May 8 to June 8

Where does time go?

We've been married for ten-and-a-half weeks now. In some ways it doesn't feel that long, and in some ways it feels much longer. Like, we're still in the same school term - and it's feeling like a long term. But then... I feel like we haven't had time to just go for drives on the weekend and enjoy each other's company properly. I don't know. It's just funny.

So, since I last posted, I've started working in a pharmacy (3 days a week), we've been to Canberra for the footy, we've paid an enormous amount of money (just like everyone else does, I spose!) to register the car, I've made a couple of skirts for my mum, we've got our professional wedding photos back, and I've had croup (I was SO sick!). There you go, a brief summary there.

Alastair and I seem to have had an over-abundance of challenges... questions... ideas... moral dilemmas... and that kind of thing, which have surfaced recently. It's really quite exhausting, but has caused us to do a lot of praying, reading, thinking and researching. It's good for us to face these things together and decide what we as a couple really believe.

Also, my friend Laura and her family (father and three brothers) need prayer - their mum passed away on Saturday night. Mrs. Edwards had had cancer for quite a number of years, and so they've had a while to get used to the idea... indeed, they've thought it was the end plenty of times. But I'm sure that doesn't make the finality of death any easier. She's gone home to be with Jesus, and she was looking forward to having no more pain.

On a happier note: Lauren is getting married THIS Saturday! We're flying to Brisbane on Friday night and it will be such an exciting time. I bought a new dress last Thursday night. Yay! :)

I really want to post some photos of our little house soon, too. But now I must wash up. :P

Tired out...

So just a quick update: All my students passed their exams on Saturday, so that was a relief. Sunday was spent doing a whole lot of little things that needed to be done as well as church, and yesterday I got to be a mummy for a day, babysitting Mairead and Hamish from 8:30am til 5:30pm. Wow... it was full-on. Two more days of work til it's Christmas Eve (which will be a big day) followed by Christmas Day (which will be even bigger). I'm looking forward to a rest on Boxing Day.

More time being sick...

I have spent the last 10 days feeling very sick, sore and sorry for myself, and even landed myself in hospital for a night with an acute case of tonsilitis during that time. Not fun.

And it means that I have lost more time being sick, and I have a stack of stuff to catch up on.

Before I got sick last Monday 31st August, I was feeling fine. My student recital the day before went off without a hitch, and I really got great pleasure seeing a lot of my kids perform... many of the little ones for the first time ever.

Last Sunday was Father's Day, and my 25th birthday. I still wasn't feeling 100%, so we just had a fairly quiet day. I felt very loved though, and will hopefully upload a photo or two soon.

Dragging myself through these low times is hard work. Today I felt like a human being again, which was great, so I started working out all this budgeting stuff for our wedding... but of course budgeting often brings with it a sober realisation and a dull thud in the tummy as the reality of saving every penny really sinks in. Weddings really are very expensive things, and so now I'm looking at ways of cutting costs.

And I'm very tired, so I'm heading to bed.

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. :)

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)

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......

Wedding plans...

Wedding plans seem to be coming along, which is exciting! We have a date, we have a church, we have a minister, we have a bridal party, we have a reception venue (which may or may not be definite)... one thing I would love to have sorted out is the colour of the bridesmaids' dresses - I feel that when that's organised, and we have a theme/colour to go with, that other things will be able to be planned more simply... 

Today was a big day - I left to teach early this morning and only just got home. It was worth it though. One of my precious bridesmaids is moving house, so I went to help her clean and tidy after I finished teaching at 6.30pm. We got a lot done but ended up pretty tired. Tomorrow morning Megs and I have to be on an early train in order to meet Nanna in the city - she wants to buy us each an outfit for the engagement party! How lovely is that??? :)

In related news, I am just overwhelmed at how very generous everyone is being towards Alastair and I - it's such a blessing, and has completely blown me away.

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!!!

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. :)

Lost for words...

I am learning so many things... I guess the most important thing, is that I'm learning more about how to trust God... completely.

How is it, that one can fall in love, so completely and utterly, in just a week? It don't know how... but I have discovered that it is possible. It is this situation in which I happen to find myself.

I am so totally undeserving... why would this amazing guy pick ME to like - when there are so many other girls all over the place? I can't believe we are so comfortable together, after only a week, and that my parents are so happy with how things are progressing. Right now I want nothing more than to talk to him on the phone... to hear his deep, quiet voice which is so soothing and makes time stand still. To hear him say that he loves the sound of my laugh, when so many others find it annoying. To sit together listening to the rain on the roof..... basking in the knowledge of God's goodness and His gift of love. And so many other things... words don't do it justice.

Some doctrinal differences have come up in the last 24 hours. I found that really hard to deal with, and ended up in tears on the phone last night. As far as I can tell though, they're not what I would term 'salvation' issues. I'm trying to keep a level head and not worry too much... at this point though, I'm a weeny bit terrified that the heaven I've lived in this last week will be taken from me. I have never been loved by a man like this, and it's the most beautiful feeling. I feel like... dare I say... a princess. We have prayed together about these issues, and want to work through them.... it's just such an annoying little thorn in the flesh, when everything is so gorgeous.

I would truly covet your prayers. It's wonderfully exciting to watch all this unfold, and it's very clear to both of us that God has His hands on our lives and our story. This week has been amazing, and I've been up until 2am or 3am most nights... but I'm getting tired now.

Friday Fun. Saturday Stress... and Smiles!

The last two days have held lots of mixed emotions. I totally thought I was getting better at handling said emotions, but alas! I am not. :P

Yesterday was a little bit stressful in general, but after orchestra three friends came over and we had an absolute ball! We ate beef stroganoff, watched Bend It Like Beckam, and played on (used? I don't know what the proper lingo is!) one of our stand-in brother's Nintendo Wii - it was hilarious! Until Meaghan smashed a glass water bottle off the table and onto the slate. Actually, that was just as hilarious, but then maturity reigned and we cleaned it all up beautifully. Two of our friends went home just after midnight (in the middle of a huge storm!), and the other stayed over... and we stayed up talking til after 2am.....

...which was great, but not such a good idea...

Because this morning at 10am, (or yesterday morning rather, by the time this gets posted), we (Megs, biggest-stand-in-bro, and myself) were playing at a friend's wedding. I won't go into ALL the details... suffice to say, the disorganisation and miscommunication made it a less-than-pleasant experience, and we finished up at 4:30pm, after being there since 9am, feeling cranky, used, and quite sad.

However, after that was all over, things picked up. :) Megs and I went into the city with three friends (a married couple and a girl the same age as me - LOVELY people), to watch our biggest-stand-in-brother do a gig with one of the bands he plays with. It was great! Well... you know. I loved seeing all the boys get into it and look like they were enjoying it, and we met other friends in there and showed our support together and that was really nice. But it was VERY loud. :P That's cool though, I can get over that. :) Afterwards, 15 of us went and had dinner at an Italian restaurant in Leichhardt - they put us out the back at a big long table because there were so many of us! And it was SO nice! It was so relaxed, and we all just chilled out, and got to know new friends and old friends even better... I really enjoyed it - and it was just such a great way to end the day. Then we walked up the street and got gelatos.... I had two flavours: choc-mint and boysenberry....ooooooh! It was so good! And another lovely thing was that I didn't have to drive home. I am feeling blessed tonight - I know so many wonderful people, and I just keep meeting more! One girl I met, Michelle - she is so so SO lovely... I liked her immediately. I've met her briefly a couple of times, but getting to spend quality time with her was great... I think she's a kindred spirit. (She even has blonde moments like me!) :)

And now, I'm SOOO tired! I'm going to duck off to bed - and turn my clock BACK an hour because daylight saving finishes, yay! :) Another big day tomorrow, with church in the morning, and an Easter hymn service all afternoon... but I'm sure it'll be nice. I love being involved with nice people, and that's what tomorrow will be. :)

A wedding rehearsal...

My sister, one of my stand-in brothers and I are playing for a friend's wedding on Saturday morning, and last night, we had the wedding rehearsal. It was long. It was boring. It was extremely disorganised. And I ended up wanting to deck the minister. Thankfully I had two people there who know me very well, who at regular intervals kept telling me not to say anything, and not to do anything. :P It was SO annoying though... we'd been there since just after 6.30pm, and we had our little run-through just us musos, then the girls arrived at 7.30pm and did their walking up the aisle thing a few times (amidst much skipping, dancing and laughing), and THEN, the guys and the minister arrived at 8pm, and they sat around and talked for AGES, so we were just hanging around waiting and waiting (and we were tired and hadn't had any dinner) and then the minister got stroppy with us for fiddling around practising our parts when he was talking. I was really cross. Anyhow, we made it through and got to leave at 9pm... and we made our way down to Subway. It was nice to hang out for a little while and de-stress.

It's been a while!

I just wrote an introduction to this long-overdue post... and then deleted it. 

It really was quite pathetic.

So in an effort to get back on track... in the last nearly-two-weeks since I last updated, some of the things I have done are:

• taught 42 flute lessons to gorgeous girlie individuals... and it wasn't as hard as it used to be! I think I can actually do this... :)
• had an awesome evening with  friends I don't know all that well, but with whom I can completely be myself - and they offered me honorary membership in their family! I particularly love the dad in that family - he is such good value. :)
• attended a friend's engagement party - and felt again the feeling of still being alone when all my friends are getting married.
• paid a phonebill (oh the joys of being a grown-up)
• had too many late nights (more joys of being a grown-up)
• booked overseas flights for myself, my sister, and my two stand-in brothers to go and visit my REAL brother at the end of the year! Countries we plan to visit are: USA, England, France, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary and Egypt. (Am mildly scared about the Egypt bit, but I'm sure it will be okay...) :)
• played in a great concert with the Fisher's Ghost Youth Orchestra... and even managed to play a piccolo solo [mostly] in tune!
• watched the Training Orchestra - at the same concert - play their little hearts out so brilliantly, that my teacher's heart swelled with pride as I clapped and screamed and whooped after every piece they played :)
• ached over a few friends who are going through really rough times... and felt torn as I struggled with wanting to be there for them with a listening ear and an everlasting hug, and needing to let them learn to trust the Lord for themselves.
• played the piano at two church services... and even improvised around a few chords as background music before the service. Huge step for me to actually do that in public...
• ate a whole block of Club Peppermint Chocolate.... and a whole block of Milky Bar... Mmmm.... I will get fat.
• done two weeks worth of filing in two days... and a huge amount of ironing.

Of course, there were lots of other things that have happened and that I've done, but those are the things that come to mind as I glance through my diary. I hope to be more posty from now on! Tonight I am tired, and I'm missing my real brother. I want to talk to him. :( But on Sunday, it will be 8 weeks til he comes home! Yay! :) 

Love you all!

Tired...

I'm physically and emotionally very tired. The physical tiredness is pleasant... I've worked hard with my students the last couple of days, and last night helped friends to clean the house they're moving out of. The emotional tiredness is different... I have a couple of needy friends, going through absolute turmoil, and I ache for them. So my heart is a little heavy tonight.

I'm on my way to bed...

But I just wanted to say: Today was Tuesday. Actually, today is still Tuesday. But for the first time this term on a Tuesday, I can actually say, "Today was a good day!" and it was! I'm tired, that's for sure... and I even had to teach double lessons and everything... but I still came out smiling! God is good to me.

A couple of things struck me as hilarious today:

• My youngest student is Tiffany, aged 7. She has her lesson straight after school on Tuesdays, and she's a complete beginner. And she comes out with the most outrageous things I've ever heard. As far as I know, she leads a fairly dismal existance, living at two homes and never knowing whether her mum or her dad or her grandma is picking her up, and her big brothers pick on her (or so she tells me, anyhow...). But today, she told me that her mum makes her practice on the carpet, in case she drops her flute. I thought that was a good idea... but then she told me (in a very serious tone of voice) that she hates standing on the carpet because "my alley cat throws up all over it... you know... and that's because of my mum's bras". What the?!?!?! How weird is that?!?!?!
• The other funny thing was teaching at the same school as a friend (actually, he's one of my stand-in brothers) was casual teaching at today. We had to greet each other as Mr. Dench and Miss Glen (except he got mixed up and called me Mrs. Glen!) :P so... it was a weirdly professional environment, but I thought it was a novelty and kinda fun all the same. He got to go ten-pin bowling while he was at work because he was supervising sport today! :)

Okay, so perhaps they're not as hilarious as I made out, and maybe you really had to be there. Sorry. :P And then I found $50...

An update on the last few days...

Wow, life is continually full of ups and downs. I've written that before, I know. But... for some reason it never ceases to amaze me. 

Another update in point form - I wish I would remember to update more regularly!

• Friday: Shopping in the morning, and orchestra in the afternoon. I really, really enjoyed orchestra, for the first time in months. I wasn't worrying about minute details, and I had a ball helping out with training orchestra too. I was helping the three little boys in the percussion section... and by the time their rehearsal was finished, they were really getting it! :) A friend commented on my ease, and the beaming smile I had on. That was especially nice... for so long I haven't been the sort of person that people want to run into on a Friday afternoon, because I was always stressed about everything. One of my stand-in brothers came over in the evening. It was good fun.
• Saturday: I slept in. I had a chat with my real brother on skype. I went shopping with a friend. A few things bothered/annoyed me during the afternoon. I spent the evening with some friends... I was one of three girls who went around to be with these newly-married friends for the evening, to show our love and support as they go through the miscarriage of their first baby. Even though there was an element of what had happened and stuff, it was a really special time together.
• Sunday: Was a busy day... after one of the worst nights of sleep in history! Between church services I caught up on stuff and Meaghan and I visited some friends to find out where in Europe they would recommend visiting. That's right... we ar probably going to stop in Europe after seeing Lachlan at the end of the year! How cool is that?!?! We're also looking at a three-day stop in Egypt (of all places!)... which scares me slightly, but the others promise they'll protect me. :)
• And now it's Monday - the teaching week has begun. It's so nice to not feel completely overwhelmed at the thought of the week... how my thinking has changed. :) It's Week 7 of an 11-week term... we're over halfway! A friend prayed tonight over dinner that we'd look at the work of the week ahead as a blessing, and as an opportunity from the Lord. That was an awesome thing for me to think about. In our particular line of work, we are in contact with SO many different people each day.... what an opportunity that is!

And so begins my Very Busy Tuesday.... I'm tired! I must get to bed before it actually BECOMES Tuesday!

Love you all! 

I can hear the wind...

I love it when it's windy... it makes me want to run around and play like a child. 

Well, usually... not when I'm feeling tired and sick and ready for bed. I do enjoy listening to the wind howl around the corners of the house while I'm snugly tucked up in bed though. :)

I got everything crossed off my To Do list today. It rarely happens, so that was a blessing.

Tuesday always ends up such a BIG day!!!

Do I ever get on here and say anything without putting an "I'm tired" in there somewhere?

Well... that's a challenge for another day... cos tonight, I'm TIRED!!!

It's Week 6 of an eleven week term... we've hit halfway! :) I'm feeling much better about all my students... compared to what I was at the beginning of term, anyhow. Things are working out, we're working together and it's working well. :) I'm still getting used to "Miss, can I please...?" and stuff, but it's going okay.

Tonight I even stayed awake during bible study - and it wasn't an effort. :)

Hmmm... the last few days, since I blogged.... Sunday was nice. Megs had an SYO concert which Mum attended, so it was just Dad and I at church. Different, but somehow very cool... and I enjoyed being "Daddy's Little Girl" again. One of my stand-in brothers came for lunch, and he and Dad spent the afternoon together... Dad showed him how to sort out his finances and work out a budget. I pottered around doing ironing, cleaning up my messy desk, and all the other stuff I don't get done during the week, but overheard bits and pieces. My Dad is seriously the coolest guy I know, and I have so much respect for him. The three of us then got to have a good discussion about different issues... from moral issues in movies to recent events that have affected us and things (vague, I know, but I can't really say more than that here)... anyway, the afternoon was a blessing for us all, I think. And to make that Sunday even nicer, I was playing piano at church for both services, and the songs were ALL playable (by my standards!), so that was very cool.

Yesterday... Monday... a quiet morning followed by a busy afternoon of teaching, a good chat with a friend, and then a trip over to Burwood for a study on Augustine.... it was a bit over my head, but good nonetheless.

Tomorrow morning, I have my last student for the week. I love the feeling that 9:30 on a Tuesday morning brings... :)

I should go before I waffle on any further.... I just have so much stuff racing through my mind..... 

Love you all! xo