Bec (Rebecca) Philp

this is Bec. she was a special girl in my life for what now seems like such a short time. early last saturday morning she passed away (epileptic seizure in the middle of the night). she was just 17. i will always remember her smile. she was a beautiful girl. we spent some good times together (and some harder ones too). she would pretty much tell me what she thought, though sometimes it would take some prompting and i'd first get the shrug of the shoulders and the 'i don't know'. but she always did. she always had an opinion. and it would come out. she searched for truth, and she wasn't fake to me. i wanted the best for Bec, I truly did. I wanted her to have a fantastic life. to live and to love. even though she was only 17, i do believe she had experienced life and love. she loved her family. loved to talk about her brothers to me. and her friends. and her parents. she loved them all a lot.

i don't know, and never expect to know, in this life, why things like this happen. but they do. it's a broken and imperfect world.

bec, i will miss you. i wish i had seen you when i was home. i am sorry. i pray and believe that you are in a better place than all of us left here.

this is regent park.

so most of you know i live in regent park. here's a bit of insight to where i live. joy, from our church, 2 of her sons are the singers and some of my squad kids are featured. this is my home.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PyF3E3aDZ8

the unexpected.

i got some unexpected news yesterday. one of my youth from my church at home passed away. she was a beautiful young girl, just 17, with so much to offer. i loved her a lot and all i wanted for her was the very best. i will write more later. but i'm just feeling a bit out of it today. my heart goes out to her, and especially her family right now. what can you say.

Valentine's Day

My fiance is so sweet. i told him not to do anything major for valentines day, and he went and got it to SNOW MASSIVELY. how lovely and clever is he. it actually started last night and hasn't stopped. since i've been back from Aus, there has been snow on the ground and just on sunday and monday the snow was starting to clear and i saw a few patches of grass and some sidewalks that were cement, not snow. and now EVERYTHING is covered. here's some pics to get the idea.

now, these aren't pics i took this morning, and the one of the street doesn't have enough snow. here, the cars are still covered and as i walked to work this morning, at one point there were no footsteps to follow and i pretty much sunk in the snow up to my knees. i cross the road, someone had cleared, or tried to, the footpath on the other side. thanks honey. next year, i hope you get me a beach with real salt water and real waves and 28 degrees. but the snow is pretty (or it will be for a few days, then it will go black and grey and worse, yellow!).

'it'll work out'

MUM

mum has always had this catch phrase 'it'll work out'. she'll use it in almost any situation. it will often bookend 'i don't know how just yet, but i just know it will'. i couldn't tell you how many times she's said that to me, or used it about other situations. funny thing is. things always have. sometimes quickly, other times slowly. but they do, they always work out. i remember in one particular situation just last year when she comforted(?) me with those words, she later admitted that she really didn't know if it would, but it did anyway.

theres a verse in the bible that it makes me think of ..and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him... now for me, this is true. obviously, good things happen and things work out for those who don't love God either. but that's not my story and i'm just telling you my story right now.

so, i guess, if anyone's facing anything right now, and you're not quite sure what's going, just know it'll work out. i don't know how, i don't know when, i just know it will. it'll work out.

school friends

These are the girls from school - work that is. most of my girlfriends are pictured here (merf is also in this gang, see previous blogs about her - the crazy dress up ones). through my 5ish years at vermont, we all formed a pretty close bond. we were in a similar boat - young, beautiful, intelligent, wonderful, caring teachers (ok, so that's what we were all striving to be). but through all the countless days of classes, meetings, assemblies and even surf and ski camps, we managed to find time to have sleepovers, coffees and dinners (albeit at 3.30pm on friday afternoons), hen's nights, weddings, baby showers, quilting clubs and gym visits. we knew how blessed we were to be working with such a great group of friends. we also knew that it wouldn't last and that one day we might never have again what we had at vermont. but the friendships will last. thanks girls for making my time at vermont so wonderful. as most of you are back there now, to start another year, make sure you take some time out to interupt someone else's free period when they are supposed to be working and hang out, or better yet, find nat's biology class and run through it with a mexican sombrero (not sure how to spell that) on for me (you can usually find them in stevo's office). love you girls. hope to see you soon.