Thumper…

There’s been a drip happening around my house now for about the past 3 weeks – since the last big rain. It’s been driving me nuts, but I knew it wasn’t any of my taps inside, so just figured it was somewhere outside and probably something to do with all the rain we’ve been having. Tonight I investigated – the neighbours have a 44 gallon drum collecting water from their downpipe. It has been dripping into there. They are away, so it’s not going to be bothering them.  Not quite sure what to do about it though… Ah, the joys of neighbours.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything.  In fact I just realised I started this blog in June 2007, 18 months ago, and I’ve really been pretty slack at posting.  Perhaps this coming year it will improve.

Anyway, thought I’d post a few thoughts on Christmas this year…

Presents:  Here is my Christmas haul for this year: a full length mirror, snack maker (toasted sandwhiches), ipod dock/alarm clock (very nice…), letter box, tweezers, cushions (hand made by mum), cake skewer (hand made by Dad), ice cream/soda glasses, soup/spag bol bowls, long handled spoons for the soda glasses, spaghetti forks, wash bag for delicates, two vases, tea towel thingy, rubber gloves, socks, holden calendar that features Dad’s FJ, sauce bottle, serving spoon, egg flipper, hand made rolling pin and a spoon stand (stand/rest your spoons on it when you’re cooking).  I did pretty well.

Inventive present wrapping: Steve and I decided Gary (heather’s boyfriend) needed a bit of a twist to his present.  We wrapped about 38 different presents (mainly chocolate bars).  Each present had a letter attached to it, then was placed in a big box, stuffed with newspaper.  He had to find the presnets, then arrange the presents to make a phrase before he could get the best present – and unwrap the others.  Took him a while, but eventually he spelt out the phrase “Don’t you know chocolate is bad for you” and was able to open his 30-something presents.

Boxing day entertainment: Squash.  Steve, Gary and I played a bit of squash.  I got absolutely creamed, but at least put up a bit of a fight against Gary.  It wasn’t until Steve played left handed that I actually managed to take some points off him and put up a bit of a challenge.  He is good at everything, if you know my brother, you realise that statement is very, very true!

Anyway, was a good couple of days!

Had a moth flying around in the house the other night.  Started cooking tea.  It was attracted to the flame of the gas stove.  Result:  Toasted moth.  Thankfully it didn’t go in my food.

Not much else happening.  Will be finished my study at the end of November, looking forward to that.

It’s been a while, so I thought I’d blog some few random things from my house…
Between my sister and her boyfriend and myself, we’re having a toilet roll competition. There’s not really any rules, except we keep every empty toilet roll that we use and are stacking them up. So far I’m up to 5 stories high, but mine are double rowed! Plus I have two toilets, so I have a bit of a stack in both. It may seem strange to visitors, but it makes it a whole lot easier to explain my weirdness when I say my sister and I have a bit of a competition happening…
Thought I’d clean the shower tonight. Decided that I needed to get in it to clean it properly. Decided I needed to rinse it – turned it on. Realised I was in my clothes… jumped out, knocked over the container of water, got water on the floor… All fun and games! But at least I have a clean shower!

In other stuff, guitar is still going ok. Been pretty busy with my studies. Learning and reading about God’s grace at the moment. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to post something about what I’ve been learning and what’s been impacting me, but no promises there.

If my readers are still with me, they’ll notice I haven’t blogged in a long time. Sorry guys!
Anyway, I’ve been getting some guitar lessons for the last 4 or 5 weeks. I’ve been practicing fairly regularly since I borrowed the guitar, so I’m doing ok. Anyway, at today’s lesson, we were playing a bit of Oasis, then got onto some discussion about different genres of music. My guitar teacher thinks I’m a “folk music” kind of player. AHHH? WHAT??? FOLK??? I don’t think so! If you’re a folky music kind of person, then that’s cool, I have an Irish folk cd, so I don’t totally hate it. But folk? Me? Uh no. Looks like I’ll have to get a bit more groove or something happening in my playing.

Oh and a cool thing – I finally wrote another song last weekend. I set a goal this year to write a few songs and I got told by Andrew, a visiting minister at church I needed to start writing again. I saw him again last weekend and he checked up on me (at least I’d written half a one!). So I went home and wrote one. Holdin Nothing Back. Not sure whether we’ll ever sing it at church or not, but it doesn’t matter, at least I finally wrote something.

FOLK? LOL!!

Earlier this week I received the email that every internet user dreads…

“You have exceed your download limit”…

Doh!  Now I’m back to dial up speed at home during peak hours for a week til it all resets.

I’ve finally started to get some of my better photos posted up on the web. I’ll progressively add to them as I get to it, but at least I’ve got a few good shots up there at the moment!  I’ve added a few of my PNG photos, some of my New Zealand shots and eventually I’ll add a couple of the best from China, Borneo, Tasmania and some more local shots of the countryside.

Anyway, check out my flickr; site and some of the photos that I’ve taken recently!

It’s a new year. Well, what can I say. Glad last year is over. Hopefully next year is better. I don’t understand why people think that everything magically fixes itself at the stroke of midnight on one particular night, but I guess that’s as much mental, or attitude, as anything else. But enough of that.

Caught up with a couple of friends tonight, including one that I hadn’t caught up with properly for quite a while – perhaps 3 or 4 years. But it was good to slip back into the old ways and spend the night laughing. We caught a movie first – PS I love You, then went out and had Chinese for tea. It was nice and quiet in the restaurant until we arrived! It didn’t take long before everyone knew we were there! Time flew and what was going to only be an hour or so turned into 3 or 4! It was a good night. Then I dropped in on a few friends later in the evening and we saw the new year in fairly quietly with a few party poppers and… well that was about all!

All the best for the new year.  Try and dream big and take some steps to see them come to pass.

Just enough light for the step I’m on – Trusting God in the Tough Times, by Stormie Omartian.

I bought this book for somebody else, but of course I had to see whether the book was ok before I gave it to them! So I’ve read most of it and found it quite enjoyable actually, especially where I am at the moment.

I particularly enjoyed the chapters about the call of God, when we’re overwhelmed and the waiting bit. We need to be expecting God to call and waiting for His call so that we’re ready to answer. Here’s a few good quotes from the book:

“Every day you have another opportunity to affect your future with the words you speak to God. Each prayer sets something in motion.”

“Going through a waiting period doesn’t mean there is nothing happening, because when you are waiting on the Lord, He is always moving in your life.”

“When the circumstances are so overwhelming look to God and see His awesome power.”

“We are walking in the spirit when we use God’s word to guide us. We are walking in the Spirit when we ask God daily for direction, guidance and revelation. We are walking in the Spirit when we commit every aspect of our life – relationships, work, decisions, thoughts and actions to prayer instead of leaving it all to chance. We are walking in the Spirit when we determine each morning to worship God and set our mind on the things He has called us to, not on the things that have happened in the past.”

“If life as you have known it and the path that you have walked seem to be ending, draw especially close to God ad He will reveal what your next step is to be.”

If we’ve committed the situation to God in prayer and we step out, we have to trust that He is right there guiding us, even if it doesn’t look like it. We have to trust that what we’re doing will turn out right because we’ve surrendered it to God. We have to trust that as we give Him our plans, dreams and desires that if they’re meant to be, they’ll come to pass, in His timing and the way He plans. As I struggle with a few of the decisions that I’m making at the moment, I have to trust that the way I’m stepping is the correct way because I’ve committed it to prayer. What will happen, I don’t know. But the way it will happen will be through nothing I do.

As I surrender to God, I’m going to let Him sweep me where I need to go. I just have to trust that where I land will be where He wants me. In the meantime, as it looks like everything goes backwards and will never happen, I have to be patient and enjoy the waiting time and let God cultivate His dreams and desires in me.