"I'm Yours!"

Last Saturday was another one of those days where God blows me away with His incredible blessings for me. I had to work all day and night on Saturday and was absolutely exhausted by the time I got home. My day was pretty normal, nothing out of the usual until Saturday night at the wedding I was working. We had just sent the Bride and Groom off in their horse drawn carriage when a panicked woman from the wedding told me to call 911. There was a girl in the bathroom passed out and shaking all at once. The bathroom was filled with people and was about 100 degrees (literally). I knew I had to get her some air, cool air, and although they always say don't move a injured person, we had no choice. her sister and I picked her up and carried her out to the hallway... the paramedics arrived and she regained consciousness and off in the ambulence she went. She will be fine. This is what happens when you drink too much. Obviously the staff was a little shaken up by the whole incident and it made the rest of the evening a little uneasy...

Now God's blessing. As I am driving home and reflecting on the evenings events I called Brad. He had just gotten home and was waiting for me so we could go to bed. Again, exhausted and ready to crawl in my warm bed, I fumble for my keys and unlock the door. I was struck with Joy as I opened the door. Big bright yellow roses and a card that read "My Baby"! I couldn't believe it, not only did I get roses and a card he also bought me two hot pads and a dish towel that I had seen at world market and pointed out to him. They are the colors of our kitchen and I just loved them when I saw them at the store several days earlier. My heart was filled with warmth as I read the sweet card and saw the smile on Brad's face. He made me feel so extra special for no particular reason. He just wanted to let me know how much he loved me and to remind me "I'm Yours!"

God, you have blessed me with the most incredible husband anyone could ask for. He makes me laugh, cry, and smile all the time. I don't know why you chose me to be so blessed, but Thank You, Thank You, Thank You! Please help Brad and I grow in your perfect will. Lord we want to change the world someday and only you can help us do that! I love you Father, thank you for the love you have given me and shown to me through Brad. Amen

For those of you who haven't heard Brad has been called to missions. He is the new Missions Pastor at our church and although he will really miss the youth, He is so excited to see where God is taking him. We are not leaving the country or moving or anything like that, we are focusing on our community. Together, one day, all of us will change the world for Jesus! I am so excited for you, Brad. You are truly a man after God's own heart!

Sweet Husband...

On Sunday afternoon Brad asked me if he could take me on a date on Thursday night... I said Yes! Obviously! So tonight we went and had a great time eating at one of our favorites Shogun's. I was so happy! Despite my grey hairs haha, He still wants to date me! I just love this man! He even cleaned the house for me today! What a man!

Side Note: I have made the switch, well not completely but almost, to the thicker hair band/ties. Emily (Sister in law) introduced me to them while we were in Australia and now I am hooked. I never have to redo my hair... I used to average a redo atleast every hour while I was at work and now my "do" last all day! Thanks Em, you are truly a bright light in the dark places of my life!

Look!

"BRAD!" I screamed as I was getting ready this morning... "Come Here!"
"What, why are you screaming?" He answered
"Look!" I said as I pointed to GREY hair sticking out amongst my brunette locks. "I don't even have kids yet..."
"Oh, a little grey hair, ehh?" Brad said to me in a joking voice.
"How did this happen?" I exclaimed as I researched my head a little further "There's More"
"Sweet!" Brad continued "It can be your new mark of distinction, like your own fashion statement."

Somebody please explain....

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Holy Cow, I just jumped out of a perfectly good airplane at 14,000 feet in the air! Pure Adrenaline! I can’t not describe the feeling, free falling for 55 seconds, diving towards the earth, just praying that your chute opens! It was awesome! As soon as we hit the ground Brad was ready to go back up! All seven of us made it up and down…I totally recommend this extreme adventure! Anytime is a great time to Skydive! You will not regret it! Woo Hoo!!!!!!

And so this completes our final day in Aussie Land! Tomorrow we will board another plane, with no intentions of jumping, and head back home! We have had the best time here in Australia and have really enjoyed all the breath taking sites!!! I “Heart” Australia!

See You Soon! Love you all! Aussie Out!

Really excited after our jump!!! Woo Hoo!

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We sailed through the harbor last night and ate at a beach side seafood restaurant that was fantastic. We finished off the evening with Ice Cream watching the sunset. Perfect Night in Sydney!

Lovin' the ice cream!
Sunset!


Surfing Aussie style today! We road the tram over to Bondi Beach for our official surf lesson! We geared up, wet suits and all and hit the beach. The water was really cold compared to what we swam in at the barrier reef. We started off learning the basics on sand like you see in the movies and then dove in. We all managed to stand up at least once but Russell was definitely the Pro. But, I guess we could say he was showing off for Paris Hilton since she decided to grace Bondi Beach with her presence. She might not have been the celeb I would have wanted to spot, but seeing the people and paparazzi around here was surreal. She actually ended up stepping on Russell’s board right after some guy through a chunk of sand at her head… She wasn’t so happy! Me and Em's!

Reppin it 'Two-Five style

We made it back to Sydney just in time for New Years Eve! Like I mentioned in an earlier post, we have the perfect view for fireworks. We gathered up lots of snacks and settled in for the night! The crowds were absolutely insane, I have never seen so many jammed into an area like that before. The 9 0’clock show went off first, obviously, and it was pretty impressive so we were looking forward to the 12 0’clock show. We ventured down to the street for a little while and headed back up to the hotel as soon as possible! Crazy! The best way I can describe our view is like having a movie size screen in your living room, with fireworks exploding right in front of your face. Incredible!!! Happy New Year Everyone! Welcome 2009… The year of adventure! Starting tomorrow with Skydiving!
All the People...

Really cool waterfall fireworks... coolest thing i have ever seen!

More Waterfall off the bottom of the bridge!

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Sydney is beautiful! Our hotel room over looks the Harbor Bridge and The Sydney Opera House, it will be the perfect view for the NYE ’09 Fireworks. We went to the Opera house today and toured the amazing architecture and history of the building. It is a really neat story, in fact the architect Jorn Utson, was given the job by winning a world wide contest. 7 years into the projected 3 year project, Utson was semi-forced to resign from the project. He returned to his home in Denmark and never returned to see his fabulous Masterpiece. He was asked to step back on the project this past February to renovate a few spaces of the Opera House. He was delighted to do so. He passed away about 3 weeks ago, still never seeing the finished project. Quick Fact: The Sydney Opera House is recognizable to 2 out of 3 people… What other structures are that recognizable! To list a few, Statue of Liberty, Eiffel Tower, Great Wall of China… If you can name some others write them in the comments!

We climbed the Sydney Harbor Bridge this afternoon and it was once again beautiful! We were one of the last climbs of the year! It was a vigorous climb to the top, but being able to see all of Sydney was well worth it! Opera House

The View from our hotel! And the Bridge we climbed!


At the Top!!!

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Skydiving has been rained out… so sad, but we are going to try again in the morning if the storm passes. So for now we are going shopping… a good rainy day activity! We fly out to Sydney tomorrow afternoon so I will tell you all about it!

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Scuba Diving! We scuba’d the Great Barrier Reef today! It was amazing! Our Boat was called the Silver Sonic. It held about 80 ppl and we were seven of them! There were lots of people there to snorkel and not scuba so it wasn’t overly crowed on the reef. We dove three different parts of the Reef and saw a shark at each dive. The weirdest thing about being that close to a shark when you are scuba diving is that you feel almost invincible. I expected to be really scared if I saw one, but I wasn’t. The sharks were white tip reef sharks and they pretty much keep to themselves. There were at least 30 divers around to bother it and the shark just kept to his own. We got to touch several weird things underneath. We stuck our hands inside of a clam, swam and pet a huge fish, named Axel, who followed us around the whole dive and several things along the reef. The only thing we didn’t get to see was a turtle. We went to the part of the reef named “Phil” after a turtle who lived there. He died several years back but the area was still named after him and still had a few large sea turtles around. Tomorrow is skydiving, and I can’t wait! The Whole gang getting ready to dive!
SHARK!!!! Sorry the pic is fuzzy, but its an underwater camera what do you expect!
Just Chillin'!
Hanging out with my hubbie... underwater!
Brad and Axel, she loved to be petted!