I left my heart downunder... and Im going back to get it!

Its all in the title.. although I reckon I could elaborate. Sorry about the wait, Firstly I wanted to tell certain people in 'person' before I blabbed it all out on fb and here. Second of all I left my laptop cord at my parents, so I had a dead computer all week which doesn't really help the situation.
But here I am, to say wildly and freely, that I AM going back to Australia, and my ticket IS booked, and I am FLYING (WHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!) back to the land downunder. After confirming it all, it was funny how more then anything else I just felt relieved, I have yet to scream and yell and jump around the house... its more of a quiet smile inside of me. Its no longer a question of if or when it will happen... which makes me feel calm.
I left my heart in Australia...not literally.. its still beating inside me, I've used that statement a few times though in the last two and a half years, more so meaning that I just haven't been able to get over that awesome country. I promise you I thought of it everyday for 2.5 years.. and have had about 20 dreams about it(like when im sleeping)As my parents would say "She just needs to go back just to get it outta her system" Im not sure that going back will actually get it outta my system, but I hope to try, I am gonna make a huge effort to soak up every single day, make the absolute most out of each of the 33ish days that Im there, remember how much I miss it when Im home, and to bring my heart back with me at the end... so that instead of going through droopy years of Australia withdrawl.. and I can come back and FOCUS on something else. I feel very ready to focus on something else, Save Up for something else.... like a missions trip....?

Facts of the matter:

1. Im flying out March 31st.. at around 8 in the evening, land in Vancouver 3 hours later.. Then at 11:45pm vancouver time, I head out o're the ocean. Kinda sucks abit that all my departing flights are in the dark. I may or may not land in Honolulu for a fuel up, just like last time.. It doesn't show up on my itinerary, but it didn't either last time, so I'll find out later I guess if it will happen or not.
2. Im going to visit all my besties, thats my main focus of this round 2, I just wanna see my favorite australians again, and I can't wait! hugs all around!
3. Fly up to Whitsundays Islands area, If I had to pick a favorite place on the east coast, it was the Whitsundays, Im planning on going on a sailing/scuba diving live abroad tour, up in Whitsunday Islands, 3 days and 3 nights on a sail boat, one day spent on the Great Barrier Reef, I also wanna sky dive in the whitsundays as well. :S If I survive that then I will...
4. Fly home on May 4th.

So thats the low down on my Australia Round 2! I have many mixed emotions, actually kinda stressed about it all, altho I think once I have everything worked out I'll be able to sit back and just look forward to it proper like. I know and am very mentally prepared that the second time around is gonna be really different, maybe not quite as astoundingly awesome as the first time, but hopefully just as sweet in a different kind of way :)

A day to remember

its booked.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

It's the most wonderful time of the year...! so goes the song. I really love Christmas alot, I really do. I love the crazy, festiveness, shopping for those perfect gifts, packing my December calender with Christmas parties and family gatherings, baking Christmas cookies, eating nuts and heaps of candy, and I love that the reason we celebrate this holiday is because of a baby born in barn, who saved me.

I had a wonderful Christmas, with 10 days away from work, I chose to spend every single one of those days out in the sticks, where I could take late night walks out underneath the stars, and go skating on ponds out in the boonies, and most of all spend time with my family, and just take a break from life as I knew it. Nothing clears my head and gets me focused again then going home and being with my family, they pick me up time and time again, and I just feel way happier out there in the sticks with my wide open spaces.

I will make mention of 3 of my presents..My grandma knit me the most comfortable sweater I ever did have, its big and cozy and beautiful, like a hug. I got picture frame collages which I was pumped about, and I really enjoyed picking and printing pictures to put into them, and I got a fleece sheetset. Think about the thickest and fuzziest pajama pants you ever did have, and make that into a pillowcase, fitted sheet, and flat sheet. Mhmmm, its bliss getting into bed now. I purposely left it on my bed at home, cuz I knew if I brought them to the city I would for sure never get outta bed on time to go to work.

I had bunches of family gatherings, and enjoyed them heaps. Im so blessed with such an incredible family and extended family. It was a most wonderful Christmas.

Happy New Year!

They say how you spend your new years is a hint to how you will spend the rest of your year. I found this partially true when I think about how I spent 09's new years, I spent it with a bunch of friends, who were there for me time and time again throughout the year.

The first day of this year I tried something new, and attacked it with fury lol, I went snowboarding, and it was quite epic. I fell much, and was in much pain by the end of the day and even more the next day, but now Im almost all recovered except for the massive bruises I aquired.

I can use learning to snowboard as a good analogy of how this year might go.. try new things, chase after new experiences, sometimes they won't work out, and sometimes I'll get hurt, but God will always heal... something like that. Mostly Im just trying to keep a very open mind and not making any predictions about this year, and heaven forbid I make any new years resolutions. NaDa... this year is in God's hands, and what I will and will not accomplish, only He knows. My prayer is that I will be able to fully and completely surrender each season of it to my Father.

May 2010 be a most epic year for all of you as well!

I found my RING!!!

On December 3rd, 2008 in a post called Vanishing ring and fishes (www.sheilanamedsheila.blogspot.com/2008/12/vanishing-ring-and-fishes.html) I wrote about my vanishing fishes (who as a side note have ALL died now, I put my tank away) and my lost Australian ring. Since then I have also lost my grad earrings and my scarf that Sophia made me. All items that I was really disappointed to have lost.Well yesterday I decided I was gonna change my room all around here at my parents place, and just majorly clean it up. This was inspired because my uncle Wes built me a beautiful gorgeous 'bookshelf',(see pic) and I needed a place for it. Its not actually for books, I wanted something that I could properly showcase my partylite candlewear and ornamental stuff. So as I was putting my stuff on my shelf, I lifted up my bowl that has the sand in it from Bondi Beach Aus, and seashells from Mallacoota, (see pic) So I lifted out the top bowl and in the bottom bowl lay my ring! and grad earrings and another necklace. These things were in there for over a year! and I really dont' understand or remember ever putting them in there. Really weird. But I was soooo happy. So now after a year and abit I am proudly wearing my Aussie ring again.(see pic) I wont have to get a replacement whoo!!

On my way back from Steinbach on Friday night, I saw something tragic take place. This would also be one of those times when pictures don't do justice, but I saw that house burn, the police were getting there just as I reached it. I was definetly one of those people who just pulled over and watched and tried not to cry. It was so devastating. I dont know whose house it was although Im sure it wouldn't be hard to figure out, it is Steinbach after all. It was a big house, and it was a huge fire, just seeing the roof start to cave in.. I really feel for whoever it is that lost their home right before Christmas..

Speaking of Christmas, I am one happy happy girl on holidays right now. Today we went skating on some huge pond that my dad learnt to swim in when he was a kid. We made a fire there and had hot chocolate, it was beautiful!

Yeah Im still around...

<--I tried on my Grandma Reimer's wedding dress, and it fit, I actually really liked it. it made me feel abit like a flight attendant.

I guess its been awhile since I actually wrote on this thing... sure I open it up once and awhile but then I just dont feel like writing. so Im sure everyones given up on reading this already.. What did November hold?

*I got really sick for a week...with a high possibility that it was a strain of hInI.. I had all the symtoms. My favorite was the high fever that wouldnt go away even with advil and tylonal. One evening I just sat outside in the cold for 15 minutes hoping that would help.

*November 16, I FINALLY got a new job. However I wasn't totally pumped that it was another nanny one, excited to get a paycheck though.

*Stacey's bachlorette was this weekend. We had a good time, almost got kicked out of the hotel.. the hotel dude came and knocked on our door at 2:30am saying that they were getting complaints about us.. oops.. To say the least we were acting like 12 year old hyper girls.

*What beautiful weather, I even took the liberty of going rollerblading a couple times.

*Did I ever mention I have the coolest CnC? Just a totally awesome bunch of people, we went 80's bowling the other week and it was stellor. SO much backcombing and hairspray!

*Going to a friend of mine's baptism... If he can turn his life around.. then I reckon anybody could... It was awesome to see!

* I had a 7 day stint of good days.. like where I could actually say, its been a good week. Sounds small.. but its been a long time when I actually had a bunch of good days in a row..

This weeks gonna be a hectic one I think...I am only gonna work 2-3 days due to Ramona's funeral. (What an inspirational woman! Im so happy that she is finally free and healed, but my heart hurts for Earl and their family.) and rehearsal and prep for Stacey's wedding on Saturday...gonna be a busy one..

November 6, 2009

This was my day today, It consisted of 'surprise surprise', more job applications and having Subway for lunch cuz I didn't feel like having pasta.. again.

This isn't from today, but I carved pumpkings with the kids the other day and this is how mine turned out, nice and traditional.

The biggest thing I did today, or shall we say biggest in my mind, was a memorial so to say. I went to the airport and watched planes land and take off, and I watched the beautiful sunset. The reason behind my airport getaway, was that today marks the 2 year anniversary of coming home from Australia... I remember when I was there thinking ' Someday this will be years behind me, it will be just a memory' and time has flown by very very fast, and now it just seems like it was all just a dream.
But mostly I just can't wait to fly away again.

The sunset was just stunning, and kept changing, this picture doesn't really do justice.

In other news, Jeremiah, Jenna and I went bowling tonight, and I won , which was very good for my big woman ego.

Im planning to donate blood tomorrow with uncle Kevin bright and early, However I wont be surprised if my iron is out or if i faint afterwards. Or that my veins wont co-operate. I will however be very excited if it all works! cuz the one and only time I tried before it didn't. Must drink tons!

Breaking down

So I have been told and knew for the most part that I can handle stress and stressful situations well... but I have now learnt that I am human, and humans can fall apart.

It has been one month now that Ive just been working 2 days a week, and it sure hasn't been easy. Oh sure I've had many friday to monday long weekends and plus a day off in the middle of the week, which makes for lots of sleep ins, but its gets really old after the second week and down right frusterating by the 5th week. I find it interesting how when I compare this year to last year I find that my hardest months were the same. Especially October. October is officially my Annual bad luck with jobs Month. Last year I got fired in October, I got stuck on the beach and had to get towed out (fun story), and got a 280.00 speeding ticket all in a week. It was very bad.

Last week I had a horrible week, mostly the battle was in my head, but nonetheless it really sucked. Wednesday I figured I needed 'Jaymi time' Jaymi is one of my awesomest cousins and we are alike in many ways. Jaymi lives in Steinbach so I made a spontanious trip out there, had my Jaymi time and felt much better about living. The next morning I probably should have just stayed in bed..maybe called in sick or something, I was in such a wretched mood I probably could have hurt someone very badly. By the end of the work day, I was just fuming and boiling and knew I needed to get out of Winnipeg very quickly or I would surely murder someone. Its not like i had a specific reason for anything of this. But this is when I know that Im officially not keeping myself together, and Im no longer being good at handling my stresses. So I very promtly threw my stuff together and got out. After a Thursday to Monday long weekend, I have now cooled down some and am back in the city.

I will be finding out very soon if I got the nanny position I applied for, its sounding pretty positive. I know I wanted to expand my horizons get away from nannying and kids, but Im just getting desparate, and the paychecks better in nannying then at McDonalds. The biggest catch right now though is that I can get this job, which starts in the middle of November..and everything can be just peachy... until March, becuase come March my other house is done with me. But to start at a new house and only be there for 4 months seems like such a rip off to them, so then should I stay there till I go to camp for the summer? but then I'll be in the same shoes I am now.. trying to find a part time job to fill in the extra days.. This is just so stupid.. cuz when I make my decisions now, affects whats gonna happen next year. I started thinking this weekend maybe I'd just scrap this all and go be an aupair in Australia, so I went and checked that out.. and sure enough a family got back to me right aways wanting me to come and be their aupair (they have twin girl babies {I love twins}and live in sydney, are 2 minutes from the beach etc and pretty much the situation couldn't be more ideal).. i think its almost comical how I can't get a job in Wpg.. but how i could have one In Australia in January, but if I do that then Id really be giving up the whole missions trip idea.

So yeah pretty much my brain in like a pinball machine, with ideas, some sensible, some rash; and at this point I dont have any sense from God to show me what I should do, which is probably one of the most frusterating elements of all. I just dont know what to do, everythings just swarming like crazy....

On a positive note, Christy and I celebrated her 16th and my 21st at the Hecla Oasis Resort and Spa (A joint gift from our parents) on October 17-18.. We had a completly and wholly and wild and loud awesome time together. It was amazing, mostly because we made it amazing. We took a bucketload of pictures and put together halarious video coverage... now if ever I need a laugh I just watch one of our movies.. Here is a couple pictures from our weekend.. in random order

Getting ready to dash and dine! The next morning.. Definetly by far the best bed I ever slept in, you get to adjust how soft or firm it is by the press of a button, so fun! and Im definetly investing in feather pillows and blankets like that one day... or I'll just steal them from the hotels laundry room..
We did Fine Dining for dessert... mmm good. See video on Facebook


Christy and I

We got pedicures!

A Beautiful Day A Perfect Day Off

On September 24th, almost 2 weeks ago.. I had a very beautiful day. It was a very beautiful day in more then one way. It was a Thursday... and I had the day off from work, so I went out to Riverton cuz my car had to get new parts bla bla bla.. So after dropping off my car I went to the beach, because it was a beautiful day! Probably the nicest Sept. 24th ever on record. Usually its freezing. I took with me a bucket of nail stuff, a blanket, water, SPITZ and w.e else. I was set for an afternoon of pure quality time. It was the week that I found out I had 2 weeks left at my Bergman house, a thought that brought much stress. But on this particular day, I felt very stress free and had a blanket of God given peace draped over me. This made it a even more so beautiful day. I spent 4 hours on the beach that day, soaking up the last UV rays of the year, running, or frolicking on the beach I like to say, taking my sweet ol time painting all 20 nails on my body, SWIMMING , thinking, and taking pictures. For the most part I had the whole beach to myself... yes indeed it was a very beautiful day, and the best day off I ever did have.

Fun fact: It took at least 40 tries to get a air born pic... 40 crazy looking pictures till I finally mastered the timing... which happened by trying not to get the right timing.... good times I tell you...

Now tell me.... what do you do on your days off and lifes stresses are knocking on your door?

Job update: I stll have no job.. which means tomorrows a day off... Im down to 2 possible places at the mall... so maybe one will pull thru... hopefully! But yes the options are slimming down... not sure what the right thing to do is.... but I do have a heap of God given peace about this all... On top of everything I got a nice whammy cold :(

Everything will work out yet, I know it

Stress much?

So I will start off by saying I realize and understand there are many many people in this world in a bigger predicament or whatever that word is then I am in now. But heres mine anyway...
I dont have a job except for Tuesdays and Thursdays starting next week. Fact: I can't even make my core payments on that.... Another fact: I DONT KNOW WHATS GONNA HAPPEN. Another another fact: I dont like this feeling at all.
Last night I went and dropped off a cazillion resumes at the mall, because Im thinking I'd like to work retail for the remainder of my city time.... Most of the places said they were indeed hiring....so thus the waiting game of Will they actually hire me? starts. There is something EXTREMLY humbling about walking into a store and instead of shopping and blowing up money, going up to the clerk and saying "Im looking for a job, and am wondering if your hiring?" I was amazed at how nice some people actually were. Although the manager of Le Chateau made me wanna curl up and cry, but it got easier the more places I went. At this point I only applied at the places where I think Id like to work cuz I figured if I apply someplace that I dont really want to work at, chances are, those are the ones that will call me.
I do have a back up back up plan of more nannying... but I so badly need to get away from kids and couches.
Tonight I went to Soul's Solace, they had a car rally... it was quite quite fun!

God has something up His sleeve.. again

So today one of my boss moms (the 3 days a week one) told me she has a new nanny starting in... 2 WEEKS! thats 6 months to early! the other mom (2 days)still wants to hold on to me till March like originally planned... today is shock day... tomorrow the stress will come on full fledge! At this point Im actually just quite curious as to what God has in mind for me at this point. Im not a big fan of surprises, kinda like having things all mapped out for months on end, but it wasn't to be. I have many thoughts, but none that are hitting ground yet.......
NOW what!?

21 years..con't

So when I was younger... like 10ish, I pictured myself to be in a way different spot then I am now. I reckoned back then that I'd be married with babies on the way by 21! But it wasn't to be I suppose. I had a great birthday, with many awesome friends that contributed to it. I still have a new birthday cheesecake in the fridge that hasn't been touched and the leftovers of another; it hasn't helped that I had no appetite this week... in fact ive been super weak this week lol, oddly enough, and if I ate maybe I would have felt stronger but I didn't feel like eating much, I think theres something wrong with me, and Im not sure if I should get worried about it or just get more sleep and eat better. I can't wait to get out of the city this week.... Im just antzy to go home. Its supposed to be hot; and I can't wait to go work on my tan at the beach! I even bought a new swimsuit this week.

So I pretty much had decided that I want to do a dts in Whitsundays Aus... they dont have dates yet for 2010 but they are gonna tell me as soon as they decide on some. Its the $9000 price tag that scares me... can anybody say " save money" any louder!?!?! lol I have officially quit both jobs in March, (which is the smartest thing to do when you need to save up money) then I'll move back home and get a NEW job, and hopefully that will help with saving...

In all this, TRUST is my biggest downfall... Trusting God used to be my spiritual strong point, I did awesome at surrendering and trusting God with everything, and now its definetly my weakest link....hence why I already feel discouraged about putting enough money together to go on YWAM... I've heard of lots of peoples glory stories about how God always surprised them and they always had enough....even writing this I just feel a big weight on my shoulders about whether or not this plan is gonna have wings or is just gonna fall in the ditch like everything else...Im having a Peter 'lack of faith' moment....
*interesting fact, as I sit here my roomate in the room next to me is talking on the phone in chinese, its sounds cool and I have no foggy idea what she is saying!

21 years ago

I was born....