Day 8 Monday Dec. 21, 2009

Yesterday on Day 7 was kind of a lazy day for me.  My Uncle came in and told me my favorite movie was on.  Now I haven't seen my Uncle or spoke with him in years so I didn't know how he knew what it was, but when I went into the livingroom....FIREPROOF was on.  I was amazed.  This movie means alot to me in so many ways.  After Fireproof, we watched the Bucket List.  Later we went to Aunt Paula's Sister Karen's house for dinner. It was delicious

Today Day 8 Monday Dec. 21, 2009
Today we went to Tidbinbilla which is a Nature Reserve.  Ah I saw more Kangaroos, Emu's with their babies, and several birds in the wild, not in cages which is nice. Of course all the kangaroos I have seen have been out in the wild.

This is Eddie. He is a Brolga. He is by himself because he seems to cause trouble.

There was a Red Belly black snake. Actually I saw two and was told that is a rarity to actually see the snakes. Lucky for me right. There was a guide and he told me that if I turned him over he would probably have a red belly.  I told him I didn't plan on getting that close to him to find out!  LOL.  There was also a Black Swan.

It was a wonderful day!  Logan would love it here, as he loves animals and is always interested in them. Australia is definitely a country all on it's own!

Day 6 Saturday December 19, 2009

Today Aunt Paula and I hit the town and left Uncle Chip and Mom at home.  We went to Cockington Green Gardens.  This place is so neat because it is filled with Miniature models of real life houses.  They look so real when you take a picture of them. The Kangaroo and the Emu are Australias Crest.

Look what I found just hanging around!  He is SO CUTE and cuddly! My first REAL KOALA EVER

Day 5, Friday December 18, 2009

Today we went to the coast. I'm not sure where the past 2 90 degree days went as today was cloudy, windy and cold.  We stopped at a Bakery on the way down and I had a chocolate muffin and hot chocolate.  There was the biggest loaf of bread I ever saw.  Aunt Paula bought a loaf to bring home.

When we got to Bateman's Bay we stopped at several beaches along the way. This is the first time I have ever seen the Pacific ocean.

We ate lunch at the Boat House and had fish and chips to eat.  There were Pelicans and Coramorons in the water as we watched them swim back and forth.  A little info. about Pelicans. They can hold twice as much food in their mouths as they can their stomachs.  They lay eggs in a nest and the male sits on them for 2 wks then the female comes back. The brown in the pelican represents a juvenile.

It never got warm or sunny enough for me to go swimming.  I was freezing the entire time.  Wouldn't you know when we got back to Canberra the sun was shining and not a cloud in the sky.  Maybe next time!

It's the climb

Tonight I needed some alone time with God so I decided to climb to the top of McQuoids Hill.  In my mind, the closer I was to God the better. I know I'm just as close to him on the ground as I was on top of that Hill, but it was the climb! 

I prayed that He would give me the strength I needed to get to the top of this Hill which I call a mountain!  This is the view I had from the bottom of the Hill looking at where I needed to go!

The entire time I was climbing, several songs kept coming to my head. One was Miley Cyrus' song 'The Climb'.  Ain't about how fast I get there, Ain't about what's waiting on the other side, it's the climb!  This is a personal journey for me and this day it was about the climb.  Another song's lyrics came to mind was:

You Raise Me Up

When I am down and oh my soul so weary

When troubles come and my heart burden be

Then I am still and wait here in the silence

Until You come and sit with me

You raise me up so I can stand on mountains

You raise me up to walk on stormy seas

I am strong when I'm on Your shoulders

You raise me up to more than I can be

There is no life without it's thunder

Each restless heart beat so imperfectly

But when You come and I'm filled with wonder

Sometimes I think I glimpse eternity

Also Mighty to Save

Everyone needs compassion

Love that's never failing

Let mercy fall on me.

Everyone needs forgiveness,

The kindess of a Saviour;

The hope of nations

Saviour, He can move the mountains,

My God is Mighty to save,

He is Mighty to save

All these lyrics and more were going through my head throughout my entire climb.  I didn't know the songs, I just knew what I was hearing.

I made it to the top and fell to my knees.  I made a promise to God on that mountain top that only He and I will ever know and it felt so good to let it all Go!

This view is from the top. It showed me where I was and how far I had come to get to the top!

On the way down I ran into this guy and asked him nicely to let me by, that I was just trying to get home!  He was nice and let me by without beating me up.

Day 4, December 17, 2009

Today we went to the National Gallery of Australia which is currently showing materpieces from Paris'Gallery 'The Musee D'Orsay to include original artwork from Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne and more.  They are on loan from Paris while the one in Paris is getting renovated. The neat thing about this is that these are paintings that people go to Paris just to see, and I saw them here in Australia.  We also visited the Portrait Gallery of Australia which had paintings of all the important people of Australia.  I would show pictures but we were not allowed to take pictures at all.  We drove around and saw all of the embassies as well!  A little bit of culture and more history learned.

Day 3 Wednesday Dec. 16th

Today Uncle Chip played tour guide for a while. We went to Pine Island which had a beautiful view of a river and rocks.

We then went to Googong Dam which also had a pretty view.

We met Aunt Paula for lunch and went to the Botanical Gardens for lunch where this lovely lizard came running towards me! He may not look big to you, but he was big running towards me as I was sitting in his way!

She took us to the top of Black Tower mountain and the view was incredible from the top. Here you can see the tower and the city of Canberra from the top!

I saw the Parliament House, several universities, and the mint where coins are made (we are going there to make our own later).  Today was just an all around busy day, but I'm learning a lot of Australian History as I go.

Birds of Australia found on my walk

A Crested Pigeon

Crimson Rosella's.  They are normally in pairs.  If they have babies, birds of a feather, flock together. They are in the parrot family and are native birds here

Magpie...Very popular bird in Australia

Galas

Cockatoo!  Ok I know everyone has seen a cockatoo and so have I in someone's house in a cage or in a Pet Store, but never in the wild.  I was able to take a picture of this one this morning. They don't like their picture being taken!

I've been here for a little over 24 hours and these are some of the birds I have seen so far.  I find a peace comes over me watching these birds fly freely.  The chirps are constant, and the colors are amazing!  I have never seen anything like it before!

Today I was outside for quite a bit just watching the birds.  Crimson Rosella's fly in pairs, normally mates.  Today there were a pair and then one single one by himself. He looked older and my Aunt said he probably lost his mate.  The 2 kept chasing away this 1 out of the bird feeder. I poured some seed on the table so the 1 flew to me to try to eat and the 2 kept chasing him off.  This went on for hours!

My reflection on these birds is this one bird was single, but beautiful all on its own. Even though there were others trying to force him out, he stood strong and kept coming back !  God spoke to me through this bird, letting me know that it's ok to be single and alone on this earth, because He is with me and just like this bird, I am strong and beautiful all own my own!

Day 2 Reflecting

In 2003 a fire came through Canberra and burned down all trees. As I was walking and talking to God today I related with this burnt Eucalyptus tree.  You can see from the pic the burnt trunk, but the top of the tree is new growth. Eucalyptus trees regenerate themselves, but you can see the past damage done.  I felt as if God was speaking to me. When the fire came and burned everything down, looking at it you would think it was dead.  I related this to being my soul for so long.  I felt dead inside at times, merely living life day to day. With God's Grace and Mercy and the death of Jesus Christ on the cross we are forgiven  and can regenerate healthy, spiritual lives, just as the tree regenerated new growth.  The charred trunk represents the past. It's dark, charred and a reminder of the bad times, where I was and how far I've come. You can always look at this tree and remember it has been burned, but you can also see how much new growth has taken place since then. So my life is like this tree. I have been burned in the past, but I have new spiritual growth and I will continue to grow!!

I never thought I would learn something from a tree, but this tree I did!

Day 1

Right now it is Monday Dec. 14th at 2:45 pm.  We left on Sat. Dec. 12th, so Sunday completely disappeared.  We left Houston about 30 mins. late.  LAX, was a NIGHTMARE to say the least and we barely made that plane.  The 15 1/2 hour flight wasn't bad at all.  We landed in Melbourne on time and had to go through customs, pick up our checked baggage and check back into Quantas on a domestic flight. Well, the Kiosk didn't recognize my name, or my confirmation number, so we had to wait in a long line and go through security again.  I took off my shoes, a we are made to do in the US and a man asked me why I took off my shoes.  Apparently we don't have to take off shoes in Australia. Again, our flight was boarding as we got to the gate.  A very SHORT flight later we arrived in Canberra. GUESS WHAT?  Mom's luggage arrived and mine didn't!  They were checked in at the SAME time!  It's a good thing I ALWAYS pack clothes in my carry on bag, for this reason! Just made it to my Aunt and Uncle's house and wanted to let everyone know I made it.  I can't tell you how long I've actually been awake, as I didn't sleep long on the plane because I couldn't get comfortable and never have been able to sleep sitting up, but I'm not tired at all.  I wasn't sure how I would react to jet lag, but I think I will be just fine.

Oh well, better get off of here. I haven't seen any kangaroo's yet, but there is a mountain across the street that they say they graze at all the time. Guess where I will be spending alot of my time at when I'm not exploring?

Love to all

Start of the trip

Hi All,

My trip started off on Friday with my plane being delayed from Nashville. Not sure why considering I had been looking at it the entire time. I had to walk outside to get on my plane. That's a first. It was a little puddle jumper plane to Chicago.  Everyone on the plane had a connecting flight and many earlier than mine, so I let a few off before me as I thought I had a few mins.  I got off the plane and went to find a restroom when I heard them pagiing my name to the gate. Now we came in at b25 and my gate was B2...UGH.  I found some airline stewardess to see if there was a house phone I could use to tell them I was on my way, but they told me to just run and I would make it. Well I ran as fast as I could with what I was tagging along and needless to say they had shut the door before I got there. I was so out of breath.  I was coughing for over and hour after that.  People were looking at me like I had the swine flu or something.  I tried plugging my laptop in and not only did the plug NOT work, but they wanted to charge me for the wireless internet. Can I say I officially DO NOT like Chicago O'Hare Airport.  I was put on the next flight out and made it to Houston, with just a little bit of turbulance, but nothing major.  Mom and Travis were waiting for me at baggage claim, then I got to go on an Easter Egg Hunt for my checked baggage.  The claim form said it made the plane, that I didn't (Go figure my luggage would get on the plane they wouldn't let me on), but come to find out, my luggage didn't make the first plane either.  Found my luggage and then off to Ace we went. (For those of you who don't know, my mom lives in Ace, Texas which is 40 miles north of Houston).  I had a great night visiting with my Mom, Brother, his son Landon, my sister and her 2 kids.  I woke up this morning sick, YUCK!  I went to visit my dad's grave since I hardly ever get to Texas and left him a message. (The cemetary is out in the middle of no where and they have a notebook in a mailbox that you can leave messages when you visit).  All my family on my mom's side is buried there. 

I now sit at the Houston Airport awaiting our 7:10 flight to LA.  We arrived early to see if we could get on an earlier flight standby, but they wanted to charge us, so we will just wait until our regular flight. As of right now all flights are ontime. I hope that we have no delays.  Once in LA we get on a plane for the next 16 hours to Melbourne, change planes and completely different airports and get on another plane for a little over and hour to Canberra. 

So, that's my adventure so far!  Stay tuned to my page.  Many more entries to come!

A few hours

In a few hours I will be getting on a plane to Houston via Chicago so I hope I don't get snowed in. I'm looking foward to getting to spend a day with my brother, my sister, my mom, and my neice and nephew.  I'm going by my dad's grave to have a conversation with him as well.  He past away almost 6 years ago and I've only been back once. It's hard when you live so far away. 

I'm going on this dream vacation, yet so many things seem to get in the way of me being estatic.  Earlier I was accused of "Giving" Alexis away to be raised by her stepmom.  I did NOT give my child away for her to be raised by someone else, I let her make her own choice as to what she thought would make her happy and that was to move away and get a fresh start where no one knew her.  That was hard to hear, as I would NEVER give up any of my children, but I did put her happiness first.  I love her and miss her so much, but it is what she wanted, so call me selfish if you want, but that was one of the  hardest things I had to do and I think it was pretty selfless of me, but everyone has their own opinion.

One day I will learn that I cannot make the world a happy place or to some that I reach out to only for them to turn a blind eye on me.  It doesn't matter what  I do, to some it will NEVER be good enough.  I've forgiven those I needed to forgive in my past, as forgiveness is about ME not about them, but it still hurts.  I've come along way in the past few months and being completely alone, it has given me plenty of time to reflect on me and only me (well after Logan goes to bed).   I know where I was at the beginning of the year, I know where I've been, I know the path I have taken and I know where I'm at now.  It doesn't matter what others think, it only matter what God thinks.  What I do have a hard time with is knowing when to give up and walk completely away from something I feel so strongly about.  I've tried to reach out to a friend on so many different levels and it becoming clearer by the day that maybe this person doesn't want to be my friend in any capacity.  I don't have to understand it, but I do have to accept it.  I have exhausted all physical possiblities, but I will never quit praying and doing what I can in the spiritual aspect of this friend.  I don't know what else to do.  It breaks my heart and hurts to know that I would give anything for this person to help them, yet they choose to not see for whatever reason. I have learned that I don't have to be good enough for any human on this earth, just my Father in Heaven whom I have to answer to. 

I'm really looking forward to seeing another part of the world that God has created, to take everything in and reflect on everything I am about to experience and see. I can't change the world, but I can change the way I see things and the way God is trying to communicate with me.  I will continue to pray for my friend, whom I love dearly, for direction, peace and happiness, all in the name of Jesus Christ. One day I WILL BE good enough for someone, to love me and respect me for me being me and the next time will be for all the right reasons!! 

Good Night!

Accomplished

The weekend flew by quickly. Friday I was dealing with Alexis. Sat. I got a phone call about Rudy.  Yesterday I went to work for a few hours and then Alexis and I went to see Blind Side. That is an awesome movie!!  Michael Oher could have played  for LSU, but turned him down to play for Ole Miss. I learn something new everyday because I didn't know that!

My days are flying by so fast, it doesn't seem like I have enough time to get anything done. Today I went to work, called the bank to let them know I will be out of the country and not to cut my card off ;), made a card and poem and included a gift for someone in need, put it in the mail, got a POA for Brooklyn while I'm gone for Logan, and notified the school.  It may not seem like a lot but try making phone calls in between seeing patients and mailing out hundreds of glasses sitting on the floor for hours.

3 more work days and 1 wake up and I will be on the plane to Houston via Chicago which is in store for a blizzard. I hope it gets there now, so it will be clear by Friday!

Hope everyone had a GREAT weekend and A GREAT Day!

The Touch of the Master's Hand

I came across this today and I wanted to share!

The Touch of the Master's Hand

It was battered and scarred,
And the auctioneer thought it

Hardly worth his while

To waste his time on the old violin,

But he held it up with a smile.

"What am I bid, good people," he cried,

"Who starts the bidding for me?"
"One dollar, one dollar, Do I hear two?"

"Two dollars, who makes it three?"

"Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three."

But, No,

From the room far back a grey haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow.
Then wiping the dust from the old violin

And tightening up the strings,

He played a melody, pure and sweet,

As sweet as the angel sings.

The music ceased and the auctioneer

With a voice that was quiet low,
Said, "What now am I bid for this old violin?"

As he held it aloft with its' bow.

"One thousand, one thousand, Do I hear two?"
"Two thousand, who makes it three?"
 "Three thousand once, three thousand twice,
Going and gone," said he.

The audience cheered,
But some of them cried,
"We just don't understand."

"What changed its' worth?

Swift came the reply

"The Touch of the Master's Hand."

And many a man with life out of tune,

All battered with bourbon and gin,

Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd

Much like that old violin.

A mess of pottage, a glass of wine

A game and he travels on.
He is going once, he is going twice,

He is going and almost gone.

But the Master comes,

And the foolish crowd never can quite understand,

The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought

By the Touch of the Master's Hand

-Myra Brooks Welch

Stress

The past few days have been pretty stressful.  Yesterday I received a phone call at work from a police officer at Alexis' school saying he had Alexis in his custody and she was not able to return to class.  I won't elaborate on what it was all about, but it wasn't a pleasent feeling knowing my child could have been suspended or expelled for telling an elaborate story just to fit in.  The entire reason Alexis went to live with her dad was because she felt she had no friends at the school she was attending in Clarksville and wanted to go somewhere where no one knew her to get a fresh start.  Alexis put on a good front to everyone saying her life was great and everyone liked her and she had no enemies, but the truth is, she is having a hard time fitting in there too.  She was scared if she told me the truth that I would make her come back to live with me. She said even though it's not going great, that it is still better than what it was here.  It broke my heart that she felt that way. I tried to explain to her, that I let her go because that was what SHE wanted to do, and I would still respect her wishes but I can't help fix something that I don't know about. Instead she was trying to fit in and be someone she wasn't.  Her dad did the same thing. Always made up these elaborate stories to tell people to make himself look better than what he was.  Her dad was out of town, her stepmom was working, so I took off work to go get her and to talk to the school.  She wasn't allowed to go home, for fear of her own safety. 

This morning I woke up to a phone call from Shelby telling me that his Uncle is in a coma.  He took an entire bottle of Tylenol while on the phone with his daughter who lives in California and told her what he was doing and then played it off as a joke, but she heard the bottle and put her dad on hold and called 911.  He has 2 grown kids and then married someone younger than me and started a new family.  He has a wife, and 2 younger kids (one is Logan's age and the other is a couple of years behind).  His neighbors called his wife to tell her that there was police and ambulances at her house.  She was at my ex-mother in law's house and was told to stay there until she found out what was going on.  When she got to the house, she saw her brother convulsing and foaming at the mouth.  I've known this family for 16 years and even though I'm divorced on paper, they were still part of my life all of these years and they are still in my kids lives.  He isn't expected to live.  Last night they told the family to get everyone in from out of state to say their goodbye's.  His kids DO NOT know the details and they don't want them to EVER know, that's why I'm being kind of vague without saying names. If he passes this week and the funeral is before Friday, I will probably be taking an emergency trip to La. before I go to Texas. 

The past 2 days have been very emotional and stressful and neither seen coming. I was blind sided by both. Please keep this family in your prayers!  Only a miracle can save him now! 

Getting Closer

Each day is getting closer and closer to my trip to Australia.  Work has kept me very busy, that the time has just flown by. I still have so much that I need to do before I leave. One week from Friday I will be on a plane to Texas to meet up with my mom and on Saturday we will board a plane on our way to the World Down Under!  Winter just began, and I'm already not liking the cold. It will be good to get back to some warm weather, but I know the winter doesn't really hit us until Jan. and Feb., so I will come back to freezing weather.

Logan came home today with nothing less than a 98 on his progress report. I'm so proud of him!  I was hoping to see Alexis this weekend but her dad told me he has to work on Friday and won't be able to meet me. I had her for Thanksgiving, but I was really hoping to see her one more time before I left.  I think I will make a trip to see her next week before I leave.  Brooklyn has almost finished her first semester in college.  I'm not sure what her GPA is, but I know she hasn't done to well in one subject. I hope she realizes the importance of keeping her GPA up because her scholarship is based off of that!  Kids!