One Year On

It was our first wedding anniversary on Sunday.What an awesome year it has been. We've managed to do a lot in our first year of marriage, including:

• 2 Overseas Holidays (Fiji & NZ)
• 3 Short breaks closer to home.
• Tiarnee finishing her degree and starting teaching.
• Learning to live together.
• Growing as people together.

I've heard people say that the first year of marriage is the hardest but I'm not completely sure if that's true. I don't say that because this year has been easy, marriage is hard work. But it's been a privilege, and a blast so far! We (or at least I!) don't regret it in the slightest! Marriage streches you and grows you in ways you can't imagine before it. But I fully believe that God has used it to make me a better person.

I can't wait to see what God has in store for our future. It's all very breathtaking and exciting and right now, I'm loving the ride!

NZ Photos

For those of you interested, I've uploaded a selection of our photos from our trip to New Zealand & Melbourne. You can access them via the link just above this post. Of if you're reading an RSS feed and are lazy, by clicking HERE.

Here are a couple of good ones:

NZ Holiday Wrap Up!

Starting Sunday week ago (27th Sept.) Tiarnee and I set out on an 'end of Uni' holiday for Tiarnee. She's finished her study and when her registration comes through she's able to start teaching. Very cool! So being the last chance we'll have to take extended holidays for a while we headed off to the South Island of New Zealand for 8 days, and then 2 days in Melbourne when we returned. A brief summary of the trip: (Pictures to follow when I return to an ADSL2+ net connection!)

Day 1: Minimay - Melbourne (drive) - Christchurch
Set out nice and early to arrive at Tullarmarine Airport with plenty of time to check-in and fulfill some duty-free orders for family. The drive was a really good 5 hours, and the flight a smooth 3.5.

Day 2: Christchurch - Franz Josef
After getting up at 8:10 local time (which was 5:10 according to our body clocks!) we rushed though brekky and picked up our hire car. As the weather was miserable we headed out of Christchurch, taking the stunning drive through Arthur's Pass across to the west coast. We then headed down the coast, arriving at Franz Joseph on sunset. We soaked the evening away in some beautiful 38 degree hot pools.

Day 3: Franz Josef - Haast
As the Franz Joseph walk was booked out, we quickly drove down to Fox glacier in time to take the morning half-day glacier walk. This river of ice is 17 km long & 300m wide. It was a massive walk but a clear-blue sky made for spectacular scenery and a great walk on the ice. One of the highlights of the trip.

Day 4: Haast - Queenstown
On this morning we drove through more snow-capped mountains and beautiful clear lakes as we drove through the Haast pass. A stop at Wanaka for lunch, before driving to on to Queenstown where we checked into the Crowne Plaza!

Day 5: Queenstown
The most awesome day of the trip! Sleep-in, free cooked breakfast and the Shotover Jet in the morning! In the afternoon, up to Coronet Peak for snow sightseeing, before shopping in town (for Tiarnee) and a ride up the Skyline Gondola for yet more spectacular scenery, downhill luge, and a buffet tea! After tea what better than for a drink? So we headed to the 'Minus 5' bar where everything including the cup you drink from is made from ice! You can only be in the bar (temp of -8 while we were in it!) for 30 mins. Took lots of photos of each other and the ice sculptures inside.

Day 6: Queenstown - Invercargill
Much more low key. Another awesome cooked brekky in Queenstown (not free this time!) before we drove south to Invercargil. The further we went the worse the weather became. Went all the way down to the bottom of the South Island. Before the hail, rain and wind got the better of us and we retreated for the evening.

Day 7. Invercargill - Dunedin
Heading back up the east coast, we arrived in Dunedin in the early afternoon. A visit to the Cadbury factory there was literally 'sweet as'! We also visited NZs only 'castle' which wasn't really a castle, as there were no walls or moat. But it was a huge old Victorian mansion with elaborate garden etc. For tea this night I ordered Crayfish! Expensive but delicious! It was the first time I'd ever ordered Cray, but hopefully won't be the last.

Day 8 - Dunedin - Christchurch
In icy 5-6 degree temperatures we set out on the 5 hour drive back to Christchurch. We arrived in time to have a walk around the Cathedral Square and finish off our souvenir shopping. We also went to the even church service in the Christchurch cathedral. A very ornate church!

Day 9 - Christchurch - Melbourne
Clothes shopping in the Christchurch mall for Tiarnee, followed by a quick visit to the fantastic International Antarctic Center before dropping off Earl our hired car and heading to the airport. Our flight home was perfectly smooth, and featured a stunning flight across NZs southern alps.

Day 10 - Melbourne
A relaxing holiday day to recover from our holiday! More shopping by my beautiful wife before heading to the Melbourne Museum to visit the Pompeii exhibition & a movie at the IMAX! We rounded out the day with a delicious meal on South bank.

Day 11 - Melbourne -Minimay
Another sleep-in before our long drive back to the Wimmera. We were glad to breakup the drive by having lunch with some friends in Ballarat, and tea with some other friends in Nhill!

All in all a fantastic holiday that I'm still enjoying!

Two Groups of Friends

My wife & I (nope, still not used to saying that) have 2 groups of friends. These 2 groups are very different from each other.

One of them is my group of mates that I've known since high school. They're Christian guys (& girls) that go to church every Sunday, don't drink a whole lot, and often helpout with local youth groups etc.

The other group of friends is Tiarnee's group of friends from College. Several times this year we've been to loud obnoxious parties they've hosted, and at different times for different reasons, we've felt let down by them, as I'm sure they have felt the same way about us.

In addition to our wedding presents, both groups of friends decided to give us somthing extra upon moving into our new house. One group brought us a brand-spanking new4 burner BBQ with gas bottle to use it. We'd wanted one to go with our awesome pool and backyard, but could never have afforded one. We were very suprised, humbled and gratefull to receive it.

The other group of friends took their strange version of a joke completely too far. They trashed our house, meaning that I spent the first 2 days in my new and previously spotless house (oh yeah, that I'm renting) with my new wife cleaning.

Yep, if you've read this far, you have probably guessed what happened. The "Christian" friends trashed the house and the "non-Christian" friends brought us the BBQ.

This has raised a whole bunch of questions in my own mind, but the one that baffles me the most is this: Why is it that non-Christian binge-drinking uni students know infinitely more about 'loving thy neighbour' than those who claim to know God?

2008: Year in Review

In 2008 I managed to achieve amongst other things, the following (in order):

• Turn 21 & have party.
• Moved interstate into a new flat.
• Learnt that nothing is open in Adelaide when you want it to be open.
• Started a new job in the real world as a 'Graduate Software Engineer' for a web development company.
• I graduated with a Bachelor of Information Technology from the University of Ballarat.
• I joined a new church & home group: Holy Trinity.
• Helped my fiancee plan a wedding.
  
• Took my fiancee on a suprise night out for her 21st.
• Had my bucks weekend in Adelaide. Which consisted of Halo 2, Paintballing, Go-Karting, steak and Ice-Cream.
• Found & moved into a 1890s built 3 bedroom house with Air-con and.... a pool!
• On the 22nd of November I got married to my girfriend of almost 4 years and my fiancee of 16 months, Tiarnee Munn.
• Following that we went on a Honeymoon to Fiji.
• Went on a small holiday just before Christmas to the Yorke Peninsula
• Spend most of Christmas with my wifes family.
• Went to Melbourne and saw the first day of the Boxing Day test match.
• Rocked out New Years Eve to Peter Coombe. Hearing such hits as 'newspaper mama' and 'Juicy, Juicy Green Grass'.

All in all. BEST YEAR EVER.

Can 2009 top that? Time will tell.

Tiarnees 21st!

I've just had the most awesome week! It was my beautiful fiancees 21st birthday on Wednesday & so to celebrate she's had a 4 day celebration! 

After work on Friday I got all dressed up (shirt & tie) & took Tiarnee out for a (suprise location) dinner at the Mt. Lofty Summit resturant. After a deceptively large piece of Atlantic Salmon & a top shelf LL&B we admired the view of Adelaide for a couple of minutes in the cold and then drove back down to my place. The suprises there continued when I had my first ever attempt at a mud cake iced and decorated along with her present. (See photo) I might add that the attempt at the cake was VERY successful. It was a very fun night.

Then last night was her party at a pub in Adelaide. Again a fun night with a good parma* some more yummy Cheesecake Shop cake & even some time on the D. floor. As well as catching up with everyone! 

So Happy Birthday Tiarnee! This year is going to be the most amazing of our lives!! So far!

*I will most likely never have a great parma ever again. The reason? No parma anywhere I've seen has come close to matching the $10 Bunny Pub parmas had back in 1st year Uni. I'd be scared if I ever saw a chicken that big in real life....

Time well spent

This is my first post in 2.5 months and I've done 4 posts since March. Not that nothing has been happening for the past 5 months, quite the opposite. You wouldn't know it from this blog but not only is the date for the big day finally set, it's only just over 2.5 months away. It's actually all a bit surreal. After going out with Tiarnee since the beginning of 2005 & being engaged since July last year it's hard to believe that it's almost here.

I've grown so much in the past few months & yet such growth only makes me painfully aware of the growth still to come. I've lost weight, through a (generally) healthier lifestyle. It seems getting paid to sit on your butt in front of your computer is healthier than doing it voluntarily at Uni. God has been teaching me an awful lot about myself. I've almost adapted to living in Adelaide, the traffic lights still annoy the you-know-what out of me. I still think it's ridiculous that it takes me 15-25 mins to travel 4.5 kms (That's right Melbournites, I can afford to live that close to the CBD) every morning& that it's no slower to ride my bike than catch the bus. The excitement & responsibility of becomming a husband both scares me to death and gives me a reason to get up in the morning. Over the last few weeks I have and am confronting issues that I've been ignoring and running from for almost half my life. I've started playing squash again. I've won 1 of my first 4 matches. This week I learnt a fair bit about Microsoft SQL Server 2005 & stored proceedures. Oh & did I mention I'm planning a wedding? Invitions are currently under construction.

It's great running through life having little idea as to what I'm doing, but knowing that God does.

My aim is to start posting fairly regularly again. There's plenty going on that I could blog about, and when I was posting regularly, there were actually people reading what I had to say. The amazing thing is that this is true inspite of the fact that I was just a bored Uni student back then.

Before and After

I posted an image last year showing how far apart Tiarnee & I were. Doing it 'tough' as a 'long-distance relationship'. I can now do a before and after to show how things have changed.

BEFORE

AFTERThere's so many things I could say (& hopefully will with some organisation) about my move to Adelaide. But this is the awesome thing that stands out amongst them.

A Big Change

Broadband Speed Test Results

Test run on 24/02/2008 @ 10:13 PM

Mirror: TPG
Data: 15 MB
Test Time: 12.03 secs

Your line speed is 10.42 Mbps (10417 kbps).
Your download speed is 1.27 MB/s (1302 KB/s).

I moved down to Adelaide yesterday, and start my new job tomorrow. I've gone from living 600+ km from my fiancee, to living less than 3km from her. Oh, & did I mention I've got ADSL2+?

Life is exciting!!

21

So I'm officially an adult now. All grown up. Responsible. Mature. Educated. You know, all those things that society expects me to be.

I had my 21st party on Australia Day which was good fun. Approx. 50 people came, so it wasn't too huge. But the engagement party was the big one, so that was ok.
Speeches were given by:

1. Graham - (father of a couple of my mates) said some really nice stuff about the friendships I've had with not just his kids, but others in the area.
2. Tiarnee - Congratulated me on everything I'd achieved to date & reminded me of the big future I have in front of me& encouraged me to take opportunities as they arise. Was really nice and personal without being too gushy. Not that I would have minded.
3. Dad - his favorite memories of my life & how I'm entering the big bad world now.
4. Me - I thanked everyone for coming, especially the non-locals for traveling. I also stated about how my 21st was worth celebrating, because after 21 it is all down hill and everything that is good that can happen to a guy is happening to me this year. Because:

• I'm starting work.
• Getting my own place and furnishing it with my own stuff.
• Getting a really good job and my own money.
• Getting married.
  
• I'm still young enough to enjoy all the above.

I then said something serious about how lucky I am and how I've been so blessed with everything around me.

Can life get any better than this?

The Death of Innocence

Well after a couple of months in the blogging wilderness I'm back on the cusp of so called "Adulthood."

It's been an amazing couple of months in which so many things have happened.

The first was that I finished my Bachelor of Information Technology, so in May I'll be able to have the letters B.I.T. after my name. Exciting stuff.

After leaving Ballarat on election day I drove a truck almost non-stop (full-time +) until New-Years. This gave me some badly needed money to tide me over until I start work on the 25th of February. I wonder if O-week at work will be anything like O-week at Uni.

I also managed to spend at least half of the above earnings on a 3-day trip to Adelaide with Tiarnee. The money was spent on furniture for my flat that I was lucky enough to secure in a prime location just north of the city. It really is the perfect spot, only a 10-15 minute commute for me to work, a 5 minute (or less!) commute to see Tiarnee, and for her, is walking distance to her bus route to Uni. So because she is moving in later in the year, she wanted a say on the table and chairs, fridge, and Queen-Sized bed that I (we!) ended up purchasing. 'Discussions' were had, but the fact that we where still on talking terms for the trip home really did bode well for the future.

The last 2 weeks saw our family with an exchange student from NZ. Jacques was a Protea turned Kiwi who was really good to show around the place, and even came to Ocean Grove with us. That is where we've been for the last week. In Ocean Grove relaxing, playing tourist in Melbourne & did I mention relaxing? Oh, & cheering for Marcos Baghdatis.

In summary, those people that told me that "remember this time, school years are the best years of your life" where oh so wrong. I hated school. But I'm loving now. God is amazing to me, and I seriously sometimes wonder if it can get any better. Did I mention I'm turning 21 tomorrow?

The 1

No better time than 1:20am to try and compose a meaningful blog post.

I don't believe in 'the one' as some Christian circles would portray it. You know, where God has your perfect soul-mate already picked out and he is preparing the two of you for each other & you will meet when all his preparations are complete.

My two main objections to that 'Hollywood' version of meeting that special someone are:

1. People have this nasty habit of hurting and sabotaging relationships with one another. Whether accidentally or on purpose, it seems unlikely to me that God would punish such actions against 'The One' with eternal singleness.
   

2. I believe than any person could potentially make a marriage relationship work with many different people. I believe this because love is a choice and not an emotion. I believe a marriage works when both people choose to love each other regardless of circumstances.
   

But rather than detract from romance, I think these things add to it! With #1, people can learn from their mistakes to improve future relationships. As for #2. Well out of all the (good) guys that are out there, Tiarnee choose this one!

If anyone is worried, I'm only planning on making a marriage relationship work with 1 person.

I wonder if this will make sense in the morning....

A Peak at The Future

This time 1 week ago I had just finished a delicious $12 meal on O'Connell St & was strolling with Tiarnee through North Adelaide marvelling at some of the obscenely large houses that exist there. It was a great weekend, where we could just hang-out for once without the pressures of 'seeing' & hanging around our family. We could actually just 'live' a little bit, we didn't have to squeeze 2 weeks of catching up with each other into 48 hours. It was nice.

I also got to have a bit of a look through my future work-place. It was very cool. Don't know exactly what I'll be doing, but I'll be programming something, most likely web-orientated stuff(hopefully!) in Java or C#. The corporate world looks to be a very different world to the one I'm used to. I don't think I'll mind being at the bottom of the food chain (corporate ladder). Oh, & I DON'T have to wear a suit to work. Standard dress in the office is jeans and T-shirts. Which I'm very happy about. Almost as awesome as the dress-code, is the fact that I might be getting flown to Melbourne one weekend and put up in Crown-Towers to attend seminars and stuff. Food, flights, accommodation etc. included. Hopefully it happens!

Anyway, the weekend came at just the right time. Reminded me not to get too bogged down at Uni, and that yes, after all these years of study I'm finally working towards something tangible.

Flatout Neglect

I've been negelcting this blog quite alot recently, with only 4 (this makes 5) posts in the last month. My site statistics have reflected this, with August likely to be the second lowest number of hits in a month since the inception of this blog. The positive side to those statistics is that it shows that people will come & read what I have to say, as long as I'm saying stuff. So why the neglect? Two reasons that I can pinpoint:

1. After the excitement of getting engaged, everything else that I'd normally blog about suddenly seemed trivial & un-important.
2. I am pretty flatout with different things at the moment.
   

Here's a rough listing of events on each weekend starting 1 week ago from today.

• Went home for the weekend.
  
• Team weekend for Rock Solid Kidz mission.
• Going to Adelaide (next weekend) to visit Tiarnee.
• Nothing at this stage (Switchfoot, Pillar Antiskeptic Gig in Melb on the 6th.)
• Engagement Party weekend (at home/ Bordertown)
  
• Rock-Solid Kids Mission in Ballarat from the 22nd-28th Sept.
  
• Home for the final weekend of the holidays, before coming back for final few weeks at Uni.
  

So all that on top of the roughly 15 hours a week at IBM & the final Semester Uni assignments. Speaking of which, I've gotta go and design me a website. I have 2 assignments due before I leave for Adelaide on Thursday. I'd better start one of them....

Media Announcement

This is how the big news was reported in all the local media outlets!

Life Changing Love

And I'm racking my brain for a new improved way
To let you know you're more to me than what I know how to say
You're ok with the way this is going to be
Cause this is going to be the best thing we've ever seen
- Relient K

Surreal. Joyous. Anxious. Apprehensive. Happy. Tired. Blessed. Are but some of the emotions I'm feeling at the moment. Allow me to explain why:

Surreal - Because as we walked out under the Jetty at Lake Charlegrak, I felt unlike I ever had before as I spoke to her, held her hands & then dropped down onto one knee. It was incredible and amazing, I almost remember it as though I was standing there watching someone else. But it was me.
Joyous - Because of the silent moment where we realised that all the pains of a Long Distance Relationship were worth it before she smiled, and looked lovingly, and said "Yes".
Anxious - Because people may think we're "too young."
Happy - Because she liked the ring and I think it looks beautiful on her. Because all our (extended) families where together for a meal for the first time tonight. Because I've been able to see most of my close friends this afternoon. Those that I havn't seen I'll be able to catch up with over the next few days.
Tired - The emotion of telling people close to you about your life changing decision is encouraging & almost overwhelming, not to mention somewhat tiring.
Blessed - Because I'm the most blessed guy going around. God is amazing. He's given me everything. I'm engaged. To a pretty girl with a beautiful heart. She's so different from anyone that I've ever met. It is just the most amazing and wonderfull feeling in the world.

Wow.

Refueling

Wow. What a week. I returned this afternoon from the 'Fuel Youth' camp at Halls Gap. Was a great week with approx 70ppl attending, from locations as diverse as Kaniva, Serviceton, Bordertown, Keith, Murray Bridge & Adelaide. Personally, it was an incredibly encouraging week, and taking that time out to worship & learn about God with my closest friends in the picturesque Grampians was just what I needed.

The theme for the camp was 'Kingdom of God' (The wiki explanation is a really good one!). Knowing that Gods Kingdom isn't some abstract concept, but rather alive and with us now is just so uplifting. As well as Gods Kingdom, I was reminded of how refreshing & important both prayer and worship are. It's also been an important reminder that these activities draw us closer to God. God, who is always with us, waiting and wanting us to return to him.

Tiarnee is also getting confirmed this Sunday at her home church of Minimay. So that should also be a great time of praising God!

LDR

This (according to Google) is how long my distance relationship is:

This is a visual picture of the distance:

At the moment, it really sucks. But we'll get through, just like we have for the last couple of years. But who are we kidding anyway? We wouldn't still be putting each other through this separation if it wasn't worth it at some stage. I'm done with being negative about what God has made so positive. He'll be with us all the way. We should turn to him at all times. Embrace him. Embrace his promises.

I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

-Philippians 4:13

See you in 10 days.....

My Minor Epiphany

I was sitting at my table, eating my delicious Ice-Cream and ok-but-far-from-brilliant Vanilla Slice at Res tea last night when I think I had a minor epiphany.

I was eating and thinking over a conversation I'd had the previous night with (the beautiful) Tiarnee and while doing so, I came to the conclusion that while it is fear that often (almost always) rules peoples lives, the object of fear is not always the most obvious one. It seems to me, that the vast majority of people are not in-fact fearful or scared of rejection. I contend that love and acceptance are more feared than rejection and disappointment. Why would anyone fear love? I'm not 100% sure but I'll try to explain it best I can.

Before I started 'going-out' with Tiarnee I was very hesitant to tell her that I liked & was attracted to her. It took some serious prodding from God (& Tiarnee herself) before I actually dared to acknowledge the feelings and things that where happening inside of me. I was petrified to acknowledge that I liked her, but not because there was a possibility that she would reject me. Tiarnee had already made it clear how she herself felt about me. I was scared of being accepted by someone for who I was. I was afraid that I would get too close to the wrong person. That God would say that this is the wrong one. But mostly, I was afraid that I wasn't good enough.

Too this day I still often feel in-adequate compared to the love shown to me by God and yes, my girlfriend. People don't go and have one-night stands because they're scared of rejection. Because rejection is a given in a one-night stand. The next morning it's all over. Both parties involved in a one-night stand realise they're just being used by the other. People have one night stands (I belive) because they don't know how to, or are scared of being accepted and thus, vunerable before other people. Because once someone is loved, and then loves in return, life loses its' focus on self, and losing self focus is about as popular as swimming in Lake Wendouree. This applies to all relationships with all people, not just ones with romantic (or otherwise) interest.

Does that make any sense? It made alot of sense when I thought of it in my head......

Mt (Easter) Bunny

It seems whenever my life get busy with things like: Uni, Assignments, Empty Chair, Going Home for the weekend and IBM.
I become slack in the following areas: Eating well (if at all), Sleeping well (if at all), exercise (Squash), quiet times seeking God, shaving, general room cleanliness and blog posting.

Now I have 2 weeks holidays, it's time to make amends for at least one of the above.

I've had an amazing couple of weeks. I'm feeling God starting to move in my life in a way that I haven't seen in years, probably since the end of Year 12.

It all started with my class getting an extension for the previously mentioned AI assignment. I wasn't gunna be able to do it, and had no idea what it was on about. So I rock up to the Lab before it was due, not knowing where to start with the thing. Lecturer then saw that a couple of us where struggling with it, and gave us an extension for 1 week to get on top of it. I knew in that moment it was God, and that I was gunna get the assignment handed in. I did hand it in a week later, albeit only bare-bones complete. But you know what they say, P's get degrees.

Another awesome moment, and the inspiration for my blog title, was Tuesday night, where a whole bunch of young adults from York St went up to Mt Buninyong. The purpose, to reflect on Easter and all that it meant. We sang a couple of songs, had a bible reading or 2 and had communion. All up the top of the Mt. Bunny tower. Despite the fact that it was REALLY cold, I had an awesomely refreshing time. It was good to be in such a scenic spot where we could pray and be somewhat 'free' up there.

Today, being the best of Fridays, I met Tiarnee at Serviceton and we went to church. It was a simple service, and again was really nice to sit and reflect upon everything that's been happening, and of course, Easter and all that it means for me. Then this afternoon, Tiarnee and I watched 'The Passion of the Christ'. It affected me differently to the first time I saw it, less shocking I suppose, being 3 years older and having seen it before, but it was just as gripping. I felt a helplessness as I watched the movie. Not helpless because I was unable to stop the pain that Jesus felt, but helpless because that I know if I'd lived in that time and culture, I would've been apart of the angry mob.



So over all the above, I'm thankful. Life is so full for me at the moment. Each turn is an exciting one, forming a future that I don't yet know and am discovering only one day at a time. It would be a cliché to say "I can't believe it" because it is happening. I don't deserve all that I have been blessed with. The only reason I can think of for this, is that I'm loved. Beyond description and beyond measure.

Oh & BTW, I'm going to Adelaide next week for a group interview for a potential post-graduate position. Praise God!