Entries Tagged 'Uncategorized' ↓

So I wasn’t wildly successful in finishing off writing about my US Trip. It’s probably too late now, but I did take some notes so maybe I’ll do an abbreviated version of the highlights at some point. At any rate I’m off again on another trip (i’m not counting the two 48 hour or less work trips to Melbourne).

This one is to Singapore, with my friends and their two daughters and it’s purely a holiday. We’re there for 8 days so it should be a great time. I’m not going to make any promises, but I am going to try and blog about it. We’ve just taken off and we have WiFi for the first our of so while we’re still in range of the Satellite that covers Australia.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been to Singapore. We went for Mom’s 50th when I was 11 but I only have a few memories of that trip. I also spend two days there in 2005 on our way back from the FPS US Trip but we were so shattered after all of that travel that I don’t think we did that much. So I’m excited to experience it again as an adult, it should be good fun.

Qantas Club pays off again – flying international lets you into the Perth International Business Lounge which was a nice place to spend the 2+ hours before our flight. It was a good time to be there too. With no other scheduled international flights this morning the lounge was pretty empty which is always nice when there’s less crowds. Being the international lounge, we even managed a sneaky glass or two of champagne for breakfast. The coffee wasn’t great, but other than that it was a good experience.

Well that’s all for now, stay tuned for Singapore adventures.

Looks can be deceiving. I doubt this phrase will spark much argument (and if it does, then it’s a different discussion!)

Coping does not mean it’s easy is an example of a situation where looks can be deceiving,

The initial response to ‘coping does not mean it’s easy’ may well be ‘well duh’. But if I pointed to somebody on the street who wasn’t bawling in tears, and wasn’t jumping for joy and asked is that person coping or is their life easy at the moment could you tell me?

Obviously this is a slightly broad and unrealistic scenario, but I think it helps to illustrate my point.

My point is, (and for those who currently know my personal circumstances I am not having a go at anybody) if people seem outwardly like they are going OK, yet you know things are going on in their life, don’t assume they are finding it easy.

This is my personal experience, and maybe it’s just me, but I suspect others would tell you the same.

I think there are three broad categories, people aren’t coping (this is usually obvious), people are coping (but you can clearly tell that they are just coping), people are coping (but if you met them in the street and hadn’t seen them for a while you would assume everything is normal).

It is the last category I’m discussing, but it’s not the person in the street who I’m highlighting. Rather it’s the person who knows they are going though a difficult time but assumes, because of there general behaviour it is all good.

I’m not saying it’s easy to tell, but I am saying if you know somebody is going through a rough time, it doesn’t hurt to ask how they’re going.

Thank you to those who have. Those who haven’t, please don’t feel attacked, I imagine I would have (and probably sometimes still do) acted the same had I not had personal experiences that has brought this to my attention.

So here I am, sitting in an apartment in Sydney. We weren’t supposed to be here until tomorrow and then only briefly as a stopover on the way to the US. But, things don’t always go according to plan. Things that you would never expect happen,

The last two and a half weeks have been somewhat of a blur, surrounded by a lot of uncertainty which extended to a few days earlier.

I know it is said that three degrees of separation applies to cancer, but really, both parents, a grandparent and an aunt? And that is just the direct blood relations.

So yes, I guess the last 2.5 weeks have been rough, since Mum’s apparently innocent eye problem resolved itself into a diagnosis of cancer. Tumours in both lungs, the liver, possible the kidney and two in the brain.

Currently, everything is a bit uncertain, but thanks to my cousin in Sydney and her links we have seen an excellent surgeon and one of the brain tumours has been successfully removed and Mum is recovering from the surgery well.

Where to from here? – We are still unsure, it is very much a day at a time at the moment.

Staying positive.

God is good – always. (Edit – and as I was reminded at church this morning, our source of strength)

Rom 5:3-5