Bestest birthday bash ever!

Me coming out of the bedroom and being surprised by all the birthday messages (OK, Im posing in this one, but I really was surprised earlier on); Tucking into the yummy birthday cake; Celebrating with my 'friends'.

Last Tuesday was my birthday and I had the best day! I was starting to feel a bit nigelated as I forgot how hard it is to make friends – I mean its easy to have a conversation with someone over tea and its easy to befriend someone, but to have a true friendship with someone is something that takes time and effort.

I must admit that I haven’t made a big effort in getting to know people. At first, I didn’t want to get too close to anyone because I felt that our time here was limited – if I got too attached to someone, then it would be really hard to say goodbye at the end of next year, just like how it was really hard to say goodbye to everyone in Sydney. I thought it would be ok to just keep relying on my friends back at home to support and sustain me. But then I realised how silly that notion was – don’t get me wrong, I definitely do depend on my friends and family back home to keep me going, but it was silly to think that I shouldn’t take this opportunity to make new friends, to learn new things, to be encouraged and inspired by others and vice versa.

So just when I was at the point of feeling really down about not having close friends around me, I started making more of an effort to get to know people and I am blessed to see the beginnings of some good friendships. I was also so blessed to get all these birthday wishes last week. It really made my day feel so special that I got so many messages, SMSs and phone calls from people that I love. Chester organised a surprise birthday e-party where heaps of people sent in birthday wishes and photographs and he stuck them around the house. I woke up to all these wonderful messages, so thank you to all who contributed!

I had a great day at college as well – classes were cancelled (woo hoo!) as we had to take our student year photos. That night we also had a special college function called a ‘Matriculation Dinner’. Its like a debutante ball but less formal. All the first years get called up one by one and have to sign in to the college’s register, so its like an official welcoming. Afterwards, we had a buffet dinner in the college courtyard.










Our first year class. I'll post one of the whole college later on when it's available.










Chester shaking David Seccombe's hand after signing the register.

In the end, I had a ‘sensational’ day because at my low point, God was able to show me all the blessings that I have around me – the day was filled with love and well wishes from family and friends back home and the night was spent having a great time with some new friends.

Please continue to pray for both Chester and I that we will make an effort to get to know people and that we will make some really good friends here as I know that this will continue to challenge us!













My new friend, Kim and I gorging on the buffet dinner.