cat = out of bag

Well, my extreme lack of posting for the last few months was not without good reason. We had a wonderful visit back in the US with friends and family around Thanksgiving; it was great to combine a break from work with seeing familiar people and being ourselves with them.

But the main reason I couldn't think to post was that we weren't quite ready to announce my pregnancy to the internet masses ;) I've received a couple of requests for detailed accounts of the pregnancy, but will keep them to the fact that morning sickness found me in a rather violent way around week 7 and didn't leave until week 17, so I didn't want to keep updating with "still sick" and such things. Jesse and my coworkers can all attest to the rough shape I was in during much of that time. But we are very happy to report that I haven't been sick for a few weeks now, and the baby is now using movement to remind us of his/her presence rather than the sickness. It kicked Jesse's arm the other morning, which was cool and the first time he'd felt it move.

For those who are wondering, the due date is May 16th. We're planning on keeping the gender a mystery until the baby's birth, although we think it's a boy based on a combination of old wives' tales and hunches. (And hey, why not make a guess, with a 50/50 chance). We got a peek at the baby around 9 weeks, and have heard its heartbeat twice. In a little under a week, we'll have another look and see how s/he's doing in there.

Aside from the baby, things are going well. We celebrated Christmas on our own in the morning, and then with friends in Sydney in the afternoon/evening and for Boxing Day. It was a great chance to hang out and have fun, and also try out my new Super Mario Bros. Wii game. I had yesterday off work for the Boxing Day holiday, and we rearranged our front rooms in anticipation of the arrival of a friend of Jesse's at the end of this week, and eventually with the idea of a nursery :)

So, thanks to all those who posted excited congrats on facebook today; I really enjoyed hearing from all of you!

October

Two months later. Yikes. Jesse and I had a great trip at the beginning of September to the Barrington Tops. We went on a hike that definitely pushed the boundaries of the shape I was in, but it was fun to get away and relax for a few days. Jesse surprised me by bringing some of our nice clothes to have a candlelight dinner one of the nights; it was a great celebration of our almost-anniversary.

For those who don't know, our visa was approved the first week of October, so a lot of that worry/phone calling/stress has died down. At least we get two more years now until we have to go through it again. It's been nice not having to haggle through another employment extension every month, and to have all of my paperwork now in my married name and new passport (I think health insurance still needs to be changed... and maybe some frequent flier club memberships, but that's it.)

We looked through a house that's closer to the church (essentially in its backyard), but so far it looks like we can't afford to move there. Housing prices are very high over here, particularly in comparison to the Rochester area (where I was once house hunting a couple of years ago), so it's hard to swallow the cost of some of them. The area hasn't been hit by the financial crisis nearly like most places in the US, and it's believed by some that there is still somewhat of a housing bubble to be burst. Combine that with the fact that someone working in the mines could be making upwards of $1,700AUD/week, and ta-da, expensive housing. So we are staying put for the time being, but on the lookout.

I haven't done much reading lately, but I have appropriated Jesse's ipod shuffle for the ride to and from work, which has been nice. It was particularly useful yesterday when some drunk man near the front of the carriage was "singing" very loudly for a good half of the ride. One day when I was NOT listening to the ipod, a very dark-skinned man wearing a heavy Christmassy sweater came an sat next to me at the University stop (most people were wearing a light jacket, at most). Through my scholar-servant powers of reasoning, I deduced that he was likely from Africa. He's originally from Nigeria, spent some time in Ghana, and was hear to do a master's in education. I don't usually strike up conversations with fellow train-goers, but it was nice to have a bit of a cross-cultural experience on the way home.

Jesse and I discovered a new restaurant near where I work, which touts itself as a "pizza and pasta bar". This sounded very good to me. I had a creamy chicken penne with baby spinach and pesto sauce - yum! Jesse had a four-cheese pizza, and we watched a Chicago Bulls game on the HDTV. I think we both prefer college to pro basketball, but a chance to watch familiar sports over here is one we will take. We've started getting reception on a channel that shows basketball and NFL football, and have even watched a couple of NFL games (although the commercial breaks are never timed quite right, and we end up missing parts of the game. We get back from the break and have to figure out what just happened). All in all, the pizza and pasta bar was a success.

(Oh, for those who are wondering, our delusions of garden have been crushed by lack of effort before they even fully materialized. I think we have managed to kill another herb plant, though.)

Today, I am looking forward to a massage and a chiropractor visit. It's been a year since I've gone to either, and I'm feeling it. I actually found this place via tv commercial - not where I would typically look for a doctor - but their clinic offers both and is open 1/2 day on Saturdays, so here's hoping it will be good.

August

Another month come and gone. Before I get into what we've been up to, I need to put in a plug for a life-saving cookbook, which I know I've done before, but here it is: What to Eat When You Can't Eat Anything. I've not been feeling the greatest lately, so it's back to a strict diet for me. One of the things I like about this cookbook is that it categorizes recipes based on how you're feeling - ultrasensitive, sensitive, and unsensitive. So I can turn to the ultrasensitive section and pick out recipes until I start feeling better, then add in the sensitive recipes, etc.

But enough about my food issues. I received an employment extension from the government, which allows me to continue working for a few more weeks at my current job. I'm not sure whether they will grant an additional extension if Jesse's visa isn't approved by then, however. This is still a matter for prayer, but I am confident that God will continue to provide for us/me, even if it's not in a way I'm expecting.

Our volleyball competition ended, and we were at the bottom of the A-grade at the end. Funny; we won the B-grade in our first "comp" (as they say here), and then lost the A-grade. The sports center is in the process of relocating to a new facility (which is not yet built), so in the meantime, we have freed up another weeknight. That's been nice.

The weather's been unseasonably warm for August. We're talking about trying to put a small garden in the backyard (those who've seen our backyard know that it could only be small!). Neither of us has a particularly green thumb (and I killed one herb plant last year by giving it too much sun in the sauna that is the back of our house), so I'm thinking of getting some plants that can grow in the shade of our tree. (Also, I don't want to necessarily be in direct sunlight while taking care of it in the hot summer sun.) I want to grow veggies or herbs of some kind. Any suggestions from the audience?

We had a great time at a birthday party for a friend yesterday. Jesse and I "designed" the card ourselves and I think we may have been more pleased with it than the recipient, but he seemed to enjoy it as well.

Well, off to prepare for church. Thanks for reading, and I'm looking forward to the gardening recommendations!

July: poof

Where has July gone? It was a busy month at work and church, that's for sure. It began with a celebration of my 26th birthday, which started with "presents in bed" (a few dvd's, books, and nice warm slippers from Jesse), ended with a friend's exhibit opening, Mexican food, and watching one of said dvd's, with "afternoon tea" at work in the middle. They were going to make me a sugar-free cake, but the woman who would've made it was sick, so they bought a spinach quiche and stuck candles in it. I think, along with the list I maintain of "places I've spent my birthday" I may make note of this unique "cake-replacement". :)

Friends came up to help celebrate the Saturday after my birthday, which turned out to be day 2 of the worst flu I remember having. I still participated in the "birthday game" (pinata) Jesse had so proudly put together. We have some great photos of our friends' poor daughter, distraught after her daddy knocked the pinata down from its hanging place on our clothesline. And also some great photos of Jesse decapitating the pinata. Its head currently rests on our mantle in triumph. (Said friends gave me a great tv series, called "Lost in Austen", for my birthday, about a woman who gets caught up in Pride and Prejudice. I loved it.)

The rest of the month saw year-end stuff at work for me, a work bee at church, the church annual meeting, a celebration of life at the passing of a young member of our congregation, and the start of a new/revived prayer ministry.

In reading news, I read My Seventh Monsoon by Naomi Reed, about time she and her family spent in Nepal, and loved it. I may post some quotes on my profile; she has an acute sense of the seasons of our lives, and had a lot to say about transition that meant a lot to me. I'm currently reading Jesse's copy of The Salmon of Doubt, a collection of writings by Douglas Adams. Of course, he's quite clever and funny, but it's also given me an interesting perspective on his atheism and how he, for lack of a better term, "wore" that.

All of this brings us to August. At the outset, it doesn't appear to be quite as packed as July, but we will see.

one man's trash is another man's clutter

So, visit with family = good. Took them around, they took lots of photos, they helped out a lot with projects we'd been meaning to get to around the house (or, more accurately, projects we'd been hoping they'd help with... yeah). It's good to have family around. As an added bonus, we are now experienced tour guides, and have a better idea of where to send/take visitors. (Your package will include, but is not limited to, a day in Sydney walking around the Circular Quay, a visit to a quaint country petting zoo with Aussie animals, a minimum of one Australian barbeque with a REAL Aussie family, and the opportunity to make us feel like we have friends.)

Today, we had a garage sale for the youth to raise money for camp in a few weeks. We actually did reasonably well - we earned more money than I had expected we would. The kids and adults from the church worked well together in putting it on, which was cool. As I looked through the hall at the massive amounts of stuff, I couldn't believe the sheer volume. But people came by and found treasures; toys, vases, books, clothes. And our teens who helped should have their camp trips mostly paid for.

After napping off the exhaustion of this morning, Jesse and I are awaiting our Saturday night Pizza Hut pizza. I think we will be on a first-name basis with the delivery girl very soon. I get deep dish pepperoni, he gets thin crust cheese, and we watch movies and/or Aussie Rules on tv. (Aussie Rules = Aussie Rules football, known as footy in Victoria, but not here, where footy refers to Rugby League.)

Trip to Lae, and up to today

Our time in Ukarumpa is fast coming to an end. Since I last posted, we’ve been on a trip to Lae, out on the coast of PNG. While there, we spent one day doing work, and another half day sightseeing at The Rainforest Habitat, which is near the campus of the University of Lae. There was a large aviary under a net outside, and I saw all kinds of birds – beautiful blue Victorian Crowned Pigeons, a Toucan (it was perched on the sidewalk railings, and one in our group stood there petting it!), lorikeets, a parrot, and a bird of paradise (he apparently sheds his long, beautiful feathers some times of the year, and this, unfortunately, was one of those times). Aside from the aviary, there was also an outdoor habitat with a few more birds (cockatoo, cuckoo, and a few others not coming to mind at this point which were in cages), cassowaries, a couple of tree kangaroos, and a big fat crocodile. It just laid in its habitat with its mouth wide open. In the indoor facility, aside from lots of local crafts, there were 3 pythons (2 adults and a young one) in glass cages; some in our group had the “pleasure” of observing the feeding of little chicks to these snakes, although I declined. They also had a large python, probably about 7 feet or so long, which they brought out to their store counter and allowed to curl up around one of the posts. I was brave enough to touch it for about a second. Another girl in our group, who had previously had a pet python, stood next to it and petted it for awhile longer. She eventually held the snake; I was satisfied with the level of bravery my one touch had required.

In all, it was a great trip out there. We picked up some crocodile meat at the supermarket (an experience unto itself; wall-to-wall people, security guards, and more employees than we could count!) to bring back to Ukarumpa, and a few supplies for our stay. I made breakfast for us in the mornings, and was relatively pleased with the banana pancakes I “invented” (not having the benefit of any kind of recipe, I was just relieved that what I made had resembled pancakes!). I also made a beef stew for our dinner on Saturday night, the leftovers from which we stuffed into a juice container and froze to preserve for our road trip back.

Since returning, we’ve been able to largely wrap up the audit work and enjoy a few more days with our new friends. I spent an evening with a college friend who’s recently moved over here, and it was so nice to hang out with a friend! We convinced the couple that manages the guest house to join us for a game of Apples to Apples last night (we’ve played a lot of Phase 10 on this trip, and the change of game alone was a treat :) which was also a lot of fun. I will attempt to post photos at some point in the future, but internet here is limited so it may have to wait until I’m back in the swing of things in Australia.

Sunday

Today has been nice. (I just wrote this post, then lost it. Sad.) We attended the English-speaking worship service here in Ukarumpa this morning, and it was special to be able to worship with the community. The 12th-grade girls had put together the songs and led worship, and a man spoke who is a pastor in the States but has spent some time here with his family too (I heard these snippets second-hand, can you tell?). Due to the varied denominational backgrounds of many here, there is no pastor per se, but various people will take the service each week.

After service, we had a great lunch at the guest house and another chance to chat with the leaders of a drama team from George Fox University, which is visiting various places in PNG and leading workshops on creating stories and performances. We also had the chance, after lunch, for some casual chatting amongst our own team, which was nice.

Around 3, we headed down to the high school oval (sports ground), where a group gathers each Sunday to play ultimate frisbee. While I wasn't interested in participating, I did my part by putting one baby to sleep while his parents played, and then plucking a little girl out of a muddy ditch after an unfortunate fall. Splotched with mud, I headed for the guest house and cleaned myself up. I happily discovered that the internet was working again, and here we are!

In all, it's been a relaxing, refreshing weekend; exactly what I needed to gear up for the coming week.

Hi from PNG!

**Note: I wrote this post last night, when the internet was down. So, here it is**

So much to tell! We arrived here in Ukarumpa safely on Tuesday, following my first trip on a missionary airplane. It seated 12 normally, but we had the 5 from our team, a family of 3, and the pilot, plus all our stuff and numerous blue bags of mail. We landed on the dirt airstrip at Aiyura (elevation 5,000 feet), and while our bags were unpacked, watched some men loading large bags of coffee onto a truck. The price of coffee is apparently high these days, and some of the MAF airplanes were carrying coffee from the villages here, I think for processing.
Since our initial arrival, we’ve been chipping away at the audit. I’m enjoying the foray into familiar territory, and it’s been fun to remember all of the auditing techniques I’ve learned over the past few years. We’ve also been hosted by several missionaries in their homes for dinner, which has been a great opportunity to get to know some of the people around here. I’ve reconnected with a college friend who’s recently begun her assignment here, and that’s been a lot of fun.
There’s some unrest in the area, so we weren’t able to have a full-fledged market trip today, but we did spend some time at the nearby Kainantu Cultural Center, where local people spin wool for rugs and make beautiful pottery. Although the potters don’t typically work today, one of them graciously walked us through the process, explaining where they find the clay, how it’s dried, cleaned, dried again, compressed to remove air bubbles, and then – finally – thrown! It was awesome to watch him at work, and he made a beautiful pot on the wheel. I had to hold myself back from spending far too much money on pottery! My one course in ceramics at Houghton has given me a lifelong love of pottery, I think. I did buy a blue gravy bowl, to add to my collection of blue things for my kitchen from various parts of the world.
In short, things are going well. I had the chance to sit and read this afternoon, and have a game night with a couple of girls my own age this evening. That was really fun, even though I did narrowly lose a game of Settlers. :)

yesterday was a month ago

Where has the time gone?

We were able to spend some time with friends down in Sydney this weekend, as I had to be in the city for a day of training on Thursday. I successfully navigated the bus and train to and from the training site (thanks to the company of a friend who works nearby), which was cause for excitement. We saw and enjoyed the new Star Trek movie Thursday night, and did some running around on Friday to get ready for my upcoming trip! I needed a couple of skirts for my trip to Papua New Guinea, and I found some at a thrift store, so that was good.

My trip - I'm leaving on Tuesday! It's hard to believe May has come along so quickly. I'm going as a volunteer auditor for a mission organization, performing an audit similar to the one we did in Thailand a few years ago. Wow, 6 years ago now. Yikes. Not only will I have the chance to spend time with some friends who are leading the trip, but 2 college students will be joining us and helping with the audit. One of my friends from college has joined the organization and is based in PNG, so I will get to see her as well. Two days after I get back, a sampling of Spears will be arriving for a visit. So there is much to look forward to in the next few weeks.

In the craziness of the past few weeks, this song has been a great comfort to me, as have been the words of friends and family members. Just thought I'd share them in case they speak to where any of you find yourselves.

rain, lawnmowers, and other stuff

This afternoon, Jesse and I decided to take a walk around Maitland. Festivities from the Steamfest (think steam engine festival; at one point this weekend, I commented, "it sounds like there's a steam engine coming down our street." I was not incorrect.) were finishing up, people getting ready to go home. We walked over to the park and just sort of wandered, until we decided to head back toward High Street and potentially the video shop. It started to sprinkle, and then rain. There was the most beautiful rainbow across the sky, over the train tracks and the highway. We were soaked by the time we got home (I nixed walking all the way to the video store), but it was great to see the rainbow, and even great to get a little wet. We changed, made a list, and went grocery shopping, and right after we returned, there was another downpour. While I enjoyed the first experience, I was grateful to be home and dry.

Yesterday, we decided to buy a lawnmower. We had thought a weedwhacker (whipper snipper for you Aussies) might do the trick, since our lawn is so small, but it didn't really cut it. We headed to Bunnings and purchased the recommended electric lawnmower. We arrived home, I helped Jesse to get it out of the box, and then curled up on the couch under a blanket with a book. He took it outside, worked on getting it all plugged in, and then realized that the prong on the mower plug was bent. He tried to bend it back, and it seemed to crack. Great. Back to Bunnings we went, mower, folded-up box, and receipt in tow. They took a look at it, and told us we could go grab another one. No luck. They bent the prong back itself (apparently, it hadn't broken when Jesse bent it... even though we saw a crack there, it had to do with something else), tested the mower, and deemed it workable. So, back to the house we went (leaving the box with them). He headed outdoors once again to tackle the lawn. I heard clicking noises, but no mower. I found the owner's manual just as Jesse came in looking for it. He went back outside. I sat inside praying it would start. I have never been so happy to hear the whirring of a lawnmower! Not only did he cut the lawn, but took a saw to a few large weeds/shrubs/trees growing in front of and behind the house. Yay!

Jesse had a great visit at Coffs Harbour last week, and returned bearing many carob goods for me! I've been munching on some carob-covered popcorn while I wait for dinner (I'm a terrible pre-dinner snacker) and enjoying it immensely. He is now in the kitchen, making a new batch of salsa. His favorite foods to prepare are salsa and breakfast potatoes, with the related "McSkillet Burritos" (apologies to Macca's) coming in a close 3rd, I think. He's learned his lesson with chopping the hot peppers, though, and has commandeered a pair of my dishwashing gloves to prevent eye-burning on removal of his contacts.

I've continued doing some family history research on Jesse's side, and have enjoyed finding various relatives and learning more about the stories of those in his ancestry. Families and names have always fascinated me, and since Dad and I had done some research on our lineage, I've found it interesting to dig into Jesse's a bit. One thing's for sure: it would be a lot easier if he weren't a 3rd generation only child on one side, since then there would potentially be other people out there looking for the same answers as me. But it's been an enjoyable hobby.

Speaking of hobbies, we had our second craft day at church, and it was pretty well attended. I enjoyed scrapbooking some of the Christmas photos and birth announcements I've received from friends and family. Our scrapbookers have ranged in age from 6-60's, so it's been fun to have an intergenerational feel to it. We may learn flower arranging in June, which could be cool.

That's all I've got for now. There are some enchiladas that need to be eaten!

Happy Easter!

I am quite excited to celebrate Easter this year. We've been thinking a lot about what it means to fast, what the purpose is of the Lenten fast in particular, and how the practice of fasting shapes who we are. (For those who don't know, Jesse and I gave up meat for Lent this year.) The first week, for me, was by far the hardest. I just wanted meat. I felt drained of energy and extra-irritable. Jesse was preaching through Numbers, and we found ourselves crying out for meat along with the Israelites, complaining of the taste of the vegetarian food we were preparing, and ultimately, humbled to find ourselves in their proverbial shoes. I think I like to look at the Old Testament Jews as "the ones who didn't get it," who seemed never to make the connection between ritual and meaning, between requirements and relationships, between God's provision and their needs. And yet - there I was, too. Humbling.

Another thought on this year's Lenten fast: my devotional life. With my energy largely gone (I have much more respect for vegetarians now; it was hard work to ensure I got enough protein without relying solely on eggs!), my devotional life took a back burner to everything else. I needed more sleep, and so devotions went from 15 minutes to 10 to 5 to "I should..." without anything actually happening. It makes me think of a funny list on KLP's door at Houghton, which took Hymn titles and adapated them to be the way we tend to think of things: "Sweet [5 minutes] of Prayer". Ironic, that a Lenten discipline seemed to take me further away from where I wanted to be: identifying with Christ. Showing myself faithful while going without, just as he did.

So what's the answer: have I done an appropriate fast? If it drove me away from a devotional life for this time, is it in any way redemptive? Perhaps. I think I came face to face with my own weaknesses and humanity through Lent. While giving up meat seems to pale in comparison to the sufferings of Christ, I have a new appreciation for His faithfulness after fasting in the desert. As we celebrate Easter today, I'm setting up some new boundaries in my life to protect the devotional/prayer time. Having come face-to-face with some of the worst of myself, I have a renewed appreciation for Christ's faithfulness, and a desire to follow in His steps.

He is risen!

a Friday night

If I told you I spent Friday evening in the company of some friends and some strangers, in a blacklit room smelling of BO, where would you think I spent it?

You guessed it - laser tag with the youth group. Lucky for me (and for the chance that I will ever play again), we played two rounds. The first round, I was completely hopeless. I kept forgetting to put my left hand on my gun, and was therefore frustrated when the gun wouldn't shoot. By the last few minutes, I'd finally realized this (even though we'd been told beforehand) and was starting to get the hang of it. The second round, I tagged along with Jesse, covering each other, and even shot one of the bases (although apparently not enough times to get the points... rookie mistake :) We then defended a small stretch of the upstairs with the other youth leaders. That round - where I felt more competent and remembered to hold my gun correctly - was a lot more fun.

As for everything else - it goes! We are very excited for Easter in just over a week. It will be nice to have a long weekend and a chance to celebrate. Mom's Easter package arrived this week, including a 'Reeseter Bunny' for Jesse and sugar-free peeps for me. I was ecstatic; peeps were my favorite, and I haven't been able to eat them for the past 4 Easters. (For the uninitiated, wikipedia on peeps.)

Now we're enjoying watching AFL on our new-to-us tv, which is sitting in our new-to-us tv cabinet, courtesy of friends who were remodeling. We should be going to bed... but it's fun to pretend we're not old and boring.

imposter!

No, this post is not about identity theft.

Maybe.

It's merely a brief shout-out to my fellow recent brides (or even not-so-recent, or even a couple of grooms I know of, but I digress...) who have changed their last names since being married. No one at my new place of employment knows me by my maiden name; in fact, I think I could count on one hand the number of people in this country who remember it. Even a few months after the fact, I still stare rather confusedly (word?) at my facebook page, or my work email address; I fight looking perplexed when introduced to others around the workplace. I feel like an imposter, going by this new name. Perhaps it's intensified by the fact that my husband's first name is similar to my own, so I really have taken his whole name.

Just a thought.

Oh, and tail-end funny story that has nothing to do with the rest of this post. There was a guy on the train going home the other day who was playing songs loudly on his mobile phone. Some of the other passengers and possibly a train-person asked him to quiet down, and he didn't like it. His response to their request to turn it off: "What do you think this is, America?" What indeed. Certainly, there would be a hefty punishment for such blatant noise on any train in America. [huh?] I just laughed to myself, and continued reading my book.

new job, new routine

As many of you know, I got the job I was interviewed for! It has been almost two weeks now (they called me on a Monday evening to offer me the job, and asked if I could start Tuesday at noon!), and I'm really enjoying it so far. There is still a lot to learn, but most days I'm up for the challenge :)

I've been taking the train to and from Newcastle each day, which means getting up a good 3 hours earlier than I had been (and thus going to bed much earlier each night), but is well worth it, given that we don't have to buy a car and pay for it, insurance, and registration ('rego' here), as well as gas (petrol here) and parking. That, and I can't get an Aussie license until I've been here 6 months, so I'm sure that would complicate things. But the nice thing about the train is that it takes about the same amount of time to get to Newcastle as driving would, plus I don't have to deal with driving. I've been able to do a lot of reading, which caps each end of the day off nicely. There's a short walk to and from the office, and Jesse's been dropping me off at our train station in the mornings and often picks me up at the end of the day. So I'm getting limited exercise out of the deal :)

Jesse's been helping out by doing more of the grocery shopping (or should I say, all of the grocery shopping) and we've been making dinner together, which is fun. Evening activities are quite a bit more tiring for me now, but we're continuing to monitor our schedules and make sure we still have time for 'us'.

As a brief update on my grandmother's story, things are still progressing in amazing ways in that situation. It would seem that there is redemption at every turn, and I'm watching the story unfold in anticipation to see the new ways God will use it for good.

As I settle into my new routine, I'll try to post more, but be aware that it may not happen - due to both time constraints and personal convictions about posting too much about work online. We'll see!

forgiveness

Saturday, we received word that my grandmother had been assaulted for her purse in her own driveway, in a relatively tame area within the suburbs of Syracuse.  She was taken to the hospital, held for observation overnight, and then released after satisfactory test results.  My mom was able to travel there, and all her siblings were around too, so it was good for them all to be together.  She's now home, in good spirits, and getting around ok.

They actually caught the guy who attacked her, and even recovered some of the money he'd stolen.  One of the investigators apparently called my aunt, and told her that he had said to the guy [my paraphrase, as I don't know the exact words], "that woman you assaulted, she's still in the hospital, but she wants you to know she forgives you."  Apparently, the man just broke down and cried.  Powerful.

When Jesse and I had first heard what had happened, he suggested we pray.  I was so angry, I couldn't close my eyes (an odd defiance, to be sure, but the truth).  He prayed for her health, and that something redemptive might come of the situation.  I was still quite upset.  Yes, taking food because your family's hungry is one thing, but hurting a woman for her money - that's another.  At least, in my mind it was.  By the second time we prayed together for the situation, I was able to fully participate; to truly ask for redemption to come out of the messed up event that had occurred.

As I've thought about this, I think about Jesus' words in Matthew 5.21-48, where Jesus challenges his listeners' view of the law.  Over and over, he says, "You have heard this action is wrong - but I'm saying it's your HEART that's in the wrong place"  (clearly, my paraphrase).  Where was my heart? Crying for justice, for vengeance, if I'm honest.  It was only when confronted with Grandma's forgiveness that I could begin to see the broken situation for what it was: depravity, desperation the likes of which I hadn't personally experienced.  Does it excuse this man's behavior?  Of course not.  But it goes a long way to bring my heart to where it needs to be - saddened that this happened at all.  Committed to orient myself toward God, to leaving vengeance in God's hands.  Cognizant of the ways I allow my heart to be in the wrong place, while doing "right" things.

That man you put on a cross, he wants you to know he forgives you.

de-layed

(This subject is dedicated to one of my favorite movies, The Terminal.  I won't get into why I love it so much just now.)

This update is somewhat delayed.  We attended the annual Pastors' retreat for the district, and it was a wonderful time of learning, meeting, discussing, praying, and staying up way too late with our friends (who do we think we are, college students?).  There were many good things about the conference, and we left not only feeling recharged, but also with some good ideas for how to allow our congregations to "catch the fire" (this is a reference to an obscure joke/prank I once heard about between two religion profs at HC; if you are unfamiliar with it, I will enlighten you.) and continue building up the church, through church planting and other means.  Following the conference, we spent the remaining day with friends at Koorong and hanging out at their place, then headed to Newtown for dinner with a friend from the conference we attended earlier in January and his family.  It was great to meet them, enjoy some delicious food, and relish conversation with friends.

During our time at the retreat, Jesse and I brought our mobile internet (we may only have 2G/month, but it uses the mobile phone network, so we can bring it with us places).  It was a good thing too; I had forgotten my phone charger, and received an email that one of the companies I'd  applied for would like me to come in for an interview.  Between limited cell reception and time constraints on both ends, we finally connected and I set up to go in for an interview on Thursday (yesterday).  I thought it went very well.  We will find out if they thought so too.

On the home front, we are in need of groceries (having been away through late Wednesday night) and some cleaning.  Right before we left, temperatures were so high, that we dragged the futon mattress into the living room (where the a/c is) and camped out for a couple nights.  Now, temps have been in the low 20's, with some rain, and we are enjoying the cool break (and a chance to sleep on our real, comfortable mattress).

That's about all there is with us for now.  We're relaxing until youth group tonight, with cricket on tv this afternoon.  If I'm feeling motivated (and take advantage of the cool weather), I may even tackle some of that cleaning; for now, there are au gratin potatoes in the oven (we DID have some potatoes) and I'm catching up on email.

minutiae

Aqua class yesterday was exhausting, but good.

I received a stuffed loon from my father-in-law for Christmas.  Visitors like to squeeze it so it makes its loon call, which is actually quite accurate.  Some of the visitors don't seem to believe that loons actually sound like that.  Jesse is not usually amused by the loon call.  I like it, because it reminds me of the Adirondacks.  Cool mountain air and friends at Star Lake - great times.

I like the word "minutiae" because of all the vowels at the end.  In third grade, I would try spelling my name different ways, just to see the vowels interact on the end: Jessey, Jessiey, Jessiy, etc.  My teacher made me stop, unless I wanted to be called "Jessie."

A friend emailed me today asking some questions about our wedding (planning, etc.); I wrote her back a novel and attached two substantial excel spreadsheets.  Yikes.

Our house is staying cooler, as we're turning on the ac before it gets too hot.

This post brought to you by all the "25 things" notes I've been reading on facebook. :)

a time to socialize

Since my last, semi-defeated job hunt post, I've found a couple more opportunities, which I've applied for.  We'll see what comes of those.  In weather news, it was hot today, but not crazy hot, and I was able to get two loads of laundry done.  Scintillating stuff, I know.

Friday afternoon, Jesse took me out to lunch and to see Bride Wars.  He's well aware that a movie is, in some ways, a "quick trip home," even if I never lived in NYC.  For a chick flick, it had some good character development, and wasn't completely predictable.  It provided the entertainment I desired, and it was nice to have a surprise date.  In the evening, we had the first youth group of the year, which went quite well.  Saturday, after a day of tidying up the house and relaxing, we went bowling with the young adults, plus some of their friends.  I didn't do too badly; but anyone who's ever seen me bowl knows that I didn't break any records either :)

Sunday night, we headed to Sydney and had a great time hanging out, talking, watching cricket and tennis with our gracious hosts.  Monday morning, we had a Super Bowl party with friends of a friend, which was cool - the Aussie commentators were quite interesting, as was watching our poor host (a Cardinals fan) suffer through the game.  We had pizza and snacks, but not nearly to the magnitude of Super Bowl parties past.  It's hard to eat that much when the game starts just after 10am!  After the game, we drove back home, then to a family's house for dinner and a lot of laughter. 

It's been nice to spend so many days in the company of other people.  On the way to dinner last night, I saw my first wild kangaroos; I'd seen several at the Melbourne Zoo, but never any in the wild.  That was an exciting milestone.

This evening, I'm taking a break at home.  Jesse's playing soccer, and I'm looking forward to a quiet evening of tv, laundry, and possibly some scrapbooking.  I realize that I'm typically home, and you'd think I would jump at the chance to get out of the house.  While that may be true, it's in the cool of the evening that I can actually feel motivated to  get things done - fun or otherwise - so it's nice to have the option now and then. 

A job-hunting we will go

In my typical (pretty much everyday) online job search today, I came across a position that looked somewhat promising.  An international company looking for an accountant to be 2nd-in-command to the controller, and serve as the "technical expert."  It was advertised by a recruiting agency, and the description of the company and position were vague enough that I thought I'd call for further information.  The man on the other end was very nice, and actually told me the most helpful thing anyone has so far - there is an overabundance of commercial accountants in the area.  So, it would appear that the competition for the auditor who is looking to switch to industry would be from those who made the choice to work in industry from the start.

For those unfamiliar with the politics of the accounting world, the position of an auditor is the fastest track to a CPA, at least in the States.  It's high stakes, long hours, challenging, intense work, but you learn things every day.  It's client service, with high intellectual requirements; both sides of the brain are required.  The hope for many people going into auditing is that either they will love it and move quickly up the ranks, or learn from it and then switch to a less time-intensive job further down the road.

Frustrating, then, that in this case experience as an auditor is somewhat detrimental to my marketability.  But at least I know one of the reasons I haven't had much luck in the job market here.  Yes, there is demand for accountants, but there are plenty of people willing to take the nice analyst jobs and not so many to take the auditor jobs.  Employers look for people with experience in the specific roles for which they're hiring - and I can't necessarily blame them for that.  Combine that with the fact that I'm not from around here, and that makes me a complicated hire, to say the least.  

I can only hope that someone will give me a chance.  In the meantime, I keep hunting...

Heat, Celebrations, and Antics

This weekend was quite full.  Friday, Jesse and I left in the morning for Sydney, where we met up with friends to attend a one-day cricket match.  Once we arrived at "the cricket" (as it is referred to here), we were in the sun pretty much from 2pm until it went down, gloriously, around 8pm.  I have never been so hot in my life!  But Jesse had a great time, and I enjoyed watching it, during those brief moments when the sun went behind a cloud, or during the cool of the evening once the sun had set.  There was what appeared to be 2 families sitting in the row in front of us, with about 5 boys and 1 girl in total, ranging in age from about 4 to about 9, all dressed in Aussie jerseys and hats, waving flags and shouting things like "shot!" and "that was well fielded!" There is something incredibly charming about little children with an Aussie accent, particularly when it involves a phrase like "well fielded."  We had a lovely 20-30 minute walk in the cool evening back to Sydney Central to catch a bus back to our friends' house.  Great day.

Saturday, we got up quite early (for us) to head back to Maitland.  An elderly woman in the congregation had passed away this week, and Jesse was presiding over the funeral.  We arrived at our house in time to meet with her cousin, go over some last-minute service adjustments, scrub the temporary tattoos ("Go Aussie Go" and "Australia") off of our faces, and head to church.  The funeral was a great tribute to her life, and many folks hung around for the morning tea afterward to discuss remembrances and enjoy each other's company.  

It's interesting to contemplate grief, and how we honor the memory of our loved ones.  I may have blogged about this story in the past, but it comes to mind again.  I remember when we were putting together the services for my great-aunt Lois a couple of years ago, which included a handbell choir piece to honor her love of the handbells.  I was standing next to my sister as we practiced before the service, and it must have been particularly warm, or I was particularly nervous, or something.  At any rate, I rang one bell with unusual gusto, and it slipped from my hand.  I panicked, reached out, and caught the bell just in time to ring it again (and, honestly, to prevent damage to the bell and its surroundings).  My sister and I dissolved into laughter.  My grandmother commented that it was just such a moment that Aunt Lois would have enjoyed.  In that crazy moment, we honored her memory.

Saturday was one of the hottest days yet.  A couple from the church who have a pool took pity on us and invited us over for a swim.  It was glorious.  We had lovely conversation, watched a bit of the Melbourne Cup, had tea (dinner) together, and then Jesse and I headed home.

Sunday, Jesse began his sermon series on Leviticus, for which he'd given the congregation a reading assignment last week.  It seemed to go well, and it was nice to have the rest of the day to relax.  While job-hunting online, I found a couple of positions that seemed like they may be a good fit, and applied for them.  I'm optimistic; we'll see what happens, however.

Today, Australia Day, we had a church outing to a nearby lake for a day of cricket, boating, cricket, barbecue, and of course, more cricket.  We had a great turnout amongst the church families, and played a few rounds (innings) of cricket with a group of guys enjoying the lake as well.  Jesse and I have the sunburns to prove that we were thwarted by the overcast sky for much of the day (I didn't put sunscreen on until about 3:15), but we felt like we had celebrated Australia Day properly.  

not off the hook yet....

Just when you thought you were done reading laundry posts.

I was thinking last night, as I threw a bunch of clothes in and set the delay timer on our fancy washing machine that, today, I would post a wonderful post on how we were getting along with the machine so well, and it was making our lives easier.  We've sorted through the technology, and are enjoying the fact that we don't have to babysit it all night long.

I got up at 8 this morning (which is early for me), and Jesse was still sleeping (which is late for him).  It was a rather hot night and I don't think he got much sleep.  Anyway, I turned the internet modem on and headed to the bathroom before booting up the computer.  I was greeted by - water.  Lint.  I stepped over the puddles onto the rug at the base of the toilet, only to splash in a puddle of water on the toilet-rug.  Apparently, the drainage hose had come out of the sink (there was an unidentified noise as we were going to bed last night; I've decided that must have been it) and drained the entire washer-full of water onto the laundry room floor, which leaked into the toilet room.

I procured a plastic bag, placed the dripping wet rug in it, and scampered out the back door, where I hung it to dry.  I mopped up the wet, linty toilet room, hung out the clean clothes, and placed all the wet dirty clothes inside (our dirty clothes were sorted into piles on the floor of the laundry room, which probably prevented the water from spreading further) for a quick wash.  I set up a fan to try to evaporate the mopped floor.  Jesse woke up and helped me hang out the clean clothes.

Adventures.

Food, Games, and a Happy 50th!

Today (tomorrow for those in the US) is my mom's 50th birthday, so you should all wish her a happy one, particularly if you're nearby and can give her a hug.

I made some cheese pizza for lunch from scratch, using a recipe in my "What to Eat When You Can't Eat Anything" book (a GREAT book for anyone with food issues).  I've been a bit food-sensitive lately, although I have to give credit to the Katoomba conference people, who are very accommodating with dietary restrictions.  Anyway, Jesse and I both loved the pizza, so it was well worth the effort.  I suppose I didn't technically make the tomato sauce "from scratch" (I used a can of pureed tomatoes), but all the seasoning was mine.  Mm, tasty; there's also a sense of accomplishment from making things "from scratch."

Since we received our Wedding List gifts, I now have 3 canisters on my counter, which have been put to good use:  white spelt flour, rice, and granola in the third one.  This is a far cry from sugar, flour, coffee, and tea, but they are the starchy staples I use most often.  I made the granola yesterday from the same cookbook, while we were watching tv, and had it for breakfast this morning.  I also made some peanut butter popcorn in the evening (Grandma's recipe) for a snack.  One of the best things about coming home after being away is cooking food again.

In terms of games, I've been improving at Wii Play; I have a platinum medal in the shooting range (although I still can't beat Jesse when we go head-to-head; he's just too quick!), a current record of 43 tanks in that game, and a new high score of somewhere over 50 in ping pong.  I'm 2nd to Jesse among my friends in Scramble (facebook version of Boggle) and improving at "Challenge Sudoku" which I recently discovered on facebook as well.  Since we were away for a whole week, we have a little extra bandwidth to play with this month, and I'm making use of it.

Our fancy washing machine is doing well; we're getting used to each other.  I can set it to delay start, so that it washes a load right before we wake up and we can just put the clothes out on the line when we get up.  That's a good deal; that way, we're not hanging them out in the middle of the hot day.

Well, I think that's about it for now.  Speaking of the middle of a hot day... I am going to figure out what's for dinner, make sure the ingredients are available, and possibly go to a few stores.  Hopefully many of you are receiving your wedding thank-you notes; sorry they're so delayed in getting to you!

A week away

We arrived safely around 9pm last night after a week in the Blue Mountains at this conference.  (Interesting side note; Jesse explained that the "Blue Mountains" are called such as a result of the blue hue given off by the eucalyptus trees certain times of year.)  The point of the conference is to train youth leaders.  It was exciting to be able to attend; there were 4 of us from church, and the church rallied to support us financially and in prayer to make it happen.  That alone was encouraging.

We each gained some practical tips throughout the conference.  Workshops on packaging a youth talk and serving in a small youth group were particularly useful, and working through an Old Testament Bible Study in a small group for a few hours each day was enlightening and challenging in some ways.  We were exposed to some more reformed concepts of theology, which we're still chewing on and have proved catalysts for us to discuss and refine our own thoughts on the various issues.

Jesse and I thoroughly enjoyed the evening speaker, who preached soundly the first night (text: Gen. 1) that Christians need not be afraid of science, and in fact, those with scientific interests should explore them to the fullest.  His strong position that the Genesis account is meant to be poetry, with emphasis that God created, and that God set up a rhythm in doing so, was a refreshing perspective in light of what I've heard from 'Creationist' speakers in the past.

We enjoyed getting to know some new friends, and catching up with a couple Jesse had met on Iona.  We visited Echo Point, which overlooks the Three Sisters rock formation and the beauty of the Jamison Valley.  A few at the conference had encouraged participants to head out that way early in the morning.  While we never made it, the other 2 from our church hiked out to watch the sunrise over the valley one morning (from another lookout), and reported it had been breathtaking.

The conference finished midday yesterday (Friday), so the four of us did the tourist thing.  We went to Scenic World, where we rode the world's steepest train (450 meters of track, 250 meter drop, or something) down into the valley, walked around, visited a few exhibits on the coal mining that had occurred around the early 1900's (sidenote 2 - I've now explored, or at least viewed from the outside, caves/mines on 3 continents: Mammoth in KY, that one we went to in Wales [does anyone remember its name?] and now this one in Katoomba), examined the flora of the area, saw the biggest termite mound I've seen yet, around my own height, then returned to the top via cablecar.  We also took another cablecar-type contraption with a glass bottom (the glass bottom was only in the middle, though, not all over like the London Eye) across the valley to another cliff point and back; it was cool to have a view of the Katoomba Falls (think Bridal Veil Falls, but with 2 streams of water, and 2 main platforms) from above.  We grabbed dinner at a local cafe (Jesse had a kangaroo burger) before hitting the road for Maitland.

I have yet to see a wild kangaroo.  I saw a few more kookaburras and a white cockatoo (heartily pecking at and killing a tree), but no new Aussie animals for me.

Now, it's off to breakfast, as we purposely left very little food in the house for the week.

Let the Sporadic Posting Continue!

The weather this week has ranged from unbearably hot to reasonably cool (it rained yesterday; so nice!).  We had a family over for dinner on Wednesday evening; we let their kids play on the Wii after dinner, and they returned home and promptly pooled their money to buy one of their own :)  It was nice to get to know all of them, and have some company for the evening.

Wednesday was a big day in our house; not only did we have the "dinner party," but our brand new washing machine was delivered!  We didn't hook it up until yesterday, and haven't used it yet (but plan to today), and I am quite excited to say goodbye to the days of twin-tubbing.  It's a combo washer/dryer, which means when it rains for days on end, we can still have clean clothes.  Exciting times!

Thursday was reasonably uneventful, despite a frozen pork fiasco that resulted in the disinfecting of the kitchen, but also in a tasty dinner.  Our volleyball team won a decisive victory in the evening, which was awesome.  We played well and had a lot of fun.  I'm pretty well used to the new rules now, and Jesse's game is steadily improving.  His cricket team did fairly well, too, so it was a winning night at the indoor sports center for J&J.

Yesterday, I hung around the house and got some much-needed cleaning done while Jesse ran a few errands.  A girl from church came over to hang out, and we ate leftovers (pot roast, canneloni, and sweet and sour pork) for dinner and watched Music & Lyrics, which she hadn't seen, and is a movie I greatly enjoy (one of a handful of movies I actually own, aside from Jesse's collection).  We followed that up with an episode of Numb3rs and then Law & Order before calling it a night.

Today has been a lazy day so far.  I've been playing Scramble and the Typing Speed application on facebook, and Jesse's playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii.  At some point, we'll start getting ready for the youth leadership conference, for which we leave very early Monday morning.  It's in the Blue Mountains, where I have not yet been, so I'm quite excited to visit there.  I'm also looking forward to getting some instruction on working with the youth, and hopeful it will reinvigorate Jesse, the two leaders, and me to better teach them.  Needless to say, I will be incommunicado beginning Monday, but let's face it; I haven't been that consistent with posts anyway, so perhaps no one will notice ;)

post-holiday

The climate seems to do crazy things to my sense of balance/stomach.  It had Jesse down for the count last Sunday (aside from getting up to preach), and pretty much did the same to me yesterday.  I'm still feeling a bit strange, but hoping I can work through it today to get the house cleaned up.  We're having people over Wednesday evening, and the house is not in any kind of shape for that to be happening.  The paintings we'd been planning to hang about a week ago are still sitting on/around the love seat, and various other items need to find homes for the place to be picked up.

As I look around on facebook, everyone is gearing up to go back to work, it seems.  For the past 3 years, I have done the same, and have been approaching the busiest time of year.  December/Christmas/New Year's were always bittersweet, because they represented a last hurrah of minimal control over my life and schedule.  I went into some kind of work-hibernation for 3 months, and emerged gasping for vacation time.  As much as I appreciated my time in public for the things it taught me about accounting, people in general, and myself in particular, it's nice not to spend quite so much time at work.  Right now, I'm not spending any time at work, but I'm hoping to find a happy medium with a job I can enjoy.  Pipe dream?  Perhaps.  But I'll keep looking.

first days of 2009

It's a new year!  We were some of the first to ring it in, with a fantastic fireworks show just a quick walk from our friends' house near Sydney.  No, we didn't brave the crowds in Sydney to look at the Harbour Bridge, but the fireworks display we saw was quite good.  Not to mention the company; we had a couple rounds of Cranium, during which my crowning achievements included recognizing a Nirvana song (after my husband didn't think I would) and remembering that 4 of a kind beats full house (thanks to an unfortunate incident in North Carolina summer 2005, during which I neglected to realize that if I had a full house, someone else might have four of a kind).  We used the Cranium game Jesse and I got for our wedding; it's "Cranium WOW" and comes with cool players and new cards.  Sparklers, glow sticks, and confetti poppers were involved, as was some great conversation.  Good times.

We headed back up north around noon on New Year's Day, and I tried to do Wii Fit to stay awake during the afternoon.  It worked, kind of.  Jesse took over on the Wii and was playing Raving Rabbids while I "watched" on the couch.  I woke up to "Honey, do you want to be sleeping?"  :)  Woops.  We watched some Boston Legal and called it an early night.

Today has been good; I slept in, then did Wii Fit (and unlocked a new balance game; it's some kind of zen/candle thing and it's weird), then was feeling extremely light-headed.  I rested for a bit, Jesse made me some oatmeal, and I felt better.  I sifted through cookbooks and planned out our meals for the next few days, and Jesse and I left to run errands.  We ate lunch out, mailed a bunch of thank-you notes to the US, then hit the grocery store.  It was about a 2 hour trip total, and we were satisfied that we got a lot done!

Upon our return, I hit the kitchen and made some pasta.  I received a cookbook from an Aussie friend for Christmas, so I decided to try out spinach-ricotta canneloni.  I even bothered to shape the pasta into "canneloni," although some of them kept trying to fall flat.  This endeavor resulted in approximately 3 hours in the kitchen from start to finish, but I'm feeling quite accomplished for having cooked the whole meal from scratch (with the assistance of my wonderful KitchenAid mixer and Pampered Chef Food Chopper, of course).  We'll see how accomplished I feel in 10 minutes when the canneloni comes out of the oven, but at least I tried! :)

I haven't been one to make New Year's resolutions; if anything, I tend to make birthday resolutions.  One I've been working on for a couple of years now has been remembering others' birthdays (and not just on facebook!), so I suppose, if anything, I'm hoping to continue getting back into that and also to writing more personal letters.  We shall see.

No real news on the job front; there was one possibility that I was quite excited about, but that seems to have fallen through.  There's still a ray of hope, but I'm not holding my breath.  As for "accounting" news, I've been asked to join a volunteer team headed to Papua New Guinea in May for some auditing.  I'm quite excited about this prospect, and although Jesse won't be coming with me, looking forward to the chance to help an organization I respect and appreciate.

Now the moment of truth... I'm off to get the canneloni.