Well, the slow process of getting my last name changed has finally started to pick up speed! It seems everywhere I go I have to provide two forms of identification of my new name before they’ll change my documents (license, credit cards, bank accounts, etc). But I haven’t been able to anything yet because you have to have those two pieces…so where do I start with the first one?? Does that make sense??

Anyways, I was finally able to apply for my new passport! I sent in my old passport with our marriage license and they were able to change it with just that documentation. I received my old passport (with holes punched through it) and my new one in the mail yesterday! It was so exciting seeing my new name with my new picture. Except they wouldn’t let me smile in my passport photo so I look old. Nonetheless, it says “Ritner” so I’m completely ecstatic!

It’s so colorful and has various drawings of American landmarks and scenery in it with famous quotes from our past presidents. I’m excited to start filling this one up with new stamps and visas like my old one was!

And now I can get a new license!

Our good, good friend Melinda arrived back in Townsville on Saturday after being home for a while. The last time we saw her (as well as the Lehmann’s!) was at our wedding. We celebrate her birthday a month later with dinner, a birthday cake and Balderdash. (Oh, Balderdash was a Christmas gift from my sister and I LOVE it!).

It was great to see Mindy again and have her back here! We’ve enjoyed hanging out with her, Kim & David and Jonathan.

(Hey Mindy, are you still reading our web pages now that your back in T-ville? )

Some of you may not know that Josiah was born on Christmas Day…he turned 23 this year.

I threw him a birthday party in the evening of the 25th, complete with a Simpson’s theme. He definitely isn’t a complete Simpson’s nerd or anything, but it was fun to have little hats and Simpson invitations to all of our friends. I gave him the new Simpson’s movie (which is probably the stupidest thing I have ever seen but he laughs the whole time, so oh well…laughter is good for the soul, right?) and a Simpson’s desk calender. Some other guys gave him little knick-knacks like a Homer Simpson pizza cutter and a Homer Pez dispenser.

The best gift, I believe, was probably telling him about the new computer I was secretly fundraising for! We’ve already raised about half the amount we need for his computer ($2,300 US)! It has been a complete blessing for him and he was so overwhelmed, yet excited. Thank you for all who have contributed and gotten involved. At first he was kind of shocked, but every night since his birthday he’s been online looking at the Apple store making sure he’s finding great deals! We can’t wait to see the rest of the money come in.

We celebrated the evening with a chocolate cake that he loves and said “D’Oh!” on the top, his football video game that a friend let us borrow and gummi donuts. It was a great birthday, and you can never have too many new pairs of socks or underwear!

To know how to contribute towards Josiah’s computer, click here.

Every Christmas Eve there’s a home or group of flats that hosts the Christmas Eve party, this year is was at the “blue flats” where our good friends the Lehmann’s live. They helped organize the get together with our flat mates and we had a great social time before Christmas Day.

What really made it exciting was some friends of ours, Mike & Jessica and Justin & Amanda, are couples that are best friends, and both Mike and Justin proposed to their loved ones Christmas Eve. The four of them showed up as fiances and told us the wonderful story! The ladies were so intrigued!

It made me think back to last Christmas time when Josiah and I weren’t even engaged yet! Not until December 26, 2006…you can read that story again by clicking here.