Just a quick one...

So I just have a few minutes til my ride leaves to let you all know I'm still alive and very excited about seeing you all very soon. Only 6 more sleeps!!!!!!!!!!! I'm very much due for a holiday having just been through our busiest time of year at work. Graduation was a success and now we are focusing on getting ready for the new year and the hundreds of new students who will decend on us all to soon. I'm considering going back to school myself next year and potentially doing my Masters but that's just an idea for now. I would need to drop back at work to be able to cope with it and am not looking forward to the added expense. I guess once I've had a little more time to relax and take stock I'll be able to think it through a bit better. Did I mention I'm really excited to be coming down to Melbourne in only 6 more sleeps? My wonderful mother is very graciously coming to fetch us and we've planned a stop at Brown Brothers for lunch on the way down... I can taste it now... in fact I may go home now and have a glass...


See you all verry soon!

Let's try that again...

So I'm not sure what happened last time - I posted this long story telling you all about the dramas of my everyday and it vanished into cyberspace. Maybe it's a sign that I ramble on too much and need to be a bit more concise. Let's just say that I'm on drugs doing a lot better health wise. Work is at this moment incredibly busy and is ramping up to the busiest few weeks of my working year. Graduation is just around the corner and there is so much to do before it gets here! I will definately be needing that holiday at Christmas time and i can't wait to come and see you all. For those who haven't yet heard (I'm sure you all have by now!) I'll be bringing Jon with me as he has decided to not go home to England for Christmas this year. You'll all have to be nice to him - I like this one and don't want you lot to scare him off! Oh and Matt, the Symphony/Rocks/Mandela/Italian Restaurant/Botanical Gardens experience was definately a date so I guess you'll have to pull something out of your hat to impress Mel (if it's possible for her to be any more impressed with you than she already is!) Hope you are all well and I'm so looking forward to seeing those of you who'll be in Victoria in 5 weeks!!!!

I'm back... again

I'm back!

Thanks all for your well wishes. I'm back at work today and so far am doing ok! Hopefully I'll get my blood test results back today and we can figure out what exactly has been going on with me. I feel like I've barely been at work having had 2 1/2 days off last week. My inbox certainly has felt the effects of my absence!

Despite not being 100%, I did manage to go out on Saturday. I was taken to the Opera House to hear the Sydney Symphony perform Tchaikovsky's Fourth. We had the best seats in the house behind the Orchestra and I was able to watch the conductor in all of his animated glory. It was so great. After the Symphony we wandered up to the rocks and caught the tail end of the market. No purchases this time but it was fun to look around. We stumbled across an exhibition on Mandela and his works of art telling the story of Robbin Island. It was so inspiring and having a glimpse into his world made me appreciate him even more.

After Mandela, I was taken to a great Italian restaurant in the Rocks. (For any of you interstate people who can be bothered to come and see your little sister any time soon I'll take you there!) After a wander up to the botanical gardens to see the lights of the city we caught the train home. It wasn't a particularly late night and I had a great time but I was (and still am) exhausted from it. Perhaps I'm not yet as recovered a I hope to be! Maybe loosing an hours sleep through daylight savings didn't help. I think it's definately an early night for me tonight... after Grey's Anatomy and Criminal Minds of course!

On a brighter note, I have some of the photos from our trip down south - I'll try and figure out how to post them and we'll see how it goes. Thank you all so much for making it a great holiday. I know Vanessa really loved it and speaks only half jokingly of moving to Victoria. I think we'll definately have to come and visit again soon. I had my annual leave approved for Christmas and am not due back in the office until the 3rd of Jan so I'm looking forward to that! Before then we have a really busy time at work in the next 6 weeks with graduation too soon to be upon us. I think we're a little more organised this time around and having done it once before I have some insight into what to expect. Before I know it, it will all be over and we'll be ramping up to enrolment next year! It feels like my job is never done!

Bec's currently unwell, and unable to post, but she'll be back soon! Watch this space...

4 more...

Only 4 more sleeps until in back in Sunny Victoria for 1 whole week!!! I'm so excited that I get to come and see everyone and spend some time with the fam. I've been raving about you all and the many attractions Melbourne holds to my friend Vanessa who will be making the journey with me. She has been born and bred a Sydney-sider and is looking forward to putting the great Melbourne - Sydney feud to the test. I haven't really put a great deal of thought into our intinerary for the week but am looking forward to doing lots of exploring. I'm sure we'll make it to a few vineyards, cafes, restuarants... and when we've finished sampling the food and drink (like that's ever going to happen!!) we might even see a few of the sights! Have I mentioned already that I'm excited?

Thanks one and all...

I just wanted to say a big thank you to you all for making my birthday really special. Thanks for your kind words, well wishes, fabulous presents and for those of you in the state, time spent. I loved everything about my birthday and it really felt like a celebration. It was also really nice to have mum around for a few days visiting and it was so great to take time out and enjoy the experience. I've had plenty of time to reflect on just how incredibly blessed I am. I really am loving life and am so thankful to God for all He has seen fit to pour into my life.

Greatness...

If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's a new definition of greatness.
And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant. ~ MLKJ

I love this quote. In fact, I seem to be really challenged whenever I read anything by MLKJ. I managed to catch a little bit of a documentary that was screening on SBS recently and sat mesmorised by the charisma of the man and his devotion to seeing injustice done away with. I was challenged by a message preached by Bill Hybels at conference this year about finding out what make you get to the point where you say "I can't stand it any longer" then dedicate your life to changing it. I want that. I see it in people like MLKJ and am inspired and envious at the same time. I want to know what it is that will generate such a response in me. I want to dedicate my life to something. Sounds a bit dramatic I know, but there it is.
So, how does one go about finding there life's work?

Take 57...

So here's a tip for free for all of you out there. When setting up your blog, don't forget your user name! It makes it a little difficult to get back in again. But here we are once more.

I went out for diner last night with a some incredible people. Fabulous food, hilarious conversation, superb cognac! I was really challenged by the lives this family leads. They are constantly opening their home to all types of people, even me! They give so generously of their time, resource, energy and love to people that would probably encroach on my comfort zone... and they invited me to be a part of it! For the first time in a while I and really excited about the impact I could have on another person by just giving of myself, by more than that, I'm (selfishly) excited about how much my life will be enriched by the experience.

We hear so much at church about doing what is in your hand to do and from that you will find yourself doing what is in your heart. For a while now I've been wondering just what it is in my hand that I can do. Well, this family feel that I can be useful, and what better way to do it than to connect with people! I love it! Maybe as a result of this I'll be able to figure out what I'm supposed to do with my life, but even if that doesn't happen, I'll have an amazing time in the process!

It seems like everyone in my family is getting on this whole blog bandwagon and I figure if they can do it then it can't be that hard! Just kidding;) I don't know that I'll have much of interest to say, but we'll see how it goes!