Sisterhood - The Beginning

On a late summer evening I was stuck with the reality that my brother, my very own flesh and blood, had gone for days without food without us knowing.

After I dried my tears and got my anger in check I realised that there are lots of cases like my brother in the world. In fact, there are a lot of everyday people going under the radar. I thought of a few women in my life that I knew of. Women who needed a little encouragement and a helping hand. Women who just needed to be told that they are not alone. Some women who just needed attention after they spend their days giving and giving and receiving nothing in return.

That night I put the call out, I arranged The Sisterhood. We would be made up of women all around New Zealand. We would be willing, generous, caring and with soft moldable hearts. I didn't want people to "join", I wanted them to "belong".

Ladies responded. They promised to keep their ears to the pavement; to notice and to care about other Sisters.

Our first mission was to send gifts of love to a new Mama in Auckland. We wanted her to know that she was not alone. We sent her crafty gifts to remind her that time spent doing something she loves is super important.

After that we were told of Zariah, a little girl, only 3 years old, who along with her family were staying in Christchurch for treatment of recently diagnosed Leukemia. Our hearts were soft and we felt their circumstances. "If that was us" we thought. So we sent them gifts. Chocolates, coffees, decorations, cards, books and felts, and $200 for a date for the parents.

Because of them and their courage our hearts were full. We continued on and sent bags and bags and bags of warm clothing to a Canterbury family whose house had just burnt down. We responded to one of her friends calling for help. The family had nothing and asked for clothing. So clothing we sent!

The mother was so touched, she cried and thanked us, but really, its them we thank. "Thank you for soldiering on. Thank you for being strong!" A few weeks later the Mum asked us to help again, so we sent her little baby boy who was due in a few week warm clothes and toys.

And most recently, we are sending a LOVE BOMB. Our biggest mission yet. We are loving on 5 amazing ladies all around New Zealand at once. We are gathering our treats and dollars to say "THANK YOU!" These ladies are strong, they are selfless, and they go under the radar of everyday life. However, they have been put on our radar thanks to their close friends who have nominated them.

The Sisterhood continually impresses me. It tells me that there is still kindness and generosity in this world that is so central me focussed. A lots of people ask me how they belong to The Sisterhood, and I tell them, if you consider yourself a Sister you are already in.

And from there? Once you're in? Just respond. However that looks. Whether its in prayers, notes of love, chocolates, money, gifts. However you respond is just perfect.

Really, this is all about a lot of people giving something small to create something amazing.


I really want to take this opportunity to thank you for reading this far. And if you consider yourself a Sister: Thank you. You make the world go around. I do not underestimate your ability to change someones life.

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If you want to get more involved straight away, here are a few quick links for you:

• Subscribe via email to get updates on new opportunities (please do this. It makes my life so much easier!)
• Like our Sisterhood Facebook page
• Subscribe to this blog for more detailed updates

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READ MORE:

Join the LOVE BOMB here!

More details on how the LOVE BOMB works and how to be involved
Meet the ladies of the LOVE BOMB

How to belong to The Sisterhood
How The Sisterhood responded to a Mum of three and a house fire

How The Sisterhood responded to a young family with Leukemia
How The Sisterhood responded to a young Mama

"Happy" Anniversary

"Dear Christchurch, I hope you are okay after the big disaster - from Queenstown Primary" Water bottle donated from Queenstown and picked up at the RedCross.

I have written and re-written this post too many times, unable to express my deeply buried feelings for the public to see.

The truth is my thoughts are a mess. Some days I am over come by hope; I'm so proud of our strong Cantabrians, other days I wallow and fret wondering why we didn't move out of here a year ago.

I guess thats grief and life. Our "new normal".

Following the quakes I wrote about my experiences in this post. You can read it if you like, but today I do not wish to dwell on that day. I wish to look at now and the future.

Thankfully we have a rented home to live in. We severely doubted our ability to find a rental following the quake. It is strong and sound and is resilient against the on going after shocks. I feel safe here, but it is a big concrete building and I have flashes of doubt in my mind of being trapped under a pancake stack of concrete slabs. But for the most part, we are safe.

Graeme still has his job. Amazing. People actually sound surprised when they hear that since he works in a factory in an industrial area just outside of the CBD. Actually, his company is doing very very well. We are so thankful for this.

Whenever one of us leaves the room we appoint "Quake Duty". If there is a shake you are the first to get to Milla and do whatever you have to to protect her. Too many babies died That Day.

I am so thankful for Milla. I was feeding her breakfast while listening to the Prime Ministers address to the nation this morning. One year ago I feared for her life, thinking we might not make it through. And there she was, sitting in front of me, happy as larry eating her rice cereal while rebuilding and saddness was talked about on the television behind her.


Did I ever mention our street smells like c.r.a.p? Like actual, out of the toilet poo. I always used to ask Graeme "Did you fart?" in the car when we turned into our street. Now I know its just the way it is now.

I honestly thought I had not changed as a result of the Quakes but I know now, I have. Day to day it gets pushed aside but when I stop to think I am overwhelmed.

"When you stop you feel, when you feel its uncomfortable" - Bob Parker

Thank you for standing with us. We are broken inside but piece by piece we rebuild and become a little bit stronger with a little bit more hope for the future. 

Other Christchurch bloggers reflect:
Miriam. Nin. Deb. Amy 1. Amy 2. Katy

A Little Bit About Me

You may be new to my site, and want to know a little bit about who I am? Well, first off, I hate filling in the blanks on About Me forms, so I thought I would write you my own :)

I am a married 21 year old

This is my fun, quirky, energetic, inspiring and wise husband. Some might say we got married young, and we probably did now that I look at it in hindsight, but we were in love and stubborn, and still are! Graeme and I are working on our marriage everyday to make it better than ever, I am looking forward to many more exciting and fun adventures with him.

I serve

The greater part of my time is spent volunteering for C3 Church. I am working on my internship where I spend half the time organising events like this one coming up (more details on that later), and the other half doing admin / services and general dogsbody jobs. I really enjoy what I do, and consider it a huge honour to be able to serve my church and donate my gifts and time.

I knit

I knit a lot. Mainly what I call Love Booties. You can out more about them here. In general, I just love to do things with my hands. Knitting, sewing, cross stitching, painting, baking, gardening (minus the spiders). Any thing I can do to use my hands and create something I love to do. It is a dream of mine to be able to live off what my hands produce. 

Those 3 things pretty much sum up my life, more on that later.