September 29, 2008
· Filed under I'm avoiding study..., People I love, Random
As I said last time, blogging’s slipped its way down the priority ladder recently as other things like a 12,000 word thesis have taken precedence. However I felt compelled to quickly jot down some thoughts from the last week.
I had my 3rd visit to the Naturopath last week and it was a rather eventful hour or so. To cut a long story short…I’m hoping it’s my last visit. In the process of having my finger pricked to find out what blood type I am I somehow fainted. Seems ridiculous for such a thing to happen when I wasn’t even looking at my finger as it was stabbed or anything like that- but a few minutes later I was off in lala land dreaming about playing with my nephew Sam when all of a sudden I was being shaken and my head was shoved downwards as the woman was saying ‘keep breathing!!’. It was an odd experience- I could’ve sworn I was out for hours and I didn’t quite know where or who I was when I came to either. I was already feeling under the weather that morning and since then I’ve come down with some horrible head cold that doesn’t want to go away. It’s been 6 days of basically no uni work because of it and I’m beginning to wonder if I should apply for an extension (cringes…I hate applying for extensions!).
Other than that going on, (and I mention this quietly/tentatively) there does seem to be a budding friendship starting for one of my family members which is exciting and weird at the same time. It’s kind of forced me to re-evaluate my relationship with this family member, which frightened me at first but I must admit that it’s been good as it’s forced us to delve into some tricky topics together and remind me of how much I cherish our closeness.
That’s all I have time for now, another time when I’m sick of thesis-ing I’ll jot some more thoughts down 
September 3, 2008
· Filed under Faith, People I love, Young Adults
I don’t feel entirely qualified to write about youth ministry issues. However I have been in youth groups and I’ve also had a ‘taste’ of running some young adults groups. So there’s my little disclaimer… 
There are so many issues involved in the category of ‘Christian young adults’ in general as it’s an age bracket where just so much is going on in life. It encompasses everything from leaving school, choosing career paths, going to uni, working, possibly leaving home, forming closer relationships, potential for marriage and the list goes on. It’s a time when the identity gets dragged through the super fast spin cycle and often finds itself wrung out to dry and feeling a little worse for wear.
It’s also a time when ideas and opinions of the world in which we live can be tried, tested, challenged and changed. Entering ‘adulthood’ can almost be just as traumatic as going through *shudders* puberty. Not only do we experience pressures from the inside, but outward expectations for us to change as well. It’s all of a sudden not appropriate to ‘grunt’ at people or slam doors when something or someone upsets us- we’re adults and it’s time we learnt to communicate our thoughts and feelings with a tad more maturity.
So… with all this in mind- how then do we support young adults in church? It’s such a tricky one. Firstly, not every person in their 20’s has the common denominator of still attending highschool. While some in their 20’s may become youth leaders themselves and start to support the teenagers in church, others may be having children of their own! Many will get the travel bug, others will decide to live at uni *cough*. And sadly, it seems to be a time when statistically young adults ‘make or break’ their commitment to church or even their faith. So how on earth do you support this important group of people in church? Because they’re now ‘adults’ themselves do they simply not require leadership as a high school youth group does? I believe that any age group requires role models and leaders- even in and amongst themselves- to encourage them along whatever stage of life they’re at.
I’m not suggesting that an older ‘youth group’ where we all go bowling or play mini-golf every Friday night would work. Firstly, for some reason being of this age comes with the job description of being a commitment-phobe, and secondly while these kinds of activities with friends are fun and there’s nothing wrong with them- it’s not exactly accommodating for some of the tougher real-life issues that young adults are grappling with. And while we all may not fit into clearly defined groups- this doesn’t mean that we don’t need to stick together and support each other, all the while being supported by others.
I don’t propose any solutions. As suggesting that there are solutions is short-sighted and naive in itself. All I will say is that young adults are a group who need just as much support, love, good examples and encouragement as teenagers do. I hate the cliche but they are the ‘next generation’ and if we don’t invest in them, how can we expect them to emulate our actions when their own kids come along? Bear in mind I’m a young adult myself…and on the younger end of the scale at that. So I’m aware that that last sentence could make me sound like I’m speaking from a much older and more ‘detached’ generation. But you don’t need to be ‘old’ to realise the importance of encouraging those younger than you.
Hmm…I didn’t intend to write such a long post. And I haven’t scratched the surface of what’s going on my mind in relation to these issues. But that’s ok- because it’s an ongoing, never-ending discussion
August 29, 2008
· Filed under Hehehe, People I love
Today my nephew was with my mum and gran in a park near gran’s place. I wasn’t there but the story goes that he saw a dog and -seriously- chased it up the hill “ooff ooff-ing” at it the whole time. Now a few conclusions may be drawn from this situation… A) he hasn’t got my gene of canineophobia, B) he possibly has some canine genes mixed in there hence the ‘ooff-ing’ and C) that is one steep hill he ran up! I should know- I use it as an exercise circuit. And he’s only 16 months old!! Maybe he’s also going to be the next Usain Bolt- Just give him a dog to chase and he’ll break world records in a flash!
How I wish I’d been there to witness both my mum and gran struggling to catch up to little Sam running up a hill in hot pursuit of a highly sought after ‘ooff ooff-er’.
August 26, 2008
· Filed under People I love, Random
Went for a lovely long walk this morning with a lovely friend Would’ve been about 3-4 kilometres we walked- and not just flat either! My legs are at that stage where my muscles hurt, but not so much that it’s uncomfortable- more that they’re just reminding me that I’ve used them. It was the perfect time for a walk as the sun was shining with just a slight cool breeze. Just walking along chatting and contemplating life- it was great. Mind you conversation can get tough when you’re marching up steep hills and almost out of breath!!
I’ve been a little too inward thinking these last few days and it was great to talk out some of my ideas and realise that it’s always good to run things by a good friend before deciding if they’re really worth thinking about or not. It’s so so true that God created us to be in relationship with others. It’s so important to bounce thoughts off each other and thrash out ideas. I always find it so liberating and refreshing. Sometimes it’s hard if you simply don’t understand what the other person is on about- but when you do it’s just great . Makes life not seem so isolating and scary. And I don’t mean that ‘it’s nice when everyone agrees’- because then no ideas are bouncing or thrashing!! They’re just sitting still. But I do see a lot of worth in the validation of other ideas.
I wish I’d taken a camera to take pictures of some of the views we saw. Ah well- the weather’s warming up so I’m sure there’ll be plenty more walks to come! I’m also in a particularly happy mindset today because last night I started imagining spending a month somewhere in Europe next July. Of course these thoughts come when I’m busy with study hehe…as usual! And if my bank account found out about such ideas it might run and hide…but still…nice to ponder
August 19, 2008
· Filed under People I love
I took my 16 month old nephew Sam for a long walk today- an hour and a half! My sister in law tells me that he now weighs 10kg and the pram weighs 15kg so I was quite proud of my effort pushing that pram up the steep hills around here. He chortled away to the birds- and even a wallaby as we walked along and every so often I’d peep through his little window and wave to him and he’d look up with THE cutest smile (half clucky?? no…of course not!).
Now don’t get me wrong- I’ve done enough babysitting in my time to know that babies and little kids can drive you up the wall. But I don’t think that’ll ever stop me from loving my nephew to bits. The thing that amazed me most about him today thought is that he’s getting super good at comprehension. He has a set of magnets on the fridge including things like a frog, a boat, a cow, a bee etc etc. Anyway if you ask him “Sam- where’s the dog?” He’ll toddle over, point to it and go ‘oof off!’ I’m simply amazed at his development.
I know it’s silly- cos all people do that stuff. But- seeing him as a funny little foetus type thing that appeared just over a year ago- I find my self dumbfounded at the things he can do. I’m only an aunty for goodness sake- not his mum or dad! I feel sorry for my kids if I ever have any- I’ll be tearing up when they first learn to pick up a block haha. I’m not sure what he thinks of me though. I’d like to get inside his head- here’s this aunty of his who just stares at him when he does stuff cos she doesn’t know how to respond to such an incredible human being.
What’s the point of being an aunty if you can’t boast about them eh?? :p Gosh I love my nephew! Although- I can’t say I’m too impressed that he seems to have my brother’s name ‘David’ almost downpat- and I just get ‘Uu!’ Hmm…favourite Uncle perhaps?
