Let's celebrate Rie being on earth for 18 years!

Yesterday was my 18th birthday!
Throughout the day i thanked God for 18 wonderful years of life, and even though i wasn't with him most of the time, he never left my side. how awesome is that?!
Probably the one thing turning 18 did was remind me of how loved i am. So many loved ones called, emailed and msged me to wish me a happy birthday. Friends and family took me out and treated me!
My friends at uni took me to the tav (just because i can go there now) and they bought me chips and lemon lime bitters. then we went to carosal and they bought me ice cream and paid for this dancing game thingy. At night my parents treated me to a nice italian dinner then took me to the casino (just because i can go there now). We took a pic with my phone of me giving the securtity guard my id but i pushed the wrong key so it didn't save which was a pity cos it was such a good photo. I didn't gamble much, so i didn't lose any money. But i did burn my tongue on the never ending free hot chocolate (which was the only stoopid thing i did on my 18th). But that's the main reason why we go to the casino, for the free drinks!
I had a lot of fun, and excused myself from all uni work for one day (although i still went to uni anyway). :D:D:D


Purpose Driven Life, daily devotional on my birthday:
"Religion is a guy in church thinking about fishing. Spirituality is a guy out fishing thinking about God"

Good News!

Good news!
We're not moving anymore!
Good news!
Another friend of mine came to church on Friday and is coming again!
Good news!
I had another kung fu demo yesterday, but i didn't know i was doing it til 10 mins b4 the demo and i haven't touched a sword in more than one and a half months but it was good, Claire and i did sword back to back and everyone cheered!
Bad news...
I'm sore
Bad news...
Two giant roaches at work last night. A girl and i spent 10 mins chasing them with brooms and mops while squeeling, as girls do.
Good news!
We killed them!
Good news!
I am loved!
Good News!
Jesus died for us and has set us free!
That's the greatest news of all!

Racism

Yesterday my mum went to a meeting and told me of this couple she spoke to, or someone who knew this couple, i can't remember. This couple lives along West Coast highway and are white, and they have adopted three black children, two aboriginal and one jamaican. the oldest son (who's an aborignal) just turned 19 and is the sweetest, nicest, very meek and mild-mannered child they have. the second is an aborignal girl (who's apparently not very nice) and the third is a ten yr old jamaican.
Recently the oldest celebrated his 19th birthday, just down the road from where they lived. After the night he walked home and his friend offered him a lift but he declined as he was nearly at his house anyway. While walking home five english teenagers who have just moved to Perth, (three boys and two girls, one who was just expelled from st marys) got out of their car and threated him with a screw driver and asked him to fight them. When he refused they beat him up and ran over him with their car. He was killed on his 19th birthday.
I felt a lot of anger and i actually cried when i heard this. Why are people so racist, that the hatred inside causes them to kill a fellow human being? Didn't these teenagers feel any sense of guilt or thought what they were doing was wrong? Why did they kill him?
This family had experienced racism throughout their lives. Once when the 10 yr old jamaican was at Karrinyup shopping centre with his white cousin, a man drove past them with his wife and two kids in the car, and he wound down his window and spat at the boy.
Also when these children were young their white adopted mother used to push them around in prams and people in shopping centres would spit at her too.
They say Australia is a multicultural country. This is true in a sense there is a diversity in cultures but that doesn't mean they are all accepted. I never realised the extent of racism and how prevalent it is in our everyday lives. Although come to think about it, people were racist to me in school when i first came to the country, but lately i haven't had any personal encounters with racism, or maybe i just don't notice them?
Why is there so much hatred in this world? Why are people racist?
I love what Marian (rianm.blogspot.com) did on her free dress day. She took a stand against racism and wore a shirt with anti-racist slogans written on them (hope she has pics on her blog).
Racism is everywhere and needs to be abolished! although in this world there will always be
racist people. Why can't everyone accept everyone?
I guess everything comes down to people needing God's love. Everyone has God's love, he loves everyone but they need to know it's there and accept it, and allow his love to manefest in them so that they may love others as well. Thank God for his love.
Any thoughts or opinions on racism please let me know.

Happy happy birthday, may all your dreams come true! We celebrate your birthday, so we can party too, Hey!!!

Happy 7th Birthday Sunset Coast! Today our church celebrated its 7th b'day, it was awesome! i never actually thought how cool it is that we're 7 and we got to where we are now. even though i havent been there for long i'm soooo happy that i am able to grow with it and be involved as we move to the next season God's got for us. the anticipation!!! the excitement!!!

Last night was my 18th b'day party (although i dont turn 18 til the 26th). and i was very blessed to have shared it with a good friend of mine from church. but lots of stuff was happening that night so only half the people we invited turned up, but we still had a blast! i love the people God's put in my life. i am very thankful for my parents and all they have done for me, and my family and friends. although i warned dad in front of everyone 'no dirty jokes' in his speech but... oh well... I feel really bad in my short speech i forgot to thank God for the wonderful night, and for 18 wonderful yrs of my life, and how everything gets better and better each yr. the whole night went smoothly and i'm sure everyone had fun. and may i say, i looked absolutely stunning!!! :) and i got a birthday ride on my friend's scooter! i sooo want a motorbike!

lately lots of people have been blessing me with flowers. its a very nice simple gesture and it means a lot to me and im starting to wanna be a bit more girlie, (but that takes effort)...
usually its something small like a rose, or carnation or orchid, but they're all lovely and reminds me of the beautiful things God creates.

nowadays i feel bit more confident in spreading the word about God, standing up for what i believe in and inviting friends to church. thank you Ruth for praying for me!

Right now if i were to describe myself i would say i am a little bundle of joy! i know thats what u call babies but its what i feel like right now. and that maybe the reason why i attract certain people, like at church or uni, is because they need joy in their lives. they need to be loved and appreciated. That's where God comes in. hopefully his light will shine through me and i will be able to be a good friend and let people know our creator and his love for them.

uni work is piling up so i wont be blogging for a while. gonna start being a good little hermit. got to go clean my room. it's full of presents and wrapping paper :) one of my guys friends got me a top! im just surprised cos no guy has ever bought me clothing before, he has good taste and it fitted well. and i got lots of jewelry which im wearing now, a sponge bob sandwich holder WOO! and lots of other things. and my dear cousin bought me an octopus money box. its so cute. in loving memory of Dustin.

Smack 'em!

Like Pastor G said, when someone upsets you, it takes 42 muscles to frown but only four to smack them in the head. On another note i gave my friend a concussion on wednesday night. So to those who are even thinking of posting one of those annoying ads in my comments...beware!!! Don't do it!!! If you do it to this post you really smell!

Came back from spending nearly two hours at an 18th. there's a limit to a conversation u can have with a drunk person. thank God i went home early.

FREE

As usual, i love church! and God for putting me in a church like sunset coast. church is always what i look forward to in the weekend and it keeps me going and gets me through the week. this week was a bit, well not exactly down but a bit meh... but after church tonight, right now i feel so liberated and FREE! Tonight was a good night. i wore a really nice top and every single person i met commented (positively) on it and quite a lot of people stroked it. so i was being stroked all night while receiving compliments :P also we met some new ppl, two very nice (good looking may i add) guys. and one of them was very asianized (is that such a word?) i was very impressed. If i was blind i prob would've thought he was actually chinese.
we're having a bit of problems with organising mine and miriam's 18th party. pray the Lord will help us sort it out. and provide us with two free licensed bouncers otheriwse we'll have to cancel the party....

Multicultural week 3-7oct

Apparently this week is multicultural week. i was handed a lil packet of m&m's with a lil note saying:
Colourful days
We may look different on the outside,
But we're all the same on the inside

Ain't that the truth

Flowers

These are all real. i love flowers and taking close up pics of them

Achoo!

Right before i began typing this i had a sneezing fit. sneezed like 20 times :S No one said bless you :( i'm at uni at the mo :). hee hee felt like usuing facial expressions :P Haven't been getting much sleep recently. maybe 10 hours in the last 3 nights. oops i just sneezed again just then. but yeah it was embarassing because yesterday at uni my friend was talking to me and explainging what we needed to do for our assignment and i fell asleep right there and then in the middle of her talking to me.
we just moved back to Bentley cos uni's started and i'm starting to miss everyone, esp my Pumpkin!!! and im still mourning my octopus! i think i'm gonna go nap in my car. i have to wait til 5 for my cousin to finish...

Tears, fears, lost, peace and "the clappy song"

Lately, esp the last few days, stuff has been very full on and confusing and upsetting, but God is great and takes our burdens away from us and today he has given me such a huge sense of peace in my life and provided me with exactly what i needed to overcome. Going to church made me feel a lot better, and after that some friends from church asked me to hang out with them for lunch, and although they don't know it, it was exactly what i needed and it meant a lot to me. i just felt like skipping and twirling around which is a big change from all the tears shed b4. thank God for the people he has put in my life. Just like the "clappy song" (as Pastor G. likes to call it) PRAISE THE LORD!
i was quite sad last night cos Dustin passed away yesterday morning (won't go into the details now, maybe another post) and i was really attached to him and very fond of him. he's buried under the peach tree with a white lily on his grave. just as he was starting to get tame and friendly and have fun with me :( another sad thing was my relatives who came to visit from Singapore left last night, and i really miss them. also another friend of mine is leaving Perth for a few yrs.
Right now i feel a lot better than i have in recent days. i can rest my head on my pillow at night with a smile before i close my eyes :)

Something i've really been wondering about, if u met God, would you bow down before him or give him a big hug?