Naturopathic Evangelism

It sounds like the new type of eco-warrior evangelism, what is your "evangelism footprint"?

Perhaps it conjures up ideas of "green gospeling" where you only talk about your faith in Jesus while wearing hemp and smelling like patchouli?

The real story is that after being sick with the same issues for nearly three years I got jack of the traditional conveyer belt of 15 minute consultations and meds that treat symptoms rather than causes and went to a naturopathic clinic to give it a go.

I have been really blessed by it in two ways:

1) wholistic care -

I get asked when the problems started, why I think it started and asked about my sleep, energy and other symptoms that previously weren't really considered. I have a herbal tincture and a tea that I really think is dealing with the symptoms - and a strict (almost macrobiotic) diet to hopefully kick the cause. I actually do feel better.

2) The whole person vibe -

In the waiting room, people want to talk. They are there either because they already believe in "all this stuff" or because they are going out on a limb. People want to tell their stories and know my story. I get out my bible to read and people have asked me if thats a bible - which leads to asking if they have ever read it.

I like naturopathy not just for the philosophy of the whole person care - but also for the frame of mind it seems to put people in - my faith is an essentail part of me to be shared as part of my healing, not something that is offensive and to be kept "out".

Oysters for breakfast anyone?

Breakfast at the "Pearl Oyster" in Thornbury.

Luke and I love going out for breakfast and there are two places we generally compare any place we go to, "The Retro" in Hobart and "Flavours of Lakhoum" in Richmond, Melbourne. We often find that where we go doesn't compare too well to these.

I wasn't sure about the pearl oyster but as soon as we opened the door we were greeted so warmly, not just by physical heat by several attentive waiting staff who were dressed more like movie extras in some kind of indie film than waiters.

We had menus ( very cute - just slips printed and paperclipped inside primary school readers) within a few minutes and coffee within ten, our meals arrived within 15, pretty impressive.

It's nice to have a short but interesting menu, instead of agonising over whether to have the ricotta with orange blosson cream and pistachios or the poached eggs, hoummus and dukka - I know I can come back another day, so I have the eggs.

Luke, attracted to the various extras that go with the sourdough ( yes, it IS as good as the retro sourdough), avocado and lime, hoummous and lemon, homemade passionfruit and grapefruit marmalade - decided to have a toast party for two by himself.

The coffee was *great* - fairtrade organic and not needing sugar - their mochas were made with some kind of spiced chocolate mix that was a nice change from overly sweet syrup.

I like formica kitch but the "Pearl Oyster" did it particularly well, not a hodge podge of kitchy things, but well chosen "vintage" chairs and amber glass cups and other touches lent a kind of "nana" ambience.

I will be back, and that's not just because it is barely five minutes walk from my flat...

Before and After - Ted Haggard's Church

Very interesting, a 'mystery worshipper' visitis Ted Haggards' (ex) church Before and After the scandal  in 2006. From moshing and "pogo dancing" in July to fasting the following January. (From the"Ship of Fools" website)

Hormones and Faith

Cyclic Hormones
Quite soon after I became a Christian, a very wise woman took all the woman from our group aside and told us something very important.  She drew two lines on a piece of butcher paper, they looked very much like the ones above.

The blue line represented a man's mood as dictated by hormones, fairly steady, so a lot of reactions he has to things can be fairly steady too.  The pink lines, however, represent a woman's mood changes over a monthly period.  She explained that this can mean that at the right time of the month, all is great, but during the dips and lows, living out our faith can seem harder.  

This is a challenge for women, as some of us can be very "intuitive" in following God - recognising any weaknesses can help us to lean on God in the lows rather than be bewildered by the powerful hormones that affect our moods, our concentration, and our faith.

Maternal Hormones

Recently I became convinced that I was pregnant. Considering that I have not been clucky throughout my adult life, I got quite taken with the idea.  I started praying for whoever this baby might be, and was frankly crushed when it became clear that I wasn't pregnant.

During this last week I cruised baby and pregnancy websites, read articles and counted days and weeks.  There are a whole swag of websites, calculators, forums, communitites and the like out there - it opened my eyes to how obsessive this whole subject  can be.

So as well as follow the advice to take folate, exercise, get my life in order etc in preparation for (hopefully) becoming pregnant, my goal is to become a godly mother and work out my sdalvation with fear and trembling.  I want to be aware of how hormones effect the way I respond to God.  I want to aim to worship and approach Him at all times, rather than on the up days...

Mornings with Leon

Although I am a morning person, I'm not so good at reading my bible in the mornings.  I find myself popping out of my seat to pack lunch or check that my bike lights are okay, or alternately, wanting to go back to sleep.

I have found something that works to help me get focussed in the mornings, and that's sitting down with Leon Morris - figuratively that is.  At the moment he is walking me through 1 Thessalonians and helping me to concentrate and hold it in my brain for longer than just the ride to work.

Perhaps those great men ( and women) of faith who have written words for us to be encouraged and challenged can be said to be like Abel, as referred to in Hebrews:

"...by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead"

Nifty Credit Crisis Video

Like pithy explanations of complicated ideas? Enjoyed Titanic in 30 seconds with bunnies? Always go for the movie before the book?

Visualising the credit crisis becomes easier when it's already visualised for you - found this through a friends blog, tends to have a lot of good stuff ( that word again) on it.


The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Stuff and Things

Various terms Australians use to confuse international visitors

This last year gone, I had the privilege of hanging with Koreans to read the bible and discuss things in English, we discovered a few words that make life difficult for them:

Definitional words:

Stuff

Aussies tend to use this for anything without a clear category: (i.e I made some lentil stuff – I hope its okay),

or words that have a clear category but which we don’t bother referring to: (i.e I bought all this stuff for work ( meaning clothes, why not just say clothes?)

Things

We Aussies often use the word things to describe objects/events/life: (i.e How are things? Are those your things? Those things have been happening for years now)

We often use stuff and things interchangeably when talking about objects: (I.e Can you get me that stuff over there and put it with these things?)

My question is, does our sloppy use of language help or hinder when talking of the things of God, or the stuff of obedience to Christ? I suppose they have to get used to our obtuseness eventually…

Over analysing

I work as a systems librarian. That means that I am trained as a librarian and manage a system for 5 academic libraries.

In this system, sometimes things get stuck. A student puts an entry in the system that is too open-ended and the system tries with all its might to process it, unfortunately the system doesn't know when to quit and it ends up using all of the server's CPU just to answer that question - which is impossible to answer.


I'm like that, I can't quit, I can't let things go, I get too obsessive.

This year I'd like to find the equivalent on an SQL script that forces my brain to STOP before all the CPU gets drained...

How do other people deal with stress and make themselves stop?

Reflections upon last year

1. My job is always to be a Christian in whatever circumstances I am in.

My job is largely irrelevant - but on the micro level - important to do well and hopefully enjoy. I don't mean that all Christians should think like this about their work - I just happen to have a secular job at the mo' but my heart is in Tasmanian christian work - church/para church. A lot of other Christians I know seem to be able to see their secular job in the scheme of things but I can't wait to be a mum and support my husband in full-time ministry.

2. I have low energy

Kind of tied up with point one, I find it hard to juggle work, home life, church, christian friends, non-christian friends, hobbies and relaxation as I need a fair bit of sleep and processing time - as well as "flake out" time.

This new year is the year of "no" and joy. I love all my friends and they have been sadly neglected due to my joining a few church "teams" and ministries that I hoped would be more self-sustaining. Letting them go is necessary to concentrate on the more long term "ministry" of loving my friends from different places and settings.

3. I love singing and developing my musical skills

I need to keep doing this as I enjoy it and I see God using the opportunities I take to develop my musical ability. I have neglected this due to exhaustion and busy-ness. Not taking on so much this year will hopefully give me time to get some better voice skills to avoid strain and allow me to develop the songs I have been writing.

4. Things can be "One-off"

In other words I don't need a contract or long term commitment to meet and encourage someone, do a particular service at church or even attend church. This is not a rule of thumb, its just something I need to accept this year - as someone who get tired easily and tends to over commit to things. As this year will be broken up by family reunions, international travel - supporting my husband complete his theological degree -it seems nonsensical to commit to something for the full year - but it won't prevent me from being there when needed.

5. Its okay to pull out

I am still struggling with this as there are a few things that could "fly on their own" if I hang in there a little longer, but others will never leave the nest - now is not the time to nurture something that I probably need to separate from when we move states and start new ministries and initiatives in the next twelve months (God willing).

What is done in secret...

I fasted yesterday, consciously for the first time. I ate breakfast and I ate a light dinner, but there was an 8 hour gap in there when I only drank water and tried to seek God in prayer.

I want to do it again. I want a time when I can be reasonably still and focus my min on God and not by physical comfort.

I hear of people doing 3-day and longer fasts. Its a kind of contrition and worship I have never explored before.

What are others people's experiences of fasting?

Fixated

Hello All,

 

Tardy as usual, but still here and thinking of you all (Emily W, Ruth, Tony, Ishams, Craig, Bron, Amy) there may be a few others I’m not aware of…

 

What are your current food fixations?

 

At the moment I keep craving:

 

Eggplant fried, grilled, baked, in parmigiana

Herring, tinned in a dill sauce generally

Lemons! squeezed into water, baked, muffins, in apple pie, pasta, porridge ( grated rind and some juice with grated apple – wow)

Red wine, with dark chocolate or Italian type food

 

And unfortunately still coffee (although I drink a lot less these days and make it up with dandelion tea) and

Lollies! Don’t let me near those babies!

 

 

That's Donners M.A, Grad Dip, B.A to you

See the envelope, pink cover sheet, a glaringly more-than-adequate mark looking back at me.  Try and decipher the scrawl and decide I don’t really care about what could be improved at the moment…

 

Leave the envelope lying on the kitchen bench while I fall onto my mattress to catch up on a sleepless night after a day, sleepwalking through work.

 

I am the Master – the distance master.

 

Why do I feel so little for this achievement?? I’m still trying to work that out.

 

What am I treasuring?

 

After attending JD’s graduation, my urgent desire is to be ready to be the minister’s wife I will be. 

 

This year has been tough.  Limited contact with Christians my age and older.  Limited contact with Christians who know me deeply and challenge and urge me on.  Limited time to study the scriptures (and then not used well by myself).

 

Now I just want to use my time well, to cherish His word.  To devour it and let it live in my innermost parts. To trudge, pilgrim like, through the trials I’m given.

 

To find strength in Him. To give thanks that this chapter is over and there is space in my head to rest, meditate and rejoice.

 

Thanks be to God for the endurance He gave me to finish!  Thanks also to everyone who asked about how I was doing and listened to my jumbled thoughts and cared.

 

Thanks, its over.  I got what I worked for and I my heart thirsts more than ever for what lasts, not the letters!

 

Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Update: Stream of consciousness style…

Bread. I can’t stop baking it and watching the amazing little living creature that eats the sugar and swells and swells and becomes delisciously pregnant… Amish, Pull-apart, Pizza, we eat and cook and watch it rest and eat.

Riding. getting fitter for those killer hills, get asked how much my bike costs, not because it looks good but because it squeaks and rattles and someone wants to see how much wear he can get from a Kmart bike too.

Neighbour. I synchronise with in the morning, leave at exactly the same time and exchange small weather talk and other trivialities.

Library. Trek to each branch nearby and leave with armloads, have to be asked to leave by library staff.  Devour books, DVD’s, fiction, non-fiction and as soon as I finish one I am hungry again. Perhaps intelletual hypoglaycaemia?

Sleep. Fan swings throughout the night and casts shadows in out little room. Luke likes Apocalyse Now parallels.

Love. Enjoy connecting in Christ, He is Good and He makes all things perfect in time.  I am waiting, but starting to enjoy the limited closeness of the new Melbourne Christ family.

 

 

Islamic Idol

According to BBC News, an Indonesian tv show, where children under 10 preach about Islam for judges and cameras is more popular than “Indonesian Idol”

 

Points for anyone who can find a link to it, because at the moment, I can’t…

 

Poverty is relative

Hello again, people.  Tardy as usual, but I have been thinking of writing to you every day.

 

For example:

 

I had conceived of a little piece about riding to work – the beauty of the Yarra, its banks supporting beautiful houses and clay tennis courts – from which I keep expecting Mr Toad to come leaping down the steps in attire suitable to his latest obsession…(well I’ve spoiled it now)

 

I have written some thoughts about our new apartment. From our window I can see, through a glossy leafed tree, a gold lame cross turning slowly, dangling from the roof of the house across the street.

 

I have had some thoughts about the difference between the slightly lower socio-economic area where I now live, where I regularly talk to people I don’t know and have good conversations; to the shinier, wealthier suburb I used to live in. There people stay inside their houses, and don’t randomly play cricket in the street with their entire family until its too dark.

 

A basic rundown is in order I think:

 

We live right near parklands, an enterprise centre that grows trees, and everything we need practically for life in general., we are close to church and to Christian friends who are a comfort and encouragement to us, as well as being great fun.

 

Luke has finished all of his exams, and passed his Greek (this was close and we praise God!) and I have handed in my final master’s subject, just waiting for results before I get another piece of paper…

 

God is very good, and He is still challenging me very strongly through “The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment” which I doubt I will ever outgrow.

 

Love

 

Back

 

 

Having been away on study leave for a while, I have blogged even less than usual.  I am living in my new flat, without internet access and not really missing it, I guess… I ride to work via the Capital City trail, it is wonderful.

 

I have been devouring books about Marilyn Monroe and having morbid thoughts about the identity of women in the twentieth/twenty first century.  I want to explore the identity of women, who we are, how we have been abused and over glorified, and how God loves us and sees us in contrast to our worlds views.

 

The way I see it, we have swung between celebration and destruction of women, take for example the French Revolution, in which the figure of a woman was held up as a symbol of Liberte, Egalite, Fraternitie and when nuns were raped and chased from their convents into the streets…

 

Now on this, my first day back at work, I am so tired, I will just let the sounds of this Melbourne band lull me into a (fully functional) coma…

Homeless believer

Find you a home….

Wandering shepherd

Wander no more

Lay down your troubles, worries and more

A Capella radio.

Very appropriate for a house hunter

Like cold water to a weary soul, is good news from a distant land...

Or a not so distant land…

 

Some things I have been “given” recently.

 

1. Baby photos from a dear and close friend from back home, with word that she was going well

 

2. Listening to Mike Jolly’s sermon from a few months back. Well done Mike, knowing you for a while makes it even better, to see how you have grown in understanding and confidence. Very encouraging and relevant, challenging too.  Sometimes those words sound so trite, but I mean them.

 

3. Hearing A Capella on free Christian online radio –  I guess news from heaven for me… (http://www.live365.com/stations/loran2005)

“Where is your victory?”

“Where is the sting?”

“When the great robber comes “

And

“Death finally dies”

 

I can’t wait for that day…

 

Smurfing the feminine

When I was little I loved the smurfs. Me and my two brothers used to watch them after school every day.

My favourite episode was the one where Gargamel made a smurfette to try and trick the previously all male smurfs.

At first she was blobby and ugly, because the baddy made her, but Papa Smurf knew she was a nice girl with sensitive nature, and made her beautiful.

For the only girl sibling in a very boy oriented household, playing games in the dirt and riding bikes, this was very special for me. I loved the Smurfette. She seemed to epitomise to me everything feminine.

Of course, my ideas of what is feminine are a bit different now!

But what does everything is the essence of what is “feminine”? What makes someone feminine?

We know the truth

I finished this book recently. It was really absorbing. A detective thriller set-in an alternate history. It is the 1960's and an undefeated Hitler is ruling Europe, America is negotiating an alliance with Germany rule. In the midst of the gloom, one classic hard-boiled detective looks beneath a suspicious murder and a "mystery" is eventually revealed.

There is a point in the novel, echoing the murmur of so many people implicated in the terrifying plot behind the holocaust, where one of the SS officials says "I didn't know..."

The detective replies, "Yes you did, you always knew, every time we made a joke about being sent "out east", every time we heard a mother threaten their child with going "up the chimney".

There is an aspect to truth which is unavoidable, steeped into us. I know a truth none of us can avoid, that perhaps one day people will mutter "I didn't know" - and our hearts will break. Romans chapter 1 tells us that it is made plain, Romans 10, quoting Psalm 19, says that the heavens "pour forth speech".

Have we beautiful feet?

Vulnerability in Christian ministry

We’ve discussed self-disclosure a little and thought about some of the pitfalls, such as wrong motives like the desire to be celebrated and praised and the not so bad motive to just be loved, that however can lead us away from seeking God’s love.

However, I feel that there is more to explore here…

What about making ourselves vulnerable appropriately? Some preacher’s do this from the pulpit and help me to repent, or to understand things, or to be reassured in my weakness.

So perhaps Godly self-disclosure exposes us to a vulnerability and criticisism we may not be ready for…

How can we expose our lives to others without being vulnerable? Or is being vulnerable a good or a bad thing?

Have you found yourselves helped by Godly self-disclosure?

Which preachers/Christian leaders do you know who have come under attack for their self-disclosure?

Letting it all hang out

Self-disclosure and Christian ministry

I have been thinking a lot about self-disclosure lately. On Blogs, in sermons, in person, in groups or in one-to-one situations.

How much do you think is appropriate to expose/tell/disclose to other people about your life?

Preachers sometimes tell incredibly personal stories about their mistakes or experiences, including their sexual purity, how much money they earn or the issues they struggle with.

Additionally, some people tell very personal and intimate details of their lives to people they mentor.

As a person who has been burnt quite badly by some instances of self-disclosure ( both in the blogging world and in mentoring relationships) I’m a bit once-bitten twice shy.

What does everyone else think?

Spiritual gifts

Driscoll’s take on 1 Corinthians and gifts:

Part 1 Spiritual Gifts

I have found this to be the most illuminating, helpful and encouraging teaching on gifts I have come across yet.

If you want to know what your gifts are, or recognise other people’s gifts and encourage yourself and other to develop them – here are some great tips.

If you have time, I recommend the whole series.

Who is the "Lazarus" at your gate?

I just spent a weekend away on a "parish camp", on the topic of "contentment". Being a huge fan of "The Rare Jewel of Chrsitain Contentment", like Stine. I was ready for some puritan action.

I was also ready for some phillipians 4:10-13 action.

I was suprised and wonderfully challenged to find that the speaker Mike Raiter ( reasons why Mike is a huge blessing to Melb below) was challenging us from the gospels on our attitude to our God-given money and how we use it.

In the gospel of Luke, there is a parable. Lazarus, a beggar, who sat at the gate of a rich man's house - had nothing - no health - no money - no friends. The rich man, had everything - ate like you or I do at Christmas daily - had prestige and a beautiful place to live, probably haging out with jewish officials and received praise for his life.

When he died and was in "torment", the rich man, who had never helped Lazarus, asked "Father Abraham" to send Lazarus to help him...

Now there are many things we learned from this weekend, but one thing that touched me was the question "Who is the Lazarus at your gate" - they were both Jews, had "abraham as their father" - so is the equivalent christians? I'd be interested to hear what people have to say.

I think that for us Australian christians, once we have cared for those in need in our church community and in our state and country - we need to help the persecuted and poverty stricken church. Luke and I love to give to Barnabus for the wholistic way they care for God's church.

Why we were blessed by Mike Raiter

1. He has a reverent view of scripture
2. He is the sort of preacher who provides guidance and challenge from the pulpit as well as over coffee
3. He's very warm and personable - passionate and self-disclosing
4. He has some expertise in Islam - having spent 11+ years working in pakistan in a bible college.
5. His name sounds like "My Grater".
6. He tells some great stories in a very engaging way ( most melbourne anglicans can only cope with 15-twenty minutes sermons) pushing forty minutes with hardly a congregational wriggle.

Here is a sample - (it's not his best but all I could find online)
Here is series of his.

Sermon fans please let me know what you think.

Test

Driscoll asks the question:

“Who is more trustworthy, you or Jesus?”

http://www.marshillchurch.org/audio/Hab2v4_Faith_2_16_03_driscoll.mp3I know which box I’m ticking…

Sight for sore eyes??

Something I discovered last year during some serious procrastination is that eyes need rest from computer screens...

Last year, I played ALOT of yahoo/bigfish/you name it free download or online games

Only to find, when I finally tore my eyes from the screen - that I had great big red blot on my eye... consequences for overindulgence...

Eye-strain working for the visually impaired?

This year, however, I have been worked full-time as a cataloguer- cataloguers are the geeks of libraries - they are like programmers, doing lots of detailed encoding - I hardly leave my desk all day...
And at the moment, I study most nights and on weekends... my eyes are sore!
At least this time its not from overindulging in games...

Brunswick

Although I live on the east side of the city, my favourite place to be is in the North of the City, in Brunswick, Parkville or Carlton.


Today, I was walking back to the library where I was studying (of course) - I saw a grey haired greek man looking of the window of his barber shop and waving at me, I squinted back. I saw my face relfected in the glass and I had the biggest, shiniest smile on my face. The sun, the break, the cute little shop windows. I really like Melbourne. Spring is just a wonderful time.

Where is everyone's favourite side of the city/ suburb to be??

Ramadan

We had some mssionaries from CMS come to our church last night.

The stories of how God is saving all types, even Muslems in the middle east, reminds me what a powerful and good God we have..

They urged us all to pray for muslems during this month, as it is their time of fasting - the Lord has revealed himself to many muslems through dreams and vision in the past -

This might help.

Let's pray.

Bored...

At the moment, although I know how blessed I am to have a job that I have some skill in that has some very interesting projects, there are times when it is easy, boring and reptetitive....

However, I thank God for every easy keystroke becuase it means that I get to listen to

Desiring God conferences

Mark Driscoll

Phillip Jensen

Whose job could be better??

I can multi-task!

Grace is the only explanation

For the blessing of my wonderful husband.
I took Luke out for breakfast for his birthday today. I wrote in the card I gave him a paltry explanation of what a blessing he is to me.
Of how much I respect and honour him - willingly submit to his gentle, forward thinking leadership and care for me.
I took him to "flavours of Lakhoum", in Richmond. They do "coffee art" - mine looked something like the one above...

The second one looked more like this:
Thats possibly because just before we ordered it, the place was swamped by later-risers and they got pretty busy...




I bought Luke the book "book Lust", by Nancy Pearl. It has recommended reading for every topic you can think of, ( fiction and non-fiction), from crime-noir to civial war non-fiction and african-american women's writing...
















Nancy Pearl is the archetypal librarian, who has her own "shoosh" action figure..

Happy Birthday Lukey!!!!

Ezra chapter 6

Did you know that in Ezra 6, when they look for the edict of King Darius which said they could rebuild the temple, they looked for it in Babylon, but found it in Media??

This is the distance from Iran to Iraq...(i.e Melbourne to Hobart).

Amazing, huh?

Engrish

Busy busy

So very busy!!

My head is spinning, i worry that with all my research and discoveries for my Masters topic, I will need to double the word count. I don't have trouble motivating myself to work on my topic, but I seem to hardly get time to do it!

As always there is work to be done, church and other committments, as well as friends/house stuff to sort out.

I am amazed that I am not going crazy, yet... Although I do take ages to get to sleep and keep waking up half an hour before my alarm goes off.

It feels like there is barely a moment in my life that is not filled with some important activity (i.e cooking, cleaning, washing, working, studying, singing at church, preparing a bible study, catching up with valuable friends)

How does everyone cope when they are busy??

Any sleep/calming strategies?

But thanks be to God that he sustaining me and I have't shirked many things yet due to being busy!

25 years ago...

Had a wonderful tribute to this man last night.
I got to sing "You put this love in my heart". Oh, guys, you must "youtube" Keith green ( I can't wait to get to heaven comes recommended), I can't access it at work or home...

Aboot God

Love listening to Don Carson at work!!

In breach of copyright

I'm studying my final masters subject this semester... several assignments, followed by a 5,000 word mini thesis...

Yes, and I am working full-time too. What? yes, I AM insane...

Anyhoo-

I'm studying the effect of copyright restrictions have on print-impaired people ( i.e blind, severe low vision, other conditions i.e stroke, cerebral palsy that prevent access to "the written word".

I stumbled across this passage in my reading recently
"The creator of the material...is entitled to control who does what with their creation...they are...entitled to ensure that the creation is not distorted or passed off as the work of another..."

"[Copyright] does not have to be registered, it exists automatically"
(RNIB, 2004)

So what do you think, as those who have distorted God's creation, are we in Breach of Copyright?

Nostalgia

My first bible study

Nostalgia seems to be an emotion I experience frequently, these days. I dunno, maybe because I’m approaching thirty? Maybe because I OVER-analyse everything?

Anyway, amongst my myriad of memories when I cringe about various times of being silly, is the memory of the first bible study I co-led.

I was 20 years old. Picture me, a (regrowing) shaved head, cargo pants, and boots. It was winter so I wore a few jumpers or something. I had been trained to lead by a slightly cynical, lovely guy with an ironic and irreverent sense of humour. I was co-leading with a very gentle, encouraging bloke called Matt.

I used to go to Matt’s place before bible study, (in the past I just sat and watched) and had coffee with him while preparing for the study before leaving for the venue.

This night I was so overly pumped I agonised, “Should I have coffee?” I whined at Matt, eventually having a strong one, getting so hyped I could hardly sit still.

When we got to the venue, I challenged one of my fit male friends ( I was NOT fit) to a race around the block to try and (my reasoning at the time) calm down. Five minutes later (about three minutes after my friend) I wheezed and puffed, feeling very much like I would vomit the instant coffee I had unwisely drunk.

In the first five minutes of the study, during the introductions (I’m Alice and I’m in grade ten etc), I was so nervous I said “I’m Amy, and I’m an IDIOT”.

I can still hear Matt laughing….Ah! Thank God for His Grace!

Caption Contest

1. "For your convenience, we've paved paradise and put up a parking lot"

2.The Parking on the Mount.

3."Darling, we're in Spain. He's a statue."













The following picture and captions are from Ship of Fools website. This always makes me laugh :)

Melbourne: The return...

Just a quick update to say: I'm back!

Tasmania, is, truly, the best place in the whole world.

I had wonderful times, with very precious people in tassie - many meetiongs over lunch, breakfast, dinner, wedding feasts, coffee...

I want to say to everybody who met with me how wonderful it was to see you all...

Anxiousness:

I am an anxious little monkey. I am house-sitting and so what do I do? Drive myself nuts worrying about whether I'll get to work on time riding by the different route ( I was early)
worry about forgetting little things like earplugs etc... ( I found them hidden in my suitcase)

I am silly!!!

I pray to God that I can learn to trust and be at peace...

"Nature nature, I am your bride..."*

I feel like I'm living some kind of pastoral fantasy. Today I woke up in Margate, went for a run up into the hills... Had breakfast looking out over North west bay.

Fed "pepper", the little part suffolk ewe. She is the cuddliest, friendliest little ewe I have ever had the pleasure to meet.


Then gazed some more. Reading E.M Forster, Wodehouse, and some communist china detective fiction.

and of course, drinking tea. I can't think of a better day, to be honest. I thank God that Tasmania is still slow and small and so, so beautiful.








* Quote from Virginia Woolf's "Orlando".

One trick pony author special

If something works….

Stick with it….

No matter how stretched the joke gets…

And publish it in other countries too…

(points for anyone who can guess which country the last title was published for)

Next: Decontructing plot in Nick Hornby's novels....

105 things...

Shiloh wrote down 105 things about her self. I thought it might make an interesting post.

1. I am a librarian
2. That doesn’t mean I wear glasses and my hair in a bun.
3. Wait, I do wear glasses.
4. I do like books, yes, thanks for asking
5. But I don’t get to read them at work…
6. I spend most of my time at work at my ‘puter
7. Looking at things that represent books
8. I’m not allowed to borrow the books at the library I work at
9. This makes me sad
10. Sometimes I see a book I just crave so much
11. But I can’t read it
12. And the libraries up here charge you for reserving your books’
13. Which is a bit stingy I think
14. I like Jane Austen
15. I wish she would write more
16. But then she would be waay too old
17. I like Thomas Hardy too
18. But he is a bit depressing
19.But who wouldn’t be if you lived among the legalistic Catholics/Orthodox christians of his day?
20.I am married
21.My husband is wonderful
22.God gave him to me because God knew it would be good for my character to learn to serve him
23.But also because I need him to lead me/look after me
24.I think Lead and Look after are pretty much the same thing
25.I mean look at Ephesians where the man has to love his wife like he loves himself.
26.That’s a pretty tall order
27.I’m glad I only have to submit
28.But I don’t do that very well
29.I’m working on it though, praying a lot
30.I made scones for the first time last week
31.Scones are great
32.They are actually very easy
33.And very yummy with raspberry jam and cream
34.I wish I had a cat
35.I miss the cats in my life
36.I like to cuddle them
37.I am also getting clucky
38.I get all silly when I see a baby now
39.Even on telly
40.Pregnant women took sooo beautiful to me
41.I have a while to wait to have a baby though
42.Because my husband is studying to be a minister
43.So I work so that he can study hard
44.I am so excited about this
45.I am looking forward to studying some theological subjects next year
46.But this year I have to finish my Masters
47.So then I will be a Master Librarian
48.Then you will all quake with fear
49.MWHA ha ha!!
50.I get carried away sometimes
51.Sometimes people think I’m annoyed at them
52.When I am just really really really worked up
53.I am a bit manic sometimes
54.I like bike riding
55.I like the feeling of getting somewhere fast on my own steam
56.Everyone overtakes me on my way to work
57.If I ever overtake someone
58.They overtake me a few minutes later
59.My bike has a bell
60.I feel like a ten year old when I ring it
61.All the other cyclists have trendy bells
62.Or say “passing” casually as they overtake me
63.There is a weird guy with a pipe who always stands in the same place when I ride home from 64.work
65.I wonder if he is a bit creepy
66.I hope he isn’t
67.At least he hasn’t got a bike
68.So I can get away from him if need be
69.I am a bit forgetful
70.But other times my memory is scarily accurate
71.I remember exactly how much a can of tomatoes costs at different supermarkets
72.And how much my last few weeks of grocery receipts were
73.I am a bit obsessive about budgeting
74.It makes me stressed
75.But I like being in control
76.and knowing that I am using the money God gave me wisely
77.I can also remember the entire dialogue of films I like
78.Well, a lot of them
79.I can also memorise scripture pretty well
80.I want to do this more
81.I want to know the bible better
82.because it is brilliant and powerful to save
83.I like people
84.Particularly nice/interesting people
85.But I generally really really like people
86.They fascinate me in what they do and reasons why they do it
87.I miss Tasmania
88.I miss the hills
89.the trees
90.the hot sun
91.in comparison to the colder air
92.Melbourne in May is a bit miserable
93.An author wrote that the light in Melbourne in May is very dismal
94.I’m inclined to agree
95.But I also really like Melbourne
96.I love to sing
97.Karaoke is like a drug/rush/high for me
98.Especially singing Vanessa Amorossi/Delta other power ballads/songs
99.I missed the Eurovision song contest this year
100. I’m sad I missed it
101. I’m looking forward to my niece and brother visiting me up here soon
102. We’re going to the open range zoo
103. I can’t wait!
104. I feel sad to see the big cats in their enclosures at the other zoo
105. I enjoyed this.


I would LOVE it if you guys did one…

Particularly Emi, Ruth, Craig, as I would like to learn more – if anyone does one, can you please comment here?? I don’t have all your blogs yet J

Titles and Doppelgangers

Doppelgangers and Titles

Titles

“Call me when you’re sober” music, I try to imagine as it… as notes…as melody…when all I have is its simulacrum or its imitation.

“The Showgirl and the brumby” invokes a dusky image of the perfectly formed flanks of both objects, one in feathered headdress and the other, naked as the night…

“Listen and enjoy German poetry”, creates auditory imaginings of gutteral articulations in a soft female voice…

Without frame of reference, there is only imagining…


Doppelgangers

In new surroundings
Familiar faces appear against the unfamiliar
Recognition and hand raised to wave
Draw back in equal measure
When I realise I do not know them

Catch up!

My goodness!!

We haven't spoken for a while, have we??

I guess we've both been busy...well I certainly have!!

Dot points may have to suffice for today just to get up to speed

1. I have had health problems for a few months
I have spent a lot of time at the doctor's office, having tests for a number of (thankfully unfounded) suspicions of doctors who had only just set eyes on me. Thankfully, God guided me to a specialist, and I am on the mend. No more poking and prodding, for now...

2. I bought a bicycle!!

Bike paths in Melbourne are fantastic, I am a big fan. I ride to work as often as I can, which is pretty much every day. I ride about 15 km a day when I ride, which needless to say has relegated running to the backburner. This is a nice break for me.


3. Luke and I have been "received" into the Anglican church. This means that I stand up and sit down more often at church. I stand up for "communion", rather than sitting for the "Lord's supper" as I did at my previous church. I stand up for "The greeting of the peace" and say "peace be with you" even before introducing myself... This is weird, but fine...


4. I love tea...

Anyone who knows me knows my pathological love of coffee. The rush, the flavour, the mild heart attack when the syrupy stuff hits my esophogus... I gave it up and now have become attatched to tea. The calming but refreshing sensation as it gently winds its way towards my stomach. The soothing smell... Ahh!! God makes good things :)


5. I am still reading "The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment". I was showing it to someone the other day and showing how contentment was about having a "gentle and quiet spirit" ( as scripture says is great worth for a woman to have). The person said , "Yes, but I'm not naturally quiet and gentle like you...." "Hah!!!". Book ( I should say" Holy Spirit"), keep doing your invisible ( to me) work!!! Miracles are happening!!! Me!! Gentle and quiet!! Hee hee!!!

6. I have replaced my favourite Austen heroine. Lizzie has been supplanted by Fanny Price... Yes, she is a bit too retiring sometimes, but I love her gentle propriety and how reflective she is... ( see Manfield Park)

I have to admit, life has been tough for a while there. But we have had a lot of awesome things happen too..

Singing with Madonna and Meg White ( from the white stripes) was a highlight. That's me on the right, dressed as Eddi Reader from Fairground attraction...

Well, that's me, How are YOU?

Today

I hear the bell ring and I know that Jacob needs some help. He’s on the front desk by himself and I can hear that someone has asked him to look for some books for them. I know that this is the one request Jake can’t fulfil - because he’s blind. He can see even less than the 80+ woman asking him.

I wait for the bell to be answered, when the waiting becomes awkward. I decide to give it a go…

The sweet little lady with a perfect blue rinse, immaculate clothes and well applied make-up asks if I can pick a book for her…Non –fiction.

In this library, this request is a little more abnormal than average.

Books are picked by computers, or, if clients aren’t getting what they want. The books are picked by staff; given a few days notice… All the books are stored in a whacking great metal carousel, thousands and thousands of them. Picking them out takes time…

A little trolley is kept near the front desk with a small selection of audio books. I check the woman’s reading profile – Feminist fiction, autobiography, biography, 20th century literature… not a lot to choose from.

I find a jackpot “Greer : the untamed shrew”, a biography of Germain… brilliant, oh, wait, her profile says she’s already had it.

Thankfully I find a copy of a biography of an Australian woman called “Mad Meg”, the subject code doesn’t fit her profile, but I take a risk.

“I’ve found some books for you”, I say, when she returns from the ladies.

“What!?” she asks.

“I’ve found some books for you” I say louder, bending down to speak in her ear.

“Oh Great!” she says.

“I have a biography of an Australian woman…”, pausing for a moment.

“That sounds great!” she says, sincerely.

I give her a choice between “Mad Meg” and memoirs of Arthur Conan Doyle ( he fits her literary interests).

“I like hearing about women, more than about men”, she says, wedging the book in her handbag. “I’m a feminist, you know”

I know.

Anonymous me

By request

Anonymous me

By request....

Melanie Griffith In...

Working Girl!!

Bad eighties movies and clichés aside. This is what I am now.

Leaving behind the trappings of student life has not given me a pang, until today. I am one of those people who are fascinated by minutia, my most instinctive consciousness is inspired by it. Tiny things representative of bigger things, the physical promising the metaphysical. I am the type of person who can enjoy the idea of a book more than the tale itself, the image or idea more than the ideology…Perhaps I’m shallow???

Now, tangent explored, what made me nostalgic for student life???

Not the vast amounts of flexible time, the reading of articles and engaging in intellectual debate. It was when, at a café, I placed my empty, coffee stained, paper sugar packet between the pages of the book I was reading and put it in my bag.

Like I said, minutia.

The things I relish about my new position as bread-winner, working girl, career woman, nine –to- five-er are things like the walk to the train station, fresh with make-up and perfume, wearing clean walking shoes and carrying my little trippy-trappy things for “the office”.

I relish the brief moments to pray and think on the train, and (when it’s empty enough to sit down) to read.

I relish the sound of my nails tapping the keyboard of “my” computer… of throwing stumpers at my team leader, or better yet, working out the problems myself.

[warning, potentially confusing tangent ahead…)
Not because the 994 field in a MARC record is particularly important, but because the 994 field, the immutable title number….represents that every book with the same title can be found through the same 4-6 digit number.

Because having the same 4-6 digit number for every book called “Divine Secrets of the Ya- ya sisterhood” means that our clients never get the same book twice.

Okay, context. I am working at a library where the books are chosen through a computer system based upon client profiles (using preference encoded by yours truly). The computer shelves the books and chooses the books for vision our clients.

Hence the importance of 4-6 digits.

Like I said, Minutia.

The Bourne Identity

I hope Napoleon wished you all a merry X-mas. I tried to explain that you guys were almost as cute as him and to therefore treat you guys enthusiastically...but he's a little self-absorbed. Oh well we can't blame him, he's soooo cute!!

I'm enjoying Melbourne but missing the online community. We don't really have internet at home. I'm at the public library just a few streets away, but the computers are pretty popular.

I have caught up with my friend J ( a great blessing indeed!) who is wonderfully hospitable and a dear friend who I never get to see for very long.

I have a my first job internview on Friday at a non-profit organisation for people with vision impairment. It would be just what I'd like. Prayers would be sooooo appreciated!

My main activities are running on the nearby running track, devouring fiction, the bible and some christian books ( currently reading "Revolutionising World Missions" by K.P Johanan, excellent book) and trying to resolve various administrative problems.

Luke and I are attending an Anglican church and are really feeling welcomed already!

Sorry for lack of pics and garbled info, will try and wrtie a decent post when I get some time next week. the Lord is so near and so good. I am very blessed.

God bless you all!! Sydney siders, american residents, tasmanians. You all rock and I am trying to keep up wth your blogs.

Love Donners

Merry Christmas Guest Spot

Hi there bloggers,


Amy muttered something about being too tired to post something for Christmas, so she let me do it. Amy was a bit worried that some people would think I was copying Pablo, but I had the idea to blog ages ago. Everyone else in the house has a blog so I pretend I want some lap time when they update.

I know why Amy's so tired, she's been flapping about the house (much too fast for my liking) baking stuff. I don't know what it is, but it's definately not meat or cheese so I don't know why it's so important. They look like this...

She's also been feeding the sheep every day, they crowd around her in a most undignified manner making a big racket when I'm trying to give myself a bath. She's not nearly so excited about feeding me.

Luke keeps squashing my face and speaking in a silly voice to me at some ungodly hour of the afternoon when I'm trying to sleep.

Anyway, I hope you all have had a great Christmas. Apparently it's quite a signicant time for you all, being the birthday of Jesus. I don't know much about that, I'm still a bit confused about how biscuits fit into it...

Well, I'm due for my snooze now, then after that I need to go for wander down by the dam. Why? Just 'cos. Then I have a bath booked... you get the picture, I'm very busy.


Merry Christmas Humans,

Napoleon (Alias Fat Baby)

I will give him a new name

Happy 3rd Anniversary to Us!

We went out for a marvellous meal at an Italian retaurant and played a game of "truth or dare" without the dare. It's amazing what I learned about Luke even after being together for 4 years :)


Oh, and I've switched to blogger beta, so if there is any mysterious things I need to do so that mere mortals can see my posts, can someone tell me?? (i.e mike, shiloh?)

Feel the Bourne

Things I have done in the last 8 days

Moved House: We are staying temporarily at Shiloh's place ( well really Father in law's place) Watching the sheep and enjoying the bush.

Got movers to move stuff to Melbourne: Don't even ask... ( few false starts here)

Had 3rd wedding anniversary dinner: Lovely time, pics later

Finalised library move at work: Moved a lot of books, installed new shelving, tried to train teachers in computer use and kids to use the new returns box ( you'd think that would be easy???)

Saw Luke through his final week at school: AH! Relief!

Cleaned up 3 years of house grott from old house: Hands and knees floor scrubbing, you can't beat it

Helped Dad clean up for going away party: didn't invite half the people we wanted there, too disorganised!!

Had small going away party to cover some goodbyes: Had lovely time and was great to finally meet Christine!!! I could only admire her willingness to learn the rules of the most boring game on earth- of course I mean cricket.

Had a pretend graduation ceremony: Due to beaurecratic issues I couldn;t attend my graduation ceremony, so my Mutti ( my grandma) dug out her academic cap and gown and we took snaps with a fake certificate.

Supported Luke preaching at Margate Community Church: A systematic theology of Christ's Kingship through the gospel accounts

(Matthew- Genealogical identity, Luke: Factual existent king, Mark: Prophesied king, John: The Cosmologically pre-existent King)

This blog will change in a few weeks to become a Melbourne news blog. Please keep tuning in, perhaps I should retitle the blog "The Horse's Mouth" or something.

Any Ideas?? You can win a nice warm fuzzy feeling in your heart ( the budget's a bit stretched)

My Fogey

Health to my bones
15:30 A cheerful look brings joy to the heart,
and good news gives health to the bones. (proverbs)

All in all, its been a wonderful weekend. On Friday I found out that I don't have Ross River Virus, but a combination of 'Hand foot and Mouth' disease( not to be confused with "Foot and mouth" disease') and a bacterial infection. The last doc had taken a gamble that I had the latter, so I was just finishing antibiotics for this anyway.

Hence I feel much better and have shaken the dizziness and the nausea and headaches are much less severe. My joints should continue to get better until they clear up at Christmas time.
Thanks so much to everyone for commiserating and/or sending suggestions, kind thoughts or jokes, I really appreciate it!!

Suffering and Faith
I was very surpised by how difficult it is to cope with not being able to as many things, and the social isolation that comes from being so sick. It convicts me that we need to reach out to new mums and the sick and the elderly. They may be suffering in silence. I don't have the silence problem so much ;)

Gingerbread
As you can see, I have felt well enough to bake properly again. (see top photo)

My Disco
I tried to listen to some music a younger friend recommended. He I couldn't get through track one. It was what you call "experimental emo punk " music. It was to my ear without tune, tone and rythymn. The band is called "MY Disco" anyone heard of them? I conclude that I have become a bit fogey when it comes to music.

I'm still into Queen, Alanis Morissette, Sinead O'connor, and various other things from my own era....

Boring??

I'm a homebody at heart. I'd rather have dinner with a few friends at home than go to a big party, but my love of people means that I go anyway. I'd happily potter about my house doing stuff than go anywhere at all.

Sick
However, being sick with my 'mystery' illness has left me at home alot. If I do too much some days I'm too stuffed, dizzy and headachy the next to go to work or sometimes to do much at all.

I try to do inactive type stuff, but there's only so many times I can tolerate playing a yahoo game, watching movies, reading, listening to sermons online....


AH!!!! I'm so BORED!! I just crave physical activity!!!!

Anyone got any ideas for 'quiet' acitivities???

I've done
Knitting
Computer games
reading blogs
reading books
reading theology
doing chores for short periods
gentle exercise
watch movies-
apply for jobs
call people


Any new ones!!!???

Butterfly Effect

Ever have those days where your body feels like it's breaking down but your mind is on fire??

I've been trying not to whinge but I've been sick for three weeks now. A weird virus that gives me inflamed joints, nausea, heaches, dizziness etc. 'Cause it's viral the doctor just gave me some anti-inflammatories that make me feel worse so I gave up on them after one week. I wake up at 6am most days with my right hand aching, or both hands numb and tingling.

Back to the doc' on thursday.

Butterfly Effect

Had mega day at work, cranked through a dizzy morning hardly having time to sit down until about 1pm, but am so stoked....solved a really tricky reference question that one of the teacher's asked me...


Every now and then you get some stumpers at work. The latest one was finding a book (that we knew we had in the library somewhere)about "The Butterfly Effect", not the Ashton Kutcher movie.


BUT The term which refers to an aspect of chaos theory, where ( in a nutshell, help! I'm in a nutshell!!) certain circumstances create substantial consequences. Usually meant in the context of weather.

Unfortunately there is no subject heading for "butterfly effect" so me and the Librarian looked for "chaos theory", "weather", "mathematics". We tried doing a google search on books about the butterfly effect, but to no avail....

I found it today, guess what it was callled?????

Potassium and Home

Home
We aren't moving, yet. So I can continue to enjoy 'my' house. Surrounded by boxes and mess, but my house. Thanks to everyone's encouragement and prayers, I was quite content to move and felt prepared for the chaos that would ensue. But due to events ( stuff ups) beyond our control, we will need to move later. Hopefully this will work out with getting a house in melbourne. Double rent may be in order for a spell.

Potassium
For those of you unaffected by the banana conspiracy in Hobart ( I'm not sure about the cost of bananas on the mainland, please fill me in somebody). Bananas used to enjoy pride of place in my fruitbowl. Now they cost a minimum of $8AUS a kilo.

Perhaps it makes us appreciate them more, perhaps it shows us what it's like for the Japanese to share an apple with the entire family at ruinous prices.

However, when I found myself buying "Rehydration salts" the other day, i realised that I was craving potassium. And at ten bucks for a few sachets of foul tasting stuff. I decided to splash out and buy a bunch of bananas. Oh, Bliss, Oh rapture.

Oh for the luxury of banana bread with 'leftover bananas' HA HA ROLF. Leftover bananas!!!!!

What is everyone else's favourite way to eat bananas???

Life as Usual?

Well, I'm done. I think.

I had a 'false finish' that meant I had to write 2 extra paragraphs ( after a fair bit of research) a week after I though I'd finished, but now its' really over.

Life isn't exactly 'back to normal' however, far from it. In fact it's more abnormal than ever. Heck what's normal anyway!

1. I am now a jobseeker, rather than a student. Quite a lot of jobs are beckoning and it's pretty exciting, except that I haven't had a single interview yet...


2. I'm moving out, as we intend to be renting a place in melbourne in two weeks ( but we'll still be in Tas) so we are moving to Rivendell ( or Luke's parent's house) for a spell to save dosh. This should be pretty restful. I look forward to watching the sheep circle the house like goldfish.







3. We need to sell our car and get a new one with air con.

So I will be a jobseeking, displaced car seller and buyer living out of a canvas bag, working and applying for jobs. At the moment this fills me with stress and dread. I'm trying to fix my mind on Jesus and I long to worship Him in my heart more.


Can people please share their favourite bible verses for times of trouble with me??

Europe - The Final Countdown

I have two assignments left until I complete my graduate degree.

So I will be shut inside my house writing assignments and reading far too many books/articles.

I will be back in reality by 6th November, if all goes well.

Please keep me in your prayers. I'm exhausted but work is pretty full on as well as cramming two big assignments into three weeks.

See you all soon!

Am I suprised?

According to an academic research presentation by Amanada Spink, (one of the 'big names' in information science/librarianship geekdom)

the top 10 search Queries in '97 by the public were:

sex
nude
free
pictures
new
university
women
chat
gay
girls

So, in '97 the top ten searches performed on the net were the ten terms above and they revolved around sex and university. Am, I surprised? not really.

Except that in '99 it was:
sex
free
nude
pictures
university
pics
chat
adult
women
new

and in '01 it was
sex
Christmas
nude
pictures
new
pics
music
university
games
porn

Does this prove that in the earleir days of the net, web surfers were generally skeeves* with a limited vocabulary for searching for porn??

That more sophisticated skeeves began searching in '99?

Or that even now, when everyone from my niece to my grandma is using the net, sex is still the top search term and skeeves are now so sophisticated that they finnally use the term porn??


What does everyone else think?




Spink, A, 'Web Search Studies: Approaches and Methods'. Queensland university of technology. Queensland.

*Skeeves= pervs/lecherous persons

Lessons from the Puritans: Contentment Part 2

2. 'A Christian comes to contentment, not so much by way of addition, but by way of subtraction'

'The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment', Jeremiah Burroughs.

...a heart that has no grace, and is not instructed in the mystery of contentment, know of no way to get contentment, but to have his possession raised up to his desires; but the

Christian has another way to contentment, that is, he can bring his desires down to his possessions'

I found this idea extremely difficult. There is some pleasure that my desires are higher than my circumstances. That my skills and ambitions are above the job I currently do. That my means are lower than my tastes...

However, Burroughs is right, this lowering of self does bring contentment and peace. Thankfulness too. My fear is that, like Mill's happy pig, I have reduced my sophistication and wisdom somehow...

However, Christ was content to submit himself to death on a cross, not because he enjoyed the means, but for our salvation. Will our contentment enable us to love others more today? Will it allow us to think clearly and work hard? Will it help us to fulfill the reuqirements of our study?

Let us pray so.

If anyone wants to share their struggle with contentment or add any other thoughts, please do.

Lessons from Puritans: Contentment Part 1

'The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment'* by Jeremiah Burroughs has sat on my shelf, waiting to be read for three years.
Here is the first point in the book, summarised briefly.




1. A Christian is both the the most contented person in the world, AND the most unsatisfied person in the world.

What does this mean?
Well, it means firstly that if we are in the lowest condition on earth- say- under persecution and having barely enough to keep alive- we know that God is still our greatest Love and our highest wish. We (by God's power), would be happy and content.

But- if God were to raise us to become a king, queen or other high position, with every physical blessing in the world possible- we would still be unsatisfied.

'A soul that is capable of God can be filled with nothing else but God...Therefore...whatever God may give to...a heart that is godly, unless he gives it himself, it will not do.'

'There lies the first mystery of contentment...though he is the most contented man ( or woman) in the world, is the most dissatisfied man in the world; that is, those things that will satisfy the world, will not satisfy him.


Pondering this book has helped me to take comfort in the Lord more. A person like me, worldly, impatient and often anxious!

Those puritans really do know a thing or two.

*If it doesn't strain your eyes, you canr ead this book for free online through the link on the title. :)

My love language is....presents!

Hee hee, so seriously, mine is words. (The only person I know whose love language genuinely is presents is my mum, she has a few stuffed toys from me :))

I tend to show my love for my husband by doing things for him, cooking a nice meal, getting errands done, making him hot chocolates, doing research for him, baking for him...

Have you noticed that the bulk of these centre around food??




Here's some love!

I was going to post a picture of me eating one of these little babies, but became self-conscious suddenly re: christines make-up post...

What does everyone else think of the whole idea of "Love languages". Should we get to know people's love languages, or just express our love to them the way we want to?

Behind the Scenes

"For he has blessed us, in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ"(Eph 1:2-4)

Today at church we looked at Nehemiah. We looked out how Nehemiah made decisions based on wisdom, but in the knowledge that there were forces at work behind the scenes.

This is a big theme in the bible. The bible is based on the fact that God exists, that a supernatural realm exists and has influence upon the material world. In Genesis, Joseph spends much of his life bearing the consequences of his own brother’s selling him into slavery, which ultimately propels him to be the steward of Egypt. His position allows him to save many from death in a terrible famine which God prepares him for.

His words to his frightened brothers are ‘You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives’ (Gen 50:20)

My question for everyone is: How does God work in our lives? Does he influence our actions? Does he influence our thinking, bring thoughts to our minds? Does he influence events only? Or does he influence all things??

I want to get think about the dark forces and their influence on us, but I’ll save that for another day.

Sing! Barren Woman

Isiaiah 54
1 "Sing, O barren woman,
you who never bore a child;
burst into song, shout for joy,
you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband,"
says the LORD.

Up at Shiloh's place, Moby, the sheep a first-time mother has given birth to twin lambs! My lovely FIL, the poet, reports.

The Chillaxing...

Feasting in the 'bush kitchen'.











A little light reading over pancakes at the historic trout hatchery and we were ready to come home.


Emotions: Appreciation and pleasure in the beauty of a place where EFTPOS is still taking off and you can stay at a sweet place for two for under $100 a night.

Wonderings: Will we ever return to live here after Luke graduates?

Revelations: Sin is not simple flat-out doing bad things. It is the inherited will to define what is good and evil, instead of God.


Questions: Where is everybody's favourite local place for a holiday or day out?

Tasmania. Be tempted. (cont)

On the way to K Col (Or as the Irish lady who recommened the walk to us said, "Cake Hole")

















He's got the WHOLE world.......




I have a full panorama of the view, but refrained from posting the whole lot. It was stunning and as you can see, the weather was spectacular.





Me, after seven hours walking ( with a cold).

Tasmania. Be Tempted.

Consider this an advertisement for Tasmanian tourism...


Remind me not to ski here...




























The road goes ever on and on

Love my niece

Some notes from my niece from a few years ago....

To amee

I love you
ame you are
a loveleeey
Lade and you all was
will be
Love Yasmin

To Loock
you are a lovele
man and you
all was will be
I love you
and you are
a grat famule
memboo

love yasmin

Ah! I have such a thoughtful niece. What was the occasion? Nothing in particular, she just wanted to tell us she loved us.

Oh Target! Oh Target! I love your airconditioning!

I have a great muso friend who gives me a whole stack of CD's to work through on a quarterly basis.

In my latest batch I have discovered a band called "Totally Gourdgeous". (all their instruments are made out of gourds).


Here are some samples...(sorry couldn't find any audio of these songs)

Anything at all

Chorus:
I long to be held to your chest
like a warm paper parcel of fish and chips
like a pizza box,
like a fresh-baked loaf of sourdough bread....
Anything at all!

I long to sleep in your arms like a cat
like a child
like a seed you might hold in your palm

dreams are suspended
waiting for the soil,
waiting for the sun
Anything at all! Anything at all!

Target Air conditioner

Goin' into town
On the sweaty 181
To stand beneath Target 's air conditionings freezing hum!

Don't have any money
to spend on habadashery
I'll just pretend I'm looking for a present
for my mum
(When in actually all I'm doing is just)
Standing beneath Target's air conditioning's freezing hum!

I'll stand there vaguely
fingering checkered knits
and pretending I can't decide
between the gingham and the polyester mix.....

And I'lll fondle the fabric lovingly
betwixt finger and thumb.....
(When in actually all I'm really doing is just)
Standing beneath Target's air conditioning's freezing hum!

They have a great, fun, folky sound and they can all really play and sing pretty well too!

A few sanples of their earlier stuff is here.

Bound for Botany Bay? The sequel

"You won't want to see me" said Aunty J firmly, shuffling through the hanging plastic streamers in the doorway.

"Well, actually. J, we were just wondering if you would want to see us!" I informed her. I kissed her small and shrinking face, stroked her thin, dark grey pony-tail. Luke kissed his great-aunt and she began to talk excitedly about her plans for her garden.

Sydney was fun. Yet, slightly unreal. It has made me want to connect with people there more, relo's and my growing friendships from CIM. I was encouraged by how kind people were and challenged by the strong emphasis on Hebrew ( a plus for Luke) that is at SMBC.

However, after much prayer, painful deliberation, thinking and weighing up all aspects of both Ridley and SMBC, Luke has decided that Victoria is the place to be.

It's great to have made the decision. I'm so looking forward to working, and Luke to studying. I want to learn to trust God and Luke more, to serve Luke and support him in his future. I aim to give my energy to a church in melbourne and the small number of friends and family there.

I enjoy Melbourne and hope to get a decent job, so that we can eat, live and get around relatively easily. It's all starting to seem very, very real.

Please pray for me, guys. Hobartians( Taswegians), we will be back, and hopefully often. Sydnidians, we will be closer....watch out!!! We want to see you too!

(Aside: How weird is it flying into sydney??! I kept thinking we were going to land in the water!)

The Best Birfday Eva!

Friday began the incrememental spoiling of my beautiful husband, Luke.

Friday: I made his favorite "Chocolate Honeycomb" muffins, with two crunchie bars and a whole packet of dark choc bits.


Saturday:
Morning:I surprised Luke in bed with a standard size, silver World Cup 2006 soccer ball, a book (7 Wonders of the Industrial World) and some Lindt chocolate orange.

Later morning: I took my darling to a great cafe and shouted him breakfast. Isn't hollondaise sauce great? They smothered it on everything.



Evening: A bunch of boys came over to play "Taj Mahal" and eat cheese and drink port.

Today: Have Three beautiful couples ( + 4 kids, 1 baby, two toddlers and 1 in utero) from church up for lunch. Father-in-law cooked yummy food. I cooked an apple pie and Shiloh baked a splendiforous chocolate layer cake.

However, there were a few problems....

The birthday breakfast date was supposed to be a secret, and I was supposed to drive. However...

Problem 1: I had a terrible head cold I thought might be the flu
Solution: Pump self full of drugs, cover flame red nostrils with make-up, put aside grumps.

Problem 2: Nearly cut finger off (thursday) when chopping pumpkin with super sharp knife.
Solution: More drugs, get Luke to drive to secret location and direct him.

Problem 3: Slammed aforementioned finger in a door on the way to breakfast. Ended up crying on the way to breakfast.
Solution: Bring bag of frozen vegetables for ice pack and conceal under napkin at cafe. Eat one handed. More putting aside of grumps. Wear waterproof mascara ( thank goodness for forsight!).

Lunch today up at the Family house was superlative. Thanks Amy ( among others) for making Luke's birthday so special!

Bound for Botany Bay Part 1

What do you get if you take a three hour car ride, an hour and a half plane trip and change trains twice??

Sprinkle with sunshine and stuff with caffeine?

Luke and I went to Sydney on saturday. We rose at 4am, drank coffee, drove to Buckland, drank coke and ate chocolate. Watched the morning star emerge in a rosy mist on the midlands highway. Got more coffee and croissants in Campbeltown. Caught a plane to sydney from Launny.

Caught two trains to a relo's place. Drank more coffee and ate fantastic sourdough bread from one of the beautiful vietnamese bread shops while chatting with lovely relos.

Met Craig through the flyscreen of the relo's house, went to Craig's place, drank more coke and ate pizza.

It was all a bit of a blowout, not just being off my head on caffeine, but all the abundance of talk and discovery and enjoyment of meeting someone who I had never met and yet knew so much about.

The most surreal moment was possibly when my phone swallowed Craig's number, which I knew I had put there the night before, and had to ring AB, Ruth's husband and ask for it! Ruth, he sounds very friendly and kind, he was very helpful. Thanks AB!

Hearing the phone voices made me realise that people are seldom how I imagine them, and in this case, are a million times warmer and inviting than I thought. However, just as interesting.

Craig

I now understand the multiple blog posts in a day, the enthusiasm for all things theological, and saw the gentler side of the vigorous online debater. Craig, at one point you listened to two simultaneous conversations, you drilled people at SMBC ( in the nicest possible way) and shared so much of your heart and life with us in the shorts hours that you spent with us. Add to this, your willingness to drive us all over the place and were very patient with my shocking sense of direction. You are a legend!! ( and no-one has paid me to say that ;)

Relo's

After a lovely afternoon, we settled down for a deliscious meal and a glass of merlot with Lukey's aunt and uncle. My head swirled with tiredness and the wine as I drank in stories of their travels in switzerland. Their descriptions were so detailed I felt like I'd just been on a holday there myself. Here is a pic from my mental journey.

But, as my M.I.L (Mother in law) says, "You never go to sea without a porpoise"....

So, what was our purpose in visiting Sydney?

The last few months have been the agonising decision about where Luke and I will move next year, so that Luke can study at Theoloigcal/Bible College. The quick trip to sydney was part of that decision. So where have we chosen?

Stay tuned for "Bound for Botany Bay Part 2"!

OK Go - Here It Goes Again

Hee hee!

Graceful Guilt

I come from a Catholic background. I grew up saying “For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful’ before meals”. I ate the ‘host’, I did confession, we lit the candles during lent, and ate fish on Fridays. I went to a school with a weekly mass and was taught by a lot of nuns.

Anyhoo, I am an ex-catholic, hence I get Catholic guilt.

Also I am a woman, hence I give myself too much to do and slam myself when I don’t measure up.

Because I am a Christian, so I long to serve God well and to love others, so when I fail, I get down on myself.

Guilt

I struggle with guilt sometimes. I forget that Jesus Christ has made it so that I can be fully accepted by God. I forget that my relationship with God is not dependant on my ‘performance’ over the last week. It utterly slips my mind that if I do wrong or fail to meet my own (usually overwhelming) expectations, that God does not hold this against me.

I’m reading a great book called ‘The Grace Awakening’. Cheesy? Yes, fully matured. American? Supersized. Biblical and True? Absoloutely.



I’m being walked through Romans and Galatians and reminded that the cost of our sin against God was paid in full by our God, Jesus Christ.










The worst thing about being crushed under a load of guilt is that we can begin to crush others under the same weight. Judge people on how much they pray, or how often they have bible study, or even how close they ‘feel’ to God.

What does everyone else think?

Restless

I am totally distracted.

At work, when I'm supposed to be labelling books or downloading bibliographic records for "Franklin and the Babysitter" I'm taking neglected voumes off the shelves, mending their spines with a hot glue gun and replacing their grotty covers with fresh plastic.



At home, when I'm supposed to be studying information retrieval (Boolean logic, Truncation, vector processing). I'm researching jobs in 2 states, and investigating Theological colleges...

Heartsick

I'm also missing my best friend in Indonesia. Usually she comes to visit about this time of year, but she's managed to get herself a boyfriend in Micronesia of all places, which requires nearly a weeks wait in Guam.

The onlytime she answers my emails is when I write something extremely shocking/surprising/silly in the subject field of my email.

Hmmm, maybe Mike's recent news will work...;)


Does anyone have any suggestions for what to write to Heidi to get her to reply?

(Last time I pretended to be in an internet cafe in Bandung, Indonesia)


Suggestions welcome....

The White Rose

I recently saw a film that has managed to become my favourite.

Sophie Scholl is the story of the White Rose resistance group. Sophie took part in a passive resistance against the Nazi regime. She and her brother distributed leaflets denouncing the actions of Hitler and his government. They distributed the leaflets by post, covering a very small area.

One day, they decide to distribute the leaflets at the University of Munich, the university where herself and her brother were enrolled as students.


I walked away from that movie thanking God for Sophie Scholl and her gentle bravery. I didn't include any spoilers because I think you should all see it...






Momentum

I've recieved all my materials to start the new uni semester, just when I'd got used to my routine of work, cook, clean, tidy, wash stuff, read-without- the uni part. Here it goes.

I'm really tired, but who can stop? And many are more tired than me...

Fetishisism

You know how I had a thing about Home Brand dried fruit ( for the fake cherries) ? I have developed an obsession with vegetables. I'd have them for breakfast if I could. Cabbage, broccolli, zucchini, tomatoes... (Ooh, tomatoes on toast! Great brekky food!) celery, pumpkin.... Whee!

My Name is Earl

A T.V show I've watched a bit of lately has been interesting.

Earl is a typical thief, he lives in a trailer park with his wife and two illegitimate children that aren't his. His days consist of stealing, lounging around at the local Crab shack and eating the free treats brought out by the Crab shack owner, who looks suspiciously like his youngest 'son'.

One day, after scratching a lotto ticket for $100,000 he is hit by a car, losing his winning ticket. In hospital his wife divorces him and moves in with the Crab shack owner.

While watching a daytime t.v interview, he learns about the concept of Karma. Do good things, good things happen, do bad things, bad things happen. He makes a list of all the bad things he's done and sets oput to right them. A little later, he finds his lotto ticket again. Taking this as a sign, he spends his days fixing the wrong things he's done.


Now, I don't believe in Karma. But in proverbs, the writer describes how God is against those who do wrong and with those who do right.

'The Lord's curse in on the house of the wicked,
But he blesses the dwelling of the righteous"

What does everyone think? Should we go about righting the wrongs we have done in our life? Or does Christ's death absolve us of them?


Exhibition

Azaria’s name bracelet encircles air
a tiny circumference, lost.

We release each other from the burden of perfection
Our grace is reciprocal and generous
Yet not extended to ourselves.

A murderer’s death mask
Plaster casted like his victims
Twists my stomach

We touch the bodies of penguins
Leave thumbprints in ice

We praise our men for their gentleness,
Sans skinny milk

Cut backs

'Home Brand' have stopped putting fake cherries in their bags of dried fruit :(

2 hours in the life...

I spent two hours helping a woman from church today.




She has one little three week old baby girl, a one year old girl, a three year old girl and a four year old boy!

Plusses

1. Rocking a baby to sleep for the first time ever! Beautiful experience.

2. Talking with with her four year old, who's a very sensitive, considerate little man.

3. Tickling said four year old, he loved it, and his skin is soooo soft.

4. Making playdoh scultptures with the three and four year olds.

5. Playing outside in icy puddles and showing them how to smash the ice on the ground like glass

Minuses

1. Feeling kinda helpless when I couldn't really discipline the kids for her.

2. One year old girl face planting in an icy puddle ( she didn't even cry, she's tough as nails)

3. Finding out that you don't start games/jokes, unless you mind repeating them twenty times. (I.e 'Look I have a playdoh tear on my cheek, boo hoo!' Expect big blob of cold playdoh in your eye!)

4. Leaving

Cluck in a Bucket

The plan for the day was that my cluckiness would be shocked into submission by exhaustion of helping young mum with four kids!

Foiled!


For Soccer Fans..... (Hat tip to Mark)

The Other Side

Should we take sides as Christians??


I ask because I'm remembering an event that happened when I was working as a ministry apprentice.

A girl ( lets call her Bev) who I spent substantial time with told me about a feud, between herself and another girl (we'd call her Deirdre). From what I gathered, Bev was assigned responsibility for the friendship breakdown and many people kept telling her to forgive and to make up.

From my position it seemed like people were taking sides and that Deirdre was not necessarily reliable. To my mind, Bev was the more reliable and graceful person in her dealings with others. I know her even better now and can say that her personality is inconsistent with the way Deirdre accused her of acting...

Even before I knew the full situation, I decided to take Bev's side. For one thing, no-one else was, and I wanted to support her. I didn't let my position affect how I treated Deirdre, and my activities meant I spent more time with Bev.



In the end, Bev and I grew extremely close and although I was "mentoring" her, we now remain good friends who share equal footing.




But should I have taken sides??


Should I have remained indifferent?

Could we have built such a good relationship of trust and love if I had remained 'indifferent'?



Was it wrong?


What does everyone else think?

Promoting the Gospel

Our Growth group is reading "Promoting the Gospel' at the moment. I can't explain the joy and liberation that this book is bringing to me.


Promotion and Proclamation
The first liberating thought is understanding the difference between 'proclaiming the gospel' and 'promoting the gospel'.

Proclaiming

What's proclaiming the gospel? Explaining the actual message of Jesus being born, living, dying and being resurrected as a rescue mission for human sin.

Promoting

What's promoting the gospel? Living a christian life. Our words, prayers, and day to day conversations that don't overtly involve 'preaching' but involve 'soundbites' of the gospel, and our general personal way of treating people.


The best thing about this for me is realising that 'promoting' is as important as 'proclaiming'.

When I first became a Christian, opportunities to explain the gospel and to discuss in depth what this meant for people came up in regular and dramatic ways. These days, in depth conversations are less plentiful, but small 'bites' do tend to come out as a consequence of just being alive.

This makes me feel liberated and excited! It inspires me to pray and to believe that I can still share my faith, even if the big events aren't as frequent.

I may be skinny at times, but I'm phat full 'o' rhymes.

Skinny at times

I have a lovely brother-in-law. Not only is he considerate and thoughtful, and great to talk to. But he's full of compliments.

"Ooh, you're so skinny'

"No I'm not, I'm still wearing easter eggs from april'.

'Yes you are'

Yes, I'm very vain, but it's nice to hear sometimes..... :)


Phat full 'o' rhymes

My father-in-law is a really gifted individual. His poem for my bro-in-law's birthday was exquisite. He tends to post some poetry here.

Aussies take on Italy

Craig Moore
Despite being a bit of a boofhead in the game against Japan, and generally giving away free kicks for the other team, Craigy Moore is now a bit of a golden boy for scoring the first goal against Croatia in a penalty shot.


Croatia
The Klingons, whoops, I mean, the Croatians, got away with all sorts of rubbish in the first half. Kicking people's ankles, deliberately tripping our boys. Most ridiculous of all was when Simunic was given a second yellow card but managed to stay on the field in the second half!

History
The last world cup that Australia played in was more than thiry years ago, and we didn't even score...Now we've really made it through! It was worth getting up at 5am and missing my run, the whole house crowded into a room to watch it, having coffee and breakfast at half time.

Morning Bell

5:45 AM, cue my optimism alarm vibrating on my bedside table. It’s my optimism alarm because I usually turn it off and sleep until seven. Today I stumble across the room, grab running gear, orthotics, polar fleece vest, long pants.

When I open the door to leave the house at 6:05 am, already the cold is shrinking me, my knuckles are stiff. After running through the main streets I find myself in darkness. Street lights hang useless above me; each step is an unexpected encounter with the ground.

I round a corner, suddenly my shadow leads. Over my shoulder, the moon gleams, crescent shaped. A car passes, I blink like a possum. Click. The lights lower. An hour after rising, a weak glow crackles through bare brambles, shapes materialise out of dark and shadows. I still haven’t broken a sweat.

Jeans

I went shopping yesterday. I spent more than $100 on myself.

I splashed out and bought these jeans, some new running shorts and a top.

This is weird for me, I am soooo tight and Scottish/Jewish that I would sooner wear a ski suit to bed than turn on the heater.

I would rather eat things I don't like than spend money on more expensive food. Half the reason I run is that I hate parting with my money to go to a gym. When my bank account gets low, I go into stingy mode.

I'm the type that will sit in a cafe for hours, reading or meeting a friend, deliberating over one coffee and as many free caraffes of water I can get. I'm the type that tries to get three flavours of mcFlurry toppings out of one McFlurry.



How does everyone else feel about spending money?

Are you as tight as me? Or do I seem too extreme??

Meta-Narrative

I finished ‘Middlemarch’ today and upon reflecting I have decided a few things.

A) I respond very strongly to narrative.

B) There are several types of narrative. Firstly the type which comprising themes, plot and character development, creates a thoroughly satisfying story experience. This sort of narrative lifts my mood and fortifies my spirit for several days afterwards, not to mention the pleasure involved in the process. This usually has a ‘happy’ ending. However there are ‘unhappy’ endings which, because of their structure and message, inspire me and energise me.

C) The other type of narrative, the one in which plot threads are not tied up, characters are inconsistent or in which random events occur without explanation, is generally an unsatisfying narrative. When I finish a story like this I feel depressed, frustrated, restless and morally ‘hollow’.

My theory about this is that as people who have generally been raised on stories and narrative, we have a need for resolution and redemption through story.

My next speculation is that as Christians, we resonate with the narrative of the centuries leading to Christ’s incarnation, ministry, death, resurrection and ascension. This story, that of God’s creation, our rebellion, God’s promise through Israel, and the final culmination, is THE Grand Narrative, or Meta-narrative.

My theory is that story satisfies, even before we understand God’s true narrative. It is a simulacrum, or parable or picture of the true narrative that we know we must belong to, as human beings. So every story that involves certain elements serves a parabolic purpose, to point us to the Grand Meta-narrative.

Luke and I were discussing this yesterday and we decided that Jesus uses his parables as pictures of the meta-narrative, and that even the true stories within Old Testament Scripture serve this purpose of mirroring the Meta-Narrative of God’s plan through the ages.

Jolly Brothers

Luke and I went round to Mike’s place for tea the other night.

Mike has a brother called Dave. Dave cooked sweet and sour pork. I give him props for browning the meat in batches and making the sauce from scratch. He also gets props for asking for the recipe for my Hazelnut Jaffa Pud’ that I brought round J

Watching Mike and Dave bag out each others taste in music is like watching two Jewish rabbis debate theology.

‘People think that I only like Linkin Park, that just because I’m into bikes, I only like heavy thrash music…’ ‘I know other stuff, you know that “teardrop’ song, by Massive Attack, I’ve heard of that (Dave).

‘There’s a rumour going around my church that I only listen to Motor Ace! It’s a lie’ ‘I’m really into Sigur Ros’ (Mike)

‘Sigur Ros, “eeeeee, yeeee leee yeehee” that’s what that sounds like’ (Dave)

‘I leave the room when he puts it on and I come back half an hour later, and I’m like, is it onto the next track yet, Mike?’ (Dave)

My computer is like a private window for me,

with my bookmarks; favourite online comics, blogs, photos. It’s a connection to people in other states and continents. It’s where I sweat out my study and where I explore theology. It’s an almost intimate repository for things that are mine and me. So it’s weird seeing a fellow blogger’s console. Rather than being like a window to the virtual world, it’s just another computer. Set up at a physical desk and surrounded by his cd’s, books and copies of the latest (and last) ‘Gurge. Bron pops up on MSN, it’s slightly unreal. Because it’s not my link to the virtual world, it’s his.

I have to give the boys credit for all the unexpectedly domesticated touches around the house. Couch cushions that match the dining setting cushions. Place mats on the table. Then there are the things that remind you this is a ‘boy’ house, a bachelor pad. The walls are covered with mountain biking photos and navy ships, cars. There’s an oven glove to take my pudding out of the oven with, its royal blue with a single word scrawled on it in script, ‘Ford’. It’s a boy oven mitt.

I’m also convinced I have to listen to some talks by Steve Timmus, about church planting. The model follows a more social and community centred model of church. It’s something that really appeals to me.

Thanks for having us around Mike and Dave!

An Illustrative Definition of Irony

I’ve just submitted a 5,500 word report for a ‘client’, exploring the feasibility of creating an Australian version of this site. It’s a website that uses Google Maps and programs it to measure running routes. It takes the time you enter and calculates the pace you ran at too.

As I said, 5,500 words, because Google Maps didn’t go to street level in Australia, I explored potential map sources including Whereis and Virtual Map Australia.

I researched how to program the software using AJAX programming technique, researched internet hosting needs. I interviewed a programmer.

I extensively researched GPS technology, Pedometers and car odometers to compare them for accuracy with GIS mapping.

Then, on the 20^th May, Google Maps coverage extended to Australia. The site I linked to at the top now happily measures runs at street level all of over Australia. My assignment was due on the 8^th June.

That, my American friends, is irony.

Familial Fiction

Last night, Luke, Shiloh (aka the Borg) and I had a "Dead Poets" writing evening.

We played several writing games, including on where we all wrote opening paragraphs of a story. Then we passed the papers around, each taking a turn adding the next paragraph to each story. This is one of example. Can you guess who wrote which paragraph?

Familial Fiction

1

A cloying scent made her cough, it reminded her of wet Sunday afternoons, when she crawled under the house to be alone. She tried to identify it, but it kept evading her. The house was empty and quiet, and as she walked farther down the hall, her tongue felt coated with dust.

2

Since settling in the city, Sarah had dreaded returning. Isaac had called a month ago in his posh lawyer voice. “It’s all yours, they liked you more anyway. Bye darling!”
They’d never said that as kids, he must have picked it up while working for the firm. So many memories, sensations and feelings had passed over and through her during the long drive up from the city. The large, overgrown yard, the crowded attic above the garage and the tall, church like windows at the front of the house. Her hands left Bradshaw hand prints in the dust and she felt the saltiness of a tear stinging her eyes.

3

It was Sunday afternoon now, August the 5^th, 1983 and Sarah was peering over the edge of the living room tallboy, pushing dust with her forefinger. Her parents, seated on the green armchairs, silent since morning, were reading their weekly journals.

4

“Sarah, don’t do that dear”, her mother dropped a corner of the newspaper to admonish her. Sarah said nothing. She had been trying to reacher the flower vase and its sweet swell. She knew her mother would only tell her not to. That she would break it, remind it her how expensive it was, that it was an heirloom. Endless concerns when all she wished for was the scent of violets.
“Why don’t you go upstairs and write a letter to Aunty June? Thank her for that jumper she sent you” her mother suggested, her voice muffled by the paper in front of her.

5

The accident, when it had occurred, caught Sarah by surprise. Isaac was in his room. Sarah was sitting on the porch by the church windows, her bare feet being warmed by the decking. The memory was quite sharp, odd given the circumstances. Mr Finch across the road had been mowing and fresh lawn clippings had wafted over. The juniper was in season and its sharper scent mingled with the smell of grass. It hadn’t rained for a week and the sky was brightly blue. Blue like the police officer’s uniform. He was standing, cap in hand at the foot of the steps. He hadn’t said anything and she didn’t remember him pulling up, but Sarah immediately knew everything. She hadn’t loved her parents like she should have.

6

“Young lady”
Sarah looked up.
“Young lady, your ma and pa won’t be driving home tonight. I mean, they won’t be home at all tonight.”
Sarah wasn’t stupid or naïve; she knew what the policeman meant, in his clumsy, awkward way. Yet she still asked-
“You mean, they’re staying somewhere else tonight?”
The policeman looked away, and up, up towards the gables. No longer blue sky reflected in the church windows, and the policeman’s uniform dulled at the change. He was no longer a boy in blue, but bobby’s dad, bobby’s dad on the weekend, bobby’s dad on the weekend with his arm around Bobby telling him to stop the tears. Now Sarah was Bobby and Bobby’s tears were her tears. She leaned against Bobby’s dad on the porch and the rain clouds rolled in.

7

The memories wrapped around her ears and eyes, but the scent clung even after the memories faded. The juniper, overgrown and starting to force its way between the weatherboards, assaulted her with its very recognition. She would tear them up by their roots before the day was out.

8

Sarah lined the buckets, gloves, rake, mop and broom neatly along the porch railings. Her friends had teased her at art school. Amidst the wild colours and strange constructions Sarah had layered her colours neatly across the page. “Controlled”, “Firm”, “Dominant” her professors had said. “Repressed” giggled her friends. Sarah shrugged as she pulled at the junipers. She swept the hallway and the kitchen, making piles of rubbish. Next she took a broom to the cobwebs and ran a rag along every window sill and door lintel. It was noon and time for lunch, so she bent over to open the esky. A car horn sounded in the driveway.

9

“His father’s son!” cried Sarah. She had not seen Bobby in a decade, yet his boyish blue eyes twinkled, in his boyish blue.
“We didn’t think you’d come back. By hey, they all do. Eventually”
“So, I’m just like the rest, huh?” teased Sarah.
Booby looked down.
“Of course not,” the edges of his face were turning red.
Sarah stepped closer.

10

“Come and have lunch” said Sarah, hey eyes resting on the badge on his top pocket uncertainly. Bobby’s face, still ruddy, curved into a smile.
“What’s that smell?” he asked, nodding towards the piles of wild juniper.
Sarah’s smile faded, she reached into the esky, popped the top on a light beer and placed the icy can in Bobby’s open hand. Without a word, they drank.

11

Seconds slid into minutes, hours and years. Sarah could see two worlds. The art school, her chattering, laughing friends and the pace of the city. Now the second world opened before her. The still, slow town, gossipping store clerks and bright blue skies and Bobby. Bobby in uniform. Bobby caught her smile.
“What’s Isaac doing these days?”
“The firm sucked him in.”
“Life in the big city, all glamour and pace”, Bobby’s eyes crinkled a little.
“Have you come back for breath?”
“Maybe” said Sarah, as she caught the smell of Juniper.

Middlemarch

'Mr Causabon! He is over forty-five, you know. I say a good seven-and-twenty years older than you'

'I should not wish to have a husband very near my own age' said Dorothea, with grave decision. 'I should wish to have a husband who was above me in judgement and in all knowledge'...

...something she yearned for by which her life might be filled with action at once rational and ardent; and since the time was gone by for guiding visions and spiritual directors, since prayer heightened yearning but not instruction, what lamp was there but knowledge? Surely learned men held the only oil; and who more learned that Mr Causabon?'

Buttermilk

Yes, its true, when recipes ask for 'Buttermilk' which I for one have never ever seen in a Tasmanian supermarket, you can substitute it with normal milk and a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar for every cup of milk. The way it works is to react with the baking powder and create a leavening action to make the mixture rise.

My chocoloate honeycomb muffins testify to it :)

Holy days

Today is my first offical day of work holidays and I spent most of it devouring a P.D James novel and avoiding my report. My excuse is that Luke is on my computer playing 'Rome: Total War".


So I can't use my computer where a million pdf and word documents about GPS, running injuries, AJAX (Asynchronous Java and Xml) programming and the threads that tie them together lie in wait for me...

Which Muppet are you?

You Are Kermit

Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know. You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems. Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green. Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies!

The Muppet Personality Test

My Captain

An answer to Invictus

Out of the light that dazzles me
Bright as the sun from pole to pole,
I thank the God I know to be
for Christ the conquerer of my soul.

Since His the sway of circumstance,
I would not wince or cry aloud.
Under that rule which men call chance
My head with joy is humbly bowed.

Beyond the place of sin and tears
That life with Him! And His the aid,
Despite the menace of the years
Keep, and shall keep me, unafraid.

I have no fear, though strait the gate,
He cleared from punishment the scroll.
Christ is thwe Master of ym fate,
Christ is the Captain of my soul.

Hit Me Baby One More time!

I am down to my last assignment. It is the more interesting of them all, but has less guidelines. The subject outline is as thick as a MYER catalogue, and the rest is me. Still, it's nice to have the management subjects out of the way!

Julie
Sometimes, when I am pushing Julie* around in her wheelchair, children ask me "What's wrong with her?".

My first gut reaction is to say, 'Nothing's wrong with her, she's perfect!".
I settle for, "she can't walk like you and I can, so this her way of walking'.

I don't like to add that she can barely see anything unless it right in front of her, can't discern colours and has some brain damage, its just too sad. But to me, she is perfect. Her sense of joy is infectious, her love of music is profound and she has a wicked sense of humour. It's a delight to know her.

Fraction too much Fiction
Shiloh mentioned a few posts back that she isn;t that into novels. Its funny, I can't get enough of them. I need a book to read while eating my meals, to get to sleep, to relax on my days off. Over the last month I have read countless children's picture books, a good stack of young adult fiction, several 'adult' fiction books and book one of Middlemarch. Its like there is a fiction beast inside me which must be appeased.

Victorian England and Tsarist Russia
Speaking of Middlemarch, I've decided my next degree will be either a Graduate Diploma of Divinity or Honours in English.
My honours topic will be "A Comparison of Middlemarch and the Brothers Karamazov: Two Post Enlightenment Statements of Faith and Reason".

Then one day I will be B.A Hons, M.A Appl. Sci, Grad Dip Div.

Yes, I am bored of my study....

I'm leaving on a jet plane

"I can change the world" insisted Ben at 5:30 in the morning
"yeah, but can you make it so I don't have to wake up?" I thought.

"Soon I will be done" sang Luke,
"With the troubles of the world" sang I.

I think of the "Blair Witch project" while running past a Pine Forest.

Parting the trees, a streak of red and blue meets the sky, cloud-framed and orange rimmed.

Cue "I'm leaving on a jet plane", 'cos "My Lover's Gone".

Scroll and coffee in a paper cup, outside a shopfront, very "Breakfast at Tiffany's"

Guru

I had a dream last night. I hardly ever dream and they are rarely significant, but last night I dreamt about something important.

Context
Before I became a Christian I had a 'guru'. He taught me Reiki, (hee hee, you are not allowed to right click in reiki land!) and taught me how to read tarot cards.
There is a kind of magnetism about the new age and I was toally suckered. Awful things had happened to me in my life and all I could think about was needing 'love' and 'healing'. the new age promises it, and for those who don't know what love and healing really are generally get suckered. My 'guru' was actually quite manipulative and played a lot of head games with me, that I won''t go in to. I only recognised that his charisma was selfish after I was set free.

The Dream

I had a dream about my guru last night. I was running along a highway and a car was coming towards me. I knew it would cross two lanes of traffic and pull over next to me. I knew my guru would be in the car. As usual he had a woman next to him. His girlffriends have been getting steadily older each time I see him in the real world. This time was no exception.

The woman must have been 45 if she's a day, at least ten years older than my guru. What was strange was that my guru was not driving. Not only was he not driving but the woman spoke to me and kept cutting him off. She had never met me before. He seemed totally disempowered.

The Last Meeting
It reminded me of the time I went to a Psychic expo after I became a Christian, and my guru was there, selling some kind of drink or other. Just like he sold me Reiki, Tarot cards reading courses and the like.

I told him I was a Christian now and that I was a Christian because of the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
He looked at me knowingly like he could bring down my faith with one sentence.

Guru: Did you know that the word Christ means "Christos" in Greek?
Me: Ummm, yes, and it means "messiah" in Hebrew.

Suitably impressed, I had beaten my old guru.

He is the image of the Invisible God, the firtborn among all creation. For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities- all things were created by him and for him. Col, 1:15-16

LA la la la la...

A little boy in my prep class, nicknamed 'The Supervisor" for his need to organise everyone in the classroom, resolve disputes and carry anything the teacher needs to hold....

Supervisor: Mrs Amy, I want you to hurry up!

So funny! Trying to scan books and listen to five conversations simultaneously is not easy, I tell you. Especially when you're sick. They really are a lovely class though.

One of the girls has mild Asperges syndrome, she got a little confused today when she renewed two books, tried to take out two more, realised she had reached her quota and tried to put the scanned books right back on the shelf! She was a bit flustered...

Jason Mraz

I have tried to resist but I am obsessed with this man. Yes, Luke knows.


I know I've gushed about him in the past, but really, he has the best male voice I've ever heard. His new album shows that he's only just getting started.



He has some free samples from his new album here. You will need to click on "videos". I think Angus would actually get into "The Geek in the Pink", give it a go. The top link probably gives you more of it. But the second one is easier to link to.


And yes, he does have a huge ego, but I can totally overlook that if he's that good. "And it goes, la la la la la..."





Hazlenut Jaffa Pud'

I kind of mucked around with the humble chocolate self-saucing pud' and it is gooooood

1/2 cup self raising flour
2 1/2 tbs cocoa powder
1/2 cup hazelnut meal
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
60g butter melted
1 1/2 teaspoon orange essence
3 tbs cocoa
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 1/2 cups boiling water

Preheat oven to 180 c

Brush 8 cup casserole dish with oil/butter

1. Sift dry stuff in a large bowl, make well in centre.

2. Pour in combined milk, egg, butter and essence.

3. Stir 'til combined, don't beat much. Pour into dish, dissolve cocoa and sugar with boiling water and pour over the back of spoon over the mixture.

4. Bake forty mins or until skewer comes out clean. Have it with cream or vanilla ice cream.

If you need to feed more than four people I recommend doubling it. They are small serves.