Yay for Italy

So we visited Italy exactly a year ago and I now find myself with a bitter taste in my mouth after receiving a photo that the Municipality of Pisa kindly took for us as tourists :)


Most expensive photo EVER at 113 Euros! (so far)

After reading up on others' experiences of this same issue it appears to be VERY common - NICE - Good one Pisa for making your visitors so welcome.

I'm not asking for free parking or even to be let off (well, actually, that would be nice) but how about a bit more warning for those of us that cant read Italian and even if we could probably wouldn't see the tiny signs revealing the restricted traffic zone (I did wonder why I managed to park so close to the leaning tower lol)

I LOVE ITALY... But jeez this ticks me off!

So True

The only normal people are the ones you dont know very well...
Joe Ancis
(via a dove chocolate wrapper)

Trip to Ethiopia!

So I just found out that I've been accepted on the TEAR 'DEEP' exposure trip in January to Ethiopia... and I'm stoked as a goat :D

Finding out I was accepted did have a sad tinge to it thou as good friends of mine had applied too and didnt get in. It really sucks for 2 reasons: 1)they told me about it and 2)they have a real heart for the country and studied it at Uni... bummer :(

I dont believe doing something like this is essential at all for having God's heart for the poor in our world - but I think that seeing it first hand will change the way I see things and help me to make better decisions about what's important in life and push for a different world.

SO.. GDAY ALL THOSE WHO GOT IN TOO!

coffee

'Nescafe' in Portuguese means 'not coffee'.

I've been thinking about drinking coffee and the 'why' question behind it. Is it more about:
1)the coffee
2)the conversation
3)the fix

I've come to the conclusion that at different times its valid for any of the above to be at the top of the list
but
I still think the most important and most overlooked is #2

The number one blog

So it seems having a blog is THE thing to do now (well actually it was a few years ago but I live in Tasmania so... here I am) and every good blog starts off with a first post so I thought I'd better write one.

Just been to the IMPACT conference (Energizer church) in Hobart where I heard Phil Pringle (CCC Oxford Falls) and Phil Baker (Riverview Church, Perth). No Doubt you will hear me talk about this a little bit in the next few posts cause there was some very interesting things said!

Phil Baker was excellent and I purchased a couple of his books (will let you know how I go with them).

Phil Pringle... well... yes. He said some good things too but his good thoughts were buried about a mile deep in ahhh.... not so good (wrong) ideas. Didnt buy any of his books. Cant say I've ever heard someone talk about themselves/money/church buildings/total crap/more total crap so much. Dont get me started.

I'll write a little more about Phil Baker later and would love to get some comments on what you think about his ideas.