has anyone met my competitive side?

If you have ever played a sport with me, I usually start off laid back and act silly, until I get the hang of it and then it's game time! I mean when I started playing raquetball, I begged people to play with me every free hour I could spare. So now I've moved on to indoor beach volleyball and laser tag. Most people laugh when I admit how much I love laser tag, but I think they're just jealous that they are no good at the game. So tonight for youth group, we all went and played laser tag at a place called "DARKLIGHT", which is an oxymoron if you think about it, but that's a whole nother debate. I was thrilled that I actually beat two of the guys that were playing in our group, so I bragged the rest of the night, how I was the self-declared Queen of "Darklight"! Thursday nights, I play on a girl's indoor beach volleyball team and the games were pretty intense last night. The other team that we played were skillful and they had obviously practiced, but I felt like our team grabbed hold of the "essence" of the game and hung in there. Although, I will admit that I was getting pretty heated and frustrated when the other girls would actually dodge the ball and let it hit the sand. Sometimes I felt like I was the only one that really sacrificed my body for the game because I was covered in sand, but then I remembered: it's all in good fun! (Ha- it's only fun when you WIN!) So, rest assure: I'm working on that competitive spirit that awakens in me every so often...

Thursday was mostly a day spent in front of the computer; there are so many things to plan for coming up in the next couple of weeks, it's challanging to keep up with it all sometimes. Today I finished the youth magazine that we put out monthly and visited St. Stephen's high school during lunch. I always bring candy with me to bribe the students to come along to youth group, and they always devoured it in a matter of seconds! And in the afternoon, I visited with Sue and Billy from church for a little while, just to help her do some things around the house. Tonight we had youth group, me and Jess were out-numbered by the boys, but usually the girls overpower the boys, so it was an interesting change of dynamics for the evening. All in all, we had a great time playing lazer tag. (Does anyone else get as sweaty as I do when you play that game?)

And now I have a gift for all of you, some cheesy duty jokes! Enjoy!

Q. Why did the man put his money in the freezer?
A. He wanted cold hard cash!

Q. What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire?
A. Frostbite.

Q. What's brown and sticky?
A. A stick.

Q. What did the water say to the boat?
A. Nothing, it just waved.

Q. What has 4 eyes but no face?
A. Mississippi!

Q. What do you call a pony with a sore throat?
A. A little horse

Q. What do you call cheese that is not yours?
A. Nacho Cheese

Go ahead...laugh...you know you want to....

going, going, gone

I can't believe it's almost April! Where does the time go? I'm back at Helen's, my house sitting adventures have come to an end, but it's good because I was a little lonley in that big ol' house by myself. Friday night, Sam, Amy, Eric(Amy's foreign exchange student) and myself went cosmic bowling! We had a blast, we played two games seriously, and then for the last one, we busted out the bumpers and acted a "fool" to entertain ourselves. We are quite amusing. Saturday evening we had a game night for the youth and we played Scategories again and watched the newer version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Sunday was church as usual, and Monday my week began with Care group. I spent the rest of the day trying to organize upcoming events with Josh and Monday night, a couple from church, Ron and Helen Howe, had me and Helen over for dinner. Helen Howe is by far the world's greatest cook, she's amazing, I mean, I've yet to find someone who didn't like something she made! Tuesday I spent the day with Dee Taylor from church and we went and visited Lousia Davey, who's in a Transitional Home because she broke her left femer. The three of us played "Rumikube" (sp?), it's an addicting game with numbers, I won two games! Tuesday night I had my missions class, which was as always interesting. We're moving into the History of the church and seeing how the churches have evolved over the years. And today I went to BSF in the morning and met my friend Paul for lunch in the city. Tonight I've got Girl's Group, which is a group of about 6 14-year-olds, and they are CRAZY! I'll have to rest up some before I leave.

I don't really have any words of wisdom to pass along today, but I will say that I've been very convicted about making the most of every opportunity and trying to show Jesus to anyone I pass by on a regular day. A simple smile or letting a car cut in front of you or asking how the check-person's day was, anything...trying to go that extra mile that Jesus calls us to go. So, I inspire you to go and do the same!

a kid at heart

Well, I've been busy house sitting for the last week and will be in North Beach until Sunday. I've really enjoyed staying at the house, it's only a 5-min walk from the beach and you can rest assure that I take advantage of that all the time! I've yet to watch a sunset; I'm just too busy at night. The past week was very full, it seemed like I was running around meeting up with people most of the week, but I was glad to be busy. On Friday night we had a game night for youth group. It consisted of eating lots and lots of food and playing Scategories. I love that game and if it were up to me, we would have played it all night. Saturday, we helped put on a baby shower for Millie, one of the ladies at Westchurch. It was a great time to really show her how much we support her and her family, she was so grateful for what we were able to give to her. Sunday after church we went down to Trigg Beach to have a bbq and a swim in the ocean. It was sooo hot on Sunday, me and Amy were regretting big time not remembering our bathers. (aka bathing suit) But we rushed home, put them on and went to our own private beach for a quick swim! Sunday night Amy, Hayley, Sam and I went down to Mullaloo Beach Hotel for dinner on the balcony. We had a perfect spot for the sunset that evening. It was a great place, I loved the atmosphere. The silly photo of me represents how full I was after the meal! We all went down to the beach afterwards and played in the sand like 5-year-olds, well, actually, I was the only one that acted like a kid, but do you expect anything less from me?

Monday and Tuesday were pretty much days I spent around the house getting some work done on the computer and catching up on some of my readings for my missions course and this new Bible study I joined. It's called Bible Study Fellowship and it's for women all over the city, it's non-denominational and we meet every Wednesday in a church in the middle of Perth. It's really great, I'm really enjoying it. My missions class is challanging me as well, I'm finding the readings very practical and it's helping me see even more what a passion I have for missions. Don't worry, I'll come home first for a bit before I go off to foreign lands again. Tonight I'm eating dinner at the Nevill's and so looking forward to that because it means good food and good fellowship. House sitting has been great, but I must admit, I've been LONELY!

uninspired

I just wrote the longest entry for the blog, but for some reason, it's gone. So, basically in a nut shell- I've been house sitting this week and have been very lazy with updating the blog. It's been a good week; active, but not too busy. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be a little bit more inspired to write, but for the moment, I'm devestated knowing I just lost a post I spent about 30 mins typing. Woa is me...

Sculptures by the Sea

These last couple of days have been pretty slow; no complaining here, though. Friday me and Sam visited St. Stephen's high school again and ate lunch with some of the students. Everyone was so excited about the school ball that was saturday night. All the girls were talking about their dresses, hair, make-up, nails, etc...(I remember those days) Friday night, a couple of the girls got together and had a girl's night; we watched Vanity Fair(I don't recommend it, way too slow) and ate pizza. Saturday I met my friend Anita in Cottesloe for some exercise and some lunch. Cottesloe is a beautiful beach in Perth that always attracts interesting people from all over. There is an art exhibit going on in Cottesloe called "Sculptures by the Sea". We actually went back and visited them today after church. The art exhibit is really neat, they actually have the sculptures on the beach and people can freely walk around and look at them whenever they want. Apart from the kids climbing all over a couple of them, they were really interesting to look at. I particularly liked the cows for some reason; they were just sprawled out on the beach, as if they had washed up onto the shore. Gruesome, I know, but kinda funny.

Well, it's Sunday afternoon and it's about that time...nap time...one of my favorite times of the week!

life's a beach

I just wanted to share with you some of the beautiful scenery that I am surrounded by every day. After I went for a run this morning, I decided to take a couple photos of the coast line. This beach is called Trigg Beach and it's famous for surfing. There are always tons of surfers lined up in the water to catch the next big wave. I usually pick that spot to run because it is so inspiring. As my good friend Chip says, "It's a whole nother world, with brand new stars, and the ocean waves are a little bit longer, a little bit bigger, and a little bit stronger; and the sun goes down as it comes up at home, it's the same light everybody sees, the center of my universe as brought me to my knees, again..."

Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter through the narror gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

too hot to trot

Nothing too exciting about the weekend, just trying to stay cool. It's been really hot here the last several days and everyone tries to stay in doors as much as possible. Saturday was a relaxing day for me, I met my friend Anita at a beach called Cottesloe; we went running and swimming and then had breakfast at a nice cafe right on the beach. Then I came home and ran some errands with Amy, and we spent the rest of the day watching movies: In Her Shoes and Cinderella Man . Great movies. Sunday was a combined service with the Perth church, very encouraging, except I was the only girl leading the girl's parts for a couple new songs we decided to try and let's just say that made for an interesting service. After church, we traveled down to Rockingham for a good-bye bbq for our friend Ilona, who's going to Ireland. Then we all jumped in the water to cool down, because it was soo hot! Luckily there was a beach close by. Sunday night, Kim had some of us over to his house for some chinese and to take advantage of his pool, again, activities that are surrounded by water. Monday was a public holiday here(don't ask me which one, I have no idea), so of course everyone had the day off. I did absolutely NOTHING! It was wonderful, I'm reading Memoirs of a Geisha at the moment, and I seriously can not put it down, it's fantastic. I spent a large portion of the day reading, which is rare for me. And monday night was our girl's Bible study; we concluded our study on "A Beautiful Offering". Did anyone catch the oscars? I completely forgot they were on.

Today I spent some time at the gym, and then went straight to meet Josh for coffee. We spent the majority of the morning planning for the Lipscomb visit in July and ironing out a lot of prep work we need to start considering for the future months. It was great to get so much accomplished. And tonight me, Hayley and Cath will begin our Perspectives Missions class at the local theological college, so that is exciting.

who doesn't like bowling shoes?

Friday morning: I dragged myself out of bed and went for a quick run along the beach. Very inspiring. Then me and Helen had our weekly prayer time and I drove up to meet Sam to finish the Youth magazine. After we perfected it, we went a local high school, St. Stevens, and ate lunch with a lot of the students. I wandered around with most of the girls, while Sam got stuck with a large group of silly teenage boys. It's good going into schools on the Fridays that we have youth group, which was tonight. We met at the Warwick bowling alley, and I am proud to say that the girls definitely dominated the boys. We had our score sheet printed up, so we could properly document our amazing feat for future reference! I love beating the guys, I mean, does it really matter that we bowled with bumpers?

Youth group is slowing growing, I just have to accept the fact that most high schoolers wait til the last moment to weigh their options for the weekend, and if there is nothing better on, then they will usually turn up for youth group. I know it means taking silver medal, but, at least it's something. After such a strenuous game of bowling, we went to Hillary's and got some proper nurishment: fries and ice cream. I was home by 9:30pm, which is nice for a change. I've been out every night this week. I hope to catch up on some reading tonight, seeing as I am in the midst of about 3 books.

I've got a joke: Why are pirates, pirates? Because the just ARRRRRRRHHHH!!! (Tip: when you get to the punch line, say it like a pirate)

five months gone!

The last couple of days have flown by. Tuesday was my day off, so I went to the gym and did a couple things around the house. After lunch, me and Sam went down to the beach to baste in the suns rays. Don't worry: we put on lots of sunscreen. Later that night, we had the girls Bible study at Helen's house. We are actually taking a 12-week missions course starting next week called Perspectives at the Theological College in Perth; I'm really looking forward to that. Wednesday was a big work day; I spent most of the day in front of a computer screen, putting lots of things together for church. Wednesday night was the high school girls group that me and Cath do together. We made mexican and played taboo at Cath's house. 14-year-old high school girls are NUTS!!! But extremely entertaining! Thursday I visited the gym in the morning and then caught the train into the city to eat lunch with Hayley. I love catching the train, it makes me wish Nashville had a safe public transportation system. I also love pepole watching, but usually I don't know the line between making observations and blatent staring. After lunch with Hayley, I caught up with Ilona for a coffee. The photos are from our afternoon in the city. Ilona is heading over to Ireland for about 11 months on a working visa, she leaves on March 10. I'm sad that she's leaving, but excited for the opportunity she has to go and explore more of the world. Thursday night, I had dinner with a couple from church, John and Margaret Barton, they are wonderful. They always make me feel apart of their family and I feel so blessed to have people over here that are looking after me.

After dinner, several of us went to a fund raiser for our friend Michael, who has started up an organization called Mercy Aid that will be based out of Indonesia. His vision is to build community centers for several of the islands destroyed by the tsunami, which would provide food, shelter, supplies and different kinds of resources for the survivors. He leaves in just a few days and it was so encouraging to hear about what God is doing over there. I felt really empowered to go and be apart of something bigger; when you think about your everyday life and your surroundings, you realize that we are so blessed. We have such an opportunity to reach out to a dying world around us, but it is so easy to ignore that reality when we are consumed by our comfortable everyday lives. A verse that has really spoken to me recently is Matthew 25:35-40:
"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'"