Hello again, cyber-space!

It has been quite a while since I have even thought about writing a new blog post...  Life has been hectic, wonderful, exciting, challenging and very full, over the last few months.  I do plan to pick up the blogging again, and finally, things have slowed down enough for me to have a few thoughts percolating...  but in the meantime, I thought y'all might like a glimpse of just a few of the things I've been up to over the last few months...

In full housework regalia (and by housework, I mean building the house - plastering walls, putting on cornice, architraves, skirtings, and painting!!)

House Renovations - have taken a leap forward!!  We have new STAIRS, I am now living in a proper bedroom with a REAL closet!!  My daughter has moved out of the study and into her real bedroom, and the upstairs living area is now an actual living area - not a "temporary-bedroom-camp-tool-storage-and-makeshift-office-mess-explosion"!!  What a difference it makes!  There is still a lot that remains unfinished, but the living spaces are functional now, and I'm loving the sense of space and order that has provided.

It was worth the weeks of hard work to get it to that point.  On the way - help from friends and family (my wonderful brother-in-law, Warren, came down for a week's "holiday", just to help with the plastering, and other friends helped with the clean up, shifting furniture, and other things that I really couldn't manage alone) made me feel very loved, and wonderfully connected.

Wazza risking life and limb above the stairwell!

Reno - glam girl!!! 

My plasterwork...  ready for painting

Finished - Doesn't it look beautiful??

We celebrated with a "renovation-warming" party in January...  Which was quite a spectacular celebration!  For me, after not months but years of "makeshift living", to be able to welcome friends and family into my space and have them celebrate with me was something very special and memorable.  We barbecued, ate, drank, laughed, sat around an outdoor fire, watched the kids running around in dressups, and playing with glow sticks and sparklers.  My belly dancing buddies and I performed (whoo-hoo!!) & then lots of the other girls, from the ages of two, to seventy-two (as well as one adventurous boy - who some of you have met on these pages, so I will dob him in - blogging buddy,  Andrew Cook  ) joined in just for the fun of it!

Since the renovation push, I've been concentrating on catching up some of the jobs that had been neglected outdoors, both because of the concentrated renovation efforts, and having been unwell for the last part of 2012.  I'm enjoying seeing my vegetable garden re-emerge from the jungle of weeds, have been doing some very overdue (and enjoyable) Autumn pruning, and am working on building a hen-house for the beautiful Barnevelder chickens I have acquired, and which are currently "agisting" with a friend until their palace is complete.

My beautiful Barnevelder Babies!

On a personal note, there seems to be quite a poetical symmetry between these physical and practical developments and the emotional and relational shifts and changes I've been going through at the same time.  During the time house renovations were being sorted, property settlement and divorce details were amicably arranged.  As with the house, it is not all quite complete - but the important parts are in place, and all is well.  I mentioned that I had not been well for the latter part of 2012, and this has also resolved, and I'm feeling better than I have in a very long time.  On multiple levels, there is a sense of resolution and of moving on.  It is a nice season to be in!

See you Next Week!

Hey, all!

Just a wee update, since I have not been posting so regularly of late!  All is good - work has been very busy - I'm doing a "block" on a K/1 class, and really enjoying having a bit of continuity with the same group of kids.  Catapulting into (temporary) full-time work, though, on the back of having been quite unwell, mid-term, has left little energy for writing/blogging/or anything much else!

SOOOO....  Since it is now school holidays, I am taking the opportunity to head off into the wild blue yonder, to take some time for myself, to rest and reflect.  Ian has the kids during the first holiday week, and I have been wanting some silence, and the space to "reconnect",  for a while - so it seems like the perfect opportunity!

I've found a lovely, quiet little place to stay, and am planning to sleep, walk, meditate, and hopefully do some writing too.  We'll see.  Time alone has often been a very healing thing, for me - and I'm really looking forward to my little break.  I'll let you know how it goes!!  At the very least, I shall bring back some pretty photos to post :)

Shalom!
Kerry

A God-Awful Day!

I don't really know how to blog about my day, without sounding either whingey, or really trite and twee - plus it involves exposing my (hopefully temporarily) tatty financial state & probably poor management of some things, to the blogosphere.  Nonetheless, I want to share - because right now, I'm just boggling with wonder!

Let me begin with our recent "series of unfortunate events".  (I was hoping the superstition that "bad things come in threes" was true... unfortunately if it is, our run of "bad luck" is not over yet - we've begun again - so I'm dropping that idea!)

Family Stuff...

Every time I go to write a post like this, I wonder if I really should.  However, I've waved enough of my dirty laundry at the internet world already; my rants are there for all to see - and so, in my now well established tradition of being far too personal in public, I think it is time for an update on "the Big D".

Nundu

This is Nundu.  

He's the newest addition to the Whalen family.  We think he's about 10 weeks old (though his size is more like 6).  He was rescued from the local dump, and ended up coming to live with us.  Specifically, he was adopted by my 12 year old daughter, Hannah.  "Nundu" is a Harry Potter name (Hannah is a mad-keen Harry Potter nut!! Apparently a Nundu is some kind of scary, leopard-like magical creature with very bad breath!).  The name is a kind of Hannah irony.  She doesn't see him that way at all!

When we first met Nundu, he was pitifully thin, had runny eyes, worms, and fleas.  Oh, and there was poo stuck in his fur.  We took him for a vet check (a bit worried that the eyes might be infectious as we have another older kitten at home) and the vet thought he was suffering from the tail-end of

Getting it off my chest!

I have a feeling this post is going to be less of a theological /cultural comment, than it is just personal rant.  Sorry in advance for this - but there's some stuff I just need to get off my chest.

I'm going through a divorce (yes, it's definite).  It's necessary.  It's a relief.  But the process sucks.  Big time.  There are times when it feels like surviving a death.  What makes it worse, is that I am a CHRISTIAN going through divorce.   OH. MY.

Can you tell that I'm feeling angry?  I've long been an outspoken critic of "Christian culture".  We have created religious shackles for ourselves and others that Jesus never intended.  In fact, I firmly believe that if he were walking around in sandals today, he'd be doing a lot more table-tipping than

Family stuff...

Well, the blog has been very inactive for a very long time, and to be honest, I'm not sure how much I will be updating it in the future - although I do have some thoughts brewing that I think ought to be shared... more on that later!

For those of you who pray, we are facing some very significant challenges at the moment, as a family.  Basically, after long and protracted difficulties (& those who know us personally would be aware of these) Ian and I are now living under the same roof, but separated.  The decision has been made prayerfully, and the separation is not necessarily final.  We have to work out how best to move forward as a family, and that may be together as husband and wife - or not.

So far, this new chapter has been a testament to God being in control, and the perfectness of His timing.  We are finding that our home is peaceful, and we able to communicate honestly with one other.  I think we are both growing as people as a result.  Whatever the outcome, I believe with all my heart (and there has certainly been plenty of evidence to back it up) that we are moving forward into something much better.

Thank you for your prayers.

Kerry.

House update

After the last post, I thought I should probably add the end of the house-buying saga, just so everyone doesn't wonder whether or not we are currently homeless!

Yes.  The vendors did finally work out their legal tangle and settle - two weeks late.  Ian had taken two weeks off work to do some renovating work and get ready to move in - the settlement happened

Opportunities for Grace

We've had a few things NOT go smoothly lately.

For those who don't know us, we are in the process of buying a house.

It is THE house. The GOD house that we know that we know that we know He found for us. We are dreaming of wonderful times with family and friends, not to mention chooks, vegie gardens and fruit trees. We love the little village community in which it is located. Seriously - this is THE house!!

Along the way there have been some remarkable ways in which things have fallen together unexpectedly super-smoothly. For example,there was a tenant with a loooong lease (& we really