Also in the last year I have done very little writing on my novel, for three reasons, 1. I realised I had some big errors, so I put it aside to do do more study 2. when I got to AFCOE I was just too busy, and 3. I started to wonder if I really should be writing the truest, biggest, series of events in the universe, the foundation of our world and history into a common place story, if I was doing God a disservice ... still have not resolved that issue. However I have been reading about what Mrs White had to say about the imagination and the way it was designed to be used. It was designed for us to imagine true events at which we were not/could not be present. e.g the life of Christ and any other event in the Bible. In fact she tells us that we should be using our imaginations to visualise these events. I know that when I was writing about the beginning of the War in Heaven even though I was putting it into a science fiction/fantasy context it made the origins of the great controversy between God and Satan much more real to me and much more understandable. So I have decided this year I am going back to writing again, I'm going to focus to start with on the life of Christ as a human here on earth and I'm going to write it straight. As in, not in the sci-fi/fantasy genre but like it actually happened. I will keep studying the other and if I decide to go back to my original plan it would not take much to add the elements necessary - and to change the names. (I'd started writing with peoples real names anyway because I kept confusing myself about who was who ...) As a result you can expect to see more snippets appearing on this blog. Feel free to edit my abnormally long mutant sentence - am well aware I have significant problems with the placement of the full stop vs the comma... :-)
Have also been wondering what to do with the rest of my life, have enjoyed my adventures of the last two years and am looking forward to the Korea adventure, but I am beginning to be looking forward to the end of adventures and the unpacking of boxes and setting up house again. I am starting to look around for a challenge that I can get my teeth into for a few years. And Yes, I do know, I will want to have adventures again at some future date. Any and all ideas will be thoughtfully considered, got a year or so to make up my mind - not going to miss out on the Korea adventure. (Unless God points me in a different direction, when it comes to God all plans are flexible.)
In the mean time I'm settled here in New Zealand for a few months, the end of January will determine exactly how long that will be for. I think most people know by now, but just in case some one missed out on the news, I submitted a proposal to a Educational Publishing company about six months ago to write and publish chemistry resource books for teachers. They told me that a. I was very passionate about that idea, and b. they liked the idea but needed to submit it to a committee to determine if it would be of use to teachers and students and if it was financially viable. Since then they have been sitting on the idea and not made a decision. I know what I have is useful to both teachers and students because it has grown out of resources I used for 12 years in my teaching. On January 27 I have a meeting with a representative of the company. Please pray that Gods Will will be done. I don't want to spend a bunch of time on publishing these books unless it will help in furthering His plan. If the publishing does go ahead then I will be leaving for Korea mid-August. If the publishing does not go ahead then I'll be leaving mid-April.
I will be In Oz for a few weeks June/July-ish to go to Winter School at Avondale and complete my Masters, have one paper and a thesis to do. (If I go to Korea early I will be able to come back for the Winter School, have already confirmed that with the Korea people.) Won't be tripping around visiting people this time though - sorry. You'll have to come visit me in Cooranbong instead.
What else do I have planned for the next few months?
1. Am going to visit a number of schools in the next two weeks and get my name on some lists to do relief (substitute - for the Americans) teaching. So I may be posting a few student stories on this blog. (Did I ever tell you about the kid who wanted to know if an egg was a fruit or a vegetable?)
2. Today I was running errands for Mum and also familiarising myself with the new town they live in, they moved while I was away. While doing that I discovered the Arts centre, so this week I am going to go in and sign up for an art group. Then I will hopefully liberate either my paints or my pastels and start creating pictures again. Am sincerely hoping they are packed in a box here at Mum's and not in a box in PN. Otherwise that plan will have to wait until I get down to PN - maybe I should attempt the liberation before I sign up for the group ... the thing is I have had some ideas for a series on flaxes floating around in my head for a while now and I really want to get them on paper/canvass. And I found a gallery that my kind of art would actually fit into, as opposed to standing out as quite bizarre which was what happened with the art I had in the gallery in PN. Am going to make an appointment to meet the manager next week.
3. I am cracking open the textbooks again and completing the personal trainer certificate I began while I was at BHHEC - another of those things that got put on hold when I went to AFCOE. Will be practising on myself to begin with - and then anyone else I can talk into being a guinea pig ... any volunteers?
4. While at AFCOE I learned so much, was fabulous! And my own spiritual growth benefited immensely from the experience - hence my re-baptism. However I need to be able to put all of these things I have learned into words so that I can share them coherently with others. Therefore, I have decided to write myself a series of essays entitled "Why I believe ... [insert topic of choice]." Currently I have about 4 topics lined up at the top of the list, after that I will be picking things at random so if anyone has a topic they would like to know a bit more about send me an email and I'll put it on the list beneath the current top 4 but ahead of the random others.
5. My New Years Resolution is to memorise the books of the Bible beginning with H. Fairly random I know. Began with a friend who was asking for people to memorise the book of Hebrews with her this year, I said sure I'll do that, then was calculating that at one verse a day there was still a bunch of the year left after Hebrews was finished. So added in the other two books that begin with H; Habakkuk and Haggai. Anyone interested in joining me? If so send me an email and I'll send you the plan, you'll only be 5 days behind me! (Most days are only one verse, a few days the verses are really short so have combined two together.)
6. Final thing, I am considering is picking up my violin and seeing if I can get a decent noise out of it. Is embarrassing to admit that I dragged it around America with me for a year and only played it once. Right now I am not sure I could even play a scale accurately but with faithful practise the skills will come back. (Not that they were all that great to begin with, but I could at least play recognisable hymns. Failing that I might see if I can find another singing teacher. Sandy you don't want to move to Auckland do you?
Those are all my current plans for filling in my time back in NZ, and I suspect they are more than enough!
Wishing all my lovely friends a wonderful and busy year - because un-busy ones are boring! (Well they are boring after about 3 weeks of unbusyness.)
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