Wednesday, January 20, 2010

A great start to 2010

For New Year we decided to forgo the traditional night out. Most of my friends here planned big nights to kick off 2010. Fancy dress parties, tickets to clubs on the harbour, watching fireworks from an island directly across the way from the Harbour Bridge. While they all sounded so fun, they were also very expensive.
We opted for a quite secluded beach on the South Coast of New South Wales. Not even the rain could ruin our party. We sat on our beach chairs and watched as the storm blew in and blew over. It sprinkled a little bit but we were
content to play UNO and Phase 10 in the tent.

We were kind of fuddy duddies and didn't bother to stay up until midnight to ring in the New Year with the rest of Australia. We went to bed at 10 and were up by 5 to see the first sun rise of 2010. It was beautiful! There was even a pod of dolphins swimming and jumping in the waves, could you get any more dreamy?


We had the rest of the day to surf, swim, and snorkel. It was a beautiful day!
















Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Haiti



In September 2007 I went to Haiti on a humanitarian trip with Healing Hands for Haiti. This experience taught me so much about love, compassion, and the courageousness of the human spirit. I met many people who touched my soul and influenced my mind for the better. The Haitians are beautiful people with contagious beautiful spirits. Their children brought so much laughter into the long hot days we spent there. The church members I met there are some of the most devoted and seem to understand the true beauty of the gospel. Haiti is a place that means so much to me, it's a place where I learned so much about myself and what matters most to me in life.
It breaks my heart to even imagine what they are going through right now. The are the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. When I was there, that was evident. Haitians struggle to make something from nothing. They struggle to care for their sick, their inflicted, the abandoned. They work relentlessly to better their lives and the situations of their children. They show compassion to their neighbors and a love for their culture. They thirst not only for clean water but knowledge from beyond their Caribbean shores. I loved Haiti, I long to go back now more than ever.
Even after reading article after article on the devastation left behind after a 7.0 earthquake, I still cannot believe it. How can Haiti take and more devastation than they have already suffered? How can buildings that were already falling to pieces be worse of than what they were? Where are the injured being cared for? Are they being cared for or just left in the streets amid chaos? Will they have access to clean water now when it was so hard to come by before? Are the people I met safe? Will they have food? Are they safe from the looters and those who will seek to take advantage of the desperate situation they find Haiti to be in?
When I went to Haiti, I learned a powerful lesson. It's sad how quick and easy it is to forget. In Haiti, we visited a small orphanage run by the Catholic church. While there, I went on rounds with the team doctor to the nursery. The sisters wanted us to look at some of the babies who had been sick for days. I had managed to hold back tears many times on my trip to Haiti, but in this nursery I couldn't hold back any longer. There were several cribs lining the walls of a dirty nursery. The first baby I looked at had a large stomach, black as could be, no bowel sounds. She was unconscious and hadn't taken in food for days. She was going to die soon, nothing could be done. The story was the same with the baby in the next crib. She was covered with small wounds. Most likely opportunistic infections, secondary to AIDS. The next a preemie, too small to eat on her own. However, the sisters had no IV fluids with any sort of sugar or nutrients in them. She would most likely starve to death. There were several other babies suffering from aliment after aliment. Others who weren't sick, were malnourished. One in particular stands out to me, I thought was 6-7 months old. She was 1 and 1/2 years old. How easily these children could be cared for back home! How easily their suffering could be cured! It was so frustrating to have the knowledge but to have my hands tied by lack of resources! Later in the evening, I was reflecting on what I saw that day. The children I saw, what a bleak and seemingly pointless existence? What is the purpose to their lives? What is the point of coming down here only to suffer and die alone? I gradually began to learn that the point of their lives and the point of my life is interwoven. The trials the people In Haiti suffer are also my trials. I have been blessed with opportunity, a comfortable home, an education, and a supportive family. Whereas they have not had the same luxuries provided. While their suffering physically is an obvious trial, mine is not so obvious. My trial is recognizing that I have been blessed with the opportunity and resources to be able to help those less fortunate in their time of need. Reading back in my journal I wrote, "I don't want to die and have Heavenly Father ask me, "I gave you so much. Home, family, a roof over your head, opportunities for education, monetary and physical comfort. What did you do with those blessing I provided?" How disappointing would it be if all I had to show for myself in reply to that question was my Nordstrom receipt?" I have not lived my life perfectly since then. Far less than perfect at that. I am grateful to be reminded though. I am grateful to be reminded of what I learned during my time in Haiti.
If you can (the few people who do read my blog) please donate to relief efforts. Your money and support will go further than you ever imagined. Healing Hands for Haiti is taking donations specifically for a relief fund. They are a trustworthy organization and I know that the mony donated will go exactly where it is needed most, to caring for the tired, injured, abandoned, homeless, and starving victims in Haiti. Please visit their website at www.healinghandsforhaiti.org

Sunday, January 3, 2010

More Pictures of the Blue Mountains

I posted about this outing a few months ago but I just barely got Phil's pictures downloaded to the computer. Better late than never right? Most of the first group are from the Bushwalk we went on to Wentworth Falls. Yes that's right, no hiking to be done here, Bushwalking.


How cool and cold does this look? They repel down the waterfall! There was a guy at the bottom who was shaking like a leaf from head to toe. He told us he was afraid of heights and had just completed a life long goal. Good for him!
Looks like Southern Utah don't you think?



The Three Sister's. I can't remember if I posted the aboriginal legend behind the Three Sister's formation. There are a few floating around out there but this one I got from the National Parks website.

The Legend

The Aboriginal dream-time legend has it that three sisters, 'Meehni', 'Wimlah' and Gunnedoo' lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe.

These beautiful young ladies had fallen in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, yet tribal law forbade them to marry.

The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so decided to use force to capture the three sisters causing a major tribal battle.

As the lives of the three sisters were seriously in danger, a witchdoctor from the Katoomba tribe took it upon himself to turn the three sisters into stone to protect them from any harm. While he had intended to reverse the spell when the battle was over, the witchdoctor himself was killed. As only he could reverse the spell to return the ladies to their former beauty, the sisters remain in their magnificent rock formation as a reminder of this battle for generations to come.


Poor girls! At least we all get to enjoy their beauty for years to come!

To Grandfather's House We Go!

Phil's Dad lives in Ulladulla (almost sounds like "all-a-dollar, that's what my parent's call it). It's a gorgeous beach side town. There isn't much to do unless you like the sun, sand, and ocean, which lucky for me I do! We took Hayden (Phil's nephew) down for a weekend. Too bad for us it rained the whole time, but we still enjoyed ourselves playing Australian Monopoly, going to see "Up", and driving around to at least look at the surf spots Phil loves.

Hayden sure makes some good meat pies!! I really liked the Hot Chocolate.

There are a million tropical birds that visit Phil's Dad's place. He keeps a constant supply of sugar on hand so he has something to give them for their afternoon tea. I was standing out on the porch to speak to my parents and in a matter of seconds I was surrounded!! I was worried they were going to get mean when they realized I had no sugar to offer them.


This little guy just invited himself right in. We didn't get a picture but I ended up holding him after this, he's heavier then he looks people!

Granite Island and Surfing/Watching Surfing

I really wanted to go to Granite Island. It's the home to hundreds of little penguins. Apparently, they only come out at night though. It was still a beautiful walk surrounded by stunning scenery.

The horse drawn coach for those who couldn't bare the 100 yard walk.

Colin was totally stoked on his new board and had to take it out for a surf.
I was content to hang on the beach and watch.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

There were 3 mighty fishermen

Colin and I come from a family of fishermen. When our parents were little, they went on long camping trips to Yellowstone were the boys fished all day on the Madison river and my mom and grandma shopped all day. The tradition has carried on down to their kids and I am proud to say that my cousin is an avid fisherman and I am an avid shopper!

We decided that it would be very appropriate for us to continue the fishing tradition whilst down under. Colin purchased a nice rod, a jig set, a bucket, some bait, and we were off! We were so convinced we were going to catch dinner, calamari to be specific. We had been told that it was squid season and we couldn't have been more pumped to catch one off the pier. (I don't think either of us knew what to do if we actually caught one.) Our dreams were shattered after waiting 20 whole minutes with no bites. We learned from a little Italian man that we were too early for squid and the water was too murky for fish. Oh well. Colin had fun chatting it up with the Italian and I enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

Phil was able to join us for a short while in between his shifts.
Puttin out the vibe for the fishies!
Look what we caught!!! (At the fish n' chips place across the street)

Monday, December 7, 2009

Handorf... founded by the Germans

The sign says it all, "Welcome to Handorf. Australia's oldest German town." Phil's Mom is from Austria and gets really excited about anything related to her old home, so we had to go to Handorf while we were in Adelaide. It's a small town with tons of shops, German restaurants, bakeries, and pubs. We stopped here for a make shift lunch. First stop was the chocolate factory (priorities people). Although we didn't buy anything, we sampled to our hearts content. Second stop was the cheese factory, where we purchased some lovely goat's cheese and sarsaparilla soda. For your information, sarsaparilla soda does not taste anything like root beer. Don't let anyone fool you! We also bought some Quince paste. It's a fruit spread made out of the leftovers from wine making. It was pretty darn good.

Then we popped into the meat shop to buy crackers and salami. Yum, yum! Viola, here's our lunch... we had to eat in the car since it was raining so badly.
Enjoying the local art scene!