08.28.08
Posted in Seen at 1:24 pm by Sarah
Last night was pretty awesome. I wasn’t really looking forward to going out late on a weeknight (yes - I know I’m old and boring) but it was really really worth it.
We got dropped off at Chinatown with just enough time to find a good place for dinner. We spent the meal educating our poor western Sydney peeps about the wonderfulness of Asian cooking… and yes you can eat those tiny shrimpy things even though they still have eyes. (I forget sometimes I was once exactly the same…. )
Then we made our way into the Entertainment Centre to our very very cool up the front, on the floor seats (bought thanks to my quick-thinking husband). It was very cool to walk into an auditorium full of 10,000 Christians (well mostly Christian). It just gives you visions of heaven. And the buzz just had me on the edge of my seat and so excited!
The music was big and loud and awesome. I wondered why more Christian singers couldn’t be like the girl on the left who had this huge incredible voice. Looking forward to seeing them again at Engage 
.
And then there was Mark Driscoll - the man we were there to see. He was so funny! I don’t remember him being so funny on the MP3’s I’ve listened to… but he was so hilarious! He had done his homework on Australia and was actually really well informed.. I was quite impressed.. he says his heart and his mission is for young men - but he really does reach anybody and everybody.
I really like how he says things so succinctly - like that God doesn’t love you because you obey him, you obey God because he loves you. Oh, and after having battled with people at work who are really into prosperity gospel - I absolutely loved his take on it.
Hopefully there won’t be too many recycled jokes at Engage… but still definitely worth the late night.
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08.04.08
Posted in Seen at 11:44 am by Sarah
So I went to the first Equip Ministry Wives Conference on Saturday..
The Good:
- Catching up with peeps. Didn’t know too many people (I’m sure this will change once we get to college) but it was nice to see the people I did know.
- The music! They chose my favourite songs to play and played them really well. All-girl bands rock! Plus, singing with a bunch of women always lifts my heart… it just sounds so good!
- The speakers. Carmelina is just really funny and honest. Phillip was Phillip. He did recycle some ‘rants’ from MYC - but I guess that teaches me for hearing him speak twice within a few weeks.
- The challenges. I was really challenged on how much I demand from H. This was more of an issue when we were first married… now we are in a routine it doesn’t come up as often. But I’m sure things will be messed up a bit when we move. I need to be less needy and sacrifice my husband’s time for the sake of the gospel.
- No ticket! I parked in a two hour car park (there was absolutely no parking otherwise) and didn’t get a ticket. I felt a bit guilty… but it was still nice.
The not so Good
- Being trampled at the book stall! It really surprised me how pushy these women were - women who were supposed to be ministry wives? Perhaps I have high expectations of people. Now that I think about it - I should have given feedback about this.
- The feeling of not belonging. I’m absolutely sure that this was not deliberate - but the people up the front were surprisingly narrow-minded when it came to the definition of ‘Ministry Wife’. Alot of what was talked about was in the context of a church minister’s wife. Of course this did not mean any of the applications were any less poignant - just that I was a little annoyed. H and I do not neccessarily have any aspirations to do church ministry and I knew others there who weren’t doing church ministry either. I did give feedback on this.
Overall a good day
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07.23.08
Posted in Projects at 10:28 am by Sarah
I found this nice little tutorial on crocheting with plastic bags… very cool! I’m sure it could be used to knit with as well.. Either way - I think it will be slightly more successful that my attempt to fuse plastic bags….
Yay for another project!
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07.21.08
Posted in Church/Ministry, Journal at 3:03 pm by Sarah
So we spent a week in Kurrajong for MYC.
It worked out quite well actually. I spent about an hour (during the student’s bible study groups) in the morning and several hours in the afternoon (during free time) working. Surprisingly I even got internet on my air card - which was extremely useful in stemming the flow of emails.
I went to the seminars - which was good because otherwise I wouldn’t have spoken to the students at all - and the evening talks, which were of course, excellent. The whole theme was ‘Resurrection’ - so every part of the conference was ‘in light of’ the Resurrection.
I even managed to make it to an elective on the environment. I was interested to see what the take would be on something that is quite trendy at the moment. I still didn’t feel comfortable about where our environmental ‘priority’ should lie. I did bring up TP’s article on Fair Trade and they didn’t really have an answer on that… so I’m still confused. Either way, I really would like my own veggie patch one day.. but for now I’ll be contented with my herbs.
It was nice to be on a break, even if I did have to work a little. Just being in the middle of nowhere is relaxing. Watching the gum trees and the kookaburras (while I sat in the doorway pointing my laptop at my estimate of where I was getting the best reception) was sublime.
Haoran even had his ideal birthday… at MYC… with frisbee playing… and board gaming… and bible teaching. I managed to make a cake and bring it with us (because birthday’s aren’t birthdays without cake) and 400 people sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to him.
We left on Friday afternoon to go to visit my family in Parkes. We arrived to find my crazy punk sister was on her way back to Sydney for some gig! But she was driving back in the wee hours so I managed to forgive her.
We spent alot of the weekend helping Mum set up a website and print material for their new B&B. It was so much easier than going back and forth on email like we have been. We went and heard my sister’s band practise (and Haoran jammed with them). And also visited my grandfather, sitting in front of his wood fire chatting. Haoran loves the fact that both my grandparents are Christian and you can sit there talking to them about theology. It reminds me not to take them for granted!
We had a birthday dinner for Haoran and I also gave my Dad and sister their birthday presents for their upcoming birthdays. My sister was most impressed when she got a guitar! She had asked me for one (jokingly I hope). I told Haoran later on and he said ‘Actually.. I have an extra guitar I need to get rid of’ so… she got very spoiled!
We went with my parents to the Pressie church as usual. I was impressed that they now have a digital projector and a lovely warm heater. Not bad for a country church!
After lunch we drove home in the rain.
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07.10.08
Posted in Church/Ministry, Journal at 11:07 pm by Sarah
The above title is brought to you by the true Christian tradition of acronyms.
It’s that time of year again. Where things get a little crazy and I feel overwhelmed. In truth, we haven’t really been all that busy. It’s just the threat of busy that freaks me out. Oh yeah.. and all those conferences lined up in a row.
Combine that with the fact that it’s half-way through the year - and that having a dual consequence. One being that I need to do a whole lot of marketing strategy stuff at work since I innocently only planned the 1st 6 months in January. Second… it brings home the fact that this will possibly be the last 6 months of work for me for quite a while.
See… I applied to do a Diploma of Theology at SMBC. I’ve been wanting to do it for 3 years. That doesn’t remotely make it any less scary. For someone who hasn’t done any tertiary study.. and who hated highschool…. it’s freakin’ me out. The PTC subjects I’ve been doing (and passing!) have boosted my confidence slightly - but is it enough for the big bad world of Bible College? I’m yet to find out.
The sad thing is - I finally love my job. My job title finally has ‘Marketing’ in it, and my boss recently threatened to take out ‘Administration’ . There was an announcement yesterday that management would pay for our tolls plus give us flexi hours when we moved to North Ryde. My boss is amiable and falls over himself to do whatever he can for me. I’ll be very sad to leave… I never thought I’d say that about work - but it’s true! Even now I feel odd keeping my mouth shut about it - I was always awful at keeping secrets.
Next week I’ll be working offsite.. at Kurrajong… Meroo Conference Centre actually. But don’t tell anyone! I couldn’t bear to be away from H on his birthday so my ever-amiable boss has made arrangements. So I will be tapping away at a laptop surrounded by bushland and bible talks. Much fun!
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07.05.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:51 pm by Sarah
It seemed too precious to waste.. here is my real-life travel diary. Filled with postcards that I bought because I could never take that nice a shot, and maps, and brochures, and many, many bus, train and plane tickets. It also contained our itinerary and several important things like that. Here are the more interesting pages… Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in Uncategorized at 8:44 pm by Sarah
London –> 26/4/08 AND 27/4/08 Read the rest of this entry »
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06.05.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:43 pm by Sarah
A break away from the norm. Since I’m sure most people aren’t bothering to click that one more time to see my awesome pictures and read the travel tales.. I can’t believe it’s already been a month since we got back! I really need to finish journalling…
What’s going on with me? Lots of stuff. But I’m having trouble putting it in any kind of logical order - so you will have to deal with my mess. Sorry.
We’re looking at houses - to buy. Maybe… sort of. Which is incredibly scary. Especially when the money we are spending essentially does not belong to us. So… yeah. We almost bought one a week ago - until the pest inspector saved us a whole lotta cash by informing us there was major structural issues.
We’re thinking about next year.. a lot. I guess the whole house buying thing has been a major trigger. Options have been weighed and opinions sought. No decisions as yet… but we have plenty of time for that. Things are becoming less foggy, however.
Yet… we’re still in Quakers Hill and we’ll be here for at least another 6 months… so we’re also trying not to get ahead of ourselves! We have responsibilities here and now - and we need to be faithful to that.
I guess I don’t know how I feel about leaving. It’s been in the plan ever since I dreamed of going to college (before Haoran came along). But alot of people have been quite shocked at the news (usually when I mention it in casual conversation - not realising that it’s news). Is moving from the Western suburbs to the Inner West like moving countries? I guess I’ll see QH people as much as I see Eastern Suburbs people now.
I really do feel like it’s time. Basically all my original friends from way back in 2000 when I arrived in Sydney have all gotten married and left. A missionary family came back from overseas recently whom I had known quite well while they were here - and it came home to me that I was probably one of only a few people they would have recognised out of our congregation.
Haoran has been in ‘missionary mode’ during his time in QH and to go back to the eastern suburbs was always a home-coming. Yet his home has changed and evolved while he was gone. People have left and moved on. So perhaps we are both homeless… maybe that is why making a new home together is so appealing.
I am looking forward to making new friends together - up until now it has very much been ‘your friends’ and ‘my friends’. Although there is always the theory that it’s harder to make friends the older you get…
Anyway my ‘real time’ post has ended up being a ‘future time’post… Right now: I’m trying to ignore the vague feeling that I probably should be doing some work, staring at my half-finished lunch, and feeling slightly tired after going to the gym during my lunch hour.
Back with the last few days in London soon….
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06.02.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 6:16 pm by Sarah
25/4/08 London
Read the rest of this entry »
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