Two very special people's 70th birthday celebrations that's what!
In just a few days Grandma & Grandad will be winging their way home to England. It hardly seems possible they have been here for six weeks already. They will both be turning 70 in April about three weeks apart, so thought a wee NZ celebration would be a nice way to kick off it all.
Lest we forget
You are only on loan to us
Created by a God with far more in mind
You are a place of unimaginable beauty
But only a poor version
Of what is still to come
You remind us from time to time
In ways we can't ignore
This is temporary
We shouldn't get too comfortable
You rage and roar like a wild animal
Beautiful yet dangerous
And your power
Does not go unnoticed
We seek to fully understand you
And we wonder with the limitations
of our human knowledge
Why the inexplicable still happens
We fail to grasp that you are not here to be understood
You are a precious gift to us
To be enjoyed for this lifetime
But a mere entree to the forever after
Those who live in the knowledge
Of the City of Blinding Lights
Grieve for you
Seeing that which gives us breath and sustains us in this life
So torn apart is utterly heartbreaking
And almost unbearable
But we bear it because of the acceptance
That there are unfathomable mysteries of the universe
Yet to be revealed
Imagine Earth's beauty magnified a thousand times
Imagine an earth with no pain, war or poverty
Imagine more than you could ever imagine
And you're still not even close
You, Earth a sweet first taste
Of the most delicious meal we will ever eat.
Eight years studying the amazing depth and breadth of the culture and language of this proud, hardworking nation. A country where I have spent more than 100 days. A month studying at university in Kyoto in July 1996.
source: Google Images
Three months working at Kurumayama Kogen ski-field in Nagano November 1996 - February 1997.
source: Google Images
But it's been a long time since I've had an opportunity to dust-off my somewhat rusty Japanese....
私達はあなたの国日本のために悲しい.
全世界はあなたと嘆く.
私達はニュージーランドのあなたのためにここに祈っている.
勇敢があり、強いがありなさい
We are so sad for your country Japan. The whole world mourns with you. We are praying for you here in New Zealand. Be brave and be strong.
I saw the BEST book this week. It got passed around at work. Well it really tickled my bloggy, tecchie fancy anyway. Especially the line 'Can you blog with it?' Here's the video version of this wonderful childrens book recently released in the US. There's a deep message in this story. And I'm hoping for all the wonderful technology wizardry we now have in the world, we never tire of the simple pleasure of reading a book.
♥ When Work is more than Work ♥
I get such a kick out of working for a great company, Learning Media, making a real difference in people's lives. So imagine how fantastic it is to come home and experience it first hand from the other side of the fence. Noah often brings home Learning Media books for his weekly reader from day care. It never fails to bring a smile to my face to see one of our books in our home.
I may not know much about the science of education in how children learn with my Japanese-Chinese speaking turned Accountant background, but I do love being part of a company that makes a difference. And even more so lately to know we are doing our bit to help donate books to Christchurch too!
♥ Mini Girl Guide Biscuits ♥
What is not to love about these little beauties?! Perhaps the fact that it is all too easy to scoff a whole box in one night. ahem.
♥ Birthday Card Scrapbooks ♥
It's only taken me 4.5 years to get around to doing this but I've just about finished putting all the cards the boys have been given from birth, dedications and birthdays into some scrapbooks for them to keep.
They've received so many wonderful messages, and there are memories of people who have been (and maybe now gone again) in our lives. My mum did the same for us when we were kids. I can remember poring over my card scrapbooks many a time reading all the wonderful things people had to say including messages from my own friends as I got older. For the cost of a $2 scrapbook and a glue stick, I figure it's a small investment in keeping hold of some wonderful memories for years to come.
♥ It's All About Me ♥
Today Gail did a post entitled Five Things I love about Me putting out a linky challenge to anyone game enough to do the same. Eek, I'm a little scared about this....but here goes....
1. I persevere.
Otherwise known as persistence or stickability. Could be described as a dog with a bone? Maybe, sometimes. I find I just won't give up on things long after other people would have given something up as too hard or not worth doing. Lately this has meant I've refused to give up on fixing technical things (like the wireless router or getting some very tricky software to work properly on the new computer). And each time, I have prevailed. Have I torn my hair out along the way? Uh-uh. Have I given up? Yup. Only to find myself going back to it, because I am so convinced that if I just stick with it, I'll figure it out eventually. Which I have.
I'm sure that this really helped me get through six long years of university and professional accounting study whilst trying to work full-time and be a wife and mum too in the latter stages.
2. I am an encourager.
I've only recently been fully enlightened about this. I think I always have been good at encouraging, but I'm now beginning to see it as one of my God-given gifts. Way back in January I was feeling a bit down about not having direction and goals and 'a word' for 2011like so many others had shared on their blogs. I was feeling a bit aimless, like this was gonna be just another year. Then a few weeks ago, one night as I was going to bed, I was standing in the bathroom brushing my teeth and I heard the word spoken so clearly. It was crystal Clear. Encourage. That is all. But it was enough. And now I know without a shadow of a doubt, this is my word. And there have already been so many opportunities to put this word into practice. I am continuing to pray He helps me to be open to all the other opportunities that will come. Encourage. I like it.
3. I have a nice pair of pegs.
It's all in the genes and not down to me. I know I am very blessed.
4. I am reliable.
If I say I'm gonna do something I do it. If I say I'm gonna be somewhere, I'm there. Sometimes this means I may not jump on board enthusiastically with a new idea until I know that it's going to work out and that I've thought it all through and that I can really commit to it. That's just me, not wanting to let anyone one down, and wanting to always be a person of my word.
OK I think I'm starting to sound a bit boring now...ha ha!
5. I like really getting to know people. And making firm friends.
I love getting past the 'How's the weather?' and 'How was your day?' to that deeper level where I can really build relationships with people. To really engage with whats going on in their lives and really listen and encourage (there it is again!) them where they're at. I think I'm good at maintaining friendships and I really make an effort to keep in touch with people (both past and present).
Phew...that was really tough. I sat here for AGES with my fingers poised staring blankly at the screen. But also a really good exercise to force oneself to do! Go on, I challenge you to come up with your own 'Five things I love about me'
Can I just start by saying no one is paying me to write this book review. I just had to do it. When something inspires you this much, you really shouldn't keep it to yourself.
To be honest , I didn't even want to read True Spirit. When my dad brought it to the beach house on our recent holiday and said I should read it I was sarcastically like 'oh yeah, cos I'm SO good at reading books lately, like I really have spare time for this!' Dad then mentioned that parts of the book are written with excerpts from the blog Jessica kept of her seven-month journey at sea. My ears pricked up. Blogs? I can do blogs. Suddenly, I wasn't quite as hesitant.
Still, I thought I knew all I need to of the story. Young sixteen-year old Aussie girl wanting to sail around the world cops massive media flak for colliding with a ship on a training run. Many say this is just another reason she shouldn't be contemplating a non-stop unassisted solo sailing around the world. She's too young. Her parents are exploiting her. It's madness. The list goes on.
She believes otherwise.
Close your eyes. Imagine for a moment, you are twelve years old again. Think back to what you were like at this age. For me, it was all about hanging out with my school and church friends and most probably annoying the heck out of whatever boy I was hoping to hang around with at the time.
Jessica, not so much. She was already visualising herself out on that ocean in her boat being the youngest person to sail around the world non-stop. Imagine birthing a dream this big at age twelve. Imagine visualising yourself braving Southern Ocean storms on your own. She was. It was a four year dream in the making. It would be four years before Jessica left Sydney harbour on Ella's Pink Lady to finally live her dream. And this was the same girl who was scared to jump in a swimming pool at age 5. Who wasn't even that thrilled about sailing when she started out. A girl who has battled with dyslexia all her life. Who is pint-sized and looks like a big puff of wind could knock her over.
But this is the same girl who sailed through a storm in the Atlantic Ocean that knocked her boat down four times and even tipped it completely upside down at one point. Jessica didn't lay eyes on another human being for seven months. She maintained every little piece of equipment on Ella's Pink Lady, fixed everything that broke, cooked her own meals, baked, listened to her favourite music, blogged and recorded video diaries along the way.
Jessica returned to Australia after her seven-month journey to a hero's welcome. She was welcomed home on the steps of the Opera House by the Prime Minister himself. And has recently been named Young Australian of the Year.
There were so many things I took from this book:
Parent, you have to believe in your kids dreams no matter how wild and crazy they might seem. Who are we to squash their world changing ideas just because our faith is only a mustard seed when theirs is as big as a mountain!
If a girl half my age can sail alone around the world, what am I capable of if I just dared to dream? What dreams am I putting off today because there might be hard work involved?
This dream was not a solo effort. There's a saying, 'if you build it, they will come' from the film Field of Dreams. Jessica's dream took literally hundreds of people helping to make it happen at all. But what an amazing journey to be part of. Along the way she managed to convince even the stoics who were unconvinced - including her dad that she could make her dream reality.
Jessica was not a hero, just a girl who had a dream. Who DARED to dream, and who made her dream a reality through a lot of hard work and determination.
I'll leave you with my two favourite quotes from the book:
One of the most beautiful gifts in the world is the gift of encouragement. When someone encourages you that person helps you over a threshold you might otherwise never have crossed on your own.
John O'Donohue.
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade wind in your sails.
There are weekends where the sun is shining, the sky couldn't be bluer and all is well with the world. On these weekends, it is hard to ignore the pull of the outdoors. Wide, open spaces call to us. Oh how I love these weekends.
I'm not sure I can say the same about weekends where the wind howls, the rain drives horizontally, and we ruefully remember why Wellington gets such a bad rep over its weather.
But those weekends if I'm honest, they have their place in our life too. They are the perfect weekend to go and visit friends for morning tea and indulge in freshly made scones with cream and jam.
These weekends are perfect weekends to leave a little boy to play for a few hours with his buddy. But they're also the perfect weekend for him to lie on the couch watching DVDs after a tummy bug cut short his visit to Te Papa with his buddy. He was so, so brave with each bout of sickness. What a trooper. And bounced back enough on Sunday to completely polish off his roast dinner.
Rainy, cold weekends are perfect for finding 101 uses for a box.
It's a bed.
It's a boat.
It's a plane.
It's a garage.
And what better use for the box the dishwasher came in than to turn it into an icecream van?
Don't ask for chocolate though, apparently it's all sold out.
By day, an icecream shop. By night, a cosy cave.
One which invites little boys to curl up inside with their favourite blankets and toys, calling out 'night night'.
These weekends are perfect for having friends over for afternoon tea. Cups of tea, apple dorset cake and Girl Guide biscuits all round.
And for taking an hour out to rest when feeling an itchy eye starting to develop (still a bit petrified of a repeat performance of the viral conjunctivitis which took me out a few months back). Thankfully today, still just itchy eyes developing into a more of a woolly head cold. But that I think I can live with. Compared to the other!
In its own way, despite bouts of sickness, rain and cold it was actually the perfect weekend.
I am just SUPER excited this week knowing the lovely Jaz is home again (since yesterday). You can read all about her epic six-week journey back from brain surgery on her blog. Jaz and her lovely family found themselves travelling a completely unexpected road after the operation, and their determination, courage and honesty in being willing to share with us their journey so far has been so, so, inspiring. I've shed many tears along the way, and feel so privileged to be able to be one of their cheerleading squad, shouting encouragement from the bleachers every step of the way.
The journey isn't over yet. Far from it. But Jaz coming home marks an incredible and tangible milestone along the way. And we are all cheering you on as you continue to fight back to full health beautiful gal!
♥ Caught in the Act ♥
Apparently this is what happens when Grandad is left in charge....
Just kidding. Not really.
He had actually entertained the boys superbly (Grandma & and I were out and about in town). Whilst Mark mowed the lawns, he entertained. Whilst Mark came back inside and went out in the kitchen to cook risotto for our dinner, he entertained. It was only as Mark had finished chopping up all the veges that he noticed it had all gone quiet in the lounge.
He peeked around the corner to find the above scene, duly snapping this as photo evidence to show us when we got home.
♥ Annual Zorba Fix ♥
We love all things Greek. Always have. I'm sure it has something to do with having visited 3 Greek Islands in our youth, including Santorini for our honeymoon. We always make a big effort to get along to the annual Greek festival in Wellington (although we did miss last years).
We kicked off with bifteki, followed by my favourite loukomades (like a Greek donut covered with sticky honey and sesame seeds) and then souvlaki. This year we didn't have time to stay around and see any Greek dancing, but it became rather a firm favourite in our house two years ago. In fact, it was the nightly ritual to 'do the Greek dance' right before bed-time for many months after. How Noah ever went to sleep after being so wound up doing such energetic dancing I'll never know! Here's Noah and Daddy's version of Zorba the Greek.
♥ Rediscovering the South Coast ♥
The Wellington coastline is beautiful. Make that stunning. I sometimes forget that. Loving the fact we made an effort to get out and explore it on Sunday. Firstly to the Marine Education Centre at Island Bay, where I was A.M.A.Z.E.D. at Noah's confidence in touching all the creatures in the touch pool. Far braver than me! Open every Sunday from 10-3pm with a gold coin donation.
Followed by a look around the newly upgraded entrance to Te Kopahou Reserve and Red Rocks.
And a quick stop-off at the weird and wonderful Carlucciland on the way home.
Oh I do love our city.
♥ The Great Sunday Bake-Off ♥
Loved using the new cookie cutter we bought at Ruth Pretty's kitchen shop to bake some treats for Christchurch. Hoping they bought a smile to someone's face.
♥ Coloured Baths ♥
An easy and fun way to spice up bath-time. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
Two little boys
A slosh of black (or any colour) food colouring
And...mix to combine!
♥ Handy Hubby ♥
So the new dishwasher finally arrived this week. Despite the amazing job Markie did recently waterblasting and painting the bathroom, he's the first to admit he's not really a big DIY kinda-guy. But out with the old, and in with the new. Runners removed, pipes unplugged and re-plugged, and voila! Ze dishwasher is in.
*High-fives hubby*
And the old dishwasher is promptly selling on Trade Me, selling as is where is. Far easier than a trip to the tip!
♥ The wisdom of four-year olds ♥
Noah has been able to have two special days out on his own with his Grandma & Grandad these past few weeks. Last week, the three of them caught the train to Petone, and enjoyed a cafe lunch and a look around the shops. After lunch Grandad asked Noah whether he needed a wee. He did, so accompanied Grandad into the toilet. Once in the toilet, he decided he needed a little more than a wee, so sat down accordingly.
Grandad waited........
And waited.......
And waited.....
And waited.........
Till finally asking 'Noah are you done yet?'
To which Noah replied......
Wait for it.......
'Grandad, you can't hurry a poo!'
I laughed until I cried when I heard this! Absolutely priceless.
It's also being advertised as a Christchurch fundraising event on the NZ herald website. And at Wotzon.com and wellingtonnz.com, here.
We have over 40 walkers and the list is growing. $860 raised. I'm sure more will come.
I had a panic attack over the weekend as the list of walkers grew. What if the numbers meant a logistical nightmare? What if the council didn't allow us to do it?
A lovely man at the Wellington Waterfront office allayed my fears. All good, he said. Even if the numbers are in the hundreds I asked? No worries, he replied. I could have kissed him through the phone. Just make sure people will be safe crossing roads he said. So I will be changing the route to be 'out and back' along the waterfront where the footpath is wider AND we don't cross any real roads.
I'm brainstorming ways to keep the logistics simple. Especially if the numbers go viral. All suggestions gratefully accepted and considered!
So far I've thought about:
Walkers wearing red and black
A few walkers to act as marshals across the 2 places we intercept traffic (Chaffers Marina and Freyberg Pool)
Carrying collection buckets on the walk
But I also need to keep perspective, remembering:
This is not Round the Bays. It's just lil ol me organizing it.
People are walking this walk out of the goodness of their hearts. Because they want to help Christchurch, not because they need to get anything back from it (like a goody bag of refreshments).
Don't forget if you're in Auckland, you can join in with Gail's walk instead.
And if you're a creative type, contact Leonie to make some softies for the children of Christchurch.
Last but not least, thank you all for the amazing support to date!
