harry's mumbles

i did it. today i filled in my application forms for discipleship training school at youth with a mission hopeland in uganda.

i had been putting it off for a while. i wanted to be sure it was right. and now i do. i still have more forms to organise - like pastor reference forms and medical (ugh) forms, but i have made a start...

now i need to sort out visas (don't have the first idea how) and book my ticket (argh scary stuff!). in eight months' time, i will be in uganda :) yay!

it is hard to stay focused on life in australia in the present. my mind keeps wandering over to febuary and uganda...i keep imagine little black babies and walking along dirty streets and seeing lions and tigers and elephants and...u get the idea. i want to be there so much.

in regards to my living simply(er) and slowing down, i have been getting good. last weekend my diary was totally bursting at the seems and it was stressing me out. so i cancelled on everyone (and had a huge attack of the guilts). i just kept one thing and did that. and with the rest of my time i got rid a lot of clutter out of my bedroom. my wardrobe has halved. yay!

well...thats all from me today. need to go to the shops...
peace out and love u all.

xx harry

"live simply, so others can simply live" ghandi


heloo again...how is life?

i have given my lj a bit of new life with a new layout and said nice things to it so it thinks i wont abandon it again...i will try not to. but its hard doing an lj and a myspace u know! which one do i blog to?!?! argh its all too hard.

anyway...as the title of this blog says, i have been thinking a lot about slowing down and living simply.
it all started way back in march at lauren's birthday when i said ever so innocently "i'm not going to buy anymore clothes for the rest of the year". that was so i could save more for my africa trip next year.
anyway. it got me thinking that i really don't neeeeed anymore clothes for the rest of the year. and then that got me thinking about how i really don't need most of what i have. most is just, well, clutter. its pretty clutter, but its clutter all the same.

God has really been speaking to me about just living simply and slowing down. just thinking about it relaxes me and that is definitely something i need to do. since i made my fateful promise, i haven't bought any clothes or jewellery. i am still working on my books and cds obsessions, but on step at a time hey.

but it goes further than not just buying stuff i don't need. its a whole mindset. read all about it at:

http://www.livesimply.org.uk/
http://www.simpleliving.org/indexoth.php?place=what.php#simplicity

helooo lj world!

so, it has been about seven months since i have posted but seeing as danielle and lauren are on the other side of australia now (i am v jealous of queensland right now) i thought i would at least try and be a better lj poster...

so...i can't even really remember what i am sposed to write. my news? aw nothing much is happening...just working so a i can save for uganda (i have decided to do a youth with a mission {YWAM} descipleship training school {DTS} in feb next year.

when i am not at work i have been watching twin peaks, trying to get fit with my new pilates dvd and listening to good music.

last night i saw brooke fraser in concert in freo. that was awesome. she is such an amazingly talented muscian. and while she is quite popular in the secular music world, she still keeps her shows very centred on Jesus. she sang a beautiful hymn...can't really remember it now, but it went something like....'when i wake, give me Jesus, you can have the whole world, but give me Jesus' or something like that.

well. i am going to go make gluten free pizza :) with smoked salmon and corn and cream cheese. mm i am drooling on the keyboard in anticipation!

love you all with the biggest love imaginable!!
GOD BLESS
harry

ps. i held a big fat snake today - there is a photo in my myspace pics - go look!!

what does a massacre more than 170 years ago, a group of about 50 teenage girls on fire for god, eight high school drama performances and a snake named charlie brown have in common?

they all form parts of my crazy weekend.

the weekend started at 4pm friday when i left work and drove to perth to see my best friend davina, who is about to spend the next two months working away. we had ambitions to be cool and sophisticated and actually go out. very rare for us. usually the two of us spend our time together chilling and watching movies, it is very rare for us to actually do something! anyway, we went out for a meal at the captain stirling in claremont. it was a bit too packed and i saw a few too many people i knew from highschool! but we had a good night. and i had a new outfit on :)

i was annoyed to wake up on saturday morning at 5.30am, knowing i had a full day of work ahead of me... the first job was the pinjarra massacre memorial. the massacre is not very well known, even in mandurah and pinjarra, but it is a huge bit of australia's and aboriginal people's history. it was good they marked the occassion...

after another job in pinjarra taking social photos, i set off home and desperately tried to sleep. me and sleep during the day do not mix. but after a little rest i felt a bit better. next on the list was the hergirl conference at church, at which i was judging the jewellery-making competition. the conference was awesome. the girls who attended had so much fun and the presence of god was very there. i even shed a tear at the end, seeing how much these girls had been blessed by the conference...

then it was off to work again... the yoh fest finals. yoh fest is the youth on health festival and eight high schools performed last night. absolutely exhausted, i left during the interval and was in bed by 8.30pm!

this morning i was up again at 6am. but i felt so much better having had more sleep than i have had in soooo long. at church pastor aaron spoke on values and i was convicted big time. i don't even know what my values are. how can i possibly live without values? so anyway, i jotted down my values during the sermon and i am determined to live them out. it is no use deciding what i value and then not letting my life reflect what they are. hopefully there will be a change in my heart and therefore my thoughts, feelings, speech and actions...

after church i had yet another job - the little nippers festival where i got to be a kid and play with charlie brown the snake. i love snakes :)

when i got home i got to do what i really love to do every sunday - read outside in the sun.

so now i am settling in for a night of australian idol (go dean!) and more reading! peace out everyone - hope this post hasn't been too long and weird!!

**god bless**

...so i can't stay long...just wanna share this with my single girlfriends...

"A woman's heart should be so hidden in God that a man must seek Him to find her."

isn't that lovely?

this week has been pretty cool and looks like this weekend (and monday) are gonna be awesome too. i'm not usually a person that likes to be busy, but i haven't minded too much recently. which is probably a good thing, cos busy i have been.

i will share some highlights :)

on wednesday night i went to my friend dani's house alllll the way in herron (which is 45 mins from my house for you nsw ppl) and went horseriding. i figured out though, that it isn't horseriding that i love, it is just being around the horses. i love the saddling up and talking to the horses as much as actually riding them. especially candy. riding candy is somewhat scary. i am used to placid-horse-ring-stables-wouldn't-hurt-a-fly-type horses. candy is a lets-gallop-i-used-to-be-a-race-horse-type horse.
a bit different.
anyway, i am bruised and battered to say the least. the best bruise is this massive one on my knee from when candy decided to lean right up against a fence post, forgetting my leg came between the post and her. ouch.
but let me tell you, it is awesome having a friend with horses. i love it :)
later that night (9.30pm) i went and saw one of my favourite bands, karnivool, play in town. very late for a wednesday night for me! but they were awesome.

last night i went to sixty-two 10 (a very posh restaurant in town) with my slimming group for our end celebration thing. we did this balloon release thing where we wrote on a balloon how much weight we had lost and then release it into oblivion. i got to write 21 kilos on mine :) yaaaaaay, felt good to release that - literally and metaphorically.

right now i am slowly getting ready to see a good friend of mine get married :) i am so happy for her and trying not to be tooo jealous! i think it is going to be a good day.

tomorrow is my brother richard's birthday. he would be 24. it is weird to think what life would be like if he was alive. would we be in australia? would we have become christians? would tom and millie be here? anyway, we are going out for lunch after church. we always do something as a family to mark his brithdays and anniversaries.

monday is dad's 50th! we have organised a surprise limo to pick us up and take us out for dinner :) can't wait, i love surprises!

with all these lunches and dinners i hope i don't put those 21 kilos back on!

well this has turned out to be a very long and only-interesting-to-me type of post! hope u are all well and happy. its good to be back :)

it has been so long since i have posted i almost feel as if i should start a whole new journal from the beginning! i started this journal during my holidays and was able to post really regularly, but as soon as work came back, my time disappeared. i know it is no excuse, i still find the time to read and watch tv so i should make time to post to my lj! anyways, i am doing it now!! and i happened to read your post, lauren, with u tagging me to write the six random things about myself...so here goes:

1. i am saving to go to africa
2. this is the first time my hair has been its natural colour since i was 13
3. my hair in the past has been brown, red, black, blonde, pink, blue and orange
4. i eat a rediculous amount of roasted almonds
5. i haven't drunk coffee for five weeks - the longest time since i was 14
6. if i ever have twin boys i want to call them bobby and jimmy (hehe cute!)

okay...now here is my name thing!!!

1. YOUR SPY NAME: (middle name and current street name) Jayne Horizon
2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on your dad's side, your favorite candy) Dorothy Peanut M&Ms
3. YOUR RAP NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of last name)H Spo
4. YOUR GAMER TAG: (a favorite color, a favorite animal)Green Horse
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Jayne Surrey
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (first 3 letters of your last name, last 3 letters of mother's maiden name, first 3 letters of your pet's name) Spo Car Max
7. JEDI NAME: (middle name spelled backwards, your mom's maiden name spelled backwards) Enyaj Notgnirrac
8. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favorite color, the automobile your mom drives) The Green Corolla
9. YOUR ACTION HERO NAME: (first name of a main character in the last movie you watched, last food you ate) Val Almonds

so anyway...back to my posty post. i dunno what to write. i am all inspired out with those funny name things :)
sorry it has been so long. hope i am still on your friends lists!! all your posts have been so interesting and cool. i want to comment on everything but i am gonna crash into beddy.
love yous all
x h

it seems like so long since i have posted...i guess it seems that way because it *is* so long...life has been busy to say the least. i haven't quite figured out what god is teaching me through this psycho-busy and stressful time, but i'm sure there is a lesson here somewhere.

this week mum and dad have been soaking up the sun in broome (mum has been bragging about how brown she is!). life continues as normal here, but whenever my parents are away i realise how much they actually do!

this week in my quiet times, fearing god has come up a lot. what do you reckon fear of god means? i have always been a bit confused. ever since i was a child i haven't totally understood. people have said fearing god is like being in awe of him, but i think the word fear is just a bit too far from god to be good, you know??

anyway, if anyone has any ideas, i would appreciate them.
hope you are all well and happy.

love yas harry

yep, it is august 13, but as i was driving my car this afternoon, i was singing christmas carols at the top of my lungs.

i think its sad chrissie carols only get played one month a year. some are really brilliant and deserve to come out and play.

when i was about 14, i listened to christmas carols all year round. almost every day in fact. but it wasn't the fact that they were christmas song i was interested in, it was that they were being sung by hanson.

that snowed in cd was my favourite hanson cd and it didn't matter to me at all what month it was that i listened to it.

then, tragedy struck. my snowed in cd disappeared and i spent the following four christmases feeling as if something was definately missing. every year, it was the same, "i wish i had my snowed in cd," i would mope. i tried looking in cd shops, but alas, i never could find my precious cd.

until today. today i was browsing through the mandurah weekend markets when i found not one, but two snowed in cds in perfect condition for a bargain $4. i actaully screamed in joy and turned to a stranger to explain my excitement. (needless to say, she walked away quickly after giving me that 'you're a weirdo' face).

so this afternoon after church, i joined in (in perfect harmony) with those long-haired mmmboppers and sang christmas carols in august.

and all was right in the world again.

i am reading two really good books at the moment. i am halfway through the very fat 'the glass lake' by maeve binchy and a tiny bit of the way into 'pursuit for peace' by joyce meyer.

these two are two of my favourite authors. maeve is like an old friend that i regularly catch up with to hear the rundown on what is happening in the lives of the people around her. i feel like i really know the characters in her novels and get really involved in their lives. this book is about kit mcmahon - a 13-year-old irish girl who's mother disappears and is presumed dead...i hate writing about novel plots cos i want to give everything away - but you will just have to read it for yourselves!

the other book, 'pursuit for peace', i haven't read much of yet. i am only three chapters into it but the fact that i have learnt stuff already is proof it is going to be one of *those* books.

well i better go get ready for work...guess what i would rather be doing!

luv h

wow it has been so long since i have posted. my poor lj probly thought i abandoned it! i have been so busy it is not funny. i am one of those people who needs time - time to think, time to breath, time to relax, time to take everything slowly. i hate rushing and being busy. recently my life has been a huge blur like cars speeding on the freeway...but the thing is, i don't want to stop doing any of the things i am doing that are rushing me, cos they are all good. stuff like leading a connect group, going to the gym, going to bible study, visiting one of my best friends...

but even if i am rushing and am busy, i think it is possible for me to be peaceful within myself. i long to live a simple life, so in tune with the voice of god that he leads me to do whatever he wants, not so busy that i don't have time to even hear him.

the closer i am to god, the more peaceful and the less affected by the fast-pacedness of my life i will be.

sorry i haven't replied to any comments in so long...i have to go now but i will try to reply asap!!!

peace out y'all
luv h

welll, what do you write when you want to update your journal but don't really have any news? i dunno!

but anyway, here i am. day two of my first week back at work after three glorious weeks of holidays is finally over. the first two days of any working week for me are the hardest, so i am glad we are nearly on to wednesday!

i have been really good this week so far in two areas.

1. i have been reaaaalllly healthy! and i resisted so much delicious-looking chocolate cakes and slices on monday night! and tonight i went to the gym all by myself!

2. i haven't spent a cent on stuff. by stuff i mean anything that i don't neeeeeed (clothes, jewellery - even craft stuff!). granted i haven't been paid yet, but i intend to keep this up. recently i have been spending money because, well, i like spending money! but it isn't helping me save for my trip to romania next year!!

well, as i said, i don't really have anything to update you on, i am just on here to brag about how good i have been!

ahaha...

love and god bless

harry

in open fields of wild flowers she breathes the air and flies away.
she thanks her Jesus for the daisies and the roses in no simple language. someday she'll understand the meaning of it all.
he's more than the laughter or the stars in the heavens, as close as a heartbeat or a song on your lips.
someday she'll trust him and learn how to see him, someday he'll call her and she will come running and fall in his arms.
the tears will fall down and she'll pray: i want to fall in love with you.

just wanted to share these beautiful jars of clay lyrics with you all.

aww i have been a bit naughty with updating my blog! oopsy. so much has been happening. maybe i will go by dates...

july 17: crafternoon! wahooo! liisa, jodie and i had a lovely day with some of the careys and got busy doing some craft. my brother kindly told me and liisa that we were 'fruit loops', but we had a ball. danielle, lauren and i worked on our scrapbooks, liisa made a gorgeous card and jodie worked on a scarf she is knitting. a very successful day and one we must do again - next time i wont spill chai tea all over the table or eat so many chocolate biscuits!

july 18: my birthday! 22! i had a lovely day. woke up at 6am and did some reading while mum woke up tom and millie. (dad had to leave to get the bus to perth at 6.45 - but i probably would have woken them up even if he didn't!). then i got to open my pressies! yayayayayay pressies - i got some awesome stuff. after that, me and mum went to the shops and got some food for lunch, came back and started cooking. well, she started cooking, i just kept her company and ate chocolate. at 12 the guests started arriving and the lunch was so lovely. surrounded my great friends, great food and great presents (!) - what more could i ask for???

july 19: i caught up with marion - a friend and mentor and teacher and pastor early in the morning and enjoyed a yummy mocha with no milk at gloria jeans. she has been really helping me with some stuff i am struggling with and i always feel so much clearer after spending time with her. after that i went to the mandurah forum to spend my birthday money from my grandparents and bought a nice top. when i got home i realised that last week i had hired six dvds which were due back the next day and i had only watched one!! oops! guess what i did for the rest of the day!

july 20: i started the csiro total wellbeing diet today. it's hard and i am hungry :( ut i am determined this time! wish me luck! i also caught up with tessa, a lovely girl who i haven't seen in ages! it was really nice seeing her again. we had family friends coming for dinner, which was great. i remember so clearly rocking their youngest son, kale, to sleep when he was a newborn baby and babysitting him and his brother, mitchell when they were younger. now they are 15 and 12!! time flies!!!

july 21: today. today i updated my blog and freaked out that this is the last proper day on my holidays and i am dreading going back :( mope.

well i think that is enough from me today! i feel like this is a very weird blog that may only be interesting to me, so sorry about that! hope everyone reading this is well and blessed. love yas all. harry

i am totally copying danielle here - sorry danielle!!! i got inspired after her list of '5 things i thankful for'. i have this absolutely wonderful thing called a gratitude journal i got for $3 from koorong once. it is pretty much a normal journal but specifically intended as a huge bit list of things you are thankful for. the woman who 'wrote' it is laura jensen walker, and she started her list (which is on the left hand side of every page - you only get to write on the right side) when she was battling breast cancer. i have found my gratitude journal to be a guaranteed way to uplift me when i am feeling low. when i started my journal in 2003 i wasn't in a great place in my life and i was really struggling a lot with panic attacks, which got me quite low. but you can't help but smile when you thing of stuff you are thankful for. as well as the big important stuff like God and family and friends, i have listed the little things that i am grateful for like coffee, photos, free stuff, ug boots and soy chocolate! here's a list of stuff i am thankful for right now:
1. holidays
2. this morning's sermon at church on 'living beyond myself'
3. that the $2 shop has scrapbooking supplies
4. weight watchers chocolate mousse! yum!
5. crafternoon tomorrow!!

my holidays are already over half over! noooo. i have done so much stuff already but there is still more stuff i want to achieve. here's the promised list:

1. spend more time with God.
2. work on my novel (yay novel!)
3. have a crafternoon!!! - do scrapbooking
4. read - have so many books to get through...
5. write to andrea
6. organise my birthday lunch
7. finish decorating/organising my bedroom
8. catch up with friends
9. make more jewellery
10. relaxxxxx.......

do you know what is annoying? it is 4.34am and i am awake! awake!! i am going to be so shattered tomorrow. i mean today. grrr

just wanted to share the newest addition to my face - a little diamond in my nose!! i love it. i hope i don't freak you guys out with all my piercings. i now have 11. is that weird?? probly. people are always surprised about my piercings. but i like having at least a tiny bit of mystery, cos other than that i am an open book. argh millie is singing at the top of her lungs, must go and stop her!!! peace out.

My child...

You may not know me, but I know everything about you. Psalm 139:1

I know when you sit down and when you rise up. Psalm 139:2

I am familiar with all your ways. Psalm 139:3

Even the very hairs on your head are numbered. Matthew 10:29-31

For you were made in my image. Genesis 1:27

In me you live and move and have your being. Acts 17:28

For you are my offspring. Acts 17:28

I knew you even before you were conceived. Jeremiah 1:4-5

I chose you when I planned creation. Ephesians 1:11-12

You were not a mistake, for all your days are written in my book. Psalm 139:15-16

I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live. Acts 17:26

You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14

I knit you together in your mother's womb. Psalm 139:13

And brought you forth on the day you were born. Psalm 71:6

I have been misrepresented by those who don't know me. John 8:41-44

I am not distant and angry, but am the complete expression of love. 1 John 4:16

And it is my desire to lavish my love on you. 1 John 3:1

Simply because you are my child and I am your Father. 1 John 3:1

I offer you more than your earthly father ever could. Matthew 7:11

For I am the perfect father. Matthew 5:48

Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand. James 1:17

For I am your provider and I meet all your needs. Matthew 6:31-33

My plan for your future has always been filled with hope. Jeremiah 29:11

Because I love you with an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31:3

My thoughts toward you are countless as the sand on the seashore. Psalms 139:17-18

And I rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17

I will never stop doing good to you. Jeremiah 32:40

For you are my treasured possession. Exodus 19:5

I desire to establish you with all my heart and all my soul. Jeremiah 32:41

And I want to show you great and marvelous things. Jeremiah 33:3

If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me. Deuteronomy 4:29

Delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

For it is I who gave you those desires. Philippians 2:13

I am able to do more for you than you could possibly imagine. Ephesians 3:20

For I am your greatest encourager. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

I am also the Father who comforts you in all your troubles. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

When you are brokenhearted, I am close to you. Psalm 34:18

As a shepherd carries a lamb, I have carried you close to my heart. Isaiah 40:11

One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes. Revelation 21:3-4

And I'll take away all the pain you have suffered on this earth. Revelation 21:3-4

I am your Father, and I love you even as I love my son, Jesus. John 17:23

For in Jesus, my love for you is revealed. John 17:26

He is the exact representation of my being. Hebrews 1:3

He came to demonstrate that I am for you, not against you. Romans 8:31

And to tell you that I am not counting your sins. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

His death was the ultimate expression of my love for you. 1 John 4:10

I gave up everything I loved that I might gain your love. Romans 8:31-32

If you receive the gift of my son Jesus, you receive me. 1 John 2:23

And nothing will ever separate you from my love again. Romans 8:38-39

Come home and I'll throw the biggest party heaven has ever seen. Luke 15:7

I have always been Father, and will always be Father. Ephesians 3:14-15

My question is…Will you be my child? John 1:12-13

I am waiting for you. Luke 15:11-32

Love, Your Dad.

so loving being on holidays. here is a list of stuff (i love lists, this will soon be evident!) i have done so far (i am only two days into my holidays mind you!).
1. spent time with god.
2. got muzzbuzz in mosman park with friend suzi. long black with snickers flavouring - yum!
3. went shopping in freo - i bought a hat, jewellery and the butterfly effect cd. i very much love this cd! and i am going to the concert soon - yaaaaay!!!
4. saw my good friend mindy and my god daughter ali.
5. saw my buddy davina very quickly on my way home to mandurah.
6. peeked at liisa painting my room yellow! next i am going to add daisies and bible verses and the painting is complete.
7. met my old workmate teena and borrowed some anna jacobs and maeve binchy novels from her...now i gotta actually sit down and read them!
8. hired and watched chicken little. can i just say that the little alien baby is the cutest thing in the world!
9. made earrings for davina's ball.
10. posted to my live journal!
stay tuned for the list of stuff i want to achieve in my holidays - coming soon. peace out sistas!

i have this thing about names. i loooove them! for some weird reason. when i go and take the photos of newborn babies for the paper (the very bestest thing about my job), the thing i do first is find out the name. granted, there are a few 'interesting' names with 'interesting' spellings. but anyway, i thought i would share with you the names of the people in my novel! the main character is alice. i love that name cos it is sweet and it can be shortened to al or ali, which is my god-daughter's name :) her younger sister is going to by jamie which is one of my all time favourite names ever. alice's best friend is denae, which tim jenner sort of came up with! he was desperate to name a character in my novel so he went through his phone until he found one i liked. it was actually danae but i sorta changed it so she could be called den for short which i thought was cute. thennnn oh yeh, darren is the old dude and dad of dax, who is also really called darren. i really love the name dax. haha it is a bit weird, but i like it. and that's about it!! i am still only one chapter into my writing, but now i have three weeks holidays - yaaaay - i am hoping to get a lot more done. well better go get ready. peace out and love you all. yay people are reading my blog. yay. ps. i just did my mood icon thing. don't you think that little cat thing looks anything but excited???