5 Hopes For 2018

It's mid March already, so I'd better post this. Here goes nothin'.....

1. Press on with my dream of becoming a published author. I plan to submit short stories to competitions to hopefully build my writing 'resume', as well as not give up on getting my novel published.

2. Start riding my bike.

3. Build my fitness. I've already been swimming laps at the local pool on my childfree day once a week (man, I'm unfit). When the pool closes for winter (it's an outdoor pool), I'm going to go to Zumba once a week.

4. Go hardcore on DIY projects. I'm in the middle of fixing up my verandah railing (cutting off old wire, sanding, repainting, and putting up new wire). Then I hope to paint the verandah surface with some non-slip stuff I saw in Bunnings. Our verandah gets terribly slippery when wet, and despite my continued warnings, the little fellows run on it, slip over and hit their heads. After that, my scungy outside laundry needs repainting, as well as some of the doorframes and window frames inside the house.

5. Make a serious dent in the huge pile of unread books next to my bed, on my shelves, in my bookcase, and in the drawers of my bedside table. I love books, but I feel like I'm drowning in them (note to self: STOP BUYING BOOKS). Those that I don't like will either be sold, given away, or placed in my in-laws' Perth house (where we stay when in Perth) for other guests to read.

Kindy Sports Day

The two kindergarten classes at Rory's school held their own sports day on the 12th October.  While the rest of the school battled it out for medals, the kindy kids dressed in their faction colours (red, green or yellow) and had a taste of what faction carnivals would be about in years to come.  There were no prizes; everyone was just encouraged to do their best.  I was so proud of Rory, because he gave it a go. He's come a long way this year.

Relay

He wasn't too keen on the sack race and needed
a bit of help.

Egg and spoon race

Ooops...dropped it

He has a hopper ball at home, but this one was
bigger.

Stacked it

Tug-of-war against the other kindy class (Rory's class won).

It's Just Like Riding a Bike

This phrase has always annoyed me, because riding a bike has NEVER been easy for me.  I've always suffered from poor balance and I haven't been on a bike since I was 12.  I've struggled with climbing, general clumsiness, driving a manual car (because I find it hard to co-ordinate easing my foot off the clutch and my other foot onto the accelerator at the same time), lack of co-ordination when learning particular dance moves, and my gross motor skills were quite poor as a young child.  It seems Rory has similar issues.  Only in the last few weeks I've been wondering if we both have some form of gross motor dyspraxia.

But this is the year I've decided to confront my fear of riding a bike.  I mentioned in my 5 Hopes For 2017 that I don't want to miss out anymore.  Since my brother-in-law has just bought Duncan and I new bikes as presents, now is the time to start.

Maybe one day I'll join the Ride for Compassion.

For now...baby steps.

Did you know there are classes to help adults learn to ride a bike?  It turns out I'm definitely not the only one to struggle with this.

2015 Hopes: How I Went

It wasn't a very productive year....at least not how I had hoped:

1.  Finish editing my book, write a synopsis and cover letter and send to literary agents.  NO MORE PROCRASTINATING, SARAH, YOU'VE COME TOO FAR!
FINALLY!  I DID IT!  Although I've been rejected four times so far, I finally put my creation out there.

2.  Make God and His Word a priority.  I need regular quiet times, plus I need to get into a Bible study of some sort.  The ladies' fellowship at church has turned into a social group and no-one seems keen to do any Bible study, which I find a real shame.  I'm praying about who to approach to read the Bible with.
The ladies' fellowship folded and an actual Bible study started instead.  I was overjoyed to be meeting with other women every Monday morning to study the Bible using KYB study guides. It was difficult at times due to Rory being the only child there, and he's not always great at entertaining himself. Unfortunately I've had to stop going since Flynn arrived.

3.  Get fit and lose 4kg.  Water aerobics is on on Saturday mornings at our local pool and, now harvest is finished, Duncan can look after Rory so I can go.  I'll get back into Zumba as soon as it starts again, and keep playing tennis.  I want to do some yoga/Pilates type stretches at home to help my back.  Maybe a healthier lifestyle will help with my fatigue.  One thing I NEED to do is stop rewarding myself with bad food.  It's too easy to think, I've had a tough day with Rory, I need some icecream/biscuits *fill in the blank*.  I don't want to, but I need to stop buying Mocha Chills.  Those things are EVIL.  No more than one a week for me!
Well, I stopped drinking Mocha Chills...but that was because of the pregnancy.  I went to water aerobics once before I found out Flynn was on his way and I was too sick.  Any other attempt at exercise went out the window.

4.  Pray and think about how to go about my role as the Ladies' Fellowship Deacon at church.  It feels like I do nothing in this role.  I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be doing and I need wisdom.  I don't want to overburden the ladies with too many things to do, but I want to encourage them to read the Bible with each other.  I was thinking about having a trash and treasure stall at the local show in March to raise money for missions.
The trash and treasure stall didn't eventuate and I stepped down from the role in August.

5.  Get my DIY projects at home done.  I want to paint the laundry (we have a scungy outside laundry), paint the window frame in the kitchen and stick Bible verses and encouraging quotes around it, upcycle a toy box for Rory, make myself a patchwork skirt....that's probably enough.
Hahaha!  Moving Rory into his new room and rearranging parts of the house was enough.

5 Hopes For 2015

This year is sounding much like 2012...the year of 'keep on keepin' on'.  I WILL finish what I started....God willing.

1.  Finish editing my book, write a synopsis and cover letter and send to literary agents.  NO MORE PROCRASTINATING, SARAH, YOU'VE COME TOO FAR!

2.  Make God and His Word a priority.  I need regular quiet times, plus I need to get into a Bible study of some sort.  The ladies' fellowship at church has turned into a social group and no-one seems keen to do any Bible study, which I find a real shame.  I'm praying about who to approach to read the Bible with.

3.  Get fit and lose 4kg.  Water aerobics is on on Saturday mornings at our local pool and, now harvest is finished, Duncan can look after Rory so I can go.  I'll get back into Zumba as soon as it starts again, and keep playing tennis.  I want to do some yoga/Pilates type stretches at home to help my back.  Maybe a healthier lifestyle will help with my fatigue.  One thing I NEED to do is stop rewarding myself with bad food.  It's too easy to think, I've had a tough day with Rory, I need some icecream/biscuits *fill in the blank*.  I don't want to, but I need to stop buying Mocha Chills.  Those things are EVIL.  No more than one a week for me!

4.  Pray and think about how to go about my role as the Ladies' Fellowship Deacon at church.  It feels like I do nothing in this role.  I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be doing and I need wisdom.  I don't want to overburden the ladies with too many things to do, but I want to encourage them to read the Bible with each other.  I was thinking about having a trash and treasure stall at the local show in March to raise money for missions.

5.  Get my DIY projects at home done.  I want to paint the laundry (we have a scungy outside laundry), paint the window frame in the kitchen and stick Bible verses and encouraging quotes around it, upcycle a toy box for Rory, make myself a patchwork skirt....that's probably enough.

2014 Hopes: How I Went

This is how I went:

1.  Get fit.  A friend of mine is the local Zumba instructor.  I've always swore I'd never do Zumba.  I'm the most unco-ordinated person on the planet, and anything that involves dancing, I look like I have too many legs all tripping over each other.  But I've decided to eat my words and give it a go.  There's no other high impact aerobic exercise available locally, and I like to exercise with others as it gives me the motivation to give it my all.  Netball is out of the question because there is no team at my level and it hurts my back.  So, there....I'm go to be Zumba-ing it up on Monday nights this year.  Duncan has promised to be home from work in time to look after Rory.
I started off well, going to Zumba most Mondays and really enjoying it.  Then the Zumba instructor (my friend Asha, whose husband works with Duncan) decided to not run it during winter because of low numbers.  At the start of May, Asha had a terrible horseriding accident, fracturing three vertebrae in her back.  It hasn't healed properly so Zumba is on hold for a while yet.  I did start going to ladies' tennis again more regularly (while Rory was at daycare) and now Sunday afternoon tennis has resumed as well.  But I'm far from fit.

2.  Read the Bible regularly.  Whether I can be a part of a Bible study or not, I need to really feast on God's Word.  I'm not interested in set plans, so I'm going to continue on with the devotional I'm doing, read a Psalm a day, and keep up with the verses and discussion we receive from our pastor via an iphone app.
Epic fail!  I'm so thankful for a God that loves me, regardless.  I will keep trying.

3.  Finish editing my book!  Surely this has got to be the year! 
So close, yet STILL no cigar.  I finished the second major edit, so that was good.  Now I'm just doing a quick read through (and finding MORE mistakes, unfortunately).  Then I just have to write the synopsis and cover letter and it's off to the literary agent.

4.  Shop ethically.  Recently, I've been evaluating how my faith in Christ impacts my grocery and clothes shopping.  Expect a post on this very soon.
This was the post I did and I really did give this a go.  It's hard in a country town, where some 'ethical' brands are just not available, and you have to pick the best out of a bad lot.  Sometimes I got lazy and couldn't be bothered checking the app before making a purchase.  Sometimes I was too tempted by what was on special.  I'm aiming to keep on with this this year.

5.  Take Rory to playgroup.  I've been putting off trying the local playgroup because friends of mine told me they found it very cliquey.  Now I've decided that I should give it a go and make up my own mind about people instead of listening to hearsay.  A former workmate told me she is planning to go with her new baby so at least I'll know someone.  It's hard at the moment because it's on from 9:30-11:30 and that clashes with Rory's morning sleep.  When he drops to one sleep a day, then we'll go.
I just squeezed in with this one...we didn't get to playgroup until December due to playgroup being on Thursdays and the ladies' fellowship at church being every second Thursday.  It took me a long time to get the guts to go.  It IS a bit cliquey, but I'm persevering and SLOWLY getting to know more mums...when Rory's not wanting me to help him climb the fort, that is, and I can actually sit down and talk to people.  Sometimes I feel like a real idiot because I have nothing interesting to say - I suck at small talk.  We went to Storytime at our local library a fair bit, and also to 'Play in the Park' a few times, but building relationships when you're an adult is slow, hard work.

Stay tuned for my 2015 hopes next week.

The Shocking Death of Phillip Hughes

Like most people, the death of Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes last Thursday shocked and saddened me.

If you're not familiar with what happened, here's the story.

I've been trying to figure out why I found it distressing.  I'm not a cricket fan.  I don't know him personally.

Was it because he was young?
But young people die every day.

Was it because he was famous and talented?
But so many celebrities have passed on.

Was it because it was sudden?
Sort of, but people die suddenly every day.

I think it was because it was so random.  It hasn't really happened before in cricket, at least not that we've heard of here.

I think it's a stark reminder that you can be here today, gone tomorrow.  You don't have to be doing something stupid or dangerous to lose your life.  You can be cautious, be in the best health, be doing what you love....and you still can't cheat death.

Praying for Hughes' family, friends and teammates, for Sean Abbott who bowled the ball, and for everyone who has been touched by this tragedy.

Praying that they will look to the Author of Life......Jesus.

Image from here.

5 Hopes For 2014

It is with both excitement and trepidation that I announce my hopes for this year and put them firmly in God's hands.

1.  Get fit.  A friend of mine is the local Zumba instructor.  I've always swore I'd never do Zumba.  I'm the most unco-ordinated person on the planet, and anything that involves dancing, I look like I have too many legs all tripping over each other.  But I've decided to eat my words and give it a go.  There's no other high impact aerobic exercise available locally, and I like to exercise with others as it gives me the motivation to give it my all.  Netball is out of the question because there is no team at my level and it hurts my back.  So, there....I'm go to be Zumba-ing it up on Monday nights this year.  Duncan has promised to be home from work in time to look after Rory.

2.  Read the Bible regularly.  Whether I can be a part of a Bible study or not, I need to really feast on God's Word.  I'm not interested in set plans, so I'm going to continue on with the devotional I'm doing, read a Psalm a day, and keep up with the verses and discussion we receive from our pastor via an iphone app.

3.  Finish editing my book!  Surely this has got to be the year!

4.  Shop ethically.  Recently, I've been evaluating how my faith in Christ impacts my grocery and clothes shopping.  Expect a post on this very soon.

5.  Take Rory to playgroup.  I've been putting off trying the local playgroup because friends of mine told me they found it very cliquey.  Now I've decided that I should give it a go and make up my own mind about people instead of listening to hearsay.  A former workmate told me she is planning to go with her new baby so at least I'll know someone.  It's hard at the moment because it's on from 9:30-11:30 and that clashes with Rory's morning sleep.  When he drops to one sleep a day, then we'll go.

MCG

One thing Duncan and I both really wanted to do while in Melbourne was to go on a tour of the MCG.  Although I'm a proud West Australian, I have to admit that the G IS the home of Aussie Rules Football.

 

 

I really enjoyed the tour, but the scary thing was how the tour guide referred to the AFL as a 'religion'.  He said that more people come to the MCG to 'worship' than to church.  That's nothing new, I guess, but it's still sad.

 

After the tour, we visited the National Sports Museum which is at the MCG.  It was fantastic!  A brilliant display of just about every sport Australia has been involved with, plus a great interactive area for kids and adults alike.  I especially enjoyed looking at the Olympic memorabilia.  A must-see if you're in Melbourne. 

The True and Living God

In light of the recent Olympics and current Paralympics, I thought a review of this book would be appropriate.

At times, I found myself getting disappointed in the performance of the Australian athletes during the Olympics.  Great Britain (the country I most wanted to beat in the medal count) did so well.  I read that the British government has been pumping stacks of money into sport and it was obviously paying dividends.  When it was suggested that the Australian government do the same, I was all for it.  Yep, our athletes need more funding.  We need more gold medals.

Then I realised just how screwed up my thinking was.  What does that show about my priorities?  Success?  Fame?  Sport is a fantastic gift from God that we should enjoy, but money is more desperately needed in other areas.

The True and Living God by Kim Hawtrey is one of those books where you go, Yeah, yeah, I KNOW all this.  We KNOW we have idolatrous hearts.  We KNOW we have forsaken Jesus for the man-made, false gods of this world.  The trouble is that we all need its message to seep down into our hearts.

The book examines the passages in Genesis where Adam and Eve first rejected God and how that is the root of all idolatry.  In my opinion, the best chapter in the book is Chapter 3 of Part 1 which is called Modern rivals to God.  This really fleshes out which idols permeate Australian society and Christian culture.  Idolatry is subtle and we often need each other to point out our blind spots.  This doesn't mean that we can't enjoy things in this life, or that we should have an attitude which despises God's good gifts.  It doesn't mean that if someone enjoys golf then they have made it an idol.  But too often we say, Oh we don't worship statues, so we're ok.  Things like money, family, relationships, others' perceptions of us, TV, career, and sport can also be idols.

As Duncan and I are about to step into parenthood for the first time, it was good to re-read the section starting on page 76 entitled Worship of Family: The noblest form of atheism.  Too often in churches, the 'family way' is promoted as the 'Christian way'.  After all, how can sweet as pie families be anything but Christian?  So often I hear Christian parents say, "My children come first."  This section is a rebuke to that notion.  Jesus warns us that an absolute and overriding devotion to family as our 'everything' can actually keep us out of heaven if it displaces God from first place in our lives (page 77).  A single Christian I know said she was shocked when a Christian couple she knew separated and later divorced.  She told me how this made her realise she had placed marriage on a pedestal as if being married would ensure ultimate happiness and an end to life's problems.

I've also realised that I can be tempted to idolise other people's lives, even some celebrities.  When someone I saw as 'good' does something wrong, I feel like I've been ripped off in some way.  Their halo has slipped when I should never have been seeing them as wearing a halo in the first place.  There is a difference between being thankful for someone's example and 'following' them.

The True and Living God provides a lot to chew over so it's worth reading slowly. 

This book is available from the Matthias Media Australian store here.

There is also a US store here.

5 Favourite Sports Movies

I can't say I'm a fan of horse racing, soccer or ice hockey, so I know it's a great movie when I get swept up into the plot regardless.  Here are my top 5 sports movies.

1. National Velvet

2.  Bend It Like Beckham

3.  D1: The Mighty Ducks

4.  Teen Wolf

5.  Bring It On

Name your 5 favourite sports movies.

5 Great Australian Sporting Moments

I'm back from holidays!  Yes, I'm actually typing this post in 'real time'.

One thing we did on our holidays was chill out and watch some of the Commonwealth Games.  In celebration of Australia's dominance in the medal count, I thought I'd share five sporting moments by individuals or teams representing Australia that gave me goosebumps.

1.  Cricket: Michael Bevan hits a four off the final ball to secure a dramatic victory for Australia in a one-day international against the West Indies at the SCG, New Year's Day 1996.



2.  Swimming: Kieren Perkins wins the 1500m freestyle at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics after just scraping into the final and starting as the underdog in lane 8.



3.  Swimming:  The Australian men win the 4x100m freestyle relay at the 2000 Sydney Olympics breaking years of US dominance in this race and after American, Gary Hall Jr said the American team would smash the Australians like guitars.  Who's laughing now, huh?



4.  Pole Vault:  Tatiana Grigorieva comes from nowhere to grab silver at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and gives the American favourite, Stacy Dragila, one heck of a fright.



5.  Tennis: Mark Philippoussis and Jelena Dokic win Australia's first Hopman Cup in 1999.

What are your favourite Australian sporting moments?

Images are from http://wallcrow.com/images/tatiana-grigorieva.php?page=2 and http://wtabackspin.blogspot.com/2010/01/backspin-time-capsule-dokic-down-under.html