I had no idea that the thought of me walking the catwalk would stir you all up so much!! … if I had a digital camera I’d stick it in front of my face and blow you all a big fat raspberry!!
NO – there will not be any video available hence no possible way for you to view this catwalk queen!
NO – I didn’t sleep in (this time!)… I just enjoyed a rather long lunch!! (all-be-it with a funny feeling of, "I think I'm supposed to be somewhere right now!")
NO – I will not perform ‘Blue Steel’… except in the green room (if we get one) in preparation!!
…And can you all just let me forget that I’m supposed to be an organised person when I forget where I’m supposed to be, when and why! – twice only… EVER!! Not bad for very nearly 29 years!
PS – Sisters who squeal on secret home videos (or at least attempt to bribe!) need to beware of photographically inclined siblings with photoshop and a website at their fingertips!!... “h-h-h-h-h-h-a!”
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Photo #5
Home Sweet Home... I miss my little bit of paradise - don't you Andi? The Hutt River (beautiful as it is - don't stone me yet Wellingtonians!) just doesn't cut it some days!
Oh how I long for Summer and the West Coast all over again! - just a little almost-mid-winter blues I suppose...!
http://captkaren.blogspot.com/2005/01/secret-of-west.html
Sun, Sand and Surf
Burning-hot-sun, iron-sand and killer-surf... ah! Anyone care to join my reminiscing of a Summer that seems so long ago already?
Friday, May 13, 2005
An Amateur at Best
Man has it been a long week! Most of us are walking around needing match sticks to hold our eyes open yet we’ve only just started a new term.
We’ve ‘Tripped the Light Fantastic’ with the second years and almost everyone has found their new place in the pecking order on campus… I’ve landed somewhere between 1st year pleb and table tennis amateur! My catch cry is, “Am I getting closer to the edge of the table?” to which the inevitable, yet surprisingly gracious reply from the second years is … “Nope!” – that in itself I have learnt is a cross between no and hope leaving me unable to return a serve unless they play nice!
Don’t all die of shock but I’m rather at a loss for words! My head is thick with readings… how to read an old testament narrative correctly, the convictions of a preacher, the moral attributes of God (theology schmeology!) and the old testament timeline – who are the patriarchs, the judges, the prophets and the kings! As my theology lecturer would say: “Stimulating isn’t it?!” … to which I continue thus far to reply, “Hahahahahahahahaha…” – with a most sarcastic lilt I might add!
But seriously, I’m no more than a poor amateur at best and this amateur is currently on yet another incredibly steep learning curve. The skill base is growing slowly as is the knowledge, chunk by ever-increasing chunk and who knows – by the end of the year, I'll either be buried under my chunks of knowledge with a white flag on a stick poking out, or I will have survived the onslaught and discovered how to keep the ping-pong ball on the table along the way (ie – the second years will have to stop catching my returns and actually hit back!). Then, and only then, I might just be able to transition over and fill their rather soon-to-be-empty shoes!
We’ve ‘Tripped the Light Fantastic’ with the second years and almost everyone has found their new place in the pecking order on campus… I’ve landed somewhere between 1st year pleb and table tennis amateur! My catch cry is, “Am I getting closer to the edge of the table?” to which the inevitable, yet surprisingly gracious reply from the second years is … “Nope!” – that in itself I have learnt is a cross between no and hope leaving me unable to return a serve unless they play nice!
Don’t all die of shock but I’m rather at a loss for words! My head is thick with readings… how to read an old testament narrative correctly, the convictions of a preacher, the moral attributes of God (theology schmeology!) and the old testament timeline – who are the patriarchs, the judges, the prophets and the kings! As my theology lecturer would say: “Stimulating isn’t it?!” … to which I continue thus far to reply, “Hahahahahahahahaha…” – with a most sarcastic lilt I might add!
But seriously, I’m no more than a poor amateur at best and this amateur is currently on yet another incredibly steep learning curve. The skill base is growing slowly as is the knowledge, chunk by ever-increasing chunk and who knows – by the end of the year, I'll either be buried under my chunks of knowledge with a white flag on a stick poking out, or I will have survived the onslaught and discovered how to keep the ping-pong ball on the table along the way (ie – the second years will have to stop catching my returns and actually hit back!). Then, and only then, I might just be able to transition over and fill their rather soon-to-be-empty shoes!
P.S. – true to form (check out the archives for February and you’ll know what I mean!), I managed to be late yet again this year – actually, I was so late, I missed my meeting altogether… much to the shock and horror of the other 12 or so cadets in the room who made it to the planning meeting… oops! My punishment – I have to model on the catwalk for our Mission Weekend in Kilbirnie! Standby for that blog! Mental note to self: DO NOT MISS ANY MORE MEETINGS!
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Seriously
I know, I know! I’ve been kind of serious of late but just one more thing before I find my sense of humour again!
I was reading this for devotions and thought y’all might find a bit of encouragement from it especially as we’re all coming into this heavy season of nearly-but-not-quite-winter… you know, grey skies, no more holidays (at least not for another 10 weeks!), the power bill starts to climb, the chill sets in and there just never seems to be enough daylight hours for anything!
Take heart:
**Warning – not to be consumed by the biblical theologians amongst us!! This is a mixture of the New Living and Message translations – no-one has declared it illegal… yet!
My life application notes also said:
I don’t know about you but I just stopped and prayed for all of that for me! ... and then of course I thought of all of you! (I'm still learning that the order of that alone should be the exact opposite!) Who can ever do without anything in that list! Personally, I need a little extra of numbers 8 and 9…!
Take courage, pray hard, winter will come and go and we’ll be sneezing in Spring before we know it!
I was reading this for devotions and thought y’all might find a bit of encouragement from it especially as we’re all coming into this heavy season of nearly-but-not-quite-winter… you know, grey skies, no more holidays (at least not for another 10 weeks!), the power bill starts to climb, the chill sets in and there just never seems to be enough daylight hours for anything!
Take heart:
**Warning – not to be consumed by the biblical theologians amongst us!! This is a mixture of the New Living and Message translations – no-one has declared it illegal… yet!
Colossians 1:9-12
Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven't stopped praying for you. We ask God to give you a complete understanding of what he wants to do in your lives, and we ask him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom. We pray that you'll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you'll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.
My life application notes also said:
Paul’s prayers teach us how to pray for others, whether we know them or not. We can request that they:
- understand what God wants them to do
- gain spiritual wisdom
- honour and please God
- continually do good kind things for others
- learn to know God better and better
- be strengthened with God’s glorious power
- have great patience and endurance
- stay full of Christ’s joy and
- give thanks always
I don’t know about you but I just stopped and prayed for all of that for me! ... and then of course I thought of all of you! (I'm still learning that the order of that alone should be the exact opposite!) Who can ever do without anything in that list! Personally, I need a little extra of numbers 8 and 9…!
Take courage, pray hard, winter will come and go and we’ll be sneezing in Spring before we know it!
Monday, May 02, 2005
Photo #4
Ah, Roma! My sister and I did Rome together last January and on the afternoon we arrived, we had a bit of an eventful time finding our accommodation (nowhere near enough room to go into that story tonight - let's just say that our hotel didn't actually exist!). So after Lorinda (LJ) had slept off the bulk of her fever, (Rome in the rain with a temperature trying to get out of a corrupt deal with an Italian weasel is no fun!), we did the typical Italian thing and went out for an afternoon walk.
As we rounded a corner not too far from our hostel, we stumbled across this! ... oh, just the Coliseum! Amazing! After both of us picked our jaws up off the ground, we ran down the road (granted Lorinda's was probably more of a wheeze and a hobble!) and took a few more photos.
Better than anything in Rome was the person I saw it all with, so this one's dedicated to LJ - without whom I would have had no idea what I was supposed to be looking at on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel... I plead artistic ignorance!
Grazie mille sorella for putting up with a sister who raced you through the Vatican Museum at a rate of knots!
Ciao tutti!
Sunday, May 01, 2005
Hmmm
I’m still so blown away by events tonight that it took me ages just to come up with a name for this blog!
The second year cadets are all back on-site and it’s weird & wonderful all at the same time! We had a meeting this morning followed by brunch and then tonight, we met back again to pray together.
It was so good just to take time out from our assignments and all the other things that keep us so busy and just pray. I was touched and challenged by something that never fails to stir me.
Part way through the evening, we watched a hugely emotional slideshow reminding us of other situations and circumstances that people can find themselves in and that we can pray for. The pictures were pretty powerful and I was reminded of my passion not just for children but for those who are unable, for one reason or another, to speak for themselves.
Then this stood out to me at the next prayer station – so much so that I didn’t get anywhere near anything else that was prepared for us in the room:
The second year cadets are all back on-site and it’s weird & wonderful all at the same time! We had a meeting this morning followed by brunch and then tonight, we met back again to pray together.
It was so good just to take time out from our assignments and all the other things that keep us so busy and just pray. I was touched and challenged by something that never fails to stir me.
Part way through the evening, we watched a hugely emotional slideshow reminding us of other situations and circumstances that people can find themselves in and that we can pray for. The pictures were pretty powerful and I was reminded of my passion not just for children but for those who are unable, for one reason or another, to speak for themselves.
Then this stood out to me at the next prayer station – so much so that I didn’t get anywhere near anything else that was prepared for us in the room:
World Wide Day of Prayer for Children at Risk – June 4
Those of you that check in fairly regularly might remember an earlier blog that I removed back in February. It was about a child that I taught earlier on this year who came to school with 2nd degree burns to his hand that had been left uncovered for the better part of 4 days. I was a little rattled, to put it mildly, about the fact that parenting/home situations/finances could get so bad that a child is left without basic medical attention. In the end, I had to take the child up to A&E on behalf of the school and pay to get the burn cleaned and covered properly a week after the injury. My passion for the profession of teaching is part of what made it hard to leave but also a lot of the reason that I am where I am today. Who are the advocates for these children? Where are they? I was motivated further by becoming aware of the day of prayer coming up … things got pretty emotional for me pretty quick about here.
Just as an aside – if you’ve ever been so moved by something that all you can do is cry, don’t ever underestimate how God uses the cries of the heart…
The last part of the evening found us in yet another amazingly prepared room to focus on The Salvation Army itself. Part of this was the challenge to fast and pray on any of the days left this year for as long as we felt led and for whatever purpose whether it be an event or for The Salvation Army as a whole.
I found myself without hesitation writing my name down on June 4 – join me if you want to.
It’s hard to get this all down in words that do it all justice. Let’s just say that I don’t think that one person left tonight without being touched in some way and we didn’t come for ourselves tonight…
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