Recently

I'm sure the summer holidays get shorter every year! At least, that's what it feels like. I guess it's more general than that though, all of life just seems to speed up as we grow older. 

My laptop adapter finally did arrive, so the technical difficulties have been overcome and I just need to find {ahem, make) the time to edit my mountains of images and then post them here. (Cheer me on guys ;) :P)

Over the past few months I have accomplished a fair bit of walking; an hour plus most days. (Xj why am I applying French pronunciation to English words now?! *insert 2015's word of the year* The above image was taken on one of said walks, on my iPhone admittedly, since I haven't been taking the camera with me.

In January the rest of the fam abandoned me (kidding) for a couple weeks and went on holiday to the Taranaki. I did have several good study days, but somehow I didn't manage to catch up on sleep like I planned lol. Ate plenty of good food though!! ;P Got in some good catch-ups with friends and finally went to a couple of services at a friends' church. It was different than I'm used to lol but I won't complain. And being in a church that didn't feel like it was trying to give Antarctica a run for it's money was a very welcome change. (I'm not telling the time I'm writing this, and yes I am sarcastic normally, but this is probably worse.)

Life took a sad turn midway through my time home alone when my nana in Wellington passed away. My family drove straight down from the Taranaki and I flew day on the Monday, in time for the Tuesday funeral. Hopefully a post in the near future will feature a number of photos from Nana's life. It was a pretty short trip for me, as we all left on Wednesday, with the others dropping me in Marton at the ATI Student Conference, and then driving back to Auckland. I spent a day and a half-ish with my awesome friend Susannah (first time seeing each other since we swapped numbers back in July last year lol), talking heaps,  drinking way too much coffee, and not sleeping a lot (paid for it when I got back :P) before I came back on Friday. (That bus driver had no de Bruin blood in him. Or the trip would have taken half the time. Just saying.)

Now that school has gone back I'm into teaching again (privately) -- and at this stage I've managed to get all my classes in just one afternoon!! *clapping emoji* This term half my students are returning from last year, and the other half are new students, learning the basics of how to hold a recorder and such. Putting students through exams is exciting, and it's amazing to reflect back over how far they've come, but it's pretty special as well to see new students grasp the basic concepts!

I finally have managed to make a start on job hunting, so to speak; I expect to have an interview pretty soon to discuss details, and then I should be picking up some part time work. I've made a second enquiry somewhere else so we'll see what comes of these two and take it from there. I'm half thinking about joining Stampin' Up! as a demonstrator too. (Anyone interested in a party?!)

And that's my update for now. If it changes it's because I changed my mind about how much I wanted to share once I had more sleep. Lol. 

ATI Conference (Part 3)

On Saturday morning, Mum and Dad decided to sleep in, so we arrived at the conference just as the first seminar began (having missed worship and notices) - about 9:35/9:40am
Steve Dulin was speaking on "How to Apply ATI to Business"

From my notes (again!)...
Your business is as good as your systems and processes.

If something takes less than two minutes, do it right now.

Most successful people are gracious in their speech.

Appearance is important
(writing now-) Mr Dulin shared a story about how a businessman who wasn't making many sales changed his hairstyle and shoes, by someone else's recommendation, and his sales increased dramatically!

Morning tea was at 10:30. Because the children's program was at the same venue this day, it was easy, while we were on a break, to see what the children were doing, or, er, catch up with my friends who were helping with the program =D    

After Morning tea we listened to Paul and Jenny Speed; their talk was entitled "How Discord in Marriage Dissipates Financial Wealth"

My notes - "Marriage is not about your convenience, it is about your COMMITMENT"

At 12, the one hour lunch-break was next. (We once again piled everyone into the van and went home).

Then  (the session I had been eagerly awaiting!) Mr. Gil Bates spoke on "One Failure That Families Cannot Afford to Make"

Mr. Bates is father to 19 children, the youngest being less than two weeks old. Visit the family's website here.

His speech was on anger and was both humorous and sobering. At times the room was filled with laughter; at other times many eyes were moist.

"Stop before you blow your top" we heard numerous times.

When angry ask

• "What is the physical thing this is costing me?"
• "What will it cost me if I blow my top?"
• "What is the possible permanent cost?"
• "What is the final cost of it?" - It will ruin the harmony in your home.

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We deviated from the original program here, and I don't recall exactly what we did. We may or may not have had afternoon tea now.

Then we listened to Tom Harmon again for his talk "Join the Few Who Finish Strong."

I'm afraid I didn't get any notes this time!

Next was the Arahina Update, by Jeff Lees and Gordon Strong.
Arahina is the ATI 'base,' if you like, in New Zealand.

Last of all was the Children's Presentation. They presented Bible verses - with actions, sung songs, etc..which they had learned in the two days of the children's program.

We all helped clean up, before catching up, and finally heading home for dinner.

Another great conference had come to an end! Can't wait for the next one...! =)

<3 Bee

ATI Conference (Part 2)

Then Rick Grubbs' talk - Conquer Procrastination.


So...what is procrastination? It is "putting off until later what GOD wants me to do right now."
Sounds bad, put like that, huh?!

What are the root causes of procrastination?

     - Laziness
            *Overwhelming (Because I can't do all of this, I just won't do any of it)
            *Short-term focus
            *Imaginary Obstacle
     - Fearfulness
           *Unpleasant
           *Perfectionism
          *Activity without accomplishment

How to combat procrastination?

WEAPONS AGAINST SLOTHFULNESS

1. Deadlines
2. Commintment
3. Accountability

WEAPONS AGAINST FEARFULNESS

1. Seeing failure as necessary for success (more on this after)
2. Create momentum

Work expands to fill the time you allow for it.

Don't shoot for perfectionism, shoot for excellence and GET SOMETHING DONE!

It is not the number of times you fail that matters. It is the number of times you succeed. And the number of times you succeed depends on how many times you try.

Thomas Edison said he didn't fail 500 times, he succeeded in finding 500 ways it didn't work!

So THE KEY QUESTION

Will I obey God right now, YES or NO?
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Believe it or not, the talk on procrastination actually was only about 15 minutes long!

We then listened to Mr. and Mrs. Duggar speak on Important Life Lessons.
I actually didn't take any notes listening to them, but most of what they shared there they've also written in their books - The Duggars: 20 and Counting; Raising One of America's Largest Families, and A Love That Multiplies. Both books are available from the Auckland public libraries.

That was the end of the seminars for the day, next was the shared dinner which we didn't stay for, we just went home...tired! But we'd all enjoyed the day and were looking forward to the following one.

ATI Conference (Part 1)

Finished 17th January.

Last year we went to ATI Regionals for the first time. It was held on Friday 22th and Saturday 23th July, at the Manukau New Life Church on Jellicoe Road.
We somehow managed to get up and arrive there on time(!)  to register - 9am.

Worship and notices were at 9:30, then the children all left for the children's program, which on the Friday was held at Manurewa Bible Church (Manukau New Life had a double booking so there wasn't space for the children there that day).

At 10 o'clock we listened to Steve Dulin speak: Put Everything Under God's Control.
Some of my notes from this talk:
"If A = B and B = C then A = C

A: You shall love your neighbour as yourself
B: You shall love your neighbours as I (Jesus) have loved you
C: Love yourself as Jesus has loved you"

"We can change the world if we love the world"

Morning tea was at 11am; attendees brought plates of food for snack times.

At 11:30 we listened to Dr. Bill Gothard speak on The Overlooked Secret of Personal Rhemas.

I have a lot of notes from Dr. Gothard's talk, however they're not making much sense even to me anymore!
But, did you know that every chapter in Isaiah is a commentary on a book of the Bible?

Then it was lunch time - 12:30 to 1:45. Mum and I picked everyone up from Manurewa Bible Church, and went home for lunch, after which we dropped them back at the church for the rest of the children's program that day.

On arriving back, we were able to talk for a few minutes before going in to the next session - The Rewards of Serving God and The Pain of Loving Money, by Tom Harmon.
My notes are just about nil for this talk, but I should note that Mr. Harmon is very interesting to listen to, as he is quite, well, animated!

Afternoon tea break was at 2:45.

Continue to Part 2....