Holiday report

I have been back at work for a week now. I had a wonderful holiday, and I have several highlights to share!

Friends

I was very happy to see lots of friends during the holidays. I had been thinking that most of the people I invite for dinner don't ever invite me to their houses. I was not thinking this because I was upset about it. I was thinking that I'd miss out on a lot of fun if I only invited people who reciprocated! During the holidays, I was invited to two friends' houses where I had never been before. I'd had these people over to my house before. I really enjoyed visiting their homes and chatting with them. I was also invited to other friends houses where I have been before.

Mum and I were also able to excercise some hospitality. I invited a neighbour over for afternoon tea, and it was a blessing to pray with her for the first time. I have prayed for her for years, and I found out this year that she has been attending church. The next week Mum invited another neighbour over for lunch. She had met this lady on walks, but she could not remember her name! Mum was living the true meaning of hospitality - stranger love! We also had three other lunches with guests during the same week! On Saturday I had seven people over. I invited nine, but two couldn't come. It was a fun afternoon, and I hope to post pictures next time I am home.

I also enjoyed attending my church, Crossroads Presbyterian. Since attending church in Launceston on weekends when I am here I have received a renewed understanding of what a blessing it is to go to church and know the people! It is very hard to go to a church where no one is familiar. Even when I know their names, I do not know them. We have no shared history. This has inspired me to try harder to welcome new people when I am at home in Hobart. I think Crossroads is a very welcoming church anyway, but I need to do my part. I am often so busy catching up with my lovely friends that I don't pay much attention to those who are unfamiliar!

Fasting

In the comments section of Focusing on prayer I wrote: I think I'll have to make fasting for at least one meal one of my holiday goals. Otherwise I'm just going to talk about it for another few years.

Well, I did it! I only fasted from 10am to 5pm, but at least I finally did something rather than just talking about it! I was still on my holiday excitement high, so I can't say I felt like stereotypical notions of how you are supposed to feel whilst fasting. I felt as happy and excited as ever! I did not feel bad from not eating, except for when I was helping in the kitchen. I did pray a lot more than I usually do in a day. It would be worth fasting again next holidays just for this reason.

Scrapbooking and photos

I have been struggling to organise my photos, which have multipled since I was given a digital camera a year ago! I have scrapbooked for years, but it is different now that I have more photos. I have to decide which to print, and this takes extra time. Even when I have deleted a lot of pictures on my computer, decided which to keep but not print, and which to print, I still end up with more printed pictures than I had before. I realised I was getting very behind with scrapbooking. So I have decided I have to simplify! I am following the KISS principle: Keep it simple stupid. Using different colours for each page, depending on the colours in the photos, is banned. Matting photos is banned. Each season has a colour scheme and theme that must be adhered to. I can use printed pages and stickers that follow the colour and theme. I am enjoying scrapbooking again, and it is no longer seems as much like just another job. I plan to post a couple of pictures of my attempts at super-simple scrapbooking soon. During the holidays I completed January - April. Yay!

Family

My parents were very happy to have me in the house again, as I am a constant source of amusement for them :). I was happy to laugh with them!

It was also good to spend time with Janelle (sister), Lyndon (brother-in-law), and Esther (niece). Esther has her own names for her twin siblings due in early December: Rosie and Lucky! We have no idea where these names came from! Her parents are trying to get her used to the idea that they might be called other names.

I am sure there is more I could share about my holidays, but I'll leave it here for now! I am already missing home again, and I'm counting the sleeps until I return. Seven to go! I am planning to come down every second weekend this term. This will include the weekends of Saturday July 29th, and August 12th and 26th. On the other weekends, I think my friends should come and visit me :).

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Early morning thoughts

I'm back from Launceston and enjoying life in the south. For those of you who know nothing about Tasmanian geography, here is a map. I work in Launceston three days a week. I enjoy my work, but almost everything else that is important to me seems to center in Hobart. My parent's home is twenty minutes south of Hobart, and Hobart is a two and half hour bus ride from Launceston. I am now home for two weeks. I'm excited that I've now completed two terms of work, and have two terms ahead. Perhaps I'll actually get through the year :). I'm also very excited about enjoying my friends, church, hobbies, and the landscapes here in the south. I woke up at 4am with a tummy ache, and I feel so excited (and sore) that I can't get back to sleep. I have been excited for days! I have invited nine people over for lunch soon, which should be a lot of fun!

My friend Mike has 52 comments in response to his speculations on What women want. This feat was almost enough to make me want to write my own version. Something like "10 things men want in a woman". However, I came to the amusing and disconcerting realisation that I really don't know what men want :). This is not overly worrying to me, since I figure it is best to just be myself and leave the rest to providence. This is not because I don't want to get married. Especially when I'm lonely in Launceston, I think that marriage sounds like a great idea! However, I figure that if a man is to spend the rest of his life with me he should know what I'm really like :). Thus, I'm not interested in finding out what men want and then trying to be "it". I want Mr. wants to spend the rest of his life with Sherrin (whoever and where ever he may be) to like me, and not some image I am trying to project. In the meantime, it is tremendously funny to be a single. The number of amusing conversations I've had in recent times is enourmous. Here are a couple of examples:

One day a few months ago, a child at school asked me whether or not I was married.

“No”, I replied.

“Do you want to get married” was the predictable next question.

“I hope to get married some day”, I said.

“But aren’t you too old”, another child said.

“No silly, she’s not too old, my grandma got married” yet another child pitched in.

You will be glad to hear that at this point I did not laugh. Neither did I cry. I did breath a sigh of thankfulness that I am not a super-sensitive single person! These little ones have no idea of how old people are. Everyone big is ancient. I asked them to guess my age a while ago, and they thought 40 or 50 sounded accurate. I have told them I am 24, but it does not seem to sink in. The other day a little one asked me if I was 44.

Another funny experience happened during babysitting. the 10-year-old boy asked me if I had a boyfriend and how old I was. Upon hearing “no” and “24”, he pointed out to his 8-year-old sister “See, Miss Ward is waiting for the right one.” Isn't it good that I can provide such useful object lessons?

Also this morning I checked back to this post to see if anyone else had commented on the wonderful poem. I discovered that John Dekker has bought me the book of poetry the poem comes from. How nice is that? Here is a bit of the poem to entice you to read it:

This faith, although I lack it, is my own,
Inherent to the marrow of the bone.
To this even the unbelieving mind
Submits its unbelief to be defined.

Check it out on John's blog.

Oh, and John had some interesting observations (or should I say confessions) in the comments sectioni of cknat's post on what men want. Cknat has a green blog exactly like mine.

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