November 15th, 2006

I have for sale polymer clay beads that I’ve hand made. I will be opening an online store at Etsy sometime in December at which I intend to sell my art-stitch tags as well.

The prices on these are Australian Dollars. If you need to work out a conversion rate go here. All prices quoted below are not including postage. Postage will be worked out with each order according to weight and distance. We have a paypal account with which you can pay online or, if you are in Australia I’m happy to accept direct deposit. If you would like to buy anything, please drop me a note in the comments and I’ll get in touch with you.

Anyway, that’s all the businessy things out of the way. Oh one more thing - the money from the art-stitch tags will go to SIM’s HOPE for Aids but the money for the polymer clay beads will go towards our support.

For now here’s a sample of what’s for sale:

2cm wide, hole through the middle for stringing.
Unvarnished
$AU3.00 for 6 beads.


Pins - four standard sewing pins. Varnished.
$AU4.00 per set of four - 1 set only of this design.

Turtle beads - hole through the centre for stringing.
3cm long.
10 Available. Unvarnished
$AU1.00 each.

Miniature Lemon Meringue Pie slices.
Each slice measures around 1.5cm - 2cm long. Unvarnished. 7 Available.
AU80c per slice.

Heart pendants. 2cm long.
Varnished. 5 Available.
$AU1.00 each.

Miniature slices of toast with lemon butter.
1.5cm long. Unvarnished.
5 Available.
AU80c each.

November 14th, 2006

WW
November 12th, 2006
Janella, jay, me and Michael being silly
At the end of our time in Niger we had formed some wonderful bonds with our co-workers, especially our friends from Canada and the USA, Janella and Jay. When flying out of Niger the most common route is on an Air France plane via Paris and the four of us managed to get a flight together into Paris. It was so exciting to be on the plane with our great friends and share that experience with them before spending the last few hours in Paris together.
We had been awake for almost 24 hrs I think by the time Jay left
Before we got to the Paris part of our trip though we had to get through the Niamey airport. Now, anyone reading this who’s been to Niger (thinking of you Nancy) will smile at the way you exit this airport. We had to check our luggage in during the afternoon, pay for extra weight and then come back for our flight late at night. To get to our plane we went through at least 5 check points that I can remember. At each one they checked our passport and ticket. At the last stop the Air France steward/security person got out a little torch and checked inside our hand luggage as we stood on the tarmac waiting to board our plane.
At the airport (that bag I’m holding weighs 18kg)

Once in Paris, the four of us knew we only had a matter of hours to do anything so we all gathered our luggage (very very very heavy) and found a train. We spent about 40 mins on the train (I think) to the Eiffel Tower, sat there and had lunch and then got back on the train. We had to be back at the airport in time for Janella to catch the first of our flights. It was hard to say goodbye as we knew we probably wouldn’t see her again for a long time (still haven’t!). This was followed a little while later by us waving off Jay as he caught a bus to the right terminal for his flight (he looked so sad!).
The first junk food we’d seen in a year
Janella and Jay in Paris

Michael eating a baguette at the Eiffel Tower

We are grateful that God allowed us that extra special time with our friends and we can’t wait for the day when we can be reunited.

Now, so this post isn’t too much longer let me just say that we had a detour through the UK on our way to our next stop - Papua New Guinea. We spent three weeks in Debenham, Suffolk staying with some wonderful supporters (hi Ruth and Myles) and visiting our church in England. They also picked us up from the airport which was very generous of them. I remember being freezing cold after coming from Niger to the UK. I also remember reverse culture shock starting to set in. The cats in the area looked enormous to me (the ones in Niger are scrawny). Those few weeks with our friends in the UK were as precious as those few last moments with our friends in Paris.

Framsden Baptist - our church in the UK
Our time in the UK ended and we said goodbye to our friends. We had come full circle. UK - Paris - Niger - Paris - UK. As a short-termer you will meet people who become friends for life. People who share strange experiences. People who share the same memories as you do but aren’t family (and yet become your family). It’s been 5 years now since we left Niger and the UK and we can’t wait for the day when we can visit these people again.

We got on our Qantas flight and said goodbye to a cold London and headed towards saying hello to yet another cultural experience in Hoskins, Papua New Guinea.

In part 17 of this epic I will tell you all about the next big part of our adventure - our trip to see my parents in Papua New Guinea and our arrival back in Australia.

Part 1 - Position Available
Part 2 - The Year was 1999
Part 3 - Red Dirt or Green Grass
Part 4 - Preparations and Going the UK
Part 5 - But I’s Dark and it’s only 4.30pm!
Part 6 - Laying Out the Fleece
Part 7 - Oh, That’s Why We’re Here!
Part 8 - Shakin in my long skirt and sandals
Part 9 - You won’t mind teaching history will you?
Part 10 - Gas Canisters on the Roof
Part 11 - The Tree Attack
Part 12 - Galmi and the Toebiters
Part 13 - Say (sigh)
Part 14 - Three Showers a Day and Nems
Part 15 - My Name is One Kilo of Beef

November 10th, 2006
IF theme this week is Clear and when I did this painting it was controversial, mainly because it was meant to be. I think the message of this one is clear. This was from a series of etchings I did in my printmedia class. There were other words I used as well (but can’t remember what they were right now). Do you think the message is clear in this one or perhaps each person will get a slight variation on the theme? It’s not meant to be offensive, my aim was to make reference to the way that the children of the world are often thought of (slave labour, childhood prostitution or other less obvious ways).
November 10th, 2006

PF this week = ‘gross’. This is by no means a reference to Keziah but the mess she has on her face, she’s enjoying herself though so that’s the main thing! She got a lot ‘grosser’ than this of course but this shot is very cute and funny so I couldn’t resist.

November 9th, 2006

Whoops! I’m still getting used to this list thingy so its a bit late.

Thirteen Things about SIM

Our recent display

1…. Michael and I represent SIM in Western Australia - we’re missionaries with them. Our job is to promote and mobilize, to share experiences and assist those who want to go overseas.

2…. SIM stands for Serving In Mission, it was known for a long time as Sudan Interior Mission.

3….Is a global, interdenominational mission agency.

4….Works in Africa, Asia and South America.

5….Works in over 40 countries.

6….The purpose of SIM is…

To glorify God by planting, strengthening,
and partnering with churches around the world as we:

evangelise the unreached,
minister to human need,

disciple believers into churches

equip churches to fulfil Christ’s Commission.


7….Lists their statement of faith here.

8….Have around 1600 missionaries worldwide.

9….Have sending offices in;

10…Has an international website.

11…Have opportunities for missionary service in the following areas:

Short Term Assignment (STA)

Business and Administration

Children and Youth

Education

Evangelism & Church Growth

Health

Human Need/AIDS

Literacy & Translation

Media & Arts

Short Term Assignment & Internship

Teams

Technical Services

Theological Education

12….Have online magazines in pdf. format for free.

13….Has been around since 1893.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

November 9th, 2006
I’ve been busy, busy, busy lately with experimenting with Polyclay and I’m about ready to start a sellin’. I’ve not priced anything yet but very soon I will be posting with prices on here. Most of the money raised from the polyclay beads and pendants will go towards our support with the exception of the little people beads which will send funds to SIM’s HOPE for Aids projects.

Here’s a few more examples of what I’ve been up to:

Pins…

Letting the glaze dry by pinning them into a tissue box!

Pendants…Beads….More Beads….and my new experiment…..miniatures….

Toast with Lemon Butter
Lemon Meringue Pie
November 8th, 2006

A meme I found at Michelle’s blog Between Diapers and Dishes

1. When sitting in a restaurant I have to have my back towards the wall.

2. I love to eat tinned spaghetti cold and straight from the tin.

3. I have a hard time buying anything at full price, I always search in bargain bins, op shops and marked down broken piles in any shop!

4. I HAVE to be creative every day or I go crazy.

5. I still get a buzz out of flying.

6. I’m obsessed with the news. At one stage I would watch every single news bulletin that was on in a day as well as read it on the internet.

7. I hate fake things. I can’t stand fake plastic flowers or plants, hate plastic curling ribbon, not a fan of trinkets or dust collectors, can’t stand plastic cheese and tend to shy away using colours that look ‘fake’ or unnatural to me.

8. I have a hard time making art for no purpose. I cannot just sit and paint for hours if the painting has no reason for being. This probably has something to do with the cost of supplies!

9. I am a bit of a hoarder. I don’t waste anything. I have kept every single formula tin, formula scoop and washing powder scoop from the last year. I just have a feeling that these will be useful somehow.

Feel free to do this meme and let me know in the comments if you do.

November 8th, 2006

WW
November 3rd, 2006

PF this week is ‘Light’ so here it is:

This is my hubby Michael playing cricket during our road trip in 2004. I think we’re in Ceduna or something like that here. Anyway, the light was pretty strong behind him (or it’s a bad shot!) so it came out like this.