one happy little westchurch family

This weekend was a bit of a blockbuster weekend for me, considering that I saw "X-MEN 3" and "The DaVinci Code". We took the youth group out on Friday night to watch X-MEN, and in one word: X-TREME! I loved it! Thought it was by far the best one out of the trilogy. Then on Saturday, Westchurch and Perth Church got together and met at King's Park for an afternoon picnic. It was a great time of fellowship together and I spent some quality time on the blanket working on the back of my eye lids. Saturday evening I went with Helen and her mom to watch "The DaVinci Code", which despite all the controversy and bad reviews that surround it, I thought it was an entertaining movie. But it's just a movie. Sunday was church and afterwards there was about 6 of us that went and bought some food from the food market and took it over to Sue Simmon's house for lunch. I loved it, we had Sunday Family lunch together, Hayley and Amy did an amazing job making chicken pasta. After lunch, we drove down to Victoria Park and watched Sam play basketball. He even scored a slam dunk, which was super impressive. Naturally his team one; I think it was the first win for the season. I met up with Cath later and went with her to her church, Mounty's, for the evening service. It was really good, they had 3 people who were baptized that night, so it was super encouraging. And after church, Cath, Sian and myself, went and ate at a nice little Thai restaurant in Ledderville. Apparently the news spread and a huge gathering from church showed up and sat with us for a late dinner.

We've had some pretty exciting turn of events in the last few hours. On Friday I made the decision to cancel State Youth Games, because we had so many people drop out last minute. I was super discouraged, and wasn't sure what to do, but we decided that we would still make the most out of the weekend, and go down to Bunburry like we had planned. Today my friend Vanessa called me from another church here in Perth and asked if those who were left wanting to go to SYG, would like to join with their church. It seems to work out perfectly because they've got about 6 spots left to fill and that's how many we have left that can play. So after all the heart ache and hard decisions, we will be going to SYG afterall. I'm super excited, I was really cut that we weren't going to play orignally. I'll make sure to take lots and lots of photos of all of us embarassing ourselves as we try to play these different sports. It looks like we'll be playing bocce, ultimate frisbee, beach volleyball(my personal favorite), scrabble and mix-netball. So hurray! Looks like all my training at the gym will pay off after all! (Does anyone have tickets to the gun show?)

week of woo

My friend Wilson came into Perth to visit this past week and let me tell you; what a week it was! I think me and Josh showed him everything worth seeing in Perth over the past seven days, but I didn't complain, seeing as I took some time off to spend with him. On Monday we went to Cottesloe Beach and ate lunch at the Beaches Cafe and that night we stayed in and had Mexican. The real tragedy of the trip was that me and Josh got him hooked on LOST. We watched all of the first season in the course of about 3 days. Tuesday we took him into the city and Wednesday we spent some time in Subi and then showed him around King's Park. I also spent this last week preparing for the big SYG Quiz Night that I've been organizing for weeks now. Thursday, we went and played Super Golf in Swan Valley and then went to a couple winery's to do some wine tasting. My advice: never do a wine tasting on an empty stomach... And Friday was the big event, the Quiz Night of the Century. Amy and I were the MC's for the evening, several people said we did a great job, but I thought my jokes were cheesy and people honestly probably didn't understand me because of my American accent. All in All, we raised close to $1000, which is awesome and will help us out enormously with SYG. Saturday we took Wilson to Fremantle, a nice cultural hub about 30 mins south of Perth. We ate lunch at the famous Cicerelo's- a fish and chips place, and then topped off our afternoon with the most incredible gelare I've ever had. Saturday night was also eventful; Amy and I planned to go and sing Karaoke and we were able to con about 6 others to join us on our magical journey. Jade and I did a wonderful rendition of Cindy Lauper's "Time After Time" and then Amy and I graced the stage with our presence with a little number by the Dixie Chicks "Cowboy Take Me Away". It was great, as always, we had a blast! Sunday was a quieter day, but church was very encouraging- we had several new faces and visitors because of Mother's Day. Sunday night we spent the evening inside playing cards and Scrabble. (Hint: if you ever want to beat me at something, just play Scrabble against me) But Hayley and I beat the boys in Spades, which was super encouraging for our egos. Monday morning we woke up early and ate at the famous Blue Duck in Cottesloe and visited the Wild Fig cafe one more time. (It was one of Wilson's favorite places)

Today I spent around the house, catching up on the work I've neglected for a week. Tonight I've got my missions class and tomorrow starts BSF up again for me. The next big event on the plate is State Youth Games, and then the invasion of the Lipscomb students in July. I just can't believe how fast time flies by. I promise I will post blogs more often, now that our internet is up and running again.

we are one, but we are many....

Again I apoligize for the tardiness of my posts, would you believe that our computer's been down for several days. Anyways, on April 25th, it was Anzac Day, which is very similar to our Memorial Day. Amy and I, along with her two exchange students from Taiwan(Eric) and Japan(Tommy)went to King's Park for the Dawn service. It was amazing; I think I heard on the radio that about 70,000 people came out for the service. Or maybe it was 7,000; regardless, there were people everywhere, ready to watch the sunrise come up over the city. It was gorgeous, a great experience. Since it was a public holiday, we all went home and slept for a few hours then got up and made a huge brunch- pancakes, bacon, eggs, toast...you name it, we made it.

This past week has been very productive, I'm trying to get the last little bits of pieces together for the Quiz Night next week. People keep assuring me that they will be there, but all I can do is hope for the best. Tuesday, we celebrated Amy's birthday by having a nice picnic in King's Park. The sky was so blue against the green grass in the park, it was a great spot. We even had champaign to go along with the "mood". Friday I went to St. Stephen's high school and ate lunch with the students, as I always do. Friday night, we had youth group and we went ice skating. It was a blast! I was really encouraged because a lot of the youth brought along their friends from school and we had a nice turn out. There weren't any major wipeouts on the ice, which was good, but lots and lots of awkward skating. Yesterday, I met Cath in the afternoon for a long walk/run, it was a beautiful day, we just had to be outside. And last night, me and Kim met my friend Jenny at her church to hang out with their youth group. I was under the impression that it was going to be really informal, just a time to share ideas about youth. But to my surprize, I was their guest speaker and about 35 kids were there. Talk about pulling it together at the last minute! But it was great and the youth were wonderful, I wished that I could get that many to come along to our youth events. It's almost time for church, so I will sign off now. Salutations.