Gratitudes + things that are making me happy

• houses with electric kettles

• the word estuary

• big trampolines

• quiet and spaciousness and warmth

• the sound of the wind in the gum trees

• living near the ocean

• a bicycle to borrow

• Skype

• Australian clouds

• unfamiliar stars

• that I learned during college how to live in smaller towns/suburbs

• "You seem older."

• the company of an enjoyable book lent to me by a good friend

• my friends and my mom, who give me support and listening ears when I need them

• sound sleep under a particularly cozy duvet

• oat milk

• asparagus

• and fond Sydney memories to return to.

Update on Jeanima

From her sponsorship organization:

Because you sponsor a child in Haiti, I’m writing to share an important update with you and ask for your prayers.

As you may know from recent news reports, Tropical Storm Isaac caused flash floods and landslides in Haiti.

Compassion church partners are working to assess the status of sponsored children in affected areas. There have been no reports of lives lost among Compassion children, and the majority of our children in Haiti are not greatly affected. Still, many of our sponsored children and their families have partially or totally lost their belongings, and hundreds of homes have been damaged or destroyed. If your child was directly affected by the storm’s damage, we will contact you as soon as possible.

The potential for cholera has also increased because of the flooding. For Compassion church partners and child development centers in affected regions, the situation is critical. Compassion is providing immediate relief to hundreds of registered children and their families by distributing food, clothing, and hygiene and household items to give help and hope in spite of loss and displacement.

Thank you so much for your support of Jeanima. Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti, already in need, who are struggling even more because of these events.

Week in photos (245-251)

245/365.


246/365. Checking the mulberries.


247/365. Being unpacked is a good feeling.


248/365. Stormy beach day.


249/365. Windowsill.


250/365. Train.


251/365. On our way to the little playground.

Cockatoo Island, Sydney

An little island in the middle of the harbor with warehouses and warehouses full of modern art installations. Occasion? The Biennale of Sydney. I went with the lovely Nicole. Here is just a taste.

Read in July 2012

1. Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins
This felt like the middle book of a trilogy. I was a bit exasperated by such a significant part of the first book repeating itself, even if technically it was different this time around.

2. Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins
I'm one of the ones who really liked this. It just works for me that everyone ends up totally messed up and traumatized. It works for me the way our sense of Katniss's power diminishes as the story pans out from her over the course of the trilogy. It's dark and it's not full of exciting climactic battle scenes the way I expected. Toootally works for me.

3. Making All Things New: An Invitation to the Spiritual Life, by Henri Nouwen
I really want to like his writings, because I like Nouwen excerpts so much, but his style just hasn't worked for me. Too vague, too oblique.

4. The Whale Rider, by Witi Ihimaera
The movie is not very much like this book, but in ways others than plot — and I like the movie a lot better. Hmm.

5. Cracked Up to Be, by Courtney Summers
A fast but involving YA novel. Emotionally weighty. I thought the construction of the main character's psyche was artful.

6. Your Native Land, Your Life, by Adrienne Rich
This felt pertinent to my life. It's more thematically unified than her volumes of poetry usually are — family history, reflections on her past and on what she wants her life to amount to. A whence/whither collection.

7. The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde
Lovely and jolly and witty and sarcastic, of course. A good bedtime read when you need to chase away mind-frights. I hope you've seen the film adaptation with Colin Firth.