Skate-Snap

It's been a game of musical chairs with our internet connection lately. Sometimes we have internet credit; more often we don't, and I'm relegated to the sidelines. From here I look on from the tiny window of my smart phone screen, holding all of the pictures I want to upload forlornly in my hand.

One of my favourite things of late has been a photo-walk (Or pede-snap, as I wistfully call them in my head after many hours of West Wing-ing) that Danielle and I took last week to the skate park.

She blogged about it over here. I love the way I can see the correlations between the pictures; the things I was snapping as she snapped particular shots.

It really is the bestest thing to have a friend like Danielle. Exploring photography with her is excellent, because she lets me ask lots of questions and we find new technological functions together without feeling silly. She has definitely kicked off a fresh B&W phase in my life.

Taking pictures of someone who is also taking pictures is so much easier than watching people try to work out if they are going to pose or not. Plus, it gave one of my favourite images so far, from the brief span of time that I have had my beautiful camera:

I hope everyone gets to experience such wonderful times with the most wonderful of friends.

July

Danny and I've never really been able to find a long-term home for our aging PC. It resided, during semester, at the head of our dining table, but upon graduation, I wanted to change everything. With the movement of all of our furniture, our computer became a nomad and ended up in a jumbled, wiry mess on the tiles, jammed between book stacks and couch. 

This week has been about Serious Productivity. And Serious Productivity meant Resume Fixing, and Resume Fixing led to an above-ground home for the computer. At last!

It's without a doubt the ugliest piece of furniture we own, and currently, the most cherished. That desk is sanity-saving, to be sure.

Things have been hectic, in some ways, and delightful on all fronts. 

Learning to sew.

Crafting, manically. 

Family time. Friend time. Lots with some, and never enough with others.

Weddings and funerals.

Cleaning and moving furniture.

Reading Sarah Dessen like the books could sprout legs at any given moment and flee from me. 

Taking photos, taking photos, taking photos.

Making coffee. Lots of it.

Baby snuggles. Lots of them.

You name it, I've doing it or planning to in the next few days. 

I can't get enough of this free time, I hardly want it to end. But the job hunting has commenced, and I will do it with a glad heart, also.

The Ultimate Dinner Companions Wishlist

In the order of Jumble:

1. Helen Thomas
2. Betsy Ten Boom
3. Moses
4. John Howard
5. Sufjan Stevens
6. Catherine Booth
7. Brooke Fraser
8. Roald Dahl
9. Yann Martel
10. Billy Graham
11. Bear Grylls
12. QE2
13. Nelson Mandela
14. Cate Blanchett
15. Tina Fey
16. Don Miller
17. Steve Jobs
18. Baz Luhrman and Catherine Martin
19. Ai Weiwei
20. Samuel, son of Hannah and Elkanah
21. Sir Michael Parkinson
22. Allison Janney
23. Grace Driscoll
24. Amy Adams
25. Thomas Newman
26. The Pierponts
27. Jill Greenberg
28. Annie Leibovitz
29. Mrs. John Piper
30. Queen Elizabeth II

Mid-year Aspirations

Now that I've finished school, I have a few weeks of complete freedom before I head back into the real world and job-hunting. I am spending the time thinking about things that I really, really want to spend time on, such as:

1. Watching Nefarious: Merchant of Souls documentary.
    'There are more slaves in the world right now than at any time in human history' 
   
   
   
   
2. Listening to Will Reagan's Set a Fire
   
   
   
   
3. Taking pictures lovely things.
   
   
   
    
   4.   Squealing with Susan and Rikki over babyMicah taking his first steps today!
   
   

   

May, already?

 Everything is feeling very speedy and a little blurry at present. There are only five weeks left in this final semester at school and beyond that...the future looms.

Presently, I am studying: What it is like to be a senior citizen in modern Australia and attempting to get a foot, either one, or even just a toe into the door of a retirement village.

I am reading: The second book in Kristen Heitzmann's Secrets series. Christian romantic fiction? Delightful to have on my mind amidst the crazy assignment season grand finale.

I am listening: To And if our God is for us, by Chris Tomlin. Specifically; track three, I Lift My Hands. 

Contemplating: What to do upon graduation. Suggestions?

Wearing: Hoodies. It is COLD. Finally!!

Happiness: Living with one exceedingly cute baby.

Roadtrip

 
This Easter weekend, Danny and I roadtripped to New South Wales for some family time. He grew up in a little place called Taree, and his extended family still live on and close to a beautiful farm that is just minutes from incredible beaches.

So we piled into Danny's blue car and headed south. He showed me a lighthouse, we dealt with an overheating engine and I even went fishing for the first time.

Danny's cousins let me use their gear as they were fishing on the beach, and Danny snagged me a shiny fish to reel in!

 

 

The farm was really laid-back and Danny's family is really lovely. They are so accepting and chilled out. But the best part was the stash of Danny's baby pics that Nanna sent me home with.

TinyDanny is GOLD.

I love how gleeful that teeny little smile is, how very blonde that hair is, and how often those eyes were closed!

It may be a little weird for me to be posting so many images of DannyLambert as a wee-person...but I couldn't help myself. I mean, look at those flushed, chubby little cheeks and those tiny toes. How could I resist?

Christos Anesti!

Happy Easter, everyone.
And thank you to my Jesus, who has completed it all for us.

How vs. Why

I love my church. I love serving there, I love the people. I love learning about how we do church with our pastors, and how important it is for the church to do things excellently as a light in the world that brings honour to Jesus.

Danny and I get to do neat things with church all the time, and it reminds me a little of Acts 2. We decorate things...

We get eat lots of yummy things together, like crazy-choclate-y batches of Susan's brownies...

And we get to be part of an amazing group of people who want to make a difference in the world.

  

But sometimes I get the feeling that I'm getting a little task-oriented when it comes to church life. I'm so grateful for all of the opportunities I'm given to learn how it all gets put together, but I know that there's got to be a better way when I sometimes feel overwhelmed or really tired.And I finally understood why last Tuesday evening around 8pm.

Because last Tuesday at 8pm, as Danny and I were taking our friend home from sharing dinner with us, I was bequeathed with a moment of clarity. Our friend is a beautiful person. He is incredibly loving and very considerate, and he also happens to be mentally and physically disabled. He is very social, but he lives by himself, and I was struck by the possibility that his life might be very lonely for him at times. 

I HATE that. Maybe I've been focussed on the How of doing church, but I had a great big smack in the face of Why we do church in the first place. I don't want anyone to be lonely if there is no reason why they should be. I just want to be able to welcome everyone into my church family with open arms so we can love them and help them to not be lonely anymore, and show them the love of God. Because that's really why we come together at all. It doesn't matter how cool or smooth church services are, and whether or not we remain on the cutting edge of technology if people can walk through the doors and experience the incredible love and acceptance of a group of people that love and honour Jesus. I hope that I never lose sight of that again.

Assignment Time

It is ON.
Practically one a day, this week, just like the apple that the doctor prescribed.

Bibliophilia

I miss reading.
Over the Summer, I was able to get through so many amazing novels; I had so much time and free mind-space! I attacked 'The Life of Pi', 'Prodigal Summer' & 'A Thousand Splendid Suns'. I read and re-read. I frolicked through bound oceans of the written word.

And now I'm back at school for my final semester. My reading pile currently consists of volumes on evangelism, death rituals and gerontology [Those last two aren't actually related, by the way. Bible college isn't overly morbid!]. As much as I absolutely love to learn...I miss fiction. I long to take hold of 'Gullivers Travels' and anything by St Theresa, Kazuo Ishiguro or Beryl Bainbridge.

Hold on, beloved bookshelf. Just a few more months and I will return to you.

"Studying": YouTube Explorations in Procrastination

Today's disastrous, and sometimes awkwardly seedy delights;

 Oh, yeah.

Floods, Cyclones, Earthquakes, Tsunamis

It seems to be the way of 2011 thus far. And so it seems that Matthew 24 has become the hot-topic bible reference of the moment. Of these moments. Of these terrible calamities.


'Jesus told them, “Don’t let anyone mislead you, 5 for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. 7 Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. 8 But all this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.'

I can't get it out of my head.

Ode to Outside

I have a friend named Danielle. She is lovely; She has shiny princess hair, a shiny camera and is an excellent conversationalist.

 

[That's her on the right, next to her amazing talented sister, Lauren]

I have a wonderful husband named Danny Lambert. He is tall [er than me], likes to drive cars in marvellously physics-defying ways, and very sweetly endures hours of Gilmore Girls boxset-viewing with me. He also surprised me at Christmas-time with my very own shiny camera. I named her Danielle, too, in honour of my wonderful husband, the Giver; and my lovely friend, the Photographer, who treads the photographic path before me.

 

[Ok, so we're a little orange here...But I do love experimenting with Picnik]

Yesterday, I got to combine the two Danielle's with the unfamiliarity of the generally-avoided outdoors, and went on a nature walk. I saw many green things. Sort of.

Obviously, I'm not super woodsy, but I do harbour a minor penchant for chlorophyll. I even think of it every morning as I attempt to swallow my ridiculously oversized multi-vitamin. The soothing green of chlorophyll in my mind has thus-far  proved distraction enough to get pills to slide awkwardly down my throat.

Let's just say that I'm not prone to being super observant in unfamiliar environs. Overwhelmed by so much outside, most of the afternoon went a little like this:

   ME: [Half-heartedly snapping a lack-lustre picture of something in a meadow-y brown/green combo]
   DANIELLE: Oh, look, a dragonfly(/flower/cool bug/something amazing)! It's so blue/red/spider-webby/interesting)!
   ME: [Bewildered] Seriously? Where?
   DANIELLE: [Bending studiously on one-knee to take a brilliant photo of an intricate piece of The Wild]

   ME: [Lamely] Oh, right there...Huh.

Instead of the wonders of God's creation, I found interest in the relatively few items of man's creation, shoved unceremoniously amidst such glorious afternoon-y splendour.

Despite my initial aversion, however, I did find one pretty incredible piece of outside that immediately claimed my heart.

 

This tree is incredible! It was so vibrantly colourful, it practically illuminated the whole hillside with green joy. It had a swing and everything.

As much as I love, love, love spending time with my human Danielle and my new favourite tree, I am yet to be converted: I got a blister, dude.