One hour till midnight folks here in Australia.
And someone’s three word me was
Dinosaur, Ship and New York…
What the…. ???
I’ve never talked about dinosaurs, mentioned ships or New York… What do they have in common??? I’m confused???
But I did get some lovely ones. And three people think I’m bold… Really? Wow. That’s amazing. Two of you think I’m intelligent which is lovely. Another said I’m beautiful. I’m passionate and a geek.
You guys rock.
Happy New Year to me!
just realized that i’m hosting a new years eve party tomorrow. when did this happen? when did i become the hosting parties kinda gal?
Oh Katee…
If I were there I would help you host it. And we would organise uncomfortable games for people to play.
Just learn from my Christmas Day party and DO NOT PLAY the word association game with drunk people. Okay? Okay.
Is going to be Firefly-themed.
Yes, you read that right.
Mark’s decided to be Wash, I’ll probably be Zoe, We’ve found a Kaylee or two and another friend is probably going to be Inara.
Don’t you wish your friends were cool like us? (Dave has been playing Don’t Cha by the Pussycat Dolls a lot and it’s killing my brain cells)
Hi Everyone!
Did you miss me? I missed you.
Anyway, I have a tradition, a new years email. I probably won’t do it this year, but I didn’t want to not write a reflection on 2010. So I thought I would post it here. I don’t know if this means I’m back or not. But it does mean you guys get a rather long post. So here we go:
New Years Eve last year was one of the more hideous nights I’ve every had. I’d just got back from the worst Christmas I’ve ever lived through. Mark had just broken up with his girlfriend, who’d I’d been hanging out with. And so Mark and my sister and I spent NYE together. Bethany went to sleep. Mark got drunk and asked:
“Don’t you want to be special to someone, Sarai?”
To which I replied.
“Not if it’s to you. We’ve had this conversation.”
To which he got very upset and I had to take him home.
I brought in the new year, in my car alone, just having found Mark’s house (he lost it), watching the casino fireworks, trying to get home before the end of the show to see Bethany.
It’s ironic then, that from that we move to two days later with a text ‘it’s just, um, you know’ that led to a month of prayer, that led to four months of dating, that led to five months of being engaged, that has led to one and a half months of being married.
Yes, this year has probably been the most extreme year I’ve had when it comes to highs and lows.
On May 10, I got engaged to Mark. It was such a strange thing to happen to me. It was happy but… I’m just amazed. I’m utterly amazed and I was completely in shock. I still am some days.
On June 27, my father had a stroke. He was 51. There were no warning signs. One Sunday morning he woke up and he was no longer there. He spent a three weeks in an induced coma. After he woke up, he couldn’t remember me to start with. Everyone else he could. He was violent towards me. And then… he remembered. But he still could not talk to me. He lost all his ability to formulate words and recognise symbols. He remembered the strangest things. He couldn’t say my name but he could work out how to make a football ladder work.
On August 3, my brother Dave joined left for Kapooka - the army’s basic training camp for all new recruits. It was a hard day, but a joyous one. God has called him to this but I miss him lots.
On November 13, I got married. I married the first guy I ever kissed, the first one to hold my hand. I married the only person who has ever taken the time to get to know me, to try to figure out how I work, and to love me, knowing me better than anyone else. I got married to the most amazing man I have ever met. My father walked me down the aisle. Yes, it took him a slight elbow nudge from me to know when to say ‘I will’, but he knew how fast to walk, he knew where to stand and he said his words perfectly.
Yesterday, I spent time with Dad. I understood a lot of what he said, and he understood half of what I said, the rest he could read. I’m so proud of him. The doctors say two years. I think we can improve on that with prayer.
Dad’s stroke has taught me a lot about God. It certainly improved my prayer life. They told us he might never walk again. They told us he might not remember us. He might never be back to himself. He walks, and runs, and talks and laughs and he remembers everything. Short term is still a little hazy. The doctors said it could be years before he gets to here. It’s not been six months. The doctors say two years to recovery as good as it’s going to get, I believe it’s going to be sooner and better than they say. Because God is amazing and he answers prayers.
God has also spoken to me a lot this year about my relationship with Him, and how His plans are better than mine. I thought we had a pretty good deal, God and I. I was going to be single forever, travel the world with Him and do whatever He called me to. And He let me believe that for the longest time. Then… he gave me to Mark. Through Mark, God has taught me:
Sometimes, God lets us believe what we want to believe, what we need to believe to get through something. If I’d known I was going to get married this year, last year would have been very different. And 2009 was a great vintage.
This year has been amazing. I’d relive it all. I’ve never been so alive as I have been this year. I’ve never felt so much. I’ve never risen so high above, gone so far beyond, been crushed so badly, cried so much or laughed so hard. It’s been a year of new beginnings, some good, some bad. This year has been a real journey. Incredible highs, crushing lows. I’d do it all again. But I’m excited that I never will too. I’m excited for 2011 and all it will bring. I’m excited for my first year as a married woman. I’m excited for spending my year with Mark and growing with him. I’m excited for watching my sister grow. I’m excited for watching Dad recover in miraculous ways. I’m excited for Dave and where the army will take him. I’m excited for what God is going to do in 2011. I can’t even begin to know His plans and I’m learning that, sometimes, the not knowing makes it even more amazing when it comes.
God go with you all in 2011. May it be a year of adventure, excitement, of breaking self-imposed limitations, of stepping out, trying new things, of joy. May it be a year of learning and growing. May you always have enough hardship to appreciate the good.
Live long and prosper, each and every one of you.
Love Sarai.
Hi Everyone!
Did you miss me? I missed you.
Anyway, I have a tradition, a new years email. I probably won’t do it this year, but I didn’t want to not write a reflection on 2010. So I thought I would post it here. I don’t know if this means I’m back or not. But it does mean you guys get a rather long post. So here we go:
New Years Eve last year was one of the more hideous nights I’ve every had. I’d just got back from the worst Christmas I’ve ever lived through. Mark had just broken up with his girlfriend, who’d I’d been hanging out with. And so Mark and my sister and I spent NYE together. Bethany went to sleep. Mark got drunk and asked:
“Don’t you want to be special to someone, Sarai?”
To which I replied.
“Not if it’s to you. We’ve had this conversation.”
To which he got very upset and I had to take him home.
I brought in the new year, in my car alone, just having found Mark’s house (he lost it), watching the casino fireworks, trying to get home before the end of the show to see Bethany.
It’s ironic then, that from that we move to two days later with a text ‘it’s just, um, you know’ that led to a month of prayer, that led to four months of dating, that led to five months of being engaged, that has led to one and a half months of being married.
Yes, this year has probably been the most extreme year I’ve had when it comes to highs and lows.
On May 10, I got engaged to Mark. It was such a strange thing to happen to me. It was happy but… I’m just amazed. I’m utterly amazed and I was completely in shock. I still am some days.
On June 27, my father had a stroke. He was 51. There were no warning signs. One Sunday morning he woke up and he was no longer there. He spent a three weeks in an induced coma. After he woke up, he couldn’t remember me to start with. Everyone else he could. He was violent towards me. And then… he remembered. But he still could not talk to me. He lost all his ability to formulate words and recognise symbols. He remembered the strangest things. He couldn’t say my name but he could work out how to make a football ladder work.
On August 3, my brother Dave joined left for Kapooka - the army’s basic training camp for all new recruits. It was a hard day, but a joyous one. God has called him to this but I miss him lots.
On November 13, I got married. I married the first guy I ever kissed, the first one to hold my hand. I married the only person who has ever taken the time to get to know me, to try to figure out how I work, and to love me, knowing me better than anyone else. I got married to the most amazing man I have ever met. My father walked me down the aisle. Yes, it took him a slight elbow nudge from me to know when to say ‘I will’, but he knew how fast to walk, he knew where to stand and he said his words perfectly.
Yesterday, I spent time with Dad. I understood a lot of what he said, and he understood half of what I said, the rest he could read. I’m so proud of him. The doctors say two years. I think we can improve on that with prayer.
Dad’s stroke has taught me a lot about God. It certainly improved my prayer life. They told us he might never walk again. They told us he might not remember us. He might never be back to himself. He walks, and runs, and talks and laughs and he remembers everything. Short term is still a little hazy. The doctors said it could be years before he gets to here. It’s not been six months. The doctors say two years to recovery as good as it’s going to get, I believe it’s going to be sooner and better than they say. Because God is amazing and he answers prayers.
God has also spoken to me a lot this year about my relationship with Him, and how His plans are better than mine. I thought we had a pretty good deal, God and I. I was going to be single forever, travel the world with Him and do whatever He called me to. And He let me believe that for the longest time. Then… he gave me to Mark. Through Mark, God has taught me:
Sometimes, God lets us believe what we want to believe, what we need to believe to get through something. If I’d known I was going to get married this year, last year would have been very different. And 2009 was a great vintage.
This year has been amazing. I’d relive it all. I’ve never been so alive as I have been this year. I’ve never felt so much. I’ve never risen so high above, gone so far beyond, been crushed so badly, cried so much or laughed so hard. It’s been a year of new beginnings, some good, some bad. This year has been a real journey. Incredible highs, crushing lows. I’d do it all again. But I’m excited that I never will too. I’m excited for 2011 and all it will bring. I’m excited for my first year as a married woman. I’m excited for spending my year with Mark and growing with him. I’m excited for watching my sister grow. I’m excited for watching Dad recover in miraculous ways. I’m excited for Dave and where the army will take him. I’m excited for what God is going to do in 2011. I can’t even begin to know His plans and I’m learning that, sometimes, the not knowing makes it even more amazing when it comes.
God go with you all in 2011. May it be a year of adventure, excitement, of breaking self-imposed limitations, of stepping out, trying new things, of joy. May it be a year of learning and growing. May you always have enough hardship to appreciate the good.
Live long and prosper, each and every one of you.
Love Sarai.
Skype: starkravingchristian
Gmail: starkravingchristian@gmail.com
Twitter: wordy_anansi
-Donald Miller on Twitter (@donmilleris)
I’m not sure how I feel about this at all. But it is a very, very interesting perspective…
I love my tumblr account. I like tumblr well enough as a social blogging platform. And no, when I got a tumblr, this is not what I pictured happening. I thought it would just be a blog… but it’s not, and was never designed to be that way.
This is a very good thing.
Because if tumblr was the way I thought it was, then I would never have stayed. I would never have made such amazing friends. I have friends that no longer use tumblr, that I met here, and we’re still friends. I have moved friendships from tumblr across social networking platforms and over email, and into the real world where I write letters and send packages and I even text one of you.
You guys have become such a huge part of my life and I love it.
And I love this tumblr account, for all it’s pushed me through. For the way it’s challenged me and strengthened me in my walk. For the way it’s provided a place to vent, to bounce ideas, and for the way it’s supported and encouraged me. I love it for it’s self esteem boosts when someone’s liked or reblogged me. I love it for the rush of comments and ask box messages and the way we connect with each other.
But, everything has a season.
The recent outage was a catalyst for me, and the continuing errors. I am now no longer sure that I want to be as involved in tumblr as I have been. It’s been almost two years that I’ve been here. This place has been a window to my soul and the outpouring of my heart… but am I still in a place where this is what I want?
There are people, who know who they are, who I will stay in contact with regardless of my continued use of this platform. There are people who’s blogs I will still periodically check.
Will I miss tumblr if I leave? Yes, sometimes. Which is why I won’t delete it. So I can still come back if I have to, or if I want to, and give you guys updates or post insights. But tumblr wasn’t designed to work like that, for the contributor to stand aloft with their submissions. It was designed as a forum. It’s beautiful.
Maybe I just need a break. Or maybe I’ll go forever. I don’t know. I don’t know even know if I’ll take it yet. It may seem lame, or even attention seeking to post this when I have not made a decision. However I feel that you guys, my friends and followers, have a right to know what’s going on in my head.
I just don’t know. I’m still thinking, and yes, praying. Tumblr has been a huge part of my life for two years and it will be very sad to shut the door.
But…
Maybe…
It’s time?
Gutted.
But it’s true, I love me some Die Hard.
Christmas Day, guess what I’ll be watching instead of gift giving? Mark, Dave and I… possibly my sister… Will be awesome.
Looking forward to Roman Holiday with you BUT I have, as yet, been unable to locate copy. We may need a back up movie… It may yet be Die Hard (it’s seasonally relevant).
I was reading on WWII history and came across an interesting name: Tsutomu Yamaguchi.
The reason it is interesting is because the recently deceased Japanese man has an interesting story.
Only two cities have ever been destroyed by atomic bombs. This man was in both of them.
Born in 1916, Tsutomu Yamaguchi was on a business trip to Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945. As he stepped off a tram, an atomic bomb blew up less than two miles away, decimating everything in an extraordinarily special way. Eardrums destroyed and temporarily blind, Yamaguchi scrambled to figure out just what the heck happened.
“Oh.”After spending a night in an air raid shelter, Yamaguchi decided Hiroshima probably wasn’t the safest place to conduct business, so he went home.
To Nagasaki.
A few days later, Yamaguchi was in the office of his supervisor, regaling him with the story of his near-miss with this “mythical” city-vaporizing super bomb. And just as he was trying to explain to his boss that it’s impossible to sell cars in a city that’s literally on fire, there was the distinct sound that few men on Earth but Yamaguchi would have recognized: that of another atomic bomb - again detonating just two miles away.
Not only did Yamaguchi survive (while somehow not gaining any superpowers from the ordeal) but he lived to be 93 years old, dying on January 4th, 2010. Yamaguchi used his tragedy to enlighten people on the dangers of atomic bombs. He has written books on his experience and was an anti-nuclear protester, though it seems like he’d be the one guy out there saying we shouldn’t worry about nukes because, really, you can just walk away from that type of thing.
*By Alex Cipriano, edited and updated by ThoughPool
Prank 1:
Sitting on a ledge the day after we got married there was an envelope on our dresser when we got home… it said ‘May Contain Nuts’ on the outside… and on the back ‘And If Not Now, They Will Soon’… and on the inside… you guessed it, two condoms.
It was funny, if not low brow.
Prank 2:
The Rice.
Some people who were staying with us scattered rice throughout the house. They cleaned it up when they realised we were not going to find it funny. But, unfortunately, they missed some spots. Like the socks rolls and trouser pockets. Not so funny. Apparently they thought us finding rice years later would be hilarious.
I think not.
…
OH wait…
I kind of think the albums I posted count… but hey, I could be wrong.
Haha I find it funny how far behind Yahoo7 is! But I will probably be taking advantage of that yes.
You have the best links :-)
But he still came back, didn’t he?
WHY DID YOU SAY FIVE MINUTES?
YOU ALWAYS SAY THAT
I ALWAYS COME BACK
SARAH JANE BEGS TO FUCKING DIFFER.
32 HOURS AND THREE PSYCHOLOGISTS LATER…
Any longer and: Sorry, Sarai doesn’t live here anymore…
Never leave me like that again, Tumblr.
You’re the second person to ask me that… I suppose I will post a couple more then.
Um… AMAZING. Loved the weeping angel costume that was insane!
Thanks for sharing :-)
By this I mean I have most of the prints (most of the ones we want, the ones we selected for our grandparents, parents, best man and maid of honour) and I have the canvas (un-stretched/mounted).
Which means it’s almost over! WIN.
Prints were SO inexpensive because we just asked for digital un-watermarked photos on disc and then printed the ones out we wanted (so for 214 6”x4”, 3 wallet-sized and 1 8” x 10” it was only about $36).
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned Howie before? He’s fantastic and should be followed.
He’s also absolutely right.
And Christmas is improved by explosions. I am not a Jingle Bells girl.
Yes, only the first two are set at Christmas…
But they all carry a christmas feeling to them…
Or was that explosions? And a certain catchphrase….
I forget.
I’m thinking Die Hard Marathon…
They’re Christmas movies, right?
I don’t think it’s the Top 5… but they are five of my favourites.
