26 or 1?

I got lots of wishes of "Happy first Birthday" on Sunday, meaning my first NZ birthday but much more water has gone under the bridge and I turned 26 on Sunday! I had a lovely birthday weekend with a facial and dinner on the Saturday. On the Sunday I had church where some very good friends of mine were being commissioned before moving to Nepal. I then went back to the flat for a pot luck lunch with lots of people from my church. The girls next door had baked me a birthday cake and I had a lovely afternoon with them. Then in the evening Nyree, Viv, Olivia and myself went out to the ballet to see Romeo and Juliet. It was my first time seeing a ballet and I thoroughly enjoyed it despite not feeling well! I am very glad that i knew the story though, I'm not sure I would have known what was going on if I hadn't! It was another excuse to get dressed up and we had a really great time!
Everyone here made it so special! I couldn't believe how many lovely presents and cards I got from people, it was amazing!

A Black Tie Affair

Nyree invited me out for a fundraising meal on Saturday night. She would pay most of the cost as a birthday present to me. It was a black tie, 4 course dinner! After being so good with food and going to the gym for 3 months now, it was nice to have a bit of a splurge and not worry! It was really fun getting all dressed up. It was lots of fun getting to know people that I don't know that well and the food was really good!

Shane from church was playing guitar and even took requests and then i was very embarrassed when everyone sang happy birthday to me!

Olympics - Scripture Union vs TSCF

Not wanting to miss out on the fun of the Olympics, our office were challenged by SU (who we share a building with) to an epic battle! The events included:

straw javelin - where Liz was our absolute star player thrashing the rest of the field.

sock hockey - the key was knowing the rugby ball behaviour of the rolled up socks.

egg and spoon relay race down and up the stairs - where despite dropping the (hard boiled) egg twice we still managed to finish 1st.

rubber band archery - Ouch! Some of us weren't very well practised at this.

balloon volleyball - It was quite difficult smashing a balloon to the ground as it definitely wanted to float!

Frisbee discus - SU were victorious at this highly skilled event.

table top soccer - which involved blowing a ping pong ball off the other side of the board room table. Fortunately no-one fainted from lack of oxygen.

It was such fun! We even had an independent referee. After a hard slog, TSCF were victorious by just 2 points and we were very pleased to receive our medals and trophy!

Part 1 of a social and cultured week.

On Tuesday night, I had the privelage of being invited to watch Craig Pollock (our national directors son) sing with 700 other school children and an orchestra 80 strong. Craig was brilliant as were all of the children. It was a really fun evening and I spent half the night wanting to learn to play the cello and join an orchestra! I think i'm a bit old for that though! I went with Ailsa (Craig's Mum), Luke and Jamie (Craig's brothers) and Jeni. Unfortunately Nigel couldn't make it as he is in Beijing at the Olympic games.

A Sunday afternoon stroll!

(me with Island Bay behind me)

Saturday was an awful day weather wise but on Sunday it was beautiful. I was sat in the lounge with the front door wide open, sun streaming through, reading the Sunday paper and Raewyn called me and asked if I fancied taking a walk! I had enough time before night church and thought it would be great! Raewyn and I walked through the suburb where I live and walked to the top of a nearby hill which overlooks the coast and the suburb. We walked down a different way and then round the coast back home. It was a really lovely walk and i'm glad raewyn suggested it.

A new member of the TSCF family as another leaves!

Emily used to work in the TSCF office as an administrator. She just recently gave birth to Hamish Ryan Johnston. Huge Congratulations to Mark and Emily! We now have one member of our TSCF office creche although i'm not sure who will supply the next....

On a much sadder note. Liz Watson has now left TSCF as her and her husband Matt move to Nepal in early September! Liz has become a very dear friend over the last 8 months and I will be very sad to see her go! Matt and Liz are an amazing couple and I look forward to hearing their news as they head off on their big adventure!
On Monday, we had a farewell lunch for Liz and little Hamish even made an appearence. We will really miss her at TSCF and I will really miss her as a friend and as a car pooling buddy!