The Peanut Butter Trials (Part 1)

What to do at 11pm on a Friday night in Taurima Christian Hostel?

Well I had just finished writing my previous blog and putting things back on my desk now that they had dried after the "Wildberry Herbal Tea" incident.

I then decided what to do and realised that I had to take something back to Caleb, one of the guys in the hostel. This wee trip which was destined to take me to Caleb's room, ended up taking me to the dinning room within our hostel. Caleb was in the dinning room eating a late dinner with a couple of other people and talking.

I sat down and talked with Caleb - I was so excited to tell him about my first donation I had received for my head shave. We chatted for a while and then I felt like eating some toast so I went and put some bread in the toaster and while it was cooking (aka dehydrating), I then debated in my mind what to have on my toast.

I took Honey and Peanut Butter out of the fridge, not knowing which I would have (but certainly not both). Somehow as I was debating what to have, we got onto the topic of what foods or spreads would work well with Peanut Butter. After suggesting a few out loud, Caleb suggested that we should one day have a picnic and TRIAL a whole lot of different combinations.

It just so happened that we had a pen (or two) and paper at the time so whilst I was eating my Peanut Butter toast and while Janina was giving us a Nutritional Report of Peanut Butter, we started to write down possible combinations.

So the list began and continued with things as common as Peanut Butter and jam (aka jelly) to things as strange as Peanut Butter and vegemite! Yes, it is indeed a strange hostel we live in. I must say that even Peanut Butter and Mandarin was on the list of possibilities.

While Kath was so overtired that she was continuing to brainstorm ideas and eat her toast, while Deb was attempting to have success with a Sodoku puzzle, Janina and Caleb we in a dream world of their own. They noticed a bottle of milk was left out on the bench so thought of a smoothie type idea.

This resulted in a Peanut Butter, Milk and then also Milo combination which Deb and I both had already "shot-gunned" to not try. Did we have idiot's stamped on our foreheads? NO!!!

Janina quite enjoyed this combination but Caleb on the other hand did not quite enjoy it as much.Lets just say this did not look neither smell the most appetising. The worst part of this combination was when it came time to do the dishes before lock up around midnight! Crunchy Peanut Butter mixed with milk.... YUMMMMMY!

So now we have a list, and are continuing to add to the list, it is also now 12:38am on Saturday 30th July 2010 so I guess I had better go and get some form of sleep.....

......................................TO BE CONTINUED...........................

Watch this space for more blog entries of "The Peanut Butter Trials", coming soon!

HEAD SHAVE IS ON!!!

Last night one of the guys in the hostel who is one of my "Big Brothers" spiritually (even though he is younger than me), last night asked me after we had finished prayer group if I was still okay with shaving my head in order to fundraise for CanTeen in October. The truth was that yes I was kind of okay but I was slightly terrified. I had been telling as many people about it as I could... my theory was that the more people that knew, the less I could back out of it.

He said that he would offer to shave his head as well if that would help and I said that would be fantastic if he could.

This morning was a very productive morning. I decided that I would call my brother and see how he went about raising funds when he shaved his hair the day after my birthday. I also emailed people from CanTeen Waikato to let them know that I wanted to do this, I had been meaning to talk to Ankia (the contact person) for a while but had not got around to it. After talking to Ashley (my brother), I set about to create a fundraising page and then I also decided to make the shaving of my head, FACEBOOK OFFICIAL!!!!

Also, as soon as I made the Head Shave facebook official, I went over to tell our Hostel Chef and

in less than two hours, I had had many comments on facebook and also had at least three other people who said they would shave their heads. So now I guess I had better show them how to set up fundraising pages. :)

At this stage the date is going to be Saturday October 16th but could change depending what is happening in the life of CanTeen Waikato on that particular day.

It has been an incredible day and I just went onto my fundraising page to have a look at something and I have my first $40 already. My target fundraising goal is $1000 so only $960 to go! Anyone else keen to sponsor or get involved somehow, let me know!

Thanks heaps everyone!

http://www.fundraiseonline.co.nz/KathrynStewart/

Wildberry Herbal Tea!

Tonight as I was attempting to do study, I decided to have a cup of Wildberry Tea. This was a nice tasty cup of tea till I left it on a shelf which sits on my desk. At the time, I had a whole heap of papers and uni books on my desk and I accidently knocked something over.....

A few seconds later it was literally Wildberry Tea - EVERYWHERE! Luckily the tea missed my laptop which was also on my desk but it did soak a whole lot of my papers for uni.

Memo to self, do not leave drinks of colour liquid on your desk at the same time as a whole heap of important papers!

The awesome thing about this though was that somehow this Willberry Herbal Tea incident branched out into an incredible conversation with someone I have not talked to in a long time!

She asked me while I was talking to her if my laptop had got

some tea on it or not and my automatic response (without even without about it) was something a

long the lines of "Nope, thanks God!"

From here we just had an amazing conversation about God

and apparently I gave her some things to think about.

Although the herbal tea incident was not great at the time, what came from that incident was just amazing. It was honestly a blessing in disguise!

My 20th (part 2)

My 20th!

Me feeding one of the Alpacas at Paradise Valley in Rotorua. Feeding an Alpaca is seriously one of the strangest feelings ever.

Scary Kathryn!

The most gorgeous Lion Cub ever, yup you guessed it... its CHASE!

OH MY GOSH!!! Its a Waterfall.... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

At Paradise Valley with Chase (I think), one of the Lion Cubs who happened to be 7 months old at the time. He was gorgeous :)

Me, smiling on my birthday because I was honestly so happy! Thank you very much to my incredible boyfriend for making my birthday such an amazing day. I love you so much Nathaniel

A week can make a massive difference :)

A week ago I was sitting in the lounge room at the house of one of my "Life Group" leaders hearing about ARISE Conference in Wellington and how close it now was. I had heard about this for the last few months at church and thought "yea, maybe ill go" and then for some reason, I had still not got around to booking my ticket/my spot at conference (even when the tickets were only like $50 - AH-MAZE-ING price by the way).

I made up excuses such as "ohh I have five hours of class that day" or "I don't think I can afford it" and so on and so forth - not really orignal excuses I know but meh *shrugs shoulders*

I decided last Thursday that I did actually want to go to conference and I knew that it was now getting late in the process and there may not be many spaces left on the bus and I also knew that it would be hard to come up with the money. I prayed and said to God, that if he wanted me at conference, then he would make the funds avaible for me to go.

I talked with mum and dad about re-organising a bit of money in my account, also got an unexpected tax refund and then a late birthday present too! Long story short, a week later I now only have to find about $12 for costs for Conference as apose to about $200 which would have included accommodation, travel to and from wellington, a couple of meals as well as the price of the ticket for conference!

What makes this story even better is that I emailed all of my tutors which I would have had class with on the Thursday and Friday of that week to see if it was okay if I miss class - guess what.... I have heard back from four out of five tutors and they have all so far said yes that is totally fine (even though I have five hours of one paper on that Thursday!!!)

Thank you God so much. You are incredible!

A trip to Wellington means that I will also hopefully get to catch up with my nanny families and see my nanny children from last year - I know they will have grown but I would love to see them all again!

Wellington, I have missed you so much and can not wait to come and see you again in a couple of weeks.

Live for the moment!

First thing is first... uni hostel applications for next year open on Sunday and there are a few of us in Taurima that are wanting to flat together next year at Orchard Park (a self catered uni hostel) if we possibly can. The thing is there are five of us and there are only cottages of 4 or 6 that are available. All us girls had a meeting on Monday night to try and figure out what was happening so we would know when we apply what we are actually doing.

Secondly, there is so much in life that we are afraid of because we fear what is to come. The thing is that that I know for my life personally, God is in control and he will remain in control as long as I let him.

One thing that I have learnt in particular this week is that I need to stop worry or even trying to organise what is happening in the future of my life. Life only happens once and I definitely want to get as much out of life as I possibly can. The more time I spend worrying or thinking about the future, the less time I have to make the most of NOW!!!

A wise friend told me earlier in the week a whole lot of stuff that really made me think. The most of it was that I should not be letting my decisions about next year be based upon what might or might not happen in the next few months. When she said this to me, I was kind of taken back and then as I thought more about it, i realised how much my recent decisions seemed to be depending on what may or may not happen in the future. As I look back over the last few months, there is so much that I have missed out on because I have let my "future mind" influence my "present mind."

This week I have been reminded of a quote that I remember seeing on the wall of the office at my intermediate many many years ago.....

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift, thats why we call it the present"

Live for today and not for tomorrow - you never know when life may change drastically or even in some cases come to an end so lets make the most of the time and the opportunities that we have! Be spontaneous, do something that freaks you out, take so many photos, laugh even when you are sad, walk on the wild side of life!

LIVE FOR THE MOMENT!

Procrastination to the max :)

So this weekend just been I totally had so much homework/study/reading to do and pretty much the whole weekend was full of procrastination. GOLD MEDAL FOR ME!!!!

Friday night my plan was to get as much done as possible and then finish on Saturday morning, relax Saturday afternoon and then have Kids Church pretty much all day Sunday. Well people who know me well will know that:
planning + kathryn Stewart = often not the greatest results :)

so for those who do know me well, you will not find it too hard to believe that that was totally not the way my weekend ended up happening.

Friday night I got a bit of study done and then had quite a late night for a couple of reasons but story is for another time. Saturday morning I slept in a wee bit and then got up and attempted to study. Once again this totally did not happen, it was way too sunny outside and my mind was just not focusing although I did get one of my readings done. Then Nathaniel ended up coming over from Matamata for the afternoon and him and I went out for lunch and just hung out in the afternoon. Turns out that just spending time with my boyfriend and lying on the grass in the sun (pretty much falling asleep) by a river was exactly what I needed and after we had parted our own separate ways, I actually managed to get some study done!

Sunday was an amazing day.... It was my first full day on Dynamite (aka Kids Church) and it was just such an incredible time. I think in the morning we had about 15 children, all under the age of 4 and just getting to spend time with pre-schoolers again was great. Sunday night after church we had an incredible prayer and worship time at our hostel and that began around 10pm and the last of us did not leave the prayer room till around 1:30am!!!!! I thought I would be quite tired when I woke up on Monday morning but as it turned our, after being prayer over about tiredness, I woke up after maybe on 5ish hours sleep and WAS NOT TIRED AT ALL!!! PRAISE GOD :)

Prayer gets answered

Semester A

So as much as I procrastinated and did not study that well last semester, I can now officially say that I managed to pass all of my 6 papers! I had a slack attitude last semester and my organisation was pretty much crap. I am honestly so amazed that I passed ALL of my papers in the end, especially some of the results that I got.

One of my papers, I got a D in an assignment and so was freaking out about the rest of the results I would get and the weightings and percentages.... well with God's help and direction, somehow I managed to pass that paper with an overall grade of a B-!!!!! THANK YOU JESUS :)

I was soooooooooooooo close to not getting a pass in one or two of my papers but with God's help I managed to come out with passing all papers. The results were not the best they could have been and although I got a couple of A's in different assessments throughout the semester, I passed my papers with three overall C+ grades, a B- grade, a B grade and lastly a B+ grade!

This semester is time to knuckle down and get into the hard work. STUDY STUDY STUDY and less time on facebook.

No longer is my motto:

"C's get degree's"

but instead

"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed"

~ Proverbs 16:3

or

"I can do ALL things through CHRIST who strengthens me"

~ Phil 4:13

Belle of the Ball :)

Ballroom Dancing - oh how I have missed you and oh how much I did not realise I actually love you!

Tonight I went with a few friends to Dance Well dance studio in Cambridge and had my first Beginners Class in Ballroom Dancing. Honestly, it was incredible!

I first took some ballroom dancing lessons as night school classes back in 2007 with a friend from school when we were leading up to our school ball. I did this for a term and then for some reason did not continue which when I look back now, I am quite sad that I did not continue.

Taking part in the dance class tonight, I was a little nervous at first but then all of sudden, all the steps for the dances I had learnt back then, were coming back to me. I literally felt more free than I have in a long long time and it was as if all my worries and thoughts were cast away for an hour. It was honestly amazing and I can not wait till we get more into the nitty grity of ballroom dancing and just feel like we are flying across the dance floor :)

One day, I will be the Belle of the Ball, till then I guess its Uni student/hostel resident by day and ballroom dancer by Thursday night!

Kath's Pink Letterbox!

On the door of each bedroom in Taurima (the hostel that I am living in incase some people have not been keeping up with my blog updates), we all have a little pinboard/noticeboard which we are able to decorate in which ever way we desire (within reason of course).

Last semester in one of my classes, we had made our own envelopes to use as a carrier for a resource we had been making and once I was finished with using this envelope for that particular purpose, I then put the envelope on my door as a "letterbox". This envelope was not pink as the title of this blog would suggest but was made of white paper with green highlighter and ink messages all over it.

I was thinking over my semester break that since it was a new semester coming up, then it was time for a change - a major change....and then I got the results of some of my papers! Well I had passed all of them AMAZINGLY but that is another story for another time. Anyway, yes time for a change meant that it was also time to change my letterbox.

During my semester break, I ended up leading at a Teen's Camp at Totara Springs in Matamata and we had what we call "Warm Fuzzies" going throughout the weekend - each person writes a nice positive note to someone else and puts it in their "mailbox" and then we got to read them at the end of the weekend.

After teens camp, I ended up using my letterbox as my new letterbox for my door at my hostel! its great and although it has taken a big of adjusting (just like the new semester itself has), I am happy!

The main reason for this blog entry.....

This week in general has just seemed like a massively long week. Yesterday when I got home from uni around 5ish, I was not the most happiest of chappies and was just soooooooooooooooo tired. I got home and as I always do, I went and checked my mailbox before I came into my bedroom. I had a present - AN EMPTY CAN OF COKE! Usually something like this, I would have been slightly annoyed about but for some reason I was the complete opposite and just laughed so hard, it was fantastic.

Today was yet another long day at uni and when I got home tonight, I had another surprise in "Kath's Pink Letterbox"! Today's surprise was to do with a personal joke at our hostel and today with Kayaks and Kath! Today when I cleared my lovely pink mailbox, I had 12 Kayaks in there :) Once again I was so tired and exhausted that this just instantly made me laugh and I realised how lucky I am to have such incredible and awesome friends.

I look forward to the continued graffiti that my pink mailbox will receive - it cracks me up so much and I also look forward to the surprises when I return from my daily adventures!

If you don't have a Pink Mailbox (or any coloured Mailbox for that matter), then I suggest you get one... you will never know the fantastic benefits untill you have one :)

Wake Up Child, Its Your Time To Shine!

At a camp that I went to for a weekend earlier in the year, this was pretty much the theme song for the whole weekend. I love the lyrics and hope that you will all get as much out of them as I already have and will continue to have!

So here is the song:

The Anthem - Jake Hamilton

I can hear the footsteps
of my King
I can hear his
heartbeat beckoning
In my darkness
He has set me free
Now I hear the
spirit calling me

He's calling
Wake up child
It'™s your turn to shine
You were born
for such a time as this. (2x)
Such a time as this

I can hear a holy rumbling
I'€™ve begun to preach
another king.
Loosing chains and
breaking down the walls.
I want to hear the Father when he calls.

He'€™s calling
Wake up child
It'€™s your turn to shine
You were born
for such a time as this (3x)
Such a time as this

This is the anthem
of our generation,
Here we are God
Shake our nation
All we need is your love
You captivate me. (3x)

I am royalty
I have destiny
I have been set free
I'€™m gonna shake history

I'€™m gonna change the world!

Life is a Roller Coaster

Life is a roller coaster...

At times in our lives we may think that we are on top of the world and then the next minute we are on a downhill spiral to the lowest of lows we ever thought possible.

It might suck at times and we may strongly strongly dislike this and hate people in our lives, for what is happening but the truth is that things will get better - they will... THEY HAVE TO!

“Life is a roller coaster, you have your ups and downs unless you fall off”

"Life is a rollercoaster, Just gotta ride it"

Just ride that roller coaster of life, don't give up or fall off and hold on the tightest you have ever held on to anything. You don't want to be left behind because the future is far greater than what we are living in now :)

Semester B

This week is our second week of Semester B for 2010! Wow, the year is going by so fast that it is actually quite scary.

Tuesday's this semester are going to seem very very long indeed but I have decided to have a positive attitude and just let the days and weeks come and go as they will - take each day one at a time. The reason that Tuesday's this semester are going to be long is because I have placement at a local primary school in the morning, then head back to uni and have class from 1-4, have an hour break then have class from 5-6! YIKES!

Today was also my first day of placement for the semester. To be honest, I was really looking forward to placement again but did not want to go into another class and have to swap year levels that we would be teaching - I just wanted to be stubborn and continue being in Room 11 and having year 5 & 6 students.

Well guess what - its a new semester which means a new class room and a new year level for teaching. I was kind of sad about that but knew it was coming. Already I know a few names of students in the class (the trouble makers of course :P) and yes I can already tell that God is totally going to challenge me this semester but I know that I will be able to pull through it all.

The teacher of the class we are in has been now teaching for 20 years which is a completle difference to our Associate Teacher from last semester who was only into her second year of teaching but one thing that I have learnt from these teachers already is that they have so much they are willing to give pour into the lives of their students - all their students have to do is be willing to receive that. I can't believe that I never realised how much our teachers were actually willing to pour into our lives - I only hope that I can do that for my future students and that someday they too will realise.

So yea anyway, this semester is going to be crazy busy but at the same time, I have a feeling it is going to be an incredible semester and its going to be one that I will look back on in years to come and know that it was a major turning point in my life.

So heres to the second half of 2010 and the begining of life as a 20 year old, who puts her faith in trust and Christ, who passed ALL her papers last semester and who can now legally drive!

Love and blessings,

Kath xox

Sunrise and Sunset

How amazing are things such as sunrises and sunsets?

The end of one day and the beginning of the next. A new chance to make the most of each and every opportunity or challenge that comes our way.

I love just gazing at sunrises and sunsets and realising that MY GOD, made these... he is responsible for all of creation. To be responsible for something as beautiful as this, I know that my God must be incredible, inspiring, amazing and awesome.

I know that MY GOD REIGNS!

45 Life Lessons

45 Life Lessons

~ By Regina Brett ~

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come.

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

Words

What have the words you have spoken or written today, done? Hurt or heal?

What have the words you have recieved today, done? Hurt or heal?

Think about the amazing power of the tounge and the mind, before you speak or write your next words.

Phil 4:13

One of my favourite bible verses at the moment is Phil 4:13. It is helping me work through so much stuff in not only my life but also the lives of others around me.

Never underestimate the power of prayer and what we can do or how much we can do when we rely not only on our own strength and resources but on Christ's alone.

Welcome back to Taurima

As soon as I finished at Totara Springs last night and headed back to Taurima with a couple of other people I had a feeling deep inside me that I was heading home. It is amazing how much my fellow hostel buddies mean to me after only knowing them since the middle of Feb or the end of March.

Arriving back at Taurima last night though was a real sense of arriving home. I had so many letters waiting for me in my "letterbox" from other people at the hostel and although there were only a few residents here at the time, it was a great time of seeing everyone again and catching up with people. We did not realise how much we had missed each other.

While I had been away on semester break, it had also been my birthday and so when I got back to the hostel, I had a surprise waiting for me in my room thanks to some of the girls in the hostel. All I had really been told about it was that "X marks the spot" and had been reminded of this for a week or so.

So 270 plastic cups, a few balloons, 6 rubber duckys and what seemed like a bizillion pieces of gliter. WOW, those girls did an incredble job and honestly, it was a much of a fantastic birthday present as it was a WELCOME HOME present!

24 hours of prayer. 168 hours in a week

Just a quick blog entry here.

The last few weeks I have been living and working at Totara Springs Christian Centre in Matamata.

A week ago we had 24 hours of prayer at Totara to pray for up coming ministry camps and also any other prayer requests. During the 24 hours of prayer in the Chapel at Totara, there were two whiteboards that we could write on - one was for prayer requests and answers to prayer while the other was for notes or words of encouragement.

One of the words of encouragement that came up for me during that time happened to be one which I had written inside the front cover of my bible. It was something along the lines of "there are 168 hours in a week, how much of this time do we currently spend with God. How much more of that time do we spend with God?

I found this very challenging for myself as my prayer time was 5am-6am. Normally there is no way in heck that I would be up at this time but because I had told myself that it was for God and that I WOULD DO IT, then I got up. Why would I not do this normally? Also, how many of those 168 hours were taking up by doing other things?

The challenge I want to lay down here is for us to try and stop making excuses in our lives, think carefully about what we do with our time and our week, make God the centre of our lives, set aside time to spend with him, and in return he will bless us abundantly.