Happy Birthday..

Woo, well the weekend flew by in a flash, that's for certain.

It wasn't the most exciting weekend, but not bad. It's our second last one here (till next time) so I guess I should've made the most of it.. oops.

Friday I went to France with Luke for school. He's a bit of a car-nut so Mandy and I planned a surprise trip to the national car museum. He loves trains, so it was a great bonus that it took us FOUR HOURS (had to write 4 in words for emphasis) to get there. And FOUR HOURS home :) 4 trains each way!!hehe, nah, I'm used to the trains by now and it wasn't too bad. Luke hadn't been on them yet so he was excited (especially the double-decker IC). The car museum was great and I can even say I enjoyed it! I'm not really into heaps of metal.. as long as it works. Well, I do like driving in nice cars though. And I do love cute old cars.. hmm ok. I'm not overly phased by them. There were heaps of Bugattis, Peugot, Benz, Masarati, Ferrari, Porsche etc. The originals too. Like, back in the 1800's and stuff. Crazy! The collection was started by two brothers (who our neighbour told me where imprisoned for not paying taxes and had their cars taken away..), Schlumph. Let me tell you.. the Bugattis were so nice.. there was a green one that was so beautiful. Luke loved it so that was the main thing. There was a new expo of the latest Bugatti model, Veyron, which is the fastest production car at the moment at 406km/hr. Crazy. Luke LOVED seeing that in person. So we trundled home after that and got home pretty late and rather bushed. We met some lovely French people that couldn't speak a word of English but didn't get snotty about it and helped us find the right tram to get around Mulhouse. Cheers mate!

Moving on: Saturday, had a chat with my family on skype. They were having a family reunion for my Mum's side of the family so it ended up being a great time to call. Talked to my Nana (the one who HAD been ill.. yay), my aunties, uncle, nieces, nephews, brothers, sissy-in-laws, ma, pa. Oh and the dog... Not really. Jordie, rest his soul, past on a few years back. It was great to chat! My pop got a bit disorientated when he was told to talk to Kellie in Switzerland on the computer.. he'd just woken up and it totally whacked him out (using the webcam as well) so he wasn't interested in talking. Who can blame the guy.. I mean, at 93 (or 94?) he'd have seen a fair few changes in technology that it would be rather overwhelming. It was so good to chat to everyone and I made some plans with Naomi (my niece) for the big upcoming girls sleepover.. the likes of going to see a movie, doing each others hair, nail polish, girly talk etc. Hehe, she is such a girl - it's going to be fun!

OK, so after that family chinwag, we whizzed around the house to get it clean and Mandy and I went off to France (2 days in a row!!) to do some shopping. There's a mother-of-the-bride outfit issue that needs to get sorted out. We went to Annecy and wandered around looking at different stores but not finding anything really suitable which was a bit sad for Mandy. It's amazing that you can go 1/2 an hour over the border and things really are different. France is great, but I.. eek, don't want to offend anyone.. much prefer Switzerland from what I have seen. It's crazily clean here.. I love it.

Anyway, Saturday night I went for a wander up the mountain and found some beautiful little cobble-stone villages, then went back home, took care of Luke and had an early one. Sunday, I played with some babies at church and then we took the lakeside road home before grabbing a bite to eat and heading home. It's always such nice weather on the weekend - it really is well behaved over here. Chatted to Mum for an hour or so and to a friend as well. Listened to the sermon from this morning which was BRILLIANT, helped Mandy with tea and then watched a movie about a guy turning into a dog with the family. It was quite funny actually.

Surprised that I didn't tell you when I went to the loo or when I blew my nose? I know, lots of boring info. It's like a really dull diary entry that an 11 year old girl would write. Oh well. It's good to mix things up cos usually my posts are SO exciting!! (what's with all the caps tonight..?).

Anyway, that's all I've got. Ohhh, the Happy Birthday title is for Leanne (girl..you're still young enough to be called a girl.. from church here) who is celebrating a special birthday tomorrow (Monday). I don't know if you'll ever read this, but I hope you have a really great day! :)

Love Kel

xx

Song of the hour..

From "Seated in Heavenly Places" - Victory Life Centre Perth.. song by Denise (can't remember her surname, well she's married since I left Perth anyway.. my Praise lecturer!) called "I Will Remember".


I will remember the price you paid for me
and I will remember the blood you shed for me
I can never repay you
for what you've done for me
but I give you the one thing that you desire of me

I give you my heart
I give you my life
My most precious treasure
I lay before your feet
and I'm willing to give
I'm willing to go
I'm willing to follow you to the ends of the earth my God

Bridge:
Ohh Lord, send me I will go
Ohh Lord, send me I will follow
(repeat)


Such a beautiful song. Just a heart cry to God that you'll give all that's precious to you for His service.. for His glory. Because He's worth it. He's amazing, He's given what's most precious to Him for us. I think anything I might have can even compare? Uh, no. But He's done it all! So, I ask myself: what can there be to lose in following where ever He wants me to go? Have I ever not come out the other side closer to Him when I've taken the road he's lead me on.. even though it might seem scary or difficult? Nope, that's the only thing I can be truly assured of, that He's got me in His hands, He knows what's best for me and that He trusts me to be one of His hands on this Earth.. even when I stuff up, get back up and plod on!

Warm, balmy nights

G'day,

Well, I would say it's been a while between posts, but I've written quite a few posts but not published them. They were all a bit boring anyway :)

It's continued to stay rather hot here of late. Staying in the apartment all day isn't that fun either when it's this hot so I like to wait until it's cool enough then go for a walk. However, tonight we went to higher ground in search of a breeze and some cooler weather.

I went out with a really nice Aussie couple from church on Sunday, to a place called Sonchaux (for Dad, who likes to google-earth stuff) which is behind and UP from Montreux.. and across too. We went fairly late in the arvo I think and took a stroll before having dinner at this cute cafe-kinda place on the edge on the mountain. It feels like the middle of nowhere but you still have to make a reservation to get one of the outdoor tables with a view! It was breath-taking.

Anyway, the Swannell's and I went up there tonight in search of cooler weather. The temperature actually dropped (according to the car thermometer thingy) 10C! It was so beautiful up there. You can't imagine the views over the lake. We went for a wander a bit further up and managed to score a view at 4 paragliders taking off from the top. When Rich yelled goodbye to the lady (who was the last to take off) she gave us a great "woohoo!" as she took off over the side of the mountain. What a fantastic hobby/sport. It's something I really want to try out.. I just imagine the weightlessness of gliding through the air with only the chute above you (no Mum, not the weightlessness as you invisage me plumetting to my death!). Wow. You couldn't ask for a better view either. God is so creative, it blows me away.

So here are some pics of the sun beginning it's descent (or the Earth.. argh, confusing!) tonight with the reflection on the lake.

Tickets are booked.. I'm in Melbourne for a bit then back in Perth August 14th.. can't wait. It'll be great to see everyone. I'm sad to be leaving such a beautiful place though. I have really been spoilt being here. I do love it..

Night all,

Love Kel


P.S. Photos STILL not working for me - they're up on the flickr site (link in previous post)

Rotating toilet seats...

Hey,

I have been rather slack (or too busy) to do posts this week, sorry. I've been getting on with my study so haven't been emailing or blogging. Boy, it feels so great to be back in the swing of study.. I remember what I really loved about college: the word of God is so freeing and powerful!

Anyhoo, tonight we went out to a really nice restaurant for dinner. All the ladies dressed up and off we went. Rich & Mandy's friends, the Reids, are leaving tomorrow so that was the occassion. I enjoyed a Guinness Stout for the first time which was surprisingly nice (and it's meant to have plenty of B vitamins)! So, after dinner I took a trip to the ladies and guess what I found: a rotating toilet seat!! It was crazy. When you flush the seat turns around (at first I thought it was my eyes warping) and at the back it had a cleany thingy which.. cleans it! How cool. I know I haven't explained it well, but I must've looked a bit crazy walking out of the toilets giggling to myself :) Dang, why didn't I take my camera!

So that's all for tonight. It's been really warm lately. Around 33-37C during the day. As the sun is just setting now (around 10pm) it stays hot till late too. Yesterday (while the Reids were in Paris) Rich, Mandy, Luke and I went for a paddle in Lake Leman (Lake Geneva) which was divine. There were really warm and cold spots but it was fantastic! The lake is so pretty with white swans, ducks and heaps of other types of water birds.

OK, better get going. Night all!

Love Kel

P.S. 27 days till I'm back on home turf and with Mellie.. yippeeeee!

.

The fam and the Reids (lovely friends of Rich & Mandy visiting from WA) have gone to Italy for a couple of days. I opted out, looking forward to having the house to myself. I LOVE having people around but I also crave time alone at home. Maybe it's that I am a social creature but I need time out to focus and replenish the energy stores, argh who knows.



This is a funny photo from when Amz, Anita and I were sharing the room. I miss them, particularly Amz. By the way, the hair is Amy's. Hehe, funny huh.

Been updating the photos on my flickr site if you wanted to take a look. For some reason the photos of Paris just don't want to load on blogger. I've tried many, many times. You can check them out on flickr if you want to. As you can see above, other photos load. GRR! I wish I knew html. This is my flickr site again (for your sake Ma): http://www.flickr.com/people/whereiskelnow/

Better posts coming up soon!

Love Kel

P.S. Totally off the subject, we have a really nice neighbour here, Michelle, who is a middle aged woman. She has had an interesting life so far, including living in Argentina for 30 years. Her 2 year old granddaughter is visiting this week from Paris and is SOO cute. She's just like a little smiley doll.. aww :)

Offline..

Hey,

Sorry about the lack of posting lately: I've been away visiting my wonderful Swiss friend Jasmin (who was at Riverview while she lived in Aus) up the north of Switzerland and have since been offline at home.

I still have the Paris post to do (grr, pictures are still not uploading) and also some from the weekend in Aarau and then today we went up (and through) a glacier which was amazing. We got home and the internet is back up, hooray!

Anyhoo, it's after midnight so I had better get to sleep. Will post some more as soon as the time is available!

Love Kel

xx

Here's a little secret: I'm not perfect! Part I

Hmm, interesting topic I know! Well, I think I might let you in on what I am doing at the moment in my spare time (yes, I know I said I was doing my post on Paris - I will do that, but it takes time to find pics, load them etc, so I'll do that after work). I've read this book, "Wanting to Be Her: Body Image Secrets Victoria Won't Tell You" by Michelle Graham. I picked it up when I was back in Perth in January. I'm not going to be doing this to receive pity or sympathy or compliments - please don't give any of that. I also realise I am opening myself up to criticism from others by exposing my weaknesses, but I am fine with that. I can only be who I am now.. and I cannot hide that. I am really excited to be changing this area of my life, bringing it into line with what God says about me. His opinion should be the only one that matters to me and I want to share with you this part of my journey.

I found the transition from India to Australia quite hard in many ways, but in particular to do with body image. There's so much focus and expectation (or is that just in my mind) on it in our society that I felt really bombarded by it when I got home. Anyway, so I've gone through this book once and am now going through it the second time, doing the journal bits as well, and memorising the verses it has for each chapter (hehe, Luke tests me - he's a tough critic! I've got the whole thing wrong if I say one little word wrong!). It is brilliant. It's opened my eyes to a whole new world: that I can live beyond what I tell myself over and over in my head. I was not born to look in the mirror and loathe what I see. God has not only made everyone else in His own image, but that includes me! This has been such a trap that I have been living in that I am keen to share what I learn with you.. in the hopes that it will help someone else to break free of this area that is really disgusting in my life.

Here's some great bits from the chapter I've just read (titled, When Beauty Becomes a Beast): she talked about God's truth, how He created us, how He cherishes us, and now onto the LIE that tells us otherwise. Thinking instead of the opinions of others (it's in the media.. there are ALWAYS worst and best dressed lists.. and isn't it strange to think we could even delight in seeing some of the celebrities looking less than perfect! YUCKY thought Kellie) instead of our beloved God. Here's a quote from the book "Not only are our assumptions of others' opinions often false, but living in fear of them is a form of slavery that will never lose its grip.. But there is something I can know for sure. I can know that there is One who will never reject me. In Song of Songs he calls me his beloved. The fear of rejection places the opinions of other people higher than this One who cherishes me unconditionally. But we must choose whose opinion will really matter to us."

It goes on to talk about the quest for perfectionism, with your body image. I totally realise that's why I've been living in shame of who I am. I have been striving towards to a body image that is just not right. Striving towards an unattainable goal as I will never be satisfied as perfectionism will never be reached. Perhaps an eating disorder might help, but I am wise enough to not go down that path (again, tried that in Year 10). But still living in my mindset that I am just not matching up is wrong and wastes so much thought-time and energy. It's also SIN! Ugly, wugly SIN! And I am not meaning to make a joke of it as this is perhaps the biggest stronghold I've had to deal with and I am aware of how much it has trapped me. Michelle talks about the "only remedy is to experience unconditional love". The unconditional love of God that tells me I am accepted just as I am. I don't need to change the way I look to win mandkind's approval or God's.

Here's the scripture for this chapter as well as my favourite quote:

"Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." Galations 1:10

"We suffer from believing what our culture tells us about our bodies. We are losing out to discontentment, fear and perfectionism. But this is not God's desire for us. He longs got us to know freedom from these things. We must find a way to let it sink in that God made not only humanity well, but my particular body too. The consequences otherwise are much too costly."

Interesting thought.

Congratulations!!

I know they don't read my blog (Mels has once or twice I think), but for the next time they check..

Congratulations to Mels and Rob on their engagement! They got engaged last weekend whilst up a mountain somewhere near Melbourne. It's very exciting! (This picture is not from that particular day.. but it's how I picture it to have looked last weekend).

They make a beautiful couple and it will be a fantastic celebration when they get married :) I can't wait guys! Although they live in Melbourne but will have the wedding in Perth which I wouldn't miss for the world. Yay!

Love Kel

xxx

P.S. Had an amazing weekend in Paris. Lots of fun times.. will do a post tonight with some pics.

P.P.S. Oh, and I'm going to be a bridesmaid for Mels: so exciting!