Woman Of Worth

Wahine purotu

Wahine ataahua

Wahine tino toa

Wahine rangatira

aue taukuri ee

rite koe ki te manu

whakanui i te atua

te reo tuatahi

ki te marae, oooo

Translation:

Handsome Woman

Beautiful Woman

Strong Woman

Woman of Leadership

She is like the bird

Speaking to our father

The first to be at the gathering place

I'd like to end the month of June paying tribute to the wonderful woman in my life that have made living here in Ohio such a blessing and so doable for me. They are the "Woman of Worth" and I love you all dearly, thank you and I dedicate this blog to each and everyone of you beautiful ladies.

Let me start off with my bestest friend in the whole world Vita. Vita's my best friend from Australia, we lived together and we've been best friends now for 13 years and she relocated to New York City 1 year before I came to Ohio but when we first met each other it was like love at first sight and we just became instant friends from the time we said hello back in 1995, (how we met is we attended a mutural friends cocktail party, he was my $#9i buddy and I wasn't going to go but I thought why not see who else this guy is bleeping and I turned up on my own, apparently he was bleeping Vita's girlfriend that had came to the party with her and had no idea I was seeing him to, I really don't know how she'd be that naive to think she was exclusive because he just oozed player, but I was in the player mode myself, anyway I sat down next to Vita and she smelt my perfume and said are you wearing Samsara, and from then on we've been bestest friends ever). Now her living in New York is such a blessing for me, we call everyday if not every other day just to reconnect and be with each other and just give confidence that we are doing the right things in our lives with the choices that we make and I so appreciate her so much, she is so a reflection of who I am that sometimes people mistake us for sisters which you know I'm tickle pink about because I think she's gorgeous so if she's gorgeous I must be gorgeous as well hee hee hee, you be the judge that's her portrait up in the right hand corner "vita's way", it goes without saying.

Then there's my good friend Angie, oh how I love this girl. She's been through so much with me and I've been through so much with her here in Ohio. She is one of my really good friends that I've become to know and love, we worked at Anthropologie together and she actually bought me out of myself when I was going through a stage in my life where I was asking myself "why in the world am I here, feeling like I have no connections no friends, I just felt incomplete and missing like minded people", I almost gave up on mankind and then I found Angie. She is one of the most poised amazing woman I've ever seen, she is always immaculate from head to toe even when she's in a robe, its always the prettiest of robes, she makes an effort in looking good all the time and has the best taste and style which motivated me to start wearing my prettiest dress every day and not to save it for that special occasion so to think but think that everyday is special and wear that dress to go grocery shopping or doing your errands because tommorrow isn't promised to us so why not now, I've learned so much from by just watching how she puts an outfit together and understanding the design concepts of clothing and home design as well, and she's so clever she uses the most amazing words that I've never heard and I love asking her to give me the meanings and how do you use it in a sentence so I can fully understand the meaning, she's like a walking talking dictionary/encyclopedia, "you know they say to surround yourself with clever, knowledgable creative people" and Angie is definately one of those people. She is going through a real trying time in her life now but I know that moments like these are going to strengthen her faith her spirit and direct her on the pathway of love in which she and her family so deserves.

Then there's my girl Michelle. Michelle, Michelle, Michelle when you meet Michelle for the first time its like the sun kissing your skin it feels so good, she lightens up a room when she enters through the door she's such a giving loving person and her compassion for others is addictive and I feel so blessed to have met her and even though she is in her early twenties she is way wiser beyond her years and I am learning so much from her and have gotten really close to her and feel close now as well to her new born baby appropriately named Sunny Josephine. Michelle brings the best out of people and helps others to get online with their true authentic purpose in life, she subtley demands respect and so deserves it and now Sunny has decided to join her life there's no stopping this dynamic duo of pure sunshine, happiness & laughter I love them both deeper than the deepest deep, deep from my spirit.

Namaste, I honor the place in you in which the universe dwells. I honor the place in you which is Love, Light, Truth and Peace. When we are in that place We are ONE!

Love & Light
r
:)

It's A Girl

Dear Friends & Family,

I just wanted to inform you all that my good friend Michelle gave birth to a beautiful baby girl Sunny Josephine Friday @ 9:43pm at her home in Westerville Ohio accompanied by proud daddy Jeff, the fabulous Midwife Cathy & Midwife Assistant Amy and me her Doula, Birth Assistant Racheal. Mummy & Baby are doing just great, Sunny is 6 pound 20" and as beautiful as one can be I'm so proud of Michelle, I arrived 7pm that night and Sunny was born 2 hours later, howz that for record, it was the most spiritual and loving experience I had ever witnessed and am very blessed to be part of her first born.
I look forward to spending more time with Sunny and watching her grow, thanks to all our spiritual healers I had called in for your prayers and healing thoughts they were well received and very much appreciated.

Keep posted to my blog for sightings of the birth and baby Sunny, please be patient as I won't post any until Michelle posts it first on her blog this is her glory she's earned the right to show off her daughter before anyone else.

God bless Michelle & her Daughter
I love you both dearly
Thank You,

Love & Light
Racheal
"The luckiest Girl in the World":)xxx

Life is Just A Choice

woke up this morning,

smiled at the rising sun

three little birds

sat by my doorstep

singing a sweet song

a melody pure and true

this is a message for you, ooo ooo

singing don't worry about a thing

cause every little thing

is gonna be alright

sing don't worry about a thing

cause every little thing

is gonna be alright

Honestly I woke up this morning belting this song out of my lungs I just had to release it from my head, I sang it so loud opened my blinds and then laughed at myself and said, "Racheal your such a nugget" and laughed some more. Do you ever feel that sometimes you crack yourself up so much and only you get it, well I have those moments alot.

This week has been amazing for me. It all started about a week ago when my hubby came home from work and said to me he has some bad news, I looked at him and said "What" with that hurry up stop fart arsing around look on my face, "well" he says, "I totally got the dates to our planned vacation to Mrytle Beach screwed up and instead of leaving on the 23rd of June like we said the condo was booked for the 16th and theres no way he could change it" I was surprisingly calm and said "well you and Sydney are going to have a great old time without me aren't you"? The thing was I had made a committment to my friend Michelle 9 months ago that I was going to be there for the birth of her first baby and I'm a woman of my word and no way was I going to change that, Michelle is now 41 weeks and baby could arrive anyday now and my time was her time and I wasn't willing to sacrifice myself once again and then I miss out on what I need to do which benefits not only me but my family as well in ways no-one realizes. The old Darryl would have been pissed and not supportive on my decission however both Darryl & I have had major positive changes in our relationship especially in the past 2 years and the new Darryl just gave me that look of I totally understand and left it at that. Now don't get me wrong I've been looking forward to going to the beach for 2 years now, I grew up on the ocean and having sand, fish n chips waves and watching my son experiencing such delight is what I live for but I knew deep down inside that I'd never forgive myself if I missed out on such a special time like this in Michelle's life, I mean really think about it, experience the birth of my friends first child, going to Myrtle Beach, I can always go to Mrytle beach but I'll never get the opportunity to ever witness Michelle's first birth, it really was a no brainer. She may even not go this week but I made a committment and I'm keeping it because thats how much she means to me. Besides my hubby has never been any where with his son for any long length of time especially 7 days and there was no better time than now to finally have time with his son and his mother, because she was coming with us as well. I felt aroha for my son because he has never been away from me for more than 7 days in his entire life of 7 years but now was the time for the apron strings to be loosened a little and for him to break away and continue to becoming the great man he already is, so I had a week to talk to him and encourage him that he'll be having a wonderful time and even though mummy wasn't there physiclly he just had to close his eyes and place his hand on his heart and he'll see me in his third eye smiling right back at him. I was so proud of him, he totally understood my committment and said he'd pray every night for Michelle and still if "Phin" decides not to come then thats ok to. Sydney totally thinks Michelle is going to have a boy and when I mentioned to Sydney that if they do have a boy they will name him Phinigan and Sydney thought that that was a great name and now refers to Michelles baby as Phin.

So I've been home alone for the past 3 days so far and now you can see why I can wake up singing loud and not disturb anyone else because both my boyz are at the beach. It's been absolutely great not having to think for 3 and just think for me, eat when I want, sleep when I want and just be, its like being at a retreat, I haven't done this since Sydney was born and it been a long time coming and I'm so grateful because I so needed this rejuvenation of my spirit because they will benefit from it as well and this summer promises to be huge because for the first time we'll be having family from both our families here at one time for my hubby's family reunion, my parents get to meet his family for the first time so our home is going to be full of relatives, kids and noises that I haven't heard for a very long long time and I can't wait.

Well its 9:45am and I need to get on with my day, its so beautiful today and I'm looking forward to having lunch with my girls.

:)

r

Herbie The Love Bug

Amongst my many creative projects on my to do list, my son's 8th birthday is coming up in July and every year I like to have a theme and this year he wanted to do a Herbie The Love Bug Pizza Party, he's one of the hugest fans of Herbie ever, and Herbie is famous for the number 53 and so we figured 5 + 3 = 8, this would be appropriate for Sydney's 8th birthday, anyhow we've practiced making a Herbie Cake together which turned out awesome, and I just finished up with a doll in the image of Sydney and designed a Herbie T-Shirt with Sydney's Artwork on it and I'm syked about setting it all up on the day, quirky I know but I love dressing up and going all out for his birthday he so enjoys himself and secretly I get to relive my childhood all over again, so keeping the earth in mind our candy gift bags for his guest's are just brown paper lunch bags with his artwork on it and this year I want to put healthy fun snack choices in their sacks rather than an overload on sugary lollies (candy) so if anyone out there have any suggestions let me know. Red, White & Blue is the theme colour and lucky for me July 4th is approaching and so there are heaps of red white and blue stuff and so little flags are great, pencils etc etc. To date I've made Sydney's tshirt and his daddy and I'm gonna make me one however the square tshirt is just not my style so I'm gonna recreate my herbie tshirt to "The Mummy" thats my code name for my boyz so stay tuned with what I come up with it should be interesting.

Misunderstood Dandelions

This morning was a great day to weed and dig holes, so I gets an early start on my day, before I hit the outside I gathered my hubby's father's day presents in the middle hall way so he'll trip over them if he wakes up before I come in. Sydney's G-Mom packed him a present as well, she made up "Guy's Day" and fathers day begins, oh yeah its our cat Tahi's birthday as well, we found him 4 years ago on fathers day and we always celebrate his birthday.

So I'm sitting here enjoying the fruits of my labour, when I see our neighbour spraying her lawn which concerns me because I can smell weed be gone in the atmosphere, poison, not only to weeds but us humans alike and people wonder why they get cancers, I don't blame her or anything I just hope that she doesn't come close to my back fence as my sunflowers are planted at the back there, I'll have to say an extra prayer. I give her credit though, she's the first tenants in that house who have taken care of her backyard and she's at least planting flowers in her yard where now I can have something pretty to stare at myself. I'm gonna have to do something at the back there very soon so as she won't come close to our fence and spray that stuff in my yard and contaminate my garden and compost heap, well at least the fence is protecting the top of the compost but what happens beneath the dirt I can't promise it won't absorb it up, at least its a nice sunny day and hopefully it dries up the poison sooner than later.

The dandelion is so misunderstood, its only natures way of filling in a baron part of the earth, they grow so healthy as well, the dandelion is so healthy to eat especially the root and my people (Maori's - native New Zealanders) eat the leaves like watercress, it contains great medicinal benefits and vitamins, go figure hey, I was speaking to a native american friend of mine once and he told me how the local ohioan native americans pretty much used all the native plants that grew around the area including the misunderstood dandelion, don't get me wrong I've killed my fair share of dandlions myself however because of all the pesticides that have been used in my subdivision including us, its just not good to do anything with the ones we grow here so into the compost they go, the worms will regenerate heatlthy black gold out of them eventually.n I've made a promise to papatuanuku (mother earth) to weed by hand and to use earth friendly pesticides if need to and I know it will come back tenth fold for my true intentions.

I've always as a kid been captivated by the dandelion when its in its seed mode and I took photo's of some at the wagnalls library while I was waiting for it to open up, it truly is a pretty majestic plant if you take a closer look and I always love blowing them making a wish, we don't do that anymore, oh how times have changed.

Happy Fathers Day to all those Daddy's out there

cheers

r

:)

Sunflower Garden

Hope you enjoy our tribute to Vincent Van Gogh's "Sunflowers", Sydney & I are making a sunflower garden and to encourage their rapid growth we painted the fence with sunflowers inspired by Van Gogh, what a alot of fun we had painting the fence this morning. Time for brekky (aussie for breakfast) grow sunflowers grow grow grow.................

Theres still a few panels which Sydney is going to complete and the border done with soil but other than that its our Van Gogh Sunflower Garden.

Enjoy

:)

Don't Worry Bout a Thing

OMG my girl Michelle gave me a listen to some music that a girlfriend of her's Jenny made up so she'll have a great comp to listen to during the birth of her baby and one of my favourites is with an artist singing Bob Marley's "Don't Worry Bout a Thing" with her child, it bought tears to my eyes it sounded so awesome and I'm a sucker for reggae but listening to this rendition just gave me warm fuzzy's for the rest of the day. I wonder if I could download it to my blog, well something else to figure out.

It's gonna be my new motto for the rest of the year, don't worry about a thing because all will line up for the hightest good for all concerned.

cheers
r
:)

Pizza Patch Garden Log

Yeah we finished our pizza patch and it looks fantastic. Sydney and I worked really hard and now God's glorious rain is watering our fruits of labour and I can't wait to see everything grow, I got the idea of a vege pizza patch out of a great book called "Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots" by Sharon Lovejoy creative garden activites to do with kids and this idea surely caught my eye, what a great way to design a garden like a pizza and plant vege's that as exciting pizza toppings that you can introduce to your children, expand them from peppironi & cheese to capsicum (bell peppers) garlic, zucchini, real tomatoes not ketchup, eggplant assorted herbs, onions and more, the pure joy of watching something grow is awesome and I feel great that my son gets to see where and how these veges grow, gives him a better concept of life around him and that we shouldn't just take things for granted.

Well our next projects vary throughout the backyard from planting sunflower seeds a childhood dream of mine to grow giant sunflowers, a cat friendly flower bed which we'll be potting inside an old tire we have, something to keep them off my garden patch.

My backyard over the years is looking like a junk yard, so I'm going to utilise what I do have and pretty it up, my hubby and son have had the backyard for the past 5 years and now its my turn and I'm taking over, by the time I'm finished with it, kids of all ages including myself will love to come visit its whimsical fantasy flavour, why not I say, its just another extension of who I am, hee hee hee.

Ok stay tuned for the next garden log.
Frangipani Green Thumb signing out
:)

Sister Coming to the USA

My sister Nessa will be relocating to the states by the end of June in which I'm excited for her. She's a great singer and finally has a record detail with a label and she'll be promoting her music for the rest of America to experience, this is her place to be appreciated for her music and talents and I know she'll really make it work for her and I can't wait to share her with my friends here in Columbus. Her genre can be described as "dirty soul" checkout her website http://www.nessamorgan.com/ or her myspace to listen to her music @ www.myspace.com/neskaonline

Keep an eye out on some posts about her, she'll be coming to my husbands family reunion in August and I've asked her to sing for us and she agreed, wow its really hard to get her to sing for you these day's so I'm syked.

Happy Birthday Dad

It's my Dad's birthday on the 10th and I'm just been thinking about him, he's 60 years old and I just can't believe it, I bet he can't either. I've just finished speaking with my mum, he's at work and I missed him but that's ok, he know's I love him and that I'm thinking of him. I'm my Dad's oldest daughter and like most little girls with their daddy's just hearing his voice can make you melt, especially when he calls me darling it just has that sought of twang that makes you feel all good and gooey inside. My mum has a great surprise planned for him at Christmas time this year, all of my siblings and myself are planning on travelling back to our birth country New Zealand for our first christmas together in my mothers family home and she is organizing all the relatives to come over and we'll have a surprise birthday bash for my Dad who is 60, my brother Wally who will be 40 and the oldest Grandson Hohepa who will be 20 (who at birth was told would not survive the night, yet 20 years later he has proved them wrong) its gonna be awesome and very emotional as well I know it. Three generations celebrating with all our families there, it will be my husbands first experience in New Zealand and I'm so looking forward to it all.

Well I love you Daddy, Happy Birthday and lots of hugs & kisses
Arohanui (all my love)
r
:)

(photo above is of my Dad's band Collision about 30 years ago, my dad is the one with the glasses and headband, very seventies but funky for the time)

Baby Preparations

My Girlfriend Michelle is expecting her first baby and she had asked me if I could be her birth assistant and of course I said yes, its a privledge and I'm so looking forward to her big moment, baby is due any day now and she is more than prepared. The special thing about this pregnancy is that Michelle will be doing a home birth with a wonderful midwife named Cathy and her assistant Amy, her husband Jeff and the dynamic duo, me & Sydney, we are very fortunate Sydney and I to be apart of such an amazing experience and am very grateful, I'm now packing our bags so when the call comes we're ready to go. Michelle has had a wonderful nine months, she really looks like a glowing beautiful mummy to be, I know both her and Jeff will be amazing parents they are such wonderful friends and people, she is going to be a fantastic mother and I know our kids are going to bond really close. I get all aroha (emotional) just thinking about it, it feels like when I packed my bag for the hospital when I was pregnant with Sydney, I know what she's going through, the feelings, the doubts the what if's and the can I do it, am I good enough, but before she will even realize it will be all done with and a new baby will be born and when she looks straight into the eyes of her child the instant love affair begins and everything else is forgotten and the overwhelming love between mother and child will be for ever and ever, and for me to be apart of that experience is unbelievable and I look forward to meeting the little bubba as well. Well I'm gonna get some rest so I can be there mentally, physically and spiritually for my friend.

Lord I pray that you put your healing hand over the Chapin Family Tonight and every night, I thank you for a wonderful birthing experience that they will have and thank you for your unconditional love, in the name of Jesus Christ Amen......

Sweet dreams all

r

:)

Second Grade Blues

I dropped Sydney off at the bus stop for his last day of school this morning, I came home and served myself a nice bowl of cereal before I get on with my daily routine when it dawned upon me that today would be Sydney's last day of Second Grade and I began to weep, I just couldn't believe how fast the past 7 years have gone, he's grown so much and so fast and I feel so overwhelmed and grateful for every moment I've been blessed to see and watch him grow, I wept because I felt emotional on how great life is and how wonderful his second grade teacher Mrs Obert was to him, we really enjoyed her teaching him she showed such caring and compassion I couldn't ask for a better teacher, really all of Sydney's teachers have been so wonderful, the Columbus School System really gets a bad rap and really the teachers are the ones that make a difference, his teachers at Liberty Elementary make a difference they really want for your child to learn and pull them through and I so appreciate that, I know Sydney has a great day planned with Mrs O, apparently they are going to clean all the desks with shaving cream, he thought that it would be a blast and that they were to wear clothes that can get dirty and roughed up a bit, I'm looking forward to his afternoon report on how much fun he had today at school.

After I pulled my emotions together my mate Cathro sent me an email, a group hug to brighten my day which as you can see from the picture not only brightened my day but gave me a big chuckle the timing was impeccable. I then gathered my house together as I was expecting Angie and her son Asa for lunch, another buckeye making day and Angie volunteered to help me today. She delighted me with fresh picked flowers from her garden, I just love sweet gestures like that it gave me a big smile on my face and the eroma of the flowers are beautiful, so I'll place them on my bedside table so I can smell the sweet scent as I lay a sleep.

Picture below is of Asa with Iron Man

Mask, he's a big fan

Pizza Patch Garden Log

I look like Outback Jack here with my gumboots and Acubra hat, all I need is an Australian Dryser Bone wet weather jacket and I'd be set. I welcome the rain as it softens my ground which makes it easier for me to dig out the grass. What am I doing you ask? Well I'm making a pizza patch garden, its gonna be the shape of a pizza and we're gonna grow vege's that you can put on a pizza like tomatoes, bell peppers, herbs, zucchini, onions and all that good stuff, its gonna be our first vege patch and I'm so excited so stay tuned with how it works out and looks.

Back breaking work but its so worth it, my whole body is aching from gardening, dancing and I'm loving it.

Anyway I received 2 overseas calls, first from my friend Elaine who lives in the Bahamas, (I met Elaine 8 years ago when I was pregnant with Sydney, she was my Yoga teacher and I attended her class twice a week and she was my first American Friend I made and we remain good friends ever since, when Sydney was born she gave him his first Dr Zeuss book - Oh the Places we go, so appropriate as she definately is a world traveler herself) its always nice to hear her voice and find out what new things are happening in her life and then my sister Nessa called from Australia to tell me that by the end of June she'll be relocating here to the states to pursue her recording career, its about bloody time I say, she's so talented and America is her kind of place to be and I know she'll do really great and the exciting news is that she'll be able to make it to Columbus Ohio for my hubby's family reunion, so having her and my parents here will be awesome.

Oh my I'm watching Justin Timberlake on Oprah while I'm blogging, I just find him an excellent entertainer and his music is really cool, especially live, wow he's so cute.

Well signing off for now

:)

First Day of June

Today was a great day for gardening and so we took all our tools over to my mother-in-laws to pretty up her front garden, it needed a little work and prettying up. We planted a lavender bush and petunia's and I must say it turned out really good, simple yet good, simple sometimes is nice. I think she was happy, I enjoyed planting each and every plant, talking to the earth and flowers and I enjoyed giving them a new home. I'll get Sydney to paint a rock for his Grandmama and it will bring happy thoughts to her each time she visits her garden. I forgot to take pictures and will add later on in the week so keep tuned. As we gardened we drank Mojito's and she cooked us hotdogs and collard greens, nothing better than that, by the time we got home which was about 5ish in the afternoon I played the sleep game for a couple of hours, the sun hit me and I needed forty winks, (my son Sydney wanted to play a game when we got home so I made up the sleep game, which I said he was quite welcome to come join me, but he never got into that idea) so while I played the sleep game Sydney found a neighbour friend to come play in his sandpit while daddy kept an eye on them both.

Pinch & a Punch for the first day of the month, June promises to filled of laughter, summer dayz and sexy nights and outside eating, yippee yeah

cheers
r
:)