So today is my last day. Like many others I will be off for the Christmas period, returning to work on 2nd January. Not bad, I get 11 days off while only taking four days annual leave. Yay for me. We are going to Tamworth to spend Christmas with my dad for four days but the rest of it I am just going to hang at home, go to the beach or coffee shops or movies or read or other kind of adventures. Mum and Keith will be around so that is fun too. I am very tired today so looking forward to the break.

Work is very quiet though, haven’t had much to do the last couple of days. I guess it’s not really the time of year when people are thinking about taking up a new long term volunteering opportunity. And all the ones that are in the middle of the process want to put it on hold until next year. I had visions of using this time to redesighn some of the posters and forms and things that I think need a bit of a rejig but I have been waiting for bosses approval on things for over a month now and I am tired of chasing her up about it. So I guess I might head our for another longer lunch.

I’m reading the Psalms at the moment which have me thinking much about gratefullness. I have been praying to God that I could be more grateful and each day I am trying to be more conscious of all the things I have to be grateful for.

I was reminded of this today. Last night I came home from community dinner and in conversation with Tom realised that we had people coming over for the next three nights and then on Saturday night I have Christmas dinner with my Sydney family and then off to Tamworth where I am sure there will be lots of family gatherings and celebrations. Last night all this was seeming a little overwhelming but then today I had a phone call from someone in our program. She was feeling incredibly anxious and depressed and thinking about going into hospital. For her Christmas is difficult time as it is reminder of the friends and family she doesn’t have. She said to me. “I am very sure that we were not made to be alone.” All of a sudden I felt very grateful about all the social gatherings I have had this past week and have coming up and I gave thanks.

Lots of fun was had this weekend. The highlights include:

Martin not working Saturday so we could slepp in together in the morning
Getting all the washing done in the new machine and hanging on the new line
Free vegetarian pie cause it was free pie day at Garlos
Getting the Christmas shopping finished without having to go to Broadway
Wrapping presents with Martin
Having a good swim with not people there
Watching Pans Labarynth
Going to church
Having a picnic at Glebe with Martin, Matt, Ryan and Andrew
Playing Frisbee
Seeing Mic Conways National Junk Band with Andrew and Cathy
Going to give a hamper to a very friendly woman and her gorgeous blind dog.
Relaxing at home on Sunday night

On Sunday the minister of our church announced that he would be resigning. It came as a real shock. I had absolutely no idea, in fact he didn’t either until about two months beforehand and had only had it confirmed on the Friday so I guess there was no way for me to know. Anyway, it was very sad news. He has been an amazing teacher, leader and friend and it is incredibly disappointing to think that he won’t be around next year.

I don’t think I’ll write much more than that. Yesterday I thought that I had come to terms with the idea but today I am feeling all negative again. I guess I just have to keep praying and hoping and trusting.

This is a story for all the tea/teapot lovers, mainly Jemma Castle and my mum who first introduced me to teapots.

Last week I bought a teapot from the St Vincent de Paul. It was $2 which I thought was a bit of bargain but the volunteer didn’t seem to agree with me. She asked, “what do you want that for?” I told her I wanted to to make tea. She appeard somewhat perplexed and said, “well you can have it for a $1”. I only had a $2 coin so I gave her that and said I was happy to pay two.

So I took my new/old teapot and began my journey home. I was still pretty chuffed with my purchase, even if the woman didn’t share my enthusiasm. I had not requested a bag so had to walk all through Chatswood carrying my teapot, for the world to see. And then on the train it sat perched in my lap while I read my book. I admit I may have looked a little bit silly and I was feeling starting to feel somewhat embarassed when people started to look at me and my teapot but I was suprised at how suprised people seemed to be. It was as if they had never seen a teapot before.

I guess in this day and age where everything is so efficient and quick and busy is our mantra teapots must be out. I mean if one wishes to make tea with a teapot they must first boil the water (preferably from cold) and then pour it over the tea leaves. Then cover it with a cosy and wait for a couple of minutes for it to brew. Finally it is ready for pouring. Then if one wishes to truly enjoy their tea they must stop what they are doing, sit down and drink. It is true this takes much more time than having a tea bag but I am grateful for that. I am grateful that everything good is not necessarily efficient. I am grateful for this daily reminder to stop, to take a rest, and enjoy the simple things that God has given us.

It’s not a very creative title I know but appropriate for what I am going to write about and I can not deny I am such a fan of the slogan. It’s the daggiest thing ever but it so works.

I guess it is old news now but I am pleased that Kevin Rudd won the election. While my initial enthusiasm for him dwindled as he became more and more conservative (so much so I didn’t even vote for him in the end) I still think he will be better PM than John Howard and I am holding on to hope for a more just Australia. I am holding out hope for an answer to my election prayer. While I don’t think he will address all the issue on my list I am looking forward to a withdrawal of our troops from Iraq, a slight increase in foreign aid, the ratification of Kyoto, a dropping back of workchoices, some improvements in health and education and a rethink of the NT intervention.

So Tom you can tell anyone who heard your sermon that even though it is quite cloudy today the sun is shining a little brighter for me.

Today in my quiet time I wanted to pray for the election. I find that sort of thing hard though and wasn’t sure what I would say. So I opened the Bible to the Psalms which I am reading at the moment and I happened to be up to psalm 72 which is this:

Give the gift of wise rule to the king, O God,
the gift of just rule to the crown prince.
May he judge your people rightly,
be honorable to your meek and lowly.
Let the mountains give exuberant witness;
shape the hills with the contours of right living.
Please stand up for the poor,
help the children of the needy,
come down hard on the cruel tyrants.
Outlast the sun, outlive the moon—
age after age after age.
Be rainfall on cut grass,
earth-refreshing rain showers.
Let righteousness burst into blossom
and peace abound until the moon fades to nothing.
Rule from sea to sea,
from the River to the Rim.

Foes will fall on their knees before God,
his enemies lick the dust.
Kings remote and legendary will pay homage,
kings rich and resplendent will turn over their wealth.
All kings will fall down and worship,
and godless nations sign up to serve him,
Because he rescues the poor at the first sign of need,
the destitute who have run out of luck.
He opens a place in his heart for the down-and-out,
he restores the wretched of the earth.
He frees them from tyranny and torture—
when they bleed, he bleeds;
when they die, he dies.

This is now my prayer for the election.

The last couple of days have been pretty full farewelling Jo. On Saturday Jo had her farewell party. I couldn’t make it as I had to work. This was very disappointing for me but I did get to go to Coogee beach with her in the evening. This is a bit of a tradition for Jo and I who have on a few occasions, when one of us had to work/study on a Saturday, gone there for a swim. It was my first beach swim of the season and it was beautiful. Matt, Louisa, Martin, Ryan, Tom and Jessica also joined us so that was fun too and we had a BBQ.

On Sunday I went to Jo’s church to pray with the community there for her and on Monday we had our last house dinner. We went to China town for noodles and beer. Tuesday was Jo’s last day so we had out last swim and pancakes and went to the car wash to wash our cars. Another tradition. The day before Jem left we did this and the day Jon left Tom got his car washed too. In the evening we went to communuity dinner and we prayed again for Jo and then finally yesterday we dropped at the airport.

It has been a pretty sad time for me. I am going to miss Jo a lot. Her constant and gentle presence in our home, her ability to listen and reflect compassionately, her committment to people, her energy and her sense of fun. I am going to miss talking to her, praying with her, eating with her and watching seachange with her.

On the other hand, I know this is something she has wanted to do for a long time and so I am excited about what she is doing. Well, like Tom said, I am excited about what God is doing through her and that even though it is a long way away we will all be able to support her different ways.

I am inspired by the fact that I am surrounded by people, my friends and family, who do not aspire to live easy, comfortable, risk free lives. I am inspired by the fact they are people who do not seek money, privelege or power. Instead they seek to live serving others and God in the pursuit of justice. For many that will be here in Sydney but for others it will be in other states or countries and so while this means that we as a community will often be farewelling someone I am grateful as it inspires me too. And I am excited about the adventures God will lead people on and I hope that we continue to do this together no matter where we are.

Finding it hard to get motivated at work. Lots of jobs I do not want to do today and boy oh boy have I managed to procrastinate. All non urgent, not very important jobs are done. Inbox is pretty empty. And I have spent way too much time on the net. My facebook page has all these added applications and now I am blogging. It is silly really cause if I had just done them when I got in, they would probably be over and I would feel much better.

My mum lives in Alice Springs, my dad lives in Tamworth and my sister lives in Melbourne however today they are all in Sydney so we hung out. We went to Coogee Beach for lunch to celebrate me finishing uni and then we checked out the Sculptures by the Sea. We didn’t get to see all of it as it was very wet and we had to sit in a shelter for awhile but we had fun anyway. I quite like the beach when it is stormy, at those times it really feels like the ocean is trying to say something. It was great to have them all around. I couldn’t imagine three people who I’d rather spend my first day not being a student with.