Christmas Re-cap

 

Creature Kind concert

CYC Burleigh Christmas Party

Choosing the Christmas tree!!

 Decorating the REAL Christmas tree.

 Our Sunday evening tradition of a game of Sauce Pan with an added round with action figures.

 Andy and Dave serenade the Manor.

Church Christmas Service

 Christmas in Brisbane. Alex flying the helicopter his parents gave him.

 John and Alice going for a spin on the motor bike. 

 Sporting the necklace Alex gave me from Dubai.

"I do."

This last weekend we had the privilege of attending Brad's sister's wedding. It was such a fun and well put together day. Congrats Amy and Fraser!

 Praying together after communion. 

And, of course, photo booth:

In between the now and then...

I feel like I've been here for much longer than 3 weeks. I feel so welcomed and accepted into life here. Our church (Living Temple Christian Church) is wonderful and small in size. I love this because it gives more of a homely feel. Monday evening is Life Group night and I have joined one of the women's lifegroups. Last night we joined with one of the men's life groups for a chill even and a game of Saucepan. I am staying with my friends Brad and Martha who live in a duplex (for a lack of a better word). The family that owns the house (Andy and Bec) live in the other part of the house with their 2 year old daughter and another friend from church. It's really cool to have such great people so close by. Everyone is so hospitable and lovely. Yesterday I was able to go surfing with Bec and Andy which was a ton of fun! Christmas is on its way and there are still gifts to be bought! Hopefully I'll get it all finished sooner rather than later. This week it's been a bit rainy which I have loved because it is cooling everything down. Everything here is so beautiful and, well, just great! 

Having supper with some of the girls before Life Group

Decorating the tree with Bec and Ava. 

Reunion's are nice!

 Our friends Adrian and Alice flew out from Melbourne for a weekend visit. We met Age at camp in 2010, it was sweet for us all to be together again and on a boat too! Age and Alice got engaged Friday morning so we went out to celebrate! 

Notice the ring. Alice loves tea and Age wanted her to be able to pick her engagement ring so this is the temp until they pick one.

 5am morning on the boat.

 Jelly fish! These ones are harmless. There was a ton in the water at one point.

We ended our weekend with our Sunday night tradition of playing a round of Saucepan.

Things I've Observed...

Since arriving in Australia, there are a few things I've noticed are different and I thought it would be fun to share some of them so here they are!

Seasons are opposite of North America
School begins in January, not in September.
You don't tip your waiters here.
Tax is added in all prices here!
Max Brenners = best chocolate shop EVER!
Summer holidays begin when North Americans have Winter holidays.
Toilets are in a separate room from the sink and shower and tub.
The shower and tub are also separate but in the same room.
Toilet paper is a lot thicker here.
"No shoes, no shirt, no service." Doesn't exist here...just walked into a supermarket in bare feet and a swimsuit yesterday!
Kg's instead of lb's.
You can't get drip coffee in restaurants here (not that I care) it's all the good stuff.
Birds...are MUCH more noticeable and loud and make cooler noises.
The beach. Well...it's incomparable.
Driving, on the opposite side.
Humidity is super high here.
Lizards and geco's are everywhere and SO cute!
The ocean is warm!

Words:

Canada:                                      Australia:
             Washroom                                    Toilet
             Trunk                                            Boot
             Hood (of car)                                Bonnet
             Line (as in line up)                        Queue
             Vacation                                       Holliday
             Afternoon                                     Avro
             Mosquito                                      Mozzy
            Garbage can                                  Rubbish bin
            Truck                                            Ute
            Dumpster                                      Skip
            Flashlight                                      Torch
            911                                                000
            Sweater/bunny hug                       Jumper
            Diaper                                           Nappy
            Flip flops                                       Jandals (yup...thought that was a joke the first time I heard it!)
            Swimsuit                                       Togs
            Bell pepper                                    Capsicum
            Pickle                                            Gherkin
            Honeydew                                    Rock melon
            Candy                                           Lollies
            Ketchup                                        Tomato sauce
            Take out (as in food)                     Take away
            Glove compartment                      Glove box
            Gas                                               Petrol
            Windshield                                   Windscreen
            "How are you doing?"                  "How are you going?"
            Mom                                              Mum
            Stroller                                           Pram
            Thrift Store                                    Op Shop
            Cup of tea                                      Cuppa (as in: "Would you like a cuppa?")
         

oh the possibilities!

Coconut Curry Butternut Squash

I made this soup today! 

I found this recipe on Pinterest and am really pleased with the results. Some things I would like to try differently would be to use a cup or so less of chicken stock and maybe add more squash to make the soup thicker. ...oh and remember to hold the lid on the blender down :P

The contents of my afternoon...

A Little Gem

Yesterday evening a good friend and I had the privilege of having tea with an older woman from our church. We met her in the adult Sunday school class where we were reading through Titus 2. When we were discussing the passage and came across the part where it talked about the older women teaching the younger women she asked: "Do the younger women even want to spend time with the older women?" My friend and I answered with a resounding "YES!". Thus leading us to the tea, pie and good conversation of last night. Our new friend shared with us a few pages from her devotional book. How sweet it is to be taught by someone with so much life experience and so much knowledge of the things of God. She sent us each home with a poem she had come across and though the words are simple they spoke volumes to my heart.

JESUS, I like what I am because

It was Your idea

Help me to find adventure

In my uniqueness, and not want to be 

What someone else is.

GOD, if I lose sight of the fun of 

Being me, then

Your dream of what I can be in

The world will die,

Always help me to remember

That this is Your way

Of being creative.

-Author unknown

Something worth posting about..

When I'm feeling sick or tired or... really anything negative, I can usually boil it down to stress. I know I am not the only person who allows themselves to get "stressed out" over...well...anything. At times I tend to make big things out of very little, insignificant things that end up causing much unnecessary stress and worry. My challenge to myself and to anyone else out there who tends to allow holding onto stress and worry unnecessarily get them down is this:

LET. IT. GO.

When I was in college I often found myself stressing out and making big deals of nothing. A close friend of mine would remind me to let go of the things I was allowing to hold me back and to give my worries to the Lord. She would make two fists as if holding onto whatever it was, take in a deep breath, and as she let it out she would open her hands and lift the worries up to God. It is something I remember often when I have a chance to be still and realize that the things I'm stressing about are only holding me back and crippling me and that it is time to let it go. 

Easy to say? YES. But really, for myself, I see it as a chance to be brave and face the day head on. When I do this being joyful (not happy, anyone can do that), comes naturally. So really, I think letting some things go is a lot easier than we often allow ourselves to think. So what if you broke a glass at breakfast. Is that really what is ruining your day? Or is it your choice to decide that a broken glass can decide for you how the day will pan out. Really, it's not YOUR day. I mean, if you are a Christ Follower, it's not your day; it's His, so let us use it wisely. Here's to not wasting His time. 

Matthew 6:25-34

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.

 Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. 

Are you not much more valuable than they?

 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 

And why do you worry about clothes? 

See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 

Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 

If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, 

which is here to day and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, 

will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 

So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, 

and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. 

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, 

and all these things wil be given to you as well. 

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. 

Each day has enough trouble of its own." 

The List...

O.K. so photo blogging didn't work so well...I may revisit that later but for now, I must talk about "The List".  Most women will know what I am referring to when I mention this...

That list you make in the back of your mind as you're driving to work, writing it on the back of a napkin as you're waiting at the restaurant for a friend to arrive for coffee, writing down over and over on various sticky notes and revising as you go about your day (and also getting frustrated when you loose the most recently updated one knowing that the one currently in your possession is missing numbers 11 and 12 which are very important in your quest to maintain sanity); and lastly, keeping a notebook and pen on your night desk so you can write it down as your lying in bed at night unable to sleep because you can't stop thinking about it.

"The List"

I can't get over how frustrating it has become for me to realize I can not seem to live without this list that is constantly reminding me that I have something important to do. Something that if I don't eventually get done, will cause me great distress. The constant nagging in my mind to write something down and add it to "The List" never seems to leave me. The fear that if I do not add a certain item to "The List", I will forget it and that will be the end of....well...I don't know, but it won't be good. Forgetting an item that is to be added to "The List" is a no go. DO NOT forget items to be added onto "The List". Waking up in the middle of the night and remembering something to add to "The List" and not having a pen or paper available can be the cause of much lost sleep. These are a few of the down falls of "The List".

The way you feel when you check off and item on "The List" can only be described as euphoric. The feeling when a current list is finally completed cannot even be described..but I will do my best to try... This feeling reminds you that all is right in the world once again. This feeling tells you that you can finally sleep in peace, it's like at the end of a movie or T.V. show when the super hero has gotten rid of all the villans...life is good again. You can breathe easy and have a care free afternoon with the girls and not worry about having to get anything done...that is, until you wake up the next day and you realize that the lawn needs to be mowed and you grab your yellow sticky notes and jot down a little reminder to yourself of the chore at hand...then you remember that you also need to pick up some gas for the lawn mower, and while you're in town you might as well get some groceries and make a stop at your favourite store and then at the post office to send off a letter...and before you know it you're writing this all down on your hand...but you need to write it down again before it rubbs off and you reach for the napkin at the table you are sitting at waiting for a friend to show up. And yet again.."The List" wins. 

I'd better go..it's getting late and I just finished my list today...time for another ;)

Day 3: Clouds...Day 4: Something Green

Day 2: What you wore today..

What do I do?

I work at a coffee shop. 

The only one of its kind in the province thus far. This will be short-lived as there seem to be many that are going to be popping up all around our little city. 

What do I do?

I get to work with people.

After you work in the food industry for a while you notice that there are certain people who have become addicted *cough* accustomed to the taste of the food your establishment sells. Some become so accustomed to the taste and smell of this certain food that they become what is known to employees as "regulars". You can read a bit about some of them in an older post just down below. 

As of late I have realized that this growing group of regulars, though they may not all know one another, have created a sort of community for those of us who work at our little coffee shop. I like this. It brings a sense of security in what can sometimes be a bit of a stressful profession.

Regulars are those who I see walking down the street though the window and by the time they appear at the till, I can have their order ready. The time saved by doing this gets to be used in catching up from the weekend or the day before.

What do I do?

I get to love people. 

There are a few regulars who I not only know their name, but they now know mine as well. I like feeling like a person instead of the machine behind the counter who dispenses coffee and occasionally a  sweet slice of cheesecake. 

Hearing how their day is going, what they did on the weekend, what is on their heart....isn't this what bartenders say they do? ; )  What a blessing it is when I get over myself and my own worries and focus on someone else and how they are doing. I have been blessed in return. This job has not been my favourite, but there have been moments where the Lord has really shown me there is a reason He wants me there. 

What do I do?

I get to make friends.

I have told a few regulars about my plans to move to Australia in a few months and word has spread. Today one of our sweet regulars came in an gave me advice on where to look for a cheap flight as she waited for her americano. She's been getting more espresso shots than normal...

I could go on. I thought it suited to take a picture of my work uniform for todays photo as I spend so much of my time in it. Anyhow, here it is. Smells of coffee...a smell I have not yet come to love...but have not given up on yet!

Day One - Self Portrait

Photo rut

I've been in a photo rut as of ...well, a long time. Yesterday I was looking around on pinterest and found this little challenge. I thought it would be a good way to start taking pictures again with somewhat of a purpose. So...here it goes!

Weekend at the cabin..

Etch-A-Sketch art!..

An afternoon at Lester Beach

Dinner.

Cooking dessert.

View from the dock.