Another very busy week for us - always is the busiest before we are leaving for a course.
This week, I did my usual tai chi, aquafit and yoga classes along with a facial (won't be having one of those again for seven weeks - waaaaaaah), a chiropractor visit, two ultrasounds (breast and shoulder - didn't hear back from the doctor so that is supposed to be good news in that there is nothing to worry about) and a massage (so relaxing). I also had three social activities to attend this week (what a surprise, me being a social butterfly, hahaha).
On Tuesday, my friend, Maureen and I went to lunch and then to a movie. I didn't know what was playing at the movie theatre, so I checked out the synopses for the ones showing and chose one called 'Lion' which I thought sounded really good. It turned out to be a wonderful movie - very happy, sad, moving, etc. I would recommend it if you have a chance to see it - it is based on a true story and is basically about a young Indian boy aged about six who gets separated from his family in India, is adopted by an Australian couple and then decides, when he becomes an adult, to go back to India to try to find his family.
The second social event was on Thursday when some friends from church and I surprised another friend, Denise, for a going-away lunch. I had organized for the other four ladies to be at the restaurant ahead of time and I brought Denise to the cafe. She was so surprised when she walked in to the cafe and saw the other ladies sitting there. Denise is such a lovely lady and has been a good friend of mine since we arrived in the Bay - she and her husband, Robert, have sold up their house here and are retiring to a smaller house in a smaller town about 2 hours away, so we won't likely be seeing much of her from now on. We gave her a photo frame as a gift and I put a pic in it of Robyn and Denise and I which I had already taken at a previous lunch - we had our pic taken at this lunch and I will print it out and send it to Denise and she can put it in her frame to remind her of the wonderful friends she has in HB.
Back row: Daphne, Maureen and me / Front row: Audrey, Denise and Robyn
My third social outing was Homemaking yesterday. The theme of the month was 'service doesn't have to be big and grandiose to be meaningful and make a difference'. The activity was learning how to crochet a granny square - we are asking each sister to make four in total and then we will be putting them together to make a quilt which will be donated to someone in need. We had twelve sisters come to this activity which was a perfect amount actually - it would have been hard to teach any more sisters how to crochet. I will be doing my granny squares while I am here in Brisbane and take them back in April to add to the rest.
Left to right: Daphne, Robyn, Sandy, Judy and Sandra
Around the table from the front left: Trish, Allison, Christy, Jessica and Leanne (and Effie is the teacher and is the one standing in the bright orange and pink skirt)
On Tuesday night, I babysat two little girls from church - I have told their parents, Ben and Lisa, that I would babysit the girls, Scarlett and Indiana, whenever I am back in HB. Ben asked me last Sunday if I would be able to babysit the girls on Tuesday (Valentine's Day) to which I readily agreed. The girls are so cute and seem to enjoy it when I come over to watch them. When I got there this time, the girls told me that their mom had told them that I was going to be making cookies with them (what a surprise) - fortunately, it was from a cookie mix so it was easy to do with them. Before baking the cookies, they asked me to go on the trampoline with them and play a game where I bounce really high and try to get them to fall down. It was a lot of fun and showed how 'old' I am in that it didn't take very long to tire me out. I was able to rest a little in between rounds, but we must have stayed on there for at least half an hour. The girls love to be read to, too, which I love to do and so we read nine books which I had brought over to read to them and two of their own.
Robyn and I went visiting teaching to Maryborough today - that is a town about half an hour from HB and there are a lot of sisters there who used to be mainly visited by Lyn, but she and her husband, Dan, have now gone on a mission and so Robyn and another sister, Jan, have taken on visiting these six sisters. Jan, however, was away this week and so I told Robyn that I would join her in visiting these sisters. I love visiting teaching and always have, so it was an enjoyable day even though we only got to visit with two out of the six sisters there.
The missionaries came over for dinner again on Friday night - along with Robyn - and we had another delicious meal - Dad cooked hamburgers and sausages on the barbie. The missionaries love meat and so they ate extremely well that night. :-) One of the missionaries, Elder Ha, will likely be gone by the time we get back to HB - we will miss him as he is a very humble and funny missionary.
Dad's week was boring compared to mine - other than going to see the chiropractor, the doctor (to get his stitches out) and having massage, he spent the week preparing for his upcoming course. He knows the B737 airplane really well having worked on it many years ago, but he has never taught the course before, so there is a lot of refreshing for him to do.
Yesterday, after Homemaking, Dad and I drove to Brisbane where he will begin teaching his course on Monday. Dad's boss, Harry, has bought a house here (about three minutes from work) and that is where we are staying this time. The house is called a 'Queenslander' which is quite common here - the house is a raised bungalow on stilts generally with some kind of unfinished open area underneath which is often used for storage. The house is very old, but has lots of character. There are very few electrical outlets, so there are power boards and extension cords all around the house. One of Dad's co-workers at QAC, Jon, is staying here for two months as well - he seems very nice and has been quite hospitable to us.
We went to church today and we felt so welcome - it was really nice. As soon as we sat down, the Bishop came down from where he was sitting up front to introduce himself to us and find out who we were. In Relief Society, one of the sisters came up to me and said they would like to come and visit with me next week. A number of other members came up to us during our time there to introduce themselves - I don't think we have ever had such a lovely welcome in any ward we have been to. Since we are going to be here for seven weeks, it was nice to feel a part of the ward.
Family centrepiece I made for an upcoming Homemaking activity - I think it turned out great! :-)
Beautiful crocheted doily which Effie made for me - she is the sister who has been helping me to refresh my crocheting skills - she had made one for our display about the activity and I had admired it so much - she surprised me with this beautiful one she made this week - I just love it!
