Saw a good movie JUDAS

Hi All,
Since I got a DVD player for Christmas, from Don, my Mom's boyfriend...I have been watching A LOT of DVD movies. One of them is a movie called JUDAS, about the life of JUDAS, the disciple that betrayed Jesus. It's a really wonderful movie! I enjoyed it, although I must admit that I cried during that one too. Although not as much as THE PASSION. I cried, and cried and cried thru that one. THAT movie is VERY, VERY Powerful! A true and meaningful experience.

Cameron

Question for you!

Hi All,
If you guys could have 6 people to have over for dinner...living or dead, who would it be...???

For me, it would be...

KAREN CARPENTER(stop snickering! You knew I would choose her naturally of course!)

SANDI PATTY(what an awesome lady/singer/person she is!!)

MARY(mother of Jesus)...how awesome would that be to talk to her and ask her questions...

TINA KLAASSEN my adopted mother's mother. I always wondered what she was like.

Fern Klaassen(my mother)...she would have loved to have seen her mother again, as well as all the people I have mentionned)

Florence Parenteau-my birth mother...It would be neat to meet and see her again...last time I saw her was 1978...I was 6.

Cameron

YOU SET ME FREE-song

HI All,
I am now listening to another great song...YOU SET ME FREE sung by Sandi Patty, the Gospel songbird. A gorgeous song full of such meaning. What an artist and woman she is!! I cannot wait to get her new book...BROKEN ON THE BACK ROW. I believe it comes out in Feb 2005. That woman has come thru a lot...and she has such an amazing gift, as well as an amazing testimony. I guess, we all do. Yes, Susan and Rich! We ALL DO have a testimony(wink wink!)...can't wait to see you!!

Cameron

ABOVE ALL-song...

Hi All,
I am listening to this extremely beautiful song sung by Christian Recording artist Michael W. Smith. It is titled ABOVE ALL. I remember when I first heard this song, I wept. It's a very moving song. Of the Sacrifice that Jesus Christ gave to all of us... I can't add too much more, except to say, EVERYTIME I listen to this song, it moves me.

Cameron

Being of Mennonite background...

Hi all,
Well, in the last little while, I have been on my MENNONITE kick! I love to read anything about the Mennonites, and am fascinated with their history. I think what fascinates and captures my interest, is their desire and belief in their faith, despite persecution and death. My great, great, great grandfather was named DAVID KLASSEN, and he, I believe was one that came from Russia in the early 1870's to explore Canada and the US, to scope out the land for groups of arriving Mennonites. Supposedly there is a famous picture of David Klassen and his family and a group of the Mennonites arriving in Manitoba in 1874, but I have yet to see it.
I guess I must add something. For those of you, who know me, know that I was adopted at age 6 into Fern and Tony Longo's home. My adopted mother Fern was a Klaassen, and she grew up learning low German and high German, on their Beaver Flat, Saskatchewan farm. Around that area, were tons of Mennonites, and so she grew up, with that Mennonite structure. As for me, even though I am adopted, I still hold on to the fact that I am still a (adopted) Mennonite descendant. A lot of their belief systems, I hold to.
I still remember my grandfather Daniel W. Klaassen. I will post a picture of me meeting him in 1979, in the near future. He passed away about a year later, and we sang at his funeral, Gott ist Dieliebe.(God Is Love). I always wish I had met his wife, my mother's mother, Katie(nee Klassen) Klaassen. But she passed away at the young age of 42, leaving behind 6 children, and my mother was only 11. It was difficult for the entire family. Sometimes I wonder, what would have happened, had she lived. But then, maybe I would never have been adopted.

My thoughts,
Cameron

Hi All,
Well, in just a few short weeks, I will be ending my stay in Canmore, Alberta to head to Saskatchewan for about 5-8 weeks, just to relax basically. Plus, there are some things I must do. Like head to Manitoba to speak to some relatives about trying to get my treaty status. See, I was adopted, so I did not grow up with these relations, and do not know a lot about my past. But in the last year, I have worked a lot on trying to obtain family history...my father, Clifford Parenteau(his parents are Johnny Genaille and Margaret Parenteau, his grandparents...Abel Genaille and Mary Ann Nepinek, Alphonse Parenteau and Veronique Chartrand) and my mother, Florence Chartrand(her parents Johnny Catcheway and Ida Houle-Chartrand and her grandparents... Guspar Catcheway and Eliza Bouchie and Edwin Houle and Ellen Gabriel). So at least, I finally know that. And most of those people are treaty.
When my birth mother was born in 1954, my grandmother Ida Houle married a Chartrand. He was not the birth father of my mother Florence and her twin Rose Chartrand. But he took them as his own, even though he knew that their biological father was Johnny Catcheway. So when the time came for documenting the birth certificates, he was named as the father...the Chartrand fellow. Which is where it screwed everything up. My grandmother Ida was a treaty Indian from the Waterhen Band. But she lost her treaty because she married a non treaty Indian, _____Chartrand. So my mother and her twin, were not given their treaty. Which means, any of their kids are not eligible for treaty.
But with Bill C-31 in 1985, my grandmother Ida would have been reinstated. But she was deceased in 1973. And my mother died in 1987, would have been reinstated. And my maternal grandfather Johnny Catcheway who died in 1963 was Treaty. But we have no proof, physical documentation to prove I am from his bloodline. Although, the entire family knew, that my mother and aunt were indeed HIS daughters. So I have to go to Manitoba to get them to sign legal documents, that my mother was indeed HIS daughter. And that means trying to track it down. This has been a harrowing, long 14 year journey to try and get my treaty status. So we will see what happens with this. If not, I may have to get DNA testing to prove I am from the Catcheway descendancy.
But other than that, I can't wait to go back to Regina and see lots of my friends, plus a Regina LIVE IN is coming up...weekend of Feb 4th(which is also the date that, 22 years ago songbird Karen Carpenter passed away at the young age of 32)...I HAD to add that one!!

Hugs to all,
Cameron

Happy New Year to all of you!

Hi Friends and Family,
Hope your holidays were magical, and special! Mine were, but I don't need to elaborate. Just read my previous post and you will know why.
I didn't go out for New Year's Eve. Too tired from working two jobs. One at the hotel during the day, and one at Movie Gallery for the evening. Luckily, I quit my evening job as my back was starting to hurt from being on my feet for about 13 hours a day plus. Now that I have quit, my back is much better. I was actually in bed by about 10:30 pm and fell asleep promptly. Although the next day was a killer at work, lots of clean up to do. But at least we get paid time and a half. So I guess, I should not complain. I don't mind working in Housekeeping. It's a busy job, and like they say(although who THEY are, I don't know), someone's gotta do it. But some days it just gets too tiring, and repetitive.
Everyone seems to have New Year's Resolutions. I am no exception to that, as well. So here is a list of my Resolutions...

Get a cell phone(oh...Got that Yesterday!)
Travel to Europe in the Summer to Netherlands, Germany, England, Austria, France...
Get my Treaty Status(still busy working on that...a complicated process to say the least)
Go to University(if I get my Treaty Status)
Get my book ONLY YESTERDAY published somehow, somewhere
Re-learn to play guitar so I can sing and play guitar simultaneously
Possibly take voice lessons


That's about it. All I can think of. Well, I am wishing and praying for all my friends and family that you will be blessed with all the good things in life and love.

Cameron

Christmas was a blessing this year!

Hi All,
Well, I just want to wish all of you, my friends, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year! Wish you were all here! Or wish I were there, with all of you, wherever you are.
Christmas for me, was indeed a blessing. How blessed I am. I really feel that way. You know what is funny, is that, even if I hadn't gotten any presents I would have been blessed to have my family here with me in Canmore, Alberta. That is so true. They came after 2 pm on Christmas eve. I had just gotten out of the shower, changed and groomed myself(which means, basically, I combed my hair and gelled it), when I heard a light knock at the door. I peeked thru the peekhole, and saw my Auntie Marcia. So I opened the door and greeted her with a hug. She said they came in 2 vehicles and Mom should be here any minute. So I got my jacket and went out to her car, where sleeping beauty lay, my sister Corina...actually her name is Cori, but Mom always calls her Corina...and I kinda like that name too...actually I adore Cornelia for her...no really! i think Cornelia is a BEAUTIFUL name...really, I do ( Corrie Ten Boom's full name was Cornelia Arnolda Ten Boom...the famous author of THE HIDING PLACE book and movie, in case any of you don't know)...anyways, I am getting sidetracked. Gimme a minute so I can re-read, what I just wrote. Geez, doesn't it feel like I am in the room with you, the way my thought process works out, rambling out this and that, and eventually connecting to what my origional thought was...or 6 degrees of seperation from the Carpenters. Ahh, you know I was going to mention them...just wondering when and where. Now you know! At any rate(as Father Kubash always says, for those of you who know or don't know him, he ALWAYS says that, no disrespect to him)...where was I? Hmmmm... oh yeah! Cori was sleeping but then woke up and smiled sleepily when she saw me. Then she got up. By then we went back into the hotel, and Mom was just pulling in...so I went outside to give her a hug. A big hug! She looked great and beautiful as always. No really! She does!! She could wear rags and look good! I couldn't. Rags don't suit me, like they used to...(my pre adoption days...anyhow)...saw my brother Sachie...actually it's Sachia, but sometimes I like to call him my Sachie, or Yashie. Hugged him. Hugged my tall cousin David. My middle name is David. Don't know why I added that. But I remember as a child, having the choice to choose David or Michael as a middle name. I chose David, because I thought King David, was kinda cool. Well, he WAS! Anyways, the family came in and we lugged in about 3 or 4 carts/bins of stuff. I was a bit surprised. Actually not really. I know when Mom packs, she can pack a lot in a small space. She brought a lot of food and lots of snacks as well. Plus she brought lots of gifts. I wasn't going to argue with that.
She came up into room 335 and 337, adjoining rooms. She liked some of the stuff I had done to make the room look nice and hospitable. We filled the room up. Corina put up the Christmas tree(collapsable of course, any other way would be pure folly)...I had to use that word FOLLY...I just love it...for those of you who don't know...FOLLY is another word for foolishness. There is NOTHING wrong if you don't know that word. At any rate(there I go again)...uh...(cam is collecting his thoughts...his many, jumbled thoughts)...we put the presents around the tree. Then we held hands, surrounded the tree and sang. Just kidding, that was from the cartoon, the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, but I thought that was kinda neat, almost inspiring...
Then we turned on the tv and watched some stuff. I chatted with Mom about work and stuff. We discussed some of the presents I had got for the others, when they weren't in the room...etc. Then everyone kinda wanted a nap, so we all slept for a bit. Then got up to eat. Then around 7 pm, Mom, Corina, Auntie Marcia and me headed to the United Church for the Candelight Service. Lovely and inspiring. Came home with some Oriental soup and rice. Had a meal. Then I got to open one of my presents, after begging Mom...well I wouldn't call it begging...I just said, "Mom, could I please open just ONE present tonight?"...so I got to. It was a DVD player from Don, her boyfriend. He was to have been with us, but had to stay back in Edmonton and work. Well he was with us in spirit. I was shocked to get such a nice gift. And blessed! Thanks Don!!!! Now we can watch a few Carpenters specials together. Isn't that nice!
Anyways, we all finally went to bed, I to my room downstairs. Woke up around 9 am, and got ready and headed upstairs, and had a continental breakfast, then headed back to the rooms, where gifts where handed out. Mom's first gift she got to open was from me, Corina and Sachie...and Mom said, "You guys! You shouldn't have!" she said, as she reproached us...It was a digital camera Canon 4.0 (one of the best I think)...Everyone got wonderful things. I got a DVD of 40 th Anniversary of MARY POPPINS. I was soooo happy. Everyone knows how I like to think I am Marvin Poppins, brother to Mary...I also recieved some blank cds from Sach...which is awesome...I can make MANY musical cds for myself and others...(like THE VERY BEST OF THE CARPENTERS...or THEIR GREATEST HITS...CARPENTERS SONGBOOK...you get the picture)...I got a gift certificate from HMV from my Auntie which was awesome...now it's deciding what I want to get. I also recieved a Photo Album from Mom and Corina filled with pictures of me and my childhood, adoption and up. That was so awesome and a labor of love, I almost teared up(I actually did, but it was not noticeable...I was so touched). It was what I wanted. I also got some other nice, wonderful things. But being with my family was a pure blessing from God! And also getting to read the Christmas story and pray with them was neat! It was an awesome, awesome weekend. I was sad to see them all go, but so happy for the precious memories. Oh, hi Susan and Rich!

Cameron