Babysitting? Weather? School? Anything?

For a few days I'v had no idea what to blog about. So my friend Daniel suggested the above things and I shall use all four. Let's see...

Babysitting. I do it on occasion, generally with children younger than 10. However, yesterday I minded one of my mum's bestfriend's kids and they were, all three, 10+. It wasn't necessarily the age that made me slightly apprehensive, and I was slightly apprehensive, but more the fact that I was, but not closely, aquainted with them. It would have been much nicer, and I would not have worried about any awkwardness, if I had have known then extencivly or not at all - but to know them by aquaintance, well, and as individuals, slightly, was off putting. It turns out, however, that hardly any awkwardness was afforded for as, one, I was egar to entertain and, two, they were, for the most part, egar to be entertained. For the moment that's about all there is to tell on that matter. Oh, but Declan is the sweetest 10(ish) yearold I have ever met!

Weather. The weather has been nice enough lately, but still too hot and sunny really! The sky, however, has been glorious. The nicest light blues and puffiest, defined white clouds! My favorite weather, for autumn, is rain. cloudy and windy in the afternoon and the rest of the time just mild rain. oh, sometimes it would be fun to have really really heavy rain at night though, and thunderstorms too!! In winter it should snow most of the time with a couple of just cloudy days and a few blisards thrown in. In spring it should be mainly fine and coludy with light rain sometimes, and in summer it should be mainly fine but heavy rain sometimes and cloud coverage every now and then. Appart from that the UV rays should never get above 3 and it should never get any hotter than 23 or colder than -7. That would be my perfect weather scheme.

School. I swear the longer I'm there the more demeaned I feel! I feel like I'm almost an adult but no teachers will treat me like one! I just can't wait until the whole experience is over - 12 years of school is just too much. I am seriously fed up with it, but it would be a waist of a huge part of the last 11 years of my life if I dropped out now, and besides I want an op. I am definatly going to home school my kids! I will start 'lessons' when they are eight and only for two hours, four days a week. Then I will build it up as they get older until they are ready for highschool. Even then I'll probably not send them to a main streem school. I think that most of primary school is just baby sitting. We could learn it all in a few years rather than, including prep/ preschool, eight.

Anything. Today is my bestfriend's 15th birthday! congratulations are in order! A pinch and a punch for the first of the month and ummmmm... isn't this a nice picture!

It's the one I got from Coffs Harbour but it doesn't have any identification on it so I have no idea who painted the origional, this one's just a print, or when.

Steph xx

p.s. The picture of the picture is actually a mirror image so its reverse in real life.

Interests

My interests...

music
reading (and being read to - no I'm not too old)
discussing: philosophy, on and pertaining to christianity; physiology; sociology; ect
acting
writing
dancing, traditional - e.g. waltz (but not verry well)
walking (preferably through somewhere with lovely sourounds)
travel (although I haven't done much of it)
painting/ drawing
architecture
scenary
sky gazing
brids
trees and wild flowers
daydreaming/ fantasizing
op shopping
old fashioned things (in general)
wooden firniture (and things in general)
cooking and sewing (some what)
geography (countries and things)
talking
singing

I can't think of any more at the moment really

Steph xx

p.s. here's another nice picture for your enjoyment. The season is fitting too, even if most of our trees are not deciduous. Have I ever mentioned I love water mills?

The NEW Plan

Alright, so I'v been doing a bit of thinking about my future lately and I think I'v decided on the NEW plan! This one is a bit more reallistic and not so... pin pointed? It's just the important things and, again, it's just, God willing, what I'd like to happen.

finnish high school, 17
go straight into uni (creative industries at QUT majoring in drama and music), finnish at 20
work and travel for a year, 20 - 21
get married and do a post-grad year of teaching at UQ, 21-22
work for a year or so, 22+
have three kids, before 30
home school kids until high school
go back to work

Also I really want two boys and a girl and I still have specific names I like! The only thing I'm not sure about yet is what the 'work' stands for... but I'm sure that'll come in time. I also need to get a boyfriend at some point...

Steph xx

p.s. Arnt these pretty pictures, wouldn't you like to live in one of them?

Dusk

Dusk is my favorite time of day. It's when the sun has set beyond the visable horizon but the sky is still light - it starts with sunset and ends with twilight.

I live in a valley that is sourounded by hills on all four sides, so my dusk is somewhat longer than someone's who, say, lives on a prarie, becuase the sun here only has to set below the height of the mountains to the east - the tallest ones in my valley - rather than set below the level curve of the world. Here the foremost part of dusk is still quite bright; enough that you could be out walking in a park - which is, often, precisely what I do - but not so bright that everything looks white washed, as sometimes happens during the brightest part of the day. Rather, every colour looks deeper and richer and really just, in my opinion, much nicer.

Steph xx

Personality

As classified by Myers Briggs, I am an INFP/ENFP. Meaning, for those of you savy to the Myers Briggs tests, that half the time I am approximatly 48% E and 52% I, and reverse for the other half. However as far as N vs. S, F vs. T and P vs. J: I am high 80s + (%) for all of N, F and P.

After reading extensivly on both of my surposed personalities, I have decided that for the most part I am INFP, but I do have a couple of ENPF traits thrown into the mix. INPF being: Introverted, iNtuitive, Feeling and Perceiving. This makes me, acording to one website, 'the dreamer' - highly perceptive and introspective, and openly emotional. I do think about things alot... more than others I'v talked to... in third person too - is that weird?

While I'm on the subject of personalities: in the car the other day on the way to Girraween, we tried to sum up everyones personalities, as nuturally as possible, in four words. In a mannor of speaking I ended up with seven - 6 words and one phrase that we just couldn't find the perfect word for in the intended, specific context - relating to my personality.

singleminded
determined
protective
sharp
personable
opinionated
think-about-everything-alot (which come to think about it could maybe be introspective or maybe procrastinative - if thats a word - according to the oxford online dictionary the adjective of procrastionate is actually procrastinatory. Thank you oxford.)

Note: every word has a specific meaning when relating to me; and every strength can also be a weakness.

Taking the latter part of the above note, I'm sure that there are many arguments against those 7 words that could be found, but anyone who really knows me well would undoubtedly agree with them, as I agree with them myself, completely.

Going into all of them would take quite a while so if there are any specific questions comment and I'll answer them in my next blog but I will discribe one for you.

Personable:

I go out of my way to accomodate for the feelings, securities and accepted norms I percieve evident in others. Unfortunatly this means that I often find that I care greatly about what others think about me, or I sit there worrying that they will judge me negativly.

Steph xx

Easter

For God so Loved the World.

If I had a penny for every time I'v heard that! Its probably one of, if not the, most commenly quotated parts of scripture - especially at easter time. I'v heard it so much and so regularily that I think somewhere along the way I became a bit desensitised to the weight of its meaning.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.                                     John 3:16

how amazing is that love. When I was younger I always thought that it wouldn't be that much of a big deal - I would gladly die for poeple I didn't even know - but now that I'm older I can see that my apparent willingness to die for others comes with the knowledge that as soon as I'm dead I'll be in heaven - I'll be face to face with my Lord, and nothing else will ever matter again. So even the good that I would try to do, the sacrifice I would try to make, would be tained by sin. If I couldn't go to heaven, if I couldn't be with God after death, I wouldn't die for them. We are all desperatly wicked and I am no exception. In the back of my mind would always be the thought that "Ha! Now I get to live in perfection with God!"

But for Jesus there was no such greed. He had to face the seperation from not only his God, but in a way himself, all perfection and love, and his father - whom he had such love for, such perfect love, the thought of seperation from him caused, not only great, great mental but, physical angish! I mean he sweated blood! And yet he did it. He may as well have cast himself into hell for how he and his father suffered. He did it for us. For me and for you. 

I was listening to a song on the radio a little while ago, that said "she's the reason Jesus came." I commented to my dad that I thought it was a bit self-important to say so but he turned to me and said "Do you think that if it were only one person, if it were only her, Jesus wouldn't die to save her?"

I believe he would.

Steph xx