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Friday, April 11, 2008

Award Winner!



Last night, we had our annual awards night for the Tourism and Hospitality Division of Fanshawe College... and I won an award!

Of course my dad came to the ceremony, with my sister, Linda, and her husband, Chris. It was a great night with a really great reception at the end... man, I love food! :o)
My dad took this last picture of what was on the screen when they called my name and I went up for the award.
The award I won is given to "the student who has gone over and beyond, to meet the requirements of their classes. Someone who has demonstrated eagerness and passion for learning their skills and with time and dedication has the potential to become a great chef."

Another Birthday Picture


I found this picture somewhere so I thought I'd post it, even though it's kindof out of order (my birthday was actually in January).
Yes, that's a boson cream pie with strawberries on top - YUMMY!!! lol

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Dad's and Ian's Birthday Party


Since my dad and my brother have their birthdays only four days apart, and right around Easter weekend, we decided to have a combined suprise birthday party for them.

It was loads of fun, and were they ever suprised! lol
The above photo is of me with my sisters, my brother and my dad.

Dad and Ian loved their cake!





... and we all loved the food!




24th Birthday Party

Although my birthday is actually in January, things were kinda crazy around then, so some of my friends from school held a fondue birthday party for me in February!

It was loads of fun! We had cheese fondue, broth fondue and chocolate fondue, with our cake for dessert. Needless to say, we all had quite a feast! lol


I love blowing out candles! :o)


Mom's Gone to be with Jesus

It was very sudden, but on January 7, 2008... her heart stopped and Mom went to be with Jesus.

The following is a copy of the eulogy I gave at her funeral:


What can I say about our mom? How do I condense 57 years of a person’s life into just a few short minutes? How do I accurately portray the woman she was, to so many people who have been touched by her life? These are some of the questions that ran through my mind when I was asked to speak to you today.

I stand before you now, on behalf of my family, to share with you some memories in celebration of the life of our mother, Heather Ramsay, or as many of you know her… Madame Ramsay.
1 Corinthians 9:24 says, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”

I chose to share this verse with you because I believe it sums up the way my mom lived her life. When I think of her, I remember how she was always running. Everyone who knew her, knew she couldn’t sit still for more than a second. It didn’t matter if she was at school, church, home or the grocery store… she didn’t walk… she ran - but she always ran toward something - never from anything. She faced every situation head-on, with a strength that can only come from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Mom lived for Jesus. She made Him her focus each day. She began her day by reading her Bible and praying through her lengthy prayer list. Her place at the dinner table was always crowded with her Bible, daily devotional, and of course, her prayer list.

I have never known another woman who prayed so faithfully for so many people. I know there are many of us in this room today, who have received a note or card of encouragement from our mom. It never mattered how busy she was, she always made the time to write a short note to let someone know that she was praying for them - and it made a difference because she was praying. Sometimes, it was those words of encouragement and those prayers that got us through a difficult situation. She was a second mom to many people and a faithful and loyal friend to so many more. She always had an ear to listen and never hesitated to go the extra mile for someone in need.

I remember a time when I was in the car with mom, and we got a flat tire. It was late at night and all the gas stations were closed, but when we pulled in to one of them, we were so blessed that one of the workers at the gas station was still there and was willing to change our tire for us. It was pouring rain and he was finished his shift and not obligated to help us, but he did anyway. Mom was so grateful for his help that she returned a few days later with a hand-made baby blanket for his wife, who was expecting and she even wrote a letter of gratitude to his boss, who ended up giving him a raise as a result. Of course, mom also gave the man a nice card, and shared the love of Jesus with him.

This is the way mom was. She shared the love of Jesus with everyone, wherever she went, but her faith was much more than just words. She lived her life to glorify God. She was a woman of integrity who lived what she preached. She had experienced the overwhelming joy and peace that comes from a heart surrendered to Christ, and she wanted nothing more than for everyone else to experience the same.

She was many things to many people, and both an inspiration and encouragement to all who knew her. She endured a lot of difficulties in her life, but she didn’t give in to self-pity. She chose to focus on her blessings and to thank God for all He had done for her. She trusted in Him for strength. She chose to live a life full of joy and I know we can all testify to her exuberant energy.
There were many things about mom’s life that were very predictable. She was sure to capture every event on camera - whether you were ready for it or not, her car went in the ditch almost every winter, and she always got lost when driving to a new place. Many times, someone would mention a small town in Ontario, and mom would say, “Oh, I know where that is…. I got lost there once!”

I’m told that several years ago, when mom was driving somewhere down south in the states, she was pulled over by a very irritated police officer. When the officer asked her why she hadn’t pulled over immediately when he flashed his lights behind her, and why she had waited until his sirens were blaring, before she pulled over… mom replied with tears in her eyes, “I’m very sorry officer. I thought it was a snow plough behind me. In Canada, only snow ploughs have flashing blue lights.”

Of course, the story of mom’s life would not be complete without mentioning her love for children. She poured a large part of her life into the children at the AWANA program at Forest Baptist Church and also into her students at Temple Christian Academy, where she taught French for almost ten years. I think her favourite days were the ones with dress-up themes, and she would literally buy items for her costume months in advance and look forward to the ’special day’ when she could wear them to school.

Separation is something that is always difficult to accept and even harder to deal with, but we are so comforted to know that our mom is not only at peace, but that she is in the loving arms of our Lord Jesus. One of my nephews says that in his mind, Nana’s always had a free pass to Heaven. He says it’s like she had a swipe card, so that when she died, she’d just swipe her card and the gates of Heaven would open to receive her. I suppose that’s what salvation is. Yes, it’s admittance into Heaven, but as mom so clearly understood… Salvation is so much more than just ‘fire insurance.’ It’s about receiving Christ’s forgiveness for our sins and making a decision every day to live for Jesus, instead of ourselves. It’s about enjoying a relationship with Him.

Mom believed this and lived it out in her actions. It is so rare to meet someone who has been so faithful to God for so many years, and we are so honoured to say that we are her family and so grateful that we have had the opportunity to spend so many years learning from her example.
It is our prayer that her legacy will live on in us as we strive to grow deeper in our relationships with Jesus Christ as we reach out to those around us in love. Thank you.

Family Christmas 2008


We had our family Christmas at my sister, Rachele's house, this year. As usual it was loads of fun, with loads of food!
This is me with my four sisters: Tania, Heidi, Linda and Rachele.

Dad put on his santa hat and gave out presents to all the kids.
It's always fun watching them open their presents! Kids always have such excitement!!! lol



Even the older kids enjoyed all the presents....



Of course, Mom and Dad were so proud to have our family together for Christmas. I really missed them all when I was in Haiti last year; it was really good to be able to celebrate with them this year!



Cooking with Friends


Here are a few pictures of me and my friends in our labs. This is me with Nancy. We've been lab partners for most of the year.

Of course, we all know that whenever we cook, there's always lots of dishes involved! Unfortunately, we don't have people who wash our dishes for us, so we all get to wash our own dishes....

This is Lily and Melissa, having a good time in the kitchen.


Me and Michelle are good buds.







Lots of food! :o)


Throughout the year, we've made lots of different kinds of food. I've learned so much and yet there's still so much to learn!


Here's just a sample of some of the things we've made so far....











Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Cooking up a storm in College

School is well under way and I am thoroughly enjoying my program in Chef Training. I love learning all about food and having the chance to even cook and bake in our labs each week.

Every week, we are shown a demo, where our chef demonstrates the methods for a specific recipe. We are only given the ingredients for the recipe and so we have to watch closely and take detailed notes and then we have to make the recipe in our appropriate lab each week.

We have both a bake demo and lab, as well as a food demo and lab each week. It's really great cuz we get to keep all the food we make.
I ended up joining the fitness center at school. I had to start running again.... there's so much food in this program! lol


Thursday, September 20, 2007

Cooking Together Builds Friendships

Working at Forest Cliff Camp, last summer, was a lot of work, but it was also a really great time in the kitchen.
I made a lot of new friends and was also able to build on old friendships.




This is me with my co-worker, Rachel. She was the food services manager last summer, so we worked tightly together, in the kitchen. As you can see in this picture, we became quite good friends!

Always be Proud of your Work!











Summer Fun


I guess you can never really have too much fun in the kitchen!













These pictures are of kitchen crew jamming to some tunes.















This is nighthawk with our famous chocolate chip cookie squares.


















Of course, China and Halo are very proud of their cookie squares too!


Friday, July 13, 2007

Week Two Cooks

I thought I'd post a picture of my cooks from the Forest Cliff Camp kitchen, week two. We had a lot of fun in the kitchen this week... you never really knew what was going to happen next!

Thank you for praying for those of us in the kitchen this week. It's a lot of work and it was really hot in there this past week, and I praise God for His protection and for keeping us all hydrated and safe. Please continue to pray for me and everything that goes on in the kitchen and at camp this summer. God is doing great and wonderful things!
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Dinner Time!

This year, at Forest Cliff Camp, we have a brand new dining complex. The dining room is built to comfortably seat 300 people, but I'm sure we could easily fit more than that in there. It's about three times the size of our old dining hall and the new kitchen is definitely way bigger than the old one too!

Meal times are always full of activity, but so far everything's gone smoothly and the kids are getting fed. I've had fun making all the old camp food again, and of course, I especially enjoy making the desserts!
Speaking of dessert, who needs a spoon?

They're Out!

After almost four weeks, I decided it was time to take my extensions out of my hair. Since it had taken so long to get them in, I decided to have the kitchen crew kids from camp help me get them out. Of course they were more than happy to help me with this, and as I sat on a chair, nine of them surrounded me, each with a braid as they unraveled my hair. It was good teamwork, and we all had a lot of fun talking and bonding in our circle of friends!

Tuesday, July 10, 2007


Week two is already promising to be a lot of fun. The kitchen crew kids sure do like eating all the chocolate pudding out of the big mixing bowl!
This is a picture of CrabMan licking the bowl.
We all have camp names, here at camp.... so no, CrabMan is not his real name.....

Tomorrow is cinnamon bun breakfast... always a favorite around here. :o)
This is a picture of me with my parents and my brother, Ian. I had them help me get the cinnamon buns onto the trays, so they could stay in the fridge overnight.
Maybe if you come out to camp, you can help me prepare cinnamon buns in the kitchen! lol!

Camp - Week One

Week one of Forest Cliff Camp was a blurr of activity. We have a new kitchen and dining hall this year, so it's been a lot of fun getting adjusted to my new surroundings. I'm praising God for our new ovens and even a convection oven! Yay! Now a lot of our baking times are cut in half, which is good cuz our numbers have almost doubled this year. We're no longer cooking for 250 people, but for 325.

Anyways, we had an amazing time in the kitchen last week. It was a lot of work to get it all started, but once we got going, everything just rolled along! Praise God for safety and for lots of physical strength! We couldn't have done it without Him!

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Gade 8 Graduation


Last night, my nephew, Ryan, graduated from grade eight at Queen Elizabeth School in Sarnia. It's hard to believe that I now have seven nephews and nieces in high school. Man, am I ever getting old!
I was really proud of Ryan last night. He's worked really hard to get good grades and still be involved in athletics. He even received the male athlete's award.
Way to Go Ryan!!!

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Family B-B-Q

Yesterday, we had a family B-B-Q at my sister, Tania's house and it was loads of fun! The three youngest kids enjoyed jumping on the trampoline....
Tania's husband, Ken, made amazing hamburgers on the B-B-Q....
Everyone LOVED the food...
especially dad!

It was a really great day to spend time together as a family. All my sisters kids have grown so much, in the past eight months I was away. It was so good to see everyone again and to share all my stories and pictures from Haiti.

It was really hard to say good-bye to everyone down in Haiti, but I'm so greatful that God has given me such an amazing family to come home to!
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