lots of happenings

The adventure never ends...this week has been quite exciting, firstly we finally decided on a builder and a set of plans, although the ongoing debate is .. was it a joint decision or 'Lois's decision'... because I'm a coward my darling husband agreed, with some persuasion, to email the unsuccessful builder to tell him we were not going with him, however the last line of his email read....

         '...it is no reflection on you but rather a woman's feelings about design and there is no             winning that argument.'

absolutely hilarious... but one argument that he couldn't come back and argue with to try and change our minds.. it would have been useless anyway as we had already signed the contracts! Anyway, it will take about 2 weeks for the contract and plans to come back, then it goes to planning which will take 2-4 weeks, then they have to be onsite within 2 weeks and complete the build in 14 weeks or they start paying our rent!! so if all goes ok.. should be in at the end of September, yipee :))) 

so the fun bit starts now, firstly we have to decide what pool we want and where its going in the garden, then we go to their design studio and decide tiles, flooring, kitchen extras, electrics, paint colours, doors etc and try not to go too much over what's included....mmmmm... can I do that? not sure!

Parents evening was experienced on Monday, ah I was a proud mum, Josh is doing really well despite not knowing the Aussie slang and culture for English and Rebecca is still a straight A student and their music teacher was so pleased to have them both:) the best bit was that ran to time.. no hanging around missing appointments and ending up first come first seen as was Oke college style. It was 10 minute appointments, the bell rang and we all moved round, very civilised and out on time:)

we then had our first Anzac day in Oz, everything was shut apart from the pubs.. it makes it a real bank holiday.


the local service was held by the lake... beautiful, however it was much more informal than I expected and the guy chairing didn't know the names of all the people laying wreaths and got some muddled up.. so started waffling. I hear the main services in Brisbane are much more formal though. 

The kids college were playing the music and leading the hymns which turned into a performance as most people didn't have a programme with the words on. 

However as the parade was coming into the amphitheatre they played and sang Waltzing Matilda a total of 37 times!!!!   

not sure who'd had enough of it by the end.. them or us.

Can you spot the kids Josh & Rebecca?

our church use the event as an opportunity to serve the community by handing out bottles of water (as its usually a scorching hot day) and we gave out 1500 bottles of  water. We had a really great turn out of members which was fantastic as our minister was admitted to hospital this week with 2 brain abscesses which has been a real shock to people.

there were loads of different groups in the parade....  it wasn't a march but could have just been a walk... and schools but also the local riding club ???

I missed the oke sergeant major!

Anyway we then spent the rest of the day mooching at home, I managed to unpack all the rest of the boxes and get some extension leads out to plug in the sofas and lamps etc, so now starting to feel more cozy :)

Job wise... Mark still hasn't heard anything yet, but didn't expect to, but SU are still trying to persuade him to take the chaplaincy.

I finished my job today... what a weird feeling, but am looking forward to next week although have a very busy 2 week orientation planned for me. I've already been asked / volunteered to do some COPD teaching for practice nurses to raise COPD awareness in general practice.. just up my street! But a weekend to relax in first:)