baby mcqueen

Tonight I had the privilege of meeting Liz and Nathan's baby boy, he is such a cutie. I got to have cuddles and kisses and I also got a few photos.

Nathan and Liz are doing well, currently all the little baby is doing is sleeping, sleeping and sleeping some more.

It was lovely to see them and hear how it all went - Daddy, Mummy and Baby are all doing fantastic. Daddy has the biggest grin - The grin of a proud Daddy ;)

Congratulations to the McQueens - he is delightful!

funny but not friday

These are from little kids.

- In the first book of the bible, Guinessis. God go tired of creating the world so he took the Sabbath off.

- Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. Noah's wife was Joan of Ark. Noah built and ark and the animals came on in pears.

- Lots wife was a pillar of salt during the day, but a ball of fire during the night.

- Sampson was a strongman who let himself be led astray by a Jezebel like Delilah

- Sampson slayed the Philistines with the axe of the Apostles.

- Moses led the Jews to the Red Sea where they made unleavened bread which is bread without any ingredients.

- The Egyptians were all drowned in the dessert. Afterwards, Moses went up to Mount Cyanide to get the Ten Commadments.

- The first commandments was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple.

- Moses died before he ever reached Canada. Then Joshua led the Hebrews in the Battle of Geritol.

- The greatest miricle in the Bible is when Joshua told his son to stand still and he obeyed him.

- David was a Hebrew King who was skilled at playing the liar. He fought the Finkelsteins, a race of people who lived in biblical times.

- Solomon, one of David's sons, had 300 wives and 700 porcupines.

- When Mary heard she was the Mother of Jesus, she sang the Magna Carta.

- Jesus was born because Mary had an immaculate contraption.

- St John the Blacksmith dumped water on his head.

- It was a miricle when Jesus rose from the dead and managed to get the tombstone off the entrance.

- The people who followed the Lord were called the 12 decibels.

- The Epistels were the wives of the Apostles.

- Ones of the Oppossums was St Matthew and he was also a taximan.

- St Paul cavorted to Christianity, he preached holy acrimony which is another name for marriage.

put your orders in now

So this morning SP and I went out for breakfast with Dan and Laura and while we were in there one of the ladies who works there asked me where I got my scarf from, I said I made it and she said do you sell them and I said no and she said well if you do leave your name or a card.

She really liked it and wants me to make her one. I felt very honoured that she liked my first new scarf I have ever made. I took her name so I might just make her one OR I will at least let her know the wool I used.

Nixter = might really open Nixter's Knits!

just got back from the knitting clinic = priceless

No I am not joking I just got back from the 'knitting clinic' and one of the funniest but cutest experiences I have had in a while.

So a few weeks ago I went to this craft shop and they have a whole floor of wool and knitting equipment. While there I found out that they have knitting classes and also a knitting 'clinic'. Well, as I am wanting to knit a friend a stripy scarf I figured I better find out HOW to knit a stripy scarf - and then it came to me - 'the knitting clinic'. So every other Friday from 12.30pm-4pm the knitting clinic is on so today I thought I would rock up, quickly ask my question and then leave knowing how to knit a stripy scarf......

That is NOT how this knitting clinic works! I arrived and got let into this little room and found six elderly ladies sitting around with there VERY advanced knitting chatting away. I rock up with two balls of wool with my 'only made one scarf and half way through my second' experience - asking 'How do you make a stripy scarf?" I felt so Duhhhh!!

So they get me to take a seat and start helping me with my knitting, these ladies obviously know each other fairly well and meet up each fortnight to knit together. I felt like such an amateur (which I am) and I was also very young in comparison, it was one of those priceless moments that you can't pay for. Although I did pay $6 for the clinic... It was great to sit there with ladies of experience, listening to them chatter away talking about the craft fair they are going to this weekend and share in knitting tips - I am definitely going back.

Ann the lady who taught me how to do the stripes gave me her card and told me she was retired so I could call her whenever I needed too - how lovely is that... I am planning on going back in a fortnight, you never know it might be a good place to share the gospel??

I giggled all the way back to the office = priceless!

wives time

Last weekend we had 'wives' time, which we have ever quarter through church. The husbands get together and the wives get together. It's not a 'get.together.and.moan. session', it's a encouragement.honesty.God's word.and.prayer. session'. We talked openly about some of the things we find hard in our marriages, laughed at the fact that we all have very similar issues - relieved to know we are not alone, then we looked at Colossians 3 and ended with prayer for one another. It was very encouraging and I took a lot from it - now I just need to put it into practice!!

I learnt:

- Conviction numero un. "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Wow how awesome is that?- WHATEVER we do, word or deed do it ALL in the name of the Lord Jesus!!! So when I am frustrated at doing various things - I need to remember to do it in the name of the Lord Jesus!!! It's not always easy but this verse doesn't tell me - "oh but when I am annoyed with my husband forget about doing it is the name of the Lord - get angry and resent it" - no WHATEVER I do - do it ALL in the name of the Lord Jesus!! A mind-set shift from self-serving to serving Christ!

- Conviction numero deux. "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."

I realised that instead of looking at self when things happen that I don't like or when I feel like I have been wronged - I am to look up at what our great Lord has done for us. He sacrificed himself for ME - no ifs or buts - he just did it. So if I can look at the vertical relationship with my Lord and Saviour and his example, then with prayer I might be able to work that into my horizontal relationship with my hubby and with my family/friends. Bearing with them even when it is hard, forgiving them no matter what the grievance = all as the Lord has done for us! Easier said than done but one can pray and try!!

Please pray that these words may dwell in my mind and heart, not just go in one ear and out of the other.

church and stuff

I spoke a while ago about a cool sermon one of our student ministers had preached at church called 'We are Family' on the book of Philemon, you can now listen to it here...

On Sunday night we had one of the best sermons I think I have heard in a long time on James 1, it had me in tears at the end I was really appreciative of AB's honesty, you can listen to his talk here... The sermon was on how we should act when facing trials and suffering - IT WAS SO GOOD. I have some things I want to write about church on Sunday but I will do that later... SamR has 5 things to say about church on Sunday!

Last night we went to visit my friend who is in hospital, she has a nasty illness and the drugs she is on haven't been making her better so she was admitted to hospital yesterday and SP and I went to visit her last night, I burned a copy of the talk from Sunday for her, I took some CD's and flowers to cheer her up. When I spoke to her on the weekend she was pretty disheartened as she has had this illness for 7 years and it effects her life pretty badly every 6 months or so. On Sunday night when I heard that sermon I just kept thinking of her and I pray that the sermon will encourage, uplift and help her think about her trials and suffering in a different way. She is a Christian but this illness sometimes makes it hard. She was in good spirits when I saw her last night, sick but in good spirits, she had had a big prayer night, if you think of her please pray.

The storm that was suppose to hit last night hasn't, we were meant to be getting hurricane like weather, there is still a chance it could come in the next 24 hours - so we shall see.

Hope you all have a great Wednesday!

hola sandra

Hola Vida/Guapa,

This is a little hello to my beautiful friend Sandra who I used to work with in London, she married a guy who also worked with us 'David John' and now they are expecting their first baby on 5th August. I finally spoke to the lovely Sandra for the first time in a VERY LONG time, it was so nice to chat and I realized how much I miss them and laughing (lathing) with them.

She told me she reads my blog but doesn't know how to comment ;( I am going to email you so you can do it!

I love you guys and miss you heaps.. It was good to chat, we should do it more and you should get Skype..

FAME!!!!!! Besos!!!!

Embryonic Stem Cell Research - Have your say!

Craig has linked email addresses to people in the NSW Upper House and is encouraging we who live in NSW to write a letter opposing embryonic stem cell research. Go to Craig's link and copy and paste the addresses and send them an email.

Gordon is also encouraging us TO ACT TODAY!

I just wrote my letter and I encourage you to do the same!

Let's take action against this legislation and pray that it doesn't get passed through the Upper House.

Here were/are some of my thoughts from when I first heard about this procedure and issue, I posted them up on my old blog last year.

pilgrimage to 'mecca'

No not the Mecca you are thinking - the coffee shop 'Mecca' that Guthers, Andy and SamR recommended, they told me they do the best coffee in the city.

Two weeks ago I made my first pilgrimage to the coffee shop 'Mecca' and had my first 'best coffee in Sydney' coffee. Now here I sit with what is still my favourite Hazelnut Latte from Starbucks!! Is it because I have no appreciation for good coffee? Do I need someone to sit and explain to me what I am looking in for in a good coffee? Maybe I got a dud? Maybe I need to keep trying?

Who knows - what can I do coffee lovers? Do I just give in to the fact that Starbucks is my fav and always will be - sorry Sam, Guthers and Andy! Do I have coffee appreciation lessons?

Am I just a lost 'coffee' soul who will never truly understand the truth behind good coffee?????

my first scarf

My first piece of knitting - a scarf!

For all you knitters out there, this is a really cool website knitting help.

is this the best.mullet.ever competition?

David reckons this is the best.mullet.ever.

Is it? - I bet you can do better. Leave a link or post a mullet pic on your blog!

london olympics 2012

What the?? I don't even know what this is suppose to be - any ideas? To be fair I haven't really looked up what it is but it's pretty ugly. I've seen better.

Thoughts?

britain's got talent

Yes it does have Talent! Craig has found some and so have I - both will give you goosebumps! I love Ant and Dec - they rock!

off to meet the lovely lara

I am off to meet and have Lindt Hot Choc with the lovely Lara, we haven't met yet but we have a mutual friend in Liz D and we have been meaning to have hot choc together for a long time but never do, even though we are in the same office ;( So today I get to do both, meet Lara and hot choc it with Liz all at the same time. Multi-tasking!

Lovely!

funny but not friday

h/t Alison

beautiful jasmine grace

weekend at the in-laws

Well I am back from what was a lovely weekend at SP's parents house, we had the place to ourselves from Saturday morning to Monday morning as SP's parents went away for the weekend - we were responsible for the animals - Georgie the Cat, Dudley the Dog and the two chickens - Egglitine and I can't remember the other one. We had dinner with the in-laws on Friday night and then had lunch with them yesterday so we got to spend some time with them which was nice, they are so great, I really am blessed to have such fantastic in-laws.

It was a bit hairy driving on Friday night as we have had severe flooding in NSW - not in the area I live, although the rain and wind was really bad but it has been extremely bad about 2 hours up the coast. We had to drive in awful weather and I wasn't the most relaxed passenger which I am sure SP appreciated - NOT. SP's aunt and uncle lost their cars (water damage), their cat (drowned under the house) and their office was totally flooded, the whole area was declared a 'natural disaster'. Please pray for the people who have lost their homes and for the families of the nine people who lost their lives (5 of which were from 1 family - very sad).

On a lighter note we got to meet our beautiful (I am not at all biased) niece Jasmine Grace and I got to have many a cuddle, I have some great shots which I shall put up in a slide show tonight. We played tennis, watched movies, went out to dinner (got our meals free), hung out with family, I knitted and knitted some more and we went to church on Sunday with my sister-in-law (we believe she is now a Christian - Praise God) and her hubby (definitely a Christian - Praise God) they go to a Brethren church - it was really quite cool. It was a relaxing time and it was great that we didn't hit too much traffic on the way there or on the way home - not bad for a long weekend.

Back to the gym tomorrow - it's been over a month now since we have been regularly and I am feeling yuck about not going - pray that SP and I might get our lazy bottoms out of bed and back to the gym regularly, it's so hard getting back into a routine when you have been out of one for so long!

I finished my first scarf and I am on to my next one which is for my Mum - woo hoot!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Thanks Queenie for having a birthday, even if it was in April ;)

busy busy busy so bullet points it must be

It has been a busy few weeks so I haven't been around on the blogs much, here are some bits and bobs to keep you updated on the going:

- Monday night was our GPS Dinner which I organised it went swimmingly well and I do intend to write a little more on it but maybe later ;)

- Tuesday and Wednesday we had two MTS training days - we had David Jackman from Cornhill out from London (some nice people come from that part of the world ;), I unfortunately didn't get to hear any of his talks as we were too busy organising things for the days but I hear he was very good.

- I have been totally exhausted this week as we have had so much on so I am looking forward to a long weekend away relaxing, knitting and hanging out with my hubby.

- I still can't believe, and neither can my family that Australians get a day off to celebrate the Queen's birthday. In England we don't get a day off for that, this of course isn't a problem for me as I now live here but how very odd we get one and England doesn't!

- We have decided to wait a while to get a cat for a few different reasons ;( Even though I would love one it is the right decision to wait and I am cool with that.

- I am loving Facebook. It has meant I can catch up with a bunch of people from England, particularly people I used to go to church with at All Souls - how exciting is that!

- I just got an email from a girl I used to work with in England, she emailed to tell me about another girl (Jo) I used to work with who has cancer in he oesophagus, stomach and lymph nodes. Please pray for her as she goes though treatment, we haven't been in touch for a long long time but I have asked for her email/number so I can get in touch.

- Ruth's Dad told me he thought my blogger picture was a bit 'sad', I explained I was trying to be 'arty' but maybe it's more 'miserable'? What do you think?

- We get to meet our niece for the first time tonight, I am very very excited ;)

- It's Friday - how good is that!

gordon on mts

Last night was a super night and a big night for GPS/MTS, one of my jobs is working for GPS (Gospel Patron Society - will explain more later) a day or two a week and organising last nights '8th GPS Annual Dinner' has been something we have been thinking about, praying about and discussing for the last few months. Last night it came to fruition. Praise the Lord everything seemed to run smoothly and though I would love to write more it's been a couple of busy days and I am very very tired. BUT all is not lost I came across Gordon's blog a few days ago and have had the pleasure of meeting him as he pops in and out of the office from time to time, SP and I had a lovely chat with him last night and he has written a little something about the evening which I will leave you with until I am less tired to write my own little piece. Enjoy. Gordon on MTS.

hobbies

When I was little I had no brothers and sisters and so I go to join various groups, I got a guitar which I saved up for, had a few lessons at school and then I got bored and gave it up! When I was very little I wanted to do ballet so I could have one of those cute little tu-tu's - got the tu-tu had a few lessons, gave it up! I also got a keyboard which I loved playing and also had some lessons - then I got bored and gave it up! I also went and did ballroom lessons - didn't buy anything to do that but gave it up! I then join WODY'S - Worcester Operatic and Dramatic Youth Society - this was on Saturday mornings and I loved it - I gave it up because I got a Saturday job - but not before I got to be in Gilbert and Sullivan's 'HMS Pinafore' - it was so fun - I loved it..

So now as I get older I am not quite as bad as I was when I was younger but I do get excited at learning new things - my latest endeavours which I am very keen to continue in are tennis (I have been having lessons and improving) knitting (knitting myself a scarf at the moment) and photography (getting the dummy book read but haven't read any for a little while). I am pretty committed to these new hobbies and I am enjoying them very much.

introducing our niece, jasmine grace

the harry potter dilemma

I have just started reading the fourth Harry Potter, I decided to start reading through them again before the new book comes out in July BUT I only really read on the bus and so I am not as far along as I would like to be. The question is, do I

a. Keep working through the next 3 gigantic books until I finish and then read book 7, even if it is in November?

b. Just keep reading until book 7 comes out and then read that straight away?

I have read the books before but it was a long time ago - so I want to refresh my mind as to what happens...