Pondering...

I went to Church this morning. Mainly to see some friends whose band was doing all the music. But really, it had been a long time. In the words of my Dad, I was "overdue for a service." LOL. I'm still not really into denominations or rituals. I'm actually enjoying reading in Romans at the moment about salvation by faith, and not by 'the law.' It's a big concept and all very confusing. A lot of it actually seems to contradict itself, but there are some really good verses in there. To get back to the point, I went to Church. Something about it usually makes me feel very uncomfortable, but not today. It was kind of peaceful. Also good to go in a way to say 'thankyou' to God, because among all the crap my loved ones and I have been through, we also have a lot of blessings! And it's nice to be reminded that God is still there and doesn't just give up on us just because we don't always go the right way. The weirdest thing right now is how many of my blog entries unintentionally end up being about God. How much it affected my life when my faith was shaken. I never realised how much it was a part of who I am, until all this. It scares me a little bit, but I think it was all meant to be this way.
The other thing I was pondering as I walked home was stereotypes. I was thinking about how uncomfortable long skirts are LOL. I like them, but they make it harder to move! I'm a girly girl in that I love everything pink, nailpolish, long hair, romantic movies etc. But I've never had any interest in fashion trends really, I'd rather just wear whatever I like than try to keep up. I'd rather wear jeans or sweatpants and play with my bunnies! But then I'm not the tomboy type either. I can't climb trees. I hate any sport that involves a ball. And I do NOT like bugs. Oh well. I shall not be defined :) This concludes todays rambling.

Shopping...etc...

I went shopping this morning. Like most girls, I'm kind of good at spending money! I needed a few things for Summer though, shorts, a dress, shoes, etc. I had to buy cereal too (I'm always running out of it, for some reason) and a pregnancy book, for the sake of learning more about it...I find it quite fascinating! It's 600 pages though and I haven't even started reading. I'm still struggling through my driving book! I had to come home this afternoon and go driving. 28 hours done, out of 50. Please God help me to finish this in the next few months and get my license so it'll just be over! (Also help me to deal with possibilities of work, work experience, college courses, and possibly moving house among other things!) I also painted my toenails purple. Hmm. I'm not sure what the point of this entry was because I've run out of things to say!

Congratulations Celine!!!

Congratulations to Celine, Rene, and Rene-Charles!!! I've waited to hear this news since I was like, 15, and finally, she's pregnant! Yayyyyy! The baby's due in May, so there will still be a lot of prayers for everything to go well, but it's a very happy day! By the way, the picture is her with RC when he was a baby.

So my Grandpa pruned today...

...and what was once a small tree is now...a stick in a pot! Seeing the expression on my Mum and Dad's faces when they saw what he had done was priceless. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Small things amuse me.
Other than that I spent the rest of the day fixing my pets. While I love the warmer weather, 5 of them have suddenly started molting, and I've had to brush, preen, clip nails...it ended up taking all day and I'm exhausted. I also managed to make pancakes for lunch though :)
I can't believe it's Sunday evening and tomorrow is Monday and I have to get up in the morning and start all over again, doing the exact same things I spent all of last week doing LOL....but I guess that's life!!

Bok choy?

What is it? What do I do with it? (Other than give it to my rabbits?)
My Mum has decided to go all natural and order stuff from our "Aussie farmers" to support them. So our apple juice tastes like syrup, our orange juice tastes like oranges. And we have bok choy. Well, Peter likes it. And after 3 days, I convinced Ruby to eat it. I still haven't tried it.

Let It Rain...

"Every little tear I was scared to cry, everything I fear but I kept inside, I don't wanna hold it back one more day, wash it away, every dark cloud clouding up my head, every single word that I never said, I refuse to feel ashamed, Let It Rain..."

This is one of my favourites from Jordin Sparks's new album, "Battlefield." There's something hopeful about it. Even though it's not raining right now, and it hasn't rained much this Winter LOL. I think Spring is starting to come back, actually...

Musings...

Peace is not what's around us. It's what's inside us.
The past few months have been difficult for me. I've struggled a lot with anxiety, and my family has been through a lot too. I guess that's why I've been blogging less. I feel vulnerable and it's harder to be open. I feel like I'm still trying to crawl out of it, but I know I need to.
It's because what happened today has happened. And what will happen tomorrow, we just don't know. We all WILL go through good and bad in our lives, at some point. We'll smile and laugh, and we'll experience loss and cry. But we have to live in the present. Only recently I've realized how much people don't.
A lot of them are actually Christians. Faith can be a wonderful thing, our foundation and hope. But there's something bad about taking the Bible literally to a point that it turns into a bunch of conspiracy theories. For the first time, I think I actually understand prejudice. Of course, it's completely wrong! But I can see how it happens- out of fear. People are afraid of the implications of things they don't understand. They're afraid of people who are different to them. For example, people believing all Muslims are bad, because of terrorists. Or people being against certain governments just because of something they 'heard.' It's not so good! The point of religion at some point, was to give us understanding of why we're here and where we're going...but people turned it into a license to judge everyone, and try to scare us into agreeing with them! (Note to Jehovah's witness people ringing my doorbell!!!)
I don't think Jesus wanted us to live in fear. Maybe that's what grace is all about. If we were all capable of obeying God's rules and doing the right thing all the time, we wouldn't have needed Jesus. We don't have all the answers, but it's ok, because God does, and he's loving enough that he gave us everything we have.
Maybe this is the first time in my life I've really understood that. It makes it hard to regret the past few months, even though they're been horrible!

"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast." - Ephesians 2: 8-9

Australian Idol.

The new season of Australian Idol started last night. I haven't really watched a season of Idol in almost 2 years, but Delta and Brian are guest judging this season, so of course I had to watch!
I used to be a major fan of American Idol...honestly, I just think they have better talent than we do. I've seen both Kelly and Jordin live, and they're amazing, but I'm not really a fan of anyone who has come out of the Australian version. Anyway I kind of wonder how on Earth it's going to work having the performance shows and results on the same night, and who is going to replace Kyle? The radio incident was certainly unfortunate, but not really his fault. Maybe the show shouldn't have had that segment, certainly the mother of the girl involved didn't handle the situation well...but what did Kyle do wrong? I'm not a fan of his at all, but I think 'the punishment should fit the crime.' He had a split second to choose how to react to that, and while his reaction may not have been the best, it wasn't so terrible either. Maybe people are just using it as an excuse to hate him? I don't know. By the way, I think it totally sucks that Paula's leaving American Idol! She was such a big part of what made that show, and it will never be as good without her! I'm not the fan I used to be, but I think she does have a lot of good qualities that will be missed.