Category: The Life of Lara

It’s all here. Adventures in extreme knitting, the house of poop, and suburban permaculture. You may also find rants about politics, ecology, humanitarianism, responsible living, toe floss, and other topics not covered here. Expect profanity and irreverence. You have been warned.

Love

Love is a matter of choice.

Love is a matter of conduct.

Love is alive when it remembers, dying when it forgets and dead when it ignores.

Love is alive when it has time, dying when it is hurried and dead when it cannot wait.

Love is alive when it is giving, dying when it is exchanging and dead when it is taking.

Love is alive when it is secure, dying when it starts doubting and dead when it stops trusting.

Love is alive when it acts it’s way in to feeling and dead when it feels it’s way in to action.

One of the most profound things that our minister told us, and that I had never considered before, is that love is not about my happiness. So many people believe that if they are not happy in a relationship it is time to get out and move on. But when you base a relationship on your happiness, you base the relationship on yourself.

Relationships take work and too often they go from exciting to exhausted to expired.

The goal of any successful relationship should never be based solely on happiness. The goal of a successful relationship should be based on growth. If you can grow together and find common ground, you will have happiness. But you’ll also have a whole lot of other things that ultimately, will contribute to making the relationship stronger and more beautiful.

Stolen from Amazing Trips. Scroll down a few posts, and check out “Favourite Thing Friday”.

Blood

Mark registered to give blood recently (my brave, darling husband), and was unable to get an appointment over the phone, so I suggested her register online. He received a response, thanking him for registering, and asking him to be patient, and to please donate in a few weeks time.

The blood banks are full right now, but the patients who have burns from the fires will still be needing blood and blood products in the weeks and months to come. So don’t be put off by stories of the blood bank having all the donations they need – in the weeks to come when the fires are no longer front page news, you’ll still be needed.

P.S. Since I married him, I haven’t doubted for one second that he was the one for me. I may rant about finding his dirty socks on my pillow, or cereal bowls under the couch, but I am still convinced that he is the love of my life. Tonight, he proved it once again, and I will reveal why tomorrow…

Timor Package #2

Users Lara Library Application-Support Ecto Attachments Exercise-Books

Another thing to take our minds off the devastation in Victoria.

Last week, Kerry’s partner Adam met her in Darwin, and they travelled together back to Timor for a weekend break. Adam was able to take our old baby scales (now that we no longer have to worry about Inigo’s weight, I thought these could be used by the child health nurses in Timor), exercise books, textas, pens and crayons for the kids at the pre-school, and some much needed money.

We ended up with $70 US, and another $50 AU that Adam was able to change at the airport. Kerry tells me that this money will be spent on food for the kids, Mana Kassian feeds the kids every day. I imagine that for some of these kids, that meal is vital.

Users Lara Library Application-Support Ecto Attachments Img 4623
Care package for Timor Preschool

Of course everyone is thinking about what we can do to help Aussies in need, but it’s also nice to see direct action. Kerry is going to let me know how much it costs to feed these kids each week, and we are going to try to work out some form of ongoing support.

We knitters love a raffle!

It’s simple. Make a donation here.

Email your receipt here.

Go into the draw to win stuff!

I’ve sent in the receipt from my (small) donation already. I’ve also sent it to Mark, his company is matching donations! They are also paying an employee who is a RFS volunteer while he is in Victoria fighting fires.

I promise, sometime soon, I will post about something other than the fires. As soon as I can stop crying every time I hear/see/read news…

A horrible day in Victoria

Everybody knows by now that the fires in Victoria have claimed more lives than the Ash Wednesday fires in 1983. We’ve had a quiet day at home for the most part, but I just read that there are close to 70 80 8493 108131 people confirmed dead.

Here is a little snippet of audio, a young woman calls a radio station to ask for help, and then subsequent calls describe the dramatic rescue of 4 adults, a couple of elderly people, and eight kids under ten years old. I think this audio shows the human side of this awful day very well, but these people had a happy ending, unlike so many others.

The Victorian State government, in association with the Red Cross, have set up a relief fund. If you’d like to make a donation, click here.

P.S. The Red Cross also needs blood. If you’ve been thinking that maybe you should donate, please turn thought into action, you have a very good chance of saving a life.

P.P.S. If you can either offer emergency pet minding or any form of pet care, horse agistment etc, to the people devastated by the Victorian bushfires, or are in need of emergency pet minding or any form of pet care, horse agistment etc, due to the Victorian bushfires, please log onto this website, which will help facilitate both.

Mark posted some pictures, the last one of which made me happy, and also very sad. Click here, and scroll to the bottom to see a baby sugar glider that was rescued. Sadly, many other creatures weren’t so lucky.