Amanda’s Musings

Steve Knight over at Kingdom Journalism wrote this post about SIM (the mission we represent) and their presence on the internet.

Apart from having a SIM International website, various country websites (including Australia) and websites for different projects, SIM is starting to be seen in other social networking areas.

Some of the areas that I didn’t know about until reading Steve’s blog post incude:

Facebook - SIM International and HOPE for Aids

MySpace - SIM USA

YouTube - SIM International and SIM USA

I will be looking into ways to be involved in representing SIM around the world and specifically in our home state of Western Australia. We also have a website which we are trying to be more regular in improving which can be found here.

We have been interstate for a couple of weeks so I’ve not had a lot of chance to update this blog. Finally, I have enough time to sit and add some posts about our trip so far.

Our first week was spent up in Laurieton which is near Port MacQuirie in New South Wales (Australia). We had a week with my brother and my sister in law and our newphew Malachi. Kez and Kai (as we call him) got to play together which was really wonderful. Here’s a shot of them having fun hiding in the wardrobe (bit blurry!):

and at a wildlife park together (notice the sign at the back):

at a playground:

Not only did they get to play together but they did this:

which is why Kez ended up getting Kai’s cold just before we travelled down to Sydney last week. She picked up bronchiolitis as well so she’s not quite been herself while we’ve been here.

We were able to be there for my brother’s 30th birthday which was really great and my sister in law did a great job organising a small get together for him.

We did have a problem getting back down to Sydney as we ended up on a bus instead of a train. I wasn’t too happy about that as its hard enough entertaining a toddler on a train let alone a bus that you can’t walk around in. There’s a reason I chose the train not a bus!! Kez wasn’t too bad but at least the trip was about an hour shorter than the train would have been (around 4 hrs instead of 5). The biggest problem was that they had a rule on the bus of no food at all with only one 15 minute stop. I have to admit that I did eat on the bus…..lollies and I gave Kez a bannana (you can’t seriously expect a toddler to go that long without proper food!).

Since being in Sydney there are other stories to tell and pics to share but I’ll do a separate post for those. Thanks for reading!

I just wanted to recommend James and his new business Aussie Green Thumb. He has just started his gardening business and we had him come and do our lawns this morning. He did a great job and we’ll book him again in the future.

If you live in Perth and need some garden jobs done, give him a call!

His website is here - Aussie Green Thumb

His blog is here - Middo’s World

After James has been - looks great hey!

I’ve seen this meme around the place and wondered if I’d eventually get tagged. I did today by Etsa Sketch (check out her blog and shop, her work is fantastic!).

Rules
1.List seven random facts/habits about yourself
2.Choose another seven bloggers to tag and list their names in your blog
3.Leave your seven tagged bloggers comments to notify them of their tagging and to direct them to your blog for tag instructions.

Ok, heres the 7 random facts (with added piccies for fun!):

1. I have always had an interest in other cultures. When I was a kid I collected dolls in national costume starting with a gorgeous Hawiian doll my Aunty brought me back from her travels. I then wanted to be a translator or liguist. We did end up travelling to around 13 countries since we got married including some of the usuals (UK, USA, France) and some less commonly travelled ones - Papua New Guinea, Benin and Niger (those two are in West Africa). We were doing missionary work teaching in a MK (Missionary Kid) school in Niger and visiting my parents in PNG (who are missionaries there). We are now involved in an international mission called SIM.

Chicago USA - Navy Pier (1998)

Papua New Guinea (2001)

2. I love to be creative. I have to create every single day or I go nuts. I have a background in painting mainly in acrylics and oils and did a BA Arts (Visual Arts - Painting) from 2002-2004. I have never had a ‘proper’ exhibition (I’m a bit of a chicken) but feel that I could if I tried. I’ve tried my hand at calligraphy, beading, pastels, watercolour, scratchboard, folk art, paper art, printmaking, sculpture, illustration, mixed media, murals, backdrops, knitting, hand sewing and more recently took up polymer clay work. This is my current passion although I know I’ll return to painting one day (first love and all that).

Start of a pastel Painting (Girl from Say, Niger, pronounced Sigh)

3. I am an organiser. I have to be organised to function. I tidy my house anyway even though no one is looking, mainly because I go crazy if there’s mess. I have done a secretarial course (one requirement was to prove that I could use a stapler so no, it wasn’t hard) and have worked as a secretary a few times.

4. I love white chocolate. Thats all I have to say about that.

5. I’m a fan of Tom Hanks. Everyone who knows me well knows this. I know most of his movies (fav being Forrest Gump) and have collected quite a few, even the more obscure ones. I just think he’s one of the best actors in the world. Oh and and once again, thats all I have to say about that.

Michael sitting on a bench at the Viacom Store in Chicago, similar to the Forrest Gump one

6. I’m a bit of a loner. I can go for days on my own and keep occupied.

7. I’m a Christian. I chose to accept Christ when I was a kid and this relationship with God grew more when I was in high school. Some influences have been my parents and their example to me, reading stories of the old missionaries, especially George Muller, attending Girl’s Brigade and going to Bible College (by choice).

Girls Brigade fonomarie 1990 (I’m third from the left in the front row - I’m short so I’m always in the front row!!)

Ok, I tag: My sister-in-law Candy at Burns Abroad, Jeremy at JeremyinAfrica, Suzy at Diuranta, Kate at Two Little Banshees, Simon at SIMMISSION, Jenise at JPatPurses and Jay and Janella at The JayRod

A few weeks ago my husband Michael was interviewed on Sonshine FM about our involvement in SIM here in WA. I’ve been meaning to put a link to the interview on here and only just remembered! So, here it is:

Sonshine FM Interview

For as long as I can remember we have been going along to Keswick Conventionsand this weekend we’ve done it again. I almost said ‘continued the tradition’ but thats not really why we go. It used to be that we would go just for the meetings but ever since our involvement with SIM we go to put up our SIM display and represent the mission there too. Of course theres always a lot of catch up with people we haven’t seen in a while.

Our SIM display this time was nice and neat. I was hopint it would look a lot messier by the end of the convention (indicating that a lot of people have been there) but sadly it looks much the same. There are however a few magazines and brochures less so thats a good thing.

This time we just weren’t able to stand there and mann the display for much of the weekend. Normally we stand there half an hour before and after each meeting. We didn’t get to hear a lot of the speaker either this time, mostly because I needed to stop Kezi yelling in the middle of the message!

Here’s some pics from the weekend and the improved grounds of Camp Wattle Grove, home of Keswick Conventions in WA (click the link if you want to know more about them).

PF this week is ‘the blues’. Instead of taking that as its usually meant, I’ve gone with ‘the blues’ of the sky and ocean. These colours are typical of an Aussie summer! It’s Autumn here now so its nice to have a look at something warm and inviting. This is Manly Beach in Sydney:

The next Keswick Convention is coming up in just over 2 weeks so I”ve been trying to come up with some new ways of presenting our display for SIM. I found this very cool tool on the flickr toys site and have made six cubes which will work something like a puzzle. Took me hours to get them exactly right (I’m a perfectionist) but I think they turned out well.

I haven’t done PF for quite a while so I thought it was about time. Sky, hmmm, interesting theme. I’m sure most of us have taken photos of the sky from time to time so here’s my entry:

As my regular readers know, Michael and I are part of SIM (Serving In Mission). Michael is the Ministry Director for Western Australia and I am the Representative. It’s been a busy few months since Michael completed his studies at Trinity Theo College in November with setting up for the coming year, planning, meeting with people and sharing. We have some interesting hopes and plans for 2007, if you are intersted in receiving the WA SIM quarterly Newsletter (called SWAT - SIM WA Team - first mail out is pictured to the left), please let me know.

SIM Canada
SIM East Asia (Singapore)
SIM France
SIM New Zealand
SIM Northern Europe (UK)
SIM South Korea
SIM Southern Africa
SIM Switzerland
SIM USA

There are a couple of other sites worth visiting.

HOPE for Aids website
SIM Kids website
SIM Niger website

and a few SIM related blogs besides my own:

Nancy’s Blog - Hannatu’s Happenings
Richelle’s Blog - Corazon Latino
Carol’s Blog - Carol Wilson Update
Jeremy’s Blog - Jeremy In Africa
Suzanne’s Blog - Barefoot Bushkid
Anna’s Blog - La Vita e Bella