End of week sum up

Ok, nothing exciting has happened lately except that Mandy (one of my bosses) got back from 2 weeks in Australia so I am off cleaning, washing, cooking duty everyday.. woohoo! I'm not complaining.. I made it through fine. My oh my, I think about having a family of my own.. oh dear. I asked Mandy when she got home if she enjoys cooking all the time and she replied "umm.. NO", phew, I'm not alone! Just the pressure of it all, and things just don't always work out, especially when you're trying to multitask and things just cook a little too long. Argh, anyway, I'm glad it's over for the moment. No need to worry about having my own family right now!

So, we kinda have dates planned (not booked) for coming home to Australia!! At the moment it's mid-August: YAY!! I can hardly wait! We might be home for a month, go somewhere else for a month then come back for a month!! WOOHOO!! I am really, truly, extremely excited :) I calculated that I have been in Perth for under 3 months in the last 12 months. That's just not very good: I miss everyone too much (yes, I am aware that it is my own choice..).

YAY. I'm happy. And I've had lovely chats this week with Mellie-moo (planned a trip over to see her, straight from NY, to Singapore to THERE.. YAYAY!) and Andrea which has been delightful.

On other news.. (that's the most exciting bit so far) I am going to Paris again tomorrow morning with Amy and Anita. It should be lovely (and I get to have a long weekend with Friday off.. yippee). We're staying fairly central and have trips and shopping planned. It's going to be 30 degrees all 3 days we're there.. ARGH! Hothead. I might have to just not pack anything that suits and be forced to buy stuff there.. hmm, I wonder who I am trying to trick by doing that. Strange me and my mindgames with myself. It's my job to not get us lost on the metro and other trains.. seeing as I have been all of once, pfft! I have been studying the 3 maps that Soph got me, so I should at least get us to the hotel :) If we get lost after that it doesn't really matter, right? I know where the good shopping areas are so we'll be fine.

Ok, I have a bug in my eye so I better go now.

Bisous!

Kel

xxx

P.S. I made it in colour so it might seem more appealing.. did it work?

Photo issues

Hi,

As you can see I've been having issues with posting photos for the past week or so. I have no idea why, it just suddenly didn't upload them. I tried doing it a different way, but it doesn't work. Anyhoo, I've created a photo album thingy on Flickr, but I'll still keep trying to post pics on here (Amy is going to try and help me with the html stuff later).
Oh, the address is http://www.flickr.com/photos/whereiskelnow/ . As it's new there's not much on there now (pics from Paris and from the walk that the last post was about) but I'll get snap-happy so there's some more.

Bisous, Kel xx

Walkies

WARNING: I have been having trouble uploading pics so I tried to do it using "edit html".. be warned some of the photos are BIG.. I don't know how to change it. It's the best I could do, sorry!

Salut!

Today's weather has been really interesting. The day started off reasonably cool so I wore jeans to church. Then I almost boiled to death when the weather got really hot. Then a storm started and it got really humid and there was fork lightning over the lake.. pretty freaky. Then the sun came out and I couldn't see any more storm clouds so thought I would take a wander up a bit of a mountain. So I get half-way (I think) and it starts to thunder again.. so off I ran down the hill. Argh! Make your mind up weather!!

Speaking of church.. it was really great this morning. It covered some of the stuff that I've been learning in my Old Testament Survey subject at College. About how only the High Priest was allowed into the Holy of Holies, God's presence, once a year and how thick the curtain was to enter in and how he wore a rope around his ankle and bells etc. It is so fascinating. And now that Jesus has conquered all the customs like that as our High Priest and the curtain to the Holy of Holies is torn so we can enter into God's presence whenever we want.. all it takes is a prayer. When you stop to think about it that is AMAZING. I know that I have taken for granted that I can just talk to God whenever I want to.. have a personal relationship with Him. It hasn't always been that easy. We are SO blessed to have been born now: look at the freedom we have - in Christ. I have so much to be grateful for..

Oh, on that church note: as we were leaving today this man that I spoke to the first time I went said goodbye and said something about my blog and I said "huh?!". Turns out a friend of his, in Chicago I think, did a search on C3 Lausanne and it came up with a link to my blog because of my previous post on the first visit to the church. OOOooooOOoooOOOoooo, the world is a small place - I better be careful what I write on here! :P

The view from the beginning

Well, here's some pics from the walk. It was only for an hour or so, so not many pics. You can see the storm coming in on some of the shots. Just got to the car in time to meet a California girl, Natalie, who was lost so took her with me to avoid the rain that had just started bucketing down to find the school that she was just starting in today. She was nice and after driving around in the rain we managed to find someone to ask for directions and we found it. Rich picked up some guy from Bulgaria the other day.. looks like it's the Aussies that find the lost little lambs around here.

Doh, bad photo.. it cut it! A view down the path and up the road..

Pretty trees.

So flipping BIG!! The drops on my glasses are sweat: hard-core.. YEAH!

Pretty tourism pathway up and up..

More pretty trees :)

The view through the trees across to the French alps


The storm is coming!



Pretty town, Glion, above Montreux

Me in Glion, after getting back to the car.. lake in background (ARGH, photo is SO big!)

Unco meme

Bonsoir (Good evening: French style),

Just got home from a "women's connect" night at church. They had a hiphop lesson night with chocolate and stuff. I got there really late (got talking with an Argentinian in the petrol station.. plus got a bit lost..) so missed the first half hour. But we learnt a dance routine and it was really fun! There were a few girls that could do the moves really well, but I was just struggling to do the moves let alone look good doing them. I don't think we had enough dancing at home (although I remember fondly the Christmas Eve nights when Chris and I would dance around silly to Feliz Navidad) so I've never really gotten into dancing. Anyhoo, it was really fun and a great way to meet some ladies and learn to count to 8 in French (the whole lesson thing was in French).

Must get on to doing that Paris post soon. It was such a blast! Have another trip to Paris in a couple of weeks with Amz and Anita and seeing Jasmin in Aarau the next weekend: I love seeing friends, woohoo!!

Sorry that there's no photos again. Will post some tomorrow. Oh, we're going inside that castle, Chateau de Chillon (I took snaps from on the lake when Luke and I went pedal-boating) tomorrow afternoon which should be really interesting. Luke has been hanging out to go since we landed here :) Oh, Luke and I got rollerblades this week! Brings back memories of killer stacks when I was younger. Mum, can you remember that you put me into figure roller-skating classes as a child when we were in Canberra? Hahaha!! Luke, Luke, Luke.. yes my life does revolve around him these days! He's my best friend :) He's 9.. maybe I should find someone closer in age to me..?

OK, mwa mwa mwa (the Swiss kiss on one cheek, then the other, then back to the first on greeting - the Swisskiss or Swiskers as I like to call it)! I love it! I'm used to doing 2 with Soph and the Indian crowd but 3 tops it! I'm bringing it home to Aus! Looooook out :)

Way too many :) and ! and ) Kellie. Tsk.

P.S. As homework from Paris I am translating a children's book, Mimi Cracra, into English from French. It's hard! The first chapter she calls her doll "mother" and bathes her doll's feet in chocolate.. weird French books, I say.

Cuckoo..

Hmm, I have been having trouble posting with blogger. I have some pics from my weekend with Sophie in Paris.. will keep trying (have tried the 1/2 hr before bed for 3 nights in a row.. GRR!).

How is everyone anyway? (everyone, pfft! none of my friends even use blogs!! Ok, sorry mum.. you're my friend too..)

P.S. My mum and I chatted today on the net! Haha! She even did smileys and all. Well done Baloogs.. bravo :)

Which countries have I been to?

create your own visited country map

How cool is that.. I've been to so few countries (not sure if I've been to all 50 USA states.. Dad, do you remember how many?).. there's so much left to explore! Aww Fiji is small :( It's not quite accurate as it colours in the whole country even if you've only been to one town or whatever. Nevermind, you get the idea!

Lots of people ask the question: if you could go to any country in the world, where would you want to go? Next on my list is France (going to Paris on the weekend to see Soph, yay!).. but somewhere I've always wanted to go to is Bolivia, then Mongolia. I know I'll get there someday soon!

How about you.. where do you want to go? Or what is your most favourite place you've been to so far?

Driving along..

Sorry if my last post was offensive or made people feel bad - not my intention. Just not sure what to do with my Nana and it lead me down a road of contemplation and waffling.. SORRY. I'll try to keep it to my journal in future :)

There's loads of these little beasts, I want one :(


ANYHOO, I hadn't driven since we left the US. I have to admit now that I don't actually have my manual licence (everyone in my family has autos and I couldn't be bothered getting lessons after I had a creepy instructor for my first lesson). Most of the small nifty cars around here are manuals so I had just taken to walking around the place. Anyway, now we have a different car (yay, I'll be able to go to the YWAM base at a nearby town.. the first YWAM base ever!) and so tonight I took poor little Amz on a drive.

I wanted to go up a mountain.. so off we went. I accidently got on the motorway and went a loooooonnnngg way away, but then I found an exit ("sortie" in French) and found a mountain to climb! The car has an auto clutch but you still change the gears up and down.. HAHA, I changed to the wrong gear a couple of times, but it was so much fun! So we went zig and zag around the mountain, up 11km. I didn't like the narrow parts of the road, but other than that it was great to be driving again. Boy Switzerland is a beautiful place. If you're planning a European trip, I thoroughly recommend Switzerland. So lush, green and quaint. When we were going down the hill I stopped to chat to some cows to see if they spoke English (they didn't) and they were all wearing bells around their necks and making quite a racket! It's just gorgeous here :)


This kinda cow.. but not in it's Sunday best.

What's going on?

Well, I don't want to appear up-and-down-ish but need some help.

I am by no means ungrateful for where I am, what I am doing, how blessed I am to know God and love living life. Today I couldn't stop thinking about how much time over the last 12 months I have spent away from my friends and family. Too much..

I found out today my Nana has just had her second stroke for the last 2 weeks. It sucks. I am praying for her (and Luke is praying as well). I was a little worried before I left home and so I spoke to her about God and she told me that Jesus is her Lord. So I'm not worried where she's going. I just don't believe that this is the way that she is supposed to go. She's got so much life in her still, I know it. I refuse to believe that God calls anyone to die in pain just because they are old. I am going to have a long life, with full health as I believe that is my Godly right. It just sucks being away when she's in hospital and wants people to stay with her while she's there. It's simple, I could do that. I don't have anything to do here at night except go for my walk, catch up on prayer time and potter around doing whatever needs doing. I feel as though I have so much time that I could be giving to her, but it's impossible to do from here. What is the right thing to do? Should I go home for a while and spend time with her? Should I stay here and just pray? I don't know. Either way, I would never want to live in regret for a decision I've made. Mandy has said that too and I know that they would free me to go if I felt I needed to, gosh they're good to me.

- tried to put a photo of Nan in here but Blogger's having a few probs -

Family and friends are important. I've always said that. Being away, in India and this time, has made me realise how important it is to be reliant on God. Not just when you have to rely on Him for physical needs such as health, but also when you have all your needs met. It's an always thing.. not just when you have no other choice. He seems to have a knack of putting me in those situations and then I realise, but I've been realising more and more how reliant I am becoming on Him. For everything. I know my family will always be around, but I have no clue if I'll have a friend-base when I get home. I have gorgeous friends, a lot of whom are abroad right now, but being away can certainly loosen the ties. Am I getting cut away forever? What is God's plan? I don't want to be away forever.. Perth has been my home since I was 8 and almost everything I know is there. I don't want to close myself off to the only real support base I have. But will I ever have a base again in Perth? Is this time of being independent setting me up for a life of singlehood?
(argh, I know how annoyingly girly that sounds.. since I scored high for "celibacy" on a spiritual gifts test when I was 17 I have always been afraid that I would end up one of those women who goes on the missionfield alone and stays alone.. I know that I could do that and find fulfilment but I wanna get married someday dammit! I'm a corny romantic, I want to be swept off my feet, serve God with a Godly guy, have kids, grandkids, great-grankids, stay in love till I die - the whole lot).

I am kinda thinking out loud, maybe trying to skip ahead a few pages of my book. At least I know I'll always have someone with me.. maybe that's what learning to be truly reliant on Him is about.. I know I don't have to "worry" about this stuff: sometimes I just ponder.

If you have the time, please pray for my Nana. Some may think she's just another old lady, but she's a really special lady. I know it's not her time. And I'm happy to hear advice/suggestions about the other stuff :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAZZ!

Well, I would like to say a very happy birthday to one of my favourite boys in the whole world: Jazz (isn't he handsome?!).

These are the most recent photos I have of you buddy, and they're from our last Christmas when we were together in India. You got to meet Mai and have lots of cuddles: isn't she the sweetest lady you've met? (Besides Mummy and Aunty Kellie)

You're a special little guy (not so little anymore!) and I would love more than anything else to be with you today and help you to celebrate.

Take care my little wood-head buddy and know that I love you and am thinking of you, knowing that you will be having a special, happy, fun day today with your friends and Mum, Dad and Savannah.

Lots of squeezes, kisses, cuddles, tickles and huggles.. Aunty Kel xx

P.S. I'll try to skype you before bedtime

Those were the days my friend.. lala

Had a chat tonight with my old housemate (and friend!) Sophie who lives in Paris. She will be staying in Geneva for 2 months from the first of July which is only a 1 hour train ride away.. woohoo! I can't wait to see her - she's a special girl. A great spirit of adventure!

Oops, sorry, all in your jimjams.. except me being post-India feral (me, Soph, Mels, Mina)

Here's a shot from happy Chez Faraday (what we call our home in Mt Hawthorn) and the housemates at the time before Melanie, Soph and I flew the coop and left Mina). Such warm memories, I love that house! So many cups of tea, laughs and tears shared.. ahh, the screen's getting a bit fogged up now. Some people have sucky shared-house experiences but mine have only been brilliant and have only been with strangers or people I've not know well to begin with.

I've met Mellie out of it who is the most inspiring, hard-working, professional but caring, loyal, trustworthy, fun Godly chick I know (boy did you get a great catch Robby)! Then there's Soph, our special French import who helped us learn about 2 words in French which is helping me now (hehe going around saying "kisses" to everyone) and really helped me to appreciate the beauty of Australia. Soph taught me about breaking out of the molds that you're in for the sake of traditional or following the crowd. Then dear Mina who is so passionate about seeking God is everything she does and making Him her first priority: I can't wait to hear what the future holds for you Minabeana! I know it will be the most wonderful Prince Charming!

Thanks for the memories girls! :) You're all one in a millions! (haha, sorry that doesn't make sense)

Cheers! Mina, Soph and I celebrating Soph's 23rd in February

I have to mention ex-housemate Kat who is going off on an exciting adventure from the arctic circle to antartica with her wonderful husband, Marty, around about now.. exciting times! She's a great Godly woman who is so set on exploring the world and enjoying all life has to offer: you're an inspiration to me Kat! She met Marty whilst climbing to base camp of Everest: how cool is that?! It's now on my to-do list (not the meeting a man up there part though.. around sea-level is fine).

Kat and I on our mini-hike down south last year I think (with Marty, our strong water-carrying man!)

Boo, I miss you all! We're all spread out all over the place now, but I really hope we'll meet up again really soon. I can truly say my life is much better for having you girls in it. Thank you from my heart.

Bisous x

La vita è bella

The sunset last week.. gorgeous. The sun doesn't set fully here until after 10pm sometime. It's really disturbing!

Well, have been settling in to the apartment (sorry, didn't get around to posting pics yet) still loving having somewhere to call "home" for a while. I even got some mail today (thanks Adeline! Love the snap) which makes it feel even more like home.

Having a night in and just watched La Vita e` bella (Life is Beautiful), one of my most favourite movies. I first watched it with my year 12 yeargroup on a camp in the city, was thoroughly moved by it and still am. If you haven't seen it yet, I totally recommend it. Preferably with subtitles instead of English dubbing to get a better effect. I don't know why Riverview hasn't done it yet as a message as I think it's the best depiction of a father's love for his son that I've ever seen in a movie. A remarkable display of the human spirit and sacrifice. It's also amazingly funny :) Quite the mix huh? Have I got you busting to go rent it out?! Hope so :) If you have seen it, here's a question: would you do what Dora did in her place?

An amazing movie, so moving. I love it. Ok, it's not totally happy-happy-joy-joy, but it's about the real stuff, you know?


I hope someone's seen it that can comment :)

Yay! I have a home!

We are spending our first night in our apartment tonight. Everyone is very excited but very tired. Imagine furnishing a whole apartment with assemble-yourself furniture.. I've got allen keys turning in front of my eyes as I sleep. The place looks great and the view is amazing. Fantastic. The best part of course is that I have actually TOTALLY unpacked my bag for the first time since July 17 2005. Eww I know. Hehe. There wasn't anywhere for me to unpack in India so I lived out of my case for 6 months, came home, shared a room with Mels for a bit (so didn't unpack) then knew that I was taking this job so didn't bother getting totally unpacked (although I did empty half the stuff out, all the Indian garb). It's been a long time coming and it feels so good! Who knows for how long though.. I'll just enjoy the feeling while it lasts eh?

Been going through all the memorabilia choved in the crevises of my bag and have come to the conclusion that I am a sentimental schmuck. My Dad would call it being a "hoarder", but I call it being sentimental :) Sounds nicer. I have ticket stubs from watching Ice Age 2 in the US, tissues that Melanie gave to her Mum and I when she left for Melbourne the first time (a week after I got home from India, boo!), an anti-bacterial wipes travel pack that someone gave me as a gift before I left for India (it still has 1 wipe left just so I can actually have a reason to keep it), some scrunched up pictures that the girls at Hebron, a little drawing that my niece drew for me when I left Perth this last time, a card from each of my closest friends, my journal from 2004, a "best friend" teddy from my friend Komal in Vijaywada, many spare earplug sets (random fact: I have a really bad habit of sleeping with earplugs and a sleeping mask every night so I have total darkness and silence.. I realise one day I will have to share a bed with someone so am trying to ween myself off them slowly.. one earplug at a time! haha), lolly wrappers from stuff that my Mum sent over to me in India and much more.. no wonder my bag was twice the weight I was supposed to have!!

Ahh, it feels nice to be settled for a bit. No hotels, holiday apartments, friend's houses etc. My own bed that Amy helped me to assemble. Hehe, no surprises if I crash through the slats during the night! We kinda had a few screws left over..

Ok, now it's waffling: goodnight peoples! Will post photos tomorrow. Peace out..

xxx

Acts: our call to the harvest

Have been reading through Acts which is one of my favourite books of the bible. Each time I read it I get different revelations from it, but this time I have really felt "yeah, this is our heritage" - it's so exciting. I love reading the stories of the Christians after they received the Holy Spirit and reading about the miracles, signs, wonders, visions, healings that came forth. If that was the beginning of being baptised in the Spirit and it's now 2000+ years later - how much more should we be operating in this. I know Christianity is not all about what God can do, but who He is, his inifinite, wonderful character.

One interesting part I read was after Saul's conversion (ahh, LOVE that story.. God's grace is amazing!!) was in Acts 9:10. Saul had had a visitation from Jesus on the road to Damascus and was blinded. Jesus then called on one of his disciples in Damascus, Ananias, as He wanted someone to instruct Saul. It says:

10 Now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, "Ananias!"
"Yes, Lord!" he replied.

Yes, so he had a vision of Jesus and he said yes. I know it's simple, but I just imagine myself getting a vision of Jesus one day and to hear the Lord call you by name and your response is "Yes, Lord" not "Is that you God?" "Who is it?" or "What is happening" or "I'm afraid" or "Is this a dream". His response showed he knew the voice of the Lord and that he had faith that He would speak to Him. I guess getting a vision of Jesus like that would be amazing and you probably wouldn't be able to have any doubt of who was calling you.. but I don't know, I just reckon Ananias was a pretty cool guy. God wants some work done so he calls on the local disciple who is faithful to do as the Lord asks.

Maybe I am reading into it too much - I don't know. But if I am, it's only encouraging me to be the same. To know the voice of the Lord, my shepherd, calling me. To be ready at any time to do what He wants me to. To listen out for Him too. To be one that God would want to call on, as He would know I would be courageous for Him, reliable and full of faith.