The Best Surprise Ever

My sister Vicki popped in for a visit. Popped in is a bit of an odd word to describe her visit. Vicki lives in Adelaide which is over 800 km (over 500 miles) from here.
She drove over with a friend, Margaret. Margaret's brother had his 50th birthday this weekend and Vicki decided to join her. They were in Korumburra which is about a 30-40 minute drive from here.

Vicki

It was really nice to catch up with Vicki. It's been a couple of years since we had seen each other, other than the occasional phone call. We talked & talked & talked. Not bad considering I am not one to talk a lot normally.

This afternoon made me realise that I wish Vicki lived closer or that she was at least able to go online. She has trouble using her phone let alone a computer. She does have one at home for playing games and isn't connected to the net. A real shame really. Who knows one day I may convince her that its not a bad thing nor is it that difficult.

Anyway it was a lovely surprise. I got to see my BIG sister :)

Spring Cleaning, But Its Autumn ..

What a gloriously sunny day today. It was certainly a reprieve from the gloomy overcast days we've had recently. So what did I do today while the weather was nice ... I swept the floor, vacuumed, did two loads of washing, finally took some washing off the line that had been stuck there for almost a week due to the rain and picked Brodie up from school because he wasn't allowed to work because he didn't take his chef's shirt with him.

For some reason the hospital kitchen staff said he was out of uniform and wasn't able to work today. I didn't read anywhere in the contract that stated he had to wear his TAFE chef's uniform to his work placement. Anyway they (work) sent him back to school and school said they didn't want him there because he had no classes to attend. So of course I had to go and pick him up. At least the weather was nice and I didn't have to drive up there in the pouring rain. But that cut into my cleaning so I made Brodie help me a bit when he got home. Surprisingly he helped without moaning about it. I'm still in shock.

I had a visitor coming this afternoon which was one of the main reasons I was cleaning/tidying up this morning ( I couldn't let my visitor see how grotty the house was). I got to meet a twitter friend for the first time, @MissMamaBear & her LittleBear. They were coming to town to visit family and popped in for a cuppa. It was nice to be able to put a face to the name.

I even managed to get some knitting done this afternoon. The little hedgehog will be finished by the end of this week hopefully. Of course there will be photos when I am done.

My only problem now is to work out what we are going to eat for dinner. I am sure if I ask the kids for suggestions they will say take-away!

Visitors

We had Mark's sister & her two children come & visit with us today. They flew in from Perth early this morning. It was really nice seeing them.

I was even able to make another little teddy last night & I finished it this morning. I gave it & the other little teddy to Mark's nephew & niece.

Mark's brother, who lives in town, also came over. We even went out to for lunch. I think we had a pretty good day. And considering the two little ones hadn't slept they were really well behaved, especially for an overtired 3 & 4 year old.

They've now headed off to Ballarat to visit Grandma & some other family (whom I've not met yet - well I have met some of them). Then on the weekend they're off to Mt Buller for a snow holiday! Half their luck. We live here & I've never been to the snow. Maybe one day.

Anyway we've had a good day & I'm bushed.

Our Visitors

We had a few visitors last night. Maitland popped in for a visit, I had the feeling that he would come over today, but that was a good thing he's been a bit down in the dumps of late. We also had the missionaries come over too. That's also one of the reasons why I knew Maitland would be here. I'm not sure how I knew but I just knew.

It was great having the missionaries here. We're going through the lessons again from before you are baptised. Mark and I felt we needed to revisit these lessons to give us a better perspective on things and to also refresh our memories. After all its been over 10 years since either of us were baptised. I also thought it would be a very good thing for the big fella to hear. I really would love it if he were to be baptised. The little dude too come to think of it.
The big fella had such a hard time concentrating. In fact at times he was just down-right silly!! But that is nothing new for him! He tends to be super silly when we have visitors. I became a bit annoyed with his behaviour while they missionaries were here. I know I shouldn't be but I was. I guess I need to learn more patience.
While we were going through the lesson I noticed that the missionaries looked more at Maitland and the big fella. But I'm thinking that was because they hadn't heard they lessons before.

We've arranged with to have the lessons after Church on Sundays. Mainly because we live so far from away from the ward and the missionaries only get a certain amount of kilometres to travel each month. And frankly they would use a lot to come and visit us more frequently. So rather than monopolize their travel allotment we agreed that it would be much better to have the lessons straight after church.

Mark was saying how he would love to baptize the boys. In fact, I think that would be absolutely awesome! I would never have dreamt that someone I know so well would be able to baptize them. I can just imagine it and it would be such an honour if the boys chose to be baptized and to have it done by Mark.

I've been so worried of late with how I've been feeling. How I feel like I am a hypocrite and that I really don't deserve to be happy or to have things go my way. I hate feeling this way but sometimes it feels like I just can't help it! Mark even threatened to phone/email Diva and tell her exactly how I have been. Anyway, Mark & I had a really good talk, well he spoke & I listened. He made so much sense, saying how everyone deserves help (I still believe otherwise). I still have that thing in my head about not accepting or rather not asking for help because it shows weakness. Silly I know but that is how I have always felt & I need to stop thinking and feeling like this. However to me its valid even if it makes no sense to anyone else because it is how I feel and regardless of what people say your feelings are real and valid because they belong to you.
And even with all my faults & problems Mark accepts me as I am. Gosh I love him to bits! I am so lucky to have him in my life. I'm so glad he is part of our family.