Merry Christmas

Richie and I hope and trust your Christmas Day was filled with love, joy and a sense of peace. It is so easy to get wrapped up in the presents and the Christmas lunch or dinner, and forget why we celebrate this day. It’s the most profound gift ever given to humankind. The promise of salvation, forgiveness, freedom, grace and mercy. A new life and a new hope.

Jesus is the reason. Period.

How silently the wondrous gift is given. Let earth receive her King! New life, new hope, new joy He brings.

Radiant beams from thy holy face with the dawn of redeeming grace. His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Joyful, joyful! Come and worship, come and worship! All glory be to God on high and to the earth be peace.

Let all within us praise His holy name. Glory to the newborn King!

Words all taken from Oh Holy Night, Silent Night, O little Town of Bethlehem, Joy to the World, Away in a Manager, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Joy to the World, Angels from the Realms of Glory, While Shepherds watched, Jesus Oh What a Wonderful Child.

Joy to the World graphic made in InstaQuote by me. Original Babuble picture taken somewhere from Pinterest :)

Happy Birthday Dad!

It’s not Dad’s birthday till Chritmas Eve, but tonight we got the Combo Deal and celebrated his 63rd, and the Pye’s Christmas.

We decided earlier in the week to hit up Yulli’s in Surry Hills for a vegan and vegetarian spread. Tonight was packed and we were lucky we booked.

Afterwards we battled the club-like lines at Messina to get our desert. And, it was totally worth-it!

Happy Birthday Dad – we love you and thank God for you!

This week, it was my birthday…

I turned 31 on Wednesday.

It was a great day even though my husband was away on a school camp and I didn’t get to spend it with him, as originally planned.

Instead I had a great day out with my Mum.

This is what I got up to…

I was able to get a kiss and hug from my sister – HELLO morning eyes!

Went to Ikea with Mum… and found a rug with her name on it. Literally.

Went to Costco with the membership Richie got me and shopped up a storm. Purchased items included, but were not limited to, 2Kg’s of pitted kalamatta olives… ALL for me!

Went out to Dural to some of the nurseries and found some yummy figs. These were $10 a box – God’s own fruit!

I was in heaven…

Bit of cake and a cuppa tea to recoup.

Off to Hargreaves to pick up some supplies with Vanessa.

Then back to her place for birthday dinner of pizza and salad.

Happy birthday to me :)

Happy Australia Day!

What a fun Australia Day I’ve had.

I’ve finally arrived in Brisbane to meet Richie and this morning we had a brunch at our place with plenty of yummy food with great friends.

Australia Day has a different meaning for different people. For me it means:

Equality – no matter if you were born here or not, you are a valuable person who can contribute to making Australia an even better place

Mateship – we are here for each other “come hell or high water” without question

Contentment – we have everything we need here in Australia to be happy

Hope you were able to grab a Ginger Beer to celebrate somehow. Mine was cracked open on the plane.

But she’ll be right…

Being an Aunty…

…is awesome!!!

Kiara, our niece and her boyfriend Jarrod, have stayed with us this past week. It has been heaps of fun and tonight I was spoilt with a Sunday roast. It was fantastic!!!

We’ve only got a few days left together and then they hop on their plane to head home to Brisbane.

Talk about good times, good food and good memories :)

Date Night – North Bondi Beach

We had a brilliant day yesterday.

While Richie relaxed and unpacked from our house-sitting gig, I went to work and sold a property – Love it! Best of all, we had a fantastic Date Night down at Bondi. He is going away next week to a Summer Camp down south to preach so it was awesome to spend some quality time together eating Thaina Box.

P.S. We actually had 2 Date Nights in a row this week. I failed to mention that! The first one on Wednesday night was waffles and a movie. Go see War Horse – it is incredible. There is Oscar buzz surrounding this one, but I wasn’t all that impressed with the end scene.

P.P.S. We got Messina for desert. The best.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy B’day Dad! You look awesome for 62 :)

We love you very much and I promise I’ll bring your birthday card tomorrow!!!

“Shut-up, I love you!” – Our second wedding anniversary

Happy Second Wedding Anniversary Babe!

Last year, we celebrated our anniversary (big time !!!) with a Second Honeymoon to New Zealand. But this year, it is has been much more low-key, but by no-means less important, as we have just returned from a weekend in Brisbane at another fantastic wedding.

This morning I drove Richie to school and we able to have breakfast together at our new favourite haunt.

Our anniversary dates are all blurred and we still can’t remember when our wedding date was. We often say it is the 12th, because that was our dog-eared  date for the majority of our relationship moments… i.e. When we made it official, when he proposed etc… The 13th really did put a spanner in the works and confused us. SO! This year, we have strategically decided to adopt the 12th, 13th and 14th (for good measure) and just celebrate right through until Christmas. We will then be prepared for next year when we go away again… eh, Babe ;)

Shut-up, I love you! xoxo

Sabbath Lunch

What makes Sabbath lunch great?

Good friends…

Good food…

Good times :)

Is that Mrs Santa Claus…

or my Mother-in-Law?

How awesome is this?

Richie sent this photo to me a few hours ago from Coffs Harbour. He is on his way home with the SAC kids from their “Year 10 Safari”. He got to see his Mum and give her a hug and a kiss on the way through.

Bless!!!

Happy B’day Richie Reid

Today is Richie’s birthday and unfortunately, I didn’t get to spend it with him. He left around 5:30am, this morning, to go on a school camp.We got to celebrate last night where we saw Mary Poppins – Richie was in his element!

Flicking through a few old photos today, I found these from past November 20′s…

Circa 2007 – Tarago Reving Toolies on the Gold Coast. Party number 1 for his 30th Birthday.

Circa 2007 – The was the 2nd b’day party Richie had for that year. It was the night Richie turned 30 and the year John Howard lost the election.

Circa 1982 – For the record, Richie wasn’t turning 8. He just wanted a racing car cake from the Women’s Day Cake cook book.

Circa 2010 – Our friend Clare made this cake at Richie’s request.

Circa 2011 – Yesterday, Clare again was in charge of the cake baking.

Happy Birthday Babe – hope the kids spoilt you!

Love ya, miss ya xo

Happy B’day VP!!

Happy 25th to my smokin’ sister Vanessa Jane Pereira!

We celebrated on Saturday night at il Putino on Crown St. I know… How lucky am I… two Saturday nights in a row!!! It was such a great choice VP.

Happy Birthday Legend. Love you long time.

Happy Sabbath!

This is one of my favourite pictures from our week.

It was taken on the road to a dinner on Sunday night and represents the fun, silliness and laughter that inhabits our life.

I’m contemplating throwing it in a frame…

Hope you have a great weekend!

My first look at Mamarapha College, W.A.

One of the highlights of visiting Perth was seeing where Richie went to Bible college. As a young man, he flew to “the West” to attend Mamarapha College not knowing a single soul. It was arranged that he would be picked up from the airport by John Beck, a fellow student, and dropped off at a home where he would board. On the road below, he told me the full story and said that it was one of the toughest things he has ever done in his life.

Mamarapha College is a tertiary level Bible college that aims to help Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women grow and develop in all dimensions of life.

Richie attended Mamarapha straight after his one year stint at Avondale College. His campus was located on the school grounds of Carmel Adventist College. Mamrapha has since moved to this new property - an old public school in the Perth Hills.

Even though moving across the country was scary, he ended up making friends with people who, to this day, stand as some of his best mates. Like Darren… remember Darren?

Darren and Richie hit it off straight away at college. Can you tell?

If you know anyone of indigenous background, encourage them to look into attending. It changed Richie’s life forever.

For more infomation on the amazing college go here.

Happy B’day Clare Salke

A few years ago… ok, like 7-8 years ago, I went on a little adventure with some of my best mates to climb Mt Everest in Nepal.

This was one of those trips that could have broken our mateship altogether or really strengthen it forever. Thank the Lord, it was the latter!

Above is a photo of the Neppers Crew: Clare Bear, Janny, Marko and I circa 2004.

Today, we want to send out a big shout out to Clare for her 29th.

We love you Bear!

Happy Father’s Day, Dad!!!

Look what Richie and I got Dad for Father’s Day.

Thanks Bear for writing a book and getting it out onto the bookshelves in time for Father’s Day – talk about perfect timing!

Thanks Dad for being a great Dad! Hope you liked dinner and your pressies from VP and I. Plus those trendy shoes from Mum!

We love you!

Happy Birthday Mum! You’re looking hot for 60.

My parents flew in this morning. They are pretty tired, but my Dad came back to work at lunch-time. After 30-odd hours of plane travel, he comes back to work within 3 hours of arriving home. CRAZY!

In honour of their return, I’ve decided to post about my Mum’s 60th which was on the 2nd of August.

As you know, or may not know, we celebrated Mum’s birthday as a family in Madeira.

On the day of the 2nd, we drove around some of the most beautiful spots on the island and Mum ended up climbing most of the way up the highest mountain on Madeira Island. It was pretty cool considering mountain climbing/trekking isn’t her cup-of-tea.

That night we headed out to a restaurant with traditional dancers for espatada to celebrate. It was a really fun night and we enjoyed the best espatada in Madeira. In all honesty though, I still think Marcus makes better espatada. The dancers ended up getting Mum out on the dance floor and we all sang Happy Birthday – she was loving it!

Afterwards we shot home and had cake and ice-cream to finish the evening.

It was a super fun 60th which I reckon she’ll never forget!

Remind me to fill you in on the Edinburgh Tatoo which we took her to as her present. That yarn is a whole nutha blog post altogether…

Last Supper in London – Ask Italian, Kensington

We totally rate this place. If you are ever in Kensington, you should try it. Atmosphere is fantasitc, it’s priced fairly and the service is great.

I love their napkins the best.

For One Night Only

Our friend Kaz surprised us this week with a trip to Sydney… for one night only.

She had a training day today and was on a 6am flight from Brisbane. The lucky Chook be back on the 6am Brisbane flight tomorrow.

So what do you for a gal who is in Sydney for one night only?

No matter what it was going to involve, in Sydney, all roads lead to Messina.

Winner!

The Planning Party

Last night we had a little planning party for our next big adventure.

Helene and Gerald are total experts in the art of traveling through France/Spain/Portugal. They’ve been through there about 2000 times in the last 10 years. There were hot tips galore and lotsa laugh-till-you-cry story telling.

We are blessed to be able to call these guys friends. But really, they are more like family.

They are total legends.

Thanks Herald for your advice!!!