A Birthday, A Wedding And A Recital

As part of my efforts to catch up, here is a brief overview of the three big events which occurred after our return from holidays! 

A dear friend turns 40!

We celebrated in style with seafood dinner at Cafe Opera

The dessert bar was truly to die for!

A naughty prize for the winner of the games we played

Our trivia buddies are married! The ceremony was held at the beautiful Botanical gardens

The bride wore a Disney gown inspired by Cinderella!

The unique table centrepice

A Nikon lens shotglass...what more could a guest ask for?!?!?

The children had their end of year piano recital.

We tested the ipad's video recording capabilities as our video camera broke. It would have gone well except for the efforts of one little person. The sound effects courtesy of this said person is actually rather amusing. You'll have to rely on your ears for the second half...Lara and Elliot, well done!  

More Food

Alas the child-free status of the previous evening was short lived. We had to wake up early as we had an 8am appointment at Jonah's childcare, to contribute to one of the two working bees held each year. Malcolm thankfully got up early to pick up the 2 boys from his parents. And my parents were talked into taking Lara to a birthday party...

Somewhere in there, is a childcare centre...

Jonah running in to help

We have always oiled these 50 year old wooden blocks at each working bee. The tradition continues.

Nearly as big as Jonah

The job is done! 

We spent the morning helping with tasks to maintain the centre, such as oiling all the woodwork, sugar soaping the table and chairs, washing bins, and much much more. Alas, we had to leave to for church. However, it was nice to be able to contribute to what is a wonderful childcare facility.

The special event at church today was congregational lunch, but not just any lunch. It was a curry fest, with the male members of the church cooking up a curry storm. I didn't realise that there could be such a variety of south east Asian curries with most originating from Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Altogether, there were 12 curries presented for judging which made for an amazing lunch!

The wonderful aroma of the curry was wafting in during the sermon which made concentrating very difficult!

Some of the curries on offer.

Presentation counts!

I am ashamed to say that I didn't know such a curry existed...even though the name is  either Malay or Indonesian

Judging is very serious business

The women contributed to dessert

Malcolm, with a lack of curry knowledge, volunteered to be a roti boy instead

Food With Family & Friends

Why is it so hard to maintain a blog when one is at home?!?! There has been so many events since our return from the States and yet I appear to have no time to blog about them. I am determined to catch up on lost time. There is no better time to start than tonight. In an amazing display of motherly inadequacy, I have somehow "lost" all three children throughout the day. I left the house this morning with three and returned with none! The house is quiet, and there will be no little bodies climbing into our bed tonight...

So...seeing as the sun had finally decided to come out and play, I decided to initiate one of my new pairs of shoes, purchased online from the good old US of A whilst the dollar was still good. These Hush Puppies cost me all of $30 total. It had to be red of course.

I have an infatuation with all shoes red

The occasion was dinner a family friend's home. There was nothing like delicious home cooked meal shared with family and friends. Malcolm, unfortunately, was unable to make it tonight due to a work function so these photos are for him as well. To remind him of what he missed out on!

Lara with Opa

Eggplant in hotpot with fried chicken in the background

Special omelette with the obligatory chilli 

Green curry

Roti 

Tapioca cake

Cendol...my all time favourite!

A home filled with beautiful things. Our tea cups for the evening...all the way from Japan

When It Rains It Pours

And I don't just mean literally...it has been pouring today after a hot weekend.

With the end of my time at my current workplace looming closer, God has again amazed me with His love and faithfulness. In the past week, job options have popped out of no where. I am stunned that the options all seem to allow me to only work part time. Even more amazing is the fact that none of them were through any effort of mine! One of the more appealing options is to start up a GP centred clinical trial unit with a dear University friend. Amidst all this excitement, I have also been offered an extension of my "end date" with my current employer on a month by month basis suitable to both parties. This means that I continue to earn a living while my redundancy package slowly grows with each month that I stay.

It all seemed so simple a week ago! I am now rather confused about what I want and what I should do. One offers easy money on a casual basis. The other is slow and steady but secure. Another involves initial grunt work but could pay off big time in the long run. Others are simply more stimulating for my aging brain. The challenge now is to choose wisely. I pray that God will grant me the wisdom and strength to take the path that He has planned for me in this next stage in my life. I am so excited to discover what He has in store for me!