Latest News

It has been so long since I've blogged, I'm really getting quite lazy... To add to my laziness instead of actually writing what's been happening I'm going to redirect you to my latest prayerletter for news. For some of you this may be the first time you've seen what I do at work from "the inside" - enjoy :-)

And just to make this post look a bit more interesting here is a new ultrasound picture of the Jellybaby at 28 weeks. I think it's amazing how much detail you can see! (in case you can't see it, there's an eye, a nose and two little fists)

Advice to ignore on marital sex

I read this post on Jean's blog and didn't know whether to laugh or cry... I am so glad most Christians these days have a much more biblical view of sex than poor Mrs Smythers.

Have Faith in God

I've been thinking a lot about Faith lately, or maybe Trust, or maybe both...

A few weeks ago we (I!) drove up to Cessnock to attend the celebration of 20 years of Dad and Mum working at Cessnock Congregational Church It brought back many memories...

Dad spoke about the '6 little old ladies' who stepped out in faith and agreed to support a minister with a family of 6! They knew that it was time either for the church to start to grow or to close down for good. It's amazing to see how that step of faith has borne fruit over the last 20 years. They had faith that God knew what was best and that God would provide.

On our first Sunday in Cessnock our family doubled the size of the congregation! There are now up to 50 or more people (including kids) at church on a Sunday... In the beginning Dad was paid hardly anything and had to work 2 jobs, now the church can afford to pay him almost a full wage.

Mum and Dad had faith too, there were times when they had no money. Mum would make omletes out of eggs we collected from the geese who lived on our rental property because she had no money to buy anything else. As kids we thought it was fun, and I don't think we ever really knew how hard it was for them. I guess it could have been so easy for them to walk away and find a bigger church with better pay but they trusted that God had put them in Cessnock for a reason and He did.

In Credo small groups we have been studying the book of Hebrews, which is full of so much great stuff! There is one passage though that is quoted more than many others, Hebrews 11, here the writer of Hebrews lists many famous believers from the Old Testament who had faith in God even when it seemed like things weren't going their way. They knew God had a plan for the Salvation of the world, that he would build a new kingdom and they knew that they probably wouldn't see that kingdom before they died but they lived as people who belonged to God's kingdom anyway.

I often struggle to see that far ahead, we have a much more accurate picture of the kingdom in Jesus than they did and yet it still seems so hard... I get dissatisfied with my life, distracted by the little things, scared of what others will think of me...

So, I've been thinking (and praying) alot about faith lately...

Stuart's tea is now cosy

I'm not sure what I think of the finished product... It doesn't look quite right, but that could be due to the teapot which is not a traditional shape while the pattern I used was for a traditional teapot...

Blog!

Over the past week I've been pondering blogging on many different topics, I just can't seem to focus on anyone thing, at least not long enough to write something challenging and insightful on it.

I have been thinking about friendships, money, my relationship with God, work, becoming a mother, health, miracles, people who are going to lose their hearing because their ipods are too loud... and a whole host of other things.

Maybe one day I'll write them all down.

Questions People Ask

Now the news is out there, I've noticed that we often get asked the same questions by curious people so I thought I'd list them and the answers here in case you are curious too.

When are you due? 11th March 2009 but apparently only 1 in 20 babies are born on their due date so anytime in the weeks before and after then.

How many weeks along are you? Today Wed 17/9/08 I'm 15 weeks.

Do you know the baby's sex yet? No, apparently you can tell now but ultrasounds are usually done at around 18-20 weeks

Do you want to know the baby's sex? Yes, no, maybe, probably... Not 100% decided but I think we will find out.

Have you been very sick? Thankfully no. Only 50% of pregnant women get morning sickness and I seem to be in the 50% that don't - yay! I have however been really really tired and occasionally get bad indigestion/heartburn/reflux - whatever you want to call it.

Can you feel the baby move? Not yet, s/he is still too small for that but this morning at our midwife appointment we did hear the baby's heartbeat and heard it as it kicked :-)

Do you have a baby bump? Kind of, it's more like a "I've eaten too much chocolate" bump but there are some pants that are too small already and I can definitely tell I'm changing shape.

Are you excited? Yes and also quite scared...

If you have any more questions you think I should add let me know :-)

I think almost everyone knows my news now - do you?

I've managed to surprise myself over the last 13 weeks, generally I'm hopeless at keeping secrets but I guess when they're mine it's easier...

So it's out there, in person, in cyberspace, in gossip-land. We're having a baby, officially on 11th March 2009 but you know these little critters, they are often quite unpredictable and can arrive anytime.

It's been a lot harder to tell people than I imagined, by email, on facebook and here has been quite easy but in person... It's like I'm embarrassed for people to know, which is quite silly. As one of my friends said "you have been married for 5 years Bec, it's ok..."

Now I can finally use the cute pregnancy countdown script thingy I made when I was about 5 weeks along. I'll put it on the page somewhere on the right :-)

Stay tuned for more news.

Lately, in an attempt to become crafty, I have been dappling in the ancient art of crochet. Actually, after reading wiki it appears crochet is not as ancient as I thought it was... Oh well.

Anyway, this photo shows off my work - a matching scarf & beanie. I have started on a tea cosy for Stuart , unusual I know but he will insist on wrapping a tea towel around the teapot to keep it warm.

My crocheting, however, has been on hold the last few days as I managed to catch a very aggressive cold. I think without doubt it has been the worst cold I have ever had, thankfully I feel much better today (although still quite icky) and even managed to stop coughing long enough to get some sleep last night!

GAPP

Some of the fun things I get to do in my job :-)

http://www.sydneyanglicans.net/sydneystories/students_fill_important_gapp/

Back at Work

Holidays are fun...

But...

Time away means having to catch up later...

It's now 619pm and I am still at work waiting for the Credo Handbooks to print...

However...

About an hour ago we thought we wouldn't be able to finish them by the deadline...

God is good...

I want to go back to the Place I Don't Understand!

This time last year I was in a foreign country feeling a bit lost, unsure & excited. My time in Mongolia was awesome, I learnt a lot, grew a lot and had fun. Since then, I've had a longing to go back that I've found really hard to explain to others and myself...

I've had a few days off this week to recover from my exam (which btw was not as bad as I thought it would be - see last post) and spent some time watching Ewan McGregor's Long Way Round. Actually, I only watched the 2 episodes where he and Charlie rode through Mongolia as i was feeling a bit Mongolia-sick.

At the end of the 2nd episode, after riding through Mongolia and getting to Russia, Ewan talks about how he feels as though his experience in Mongolia was the whole reason they were doing their motorbike ride around the world. It is such a different life experience to any other country he has been in, it's so hard to get around in & communicate to the outside world in and it's a really tough place to live in - he doesn't understand the geography, the culture, the people, but he loves it all at the same time. He says "I want to go back to the place I don't understand".

I think that's how I feel about Mongolia too...

So much to do so little time...

It's actually not that true, generally I have enough time in which to do the things I need to do but often I feel like I don't.

Today I spent a lovely morning with some of the other married girls at Barneys 715 Congregation in my backyard, it was fun and I really enjoyed it. However I did spend a fair bit of yesterday and this morning stressing about all the things I had to do and wishing I didn't have to get up early and entertain people.

I was particularly stressed about not spending the morning studying for my exam on Tuesday, which must be why I have only done an hour of study in the last 4 hours. (Why must I procrastinate so...)

So now I am sitting here, after checking my email, facebook, ebay and all my friends blogs, blogging because every time I begin to study I am overwhelmed by all the things I don't know and feel I should know, or maybe it's all the things I do know but am not sure how to express in a way others will understand and will get me marks. I don't think I used to feel this way at uni.

I have a little voice inside me that tells me all I need is more time and to work harder and then it will all be good. But then the other little voice tells me there is really no point, more time and work won't help me understand - it's just all too hard.

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!

Why I Need to Learn To Drive

On Sunday night, after a busier than usual weekend, we were driving from Stu's mum's house to church.

Stuart decided that he needed to go home and do nothing in order to be ready for work the next day. I wanted to go to church, but that meant I would need to work out a way to get home afterwards...

Walk - 30mins, in the dark, in the cold - no
Get a Lift - briefly think about who could drive me home, most people already drive others home so no room in cars. I don't want to stay late, others I think about usually don't leave church till late.

Decide to go home with Stuart

Individualization

Your Individualization theme leads you to be intrigued by the unique qualities of each person. You are impatient with generalizations or “types” because you don’t want to obscure what is special and distinct about each person. Instead, you focus on the differences between individuals. You instinctively observe each person’s style, each person’s motivation, how each thinks, and how each builds relationships. You hear the one-of-a-kind stories in each person’s life. This theme explains why you pick your friends just the right birthday gift, why you know that one person prefers praise in public and another detests it, and why you tailor your teaching style to accommodate one person’s need to be shown and another’s desire to “figure it out as I go.”
Because you are such a keen observer of other people’s strengths, you can draw out the best in each person. This Individualization theme also helps you build productive teams. While some search around for the perfect team “structure” or “process,” you know instinctively that the secret to great teams is casting by individual strengths so that everyone can do a lot of what they do well.

Responsibility

Your Responsibility theme forces you to take psychological ownership for anything you commit to, and whether large or small, you feel emotionally bound to follow it through to completion. Your good name depends on it. If for some reason you cannot deliver, you automatically start to look for ways to make it up to the other person. Apologies are not enough. Excuses and rationalizations are totally unacceptable. You will not quite be able to live with yourself until you have made restitution. This conscientiousness, this near obsession for doing things right, and your impeccable ethics, combine to create your reputation: utterly dependable. When assigning new responsibilities, people will look to you first because they know it will get done. When people come to you for help—and they soon will—you must be selective. Your willingness to volunteer may sometimes lead you to take on more than you should.

Connectedness

Things happen for a reason. You are sure of it. You are sure of it because in your soul you know that we are all connected. Yes, we are individuals, responsible for our own judgments and in possession of our own free will, but nonetheless we are part of something larger. Some may call it the collective unconscious. Others may label it spirit or life force. But whatever your word of choice, you gain confidence from knowing that we are not isolated from one another or from the earth and the life on it. This feeling of Connectedness implies certain responsibilities. If we are all part of a larger picture, then we must not harm others because we will be harming ourselves. We must not exploit because we will be exploiting ourselves. Your awareness of these responsibilities creates your value system. You are considerate, caring, and accepting. Certain of the unity of humankind, you are a bridge builder for people of different cultures. Sensitive to the invisible hand, you can give others comfort that there is a purpose beyond our humdrum lives. The exact articles of your faith will depend on your upbringing and your culture, but your faith is strong. It sustains you and your close friends in the face of life’s mysteries.

Consistency

"Balance is important to you. You are keenly aware of the need to treat people the same, no matter what their station in life, so you do not want to see the scales tipped too far in any one person’s favor. In your view this leads to selfishness and individualism. It leads to a world where some people gain an unfair advantage because of their connections or their background or their greasing of the wheels. This is truly offensive to you. You see yourself as a guardian against it. In direct contrast to this world of special favors, you believe that people function best in a consistent environment where the rules are clear and are applied to everyone equally. This is an environment where people know what is expected. It is predictable and evenhanded. It is fair. Here each person has an even chance to show his or her worth."

This is sooooo me! It even works backwards, if Stu buys his lunch I feel like I'm entiltled to buy mine - fair enough you say, if I buy my lunch I feel like he should be entitled to buy his (which is random because he doesn't really care whether he buys lunch or has a cheese and pickle sandwhich from home).

Just today I was having a conversation about double standards and how much they annoy me!

Harmony

"You look for areas of agreement. In your view there is little to be gained from conflict and friction, so you seek to hold them to a minimum. When you know that the people around you hold differing views, you try to find the common ground. You try to steer them away from confrontation and toward harmony. In fact, harmony is one of your guiding values. You can’t quite believe how much time is wasted by people trying to impose their views on others. Wouldn’t we all be more productive if we kept our opinions in check and instead looked for consensus and support? You believe we would, and you live by that belief. When others are sounding off about their goals, their claims, and their fervently held opinions, you hold your peace. When others strike out in a direction, you will willingly, in the service of harmony, modify your own objectives to merge with theirs (as long as their basic values do not clash with yours). When others start to argue about their pet theory or concept, you steer clear of the debate, preferring to talk about practical, down-to-earth matters on which you can all agree. In your view we are all in the same boat, and we need this boat to get where we are going. It is a good boat. There is no need to rock it just to show that you can."

This is so me... It's funny though how I would usually describe this part of me as a "bad thing" - Generally I would say "I like to avoid conflict" or "I need to get better at difficult conversations" I'm not sure I agree with the last couple of sentences though, I'm not sure why, maybe the boat analogy just doesn't do it for me... And I'm not sure if it's just productivity that drives me to dislike conflict, I think there's more to it than that.

Today I am 30

And it feels the same as being 29 ;-) I am thankful for 30 mostly good years and for almost 30 years of having a relationship with God, which, as MIke reminded us on Sunday at church, is perfect because of Jesus!

As part of a work exercise this week, I took the Clifton Strengthsfinder test which measures the presence of talent in 34 categories called "themes." These themes were determined by The Gallup Organization as those that most consistently predict outstanding performance. The greater the presence of a theme of talent within a person, the more likely that person is to spontaneously exhibit those talents in day-to-day behaviors.

My five themes were: Harmony, Consistency, Connectedness, Responsibility and Individualization. I was going to post all of the descriptions but they're a bit long for one post, maybe I'll post them one by one and you can see if they really do describe me... I think some of them do quite well!

A Long, Full and Awesome Weekend!

The Easter long weekend was pretty full this year (even more full than usual)! As well as Credo's anual Easter Time Convention (ETC) I also went to my Grandfather's 90th Birthday party!

Here he is cutting his cake, there were lots of people from my family there, many whose names I still don't remember...

It was slightly surreal to leave ETC which feels like a big family event away from the rest of the world and go to another big family event...

ETC as always was awesome, lots of brain stretching teaching, this year on Christian Ethics, and lots of community building fun!

The staff and grads team won our annual Faculty network soccer cup - yay!

Now I am back in the real world attempting to write an essay for Bible college - the last essay (and the only at university) I wrote was in 1998 on mammograms... I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all...

I am not ashamed!

For those of you who are familiar with the book of Romans in the bible this post is not about the gospel... Although let it be said I am not ashamed of the gospel, I'm just not specifically writing about it today.

What I am not ashamed of is the fact that my 30th Birthday is just around the corner (see The Big Birthday countdown on the right).

At our first Bible Study for the year on Tuesday night we introduced ourselves to each other and for some reason it was suggested we share our ages... Very few people were willing to give their true age, there were a few 30-somethings (rare for the 715 congregation) and a couple of 20-somethings...

I've been thinking about it a bit lately, why are we afraid to admit we are older than someone else? Especially when in the scheme of things 30-something is really not old at all. I've decided to embrace the fact that I am older (and hopefully wiser) than alot of people I know and most of the students I work with. I've been alive for almost 30 years and that is an awesome gift from God!

Phone Conversation

Bec: "Hello"
Stuart: "Hello, how are you?"
...3 minute conversation ensues about computer frustration I'm having...
Stuart: "Can I ask you a question?"
Bec: "ok"
Stuart: "If someone needed stitches, where would they go?"
Bec: "What have you done?"
Stuart: "What makes you think it was me?"
Bec: "Is there anyone else with you?"
Stuart: "There are some fish..."

Apparently, the handle of the kitchen scissors broke while Stu was trying to cut some plastic and he ended up cutting his finger instead. All is well, he didn't need stitches but the finger is still bandaged...

Jono's 21st

At Sapore in Leichhardt, lots of people, nice food. More photos here

Another Week, Another Explosion

This time at Broadway Shopping Centre - photo from SHM

In other news, I went to my first lecture at SMBC today. I'm doing one subject of the Graduate Diploma in Divinity (I'm still trying to work out if I'll be divine when I'm finished - only 7 subjects to go).

I was in class when the explosion happened and got a bit distracted when my phone kept vibrating in my pocket with calls and messages from people who wanted to make sure I was ok.

More photos of Nandos

See more photos on Jodi's blog

Never a dull moment on Mountain St

This what I saw as I arrived at work this morning (photo from SMH), the pink building on the right is where my (Barneys) office is!

There was apparently an explosion last night, which has made a big mess and sucked 2 of the windows out of our office. A lot of glass from Nandos (where the explosion happened) has been thrown across the road with such forced it's knocked down the fence around the old fire guttered Barneys building. It hasn't even been 2 years since our fire...

I'm not sure whether it's significant but this morning I was wondering if I should have chips with my Nando's chicken pita meal at dinner tonight or be more healthy and have salad... I guess I don't have to answer that question anymore...

Routine and Me

The older I get, the more and more I realise I am ruled by routines, not just ruled in a being controlled sense but ruled in a "I think routines are awesome and hate not having them" kind of way...

Which makes me wonder why I enjoy student work so much when every 3 or 4 months I need to create and get used to a whole new routine!

At the moment I'm enjoying waking up around 7, having breakfast while reading my "60 days of Prayer for Purpose", praying, heading to the gym and getting to work at around 10am. (Except for Tuesdays when I go to kickboxing class at lunch so skip the gym in the morning.) I know that at the end of February Uni will start and my routine will be turned upside down and I will need to start again. The other thing I know is I don't need to stress about it now - but I am *sigh*.

It's exciting though :-) uni starting back, new small groups and first years to meet, ETC and I have enrolled in a subject at SMBC so I'm looking forward to my first experience of Bible college.

Back to Work

Today was my first day back at work after 3 weeks of holidays and I actually enjoyed it! To tell you the truth I was even looking forward to it, last week I kept thinking about all the things I needed to do, plans I wanted to make for this year, people I needed to call . I had to stop myself from working in the holidays! It's amazing what a few weeks rest will do, at the end of last year I was so over working, I seemed to be tired and grumpy all the time and had almost convinced myself I was a bad staffworker and should maybe do something else.

The sermon last night was on rest, Malcolm spoke about how Christians need to take time out and have good rest and to trust Jesus to look after all the things that keep us busy or worried - it's so true! You can listen to it here (when it's been downloaded in a few days).

I did have a bit of a late start to my working day though, my plan was to be at the gym by 830 and at work by 10 (gotta love flexible working hours). However, it took such a long time for me to pack my bag this morning - it hadn't been packed for a whole 3 weeks, I left late and was halfway to the bus stop when I realised I'd left behind a rather important item of clothing (the hazards of showering and dressing at the gym) and my water bottle. I came home again and ended up arriving at the gym just after 9. I got to work at about 10.30 and spent most of the day cleaning the "Credo Corner" and rearranging the cupboard. I still haven't finished but hopefully will be done by the end of tomorrow.

What's been happening?

It seems like lots as happened since my last post... Things like:

Despinidic Family Christmas





Mum, Aunty Lyn & my sister Liz in my backyard on 15th December.









Holiday in North Haven


Stu and I outside of Burst *003 our home for a week.











Followed by Christmas and a week spent at Stu's mum's in Matraville.

Since then I have vacuumed, worked out how to sync outlook with google calendar, made 10 rather large turkey pasties, eaten a lot of ham, done way too much shopping and playing on the internet...

But that's what holidays are for!

I've also started reading a devotional book called 60 days of Praying for Purpose for Women (sounds corny I know) but it's helping me think about my relationship with God and how I "do" life which is something I always struggle with when I'm doing my personal bible reading so am looking forward to the next 58 days...