Work Work Work

Work is good. I am pretty sure I have said I am staying where I am and putting in some hard work.
That has been really good. I have had lots more responsibility and ownership of the jobs I do. I have been working later too. 6pm most nights of the week. It is still less time than if I was doing all that travelling that I thought was such a good idea.
We have lots of work on which is really good. I have been doing quotes for people, talking with clients and generally being the guy.
I have a good feeling about work. I like turning up and working hard and putting in a solid days work is quite rewarding.
I think part of how I feel about it at the moment comes from having enough experience to be able to take the responsibility. Earlier on in my Engineering career I think I didnt enjoy it that much. I made a few mistakes and generally found it difficult to not want to leave exactly on 5.
Since I have talked with the boss and we agreed that I would 'step up' it has been really good. I have been getting more respect from everyone concerned and feel that I am doing a good job.

With that in mind I would like to comment on how hard it is for a Christian in the workplace.
I have found in my time at work that although I wanted to show a good biblical model of not working too much (showing the importance of other aspects of my life such as ministry and time with friends/family), I went too far the other way. In my leaving at 5 on the dot I lost alot of respect from the people I work with. They saw me as more of a non-committed, bare minimum type guy who didnt really want to be there.
As I have stepped up and work harder, I see them having more respect for me which can only be good for the message I am trying to tell them - the Gospel.

Single Again

As the title says, I am single again.
Emily decided that she didnt feel that we should continue going out.
Although I was quite upset about it, much prayer has been answered.

Prayer points:
Stu
- Keep trusting in God in all things.
- Seek to serve God will all that I am.
- Take what I have learned from the relationship and grow from it.

Emily
- Same as Stu.

Decisions and more

Hi all,
Well, after lots of soul searching and thinking and discussion with friends, I have decided to stay where I am in regards to work. It was a hard decision, but I think it was a good one.
I talked with my boss here which was one of the most helpful things I could have done. He told me that there is a senior engineer position here if I want to step up to it. That it would be good for all concerned here and the money element can be sorted out too. This would be all whilst staying where I want to be, which is Wollongong.

One thing I have decided to do is sell my motorbike (well at least try to). As much as it is great and fun and fairly economical to run, it also costs heaps to register and insure it and I think that if I dont have it, I would be able to be in a much better financial position. Another thing is that my mum hates me having it and it causes her to worry more than she already does. As much as I am my own person, I still want to honour my mother and father.

Last weekend was quite good. We had our church weekend away down at Koloona which is kind of west from North Nowra. It was lots of fun with some good talks on God's passion and our passion (how they should be the same). I rode the bike down which was good but getting a little cold these days. I had good nights sleeps both nights and I think I attribute most of that to the awesome flanelette fitted sheet that I recently bought from woolies for $12. I thouroughly reccomend them! There was also a well run trivia night as the Saturday nights organised fun activity.

The not-so-good news is that Emily's masters project has been stopped. She had a half yearly progress meeting last Friday in which she was told by her advisers that she wasnt allowed to continue. I think that was quite unfortunate because it was obvious to me that she had put stacks of effort and time into it.
Since Emily is an international student she is now going to have to sort out what that means for her visa and all sorts of stuff. Please pray for her as she works through what to do. Whether she can enroll in some other degree, change her visa to a working visa, or has to go back to America. She deinitely wants to stay and I definitely want her to stay too.

Prayer points:
Emily
- Please thank God that Emily has responded well to the decision her advisers made.
- Ask that no matter what happens it would be to God's glory.
- Ask that she would be able to stay if that is God's will.
Stu
- Thank God that I have been able to stay in Wollongong.
- Ask that I would be able to serve God wholeheartedly in Wollongong.
- Ask that no matter what happens with Emily's visa that I would trust God and serve him only.
- Ask that if it is God's will that I sell my motorbike.

I like this 'prayer points' bit. I might have to do it more often.:)

Farms are way cool

Lots has been happening.
Firstly, my holidays were really good. Nothing extreme, just good times.
Easter Friday was the Cathedral Easter Convention which was quite good. Richard Chin and John Dickson spoke well. On Easter Sunday Emily organised a sun rise at the beach adventure for a bunch of her friends. After that we went to her house and she cooked omlets for everyone. Mmmm tasty.
Emily, The Fletcher's and I went to the Easter show on the Tuesday after. It was really good. We saw the woodchop, sheepdog trials, displays and the end-of-the-day show. It was all really good. I was pretty tired by the end though! I left home at 7:00am and got home pretty late. Good day though.
During the week I pretty much chilled out. I had a job interview in Sydney on the Thursday which they ended up not offering me the job due to my uni results! (4 years out of uni, when will they stop haunting me!)
Friday afternoon was the occasion known as IronFest. What is that I hear you ask? Well, put together jousting, mediaval weapons and armour, hand to hand fighting displays, blacksmithing competitions and tasty food and you have IronFest. Totally awesome. Kester, Owen, Simon, Mark G and I went all the way to Lithgow for the event.
We stayed at a local caravan park in an onsite van which was cool. There was a double bed and 3 single beds (there was some discrepancy if Simon was coming or not when we booked). The 3 singles were bunk beds and the bottom one was just a mattress on the floor!
We got there Friday late afternoon and checked in. We then did our food shopping for the weekend. We picked up some pizza's on the way home and had them for dinner. Kester had organised a cool one off level 13 roleplaying campaign for us that we played both nights we were there.
The festival itself was really good. One poor knight got jousted in the place that no man would want to be jousted. He ended up being ok though. I would say more about IronFest but I have limited time to write this blog.

Monday after that I worked. It was pretty quiet because many people took Monday off to coincide with the public holiday on the Tuesday. I went for another interview (in Wollongong) during my lunch hour. I havent heard back from them but dont like my chances.
Tuesday was ANZAC day and Mark E and Shaggy came over and we played a bit of role playing. Shaggy had to go though so Mark and I made another character for a different game Mark is hoping to lead. Tuesday night we had a bible study social event where people came over earlier and I cooked dinner for them. We had bolognaise which seemed to go down ok. After that we played 'Cranium' which is a fun game (thanks for bringing that Emily).
Wed/Thurs was work.
Thursday night Emily 2 of the Fletchers and myself went to see Pete Murray at the Wollongong ent ctr. It was really good. He was struggling with a bad cold but I still thought it was a really good concert.
Friday I had off work. I went to Sydney for 2 more job interviews. Both of them were really positive with the second one offering me the job on the spot. I found out on Monday that the other one rang the agency straight after I left to offer me a job as well. More on that in a sec.
Saturday I went to the Fletcher's farm out near Crookwell. Emily was going to come too but was sick.:( Whilst the drive out there was a solid 3.5 ish hours it was still great! They have a little Pee Wee 80 that I got a go on and a cool little barn thing that they are making a holiday house out of. We painted the floor with this cool paint for concrete which looked quite good. We only got half done but it was still lots of fun. The boys and I also dug the start of a stormwater trench which was pretty hard work but fun too. Another quick burn around on the bike and we headed home at about 5. Really good day.
As for the job world, well I have a bit of a quandry now. Do I take the job and make life harder for myself? Or do I take the poor but easy option to stay? Hard choices.
Much prayer and thoughts required.