This is where I'm at..

I have been terribly slack over the last month writing on this thing.
Canberra no longer feels like a holiday, but now the reality of moving here has set in. And to be completely honest, I am liking it a whole lot more then I had anticipated.

I have found a job and a church, which is exciting. No friends as of yet, but I'm not feeling stressed or like I'm in a rush to make friends quickly, I'm feeling content with my family. (Don't get me wrong, if you do live here in Canberra, Please be my friend!! )

I have been thinking a lot about why God lead me here. I know that it was his leading, because I was most definitely not moving here when Dad first told me that he was posted here, then out of no where I felt like God wanted me here.. I'm still trying to figure out why.

That's where I'm at. I'll keep you posted.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11

One week and One day!

It has been 1 week since leaving Sale and coming to Canberra!
It has gone super fast, and has been lets just say an experience.. Nah, it has been a lot better then I thought it would.
When I planned to write a post after the first week, I thought it would be awesome to have a home movie as such to show little snippets of what we have been up to.. So I made one, but I can't upload it!! Stupid technology. (Hopefully face book will let it! )
I will now fill you in on my week ::

Friday 24th August:
Drove for what felt like a million hours, to and around Canberra. Got stuck in peek hour traffic, and was busting to go to the toilet..   not. fun.

Saturday: DFOing with Mitch and Sam, and went to the movies with the fam.

Sunday: Church :)

Monday: Had a relaxing day.. (Which is code for.. I can't actually remember what I did )

Tuesday: Moved in to the house.

Wednesday: Went shopping at the 'Hyperdome'

Thursday: Drove to the 'Hyperdome' for the first time with no GPS.

Friday: Went bowling, watched dad fall over on his first bowl (hilarious!!) Had friends over for tea.

Saturday, well today: Went to a fresh food market, had the worst hot chocolate ever, cleaned out the garage.

Somewhere between all that we somehow found the keys to the house and broke in, watched the first season of Modern Family ( funniest. show. ever. ), Ruby (my car) got delivered, the dogs got delivered, had many phone calls from home and applied for 8 jobs, got a new jacket..

It still feels like it's a holiday, but at least it's been a fun one :)

Now for tomorrow: Church and then heading to IKEA in Sydney.. Be jealous ;)

Missing everyone from home

xx

It all begins at 7am..

My last week so far in Sale has been filled with laughing and random crying..
I am at a level of exhaustion where I fear I might possibly collapse at any second..
Why am I still up??!
I guess I just wanted to document a small part of my week, before the moving begins. I didn't want to write a detailed explanation of my week, so I thought I'd show you in photos. :)

Half cleaned Ruby at a closed carwash, well until the carwash stopped working. 

I took sneaky selfies in Target.

Played Bop it with Brad and Allanah.

Chatted to Shawn at some ridiculous time of the morning. 

Said goodbye to Ruby..

I asked Lauren to hold my ham.

Got all our photo's/ babysat for Louise..

At 7am (this morning, yes, that's how late it is..) the removalists will be here to begin the packing. 

It all begins at 7am... 

14 Days, 18 Hours, 15 Minutes and 59, 58, 57,56....

This is not much time at all..

This afternoon I spent approximately 30 minutes looking for jobs in Canberra. I know that 30 minutes isn't really a long time, but I had, had enough looking and started feeling a tad overwhelmed about moving.

At night I go to bed and I lie there imagining what life is going to be like for me in Canberra.
Each night I imagine something different..
One night it will be the most amazing scenario where I walk in to the church that I will end up at, look toward the stage and see my husband and live happily ever after;
and then the next night I think up the worst scenario ever, where I end up with no friends, no job and practically staying in my bedroom 24/7 (except to get food and drink, or to pee.)

But in 14 days, it will be a reality.

I'm unsure of what to expect, but I am excited to see what God has planned for me during this experience.

This is our new house :)

"If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living" -Gail Sheehy

My life at the moment is surrounded, well almost suffocated with change.
It's like I'm drowning in a big pool of change, and I can't seem to remember how to float.

Don't get me wrong, change is wonderful. But it scares the crap out of me!

Let me explain..

In 1996, my family (Dad, Mum, Shawn, Rowan and I) moved to a small town called Sale. Some where in between then and now, there has been kinder, primary school, high school, parents divorced, parent remarried, more high school, got a job or two, made friends, lost friends, got L-plates, both brother's left home, parent divorced, got P-plates, finish high school, made more friends, interned, worked, other parent remarried, combining of two families and second year out of school, which pretty much brings me to the present day... 2nd August 2012.
My family (Dad, Gwyn, Keely, Ethan and I) are moving to Canberra in 22 days.
Shawn my eldest brother is (as I write) on a plane to Paris to travel around Europe, and hopefully stay to live in England.
Rowan just got married, I know, pretty crazy right?! He and his wife are in Vietnam on their honeymoon.

Change has happened so many times in my life, but the thought of it still terrifies me.
I know that if I look back at this post in a years time, I will be questioning what I am so scared of...

A little bit of change couldn't hurt.. could it?

Friendship.

I feel like over the past year or so I have learnt a lot about how to be a good friend, what it's like to have good friends, and that like any thing in life it takes blood, sweat and tears to keep the friendship going..

The other night I experienced the "what it's like to have a good friend" side of friendship. One where you can feel ridiculously overwhelmed with life and drive home crying all the way from Bairnsdale with your best friend who has never seen you cry like that before, and she is totally fine with it.

I'm the kind of person who hates making myself vulnerable in front of people. Because it means that I can easily get hurt.

Lauren posted last week about the moments that define our friendship, and the moments when we feel like our friendship has gone to a whole other level.. It can be anything like going to the toilet with the other in the room, sharing a bed for the first time, dancing ridiculously crazy around the house with each other, being annoyed at each other; the list could continue on; The other night was a defining moment in our friendship.

I hope your weekend has been one that you wouldn't change for the world, mine has. :)

House-Sitting.

This week Lauren and I have been house-sitting for our friends Alexis and Glenn, looking after their incredibly cute/annoying cat 'Cato'.

I could pretend that it is a chore or something I dislike, but in all honesty, I absolutely love house-sitting. Especially with Lauren.

We always talk about moving in together, so when ever we house-sit, we get to pretend that we actually live together.

This week has been no different..
We have had a games night, watched movies two nights in a row, danced around the house like crazy people to Maroon 5's 'Moves like Jagger' and of course the serious stuff like doing the washing and studying of course..

I think the best part about house-sitting this time round is that we have been sleeping on the couch, so it's like a week-long sleep over! What more could we want!

Overall I give my week so far a 7/10, who knows how it could end.

How's your week been?

My Friend.

As you may or may not be noticing; depending on your intelligence level; I enjoy devoting an entire post to the people that have changed my life on their birthday. Today's post will be no exception.

I have a friend, and it is her birthday today. I feel completely blessed by this person, and I consider her my most bestest friend in the whole entire world.  

Her name is Allanah Hayman.

    

    

Allanah turned 23 years old today, which in reality isn't that old, but to me it does seem kinda old, well for her anyways!

Allanah has always been there for me no matter what, I know that I can call her up at anytime in the morning crying my eyes out, and she will tell me to come over, set up a bed for me, and sit and hug me for like an hour until I feel a little better.
God has truly blessed me with such a wonderful friend.

Allanah was my Ignition Leader probably from when I was in yr 9, through till yr 12, and I remember the many times she sacrificed her time and money every Tuesday to go for a walk with me and buy me dinner. I don't think she even knows how much she impacted my life and that something as simple as walking around the lake for half an hour was actually the high light of my whole week.



                                



Although we are fairly close in age (only 3 years) Allanah has been a mother figure to me, taught me how to cook, clean and gave me some great 'womanly' advice.

Allanah and her husband Brad looked after me when I was sick and when I felt like the whole world had just abandoned me. They gave me hope that there was actually people out there that cared about me.

My walk with Jesus wouldn't be the same if God hadn't placed Allanah in my life to encourage and challenge me. She is the only person who completely understands what I am going on about when I am having a crazy rant, and is one of the only people who knows everything about me.

Since she is turning 23 I thought I'd write 23 things I love about Allanah.

1 // I love that she loves Jesus.
2 // I love that she has been an amazing friend to me.
3 // I love that I can call her house home, and did for 6 months.
4 // I love that no matter what we go through we will always remain friends.
5 // I love the yummy food she cooks.
6 // I love her clothes. : P
7 // I love her generosity.
8 // I love her humility.
9 // I love that she puts others before herself.
10 // I love that we get to sing together.
11 // I love that she doesn't judge me.
12 // I love her personality.
13 // I love her crazy rants.
14 // I love that she taught me nearly everything I know about being a woman.
15 // I love that she married Brad.
16 // I love that her kids will call me "Aunty Ange" (It does have a nice ring to it!)
17 // I love that we are family.
18 // I love that one day she will be my 'Matron of Honour'.
19 // I love that she understands my craziness.
20 // I love that we think the same.
21 // I love that she was my Ignition Leader.
22 // I love that I was a part of her wedding.
23 // I love her for all her flaws and her attributes.

Sounds like I'm madly in love with her, but I'm not... I swear!

Allanah, I hope that you had a wonderful birthday and that you will enjoy being 23!
You are the best.

Proverbs 18:24
There are "friends" who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother. 


Love you forever, Ange xx

We like to be sneaky.

I like to play a little game called "Sneaky Photos"
It is a lot of fun, and seriously you should try it. 
What you do is you take a sneaky photo of someone, in other words take a photo of a person and not let them see you. 
And then you take a photo of you being sneaky. 
Let me show you some of our latest images. 


Sneaky Photos Set One.

Victim 1 -Amy. Sneakers: Lauren & Angela.

Victim 2: Kara. Sneakers: Matthew & Angela.

Victim 3: Johnno. Sneaker: Matthew.

Victim 4: Anne. Sneaker: Lauren.

Victim 5: Melanie. Sneaker: Angela.

Victim 6: Bradley. Sneakers: Angela & Melanie.

Victim 7: Lauren. Sneaker: Angela.

Victims 8: Angela & Lauren. Sneaker: Bradley. 


This is the fun we have been up to over the last couple of days. I hope these images have brightened your day just a tad.

Ange. xx