AND THEN I...

A Big Post and a Big HUman heart!!!

2007-01-28T00:39:00.000-03:00

This is Taryn and I in the middle of and Anatomy lecture last semester holding a really big human heart. The picture is too small and you can't really see it, but we really are holding a BIG heart! So here is a big heart and a big post! The events aren't in chronological order fyi!

A Year gone by, a year to come...

2007-01-28T00:24:00.000-03:00

A year is a way of organizing life. You can remember a particular year by certain events, feeling, lessons learned, challenges, and people who were apart of life for that particular year. 2006 for me was quite the year. It was the end and beginnings for many new things in my life. So you are probably wondering..."jenn...why the shoes?" Well, those of you who see me on a regular basis know that I often wear the silver ballet flats that my cousin Jill bought me for CHristmas. Last year she bought me the pair on the top. They travelled with me on many journeys including a new job at a local coffee store, second cup. there i made many great friendships that will continue, even though i am not working there as of this wednesday. I will never forget the Thursday morning men's coffee group who were diabetic, yet still brought chocolates to their group...and ended up giving most of them to me!My friends on staff, and many great customers who i now babysit their kids! It is great! There isn't any other way you could meet the variety of people than I did, other than working in a coffee shop! These shoes came with me in Ecuador when the high school went down to work at camp. They saw me through a dull time, and they definitely were the most reliable shoes working at Door of HOpe...easy to slide on, great to clean baby barf off, and they looked great with the same pair of lululemon's i wore everyday! They also were my after running shoes. After I ran the half marathons there really isn't a more comfy shoe than these ballet flats. In September we went to our first day of a new adventure that would be the beginning of a huge part of my life...my wedding!...haha, just kidding....wanted to make sure you were still reading!...no silly! My first day of nursing! These shoes are now in my room. They are worn to the ground and have a large hole in the right foot. For CHristmas this year, Jill bough me a BRAND NEW IDENTICAL PAIR!!! What more could I ask for then another year of trying to figure out what is going on in this life, who I am, what is happening, who God is, what I value, and growing with the people I love? As usual, I don't have any idea with this year has in store. But whatever I am doing, and whether I am wearing this new pair of ballet flats, I want to walk by faith! I am thankful to walk through this life with all of you...unless you are a stranger reading my blog, and then I don't know you!

2007-01-28T00:22:00.000-03:00

Thabo at Christmas time. Amber and Amber and Steph found me on facebook and now I can see pics of the babies at door of hope. this is Thabo...i don't know if you ever remember me telling you about him, but he is a "little person"...and well here he is at Christmas time!

CHristiane and I

2007-01-28T00:18:00.000-03:00

Christiane was home for a whole month! It went way too fast but it was so nice to have her home, a loyal friend still through the years....and of course whenever we reunite we have to take a trip to one of two places....peggy's cove, or malagash.....this time we went to Mali!

2007-01-28T00:17:00.000-03:00

wanna see what i ate for dinner?

2007-01-28T00:16:00.000-03:00

haha, yea squinty eyes!

Jo, please don't hurt me...

2007-01-28T00:15:00.001-03:00

as i upload this picture i am actually laughing out loud cause i am pretty sure she is going to ask me to take it off my blog...so get a look while you can folks!

2007-01-28T00:14:00.000-03:00

this is sheilagh and I....happy that she is back from travelling north america...literally

The birthday party group

2007-01-28T00:12:00.000-03:00

this picture isn't that good...we all look a little odd...or maybe just me it looks like my head is crooked and that I am going for some weird bangs!!

New Years Day Skate

2007-01-28T00:11:00.000-03:00

Every year our church has a new years day skate...it is pretty much the BEST way to start of the new year!!!!

2007-01-28T00:10:00.000-03:00

Yes! I am for sure still waking up....we all are it was a very late party that Jill and I had!!

The new Open Gate....

2007-01-28T00:07:00.000-03:00

is perfect for events like high school girls brunches on a Saturday morning. Sarah and I wanted to do something special and fun for all the girls in the high school youth group...now that God has given us this great facility, we can actually do things like this! GOtta plan for the sleepover....right Sarah?? This is us raising our glasses of orange juices before we chowed down!

2007-01-28T00:06:00.000-03:00

christine, me, emily, emma and alyssa

Our Gerbera Daises!

2007-01-28T00:05:00.000-03:00

2007-01-28T00:03:00.000-03:00

Sarah and I made fruity waffles...sarah made the waffles, and i cut up the fruit!!

Aren't pink M&M's so much better??

2007-01-28T00:01:00.000-03:00

ashley smith and I made these little "keep safes" if you will for the girlies to take home...they are a good reminder!

The first snow storm at Dal!!!!!!!

2007-01-28T00:00:00.000-03:00

"Taryn, can you take a picture of me in the snow for my myspace?"

Taryn and I at the Market

2007-01-27T23:58:00.000-03:00

One great thing about not working saturdays is being able to go to the market downtown hali. what do i get there that keeps me going back you ask??? home made peanut butter fudge!!!

Once Upon a Time...

2006-12-20T00:50:00.000-03:00

Once upon a time there was a family who decided that this year, they wanted a freshly cut CHristmas tree! It was already known that this would be an adventure, every Christmas movie that has a family cutting down a tree is always halarious. As you can see from the terrain, this family didn't find there perfect tree until they were many km's into the forrest, (or the Christmas tree farm!). They searched high and low, deep and wide, analyzing the trees, their colour, height, fullness, smell etc... It was almost as bad as going to the movie store to pick out a movie with 6 people. But then, uncle Joe and Daniel found the perfect tree. It smells great, is a perfect colour, and now full of our decorations we have acquired over the years! It is sitting right in our living room! I really actually can't believe that Christmas has come so soon! Now it is here and I can just enjoy the festivities, but this year I have been so reminded through songs and people of Jesus' birth. I know it sounds simple, but it makes me excited for heaven! During Christmas carols like O Holy night and what child is this and O Come all ye faithful I picture Jesus in the manger with Mary and Joseph, the shephards and wisemen all around him, and get excited for heaven when that will be us celebrating. (That is a random thought from my thoughts!). Merry Christmas!
jspen (that is my new nickname for myself)

2006-12-20T00:49:00.001-03:00

carrying the tree back to the car!

2006-12-20T00:49:00.000-03:00

"can we get one that is this wide?"

2006-12-20T00:48:00.000-03:00

2006-12-20T00:47:00.000-03:00

mom thinks this one will be easy for her to decorate because it is her height

2006-12-20T00:46:00.000-03:00

No Daniel, this one will not fit in the living room!

As if I didn't see that one coming Jill!

2006-12-20T00:45:00.000-03:00

2006-12-20T00:44:00.000-03:00

the moms...they weren't really dressed for this type of terrain

Jill Chillin

2006-12-20T00:40:00.000-03:00

The Christmas Kid Scene 1

2006-12-20T00:27:00.000-03:00

So, I am a 40 year old, slightly high strung, emotional business woman/wife/mother named Jessica Sheppard. As most of you know, my acting skills have been stretched in many different camp skits, agnes and ethyl (although I can't remember which one I was!), not to mention DVBS skits at camp. This was a definite stretch since I am in real life none of the above! Although the play fell in the middle of final exams, it was a definite encouragement to me in my life and in the lives of people watching it. This made the many moments of multi-tasking worth it, and again I am left feeling small that God would some how use a Christmas play to have the joy and love of his birth known in a real way. And for all of you who came I think there might be a sequel in the making but I can say no more!

2006-12-20T00:25:00.000-03:00

is that persons hair colour in the bottom left for real?

2006-12-20T00:22:00.000-03:00

Islay, CHristine, Andrea, Emily and me at the play!

The first needle...

2006-11-20T19:27:00.000-03:00

Actually, I mean my first flu shot...and no I did not give it, I received it! (But I had to say something to get your attention since I have been slacking in the blogging area of my life). Don't you worry though, by the end of 2006 I will have a very good one that has been brewing in my head for the last few month. I hope that when I am a nurse I can give everyone stickers with their bandaids because no matter how old I am, stickers make a needle feel better!

I knew Jer had a love for lululemon!

2006-11-20T19:22:00.000-03:00

The cousins's new Golden Retriever!!!!

2006-11-20T19:20:00.000-03:00

I took this one picture of this adorable dog, and then my battery died!! I would have taken a better one but I did not have anymore batteries, so sorry about the shadow!
P.S. For Christmas I would like one of these with a red collar as well

October High School retreat to PEI!

2006-11-20T19:19:00.000-03:00

I ate all of these....just kidding!

2006-11-20T19:17:00.000-03:00

The only time of the year for Candy Apples!

2006-11-20T19:16:00.000-03:00

This isn't a Halloween Costume People!

2006-10-27T15:01:00.000-03:00

My First Day!!!

2006-10-27T14:41:00.000-03:00

On Wednesday night I could barely fall asleep. I had felt a little nervous about going to the hospital the next day, but really I was just so excited. (kind of a nervous excited! :-) I was going to be job shadowing a nurse in the PACU. (which is people just as they come out of surgery). So, here I am in my scrubs before I went. I got there and found my nurse. If you had of told me two years ago that I would be looking at iv's, catheders, wounds, EKG's, smelling lots of hospitals, helping to check vitals, talking to people about their medical condidionts, looking at blood drain, and looking at a lady who just had a masectomy for breast cancer...I probably would have turned white and passed out on the floor! But nope, I some how have gotten over those fears and hear I am loving it. I loved the nurse I was with so much. She kept telling me how healthy I looked for a person for celiac disease (jill, you can insert your comment here....). I was there for the afternoon. When I walked out I smiled so big and said "I can't believe I just did that!" I couldn't wait to get home and tell mom and my family all about it. I still can't believe it, but I love it so much, it was so fascinating. I got to talk to lots of patients too which was neat. I told an old lady that had a hip replacement that she was going to be a great dancer. My grandma always liked to hear her hair looked nice so I told her. She needed an eye patch and as my nurse lady was putting it on she said to not take her eyebrows off...they were penciled in...haha. Anyways, I really have to go pack my bag for the weekend at the farm in PEI..... Here is a picture of me in my scrubs..notice my name tag....it says my name and school of nursing :-)

My month of October

2006-10-23T22:05:00.000-03:00

October is coming to a close. It is hard to believe. It feels like it is just going so so fast. Thankfully I am enjoying what I am doing. So here are some pictures to recap my month, since I have not been extremely faithful to the blog portion of my life, although the digital as made it on many occasions just for the day when I knew I would post them! So here are some pics of Ashley's Birthday, Peter Thamer's new open house, Thanksgiving weekend in Cape Breton, and most recently our half marathon in PEI. This week I am going to be going to go to the hospital for the first time in a post surgery unit. So, I got my first set of scrubs, which are blue! The typical nurse colour. I am sure there will be much to say! I have loved fall. It is starting to get cold. No matter what, I love the changing of seasons because it reminds me that there is always new. The changing of the seasons and what each season brings always reminds me of the seasons in our own lives, and that in the wintery months, God does things so that we can grow, and enjoy, and to have new experiences in Him.

Ashley's Birthday...It is Today!!!!

2006-10-23T22:03:00.000-03:00

For Sheilagh in Mexico

2006-10-23T22:02:00.000-03:00

This is the post for you Sheil. It is at Peter's new house party!

Cerys and Charlie!

2006-10-23T22:00:00.000-03:00

Uncle Al shot for you

2006-10-23T21:59:00.000-03:00

Peter's amazing Grand Piano Room

2006-10-23T21:54:00.000-03:00

Oh man! The acoustics in this room are incredible!

CHelsea, Jo and me

2006-10-23T21:52:00.000-03:00

well, I think the last picture of us together was about 4 years ago...so here is the new one!

Thanksgiving weekend!

2006-10-23T21:49:00.000-03:00

On Thanksgiving weekend our family went to our cottage in Cape Breton. We have never done this before, but when I was in SOuth Africa mom suggested it. I think it will become a tradition. It was so nice just to be able to sleep, and eat. I went for some good runs, the trees were gorgeous, and I brought the wrong textbook and couldn't study....oops!

2006-10-23T21:46:00.000-03:00

My professional photo shoot

I got a dog...

2006-10-23T21:45:00.000-03:00

um, just kiddin! That is a joke. This is our neighbour's!

Harvest Moon at our Cottage

2006-10-23T21:39:00.000-03:00

You can't really tell how full the moon is here, but just think this picture in your head, and magnify it by 100

Ashley and I after the race

2006-10-23T21:32:00.000-03:00

Well, we ran the race. Here is an after shot. The one below is before the race. It was kinda cold, but we were very excited....right ash?

2006-10-23T21:29:00.000-03:00

Half MArathon tales

2006-10-15T21:42:00.000-03:00

Well there aren't any pics yet, but I promise they will be soon to come. So, I decided to tell some tales of the half marathon today. Since the half marathon's in May I have only been running smaller distances. I registered for the 10km race in Prince Edward Island. However, last week I was running and decided I would switch to the half marathon and I did. I am so happy that I made that decision. I was uncertain about running it since I knew I hadn't really trained, but I showed myself up and ran it today with a 5:54km in a total of 2hours and 3 minutes...this is about the same amount of time I ran the Bluenose in. This was my favourite race ever. It was gorgeous and quaint. The race led us through some of Charlottetown's old historic homes, on the the confederation trails and then back downtown. I enjoyed it for many reasons. First, is Ashley and I ran it together. Having eachother to sing along to songs with and even dance at some points made it very fun. I also just realized again how much I just love running. I was thinking about it as I ran, how enjoyable and easier it is to do things we love. I began to think more about the gift and preciousness of life (which is one thing I learned from those babies in South Africa). Life is so much more enjoyable when we have the freedom to do things we love. Sometimes this takes overcoming fears and doubts, but as I was running my heart became filled with thankfulness and joy that God wants us to love what we do, whether running, nursing, ministry. or whatever it may be! It just encouraged me more not to do things out of duty or obligation, but because I love it. Anyways, it does make me laugh what you can think about while running. At about km 17 I was making up figure skating routines in my head to music from pride and prejudice....very random! So, it was a great run and a beautiful weekend...I guess something solidified to for me, that as long as I love running and am able, I'll keep doing it! OH ya, and Ian HOldway ran a very fast half as well...so make sure you give him a high 5 next time you see him!! Stay tuned for pics of the race as well as more pics from Thanksgiving in Cape Breton at the cottage and from Jen's wedding...they are coming when midterms finish on tuesday!!! see ya later!! Anyone wanna run the Bluenose half in May??????

Jen and AJ's wedding!!

2006-09-30T21:59:00.000-03:00

Awesome wedding! I will say more in a second!

2006-09-30T21:55:00.000-03:00

2006-09-30T21:52:00.000-03:00

....Before the dresses go on!

2006-09-30T21:51:00.000-03:00

2006-09-30T21:49:00.000-03:00

this is before we went over to Jen's to put on THE dresses!

Hair Time

2006-09-30T21:48:00.000-03:00

Chelsea did Naomi and my hair. Joanna was there too!

Gettin Ready...yes, it is true...I am wearing makeup

2006-09-30T21:45:00.000-03:00

pretty bride!

2006-09-30T21:39:00.000-03:00

Bachelorette P-A-R-T-Y!

2006-09-30T21:32:00.000-03:00

2006-09-30T21:29:00.000-03:00

our hike....it isn't sea kayaking (what it was supposed to be)..but still soooo fun!

2006-09-30T21:28:00.000-03:00

2006-09-30T21:26:00.000-03:00

My birthday party- annie erikson's fart gift was the hit of the party!! thanks annie!

my birthday cake

2006-09-30T21:23:00.000-03:00

gluten free and DQ!! = awesome!!

African Hair gone!

2006-09-13T18:34:00.000-03:00

Well, unfortunately, the hair is gone. It was a great experience that I will remember. The afro I had when it was all out was worth the work mom, Susan and I put into taking it out though!

2006-09-13T18:32:00.000-03:00

Hats!

2006-09-13T18:31:00.000-03:00

Some are ghetto, some are for cowgirls...and others are for...austrian men??

I am no longer African

2006-09-13T18:29:00.000-03:00

Another Adventure!

2006-09-08T22:59:00.000-03:00

A few days after I got back from Joburg, it was time for Sheil and I to head to Kelowna BC for our good friend Mandi's wedding. We had a layover in Edmonton where we saw CHristiane and Haven...unfortunately Lilee was working. The time we got to spend with Mandi was so great. It was such a happy time to celebrate her and Travis getting married. This was a very different time than in South Africa. There were very sad times there, but this time in BC was so so happy and full of so many different blessings and encouragements. As I sit here and listen to Joburg radio on my computer, I remember both trips and am so thankful for both and for how GOd used them both in so many different ways as an encouragement to me! Adventure #3....I started Nursing today!! My classes are microbiology, anatomy, physiolgy and foundations of nursing.....I AM SO EXCITED!!

2006-09-08T22:57:00.000-03:00

2006-09-08T22:56:00.000-03:00

Just takin a break from decorating!

2006-09-08T22:53:00.000-03:00

2006-09-08T22:51:00.000-03:00

2006-09-08T22:50:00.000-03:00

????????

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Ready for the Stagette party!

2006-09-08T22:45:00.000-03:00

One sweet boxer brief veil Mandi!

2006-09-08T22:43:00.000-03:00

Mandi and her Mom

2006-09-08T22:41:00.000-03:00

The Bouquet

2006-09-08T22:40:00.000-03:00

we went to the flower shop the day before just to check that all the flowers were what Mandi wanted.

2006-09-08T22:38:00.000-03:00

The giving for the Ladies

2006-09-08T22:36:00.000-03:00

anne of green gables for the bride

2006-09-08T22:35:00.000-03:00

at rehersal

Mandi at the rehersal

2006-09-08T22:33:00.000-03:00

Melissa- back from India

2006-09-08T22:31:00.000-03:00

at the rehersal dinner

The night before she's married

2006-09-08T22:29:00.000-03:00

We had a norah jones fondue night after the reception. It was a relaxing night for us, but Mandi was just too excited!

It's the Wedding Day!!!

2006-09-08T22:27:00.000-03:00

2006-09-08T22:26:00.000-03:00

This is when we sang and played during the signing of the registry. We played Son of GOd by Starfield. A huge blessing to be able to be a part of her wedding.

our guest book picture

2006-09-08T22:23:00.000-03:00

2006-09-08T22:22:00.000-03:00

After their photos

2006-09-08T22:20:00.000-03:00

I love it!

The cupcake table

2006-09-08T22:17:00.000-03:00

This was one of Sheilagh and I's job...to decorate the cupcakes and make em look pretty

Cutting the Cupcake

2006-09-08T22:14:00.000-03:00

So...I caught the bouquet...

2006-09-08T22:12:00.000-03:00

this is me reinacting when I caught mandi's bouquet....
Amber and I (her maid and honour) really actually had a struggle for who would catch it..

A cheezy joke wedding picture

2006-09-08T22:11:00.000-03:00

Sheilagh, Amber (Mandi;s sister) and me with some left over roses

2006-09-08T22:07:00.000-03:00

Isn't the background incredible....I love BC

Door of Hope!

2006-08-28T10:04:00.000-03:00

Here are a ton of pics, and some of an update!

I hope you like looking at these kids as much as I did. It is weird to think that this is just an experience now that I am home- but the truth is, it will never just be an experience, but instead, part of me. I learned so much here- things I never would have expected. But, mostly I learned to love in a capacity that is greater than human love, which can only come from above.

I am off to British Columbia tomorrow with Sheilagh for Mandi's wedding! It is a good thing I have lots to look forward to, otherwise I might have accidently missed my flight home....

Tisetso in his incubator at the hospital

2006-08-28T10:02:00.000-03:00

2006-08-28T10:01:00.000-03:00

This is at Berea Baptist Church. This is the church that started Door of HOpe back in 1999. They dedicate the children to the Lord, and here is one Sunday of doing that.

2006-08-28T09:58:00.000-03:00

This is Kyle. I called him little man because his facial expression often ressemble those of an old man!