A Moment of Grace in My Workplace

I thought I would share something that happend to me today. It's a little personal but I wanted to share it because I had to make a decision today on how I reacted. Earlier I talked about how I was reading the devotional, "What So Amazing About Grace." Well today it really hit home and I am putting some of that grace into motion.
Before today I had yet not asked for the time off from my boss. In December my boss had a serious heartattack while away on business in Japan. He actually died for 5 min. Thankfully there were 2 doctors nearby who helped to revive him (I believe God put them there, others say there are just so many people in a train station in Japan there's bound to be a few). He had to undergo double by-pass surgery and was kept in the hospital for nearly 3 weeks before he was allowed to fly back home. It will be quite the long recovery for him and he is only able to come in the office for a few hours at a time.
My original plan had been to ask for a leave of absense sometime in the early new year (2008, so now) but after what happened I didn't want to add to his stress (much good and bads going on at my company) and decided to hold off for a little while.
Well of course when you are excited about something as amazing as this tour, you generally have a hard time keeping it to yourself and proceeded to tell a few of my coworkers but asked them to not talk about it as I didn't want it being spread around just yet.
Well, today I found out someone let my boss know. He called me in and said he had heard some things and wanted to know if it was true, that I would be asking for a leave of absense and going away for awhile. I felt horrible, first I was just utterly shocked and hurt that someone had betrayed my trust, that they felt it so important to tell my boss to possibly save their own butt? I don't know and then I felt horrible that he had found out this way. At this point, obviously I was straight up and talked for quite awhile about this and various other issues in the office. I apologized that I had not been able to have been the one to tell him.
During the time I was in his office, thoughts kept going back and forth in my mind about how I felt and how I wanted to react. Was I angry? In a sense it was my own fault and in telling someone else within the office I was kind of asking for it wasn't I?
When I came out, two of my coworkers who knew about the tour (and who had noticed I was missing from my desk) were in my office (one I share it with). They softly mouthed, what was that about? I informed them that someone had let my boss know about my leaving for the summer. They were shocked and I think were half expecting me to spit rage. But already I knew that I had to make it clear that I was not angry, yes I was a little hurt that someone decided to break my trust but I was not angry. There has been a lot of anger going around our office and it can sometimes be easy to be sucked into the drama that has been going on as well, but I knew I had to approach this differently. To not get riled up, so that others would not get riled up and more rumours and words flying around behind eachothers backs. They asked who I thought it could have been, but at this point I decided that I didn't want to know who it had been. I didn't want to become angry with anyone and it wouldn't undo anything so what would be the point.
You see one thing I didn't say was that, there is word of layoffs going around our office and something like this quite possibly has put me up near the top of the chopping list. To lose my job with less then 6 months to go could make things difficult. But you know what, I'm okay with whatever happens because I realized how lucky I am. I have Jesus in my life and I know that God has ALWAYS provided for me and that I don't have to worry. It's not the end of the world for me if I do lose this job, yeah things might be tight for awhile but I know I am in good hands with whatever may occur in the next 6 months. But for some of my coworkers this would be devestating for them. There is no "greener grass on the other side." In a small town there are not many other options for the type of business we are in.
So I am not sure how tomorrow will go. I'm sure a few more people will know what happened in my meeting (it's amazing how word can get around so fast), but I want to make sure that whoever knows that they are the one that I'm okay with it and I am not angry with them. It's going to be hard to try and stay out of the gossip game as I am sure I will be visited by a few who want to know more of the details but I think I need to show that it's all okay, no hurt feelings (well maybe a little inside but none shown outwardly). I am not going to start pointing fingers and bad mouthing anyone. There are other ways to deal with issues: and that is to show grace...even within just your workplace.

It's 2008!

Just under 6 months to go! 173 more days!! I can't wait. I feel like more and more the tour is on my mind and I just can't wait for the time to pass till we go.

Things are starting to get underway. I have my first thousand raised! Only $9,000 more to go. No problem! Especially with God by my side. Family (especially my loving mother ;) ) and friends are helping me with great fundraising ideas that I can implement in the next few months.

Already I have put a letter in my church's mailslot and soon I hope to have a decorated bulletin board up in our Church all about the sea to sea and an opportunity to sign up for a day to be my prayer warrior and financial supporter at $1/km.

Looks like I will also be painting some blank cards to sell as well. I'll post a design once I get one done (though it might be another month or so, so don't get too excited yet) and if you are at all interested in purchasing a set, let me know :)

At the beginning of December, I also took a course to get my certification to become a spinning instructor. Wow that was one intense day, let me tell you. From 9:30am to 5pm and we were on the bike at least half of that time! You can say my legs were pretty wobbly the next day (and here I am thinking I am going to start teaching? lol). My good friend Mari again came to my aid and set me up with some of her teaching techniques and music. I really admire her and her teaching practices and how she really puts her heart into her classes. That's mainly why I decided to become certified, I wanted to be able to share that heart in my classes at the gym I go to. She really encouraged me (along with a number of other friends and family) to get my certification. Definantly boosted my confidence.

Anyhow this past Saturday was my first class and it was very successful! I really enjoyed myself and I felt like those participating did as well. The one nice thing I have going is that I am "one of the group" as I have been spinning with most of them for 2 winters now. So they are really good for feedback and offer great suggestions. Two of the guys in my class are also training for the Paris to Ancaster Bike Race that I will be doing again this year, so I really appreciate input and suggestions from those guys.

I will admit in the beginning being a spinning instructor is definantly a bit time consuming as I really like to choreograph my music with the variation of intervals. So right now I need to get use to my music and the beat and once I have a few routines put in place it should come much faster. Looks like I'll be teaching every sat morning till the end of March for sure. I said we will have to see after that b/c if the weather starts looking nicer I am going to have to take my training back outside.

Oh I also purchased new handlebars for my bike. I bought Easton EC70 Carbon Wing bars. I have yet to put them on my new bike but will get to that soon enough. I am excited about them and sure hope they work out. I ended buying them slightly smaller than my old bars b/c I always felt like they were just a bit too wide. I went from a 44cm to 42cm. This bar should also be a lot kinder to my wrists. I often found before that my wrists became quite sore after a ride but these bars have a nice flat top that is suppose to offer amazing comfort and stability for my hands and of course, it's CARBON! So here's hoping :)

Christmas Greetings

Wow, where did the time go. Can you believe that Christmas is just around the corner! It seemed to really sneak up on people this year, which in a way seems weird considering the amount of snow we have had this December. You think we would have been long prepared.

So what has been happening the last while? Well we are officially the biggest tour to cross North America! We now officially have 104 cyclists riding straight across! Another 46 are doing sections of the tour! This is so exciting. It's hard to believe that the tour is only another 6 months away. I sent out fundraising letters a couple of weeks ago to my church but hope to really launch my fundraising come January. It's great how many of my friends and family have already showed their support and want to help me in my fundraising in whatever way they can. Many e-mails regarding fundraising ideas and other bike related items have been flying back and forth between the cyclists on the tour. It's so great to see how others are doing and how they are coming up with the funds for the tour.

Obviously though I have stopped biking outside. With 3 storms having hit our area already there is no way you will see me outside on a bike in this weather. Instead I have retreated to the gym for spinning classes twice a week, soon to be 3 times. I even ended up taking a course to get my own spinning instructor certificate. My friend Mari has been so wonderful and has given me some pointers, so over the holidays I hope to put some spinning sets together and then hopefully in the new year I'll be able to start teaching at my own gym :) I'm kind of nervous in someways (as I've never felt that I had the qualities to be a teacher of any kind) but I have had so much encouragement from those who know me well that I am also really excited about this new venture and feel I need to push myself and try something out of the box for me.

Lately I've been reading the devotional What's So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey and it amazes me how so often we forget that is exactly what God is about. What us Christians should be about. Giving grace. Just today I listened to this YouTube post about a boy who talks about how he had to put down his sick cow and he yelled out to God, "Why, she was special to me?" and God answered him, "You know, my son was special but he died for a purpose and it's kind of the same thing." God understands when we go through these moments because his own son died for us so that we might live. At this time of the year though we remember the birth of Jesus. How he was sent to earth to give grace to those of us who are so underserving. Sometimes we as humans (myself included) forget that there is nothing we can do to make God love us more or nothing we can do to make God love us less. I pray every day that I can lead a life of grace to those around me because God showed me grace. I pray that God may use me and challenge me to become a living answer to those around me who desperately want to know Grace in their lives.

Well I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May God bless us all as he always does and may we all enjoy our time spent with family. I can't wait for the days I'll get to spend with my family. See you in the new year!

God's blessings through friends

When I look back at the last 10 years of my life, I have really seen God watching over me and answering my prayers through the people he has brought into my life. Over the years I have come to the realization that some friends are meant to always be a part of my life and others are only passing through, but with that realization comes also the understanding to truly appreciate those around me while they are in my life. I've learned that some will just drift through and others will touch your heart stronger than you might realize at first but they are all a part of your life for a reason.
There have been a few times were I have sadly been hurt by those in my life and times where I have felt myself rather alone, but when I most needed a friend in my life God has always come through and put that person there.
The first time was when I first started College and all those highschool friends who you thought you would be "Friends-4-Ever" with seem to disperse into their own new lives. At that time I met my best friend, Julia. She has been the biggest blessing in my life and I am thankful to God everyday that she is a part of my life...of course I wish she lived a lot closer as she also moved across Canada 6 years ago but whenever we talk on the phone or get together on vacation time it's like no time has passed. Julia and I have been through hard times and bad times and of course good times, and believe me we have had our share but we have always been there for eachother, always with listening ear, a great big hug and love. Right now she is going through some hard times again with her health and I lift her to God and entrust him as I know he will take care of her and watch over her. I love you so much Julia. Don't ever forget how special you are to me.
Another moment was 2 years ago when I lost another best friend in my life but God came through again and I met the most amazing friends when I started rock climbing. Though some of us don't see each other as much as we use too (down to maybe once or twice a month as most of them no longer climb, you suck guys ;) lol) we have had some great times and moments and I am so glad to still be a part of this amazing group of friends.
Recently I have been going through some other changes. Though I can't go into much detail I've had to give space to someone who I hung out with a lot and is very special to me and it's been hard to not get to talk all the time and hang out one on one but hopefully in due time that will be able to happen again. Another good friend is going traveling for a month and then next May is moving away to NWT.
Now what made me start this blog that seems to not really have anything to do with biking or the sea to sea? Well actually it has a lot to do with them both. Because of biking and especially the tour God has brought a new friend into my life and I am so thankful. Though I love all my friends, I don't have many friends who are christians and lately I have been really needing to have someone who is and who I can talk about things that affect my life as a Christian and to discuss my faith with. Someone who can understand where I am coming from without judging but also will point things out that I might need reminding of.
Last Saturday Hilena and I went out again for another road ride. November 3 and the weather was georgeous still! Beautiful colours on the trees, bright shiny sun and great company. Nothing like riding and laughing as you go along :) I took my camera along this time (though sadly it died after only a few photos, guess I should have checked the batteries) and we had fun taking some goofy shots :) We ended up going for a 50km ride in about 2 hours. Had a bit of wind on our way back in. After riding we got cleaned up and headed out for dinner to fill our starving tummies. It's unbelievable how with some people you just click and talk about everything under the sun. In fact we did so much talking we pretty much missed the movie we were planning on seeing after. LOL. Oh well, what can you do :) It was almost a perfect "date". LOL
I am looking fwd to next year when I will get to meet all the other cyclists on the tour. I know many more friendships will be made, some stronger than others, but all will make an impact on my life and I am thankful for the opportunity.
In closing I just want to say that sometimes it is hard to see people go in and out of your life but remember God is always there and is always watching over us and he will always put people in your life when you need it. Have you thanked God lately for those friends in you life?

"You turned my wailing into dancing...and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever." - Psalm 30:11-12

"But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me." - Psalm 13:5-6

100 cyclists!!

That's right. I checked the Sea to Sea website today and there are 100 cyclists now signed up for the tour!! How awesome is that!
But we still want more. So if you are thinking about it I really encourage you to sign up. Don't think about all the what if's and how am I going to be able to do this and so on. Remember God is a big God and he is always watching over us. If it is in his plan for you to be on this tour things will fall into place. Trust in him.
Just think of all the amazing memories to come! and all the people you will meet.
Please also continue to keep the committe and all those involved in the tour in your prayers.
This is going to be a great summer! See you there!

Beautiful Weekend

What a great weekend. We had amazing weather with high's of 18 and 25 degrees for mid October! Couldn't ask for anything more...well maybe less wind, right Hilena? lol
Hilena is another rider on the Sea to Sea. We connected about a month ago and have made it out for 2 rides so far. It's been so great having someone to ride with, especially since we click so well. Quite amazed actually that I found someone who talks more than I do! lol.
So we planned for an afternoon ride and originally I was going to just do my "usual" route that I had taken her out on the week previous but due to winds coming from the west at 35-40km/hour I thought it best that I change it up and do more of a south/north route. So we rode off to Paris. The winds were a bit strong on our way out but not too horrible. The colours on the trees are finally becoming more brilliant which made for a touch of heaven feeling. Especially when we turned down this one road with the winds at our back, the colours were just amazing and we were just flying along with absolutely no effort. I looked down to notice we were going between 35-40km/hour.
But of course the very last part of our ride was back into those winds and we had 2 hills to go and I swear that wind picked up to over 40km/hr, I don't know but man was it tough, then we were only doing like 18km/hr. Hilena and I kept taking turns leading so the other could have a break for a moment while drafting.
In total we did about 42km in just under 2 hours. Not the fastest but a very enjoyable ride to say the least, with excellent company.
Saturday night was another evening spent in the presence of God. Brian Doerksen was playing here in Cambridge at Forward Baptist Church. My best friend Julia gave me my first CD of him a number of years ago for my birthday. I now have all 3. He is so talented when it comes to music, and the lyrics really speak to the heart and worship of God. The place was packed with people. I went with my wonderful Aunt Yolanda and Uncle Donnie. (Also great company.) I want to write so much more here but sometimes I find it hard to really put into words how I feel. It just simply was an amazing evening of worship.
Sunday was another great day, went for a rollerblade down at Pier 4 in Hamilton and then spent the afternoon with my parents.
I truly felt blessed this weekend.

September - What a great month!

Wow can't believe I totally missed writing anything on here in September. Well, it was a pretty busy month. Ended up taking 2 weeks off of biking after my injury and during that time I ended up moving into my own basement apartment!! Very exciting. Been here for over a month now and I absolutely love it. Love that it's my little space.

Managed to get 2 more rides in with the freewheel group before we sadly had to close up shop due to the sun setting ealier and earlier. Can't believe the summer is over already...sigh...

My name officially was placed on the Sea to Sea website and now if you go there, there is even a link to my own profile/donation page. Things sure are coming along!! Dave R. even has even put together a forum for the cyclist who are partaking in the Sea to Sea. Can't wait to really get to know eachother. Definantly can tell there are alot of different types of personalities and characters coming on this tour. Hopefully we can all learn a little something from each other.

Started rock climbing again. Just casually though this winter. I had stopped last Feb. due to training for the Paris to Ancaster Bike Race and because I was finding I was getting fustrated alot due to the fact that I wasn't coming enough so I wasn't advancing in my skills and usually felt like I was going backwards on my skills. I really do enjoy rock climbing though so this year I've promised myself to just have fun with it and just take it as it comes.

Once I got back on my bike part way through September I had to step it up a notch as I had one more race to go, St. Catharine's Liberty Squeezer 30km Mtn Bike Race. My friend Derek (who just started biking this summer) also decided he was going to try the race out, which I was super excited about. We went out for a really good ride to warm up in the Dundas Valley a couple of weekends before. I couldn't believe that here he had just started riding this summer and already he was nearly kicking my butt in riding...of course that was in the first half of the ride. Then his cardio ran out and I smoked him....well kind of...lol. It's sad and I hate to admit it, but no matter how much us girls train and gain muscle and strenght, boys are just naturally stronger. Man that sucks!

The few days before the race (which was on Sept. 30) I wasn't able to get any pre-riding in but for good reason. My gradeschool best friend who moved to Calgary before Gr.3 and I haven't seen (we figure) in about 11 years was coming down for my friend (her cousin) Melanie's Wedding. I was so excited to get to see her again after sooo long. I was a little nervous though too, would we connect? Would we have enough to talk about? Well let me tell ya, I picked her up after work on the friday and we didnt' get to bed till 2am cause we couldn't stop talking or giggling. Felt awesome. It's sad how as you grow up you don't seem to laugh that "laugh till your sides and your cheeks ache laugh" like you did when you were younger. Why is that I wonder. Is it just the opportunity isn't there as much? Or you just don't seem to get as deep with those around you? Hmm, who knows. But it sure is great when you get too! The wedding was great and the weather was perfect for an end of September wedding. Melanie looked absolutely georgeous. The reception was tons of fun too. Funny thing is I was joking about the food and what was being served as well for those of you who ride a wee bit more serious know what you eat the night before a race is fairly important and can make quite a bit of difference in how you feel while riding. Mel told me to sign up for the Veggie dish as it was going to be pasta. I said perfect, I need my carbs...and I am sure I can sneak a piece of chicen somewhere. Well, let me tell you...everyone at my table was drooling over my meal and wishing they had the veggie dish as well :) Plus sneaking a piece of chicken was no problem as the food was passed around each table :) All right! lol. I was soooo stuffed. The only thing that was too bad was I didn't end up using my 2 free drink tickets as I just didn't want anything bringing me down (that and for some reason later on in the evening I wasn't feeling so hot :P), but still danced the night away. It was sooo hard to leave and go home cause we were having so much fun. But I finally found myself in bed about 12:45am.

We had another perfect weather day for the race. The track was beautiful. So dry, but not too dry that there was alot of dust. Definantly the best year out of the 3 that I have been apart of this race. I ended up in the 2nd wave this year (there were 1100 people out this year and they send the groups out in segments, 7 min apart). The last 2 times I had been in the 4th wave so all of a sudden I had a little less time to get ready...yikes! and would you believe my friend Derek who has never done a race, also ended up in my wave!! Crazy. Poor guy was a wee bit nervous at first, but let me tell ya, he biked a good one. In fact for the first 5km or so he was ahead of me!! Till he nicked a tree and then I passed him and left him to eat my dust ;) (Love ya Derek if you are reading this, hehe) My friends Mari and Dave were also in the 2nd wave as they were riding single speed bikes. Mari is smoking fast and has strength like no other...which became obvious when it was later realized she was the only female single speed rider!! First place for her :) Dave passed me a couple of km's into the ride and I was waiting for Mari to do the same, but it didn't happen for quite some time...well actually it didn't happen at all b/c at one point all of a sudden I heard her say "Hey Steph" behind me and I was like, I'm half way through this now there is no way I am letting her get by me now :) lol. She was an added push which I credited her for later, lol. She is such a motivator.

I wasn't sure how well I was doing at times but I was feeling so great so I started thinking, hmmm maybe I have a chance at podium again. I'm going to push it hard...no pain no gain. At one point I ended up hearing the people who were handing out banana's at the half way point yell out, "Hey it's a girl rider." I took that for not many others had come by yet, so I was feeling really good at this point. I definantly was feeling this ride as I never got off for any of the tricky spots this year and even made it up a few sharp super rocky spots that the boys weren't even doing :) There was a camera man at the top of that one saying "That's right you show them how it's done." What can I say, makes me smile :) Near the end with only a few km's left 2 girls ended up getting by me. I was like, noooo. What if they are in my category. I just got bumped. I have to catch them. So I went hard after them and twice I nearly went over my handlebars. The end part is very dug out with a bit of puddles and one that I went through in order to get by the one girl ended up being wayyyy deeper than I thought it would be. My bike clipped the side wrong and swung out sideways. I was like oh man I'm done, but somehow I managed to stay on 'er and kept on going, of course I had put a bit of distance again between me and those 2 riders.

Near the end I caught the one girl on the last bit and there is this last hill right before the finish and I was in such a hard gear as I had been pushing to get by her and I hadn't geared down fast enough but it was too late for that hill but with the adrenaline (and the crowd is there as well as my parents screaming and cheering :) ) the pain disappears and I went. Then I saw the other chick and thought I could catch her...would have too had there been about 1/4 of a km extra to go. Ah well in the end I ended up finding out that neither were in my category after all, lol. Ah well gave me a good time!

But the best part is...I did end up getting podium!! I finished 2nd in the Female 20-29 age category!! and I was only 3min behind first place. I came in at 1 hour 35 min. I had shaved another 20 min off my time from the previous year. There ended up being 27 females in my group and in total I was 19th out of 156 women (of all categories) and 362 out of 996 men and females (of all categories). Feeling sooo good!

I was soo proud of my friend Derek too. His first race and he came in only 7 min after me at a time of 1hour 43 min. You rock Derek! My friend Mari came in only 2 min after me for a time of 1 hour 37 min! She is fast! and remember that's on a single speed!!

There's another reason though I love this race. It's also St. Catharine's Wine and Grape festival!! So afterwards (as a cyclists you get a few free tokens) you get to go for yummy food and wine, mmmmm. So good :) After the food we waited around to get my medal and for prizes after. No big wins though :( but did manage to snag a bike pump thanks to Derek's long arms :)

Well sad to say, I have about hung up my mtn bike for the year (unless a few friends want to make a day of it on a weekend) and it's back to road riding on the weekend and spinning classes or the trainer during the week night. Can't wait for the first Freewheel Cycle group ride of the season already set for April 7th :) Yep I'm weird :) But I love my biking!