This beautiful girl is my friend’s daughter, Sophia. When I first met this precious little girl I knew right away I wanted to be her friend. Her huge brown eyes are perfectly set against her strawberry hair and you cannot deny she’s stunning. 

Being around my new friends, many of them are mothers, has brought out a new side of me I was unaware of. I definitely see why children are so wonderful.

Sophia is quite shy, and I am new, but I made it my mission to be her friend. A little while ago I let her use my camera and taught her how to take a picture, she loved it, and I think that was the moment she decided to be my friend. She speaks with almost a sweet english accent, and I had not seen her for a while until yesterday. We were excited to see one another and she gave me a great hug and shared her balloon with me. It is already easy to see the way she loves others in the way she cares for her little brother and she’s best friends with her cousin. 

I’m lucky to have found friendship in their family. 

(this photo was taken by her mother)

I know we have posted about op-shopping before.

But there really is great joy found in finding love for someone else's old things.

Natalie and I spent our Monday wandering through people's tossed items.

all i want to do is read

i surround myself with books. i think soon ill go away on a holiday just to read. nothing sounds more delightful. 

art on the street

I love street art, but at the same time, I love work that draws attention to us as women maintaining our innocence. I love to paint things that are beautiful and still a little controversial in the way they are made. Street art is still not seen as a fine art form. However, something I love about it is, it's available to the masses. It is not created to be seen by the selected few who walk into a gallery. It is made to be understood and I, therefore see it as an important medium of conversation and of social justice.

What Seems Trivial?

The weather has turned quite chilly and I have washed my jeans then placed then into the dryer to shrink them back to perfect fitting size. I’m spending some time with my mum this afternoon before going to work a little later tonight.
Aside form all this, university is on my mind and decisions for my own life are looming before me. I can’t quite see the top, only the small stairs that begin here at the bottom to get me up there. I’m a little distressed at this whole situation and I would like to have better vision of what exactly is ahead of me. One thing is for sure, I have a great life and opportunities are coming my way and it’s all too easy for me to get caught up in it all and forget the things that are happening all over the world that are not necessarily affecting me but I should probably let them.
Over the past week I have been thinking about the fact that I do not really watch the news. In the house that I live in right now I haven’t bothered to set up an aerial in my room and so I never catch anything of what is going on. So I challenged myself to make an effort. All of the best news publications are all online and there is actually no excuse for my ignorance.
A few days ago I realized how much exactly I am missing out on by keeping myself in the dark. It can sometimes be so difficult for us as individuals to deal with the things that are happening in the world because we think that there is nothing that we can do about it. I admit that I struggle with this. Being so young and having virtually no money, in the middle of studying. It does not seem like there is much that I can do for the people in Uganda who are getting turned away from AIDS clinics because they do not have the capacity to treat anymore patients, and I do not have the opportunity to provide comfort for those Chinese families who have lost their children in violent attacks in schools there.
These tragedies are confronting for us in our comfortable lives and sometimes is it true that there is not a great deal physically that we can do. Sometimes we just think that having a great deal of money would solve all these things, but that may not be the case.
In 2003, a small group of guys from Southern California ventured to Africa in attempt to document stories and to close the gap on their ignorance. Now, almost seven years later their film has been seen by millions and they are a part of our generation, and have created invisiblechildren.com. They tell stories and seek justice for those who have been forgotten by the Western world. They help us to see that each and every one of those Ugandan children who have been stolen from their homes, have just as much value and worth as our own children. They have been able to do this just through their passion of story telling, even though these are hard stories to share. 
So there is more solutions than just throwing money at situations. There are stories to find and share, and each individual on this planet has their own story, that is unique and of just as much value as your own. I, personally have to actively pursue this, to care for individuals around me and choose to look beyond my own life, my own decision making and to remember those who are in so much need. 

The Smell Of Basil

Zoe just cooked the perfect batch of pancakes and now I’m sitting in my room breathing in the fresh basil that sits in a jar on my bookshelf. Days off from our normal jobs can be so liberating for your heart. You could spend all day in your crusty pajamas or you could look at your freedom as an adventure to be created. Sometimes the simple surroundings of your home town can bring the new perspectives that you have needed for some time.

After coming home from overseas I’ve spent the last few weeks really making a conscious effort to make the most of my free time and to look for the possibilities of each day. I don’t think that God really intended us to be so busy that we missed out on the beautiful things around us, He wanted His flowers to be smelt and wondered at and the ocean to roar in our ears. So with these things on my mind I ventured outdoors and took a bus.

Living by the sea is an amazing privilege and fortunately for me my town is full of creative people. As you walk down the main street, close to the art school the alleyways are covered in art. Though the majority can sometimes be very average and it can all seem like a mess, but then you find a small idea to be cherished, a tiny stencil of Batman and Robin scaling the window of a run down shop front. Someone had put that there for it to be found, not necessarily in plain sight. The little characters make you smile at the idea of super heroes and their representation of good overcoming evil in the regular city streets.

Sometimes you need to sit on your own with a good soy chai warming your insides to appreciate your own thoughts and the ideas of your heart. As I sat sipping my drink at a café the other day, a man walked by under the window I was sitting at with a box full of fresh basil. The smell overcame me, therefore leading to my new pleasure of leaving basil in my bedroom with the hope of making vego pasta with it later this week. The oil tankers on the horizon seem strangely romantic and normally I would never notice these things because I am rarely on my own.

Simple things can always relieve the complicated things of our days, and there is always greatness reflected in the scenery around us. We should really be taking more days off, and it does not mean you’re being lazy. What new things can be created to leave your mark in a public place? Beauty is created to be given away and then you need to seek it out again.

Homeless And On The Wrong Side Of The Border

It’s a perfect rainy day in my hometown of Newcastle, Australia, and Joel is on my mind…

He lives in downtown Tijuana, Mexico right near the San Diego border. We were two people from two entirely different worlds, but somehow he still trusted me with what he had to say. He had a lifetime of experience and my life at twenty-four had only just begun.

His home was nothing more than scrap wood and some tarp to protect against the cold bitter winter rain, which had turned most of the streets to small rivers. He came out to greet me and helped me pick up rubbish around the square at Zona Notre. We took our opportunity to give him some soup and he began to tell us about his life.

Prison for seventeen years had consumed the majority of his life. Even through problems with drugs and being in and out of prison he had still managed to fall in love, marry and have children. His wife and children remain in the United States now.

He spent most of his life in the States and after being released from prison he was deported to Mexico. He struggles as he can not speak much Spanish. He explains to me that on this particular day there are not as many people around because the policia had been by and taken many people in. There at the square, in the middle on Tijuana, people normally come from all over for hot soup and it was so unusual to see so few people. Everything seems so grey in the rain, even Joel’s jacket, a dull navy reflects the day. Today, Joel had money from his wife to pay off the police, not everyone in the square is that lucky. The police have the power to plant drugs on you if you can not give them reason enough to leave you alone.

He rubs his balding head, his face twitches as he continues to share about life after prison. His moustache is one most boys would dream of. Now, being on the street, he shares with me that he is happy to be outdoors. Being institutionalized for such a long time had left him desperate for free air and open spaces. He clings to his new found freedom and free will. Still he struggles with drugs, they tie him to the street.

His appearance touches my heart, his frankness and vulnerability to share with strangers speaks to my spirit. I wish I could be this unashamed and honest about the things I struggle with day to day. To be available to share life experience with people has more value than we care to realize. Think about Joel, then think about his situation, and then think about your own.