Some earthly success....

I still havent blogged about my week last week. Where I had a horrible lesson. Im still not sure if I'll share it, because I dont know if I've learned the entire lesson....yet.

But I wanted to share a small measure of success for our family this week.

-Firstly, I got all my assignments back that I was waiting on; and I got straight High Distinctions. 95+ for the most part. I am pretty happy. Thank you everyone who prayed for our family during the last few weeks, it was a stressful time and I have appreciated you all.

- Secondly, Jayde started playing t-ball back in September. She is very 'team' oriented, which we have always appreciated and endeavoured to foster. The last few games she's done quite well, she seems like she's a really good all-round athlete for her age. She is just 7 but her coach invited her to try out for Representative T-ball to play in the U/10s State Championships. We showed up for both try-outs and had to laugh. She was a head shorter than most girls, many of whom played on the rep team last year, and with some of them aged 9, and only 12 spots going (more than 30 kids trying), we figured it was just an extra practice session for her. Today she got a letter saying that she was selected for the team. I felt really pleased for her. Not because she made the team, but because her best efforts are always done with joy and a love of the game, never with fierce competetiveness. And her first comments were to thank Jesus, before mentioning all the new friends she will make and the 'light' she intends to be. What a heart. What a girl. What a blessing.

- Thirdly, Jack has had some small success at work and been invited as a guest speaker for a 4WD convention. This doesnt equal any more money for our family, but came about through recognition of his integrity and honesty. I feel so proud of my husband...and really glad that he can have this professional encouragement since his work has been particularly trying and stressful lately.

- And Levi's latest triumph? Hrmm...toilet training is going well. Sharing is getting better. His talking is improving. Let's just say he's been more pleasure than challenge the last few days. What bliss!

We know that all good things come from Christ. And I know that these things are not 'big' deals; they dont equal souls redeemed for the Kingdom. But I am excited to see what doors will be opened from these opportunities. What families and kids we'll meet, what students I'll teach, what lives will be changed through Christ.

Thanks once again, everyone who has been praying for our family! Have a great day!

So, what DID I buy?

*disclaimer: these photos are for illustrative purposes only. They were hastily shot and do not represent the great capabilities of the Canon 100mm macro!
**2nd disclaimer: this purchase is probably in the hands of the wrong person. I dabble in craftiness, but alas, I lack the true genius of other craftswomen that have come before me. Including Terah...if you have ever received a Christmas card from that woman you know what Im talking about.


So, this is what the impulsive, spontaneous purchase was.


150 buttons. That’s right, and I so DESPERATELY NEEDED them that I paid an extra $9 to have them shipped express…patience is clearly not one of my virtues :S

The reason I needed these buttons?
It all started at Jaydes school spring fair…which is a pretty big fundraising event. (I think they raised $47,000 from one day 9am-4pm. Not too shabby!).

At this school fair, I came across many lovely stores. But I also came across a VERY lovely store. A store that sold this. In my daughters size. No two alike. I just loved it. Ka-ching.

I adored the sleeves.

and the crochet embellishments...

and I love that its LONG. If you have been born with an abnormally long torso (like myself and my daughter) you will understand a love of long tops. And if you even have a daughter, you should have a love of long tops...you know, the kinds that cover their midriff? :P

Now, has anyone ever tried to find a mint-coloured or white & mint coloured hairband? Sure, I could’ve gone with plain white, but with the gorgeous mint-coloured crochet on the singlet I had to find something that would set it off. I searched high and low but couldn’t find anything close to matching.

I’ll make my own I thought! Knowing that there was a fabric sale that very evening I decided that I would buy mint fabric. Since scrunchies are out of fashion (only by 19 years or so) I decided to make yoyos with flowers in the middle, then I thought BUTTONS in the middle. Then I thought...you desperately need to order self-cover buttons right at this very second before they run out of stock and metal deposits throughout the world. I had ideas. Big ideas. But uhh…they don’t always translate into reality :) This is how my first one came out…I used two buttons, one large button on the bottom, one small one on the top.


It matches the shirt perfectly, see?

Then I made a pink one…like it?

Then I used some spare uniform fabric to make 2 plain covered button hair ties to match Jaydes school dress. So cute. She’s currently wearing them at school so there’s no picture. But Im hoping she'll start of a fashion fad so I can sell them. Wow. I could make millions. Well actually, I could probably recover my costs is about all…. :S

So there you have it.
My spontaneous purchase that I may live to regret.
If you desperately like them, and would love to take photos of your little girls in them, let me know what kinds of colours and I’ll make some and gift them to you. They wont be perfect. I am a hopeless seamstress and am a bit heavy handed with glue, but I can only get better with practice right? They are also very light to mail- yay! This offer is only for my umm regular readers…not that my blog generates many hits aside from them…hrmm.

10 on Tuesday

1- I finished! I’m finally finished university! 9 years, 2 universities, 100 assignments, 4 practicums, 2 published essays, 1 seriously supportive husband and 1000000 migraines later…Im done! What a great feeling!

2- I’m just explaining this because Heather made a comment about graduating with honours….the Australian University system doesn’t do graduating with honours. If you want an honours degree it’s an extra years worth of study plus about a 20,000 word thesis. Eep. On the positive side…I’ve been invited to do both an honours degree or a masters degree…neither one of which Im remotely interested in accepting right now. Im interested in a life that doesnt involve books or school. Wait...Im a high school teacher now. Noooooo!

3- This morning I went to a beach that I never go to. I don’t know why I never go there. It was beautiful. There were so many insects. ;)

4- Toilet training…why do we call it that? Its not like we’re training the toilet to do something new. It would be nice if it COULD do something new. Like alter its bowl shape to catch all the wee that my son insists on squirting on the freshly cleaned floor. Or maybe it could make a warning sound when he attempts to leave the toilet without wiping his bottom… for example ‘skidmark alert’ or ‘Stop! Risk of spreading faecal matter through living quarters imminent, I repeat, stop!’. Seriously, Im just waiting for some horrid poo-related disease to strike down our family.

5- Jayde started piano lessons back in August at a music school. Her teacher is a really cool Christian guy. I guess the music school has put together a little rock band of kids cos tonight Jayde came home with the news that she is going to ‘be playing keyboard in a rock band…with other instruments that are even cooler than mine that I wanted to learn before you said I had to do piano’. I hope they can rock-out to the c-major scale, cos that’s about all she’s got!

6- Tonight I am having my first real ‘girls night’ with Jayde. We’re gonna eat Sushi and then go to a 2 hour sale at a craft/fabric store. What an exciting life I do lead :S

7- This morning I made a spontaneous purchase I may live to regret. Jacks expression was not wholly pleased, nor displeased, just confused. Why do I always have that effect on people??

8- On Saturday night we’re attending my high school reunion. Hmmm. I was excited….6 months ago when I purchased the tickets. But now Im at my heaviest weight of all time. Which is depressing. Im not being vain… again I am confronted with a spiritual lesson related to my physical one. And spiritual lessons have abounded this week in ways that I'm not going to blog on just yet.

9- At 430am Monday morning I actually hallucinated. I basically lived on 2-4 hrs sleep per night for the 10 days preceding and finally got my last assignment in about 4am. When I got to bed, I laid there consciously dreaming. It was very strange. And when I got up at 7am Jack said I was ghostly white and shaking terribly. I’m now slightly paranoid that I was drugged…or that I have the beginning of some horrid poo-related disease that will strike down our family.

10- This summer is shaping up to be HOT. Last week we had a 37’C day…which is like 99Farenheit; it was also 94% humidity. It was followed by 3 days of solid rain. Hot AND sticky. Deodorant is my friend. Spandex is not.

Ten on Tuesday

I’ve never done a ‘ten on Tuesday’ before. I may not ever again. But Crystals blog inspired me, so here it is.

-I am so close to freedom. Im not talking about an ideological or theological sense…but free from study and books. Just 4000 words and a pleasing grade between me…and ‘it’.

-I’ve been thinking about how weird I am lately. I think Im really weird. Late at night I come up with crazy ideas. Like virtual marketing. Or baking novelty cakes with harmless body cell waste.

-My best friend…well, old best friend, is finally moving back from London. When I moved back from living in Idaho, she moved to London 3 months later. When she visited Australia, we went to Indonesia. Now that she’s moving back Im wondering if this is our cue to move overseas…you know, because I like patterns even if they make no sense.

-Jayde shaved suds (and skin) off her upperlip yesterday in the bath. FYI, I don’t do this, so I don’t know where she got the idea. We just heard the yell and saw the blood. But when I told her she might grow a moustache she started crying and said ‘I’ll never get married now’. I felt like my heart was black. Very black.

- Most of the time I am reconciled to having celiac disease. What I really don’t like is people thinking it’s a ‘diet’ and offering me wheat/oat/rye/barley loaded foods. Its not just about not eating gluten….its an autoimmune disorder. I get sick and fatigued and my bone density is that of a 46 year old woman. Its not worth it!

- Jack and Jayde had hair cuts yesterday. So hot right now.

- When I commented on Terah’s blog today the comment verification box said ‘lober’. I took this as a subliminal message that blogger thinks Im a loser. I mentally retaliated that blogger without the ‘l’ is bogger…slang for toilet. Then I realised I was having an imaginary conflict with a social computing tool and that the social computing tool was right.

- Do all Americans eat with their fork in their right hand and knife in their left hand, or is this just a regional/in-law family thing? I’m not a snob but cross-cultural table manners result in some icy stares at our dinner table.

- I played my first game of netball since 6th grade last week. It was awesome. I love my team and surprised myself. Then I went home and ate chocolate.

- I want to learn how to play the didgeridoo…but Im afraid of failure.

Chalk & Cheese

Sweet and sour.

A dreamer and a determined one.

One creative, one destructive.

One carefree, one calculating.

One lost in an imaginary world, one firmly anchored in realism.

One spontaneous, one meticulous.

A girl who is too happy to fuss, and a boy who cares so very deeply.

I know I shouldnt compare.

But sometimes, on the same day, in the same place....

I see them.

Like two different sides of the same scene.

Both needed.

Both beautiful.

Both devoted to each other.

Both embedded in my heart.

I wouldnt change a thing.

My cup overflows!

When She Was Five....

I was looking through the archives and found this from last June. My 5 year old girl.

She's now 7. New teeth. Darker hair. Sweeter smile. Wiser eyes. Selflessly impractical, frustratingly patient, goofy as ever...a gift so precious I can hardly breathe.

I cant bear the thought of it continuing...this 'growing up'. But I couldnt bear the thought of it not continuing either. Where has the time gone? Why has it gone so fast? What a chastizement to cherish each moment and each day.....

Oh God, please give me wisdom and patience and grace! Help us raise our children to know and love you. Have them bear good fruit. Amen.

A favour...

I'm hoping that those of you who read my blog from time to time might do me a little favour.

As part of one of my classes I have to design different eLearning tools (blogs, wikis, virtual classrooms etc) and I have finished creating my blog example. If you have time, could you check it out at www.readingpics.blogspot.com and let me know what you think. It doesnt really matter about the content so much, just that the blog itself is functional etc.

Thanks much!
-k.