Earlier this week, Steve and I recieved a letter from Compassion with some sad news. They were shutting down the branch in Thailand where Lek, our sponsor child was. When this happens, they usually try to transfer the kids to another area, so they can still be sponsored. Sadly, this was not possible with Lek and so our sponsorship of her was ending.
I have sponsored Lek since she was 6. Firstly with Sarah, then by myself, and lastly with Steve. Only recently did she start writing letters to us herself - in the past it had always been from her mum, dad, aunt, etc. It was really exciting to be seeing her grow up.
Today I had to write what would probabaly be my last letter to Lek. What was I going to write? I thought, knowing that this would be the last chance I had to say anything to this little girl. What did I want her to know?
This was one of the hardest things i've ever had to do, because at the end of the day, 1000 words on the page would still fail to tell Lek that I love her and that I hope she knows that. That even though I'll never get to see her or even write to her again, I will be praying for her and I want the best for her life. I'm praying that God continues to reveal himself to her, and that she realises that all he had planned for her is good.
Ultimatly, I think this experince has really taught me that when it comes to the last things you have to say to a person, alot of crap that you thought was important, doens't really matter at all. At the end of the day, you just want them to know that they are loved, more than they could ever imagine.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
The Quilt!
Yay! I spent an hour and a half at my parents this morning finishing it off and now i'm pleased to say that it is finished! I ended up pinning and sewing a border around the quilt which isn't exactly even (2cm on the width and 1.5 on the length) but overall it looks great. :)
As you can see, it's pretty small, but it does give the quilt that finished look. :) And here it is on our bed - ready to keep us warm all winter!
Btw, something i left out of the last post was a picture of my shoes after Easterfest - needless to say, i'm throwing them out.
I feel like the photo doesn't really do them justice either....
Yay! I spent an hour and a half at my parents this morning finishing it off and now i'm pleased to say that it is finished! I ended up pinning and sewing a border around the quilt which isn't exactly even (2cm on the width and 1.5 on the length) but overall it looks great. :)
As you can see, it's pretty small, but it does give the quilt that finished look. :) And here it is on our bed - ready to keep us warm all winter!
Btw, something i left out of the last post was a picture of my shoes after Easterfest - needless to say, i'm throwing them out.
I feel like the photo doesn't really do them justice either....
Easterfest 2009 (AGMF)
I can't believe I have done that, but I hope you people are all happy now :P
Easterfest this year was amazing. :) Hooray! Even though it rained and was cold for the majority of the time; the ground we sat on was always some level of damp; our shoes were permanatly wet and ended up being covered in a few layers of red mud it still rocked.
This year was the latest I have ever been to Easterfest - we didn't get there untill 3:30 or so on Friday afternoon, but I didn't miss any of the acts that I really wanted to see, so it was ok. :) Friday morning started with me shaving Steve's hair into a mowhawk - that's right - mowhawk. I've never done it before, so i'll be happy to admit that it wasn't 100% straight, but i can practice on that. :) We then borrowed gel from Steve's brother and sprayed it orange. It looked STELLAR.
Friday highlights include Audio A - ROCKING the HOUSE - I was so so so happy when they played Underdog. The mosh was going off and I got to jump up and down with it all. Yay! Bec St James, not so awesome... I like her as an artist, but I'm always slightly dissapointed with her live shows. This year her brothers came along, but she did alot of slow soft songs and promoted her own movie and stuff... not so cool.
Friday night also saw newworldson play - AMAZING - They had some new songs (but we couldn't find the new CD to go with that :( ) which were so fun and they played some old favs like Salvation Station and Workin Man! YAY!
Saturday we saw a few smaller bands and roved around a bit - this was the day that the rain poured a bit, but we were chillin in the Big Top, so we were fairly safe. We ate almost consistently all day to stay warm :P Good thing I had stocked up on gingernuts and apples to keep us going. :) Saturday highlights had to be Halfway Out's last show - RIP to an awesome ska band. They were fantastic and their final mosh was legendary. I stood with the bags while everyone else got in and sweaty. Daniel lost his glasses at one point and Steve rescued some other girl's glasses from being trampled too. Crazy times.
Saturday night Paul Colman Trio had a HUGE turnout - possibly even bigger than Audio A, despite the rain and the mud. Crazy! They were super fun to watch though - i've never seen a group of guys just have fun on the stage the way they do. We hung around through Chris Pulson Trio - AMAZING - as we waited for newworldson. Chris Pulson had the keyboard player of newworldson and Complements of Gus come on and they had this massive Jam on stage - it was legendary!
At one point Chris Pulson had his keyboard on the ground to play it. :) We then watched Complements of Gus - deciding to get a CD too - Then we hung around waiting and waiting for the final newworldson set - not dissapointed with it but it was so late when we left.
Sunday was another late day - didn't make it to the festival untill about 1:30ish - just in time to see Jess and Ted perform in the Epicenter. Legendary stuff! We got up and danced like crazy to some of their songs and they had a great all-round performance. :) Steve and I danced like mad to their encore song too. YAY! dancing!
Sunday night would usually see a huge church service at the main stage, but due to the rain, the schedual was changed and they put it in the Big Top. This is something that I love to be apart of at Easterfest which I'd have to admit I was a little dissapointed with this year. Because they put it in the Big Top, they screened it in the SU Cafe, which is where we ended up watching it, but we missed out on all that awesome togetherness atmostphere which comes when people who want to worship God just do it, rather than try to have devisions and lines and "i'm Catholic" and "Prodestant" blah divisions. Instead, we had alot of people who were there to praise, but also alot of people who were using the time to shop and wander around. Oh well.
The final act on Sunday night was Thousand Foot Krutch. I was a bit hesitant because they are heavy rock and I didn't think I knew much of their stuff, but when they started playing - man ROCK OUT!! It was super cool. The mosh (which I was saftely away from) was mad and apart from the first song they played - i knew all of them which was excellent (probably thanks to yrock.org :D) When we finally left it had been an excellent festival with awesome music and lots of Jesus. :) Hooray!
Easterfest this year was amazing. :) Hooray! Even though it rained and was cold for the majority of the time; the ground we sat on was always some level of damp; our shoes were permanatly wet and ended up being covered in a few layers of red mud it still rocked.
This year was the latest I have ever been to Easterfest - we didn't get there untill 3:30 or so on Friday afternoon, but I didn't miss any of the acts that I really wanted to see, so it was ok. :) Friday morning started with me shaving Steve's hair into a mowhawk - that's right - mowhawk. I've never done it before, so i'll be happy to admit that it wasn't 100% straight, but i can practice on that. :) We then borrowed gel from Steve's brother and sprayed it orange. It looked STELLAR.
Friday highlights include Audio A - ROCKING the HOUSE - I was so so so happy when they played Underdog. The mosh was going off and I got to jump up and down with it all. Yay! Bec St James, not so awesome... I like her as an artist, but I'm always slightly dissapointed with her live shows. This year her brothers came along, but she did alot of slow soft songs and promoted her own movie and stuff... not so cool.
Friday night also saw newworldson play - AMAZING - They had some new songs (but we couldn't find the new CD to go with that :( ) which were so fun and they played some old favs like Salvation Station and Workin Man! YAY!
Saturday we saw a few smaller bands and roved around a bit - this was the day that the rain poured a bit, but we were chillin in the Big Top, so we were fairly safe. We ate almost consistently all day to stay warm :P Good thing I had stocked up on gingernuts and apples to keep us going. :) Saturday highlights had to be Halfway Out's last show - RIP to an awesome ska band. They were fantastic and their final mosh was legendary. I stood with the bags while everyone else got in and sweaty. Daniel lost his glasses at one point and Steve rescued some other girl's glasses from being trampled too. Crazy times.
Saturday night Paul Colman Trio had a HUGE turnout - possibly even bigger than Audio A, despite the rain and the mud. Crazy! They were super fun to watch though - i've never seen a group of guys just have fun on the stage the way they do. We hung around through Chris Pulson Trio - AMAZING - as we waited for newworldson. Chris Pulson had the keyboard player of newworldson and Complements of Gus come on and they had this massive Jam on stage - it was legendary!
At one point Chris Pulson had his keyboard on the ground to play it. :) We then watched Complements of Gus - deciding to get a CD too - Then we hung around waiting and waiting for the final newworldson set - not dissapointed with it but it was so late when we left.Sunday was another late day - didn't make it to the festival untill about 1:30ish - just in time to see Jess and Ted perform in the Epicenter. Legendary stuff! We got up and danced like crazy to some of their songs and they had a great all-round performance. :) Steve and I danced like mad to their encore song too. YAY! dancing!
Sunday night would usually see a huge church service at the main stage, but due to the rain, the schedual was changed and they put it in the Big Top. This is something that I love to be apart of at Easterfest which I'd have to admit I was a little dissapointed with this year. Because they put it in the Big Top, they screened it in the SU Cafe, which is where we ended up watching it, but we missed out on all that awesome togetherness atmostphere which comes when people who want to worship God just do it, rather than try to have devisions and lines and "i'm Catholic" and "Prodestant" blah divisions. Instead, we had alot of people who were there to praise, but also alot of people who were using the time to shop and wander around. Oh well.
The final act on Sunday night was Thousand Foot Krutch. I was a bit hesitant because they are heavy rock and I didn't think I knew much of their stuff, but when they started playing - man ROCK OUT!! It was super cool. The mosh (which I was saftely away from) was mad and apart from the first song they played - i knew all of them which was excellent (probably thanks to yrock.org :D) When we finally left it had been an excellent festival with awesome music and lots of Jesus. :) Hooray!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Quilt update: nearly there!
Last week, I managed to finish the handsewing of the patched side to the wadding and then sew the two sides together. After turning it inside out my quilt looked like this:
Very nearly done! The only problem that I have is that because one side is slightly larger, the edges fold over to the other side. This isn’t so much of a problem because it creates the border that I want to have around my quilt so that it has a nice finished look, but it does become complicated when I try to work out how big this border will be (so it is even the whole way around, not thin on one side and thick on the other) and I don’t have any big flat space to actually lay out my quilt and work it out.
I'll be going over to my parents sometime this week for this exact purpose. :D Once there, I should have the space to lay out the quilt, measure, pin and then sew the border and finish off the corners. Then the quilt will be complete! Hurrah!
In the meantime, it's already on the bed keeping us warm. :D
Last week, I managed to finish the handsewing of the patched side to the wadding and then sew the two sides together. After turning it inside out my quilt looked like this:
Very nearly done! The only problem that I have is that because one side is slightly larger, the edges fold over to the other side. This isn’t so much of a problem because it creates the border that I want to have around my quilt so that it has a nice finished look, but it does become complicated when I try to work out how big this border will be (so it is even the whole way around, not thin on one side and thick on the other) and I don’t have any big flat space to actually lay out my quilt and work it out.
I'll be going over to my parents sometime this week for this exact purpose. :D Once there, I should have the space to lay out the quilt, measure, pin and then sew the border and finish off the corners. Then the quilt will be complete! Hurrah!
In the meantime, it's already on the bed keeping us warm. :D
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Our friendly neighbour, Joe, just popped his head around the corner and asked if I was making beach towels. Close... but no. :)
Sewing Project Update!
Today, I lay out all the finished squares of rectangles and swaped and rotated untill I was happy (and sick of rotating). It took up all of the spare room floor and the spare bed as well and looked something like this:
The bottom part that was on the floor, looked like this up close:
After I took that photo I realised there were still a few pieces that were not where they should be so I did some more fidling (I think you can see one or two of the mistakes in that photo even). Then I sat down at the sewing machine and a few hours later, I had this:
As you can see - it still covers most of the spare room and the bed, but now all the pieces are stuck together! YAY! This means that both sides of my quilt are completely sewn. :)
The next part of the journey is to hand sew the inside-fluffy-quilty-stuff to one side of the quilt so it stays where it should inside the quilt once I sew both sides together. For this, I've decided to go against tradition, which dictates that you would normaly hand sew with small invisable stitches along the seams, and instead make a feature of it! I'm going to use a green tapestry thread and sew around the squares that were previously visable but are now not so visable becuase i've sewn them all together. Make sense?
In any case, this will take me a while (all hand sewing) so it could be a bit before the next update. It's fun none the less.
Sewing Project Update!
Today, I lay out all the finished squares of rectangles and swaped and rotated untill I was happy (and sick of rotating). It took up all of the spare room floor and the spare bed as well and looked something like this:
The bottom part that was on the floor, looked like this up close:
After I took that photo I realised there were still a few pieces that were not where they should be so I did some more fidling (I think you can see one or two of the mistakes in that photo even). Then I sat down at the sewing machine and a few hours later, I had this:
As you can see - it still covers most of the spare room and the bed, but now all the pieces are stuck together! YAY! This means that both sides of my quilt are completely sewn. :)
The next part of the journey is to hand sew the inside-fluffy-quilty-stuff to one side of the quilt so it stays where it should inside the quilt once I sew both sides together. For this, I've decided to go against tradition, which dictates that you would normaly hand sew with small invisable stitches along the seams, and instead make a feature of it! I'm going to use a green tapestry thread and sew around the squares that were previously visable but are now not so visable becuase i've sewn them all together. Make sense?
In any case, this will take me a while (all hand sewing) so it could be a bit before the next update. It's fun none the less.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Sewing Project update.
I've now finished sewing the 280 rectangles into their squares. :D Hooray! It took a long time - a process which was not helped by the fact that each material needed a different thread tension (I learnt alot about thread tension making these patches) and the fact that I nearly ran out of thread. I literally used 98% of all the thread that i had - which considering i've been hording from mum, Yia-yia and Grandma for most of my life, is quite a bit. Even i'm surprised at how much I went through.
Now I need to lay them all out and put them in an order that I like (ensuring there are no double ups of colours and what not) and sew all of that togehter and then it will be ready for some warm fleecy stuff that quilts are made of! Yay! Laying all of my pieces out may prove to be an obstical in itself though, as I have no where with enough room. If it's sunny on Saturday, I may even bring them to the park and we could do it on the grass there. I'd appreciate the artistic input and extra eyes for noticing things I haven't when it all comes together.
The only other thing to say is that I only sewed one of the squares together wrongly, which is a pretty good effort considering I usually spend alot more time unpicking sewing projects. :P
I've now finished sewing the 280 rectangles into their squares. :D Hooray! It took a long time - a process which was not helped by the fact that each material needed a different thread tension (I learnt alot about thread tension making these patches) and the fact that I nearly ran out of thread. I literally used 98% of all the thread that i had - which considering i've been hording from mum, Yia-yia and Grandma for most of my life, is quite a bit. Even i'm surprised at how much I went through.
Now I need to lay them all out and put them in an order that I like (ensuring there are no double ups of colours and what not) and sew all of that togehter and then it will be ready for some warm fleecy stuff that quilts are made of! Yay! Laying all of my pieces out may prove to be an obstical in itself though, as I have no where with enough room. If it's sunny on Saturday, I may even bring them to the park and we could do it on the grass there. I'd appreciate the artistic input and extra eyes for noticing things I haven't when it all comes together.
The only other thing to say is that I only sewed one of the squares together wrongly, which is a pretty good effort considering I usually spend alot more time unpicking sewing projects. :P
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