Wednesday, December 23, 2009

musings on 2009

I guess it is a bit early for musings on 2009, but I thought I'd get a head start because lots of things have happened this year.

CHANGE. That pretty much sums up my whole year.

The year started with me being fresh out of university and waiting for the DET to tell me where they wanted me to teach. We were told that we'd get a call in January, yet no one got the call. So that was a bit of a bummer - 4 years of training and no jobs. So I used up my free time to write an impressive resume and lots and lots of cover letters. I applied for every single teaching job that came up even if they were in schools far away. And in God's providence, I ended up at Casula high. When I went in for my "interview" their intentions were clear - they were desperate and no one wanted the job. But being new and eager I took up the job - a one year placement. I'm really glad I did actually. It was a rougher school than I was used to but it really opened my eyes to the south-west and the people there and their needs. I was sad to find out that my placement was going to be cut short, but the school was gracious enough to hire me for the whole of term 2 as a support teacher. All the teachers there were lovely and gave me excellent support. It was like we all understood that Casula was a hard place to teach and we needed to keep on encouraging each other in order to persevere.

Something else very exciting also happened in January (gosh we'll never get to february, march, april....). Rob proposed to me and I gladly accepted. I must say it wasn't easy getting to that stage. Some thought the timing was not good but both Rob and I were ready.

Not only did Rob and I get engaged in 2009, but we also got married! On the 11th of July 2009 we were married at St. Andrews Anglican Wahroongha. At first the time between engagement and marriage seemed so small... but by the middle of June, my Mum was definately thanking God that the whole wedding planning fiasco was not going to be dragged out any longer. We easily planned our wedding in 6 months and had the most fabulous day. Everything went perfectly and I'll remember the day forever.

And so with marriage comes more change. I was no longer living with my parents but was now living with my husband. And with this brought so many new responsibilities that I had not had to think about before. There was grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, bills, etc! Not to mention living with Rob. But I do love it. It's great living with someone who you want to serve and who serves you. It's also nice having your own home and organising things the way that works for you. I love our flat and it's in such a convenient location. God has truly blessed us in this.

I also left my church of 22 years - Penno Baps, to join Rob at his church - St Andys Wahroongha. It has been very sad to leave my family church of Penno Baps. It's been good to visit or catch up with people there - it's always as if I've never left when I see them. However starting at St Andys has opened up opportunities for me to try out different ministries. I've started leading the pre-school to year 1 age group Sunday school which has been so much fun. I've always been scared about teaching little kids a dumbed-down gospel, but all the leaders there are so good at teaching a true fullness of the gospel - it has been a priviledge learning from them and being able to be a part of this very important ministry.

With only 2 terms of work at Casula, I was on the job search again. Now with some extra experience to add onto my resume, finding work was quite a bit easier. I had a few casual teaching stints at some local schools and a few interviews. Then I got a job at Crestwood High. It was only part time, but there was the possibility of it becoming permanent. I started at Crestwood in the middle of term 3 and am still there now... and am contracted for the next year as well. Although the culture is very different from Casula, I'm still enjoying it and thanking God for providing work for both Rob and I.

I probably shouldn't bore you with much else. Rob and I are still enjoying being married and have almost had a second honeymoon this past week as we are both on holidays and making an effort to do exciting things together. The next few days will be very busy as we have our first Christmas together and our first Christmas where we will be scooting around both sides of our family. We aren't sure exactly what 2010 will hold but we are excited to find out what God has in store for us. We praise God for his faithfulness to us in 2009. At this time of the year, we also thank God for his grace in giving us the Lord Jesus Christ who saves us from our sins and brings us into relationship with Him.

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday.

From Car-O-Line

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Your Kingdom Come

So yeah... I've been married for almost 5 months now. Feels heaps longer than that! Rob will say though that it feels like it's been round about 5 months :P

We are very settled in now. So settled in that the our house is often very messy because we just chuck things down. Though every now and again we do a big clean and the house looks like brand new which is always exciting. I reckon we (meaning all people) subconsciously messy their houses so that they can then clean it, and then get that sense of satisfaction and accomplishment from putting in the hard work. Our place is quite messy at the moment. We'll probably clean it on the weekend. I just got out the leaf vacuum and cleaned our patio - it's leaf spotless now! Looks so good. Go me!

I'm such a handy wife! I can pull out the leaf blower, stack a dishwasher, vacuum inside, organise the house, wash clothes, hang clothes, collect clothes, fold clothes, iron clothes, cook, recycle, empty the rubbish, de-soap-scum the shower... the list goes on! I guess though most wives do that. In a matter of fact, Rob can do all that too! He's a handy husband.

I've also been learning the flute. Just because there was a flute in the house and I thought it might be cool. I watched some videos on youtube and now my embouchure is almost spot on every time which means that notes come out - it's amazing! I can also play the F major scale and I'm practising tonguing now. Man you need a lot of air to play flute. Youtube tells me that when you play flute, half your air is wasted because it just goes over the hole. So I've got to get bigger lungs or a stronger diaphram or something.

Rob and I have been doing this Moore College diploma in Biblical studies external course. We just got to Turramurra once a week for a 2-hr evening lecture. Our subject is ministry. It's been pretty good. We learned that ministry is about the gospel, it's about loving others, it's about creating unity in the body of Christ, it's about community, etc.

There has been one big thing from this course that has challenged me. Our lecturer was talking about the Lord's Prayer, and specifically the line "Your kingdom come." When we pray that line we are praying for God's kindom to come which is a good thing for Christians and something to look forward to. But also, we're praying that Jesus would come back and judge the world - meaning that some people, some of our friends and family, will be condemned. Which got us thinking... do we really want God's kingdom to come soon when some of our loved ones aren't saved yet? So how does this affect our ministry - well it makes our ministry more urgent! And it reminds us of our goal in ministry. Now everytime we say the Lord's Prayer in church, I'm reminded to keep on persevering in my ministry to my non-Christian friends and family, and to make use of every opportunity that I have. It is hard to bring up the gospel in random conversations, but lately I've been finding that opportunities have been springing up all the time. Thank God that he is merciful and loving and cares for his people. Gotta keep on trusting and praying to him.

So yeah... I hope that prayer "your kingdom come" challenges you to think more about your ministry to your non-Christian friends and family, because after all, we are all called to be ministers in our lives. It's not just our 'ministers' at church on Sunday who are called to do it.

Well this has been a bit of a different spiel from normal...

From Car-O-Line

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

I'm a villain, I'm an idiot

"It is very hard to read the word of God and think that it endorses homosexual behaviour and when that happens we have to say no, I’m going to be faithful to the word of God, even though in terms of the popular culture I’m a villain or I’m an idiot or I’m all the other things that people say."

-Peter Jenson on ABC's Compass

Monday, September 21, 2009

womens stuff and stuff

I just came back from Women's Katoomba Convention (WKC). It's a Christian conference for women and this year the topic was called "Designer Women." When I first heard the title I wasn't too sure exactly what it would about. I thought... "gosh that could be about a lot of things!" And man oh man it was about a lot of things. I gotta say I was very satisfied with it. One thing that I thought that was really good about WKC this year was that the speakers weren't afraid to put down the hard biblical word on tough topics like:
  • abortion
  • submitting to husbands
  • submitting to men
  • women preachers
  • roles of men and women
  • feminism
  • womens magazines, culture and advertising
It was huge and awesome! I was particularly encouraged to hear at the end of the weekend a woman share that:
I would have considered myself to be a feminist before, but now I can see that God's order and design is the best way for us as women. (paraphrased... I didn't write down her exact words but this is pretty much what she said).
The big thing that I was reminded of at WKC was that God is our designer, and he has designed us for specific purposes. And God's ways are perfect - he works for the good of those whom he has called for his purposes (Rom 8:28). So we should live a life of dependence on him and delight to read his word and pray to him.

Another good thing about WKC was being able to fellowship with the ladies from my previous church. I especially enjoyed catching up with the older women and talking with them about things we had heard and learned. They are so encouraging and full of wisdom, yet they also can learn from us which is an amazing thing.

Today I was back to work as usual. It's still going pretty alright. You always have your good and bad days. I recently got a hair cut and all the art (all female) teachers absolutely love it. It's pretty funny. My new hair is quite arty so I guess that's why they like it. Even though I've only been there for a few weeks they've held nothing back from me. I've got reports due very soon and I've done lots of assessing in the past two weeks. I've also had to write exams, upload info to the school intranet and create worksheets and lots of other stuff. It's nice to feel like a real proper teacher again.

Yay for Rob... he's been a good husband to me. Although I have been finding this passage to be very true:
"I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband." - 1 Corinthians 32-34.

Often I am occupied about thoughts of Rob and marriage stuff that I forget about my relationship with God which also needs to grow and be nurtured. An encouragement to the single: it truly is a blessing to be single and be able to have undivided attention to the Lord. But for me God has led me to marriage and I'm sure he is working his purposes out in me, even though I get lazy and forget about God. Thank God that Rob is there to remind me to not be lazy!

Anways I better go and leave you with this food for thought.

From Car-O-Line

Friday, August 14, 2009

downs and ups

So right now I'm home alone while Rob is out at youth group. I never realised how boring Friday nights at home are because I used to be leading at my old youth group. So I have nothing better to do than blog. Other things I have already done tonight are stacking the dishwasher, turning on the dishwasher, hand washing things that didn't fit, watched lots of The Chaser's war on everything. So yes... blogging is the best option.

Last weekend was a very busy weekend... and both me and Rob didn't get much sleep... and hence we both got sick... which was sucky because I was working 5 days in the week and Rob had multiple assignments due. Spent a few nights just catching up on sleep and forgetting about doing uni work. So we quickly got better. But then the past few nights we've been staying up again doing Rob's assignments. I had to help him with editing and grammar. Last night we were up till 12 to do an assignment that was due at 12. Rob wasn't very happy with the end product. I was feeling a bit sad about it too because I think if we managed our time better we could have done a good assignment. Anyways it's gone now... hope Rob passes. He also had an assignment due today which he ended up finishing at uni... I think he'll do ok in that assignment.

On a happier note... we got our wedding photos!!! YAY!!! Linda and Chloe are the best!!! The photos are beautiful. There are actually a lot of photos! It took us quite a while to get through them. Actually, because Rob was doing assignments, he said I wasn't allowed to look at the photos until we could look at them together, so I had to wait to see them even though they were here in our possession. We're gonna display them on the computer when we have our house warming (finally got it planned).

I have found that ever since I've gotten married, I've become more and more impatient. Like I wanted to just look at the photos without Rob and I opened presents when Rob wasn't around and I just generally don't like waiting for things anymore. I'll be finding out something in two weeks and I just feel irritated that I can't know now. Also my new school hasn't called me since Friday to tell me more about what I'll be teaching. I also find I get more easily agitated with students at school... but maybe that's just because they are talkative annoying girls from a girls school.

Because I've been doing casual for the past week, I've had to supervise some religion classes. They use the Catholic Bible there because it's a Catholic school. I've never had a look in a Catholic Bible before so I had a read of Tobit. It's a weirdish book (from what I've read). I can see why it wasn't included in the Christian Bible. I can accept that what is in the book of Tobit may be true, but it doesn't seem like a very Bible-ish book... if you know what I mean. It doesn't seem like it serves a purpose, but is rather just an account of someone who lived in "Bible times."

I could probably go to sleep now. I am tired. Should I stay up for Rob to come home? Tomorrow I can sleep in YAY! If I don't go to sleep now, I'll have to find something else to do. Youtube is tempting. Eh... I'll get ready for bed.

From Car-O-Line

Friday, August 07, 2009

wireless down

Ok, so my net is playing up at the moment. My mac's airport doesn't seem to like the walls in our apartment. But that's ok... because right now I'm writing up my blog in textedit and then later I'll copy and paste this into blogger... so never fear! You'll be able to read this blog :) (:O you're reading it now!!! I told you so!)

I have more exciting news today. But first... the back story...

Me and Rob (and various other people) have been praying that I get a more secure job. And it's really awesome how God has answered our prayers! If only we looked to God first all the time and trusted in him faithfully. So the day after we prayed, I went online and found about 5 music teacher jobs! Some of the applications were really frustrating to do. Some only required an email. I applied to all the jobs (I've applied to every job that has come up... let me tell you that's a lot of applications and rejections!). Then finally at the beginning of the week, two of the schools got into contact with me wanting interviews. I went to one interview yesterday and went to one interview today.

Yesterday's interview: I almost didn't make it... because they were a bit slow in telling me what day they wanted me to come in, and then when they did tell me what day to go in, it turned out to be a day that Rob needed the car to go to Wyong. Fortunately, the public transport was alright and I made it there in good time. The interview was so-so. Some of the questions really threw me off because they weren't questions I was expecting. I was a bit disappointed after that interview... but then again, it was my own fault for not preparing enough for it beforehand.

Today's interview: This time I had the car and got to the school early. I sat in the car so that I wasn't going to be super early. This school's interview process seemed better. They gave me the questions beforehand and gave me 10 minutes to write notes/answers to the questions. Then they had 2 people interview me... they also provided water (but I didn't need it). Then they asked me those questions and I gave my answers. They weren't intimidating and were very encouraging. They were saying to me that I could take my time and have some water if I needed to think about anything. Though because I prepared beforehand I had all my answers clear in my head and so the interview went by very speedily.

So yeah... 2 hours after my interview today the school I went to today told me I got the job! YAY!!! It's a temporary (maternity leave) part time (mon, wed, fri) music teacher job 30 minutes from my house. Praise God for his love and generosity. I don't know much about the students... they may be good or bad... but I can't be picky about that. I start in two weeks. In the meantime I'm working for the next two weeks at Loreto. Woo Hoo! I'm gonna get income!

Other exciting news for you... here are pictures of the quiche I made! Look at Rob he's so excited about the quiche he had to rock out on the guitar! Don't look at the pictures too close up though... because then it doesn't look like quiche.


We're having a busy weekend this weekend with people coming over. Should be nice to catch up with some people we haven't seen in a while. Hope it wont be too tiring. We still haven't had a house warming yet... that'll have to happen soon. I've also been pretty slow on the wedding thank you cards... hopefully they'll come in the next few weeks. Gosh I'm such a bad person... we've been married a month and no thank you cards sent yet!

That reminds me... me and Rob have been married for 1 month... that means 1 month of me living without a tv! Who would have thought I'd survive? It hasn't been that hard at all actually. I think because we don't have a tv, I've been able to blog more. LOL!!!

From Car-O-Line

Friday, July 31, 2009

Yay for the weekend!!!

Yay I'm so excited because it's the end of the week and I don't have to go to work tomorrow! LOL!!! I've just been to school yesterday and today and already I'm looking forward to a break. I thought I'd post because many exciting things have been happening.

Like right now... I'm baking a quiche. And it's looking good! And the oven we have here works really well so I'm looking forward to the finished product. Quiche is so easy to make! I found this recipe on a website and it's so easy. Here I'll share it with you:

Easy Quiche

serves: 6
prep time: around 15 mins
cooking time: 40 minutes

Ingredients
4 eggs
1.5 cups milk
3 tbs melted butter
0.5 cup self-raising flour
1.5 cups grated cheese
2 cups filling of choice

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180˚C.
2. Whisk together, in a bowl, eggs, milk, butter and flour.
3. Fold in cheese and fillings.
4. Pour into a 24cm quiche dish, or into ramekins.
5. Bake for 40 minutes or until set.
6. Serve hot with vegetables or cold with salad.

Recipe notes
This quiche forms its own base so there is no need for a pastry base! Also, some of your fillings should be pre-cooked (eg: meats like bacon,chicken,etc. as well as veggies such as mushrooms, onions, etc.) and then should be cooled before adding to the mixture.

You must all go try it and tell me what you think.

In other news, me and Rob (and various other people) have been praying that I get more work. And God has graciously (and quickly) answered our prayers! I've been given a 1 month block doing music at the end of term at a school which is less than a 10 minute drive from my house. So that is really good. Also, there have been a few job listings for music teachers coming up recently. So I've applied for them all. (Christine you'll be happy to know that one of the schools is in the south-ish-west... and it's permanent too... so I hope I get that).

Other exciting things that have happened:
- went on a road trip with Cler (see previous post)
- had dinner with my parents which was nice
- my parents are coming over for lunch tomorrow which will be nice
- my mum is doing my tax return and it's looking good
- Jet has been doing really well since I added a live plant to his bowl. He even swims through the plant now (he was very scared of it at first)
- at the end of three weeks - marriage is still good

Today at school I had much free time. In fact I had so much free time you're probably wondering why I'm tired and looking forward to the weekend. Well I'm reading a book called "Love in Hard Places" by Don Carson. It's a really good book (and a bit heavy too... in a brain explosion way). Took me two 50 minute periods to read the first chapter which was a discussion on different types of love and what God's love is. Then I started to read the second chapter which is discussing whether there is a contradiction between the Old Testament (which has a lot of 'hate your enemy') and the New Testament (where Jesus says 'love your neighbours, pray for your enemies'). And I've found out that it isn't a contradiction, but Jesus fulfilling the Law and the Prophets. I wont give too much more away because it's too hard to blog about... and anyways you should read the book for yourself!!! But yeah... reading tires me out (even though I find the topic interesting).

Gosh this has been a long post - though I guess I cheated with the recipe :P
Have a good weekend all!!!

From Car-O-Line

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Not so newly married now...

So I've been married for almost three weeks now. Things have been prodding along quite smoothly. The transition hasn't been too traumatic, though the other day I was feeling a bit sad and was missing my parents and my old home. Rob did a good job of comforting me which was lovely.

Today is my official last day of holidays. I go to school tomorrow. I got a phone call this afternoon from the teacher I'm replacing letting me know that I have a before-school duty. Wah!!! It's at 7:45am. That's a whole 45mins earlier than I was hoping to arrive at school. Hopefully I wont be yawning too much.

Yesterday I went on a road trip with Cler. We went up to the central coast to drop some eye drops to a doctor there. Then on our way back we decided to pop by the Forest of Tranquility... because we had always seen the sign but didn't know what it was. It was a bit of a disappointment. It wasn't really a forest. It was like a animal/nature reserve. And we couldn't get in the gate because there was no one there. We saw a bush turkey which was lots of fun. I was chasing it around and Cler took a funny video which is on facebook.

I think I might be getting sick because I've got a weird feeling in my throat. Hope it passes quickly. I'm drinking lots of warm water. I'm also listening to Joss Stone who is very soulful. I also used Garnier Fructus Instant Melt-In Mask and I think my hair is looking pretty good today.

I went to Ikea today. I couldn't help feeling a little stupid because often I was noticing that I was making "excited child" faces. There is just so much cool stuff at Ikea! I was was like a little child in a candy store. I had to force myself to look normal. I was actually surprised how many people who weren't mothers-pram-ing-kids were there. So many people not working today. I was particularly surprised by the number of young-adult couples shopping there. Surely they would have work today?

Well... this has been a moderately-sized blog.

From Car-O-Line

Thursday, July 23, 2009

I'm Married!!!

"Good morning sunshine! The earth says hello!!!" (points for whoever knows what movie that quote comes from)

So much has changed in the last two weeks. I got married, went on a week-long honeymoon with my husband(!) and now I live in H_rns_y with Rob! I also am going to another church now! I also wake up at 7am without an alarm clock and the first thing I do once I get out of bed is have a drink (I normally would go straight to cereal). I also shower in the morning now! I thought I'd never become a morning showerer.

I've also become quite domestic. I've spent the last three days buying cleaning products, food, bath mats, bins, cling wrap, curtains, and more! I've also been cooking dinner heaps! I never thought I'd like being the domestic wife because when I was at my old home, I would hardly ever cook, hardly have to worry about washing dishes or clothes, let alone cleaning the bathroom. But the thing that I think has changed is that I just really love serving Rob. And Rob is super good at serving me too! I'm not back at work yet so I've had heaps of time to settle into my new home which has been a blessing. Rob is already back at work and uni. God has been very gracious towards our new life together. I was worried before that the change would be traumatic, but God has been so gracious towards me. Really I had nothing to fear.

Oh and the wedding day was fantastic. Everything went so smoothly and I had a really enjoyable (and not tiring) time. Nothing went wrong and I just loved being around all my family and friends, celebrating our marriage.

We honeymooned in the Hunter Valley. We stayed at three different locations. Rob planned it all and he did a great job. I'm glad the locations were close because it meant that we didn't get tired from traveling. And I'm glad that we went to three different locations because it meant we could always get excited about a new location. And all the places were beautiful and comfortable! We also read through Song of Songs and listened to Mark Driscoll Talks on Song of Songs. Mark Driscoll is pretty funny and can be quite challenging, but he sometimes also reads into the passage too much so it was good to be discussing it all with Rob. In spending 168 consecutive hours with Rob, I learned so much more about him that I didn't know before (and it was all good). Hopefully this honeymoon period/stage will last for all our years and we wont become jaded about marriage.

Everyone has been so generous towards us. Our place is fully functional (and not too messy). We hope to be able to be hospitable and have people over in the near future.

I wont bore you any more with my lovey-dovey feelings.

From Car-O-Line

Monday, July 06, 2009

Taronga's new baby elephant

source: http://images.theage.com.au/2009/07/05/618305/0607ELEPHANT-200x0.jpg

Taronga Zoo welcomed a new baby elephant recently. And there is a competition going round for the best baby name for it. The catch - the name must be Thai. Me and mum were thinking up of ideas:

Phat: because it sounds like "fat" which is funny and it also looks like a Thai word
Pad Thai: "because everyone likes pad thai" - Mum
Siew: (as in Pad Siew) because it's Rob's favourite Thai dish
Chaing Mai: "call it Chiang Mai!" - Dad... he liked Chiang Mai when we went there

So what do you reckon? Vote! Or put down your own suggestions.

From
Car-O-Line

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

I'm changing...

Hello!!! It has been a very long time since I posted. How sad for you all. It turns out that I have lots of free time today so I'm going to write about things.

Last weekend Rob and I had our pre-wedding photo shoot with Linda. It was an awesome fun time. Linda is very funny. And I don't really know why. She just makes me laugh a lot. Hello Linda if you are reading this :) - are you going to blog about me too? I hope so.

Other wedding planning stuff is boring and isn't going away yet. Oh well. I'm still very excited about the wedding and having a break from work and being able to settle into a new home. I was talking with Chris and she was asking me how I coped with change... because she said she doesn't cope with change well... and I'll be going through a lot of change. To tell you the truth, I haven't had to deal with much significant change throughout my life... so it will be interesting to see how I do cope with change. Please pray that all the big changes that are about to happen for me wont be too traumatic and that I'll cope well. Gotta keep on trusting in God - he's the best!

You may notice that I changed my blog header to a fully sick graffiti picture of my blog name. This is because I've been working down in the south west hood and I'm full gangsta now. But seriously... the kids at school showed me this website that changed any text to graffiti which is fun to play with. I'm getting used to it there... but it's not fun being the pleb casual teacher... so often I get put on to do the very annoying jobs. Work is toil.

In other news though... today I took a sick day from the south west and took a casual day at a local selective girls high school. OMGOSH it was such a change!!! The girls were actually self motivated and did all the work! And they knew stuff about music and were able to compose! And the teacher left actual work for me to teach to the classes (I took the music classes). It was pretty awesome. There were times when the girls were getting chatty... but they were actually discussing the work! THEY WERE DISCUSSING THE WORK!!! Such a culture shock. Hooray for now being in the school's casual teacher book... hopefully I'll get work in the future.

Tomorrow I'm picking up my wedding dress which is exciting. EXCITING! (I'm so excitable today... is that a proper grammatical sentence?)

Rob has been doing up our new place and now we have quite a good amount of furniture. So it's looking very homey and nice. Feels like you could live in it. Only 4 weeks to go! :O

Well I wont bore you any longer.

From Car-O-Line

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Quick Post

I've only got 15 minutes until I go to a 6 hour child protection training course so I must be quick.

I've been teaching at a school since week 5 of this term. It's a temporary position for a full time music teacher. So I've been teaching a lot of music. I like teaching, although, because I'm the temporary teacher I don't really get to teach what I want to teach. So sometimes I have to think really hard about how to teach something (like Indian music or HipHop or Rock). Every now and then I try to slip in some 19th Century music or Opera. Also because I'm a temporary, it's taken me a while to get a hold on some of the kids. It's pretty ok now... still about 2 classes who are just really disrespectful... and it's not nice to be disrespected. So that's a little frustrating. But anyways, next week is my last week there.

Wedding planning has been going smoothly too. We have bridesmaid dresses!

Not much else has been happening besides school. I've been reading Genesis, Proverbs and Luke. Genesis just keeps on reminding me that we are sinful but God is loving and faithful. Proverbs has some really funny things in it - but it also reminds me how much I need wisdom (especially as I teach in school). Luke has been a very exciting book to read. Jesus is a very surprising person.

From Car-O-Line

Sunday, February 08, 2009

heat wave

It is really really hot! Just thought I'd point out the obvious.

Did you know:
-Wedding dresses can take up to 6 months to make
-The cost of buying a suit is only slightly higher than the cost of hiring a suit
-You can receive a discount if you have a reception in winter. You also receive a discount if you have a reception in January

I'm all full of exciting information and insightful insights today.

From Car-O-Line

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

news

It's been a while. So here is some news.

-I'm still unemployed but just recently had two interviews. Just waiting for some casual days to pop up too.
-I'm engaged to Rob :)
-Being engaged is kinda hectic because there is so much to plan and so many people to have to keep happy... but it's not too bad.

That's all from me. When there is more news to share I will. And hopefully my next post will be a bit more interesting.

From Car-O-Line

Friday, January 23, 2009

Gypsies and Birthdays

Woo! Here are some pics from Jazz in the Domain (17/01/09). It was an awesome night of gypsy jazz music. I totally loved it. I love the thick brass sound and rhythmic energy. Check out www.myspace.com/dochgypsydance and www.myspace.com/fanfareciocarlia for a sample of what gypsy jazz is.






Yesterday was mum's birthday. So last night we had a party with people from her Bible study group. It was a heaps fun time. We ate lots of food and talked. Those ladies are so funny (and a bit cheeky at times). They got me to read out these jokes about senior citizens which were hilarious.






Today I decided to get back into the music culture thing... so I did some score reading of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. Awesome piece of music. I'm into opera at the moment. I'm still a little sad I wont be able to go to Opera in the Domain.

From Car-O-Line

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

My Titanic Moment

I love Dee Why beach. I went there yesterday and last Sunday. The water there is so blue and clear. And you can walk in 3 metres and the water is up to your shoulders already. A great beach for swimming. The waves are also a decent size and you can ride them. I rode a few waves and it's such an awesome feeling. You feel like you're flying on a cloud of whitewash water. It was a bit like a Titanic moment LOL.

A few music teacher jobs have recently popped up so I've been applying for them. One of them is for a private school and one is for a new government school. I'm still all for public education so hopefully I'll hear something soon.

I just finished reading the book of Zechariah using The Daily Reading Bible. Zechariah can be quite confusing at times. There is a lot of unusual imagery and lots of "he said: "thus he said..."" But I got through it. I think one of the overriding messages of Zechariah is that God is bringing his Kingdom and he wants you to draw near to him. One thing cool about reading Zechariah in light of the New Testament is that we see that Jesus brings about the Kingdom. So there is cause for much rejoicing. Heaps of Zechariah is quoted in the Gospels. In Zechariah you see God as loving, merciful, jealous, wrathful... it's jam packed and you should read it!!!

From Car-O-Line

P.S.: I have photos from Jazz in the Domain which was awesome! I'll blog about it next time.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

photos for the week

Today is an extremely hot day. I didn't open any curtains or windows at all in attempt to keep the heat on the outside... but it's still hot. I went for a swim this morning... did 1km. The pool was busy. Heaps of people escaping the heat (yet it is an indoor heated pool ).

Photo time:

Scared Jet with the flash... he's still doing good


My desk!!! Can you tell that I cleaned it?


My new laptop stand... need to get a keyboard to plug into it.


All my folders with units of works and resources... I just need a shelf that will fit them all now.

About a month ago I bought material to make a dress known as the infinity dress. The pattern looked so easy and the dress looked nice... so I bought material in haste. Yet I only ended up making it today. It was very very quick to make! Probably only 2 hours. There were a few fiddley bits... so next time I'll know what to do for an even better product. But I'm still pretty happy with it.



Same dress... different ways to wear it :O It's cool!!!

From Car-O-Line

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

buying, fishing, relaxing, reading, writing...

I have spent a lot of money post-Christmas. I think I have a slight obsession with receiving packages in the mail/deliveries. I bought this awesome cake pan and a laptop stand off ebay. I've also bought clothes. And I bought a whole stack of folders and stationary to organise all my music resources. I'll post pictures sometime.

Update on Jettison... he's doing fine and swims around happily in his bowl. I've been spending a lot of time on the internet researching Betta Splendens. I've worked out a way of easily cleaning Jet's bowl whilst not disturbing him too much which is good. I'm hoping to video him (it'll be easier than taking a still photo) and then I'll upload it for you guys to see.

So far in my holidays... I've been to Muswellbrook to visit family with my parents and Rob for two days which was nice and relaxing. Had quite a bit of chill time at home. Spent a week away at Naomi's new place near Coffs Harbour - went to the beach and other general relaxing.

Two of my friends had engagement parties last weekend. They were fun and it was especially nice to catch up with high school friends.

I read the first two books in the Twilight series. I'm hooked. I wanna read more!!! I saw the movie too and I liked it (though the book was heaps better). I also saw High School Musical 3 and was surprisedly surprised at how good it was. It was awesome in fact!!!

I am currently reading through Zechariah and it's been a little tough and hard to understand... but where I'm up to now... it's a little clearer. Some of the visions in the earlier chapters of the book are just plain confusing! But as a whole... the book has a lot to say about Jesus... so that has been cool.

I'm also reading Prayer and the Voice of God. It is a very easy book to read and quite succinct. If you are having difficulties with prayer... I recommend this book. It has given me a new-found love for prayer and motivation to pray more.

This week I started writing "units of work" for my future music teaching. I've written units on 'the concepts of music,' 'instruments of the orchestra,' classical period, baroque period, romantic period, jazz and world music (some didn't take long to write though because I had models already for them). So hopefully I'll hear about a job soon. It's pretty annoying just waiting for the department to call me and tell me. I tried to call them the other day but the lines were busy so I had to leave a message. No doubt they are busy busy busy organising stuff before school resumes.

Holidays have been good so far. I better make the most of them. Swimming tomorrow :)

From Car-O-Line