has been an amazing experience.

But I'm still here, and we're still busy, so I'll tell you about it.

We finished our room! I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that we were painting it. Well, we finished it, but then we decided it needed a little sprucing up. 

White walls are a little boring, you know, and it's Christmas, and we had all of this leftover paint-splattered lime green tape from the walls, so we figured, what better use for it? It became bows of varying sizes stuck onto the walls, (I highly recommend decorating with tape, by the way, the stickiness is very handy) and a little something extra on the mistletoe ball. And a lightswitch decoration. And a candle decoration. And a random massive ball hanging from the ceiling. It's like duct tape, it has a million purposes!

So, to the tune of Christmas Song by Alvin and the Chipmunks, our proud teacher and hostesses were introduced to our masterpiece. There wasn't a dry eye in the house, they were so moved.

Okay, they didn't cry. But they did say it was unique. That should count for something.

So what shall I tell you of next?

Should I talk about the baby carrot, the crazy trick I almost learned, or Niagara on the Lake?

Those are all great stories, but I think I'll just talk about Niagara on the Lake today.

Neither myself nor my sisters had ever been to Niagara on the Lake, so Rachel and Carolyn (if you don't know who they are by now, they're my sister and second cousin/dance teacher) decided it was an outing that had to happen before we left.

We went on Thursday, which was right after a huge snowfall Wednesday evening. The weather was clear, but the snow was still everywhere, it was BEAUTIFUL. It was like the picture of Christmas.

After looking through the first shop, where I fell in love with more than one overpriced teabox and travel mug, we were met by the others in our group bearing peace on earth and good will toward men. Chai lattes for all.

We moved on and had a splendid time looking through all the shops. I tried on a blue hat with a peacock feather on it, and wished I had money to spend on all kinds of teacups, jewelry, and other things.

We walked into the Scottish shop, and I wished my whole family was there. I picked out items I'd love to buy for my dad, my brother, and my sister.

It's a good thing I'm not rich. But when I'm in a Scottish shop, it doesn't seem like such a terrible idea.

We also found a chocolate bar as big as my leg, if not bigger. It was fabulous.

However, there was a certain point in our journeys when I found something I wanted to buy.

After I overcame my fear of talking to the cashier, I was then faced with my insecurity of being the only one who had made a purchase.

"It's okay," I told myself. "They'll buy stuff too, they just haven't found anything yet."

Well, we move onto the next store, and what should I see but the PERFECT gift for someone else, sitting right in front of my nose, and at an affordable price.

AAHHH!!! My emotions. I wanted to buy it, but I didn't want to make ANOTHER purchase when no one else had bought anything yet! Well, in the end, I overcame my insecurity, (or at least pressed it down for a bit, it came back later) and bought it as well.

I am still amazed at myself for doing such a daring thing. TWICE! #noshame #butdontjudgeme #orImighthavesomeshame

As I conclude my last post of this trip, I'm just going to say that God has been so good to me. I've gone through a wide variety of emotions while being here, I've had moments of frustration and encouragement, sadness and joy, loneliness and lovedness, (that's a poor way to say it, but I can't think of how else to phrase that) discomfort and comfortableness, but I have never felt strained.

God told me at the beginning of this adventure that He meant it as a resting place for me, and though I've been challenged, I've never felt pushed. Though I've given of myself, I've never felt spent, and though I've been stressed, there has never been an absence of peace.

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

I feel very much refreshed, and better equipped to go home and take up the cross that awaits me there.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. (Matthew 16:24)

But in my last few days, I'm still leaning back and letting God work. We have our last performance on Sunday, and a huge rehearsal tomorrow, which is why I'm posting this early.

I just...ahh. I want to tell you all about how good Jesus is. How sweet it is to just relax and be where He is. But really, I can't tell you, I need to learn it still. Please learn it with me though, because I know that it is wonderful, and you will never spend your time better.

I woke up at 3:30 a couple nights ago, and saw that the fire had gone out. (our fireplace is across from the couch where I sleep) So I got up and went to build it again, and as I rose off of the couch, I realized, "Me and Jesus are the only ones up right now." 

I just decided to focus on Him, and build the fire with the awareness that He was with me, watching me. Helping me, I believe, because that fire started beautifully, and I am not good at it on the first try.

When I went and laid down again, I looked at it with satisfaction, and just had this feeling that He was enjoying it too.

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. (John 15:9)

In Which God Spoke Through a Teabag (among other things)

Wow! What to write about! I may be feeling like SO much has happened because we just finished our very first performance of Christmas tour, but it seems like it's been ages since I last wrote.

This week has really been full of small things. We've had a lot of stuff going on, classes and rehearsals as usual, as well as two dress rehearsals, American Thanksgiving, youth group, and the performance this morning. But the things that really stand out to me from this week were lots of little moments in which I was able to see God's hand. (and His sense of humor)

The earliest one that comes to mind is one day when I made myself a cup of tea. We have this box called "Bible Verse Tea," and it's an assortment of different herbal teas, so each bag is a surprise, and every tag has a bible verse.

So I opened it up in the morning, and picked a bag out. 

Now...I like to pay a lot of attention to small coincidences, because most often, I find, they really aren't coincidences at all. So before I even looked at the verse, I was sure that God would lead my hand to which bag He wanted, and that verse would be for me.

The verse was Ephesians 6:10,

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

Just on Sunday, God had used that whole passage, starting in verse 10, to relieve some stress about a certain situation I was dealing with. I hadn't even realized it, but I had been thinking about that situation subconsciously, all morning.

That was cool. God knew what was on my mind even when I didn't even realize it, but then I poured the water over the teabag and smelled mint. I laughed. Just before my sister Naomi went back overseas, she and I had peppermint tea with honey several days in a row, and called it "No stress tea." It's the kind you have when you want to get rid of stress.

Another moment which was kind of awesome, was on...I want to say Thursday? I woke up that morning very discouraged. Feeling very unworthy, unlovable, and unable to go into the presence of God. 

I prayed that God would speak to me, and tell me what He wanted me to know. I was hoping He would give me some encouragement, but I was open to the possiblity that He might not. Maybe He would convict me, or show me something about myself that was hindering me from coming to Him.

I opened my bible, and read Psalm 100:4,

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

I felt like He was just like, "Come here. Just be thankful, and come."

And the last moment I'll share with you actually happened last night, or technically this morning.

For some odd reason I've been waking up at 3:11am for the past four or five nights. Last night we got home from youth group at 9:30, and I had to get up at 5 this morning.

I wasn't complaining or anything, but I was praying, just kind of expressing my desire to not wake up at 3:11 again, since I had to get up early.

Sure enough, I woke up in the pitch dark, so I checked my iPod clock. 2:11. Haha.

Well, at least if I move down one more hour, it'll be 1:11! :D

#1:11Ministries #iusehashtagscausetheyrecool

#nojudging

Christmas Tour Projects, and God Behind the Scenes

Once again, I'm writing on the road home. I think there is something about long drives that inspires me, and when I get inspired, that tends to come out on my blog.

So here I am again, I'm going home. SO excited. I'm even more pumped because my family doesn't know! They will by the time I post this, but right now, they are clueless. We'll only be home overnight, we have classes tomorrow, but it's still awesome.

Anyway, I'll just give you a quick update on what we've been up to this week, and then share a thought that's been on my mind.

A few days ago, we started the very ambitious task of taping our bedroom. 

Just to give you an idea, picture a bedroom, now cut it in half horizontally. The bottom half of the room, most of the way around, is all wood. The upper half is lined with wood, and has wood strips all over, leaving the painted wall exposed in rectangles all over the wall and ceiling, in between the wood strips. Does that make sense? I hope so.

Anyway, now picture the painted parts being bubblegum pink. That's not even that bad, until you realize that there's another part of the wall which is deep red, and the carpet that was promptly ripped out before we even moved in, (Thank you, Rachel and Carolyn!) was a thick orange and red shag carpet. Brilliant. Just brilliant.

Anyway, so the project to naturally follow the ripping out of the carpet, is the repainting of the walls and ceiling.

However, like I said, that task was a little bit ambitious. My neck hurt a lot after doing the ceiling. But we did it! It may have been ambitious, but we are ambitious people. What can I say? We're dancers.

We've also made Christmas Wish Lists, had dance parties, and discovered the genius kitchen skills of my sister Anna. (which could be a post all it's own, but I'll leave that for another time)

So now that you have read all about what we've been doing, I just wanted to share a thought that I had the other day with you. I was emailing someone recently, and I said, "God doesn't need an audience to be awesome."

Those words have kind of stuck with me since that moment, they keep coming back, and making me think.

We love to have an audience for when we do good or impressive things. God made us that way, and it's not a bad thing. In fact, I think it shows a part of who He is as well, because we were made in His image. He does like to be seen, to be known, and known for what He does. He likes to be remembered, and given credit.

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. (Exodus 20:2)

Oh, give thanks to the Lord ! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples! (Psalms 105:1)

So again, this is not a bad thing. I have been to performances which I have been extremely blessed by. Performance is a good thing.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

But for all the work that God does which is seen, He does a LOT that goes unseen, unnoticed, unappreciated.

He sets an amazing example for us, being similarly wired in that we love to be recognized, that not everything we do needs an audience.

But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly. (Matthew 6:3, 4)

The cool thing is that even when we follow His example and do things "in secret," He still sees. We still have an audience, and one that will never misunderstand our intentions, or criticize us for lack of skill.

Once again, He is amazing, and I just want to take a moment to recognize Him for the amount of work that neither you or I will ever even know about. 

Thank you, Jesus. :)

Week 4, Part 1: All the Goings On

It's like I actually have a busy life. Who knew, right?

Lots has happened the past week, we've been keeping busy with all of the usual things, but I'll skip the boring details and just tell you about the fun stuff.

First of all, our teacher decided to put all three of us through an exam! Ahh!!

We just started learning the syllabus four weeks ago, I just started pointe four weeks ago, and we're preparing for a major exam as well as a Christmas production. Sound like a lot? It is. My poor muscles.

In all seriousness though, I love it, as challenging as it is.

We just found out our exam dates a few days ago, Anna and Tabithah's exam was this morning, and I will be taking mine on Monday. Prayers are appreciated.

Despite all of the craziness, we still manage to have time for fun things, so we all went to the Toronto Zoo on Tuesday!

None of the three of us had ever been to a zoo, so it was a fun first experience. And we got Beavertails, also a first. Definitely not the last time. :D

Baby pandas!

I feel like an official Canadian, I saw a Polar bear, and ate Beavertails in one day.

Pics or it didn't happen? Proof.

The head lion.

My sisters being a couple of show-offs. I mean, you can't see a canoe and not do the splits in it, right?

As the title suggests, I am going to post again tomorrow for this week, because I had a really awesome thought, more along the lines of my usual blog posts, that I want to share.

I hope you're as excited to read it as I am to post it!

Week 4, Part 2: Every Good Gift

Recently, I had a lovely thought.

It started with thinking about my lack of turnout, which, if you know much about ballet, is a big deal. It's something which you have to have, and I do not have very much of naturally.

It wasn't really negative, but I was thinking about how hard I will have to work to overcome that, when the thought popped into my head, "Your body is a gift."

Suddenly, I realized that God gave it to me! :D

It seems like a really simple thought, like yeah, I knew that, but suddenly it felt like a privilege. Everything that I have to do, stretching it like crazy and overcoming "obstacles," is really a privilege, and not everyone gets to experience the road that I will get to take with my body.

A few days later, I was stretching in the studio, and I looked up at a poster on the wall, which quoted from James 1-17.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights...

It only took me a moment before I realized that not only is "every good and perfect gift" from above, but EVERY GIFT THAT IS FROM ABOVE is "Good and perfect."

Woah!! I really love this thought.

In case I had any doubts that God was trying to teach me this, they were discarded last Saturday, when we had ministry training, and the directors of 1:11 Ministries were focusing on eating disorders, and self image.

I don't think I have ever been one to have a really bad self image, I've had my moments, but I tend to be pretty positive about myself. I'm not sure why God chose to teach me about that these past two weeks, but I'm just glad He did, because it makes me really happy.

Also, just another note on that verse which is sort of unrelated, but which just made the whole thing a little bit more cool, is the "Father of Lights" part.

I have always loved that part, because it reminds me of Matthew 5:14.

“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden."

Jesus says we are lights, and then James calls God the "Father of Lights."

Looking at that with the rest of the verse, that my body is a gift given me because it is good and perfect, by the Father of Lights, who is my father, because I am a light...it's just super cool.

I'll include the whole verse here at the bottom, because if anyone has heard my talk about my favorite things about God, it's FAITHFULNESS!

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. (James 1:17)

See you next week! :)

No, I'm THE Big Fat Panda

This week has been similar to the previous ones here in Crystal Beach, lots of laughing amidst dancing, eating, school, dancing, pain, housework, and more dancing.

I will say though, it definitely had it's moments to stand out from the rest. For one thing, I have officially become The Dragon Warrior. Well, Po anyway.

One day I was thinking about how much I am like Po from Kungfu Panda, seriously, the more I thought about it, the more clear it became. We are the same.

I'm all inspired by other dancers, and wish I could be just like them.

But then I try...

"There is now a level zero."

But I am determined to improve!

"Don't worry master, I will never quit!"

And then my weakness was discovered.

And so Carolyn assumed the role of Master Shifu, and made me pirouette in a circle of chocolate bars on the ground. No word of a lie.

I couldn't help but laugh, as I had JUST been comparing myself to Po, and then she came up with that. Totally independently, I didn't say anything about Kungfu Panda before the chocolate bars.

So yes. This is my life.

But one day, I will BE the Dragon Warrior. I believe it.

In the meantime, God has given me so much to be thankful for!

The other day I was sitting in the loft above our garage as it rained. The rain was pelting down on the roof just above me, I had epic music playing, which mixed really well with the rain, until you couldn't hear the music anymore because the rain was so loud! It was lovely.

Anyway, it was the perfect time to just pray and be alone with Jesus, and a verse came to mind that I had read the day before.

Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. (Psalms 30:4)

I love how this verse encourages us to give thanks just at the very remembrance of His holiness. Every time it comes to mind, it is the perfect time to thank Him.

Because no matter what is going on, whether you are dreaming about ballet while making noodles in your father's restaurant, or sitting in a loft enjoying God's presence, or fighting an evil kungfu master, God is holy, and unchanging, and good.

A "WHAT???" Kind of Opportunity

Hello friends!

I have talked about dance camp, and 1:11 Ministries before, but just in case some of you still don't know what I am talking about, I'll explain a little bit, as well as encourage you to click on the link above.

My sister, Rachel Starr Thomson, co-owns a ballet company with my cousin Carolyn Currey, (a professional ballerina) and their friend Mercy Hope. 

For years, they have inspired myself and my sisters. Stories of Carolyn training herself and becoming successful in her career, as well as starting a professional company, have motivated us to work hard to hopefully become professional dancers someday as well.

I actually can't even explain how much I look up to all three of these ladies, not just in their success, but in their hearts for the Lord. I have learned so much from them.

Anyways, the point I am getting to, is that recently, my mother invited my younger sisters Anna and Tabithah and I, into the living room for a meeting with her, Rachel, and my dad. They explained that they have been thinking and planning for a while, on having the three of us go stay with Rachel in Fort Erie for a few months to train intensively with Carolyn, and then go on Christmas tour with their company.

WHAT?????

I mean, umm.... Yes, of course we would love to.

But seriously, WHAT????????? :D

So that's the news. The three youngest children of this family are leaving now from October 15th to December 18th, to practically a dream come true.

I tell you all of this because it's awesome and exciting, and also because unfortunately, we can't actually afford to pay for it all.

The goal is $4,136 for the three of us, (each of us needing $1,378.70) so if any of you feel so inclined, we would really appreciate some support. Any amount would be helpful, even if it's just $5.00, that would be awesome.

If you're not in a place to donate or something like that, you can still be a huge support to us by keeping us in your prayers!

Things you can pray for us about:

1. Funding

2. Strength, improvement in technique

3. Encouragement

I just spent this whole time talking, so I thought I would let the girls have a few words of their own about the trip, so this is what Tabithah said.

Hey y'all! I just wanted to say that I really appreciate all of your support and prayers. I'll miss you guys! -Tabithah

If you are interested in supporting us in any way, please email me at keturahthomson12@gmail.com, or Facebook message me, whichever you prefer.

Peace out!

~Keturah