A Little of What I've Been Up To...

Okay Okay I am lame. The Queen of Lame. I wrote this a week and a half ago...yeah. So, it's already kinda old news. But here ya go:



Time in Australia is flying by. I have already been here over a month yet it still really feels like I’m still just getting started. The main reason it feels that way is because my foot is just now finally getting healthy so I have not been in practices and I missed our pre-season tournament and the first two games…So what have I been doing you ask?

Good question :). I have been spending quite a bit of time in this place:




This is the Lakeside Recreation Centre (the Aussie spelling)…This is where I work out, our teams practice, have our games, and where Lakeside Baptist Church meets on Sunday mornings. We meet in Stadium One which they convert for the service, laying out carpet, putting out chairs in front of the stands, and bringing out a stage and backdrop creating a much more intimate and “church” like setting. These pictures were taken on a Sunday after the service.

So most days I am there for some part of the day to work out and then we have practices on Tuesday and Thursday nights. I’ve also spent time going to various therapy and doctor’s appointments trying to get my foot healthy. The ankle joint was extremely locked up, my arch had started falling, and I was getting sharp pains in front of the inside of my ankle. I’ve had my ankle yanked and pulled on and squeezed and stretched and I got acupuncture in different parts of my leg to help loosen up the muscles around my ankle and in my arch. Thankfully, things really started loosening up last Friday and tonight I get to practice again for the first time in three weeks. I am so excited for it and really ready to get on the court. My foot feels the best it has felt since before the injury.

Another huge blessing is my team. The girls have been really welcoming. I have gotten to spend a little bit of time with a couple of them outside of basketball and they’re great girls. Not only that, but watching them play this last weekend was inspiring. They worked hard and brought up their intensity level tremendously. It’s never fun to sit out, but honestly, I was just so engaged in the games and so excited cheering for them that come game time I wasn’t thinking about myself at all. I am really eager though to be on the floor now :).

I have also gotten to see some sights and events since being here. Here are some pictures from Kings Park- a big beautiful park right near the downtown area and the Swan River (uh, I think it's the Swan River...right near a river):




This is from going to the Wildcats’ Basketball game.


It was fun except that they lost. The coach to the far left is Andy Stewart,the director of our club! He also assists for the Wildcats. He is a great coach and I have really enjoyed learning from him. He may or may not have threatened to break my nose today, but I may or may not have called him a pansy before that…so as you may or may not be able to tell, my quest to figure him out and joke around with him is rolling right along…



Another fun event I got to see was Australian football. I don’t have pictures from that but people, it’s as crazy as they tell you it is. The first time I saw it on TV I thought to myself “this looks like a bunch of high school girls running around” which is probably a huge insult but it looked like a bunch of men in short shorts running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Seeing the game played live helped me get a feel for actual rules and strategy (but seeing the short shorts live was not an improvement at all)…It really isn’t like American football at all, but is much more like soccer with how quickly the ball changes possession. There are tackles but it’s not the same as the NFL where you have these 400 LB monsters all ending up in a pile. There is much more movement and requires an entirely different skill set and athletic type. I’m sure the sport will grow on me, and I really respect the athletes, but I do still love American Football.

Of course another favorite activity here is hitting up the beach. I’ve gotten to see three different beaches so far and they’re all beautiful. What’s not to love about warm weather, cool blue water that doesn’t freeze you upon entry, and tons of sunshine???

The church here has been a huge blessing. This is the Pastor, Anthony Palmeiri.

A few weeks ago I got to sit down with him and just talk for about an hour, telling him more about myself and my background and then really just talking about the church and theology. I really appreciate him and am excited not only to learn from him, but from the people here. I have felt beyond welcomed here. I have people come up to me all of the time and introduce themselves. The people are so warm and caring and I was just thinking to myself the other day when the service ended how blessed I am to be at a place where I love going to church and I look forward to going to church. I think that says a lot about the people here and also about what God is doing in my own heart.

Two Sundays ago my friend Jeremy, who is the youth pastor at Lakeside, led a night service on worship. The evening consisted of singing praise songs with the band as well as going through a series of stations where we had the opportunity to take some time to pray and write down confessions and lay them before a cross, take communion, take time to pray and give thanks and praise to God, and to reflect on different verses in the Bible that talk about the light of God and then light a candle in significance of our devotion to the light of our lives and the light we have within us. It was such a huge huge blessing. I just saw there and reflected on the fact that I am such an imcomplete worshipper because I am a fallible human and God is well…God, but He has made me everything I need to be to worship Him exactly how He wants to be worshipped, because He views me as He views His Son- and His Son worshipped perfectly. It was so exciting to think about.

Right now I am still at the Van Schies. I will probably move out in a week or so, but I have still just loved my time here. I really do feel so at home, like I can just be myself and kick back. Riley and I have continued our “on again off again” relationship (he randomly decides to tell me that I am naughty and that he’s going to hurt me) but we have a lot of fun together. Today he was chasing me around the house with a dust buster- until he made the mistake of tossing it at me and I got a hold of it and chased him around for a while. It’s so fun to hear a three year old giggle.

Another reason it is great to live with the Van Schies? Occasionally Jason will drive down to his friend's cafe just up the road and bring me back a coffee...and sometimes he will even bring me one of these bad boys- a Lamington. Here is the official word from about.com/australia: Lamingtons are a quintessential part of every Australian's childhood. The little sponge cake is dipped in chocolate icing and then rolled in desiccated coconut.

I can't imagine a better combination of ingredients. Australians are brilliant...

So all in all, literally every day I spend time just thanking God for bringing me here, and many times still apologizing for questioning Him so much when I had to leave Germany (I know He forgives me, but sometimes I still feel a little sheepish)…I know that there will be more challenges along the way (the challenges so far being my foot), but I am just overwhelmed by how much I have just enjoyed it here.


I am excited to keep getting plugged in, to keep getting healthy, and to keep experiencing new things!




**Since writing this I played my first game. It was really fun, but at times really painful as well. My foot has been pretty sore since. I am going to get a cortisone shot after all. Uh...I think that's the main update ;)