Monday, October 30, 2006

MY WONDERFUL BROTHER IN LAW


to continue this series on men in my life. today it is a special day for one of them. Hil. Hil is my favourite brother in law (granted he's the only one i have and ever will have). It is his birthday today and i want to wish him a happy happy birthday. that's right - 2 happy's.
He is a wonderful match for my sister. and a fantastic dad to my favourite nephew in the whole world. He's actually pretty smart too, he's currently doing his masters at uni. in stats or maths or something that most of us would not only not comprehend, but also find boring...!!! he's a very good musician too. and most importantly, he loves and serves God really well.
oh, and he can be pretty funny too.
anyway, happy birthday hil.
p.s. in the picture, hil is the one with glasses.

Friday, October 27, 2006

hmm...men in my life???

the comment was made to me(by my little brother)..'is it men in my life week?'. so i have decided it is. i thought today i would blog a little about some of the other men in my life. this week already you've had my brother and my boyfriend, it was suggested that my father should be next, but today i thought i'd blog about my other loves...

my oldest love...Brad (this position used to be closely followed by tom in top gun days, but seeing as tom lost the plot completely, he was scratched from the list)

brad has been a big part of my life. i have loved him a lot. i know that if we ever met he would have fallen in love with me. no seriously, i know. i was a little disappointed when he dumped jen for ange. i think that was a silly move. oh well. i still love him.

a new love...michael vartan...also known to me dearly as vaughn and boy scout
(for some silly reason my computer isn't loading a photo of him right now...i'll try later)
oh the days and nights when i would watch a complete 22 episode season of alias in the shortest amount of time possible...i loved him. i still do. if you've never seen alias, please watch and you will be delighted every time this beautiful man appears on the screen. his care and love for sydney. it's delightful. and romantic. i will always love vaughn. and i know, if he knew me, he'd always love me too.

and who could forget my real aussie love...fryzie.

be honest girls. he's everyone's dream. so who cares if he is ridiculously tall and i am small. that's just cute. a funny man. and even more fitting, he played with my beloved crows. and they play in salvation army colours - red, yellow and blue. it would have fit perfectly. and that time i dreamt about him two nights in a row...that meant something, i know it did.

anyway, just wanted to share my loves with the world, i hope i never meet them now that i have matt. hmmm. what would i do...???

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

my boyfriend matt

My boyfriend, Matt, is wonderful. He is a lot of things. He's very funny, and when he chooses, very serious. Here are two things to help you learn more about him.
This is a picture of his funny side (taken at a kids camp earlier this year)...



This is his more serious side, a poem that he wrote.


Glory in the Cross


When those of us take their stand

Who hold the sword of Truth in hand,

When saints of every tongue and land

Find Glory in the Cross



The enemy frozen fearful,

The righteous eyes still tearful

And every heart beats waiting for the call.



In paralyzing silence

The angels sound trumpets violent

And the clouds roll back like a sheet.

Nothing is left a secret

Those hidden things not seen yet

Are suddenly laid down at all men’s feet.



Who’s shame is never ending,

Who’s there to act defending,

Who will take the credit for their fall?



Much is opened up

The outpour of wrathful cup

And now ears are hearing, hoping for the call.



But those of us still stand

With sword of Truth in hand,

And saints of every tongue and land

Have Glory in their Cross.

Friday, October 20, 2006

DARREN


i was a little naughty because i should have blogged about darren's birthday...but i didn't.
so today i am pretending it's his birthday. (it was really on the 8th Oct). HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAZ.
most of you probably know darren, i find there aren't that many people who don't know him. even just the other day, when i went to my first thing with the korean salvation army church where we are going to be doing stuff reguarly and the youth pastor there goes, oh, darren, are you darren's sister...yes. i often get that question. he's a pretty unforgetable guy, i think. usually loud. sometimes funny (probably not as funny as he thinks, but that's the way with most of us i think). huge cheesy smile. and short, like the rest of the hailes family.
when he wants to, he gets things done. two of my sporting goals (neither which at this point in time i am really working towards...doh) are to run a marathon and complete an olympic distance triathlon. well daz went out this year and just did thm both. in the same year. good one daz. but seriously, good one daz. so it's good that we share similar sporting loves, it helps us get on well. the photo above was taken in march this year at the commonwealth games. we went to lots of things together, including getting up at a ridiculous hour to go and watch the triathlon, running around the city to watch the marathon, going to some of the aths and then of course darren winning the radio competition by hopping around on one leg to win more free tickets (mind you, he didn't take me, and i was the one who screamed out that his last competitor left switched feet which was against the rules - who cares if he was 14...). that was a fun time.
well, i just wanted to wish him a happy birthday, again, even though it's late. sory about that.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

things are getting darker...

today will just be a quick post.
it's sunday. and things are getting darker. mainly in the area of my hair and the weather.
so i have posted two new photos...of me.
one is of my new dark hair. when i go home to aus in december, people there might still think of me being blonde and tanned. well the tanned has well and truly faded and the hair is certainly not blonde anymore.
the next one is of my in my new winter jacket. i love it a lot. and i don't think the photo does my great new jacket justice. but nonetheless.
have a great day.
Fee



Friday, October 13, 2006

SNAP

here's my most recent thoughts. until yesterday. everyone had been talking about winter coming and i'd been like yeah, i'll be fine, whatever, people had been talking about buying winter jackets/boots, etc i was just excited about the shopping and thought that people used the winter as an excuse to go...until yesterday.
IT BECAME FREEZING, though tara, my canadian friend, told me that the proper term for the weather yesterday was 'fresh'. fresh my butt. it was freezing. and today and tomorrow it's supposed to be 8 degrees. ha. i am already layered up with layers and gloves and scarves. hmm. i had a new idea about me surviving the winter and it's not all that good. i am expecting that one day when i don't show up at work, someone will eventually ask where i am, then eventually someone will go out looking for me and they will find me frozen solid to the footpath somewhere along the 300m walk that is mine from my house to the office. that is my new idea of how winter is going to look. i expect this to happen often.
buffalo is a nearby town (about 1-2hours away), yesterday they got 60cm of snow. and it's only october. arrghh. i am now offically very scared.

on a totally different subject, i have been thinking this week about life long learning. know, as a teacher, this is something i have always promoted, but just this week i was thinking about the fact that if you ever stop learning, you become in great danger of thinking you know it all. when you learn, you realise how much you still have to learn.

anyway, i'm just going to get rugged up, i'm heading outside now...wish me luck... warmth.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

congratulations...to me

i received an email this morning from Tam letting me know that she'd just read our Yr 12's magazine and i was voted best yr 12 teacher for 2006.
now, this is of course a prestigious award, as it is voted for by the studetns themselves.
however, you, along with i, may have some questions about this.
1st question - if i had taught more than 1 term (and remember that term was only 6 weeks) of year 12 would i still have won this award?
2nd question - does my absence have anything to do with winning this award? they do say that absence makes the heart grow fonder...
i guess these questions are almost the same one. whichever the case, i am flattered. i have taught the current year 12's every year since i began teaching at vermont (when they were in yr 7, i was an emergency teacher, then when they were in year 8, i went full time). i really was sad to miss the majority of their final year of school. they would be the students that i have really spent the most time with while i was at vermont, and i think they are all pretty wonderful. my feelings for them have grown. i think back - i wasn't such a fan of 8.3 back in 2002, i didn't mind 8.6 that year, then i scored 8.3 as 9.3 (they improved) the next year and 9.7 for PE. then all of them in year 10 PE (literally, i taught 2 year 10 rotating PE classes and pretty much had nearly every student in the year level in on of my classes at some stage that year), who could forget my famous year 11 PE and general maths classes in 2005, then my favourite year 12 PE class ever!!! oh the memories.
So, to the 2006 Vermont Year 12's - i vote you guys as the best year 12's of 2006!!!(and tammy, you can tell them i said that!)

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

yes, a little mistake

not really too sure what i was thinking, but, thanks to the keen eyes of his wife, it was pointed out to me that i had mistakenly labelled watto as squibby. thanks briony. all is now well.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

the rest of the photos

so here are my last few pics from last weekend.


Rach the singing sensation


me and squibb


me, WATTO and mike


and matt thinks he never looks good in pictures...

Friday, October 06, 2006

Aussie Visitors Part 2 - The MSB




me and bandmaster ken






me and cousin paul





me and rob

As i mentioned in my last blog, i was really blessed last weekend when the MSB (Melbourne Staff Band) came to visit ME in toronto. First of all, i was so excited to see so many friends, family and familiar faces. Not to mention that as a result of their visit, i came into possession of 10 blocks of Australian cadbury chocolate (it is just not the same here). and just in case you are wondering i have 6 left...i have been sharing...seriously...

anyway, i would have been happy enough just to catch up with all these people, who made it feel like i was at home again, but then i was treated to a spectacular band concert too. Every single time the MSB played, God was given the glory. every piece was praise to God and it blessed me far more than i have been blessed since i arrived in canada. i thank God for ken and his boys and girls who used their gifts and talents to present the message of God and glorify Him. and i couldn't let this blog happen without mentioning the wonderful piece in the second half which was all choreographed. i have never seen a brass band do anything like it and i loved it.

then on sunday mornning, i, being a MSB groupie now, faithfully followed them to Yorkminster Corps, where again, i was blessed by their ministry. and i also got to see the Wriggles, who were apparently and i quote 'being silly'.

so, thanks to the MSB. know that you serve and represent God well. i was excited for your visit and when you came, i was blessed more than i could have imagined.

more pictures are on their way...

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Aussie Visitors Part 1 - The Rellies

So i had an awesome weekend. The MSB (Melbourne Staff Band - salvo band in case you aren't up on the lingo) came to Toronto. i was so excited. amoungst the band and groupies that were following them, i got to see 2 aunties, an uncle, 3 cousins, one cousin in law, and lots of friends and familiar faces.
matt and i got to spend some time with auntie mary, auntie wendy, uncle robert and louise on saturday and that was really good. we then had dinner together and then headed to the concert to see the staff band.
the concert was excellent, but more on that tomorrow.
the photos below are:
- me, louise and al
- me, auntie mary and uncle robert
- matt, me and auntie wendy
- louise, al, me and matt

there'll be more tomorrow...




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