it's pretty hard to wipe the smile off my face at the moment :)

well i got some fantastic news recently, from my best mate Dave
he is my great friend of many years, we first met each other in about July/August 1992 at a church service
he and his family had been apart of this church for a while and my family had just returned from a 3 year stint in the USA where my Dad being apart of the RAAF worked in the Australian Embassy in Washington DC and moved to outer west Sydney where my Dad was then serving at the Richmond RAAF Base
ur mothers had both met each other many years before in a doctors wating room, Dave's Mum was pregnant with her first and Dave's older brother and my Mum was pregnant with her first and my older brother, they happened to recognise each other over ten years later at this church
other interesting facts are that both our Father's work for the RAAF, our Mothers both share the same birthday, although different years, Dave's older brother and my Dad also share a birthday, and Dave's youngest brother also named John has his birthday the day after mine, all kinda freaky i know
so anyways we ended up joining that church and Dave and i became friends
we were pretty good friends and would often go over each others houses after church on a sunday
for 5 1/2 years we had Boy's Brigade, Kids Church (like Church for Kids), eventually youth group and weekends when we would have fun togehter
then in 1997 my family moved to Sale and we pretty much lost contact, but the best thing was in 1999 his Dad got posted to Sale and so their whole family moved on down
it was year 10
i was stuggling with being at the new senior campus at Sale College, not being one of the toughest kids in the school anymore cause now we were the youngest, and trying to work out where God fitted in my life and finally realising the answer was everywhere, so i had to change
then there was Dave the friend who i had actually been praying for, as i didn't have any friends my age who were Christians, who just came back outa no where and helped me get back towards the straight and narrow way, to God's way
it was these two boys who were very different, yet both needed a friend, who became best friends and life long buddys

we went through a heap of different stuff together, girlfriends (well Dave only had one, not a bad thing), ESA camps, church, youth group, he joined me and my mates at school (who quickly became his mates too), FAT group, school (including yr 12), lots of videos, discovering God and He that worked in our lives, and just hanging out together
we used to spend alot of time together, and living 5 mins walk away most of the time helped, it was a good 3 years we spent together in Sale and i will never forget giving him a big hug as me and my Dad dropped him off in Melbourne where he was to start uni as i was on my way to Ballarat to do the same, there was a long embrace and tears, in my eyes at least
so it has been just over three years since that summer February day now, and thank God we have kept in contact, we haven't seen alot of each other, but every time we do, our time together is special
oh and that one girlfriend he had in highschool Rosie, she is still there, but i am so happy to say that after 4 years together Rosie has a new role Fiance!
yep on sunday afternoon Dave proposed! :) (i wish i could do an extra big smile, so you could see the how big it is on my face)

Rosie is great and i love her, although i was a bit worried about her at first she has turned out to be great and the best girl for my best mate
so well done Dave for keeping her for so long and deciding to stay with her for life :)
it's pretty hard to wipe the smile off my face at the moment :)