highlights of the week

Lots happened this week... among the many things... Nathan and Aaron, Sarah's friend's from HK who are now studying over on the East coast, came over to stay with us for the Easter break. During their stay, we were able to go to the Perth Zoo... had an afternoon with the animals; had dinner at Leo's twice during their stay; went to Sizzler twice... ate way too much each time; went to Brendan's parents' restaurant for fantastic Thai cuisine; saw Sarah in action at Subway during the lunch rush; watched 'Inside Man' at the movies; went down south for the Young Adult Retreat; we did heaps more but I'll stop rambling on about them for now...

We had the Young Adult Retreat over the weekend (Fri 21st - Sun 23rd April) in Dwellingup. I was a little nervous at first about the retreat as I had been helping out with some of the admin beforehand and wasn't sure if things were going to go as we had planned. Luckily it all went well... The atmosphere of the whole retreat was really amazing... There were lots of new people that I hadn't met previously and it was just brilliant getting to know them and seeing them all get connected to other people. The acoustic worship and speakers were really encouraging, helping me crave to get back to the basics, trying to keep it real in my worship. The location of the retreat was great too, the lush green surrounding was quite different from the city scape and helped me experience God differently. Anyways that's just a bit of what I got out of the retreat... (And some pics of the weekend below.)

the hermitage cottage + dave and the girls

b00f + simone

cathy and marje + chilling out by the fireplace

troy + jono brendan

nancy ryan jonathan jay marje + meal time out on the verandah

josh dunjey's baptism in the river

My friend Yoshi gave birth to a beautiful baby girl - Imogen Sayuri Monck, on the 21st April. I got to visit her at the hospital the other day... Imogen slept angelically through the visit (she was awake for most of the night the night before!). Congratulations JP and Yoshi!

proud parents yoshi jp and imogen + yoshi baby and ann

auntie ann + yoshi and her baby girl

easter - a brief picture summary

From one of my favourite comics: bc comic - 14th april 2006

The front cover of the West Australian and the page 11 article that went with the picture - Saturday 15th April. (click on the image to enlarge the article)

a cloud of randomness

It's late, I'm tired but I decided I should update a little, so here goes... I love what Pastor Zhenya from the Hillsong Kiev Church said tonight - we need to have a spirit of appreciation, especially for things/ people we may often take for granted. Anyway here's a random mish-mesh of thoughts from this past week: I'm really loving my cell group, it's quite a mix bag of characters but it just adds an element of interest and I reckon we're all learning from each other!... Can't believe that lots of the youth worship team guys have actually written songs. We finally got to listen and share them last week! It's so wonderful hearing the different styles of music and yet they have the same focus. Keep the tunes rolling guys!... I actually helped design and paint the new set design for April. (Yeah what the!?!) For a person who could never paint or design well in high school this has been a major achievement. I was actually quite scared especially being appointed the 'project manager' for the set. I was super priviledged to have been able to work alongside Belinda who is a Fine Arts graduate. She knew which colours to use, and how to mix them etc (I hadn't a clue about that kind of stuff!) Thank you God for helping us through it... I'm really looking forward to what the Young Adult ministry is capable of doing, there is so much potential that's yet to be unleashed. I reckon the retreat is going to rock! (Oh by the way the last Young Adult Social went very well... biskiting at the Narrows... twas a fun-filled afternoon with pictures to prove!)

josh jono clare + getting ready for a ride on the swan

the umbrella + jason candice

nahum jo + grace

jordan marje + sarah

ann + boys and their handstands