Out of the mouths of babes

A conversation between Hamish and Alastair yesterday, prompted by Hamish cuddling the wooden toy lizard we gave him for Christmas... which has lost all its legs...

H: Look at my lizard!
A: He's got no legs! He's a snake now!
H: No, he's still a lizard.
A: Yes, he'll always be a lizard in his heart.
H: (all forlorn) But his heart is broken...
A: (laughing) What happened to his legs?
H: (looking around for inspiration) Um... he grew out of them.

:)

Stuff...

Whoever knew that becoming a couple in a legal capacity was such a long, time consuming, drawn out process! You can change your name at the ATO with just a phonecall, (no marriage certificate or anything), but to put your wife on your NRMA policies/greenslip/whatever, it takes about a dozen phonecalls and hours on hold waiting for "the next available operator". I've got my new driver's license... yesterday we went to Medicare to change my name and get new cards which have each other on them... and we opened a joint bank account. Man, it's all so complicated!

I started back teaching two weeks ago. Always after some time off, I think that teaching is too hard and that I can't do it anymore... but then I get there on the first day and remember that it's okay. :) It's good to be earning money again too.

Speaking of money - I've been working on our budget, and last payday we put it into practice. Yay... sort of. :P We're needing to be quite careful with our spending. I'm getting used to having to shop fortnightly (my mum shopped weekly), but also, I have to remember that I'm not doing the shopping for mum for a family of 5 anymore - I'm shopping for Alastair and I, and we don't need as much food as a family does. Nor do we have space for it. :P Buying two packets of frozen vegies for $6 just because they're on special may not be the greatest idea... because we can't get through them, and only have a little freezer! Yesterday I just went shopping, but when I got home and unpacked it, I couldn't shut the freezer door. I forgot that mum and dad have a chest freezer that the overflow goes into... :P

So lots of learning going on here.

Last weekend we went up to Gilgandra to visit Joel and Katherine for the long weekend. It was really nice (except for the bed!) and we had a great time. :)

Now Alastair is awake and he's made me a cup of tea. :) We're going to snuggle up and watch a movie. Later on, we're going to the footy - go Swans! What a way to spend a Saturday. :)

They say time flies when you're having fun

Wow, we're more than halfway through February already!

Since I last posted, school has resumed - and so has my teaching. I have 21 students each week at this stage, and I'm quite enjoying teaching after the holidays. My bank account is enjoying it too. :) It's tough going for 7 weeks with no pay. :P

So lessons have been filling up my Mondays and Tuesdays, then work for Dad on Wednesdays and Thursdays. This Friday (in 2 days), will be my last time at FGYO... sad times. Though I'm looking forward to this new phase of my life, I'll miss orchestra and all those kids (and the few adults!) that I've worked with for so long. I'm starting to feel the ache of missing it already. :(

I've been getting bits and pieces of wedding stuff done during the week, and on weekends, too. The weeks are really going quickly though - only 4.5 weeks to go! We've made the placecards, and today Megs and I finished the Order of Service booklets - they are SO lovely! The colour of the bridesmaids dresses is woven into every part of the day, and I'm thrilled with how everything has turned out. :)

It's so lovely... a whole lot of people whom we couldn't manage to invite to the reception, are coming to the ceremony just to watch - because they love us! And some of them are travelling so far... I feel very blessed.

Another blessing, is that a friend of Alastair's (who is also a friend of mine, now) :) bought us an iron on the weekend... and it's PINK!!! :) I can't wait to use it!

Today I had another dress fitting - ohmygoodness!!!! It's just unbelievably lovely, and I can't WAIT to wear it!!! The ladies in the shop are so sweet, and have put sleeve things on it which look just beautiful and match perfectly. :)

On Saturday, my kitchen tea is happening! In order to keep it small enough to fit in our house, I had to only invite local friends - so if anyone from any distance is reading this, that's why you weren't invited! :( I would have loved to invite everyone, but alas! It was not to be. So anyhow, that should be a fun, girly afternoon, and I'm really looking forward to it. Alastair has his bucks afternoon (of cricket at the park, a BBQ dinner, and watching The Blues Brothers at his house) on the same day.

Then the next morning, Donna is going to do all the fittings for the girls' bridesmaids dresses - more excitement! And hopefully Alastair will get to talk to Joel and work out some MC stuff for the wedding too.

It's all happening! 31 sleeps left!

Random goings on...

This morning I babysat my little friend Hamish, at Alastair's house (while he was at work). Hamish was so disappointed that Alastair wasn't here. He kept asking "where's Al?"... and when I told him that he was at work, he said hopefully "but Al will be home soon?" He's so cute. :) He talks to the dog, Matty, too... "watch me, Matty, I can climb up here all by myself!" as he climbed all over the brick barbecue in the back yard. A real little climber, this little guy is - always has been, apparently. The poor thing took a tumble and fell off though, scraping skin of his nose - I felt like SUCH a bad babysitter!!! He was very good and didn't cry much... we washed all the dirt off and joked about how he looked like Rudolph. :)

Yesterday, I started setting up a database for my students. Well, Alastair set it up, I'm really just doing data entry. :P Anyhow, I'm going to use the laptop at lessons and not have to carry folders around. Yay! :)

I have had two enormous quilts sitting around for a million years... which have only needed the binding sewn on. I'd done about half of one. Last night, while Alastair and I watched Episode 6 of Star Wars (aren't I good?) :P I got quite a bit done on it, so I'm hoping to finish that this afternoon, then I'll only have one to go. It's good to get some big jobs out of the way.

Jobs, yes, but not really wedding-related ones, unfortunately. I re-wrote my list of things to do for the wedding last week, and there were only 41 things on it. I thought that was okay... but I only got one thing crossed off! I'll have to put some concentrated effort in this week and next, given that I'll be back to teaching and everything after that.

Only 8.5 weeks/60 days to go! :)

Post 101

God is good. Over the last three days, He has worked in and changed hearts and lives in an amazing way - it's nothing short of a miracle. Praise the Lord!

Alastair has gone to a LAN for a bucks' afternoon/evening for his best friend Garth, and I am at home doing things, slowly. Mum and I are going to start doing wedding invitations this afternoon too!

I had resolved to post at least once a week. Ha. :P

It's been a different week this week... happily busy, and in hindsight, it seems to have gone fast. But while it was happening, it was slow and tedious. And it had a few low points too.

Amongst the good things were: finding rolls of cellophane for only $2 each for our bonboniere (or however you want to write/say that frustrating word), finding narrow ribbon (also for the b-things, and invitations) which exactly matches the colour of the bridesmaids' dresses, actually picking up said bridesmaids' dresses because they arrived at the shop this week (and they are at our house and they are absolutely beautiful and the girls will look stunning!), buying the invitation supplies and getting that sorted, going to the doctor and having her very pleased with my progress and weight gain (7kg since I met Alastair!), having my eyebrows waxed for the first time ever, picking up my wedding band (all re-sized and paid for!), making our Christmas card list and going to Koorong together to buy our cards, and having a very social day on Saturday and quiet-ish Sunday (well, part of Sunday).

The biggest not-so-great things were: having a big misunderstanding with Alastair on Wednesday night over the phone (which is all fixed up now), and a lot of friction between Mum and I over the "secret" parts of the wedding preparations (which is not all fixed up). Sure, I won't be letting Alastair see me in my dress before the wedding - and he doesn't want to either, but I have no worries about people knowing the colour scheme or anything like that. So the disagreements we have are not much fun.

Anyhow, that's about it for now...

6 weeks flies by!

Wow, I knew it had been a while - but 6 weeks!?!? A little while ago I realised that I needed to get a lot of wedding stuff thought about during the school holidays, because Term 4 is always enormous with students' exams, Christmas/end-of year stuff, etc, then Christmas comes, and since some places shut from Christmas til halfway through January (and then it will be 8 weeks til the wedding) I really needed to get a few things definitely booked. :) So I spent a lot of time doing that sort of stuff. Actually, since so much has been going on, I think I'll update in point-form:

• I helped at Alastair's church fete and made a billion sausage sandwiches.
• I performed as part of the Fisher's Ghost Youth Orchestra at our Bowral concert.
• Alastair, Donna and I went to a Sons of Korah concert - they are AWESOME!
• Mum had an operation on one of her parathyroid glands. And she broke her hearing aid. :P
• We got my engagement ring repaired - a corner chipped off one of the clasps.
• Alastair and I did the Spring Cycle in Sydney with his Uncle Jonathan. 40km - North Sydney to Olympic Park. Woo - go me! (I was sore afterwards!)
• Lachlan came back from the US for two weeks and competed in the Southern Highlands International Piano Competition - he came 6th out of 18 or so people. :)
• I made a billion phone calls to bridal hair and make-up people, had trials, and booked two ladies in!
• I ordered my wedding shoes online - it took two goes, but I have them now, and they're sooo pretty!
• We attended my friend Ann's wedding. She married Mark, my friend Bek's brother. :)
• I helped out at a school holiday fun day run by Alastair's church - I got the pre-schoolers. Wow, I was tired after that. :)
• I met with a florist, booked her in, and paid a deposit. :)
• Alastair and I spent an afternoon making a list of all the stuff in my glory boxes, so we know what we have and what we don't have.
• I bought all the vases and candle holders for the table decorations for the wedding. And spent hours picking/soaking/scraping off all the price stickers. :P
• I made an album with the pictures from our engagment photo shoot by Bethany (she's an amazing photographer).

• Alastair and I took Donna to see U2 3D at the IMAX in Darling Harbour - they are both obsessed with U2. :) I fell asleep in it. :P
• Alastair and I went to Melbourne with a family from Alastair's church (Scott, Kerryn and their gorgeous kids Ben and Emily), so that Scott and Alastair could do the Around the Bay in a Day ride - 210km! It was a fun weekend... I love the Queen Victoria Markets! My dear fiance has spent the rest of the week there, and I'm really looking forward to seeing him tomorrow!
• Meaghan did her A.Mus exam - and passed! We are so proud of her!

This week, Term 4 started with a vengeance - it's Friday night, and I've only got half the things crossed off my to-do list this week! Before I finish though, just a quick note to my almost-sister-in-law Carly: of course I don't mind if you comment on my blog! :) (But that game in Canberra was miserable. :P )

Btw, this is my 99th post. I think that's cool. :)

Oh, and we're under five months til the wedding now. That is also cool. :)

Ho hum...

I am uninspired to write a decent blog post.

This week has been a bit long and a bit weird and I miss Alastair a lot... and I'm all indecisive about bridesmaids' dress colours/style, flowers, and cake ideas.....

In which Carla updates her blog only 3 days after her last post!

I'm back into the world of blogging - look at me: less than a week since I last posted! :)

This weekend has been pleasant. Since Alastair and I got engaged, I think we've only had one relatively quiet weekend, so we decided that this weekend, we were going to say 'no' to everyone and everything... and it's been hard! The only thing we really couldn't say no to, was seeing Lachlan off at the airport - at 6:30am yesterday. :P

From there though, we came straight down to Wollongong, and had a quiet morning at Alastair's place... just resting. Then we decided to go and look at beds (since we'll eventually need to buy one :P) ... so we drove to Warrawong where all the big shops are that sell beds. Our shopping expedition lasted about... um... maybe half an hour or so, because we were both too tired to be bothered. So we came home.

Alastair had a ride booked with Smoz for 3:30pm, so I was pleased that (with some gentle encouragement) he decided to keep that appointment. :) I spent an hour with Kerryn chatting over cups of tea, and that was really good. After the ride though, Alastair was even more exhausted, so he rested while I made dinner, and then after we washed up he went to bed. It was about 8:30pm and I was a little surprised... I made a cup of tea and we talked for a little while, but then he went to sleep. Poor boy.

I got my stuff together and went back around to Smorrie and Kerryn's to stay the night (Donna had family staying), and went straight to bed too (they're not night-owls), which was great, as I actually got a decent sleep. :) I woke at 6:15am and soon after that, Ben (5) and Emily (2) came and jumped on the bed... Emmie snuggled down with me for a while though, and that made my morning. :) Chatted for a little while with Smoz and Kerryn, then came back to Alastair's place, let myself in, and woke him up - he'd had a good long sleep, hey! :)

Over breakfast, we had a good chat about finances, diet, exercise and other things - all things that we've been wanting to talk about but haven't had a decent amount of time to tackle... so that was reassuring for both of us, and we ARE on the same wave-length afterall. :)

Two loads of washing later, we put the bikes in the car, drove down to Fairy Meadow, and rode from there up to Bulli and back, along the bike-path. It is SUCH a glorious day - practically Spring weather - and it was lovely to have the time to do that. At the cafe at Bulli, we got chocolate paddle-pops, then rode back, jumped in the car, and raced home to watch the Swans (most likely) get thrashed (A-man will kill me for saying that!) by the Magpies. So I thought I would update my blog, have a shower, get the washing in, and stuff like that.

This weekend has been a blessing; a good recharge of the batteries I think - last week, things were beginning to look a bit tough, but it's okay now. :)

Right now, I am very happy. I feel like I could burst with all the love I have inside me - that I've received, and to give. God is good. :)

For goodness sake: it's 3:30am?!?!?!

I'm awake and I shouldn't be. But I've been coming down with a cold for the last couple of days, so I went to bed at 5:30pm last night, and now that I've woken up, I can't sleep any more. I lay there trying for an hour, but alas, my nose is completely blocked and sleep just won't come. It's very sad, actually, because I'm quite tired....

However, I'm going to be time-efficient, and update my blog. :P

Our enormous weekend (as mentioned in my last post) was just that: enormous. Which is probably why Alastair and I are both sick. :(

Alastair came up on Friday night, and we went to visit some of my friends for dessert, as they haven't had much chance to spend time with and get to know Alastair. It was lovely to see them and catch up - and they cooked really yummy individual sticky date puddings for everyone! When we got back, we watched a funny movie with Mum and Dad, and went to bed late. :P

Saturday morning we were up bright and early and down at the bike track early to meet my friend Bethany, so that she could do some engagement photos for us! It was lots of fun, and B got creative, enjoying the fact that neither of us mind being in front of the lens. :P Here's a sneak peek at a few of them: Engagement Photos!

From there, we rushed over to Woodbine McDonalds where we met up with Katherine and Joel, Mum, Megs, and Bek. We girls and mum (those three are my bridesmaids) went over to the bridal shop nearby, and I showed them the wedding dress I like. Or rather, the wedding dress I love. :) And I think we've pretty much decided that it's the one. Yay! :) Then we all went out to Gledswood Homestead, where we met Alastair and Joel, Dad, and Marelle (A and J's mum), as they were all set up and decorated for a wedding, and they said we could have a look to see what ours could look like. It was absolutely b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l, and everyone liked it very much. :)

And then we parted company. Sad times. :( hehehe :) Dad went home to mow the lawns, Alastair and Joel took their mum out for lunch, and the rest of us went bridesmaid dress shopping. I had mixed feelings about it, knowing that I'd seen a dress that Megs and I liked, but also realising that the three girls are all different shapes. We went to the shop, put the dresses on, and voila! They looked good on all three, and they all liked them! We even all agreed on the colour! Hooray! :) We went and found some lunch and talked about it, then went quickly to three other bridal shops nearby to check that they didn't have anything better, and then made our decision. It felt soooo good, and I was very pleased with our productive day! :)

Mum and Megs went home from there, as they had Lachlan's birthday get together to prepare for, and Bek dropped Katherine and I at Olympic Stadium where we met Alastair and Joel, and together we watched the Swans lose by only 5 points to... I forget which team. Oops. I'm such a bad footy fanatic. :P It was late by the time we got home, and we were very tired... which meant that we weren't disturbed by Lachlan and his friends watching movies until 4am like Megs was... 

Sunday morning we went to my church, and I got to play with Lachlan for the first time in over a year. It was lovely... except his 11 weeks here have flown by, and it was his last service before going back to the States. :(

After church, Alastair and I caught up with my friend Ann and her fiance Mark for coffee, which was lovely, and we swapped wedding planning drama stories. :P Alastair hadn't met them before, but he and Mark got on really well, so I was pleased. :)

We went back to my house and sorted out some wedding dramas for half the afternoon, then went down to Wollongong for evening church down there, which was good. Kerryn and Smorrie's 2-year-old Emily knows who I am and apparently when they say they're going to church now, she says "Carla?" :) How cute! They were sitting in front of us during the service, and Emmie called out "Car-laa", and Smorrie handed her over for a cuddle... she's adorable. :) After church we went out for dinner with Meg, Tim, and Mini-Meegs, and it was good to catch up with them.

After all that, it was no wonder that Alastair woke up sick on Monday morning, and couldn't go to work. I was glad I didn't have to teach until the afternoon, so I got to spend the morning looking after him. :)

Since then, I think I've caught what he had though. I guess that's what happens when you share the love. :P Yesterday I got all overwhelmed about a lot of things and cried myself silly, which I think didn't help my general state of well-being, as I was so tired out I just went to bed. And now here I am with this silly dilemma on my hands of not being able to sleep, but my eyes are so tired and sore and my nose is all blocked. :(

Later on today, we have a funeral to go to down in Shellharbour - dear Mrs. Powell unexpectedly went to heaven last Friday. Sad for all of us, but no doubt a relief for her, as she had struggled in the past with cancer and ill health. 

There you have it... my week. There's always something major going on at the moment... like Lachy leaves on Saturday morning....... :(

Wow, it's been nearly a month...

My goodness... I knew it had been a long time, but I didn't realise just how long! Our weekends have been enormous, and our weekdays filled with trying to stay afloat with all the usual things... So in an effort to catch up on a billion and one things that has happened, this is going to be a rambly, newsy post without much direction - cos that's the way I think and it makes it easier. :P

The weekend after I last wrote, Alastair and I went up to Coffs Harbour, so stay with some of his closest friends... Richard and Suzanne are lovely lovely people and their children are gorgeous. :) I feel blessed to count them among my friends now - and add to that: Richard is going to marry us. :) I think that's really special. So anyway, we went up there so that I could meet these people that Alastair kept telling me about - and I certainly wasn't disappointed. They made me feel so welcome, and we spent the weekend sharing over cups of tea, doing a jigsaw (750 piece, with 5 extra pieces and no edges at all!), resting, fishing (ew!), cuddles with the little ones, a movie at the quaint Sawtell cinema, lunch by the beach, and other fun things. It was truly a blessing to get away for a bit of a break.

During that next week, I tried on wedding dresses for the first time! Oh. My. Goodness. How awesome is it, to put a dress on, look in the mirror, and go "Wow. I look like a real bride." It was amazing, and I really like the ladies in a shop only 15mins away. We did look further away, but I have a really good feeling about this place in Leumeah. :) Mum and Megs came with me the first time, and I took Dad and Lachlan back another time to see if they liked the two dresses that I liked... and this weekend, it's worked out that I can get the opinions of my other two bridesmaids - yay! It's an amazing feeling to be in a wedding dress... kind of makes it all real.

The next Saturday was Dad's birthday, and we had a family picnic out at Warragamba. It was just lovely... the six of us having a barbecue and just hanging out together, in a way we haven't been able to very much. So we had marshmallow throwing competitions, kicked the footy (and Alastair split his pants! hehehe...), ate birthday cake, and just generally enjoyed our time together. It was nice and relaxed, and a very special time. I love my family. :) The next day we got up early and drove to Canberra with Ashley and Carly, because the Swans were playing Melbourne (Carly's team)... it got to a maximum of about 6 degrees and it was miserable and rainy and yucky. But at least I was with my wonderful fiance - that makes anything worthwhile. :)

The last week in July for me was full of trying to get 14 students enrolled for AMEB flute exams... filling out all the forms, getting fees from parents (which is still happening... grrr), organising a student recital as performance opportunity for them, as well as all the normal teaching and stuff that fills my life. Like being the best fiancee I can possibly be. :)

So then we hit August running... it started with me driving down to Donna's after orchestra on the Friday, and we had a 5th and 2nd birthday party (brother and sister) to go to the next day. It was fun... and even had a jumping castle! Do you know how long it has been since I got to be a kid on a jumping castle?? Too long. Liana handed me her 18month old son, and said "There you go Carla, an excuse to get on!" hehehehehe - yay! So I got on... and when all the kids got off to play Pass the Parcel, I stayed on... and did some flips and just generally got rid of some energy. :P That afternoon we drove up to my home. Alastair took my Dad to the footy (which he REALLY enjoyed, of course!) and Megs, Lachy and I went to an ABO concert (Alastair's mum is the receptionist, and had given us three free tickets in the dress circle!). It was a good night... except that when we got home late, Alastair and I had to spend time sorting out a little problem we had with each other on the way in........ such is life. :) My church the next morning, Alastair's in the evening... this is why we are so tired - trying to live two lives!

Last week was full with a whole bunch of general stuff, sorting out a heap of music for orchestra, getting up to date with all the filing here for Dad, contacting students' parents over and over... and stuff. On the weekend, we went down to Minnamurra for our "Growing Together In Christian Marriage" course, which ran from Friday night to Sunday afternoon. There were six young engaged couples, and the older couple who were running it, and we were staying in a retreat house... it was just the right number of people to be cosy, and we all got on well. Alastair and I got on particularly well with Stephen and Rochelle... and we've purposed to keep in contact and become better friends. :) What was really cool, was that it's the first time we've met new people as a couple. Up until now, all the "meeting" has been us meeting each other's friends... which has to happen, but the lopsidedness can be tiring. But we were both starting from scratch, and that was a pleasant experience. We learned a LOT... I came away feeling rather overwhelmed, but as we've "unpacked" bits and pieces and talked more about it, I'm feeling better. :) It was excellent (run by Anglicare), and I would highly recommend it. It's given us lots of food for thought, and skills to help our marriage run smoothly - at least, that's the idea. :)

This week has been the usual... which I won't go over again :P and we're gearing up for another enormous weekend. Today is Lachlan's 20th birthday, so that's exciting! Alastair and Michael are coming for our family dinner, cos they're part of the family. :) Yesterday I took Lachy out for coffee, and it was great to spend time with him... I've been busy, and he's been quite sick a lot of the time, so it was nice to chat about all sorts of things, do some shopping, and then I gave him a driving lesson in the manual... which he found rather exhausting... hehe. :) I do love my brother very much, and will miss him again when he flies back to the States on Saturday week......

So... that about brings you up to date. I will endeavour to not leave it as long between posts from now on! I'll have a heap to write about after this weekend anyway, I'm sure..... 

I love you all very much! (But especially my gorgeous fiance! xo)

So guess what...

I'm still sick. :(

And now Lachlan has glandular fever. :(

Our family is battling four major, life-changing events all at once. The last few weeks have been hard.

The FGYO concert on Saturday went well, and Lachlan played well... he had to push himself through it though, as he was already going downhill quickly. I had pushed too hard... at the end I knocked a pot of flowers off the stage, and just cried and cried and cried. Our weekends have been so full and busy, I can't wait for life to settle down.

Yesterday marked my last day of teaching for Term 2. Public schools have another week, but the two private schools I teach at break a week early, so I gave the others an early mark too. That means I'll have 3 weeks off, which will be such a blessing. Last night after teaching, I went down to Wollongong, because it was my last opportunity before our engagement party. I got progressively sicker throughout the evening, and by about 10pm, Alastair suggested he take me up to the hospital. I couldn't breathe properly, couldn't stop coughing and crying and stuff...... but eventually settled down, and he took me down to Donna's for the night.

I was all worried about taking sickness into her house, but she was still up when we arrived, and was her usual sweet self welcoming me in. I got ready for bed, and Alastair tucked me in, made sure I had tissues and a drink and medicine and everything - he took such good care of me. I am so blessed. This morning I was feeling much better after a good sleep, and Donna took me back to Alastair's place. He went to work, and I pottered around doing some ironing and straightening up the place for him and his dad. I even picked some flowers and put them on the table. :)

Coming back home was weird. Mum has to be beside Lachlan most of the time to make sure that he keeps his fluids up, so that he doesn't have to be admitted to hospital to have them intraveneously (sp??) :P and Dad has an ear-ache. Megs is really holding the place together as Mum calls off all Lachlan's planned concerts, as well as looking after him, as well as planning the party on Saturday. It's a subdued kind of crazy here at the moment... weird.

So many people just have such BIG things going on in their lives... I'm praying for Donna, and for Danielle and Lauren... as well as us. There must be more stuff going on in other friends' lives too... but keeping up with everyone has become a physical imposibility lately.... ahh dear...

Awe and wonder...

The last time I was at the Kiama blowhole, was on Saturday 24th January... one of my stand-in brothers and I went for a drive and ended up down there. We stood at opposite sides of the lookout, watching the powerful waves crash against the rocks, each absorbed in our own thoughts... him pondering forbidden romance, and me the lack of romance in my life. I stood there, and basically felt as lonely as I've ever felt.... and I wished that I was there with someone who loved me - Michael does, but only in a fraternal sense, thankfully. :) As I stood there, tears came to my eyes... and I said a quiet prayer.

Yesterday I was there again... but this time with my fiance standing close behind me, as we gazed from the lookout and marvelled at God's creation. The wonder of God's love is amazing and so undeserved... He has planned out the intricate design of our relationship, in ways that we can never understand.

Our weekend was big and busy... minding the boys on Saturday was oodles of fun! In the middle of the morning, we took them out to the shopping centre for donuts, battling car seats, prams, trollies and rain, which I found enormously amusing. Then when we were eating lunch, Keegan (3) sneezed three times into his hand then said "yucky" as he wiped it all over the table. That was gross, but Alastair's reaction of shock had me laughing uncontrollably for several minutes. Both boys were up from their sleeps when their Dad arrived home, and I think we did pretty well for ourselves. :) In the evening we went up to Sydney for the footy - the Swans played the Magpies, and Katherine and Joel came down from Gil for it. We picked them up from Kat's parents' place in Campbelltown, and had a hilarious trip in... Joel played his ukelele in the front seat with Alastair on kazoo and U2 on the iPod. :) Ashley and Carly met us in there, so the three Wilson boys were there with girlfriend, fiancee and wife, on a triple date! Hehe :) The game ended up disappointing, but we're good sports. It was a late night, then we got up and went in to Sydney again to meet Alastair's mum and Michael, Uncle Jonathan and Esme, and Nan for brunch. Nan was up from Benalla and I hadn't met her, and Jonathan and Esme were off to Italy/France for 6 weeks, so we caught up with them all and it was pleasant. Once back home, my family wanted to go down to Kiama, so off we all went and had a lovely afternoon (even though I was feeling *sick* :P), then we came home and watched movies. I'm tired, but happy. :)

A couple of pictures from yesterday......

I am still sick...

I took my first "sick day" for the year today... I cancelled 17 students. I hate having to do that sort of thing and muck so many people around, but it just had to be that way today - this morning when I woke up I felt disgusting. I ended up sleeping until lunchtime, and feel a bit better now... I will be glad when I'm better!

Megs is sick too... we don't even have half a voice between us. Mum found it most amusing when she overheard a coversation between the two of us... I couldn't see the funny side, myself. It's actually highly annoying. :P

The only other thing of interest is that Mum and I did a lot of planning for our engagement party today, so it's good that that's underway. I need to sort out two things asap: colour scheme, and cake.

Oh, there's one other thing. On Sunday after church, Alastair was talking to Gav and Liana, and ended up offering for us to mind their little boys all day on Saturday..... hehe! What fun! Keegan (3) and Ronan (1) are gorgeous kids and lots of fun... I'm sure we'll be kept on our toes!

I am sick...

Well, I've been sick. I spent all of Thursday and most of Friday in bed with a fever and terribly sore throat... now though, I feel fine - but my voice has gone! I sound like a boy. :(

In other news, Alastair and I are thoroughly enjoying our first weekend where we haven't been rushing from one place to the next the whole time. Yesterday all my family were out, so we leisurely made our way around a few reception venues, and found the loooooooovliest one! It's even available on the 20th March... so then we took Mum and Dad out there for a look later in the day. I hope they decide to book it!

Last night Donna, Alastair and I had a really good chat. Some of the things were topics I'd not thought much about before, others I'd put a lot of thought into over the years, but they were new concepts for Donna. Overall, it was very thought-provoking, and we are truly "iron sharpening iron".

This morning I went to Alastair's church, and afterwards there was a Church Council meeting, so I came back to his house to have a cup of tea with Peter. We had a good time - he'd brought in an old organ, and as soon as I finished playing Amazing Grace, it started smoking. (hehe) :) But it settled down, and he got out a big pile of old music books with popular old songs in them and I played through them... I think he enjoyed a bit of music in the house. Then Alastair and Tim wanted to watch some silly TV show, so I watched Peter make truffles, then we rolled them into balls together. It was good, we got to have a nice chat.

It's FREEZING cold!!! I have a scarf AND a jacket on. INSIDE! :P

Anyhow, I might go and see what all the boys are up to now... ciao! xo

Another post? So soon?

Hello everybody! And yes, I'm back in the land of living - two blog posts in three days! :)

It's the long weekend - yay! Yesterday after orchestra, I drove down to Wollongong. Spent the evening with Alastair at his place, then stayed the night at Donna's.

I love staying there... this morning I was up doing play-dough with Hamish at around 7am - don't get that at home. :) Donna is so welcoming, and she's such a blessing in my life. I wish I could do something for her to show how much I love and appreciate her and everything she's done/is doing for Alastair and I...

I got back up to the Wilsons' at 8am, and Alastair, Tim and I got ready for a bike-ride. (Tim is the boarder that Alastair and his Dad have living with them). There was a youth-leaders brunch (or some such) happening at a cafe in North Wollongong, and since Alastair really enjoys cycling and is doing a 210km ride in October, I've been asking if we can go for a ride. Well... this wasn't exactly what I had in mind... I thought nice and flat, like Camden.... no way. :P It was up and down and all over the place. PLUS, I was using Meags' bike which Alastair is minding while she's in India, and you have to ride it with the special shoes that click onto the pedals. Scary stuff. I fell off the bike three times in the street last night when I was practicing, and another three times this morning! How embarrassment. It's not that I can't RIDE a bike, cos I CAN!!! But these stupid shoes! Man!!! I fell off while I was stopped, cos I had my feet locked in to the pedals... and usually to the amusement of those around us. :P Alastair and Tim were really good with me - they went slowly and didn't laugh at my disembarking habits. We got to the cafe, and had brunch with Meg and Jess... they were the only ones who turned up. Mini-Meegs was supposed to come, but of course she came up with some lame excuse for not getting there - like the alarm didn't go off. :P (MM, if you're reading this, I do love you.) :) I had awesome banana bread. On the ride home, I didn't fall off - not once! When we got home, I was SOOOO stiff and sore. My bum just kills - those bike seats aren't made for boney bums. Once home, we headed straight off to a church working-bee, where we cleaned, sneezed, threw out, sneezed, painted, sneezed, tidied, sneezed, hung curtains, sneezed, etc, all afternoon. And so I am now even more sore. :P But it was a good day, and we got a lot done. We're going to eat dinner now, and then hopefully watch a movie... we'll see. I'm bound to fall asleep in it, and I have to drive home tonight as I'm on music at church tomorrow! Fun times!

Oh, and you know what? I love Alastair more with each passing day!

A week to a view...

Oh my goodness, it's been a week since I posted and so much has happened! I'm on the go all the time these days, and when I do have a spare minute, I have to prioritise and use it for more important things... not that keeping up with you isn't important...... I hope you know what I mean.

I've loved being busy, but I'm really looking forward to next weekend (13th/14th) when we don't have ANYthing on... yet. :P This weekend is shaping up to be as busy as ever - I'm sure it'll be lots of fun though. :)

Since I blogged... on Friday night Alastair picked me up from orchestra and we chilled here... then on Saturday we left early and went down to Canberra for a Swans game. Joel and Katherine came down from Gilgandra for it too - it was SO good to see Katherine again! I'd post a link to Alastair's blog here because it has a photo of him and I with Joel and Kat, but there's a really hideous photo on there of me which is ewwy, so I'm not linking it. :P We came back via the Axelbys', and it was just lovely to spend time with them - and be able to introduce Alastair to them! Their home is always open to us, and I love visiting them... was so pleased when my fiance came away feeling like he'd just made 12 new friends. :) He even managed to cuddle Michael... 

Photo courtesy of Rachael

On Sunday morning, Alastair got up early and went for a ride with Jonathan. We all got up early too, and went in with stand-in brothers Michael and Jono to meet Lachlan who was arriving home from the US! It was a loooooong wait, but so good to see him again. (Of course, I cried). We went in to Circular Quay and had brunch there all together... it had been too long. Alastair dropped in on his way back down to Wollongong in the afternoon, so my brother was finally able to meet my fiance in person. :) Lachlan brought us a beautiful hand-blown, hand-painted vase as an engagement present... he carried it all the way from PA in his hand-luggage. :)

At Circular Quay...

It's so hard to get a picture with everyone being normal with these guys!

A random pose Michael had the brainwave of and I made everyone do. :)

Btw, Alastair gets on so well with all my family. I really love that. :)

So this week we've been working hard of course with all the usual things... work and teaching and organising and all the rest. I've got an hard-back A4 book with lined pages and on the front I've written "Engagement/Wedding Stuff"... it's a place where Alastair and I can write anything we like... from guest lists to gift lists... and other things... like random stuff we're thinking about that we don't want to forget, just so we don't have to have a whole bunch of random papers lying around that will get lost. All our engagement invitations are out, and I've had 29 'yes' RSVP's already, so that's exciting! Nanna is taking me shopping in the city next week for a dress to wear to the 'party', which is really lovely of her. 

Besides all that, I've been down to Wollongong and stayed the night at Donna's twice already this week - and tomorrow will make thrice! On Monday I went down to watch the church netball game, and afterwards Alastair and I had a bit of 'us' time... we don't often get it! So that was lovely - we went to a little Italian place in Figtree before I drove to Donna's and slept like a log. Tuesday I taught all day and Bek came for dinner afterwards, which was great - life has changed for both of us in the last little while, and we don't get a lot of time for that sort of thing. She's also one of my bridesmaids, so she, Megs and I discussed colours for a little while. Still undecided. :P

I was in Wollongong last night too, as Dale and Cass (there's a gorgeous photo of her baby on there!) invited us for dinner. Alastair went to school with Dale - so they go back a loooooong way, as they're both old. :) I felt amazingly comfortable with them, and their kids, Callum and Annabelle are just gorgeous! Call me clucky, but man! I'm in my element down there with all the babies and toddlers that Alastair's friends have! :) I got to give Annie her bottle after tea and she went to sleep and snored in my lap. :) Back to Donna's for the night, and I came home this morning to have a day of doing normal stuff, sorting through boxes of wool/spinning supplies, making FGYO flyers/programmes/etc for our next concert, and working for Dad. Tonight two of my youngest students made their debut at their school solo night, so I went an accompanied them on piano. They did so well and I was so proud of them. :) When I got back, there was still a heap of work to do with Dad, and being tired, I didn't handle it brilliantly. The highlight of tonight was, of course, talking to Alastair before he went to bed ages ago.... and since then I've been finishing work off, replying to emails, and stuff like that.

Tomorrow I'm off down to Donna's for the night again, as I'm helping out at a working bee on Saturday morning at Alastair's church..... and there are lots of other things planned for the rest of the weekend too.... but for now, BED! I need to get there ASAP! I hope I haven't forgotten anything I should've written! Anyhow... right now I am feeling very blessed. God is good to me.

Love you all! xo

A couple more photos, just cos they're there... :)

Lachlan and I outside the Opera House looking over the harbour...

Daddy and his girls...

A photo...

Wow... life is hurtling along at a crazily wonderful break-neck pace! I love love love it, but I'm so tired! And it means that I don't have a huge amount of time to blog about everything... maybe soon... Here's a photo of us at my very first football game on Sunday - I had a spectacular time!!!

Last Sunday we went on a picnic...

On Sunday we went for a picnic with some of the people from Alastair's church... in honour of Mick and Clare's youngest daughter Ingrid's first birthday. I love Alastair's church family, and there are lots of babies and toddlers to cuddle! It was a lovely day, and here are a few pictures...

* * * * *

Kerryn with her daughter Emily, and me with Donna and Dave's son Hamish. He's absolutely adorable, and I love him to bits. :)

Me with Hamish... he usually smiles.... 

Alastair and I with Hamish and his sister Mairead. Gorgeous kids. I stay with them if I need to stay in Wollongong overnight, and they've become like extra family. :)

Across the duckpond...

A picture says a thousand words...