The time is nie... or near?

Hello everyone!

I have SURVIVED the cockroaches! muahaha! they will not defeat me!

Mrs L. arrived on November 6th and has since taken on the duties of bug killer in the house. If there's been another dirty filthy creepy cockroach, she has spared me the knowledge of it. I have seen lots of ants and daddy long legs. Those, I seem to be able to tolerate... ish.

Saturday Nov. 7th, Bobbi (Mrs. L's daughter) and Wayne (son in law) had a first birthday party for their youngest son, Aiden. What a pleasure to be part of a family party, delicious food, delightful people and the weather was perfect.

Sunday was Aiden's dedication at church. Mrs L and her family are Baptist. I didn't know very much about this denomination when I first arrived. Though I did witness two baptisms that Sunday. It was fascinating. I'm used to the Catholic baptisms, where you have little babies dressed in white frilly robes at the baptismal font with mom, dad, god parents and priest. The priest dribbles oil and water on the child's forehead and voila, ceremony is done.

This ceremony, however is quite different. First off, you must be an "adult" to be baptized. (what the cut off age is, I'm not sure.. but it has to be your choice, not your parents who decide). So there were two ladies, a mother and daughter, who chose to be baptized that Sunday. It is done during regular mass, not as a separate ceremony for family and friends. They sat down at the altar on a comfy couch which looked like a late night talk show stage at this point. There was the minister sitting with a mic and interviewing the women. Both women spoke to how God has played a role in their lives and answered the questions. After this interview, the minister and the women stood up and they asked for the pool to be opened.

I was thinking .. pool? where? why? aren't they going to just have a bit of oil and water dribbled on their foreheads? um, not quite.

So the electrical equipment was removed from the centre of the altar and two men pulled up the floor (guess there was a trap door) to reveal a pool the size of a hot tub! (though I was told that the pool water is freezing.. not quite as "hot tub" like as it seemed from the pews.)

The woman stepped in, as did the minister. He said a few things then when she said she was ready... he dunked her! She laid back in his arms and completely submersed herself in freezing water! I was impressed. So she got out, soaked to the bone and shivering then her daughter repeated the process. Sure made me think that the Catholic way is pretty wimpy. They soak themselves.. in front of the whole congregation as adults.. none of this as a little baby and not knowing what's going on and little dribbles of water. They were thankfully escorted out of the room, I assume to change and dry off, and the floor was put back and then Aiden was dedicated.

The dedication was simply that the parents and congregation vowed to raise him to learn about God and the religious beliefs and such. Very simple, to the point and Aiden behaved beautifully.

The past two weeks have gone by fairly quickly. I've finished up everything at work and today is my last day. Carol has completed my review and they are throwing me a farewell party in a few hours.

Mom left home on Tuesday and arrived safely yesterday in Sydney. She called me to tell me of her adventures. She raved about how helpful everyone has been, especially when she got lost trying to get back to her hotel.

She said she was going to go to Paddy's Market today to buy a jacket (locally known as a jumper er.. jumpah) as she forgot hers on the plane. She won't be needing it in Adelaide who are still suffering a heatwave, though it might be good to have in NZ.

I am anxiously waiting to pick her up at the airport tonight. I can't wait to see mom and hear about her flights and her time in Sydney and start our own travels together!

I'm sure I will have many more exciting adventures with mom on our trip. So you'll have to have patience through some of these more, pedestrian blogs.

For all, Mom and I will be home on Dec 21st.. likely sleeping the day away!

Till next time!! bye!