Dabbling with Digiscrap

I haven't used my photobucket site in a while. As in, I hadn't seen all the new things I could accomplish whilst using it.

So today I discovered they have a digiscrap 'shop' now, including tons of things you can use for free. So after playing around for a little bit (with me stuck at home with a head cold, it was a boredom buster!), I came up with the following...








I think they look pretty good.

Need a Hobby

I've been looking for a creative hobby for a while. Something to keep my brain occupied, but with the end result being something I can keep and think 'I made that'.

Lots of my friends knit. I visit a few blogs devoted to knitting (or written by friends who post a bit about their knitting projects), and I'm considering taking it up.

Now, this could be fraught with disaster. My grandma tried to teach me at least half a dozen times when I was a child, and I'd pick it up for a bit, forget it, ask her to teach me again, and then make a complete mess, requiring lots of unpicking.

And I've got a history of starting off a project with grand plans, purchasing all the necessary equipment, only to give it up within a week. I could list hundreds of half-cooked projects I've done at some time or another and still have the remnants of.

But knitting is pulling me in. I'm so jealous of what my friends are making, and with Grandma gone and therefore all chance of handmade family-made clothing gone; I'm thinking I should probably do it.

I just want someone to sit and teach me though. If I do this by myself it's going to fall apart, and going off of my mood lately - someone could get killed. Are there classes/group meetings for complete newbies such as myself?

I've heard of 'Stitch n bitch' meetings. A few of my friends go. I'd love to. But I don't want to be the frustrating newbie up the back needing someone to undo her feeble attempts at least once every ten minutes.

Any ideas?

Anyone got a boat?

You may not be able to recognise where that picture is taken. If you looked directly left from the photographer Adam Smith's vantage point, you'd see the Royal Brisbane & Women's Hospital. Or rather, where I spend most of my week as a theatre nurse.

This was Wednesday afternoon. I was rostered for a night duty shift, so hadn't really heard much news until about 5pm. I rang work and basically got told the hospital was 'cut off'. What do you mean cut off? As in, every public access route to the hospital was under water. The Shift Co-ordinator basically told me to 'hang tight', and she'd call back.

Before that happened, I had phonecalls, texts and facebook messages telling me to chuck a sickie. Further investigation revealed that the whole of Butterfield St (the road into the hospital) was blocked off, and many many people had had to be evacuated from the carparks and many others still had no access to their cars.

I was rung back at 9pm and told that there was one way in, and one way in only. And if it was closed off - I was to go home.

Brad drove me in with an hour to spare and it took us FOUR attempts to get into work. Every road we tried was blocked by water. Our last chance was the back gate and being able to access one staff door. Our pass cards are activated for only certain areas of the hospital, so it was not guaranteed I'd get access without help from security.

Thankfully, the back gate was open and my access card worked, so I got into work with only minutes to spare.

It's pretty scary when the main tertiary referral hospital in Brisbane is completely blocked off to the public!

Sponsoring Zimbabwe Schoolkids

My best friend Bek and her husband Dion are currently working in Zimbabwe. I've talked a bit in the past about VANA Childcare Ministries and their work in Zimbabwe, and they are involved with them.

Lately they've been working to develop a feeding program for kids in the community, and it's going amazingly well. They've had massive food donations, and seen the numbers swell from 6 to 25 children requiring food.

Over the process of helping these kids, they've discovered that around 22 of them have been banned from school because they can't afford the school fees.

What is needed in total is about $USD 870 to make sure all these kids can come back to school. To break it down (all costings are in USD), this is the text Bek sent me:

We have 15 children at US $30 for 2 terms ($15 per term primary), then 6 children at US $55 secondary and 1 child @ US $70 private primary. And school uniform & shoes for 1 child maybe $20, so all up $US870. Let me know if anything doesn't make sense.

I've contacted Donna Spence (the lady heading up VANA with her husband) to inform her of my interest in heading up sponsorship, as I have a number of people interested in supporting these children. She's very excited and is sending me information on how to do the sponsorship, and what it will mean in regards to tax deductions and what not.

If you would be interested in becoming one of the sponsors, please let me know either through here, or on my facebook/email or Twitter.

We have the chance to really help these kids get ahead. If you can help, please let me know.

VANA Childcare Ministries
Bek & Dion's blog

(You can also find those links to the right hand side of my blog).

Amazing website, Batman!

I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to statistics. I hated them in uni, but the older I get, and the more I immerse myself in world issues, the more I find myself craving more and more and more!

(It's okay if you call me a little weird, I think I am too).

So today I got told of a great site.

Index Mundi has one of the most complete country profile list of any website out there. If you want to find out things like birth rates, death rates, HIV rates (living, death, males, females, etc), population growth, production and consumption charts, quite literally ANYTHING about a country and how it ranks against other countries, this is the site for you.

So, after reading this site, get this (accurate as of 1 January 2008):

Highest population growth rate? UAE with 3.83% (Rwanda is #20 with 2.78%)

Highest birth rate? Niger, with 49.62 births/1000 population (Rwanda is #20 with 39.97)

Highest death rate? Swaziland, with 30.7 deaths/1000 population (Rwanda is #25 with 14.46)

Highest rate of people living with HIV/AIDS? South Africa with 5.3 MILLION people (Rwanda is #30 with 250,000)

Highest rate of people who have died from HIV/AIDS? South Africa with 370,000 (Rwanda is #25 with 22,000)


There are some pretty sobering statistics on that site. South Africa with 5.3 million people living with HIV/AIDS is the one that blew me away. There's so much I could say about that statistic, and the reasons as to why it's so high - but I try to keep politics out of my blog. It gets me in too much trouble!

Maybe this won't interest anybody else. But if you have a passion for a particular country, and you want to know how they measure up against other countries in regards to demographics or financials or whatever - it might be worth checking out the site.

Leonardo would never have expected this!

We do some AMAZING things at work. Some days I come home and just think 'my goodness, did I really DO that today?'.

We're currently trialling the most incredible machine I think I've ever seen - the daVinci Robot. Where we don't touch a THING, except the controls on the robot.

We're all still learning it, and everyone is lining up to watch the recorded video of the procedure. Eventually this is going to be an every day occurrence, instead of just once a month or so. One day I'll be learning how to assist in this procedure.

I bet Leonardo daVinci never expected his early studies to lead to operations like this!

Dog Day Afternoon

I realised I haven't posted much about my dog lately (apart from him eating my Twilight DVD), and figured it was about time I posted some pics of my dog and his growing up.

We got Vox in April 2007 from Col at Church. His dog had given birth to a litter of puppies, and were finding it quite difficult to find a home for their last little one. He asked if we'd be interested in giving the little one a home, at least for a few weeks until he could find a permanent home.

Needless to say, after a week we were far too attached, and Vox became a permanent member of our household.



Come on mum - it's time to play!!!!



Isn't this the life???

The Devil Came on Horseback

If you see only one documentary this year - choose this one.



After Rwanda, we said 'Never Again'. Why is this happening?

Moving Churches

I've been keeping something a bit close to the chest recently. We told some friends, but not all - and that was purely a safety measure until we knew exactly what we were doing.

We moved churches.

That probably sounds very minor to some people, but it wasn't for us. We'd been going to a particular church for seven years and had considered it our home for a very long time. We'd made friends there and had seen it grow from quite a small Church to almost a monolith in some respects.

However over the last couple of years, both of us started feeling 'itchy'. There were various things that occurred that really started showing us we needed to move on. I made a commitment to stay and see what God had for us - but God clearly and dramatically showed us late last year that our time was up, and we were to move.

It was quite a slow process at the end of the day! We prayed over it and talked over it lots before deciding. And even when the decision was made - it was really terrifying in some regards. I've never 'moved Churches' quite like this before, and we weren't really sure where we'd end up.

Can I say though, that we have been blessed by the Church we've started attending! I haven't felt like this in a long, long time. It was quite daunting starting from scratch where we really only knew two people - but now it's like we've been there for decades.

I am so thankful for this change in our life, and I'm really looking forward to what God has for us here.

Things my non-Christian friends say, think, feel and wonder about Christianity

Sometimes I find myself in a discussion about Christianity, even when I don't plan to be.

Most 'regulars' at my work know that I'm a Christian, and although I wouldn't be "obvious" about my faith (ie. I'm not evangelising in the corridors!); they know it by the fact I talk about Church and the ministries I'm involved in. And I don't mind answering questions from them if they crop up.

Over time, I've learnt a lot from my non-Christian friends. Growing up in a very sheltered family and school, where all my friends and family and networks were with very strong Christian people, I really had no interactions with people who didn't have a relationship with Jesus, and I was what I'd call naive about the whole concept of life without Jesus.

So anyway, I thought I'd use my blog today to write down a bit as to statements and beliefs about Christianity that I find are quite common amongst my non-Christian friends. I should preface this by saying most of them would be a mix of agnostic, or 'nominal' Christians at best.

Maybe those of us reading this as Christians could pause and reflect on these comments and statements as we read them.



Christians make out that life is so much happier and better with God. Why the heck aren't they happy then? All the one's I've seen are grumpy, miserable and look burdened by the demands their faith puts on them.



Christians tell me I won't be truly happy until I accept Jesus in my life. They talk about how miserable their life was before they accepted Jesus into their life. I am exceptionally happy in my life right now, and it's all going brilliantly. I don't think your God could possibly make it any better.



How come Christians have so many rules? How come that Christian over there has to tithe, and you don't? My friend said you have to be baptised if you're a Christian - how come you aren't? Why does it matter to God if men sleep with men; or I sleep with my boyfriend; or she sleeps with her girlfriend? Doesn't he have more important things like world poverty to worry about?



You say your 'calling' is to work with refugees. I do that too - but that's just my desire. It's not a religious compunction, and wanting to do that isn't a 'calling from God' - it's just the way you live your life.



"Happy clappers" drive me nuts. They are all on drugs. I walked in there and had to walk straight out. All that screaming and yelling and speaking in tongues. And the way they make you all have to dress/act/think the same, or be kicked out. Why on earth would you want to go there?



It's ridiculous to try and shape your life around a faith. Fair enough if it's just a 'portion' of your life - but to make it the central part? How stupid can you get.



Churches are far too clique-y. I used to go, but noone would talk to me and I never got invited to anything. I wouldn't touch them with a ten foot barge pole. They don't like new people.



Aren't we all supposed to love each other like Jesus? Well how come then when people found out I was living with my boyfriend/gay/heard me swear - I was suddenly no good for them.



So yeah, that's what I'm hearing more and more often as I hang out with my non-Christian friends. They have no desire to be like us, and think we are hypocrites.

How do you deal with this in your daily life? If my Christian friends have any comments - feel free to share how you deal with this. And if my non-Christian friends would like to add to my statements, I'd love to hear from you as well.

I find these statements very interesting. I don't have answers for a lot of them - some of them I think are very true.

Christianity is in the middle of a big change now. No longer does liturgy seem to inspire people as it once did. The charasmatic turns of the 70s and 80s scare people off more often than not now. And the traditional 'shape' of Church is alienating more and more every week.

From the Modern Church to the Post-Modern Church. Things are a'changing.

Mothers Day & Me

This is the first Mother's Day that really hurt. Last year I so naively thought that by Mother's Day 2009 I'd either be heavily pregnant, or had just given birth. Obviously, none of that happened, and I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself.

I don't want to make this a 'poor me' post. I hate people feeling sorry for me, and stumbling over themselves to apologise for my situation. It's noone elses fault - it's purely my body deciding that what should come naturally to it, just doesn't work for it. Twelve months have almost rolled by, and we're still trying to get my body to behave.

When Mother's Day rolled around, I wanted to roll back over, go to sleep and ignore it. Noone said anything stupid to me, and everyone was so careful to make sure I was 'okay' - but that doesn't lessen the blow when all you hear is how wonderful mum's are, and how being a mother is the greatest thing a woman can do, and how special mother's are.

I'm not denying Mother's are special. I love my mum and honour her for the sacrifices she made for me throughout her life. My Grandmother was an amazing woman who championed me in every single thing I put my heart and soul into. Both of these women made me the woman I am today, and I am so thankful with every fibre of my being that they are and were in my family.

But it did hurt hearing all those wonderful praises for something you so desperately want to be.

I have a lot of friends who have fought hard to be mothers. Some have succeeded, however are forever changed by the fight. Some are still fighting every single day to be a mum. Some have chosen to take a break, live a childfree life, or create a family through other means. Some are going to need some 'extra help' from the get-go, and just can't afford that right now. Some have experienced the wonder of pregnancy or even birth, only to have that beautiful soul taken far too early.

Those candles are for them.

Hello Beautiful!!!

In case you can't guess - I'm talking about Mariella, the IMac we finally took delivery of on Friday!

Seriously, this girl is HOT. I'm totally in love with it, and B may need a crowbar if he expects to use it... LOL.

I don't have *everything* set up or connected just yet, so no pictures - but it shouldn't be too long.

It's almost like looking at a tv screen - it's 24". But the keyboard would barely be the size of a standard ruler, and around 1cm thick.

B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L

The rest of April in recap

So apart from our AMAZING holiday - what else did we get up to over April?

I'm beginning to think that I get punished for taking holidays. When I came back from our holiday to Bluey's Beach, I found myself with five night duty shifts - and this holiday wasn't much different. I came home to seven shifts straight; which included a lot of shift co-ordinator allocation (very stressful!); and quite a bit of overtime. Needless to say, the one day off I had after this was definitely NOT enough!

As I said at the start of this update, we received our nice little package from 'Uncle Kev', and promptly went and ordered the IMac we'd both wanted for a VERY long time. We had to put a fair bit of money into it ourselves - but this way we get something that will last us for quite a while and fulfill all the needs for a gamer such as my husband. Me? I'm just looking forward to the much easier video-maker and photo-editor applications!

I'm on a drug regime now to attempt in getting me 'up the duff'. I have to take my hat off to B as to how he's been during all of this - some days I really felt like I was going to either attack him or me with an axe or something! They really do a number on your emotions, and it's not something I'd willingly put myself through again. We're praying like mad that it has worked first go, and that we managed to 'catch the egg' after all of that, so to speak. Prayers from you guys would be greatly appreciated!

As well as tutoring my refugee family, I've also joined the Learning and Development Committee for VoRTCS (the tutor organisation). I'm currently researching information on culture, refugees, trauma and torture - so if anyone has any resources or ideas they wouldn't mind passing on to me, I would really appreciate it.

I wouldn't call myself obsessed like some of my friends, but I am quite enjoying the 'Twilight' series and took it upon myself to purchase the Twilight DVD through pre-order. Unfortunately, when it arrived the Postman decided to leave it in a 'not-so-safe' place, and Vox (our dog) found a brand new treat to enjoy! So I come home to the packaging strewn all over the yard, and my dog happily tossing the dvd around in the dirt. Needless to say, Sasch was NOT happy (with the Postman, I don't think it's Vox's fault!). So, yes, 'My dog ate my Twilight DVD'!! I'm currently awaiting compensation, and then I'll finally own my own copy!

So there you have it - what's gone on in the Harder household for the last month and a bit. Sorry there aren't any pretty pictures to peruse - hopefully I can do a nice little 'montage' of the holiday shots once Mariella (the IMac) makes her appearance.

(Did I mention we got a wireless mighty mouse and keyboard? WOOT!!!!)

April Holiday Part 4 - Dubbo to home

So we arrive at the zoo gates right on opening time and decide to take the car through instead of hiring a bike or golf buggy. For those who may not have been here - the zoo is situated on 6 hectares and is more like going on safari rather than a typical 'zoo' layout.

First stop was the Meerkats, and oh my goodness they are so CUTE! I could have spent hours just watching them play and hunt for food. I took loads of photos and kept bursting into giggles over just how funny they are.

We had great fun watching the Hippos beg for the powershot of water to hit their mouths (they were so NOISY!); as well as watching the Rhinos and Elephants interact with their handlers. The Savannah area of the zoo is just incredible - it seriously looks like any of the parks I've seen in Africa (albeit without Crocodiles, Lions or Hippos, of course!). I take my hat off to the park managers and handlers - they do an amazing job.

After spending WAAAAAAY too long at the zoo (2 hours later than we planned!), we headed back onto the Newell, and did the very long drive up to Goondiwindi. Everyone talks about how boring the Newell is - I really didn't feel that. The land is simply amazing, and it really opens your eyes up to just how hard a farmer's life must be. It's so dry, yet so incredible watching the changing landscape.

We arrived in Goondiwindi about 7:30 at night, and found a very comfortable bed in the room we'd booked for the night. The managers of the Comfort Inn Goondiwindi were just lovely, and had included all these little extras in their rooms to make sure travellers were well looked after. Goondiwindi really is a one-street-town (pretty much), so it was an early night for the two of us.

The next morning heralded Good Friday, and the last part of our adventure. Winding our way down through Toowoomba with a stop off for lunch, it was so nice to be in well-known lands. We had a great drive to home this day, and it was very nice to finally reach our door and find a very excited dog and two very noisy cats to welcome us home!

I can honestly say this is probably the best 'Aussie' holiday B and I have shared together, and although it was nice to be home - both of us felt a little bit sad that the adventure was over.

April Holiday Part 3 - Lilianfels to Dubbo

Despite the sad fact of leaving Lilianfels (seriously, this hotel will blow you away!), we had a very exciting journey on the 8th (our anniversary), which took us the length of the Great Western Highway, and most of the Newell Highway.

After leaving the cool crispiness of the mountains, we wandered down to Bathurst. Looking out my window I see THAT mountain, and convince B we simply have to experience it! (Mt Panorama - home of the Bathurst 1000 car race to my uneducated followers). So up we go pit lane, and over the mountain and pretend (albeit very slowly - would you believe they have speed cameras! Actually, it's pretty understandable don't you think?) we were Craig or Jamie, aiming for the next championship under our belts. I still can't get over the fact that people LIVE on the mountain - great vantage point, but I guess you'd make October your regular holiday month, right?

From Bathurst we reached the Newell Highway, and made our way to Parkes. Parkes is the home of the largest Radio Telescope in Australia - the movie 'The Dish' features it. We had lunch here, and it was really exciting to read how The Dish aided in the footage of the 1969 moon landing. We even got to see it move twice! SO cool!

Another 2 hours or so drive, and we reached Dubbo - our stopping point for the evening. We had booked a nice room in the Quality International - and found that they had upgraded us to a King Size room up the back of the grounds seeing it was our anniversary!

We spent the late afternoon wandering around Dubbo seeing the sights of the town, before heading to SSS BBQ barn for dinner - the baby back ribs were to DIE for!

The next morning we were up bright and early and headed off to the obvious point of call - the zoo!

Continuation of April Holiday - Lilianfels

So at the end of my last post we had just left Sydney and were beginning our slow drive home.

As the next day was to be our 3rd wedding anniversary (8 April), I had told B whilst we were planning the trip to pick a place he'd like to stay, and I would pay for it as his gift (he'd bought me Dylan Moran and French & Saunders tickets as my anniversary present). So he piped up with 'Lilianfels', and off we headed to the Blue Mountains.

We spent the morning on the Zig Zag railway, based just outside of Lithgow, where we took a diesel engine right down into the valley, and then walked around the workshop. I have since posted lots of photos on my facebook page, only to find my brother in law helping me out with labelling the correct name of every train. I don't know what they are, except for carriages and engines!

In the afternoon we drove back to Katoomba and over to Echo Point where Lilianfels is located. This resort is like heaven on earth - I have never known a place like it. They treated us like celebrities the whole time we were there, and included so many little extras including valet parking and even a bottle of sparkling within minutes of entering our room! We were so spoilt the whole time we were there (even coming back from dinner to find complimentary slippers out waiting for us, and a hot chocolate ready to go too!), and we saved so much money courtesy of using the Entertainment Book. I think we had a 65% discount, including a gourmet breakfast the next morning.

We spent the latter part of the afternoon walking down to the Three Sisters and taking lots of photos of the incredible view and the way the colours changed as sunset approached. The walk down is extremely steep (most of the steps are like a ladder), but highly rewarding.

That night we went out to dinner at a local Italian restaurant (very funny walking past all the people staying at the resort to enjoy the $110 3-course dinner to go to a local family eatery!), and me being my usual clumsy self decided to fall head over tail whilst trying to open the car door afterwards and ending up with a blood nose! Even now, almost a month later, my nose is very very sore and I have to be careful not to bump it too much if I want to avoid a headache.

So we came back to our delicious hot chocolates and gourmet biscuits, and I finished the night in a very hot bath drinking the bubbly!

When I woke up the next morning, it was to the very sad fact we had to leave this AMAZING hotel, and continue west to our next adventure. Even now I keep thinking that we may have to do this every anniversary!

Slacker Sasch

Well here we are, another month gone by and no post by me. My friends who are all doing the 'photo blog a week/day/month' have me well and truly beat.

Part of the reason for my slackness is the computer I'm currently using. Pulled together through various means, it has lasted Brad well for the last 9 years (well most of it anyway). However lately it has been dying an excruciatingly slow, painful, tortuous death - and really doesn't work for posting large pieces of data, let alone trying to connect up a camera to include photos. Many a time have I been busily putting together resources for tutoring or work or some such 'important' activity, only to find it crash at the most inopportune times. I would say I threaten to throw it down Downfall Creek at least once a week - if it's a good week.

But never fear - hope is at hand! Thanks to Mr Rudd, we have on order a brand new, super dooper, high falooting IMac that will greet our household (hopefully) in the next week. I shall be taking many photos and gloating madly over the whole event. (I should also plug the 'Cute Tech Guy' - who I now know has the name 'Ben' - who we ordered it off at the Apple counter in the Myer Centre. Believe me - HE IS CUTE. But I digress...)


So, seeing that it's been over a month since my last update - here is what happened over the end of March, and all of April...


March

I started tutoring our Sudanese refugee family. They are the loveliest family, and although it requires quite a bit of preparation every week, I'm so glad to be doing this. The girls I tutor with are absolutely lovely, and it's a nice way to spend a couple of hours on Tuesday and Sunday afternoons.

Brad went to a conference for three days up the coast. This is going to sound so awful - but I didn't miss him as much as expected. I think that all the trips overseas without him have made me immune to the whole thing. I feel REALLY bad about this, as I think it's very different for him when I go for such long periods of time.

I had the most marvelous birthday weekend (27-29 March; birthday being 29th March) this year. Started off on Friday with an evening picnic in the Botanic Gardens, watching the Queensland Ballet with Brad and Mum. Simply superb and would highly recommend the free evening when it occurs again next year.

Then on Saturday drove down the coast and stayed at my parents' apartment for the night. Had a light dinner up at QBar - the top floor of Q1 (tallest building in Australia, and was the tallest in the world for the first few months of its existence). Indulged in a very nice cocktail and chowed down on some yummy bruschetta.

Sunday was a nice drive through the Gold Coast Hinterland before heading to my parents for dinner with them and my stepsister Amy.

I was very spoilt gift-wise by all. Highlights include the new Guess purse to match my handbag from B; the very nice top and 'Lost in Austen' DVD from mum; and 2 very nice dresses and giraffe sculpture, again from B. And that's not even HALF of what I received!


April

April was an absolutely wonderful month. We were kept so busy through most of it that we barely blinked and it was gone.

After finishing nights on the morning of the 3rd, we spent that night driving in one hit to Sydney to visit with Scott and Karen and the kids again. Arrive early Saturday morning, and spent most of the day just resting and playing with Lindsay and Joseph. Scott and Karen went out for the night, so we had lots of fun babysitting the two littlies.

Sunday we got up early and took the train into the city. A quick walk through QVB and out came Sasch with a new cardigan that is deceptively warm but very smart. Then down to George St and a major perve fest in the new Apple Store (caveat: perving on all the pretty Apple things - nothing else!). Then over to The Rocks for lunch and a leisurely walk down all the little alleyways and immersing ourselves in Australia's convict and settlement history.

Monday was another train trip but this time over to Paddington for a nice walk down Oxford St, and hopefully getting to the best little cafe we've ever found (Mickeys). On arrival, however, we were bitterly disappointed to find it closed, so continued on to Wollahra and went to the 'stand in' - a nice little pasta bar where Sasch could indulge in her Risotto cravings.

Tuesday was the end of our journey through Sydney - but we still had the journey home, which I will dissect in my next blog post.