27.04.06

This is what comes of a quiet day…

Posted in Uncategorized at 5:56 am by Sarah

Browsing through smh… I came upon an interesting and surprisingly peacable view on Anglicans fighting against the ordination of gays… quoting CS Lewis, no less!

I opened the link expecting to become frustrated by yet another journalist challenging the church for being close-minded and judgemental… instead;

“What the factions of the church must realise is that it is possible to disagree, and remain in communion. The Henny-Pennys who wring their hands because the Africans don’t agree with the North Americans should learn to accept that it is the fundamentals of faith that matter most, not peripheral issues of order, ordination – and sexuality.

This is not saying that these matters of morality are not important, and should not be debated. I am simply saying they are not important enough to split over.”

She mentions the vicious attacks that Anglican leaders have been letting loose on each other across the world and advocates peace. Which is fair enough, I cringe when I read their quotes. Of course they are probably carefully grouped quotes designed to sound terrible…

I’m still struggling to figure out whether her statement that the issue is ‘peripheral’ is worth considering. There is a huge temptation here, to have a lukewarm opinion, to be less controversial. Despite all this, I can’t agree with her. God’s Truth must be stood up for… is it worth a split in the church? I really don’t know.

The whole thing- http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/rent-asunder-as-brawls-replace-talk/2006/04/26/1145861416496.html

24.04.06

Wine and Pearl Beach

Posted in Uncategorized at 4:01 am by Sarah

Before I say anything I must warn you that we booked our accomodation online. Which meant we nabbed the best deal we could find at lastminute.com and really didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into. Hilarity ensues… Read the rest of this entry »

21.04.06

Excitement!

Posted in Uncategorized at 7:05 am by Sarah

Yay! I’m so excited about going away this weekend!

 G and M and us are tripping – but this time to the Hunter Valley! Wine and cheese and foods…. yum! Well.. not so much the cheese.. but anyway.

There shall be much eating and market-ing and wine tasting and boardgaming and shopping…

*sigh*

20.04.06

More on Inside Out

Posted in Uncategorized at 2:51 am by Sarah

Further things of note;

Self Protection:

Crabb says that most of us commit the unconsious sin of ’self protection’. A internal force which affects our decisions and our actions in order to avoid getting hurt. For eg: Your parents may have had a bad relationship and therefore you find yourself distancing yourself from your own spouse. Or, you could sway in the other direction and be overly protective of your relationship.

Thirst:

This is interesting actually. Crabb explores the concept of ‘thirst for God’ – what is it and why don’t all Christians have it. He says that there is an overabundance of ‘matter-of-fact’ Christians who know the facts and do the deeds as if being loyal to a company that treated them well. The conclusion is that once you acknowledge and embrace your hurt and longings - and acknowledge who Christ is - you are able to be more passionate for Him.

18.04.06

Home Tripping

Posted in Uncategorized at 2:23 am by Sarah

We arrived about 5pm on Friday after a frustrating trip in my old Laser. Basically, unless you’re prepared for a hill and rev up a bit, you’ll end up crawling in second gear with the pedal on the floor.

Managed to score a few Birthday presents and a wedding present. Notables include a ‘Desperate Housewife’ apron and a brand spanking new iron to replace our ancient one. We were also the first to stay in the new-almost-finished house which mum set up like a B & B complete with Easter bunnies on our pillows and small packets of cereal in the kitchen. 

First thing Saturday was a trip up the main street (there’s only one in Parkes) which is always a bit weird for me. Some people like knowing every second person they walk past on the street. I don’t. Perhaps I’m just anti-social, but I enjoy anonymity. I feel quite awkward seeing someone on the street I used to know in my old life – and probably end up looking quite rude by avoiding them because I have no idea what to say to them. Now that I think about it, it probably comes from having quite an unhappy time at school, and associating most people I know in Parkes to that experience. I’d rather not re-hash the past.

Later on we met our new car. It’s nice and shiny and it’s ours. Haoran’s first car and my fourth. The best and worst feature on the car is that, because it’s european made, the blinker and the wind screen wipers are on the opposite sides on the steering wheel. So it is frustrating for the driver and hilarious for the passenger when the wipers start going every once in a while..

We also visited my old house I grew up in. A young couple with visions of horses and babies owns it now. They painted my old room a nice purple… a major improvement on the pink with blue trim that I picked out when I was 10.

 The afternoon was spent board gaming with my sisters, catching whiffs of Mum’s yummy baked dinner as she cooked and napping. Haoran has discovered the effect Parkes has on you after a few hours. The pace is so much slower that it actually makes you lethargic.

Then dinner – where Mum managed to make a delicious lactose-free white sauce – and lactose and gluten free dessert (did I mention my family have food issues?).

Church was good, I’m glad my family have managed to find a decent church. Haoran ended up knowing something like 4 people from uni who now live in Parkes. I should have known, can’t take him anywhere. :)

Then Thai for lunch and preparing for the travel home. Of course we lost the car keys (the only copy we have) and of course they turned up in the pocket of jeans that I changed out of and packed in my suitcase. 

 Oh yeah… I saw a snake too. A fat one which slithered under the house about 30 cm from my feet. I don’t think anyone believes me though.

13.04.06

Being a Christian

Posted in Uncategorized at 1:30 am by Sarah

I recently picked up a book again called ‘Inside Out’ by Dr Larry Crabb, for my lunch time reading.

I can understand why it has been recommended so often to me. I feel like it was written for me (as does every person who reads it, I suspect). All the guilty feelings, longings and grief that you experience as a Christian are spelled out. Right there, in writing, is everything that I never could express, or was too embarrassed to.

 Things that have been helpful so far; Read the rest of this entry »

10.04.06

It’s all in the name…

Posted in Uncategorized at 1:58 am by Sarah

Yes. It’s true. I’m an Un.

Amidst all the waiting and filling out forms and signing documents that was our normally lazy Saturday morning, I felt slightly odd.

Although I was excited about becoming part of a new family.. officially… on paper.. it was sad in a way. The name that I had hated growing up with (and hated even more once I’d met the Gerbers) was now not mine.

I guess I understood a little of what my Mum has had to go through over the last 6 months. Her process of giving me up and letting me go seemed uneccessary to me. I would still be part of our family no matter what!

Now the most obvious thing that connects me to my family is gone. And as I sat in the RTA, surrounded by screaming children, watching the big red numbers roll over, all of this kind of hit me. So I mourned my old name and started making friends with my new name.

Actually, one of the best things about changing your name is that you can completely re-vamp your old signature! I always hated my signature, it was yukky and scribbly, was hard to fit in the box on the back of bank cards, and didn’t look anywhere near like my normal handwriting. My new one is so much better :) It’s readable, fits in the box, and actually looks like I wrote it.

Now I have a nice new gold license with a decent photo and a good signature, and I ordered my new credit card in bright pink! To top it all off, at church on Sunday I was presented with a brand new name badge :)

 In the end.. the bestest best thing about my new name is that it’s the same as my husband’s and it shows the world that I belong to him.

07.04.06

100% Work

Posted in Uncategorized at 3:16 am by Sarah

At work this week, I’ve spent 25% of my time hurriedly trying to keep up with phone calls and orders and paperwork. The other 75% is spent trying to look like I’m doing something useful. The trouble with a job which depends on customer demand… is that when there’s no customer demand.. there’s not much work.

It gets quite straining staring at my computer for hours on end, refreshing Hotmail every few minutes, checking the few blogs I actually have access to and trying to space out toilet and cup of tea breaks so I can stand up every once in a while.

 But today was supposed to be different. Today we were going on a ‘Department Lunch’. I was actually quite excited about this lunch. I was invited even though I’m a temp, and who doesn’t get excited about free food at a nice restaurant?

But no. Our Dept Head decided he couldn’t spare the entire department for a few hours. He was annoyed by the rumours that some employees were planning to go home afterwards. And so our lovely yummy free lunch was cancelled at the last minute. *sticks lip out*

However, I did get out of the office today. I got to drive a Hyundai around so we could drop a new model off to be photographed. I don’t actually like Hyundai’s that much.. they look cheap and tacky… yet it’s kinda cool to find out all the background stuff they have to do to launch a new model. I also got a ride in our top-of-the-range model which had comfy leather seats and a cool navigational system. It had a ghastly interior colour though, which I can only describe as vomit yellow.

I hope I’m not becoming a car person.

 

04.04.06

The Dreaming

Posted in Uncategorized at 1:00 am by Sarah

Normally I don’t dream this much but I’m thinking it’s caused by of one of the following:

 1. I’m not used to sleeping next to someone, therefore I’m sleeping lighter and dreaming more.

2. When I wake up, I can immediately tell Haoran about my dream, so I remember that I actually dreamed.

My dreams have been animal related recently..

I think I’ve mentioned our major ant problem. I dreamed the other night that the ants started carrying off our furniture. It was actually quite funny watching the chairs bobbing around and bumping into one another.

And then after Haoran spotted a bunny rabbit in our backyard, I promptly dreamt about a whole army of rabbits invading the backyard. In defense of our house I had to wrestle the king bunny – who was bigger than I was.

I’m on standby for killer goldfish…