Awesome…

It certainly has been a really awesome year, I would say…and here, I would like to take a little time off from my regular New Zealand posts to review some of the milestones along the way.

I turned 60 this year, the big SIX-O!!!

…but we did not have a grand celebration and it slipped by quietly though not without presents and greetings from family and friends, thank you all so very much. It has been 5 years since I retired from government service but it was not until this year that I retired fully from teaching. Enough is enough, the younger blood can take over and let me relax and enjoy my golden years.

This year, Melissa completed her tertiary education and graduated with a Bachelor of Education (TESOL) degree and we went to Wellington, New Zealand for the convocation…

She made it to the Dean’s List and was awarded something like what we refer to as 1st Class Honours here – it seems that there, it is a little different and to get something like that you would need to do another year of post-graduate studies and then proceed to do your Masters from there. Needless to say, her mum and I and everybody are all so very proud of our little girl.

In the course of the year, I had the good fortune of making new friends here, there and everywhere…

…and I really must thank those who cared to keep in touch and go out with me for a bite or a drink when they were in town…and the blogger and non-blogger friends who came to visit me here in Sibu this year…

…and also those who took sometime off to come and meet me when I went over to the peninsula…

Thank you, Mandy, for the delightful day-trip to Seremban and Malacca and Philip for the trip to Bintangor and to the both of you and everybody else for the yummy treats and all the gifts in the course of the year…and talking about those, I simply must give special mention to my friend and her family in Auckland, New Zealand, who went through great lengths to make our stay in the city a most enjoyable and memorable one, making it a truly fitting end to a superbly wonderful year, not forgetting all the gifts that they loaded upon us to take home – so many that we almost had to pay for excess baggage charges on our flight back to Malaysia.

There are simply too many people and too many things in the year and I’m not too sure whether I have left anyone out, my sincere apologies if I have inadvertently done so, but thank you all so very much to everybody for everything and most of all, for your love…and for all the Blessings that God has granted me, though must undeserving, this past year, I am indeed most grateful and give thanks and praise that He has indeed been merciful and kind.

WISHING EACH & EVERYONE OF YOU AN AWESOME NEW YEAR, 2013 AND MAY GOD BLESS US ALL ABUNDANTLY IN THE DAYS AHEAD.