Christmas Weekend #4

Thursday 18th December

Christmas Madness tonight. Super fun times. 

Friday 19th December

We had church staff lunch today which was amazing. I spent the afternoon coloring in which was super relaxing. Went for a run with Felix in the evening then headed to a church girls Christmas supper. 

Saturday 20th December

Started today with the church musicians Christmas brunch at isobel's again. Her food is amazing! Then in the evening I spent time with Ez and her family at dinner. 

Sunday 21st December

Today was church. And then we went to Kmart and went to Soong's parents for dinner. 

Christmas Weekend #3

Thursday 11th December

Today gets a special mention because it was amazing. Soong told me ages ago to keep the day free because he had booked something for us to do for my birthday. It turned out he had bought us two tickets to see Wicked - and it was spectacular! We went for dinner in Haymarket to a small Japanese place and then watched the show, and ran through the rain back to Central station to get home.

Friday 12th December

Anh came over today and we did some Christmas baking. My issue with baking gingerbread cookies is that I eat too much of the dough before it ends up in the oven, and then I make myself feel ill. But we made Gingerbread cookies together, chatted and hung out all afternoon which was fun. I then had a Christmas dinner with my Senior girls at GYG to celebrate the end of the year. Then after dinner we went to the Lins house for a youth group leaders supper out on by Isobel. So much food!!

Saturday 13th December

Today was a wedding at St Matthias Centennial Park an it was lovely. Met some very friendly people. Then had Leah's 70s themed 21st with Ez which was SUPER FUN! 

Sunday 14th December

Was so wrecked and tired for church after the party. But was still good. We had planning meeting after church and then we had a quiet night. 

And the Christmas partying continues...

Thursday 4th December

Tonight I began watching The Walking Dead with Dad. We have three seasons to get through, and we managed to cross off two episodes so far. I enjoyed the first two episodes, but like all television series, I will probably become obsessive about halfway through season one.

Friday 5th December

Drove with Soong to school today because I needed to get a haircut and my hairdresser is a 10 minute drive from his work. They always do a lovely job, and my hair looks fantastic for ages afterwards, and I love them! It's a bummer that they are an hour away from home, but because they do such a good job I feel as though I don't have to go back for months. Then I caught the train to Glenfield and dropped off some fruit to the Kinsey's and spent some time with them. Then I caught the train and the bus home to my house, making the most of Opal's free trips as I could. Value for money! Youth group Christmas party tonight - a mad hatter's tea party! So I dressed as a pirate with my fancy pirate hat, and Soong wore his Monsters Inc Sully hat. A fun fun night of hanging out with the youth and just enjoying the year that was.

Saturday 6th December

Today was a huge day! Started off with the work Christmas party in a beautiful park in the North Shore. We ate amazing Vietnamese food for lunch and snacked on fine French cheeses. We had the annual awards ceremony, where I won an award for being positive and cheery in the office. My prize was amazing - a set of candy cane headgear!

Then we rushed home to be ready for the church carols festival. Soong set up the band, and we moved the festival indoors because the intense storms were back. It was a different vibe indoors, a bit disappointing, but still super fun! Everyone had a really good time. My dad and Grace came along as well :)

Sunday 7th December

Boy were we tired at church today. After church we did nothing but sleep. It was good.

Christmas begins

Thursday 27th November

Exercise classes have been happening at church this whole term. Run by one of the church girls who is an exercise physiologist (I think) they are free and fun. I regret not going earlier! I rocked up to the last one of the term and got such a good workout. I can't wait for them to start up again next year! After the workout, I went to Erin's house for a cup of tea and some mint slice biscuits (which cancelled out all the good done by the exercise!).

Friday 28th November

Youth group tonight was on heaven, and was a good recap of the term and year. I've loved being with my senior girls and I am sad that an official year of youth group has ended! Next week is the party.

Saturday 29th November

This is close enough to December! Soong and I decorated the house for Christmas today, and I got all pumped and ready for Christmas action. I really love Christmas. We went shopping for Christmas presents, we put out the decorations, and we blasted A Timeless Christmas by Israel & The New Breed. We went to Soong's grandma's house for dinner that night, for the first time in probably eight months. It's nice to know that we are always welcome!

Sunday 30th November

Church in the morning, then rushed to my mum's house for the annual Idiotsnot Christmas Kick-Off. Activities included setting up my mum's Christmas tree (and then setting up Lana & Simon's tree), building gingerbread houses (which didn't stay up due to humidity), moulding rum-balls, and tucking into a giant Christmas feast with all the trimmings. We played the classic Nat King Cole Christmas album all day. This album has been played at my family Christmas for as long as I can remember! We eventually went home, super full and with plenty of leftovers to last us for the week!

Monday 1st December

Not technically the weekend, but I thought I would include this day as well as it was our final bible study Christmas party barbecue. We finally got to use our newly concreted and furnished outdoor space, and had our bible study over for a simple dinner of sausages, chicken kebabs and salads. Super fun. We had a "regift" Secret Santa, with the rule being that you were only allowed to give a gift that had been given to you. So I managed to get rid of a tea set in exchange for a box of chocolates - win! Was really fun to celebrate the end of Bible study with our group, it has been a great year and I'm looking forward to another great year next year.

Catching up again...

Well it's been a while since I've documented the fun adventures of my weekends... this is most likely because I've been having too many fun adventures during the week as well! The end of the year is hurtling towards me, but in a moment of calm I thought I would reflect on what an amazing year it has been.

Back to blogging and documenting the weekends:

Friday 21st November:

Today was an amazingly ridiculously hot day. I finished writing my youth group talk, cleaned the church, sat in junior-leader training, and gave my youth group talk on the Holy Spirit from Acts 2.

Main idea: The Holy Spirit enables us to understand God's message and unites us as the church.

Saturday 22nd November:

Today was Alan and Yuan's wedding day! Another hot day, but another fun one. I helped Christine decorate the hall, which was not as much of a disaster as what I anticipated. Then I hung out with Chris, Thom, Kins, Helen and Soong in North Sydney for most of the afternoon, killing time before the reception. Fun reception, so much food and a photo booth. Both big wins for me!

Sunday 23rd November:

Was very tired at church today. Hot weather continued. Had a church barbecue indoors with the aircon blasting, and then went on a road trip to pick up an outdoor dining setting from Kenthurst with Soong's dad and grandad. The setting was so big it didn't quite fit into the trailer, and so we drove home very carefully! Spent the rest of the evening at the Lin's house eating pizza and watching DVD's while it stormed.

The 7th last weekend of the year

Well it's a bit scary to think that this was the 7th last weekend of the year. 2015 is really charging towards us now.

14th, 15th, 16th November

Friday: What a mixed bag of a day. Kirsty asked me to house sit while she worked as she was waiting for technicians to come and install her internet. However, they told her on the morning that they wouldn't need to come out after all! I still stayed at Kirsty's house because I was already there, and she had air conditioning and she lives a 2 minute drive from my dentist. I visited my dentist and he cleaned my teeth for me and confirmed that I hadn't done any major damage from hitting myself in the face with that garage sale sign the other weekend. I bought Kirsty pizza from Mina Bakery (yum) and then when she got home from school the second time she bought me a slurpee from 7/11 (yum!). I headed to Campbelltown that afternoon to visit Idiotsnot, pick up Soong's Christmas present, and help Julian with his homework. We ended up just eating heaps of fruit and shouting Childish Gambino at each other but it was valuable time. Then rushed home to give Soong his Christmas present and he was so excited to receive an iPhone5. Yay. Youth group was awesome as usual.

Saturday: A guy came to give us a quote for an awning in our backyard. Now that we have concrete, we need some shade, and once we have shade we can put some form of dining furniture outside and then we can build our barbecue and have people over. Yay! So we had a big discussion about awnings. Soong had organised a little holiday for us, so we packed and drove up to the Central Coast. Super fun! He took me to the Australian Reptile Park and we got to see all these really cool animals. I patted a kangaroo and a snake. It was really exciting and fun. We had Hungry Jacks for lunch (amazing) and then a huge seafood platter for two for dinner. I was sad that it didn't come with hot chips but it had oysters and muscles!!!! Then we went to the hotel and watched The Last Samurai.

Sunday: Woke up late, Hungry Jacks for breakfast (amazing) and rushed to church. Arrived in the middle of the sermon. Followed church with lunch at Isobel and Pete's place for Anh's birthday - so delicious. So many foods. Spent all afternoon there, then went home exhausted and full. Don't remember doing anything on Sunday night but watching Parks and Rec with Soong and sleeping (still a good use of time!).

It might be a little early to say it, as there are still 6 weekends to go, but I think 2014 is shaping up to be my second favourite year ever (with the inclusion of Dec 2013).

My first favourite was 2009.

I love Fairfield

Really, I do. Not many people can understand why. When I drive through my changing city, watching the languages on the signs change from suburb to suburb, seeing the new developments and established icons, I am filled with joy. I see those who have been settled for years, and those that arrived yesterday. I see temples, halls, churches, statues and shrines and I am filled with compassion for the lost. I see my small church, dwarfed by the building next door, described on post as "the small church next to the big Chaldean church", trying to share the good news of Jesus with anyone who will listen and I think of the mustard seed. Sometimes God's kingdom looks small to us, it looks powerless and we wonder if it is as feeble as it seems. Then we remember the cross, how pathetic it looked to those standing on Golgotha, and yet how powerful it was in cleansing the world of sin and restoring relationship between man and God. That's why I love Fairfield.

Anyway, I had a really good weekend. Let me tell you what I got up to.

Friday 7th November

Today I came into work to catch up on things that needed doing. Then headed home to youth group for leader training, then youth group (amazing), then to Isobel and Pete's house with Chris and Kirsty to watch Daria and Miranda. Drank tea, ate ice cream and Tim Tams, stayed up until 4am. Successful evening.

Saturday 8th November

Started the day with a picnic, hooray! Got to the park at the time the FB event said (11am) and then discovered that everybody else thought it was 12pm. So I spent an hour in the park lying on my picnic blanket in the sun writing. It was wonderful, something I wouldn't think to do normally but something I totally enjoyed. Picnic was wonderful and spontaneous, played with Phin and played catch with Kins, Pat and Chris. Just lay around and relaxed. It was perfect. Western Regional is so good for that. It's so big that you can find a spot even on a crowded day and just chill.

After picnic, Chris, Thom and I rushed to church to act as tour guides for a bus of Christians from Mosman who were coming to Fairfield to visit and see what ministry happens here. It was amazing and encouraging. So many people came and were willing to try new foods, look at different things and just understand what our world is like. We had dinner with them and it was lovely to chat with them and just hear their stories and share ours. This is what partnership in the gospel looks like!

I left dinner early (sadly before dessert!) and rushed to Blacktown to head to a friend's engagement party. Soong was there before me and he played in the band. Was a fun evening.

Sunday 9th November

Church was lovely today. Saw some old friends who hadn't been in a while. Went to lunch with the after-church-lunch crowd which I haven't done in months. We went to Canley Heights and had Pho which was delicious. Soong and I then went home and had a much needed afternoon nap, and then we just pottered around the house watching DVDs and doing nothing exciting.