Surprise!

After many months of no new posts, I finally feel inspired to blog again. I've just had the most wonderful weekend, orchestrated entirely by Geoff!


Saturday the 12th was my 37th birthday, and I spent the week looking forward to my parents coming to visit for the weekend. They arrived on Friday afternoon and we enjoyed a lovely dinner and evening together.

 

Mum brought the most beautiful bunch of flowers!

 The girls loved swimming with Dad!

In the morning we had our customary 'special breakfast' of croissants and fresh juice before opening pressies. I was absolutely thrilled to receive a beautiful dragonfly mosaic coffee table, made by Dad, as well as some new board games (Ticket to Ride, Quiddler and Settlers of Catan), and as soon as everyone was ready, we opened Ticket to Ride, spread everything out on the table and started to play.

We were only a few minutes into the game when my sister Jess and her three boys appeared at the door, followed by Luke! It was such a wonderful shock, and I jumped up screaming, amazed that they had driven 5 hours to our place for my birthday!

With the game promptly forgotten, we headed outside for a swim in the pool. As the kids were all shouting and playing in the water, excited to be with their cousins, a van drove up the driveway - horn blasting - and inside it was Le, my other sister, and her husband Andy. This time I burst into tears!

About an hour later all of us were in the pool playing ball games with the kids when yet another car drove up the driveway. It was Tim (my brother) and Ali, with their two girls! I really was in shock, and just so thrilled that everyone had surprised me with a weekend at our place for my birthday!

We all got out of the pool and had some lunch. There were more presents for me to open (see the gorgeous white lanterns) and we laughed at how Geoff had stocked the fridge with food, and had the grass and gardens looking so nice - all without me knowing why!

It was all so fun, and when Renee rang to wish me happy birthday from Hong Kong I knew it couldn't get any better!

I had absolutely no idea that this was just the beginning and there were many more surprises in store!

At about 2 o'clock Geoff mentioned to me that I might like to go and put my new dress on (the one I thought I'd be wearing out to dinner with Mum and Dad!) I questioned him why I should get dressed so early in the afternoon, and he said that maybe a few other people might pop in. I was a bit unsure of this, because we don't know many people here very well yet. So while everyone else was sitting around in their swimmers, I put my dress on and tried to 'just roll with the day' as Geoff had suggested numerous time to me!

I can't adequately describe the emotions I went through over the next few hours. I was completely taken aback when my dear friends Cass and Naomi walked through the kitchen door to wish me Happy Birthday! I couldn't believe they would travel that far, and yet was so thrilled to see them. They informed me that Geoff was the mastermind behind them being there, and I cried again as I realised the effort Geoff had gone to to make sure my birthday was special.

Then over the next few hours, more and more people started turning up. There was a whole contingent from the Southern Highlands, as well as relatives from Wollongong and friends from Wellington. Geoff told me later that there was 70 people all up. It was extremely overwhelming, but each new person who turned up filled me with joy (and tears) and I felt their love and friendship deeply.

As the day progressed I was slowly filled in on the plans everyone else had known about for months. Geoff had raided my email box in November last year, and sent out an invitation to friends and family far and wide: "I thought you might like to join us in surprising Amanda for her birthday. It will be her first birthday out west and any family or friends who could make the journey out would contribute to making the day special ... Amanda, when she finds out on the day, will be very touched if you are able to come I'm sure. If you're not, that's okay. But if you'd like to plan to be part of this I thought early notice would help. Your presence would be a significant present for my lovely wife."

It was so touching to hear how Geoff had planned the day for so long, and he really did a marvelous job of organising the whole weekend. I had absolutely NO clue about the entire event, and am beginning to think I must have my head in the clouds! I am exceedingly grateful to Geoff for everything he did, and know that I am one very blessed wife.

Here are some of the photos, to give you a snapshot of my surprise weekend:

People started arriving after 2pm, and continued coming till after 6pm. There was plenty of space to spread out and catch up with people, and when it started to rain, we still fitted under the verandah.

Irma and Lousanne - my South African friends!

The Southern Highlanders!

Kath, Greg, Mum and Geoff

 

Beautiful Abbie Peet - now two and a half. She managed to charm everyone around her all night long!

Gourmet hamburgers for dinner - an impressive effort for 70 people!

 

Cake and speech time.

On Sunday everyone (who wasn't already sleeping at our place) was invited back for breakfast before heading home. Geoff had organised this as well, and we had cereals, fresh juice, pancakes and blueberries. I loved knowing that I would see everyone again in the morning (this time no surprises) before they drove back home.

The Austin family

Naomi and I

Some of the Southern Highlands group. I was so thrilled to catch up with them all, and incredibly touched that they made the effort to come.

And lastly, my WHOLE family!

What a great weekend , and my heart is brimming full.

Looks like snow!

I was mid-way through teaching Art with the Infants class yesterday afternoon when the sky blackened. With very little warning, hail started to fall, loudly pinging on the tin roof. We rushed to the windows to get a better look, and as the noise became deafening, I decided to let the kids go outside and experience the hail properly! The rest of the school was already out, running up and down the verandahs, squealing and shouting in pure delight. We stood under the cover of the school verandahs as the hail bucketed down. It was so loud that I couldn't even hear myself shouting!

It kept hailing for what felt like ages, but was probably only 15 minutes. By the time it was finished, everything was white and looked like snow had fallen.

Having spent the last 14 years in the Southern Highlands, we've seen quite a few hailstorms, but this is very uncommon for Wellington. For most of the kids here, it was a new and very fun experience! As the bell went for the end of the day, the high school kids took great delight in skidding along the ice and scooping up hand-fulls of ice to throw at each other. Driving home over an hour later, there were mounds of ice piled up under gutters and the remains of shredded trees lay scattered all over the ground. No ice at home though, so I'm guessing the hail storm was fairly localised.

Since moving to Wellington we have have so much rain. Burrendong Dam, which was sitting at just under 10% full in April is now over 90%, and still rising. Everything is so wet. The ground is soaked and can't take any more water, so it is all becoming run-off. I'm hoping the hail and drenching rain has done some damage to the locust eggs, which are due to hatch any day now.

Holiday visitors

It's been such a long time since I've posted anything here. Life for us has been SO busy and I haven't had the head space to sit down and blog.

We had three weeks of visitors over the holidays - much loved friends and family who came to visit and encourage us in our new adventure in Wellington. I think we've needed the encouragement, because it has proven to be quite a tough assignment for us out here.  Thank you to everyone who made the enormous effort of driving out to the Central West - we loved having you stay! Here is a snapshot of some of our adventures:

The Michie Family:

 Toasted marshmellows

Trivial Pursuit

Morning tea after church - enjoying the winter sun on the front verandah

An activity in learning to get along well with each other - we had heaps of fun making potato people!

 The Michie family, as you've never seen them before!

 

And here is our family, looking pretty snazzy too!

Annabel and I

Sarah and Bri - best friends and beautiful girls.

 

The wonderful Michie family, plus an honorary daughter!

Their willingness to come for a visit over the Long Weekend was so encouraging to us!  Great memories include seeing Bri and Sarah reunited; playing board games at every opportunity; watching Izzy devour Francine Rivers' The Mark of the Lion book in one weekend; and having the opportunity to debrief a little (OK, a lot) about our role here in Wellington.

The Sabbens and the Kings: 

 Feeding time at the zoo

Ok, this really is at the zoo!

Ezri and Linda

The Sabbens 

We loved hanging out with you guys so much! Great memories include playing Bohnanza, eating Garth's brownies, being pushed out of my kitchen (in a good way), eating vast quantities of M&Ms while pruning the vineyard, spending a great day at the zoo, setting up the Prep room at school, staying up late with challenging, inspiring conversation and lounging around in the sun on the front verandah. 

Family

We had a busy, but wonderful weekend.

Michael and Salome arrived on Thursday afternoon. Michael is Geoff's cousin, and lives in the Solomon Islands with his wife Salome, and  their two children Lovelyn and Mikey (who unfortunately couldn't come to Australia). We had been hanging out to see them, knowing we'd get a taste of the Solomons through them being here, and we were not disappointed. The girls LOVED seeing Salome again, and spent the evening playing with her hair, looking at Solomon photos, playing hand games and talking a bit of Pigin. It was just so nice to catch up, and the girls didn't want to go to bed in case they missed out on anything!

Friday afternoon saw my sister Jess, her husband Luke, and their three boys, Jack, Ben and Harry all arrive. It was their first visit to Wellington, and we were so excited that they would make the long drive out here. They'd spent the day at Dubbo Zoo (as did Michael and Salome).

The kids were so happy to play with their cousins ...

Elora helping Harry with a puzzle.

Jack and Brianna enjoying the Autumn leaves together. 

Jack, Sophie, Millie and Ben

Geoff and the girls had been looking forward to having a bonfire ever since we moved here, so it was the perfect opportunity to light up the wood pile and enjoy some toasted marshmellows.

It took a bit of effort getting it to light ...

... but after a while it was so hot we had to move back and wait for it to die down a bit, so we could toast the marshmellows!

On Saturday Michael and Salome left to continue their travels.
We enjoyed a relaxing day at home, with perfect winter weather.

Geoff and Luke set up the new flying fox, much to the delight of all the kids!

The boys all had a turn on the mower!

After a very late night on Friday, I made a concerted effort to have the kids in bed on time! We enjoyed wraps for dinner, then all watched Funniest Home Videos. 

These shows are always funnier when you are in a crowd!

Jess and Luke left on Sunday morning, with a big drive ahead of them. It was such a blessing to spend some time with my beautiful sister and her gorgeous family.