State of Origin

I'm sorry, everyone, for being such a pathetic blogger!! I have had to study for two tests (one will take place the day before we fly back to America, and the other is two days after we arrive in Seattle) and we also have to organize a lot. On Monday, the packers will come and begin the moving process, so we will move to a hotel for the last week. So we only have two nights left in our home!!!! I can't believe it! But I'm SO excited!!!! I really am ready to get back home.

Last week, on the 23rd, Meagan, my dad, his secretary (or personal assistant, as they call it now), Mr. Adam, Noah Adam, and I went to the first game in the State of Origin. This is a set of three rugby games between Queensland and New South Wales. Queenslanders and those from NSW make a big deal of this game, because only the best players from each state play in the game. So, even if a Queenslander plays for the NSW team, in the State of Origin, he will play for Queensland, which makes the games very competitive between the two teams.

We all had a great time at the game. I have never seen a rugby game before and only went to one football game back in America, but I absolutely LOVE them!!! Rugby is actually very similar to football, except it goes quite a bit quicker. First, the clock does not stop during the game, except for halftime. Second, once the player with the ball is tackled, the quarterback quickly passes the ball to the running back.

Almost all the spectators wore these special jerseys, maroon (which they pronounce "muhr-own") for Queensland and blue for NSW. My dad had received a Queensland one for his birthday, so he was set, but Meagan and I felt rather left out without those shirts. After seeing that everyone else had one, we planned on buying some, but immediately changed our minds once we realized they cost $170 each!!!!!! Isn't that ridiculous????? But sorry . . . you probably aren't reading this to hear me complain about prices . . . .

Another thing I found annoying about the game was that everyone drank beer. How sad!!! Now, I'm not saying that beer is bad, but people drank it a bit too much, and one time, when Queensland made an unexpected touch-down, some people above us spilled beer on top of us. Lovely! Just what we all needed. :-)

And QUEENSLAND WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wahoo!!!!!!!! We were all SO glad!!!! Meagan and I were pretty loud . . . we enjoy cheering . . . . :-) There was this one older man behind us who kept giving his opinion on what moves the Queenslanders should make . . . it was pretty funny!! And whenever these people behind us started saying "Let's go Queensland," or "Queenslander," we all would start screaming it too.

I had better talk more about the scores now. At halftime, QLD had 6, while NSW already had 18, or something like that. We all were pretty concerned!!!! But then the game ended with QLD: 25, NSW: 18. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!! So fun.

Now the hardest part of the night was walking to our car. The pathway was completely packed, so we could barely move. It seemed like we moved at a speed of 1 inch per hour. And then, whenever anyone pushed someone else, it would start off a chain reaction, and everyone would be pushed around. My dad kept on pushing me, and then I had to push Meagan--not like I meant to, but we barely had any room to move!! It was pretty funny though.

Well, I need to go to bed now. Have a GREAT day!!!!

Marina's Birthday!!!!!!

Today was Marina's 4th birthday!!!!! I can hardly believe that she is already 4 years old!

She's a real cutie. She has an extremely expressive face, and her different looks always make us laugh! Marina also has grown a lot over the past years. Whenever I look at the backs of Madeline and Marina sitting on the couch, I can barely tell the difference between them! Marina is only a little bit shorter than Madeline, and she already fits into some of the clothes Madeline wore when we first came here to Australia! Out of all of us girls, she will probably end up the tallest! (Some of the pix shown are what my dad calls "angle shots," so that's why they look a little different . . . :-))

I can't always spend enough time with her because of my school and all, but she's a lot of fun to play with. Sometimes she comes up to me and asks me to play with her and her doll . . . it's absolutely adorable!! (But it doesn't happen much . . . .) She also loves to play the game Hi! Ho! Cherrio!, which I don't find extremely interesting, but is pretty amusing with her. She never plays it completely according to the rules though . . . . :-)

This last picture is of Marina attempting to do her "fitness ball workout."

We had a great time celebrating Marina's birthday . . . except we didn't get any cake for her. Poor thing. She really wanted cake too. But we have been really busy getting ready to move and all. We are planning on doing a family birthday party later, so hopefully she'll be fine with that. Have a great day, everyone!

Personality Types

This afternoon, Meagan and I attended a seminar at our church, Christ Community. I forgot the name of the speaker (which is pretty sad . . . . ), but whoever it was did a fantastic job. He currently lives in a small town in Alabama and was just visiting Australia for a few days. The lecture was focused around how our personalities relate to God's individual purpose for our lives, and some of his points were so good that I just had to share them here.

First, he said that everyone's purpose is to know God and to appreciate Him as God, but that within that general purpose, we all have our own individual purpose. He went a step further, and mentioned that God has designed us for that specific purpose. God fully fashioned you and gave you the gifts and abilities He knew you would need to fulfill His ultimate purpose for your life. So, when God made you more scientifically inclined or gave you fantastic social skills, or even gave you limited social skills, He knew exactly what He was doing. The speaker also said that we should accept how God made us and not wish we have others' personality types, gifts, etc. I found that particularly challenging. Sometimes I wish I was more like so-and-so, or didn't have to spend so much time on my history homework, which I'm sure others in my class can accomplish in a shorter period, but it's so comforting to know that God made me that way just so that I can fulfill a purpose that He has chosen for my life! Isn't that just amazing? It kind of reminds me of the inspirational Bible verse from Jeremiah 29:11, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" I find that verse incredibly encouraging. God actually has a specific purpose for us.

Second, we all were given a little quiz based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to find out our personality. I don't know about you all, but I absolutely LOVE personality tests, finding out more about myself, and finding out more about others. It's not like I want to be a Psychiatrist, but I find personality tests fascinating.

So, we all took the quiz, and I ended up with the same personality type that I have received in all my other tests (yes, I have taken more than one . . .)--ESFJ. That means I'm an extrovert, that I think along lines of facts and data instead of abstract ideas, that I base my decisions on my feelings, and that I like things to be organized. It was actually pretty funny, but Meagan turned out with almost the exact same result; she "happens" (of course, it really doesn't just "happen"; God decided & planned it all) to be an ESFP, so she is more flexible than I am.

At this point, the speaker shared with us some different personality types of the authors of the four Gospels. Matthew was an SJ (this was taken from just two parts of the personality test) and called "The Guardian"; Mark was "The Artisan," with an "SP" personality; Luke was an "NT" and "The Rationalist," while John was "The Idealist" and an "NF." The speaker divided the audience into these four groups, and spoke about a few traits of them. He said that the group I was in (the Matthew group) was almost always the largest. And people in the group Meagan stood in (the Mark one) were generally more athletic than those in other sections. Isn't that cool?

I just thought that it was really interesting and wanted to share with you all what Meagan and I learned. Have a great day!

What I'm Reading Tag

Traci (actinggal) tagged me for "what I'm reading." Yeah!! Thanks, Traci!


Just finished: The Grapes of Wrath (a classic about a family moving to California during the Great Depression)


Just began: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (I'm sure you all know about this book . . . :-))


In the middle of: A Purpose-Driven Life (a Christian book that emphasizes that we need to make honoring and loving God the ultimate purpose of our lives; I'm reading it with Meagan at night)

Chosen by God (about the controversial topic of predestination . . . fun!!)

A Chance to Die (a biography about Amy Carmichael)

The Red Badge of Courage (a novel about a young soldier in the Civil War; I started this ages ago, and need to pick it up again sometime soon . . . .)


I tag Madison & Karyn.

Spider-Man 3

So, as I mentioned in my last post, my mom, Meagan, and I saw Spider-Man 3. We all thought it was a fantastic movie! The special effects amazed me and the acting was great. Tobey Maguire really has some strong acting ability--I just didn't notice it as much before, because his part in the first two movies afforded him little room for change in attitude and personal qualities. Kirsten Dunst did a beautiful job, so did James Franco and all the other characters. I would go into more detail, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone . . . .

I especially loved the redeeming qualities portrayed throughout the movie. This movie's main point is that we all have a choice--to do good or to do evil. That theme was prevalent throughout the whole movie. Also, forgiveness played a major part.

This Spider-Man carries the strongest morals compared with the other two, but at the same time, it has the most violence. There isn't much shooting, but the characters often punch and beat up each other.

The movie is rated PG-13 mostly for the violence, but there also is some inappropriate behavior that adds to it. But I really can't go into any more detail without ruining the movie . . . .

I definitely recommend this movie, but only for teenagers or adults. My mom, Meagan, and I found this movie enjoyable, entertaining, and surprisingly moral.

SAT

Yesterday, I had to wake up at 4:30 AM to take the SAT. You see, the nearest place the SAT was offered was in Toowoomba, a little city two hours west of Brisbane. I found that pretty strange and annoying--I think the majority of the seven people taking the test lived in Brisbane, so they should have offered it there . . . . Oh well. So, we left really early, about 5:15, and that was probably a good thing, because my mom and I got lost a few times. When we arrived in Toowoomba, we searched for New England Highway, and saw lots of signs pointing in different directions, supposedly all leading to this street. But then once we followed these signs, we couldn't find any other ones that assured us we were on the New England Highway--instead, the street that we assumed was the New England Highway was called something else. It was really confusing (Australian street signs are not very clear :-)). After talking to two other people, we finally found someone who knew the street and the school (Toowoomba Christian College) where I was taking the test.

So, we eventually arrived at the school, but couldn't find anyone there, except another mom and her son who was also going to take the test. We waited there a few minutes, until the administrator of the exam arrived at 7:45, when we should have been registering for the exam. This administrator didn't seem to know what he was doing (he turned on the alarm at least two times! It was kind of funny). We entered the test room around 8:45, and started the test a little before 9. The test went fine, but I don't think I can say any more about it--it's supposed to be kept secret for a while.

After the test, my mom took me to this adorable little place. It was comprised of about five little countryish shops with a large grassy area in the middle. We ate at this nice little cafe, then browsed around some of the shops. One of them was a cute scrapbooking store, so I bought a few stickers there (I have just started scrapbooking, and find it lots of fun . . . but expensive also).

We arrived home around 5 PM, quickly ate some takeaway Thai food (I love Thai food!!!), and then my mom, Meagan, and I set off for Spider-Man 3 . . . which I will talk about in my next blog post.

Australian Term

I'm going to post my Australian term today instead of tomorrow, because I'm going to have a big day tomorrow. First, I will take my SAT (Ahhh!! I'm pretty nervous . . . if you think about it, I would appreciate your prayers. If I don't get a good enough score this time, I will have to take it again this October--not fun), and then afterwards, hopefully we'll watch Spiderman 3!

Ok, so here's the word (or phrase)-of-the-week:

Australian term: aerial pingpong

American equivalent: Australian Rules football

I thought that was pretty funny! I have actually never been to an Australian football game, but in a few weeks, Meagan, my dad, and I will go to a rugby game (rugby is actually more similar to American football than Australian football), the first out of a group of three games called the State of Origin. For these games, Queenslanders and people from New South Wales (a state south of Queensland) play for their states, instead of whatever team they play for normally. Then, these two new teams play against each other. Australians, at least those from QLD and NSW, go absolutely crazy for this game, so it should be a lot of fun to see it.