Meetings of the Victorian Variety.

ahh...
here I sit at nearly 3 in the morning, Having arrived back at Auntie Jans around half an hour ago.
This evening, Belle and I spent the night in the company of Burkie, Luke[prowdy], Cathy and James. Delightful.
Cathy picked us up from Keilor and together we hit the road in our attempt to find 'Lazy Joes' lets just say that we decided to knick-name the trip 'the adventure' and by the time we arrived we were a little over half an hour late [fashionably of course] Burks and prowdy already having secured a table.
It was fun. Cathy was Chatty and adorable, Burks ammused me as usual with our mock fights and belles hesitation to have us sitting side by side. We restrained ourselves and no one walked away with a broken jaw, which was kinda nice. Luke hummed as he ate, which was rather hilarious really - such a lovely guy.
After the absolutely ginormous meal, which I'm so shamed to say, I only managed to get halfway through, [I hate to think of how much food gets wasted at that place] we headed back to Cathys place, where James was waiting.
Grabbed a DVD - Napoleon Dynamite and some Cadbury cream eggs [ Cathy ya Nutter] and headed back.
I think Dynamite was funnier the second time around. The first time I had seen it with Matty and we'd both had no idea what to expect, this time I knew, and I think I was able to enjoy it more instead of waiting for some sort of climax. Again I ended up next to Burkie on the couch and yes I heard him sigh in dissapointment. There were some elbows to the ribs over the course of the movie, the revelation of more after the final credits [I never knew that, good job Burks!] and then the Burkie- joint- cracking symphony - I still say 'ouch'.
The rest of the night was pretty much sitting around chatting, watching the winter Olympics, Belle desperately hoping to see some skiers face plant, or crash into walls. The funny thing is that hearing belle crack up at the footage is generally what gets me going - once she's laughing I can't help but join in.
The evening unofficially ended in photo's and the invitation for Cathy and James [and dare I say Burkie] to come and stay in Forster some time, if they're ever in the mood. Officially The night ended with Burks driving Belle and I back to my Aunts place, which was appreciated unbelieveably - thankyou so much for that, it was out of your way and you even got out of the car to give us a hug - whatta guy huh!

I enjoyed the evening thoroughly and couldn't help feeling slightly deflated once we'd walked in the door at my Aunts, just one more reminder that we head back to New South Wales in only a few short days. The gush buddies experience has, yet again, been fantastic. As always it was a pleasure to see and chat with Cath, Jim and Burks. Amazing people.

Plus add to that, Sunday night Belle and I had the pleasure of spending the night service at Essendon Baptist in the company of Bec, Paul, Trav and Jess [all gushers also]. First thing Bec said to me was "Oh, your suppose to be taller" which ammused me highly and from that second on I knew it was going to be a great night. Bec was so very easy to get along with, not at all how I thought it would be [that sounds bad, but it's not meant to] For so long I'd had this message coming through that she was introverted and shy, rather I felt her personality was to the contrary - she was highly chatty and entertaining. I had a wonderful time talking and laughing.
When we first arrived at the Baps hall paul had looked fairly busy so we didn't distract him from his business. It was after the service that we had a chance to chat more. More than anything I'd really love to sit down and have a good ol' chin-wag with my friend Paul, and for the second year running, it doesn't look as though it's going to be able to happen. I appreciate him as a brother so deeply, and as lame as many people may view his humour, he rarely fails to make me laugh. We really didn't have a chance to talk that night, which was slightly dissapointing. But as the conversation whirled around us, I felt the moment as we smiled at each other, we both 'got it' and knew that although we hadn't chatted properly in a while that mutual appreciation was still there. I love Paulio so much. As we said our farewells we had a few hugs and well wishes. [Bec for someone who says she doesn't give hugs often, you give a great hug] As I came at Paul for a hug I could hear him begin to mumble "...er...please don't...." but before he had a chance I'd already grabbed him, as much as he'd hate to admit it he was smiling, and he even chucked a bit of a half-hearted arm into the mix. So I got one of those ellusive Paul Hugs. He then went on to share with me, the stance for hug avoidance, which was so Paul it was classic...a theory for everything :P

Tomorrow it looks as though we'll be catching up with Jess, and possibly Trav on Thursday.

This trip has been fantastic. The people have been fantastic.
I find myself at one of those places again, where I just feel so incredibly humbled for the opportunity to spend time in the company of such great people. And as Belle said last night as we shared an amazing D&M [the ones I adore with her] "We know them because of God...how cool is that!"
Yeah that is cool.
Here's to hoping that we have the opportunity to spend more time with you all over the years.

I'm absolutely knackered...Bed, I'm so there!