I cant believe we leave TOMORROW!!!!!!

Am I packed? Well, here is your answer.

Suitcase is empty - But, do you like my chair?

Anyway, since Im in the procrastinating mood, here is part 2 of the Canada trip from 2001 - A North American Odyssey - Highlights! Everyone in this photo - Im coming to see you again!

The last few months have been one major event after another. The last major event before the trip was the Pioneer School. It was an awesome two weeks; had two awesome instructors, met some awesome new friends and got closer to those who were already our friends. 

Here are just a sample of some of the special times we had at school. Right down the bottom is a short video - scroll down and watch that one.

And, now - ONLY TWO MORE SLEEPS until our big trip!

Jackson and Silvia, whom you might remember as Liz and John (ie. the 'good' couple) from the drama at the Melbourne Convention last year and some new friends James and In-young. James and In-young are in an English Congregation in Korea and came from Korea for the school.

Melanie, Alaina and Kylie. Old friends - well, I dont mean that they are old, I mean that they have known each other foe a while. Maybe I should stop typing and digging myself into a hole......

Camera???? Where???? Let me pose!

After class one day.

Kylie and Melanie  -so special to be in class together!

Special Part of Pioneer School - FOOD! And, LOTS of it!

Our new friend Rachel!

Mark dropped in to see us for lunch one day.

Kylie and Silvia doing a presentation in class

Off preaching one day

New friends Alison and Min-Woo

Me and Kylie!

Me and Kylie - eating!!!! Look at the salad on my plate.

Long story - I can dream, cant I?

Special part of pioneer school - signing each others text books.

Melanie with a card made for the instructors.

One of the things that I wanted to do on our upcoming 2013 - North American Odyssey was to visit the places I visited in 2001. Here is Volume 1 | Canada

Some of you may not have met my mother-in-law - Gayle.
I have never met anyone so adventurous!
She lives part-time on the Gold Coast and part-time in the Keri-Keri on the beautiful Bay of Islands in New Zealand.
A few years back, she discovered house-swapping. Sounds terrifying - having people in your home. But, she has never had any troubles with people trashing her home. But, the good thing about house-swapping is that you get to stay in their home. She has stayed in places all over the world - free! How cool?
Anyway, the reason for this post is that in case you arent her friend on Facebook, you wont know where she is at the moment - at the Grand Canyon. She is so adventurous! Here are some pictures she has posted (hope you dont mind Gayle).

WOW!

What a beautiful view!

Typical!

Im sure she wouldnt mind me highlighting that as you can see, she is on the upper limit of the ages of people on this tour group. Gayle is super adventurous!

Did I mention that she was CAMPING on the base of the Grand Canyon?

So, at the outset, I mentioned that Kylie's mum does house swapping. This place is in suburban Las Vegas. This description is taken from her Facebook Post;
"This is just as you walk in the door of my house here in Vegas. It is real but any winnings stay in the house and if you run out of cash you have a key to get the money out."
LOL!

So, one of the things that she is doing is spying out the land for us. As you would know, we are going to Las Vegas later in the year so she is looking out for us for places that we should visit!

And, this morning, Kylie and I were SUPER excited to open our emails to get a voucher from Gayle for a "Romance Package at The Venetian Hotel" - we are very spoilt! Thank-you VERY much Gayle! Have a fantastic trip.

It seems like an eternity ago, but its been just over a week since the first meeting back in the newly renovated Kingdom Hall. As the title suggested, it isnt fully complete. The new chairs have not yet arrived, so the existing chairs were put back inside. The new chairs are going to look fantastic. So, once they are in place, Ill take some proper photos. But, until then, here are some pics for you.

Carpet tiles laid and looks fantastic! Funny that it looks alot the rendering (see previous post).

Feature Timber Panel

Love the new chairs and table. In fact, I love the chair so much that I bought one for our home.

Chairs back in the Kingdom Hall. They are green and dont look bad.

New Self-Serve magazine station and sliding notice board unit. New witnessing Artwork.

First meeting in renovated Kingdom Hall.

Now, did I tell you that Kylie and I are learning Hindi? That is the focus until we go on our trip.

If you are friends with me on Facebook or follow my Instagram account, you will know that we are renovating our Kingdom Hall at the moment. For everyone else - guess what! We are renovating our Kingdom Hall at the moment!

I am on the local committee so there was alot of work done before the reno started and there has been an enormous amount of work since then. Here are a few photos (sorry if you have already seen them).

A rendering of what the stage will look like

A brother in one of the congs is an experienced Revit user. So, he was able to put together this rendering to give a sneak-peak of what the stage will look like. I cant wait! But before we get to that .......

Its not often that you see this in a Kingdom Hall

The stage was built of reinforced concrete - designed to last i guess? We wanted to add a ramp, so part of the stage needed to be demolished.

All of the wing walls have now been removed - to open up the stage

Stage is all one level now

Here is the new ramp.

Outside, there was a step which made it difficult for prams and wheelchairs.

Not anymore!

There was carpet to dado height - this has been removed. Between you and I - I was never really a fan of that.

The carpet was removed from the foyer, ready for new tiles.

So, that was from the first weekend. ALOT of work was achieved. Just three more weekends to go.