[mr ed]

Simon's wedding

Claire's brother, Simon, is now married. His wedding was really good, and the weather was perfect, even if it was a little hot. Another plus for me was meeting the rest of the Steward's extended family, which was good too.

The wedding was at St James, Turramurra, with the reception up at Berowra Waters. Nice food combined with a great mob of people made for a very  memorable evening.

Whirlwind trip

I've just got back to Turramurra, after a whirlwind trip to Goulburn, Canberra, Young, and back. I took all my things from beach mission back to my house, and then dropped Henry's gear back to Canberra, and then drove the truck back to Dad in Young.

The next day I went down to help Dad run some phone lines in his office, before catching the XPT at Harden on my way back up to Claire's house. Quite a few miles for a 24 hour period!

More Beach Mission

I returned to Forster last Friday, after a few issues with a flat tyre, but still quite refreshed. But not for long. While I was away, a few issues had blown up, particularly between a couple of girls, and mission suddenly became a bit strange. But first things first.

It was really nice to see Claire again after a few days away. We managed to get everything done that we had to do, and spent a little extra time together, as I had suffered a flat tyre in the truck and was waiting for a spare tube to arrive. This meant that I was able to spend a bit of time at Nelson Bay with Claire, and it was so nice to be able to relax.

I arrived back at mission about dinner time, and straight away found out about a bit of conflict that had been happening. In short, it was a bitch fight, but in practice, it meant that the team wasn't functioning properly, and the next couple of days were quite stressful.

After having dinner, we did the kids art gallery night, and I again did hundreds of balloon animals in a short space of time.

The day after was the final section time for this mission, and then the start of pack-up. We got the section tents away, and the sleeping tents, and then I finished the video for the concert night. After concert night, there was a bit more packing up done, trying to limit the work left to do in the morning.

The final day was spent packing up. We had showers overnight, but managed to get the tents dry and dropped and packed before lunch. A few people wanted to have lunch after pack-up was completed, but the team leaders decided not to go that way, which meant that pack up dragged on a little longer, as people weren't so keen to get back into it after lunch. But, eventually, all was packed away and we were able to leave.

I drove back to Sydney with Cathy, after stopping once for food, and made pretty good time. And boy was it nice to see Claire again, even though it had only been a couple of days, it was a very stressful few days.

Beach Mission (so far)

Well I've just come back from about a week at beach mission. Things are going pretty well, everything is set up and we haven't had much rain.

Mission started with the traditional set-up, although this year we pretty much set everything up by ourselves, as I had been unable to get in contact with the people in Forster that usually help us. Even so, set-up went quite smoothly, and we were able to start our program on time.

I planned to take a slightly smaller role this year, having a few days off in the middle, to help get things ready for Simon's upcoming wedding. This basically meant that my first few days were very busy. The first thing I was involved with was the kids disco, which went quite well. We run it at the same time as a trivia night, so that there is something for all ages.

The next day was our first section time, and then the waterslide, which always draws a good crowd. This year was the best slide I had seen, running dead straight and also being far enough away from the fence so that we had no real injuries.

The next day was sections again, and then a combined church service, which did have a few hiccups, but over all, went quite well.

New Year's Eve had section time, then a car wash, and then the New Year's party over at the waterfront. This year I made about 300 balloon animals in the space of a few hours before the fireworks, and had very sore fingers afterwards.

New Year

Another year is over, a new one begun, and it's time to look back at the past year and reflect on what happened in it. This year has seen a few changes in my family, the biggest one being Henry's marriage to Tuli in November, and my engagement to Claire a week or so ago. Other highlights for me included seeing Third Day way back on Australia Day, going to the Zoo and the Aquarium, and getting to know Claire and her family.

Dad moved from one workshop to another, much closer to the town centre, and in March, he shaved his head for Leukaemia, the first time he'd had a shave in about 18 years.

Glenda started High School, ending a 20 year involvement of our family with Young North Public, although Mum continues to teach scripture there.

David turned 21 in August, and we had a party in Young for him, which was nice.

Those were just a few of the many events of 2007, and 2008 looks set to be even busier!

Christmas

Well another Christmas has come and gone, but this one was very different for me. This was the first Christmas I spent away from my immediate family, and was a very pleasant experience.

The day started with present opening at Claire's house, and then a drive up to Gosford to have lunch with most of Geoff's side of the family. Then, later that afternoon, we headed across to Simon's unit to have a celebration with Belinda's immediate family, which was also very nice.