Friends

Ice Bucket Challenge

I finally did my Ice Bucket Challenge with the help of Jeff The Med Students and a few GoPros. Any disease that renders the body useless is worth fighting against. Check out http://www.alsbc.ca/.

Ice Bucket Challenge from Rebekah Ho on Vimeo.

Home

A skype call with JJ and SK – “Sometimes when you’re away and alone, you forget what community is like – what Jesus looks like in the midst of everything, and how important it is. But when you return, you will be overwhelmed and you will be filled again.”

Currently in the process of learning:

1. “You are enough. This was enough – no more, no less.”

2. How to receive when I do not feel ready to receive; when I feel guilty about receiving.

3. That intimacy and control are incompatible.

4. What to do when I ask for peace and am asked to trust in return.

5. How to thank a home that loves me deeply even when I am rarely around long enough to indent the soil around my doorstep.

6. How to say, “I love you,” without making it sound like an apology.

7. “You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” – Wild Geese, by Mary Oliver

I guess I have more photos than things I’m learning (haha, yeah right), so scroll on.

Portland Photo Set Part 2

After 7 hours in a cramped car (because Abraham decided to buy a television while we were in Oregon, so our new friend Samsung hung out with us in the back), we finally made it home last night! For our final day in Portland, we only had the best – the best coffee, the best doughnuts, and the best view in the Oregon coast. As we were driving down to Cannon Beach, everyone in the car had only one response: “Woah.” And it took everything within us to tear ourselves away from the beach and head home.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get much video footage this, because I was really sick for one of the days I was in Portland (I know, of all places to fall ill), but here’s one of the songs I was thinking about using for video I would have made:

I’m really glad the boys let me tag along for this road trip to the chillest city on earth. There is something about big cities that feel small that always get to me, and I’m 100% convinced that the west coast is the best coast. 2 weeks left in Vancouver, and then I’m off to a different kind of west coast!

COFFEE: heart roasters

DOUGHNUTS: Voodoo Doughnuts

Portland Photoset Part 1

i guess I have trouble keeping my feet still, so big surprise, I’m in Portland! We took a short stop in Seattle, and here are some pictures from the trip so far:

SOUTHERN RESTAURANT: Screen Door (GET THEIR FRIED CHICKEN!!!)

ICE CREAM: Salt & Straw (worth the wait, definitely get their Honey Lavender!)

Oregon Zoo

Food Carts

FOOD CART: Nong’s Khao Man Gai (who knew chicken and rice could taste so good!)

BOOK STORE: Powell’s City of Books (AN ENTIRE BLOCK FILLED WITH BOOKS!!!)

PUB/BREWERY: Deschutes Brewery Portland Public House (I usually don’t like IPAs, but their Belgian IPA is really good!)

To The Ones Who Come And Go

1. “I am giving this to you, because it embodies one of the most important things you have taught me. It’s a picture of one of the first times we were reunited again, but the polaroid didn’t turn out and I put it in my discarded pile of film. You have shown me that there is beauty in the darkest of places. That was true then, and it is still true now.”

2. Remember that no matter how many times you come and go, you take a piece of the True North with you in your heart. Point your compass straight always, and branch out so far that when God shakes your limbs, the entire world gets covered with cherry blossoms.

Kelly

Kelly and I were supposed to go to France together, but due to the circumstances, I had to defer my exchange. But the light that has come out of a disappointing situation is that I’ve had a significantly less stressful time planning for the big trip because of Kelly’s help. I was lucky to enough to shoot a few portraits for this lovely lady yesterday, and in-between head shots and strangers stopping her on the street to ask for her number (seriously, look at this beauty! HOLY), she would ask me, “What are you most afraid of?”, listen to my answers, and then assure me that the things I fear will change me for the better. It is rare to find people who make it clear to you that having fears is valid, but do not give fear validation.

Today, I am thankful for the ones who go before me, for they show me that the path is not as dark as it seems.

SQUAMISH VIDEO

Squamish Valley Music Festival from Rebekah Ho on Vimeo.

Squamish

There is something about tradition that rings true in the human heart and guides the soul. I am thankful for a tradition of driving up to Squamish, dancing till our knees can’t move anymore, and taking a dip on Murrin Lake the morning after. I am thankful for a tradition that celebrates Becca Koole’s birthday in a way that reflects her passions – her passion for her loved ones, for the rolling mountains and endless ocean, and for art in all forms. Who says tradition can’t be adventurous?