He's so tall... has strong, rugid features... and has blue eyes that melt me to puddles.

Meet Mountie...

America vs. Canada

David and I comparing the size of the American part of Niagara Falls....

... and Canada's part of Niagara Falls!

Big dif, huh?

Niagara Falls

An Announcement...

I've met someone here in Canada... anyone care to know?!?!

Friends Tour 0.tourist

Friends Tour 5.0

100 HUNTLEY STREET

CROSSROADS CHRISTIAN TV

BURLINGTON, ONTARIO

God has opened crazy, amazing doors for us here in Canada.  And the venue of Christian television has already touched many lives today.

But before he could go on the set... this happened

David had to be done up in the makeup room... which was priceless to see!

This was the highlight of us girl's day!!

Tonight at 12:30am we are headed back to the tv station to shoot again for a 2-4am show!

It's gonna be a long, exciting night!!

Friends Tour 4.0

Mississauga, Ontario

CANADA

Amanda Tan and Lilly Xia who came to camp this past summer arranged for us to speak at their public school for two morning assemblies.

Our day started early in the cold car.  

David is still adjusting to the weather with the help of his random winter clothing articles like this huge, thick scarf!

The response from 240 attendees of the morning assemblies was amazing!  There are many kids who are interested in helping with the Night Walk this spring and even volunteering this summer!

God is on the move.  Keep praying for us up here in the frozen country!

Love and miss all you home-bodies!!

We had dinner tonight with our friends the Tan's.  Their entire family volunteered at both camps this summer.  

We spent a lot of time retelling the stories from the summer, laughing, eating, laughing, telling stories, and laughing.  I'm sure the Chinese in the restaurant thought we had escaped from an insane asylum.

We were served a very Chinese-y Chinese meal which included, but was not limited to, Peking Duck, Jellyfish, Pork, Chicken, and Fish.

Here is the waitress carving the skin off the whole, cooked duck.

(She was carving right behind my chair.  When I saw it out of the corner of my eye, I was tempted to not even look for fear of what I would see.)

The duck skin was eaten in little corn tortilla shells with a sweet sauce and onions.

After serving the duck skin, they took the naked duck back to the kitchen and this is how it returned.  Finely diced with little veggie pieces to be eaten with the sweet sauce and wrapped up in lettuce blankets.

Friends Tour 3.0

BURLINGTON, ONTARIO

CANADA

The Bring Me Hope team has arrived in the grand country of Canada.  We were welcomed by a gorgeous snow 'storm' and warm hugs from our friends Bethany and Sharon Anderson.

So far our 24 hours in the country has consisted of sleeping, eating and seeing the amazing Lake Ontario from the comfort of our heated car seats.

David and I have been catching up on emails and other odd things from our new satellite office in the ship-themed basement of our host's home.

So... tomorrow will be the big kick-off for the 2009 Canada Friends Tour!!

Stay tuned for pictures and stories of the adventure...

McDonald's seasonal Shamrock Shakes are pretty much what I look forward to the most this time of year.

On my lonely car ride from the Moline airport to Chicago, where I leave for Canada tomorrow, I stopped to get some supper and was overjoyed to see the delish treat is back for a while!!

Shamrock Shakes are my 6th love language!!

You know you have issues -

when you consume an entire box of fruit gushers in less than seven hours.

That's a freakishly large number of calories... 540 to be exact.

You may not recognize me when I get home.  But I sure did enjoy each gush-y bite!!

- - - 

Amanda's and my theme for this week in Minnesota:

'A moment on the lips is an eternity on the hips'

Friends Tour 2.0

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Amanda and I were hugely blessed when we were invited to join a former youth group team from China this past summer, in attending the annual youth conference Acquire the Fire.

 

Tickets at the door that should have cost us over $70, God provided for $25

We were blessed with worship from the bands Unhindered and The David Crowder Band

and with messages from speakers like Mike Guzzardo and Meghan Stoddard.

Plus I got to see old friends from camp like Chong,

and Cerise.

* * * 

I love how God provides on all levels for His children.  We have been so blessed the past several days!

Friends Tour 1.0

HAMBURG, MINNESOTA

Here we are having a bonding moment with our amazing host family, the Mahoney's.

My BFFN , Amanda Varnell, from the great state of Cali.  She's my right hand women on this trip.  

Our beautiful tour guide, Megan, took us to Lake Waconia.  It was Amanda inaugural walk on water.

It's been an amazing 48 hours...

- - - - 

* You only get this if you're a Chmelar.

Ok.

You know how lame-o it is when you loose your cord to connect your camera to your computer?!

You know how even more lame-o it is when you feel like you have no life worth posting about?!

You know the lame-o-ist thing of all is when you feel like your blog is hitting the tubes faster then you can get it back on track?!


So... in order to try and fix these depressing problems, I am going home after this little trip to town. I'm gonna search high and low through out my room to find that cord. I'm gonna reevaluate my current life status and then I'm gonna try to come back and safe this blog from the black pit of EX-treme boringness.

Until then...

I have been humbled.

Lately I've been complaining that I will be sitting alone again this Valentines Day.  As frustrating as it is, I read this horrifically sad story and 

decided to start counting my blessings instead of lack.  How much worse to be sitting alone because of that.

My Valentines Day will come where I can light candles, cook a dinner, and get all dressed up for my man.  But until then, I choose to revel in the goodness of God today.