:)

My visa was approved after I had a little set back in my application! I had to go have a chest x-ray done in order to rule out TB since I spent more than 3 months in Africa a couple of years ago. I went to the doctor and they told me I didn't need a refferal. I went to the x-ray clinic and they told me I did, so I walked across the street to the walk-in clinic, go a refferal, waited at the x-ray place again, got it done, and had it mailed off to Ottawa.

The process was not supposed to be that long, but low and behold, I can legally enter and work in Australia! Just over 3 weeks and I am gone... yikes!

Dedication, Hard Work, and Devotion

Here are some recent quotes I stumbled upon that I like.

Starbucks The Way I See It #21

"People need to see that, far from being an obstacle, the world's diversity of languages, religions and traditions is a great treasure, affording us precious opportunities to recognize ourselves in others." -Youssou N'Dour, Musician

"I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen." -Frank Lloyd Wright

That second quote sums up how I feel about my job. It isn't a great job, but I believe in my company and I see great potential in almost every single one of my coworkers. Now, if only management would open their eyes and see this potential and not fear change so much. They say they want to implement change, they hire someone to do so who would do an exceptional job, then they run and hide in the corner and pretend they never wanted this change.

Our company needs an overhaul. With the media moving in already in June 2009 for the Olympics, this overhaul needs to be done sooner than later. I am heading off, but when I return, I hope to see change, and if I don't, I will try my best to get management out of hiding and see how great our company can really be.

And a pretty picture to make this less boring :)

31 Days and Counting...

Wow... it feels like so long ago that Kim and I decided to head to Australia and now it is just over 4 weeks to go! I have a lot to do before I go but I know it will all get done. I feel more and more confident in this decision to go that ever before and am very grateful for that.

Life. Things have been good for me. I have been learning a lot about life and God lately and continue to grow daily. I thankful for many things in my life, but my friends especially right now. There have been some interesting transitions going on in some friendships lately. Where there has been room for potential conflicts, only happiness fills that space. Man am I blessed. Things are not always easy and I don't expect them to be, but God has shown me the purpose in situations where I had not seen it before.

Some thoughts that have been in my head lately were stemmed from listening to the radio in the early mornings at work. (Too early if you ask me!) The Beat played an interview with Gary Chapman, the author of a book called The Five Love Languages. I have heard of this book before and what it is all about, but it was really interesting to hear the author speak about it. It made my try to figure out what my love language is. The five that he talks about are physical touch, quality time, words of affirmation, giving of gifts, and service (giving of time). I know which ones aren't my love language, but I have a hard time defining one that would be my love language. Will keep thinking about this...

It is hard to believe that my life will be changing a lot in just a few weeks. Although not physically ready to go, I definitely feel mentally and emotionally ready to go. It has been over two years since I returned from Africa and I am ready for another continent to explore and to fall in love with, although Africa will always be my first love.


I got this from Kimmer's facebook page... not sure if she designed it or got it from somewhere else, but I like it :)