It's all been a bit quiet here lately blog-wise. We've been busily travelling all round the countryside (ok, the central coast...) as part of our deputation ( speaking to other churches about Fiji, raising awareness, supporters and financial support) and enjoying meeting some super people. Tony also got to speak to some students from Moore College about what we will be doing in Fiji, which was fun and encouraging.....and a great chance to meet up with friends for a coffee,,,or three...or four...!
Other than that, we have celebrated Tony's 38th birthday- pretty quiet really, but not without an enormous amount of sugary goodness! Of course he looks 28 still....and I have no problem with that....

Looking after Pepper at the Lakes camp

Canoeing at camp...bbrrrr...

Powerhouse Museum

Daddy's birthday pancakey/waffley breakfast!

Birthday walk down at Clarkes Point

Playing puppies

I think he was disobedient and was turned into a horse....

This week has largely seen Tony and I dishing out panadol and wetting facecloths for our sick kids. In between all that though, we had our first week of full time work in at the CMS office in the city. We were basically learning how to present for our time on deputation with the 4 churches that we get to visit. Not feeling too panicky about it yet, but give me time..... Anyway, here are a few pics from the last few days.. and as always,food is a major theme in our activities!

A bit of holiday baking!

Mastercheffing it up with friends.

"Tropical Surprise"- the winner on the day.

Playing hairdressers with Daddy.

A wonderful surprise in the mail for Soph -a pen pal set from her new pen friend Gracie in Melbourne!

Back in Sydney Town

Well, we've been back home for a couple of weeks now and it's been a flurry of activity - setting up in a new place, visits with grandparnets and cousins, but mainly just sickness! Tony sick on the lounge for a week(which never happens!) and now Ethan has taken his place on the same lounge with the same temperature and bottle of lucozade next to him on the coffee table. Poor thing- you know its bad when he can't even watch Horrible Histories because his eyes are too sore! Very much hoping it doesn't last as long as his dad- there are too many fun holiday activities planned with his cousins while Tony and I are in at the CMS office for the week.
Some highlights of being back are seeing relatives from NZ, being back at St Albans, being part of family birthday gatherings again, rather than via skype and, excitingly, going to see YTT live at Chatswood. Realised my childhood dream of being in a large dance group holding a microphone is still very much alive!!

Bye Melbourne

Me with a beautiful 7 year old gal

Ethan back from camp in one piece!

Me with my beautiful 12 year old gal

Attempting to pack everything we own into the car boot!!

Never too old for merry-go-rounds. Giddy-up!!

I'm writing from freezing Canberra- which means we have finished at SAH and our time in Melbourne has come to an end. We had a busy and emotional last week of the course and really didnt enjoy having to say goodbye to everyone. The graduation ceremony was a fantastic way to end though and we loved sharing it with not only our classmates but also our great friends the Bakers, the Prices and my cousin Melanie. Praying now that we will take and use all that we learned in the last 5 months -not only the "book stuff" but from the infornal chats from a wonderful staff team. Now to enjoy some quieter time before the craziness of deputation, in between catching up with some old friends in Canberra.

Albert Park

A place we wish we had found earlier in our Melbourne stint would be Albert Park. Gorgeous shops, cafes, parks etc.. and near a lake. But especially fun with the Fabulous Bakers -our wonderful Sydney friends whose company we are completely milking while we can!! Could have happily sat in this cafe for hours chatting away.

In other news, we are down to our last week here at SAH...unbelievable. These are some of the things we will miss when we leave, including the gorgeous little boy in the photo(they train 'em young down here)!!
1. Being cooked for EVERY NIGHT! Have I already mentioned that??
2. The excellent staff and the other students- washing dishes, praying, setting tables, holding babies etc together.
3. Tilly the resident cat.
4. Living in a space where I can vacuum the whole unit using one powerpoint. (I'm fairly easy to please!)
5. Singing with people who wholeheartedly get into it.
6. Being around people who are about to have a major life change similar to us and don't think we're "ruining our kids futures"
7. Friendly Melbournians on their bikes. It took me a while to realise they didn't "mistakenly think they knew me", but were just being plain friendly. Go figure!
8.The massive array of books to read in our library.
9.Having Coles and K-Mart right next to each other.
10.Having not much of a social life outside of SAH , hence alot of time together just the 5 of us.

Will be great to be back in Sydney though...see y'all soon!

The farewell par-tay!

A few snaps of the kids farewell party yesterday. All went well -and praise the Lord for the wonderful space we have at SAH...perfect for x-box dancing, the chocolate game, dress-ups and photo shoots and cupcake decorating.....we didnt even notice that the rain didn't stop! Here we go....

The gorgeous Yr 2 girls

The hipster-ish (?) Yr 5 guys

The hip and cool Yr 6 chicks

The home stretch..

Here's "crazy Ethan" on CC-RR-AZY HAIR DAY!

Two weeks left and gettin' excited! Just a few classes about things like deputation, communication etc.. and our farewells, final dinner, graduation ceremony- fun stuff like that! Not to mention the kids combined farewell party next weekend...watch this space! I always thought I'd have alot more to say on a blog, but apparently not huh? Anyhoo, here are a few photos from the last few days.

Never actually went here, but have a thing for red doors

The brilliant Brunetti's- partially responsible for alot of my clothes no longer fitting.

Sunny Lygon Street

Will miss this view as we set the table for dinner each night

Enjoying a Sat. morning treat with our fellow students

A fun Sat. night dinner with our lovely friends The Prices!

A little bit of good ol' Tom Foolery!

The dad's getting in on the boy fun.