First day?

Same as below. I received this one too!! I would hate to be the soccer player!!

Soccer Stretcher, funny!

I got sent this via email at work and had to share!

Aarons other band - Underoath

This is our alarm everymorning! Great start to the day!! :)

The Almost - Say This Sooner

this band is the brain child of the lead singer - aaron gillespie. in fact the whole cd was written by him and he played all the instruments on the recording. lead singing is merely his 'night' persona, during the day he's in another band called underoath, who he drums for.....in fact i would say he is up there right alongside travis barker as my favourite drummer!!!anyway, hope you like the song (which i think is dang catchy!)and the clip, it's the first single off his album which is coming out early april. cya!

-Russ

Forge WA - Herding Cats

I know I didnt give the best wrap for the last Forge 'do', but doesnt mean that I wont promote any other Forge events. Im even thinking of going to this one....if theyll have me back :)

Check the info out here. Mark Sayers and Tim Hein are speaking, and even though I havent heard them myself, I have heard that they are good quality.

Make sure you get registered early so that you can get the early bird special, otherwise you can just pay the $50 which is still pretty cheap.

There are also clips/mp3's you can listen to of Mark here and here and here! (they are all separate links).

This is about "The Challenge of Mission and Discipleship Among Young Adults" - so check out the details and sign up!

Calendar quote for the day

"TV Stations are surely doing their part in the ecological cycle by the way they recycle their old films."

- W.G.P.

Cover beauty

I am launching an attack on these magazines.

These are detrimental to the young women of our society and I am sick of seeing them everywhere and the powerful influence they have.

The other week I picked one up and bought it. I felt like reading a trashy magazine, but I didnt expect half the junk I read.

No wonder young girls and ladies are having identity and self-esteem issues! I can almost guarantee you find these three things on each cover:

1) Sex positions

2) New diets or fads to make you look better

3) Ways to nab a man

We are no longer a society where the value of a woman staying at home and raising decent citizens is valued. We as women are constantly told to be independent, that we dont need a man, and even to put our eggs on ice!

We are being bombarded with images of what a successful woman looks like. She is a man-eater and climbs the corporate ladder. She can out-wit any man at work and wears the pants in the relationship.

What I find to be a conflicting message is that the magazines and the media are promoting women not needing men, but also in the same issue, promoting how to have a fantastic relationship. How can you have a decent and worthwhile relationship with a guy, or anyone for that matter, when you are trying to wear the pants and win the "Miss Independent" title at the same time?

I was shocked when I read about women putting their eggs on ice. I was also shocked when I heard a friends mum tell her to think about putting her eggs on ice because she is 28 (this year) and hasnt got a man! I just wanted to scream "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU ALL?"

Truly, what is? Why do we have to constantly be battling to be the higher sex? Why?

All these magazines do is damage. They damage the image and self-esteem of many young women, but they also damage society. If we keep telling women that you dont need to have children or marriage to be happy, that you just need to work and be independent, then we are going to continue to raise a generation of young women with HUGE issues. Im not saying that every woman out there should be getting married and popping kids out like theres no tomorrow, but if we continuall downplay this important role, then we are going to have serious consequences.

I am tired of seeing all these magazines and their typical story lines. Lose weight, Look fab in 1 hour, read these secret sex tips and be a goddess in bed in one weekend! I am tired of the junk that society is producing, and I am missing seeing the value of a woman who is truly confident in herself. Who is prepared to go against the flow and not give into societies every whim.

I am guilty of having read this trash. I am guilty of having believed it, but I just hope that we can look at the shape "womanhood" is taking and stand up against it. As a christian woman (maybe chick) I hope that I can keep putting my strength in Christ and find my confidence in him. I am guilty of hating my body and wishing I could trade. Im guilty of not eating a couple days in a row, just to lose a couple of kilos, but I hope that as Ive realised the influence that the media and society are having on me, I will be able to turn to God and find my beauty in him. I pray that any chick out there that is having issues with self-esteem can look past what society deems beautiful and successful, and look to the one who created us.

I plan to send my thoughts onto these magazines, and I will let you know how I go.

tear for a tear

I think I may have to retire my nape piercing. *snif snif*.
Today at work I tore it. I was playing with it (naughty I know) and I accidently tore the hole a little bit! I dont want to have to take it out yet, so Im going to try and see if it can heal at all....if not, its going to have to go into retirement!! NOOOOOO!!!

I should have listened!

Last night I polished off a whole bag of prunes. I shoulda listened to Russell when he told me to stop...but no. I wanted my prunes.

I told Russell when I finished them off that it had only been 1/3rd full...but it was more likely 3/4's. I dont think Ill have prunes for a while now. Russell asked while I was rolling around in pain in bed if I had learnt my lesson and if I would eat another bag again. The fact that I hesitated, gave my answer away. I just love them too much!

Feb 14th @ Youth

On Valentines Day at youth, Russell put together a whole heap of games for the guys. Above is Odette getting ready to pick out her team mates by being blindfolded and spun around with the bow and arrow. Whoever she hit with the arrow was on her team.
"Dont shoot, dont shoot!"

Jenny then got to pick her team mates.

Pete getting ready for the wheelbarrow race. Teams had to race up to a bunch of roses, pick up 1 stem in their mouth, and then race back.

And the races begin!

Mitch trying to pick up a stem

Russell coded the messages that were attached to the rose stems with numbers. We took the guys mobiles off them and told them they had to figure out what letter corresponded with what number. The hidden message was "It is better to have loved and lost, than to not love at all".

Calendar quote for the day

"Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth"

John F. Kennedy

Food fights and the like.

I would just like to say how fed up I am of irresponsible Christians.

My old youth group had a spaghetti fight on Friday night. I HATE FOOD FIGHTS with a passion.

How is this being responsible with what we have been given? I have never been able to bring myself to begin a food fight, or be involved in one (I may have been in one when I was 10, but I honestly cant remember).

How can people participate in one of these with a clear conscience. I am constantly amazed by the thickness of some Christians today. We are becoming more and more materialistic, and more and more foolish.

Grow up guys, and Im so glad my sister didnt go on Friday night. I will stand behind her 100% and if I hear of more rumors going on behind her back....beware the wrath of bek will surely follow.

Look for yourself...cos Im not posting on it!

Go check this out.

Theres a good conversation going on, and I think its about time someone posted about it!

You Communicate Like a Man

When you communicate, you like to get to the point. You're not afraid to say what's on your mind - and leave it at that. Talking about your emotions drains you. You rather keep them to yourself. You prefer solving problems to wallowing in your sorrows.

Do You Communicate Like a Man or a Woman?

Hmm....interesting. Considering this is bek's result!

Offload

I need some help. Some serious mental help....

Well maybe not that serious, but still.

Of late I have been discussing with Russell about needing someone that I can kind of offload onto. I currently do not have anyone in my life that I trust enough to unload some of my burdens, thoughts, and life onto. I think I need a shrink half the time because I feel so messed up because I have to continually internalise my thoughts and feelings. I do have Russell, but even when I talk to him about certain issues I have to censor some of my feelings in order to not hurt him!
I need someone who wont tell me Im wrong for feeling a certain way, and who wont go spreading my 'secrets' and thoughts around the church. It has happened too many times, and I cant handle it happening again....it would break me.

So....I just thought I would throw it out there and just see if anyone knows someone I could unload onto a couple times a year, or a cheap shrink? And possibly....someone who doesnt know my dad or family (just so no judgemental opinions are formed).

When my son grows up he will...

Is teaching your son to hit back if he is getting bullied wrong?

At our small group we are reading through ‘Wild at Heart’ and one of the stories that John (the author) shares is when his son told him that he was being bullied at school. He told his son that if the bully hit him again, that he is to hit him back.

I don’t know about you, but I was shocked when I first read this. However, after thinking about it and discussing it thoroughly I believe I would do the same should my son (God willing) be caught in the same situation.

Is this wrong? I don’t know. I don’t think anyone can say whether it is wrong or if it is right.
We have been commenting over at Middo’s blog about it and I always find it interesting to hear how people feel about it. So…..tell me how you feel about it!

PARAMORE: Emergency

This is the same band as below, but just a newer clip. Enjoy!!

PARAMORE: Pressure

This is a band to keep your eyes and ears open for.
Big things are being said about them in their reviews and we believe they are going to have a huge future!

(the chick is only 17!! and the drummer only 15!!!)

help!

Does anyone know how to stop my sidebar from dropping all the way down to the end of my page please?

yet again

Sorry about all the template changes that have been going on.

Russ and I are wanting to get one soon that will have a pic of us up the top and that is a little more 'us'. We are just not too handy on the old computer so we need to arrange time with friends to help us.

So we are going with one that is a little more basic and then we will hopefully, gradually, update with our style.

Flu be gone

Work was offering free flu vaccinations.

I thought...cool its free and I can get out of work for 1/2 an hour!

Im soooo scared of needles that I got all worked up and am now sitting at my desk (after getting the shot) feeling like Im gonna puke in my bin.

To top things off...my big boss, and I mean big boss from VIC is over and he decided to come with me when I got the shot. I was all wobbly in the lift afterwards, and he wasnt really to keen on having to carry me back to my desk, should the need occur.

The things I do when I see the words "free" and "1/2 hour out of work" !!

Earth Hour

I saw this on Scotts blog the other day, and decided that I would love to be able to do it. I will chat with Russell tonight about it and make sure he is ok with us doing it. Im sure he will be fine with it, I just dont want to announce that we are doing it when Russell doesnt even know yet!

I digress....

I was thinking about how it would be great if businesses and organisations got on board, and how that would help make a huge impact. Little did I know, but this BIG organisation I work for, has signed on. So every head office and hopefully every branch will be joining in on this. How cool is that!? We are also looking at becoming carbon free by 2010. Im not completely sure what this is, but I think its a good thing :)

Jump over to Scotts site and see what Im talking about - sign up if your not already on board with this initiative.

All is well....

As some of you may have seen in this post Scott and I had a little 'disagreement'. We had a juice and a chat on Friday and have come to amends. Its safe to say....he's still my friend :)

I appreciate Matt and Jacky commenting and I hope you guys dont hate me or feel that Im being completely unreasonable in regards to your 'thing' (the Joondalup thing) I dont know if I am supposed to 'name' it anything. I do respect what you have all done. Its a pretty big call to leave your home church and start your own thing. You will/have probably copped a lot of flack from people and I didnt wish to add to that. I just have some concerns, but that doesnt mean I am completely writing you off.

I hope that everyone is ok and that I didnt hurt anyones feelings. If I did, Im sorry. I know its not really much chop apologising via the internet, but I doubt I will see any of you in person any time soon.

Also....a big thankyou to Scott for taking the time to clear things up with me. I appreciated being able to chat with you and Im glad that no elephants decided to hang around :)

Just thought I would let you all know that everything is a-ok!! And yes I know, I need to post my notes up...Im getting there alright!!

Bunch of Crims

Now I know Im going to have all the Eagles fans up in arms, but what an idiot! Im sorry Russell, but I cant pretend to like them :)

If you havent heard the news recently, Mr Cousins is currently suspended indefinately without pay for "breaking team rules". I wonder if they mean 'drugs'. For a young talented athlete to throw away his career like that, he'd have to be an idiot.

im ashamed to admit this....but

I really enjoyed myself at youth last night! (which is a big deal for me!)

We played heaps of water games. We had water balloons, and sponge races, and all these fun games, and since we had an uneven number I had to join one of the teams.

I usually dont like to get involved and just help out wherever needed, but Im really glad that I did. I had so much fun with the kids, I was screaming like a little girl and running around giggling all night.

We ended up having a bit of a water bomb fight at the end of the night, in which I believe I won as I managed to get Russell and Petey without them getting me back!! (I had a secret hiding place).

All the credit has to go to my man, russell, he came up with the games and it was a fantastic night. I spoke about the thirst our souls have, and that things like drinking, sex, and other religions are just imitations of the real thing. They are like a soft drink or a soda water, they only quench the thirst for a short while, but nothing compares to the real deal.

I had so much fun that I told all the girls that next week we would handmake invitations and invite all our girly friends for a sleepover. I then woke up this morning and thought "what have I done!!" It should be fun though.....

WELCOME!!

Welcome to our new blog design!!

I know its still a little girly, but....hopefully one day we will have a blog that has our photos and our very own designs up!

But for now, enjoy!!

Incubus - Anna Molly

This is my favourtie song at the moment.
I love his new tatt on the back of his neck, i love the melody, i love the music, i love the harmonies, i love the size of his plugs!!
These guys are amazing -PLEASE WATCH THIS CLIP!!
AH - I cant rave enough about them. They are truly blessed with talent

May God bless us with a baby boy so that we can name him after this amazing artist!!

I dont know how that happened, seeing as I nearly peed my pants at the tomb raider show at Adventure World!!

You Are Lara Croft

"Everything lost is meant to be found."

What'>http://ynr.blogthings.com/whatsuperheroineareyouquiz/">What Superheroine Are You?

Frustration 2

When I have to admit to my husband that he is right, and I am wrong.

Dontchya hate that!!

Frustration 1

I think the church would be better off sometimes if people who are slowing down the progress of a church, single-handedly, need to get off at the next stop.

This is my first of many frustrations for the week so far.

Air Jordan & acceptance.....huh?

Whoa! 2 posts in 2 days...can you actually believe it?! this time i might actually say more than just random ramblings :) as you may or may not know, i have recently read Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis (i actually read it before bek!i don't think i have ever read a book before her!) and there has been a thought that has really stuck with me over the last month. it's the part where Rob Bell talks about the fact that the disciples of Jesus would of been people who had already been rejected to be disciples of another rabbi and that in Jesus calling them to follow Him he is kind of sending out a message that all are able to be His disciples, not just the spiritually elite - sorry if that sounds really confusing!(Check out the NOOMA dvd 'DUST' which also deals with this thought).
Anyway, i got to thinking what the disciples would of actually felt when Jesus called them in this context. if your not familiar, Jewish men would spend the majority of their youth studying and learning off by heart the Old Testament - all of it - and would then go before a rabbi and he would say "come follow me" if he thought the kid was made of the right stuff, or he would say"go work in your family's business" (or something like that) if they weren't good enough. so the disiciples then had already been rejected and "banished" to the family business when Jesus turns up. imagine that, spending your entire youth devoted to learning something and then being told your not good enough. imagine how rejected they must of felt. but then Jesus comes and says that they can do that which they were rejected from, they can be disciples, in fact they can be the direct disciples of God himself!that's pretty cool.
this got me thinking about what this might look like today. obviously we in the western world miss a lot of that background stuff and the call of Christ to follow him then loses impact on us as we haven't felt the sting of rejection from that calling already and the incredible acceptance that Christ is offering through the call to follow Him. so i thought about what i spent my youth (oh so long ago that was!) devoted to.
i was mad on basketball. i played it from the age of 5 right through to the end of year 12. at times i would be training 2-3 times a week as well as playing 2 games a week. it occupied a lot of my time and i thought i was pretty good at it. i then tried out for a basketball scholarship going into year 8 expecting to hear the call of the program saying "come follow me" but instead i was told i wasn't good enough. for me, this sort of rejection in my life is the closest i can parellel to the rejection of the disciples when they were young.
i then got to thinking what my "Jesus" figure would of been in this instance......all i could think of was Michael Jordan. that's right, i thought of Air Jordan himself, coming to me in my current fittness state (which isn't that good i can tell you) and saying "hey i want you on my team, come follow me". as crazy as that scenario is, i can imagine how significant that call would be, how accepted i would feel after that and how hard i would want to work for and devoted i would be to M.J himself for the oppotunity. i guess my question is, what is your rejection and what would your "Jesus" look like in that circumstance? because i feel that it has been helpful for me to reflect on this just to gain a little more insight and understanding to the acceptance that Christ offers us in the midst of a world that is telling us we are not good enough.
that's my rant for the day.i hope i haven' t confused or bored you and made you never want to come back again.....because if that's the case i think i mite have one very unhappy co-author living in the same house as me!
God bless!

the elusive nape

I had a little scare on the weekend.
On Monday I took out my nape piercing so that I could give it a wash out at the beach. We went to Carnack (I dont know how to spell it) Island and spent the day swimming and sea-biscuiting. I thought it would be a great chance to help the old piercing along and it would be great to help get rid of a small infection.

When we got home I was getting ready to put the bar back in and realised (well Russell did) that the 2 holes had closed over!! NOOOO I wasnt ready to relieve this piercing of its duties!
I was sooo upset. I didnt want to take this one out, Im too attached to it. So being as stubborn as I am, I made Russell push the bar through the closed hole. I gritted my teeth and the poor guy had the pleasant task of semi re-piercing. It was just the first layer of skin that had closed over so once he got through that it was ok. I pushed it through the other end myself. Crisis averted - all is well!

That was a close call!!

oh my goodness - HE POSTED SOMETHING!!

i thought i'd better!

howdy all! this is "the not so newly appointent but first time blogging co author and husband to the beautiful woman who started it" russell here! i thought i had better post something out of fear of having my blogging lisence taken off me before i even got a chance to test drive it.
i was hoping to have something significant, or not so signifcant..... or just something at all to post to you all for my first entry but that didn't happen. i had a video lined up until i got confused as to how to get in on here and gave up(you can see i'm just as technically challenged as my wife!). so for now it's a simple "hi how ya doin?" and i'm looking forward to blogging all of my deep dark secrects with you all.....mmmm maybe i'll start with something else:)
cya!

busy bees #2

I mentioned in my post below that Russ and I had gone out for a coffee and a chat. For some reason, when I wrote that sentence I felt really old. I thought, "Is this what it has come to? Russ and I meeting up for coffee’s – to chat!?!"

However, I have found these times spent with him have been so refreshing, and a chance to catch up with each other, which wouldn’t happen at home in front of the t.v.

At the start of the year we decided that we would purposely put time aside to spend with each other. We actually put this on the calendar and in the Palm (little computer thingy Russell uses at work). This has been so beneficial. As events come up (as they often do all year), when we go to our diary/calendar/palm, we can see if that is a date that we have set aside to spend with each other or if it is free. That way we aren’t constantly putting away our need to spend time together and replacing it with another meeting or event.

The last 2 weeks we have had something on every single night. Mon – indoor cricket, Tues – people over for dinner, Wed – youth group, Thurs – Small group, Fri – Russell went to a gig, Sat – night off, Sun – netball, and then all over again for the next week.

But when we have set aside time (say the Sat. night) we are able to catch up on what happened during the week. For example…this week I had something that I needed to share with Russell, that happened on Mon. I didn’t get to tell him what happened till Thurs. as there was absolutely no time to tell him beforehand! How crazy is that?

Our weeks are far too busy – I’ll be the first to admit that. However, these 2 weeks have been circumstancial. They are not usually this busy, and they SHOULD be slowing down for the next few weeks.

I’m just glad that we set aside the time when we did, otherwise I’d still be waiting to tell Russell what happened in my life this week, and waiting to hear what happened in his.
Just a little advice to all those in relationships – don’t let life and work get so busy that you can’t spend any time together. Relationships are one of the most important thing someone can have. If your life is so busy, and you can’t make time, then you never will. Set aside the time now, before things get too out of control.

Weekend away

This weekend Russ and I are going away with our small group and are going to be staying in a holiday house together. We will either end up even MORE of a family, or scratching each others eyes out.

I’m sure it will be fun either way.

my surprise

Yesterday I had an RDO and decided to surprise my husband by paying off the rest of his layby on a new drum kit. He didn’t know that I had made a couple of payments on it and that yesterday I planned to have it home for him. I love doing these sort of things.

We went out for a coffee and a chat in the arvo and it was so hard to not tell him what I had done! Unfortunately, since his kit is brand-stinking new and is still in a nuts and bolts stage, I couldn’t bring it home. The guy at Mega Music said he would put it together and tune it and that Russell could pick it up tomorrow (today). I decided that since I couldn’t bring home the kit, I would buy him something to open (I’m a real sucker), so I bought him a double-kick and a new stool.

When we FINALLY got home I took him into our room and told him to close his eyes. I put the stool in his hands (the look on his face was awesome) and then told him to open his eyes. I also gave him the receipt of his layby that showed a 0.00 balance. I get so much joy out of giving to people. Russell is usually the one who benefits the most out of this.

What made me even more happy was the fact that while we out for coffee, he was a little depressed asking if we were still going to be able to pay off this layby. In the past he has also mentioned that we should just cancel the layby and forget about it, so it was so fun to surprise him with a nil balance!!

I said to him that night "I’m a good wife you know." To which he replied "Yes, I know, I’m a good husband too!" I guess his right J