Tony was asked to preach at our church today and did a stellar job! He spoke about the grace of Jesus and the fact that He suffered and died in our place -so that we WOULDN'T get what we deserve, which is death and condemnation. GRACE...God's Riches At Christ's Expense. At the end of the service, everyone sang Happy Birthday to him, which was lovely. Super way to end a top birthday weekend!

The big 4-0!

Tony turned 40 last Friday and it's been go-go-go ever since! I did promise my in-laws a full run down of the day, so bear with me..

Bacon/eggs/choc eclairs with Chris Isaak playing in the background.

A bit of Batman ps3 in his batman shirt.

Walking the dog after school.

A song, a video tribute and a pile of doughnuts.

Dinner with friends at a beautiful new restaurant called Governors.

We booked a function room called The Captains Table-gorgeous!

Kids playing the part

Lovely Aussie missionary friends

Checking out the attic

A complimentary piece of birthday cake.

Tony's had a pretty fun couple of days. His oldest friend that he was in primary school with dropped in on us on his way home from the World Cup -and as Tony's 40th birthday is fast approaching, he treated him to a weekend on a nearby island. This is pretty much one of the best presents he could have received.

Then,tonight, his soccer team, the Hasbeens, were able to book the stadium for their weekly match, as it was someones birthday. Rain didn't dampen their spirits.........it was more the score that brought them down in the end..

Tony's folks arrived on the last day of term and treated us all to a holiday down the road. It was lovely to see them and even more exciting that we were going to be flying back to Australia with them at the end of it all. Ethan was always going to be going back for a Christian camp in Katoomba, but due to my mum's recent sickness and the fact we wanted Hannah to go to the camp as well, we decided to all head back. Tony stayed on and worked, but for the rest of us, we lay very low and just enjoyed hangin' with family......once we'd been to Target and brought winter essentials like socks, singlets etc..that we havent used for 2 years!! It was seriously cold.

Collage of our time away.

Can't remember the last time my eyes were open for a photo!

Soph clearly enjoying sister time.

Hanging with friends in Sydney

Taken on last night of MMM Camp.

Heading home- this was just the beginning of the BEST sunset.

Well, the homeschooling season is done and dusted! We decided to put all 3 kids in the International School -for lots of reasons and they are loving it so far. The main reasons were related to the timing of home assignment and also the social/sport side of things. We were all pretty sad finishing up, which is nice, and will think back to this time as really fun and special. Good times ahead!

Heading off on their first day of school.