Visit to the zoo

This year David and I have put money towards purchasing some yearly zoo passes with a group of people. This is great as it means that we can go whenever we like and there is no pressure to see everything as we can go back another time.

Today was our first visit. I was very impressed with how well set out the zoo was and how close some of the animals were. My favourite were the chimpanzees. They are so human-like. Have a look at the picture of their hands below - they're amazing!

Elizabeth loved the elephants, so much so that she made kissing noises towards them! Other animals we saw included gorillas, giraffes, zebras, goats, crocodile, meercats, giant turtles, giant lizards, malayan tapirs (like hippos), hippos and foxes.

I was amazed by all of the animals. The uniqueness of each one reminded me of the specialness of God's creation and His creativitiy (and power!) in making each living thing unique. It is even more amazing when you consider how different each human being is. Elephants seem to all look the same but humans are so intricately different, in both appearance and personality.

We are looking forward to family visits soon so that we can take them to the zoo!

Family, rain and a new year

I think the title to this blog sums up the past couple of months for us. We have spent about a month with family in Queensland (as well as visits from them here in Sydney), it has rained or has at least been overcast the majority of the time (both in Qld and in Sydney) and we have started a new year which has alot of 'newness' to it.

Our time with family was lovely. Although it is always hard being away from our 'home' in Sydney it was great to be able to spend so much quality time with family. It is lovely to observe grandparents and other family enjoying Elizabeth and getting to know her again and to have others around to play with Elizabeth, giving me a break.

We spent two weeks in Bundaberg including Christmas and two weeks in Brisbane. Our time in Bundaberg was very relaxing. We had one sunny day (the first day we were there) on which we went to the beach and the rest of the time was spent lazing around, catching up with Elizabeth's grandparents and great grandparents, shopping and going to the zoo (when the weather permitted).

Brisbane was a bit busier with old friends to catch up with as well as spending time with family. It was lovely to visit our old church. Again, it was so nice to be with family.

We arrived back in Sydney on the 10th of January and moved house on the 14th! It was a crazy time but thankfully David's parents were here to help. We are now living very close to college in a townhouse. It is small but has a patio out the front which overlooks GRASS and TREES!! It is very quiet here. I am thankful for the patio and being able to hang our washing there. I am also thankful for friends and familiar faces close by and other children for Elizabeth to play with.

So, this year brings lots of new things. Elizabeth and I will be going to Junior Jivers (a music time run by mums at college), playgroup at church and college Bible study (which isn't new but hopefully Elizabeth will stay in creche, which will be new). David and I will be running a Bible study for church one night per week and we hope to form some closer friendships with college people living around us. We also have a new minister at chuch which is exciting. The sermons I have heard so far have been challenging and I'm looking forward to learning from his teaching.

My biggest prayer for the year ahead is that David and I will have a 'rich' last year in Sydney. Rich in terms of friendships and experiences but most importantly that our relationship with God will be enriched.