the last few days

here's some info on the last few days

monday - outlet mall shopping (mum and i were impressed - not sure about dad)
tuesday - went to kez and hil's for a while. we all had dinner at mum and dad's. then watched the aviator. a very long movie.
wednesday - we drove over to west seattle and went to alki beach. it was so nice out there and the weather was great. we came back and had a picnic dinner down at greenlake park. it was such a nice day.
today - well i slept in then took wally (the dog) for a walk, then lay outside on the hammock for a while.

this afternoon i am heading down to camp arnold - where i worked 4 years ago. i love that place. it is beautiful and holds so many great memories for me. if my information is correct, today is their first days of camps for the summer. i am not quite sure what to expect. i am going to stay overnight and then mum and dad will come down tomorrow and pick me up. so that's the plan for today. the plan for right now is to have lunch...yay!

thought for today...from William Booth (founder of the salvo's)...if you can't do it one way, try another!

pictures can tell the story

today instead of writing, i'll just post two photos. the first is of my family, the first time we were together in almost 3 years.

the second of daniel, who is just so cute, even if i am biased.

are you weak?

first of all, here's a picture of me and daniel just chillin'. he's quite relaxed as you can see...



anyway...

so on my holiday i am reading 'The Joni Story' by Joni Eareckson Tada. background info - joni became a quadriplegic after breaking her neck in a diving accident at 17. this is what i read last night...

'any struggle between a hero and 'the bad guys' is interesting enough in itself. but when the hero is suddenly disadvantaged...a new element is introduced. now the hero is in far more danger than before. he has less chance of winning. but if by sheer ability he overcomes in spite of the odds, he ends up twice as much of a hero because he won using weak and inferior weapons.

...God deliberately chooses weak, suffering and unlikely candidates to get His work done so that when the job is accomplished, the glory goes to Him and not to us'

being a Chrisitan doesn't mean that we have to be perfect, though we should try to be more Christ-like. but it does mean that God can and wants to use us - in whatever state we are in. maybe even more so when we are weak/incompetent?

God cares more about our hearts than what we can or can't do. God just wants people who love Him.

obedience vs sacrifice

at church this morning, daniel was dedicated back to God. it was a beautiful time in the service. really quite special. what a little nugget he is.

anyway, last night i was reading before i went to bed and the old discussion of obedience versus sacrifice came up. i was thinking about it a bit and while it clearly states in scripture that obedience is better than sacrifice, i couldn't help but think about how sometimes obedience seems to be interlocked with sacrifice, though usually in the end, the sacrifice, though seeming great at the time, isn't really that much. ok, so maybe that confused some of you, don't worry if it did. i can do that sometimes. that's all i've got for the moment. but stayed tuned as i think about this some more...

so the hailes family hung out together for about 24 hours and as daz goes back to vancouver tomorrow, we'll again be apart for who knows how long. i may have said it before but again, i thank God that i am part of a blood family who can remain close though far apart.

beautiful things

what a beautiful day. i spent a large part of the day shopping - what a beautiful thing to do. i bought some things for others and myself. nice. maybe even a birthday present for a housemate? anyway, mum followed along behind me, never once complaining. what a beautiful thing. we came home and i spoke to a friend. friendship. what a beautiful thing. i sat out in the sun - it was hot - what a beautiful thing. we are waiting for daz, kez, hil and daniel to arrive. this will be the first time that our whole family has been together in 2 years and 9 months. what a beautiful thing.

oregon quick stop

mike came up from oregon on monday. then tuesday we headed back down there. yesterday we hung out a bit. i got to met some awesome friends of mike's - kyle, and his brother nate, and ryan. we had fun. i must say last night we played a lot of pool and i had a few awesome games and also a few not so good ones, but i don't need to mention that. i tried to train the boys in the Australian language. also funny. they couldn't get past being english, though they at least came through with the right Aussie slang words. today i headed back for seattle. what a beautiful sunny day. i sat outside when i got home and finished my book 'plain truth' by jodi picoult, very good.

thoughts for the day...

life can be a lot of fun.
sometimes we do things that are fun and sometimes we do things that aren't.
it's hard to put others before yourself, it's definitely not in my nature, though it's something i am working on and probably will be forever.
to experience highs you have to experience lows, to know the difference.
it's really good to hit an awesome shot in pool when someone is trash talking you and they are immediately silenced!!!

jayne's getting married

today when i was driving down to oregon i got a phonecall from jayne to tell me that she and luke got engaged!!!! yay!!! i am so happy for them and was so excited that she had called to tell me!!! just wanted to share that.

vancouver

i came up to vancouver on fri night with daz and fleur (another aussie) and some other guys from 614 (the church daz works with/for). we got to the empress about 1.30am??? the empress is where quite a few of the war college students live. for those who don't know, the empress is a pretty run down old hotel on the corner of main and hastings, the dodgy part of downtown eastside vancouver. it's an experience. i spent saturday helping daz, fleur and rob set up for 614's 3rd birthday celebration. the night was a success with almost 150 people there. 614 meet only in cells groups and don't usually get together for something like this so it was special. the members of the church would make some of the members in my church a little uncomfortable, but God loves them all the same. it was a good night.

daz fleur and i went out for ice cream afterwards.

this morning mum, dad and grandma came up to vancouver and we went and had lunch and a look around stanley park. if melbourne and vancouver are the world's two most liveable cities, it's easy to see why. i won't ever be upset if vancouver beats melbourne, because as much as i LOVE australia, it's great here. the sun is shining, so that helps!

tonight dad is preaching at cariboo hill. so i better go and get changed!

my thought for the day... i am not going to be satisfied living an ordinary life for God...

Shopping

sorry for not writing yesterday, it started being a lazy day with my first real sleep in for my holiday, then things got busier. after breakfast and sitting out on the back deck reading my book with grandma. we had lunch and then mike, my friend from camp came to visit. i'd forgotten how much energy he has - way more than me!!! it was good to see him. we went and saw what these seattlelites call a 'beach' - not much by my standards - but that's ok. kez, hil and daniel all came over for tea. we had a great time. usual hailes meal time. a lot of fun.

mike left, kez went to feed daniel. so hil, dad and i played phase 10. dad beat us. that sucked. oh well.

this morning mum, grandma and i went shopping! it was amuch more successful venture than last time! i got three pairs of shoes (one of those mum bought for my birthday - july 16 - just in case you wanted to know), a jacket and earrings. a successful day for me. for those interested i got a pair of nine west shoes and a pair of diesel boots and i spent less than 150 aussie dollars all up - can you believe that (tammy - i am sure you are the most impressed - ha ha).

so we are about to head off to go on some ferry then tonight i will head up to vancouver with daz and some of his mates for the weekend. it's a lovely sunny day here today - 24 - nice!

thought for the day - i love when you catch up with people and it's as if you'd never been apart. well almost anyway.

p.s. all my blogs are sent aussie time - obviously it's different here - they are a bit slow - 17 hours behind melbourne!

The Nanny

what did you do on your holiday fee? well i became a nanny. but i loved it. today was my second day of nannying or auntying if you'd rather. i had a day off inbetween and today was my second day on the job. i did some washing, changed the sheets, made lunch, though i didn't do any dishes! i did change my first nappy-diaper. wasn't too bad.

i sat out in the sun this afternoon reading a Jodi Piccoult book - Plain Truth - just started it, but it is very good so far, cam highly recommended by mum and kez. daniel (assisted by kez and hil) even brought me a glass of water. very funny. the little man was a very good boy today.

tonight we went to a bbq with people from the church. they are swedish and we played this game we are now calling the swedish stick game. dad, mum and I formed an aussie team, we were slow to start, then made a good comeback, and narrowly lost (of course i hated that). but the game was good. we were all pretty bad so it took a long time to play! but it was fun, especially with mum doing the usual loud screaming when she managed to knock over a stick.

anyway, tomorrow i am planning on sleeping in, something i haven't yet done on my holiday!!! then my friend mike who i orked at camp with four years ago is visiting tomorrow! should be fun. tomorrow night some of dazza's friends are also staying here the night - daz - if he can change his flights might also make an appearance. otherwise he'll be around on friday night and i'll head up to vancouver with him then for the weekend till monday.

no deep thoughts for today...i did have some, but am tired and can't be bothered writing them. i will say they have been inspired by the three books i am reading at the moment - 'a step further' by joni erakson tada (i have spelt her name wrong) and a purpose driven life by rick warren and meet the bible with philip yancey and some other chick. they are all seeming to speak the same thing to me right now. trust in God is the message.

have a good day. this has been a long update, hope you are still reading. bye!!!

to add to my own thoughts...

i read today (in the Officer magazine) a comment which made me think of an earlier blog - the one about reality. anyway, the comment went something like this, if beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then maybe too, reality is in the eye of the beholder.

zoolander face, peanut butter and family

i got up this morning and today was my day to spend with kez, hil and daniel. mum dropped me off on the way to work. kez and i managed to clean out her wardrobe, though it still seems quite full to me. we (all four of us) took an outing and went to baby &co, best and less and starbucks, and daniel slept right though it all. lovely. he's a cute little nugget. very cute. did i mention he likes to pull 'blue steel' the look from Zoolander. funny. i got a picture of it today (will put it on here when daz shows me how - in 4 days when he gets here). he often purses his lips in the fashion of derek zoolander, and he also loves to stretch. LOVES to stretch.

mum came and got me and i went for short run when i got home. it was a lovely sunny day here today. excellent. after dinner, mum, dad, wally (dog) and i went for a walk to the supermarket. nice. now mum and dad are watchin their favourite show, it's the monday night special and starts at 6 and finishes at 12 - every monday!

so, my thoughts for today - dad is fun. tonight i witnessed my dad put peanut butter on apple, coz someone told him it was good, he then proceeded to put it on chocolate, because i told him it was good. then he decided to try it on banana, coz i thought it might be good, then he decided to try it with apple and cheese! crazy man. nothings changed.

family is family. they will always be there. and i praise God for that! i love my family. they are all funny, and silly and sometimes annoying, but i love them. i am so blessed.

and for tomorrow....well tomorrow there is shopping downtown! woo hoo!!!

seattle

i still get amazed, and this is my 6th overseas trip in 6 years, that you can get on this big tubey thing called a plane, sit on it, squished with hundreds of other people, in a ridiculously small place, and when you get out, everything has changed. the climate, the people, the accents, which side of the road people drive on, everything! it still is fascinating to me - once a traveller, always a traveller.

so i have met my nephew, Daniel (also known as possum, precious, nugget, munchkin, cutey, cherub and darling - just to name a few i've heard people call him). he is very cute and small. we've had a few cuddles, and fortunately (though i'm sure i'll do it tomorrow) i haven't even had to change a nappy yet, or as kez calls it, a nappy-diaper, poor girl is caught in two cultures.

so my flights were good, except packed. NO spare seats. but i was in the middle section with three other girls, so that was ok. no big smelly men to contend with.

today i went to church in the morning. it was daniel's first time. he was good. didn't cry at all. then there was a picnic. weather was good. food was better. then hang time with kez, hil and daniel. then tonight mum, dad, grandma and i went to this church. they had two massive choir and it was the choir leaders last night. so it was pretty much just singing, but it was fantastic. it's definitely my bedtime now, so i am going to go downstairs to my room and fall straight asleep i'm sure.

(will try to figure out tomorrow how to attach a picture. if i can't, i'll see daz on friday and he'll show me how. till then, sit tight.)

when will mum start blogging???

question for the day...

when will mum start blogging???

what are you living for?

Seth Daniel Lomer was born today! What exciting news! I wanted him and my Daniel to be born on the same day, but instead they share a name, that’s pretty good! It’s only 3 sleeps now till I leave. I can’t wait.

So, I have come to the conclusion that trying to predict life is useless. Peoples lives take crazy unexpected turns all the time. I don’t think I know anyone who would really say, yep, I thought my life was going to be like this – and if I did, I might even feel sorry for them. All you can do is have hope for the future, pray and know what you really want to live for! (these are words that a very good friend of mine spoke into my life recently – oh, and anyone else who heard her preach that sermon – what a great friend and woman of God – thanks Sim).

4 sleeps

i can't wait. i have only four sleeps till i get on the plane to go and visit my family!!! i can't wait to meet daniel for the first time. i hope he's in a good mood and i can cuddle him for ages! i finished my reports this morning, that's the first major thing on my imaginary 'things to do before i go' list. there are a few more, like get milo for darren. i think every email he has sent me in the last 2 weeks has had the word milo appear at least 18 times.

so i have been naughty and not blogged for a while. but know that i know at least 2 people read my blog (thanks dad and wendy), i am inspired to get on it again. i think i will use it while away to keep people updated as i go!

here's my thought for the day....

there's always someone worse off

i have so much that i have been blessed with...a great family, great job, great place to live and great people to live with, wonderful friends and great (surrogate) church family. every day i have food to eat, clean water to drink and hot water to shower in, a working toilet (and we fixed the door so you don't get stuck in there anymore), a big warm bed to sleep in every night. and i could go on, but i won't. i am so blessed.

maybe i'll change my thought for the day

there aren't many better off...

i am so rich!!!