my journey contines

Attitude
Charles Swindoll

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.
It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.

It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill.

It will make or break a company… a church… a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.

We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable.

The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude…

I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.”

Keep Me in Touch with My Dreams
Ted Loder (from Guerillas of Grace)

“O Lord, in the turbulence and the loveliness of my living from day to day and night to night,
keep me in touch with my roots, so I will remember where I cam from and with whom;
keep me in touch with my feelings so I will be more aware of who I really am and what it costs;
keep me in touch with my mind so I will know who I am not and what that means;
and keep me in touch with my dreams, so I will grow toward where I want to go and for whom.

O Lord, deliver me from the arrogance of assuming I know enough to judge others;
deliver me from the timidity of presuming I don’t know enough to help others;
deliver me from the illusion of claiming I have changed enough when I have only risked little,
that, so liberated, I will make some of the days to come different.

O Lord, I ask not to be delivered from the tensions that wind me tight, but I do ask for
a sense of direction in which to move once wound,
a sense of humour about my disappointments,
a sense of repect for the elgant puzzlement of being human,
and a sense of gladness for your kingdom which comes in spite of my fretful pulling and tugging.

O Lord, nurture in me the song of a lover, the vision of a poet, the questions of a child, the boldness of a prophet, the courage of a disciple.

O Lord, it is said you created people because you love stories.
Be with me as I live out my story.”

this week i’m doing a different type of training: pre-departure cross-cultural training. and i LOVE it!! i really do love this stuff and the facilitator is very engaging, the group is diverse and the quality of the material is awesome. i will try to post some things i’ve learned later this week. you will enjoy, i’m sure!

thanks for reading
shannon

last night my family and I went to see the Chinese Lantern Festival downtown by Ontario Place. It was nice to hang out and it was beautiful!!

it’s been nice that while i’ve been home, although rushed, i’ve been able to visit with some good friends. last night the Azuma’s came over and we talked about what i am going to be doing, different realities of travelling abroad, etc. it was great.

today i got to spend some time with my grandparents. my family drove over and we spent some time w/ my grandpa, had dinner with my grandma, and then went to church with both of them there. i saw some people that i knew from when i was little, so i heard many statements such as “you MUST be [your mom's] daughter!!” and other such things. it was so nice to just spend some time together though. my brother is leaving to go out east to meet his g/f’s parents on Tuesday for a week — so this was also one of the last times i got to spend hanging out with him.

hello!!

well training went well! after a week (Monday-Thursday) and I was able to meet some of the other interns as well as Marshall & Kiki (my housemates to be). it’s a really interesting organization and i’m so excited to start my internship! that being said, i’m wiped. it’s been an intense summer, with school and moving back here with such a short time before i move again…

i miss my friends from school. i’m so thankful that i’m busy because knowing me and my “sentimental-ness” haha i would be missing them more if i had more time. gradually people are setting up their blogs and getting ready to go. everybody has a field placement now! isn’t that awesome. a special congrats to janell who has most recently had everything fall into place. (you will do great!! i’m SO excited for you!) and all of you. i’m excited for all of you! keep in touch, don’t be a stranger… i’m still working on the DVD…

also, a side note, i bought my pack for backpacking, hiking boots, and a variety of other things. i’m so excited. also, i found out i’m going to be able to take spanish language classes 2-3 hrs a day. i’ve wanted to become fluent for so long! woo hoo

well that’s all for now, i’m going to spend some time w/ the fam tonight.
thanks for reading!

shannon

day #1.
still not a morning person, but training went well. good to learn about the organization and to learn more about my country and job and what i’ll be doing, etc. very exciting.

although i’m tired. just having flown in from philadelphia and then being up early yesterday morning and driving here… next week more training elsewhere. it’s just crazy busy. and still feel like i have so much to unwind from school. p.s. i still miss you guys. lol.

but i am watching the first season of Grey’s Anatomy (thanks Melissa and Janell!!! haha) and just vegging out tonight.

thanks for reading!
Shannon

P.S. CONGRATULATIONS ROSA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ahhhhhhhh

so what does that mean for all of us whose hearts is with disadvantaged poor and the “least of these”? i guess we’re set to be wanderers it is good to be home though, i mean i’ve always said i LOVE toronto! it’s an amazing city. and i love my family. my heart is definitely here with them.

but a bit of my heart is with you guys now, cohortians. so to use faith’s expression, my heart is hurting a bit tonight. thanks so much to everybody for spending fun time together last night and hanging out in our room. as for the movie, well ummm… it was one way to wrap up the semester, but we were together. rosa, joe and mary i hope you had safe trips today! everybody else i think you’re leaving tomorrow and monday - safe travels!! thanks for hanging out with me in my room before i left and for the farewell downstairs. hehe… and Rebecca!!! thanks for taking me — it was hard, but i really appreciate it.

love you guys!
shannon

today is the day that we all knew would come. today was our last class before we each return home and prepare for our field placement. it’s a day full of bittersweet emotion, as we’re excited to go to our field placement but also really sad to be leaving our friends — not sure when we’ll see each other again.

i’ve just finished the main cohort dvd… as for the individual msgs i’ll have to send those later to you somehow. but i really hope you enjoy it.

anyways, i just want to say that this has been one of the most amazing 8 month-periods in my life. it’s truly been life-changing and i’ve really grown, as a result of conversations with you (my teachers and peers), as a result of some of the issues we’ve struggled with/through and just as happens with time. you will be missed and i will keep you in my prayers. please do the same for me. i’ll keep you updated on my blog (i know you are excited about that! hehe)… and when you’re visiting or travelling, look me up!

you’ll be missed. i love you all.

*drumroll*

for all of you that have clicked here to see my photos from graduation, don’t despair. i set up a flickr account (i have unlimited bandwidth and storage etc.) where i have almost all of my pics during my time at Eastern. feel free to check it out!

http://flickr.com/photos/sbrisco

thanks for reading
shannon