dancing through construction

october.

 a month of construction!

 

no construction seems pleasant at the time,

but it is producing something beneficial which outweighs any eyesore. 

it's the month the shark helicopters begin their coastal duties,

and the month you can feel the summer winds coming!

i love those windy warm rides to the station.

it's been fun finding outfits that are professional, colourful and bike appropriate.

october is also the month i realise the magpies love to swoop.  

every time. 

right next to the main road of the northern suburbs.
hopefully a few people get a laugh out of it.

:/ 

october. while it may have been a month of trial, it's also been  a month of sweetness.

tea parties.

little surprises.

different ways of seeing the ride home.

my bike broke! 

the de-rali or something fell off.

i was quite sad.

i didn't realise how attached i was to my bike.

since i am super busy, like all of the time,

and since dad was made redundant a month ago,

dad decided to utilize his research skills and spare time to find me a new, second hand bike.

of course, he made sure he wasn't croaching upon my self determination in doing this.

he is careful like that ;) 

i used to be a bit crabby like that.

ha.

dad helped me find a new bike!

i sit a little bit higher.

 bounce a little less.

and i have a back thing for a basket!

thanks dad!
sweet as bro :)

this is my skater helmet. my sister says it looks ridiculous.

 

in other news..
some people wander into your life out of nowhere,

and while you know they are soon going to walk back out again,

you just have this hinting suspicion...
this quiet knowng...
your paths were meant to cross. 

it was always going to happen.

too much growth, learning and fun is happening.

meet jillian.

an american who never boarded her flight home, opting instead to stay on a year long visa.

a wondering soul who then stumbled into this thing we call "christianity" and was captivated.

jillian.

a yoga instructor,

a lover of all things good, true and edifying. and tasty.

we have good chats.

and study sessions over the Word.

and she is my little piece of america.

i also spend alot of time at their beach house with her house mate estee.

we all like the art and crafts.

we all like eachother quite a bit.

i have three weeks left of prac.
three weeks left until i am no longer a social work student.

WAAHHT.

i've been reading this book over the past 15 days

and it has been shaping my thoughts alot around the future ahead.

my life right now, today, in this chair at this keyboard, is a pinpoint in the long thread of my life story.

i have generations of ancestors who made choices which result in me sitting here now, 

and i have twenty four years and four months of narrative experience behind me.

i have a stage set before me,
with choices to make which will impact hundreds of people now and in the future and after i die. 

how will i live?
well,

what is the best way to live?

death to self.

translation?

to love God above myself

and to pour myself out unto others.

live to accumulate for others,
and finish this race of life giving unto others.
in the mean time,
live in a way each day so that you taste every flavour of every moment.
be grateful for absolutely everything.

exciting times ahead!

but for now, i am at prac.

over the past two weeks, i've researched therapy programs from around the world,

and consolidated them into high school programs that my agency can run.

"step up" - a program for teens who are violent toward their parents.

"building healthy relationships" - a program for high school students and teachers on violence in romantic relationships. 

i took a walk some time this week to clear my head of it all,

when i stumbled accross this little store

language book store?

well that could be helpful. 

...

i was out to dinner with some social work friends the other night.

we decided that social work has totally shaped our understanding of what works and doesn't work in relationships.
my filter is now so convoluted.
as if it wasn't before.

luckily, it kind of works out for me for now :)

(i love accidentally wearing all green.)
i was riding a few nights ago home in the dark without a front light.
(mental note: actually attach the front light you bought weeks ago.)
it usually doesn't matter because the roads/paths are so well lit,
but this night i approached a bushy, ultra dark section of the path and began to feel a little nervous.
then, out of nowhere, a cyclist rode in front of me,
not too close and not too far ahead,
and lit up the entire path before us!

"the LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. do not be afraid; do not be discouraged" deuteronomy 31.8

God doesn't promise to divert us from dark and bushy patches,

but He does promise to go before us and be our guiding light. 

(dad is currently helping me fix my front light to my bike).

i was out and about perth last week on an agency visit:

on prac, we have the opportunity to be the "naive inquirer" to welfare agencies all around perth.

"yes hello, i am a final year prac student and i was interested in the services you provide.

i was wondering whether i could come and visit you?"

ridiculous.

so good.  

so i was at an agency that supports parents when their children have been taken into care by the state. 

they explain and help the parents understand the processes involved,

and help link them to the services that the state want to see the parents involved in. 

(drug/alcohol rehabilitation, housing, employment). 

great. 

but i reached the river that runs through perth:

like zurich, but not.















it's crazy to think that it was almost a year ago that i found out i'd go to denmark.
click here for the email that turned my world upside down!

funnily enough,

as soon as i got that email, my thought was:

"even if i go, funny how this time next year it'll all be over."

ha!! 

that next month or so was a whirwhind of flying to sydney to apply for visas,

having a reunion with my best friend!

...
figuring out whether it was actually going to come to pass or not
(i rarely glue myself to plans),

and then actually planning to move!
this week,

i found this " to do" list for the week before i left for denmark.

 


ahh. good times. :)

while i do crave the buzz of feeling small in a great big world
eg,
living in a foreign country who talks, eats, dresses, travels different,
ie
denmark, norway, netherlands, france, italy, germany, spain, switzerland, greece


i am very excited for the future.

a future i won't write about just yet. 

over the past two weeks,
i threw out my contact lenses i saw italy through,
i finished the primer i bought from amsterdam
and finished up with the face wipes i'd bought in athens.

change is inevitible.

the key is to appreciate what has been,

be present where you are. 

and not pin all your hope, joy, security onto dreams and desires and plans for the future. 

you need something more secure than that.

so for now, i continue to dream and journal exciting futures that i hold onto loosely, plans that are under the auspices of someone greater.

 stay tuned.!

one thing i love is how my external may change,

my heart may quiver with uncertainty,

fear and anxiety may take out those around me,

but i have a steady hope; this wonderful inheretence

from being called a  daughter of God himself.

he goes before me to open up the right doors,
and close the wrong ones.

he goes before me to fight all my battles,

and he never leaves my side as i walk boldly into each day.

he takes away my heart of stone 

and gives me a heart of flesh to love and be loved.
he gives me a heart of courage.

this is the God i serve.

Jesus Christ who gave his life for me,

so my life is now His canvas to paint.
the master artist has chosen me as his canvas.
no words can express how freeing and exciting that feels. 

we dance through the change, the uncertainty, the excitement.

and there's no other way i'd rather live.