Not all Magpie fans are mean

This is a truth that mum and I discovered whilst taking a walk yesterday evening.

On our way home from the video store, we happened to see this poor little baby magpie just sitting in the middle of the road. A HUGE truck was coming down the street, and I thought 'That's the end for the poor magpie' but surprisingly, the driver actually saw the little bird and stopped for it and honked. When it still didn't move, the passenger rolled down his window and asked Mum and I "Where is it"

"It's right in the middle so you should be fine. Very cautiously the truck began to move forward, just when it did the magpie headed towards the other side of the road, right under the trucks tire. the truck passed and turned into the next street. I thought surely there would be smashed 'pie on the road, but there was the little guy slowly making it's way to the other side. Once traffic cleared I crossed the road, and rescued the little bird. Now I don't really like magpies (except for their beautiful call [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXBuxN1LwFs&feature=related] which always reminds me of my first morning in Australia.) they're huge, and annoying, and they swoop you, but as soon as I felt his soft fluffy baby feathers, and felt his feet grip me, I couldn't just let him stay and possible get run over, he couldn't even fly. So I scooped him in my arms and carried him with me. Less than half a block later, the truck driver came running after me.

"Do you still have him?" He asked

I told him I did

"Can you take a photo of me with him? See, I'm a 'pies (Magpie, Collingwood footy team ) fan."

I told him that even though I was a Cats (Geelong footy team) I would take it.

So I took the photo, of him holding the baby magpie, then he took a close up of it in my hand.

"He's a cute little guy isn't he?"

As we started to walk away, he asked if I was going to take care of him. I told him I would.

So I brought it home, showed it to the family. Dad told me I had to put it outside right that instant! So I put him in the grass, and gave him some worms, but he didn't eat them. Benjamin said I needed to chew them up first.

He's lasted a day now. I named him 'Lil Guy, and apparently magpies are very intelligent, and can learn to talk. I'm trying to get him to say 'Go cats' :) A mother magpie that lives in our yard, after 20 hours of just staring at him, finally adopted him, and has been feeding him, so hopefully he'll live, and learn to fly.

Happy Fathers Day!

10 things I'm glad my Father taught me (in no particular order) some of these are not exclusive to my Father - but hey, it's Fathers Day

So here they are: Dad, thanks for teaching me:

1. How to drive

2. To use a hammer properly

3. The names of tools

4. How to change a tyre

5. How to do personal devotion

6. The importance of words

7. About God, from His Word

8. how to plait

9. how to ride a bike

10. To answer the question, "What was the sermon about" on Sunday afternoons over lunch.

I love you Dad, happy Father's Day!

The Terminal

(somewhere between time and date zones)

So yeah, approximately 45 and a half hours ago, Benjamin, Tamara, and I left our front door in Frankston hoping to arrive at my grandparents door in Indianapolis 24 or so hours later...little did we know that instead we'd be
....
.......
..........
STUCK! In the Dallas Fort Worth Terminal

We had a lovely drive up to the airport. Nathan was kind enough to let me drive. Yummy bagel sandwiches, fruit, and Bingham coffee made for an excellent Brekky. We sang psalm 121, and Nathan prayed for our flight. We were dropped off at in Domestic Departures, and Benjamin said our goodbyes.
We then walked for 5 kilometers to where our check in actually was. It was nice to get in some physical activity before our LOOOOOOONG flight. So, once we were at our gate I did some skipping (or jump roping as Americans would say) until it was time to board. Going to America and they're gonna get ma-a-aried. The flight to Sydney was non eventful. We had second brekfasts (we stored our fruit, muffin, and juice away for later. Airplane coffe is not nearly as nice as Bingham coffee). I love going from a rainy ground to above the ground, to through the dark clouds to : The sun is shining, the tank is clean, and the skies are blue. I just want to go jump on the clouds! Once we made it to Sydney we had plenty of time to just mess around. So we went to the electronics store and played video games. Skipping in the Sydney International Airport. Having a D&M (literally a drink and a muffin), walking the hallway working on verses, bouncing my smiley ball. Benjamin even decided to do some skipping and running before our flight.
So we boarded, and thinking back now, it seems like that was weeks ago, so much has happened since then. But we were sitting in row 53 seats A and B. I was at the window, Benj in the middle, and a nice American guy on the isle. As we told Nathan on the way up "We don't go to the cinemas, we just fly on airplanes" And that's what I did. Between writing in my journal, reading my book, eating airplane food, sleeping, and gazing out the window, movies are a pretty good way to pass the time. One of my favourite things about the flight across the world is that you always get to see a sunset no matter what time you leave. And sunsets are always beautiful from the air! It's only 4:15 and already it's nearly dark because we're running away from the sun. Flying is too easy. We just jump on a plane and expect it to fly 13, 804 kilometers and poof - we're on the other side of the world in only 15 hours! WE'RE SITTING IN A CHAIR IN THE SKY!!!! So yeah, thank the LORD for technology, and for safety in traveling. That's one of the reasons I like to sit near a window so I can look out the window and see the sea below me, to remind myself that I am actually in the sky. I wonder what stars I can see when I look outside. It's beautiful. The stark contrast of the plane wing against the star filled sky, and the white clouds against the dark ocean. We were making good time because we had favourable winds, scheduled to arrive in Dallas an hour ahead of schedule. Until....it became evident that there were thunder storms and hail over Dallas. You can only have so much fuel on a plane, so we couldn't fly forever so we made a stop in Huston to fill up and wait for the storm to pass. At least I was able to sleep while we were on the ground. We could be flying through the air right now, but we're not, we're sitting in Huston Texas. IF I didn't look my window I wouldn't know the difference, it feels the same. At this rate it doesn't look like we'll make our flight, oh well, all in God's hands. So eventually the storms cleared, and up and away we went on to Huston. It's amazing how flat the buildings look from the air. And such blue swimming pools, tons of them! Oh look, there's Wal-Mart! So we landed, and everywhere you looked, there we're queues of dozens of planes just waiting to fly out. Hundreds of flights were delayed and even cancelled. As we sat on our plane, waiting to get to a gate I thought: Our flight is now flying through the air somewhere. Only one problem....we're not on it! After we made our way through customs though (Advantages of being dual citizens - you always get the short lines), and collected our luggage, and 'Look - our flight has been delayed for 3 hours, we might just make it!" So we checked our bags, and went to our gate. We waited right up until 7 O O, when our flight was scheduled to leave, and...it was cancelled. I got all freshened up and everything. So we had to go get in line at the gate
'No, you have to go to the service counter'
walk, walk walk
'Where is the service counter?"
'Just past that green exit sign'
Sign on revolving doors 'Once you exit, you may not re-enter without going through security. Security closes as 9:45'
'We'll be out way before that'
through the doors and up to the service counter
'You have to go to counter 20'
walk, walk walk
See the beginning of the queue 'Look at the queue!'
Walk a little further
'OH MY LANTA! Look at the END of the queue!!!'
wait, wait, wait. Wait some more. Talk to nice Asian family in front of us. Waiting, more waiting. Oh look, we've moved a foot (of course we have to talk in feet, inches, ounces, and quart) only 5,279 feet to go.
Waiting some more.
'We should ring Dad'
I wait in the queue, Benjamin goes to find a phone. Benjamin comes back
'I only have 10 cents'
'I only have dollars'
We wait some more.

‘I’ll sit with the bags, you stand in the queue’

Benjamin makes a friend

‘Can I borrow your phone?’

Nice man with phone lets us ring Dad.
Benjamin makes another friend

“Where are you headed?”

‘Indianapolis’

‘Us too!’

We wait some more. We trade places. I stand in the queue, he sits with the bags

2,140 feet later. Dad rings back.

‘I think this if for you’

I answer, no response. He rings again

‘I heard you and Benjamin’ that wasn’t Benjamin, it was the nice phone man.

‘I couldn’t hear you’

‘You should just try to get a hotel and fly out tomorrow morning’

Nice man with the phone finally gets a hold of the service desk, books a flight. He’s outa there

3 hours and 25 minutes later, we’re 2 people from the front. Nice Asian man gives us Japanese dried seaweed and sponge cake. Finally our turn

We wait some more

‘I can only get you a flight through Atlanta tomorrow afternoon’

Nice Asian man feels sorry that we have to stay in the airport an extra day and gives us more food. We stand with our Indy traveling companion and ask what flight he’s getting. Nothing. We tell ticket lady to try our flight. He gets on. She tells us if we get go through security we can get cots (My Australian brain thinks – why would they have cots to sleep in. Oh, she means stretchers J ) to sleep on and blankets.

We were worried that we wouldn’t be able to go through security until the morning. But thankfully they are still opened, even though it’s after 12 and they were supposed to close before 10. We introduce ourselves to our New Friend. His name is Cameron. Once we went through, we decide we might as well go to our gate, thinking gate C wouldn’t be the only gate with cots, surely E would have them too. We got on the skylink, and rode to gate E. It was very empty, and no cots, so we went back on the skylink to gate C, and there were two men driving a car full of cots! We chased him down, but when he stopped he said he had to go to C21 where he would be dropping off the cots We followed him down to C21 and got 3 cots. We found a place with power and set up camp. It was pretty nice if I do say so myself. We made another friend, Courtney, she paid for us to get internet since our Australian cards wouldn’t work. Then a nice lady came by with blankets. Talk about comfort. We brushed our teeth, got ready for bed, and suddenly I wasn’t very tired. So I went for a LONG walk through the terminal came back and decided to try to sleep. Benjamin was glad that I actually took my eye mask, and his (he wanted to leave it behind) from the plane. I put an odyssey on to drown out the noise of the loud speaker telling us about our liquids ‘Remember the 3, 1, 1 rule’ and ‘DFW is a non smoking facility’ I must have fallen asleep because I woke up to at the end of the Odyssey, and thought for a second I was in my bed in Frankston, until I realized something was over my eyes, then it all came back to me. I actually slept pretty well. From 2AM to 9:30AM, and I really only woke up 3 times. I got a bit cold and was glad for my blanket, but it was better than sleeping on a plane, at least we got to stretch out.

So now, we just wait. Our flight still says ‘On time’ to leave, so Lord Willing, we’ll be in Indianapolis tonight.

Note: The random italic phrases are things I wrote in my journal while in the air.

Sorry this is so long. With not a whole lot to do at the airport, you can only do some much reading and skipping, I rambled a bit.

Fullness of Joy

I’m out on the water, attempting to catch a wave. I look towards the shore and see my Father and Uncle coming down the stairs. Excitedly I wait until they are close and they can look out to see me try to catch a wave. Here one comes, I try. I ride it in for a while, but soon I fall off my board. That would have been a good one, but I missed it. I look again for another wave; I want them to see how much I’ve improved from that morning. I see them getting closer to my Mother and Aunt and I wait for another wave. The next time I look towards the shore I see the greeting of my parents and Uncle and Aunt. Each time I look they’re still hugging. Then....I realise, I paddle harder, no longer caring about the waves, just wanting to get to shore, and yet, not wanting to hear the news that I think will be waiting for me. I swim harder, and then run through the water, and finally, I’m there. I stand back, not wanting to hear it, not wanting to hear the news we’d been dreading. Tears sting my eyes but I blink them back furiously, thinking that somehow if I don’t cry, maybe I can stop this thing from happening. As I walk closer, my father looks towards me, his eyes red from crying. He says nothing, so I timidly ask “Grandpa died?” he just nods and tears fill his eyes. I can’t stop the tears now. All the adults step back and look at me. They tell me the details; he died about midnight, some family was with him, He is in no more pain. They also tell me not to tell the other children, they’ll tell them first. So I pick up my surfboard, and all else I can carry and walk back towards the car park. I have to look presentable because I’m not the one to tell my cousins and siblings, but I know that if they see me cry they’ll know. So I don’t talk to them much because all I want to do is cry with them. So I wait. The parents come and tell them and it’s like we don’t know what to do now. I hug my cousin and we cry a little. Within just a couple of hours it’s on facebook. My dad reads out the lovely things my aunts, uncles, cousins, and siblings have written. On the way home the memories are shared. My mum and her brother and sister-in-law especially remember the good times. How could such a wonderfully fun day end in such a hard sad way? I don’t know who first mentioned it, maybe my uncle ‘Let’s pray together’ so that even we all sit around the lounge room and we go around and pray for one another and the rest of the Coles, and we weep together. There wasn’t a dry eye left in the room, and what a wonderful time it was. We sing psalm 16 together ‘my glory rejoices my heart is made glad. And also my flesh will live safely at ease. For You’ll not abandon my soul to the grave, Your Godly on you will preserve from decay. Life’s path You will show me full joy is with You, Your right hand holds pleasures for me evermore’. On just the day before I prayed and asked God that he might keep Grandpa alive just a few days longer, just until my mum and Uncle get back to America, but he knew better. I am so thankful that my mum and my Uncle and his family were able to be with us. I’m glad we could share memories together, I’m glad we could weep together. And now, as my Grandfather is in the presence of His Lord, he truly has fullness of joy.

Finding the time

Since Monday morning I have had to step into the roll of

Mother, Teacher, Sister, Student all at the same time.

I am so glad that my mother is able, for three weeks, to visit her Father in America who isn't doing especially well, health wise.

This also means she is able to see my siblings who live on the other side of the world.

But it's not an easy act to follow. I am also so thankful for Dad, Tamara, and Benjamin who are maybe a bit more willing to help out with the Mother over the ocean blue.

So I continue to be a student - I started a course online through Australia Open Universities, doing a Bachelor of Education (Primary) course through Curtin University

I continue to be a sister/daughter and do my responsibilities of being a part of this family

I step into the roll of teacher as I, along with Tania (a homeschooling mum in our church) attempt to teach mums music class at homeschool group.

I also take up the responsibilites that Mother left behind, cleaning, cooking, washing, and keeping the home moving along.

So for the next 16 days I will do my role cheerfully as unto the Lord and not to men.

but Mother, come back soon.