Lynne Taylor

Off to camp

Tomorrow I am off away with a bunch of 40(?) women from church.

We are going to have a weekend of relaxation and fun,
getting to know each other better
and hearing and sharing some of our stories of life.

I have enjoyed putting together a programme
that allows us to reflect on our lives,
share stories with each other
and in doing so honour the God who created, redeems and sustains us.

I have treasure boxes to source and fill.
Colour coded questions to cut up

Videos and games to collect.

And time to get nervous!

(I am glad to report that I have passed through the,
"This is all totally useless, i will need to redo it all" stage
into the "OK, that's cool. It will work out OK" stage.)

Tomorrow the girls are home from school
(Teacher Only day)
so I am glad to be far enough advanced in prep
to enjoy a day with them.

(Besides they can help make a treasure map with me!)

Home

Home again.

Since my last post
I have been literally to Auckland,
but am no longer figuratively stuck there.

Figuratively,
I am blasting down the country,
up to Taranaki in my updates.

Literally,
I spent last night in Auckland
speaking at a meeting of the Trust Board that funded the research -
presenting results and looking like a worthy project for ongoing funding.

I also got to see my brother
and to share the end of Jan and Tony's last bottle of summer wine
to see Callum and Joseph
and have coffee with Annette and Jan
and catch up with work colleagues
(and I bought Steve a lemon tart -
from Take 5 in St Lukes - one of the things-he-misses-from-Auckland).

Twas good.
Now I am home
catching up on emails,
cooking a chicken
to take into the botannic gardens to eat with (extended) family.

I need to prepare for camp at some stage soon
- that would be tomorrow! -

Stuck in Auckland City

I am stuck in Auckland City.
I have been here before.

I am updating the data on our Baptist churches
for the Church Planting Project
I researched in detail in the middle of last year.

It takes a LONG time to make the changes about Auckland.

I need to make reassuring comments to myself, like
"Lots of our churches are in Auckland City"
"Auckland City is one of the most complex because of the ethnic factor"

But, OH NO,
then I think,
"But Manukau City is next
and they are the most ethnically diverse city in NZ"
(begin hyperventilating)

A quick look ahead at the Manukau data
suggests it won't be as hard to change as the Auckland stuff
(phew)...

OK
I'm off,
back to Auckland City.

The gift of hope

Alternative title: I like good news!

Tuesday night meeting,
I showed some people the Blessing Beads I make
cos we'll use them for an up-coming event.

I had some Advent ones that I showed them,
Peace, Hope, Joy, Love.

Four people at the meeting
one bead each.

They pocketed them and took them home.

Yesterday morning
I saw one of the women from the meeting.

She described how she had met with a friend
who was deeply troubled about some upcoming medical tests.

Pulling out her glasses,
whilst with her friend,
she saw her bead
- hope -
which she had placed there for safe-keeping.

"This is for you", she told her friend.
"We can hope that all is well, that the tests come back clear."

The friend planned to keep it in her pocket.

Later,
I received an update:
the best kind!

"The tests came back clear".

Here's to hope.
And to joy, love and peace.
And to the author of them all.

Heavy hearted

Yesterday the son of two of our (NZ) Baptist pastors
collapsed and died at school.

I feel terribly sad.

And yet my sadness is tiny
compared with the gut-wrenching grief
that must be theirs.

Today I know of another family
whose child faces surgery.

I feel terribly sad, I feel anxious.
And yet my sadness, my anxiety is small
compared with the all all-consuming sadness and anxiety
that must be theirs.

And I remember lovely velvet-heired baby M,
and others I have known,
or never had the privilege of knowing.

And I feel sad.

These things are "unfixable".
We can't make them better.

All we can do is hold those we love
in arms of care and love.

All we can do is be in their space
showing grace
moving in and out as appropriate.

May all those who mourn
the loss of life, the absense of health
Be comforted by our loving God.

More grace

Here's a recent blog post of Larraine's .
I thing the answer to my questions
must be YES, YES, YES, YES

And why does
He Tangata come to mind?

Grace applied ... reapplied

Ummmm, random ramblings
(let's not read too much into it
nor assign a time, a place!)

A desire to live always presuming the best
forever extending grace
Consistently hoping for hope
Daring to dream that the unlikely could be possible
that the dream could come true...

is sometimes/
often/
painful

and there can be wee holes made
by misspent/ill-timed/
even unintentional missiles

and it is hard to lift the head up for more.

But it is a commitment
often made at new-years-resolution-time
(mine tend to be life goals!)
and one i'd like to think i can make again now.

Can I?
Am I brave enough?
Can I be bothered?

Does it HAVE to be totally unconditional?? :)

I have a cold

(sniffle, sniffle)

Health is something you can so much take for granted.

Ironically I was thinking yesterday
that I haven't been sick in ages.

And I wake up this morning, sniffing and feeling clogged in the head.

And then there are others I know-
one who has spent the weekend in hospital
another who faces time there later in the week...

All the uncertainty and angst and worry and pain.
Families whose routines must change
Empty places at the table
Frantic scrabblings into the hospital
and discomfort, pain, boredom for the poor souls in there.

My cold is a minor inconvenience.

The night sky

This is very cool.

You can choose your city and see a map of the night sky at your place.

I can imagine us lying out on the grass at the bach,
with the laptop and compass, peering at stars and screen!

(in fact if it was raining or cloudy,
we could just stargaze from the comfort of our sofa!)

Happy coincidence?

At the counter
clutching, and about to buy,
a new printer,
in a fairly large box,
thinking about the bus trip home,
I was "hello"ed by a friend from church.

She lives 15-20km south/west
but was off to her mother's for tea -
which meant she was heading (east) past my place.

A car trip
with air conditioning
and hearing what she's up to,
with her youngest son and my girls chatting happily in the backseat,

sure beat a wait in the sun for the bus
a clutching of printer box
- and A2 size cardboard -
all the way home!

Thanks!

365 hearts

Just found this on trade-me...

In 1999, artist Paul Rogers undertook the huge project of producing one heart painting every day for the whole of the last year of the century.

They are rather groovey and can be found here. (Half sold at the exhibition, the others can be purchased now)

I like the idea of doing something each day for a year.
I have thought about it before
and wondered about a photo collection,
but I need to come up with a theme ...
and it always seems good to start such things
at the beginning of the year...

Bigger Laugesen pic

For Randall
and other people intersted!
(only 22 K so won't take long)

Girls can do anything... sometimes it just takes a bit longer!

A hot, muggy day today.

I arrived home after church
with my 2 girls and sister.

Steve was still away, due to travel home from the USA

Too hot to do anything.

About 3pm it was cooling a little and started to look like the beach could be a good option.

Shannon and Kayli had made a boat,
(the Shakay, or possibly the Kaysha)
which they were keen to "launch on the open sea".

Steve rang from LAX
and asked what we were up to
and kayaking was suggested,
and we thought yeah why not.

SO... then we had 2 intelligent women
with a good number of university qualifications between us,
2 kayaks
one roof rack
and two rachet tie thingies.

We thought we'd practise with the rachets
before balancing the boats on the roof.

So we did.
and it seemed to work ok
(eventually - we got there!).

So we put the kayaks up on the roofrack
and started to ratchet them together.

And ended up with a BIG ball of yellow-stuff
and still the hooks were too far apart.

Jan kept muttering something about Grant (brother)'s ratchetting
always having a tail.

In desperation,
and rather than phoning said brother in Auckland
or hailing a passing pedestrian
(of which there suddenly seemed to be several)
we returned to the instuctions....

...TAKE UP THE SLACK ...
seemed to be the all important words.

So we pulled the yellow-thingie through
and
VOILA
it worked.

and only 1.5 hours after our good idea we were on the way!

Had a lovely wee kayak around Cass Bay (Lyttelton Harbour).

And the Shakay/Kaysha?
Sadly the launch is yet to happen -
the boat was left neglected on the coffee table....

Oooh ... my Laugesen

I just did it.

After months of trade-me looking,
I have purchased a Carl Laugesen...

Laugesen is my great-great-grandfathers youngest son.

I raved about him here

I feel very excited!

Ummmm... a late Christmas present to myself???

He tangata

What is the most important thing?
He tangata, he tangata, he tangata
(It is people, it is people, it is people.)

Today I attended the funeral of an elderly woman from my church.

Hearing the tributes and the stories,
I was reminded again of the above Maori proverb.

Audrey was a woman who loved her family and friends
who cared for them
and shared with them.

That is her legacy.
They are her legacy.

Because when all else is gone
the memories remain
the personal shaping remains
the love remains.

And that is what is treasured by those who are left behind.

Let's be people
who love generously and deeply
who give of ourselves
and share of ourselves
and care.

Because, after all,
What is the most important thing?

He tangata, he tangata, he tangata
It is people, it is people, it is people.

Woe technology... no technology!

Woe technology
No technology

I feel isolated and bereft.

My printer doesn’t work
I can’t send emails

I have no way of putting my output out
(except blogging of course,
but the chances of the people I have written letters to
happening upon my blog
are HIGHLY remote!

Ironic that a problem with JetStream in Auckland
means that I cannot send or receive from my home-Christchurch-office.

Isolated me!

Two little girls in blue ... and a departure lounge

My baby girl skipped off to school yesterday.
Happy as can be she started the new school year,
- and her first school year -
looking gorgeous, happy and bright.

She had a great day
and returned to school today
happy as can be.

After eight years of kids-at-home
(help - that's almost 1/4 of my life!)
suddenly life has changed.

New routines to find
More time on my own.

I am determined not to too quickly fill this new space with "stuff".

I look forward to being able to help out at school
to being able to focus wholly on my kids in the after-school times.

A transition....

And then there's the departure lounge.
Steve is en route to the States for the Emergent convention.

I shall miss him
The girls will miss him.

6 more sleeps!