Saturday

I have very varied interests.  I do not purport to be an expert on anything.  I would be hopeless in a debate.  My opinions are usually based on a gut feeling.  Some controversial topics include climate and refugees.

One of the things that interests me that is less controversial is bees.  I am fascinated by the global bee crisis.  Some months ago I even watched some YouTube clips about it with my kids (lucky them!)  I am interested in the fact that what we do in our landscape has an effect on life around us.  And that the things we take for granted (our food supply) can be effected dramatically.  Catalyst had a program on bees last night.  I am yet to watch it (I may wait and do so with my kids ;))

Here is a lovely picture which explains something simple we can do to encourage bees in our gardens.



Speaking of things to do with climate, I was proud to see this woman from Marshall Islands speak at the UN



There is a special place in my heart for Pacific Islanders. Over the last 15 years, part of my work has been to support and encourage democracy development in the region.  But it has also given me the opportunity to meet wonderful people who become friends and we share in life's journey - the birth of children and the passing of loved ones.  When I heard this woman speak of her baby daughter, I thought of all of the Islanders I have met, and the Islands I have visited.

Just before commencing my maternity leave when expecting Maggie, I was responsible for organising a regional meeting.  I was thrilled with the number of women who attended.  one woman in particular, from Kiribati, spoke to me about expecting a baby.  Asked about my other children.  I asked her about her family.  She four children.  Then she said "I had five.  My baby had a fever and we went to the doctor.  Then we went to the hospital and she died."  Again I was confronted by the reality that in so many places in this world children are dying of preventable illnesses.

After Nicholas was born, I went to an International Women's Day talk given by Kirsty Sword Gusmao.  She spoke of the maternal health situation in Timor Leste, and it was then that I was able to get involved in the Alola Foundation maternity pack program.

Through my work in Papua New Guinea, I became more aware of children's literacy (or the lack of it)and the work of Buk Bilong Pikinini.  Again, I was able to raise awareness in my work place and hold a book drive to support the creation of libraries in PNG.

I am not an expert on much.  But I am grateful for the times that I have followed my heart and I believe I am richer for it.

i picked the right week to resume part time hours at work. a public holiday today means i have three days at home. there is so much going on at work, and i seem to be taking more and more responsibility for staff and projects. the last three weeks have yet again proved how important my family are.
last week, in the midst of a really stressful situation at work, Nicholas would not go to sleep at his usual time. it was 10pm and i was still trying to get him to go to sleep. my body ached like i hadn't felt it before - i think it was because i was stressed as it hurt from the inside out - literally, my bones ached. i told Nicholas to please go to sleep as i was tired and had to go to work in the morning. he lay in his bed and started to cry. he said "but i don't want you to work this many days and this many days" pointing to his fingers and toes. "when will you stay home with me?" and that was all i needed to give my self a reality check and put my priorities where they needed to be. i'll always do my best at work, and i take pride in the projects i am responsible for, but work is not my life. my life begins when i leave that office at 5pm. i am not going to get caught up in the rat race - the ladder so many strive to climb. it does not satisfy me. i am looking forward to the days home with Nicholas and Audrey, to swimming and gardening. i can't wait until we have a weekend at the coast (only a weekend, but time away as a family). i can't wait until Christmas - Audrey will be an age to enjoy it this year. (i have a new book of Christmas craft). Nicholas loves exploring and looking for fossils. i want to be in their world a little more. this is what satisfies me.

on something else entirely, my parents bought me a book last year called Exiles by Micahel Frost. it is a book that encourages Christians to embrace a dynamic, life-affirming, robust Christian faith that can be lived confidently in a world that no longer values such faith. (book blurb...)
this part resonates with me. i am by no means a die hard environmentalist or a greenie, but to me, this makes sense.
many Christians are "deeply concerned about the state of the global environment and are ashamed of the fact that Christians around the world seem unable to speak with one voice about the looming ecological crisis confronting us. They wish there could be a form of Christian environmentalism that offers a witness to our world about the need to care for our planet. In the absence of such a thing, many turn to movements such as Greenpeace to express their environmental disquiet. If we are to develop a genuinely Christian expression of environmentalism, it should arise from an informed, thoughtful, and faithful consideration of environmental concerns from the perspective of the Christian faith. As is the case with any moral question, a Christian approach to those issues must include as its central source of insight the biblical witness. Thios is not to say that he biblical understandingof the world cannot be expanded by subsequent insights into the nature of things; it is to say that a genuinely Christian ethic is, and must be, compatible with the witness of the Christian Scriptures...
It was Jesus who taught us to pray, "Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven" (Matt 6:10). The idea that we ahve little or no responsabilty for the earth or its creatures because one day we'll be raptured into heaven is a misreading of Scripture. Regardless of one's view on the nature of Christ's second coming, it is imperative that we value what God values. God valued this planet and all its creatures by creating them and calling them good in the first place."