Wednesday, November 19, 2008

* David needs a voice


ywam reef to outback initiative.  media/music tour. northern queensland australia. mt isa and cairnes.  oct 27 through nov 7. highschools. youthgroups. churches. injustices.  prostitution in thailand. poor health care in west papua. abuse in indigenous australia. poor education in vanuatu. poverty in indonesia.

* David needs a voice.  
* Justice needs you
* A voice in the dark

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

her name is jessica... shes our friends' daughter and she melts my heart whenever she turns the corner.... shes stolen my heart... yes she has...

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

its a time warp

yes, for awhile it was all about 'manga faces' but we've moved on in our lives and begun 'yearbooking yourself.' this brilliant website... which falls highly under the office distraction category... takes a picture of you that you upload and you can see what you would look like from the 1950's all the way to the 2000's... so heres jaso and aidan and myself through a time warp. its hillarious.... now go... yearbook yourself... www.yearbookyourself.com

its not just birthday cake

im not really sad here. i just thought that it would be funny cause everyone has smiley photos of them and their birthday cake so i thought i'd do just the opposite and pout. im 26 now. i could do anything... okay maybe not anything still- its a pretty legit age. *phew* im at the brink of my mid-20's.' entering a new year of my life, like i've always found, surprises me everytime. i know this shouldn't be the case, but since i've been in ywam, my birthdays always seem to fall on the oddest days of a transition and so "this day" hits me like a brick of emotions & insecurities and all these other funny thoughts. but then something embraces me that i can't really explain and everything ALWAYS turns out, and i sit back, look around and observe the people who i share my birthday cake with.... it not just a birthday cake. its the ones surrounding me that makes bringing in the new year so special. (but of course if i had my way, i would have my family and friends from home here). but during this week long celebration of hiking up and spending a day by the waterfall, spending an evening under the stars at a bonfire, more dinner parties, more cake, and having a 'beverages around the world' combined pub birthday party with 2 good friends of mine... i'll say that this one is pretty high up there... and it gives me no reason to pout...

Well, shiver me timbers and sharpen me sword




this is what happens... you tell a bunch of ywamers theres going to be theme party and they talk about it for weeks prior to the event and i'll tell ya... when theres a theme party around this hood, we go all out or we go home... so the amazing comm life department hosted a pirate murder mystery party called "Murder Among the Mateys." basically, it was a night of role playing and everyone got a character to act out and throughout the night, you got clues to figure out who the murderer was... i played the galley wench 'Uma Scarr'. yah. good times... it was absolutely brilliant how everyone got into it.... oh like i said, we get into it or we go home... arrrrrrrrrrrr....

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

pin the nose on rudolf


we actually did it. we had Christmas in July at nick and saras and oh what a glorious celebration it was! from eggnog to hot apple cider, to caroling in the neighborhood, to putting up the mistletoe (also known as tomato leaves) to watching Elf and playing pin the - not tail on the donkey- but you guessed it... pin the nose on rudolf. we had a lot of good laughs and christmas outbursts whenever someone would walk in and our neighbors most likely thought we were nutz... but you know what, seize the day... were evidently bringing life to the community and its even merrier when you do it with friends.... merry jolly christmas in july everyone and may the yultide carols make your heart all warm and fuzzy until the real thing... next up? ohh.. if we only knew...

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

O, say can you see




yes, i am living in Australia for the time being... but it doesn't necessarily mean that the American holidays don't live on. probably because i'm pretty much surrounded by Americans and you can't really forget about these events. so yes... my friends and i decided we were going to celebrate independence day with a mini sparkler ceremony down by the beach. it was great fun... though towards the end it felt like it turned into a toxic inhalation party because of the fumes and the sound of cancer coughs... we created memories anyhow and was quite memorable.

sing with me now... "O, say can you see by the dawn's early light... What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming..."

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

this is my space.

this foto is taken in my office and this is what i look at everytime i look up at my ceiling over my desk. my friend did this. and yes, it is my space. which therefore, makes it joanna space.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

world- this is xavier

oh... allow me to do the introductions...

world- this is Xavier Moses Haythorpe...
and Xavier, say hello to the world....

so my good friends luke and angela just welcomed their fourth and last child into the clan last saturday, march 29 at 6:28 p.m and hes a cute one i tell ya and hes been smothered with lots of love already... i was honored to be right there in the room to greet the little guy and to capture these moments of life- and to be reminded once again that this... life... is a miracle. i keep this up- i'll be a mid-wife slash fotographer... or mid-fotographer or foto-wife... okay, this entry is done. check out my flickr for more fotos of the birth of baby moses...
welcome to the worldxavier

Friday, March 28, 2008

flowery foo-foo easter sunday dress

happy resurrection day.... im a bit late (whats new) with this entry but still- i hope that everyones easter celebration was splendid... some random thoughts came to me about my childhood and celebrating easter sunday growing up... and how everything as a kid is exciting... you know, my new flowery foo-foo easter sunday dress with white tights and the matching white pink hat and white gloves, dying the eggs and bringing it to the easter egg hunt in my cool matching basket.... all of it... *sigh *.

He is... risen!

Thursday, February 07, 2008

agree with mr. miller

there's a bit in one of donald millers books where he writes, "everybody has to change, or they expire. everybody has to leave their home and come back so they can love it again for all new reason"...  i'll say now that its not necessarily the reason why i go home, but i can agree with mr. miller when he writes about going back home and loving something again for all new reasons. i was just recently home in california for 6 weeks and i had a fantabulous time! it was full of good eats, good company, good food, good sleep, good tv (although debatable but compared to aussie tv its true), good times and basically... good everything. a short trip to l.a. also allowed me to see some good friends i haven't seen in years and reunions are never short of sweet. and i came to a realization in the simplicity of all, that my heart will always be with my filipino-american peeps... whether it might be for a couple weeks or a few months, i don't take for granted my time that i get to spend at home and i always find gratefulness in my heart for friendships and family over there. but i was ready to face the year and get back into y-wizzle and now im back in australia! if i keep to my goals, i'll be updating more on my blogger and won't keep you guys wondering what im up to... keep bugging me but it come down to it and  if you must... say i stink at blogging and then you'll see more posts... cheers.