Too Hot

At 35 degrees celsius today - I'm melting.

What a very good reason to get Joel to take me to see Twighlight this afternoon!!

Got no more brains to say anything else - It was the first thing to melt away.

Christmas Gifts

Oops - I've been a little lost without my own computer - probably a good thing for a while anyway. So I missed saying this...

Happy Christmas Everyone!

I hope you all had a lovely day with your families and friends.

I hope you recieved at least one gift that you really loved

And that the gifts you gave were received with excitement and appreciation.

I hope you took time to be grateful for the gifts you have recieved through the whole year in friends and family, work and play.

I hope you ate just a little bit too much yummy food and felt as full as I did.

But mostly I pray that you were able to experience the joy that our Father gives to us through the gift of his Son - the Baby who was given so graciously to us so that he could take all of our sin to the grave and rise the Conquerer of sin and death so that we might live forever with him.

Praise the Lord for another year of living under the grace anf forgiveness of His Son Jesus Christ!

3 days of (Joel) driving

And we're in Brisbane at last - since yesterday.

We arrived about 7pm, had dinner, chatted a little and got in the pool! How nice and relaxing after sitting in the car for 24 hours over three days!

Joel did an amazing job of driving us each day. I drove about a quarter of each day - no more because it was my first time driving our new car which is a manual and a little intimidating. And also because the roads were skinny and the trucks coming the other way were huge - I'm a scaredy cat! Oh, and concentrating is HARD! He is a star. I don't know how he did it but I'm incredibly grateful that he did.

Now we're just hanging out with parents while trying not to die of shock at the change in tempurature - no way would we have gone swimming in Adelaide this week!

Oh - I read Twighlight in les than a day - A.Maze.Ing!!!! Had to read it before seeing the movie. Now I can't wait to just read the rest of the books!! I miss the characters... is that weird? I don't think so...

Happy End of Work to me!

Crumpler limited edition 5 million dollar home - the place my camera now lives!  

I bought it yesterday with money I was given as a thank you from Endeavour.  Oooh... I love it!  The pretty oatmeal colour on the outside.  The stunning red highlights.  And the soft blue on the inside....

So nice and cozy for my precious camera.  

It fits the body with lens attached as well as a spare lens (2 if I hide Adrian's 50mm in there instead of giving it back!).  There's a pocket on the front for my cords and batteries and things and a little mesh pocket inside that one for very special somethings.  And there's a mesh pocket under the main flap where I've tucked a spare card.  There's also some loopy bits on the side that I could hook something to - I'm sure I'll think of something - and a super long adjustable strap if I don't want to use the handle.  It all holds shut with a massive velcro patch and a clip.

Yes - I love it!  Mostly because now I can take my camera places without looking like a complete dork with a massive camera bag!  I feel very spoiled.

What have you bought yourself lately?

All gone

Our house is now empty.  Our precious, and not so precious, things are on this truck which is on its way to our new house - without us.  We're staying in a friends house for the next 3 nights.

We're exhausted.  Me because, well aside from moving, it was my last day of work today.  Not ready to talk about that yet.  Was good though.

And Joel's wrecked because, well, moving is hard! And he's worked very hard every step of the way.  And, bless him, he's still going.  He's over at our empty house vacuuming, and washing walls and who knows what else.  He is quite the wonderful man!  

Good bye house.  You were wonderful to us!  You witnessed our first three (!!!) years of marriage - so much love and craziness and friendship.  You kept us and our gear safe.  You didn't let us get too hot or too cold.  You made pretty patterns on the walls with light.  We loved you!

Thank you Lord for the blessing of our house.

(and thanks Joel for taking these cool pictures for me while I was at work!  You did a great job!)

Nearly Done

Even the plants get a box!

The the other three guys turned up a few hours ago - things are going much quicker now.  I'm glad I've been documenting it - even though they've been teasing me about proving they aren't doing their job by taking pictures!

We're going out to dinner tonight - were going to be late because they've taken longer than they thought - who knew we had so much stuff?!  It will be good not to cook - especially since everything we have is in a box...

Nearly there...

Still going

We've just about had enough of waiting while our stuff gets packed but my goodness are we glad someone else is doing it!  Although the poor guys partner still hasn't turned up so we have one guy packing our house by himself!!  Crazy.  

Obviously I'm doing my best to stay out of his way.

Thanks to PW for the new Actions I've been playing with!

The Boxes...

... are here.  As is the man putting stuff into them.  I think I might go out.  I've already snuck into the bathroom once this morning to have a few tears.

I'll come back and show you more later.

Getting there

The packers will be here in the morning.  That's less than 12 hours away.  How did that happen?  Where did the time go?

Joel and I have been sorting things out and tidying things up for the last 5 hours now.  I've taken all the pictures off of my desk walls and found a box for all of my pens to go into.  We've both put aside all the clothes and shoes (boy did I have a hard time limiting myself to only 7 pairs!!) we will need until the end of January and packed small over-night bags to live out of until wednesday next week.  The shade in the backyard has come down and most of our addresses have been changed.

There's still a few things i'd like to do but right now I've had enough.

The whole things seems just like a task we need to do not like we are moving to another state at all.  I'm sure we'll get emotional about it soon - probably at the farewell lunch I have for school on Friday - but right now it's just work we are doing.  Maybe because I'm avoiding all goodbyes by coming up with reason that I don't have to say them - I'll see you in January, I'll see you in February, we'll chat soon...

I guess reality will hit eventually - just hopefully not too hard!

Until then - packing.  

No more students

And that's the end of that. Still two more days to go but not a one with students at school. How strange to think that after 5 years I wont be seeing kids in the Endeavour uniform for a very long time.

I've had lots of 'Goodbyes' and 'Goodlucks' and even a hug today. They're very sweet and I will miss some of them a lot (others a little and still others not at all!).

Good bye Endeavour students. You've been fun!

So close...

screen shot taken - now!

We've been counting towards this day for 6 years - and it's here!

We're ready - almost - and excited.  And a little overwhelmed.  

Today my Husband will be given to God in this service and God will give him back to us as an ordained Pastor.  What an incredible blessing!

There will be more to come!

Endeavour Gradutation Service

Last night was the Graduation service. As far as 2 hour services go this was a good one.

I had the exciting job of translating the theme "Changing Seasons" into visuals - flower arrangements, altar dressings and powerpoint - all designed and made by little me.  

It was a huge success.   I'm super proud of myself.  Fairly disappointed that the professional photographer didn't capture my hard work but will get over it.

He did capture my silhouette while waiting to go on stage for the staff song (I'm in the middle).  How great is that!  Underneath that you can see the staff on stage singing the farewell blessing to the graduating students.  You can also get a tiny glimpse of three of the four floral displays and a washed out version of the powerpoint.

Well done Year 12's!  You made it.  You started year 8 at the same time I started wok at EC and graduated the  year I finish so - WE made it!

(I did get a lovely special mention in the principals report as a long serving member!)

Not long now

Today marks a few important things - all pointing toward the same outcome:

It's the last Thursday I will ever work at Endeavour College
It's the last week I'll have at EC that I'm able to say "see you at work next week"
It's the last day I have to sit at my desk before I clean it up
It's the last day I'll be here without my intern
It's the last day I'll have time to write on my blog from work (although I might squeeze one in on Tuesday...)

After today I am working Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday next week. And then?

Done.

Five years has flown. And dragged a bit. And nearly killed me at times. But my goodness will I be sad to leave. I'll be sure to let you know what level of blubbering mess I achieve.

In the meantime - I shall continue with my fourth last day...

oh - and on the home front? It's the last thursday night I'll sleep in my house before it gets packed up... Removalist coming in a week today!

He Did it!

Joel graduated!

After 5  years of study (and one year off) he now has a Bachelor of Ministry and a Bachelor of Theology.

Congratulations my darling.  I am so incredibly proud of you and the mammoth, marathon effort you put in.  I bet you are happy you never have to write a book report again!

Congratulations to the rest of the class as well.