A Beloved's Journey

 I sit here writing this blog with a latte in my hand. Those of you who know me well have just gasped as coffee is not a usual drink for me... and this one is not a single shot (my usual choice when I do drink coffee). It's a decaf! But this is not my latte. It's Stacey's. It even has her name on it. Let me tell you how I got Stacey's latte and how this relates to everything about Christmas. Today I was supermarket shopping at my local mall and because I live close I had walked down. I bought some food for the week and supplies for our family Christmas dinner. Many people were leaving the supermarket at the same time and crossing the entrance to the supermarket in order to leave the mall. This left an older lady standing with her trolley, on the other side of this stream of people, waiting to enter the supermarket. Everyone was in a rush, it was raining, children had finished school and Christmas is coming. I saw. And I stopped. I indicated to the lady that she could go...

The months have seemed to drag on in the adoption front. I am currently waiting to be approved to adopt in India by the Indian Central Authority (CARA). This process usually takes an average of three months. We are currently knocking on the door of nine months waiting. Over these past nine months I have been learning some Indian cooking and some hindi words and buying some things that I know will be needed (such as a bed with a trundler so I can share a room with her for the first month or so). But doing all these things doesn't make the frustration of waiting any easier. The positive of this waiting is that I know that something will come of this... eventually. The difficulty is I can do absolutely nothing to make the process go faster. There is good news though! The minimum wait for me, with the specifications I have given to India, is 2-3 years (wait the good part is coming!) I believed that the 2 year waiting time started from when I was accepted by CARA but it actually ...

During a recent holiday in the Gold Coast of Australia, my parents and I went to 'Carols' at Surfer's Paradise. For those of you who live in New Zealand this is very similar to 'Christmas in the Park.' Having a dad in a wheelchair has its dilemmas but at times it does have its perks. The perk at 'Carols' was a designated wheelchair viewing platform, with a great view of the stage, for those with disabilities and their families. When we arrived, there was one plastic chair left for family members so Mum and I decided that we would share this throughout the night. We enjoyed the build up whilst munching on our less than amazing, soggy chips from 'Lord of the Fries' and anticipated a fun evening of singing carols with our free carol books. Before the beginning of the show a lady arrived with her father who did not have a wheelchair but was obviously frail. They entered our area and the daughter (we'll call her Sarah) instructed her dad lea...

Just before New Years I tried something that I had never really done before. After reading the wonderful book series 'Sensible Shoes' I decided to take myself on a 'silent retreat.' The purpose for my retreat was to quiet my heart and mind and listen to what God might have to say. I was a little apprehensive to be doing a silent retreat. My brain often feels like a free-flowing highway and I wondered if I was actually going to be able to slow it down enough to make this work. I knew that staying at home wasn't going to help so I packed a bag with my journal, pen, bible and lunch and headed to  the place where I grew up, Living Springs. Home. I've always known I was blessed to grow up in such a beautiful place and I always deeply value the time I spend there. I hadn't been there for 3 years, which is the longest time that I hadn't visited in quite some time. I knew that a lot of changes had happened over that time and I think I was just worried ...

On Wednesday my students found a baby bird that had fallen out of its nest. Why the mother bird built its nest on a small branch, at the edge of the tree on a precarious lean I have no idea but hence why baby bird was on the ground. I wasn't there for the initial find, a colleague dealt with that and put the bird back in the nest. Unfortunately only an hour later some of my students came to tell me that the bird was back on the ground. I went out to find a tiny baby bird wriggling on the ground utterly helpless. He was ugly, there were no feathers, you could literally see his insides, his eyes were big, black, closed dots on his head and his wings flapped around in despair. He was in a sad state... and I had several students now watching to see what I would do. I picked the baby bird up and searched for something to feed it. I knew that holding it was the best way to keep it warm. For the next 40 hours I feed him, kept him warm, protected him from my cat and provided a heated ...