05.24.13

blogging break // take one

Two months ago I came across a post about blog breaks. At the time of reading it I figured I would implement blog breaks every seven weeks at some time but didn’t know when.

Now is that time.

I started this blog about a year and a half ago intending it to be a blog about how God has been working in my life, sharing ways to advocate for the orphan, and sharing about our adoption. Now that it has been a month since the fall-out of our adoption I think this is a good time to do some regrouping. I’m going to take some time to figure out what I want this space to be and praying that God will use the words that I write here to bless others.

I don’t plan on doing a full on media fast for the week but that might come up in the future.

I would love it if you would keep me in your prayers over the next week, and would love to know how I can pray for you -just leave a comment here or send me an email (chantelklassen@gmail.com) and I’ll be praying!

Have a great week!

with love,
Chantel

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05.23.13

currently {may edition}

making a chevron quilt! I’m getting a quick start on my twenty-seven things

loving my fair trade bracelets Jared got me for my birthday

planning a blog break for next week, I’m looking forward to having these every seven weeks

watching old episodes of Parks and Rec

hoping I don’t get too fat from all this birthday candy I’ve been eating

praying for direction and confirmation

noticing the land is finally turning green

wanting to have a good chat with a friend

enjoying regular exercise for the first time ever

listening to the silence – it’s nap time:)

celebrating birthdays! Jared’s is next week!

pinning things to a secret board, a board filled with dreams

What are you currently up to?

with love,
Chantel

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Natalie - OooO! I can’t wait to see the finished quilt =)May 24, 2013 – 7:16 pm

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05.21.13

twenty-seven things

Well, today marks the anniversary of my entrance into this world twenty-seven years ago so I figured what better way to celebrate than to share with you the things I hope to accomplish this year.

My twenty-seven things:

  1. travel to Africa again or a new country – God and some friends have been putting some crazy dreams on my heart and in my head
  2. do 27 of my Pinterest pins – I’m thinking this will be pretty easy
  3. take a blog rest every seven weeks
  4. send some happy mail each month - if you want some happy mail delivered to you, just send me your address!!
  5. keep dreaming
  6. buy fair trade more often
  7. buy ten house plants and keep five alive – this might not seem like an accomplishment to some but it sure would be for me!!
  8. make blessing bags to keep in the van and giveaway when needed
  9. make some lunches to take downtown and give away - I’m thinking I should include some banana muffins
  10. tutor some elementary students
  11. make forts with Raeca
  12. teach Rae preschool
  13. sew a quilt
  14. start or get involved in a social enterprise
  15. go on a weekend getaway with Jared
  16. sew an article of clothing for myself – one that I actually like
  17. create a reading corner in Raeca’s room
  18. do a month of crossfit
  19. “run” 10K – at one time, without dying
  20. go on a picnic with my little family
  21. photograph each of my grandparents, and Jared’s grandpa too - my grandmas are both very camera shy, this is going to be a hard one
  22. continuing writing monthly letters to Raeca - it’s my goal to get them made into a photo book once she turns five
  23. meet an online friend - there have been so many women of action that I’ve met online and I know if I get to meet one of them, chances are it will be in a foreign land
  24. take risks
  25. get back into my morning prayer routine
  26. pray for the entire world - via Operation World
  27. teach an art class

Here is one of my Pinterest DIY’s from this weekend. Jared helped by cutting most of it out. I hope to take some better photos of it yet to share:

with love,
Chantel

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Marie - Happy Birthday! Praying the next year will be filled with so much more than you ever dreamed of. Love your list!May 21, 2013 – 2:29 pm

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Joanna Rist - We need to spend some time in Uganda together! :) May 22, 2013 – 12:12 am

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alison - happy birthday, lady!! hope you had a wonderful day.
love the new list!! wish you could cross off #1 and 23 before july:) ha! so excited to see all the DIY projects:) maybe i should add that to my list!May 22, 2013 – 6:18 am

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Amelia - Happy birthday! Hope you had a great day! Love this list–I’m totally going to copy the blessing bag, blog rest and even the birthday list idea. Also, I don’t know if you’ve heard but there are some awesome people mobilizing 10,000 Canadians to pray through Operation world (http://www.operationworld.ca/). If you’re praying through it, it’d be a huge encouragement if you signed up as one of the 10,000!

:-D May 23, 2013 – 12:39 pm

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05.14.13

26 things before 27 // final update

So my birthday is coming up next week . . . it has really felt like I’ve been 27 for the last year, so at least I don’t need to adjust this year!

My 26th year definitely didn’t go at all like I had planned. But we all know that our plans aren’t necessarily God’s plans. Here is what I had on my list for my 26th year:

  1. get our referral - well, that sure changed, didn’t it?
  2. read 10 books – according to my Goodreads I’ve read something like 24 and I know I forgot to put some of them in there.
  3. travel somewhere new - we went to Salmon Arm, BC, I’d be there before but we also checked out the Bible School my brother was attending, and I had never been there before.
  4. start a missional living community or maybe just start living missional myself - I’d say this is a work in progress
  5. start or join an orphan ministry - Once Was Lost
  6. learn to wrap pretty gifts- well, I learned how but didn’t really always do it
  7. help someone begin the adoption process - I’ve answered many questions over the course of the year
  8. photograph my everyday life - thank you iPhone and Instagram for this one
  9. dare to dream - definitely dreaming some big dreams
  10. bake a cake from scratch - didn’t even try
  11. watch a play - nope
  12. learn a new art form - learnt how to screen print
  13. become a mentor
  14. find a mentor – yes, I’ve got a few! Though I would almost call them inspirers instead
  15. develop the rolls of film I have sitting in my desk drawer – I just trashed them instead
  16. go thrifting with a friend - with my Mom!
  17. have a picnic - yes
  18. get our fence built - huge thanks to my father-in-law and my brother
  19. say “no” more – yes!
  20. help my grandma organize her photos - no, but I offered and she doesn’t want them organized any more so I’m counting that as done
  21. create 2010, 2011 and 2012 photo books - yes, I went with Blurb, love the how they turned out!
  22. potty train Raeca - done
  23. go on a date with Jared (one that doesn’t involve grocery shopping) - yup!
  24. complete some of the DIY projects on my list - a few
  25. give a presentation on our trip to Uganda - done!
  26. learn some French (it is the official language of the DRC) - had a few words down, but now I don’t really need to know it, but if you ever find yourself in a French country and need some butter or a pen, give me a call, I know those words.

Wow, 21/26 completed?! That’s more than I expected! Now it’s time to start on my list for 27!!! (I love making lists . . .) Any suggestions for items to add? You can bet that returning to Africa will be on there!

For those of you that have annual lists for yourself, how are they going? My friend Alison has an awesome list with all these crazy adventures -and she’s been able to do most of them!

with love,
Chantel

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Katie Cook - THIS is amazing:) Nice work Chantel!!! I’m actually quite inspired by this list…I might have to make one for myself:)May 19, 2013 – 10:00 am

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05.11.13

first shoe cutting party

Yikes, so I definitely didn’t get this up as early as I originally planned but better late than never!

Three weeks ago I held my first shoe cutting party for Sole Hope. You can get a lot more info off of their site but in a nutshell here is how it works: you get a bunch of people together to trace and cut out fabric for shoes, you ship it to Sole Hope and from there they get it to Uganda where they employ locals to make the shoes and then they give these very shoes to kids in need. So you are helping give someone a job as well as protecting the feet of children from many foot diseases. Win win!

The night of the party I had 13 ladies come out (14 if you include me). I had no expectations for the party because I really had no idea what to expect but that night we were able to trace and cut enough for 50 pairs of shoes! If I would have had a goal I think it would have been less than that.

We did have more material traced so I, my Mom and my brother (who was recovering from getting his FIVE wisdom teeth removed) spent some time cutting out the rest of the material and ended up with an additional 20 pairs -making a grand total of 70 pairs of shoes!

If you are planning on having a shoe party here are some tips:

  • make sure to read through the package ahead of time
  • start finding and saving material and milk jugs for a few weeks before, I also put out on Facebook asking if anyone had some empty milk jugs
  • don’t expect to do a whole lot of cutting/tracing yourself, for the first while I was just making sure everyone had chairs and the materials needed to do their jobs, then I was getting the snack ready . . . it wasn’t until at least an hour in that I was really able to sit down and start cutting and tracing
  • pinking shears are hard to come by, we didn’t have enough and ran behind on cutting some of the material, definitely ask other people for extras

Here are some of the photos I got from the party:

If you live locally and weren’t able to make it, my Mom and I are setting up a Shoe Cutting party at our church on Tuesday, May 28th. Let me know if you want more details!

with love,
Chantel

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cate @ wild ruffle - Oh – I am sooo doing this with friends! What a fabulous idea.May 11, 2013 – 2:14 pm

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Chantel Reply:
May 12th, 2013 at 1:30 pm

Yes Cate, you must do it! I just love Sole Hope’s mission!

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Janice Willis - What a blessing these will be ~ and a fun evening it with loved ones creating!!! Wow ~ 13 others willing to help is such a blessing!!!
(Your home is so lovely also by the way ;) May 12, 2013 – 7:13 am

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Chantel Reply:
May 12th, 2013 at 1:31 pm

Thanks Janice, it really was a great evening!

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