Euphoria to the max!!

I've had such a lovely weekend!!

I guess the lovely part started on Saturday night (coz the rest of the day, well, some of it anyway, I was studying for maths.. but I really couldn't get focused because I was really excited about Daniel's party). Good old Daniel had his 17th birthday celebration at Carpaccio in Leichardt. Sorta last minute but omgosh! Who could turn down having dinner at Leichardt with friends!?!? Anyway I got a ride with Manda (seeing as I live down the street from her, lol) and when we got there we noticed that something was different about Daniel. Maybe it had something to do with being 17, I don't know.. lol. The restaurant was really cool!! It had this lounge at the back with a big widescreen tv and really cool lighting (I love that kinda stuff!).

A lot of people decided to dress up abit, you know, semi-formal, which was really cool coz I love seeing people dressed up! The food was beautiful!! Mmmm.. Italian! Always a great choice! Had gelato afterwards.. all compliments of the birthday boy.. which was excellent as well! Had a lot of laughs! Lol.. most of them at poor Daniel's expense haha.. but that's what you get for being the birthday boy (jokes!). Oh and Sandy's cousin's friend came and did some card tricks for us. They were so cool! He was like a pro!

To top it all off... haha you're so gonna laugh at me for saying this... Manda and I watched the Sound of Music on the ride home (because my dad was watching it while he was waiting for us). Lol. No just kidding. That definately wasn't the highlight of the night.. but a very nice end to it. Thanks again Daniel for a great great GREAT party and congratulations on turning 17. I'm guessing by your fashion choice for the night that you're a MAN now! (lol.. sorry sorry couldn't help myself)

Now today was a very special day for myself and 7 other of my brothers and sisters in Christ. Today we officially declared our faith in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.. and made a promise before the whole Indonesian Presbyterian Church Randwick congregation that we would turn away from sin in our lives and serve God in and through IPC Randwick. Yup.. we got baptised today!! I guess we were all sort of nervous in our own way. Oom Joe (our Reverend) called us up to the front, asked us 4 questions, and got us to kneel in pairs. Then he poured some water onto our heads (some more than others! lol) whilst saying a prayer of baptism. I got pretty soaked lol. I had water dripping down my head and it felt like I was sweating or something and I also had to clean my glasses hehe. Then we shook hands with a very important man (Jeremy's dad.. the session clerk) and he gave us a book each as a present. Then we were told to turn around and face the congregation.

Now this was the best part!! As we all turned around thunderous applause ensued and the feeling really was indescribable! It felt so great to think that everyone was sharing in our joy and saying, "Welcome to the family my brother/sister". Total euphoria! My english teacher talks about moments like that, when you catch a little glimpse of what Heaven would be like. Priceless! Such an awesome, overwhelming feeling, I was holding back tears. Definately a once in a lifetime experience that I hope I'll never forget.

Afterwards a lot of people congratulated us. One of them was my old Sunday School teacher and my Mum's friend (Tante Christie). She said that she was so so happy for us, and that she remembers when I was only 5 years old.. and now we'd all grown up. So great to know that all these people were sharing in our joy. An hour of taking photos came next.. and I'll be sure to post some up soon. It was great fun.. lol.. and they turned out really good. The guys looked great in their white shirts, ties and nice belts.. hehe. And of course us girls looked fabulous as usual (lol jokes).

I guess I should say my thank you's now since I really haven't expressed my gratitude to all the important people in my life.

• Thanks to God of course, for everything really! For guiding me through my life, giving me strength through the years, humbling my heart, and above all, for loving me more than I could ever possibly know or understand; a love that is beyond me and is greater than any I'll ever know. 'My Lord and God, you are so rich in mercy, mere words alone are not sufficient thanks. So take my life, transform renew and change me, that I might be a living sacrifice' - Consider Christ
  
• Thanks to my lovely Mum & Dad who have loved and nurtured me through the years, who have brought me up in the knowledge of God, who continue to leave a good example for me to follow, and who have helped make me the young woman I am today. Words can't say enough.
• Thanks to Darwin & Debby who have been the instruments through which God drew me to Him. Guys I cannot thank you enough for all the love, support, fellowship, spiritual nurturing, and just genuine care that you have showed to me (and I don't doubt all of One Way). You're a wonderful example to all of us and I pray you don't give up or ever regret your ministry at Remaja, because I know for a fact that you have been a great inspiration to all of us and our lives have been changed through you.
• Thanks to all the One Way leaders: Cindy, Irma, Flick, Leonard, Kenneth, and Rav. I admire your servant hearts, each and every one of you. Thank you for leading our bible studies and for all the hard work you do planning for Remaja! Thank you as well for your love, fellowship, patience, & generousity! I know from knowing all of you that the love of God is in all your hearts!! Mwah love you guys!! =D
  
• Congratulations Andy, Daniel, Jemz, Nate, Chin, Michelle, & Manda!!!! I was so extremely happy and proud to be standing there with you lovely young men and women and can't wait till the day we stand before God together in Heaven!! *hugs and cries*.. hehe. Thank you all for being lovely brothers and sisters in Christ and for sharing this special moment with me.
  
• Thanks to all of One Way for all your love, support and congratulations. I pray that each and everyone of you will come to have a right relationship with God if you don't already. Let's keep growing together, loving together, and serving together.. because our Father God is the light, and (like we're learning at GG) if we claim to have fellowship with God then we must walk in the light too.. but of course we are sinners and fail at times, so we must confess.. and by doing this we know and trust that God will forgive us all our sins! Take care and God bless!

But the day didn't end there! After Growth Groups my Dad took my Mum and I out to lunch at Pavillion on the Park (across from the Art Gallery near the Botanical Gardens) to celebrate. Not very often that we go to such a classy restaurant, I felt so out of place hehe. The food was beautiful! And we walked out feeling very full. The parking was really expensive though! After a lovely lunch we walked around the gardens a bit, and there was this area called 'The Speaker's Corner'. There we found some random guys standing on their soap boxes (literally) and talking about who knows what. It was so hilarious! I wonder what would make a person want to do something like that? Maybe they find it fun hehe.. or really don't have anything else to do.

Then we decided to go into the Art Gallery (since the admission was free and we had a bit of time to kill). It's only the second time I'd been in there, and the first for my parents. Firstly the building was really lovely (of course nothing compared to the buildings in Europe.. or so I imagine), second there were these beautiful paintings of landscapes! They were absolutely gorgeous! The paintings looked so realistic and just all the colour and detail that these artists used blew me away! I don't think that you have to be an art buff to enjoy looking at beautiful paintings. There was one of The Piazza in Venice that looked so incredibly realistic I couldn't believe someone had actually painted it! The detail was just unbelievable! Definately worth going. Although a lot of their collection was contemporary art (which I'm not really a fan of because I really can't see the art in it.. and that's why I'm not an art buff).. but they had beautiful landscapes and portraits of old-but-important-looking people.

All in all I had such a lovely weekend! Thank you again to everyone!! I feel like I'm on top of the world!! hehe. Cyas and God bless!

And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he
appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.
If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who
does what is right has been born of him.
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be
called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason
the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
- 1 John 2:28 - 3:1