Insanity

Well! What a hectic week this has been!

I've been on prac this week. :) I spent the entire week with 27 Grade 6 students (11/12 year olds!). I was absolutely terrified of at the beginning of the week, not knowing what to expect, but I quickly overcame that and, surprisingly, I actually quite enjoyed myself. However, I don't think I could handle a class of Grade 6s for more than a week. Haha

Sunday night marked my church's International Night. Being part of the Serving The House team, I had to be at the church at 4:30pm for a great big team meeting, and then stay behind after the service finished and everyone had gone home to help clean and pack up, finishing at 9:45pm and leaving the church at 10! All in all, it was an amazing night!

I love being part of the Serving The House team. I get to serve with some amazing people, some of whom have had such a huge impact on my life in the last 2 months, and I would be lost without them! So, to finish off, I just want to send a massive shout-out and thank you to Mel and Michelle. You girls are amazing and do such a fabulous job!! Love you both to the ends of the earth! <3

Where Have The Last 14 Months Gone?

Wow.
I can't believe it has been over a year since I posted anything on here! So much has happened!!! I'll try and condense it a little for you! :)


So, since I last blogged, I started uni. I'm currently in my first semester of second year, however, still doing a first year subject that I failed last year. First year wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but second year is pretty intense, and I have contemplating quitting several times. But I'm persevering, & hoping and praying that God will bring me out on top!


In June last year, I travelled home and stayed with Mum for a few weeks and took Miss Sarah to her first concert - none other than Miley Cyrus of course - as her 10th birthday present.

Sarah at Miley Cyrus. :)

After returning from South Australia, I was back at uni and making some great new friends! Sadly though, at the end of the year I bid farewell to Sonya who - along with her parents and brother - was leaving us for the Gold Coast.


I was living with my auntie and uncle, but have since moved out of their place and in with two amazing girls from church. One of which happened to be in one of my classes at uni for a week (but we didn't realise this until we'd been living together for three weeks)!


In November, I started going to church on a regular basis (ok, it was 3 weeks) before I returned home to Yorke Peninsula for three months. I followed Jess around like a lost puppy for those 3 weeks, but in doing so, she introduced me to some really amazing people.


Aaahhhh Yorke Peninsula. So many friends to catch up with and so little to do. Haha. Nah, it was great. Anyone that lives away from home knows that it isn't easy, especially when things aren't going right. But I'm so lucky that I do get the opportunity to go home and catch up with everyone. I really miss everyone back home so much!!


Flying back to Townsville this time, was way harder (than it was when I first moved up here) for two reasons.
     1. I missed my family before I'd even boarded the plane.
     2. Mum had been quite unwell the week before, and I was worried about leaving her with only Sarah to help.


The day after getting back in to Townsville, I started back at uni. At 8am. On a Monday morning. But I survived. :) I also started going back to church on the following Sunday night and I don't think I've missed one night since. :D Again, I followed Jess around like a lost puppy for a while, until I got to know some people.


In March, I went to Airlie Beach (about a 3 or 4 hour drive south of Townsville) for our church's Young Adults Retreat. All I can say is this. Most. Amazing. Weekend. EVER. I drove down with Jess, Michelle and our lovely American friends, Susan and Emily. When we got there and got our room allocations, it turned out, I was sharing a 3 bedroom apartment with Emily as well, which was awesome. :D There were 4 other people (besides Emily and myself) staying in our apartment - Emma-Lee, Esther, Cherise and Amanda (another lovely American!). Emily, Amanda and I were the only three who had arrived before our first session, so we all went down to the pool to hang out. We ended up going down to the main street with Jade -  another lovely girl we met - to get some dinner (pizza!!). Then headed back to the apartments to chill before heading down to our first session. I'm not entirely sure what it is, but something about Amanda made me trust her after just 2 days, and made me feel safe - something that has never happened before.

 The amazing girls I shared the trip with (L-R): Me, Jess, Susan, Emily, Michelle. <3

The best roomies ever! (L-R): Me, Emma-Lee, Emily, Amanda, Esther. (Missing: Cherise)

After returning from Retreat feeling amazing, I got my backside into gear, re-aligning my faith in God. I got myself a mentor, and I joined the Serving The House team at church (with a tiny bit of persuasion from Mel & Michelle!). I really do feel like an entirely new person (well, most of the time anyway!).

I'm headed off on my first year prac next week (April 16 - 20) for the subject that I failed last year. I'm in a year 6 classroom, which should be interesting! My second year prac has been great! I'm doing half a day at a kindy which I absolutely LOVE! The kids are all fantastic, and the staff are so happy and helpful.

Well, I think that's all for now! If I think of anything else, you can be sure I'll post it up for you all to see!

God Bless you all. <3

Crazy Cyclone

Ok, I know it's been a week since I posted, but I have a good reason for it. Last Wednesday night (Feb 2nd) we lost power. This was due to Category 5 Cyclone Yasi, which hit in the early hours of Thursday morning.

So all week, we've been suffering the after-effects of the cyclone. It took us 2 days of solid hard work to clean up the yard, cutting down all the trees that fell over and dragging it all to the curb (90% of all the trees on our acre block), all the while, watching out for green ants, and wasps. Now, while we were all bitten several times by green ants, which are nothing more than painful and itchy, no one was stung by a wasp. We are all very lucky to have survived with the minimal damage we had. A house just around the corner from us, had (and possibly still HAS) a tree leaning on their roof. However, this is the only structural damage we saw here in Kelso. All the damage was done to trees and fences. But don't take this lightly. We were without power for 7 days!

Below are a couple of images of the amount of debris we piled up on the curb. Note that one pile is as tall as my cousin, Tayla, who is roughly just under 6 foot tall.

Above is pile 1 of the debris (one side of the driveway).

And this is pile 2 (other side of the driveway).

(The trolley is to give you a bit more perspective of the height of the pile.)

Being A Better Person

Ok, so it has come to my attention recently that some people need lessons in how to treat people. So, I'm gonna give them some tips.

TIP #1 - OWNERSHIP

You do NOT take people's laptops from under their fingers. Literally. In fact, you don't take things that don't belong to you without the owners permission. If the owner says 'no', you respect their decision.

TIP #2 - RESPECT

When you're in someone's bedroom, you respect them and their decisions. Actually, you should ALWAYS respect people's decisions, whether you agree with them or not. You don't tell them what to do in their room, it's their domain, they decide what's gonna happen and what's not. If you don't like what they're doing, or what music they're playing, leave. Simple as that.

TIP #3 - KNOW THE LIMITS

If someone asks you to stop, stop. Don't push it. Know the other persons limits, and DON'T PUSH THEM. That is the worst thing you could possibly do. If you say something, they ask you to stop, and you don't, it could all blow up in your face, and you could lose something really great.

So they are my few tips on how to be a better person & treat people right.

You Don't Joke About Some Things.

There are things that you just don't EVER joke about.

One of these is serious illnesses.

Some illnesses are very serious. They tear families apart. They ruin lives. Some diseases leave victims wanting to die. So we should be raising awareness for these illnesses rather than joking about them!!

To the people joking about serious illnesses, how would YOU feel if someone you know and love was suffering from a serious illness and people were making jokes about it?! You wouldn't like it. So DON'T make jokes about serious illnesses, especially mental illnesses.

Mental illness is a crippling condition, not something that should be taken lightly and made fun of. I have a very close friend who suffers from a mental illness, and I'm sure she would agree with me that this is nothing to joke about.

I'm sorry if this post offends you, but I am sick of listening to people make jokes about things that are serious! What happened tonight really pissed me off and made me mad. If you don't like what I have to say, I DON'T CARE!! I have the right to say what I want and when. And you have NO right to judge me!!!

How Can 3 Go Into 2?

In early 2007, we found out 2 bits of news. The exciting, my step-mum was pregnant! The bad, my Oma was very ill. She had been diagnosed with bowel cancer and told she had 3 months to live. After a week or so, she was taken to theatre to remove the affected part of the bowel, but she was so riddled with cancer, there was nothing they could do. Her prognosis was reduced to 3 weeks. Each Monday for those 3 weeks, my mum, younger brother and I would travel 3 hours to Adelaide to see her. After these 3 weeks were up, she was still fighting. On August 24, Mum and I were in Adelaide with a couple of friends for Calisthenics Competitions, so on our way home, we stopped in at the Mary Potter Hospice where Oma was now living. Upon leaving, Oma turned to our friends, smiled and said "It was nice to meet you". She then turned to Mum, still smiling and said "Thank you for bringing Jessica to see me". One final sentence from her lips before we left "Jessica, it was nice to see you one last time." Two weeks later, on September 8, her body gave up it's fight, and she passed away, aged 86. She never got to meet her 18th grand-child.

Precisely 11 months and 1 week after Oma passed away, my auntie walked into my Opa's retirement house to find him lying on the floor. He'd had a stroke. I never had an opportunity to say goodbye to Opa as he passed away one week later, aged 91. 2 weeks before the anniversary of Oma's death. He knew his 18th grandchild for only such a short time and I'm sure he felt honoured that his 13th grandson was named after him (well, Bradley inherited Opa's middle name - Ignatius).

Sitting in English on July 2, 2009, I got a text from my mum saying "What lesson are you in? I need to talk to you." My stomach sank. I had a bad feeling about this message and just 2 hours later I was sitting in the car when Mum announced "Uncle Stephen passed away last night." That was it. The dreaded fear that another family member was Heaven-bound, had been confirmed. But why him? He'd only turned 60 three and a half months before. He only knew his oldest grandchild - Matthew (now aged 2.5) - for a short time and sadly, he never got to meet his second - Thomas (now aged one) - and third - his first granddaughter Alicia (now aged 6-9 months) - grandchildren.

After each of these deaths, I felt numb. I hadn't lost someone so close to me in years, and to lose 3 within 2 years of each other was mind-numbing, paralysing. All three of them are greatly missed. I must admit though, I do miss Oma the most. She was such a kind, caring, life-loving person and she gave so much to the people around her. I just wish I could give her back something.

Oma, Opa, Uncle Stephen. You are all greatly missed by your family and friends. It was an honour to know you, to be related to you and to be loved by you. I know you are all looking down on us from above.

So this my friends, is how 3 can go into 2.

Lots of Love to all (especially you three).

I've Come To Realise...

Ok, so this may sound a little selfish or crazy. But I've come to realise that we need to have more respect for ourselves. We sometimes need to put ourselves before others. Like when things get crazy or go wrong in our lives.

I don't know about any of you, but I know that when things in my life get crazy, or things go wrong, I put my life on hold. I focus on everyone around me. I try to solve their problems instead of facing mine.

Several years ago, by focusing on everyone else, I put myself in harms way. I let my problems get the better of me, and instead of talking to anyone about it, I let the anger and hurt build up inside me until it came out in the form of self-inflicted cuts and scratches. I didn't seek any help for this for 3 years, before which, it got the better of me.

After seeking help from our school CPSW, I spent several meetings in the school counsellor's office, and all she did was tell me to stop. As a 17 year old, when someone tells you to do something, naturally, you do the opposite. So instead of my problem getting better, it got worse. After weeks of meeting with and emailing our CPSW, I finally got on top of my problem, and I am pleased to say, nothing has happened for nearly 12 months. Oh sure, I've had the occasional urge, but nothing can or will make me go back to the way I was.

I'm a changed person. Sara, you gave me meaning for the present, and hope for the future. Thank you.

Please remember to take a bit of time out of each day for yourself.

Lots of Love to all.