how sweet the sound

I finally got to watch 'Amazing Grace' last night. It was as moving and inspiring as expected. What an incredible story of a world-changer who dedicated his life to abolishing slavery. Made me think about how this sort of oppression of humans by other humans still goes on today. Maybe I should be drinking Fair Trade Coffee...

If you haven't seen the film yet (although it seems like most people have seen it by now), I'd highly recommend it.

Mel rating: 8/10

three times a day

In my class on 'Spirituality' we've been learning about a brand of spirituality that was a pre-cursor to New Age, called 'Creation Spirituality'. While I don't agree with most of what its founder Matthew Fox has to say, he has at least one point that I like and agree with. He says that we should 'fall in love' at least three times a day. He doesn't mean falling in love in a 'romantic' way but in a more general way. Here are my three things from yesterday:

1. The 4 year old girl I was minding yesterday wanted me to have the sticker off her mandarin, and the little 3 year old boy offered me a piece of mandarin. (it's easy to have these 'fall in love' moments when you work with kids!) That sticker stayed on my hand all day.
2. Listening to the drum pattern of one of my favourite songs (Molly Johnson's 'Ooh Child/Redemption's Song')
3. Watching a waiter at the Chinese-Vietnamese restaurant I was dining at last night, reading the paper in Vietnamese to his aging mother.

On a day like today when I've been in front of the computer all day, I haven't had three moments yet. Have you had three fall-in-love moments today?

By the way, I'm sure it's a different Matthew Fox from Charlie of Party of Five a.k.a. Jack of Lost.

lessons from a dog

Earlier in the year I was on my way to college in a friend's car when we saw a small dog running for his life down the other side of the road with a long line up of cars behind him driving very slowly. I guess he had somehow gotten onto the road and now he was running to keep up with the cars and trying not to get run over. Poor puppy, his tongue was hanging out and he looked so tired. If he had just stopped and looked around he may have realised that he just had to escape onto the footpath (trans: sidewalk) and he would have been safe. But he just kept on running, I guess cause he didn't know what else to do. Or maybe he was enjoying the chase and thought it was all a game? We drove off and I'm not sure how that situation eventually resolved itself. I really hope he didn't get run over when he got to the intersection.

Since I've been back in Australia, I've noticed how our lives are often that way. We try to keep up with life and just keep on running hard in an effort not to get run over. But if we just STOP and look around, we'll see that there is an alternate route and that we're able to get off the treadmill (mixing metaphors now). Life here is so much busier than in China. People are on the go ALL the time and don't seem to have much time to rest. People seem to be valued not for who they are but for how much they are doing and contributing. It seems that most things here are based on schedules and activities rather than relationships and community.

So we keep running cause all we can do is look straight ahead, rather than look around. And it may kind of seem like we're surviving till we get to a crossroad...

I hope that in your life, you are finding time to stop, rest and look around at other alternative routes if the road you're on is too much for you.

holiday fun!

These holidays ('vacation'/'winter break') seem to have gone really quickly (we're back to school next week) but one of the highlights has been spending time with family, especially with my cousin Grace who was here visiting for the last week.

Here are some photos from her visit, featuring our day at Luna Park with second cousins (or is that twice removed or once removed or something?) Kezia and Kayleigh. To take a closer look at these pics, click on the slideshow below.


Credits
Star poser: Grace
Transport: Melissa (sponsored by Beep Beep Barina)
Giggle champion: Kayleigh
Shopping queen: Kezia

Creating the Creator

Let us not shape Him into who we want Him to be
Let us not mould Him into One who exists only to achieve our purposes
Let us not make Him in our own image
Rather let us allow ourselves to be continually crafted in His likeness
Let us allow Him to reveal to us who He really is
Let us allow the Son to show us the Father
Let HIM do the inventing, the creating, the shaping, the moulding, the crafting, the transformation in us, and not us of Him.

Random Compliments

Recently I was told by six year old girl that I 'sorta look like Pocahontas', which thrilled me to BITS! Another time, I was invited to become an 'honorary guy' which I think was MEANT as a compliment.

Yet another time, my good friend Natalie told me that I have a 'good palate' and Jioji added that I have a 'good soft palate'. It was a first for both compliments but I think the latter wins the prize for the most random compliment I've ever received. (See Jioji, I told you I'd manage to weave that into my blog somehow and I hope I spelt your name right!)

I'd like to hear your random compliments - whether or not you believe them to be true. Post your comments now! (don't let me down)

And so it continues...

This is my first post in a while. Somehow, I've been too busy being on holidays (trans: 'vacation')! In the meanwhile, I've thought up a name for my dad's silver Toyota Avalon as well. This is the automatic car that I've been driving since I'm still not manual-savvy yet! The Avalon is also Japanese so I've decided to name him after Hiro's friend Ando, on the TV series 'Heroes' (on the left in the picture below):

Ando is better looking, taller and slicker than his mate Hiro. Funnily enough, my dad hasn't quite taken to the name!

More holiday-fun-blogs and photos to come...