29th September - 1st October: Prayer weekend for Human Trafficking

As the title suggests, this weekend is the prayer weekend for Human Trafficking.

Sooooo.....

With that in mind and because it was the last bible study before the holidays where we have a break for two weeks, I decided to focus on Human Trafficking.

The bible study went REALLY well. The amount of material i had wasn't much (we were hoping for a short bible study) and yet we went to the full length of bible study because of so many questions and topics that required covering which meant we had to cut out other things we'd planned.

Anyway, to finish the study I had them all sit around a table and peel potatoes (there were a couple of cluey ones who wanted to know why they were peeling potatoes). While they peeled potatoes I asked them all to quietly pray for traffickers, people being trafficked, governments making laws against human trafficking and the organisations who are taking a stand against this atrocity. I played some soft music for them to listen and reflect upon.

Honestly, myself or Julie Campbell had never heard them be quiet for any length of time before so it was strange for us haha....

After they'd finished peeling their potatoes i told them that children their age and alot younger in other countries where human trafficking was predominant were being forced to do this every hour of every day in child slavery.

The hush that fell over them and the look in some of their faces was complete astonishment and horror - of course as soon as some of them realised they'd given away more than they were willing, they put their heads down to hide their shock.

It was a pretty powerful way to end bible study and they all seemed to enjoy the night which was a bonus!

But it wasn't just a loud wakeup call only to these young people, it also made me realise almost at point blank what those in slavery go through.

I saw in the flesh children replicating a small fraction of what a life of slavery was like. These guys at bible study are no older than 16, some as young as 13 and the difficulty that some of them had at peeling a single potatoe was really obvious. It brought tears to my eyes to have to think of those in slavery, some of them being alot younger than the guys at bible study and to see in the flesh a small glimmer of the difficulty and pain they'd go through no play, little rest etc. It truly was chilling and sent a shiver down my spine to watch those guys peeling potatoes as if they were being trafficked in another country.

So please join with us and the rest of the world this weekend in praying for this mess that we've all, unless you've turned a blind eye to it, got ourselves into!

Tink xoxo

Don't die!

Last night i had this strange dream. I can't actually remember anything of it except that there was a hand in it, a lone wrist and hand. It woke me up suddenly and i had this sense that someone close was gonna die. It was a most eery feeling. Everytime after that when i tried to go back to sleep all the images that flooded my head were about death and corpses etc. I just figured it was because i'd watched CSI and The Closer, which was odd because normally shows like that don't phase me. I'm not usually subject to nightmares from them.

So, being freaked out about not being able to go back to sleep in peace, i got up, ate some ice contemplated going to work early (hahaha) but eventually got back into bed looking out my window for awhile. Nothing was happening. It was really nice to know that I was probably the only one awake in the suburb at 3am. I decided to open my window which was also nice, feeling the cool night air blowing against my face, looking out at the stars and the moon. Not a thing moved, every single thing was asleep, everything was still so i guess it shouldn't have been too much of a surprise to me when i jumped on msn and no-one was online. It was just so peaceful and quiet.

Eventually i laid down and drifted off into peaceful sleep til i awoke the next morning. Funny though how you can be wide awake in the middle of the night, fall asleep and then still repeatedly hit the snooze button over and over and over again until the very last second until it's time to get up for work the next day.

Anyway, i want to finish by saying that PLEASE take of yourselves. If you're sick, go and see a dr, if you're doing something dangerous which can range from the simplest of things like driving a car to jumping out of a plane (what idiot does that???), please be extra cautious and safe. I don't want my dream to be a premonition of your death!

So, as Jerry says....

"Take care of yourselves...and eachother!"

Tink xoxo

Bits and Pieces

For those of you who have been avidly following my blood donating habits, I take great pride in telling those of you that care that my blood type is...drum roll please....

~**O POSTIVE**~

That's right folks it's O Positive. The blood bank is in dire need of my blood. In researching the meaning of blood types, this is what i assume to be correct....

A: If you have A blood type people with A and AB blood types can use your blood, so not the best blood type to have!
B: If you have B blood type people with B and AB blood types can use your blood so also not the best blood type to have!
AB: If you have this blood type, the only people who can use your blood or you can donate your blood to are people with the same blood type. However, all the other blood types can give blood to the AB blood type. In other words, these people can receive any other blood type but they can't give their blood to people without AB blood.
O: This is MY blood type...it's very common! Alot of people in the world have this blood type from what I've gathered! Unfotunately though not enough people are donating their blood these days which is why there's a bit of a shortage on it. The only downer about O's is that, whilst they can give their blood to all other blood types, they themselves can only receive the O type blood. But because it's so common, it's not hard for them to receive that!

On a shorter note....

A can receive blood from A & O only
B can receive blood from B & O only
AB can receive blood from A, B, AB & O (all blood types)
O can receive blood from O only

Wow, that was complex and probably not even right.....well done if you understood that!

In America, people get paid between $40 and $60 just to donate their plasma!!!!! Imagine how much they get for their whole blood?! So i figure that makes me a TRUE hero because i am VOLUNTARILY giving my blood to people who need it most and, although it'd be nice being paid for it, i don't mind not being paid for it - it's for a good cause and like i've said before, could save a life!!

Now, on another completely different note....

I broke my phone in half last night. If you're laughing, I don't see the humour in it?! *insert evil look here*

I was laying on my bed and holding my phone above my head and it slipped out of my hand, hit ME in the head, crashed to the floor but not before first hitting the frame of my bed. When i got up to pick it up, i saw that it was laying on the floor in, not one, but TWO pieces!!! I nearly died!!! But, although it is still in need of desperate repair, i put it back together and so it is still functionable - but only just!

People, this is a VERY sad story, let's not treat this lightly, ok?!

*sighs*

Tink xoxo

The Trickling Stream Near the Gully

Some of you pioneer readers will remember a blog i posted about my Granddad and you'll have read how much i loved the way he encouraged my creativeness.

Well recently i've been cleaning out some files and have come across some really old letters and things, some very interesting ones too. Some made me laugh, some brought a tear to my eye and others just made me wish i could go back to the way things were. But i guess when you hunt through things from your past, all these emotions and feelings are bound to arise.

In the midst of all this stuff i was going through i found a couple of stories and poems i'd written when my Granddad was still alive. I wanted to post one poem i'd written here that my Granddad got to read. i remember it so clearly, my nanna and granddad were sitting down at their kitchen table having afternoon tea and i ran in from my adventures out on the farm boasting of a new poem i'd written while sitting on the top hill looking out over their paddocks. They both loved it and my Nanna asked if she could keep it but i said no so she told me never to throw it away. To this day I have kept it, obviously because i've found it again!

So here it is...bear in mind that i was only 13 or 14 when i'd written this so if it seems a bit immature and shallow or whatever, phrased badly etc, i was only young! However, i WAS taking in everything around me, all the nature etc which inspired me to write this.

The Trickling Stream Near the Gully
As I sat near the trickling stream in the gully,
I listened to the wind rustling through the trees.
Watching the grass sway in the direction of the wind,
Smelling the sweet fragrance of the flowers,
Glancing at the house that was sitting on the peak of the hill, Casperdoorn.
Listening to the birds fly overhead,
Chirpping in the great flock that they were.
As the wind blew harder I watched the trees on the mountain,
But still and motionless did they seem to be.
As the day grew near to the end,
One little sparrow flew by to catch up with it's flock.
The horses, the cattle and sheep
Continued to graze in the green meadows.
All this happened as I sat near the trickling stream in the gully.

Tink xoxo

Transplanting

My blog titles these days are becoming soooooooo good!!!! pffft....

Anyway, I have asthma. "So do a million other people" i hear you say, " so get over yourself".

Well, that's true but it's a disease nonetheless and unless you have this very stupid disease, you will never know just how frustrating and how incredibly annoying and irratating it truly is.

I remember when i was high school and continually short of breathe how upsetting a visit to the doctor's used to be. I'd always think how unfair life was that the rest of my immediate family didn't have to see a doctor half as many times as i did in their entire life and i even remember breaking down into tears in a crying fit after one visit while i was in the car with my dad, ranting and raving about how stupid asthma was and why i had to have it and how sick to death of being sick i was, i was desperate to be a labrat for the cure to asthma because of how much it sucked. A pat on the back and, "you'll be alright"???? How does anyone respond to that??? I'd had enough of visiting the doctor and of taking puffa after puffa after puffa to prevent and relieve my symptoms, something i've STILL, to this day,had enough of.

Boy, it used to make me livid and mad and cranky that I had to have asthma, i'd always question why it had to me and why it couldn't have been someone else. To this day i HATE having asthma. Honestly, unless you have this respiratory problem, you really will never understand how angry and how nuts it can make a person.

Your whole insides feel like they are being strangled and everytime you try and take a breath of air, it feels like your airways are about to cave in. I'm telling you, somedays it'd be nice just to be able to never have to worry about where your next breath is coming from. Sometimes when you cough, you take that big a breath that even your sides hurt because you're trying to take as much air in as possible......gahhhhh possibly the most frustrating thing i will ever have to endure on planet earth.

Soooooo......

Lately I've been thinking. I'd like to have a lung transplant please. I'd like to rid myself of this disease because at present there is no cure for it except to have a lung transplant. So I'd like a lung transplant.

However, there are some hurdles i need to get through first. I'm pretty sure they don't give out lung transplants willy nilly and they're reserved for life threatened patients. That rules me out. Also i'm not sure that they give out double lung transplants because that's dangerous. But if i pass these two tests, hopefully sometime in the near future i can have a double lung transplant.

I've heard that with lung transplants there is a huge risk that the patient could die and even if the patient doesn't die, they're only expected to live another five or so years longer. But i'm young and five years being asthma free would be five years definitely worth living and dying for!!!!! Only an asthmatic could understand that?!

I will be sooooooooo cranky if i EVER hear that a smoker has a lung transplant for lung cancer. That will make me very angry!!!!! Because asthma is something i've been born with, not something that has been self-inflicted, although i have heard that the milk you were fed as a baby could have something to do with this disease but i'm not going to blame my parents.

Just don't EVER let me come across someone who is having a lung transplant for their tobacco infested lungs! Because I WON'T be nice to them!!!!

Tink xoxo

Theory Corner - Part Four

Some friends and I were having a chat about sex the other day (as you do) and the conversation just got soppy and girly.

One of my good friends Rachel brought up this topic which I thought was good enough to blog and because i have my own theory on this, i thought it was good enough to be apart of the theory corner which i know you all thought was dead?! Only part four after all!!!

Rachel asked this question....

"Why do ugly/fat men get the good looking women but the ugly/fat women NEVER get the good looking men?"

And my response or my theory about this was:

"It's because women are emotional beings/creatures and care more about what's on the inside and in the heart rather than what other people look like (women have the flexibility to being more like Jesus than men, sucks to be a man hahaha), they like people for who they are and not what they could be.....at least most of them do. Whereas men on the other hand (most of them NOT all of them) don't care less about what people's hearts look like, they're much more concerned about appearance than anything else."

And you know what, it's sooooo true!!!!! I am yet to see a good looking man dating an ugly or fat chick.....if you know of any, let me know!!!!!!!

Man looks on the outward appearance but God looks at the heart - (phew) aren't i lucky?! I think that's some sort of bible verse!

Tink xoxo

Not content being content

I've been thinking lately at how content i seem to be and it's freaking me out.

For decades i've been trying to make people realise my potential and to actually find the person inside of me that God created me to be and screaming inside for others to know that as well.

This past year, I've felt like God has really been answering that prayer within me. It's not something he's 'boomed' upon me but simply something that he's slowly blessing me with and at any time could also take away from me so it's not something i take lightly nor do i take it for granted.

But lately i've felt content. Happy to be in the stage of life and at the level of spiritual maturity that i'm at. But i looked up the word content in the dictionary (because i had a mental blank and thought that content was the material in a book etc) and you know what the word content means??? It means 'not wanting anything more'.

That is the COMPLETE opposite of who i am or how my relationship with God makes me feel! I don't WANT to be content!!!!! Sure, i'm happy with the person that i'm panning out to be and the spiritual growth that is happening in my life and i AM content with God ie. there's nothing more i want than God but by no means does content mean the same thing as happiness. In fact, i've realised, and even always known deep down, that you can be happy being uncontent (is that a word, couldn't find that one in the dictionary!).

But the point i'm probably unsuccessfully trying to make, is that just because i'm at the point of life i've wanted to be at for so much of my life, doesn't mean that i am content. I DO want more but i want more of what God has for me, not more programs, not more responsability just more of God, all the things he has for my life, all the things HE wants me to be and i will keep striving to be that person no matter what it takes. I'll keep aiming at higher and better things because i know that's the excellence God requires me to strive for and because if i don't, i'll become, as i am now, content and that's when the alarm bells start ringing, they started ringing this morning when i left my house for work which prompted me to blog.

I wanna feel uncontent again, it's just such a good place to be and i never realised it more than i am now. When you accomplish all things you set out to achieve, there's a haunting feeling of, where now, what's next? And i don't want to be in that place. I want more!!!!! I want to be in that place again where I'm crying out to God saying, "hey Lord, i'm not content, give me more!!!!!".

YEA! WOO...that's what i want!

Tink xoxo

PS: I just looked out the window and there is an ad on a bus with some fortune cookies in the form of a human seductively sliding down a stripping pole - is that really necessary???? Why do ads stoop so low, why?? i was pretty peeved when i saw that! Just thought i'd share how disturbed that made me feel. Be disturbed, get uncomfortable, why tolerate unwholesome things???!

DFL

This blog is going to be difficult to put into words but i'm going to attempt to do it nonetheless so bear with me!

This weekend just gone i attended a weekend run by the Army of Salvation called Design For Life aka DFL. It was sooooooooo good.

Initially, on the Friday it started i started getting anxious about being there, but now, in hindsight, I'm glad i was chosen to go and I'm glad that God spoke to my heart in the way that he did.

We did a series of personality tests including spiritual giftings, our values and our passions and discovered who we are as individuals.

For some of us it was a little bit difficult to have to revisit past experiences but from other courses I've done, I know the importance and significance of doing that. It showed us some of the things that have shaped us into being the people that we are today. Even some of my bad experiences and lowest points in my life have been a positive as I'm a better person for it.

It was a weekend where God confirmed my desire to live and serve overseas but at the same time, confirming the work which i am doing in the process of being patient and waiting on God. David (a character in the bible) waited something like 15 or so years before he was annointed as King. That could be wrong but there are times in our lives when we have to be patient with the time frame in which our dreams and the plans God have for us come to fruition. I realised how important it is for me not lose sight of what it is God's placed in my heart because i don't know how long that's gonna be. I remember being reminded of this at Planetshakers (Christian Conference) in January as well.

I was also reminded that stuff is not going to happen by just sitting back. The things which i procrastinate about could very well be the sorts of steps i could be taking to fulfill God's desires for my life. Like moving back home. It's something i haven't been motivated to do but something which could be a small step to what it is God's got planned for me. So I've started packing with gusto haha.....knowing that God requires me not to just sit back and put it off but to engage in the things i don't want to do. Procrastination doesn't get us anywhere and yet I'm SO good at it!

Anyway, I really don't want to go into detail (although it's probably better for accountability) but i do want to say that the life trees we did of our past were a big highlight for me to see where i've come from. Also the facilitators were a huge thing. You know they prayed for us individually??? You know, people from around the Salvo's in my area were also praying for us BY NAME???? That blew me away - sure, fair enough, people were praying for us but by name??? For once in my entire life I just felt so important and valued and it meant so much to me that people believed in who i was and in my potential so much that they were uplifting ME in prayer. Not collectively but as an individual! How incredible! My facilitator prayed for me and shared with me passages in scripture that brought me to tears because they were relevant for my life - he spoke them INTO my life and because he'd prayed for me, it was exactly what i needed to hear - directly from God! Too cool!

God spoke into my heart about alot of things over that weekend and the timing of it couldn't have been any more perfect. So a huge thank you goes out to all the people who organised it, all the people who led the weekend, all the people who prayed for us - everyone involved in making me as comfortable as possible to enable me to be open to God's calling and the Holy Spirit moving SO powerfully in my life!

Wow, what a weekend! If you get the opportunity, don't miss out, you will NOT regret it!
See ya
Tink xoxo

PS: This didn't, by any means, do the weekend or how God spoke to me ANY justice whatsoever?!

Give Blood

Today (as the title suggests) i gave blood for the very first time. The sticker on my hand and the yellow dye on my arm are proof!

Going in for the procedure was a scary task in itself but i've come out the other side a new and better person.....not, really, it just sounded good!

I got really nervous and edgy about it because all these thoughts kept racing through my head such as what if i have cancer (i've always had a feeling that i'm gonna die from breast cancer!), what if i'm iron deficient, what if they tell me i have all these bad things and then there was the horrible thought of how much it would hurt!

Well in hindsight i can safely say now that i'm fine! At least for the time being! Sure, there's still a risk that they could find something bad in my blood but i gave blood so they can test it all.....they can't take my red blood cells until my next visit but they said they could use my plasma which was just as important. I also get to find out what blood type i am which will be cool and it's something i'm really excited about and looking forward to seeing!

So please still pray for my blood results that they're clean and healthy, also for my iron levels which i'm doubtful about.

When you give blood you have to go through rigmarol!!!! First you have an interview with a nurse which isn't too stressful except for the blood pressure machine, damn, i hate that machine, it can go to hell!!!! It really hurts, feels like it pinches your arm and cuts of circulation to your hand I HATE IT. Then the nurse pin pricks your finger to find out your haemoglobin levels which mine were fine. She was right when she said most patients say it hurts more than giving blood - it really does!!! It leaves a nasty stinging after effect!

Then you go and give your blood away and let me tell you, when you've never been before, it's a scary sight, 'specially if you don't like the sterile environment of a hospital!

I got over it and the nurse called me up, she was the most precious thing ever!!!! She made me feel comfortable and even told me that i had the best seat in the house coz it was near the tv - bleh, i'm not a tv fan so i felt bad for taking 'the best seat'.

Next TIM LEWELLYN was my nurse for the afternoon. He used to go to my old church and so it was really weird letting him take my blood, i felt so vulnerable!!!! I had actually wanted the young nurse who looked like Dr House to take my blood but he didn't, anyway, he was married?! hahah.....but anyway, we chatted about the church he now goes to and other Salvation Army things and he was really good to have! I expressed my worries to him and he said that as long as i didn't look at the needle going in, i'd be fine. So i didn't but it still hurt!!!!!! Damn, imagine having a thick blood-sucking needle hanging out of your arm, it's not a pretty sight! But i soon got over the paini and started watching my blood rock from side to side on their weird rocking scales! I became transfixed and a nurse called out to me from the other side of the room 'sweetheart are you feeling ok?' I broke out of the trance i was in and replied that i was fine. I think more than anything, it just made me really weary! I got really tired and just wanted to sleep, the chair i was in didn't help coz it was laid back. But i managed to stay awake for it, i didn't want them thinking i was dying or something. You also had to squeeze this little red thing every ten seconds to pump out more blood. Pretty soon my little bag of blood was getting full to the max! It truly was awesome and incredibly amazing what was happening! We have soooooo much blood you know - God is incredible!!!

Anyway so Tim removed the massive, giant sized syringe out of my arm and i was ordered to lay there and recover - that was boring but apparently they make all blood donating virgins do that! After it, tim escorted me to the tea room where i was again ordered to sit, eat, drink and relax. The nurses stuffed me silly!!!!! First she gave me a glass of water, then she gave me a ham sandwich and then she gave me a salad and then asked me if i wanted a popper, how could i resist, i LOVE poppers!!!! They kept asking me if i was ok, at one point they even asked Tim if i was ok when i was standing right there?! I was fine man?! Even tim was getting worried about me getting back to work.......geeez they must have a lot of passouts!!!!!

So that was my deflowering for donating blood, pretty exciting huh?! Well i'm excited and i'm so excited that i wanna book another trip to the blood dr again soon and take more people with me next time but i have to wait coz the date's not on their list yet?! aw mannnnnnnn..........

Today, i possibly saved someone's life and if that isn't the case then i at least helped someone on the road to recovery and as one of my good friends says, that makes me a legend!!! wooooooooooooooo.......

Apparently i get a keyring the next time i go but i am no longer a blood donor virgin and it feels great?!

So if you EVER get the chance to donate the blood that's just sitting under your skin that you apparently don't need, make sure you give your blood away, the nurses are over-grateful to you for doing it and even though it hurts a little bit, you will possibly save someone's life - what are you waiting for?! Someone is dying and you just might be their lifesaver - don't ya wanna be a hero?

GO FOR GOLD!!!

Tink xoxo

PS: I have a little bruise and hole in my arm where the mother of a needle went in to extract my blood! Awesome war injuries, could've been better though!

The word of the week

is....

INTOXICATING

i am in love with this word at the moment. Everything is...

INTOXICATING

Tink xoxo

Not Alike, Totally Different

It's kinda late - 11:42pm. I don't usually blog this late but tonight i'm just a bit exhausted and i dunno.......i guess i find spilling my guts in a blog somewhat unusually relaxing.

I got to thinking tonight, after everything was over and after i'd dropped home the young'ns, we're all such different people.

When i was thinking of it at the time, it was all just a little bit overwhelming.

I mean so often it just runs out of our mouth about how different we are and how special and unique we all are but how much do we really understand that phrase and how much to do we actually understand the major, dramatic differences between all of us???

All the different types of people amazes me and then to think that there are times when different people at totally opposite ends of the scale try to mix and match....for some it works but for others, unsuprisingly, it just doesn't happen.

A night clubbing person very rarely is going to hook up with a computer nerd.

In some ways we live in our own little bubble. We live in our own handmade world. What stimulates one person's brain, makes another person yawn. We've created an environment in which we fit, and rarely step out of that environment or otherwise known as a comfort zone.

Sometimes when i'm on 'thought overload', i'm inclined just to slouch back, sigh and just let life pass me by and let it go. When you remove yourself from the current of life and you step outside of the busyness and the expectations and the striving for excellence and you just watch everything happen around you, everything just seems too fast and just too crazy, people seem too far ahead of themselves. Sometimes all you wanna do is scream at the top of your lungs just stop, just....stop! The fast pace of life is almost intoxicating.

But yea, i slouch back again, sigh and let it go. Just excepting everything for what it is. Acknowledging the things that happen around me, ackowledging the difference of one person to the next, sometimes quite a big difference and just taking stuff as it comes.

I don't know why our individuality permeated my thoughts tonight.....maybe a lack of oxygen to my brain or too tired or just overheated or plain exhausted....no idea...but nonetheless i was just being in awe of who each one of us is and that there are so many different factors that make up who we are.

For some, this is just babble but for me it's letting go of everything that this week or this day has held and just letting go of everything....again.....

Tink xoxo
(12:03am)