happy holidays!

happy new year everyone!

i hope you all had a fab 2009 and have a great 2010!

if you want to email me email my mom and she'll let you know my email address
tracey@traceylheppner.com

i hope you all have a happy holidays and

will always remember it for a long time.

so have a have a happy holidays!

love you guys so much!

and hope you enjoy this picture of

my funny, lovely family!

and thanks for following my blog

merry christmas and have a wonderful, happy new year!

love rosie

a christmas hmmm

This is incredible. My mom forwarded this to me...and I was moved to say the least. What are your thoughts?

Buy nothing for Christmas

December 5th, 2009
This is something different. It’s similar to the Advent Conspiracy, but I like it because it’s Canadian! What can I say?! I’ve been ecouraged by some of the Canadian sites popping up these days (makes me feel less alone in cyber land lol). Anyhow, my cousin sent to me via facebook. I was looking into it and thought it was interesting. What are your thoughts on it?

Buy Nothing Christmas is a national initiative started by Canadian Mennonites who offer a prophetic “no” to the patterns of over-consumption of middle-class North Americans. They are inviting Christians (and others) all over Canada to join a movement to de-commercialize Christmas and re-design a Christian lifestyle that is richer in meaning, smaller in impact upon the earth, and greater in giving to people less-privileged.

This is an Advent calendar that has a bite to it. On each day of December leading up to Christmas, count the appropriate privilege/blessing and pay the fine. Send the money to a group that fights poverty.

1. 10 ¢ for every hot water tap in your house
2. 75 ¢ for every vehicle your family owns
3. 5 ¢ for every pair of jeans you own
4. 25 ¢ if your family subscribes to the newspaper
5. 5 ¢ for every bed in your house
6. 3 ¢ for every /beauty makeup item you own
7. 3 ¢ for every pair of footwear
8. 3 ¢ for every light switch in your house
9. 20 ¢ for every tub/shower
10. 10 ¢ for every flush toilet
11. 2 ¢ for every bar/dispenser of soap
12. 15 ¢ if you have dishes to eat off of
13. 15 ¢ if you have cooking pots in your cupboards
14. 5 ¢ for every window in your house
15. 10 ¢ for every outside door
16. 20 ¢ for every television in your house
17. 5 ¢ for every magazine subscription
18. 25 ¢ if your family has more than 25 CD’s (music or video)
19. 5 ¢ for every meal you had meat with this past week
20. 10 ¢ for every non-water beverage you drank yesterday
21. 25 ¢ if you have a snow blower or a gas/electric lawn mower
22. 3 ¢ for every item of hair care stuff
23. 15 ¢ for every bedroom in your house
24. 5 ¢ for every blanket in your house
25. 15 ¢ for every gift you received this Christmas

From http://www.buynothingchristmas.org/

check out their catalogue: http://www.buynothingchristmas.org/catalogue/index.html It’s pretty neat! If nothing else, it sure makes me thankful and feel truly blessed for all that we have!

look!

like my new specs? :)

when it's cold outside...

read the following excerpt in Brennan Manning's book, 'The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus', recently:

One hundred years ago in the Deep South, the phrase 'born again' was seldom used. Rather, the words used to describe the breakthrough into a personal relationship with Jesus were, 'I was seized by the power of a great affection.'

have been spending time thinking about my own relationship with Jesus, and whether i would characterize it with similar words. i find it curious that such mystical and deeply emotive language has been lost for so many of us. the common language of being 'born again' isn't entirely wrong or offensive, but in some ways it implies the not-so-practical notion that one's conversion results in an immediate alteration of who we are. theologically, i think our conversion choice does immediately realign us with God's redemptive mercy.

but salvation really is more than just being born; it's a lot like growing up.

and maybe that's why i like the idea of being 'seized' by a 'great (and transformative) affection'...because it implies His inherent work in me despite my best efforts to screw it up...in spite of my consistent languishing and immaturity.
all this brings john wesley's language to mind...how he found his heart 'strangely warmed' when encountering jesus' powerful grace. and today, when it's cold and rainy outside, this is what i seek. i long for the mystery of His love to centre me...to seize me...to warm the cold and inflexible parts of my heart.

i want to trust His mercy more than my own efforts.

Behruse meets God and we stand in awe

Last night Brian and I witnessed someone experience God for the first time.
It was unexpected. For us. And for Behruse.
We planned to leave. So did he.
God had different plans. I'm in awe of His timing.

The plan was to find a comfy spot at English Bay in Vancouver to watch night 2 of the Celebration of Lights. It was South Africa's turn to show Vancouver what they've got. The forecast was to be about 29 in the afternoon and 23 in the evening with 10 percent chance of rain. It was to be the perfect night for fireworks. I heard on the radio they were expecting 350,000 people to be there.

After a great supper at SalaThai - yum... It was about 7:30, we walked down to the water and found a nice little spot not right on the beach but with a beautiful view... and then the clouds began rolling in and it started to rain. We kept telling ourselves that it wasn't going to last, we'll wait it out and it seemed to slow down a bit. I got a call from a couple of friends who were going to meet us who decided not to come anymore due to the rain. We talked about it and decided we probably wouldn't stay either. We were soaked and the sun was beginning to go down and we were not prepared to be wet AND cold.




Brian, who was just in a tshirt and shorts thought it would be a good idea to head back home knowing that there are 2 more fireworks shows next week that we could go to. Me being the stubborn girl i am, wanted to stay. I thought we were already wet we were already there, with great seats, and really i just didn't want to be a "quitter"... someone who couldn't handle a little rain. lol. But after talking it out for a bit, we packed up our stuff and began towards our car.

Once we got up to Davie street it continued to rain at a steady pace but we were warming up due to walking so we decided to keep walking down davie towards the water in a different direction and just stick it out. By this time the sun had begun to set, and it was absolutely breathtaking. People were stopped in the rain taking picture after picture. It was thundering and lightening out like crazy, something i don't think i have ever seen/heard since living out here. I kept saying/thinking wow all these people came out to see fireworks and God's like "i'll show you fireworks". It was beautiful.



It was almost 9pm when i got a hankering for yam fries. As we kept walking we found a little restaurant/pub on Davie that had their menu on the steps that had yam fries on it. We tried to get in, but the door was locked and said use other entrance. We were seriously soaking wet and as we tried to find the other entrance we decided we were just too wet and they probably wouldn't want us in there.

This is when we met Beruse.

As we're standing on the crowded street by the pub a man watching the sky turned around towards us and approached us. My immediate judgment I'm sad to say was that he was going to ask for money... although he did not look homeless, then i went on to think maybe he was going to ask if we had any weed... as that's a common occurrence here in Vancouver. Instead the first thing he asked was. "Have you ever seen anything like this before?" Before we had the chance to fully answer he answered his own question saying, "I have lived here for 22 years and I have never seen a sky like this". He went on to say, "I'm not normally a religious man, but this sky is a sign to us, to me, that God is real. That God is with us." He went on very passionately listing different gods and expressing his need for one. He repeated God, Jesus and literally cried out how he needed Him. How he was lost and weak but how he could feel Him inside of him. He cried out to know Him and to see Him and as Behruse was calling towards the beautiful sunset for God lightening would strike. I couldn't help but laugh at God's response!

On the middle of Davie street in the pouring rain surrounded by thousands of people Behruse began to weep as he cried and prayed telling God how he needs Him, how he promises he'll go to church, but only if He will show up like He did tonight. I still can't believe what I witnessed, I don't know how to put it all into words. He spoke out of his heart into the sky through tears his desperate need for a God who knows him and who has chosen him for this moment to be caught off guard and caught in His beauty. He admitted to us his brokenness that for the first time in 6 months he drank alcohol tonight because his cousin had to leave, that he smoked 2 puffs of marijuana, that his wife and daughter who is 14 and son who is 25 isn't with him anymore. He told us that in his country he would be shot dead in the middle of these streets for doing what he was doing now, speaking to us of a God who has caught his attention and stolen his heart. He continued to ask us if we could understand him because his english was normally very poor, but what we heard was extremely eloquent and passionate, He thanked God for that miracle.

I said to him that we were planning to leave earlier, that we weren't really expecting to be down here on davie tonight, but that I was convinced that God had a specific plan for all of us to meet. He also said that he had actually left earlier deciding not to stay but later decided to come back because God wanted him to see this beautiful sign of His beauty. He prayed that he would never forget it and that everyone walking would see what he has seen.

I still am in awe that in hundreds of thousands of people that God connected us to Behruse. Not really to say anything special or to be these great Christians with answers, but simply and majestically to be a witness (as Behruse put it) to this man's first connection to God, the the One who made heaven and earth. To be an ear to hear this man's story, to catch a glimpse of what our desperate need for God looks like.

I was so challenged and encouraged and just knocked to my feet. To find that hunger, to live with that conviction. To see God in everything and let it transform me! I'm so thankful to have been there last night, for God to interrupt our plans.

We ended up just getting to the beach as the fireworks started, and let me say, they were beautiful, but God could not be outdone, he continued to do His light show in the sky that just showed me His awesome power and beauty, how I'm honored to know Him. To be called His daughter.

a convo...

A couple thoughts...and the beginning of a convo...

I have been reading much

listening much

reflecting much

And trying to digest all that I see, feel, and sense.

I have decided that I want to start writing some reflections and invite you to chew a little bit with us.

On what you ask?

We would like to wrestle with who Jesus is and His reality versus what (I said ‘what’ intentionally...keep reading) we have made Him personally...and corporately.

Still there?

I have blogged my initial thought on our blog: www.jonathanandscott.blogspot.com

Join us...

J

SLAVERY

Thoughts...

I don’t know about you...but before about 6 months ago...i didn’t think about slavery very often. How often do you think about slavery? How often to do you think about it in terms of an issue that we must wrestle with today? Let me talk to you a little about the internal Pandora's box I have opened...
People trafficking is one of the greatest human rights challenges of our time. Millions of people around the world suffer in silence in slave-like conditions of forced labour and sexual exploitation.
In the West, slavery has been outlawed since the early 1800s. But the modern scourge of human trafficking is no less a form of slavery than the one endured by Africans and others at the hands of wealthy merchants and landowners two hundred years ago.

Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing areas of international crime - and, sadly, one of the most lucrative. Worldwide, people traffickers will make between seven and nine billion dollars every year, with very little outlay at all.
In fact, some crime syndicates are now switching their cargo from drugs to human beings, because the potential profits are higher.

According to the UN, there may be as many as four million people trafficked every year, 70 percent of them female and 50 percent children. Both groups are targeted mainly for pornography and prostitution. Yet it's difficult to be precise about the true scale of the problem and teenage boys and men are sometimes victims, too, being trafficked into forced labour.
There are more than 28 million slaves world wide. Perspective? There are more slaves today, by percentage to the worlds population, than at any other time in history.

Victims of people trafficking normally come from developing countries, but trafficking is also a problem for nations like the Canada and the US, where, according to the Justice Dept, as many as 250,000 American/Canadian children may be at risk of being trafficked into the sex industry within our own countries.
The Council of Europe has identified people trafficking as a major problem in Europe, too. It says that trafficking has hit "unprecedented levels" and acknowledges that it really is "a new form of slavery".

Human trafficking seems to flourish in societies that are going through, or have just come out of, long periods of conflict. For example, during the Kosovo conflict, women and girls were often kidnapped by armed gangs or enticed away from refugee camps. Today, the former Yugoslavia has become a primary trafficking destination and an important transit point for European trafficking.
Trafficking also increases when poor countries share borders with richer neighbours. Poor people look at the opportunities over the border and are easily lured by false promises of a richer life on the other side.

What can be done about the stain and horror of international human trafficking?

Some people might argue that since slavery has long been a part of human history, there's not much we can do about it. But we can't afford to be complacent or defeatist in our attitude. Either we shape the future of our world, or someone else's vision of that future will reshape us.

Some global thoughts first.
Governments NEED to maintain humane and sensible immigration policies.

Some people have tried to use trafficking as an excuse for closing borders altogether. But people will always want to migrate, especially if there are better opportunities abroad, and immigration brings many benefits. Denying people access through safe, legal channels only makes it more likely that they will fall for the false promises of the traffickers.

Governments also NEED to courageously tackle the problem of prostitution.
In 1999, the Swedish government made laws prohibiting the purchase of a sexual service, with the penalty of fines or imprisonment.
Since then, there has been a significant drop in the number of women in prostitution and a reduction in the number of men who try to buy their services. The fall in demand has also reduced the number of foreign women who are trafficked into prostitution.
Some governments NEED to reassess how they treat people who've already been trafficked into their nations. It's one thing to free a victim, but then they need to be re-educated, re-housed and basically given a whole new start, one without discrimination or legal hassles.

More Personal thoughts...

We NEED to begin to grapple with how trafficking is linked to economic reform and development programmes. Tragically, there are lots of cases where the sex trade has served foreign aid workers and even peacekeepers.

And we need more research into the factors that fuel the demand for people trafficking -- including the links between migration policies and the demand for cheap labour.

It took more than a generation for William Wilberforce and his colleagues to bring in laws banning slave-trade in the British domain. But their persistence - and their faith - paid off.
Ours is arguably a much more complex world and organized crime is the dark underbelly of globalization. But at ground level, in vulnerable areas, there are still things we can do to guard people -- especially the young -- against trafficking.

There are anti-trafficking charities that community groups can connect with. Some educate children in vulnerable areas, developing skills that will help them to avoid being trafficked. Others work to encourage children to stay in school longer, while create local jobs for when they leave school.

We NEED to be morality driven even in our necessary consumption. Meaning? Where you shop and what you buy has slave trade implications. Do we shop at stores that use Fair Trade goods? These products are traffick-free and buying them helps people to lift themselves out of poverty, making them less vulnerable, as opposed to purchasing and using goods that have used child labour and the slave trade to build their economic prowess.

We NEED volunteer more. For example, choosing to work in one of the projects that helps people find their way out of prostitution. We can donate to support a safe house for trafficking victims.

We NEED to write to local MPs on the issue, to keep the issue front and centre in political terms. Check out the following websites regarding how you can be involved:
www.freetheslaves.net
www.catwinternational.org/factbook/Canada.php
www.savethechildren.ca

EDUCATE YOURSELF. How often do we read stuff that turns our stomachs? How often do we choose to learn or push our way into understanding the dark underbelly of our world? What good is the light if it refuses to be used in darkness? If you would like a list of books that you could read, email me...i have many on this issue.
Finally, we can talk up the whole issue of people trafficking, through letters to local newspapers and the like - and even just in conversation with friends. John Pollock, in his biography of William Wilberforce, wrote that: 'One man can change his times, but he cannot do it alone.'

Like Wilberforce and his abolitionists, we must once again do whatever we can to end a vile trade, by standing for those who cannot stand for themselves...and standing alongside people and organizations who are giving their lives for others freedom.

I wanna change the world.
J

we have THE coolest family pics ever!

soooooooooooo.... here is our family pics that we got done in may by our dear friends, reilly & miranda of blue olive.

tell me...are these not the coolest, ever!? thanks again R&M... you make us look too cool for school... ;)

click on the link below:

heppner family shoot by blue olive photography

summer is crazy

i'm busy with weddings most weekends.
and busy with the kiddies and some office work during the week.

head over to my blog to see what i'm up to.. :)

www.traceylheppner.blogspot.com

happy summer!!





















taken on the sunshine coast in gibson's bc

the door

IMG_9900, originally uploaded by tracey heppner.

it is there..you see it every day.
its whether or not you choose to actually go thru the door.

you put your ear up to it.
you strain to hear what is on the other side.
it sounds exciting..fun..alive.
yet, risky, uncertain, unknown.

you stand on this side and wonder.
wonder what it could be like.
what it could REALLY be like.
what you THINK it could be like.
yet still, you hesitate.

you hesitate like you have, every other day.
what if there really is nothing on the other side?
what if it's just all in your head?
what if you are disappointed when you open the door?

what to do...do you ever wonder that?
wonder about the possibilities of what is
on the other side of that door?
wonder what life could be like if you walked thru that door?
wonder if you should just stop wondering and just do it?

you put your hand on the knob & can almost feel the anticipation.
you can sense the life.
you know that it is exciting.
yet...you dont turn it.

yes, this door is for you to open every day.
every day it is there, waiting for you.
waiting for you to open it.
waiting for you to walk thru.
waiting for you to embrace all that is on the
other side.

the door to your dreams.
what will you do today?
what are you waiting for?
walk thru it.

you have NOTHING to lose.

-tracey heppner, june 8, 2009

easter feast..

some snaps from our easter feast back in april..

What i DO believe...at least some of it...

A number of conversations, real and virtual, have recently been gotten me thinking through about "how far" should we go in a process of deconstruction. When we start process of dismantling previously held
convictions...you know what I mean, asking questions and wrestling with answers...it is painful and difficult. But when is the tipping point reached when it becomes easy and pain-free to be forever dismantling.

I want to guard against a glib iconoclasm(literally ‘image-breaking’): where the "old" and the "previous" is immediately disposable and somehow of no value. The great danger that we end up facing is that it can be satisfying to debunk narrowness and cultural exclusivity. That satisfaction that leaves us with our own new barriers and orthodoxy.

I think that with the wrestle of deconstruction there has to be a commitment to the elements of construction...of building.

So, as a corrective to constant affirmation of what I do NOT believe, here are a few provocations to ponder that might balance and present what I DO believe. This is not exhaustive...but off the top of my head thoughts, that may not be very well thought thru...chuckle....:

• The Christian faith is not just a matter of creeds and system of belief (it is way of life - worship, community, daily witness, a holy lifestyle etc etc)...BUT unless we can talk about the historic Jesus and connect our story with the life of the church through the ages, then we end up building a new "religion" (devising our own creeds, however palatable and "humane" they may seem) which is human-centered rather than God-centered.

• The church needs to be a place of safety, inclusion and welcome, NOT a place of judgment and exclusion...BUT unless we give and accept permission to each others pain, we cannot call each other to a life that truly reflects the reality of Jesus the risen Christ...and we will end up lost in our own brokenness.

• The church is a place of equality where the least is the greatest NOT a place of patriarchy and hierarchy...BUT unless we can model godly leadership and authority, we are denying the transformative effects of the gospel on the structures of human society.

• Teaching is just one of many gifts given to the church and should NOT be an opportunity for elitist (‘I am better than you’) monologues that are detached from the lives of real people living and working in a real world...BUT unless we build relevant means of discipling ‘Jesus followers’ in scripture and tradition, we will be left wallowing in the self-satisfaction of our own knowledge rather than sharing it with others and passing it on to future generations.

• Followers of Christ are NOT just adherents to a religious lifestyle that expresses itself with vehement arguments against the cultural and/or religious issues of our day...BUT they are people whose imaginations have been captured by the power of Jesus to hope in the greatest darkness. They are a people who ask the greater more personal questions of:

What does Jesus think about our consumptive lifestyles?
What does Jesus think about the enviromental crisis?
How would Jesus respond to the ever lowering standards of television?
What would Jesus’ response be to reality of our economic position in the world and the presence of poverty and injustice?
How would Jesus respond to the sexuality of our age?
What would Jesus’ comments be regarding the shallowness of so many of our relationships...and that we hide who we are behind the masks of addictive lifestyles?
...to name a few....

• Worship is NOT just a time to be joyful and proclaim personal truths but a space to come together in shared lament, protest, struggle and mystery...BUT if we lose celebration and the expectation of God joining with us by His Holy Spirit, we lose the source and energy for any gift that we may think the church has to offer the world.

• God is God and we dare NOT feel that we can package and own all the truth about who God is BUT we do know something and unless we own the story we are in danger of falling into the worship of someone or something else, (our spiritual search and journey is really about unmasking that which what we hold as most dear...its His kindness that draws us to Himself...and its His kindness that unmasks our true ‘affections’...and leads us to repentance – the great affection transfer).

first MB bbq of the summer!

the last sat in may most of us from the team got together for a BBQ.

saweeeeeeeeet. :)

and the girls found a callapillar, which halley still talks about.. :) so sweet.. :)

happy summer!

a little update from Brian

well it has been quite some time since i have put anything on this blog and i think that i should.
i hope that it hasnt been this long but in october i got a job in the school system as an E.A. and i was at this one school filling in for someone for 7 months until the end of April. Since then i have been on call and have been going to various high schools and elementary schools in the area. It has been nice to be able to check out some different schools and working with different types of kids.. I am not sure what the summer holds but i am going to trust that something will come up and it will be great.
as well at the end of March we moved to a 2 bedroom basement suite just down the road from the apartment we lived at before. it is great to have space for guests and just some more room to move around. it is over 1200 sq.ft and about the same cost as our other place, plus washer and dryer which is a big bonus. if you go to Meryl's facebook, in her latest videos there is a little 2 min. video of our new place. we have an extra room so if you want to come visit just let us know.
Thats all for now. take care and for those of you that read this, thanks.. i hope you are doing well back home and wherever you are.

hi

hi every one today my brother gets too go to playland. And i have a subtitute teacher :)

little mister man

brandon rocks our world.. is he not the CUTEST little guy you've EVER seen!?!?!?

garage sale!

so we all got our stuff together that we NEVER use and had a garage sale on saturday.
it was awesome!!!!

our goal was to make money to redo our front lawn which has been a work in process since we moved here..

so...we made enough to sod it! woot woot!! thanks god! :)

my most treasured...

i shot some photos of my kids on their last day off of their 4 day weekend. i am so incredibly proud of them. they are such amazing and good kids. :) i know i'm biased. but really...they are remarkable.

getting my son, however to let me take photos of him, is another story..i got a few shots. he HATES getting his photo taken - wonder where he got that from!?? and miss rosie - she's so fashionable, and is posin' and stuff..she rocks it. :)

here's a few from our mini-session.. :)