A week to catch up on...

Sorry it's been a while since I updated... there's been so much going on, and I haven't had time before now to actually sit down and post. As it is, I don't have very long, but I will do my best! :) Cos I really do love blogging... sometimes words just don't come though. We'll see.

Last week (the week before Mother's Day) Alastair and I didn't see each other much. I drove down on Monday morning (since I had a free morning) because he was sick, and consequently home from work. Awww. :) I could only stay for an hour or so, because I had students after lunch, but it was good - I was able to look after him and get him some breakfast. And his headache went away too. :) 

We didn't visit during the week, because Alastair's church had a nightly one hour silent prayer thing going on, which was from 8-9pm. I wasn't allowed to go, because apparently I'd have been a distraction. :P Which is cool, I can handle that. :) But since Friday was the last night of it, I went down and met Alastair at the church when it finished, to surprise him. :) Then we went back to his house with a couple of his friends and talked for a while. 

On Saturday, our Big Weekend started. Alastair did a 30km bike ride, then came up at about 10.30am... then we went for a picnic to the beautiful Macarthur Park, so that Alastair could meet Mrs. Bieman (my adopted grandmother) and Kate, another dear friend. It was just a glorious day, and we had a great time. Late in the afternoon, Alastair took me down to Wollongong, and we had dinner at Kerryn and Smorrie's place... it was so lovely. Their kids, Ben and Emily, are adorable, and we had a ball hanging out with all of them. Then Alastair drove me down to Donna's house... she's now my adopted big sister - I stay with her if I need to when I go down to Wollongong. :) It's so lovely and comfortable at Donna's... I feel so welcome, and she just makes me feel at home... her kids, Mairead and Hamish are also adorable, and they wake me up early in the morning to play with soft toys in Mairead's bed. :) I am soooo blessed by Alastair's friends - they've really welcomed me and made me feel so loved. Hamish is just starting to talk, and he calls me Darla. :P

Anyhow, back on track! Alastair picked me up just after 7am on Mother's Day (I was ready!), and we drove up here for breakfast with my family... then on to Manly for lunch with my grandparents on my mum's side, and her brother and his family. It was really nice watching Alastair get on so well with them all. We had Yum Cha for lunch (which isn't my favourite!), and afterwards, Megs, Alastair and I took my little cousins, Grace and Luci, to the new Cold Rock ice creamery... oh! It was so much fun doing that with the little girls... :) I have loved seeing Alastair relating to all these little people too.... he's so good at it. :)

Anyhow, side-tracked with gorgeously cute kids again! :P Um... during the afternoon we went to Warringah Mall and wandered around there.... looking in jewellery shops.... :) and then we drove to Crows Nest to have dinner with Alastair's mum and her husband, Ashley and Carly (one of his brothers and his girlfriend). They're all lovely people, and I got on well with them - I think. :P I did with his mum, anyway. :) We had Mexican for dinner... and it was very very yummy. We got home quite late... and were very tired.

This week, Alastair has been sick - I think he's run down from all the late nights and busy-ness... poor boy. But he's getting better now. Yesterday after I taught in the morning, I went into the city to be moral support for a friend at a doctor's appointment. Then we went shopping and it was nice. :) I went down to Wollongong after that, and Alastair cooked dinner for us and his Dad and Tim. (Tim boards with Alastair and his dad). Then we watched a movie together, and I drove home.......

Tonight, I'm going down again, but I won't stay late cos I'm really tired. Fae and Keven - an older couple from Alastair's church - have asked us over for dinner, which is really sweet. They're lovely people, and I'm really looking forward to getting to know them better.

Today, I have so many things I have to do - my list is a mile long! But that's okay... it'll happen. 

I love falling in love. It makes me happy. :)

The weekend in review...

So... nothing earth-shatteringly amazing has happened this weekend, but still, it has been pleasant. Well, mostly.

Friday was normal... shopping in the morning and orchestra in the afternoon. We split Training Orchestra up into sections to help them work on their own tricky bits. I took the woodwind section, and those girls were lots of fun. I enjoy that sort of thing.

Saturday... I slept in a bit and did a few things in the morning - not as much as I'd planned, but not to worry, I'll get over that. In the afternoon I went to a wedding! They invited some people along for the ceremony and afternoon tea - and I was one of those. It was really lovely to be able to be part of their special day, and to catch up with others I knew there. It was held in a vineyard at a horse stud, with the birds flying around and horses gallopping around the paddocks in the background! The rain held off (mostly!) and it was just really lovely. Except I felt again, as I always do, just how lonely it is to go to these celebrations on one's own. Starting yesterday, and over the next five weeks, I have three weddings and an engagment party to attend. I guess I'll get used to the feeling. In the evening, I talked on the phone to a friend for two hours. It was hard work.

And today... I played the piano at church for both services. Beforehand, I wasn't too worried about it, but during the FIRST song, a whole bunch of loose pages of music fell off the top and INTO the piano. Which caused significant drama and made me cross and nervous about the rest of the music. :( But in the afternoon, we had family over - Aunty Kriss, Uncle Matt and our gorgeous little cousins, Grace and Luci. :) We had a lovely time with them... took them for a walk down to the park and stuff... it was just really nice. Here's a picture of us...

I was going to put up a really cute photo of Luci too, but I can't make it work, and I'm too tired to fiddle with it for any longer...

After church tonight, I washed the car. And one of our stand-in brothers came over for a few hours... because, as he said, he hadn't been around in ages... hehe... like a whole week! :) So that was nice. 

And now...... we're back into a week of work!