We LOVE our Rugby. All Blacks win the World Cup.

I love this video of the crowds watching the game on Sunday night...just shares an insight to human emotion, even if it is just a game. 


I am a proud kiwi at the moment!

Our World Champion All Blacks! from Jared Brandon Productions on Vimeo.

A few sweet moments

My favourite, MOST favourite time of the year is Spring. I love the clear, crisp blue skies, the birds chirping, flowers emerging and the new beginnings. It is such a beautiful time and I am enjoying it greatly. 

 Sunrises and sun shine meant that I got to wear my jandals for the first time since summer. . . mmm

 Flowers are starting to bloom

 Precious friends visiting and making my worlds collide from all over the world again.

 Baking hearts

Take Heart

It's been an interesting month or two, ones that have landed my head in many different places. All places have been good to go, to explore and to really ponder. Some that have been familiar to me in the past, and some unfamiliar.

My most intense and scary place is thinking about and considering my future. You see, I have been the person that has jumped on board any adventure that I could, if an opportunity was presented, then I took it - of course I considered and weighed my options, you'd be foolish not to. But this space is different, it is full of the unknown, of really heavy considerations for life in my future, of what that may look like in my 30s, and how I want to set myself up for that now. I want to be flexible, still able to jump on board adventures, I want a sustainable career, I want to not be bored and complacent, I want to be able to give and be generous with all that I am and have, and I want to be able to be secure and comfortable.

I have been asking myself what the priorities are for me in life. How are they different from what they were 5 years ago and how might that be different in 5 years time? It's a crazy thought this future thing, and it has spun me out a little bit. I am glad I have not had my head in that cloud before because it's hard - it's hard to predict life and its paths and journeys that you encounter. I don't think we really can predict, but I'm thinking more and more that we can plan.

PLANNING. I thought I finished with the whole teacher thing? I didn't think I had to have a plan for every day anymore, or every semester or year. I don't want to plan, never have, and have always hated it. I'm a 'fly by the seat of my pants' girl, and the good old kiwi attitude of 'winging it'. But, I'm just not sure it's going to cut it anymore. I don't think I can just 'wing' this thing called life.

So as I am trawling through options that I have for my life and future, I just guess I have to take heart, and be secure that it will all be worked out in the end. I have complete faith and security that life will be good, fun and full, but it's the in-between areas that I am not so secure in. What do I dive into next week and next year? I mean, I have no clue.

Icing on the Quake

This is what Christchurch looks like this morning, snow covering and even settling on the beach. An "icing on the quake" as they are calling it. I know I am not there but saw it in the news and loved it. It is so classically Kiwi.

Common Themes in Christchurch

Hey friends,

As most of you know, I have had the absolute privilege of a very lively upbringing & life which has included me living in many towns, cities and countries. The difference between myself and most others is that I don't have that rooted, stable place that a person grows up in which, in a way, identifies them. I have discovered in life that most places I go I seem to think I could call it home, not forever, but for a season. There is one city though, that throughout my life, I have most identified with being 'home', where I have that 'it's nice to be back' feeling. Christchurch is just the special place to me, I may not live here now, or maybe never again but somewhere deep inside I guess it will always have that comfortable feeling of being home.

And again, as most of you know, my 'home' has been hit by several large earthquakes over the last 9 months. This week I have returned to Christchurch for the first time in 4 months, and after a few more, quite impacting quakes, I've noticed not only the landscape changing and declining, but the spirit also. I wanted to share some common images of what I've encountered on most streets today, not when the events have first happened, but what it is still like today as I drive and walk through this once was beautiful, but now battered city.

Cracks are everywhere, this is just one of thousands in the roads which make for a bumpy ride.

Portaloos line the streets, for some people they haven't had a toilet or shower since September. Houses just waiting to be demolished or fixed. I think this one needs more than a hammer!

Shops with their entire faces crumbled away....

This office up top has good air flow!

It's completely unfathomable to me that the streets are still in this state, and I'm standing right there and looking at it in disbelief. The thing that is probably the most hard to deal with is that it seems to be continous. The earth settles for a quiet moment, but then again, it rumbles and brings down something else. For the people of Christchurch it is not a matter of the bigger ones that come, but the ones that are felt every single day, the smaller ones, the unreported, but with every new one brings a new hole or crack and even more discomfort.

It's funny because as I've past demo sites I am struck with the question 'What was even there?', and the 'I can't remembers' are frequent. So as the memories of what this city once looked like begin to fade, my hope is that the rebuilding of it is redemptive and strong. That woven in to it's new fabric and shape, is the true colours of the people of this land and nation. I'm hopeful that once again, Christchurch will be called beautiful, because even in it's mess, I still think it is.

Christchurch definitely not forgotten.

Friends around the world...

I ask you to keep Christchurch on your minds.

The media, for the most part had forgotten about Christchurch - until this afternoon when a series of large aftershocks hit and caused more damage, fear and concern after the major earthquake in February, preceding to the one in September (confusing I know - there's just so many!).

But to my friends and family in Christchurch, know that I have not forgotten, New Zealanders here and around the world have not forgotten and the deepest prayers, love and strength will continue to go out to you each and every day.

I have friends who still, 4 months later, do not have running water, bathrooms and full power facilities. Porta-loos or 'pottys' still hang out on every corner and the neighbourhood share much more than the street they live on. I will be there in two weeks time sharing the neighbourly love also.

Here's a picture to show the scale of what is going on thanks to a friend...

Let's all hope the earth in New Zealand begins to settle.

People

I'm continually amazed at the calibre of people that I have in my life.

My life has always been about people. I love people, love stories, love cultures and love meeting and making connections. It truly blesses me to my core.

I just took another look around in the globe on the inside of my head today and just counted my blessings for the amazing people I have in my life that are just plotted all over our planet, near or far. Each and every person so special to me in such different ways.

Each person taking a vital and active role in my world, to lift me up, encourage me, kick my butt, make me laugh, to love parts of me I thought no one could, to inspire me, to provoke action and thought, to humble me.

I could continue the list forever but just know that I love having you in my life and it wouldn't be the same without you. Yes, you!

Loving lifes adventures right now because they involve you.

So thanks friend, where ever you are.


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