Lathams News

A Devastating Week....

2012-02-02T16:05:00.022+10:00

This has been an absolutely devastating week. On Monday night we got some news that completely rocked our world.

My beautiful amazing, adoreable Mum who turned 78 whilst we were down here a couple of weeks earlier was admitted to hospital at the end of last week with what we though was bit of a problem that she has suffered from previously in the past. On Monday night however, I found out that Mum will probably never come home from hospital. She has a very aggressive form of Cancer. To say we were shocked was an understatement.

This photo of my Mum was taken in September last year at my Dad's 80th Birthday. She was healthy and looked great.
Just three and a half months later this photo was taken of my Mum and Dad when we were down holidaying with them a couple of weeks ago.
When we got word on Monday night and I looked at these two photos I was totally shocked at the rapid deterioration of mum and really mad with myself that we did not notice that something was wrong.

We are now back on the coast so that we can spend every bit of time with her we can. She is not aware that she is so sick, she doesn't appear to be in a lot of pain, and although her memory is failing her, and she may not know our names anymore, she recognises us still and her face lights up when we enter the room. She is happy, and we are savouring every spare minute we can with her. Yesterday I took my Camera up to the hospital. I got some precious shots of Mum, they still show the essence of who she is, a woman who never complains, who is aways more concerned about others needs rather than her own, who is always happy, who is a joy to be around, and loves unconditionally, and is loved by all who know her. These following photos are precious.

Each day I have been coming home and jotting down some of the very special treasures and memories that I have from Mum each time I sit with her. I don't ever want to forget, the certain looks, the lovely words, the precious gifts from God in our time of total despair. God is good, he has sustained us this week and blessed us. We have been blessed beyond measure to have this beautiful woman as a Mum. She has loved us and each of our children unconditionally, and she is GREATLY loved and adored by her three daughters, her three son in laws, and her thirteen grandchildren and four great grandchildren. God could not have blessed us more.

It has been so special to sit with her grandchildren this week and hear their stories of their memories of Grandma, and each of them have said that if they could be like anyone they would love to be like Grandma. What a wonderful role model.

I know the next couple of weeks are going to be difficult, but I choose each day to praise my heavenly Father for the precious gift of my Mum, and each day I chose to hold those memories of her love dearly in my heart.

I found this quote this morning. It really spoke to me.... it seemed to help me today. I want to record it so that I remember it.

Life Happens but Love helps......

It has helped today.... Life Does happen. We don't always like it, it brings pain and heartache. Love does help. The love I see in my Mum's eyes, the love I see in our family, the love between my parents. the love between the cousins... it is all helping today.

Celebrating Australia Day

2012-01-26T21:06:00.025+10:00

Australia Day is celebrated on the 26th January every year. It is the biggest nationwide public holiday, and is celebrated right acrss our country. On Australia Day we come together as a nation to celebrate what's great about Australia and being Australian. It's the day to reflect on what we have ahieved and what we can be proud of in our great nation. It's the day for us to re-connect to making Australia an even better place for the future.

This year we got into the partying spirit.

We started the day with a family Aussie Breakfast cooked by that lovely man of mine.
My friend Jannett dropped in for a cuppa then

At lunch time, we caught up with some of our church family who had organised a bit of an Aussie Day BBQ, and then this afternoon we headed to the beach for this.
I couldn't get over the number of people down there and how patriotic they all were. Made you proud to be an Aussie. Love the way that more Australians each year are now celebrating our national day. We live in a great country with great people. We have really seen that this past year, people getting in to lend a hand to their fellow Aussies, throughout all the national disasters we have experienced especially in Queensland.

We have celebrated today as a family. It is not often these days that the three of us are off doing things together. Love these photos of us all
We even managed to get a few photos together too.

Some photographic memories of our afternoon at the Beach

Couldn't resist adding a photo of one of our beautiful Aussie koala's too.

It has been a great day, great to have a day off work, great to reflect on all that is good about this country we live in.

Today I am thankful for

1. This great nation we live in
2. Our wonderful lifestyle
3. Plenty of Sunshine
4. Our lovely beaches
5. Beautiful landscrapes
6. Freedom
7. The Aussie Spirit
8. A land of plenty
9. Celebrations
10. Public Holidays.
11. Our lovely fauna and wildlife
12. Wide open spaces

Back to Work

2012-01-23T21:56:00.023+10:00

Back to work again. Why do the terms go so slow and the holidays go so fast....
Not looking forward to work the same this year. Very little time doing what I enjoy best.... More hours, although I guess it will be good to get paid for the work I have been doing in my own time for the past few years.

Been looking at the book "One thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp this week. Well I have a list of gifts and things I am thankful for

1.I am thankful for this wonderful man. I am especially thankful for him this week. It's been a tough week, and he has gone out of his way to show his love and support, even making time for two date nights in the last few days. He sends me messages during the day to let me know that I am loved and he is thinking of me. He has worked along side me all weekend to make sure that we both have time to spend together. He has a wonderful servant heart and I love him to bits.

2. Perfume... received this beautiful bottom as a random gift from my lovely man, just because he loved the smell and bought it as a surprise gift for me.

3, Fresh summer fruit.... enjoying all the beauitful fruits at the moment, So refreshing...

4. Fabrics..... loving all the beautiful fabrics I have been finding lately. Looking forward to being creative making some little gifts to bless people.

5. LOVE... Love of God, love of family, love of life, love of craft.... LOVE

6. Rain.... so good to hear the rain today. refreshing the earth. love the smell of the rain, and how clean it makes everything feel. So thankful for the rain today.

7.Rainbows.... reminds me of God's promises and his faithfulness.

8. Pegs... especially colourful ones. Love using them to hold clean washing on the line. Love to see the sheets and towels flapping in the breeze.

9.
This gorgeous girl of mine.... She has such a generous heart. She has spent time with me all weekend, and then today she knew it was going to be a hard day. She has run me during the day just to let me know that she has been thinking of me and praying for me, and then this afternoon, when I got home from work, she had a lovely gift for me to brighten my day. She remembered a necklace that I had admired weeks ago when we were out shopping and today she bought it for me. I feel so blessed.

10. Books.... I have been enjoying the latest books by this great Author. Just in the last couple of weeks I have read Leaving, Longing, Learing, and now I can't wait to read Loving.

What else has been happening in my neck of the woods lately.

I am enjoying getting into some craft again lately.

I found a pattern for these cute little owls, and have been busily making a set to hang on my tree.

I have bought fabric and felt and have cut out a whole set of these little owls, that I am making for my tree. I am also making a set for friend to hang on her tree also.

I just love the way they are turning out.
I have a bit of a thing about little owls at the moment. I have even had some fun drawing some.
I have been making some journals also for my secret sister, and intead of the usual flower I would put on, this time, I have put a little owl on the cover. Love how it has turned out also.
I've bought some material to do some sewing too but haven't had a chance to get in and do it yet. I am looking for some patterns for cases for iPhones, cameras and other techno gear we cart around in our bags. If you know of any online sites, I would love a link.

Not a lot more has been happening around here. Chloe has been partying. She had a Hawaiain 30th Birthday Party to go to on Saturday night. We had fun together making floral anklets and bracelets to wear.
I have had such a good time with her this past weekend, we have had fun doing girlie things together, pedicures and manicures, and I have to say that she definately looked great all dressed up ready to go.
I have been a lazy blogger this month. I haven't taken many photos at all to share. Just been too busy with the mundane, everyday stuff,

I did come accross this though that I thought I would like t share
I think I am discovering that this year. Will be back soon.

A slow blogging start to the year.....

2012-01-16T20:06:00.034+10:00

It has been a slow blogging start to the year. We have had two weeks on the Sunshine Coast and I hardly took my camera out. Mind you in some ways it wasn't really a holiday as we spent most of our time down there this year working around our home.. Lots of cleaning, repairs, windows, doors, new clothes line in, new security doors. How sad is it that I never even managed to feel sand between my toes, or go for a walk around the lake.

We did though manage to get a lot of little jobs done that we have needed to do for the past 12 months. The weather didn't allow us to do much when we were down last year. We did manage to take a couple of days off. One to celebrate my months birthday, and another to go to Brissie to visit the Chiropractor. We also managed to spend the afternoon at the GOMA and Art Gallery.

This year we took our van down and stayed in the Caravan Park at Alex Headlands. Great park right next to a lake, only a block from the beach. Very reasonably priced and very clean. Definately booking to go back there again next year.

The drive down was gorgeous. The countryside was looking so good, and so green.
We stopped at Tiaro just outside of Maryborough to check out a free camp place. There were quite a few vans there. We only stopped to have a break and a drink, but it definately would be a great place to stop. Very close to all amenities.
It felt good to be on the road again. I think buying our caravan was the best investment we have made towards future holidays. Pleased to say we have had three holidays away in it this year.... and hopefully we will have many more again this year.

It was Mum's birthday whilst we were there so we had a days outing and heading up to Coolum where we also caught up with my sister and her family and we all went out for lunch and drinks.

We managed to catch up with one of my second cousins and his wife. We always enjoy spending time with them. Simone and I have so much in common. We are both crafters and are always getting ideas off each other. These are a couple I picked up from her on this visit. Keen to try a few of these ideas myself this year.

We managed a couple of trips to Brisbane to see the Chiropractor. (Have found an excellent one in Brisbane in Ascot) It was so hot on Monday when we were there that we decided to spend the afternoon at the GOMA and the Art Gallery( air conditioned comfort) before we were to meet the kids for dinner that night.

Pete met us here for Lunch
After he went back to work, we headed to the Galleries.
Some snapshots of our afternoon there:
The Queensland Art Gallery
We checked out the Eugene Von Guerard exhibition. Some great works of art. Amazing colours and depth of field to her work.

We then headed over to the GOMA
The reindeer above were amazing under the lights. They are made up of glass balls of all different sizes and truely looked quite specatular under the lights.

One of my favourite exhits was the "Sticker Room". We were given this before we got to enter
and we had fun doing this:
This was quite amazing. It consisted of three or four rooms which were totally white, including all th furniture, even the keys on the piano and all the plants. We all got to go in then and put our stickers where ever we liked. It actually looked brillant and was constantly changing all the time.
Some close up shots of the rooms

These rooms were especially popular with the kids.
Another really neat display was this mystical experience. These displays were all made from sugar in their different forms, and it was a definately no touch zone. It really did look quite amazing though.

It really was like fairy land and everything so so detailed and intricate and the colours were gorgeous. Photos definately do not do it justice.

Steve managed an afternoon out to see with my cousin and they went crabbing for spanner crabs. The got their full quota after only a couple of hours. So much easier that going for the mud crabs and of course we have had a great feed of crabs all week.

We managed to catch up with a few other good friends as well. ( Forgot to take photos) Too busy enjoying the moments.

On our last night we caught up with Sim and Lloyd again and had fish and chips on the beach. So nice. We should have done it more.
Peter managed to get up to the coast for a visit, but Sarah and Colin were pretty busy, so didn't make it up. We managed to go down to Brissie and catch up with them one day. They enjoyed their break.

They had a day of pampering
Spa, massages, out to lunch and the the Gold Class Cinema to top of their wonderful day.
They also had a weekend in Sydney - they went down for one of Colin's cousins wedding. They did manage though to squeeze in a little rest and relaxation.
All too soon our holidays have come to an end. Steve goes back to work tomorrow and I have one day left. All going way too quickly. Sigh.......

I did come accross this though in the last couple of weeks and thought it was worth sharing
This year I want to put a lot more of these into practice. I know it will be a busy year, but a lot of these will definately be on my list of priorities.

Just read this on Julia's blog and loved it so wanted to record it here for my future reference.

Peace does not mean to be in a place
where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work.
Peace means to be in the midst of all those
things and still be calm in your heart....Unknown.

Must go sleep awaits me....

A New Year.

2012-01-04T07:47:00.002+10:00

We are already four days into a new year..... and as usual I am already behind with posting...
We are now on the Sunny Coast. The week after Christmas pasted in a real whirl. The kids were home we were out most days, just enjoying being together. We shopped, we went to the movies, we caught up with friends, and it warmed my heart that when it was time for them to go, they didn't want too... I love it when our time together ends with them not really ready to leave.

The day they left we felt a bit lost in the morning too. Just flat... we love having our kids around. The afternoon was busy, we had a visit from Sarah's in laws. Lovely folk, we get along well, it was nice to catch up with them, and then that night we had good friends over for dinner. They were back in Rocky passing through heading north.

Some highlights from our week home

We did plenty of shopping.
All kinds of shopping... clothes, new sheets, towels, house knick knacks lots of bargains, lots of specials. The girls got jewellery and shoes too. We stopped for coffee's and lunch, we all fitted in the movies on Boxing day, and on Tuesday we managed a real girlie day where we did this.

and we all managed one of these as well
The girls were most obliging and even though they aren't hugely impressed with a Mum with a camera, at least we got to document our special day. We try and fit in a day like this at least once a year. Such good fun when we do it all together.

We caught up with friends and went to coffee
Sarah's bridesmaid was also in town, so we got to go out for a coffee all together as well.

We also had fun working together at home. The annual mango peel took place
We had quite a few mangoes this year, so we did a lot of peeling and a lot of freezing. We will be able to have mango frappe's and smoothies hopefully for the next couple of months. I have a new receipe to try out. A mango and mint smoothie. it tastes divine.

I even managed to squeeze in a sewing lesson for my new sewing machine. I am SO impressed. I have never had a machine this fancy before. I cannot beleive how easy button holes are now. It even measures the size of the button and does it automatically for you. Just WOW WOW WOW... The kids had me mending things for them and altering a couple of the new dresses they bought on sale.
Finally I received this photo today from a friend. Thought it would be good to document it so that I can remind myself this year that this is what I want to do.
Must go, we are busy cleaning the house down at the coast.... lots to do and we are hoping to break the back of it today so that we can have a bit of a holiday next week. Will be back to share some more photos soon.

CHRISTMAS DAY 2011

2011-12-27T10:16:00.071+10:00

A little look at Christmas at our place this year.

We had a wonderful Christmas Day with all the family home. We had a very early start to the day. Not so good when you didn't get to bed until after 1.30am Christmas morning. I like to get the table all set for Christmas lunch before I head to bed.
Sarah and Penny were in at 6.30am to wake us up so that we could open a present or two before we headed off to church.

They had bought Pete's beautiful golden cocker spaniel up to stay for Christmas. It was her first Christmas and the kids have all spoilt her rotten. I can understand why, she is such an adoreable creature. Such a people's person and just loves to be around people.
She was absolutel hilarious to watch when we opened out presents. She couldn't get enough of the paper. Thought it was all a a big game.

We headed off to church as a family. I loved how we all went together to celebrate the reason for this very day.... the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, and how we were able to take communion to remember why he came for us... It was nice to catch up with friends and some friends who were home on holidays...

We came home and finished getting lunch ready before we had our gift giving. Took lots of photos.

Just before we sat down to open our presents we had the photo shoot with the dog. Penny was so accommodationg, she was just so darn cute.. Love these shots of her...

and these ones as well.
Love our Christmas Tree this year..
Present unwrapping time.....
Chloe opening her presents...
Love some of these shots of Chloe.

I got really spoilt this year by everyone..... Just loved all my presents.
Not only did I get these awesome bedside lamps, but I got a new paper cutter from Chloe with extra special blades, I got a pedicure from Pete, and my Husband really spoilt me with a new one of these.
I have my first lesson in the morning.... I am now looking forward to doing more sewing this year. I will be able to keep my old machine now exclusively for scrapbooking and this one for sewing. I also got a lovely new stainless steel electric frypan, plus an external hard drive for my computer. I was definately very spoilt this year.

Love these photos of my man too.
My son in law
and these are some of my favourite shots of my eldest daughter
Some of my favourite shots of our kids.

Our Pete
Our Sarah
Our Chloe
And our course my wonderful man
We had a lovely traditional roast turkey dinner with ham off the bone, and most of us were too full to eat the plum pudding and brandy custard.... that had to be left to dinner. I love setting the table up for Christmas lunch and using our best dinner service.

In the afternoon most of us had a nap, and those that didn't watched a couple of movies. It was pretty hot, so we didn't venture out doors much this year. Totally different to the weather we had for Christmas day last year when we had it in Melbourne.

Christmas night we had friends join us and Steve did curried prawns for us all. He is the master chef where curried prawns are concerned and the kids love to come home and have him cook it for them. Their favourite.
We had the nicest Christmas... so good to have family home. I look forward to this time when we are all home together.

This Christmas I have been blessed and there are so many things I am thankful for.

1. That all my family were home for Christmas
2. That we could all attend church together as a family and celebrate the birth of our Saviour.
3. That we could all take communion and remember the sacrifice that was made so that we could have a relationship with our God.
4. Christmas Carols, especially those that proclaim the Christmas story or a Saviour born to save us all.
5. The giving and receiving of gifts.
6. Joy and laughter shared amongst us all
7. Pete's puppy Penny and the joy she bought to our lives as she shared in her first Christmas with us all.
8. Mealtimes, and the fellowship around the table.
9. Seafood and the abundance of it this Christmas
10. Traditions - the things we look forward to as we celebrate Christmas together.
11. Getting together with friends and sharing the joy.
12. Surprises - we all received some this year.
13. Christmas greetings via cards and emails.
14. Ferrero Rochers - my favourite chocolates
15. Girl time and guy time.... we have all had special times together which hold special memories for us.

A very HAPPY CHRISTMAS

2011-12-25T00:10:00.008+10:00

Just want to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas.

We have had a wonderful family day today. All our kids are home.... and we are enjoying some spending time together.

This morning we went out for Breakfast all together to the Giddy Goat. Great place and we enjoyed a couple of leisurely hours sitting around the table and chatting.
Each of us went out own way for a couple of hours to finish off some Christmas shopping.
This afternoon we went out and visited friends for afternoon tea.
And then tonight we had a special meal in and watched a Christmas movie together.

We were to have had prawns on the grass but we had an enormous storm which meant that we had to dine indoors rather than out.

Finishing off the night now, just getting the table set for Christmas lunch.

I will say goodnight and will be back to share our day with you soon,

May you have a wonderful Christmas day with all your families. May you celebrate the birth of a Saviour. and may have a wonderful day appreciating those you love.

Christmas Lights and Clean ups.

2011-12-23T11:46:00.030+10:00

The clean up process is still in place.... but boy does it feel good to get rid of a lot of the rubbish that has been sitting around here for way too long. Proud of my man.... he normally finds it hard to part with stuff..... you know, you never know when you might need it.... but he has had an enormous purge this Christmas and I am sure he is feeling good for it too. Pictures to come.

First, last night we did the annual drive around looking at Christmas lights. This time last year we were checking out the Christmas lights in Mount Gamier with our good friend Ali. We left it a little late last night to start so missed a few of the good ones, but this is some of what we saw.

This is the first year we have checked out the Christmas lights using the GPS... How much easier did that make it. Might have to go again tomorrow night and check out a few that we missed, one of them being the winning one.

Now this is what the guys have been busy doing the last few days. Pete gave us the most wonderful Christmas present. He took a few days off work to come up and give his Dad a hand with the yard. He has been a HUGE help, and a definate motivation for Steve. Huge thank you to my boy. Here they are hard at work....

I have to say too I am so proud of my man. He has always been a bit of a hoarder... (You never know when you might need it) and in fairness to him, usually he has whatever we need when we need it but he has been ruthless these holidays.

This has made his week though....
As most of you know. Steve lost all of his bee hives earlier in the year when Rockhampton was flooded. He had bought the remaining bee boxes home to sort out and they had just been left up in the back yard. Steve had resigned himself to the fact that he probably wouldn't keep bees again now until he retired as he is pretty busy and doesn't really have the time to put into them. Well a week or so ago, he went out to find bees hovering around one of the hives. He checked it again that evening and sure enough there were still bees there. A swamp of bees have made their home in one of his hives. He is now convinced that it was God sent and he is still meant to keep a hive or two. How can you argue with that....

This has now been done too....We have two wonderful bowen mango trees in our backyard, so we are normally guaranteed of a feed of mangoes around Christmas. One of our jobs at the end of the year is to pick them. We had to get in a bit earlier this year, as not only did we have competition from the bats at night, but the cockatoos found them through the day and have had a feast as well.

We have also been busy in the house...
The last of the cleaning.... windows and Chloe cleaning the fish tank... It all feels so good... and I love how our room is looking at the moment.
Can I keep it this way all year?????

And a few more shots of Christmas around our place...
My little silver tree has some new Christmas decorations on it.
I picked up these new word Christmas decorations, Joy and Noel. I actually went back today to get a few more, but all the JOY ones were gone. Sad face showing here.
Just some of the sights in our Lounge room this Christmas
And finally before I leave just wanted to share these couple of pictures which really do help to remind us why we celebrate Christmas

5 Sleeps To Go.....

2011-12-20T09:15:00.011+10:00

I love this time of Year.... This is the time of year we are all astir. Excitement is in the air. There is a great sense of anticipation and many expectations in the air. In a season connected with death, a baby enters this world offering life and love to everyone, It is my all time favourite holiday. Next to Easter, I can't think of a day that has the opportunity to impact more lives or change more lives than these two days. Yet unfortunately there are not any other holidays that are more controlled by the world than these two days The day God sent his son to us and the day His Son gave his life for us. Even so I love that Christmas it is a time of families getting together, that it is a time to celebrate the Birth of Christ, and what that has meant to mankind. Even though it is highly unlikely in fact almost certain that his birth did not occur on this date, I still love that we can set aside this day to remember that the Christ Child was born to save mankind. This Christmas we need to remember WHO Christmas is all about. We need to put Christ back into Christmas. We need to remember that Jesus is still the reason for the season.

This week we have been busy spring cleaning here. It is always nice to have the house looking good for Christmas, and even nicer to come back from holidays and start the new year knowing that it has all been done. I am thankful for the beautiful weather we have had over the past week. It has made the job so much better.
We created a huge mess, but it is now nice to see things back in order and glasses all sparkling. This was a job long overdue as we were away this time last year, so most of it didn't get done when we got back as we so busy dealing with the jungle of a yard we came home to after all the floods.

We had to wait until Chloe came home to decorate the house. She was spoilt this year. On the weekend her boss took all his staff to Heron Island for a couple of days for their Christmas Dinner this year. Now here is a boss who really knows how to appreciate and treat his staff. She had a great time... photos to come later.

When she got home we spent the evening doing this

I love seeing the house all decorated....

Steve has been busy finishing our retaining wall. It was started this time last year whilst we were away, but because of all the rain, we were unable to finish it when we got home. He has been doing it for most of this term. Yesterday he finished. The cement fixer is all packed up and now it is time to move out into the yard and get it all tidied for Christmas.

Pete is arriving home tonight to help STeve do this....
Had to also include these photos of my friend Jannett. We went on the roadtrip to Brissie together last week to catch up with our kids. On our way home we stopped for a picnic lunch. It was a huge trip home, took us over 10 hours for a trip that normally would take somewhere between 7-8 hours. Our roads are still all being repaired from our horrific wet season last summer, so we were held up in road works for a few hours.

Finally I have lots to be thankful for this week.

1. The season of Christmas and that it is all about the Birth of a Saviour and all that it means for mankind.
2. That my family will all be home this year.
3. For my wonderful husband and the wonderful help he has been helping me with all our spring cleaning.
4. Beautiful weather and cool breezes. Unbelievely cool this year, makes it so much easier to get our work done.
5. Christmas Carols.
6. The rain and that we now have green grass everywhere
7. Fragrance and smell and flowers and colour.
8. Clean house
9. Holidays
10. Just being able to enjoy being at home, not having to go out, but enjoying working side by side with my wonderful man.

And I missed it all...

2011-12-15T07:59:00.024+10:00

Whilst I was away in Brissie for the last few days, Rocky experienced some very stormy weather especially last Sunday when a number of storm cells passed over the city all within a 7 hour period. They experienced 7 storms in that time, and a mini cyclone passed right through our neighbourhood leaving a trail of destruction.

This is what happened to our neighbour two doors down.

Chloe and Steve heard it come down. We had a mini cyclone pass by with winds over 100kms per hour.

Totally upr rooted the tree

and totally blocked off our street from all traffic

It was a good thing that the little white car that is usually parked accross the road was not home, as the tree fell right where it is normally parked. Bet the owners were thankful as it is normally always there.

It pulled down power lines in the street, and took out the power to our neighbours house. We were without power for 8 hours. They were without power for 24 hours.
The power guys were there pretty quickly though

Then the council arrived to chop it all up and mulch it and cart it away

They had to bring a bob cat in to lift the roots out of the ground. It was quite an operation.
Mulching it all up and sweeping the street, so that we could get in and out again. They had it all finished before dark. Great job by all considering it was a Sunday afternoon.

I must admit it made me SO thankful that we had taken out our big gum tree earlier in the year. It all seemed quite bizarre, as I was in Brissie at the time, and we had a big storm down there. My son in law was explaining to me how different storms were down there to our home towns up north. He had only finished telling me that he actually felt safe in storms when he was at home and in Rocky, but in Brisbane even going inside did not make it safe. (They had a huge gum tree fall through the roof of their home not long after they moved it, and spent over three months in a motel whilst all the damage was repaired. It was only 10 minutes after this conversation with him that Steve rang to tell me about the tree blowing over in our street.

Sneak preview of the December decorations on my little silver tree... Picked them up on my trip to Brissie and they look great. Will show you a proper photo in the next few days.

Must go..... the house cleaning awaits. The next week will see us spring cleaning for Christmas.
I love this time of year....

On holidays at last...... and so much to do.

2011-12-12T16:56:00.022+10:00

I have totally enjoyed my first day of the holidays today. It has been a very relaxing day catching up with some special friends in Brissie. We have done coffee and lunch, and totally relaxed and I have loved spending the day with you both Bev and Bek, and the beautiful Grace and Lucy. Two more days of this and then it is back to reality and lots of spring cleaning before Christmas.

The last week of work was CRAZY.... so much to do and so little time, late nights and early mornings.

Here's a glimpse of last week.
Steve finishing off the end of his work... at home for a change.
Last weekend we went to the COP production of "How Bazaar". It was amazing. They did an excellent job. Steve and I went on the Friday night because he was heading off to visit his folks for a couple of days on the Sunday. I went again on Sunday night with Chloe. We try and go most years. They are always very well done.

I have been busy doing this for work this week.

Christmas baking. We had parents coming in to help us cover books, so I wanted to have something special for them for Afternoon tea.

These were a huge hit.
These were a huge hit.
Chloe bought some of these home as a treat for us...
My eldest daughter informed me that I had to make one of these for the newest addition to our family.
We have even been Christmas shopping to buy some gifts to fill it.

This one has been to the beach... enjoying a typical Queenslander summer
I even managed to finish off this.....
Why is it that when you really feel like scrapbooking, it is always the busy time and you don't have time..... Have some great photos to scrapbook at the moment, but I guess they will have to wait now until after Christmas.

This past weekend I have been down visiting my kids. Had a great day yesterday with Sarah, we were off doing this.
We started the day with a head, shoulder and neck massage, and then hit the shops to do our Christmas shopping. Always so much better when you do it with someone and can have a break here and there to enjoy some girlie time.
We had a great time.... Got some bargains, completed most of our Christmas shopping.

Last night we headed off to the movies to see this.
I don't think the boys particularly enjoyed it but I did.....

But Sarah wore her new dress that we had bought that morning Love it on her. Will be great for when the girls go overseas next year.
Today I have been busy doing this...
Thought I would get them done and posted before I went home. One less job to do when I get home.

Today I also caught up with these lovely girls.
I have known and loved them forever. Bek was her daughter Lucy's age when we first met. We have been good friends for over 35 years. So nice to spent time with them. Bek now has two beautiful daughters of her own.
Baby Lucy had her very first Baby Chino today, She kept us entertained, as she scooped off the froth, and dipped her marshmallow into the froth. Definately a photographic moment,

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas down here.
Only two more days until I get home and then I have a huge spring clean ahead of me to get our place ready for Christmas. The troops are all coming home this year, and I can't wait.

We've had drama's at home since I have been away. Massive storms yesterday, They have taken photos of it all, will be back to share in a couple of days.

And finally just had to share this one.

21 days till Christmas

2011-12-03T23:22:00.010+10:00

The countdown is on and we are not at all organised this year. The Christmas Tree is down out of the cupboard but just laying in a box on the floor. Have heaps to do before we will get it up. It has been a crazy crazy busy term. In fact it has been a crazy crazy busy year, and I am still wondering hwere it has all gone.

I did managed to get my three layouts finished.

Here they are....
I have been such a slack scrapbooker this year. This is only the 20th layout I have done. Normally by now I would have done at least 50 plus layouts.

Only 5 days of work left and I am then on 5 and a half weeks holiday. I am counting down the hours. We have been crazy crazy busy at work now for weeks. Still so much to do and so little time to do it....

Driving around town we are starting to see a few houses like this one,
There are no where near as many houses as their used to be decorated like this, this year. Wondering whether it has anything to do with the steep jump in electricity prices this year. We have never been one to do Crhistmas lights at this time if year, but I do love going out and cheching seeing all the beautiful Christmas lights. Last year we checked them all out in Mt. Gambier.

This week I have also enjoyed seeing my dining room looking like this.

Chloe's and my flowers lasted till today. It was so nice seeing the grace our dining room table ths week.

Well I can barely keep my eyes open so here are the things I have been thankful for this week.

1. A night out with my husband at the Musical "How Bazaar" - listening to the wonderful Story of Chirstmas, and howthis Christ child came to earth so that we nmight have a relationship with our heavenly father.
2. Amazing music
3. Hero's and Heroines.
4. Bargains
5. New scrap supplies.
6. Fresh Fruit. especially, watermelons, mangoes, rockmelons, cherries and all the lovely stone fruit around at the moment.
7. A night out for dinner with my husband and then coffee with friends.
8. Decorations and Christmas Carols.
9. rubber thongs.
10. A nice comfy bed.

Be back again soon.

Feeling Extra Spoilt

2011-11-27T19:56:00.031+10:00

Feeling pretty spoilt this weekend. Not with going out for dinner, breakfast, lunch and then dinner again, I also scored one of these. It's for my handbag. Once must carry one of these at all times. Chloe got the model before this one for her birthday and I have just loved the photos she has been able to take with hers. Just no comparison between these and the ones from my old Olympus camera which is now a few years old. You can imagine my surprise when I got one of these. So you can pretty much guess what I have been playing with today, as I try and learn how to use the thing. It is a little more complicated than my old handbag camera, and I would even say it is a little more difficult to use than our SLR. I need to do a lot more reading and a lot more playing.

Some photo shares from today. I was spoilt and got breakfast in bed today. I was greeted with this happy face. Appartently this birthday means I get spoilt for the whole weekend. I kind of like these kinds of birthdays.

I have been wanting one of these for ages, so this week, my lovely husband made one for me and it is hanging strait out of my kitchen window. I think, he thinks it might survive if I can water it when I do my dishes. So far I have Sweet basil, corriander, italian parsley, beetroot salad leaves, garlic chives and garden mint planted. I am looking forward to picking them straight from my little garden and using them in my cooking. We also have heaps of Paw Paw on our trees at the moment too and our Lychee tree is loaded
This is the best crop we have had in years. I am sure it is because Steve bought a net to put over it to stop the birds from pinching them. Looking forward to picking them in the next couple of weeks.

It has been a stinking hot day here today. Summer has finally hit us. We decided to have a picnic lunch on our front stairs today. Was a little cooler outside with a gentle breeze. We had fresh bread from the bakers with ham and avocado. Just delicious. Nothing like fresh warm bread....

I recieved this lovely gift from my secret sister today

I have been listening to it all afternoon. It has kind of put me in the Christmas mood and I am looking forward now to getting our Christmas decorations up hopefully next weekend.

It has been a lovely day. I took these photos too whilst playing with my new camera. Overload of flower photos but then again we have a house full of fresh flowers at the moment. Even had some fun trying to focus on some Christmas decorations. I didn't get to church today. Have had a recurrence of some health issues I had last year just before I left for our big holiday. They were pretty much stress related then, and I am thinking that is the case again.

Life can get a little overwhelming at times, and I can tend to feel a little down, even when I am showered with love from those around me. At times like this I am so glad that my faith keeps me grounded and focused. The last few weeks have been challenging both mentally, physically and emotionally, and when I am under stress I tend to internalize my worry and I know that this worry steals my peace... I

I decided that I needed to stay at home and rest this morning, so I spent the morning listening to some lovely worship instrument music and had my own quiet meditation at home. I love mornings like this. Whilst it is good to meet with others to worship, sometimes it is even better to get away from the business of being around people and have some very quiet time with God, just to listen, and focus on his word.

I actually came accross these verses from this blog a little while ago, and this morning I used my time at home to meditate on these verses. I let them these verses speak to my inner spirit. In a way it was like God's spirit speaking to me and helping to tranform my mind. This week I am going to hold onto these verses and let them speak to my heart each day, let them renew my mind when all else around me seems crazy.

Here are the verses that encouraged me this morning:

“God’s truth – his Word – stands forever.” Isaiah 40:8

“God gives me power when I am worn out and strength when I am weak.” Isaiah 40:29

“God’s principles are perfect. They are entirely worthy of my trust.” Psalm 119:138

“With God in my life, all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

“Jesus keeps pruning me so that I will be even more productive for God.” John 15:2

“The water Jesus gives takes away my thirst altogether.” John 4:14

“I am fearfully and wonderfully made by God.” Psalm 139:14

“I follow God’s principles because I love him.” John 14:15

“I can never be separated from the love of God.” Romans 8:35-39

“God’s love is made complete in me when I obey his principles.” 1 John 2:5

“As I draw near to God, he draws near to me.” James 4:8“

"God’s discipline is always good for me because it means I share in His holiness.” Hebrews 12:10

“I display a new nature because I am a new person, created in God’s likeness – holy and true.” Ephesians 4:24

“The secret is that Christ lives in me and I have assurance of sharing his glory.” Colossians 1:27

“Nothing can separate me from God’s love that is in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:39

“God satisfies me when I am thirsty and fills me with good things when I am hungry.” Psalm 107:9

“I keep God’s words in my heart. They are health to my whole body.” Proverbs 4:20-22

“It is God’s Spirit that gives me eternal life. My human effort accomplishes nothing.” John 6:63

“God is for me so no one can ever be against me.” Romans 8:31

“In God I live and move and exist.” Acts 17:28

“I defeat this evil world by trusting Christ to give me victory.” 1 Peter 5:5

“By God’s grace and through faith in Jesus, I have a full and eternal life.” Ephesians 2:8

“Through prayer, the peace of God guards my heart & mind.” Philippians 4:7

“By God’s grace and through faith in Jesus, I have a full and eternal life.” Ephesians 2:8

“I find strength in the Lord my God.” 1 Samuel 30:6

“God strengthens me because my heart is fully committed to him.” 2 Chronicles 16:9

“I have rest in my soul because I go to Jesus when I am weary.” Matthew 11:28-29

“Because I have been born again, I will see the Kingdom of God.” John 3:3

“I do not fear because God strengthens me.” Isaiah 41:10“I am full with the joy of the Lord.” Isaiah 42:10

Hope you have a good week and I will be back to share again in the next few days. Have a few layouts I want to finish off from our crop last weekend so will try and get them done so that I can share. Two weeks of work left and then we are on holidays. Well holidays to start the big spring clean before Christmas.

The Celebrations continue.....

2011-11-26T18:01:00.026+10:00

What a lovely birthday and weekend I am having. I had to work on my birthday, but I got a really lovely surprise when these arrived at work at lunch time.
It is not often that I get such beautiful flowers at work. Of course I had to come home and take some photos of them
I got more flowers last night when I went out for dinner with the girls and Sarah sent me a candle holder and some scented melts to put in it. Of couse I had to try it out last night. Just gorgeous.
Love the photo of this lovely pick rose too.

My lovely husband has spoilt me this year. With Chloe's flowers from earlier in the week, and all my flowers , the house is full of lovely blooms at the moment.

Because Chloe has had the week of work due to her surgery, we didn't feel it was right for her to go out last night, so we decided to celebrate my birthday as a family today.

Last night I ended up going out for dinner with the Ex Allies girls. Our final get together for the year, What a great night. We always have such a lovely time together, they are my happy medicine as we spend so much time laughing. I felt so special as they really made the night a birthday celebrate with cake, champagne and all. So much fun
And when I least expected it, the waitress bought this out.
Got some great photos of our night out together

Then this today, we have spent the day out together, this morning we went for Brunch here
This has now become my new favourite place to dine out.... definately will be bringing the kids here for brunch when they come home at Christmas time.
After we had brunch we headed over to shopping fair to look for a birthday present, do some Christmas shopping and Chloe was looking for a dress to wear to a formal dinner on Monday night.

Once again I got spoilt by my lovely husband. I scored a new camera for my handbag for my birthday. Looking forward to having a play with it tonight when I go out to dinner with another lot of girlfriends to celebrate my birthday.
Another lovely night out to celebrate my Birthday. Girlfriends rock...... and I am so blessed to have so many lovely ladies in my life.

Had a little wander around my garden yesterday. There is not much flowering at the moment but couldn't resist taking a few photos of the only flowering plants I found in my garden. Here is the share.....

It is getting close to my bed time... It's been a full on couple of days.
Will be back for another share soon.

These made her day....

2011-11-24T21:29:00.016+10:00

These arrived on our front doorstep yesterday and they certainly made Chloe's day.
They came from the guys she works with. She is so blessed to have such a great job working with really lovely people.
They definately brightened up her day. She is doing well. No bruising, but she does have some swelling. She spent most of yesterday sleeping, today has seen her a little more mobile. She has tomorrow off too and then back to work again on Monday.
Have a few more photo shares - the comings and goings of family over the past couple of weeks.
Chloe had a wedding a couple of weekends ago. One of the guys from work. She went with one of the girls from work. It was held down at the beach.

She also had the weekend away the week before her surgery as a leader on a youth camp.
Lots of beach activities and sand competitions.
Group photos...
Team building exercises...
Checking out bands on the beach....

An then my son in law Colin is over in Asia at the moment performing concerts with the Citipointe team

and Sarah is still hanging out at the beach....
I came accross this today and just had to share it. So true
I've always thought it a bit sad, that Aussies are adopting the celebration of Halloween in our country, I would much prefer that if we are going to adopt any sort of celebration, how much better would it be to adopt "Thanksgiving". Thinking of our lovely Yankie friends "The Gilliviers" tonight from Alabama. Praying for the safe arrival of their latest grandson, and thinking of them as they celebration Thanksgiving. I know they have so much to be thankful for this year.

Celebrating Thanksgiving here tonight too. There is so much in our lives to be thankful for.

Tonight I am thankful for

1. That Chloe's surgery went well, and that she has come through without any bruising or too much swelling.
2. For secure jobs
3. Laughter
4. my new herb garden and the the lovely way in which my husband surprised me with it,
5. scented candles
6, Friends who care
7. Memories
8. Promises
9. Encouragement cards arriving in the mail
10. Leisurely mornings. (Had one of those this week and looking forward to more in the next couple of weeks)

She is feeling a little sore and sorry tonight

2011-11-22T19:37:00.018+10:00

I had the day off work today.... I had to look after my baby... Not that she is a baby anymore, but somehow, Mums are still needed for this,

This morning saw us going through these gates
Past this beautiful old building...
to the entrance of this building.
We caught the lift down to the first floor and headed to this admission room
We actually drove down, although I don't know why because we couldn't find a park and had to drive back towards home and walk down the road to the hospital.

We were early and they were running a little late so we had to wait for almost an hour until Chloe was taken in to get ready
She had to put these every so cute slippers on
We still had to wait to see the anaesthetist so we sat and waited another half hour or so and she played with this
and I played with my phone too.
They came and collected her and I took off to go to the Chemist to get her prescription filled and then headed back to the hospital where I sat and waited. She took longer than most to wake up so I had to wait and extra hour or so. They say it is all good, it helps in the healing process. I must admit I felt a little anxious for a moment or two, as the last time we got news like that, that one of our kids was talking longer to wake from his surgery, there was real drama, with him arresting and spending three days in the ICU at the hospital. Deep down I knew she would be OK, but it is funny how those feelings from so long ago can surface even if it is only for a split second or more.
Anyway I sat and waited for a good hour or more and then they took me into see her
She was trying to wake up and still had drips hanging out of her, and icepacks around her jaws.
She had to be able to keep this down....
And then she had to be able to keep this lot down as well
She had to be able to get up and get dressed and move around without feeling sick before they would take this out of her arm.
So we arrived at the hospital at 9.45am this morning and we headed home at 4pm this afternoon. The pain is starting to set in now. Praying that she has no bleeding and she gets a good night sleep. She has the next few days off to recover....

Our final Scrap day for the year.

2011-11-21T19:07:00.018+10:00

It has been a busy weekend. We had our final Scrapbooking day for the year last Saturday. 9am to 9pm. There were about twenty of us scrapbooking for the day.. Lots of good fun... lots of good laughs and even some vocals taking place...
It was a very productive day. One of the girls managed to make 50 Christmas cards and they were just stunning. It is always great to spend time with these girls.

We all brought a plate of food to share for lunch and there was so much that it fed us for dinner as well. We shared gifts, and even found time to do a couple of Christmas puzzles. We don't get back together now until mid February. Will miss my time with the girls over the next couple of months.
I'm kicking myself that I forgot to photograph my Advent Box before I gave it away on the weekend. I did however manage to photograph my advent tags though. I saw these here and thought they would make a great Christmas gift for my secret sister this year.

I also managed to do almost three layouts. Just have to finish the journalling and then I will share. It has been months since I have actually scrapbooked a page. I have had trouble getting photos printed to a standard I have been happy with. Well after spending two and a half hours at HN last Friday, I finally managed to get a batch of photos I was really happy with, and it is amazing how much more inspiring it is to scrap great photos.

I've been doing a little reminising these last couple of days. This time last year we were here
Enjoying the very beautiful Mayfield Beach on the east coast of Tasmania.
Steve enjoyed doing this
and enjoyed pulling in these.

The views were just beautiful
and we enjoyed lovely long strolls along here
and at night we sat out under this
Oh how we have missed it this week when we have been busy in the craziness which is the end of term . It is hard to beleive that a whole year has passed since we spent time relaxing here.

Will be back soon to share the layouts from the weekend.

It;s all about Books and more books....

2011-11-20T18:36:00.015+10:00

That has been the story of my life now for the past few weeks. We are so busy at work at the moment. We have had hundreds and hundreds of these arrive.
all needing to catalogues and boxed
ready to be covered.... the contact is cut.....

we have hundreds and hundreds of books to get ready for next year. There are some great new books, very appealing to the eye.... very colourful..... and hopefully exciting for the kids to read...
Then to make way for all these lovely new books, we have books to cull too....
It has been busy busy busy.... we have three weeks to get it all done, to get all the end of year stuff done that we need to do to get ready that so we can hit the year running in 2012
I love my job.... but I will be pleased when the holidays come.... we have so much to do.... We are still haven't quite finished moving into our new library yet either... only three weeks left to get it all done.

Today I got to go on a lunch date with my husband......
Have a guess where he took me to lunch,,,,,
Yep.....
Bunnings.....

They have put in a little Cafe... so we headed there to do some man shopping and have a bite to eat.
We had our final scrap date yesterday for the year. A whole 12 hours, 9am to 9pm....
Will share that next time round.

Slack Blogger

2011-11-17T21:18:00.007+10:00

It has been a crazy few weeks around here.... and will be for the rest of this term. Have been working on a couple of projects, just haven't had time to photograph them yet.

In all the busy-ness of life though I have been so thankful for the many blessings that I have. I have been thinking about Gratitude a lot lately.

I have come accross this quote which has made me think:

GRATITUDE IS A QUALITY SIMILAR TO ELECTRICITY
IT MUST BE PRODUCED AND DISCHARGED AND USED UP IN ORDER TO EXIST AT ALL
Willian Faulkner

I really like this quote. The image of electricity is powerful, and living a life filled with gratitude is just as powerful. I have to admit, it is sometimes hard to be grateful when you are in pain or sick or things aren't going the way you like, but even in times of trial, there are always those worse off, so I know that I need to be grateful for all situations in my life. The power of Gratitude can always brighten my mood. Today I am grateful for an Attitude of Gratitude. I am grateful for what it is teaching me and for the daily reminder that I have been richly blessed. I am grateful for this electricity in my life, for the spark of happiness and light it brings.

My favourite chapter in the Bible is Phillipians Chapter 4 - it reminds me daily to be thankful.
To be grateful and I like to think it is my live verses.

⁴Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.

⁵Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

⁶Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

⁷And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

⁸Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

⁹Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

¹⁰But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.

¹¹Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

I received this email this week: Wanted to document it here so that I would remember it and have a copy to look back on.

TEN THINGS GOD WON'T ASK ON THAT DAY:

1... God won't asl what kind of car you drove. He'll ask how many people you drove who didn't have transportation.

2... God won't ask the quare footage of your house, He'll ask how many people you welcomed into your home.

3... God won't asl about the clothes you had in your closet, He;ll ask how many you helped to clothe.

4... God won't ask what your highest salary was. He'll ask if you compromised character to obtain it.

5... God won't ask what your job title was. He'll ask if your performed your job to the best of your ability,

6... God won't ask how many friends you had. He'll ask how many people to whom you were a friend.

7... God won't ask in what neighbourhood you lived, He'll ask how you treated your neighbours.

8... God won't ask about the colour of your skin. He'l asl about the content of your character.

9... God won't ask why it took you so long to seek Salvation. He'll lovingly take you to your mansion in heaven, and not to the gates of Hell.

10... God won;t have to ask how many people you forwarded this to, He already knows your decision.

What are the things you are grateful for this week:

1. That my tooth came out easily to day and didn't crack and shatter like my dentist expected.

2. That the end of report writing and exam marking is in sight and we will get to have some together time again this weekend.

3. Text messages with uplifting words of encouragement has caused me to turn around and do the same for someone else. Because everyone needs to hear words of encouragement.

4. God's miracles are staggering, His wonders are surprising. His kingdom lasts and lasts. His soverighn rule goes on forever. Daniel 4:3 (The Message)

5. People who are praying for you

6. Books books and more books.

7. Instrumental worship music. Love listening to it and reflecting on the glories of the Lord.

8. My gym membership. Feeling so much better since I have made it a part of my life each week again.

9. Photographes and the memories they bring back to mind.

10. The Christmas season ahead and reason for the season.

Finally a little bit of Chloe Fun..... from her weekend.

And just for a little bit of fun:...

A - Age: over 50
B - Bed size: Queen
C - Chore you hate: Housework full stop....
D- Dog's name: Penny (well she is not ours, but she is my son's dog and we all love her)
E - Essential start your day item: Breakfast
F - Favorite color: Blue although I am known as a colour queen.
G - Gold or Silver: Gold
H - Height: 179cmish approx although I think I am starting to shrink.
I - Instruments you play(ed): piano and guitar
J - Job title: Teacher Aide - Library and General school.
K - Kid(s): Pete, Sarah and Chloe
M - Mum's name: Margaret
N - Nicknames: not sure I have one
O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: several times.... mainly for miscarriages, broken arms, etc
Q - Quote you like: Remember there’s not such a thing
As a small act of kindness...
Every act creates a ripple
With no logical end...
- Scott Adams
R - Right or left handed: Right
S - Siblings: Jude and Lea
T - Time you wake up: usually around 7am
U- Underwear: best not say.....
V - Vegetable you dislike: Brussel Sprouts and Choco
W - Ways you drink your coffee: I dont - love the smell, hate the taste.
X-rays you've had: arms, feet and back
Y- Yummy food you make: Corn Beef and vegetables
Z- Zoo favorite : Oooh this is a hard one cause i love heaps - , Giraffes and Elephants would be my faves.

Will be back soon.

Countdown to the Christmas Holidays.

2011-11-02T19:54:00.002+10:00

In two days time we will be half way through this term.... Where are the weeks flying. We are heading into the countdown to Christmas here. I've changed the decorations on my little tree.
Just got to think of some different decorations now for December. Just decorating it though, has made me feel excited about the coming Christmas season. This is so different to how it was last year. It really didn't seem like Christmas last year until about the week before Christmas.

We are getting into the spring cleaning mood too. Normally we do the house from top to bottom for Christmas. This week we upgraded our vacum cleaner and invested in a carpet cleaner to wash the carpets. We've tried it out already.

I've been busy being creative again this week. Last night I got together with the girls who help organise our scrap days with me, and we made these as gifts for all the girls that come each month.

I'm so happy with the way they turned out. Think I might be making a few more as gifts this year.

I have also been busy making this advent calendar. Have finished all the hand stitching now. You never know I might even get it finished for this Christmas.
I've also been making some more cards.... similar to what I have done before but just in different colours. Now I need to start thinking about making my Christmas cards.

We have been visiting the Landscraping Centre here, getting pavers and bricks for our outdoor area and retaining wall. I came accross these and thought they were ever so cute.

It has been a quieter week for a change....here's hoping for another quiet one.

I have lots to be thankful for though again this week.

1. Spending an afternoon and being inspired by other creative woman.
2. My job and getting to work with awesome people.
3. Teachers - and appreciating they awesome job they do guiding our kids often with very little reward.
4. My smart phone.... and all the extra things I can do on it.
5. My lovely clean floors.
6. Lists.... I don't know how I would function without them.
8. Christmas Carols.....
9. Nights out with the girls.
10 Date nights with my man.
11. Daily Bible Verses that arrive on my phone to start each day.
12. Worship music....
13. Online Bible...
14. Words of encouragement.
15. Lovely blue skies and gentle breezes.

Be back again soon.

International Teacher's Day

2011-10-29T00:07:00.026+10:00

THE CREATION OF THE TEACHER

Author Unknown

The Good Lord was creating teachers. It was His sixth day of 'overtime' and He knew that this was a tremendous responsibility for teachers would touch the lives of so many impressionable young children. An angel appeared to Him and said, "You are taking a long time to figure this one out."

"Yes," said the Lord, " but have you read the specs on this order?"

TEACHER:

…must stand above all students, yet be on their level
... must be able to do 180 things not connected with the subject being taught
... must run on coffee and leftovers,
... must communicate vital knowledge to all students daily and be right most of the time
... must have more time for others than for herself/himself
... must have a smile that can endure through pay cuts, problematic children, and worried parents
... must go on teaching when parents question every move and others are not supportive
... must have 6 pair of hands.

"Six pair of hands, " said the angel, "that's impossible"
"Well, " said the Lord, " it is not the hands that are the problem. It is the three pairs of eyes that are presenting the most difficulty!"

The angel looked incredulous, " Three pairs of eyes...on a standard model?"

The Lord nodded His head, " One pair can see a student for what he is and not what others have labeled him as. Another pair of eyes is in the back of the teacher's head to see what should not be seen, but what must be known. The eyes in the front are only to look at the child as he/she 'acts out' in order to reflect, " I understand and I still believe in you", without so much as saying a word to the child."

"Lord, " said the angel, " this is a very large project and I think you should work on it tomorrow".

"I can't," said the Lord, " for I have come very close to creating something much like Myself. I have one that comes to work when he/she is sick.....teaches a class of children that do not want to learn....has a special place in his/her heart for children who are not his/her own.....understands the struggles of those who have difficulty....never takes the students for granted..."

The angel looked closely at the model the Lord was creating.
"It is too soft-hearted, " said the angel.

"Yes," said the Lord, " but also tough, You can not imagine what this teacher can endure or do, if necessary".

"Can this teacher think?" asked the angel.

"Not only think," said the Lord,. "but reason and compromise."

The angel came closer to have a better look at the model and ran his finger over the teacher's cheek.

"Well, Lord, " said the angel, your job looks fine but there is a leak. I told you that you were putting too much into this model. You can not imagine the stress that will be placed upon the teacher."

The Lord moved in closer and lifted the drop of moisture from the teacher's cheek. It shone and glistened in the light.

"It is not a leak," He said, "It is a tear."

"A tear? What is that?" asked the angel, "What is a tear for?"

The Lord replied with great thought, " It is for the joy and pride of seeing a child accomplish even the smallest task. It is for the loneliness of children who have a hard time to fit in and it is for compassion for the feelings of their parents. It comes from the pain of not being able to reach some children and the disappointment those children feel in themselves. It comes often when a teacher has been with a class for a year and must say good-bye to those students and get ready to welcome a new class."

"My, " said the angel, " The tear thing is a great idea...You are a genius!!"
The Lord looked somber, "I didn't put it there."

To all the great teachers out there: I hope today that you were recognized for the excellent job you do each and every day. It is not as easy job, and often the manners of children leave a lot to be desired, but when you see a child turn around and have a real desire to learn the rewards are priceless. Having a husband who is a teacher and working in a school, I am well aware of the many many hours that teachers spend in their own time preparing interesting lessons, the hours and hours they spend after hours being there for their students or helping those that want to do well.

This week I have been busy making these

One of the other teacher aides at my school and I decided to recognize our teachers this year, so I made all these little cards to go with a small gift of chocolate we bought for them. Who doesn't need a energy boost when working with kids

A close up of my cards

Last night I spent filling the bags with Chocolates and tying them up like this

They were well received by staff members. I am so glad we did it. It is nice to be appreciated and I do work with a truly great bunch of dedicated teachers.

This week I scored one of these. I have been eying it off for over 12 months now, and my friend happened to get invited to a party at her work, so I couldn't resist it. I had to use it to make my cards. I can see that I am going to be able to put it to good use in the future. There are just some punches that you know you are going to use time and time again and this is one of them.

Tonight a few of us had a girls night out. Last year we lost someone we loved to Breast Cancer and this year, my friend Jannett, had one of her daughers best friends die of it also. Both woman were far too young, Susannah was only 30 and left two young girls, Nelly was 26. Tonight we attended a fund raising evening to raise awareness and support Breast Cancer Week. It was a great night with almost 70 other women. We had to wear something pick.

One thing was for sure, you definitely couldn't miss me.

Have a few photos of the girls week too. Both of them are enjoying the beach at the moment, and heading to the coast every spare minute they can.

Sarah has been hitting the surf at the Gold Coast every spare minute that she gets. She tries to get down there most weekends with her sister in law.

The girls are getting pretty excited as they have planned a holiday away together next year. They are off to Fiji for a week or so for a purely girlies time away. Chloe is so excited as she prepares to get her first passport. I am feeling excited for them. I love the fact that they are good friends and actually want to do so much together,

Finally I came across this on Facebook this week.

Thought it was a very interesting cartoon in the light of the huge push towards standardizing education across the country.

I thought it was worth sharing. What are your views on it. Well I must hit the sack as it is way past my bedtime. Had more I wanted to share but it will all have to wait until another time now,

Night all.

Bits and Pieces

2011-10-20T22:32:00.026+10:00

Well the posts this month are very different to the ones we were posting this time last year. This time last year we were on our big holiday. No deadlines, no having to be up early to go to work. Yes we got up early but it was to explore and have fun. This year has been very different.

It has been a busy start to the week. After spending pretty much the whole weekend in bed due to a painful back and the gastro bug that is going around, I had to front up at work Monday as we had a big PD day, which one of the other Aides and I organised for our region. We had an overwhelming response to our day. We were going to cap it at 50 but ended up accepting 62 registrations, but we had to turn away more than 100. Just goes to show that PD for teacher aides is sadly lacking in our region.

It was a great day though, everything went off well, and we got heaps of positive feedback from those who attended. We covered things like reading and comprehension, Managing Behaviours and some ICTs, namely playing with things like iPads, iTouchs, Bee-Bots and looking at ways we can incorporate them into student learning in the classroom. So thankful though that it is over at least for another year. Our Admin is very keen for us to hold these sort of PD days regularly.
I've been busy card making this week. Had lots of thank you cards that I needed to make, but got a little carried away and ended up making a heap of other cards as well. Got lots more ideas for creative things to make between now and Christmas too.

Most of these ones will be given out in the next week as we say thank you to all those on staff who really were very supportive of us when we were planning our PD day.

Then I decided to make a few more just for fun... some that Chloe and I can use for my secret sister

That's the thing I like about card making. You can be quite productive and make several the same - a little bit of mass producing.

Got hold of some of the photos taken at Josh and Lauren's wedding. They had a photo booth thing happening and I just love these photos of my kids and Josh and Lauren. Lots of fun photos.
Did up some collage photos of them all too.

Some of the happy couple...

Finally couldn't resist sharing this last photo with you. This is the sight that greeted us as we opened our front door this morning.
Some beautiful baby Willy Wagtails..... just gorgeous.

Just wanted to leave you with these couple of thoughts to ponder on this week.This one is taken from my most favourite book of the Bible. If we practice this we will have peace and joy in our lives regardless of the circumstances happening around us.
Time to hit the sack..... a good weekend coming up as Pete is home for the weekend...

Quiet Weekend.

2011-10-10T21:46:00.017+10:00

Not much to share this week. Very quiet and uneventful weekend. Nice for a change.

Chloe had to work most of the weekend, but she did manage a trip down to the beach with friends. Yeppoon celebrated Pinefest on the weekend, so the
re was lots going on.
Some of the guys she went down to the beach with.

Reverting to kids again and building dams and lakes. The weather is perfect here to enjoy the beach.A little fun on the beach.

Just had to include this next photo. Since our big trip away last year, I have appreciated the beauty of the Capricorn Coast more. I guess I have been travelling along this stretch of beach for the last thirty years or more without really appreciating its beauty with the islands out the front.
Lovely blue ocean, gentle waves breaking on the beach, islands out the front. No wonder my girl tried to head down there most weekends to enjoywhat is practically on her doorstep.
There were displays on the beach, bit colourful kites, people enjoying the perfect weather.
Camel rides along the beach...
A little relaxing

True Aussie style.... the humble thongs....
Under her new beach umbrella....

Love these beautiful days.... warm enough to be outdoors but not too hot. Definately much nicer weather than we experienced when we were down south on our holiday.

Work is busy... very very busy.... hopefully this time next week I can start finishing early again.

I came accross this photo this week and it made me think.....
and it got me thinking..... I am so thankful that God view of others is different to mine and that his measure of a person's worth is way different to mine. His scale sees that all are worthy of a relationship with Him regardless of who we are, or what we have done. He was prepared to send his only son so that access to a relationship with him.
Where is your heart today?????

A Quieter Week.

2011-10-06T19:55:00.006+10:00

Well it has been back to work this week. No pupil free day, that is in a couple of weeks time. Straight back into classes. It has been an OK week. I have been busy preparing for our Professional Development Day which is being held on the Pupil free day.

I've had time to relax a little this week, catch up on some reading for pleasure. I've finished off a novel I started in the holiday and I started reading another. This is usually a no no for me, normally novels are left till the holidays, but I am trying to unwind and relax a little. I bought some new worship CD's in the holiday, and I have been enjoying just listening to them this week

The girls have been enjoying the beach a lot lately. Sarah is mad keen on surfing at the moment and heading to the Gold Coast with her sister in law every opportunity that they can.

In fact they are enjoying it so much that they are planning on a girls trip next year to either Bali or Fiji....

Here they are enjoying a few more beach antics. Some great photos.
Beach babes...

Chloe has also been enjoying trips to the beach... not that she has started surfing yet, but she does manage to sneak down to the beach most weekend. Unfortunately we don't have too much surf on the beaches around here. Our beaches are protected by the islands.

She managed to snap some great photos of her friend Zac doing some flips onto the beach.

She made sure she left her mark on the beach too.
Last week end Chloe thought she would try something new and spent the afternoon out with work mates doing this.

At least she came home in one piece. Oh to be young....

This evening I am grateful, very grateful.
It might have something to do with the mood I am in right now, and how emotional I am feeling, but I am sitting here tonight feeling very blessed, I am not sure about you, but my life is a real testimony to the Lord's faithfulness and goodness to us. He has shown us favour, grace, and joy through so many things and circumstances and I am just feeling so grateful and thankful.

We have had a huge month of catching up with people we love and who have had a wonderful influence on our lives - folk who have loved us and encouraged us in our walk with the Lord, who have blessed us in good and hard times, and I can't help but sit here tonight and be thankful for these many wonderful blessings.

I am thankful for

1. Extended family and the wonderful time we can have celebrating life together.
2. For the Christian heritage in our lives...
3. For a wonderful husband who has demonstrated his love for me by doing the little things, like bringing in the washing, washing up the dishes without me even having to ask.
4. That even after more than 30 years of marriage he still wants to go on dates... and constantly lets me know how much he enjoys my company.
5. For this wonderful country in which we live, and the beauty of God's creation. The rich colours of browns and reds of the earth, the richness of the greens grasses and trees, the brilliant blues of the ocean and the skies, and the fields of yellows and gold. I am in awe of the beauty.
6. Friendships that have been built over a lifetime and are as strong today as they were 30 years ago.
7. For the love and steadfastness of our kids...
8. Girlie time with my girls, shopping, pedicures and just having fun together.
9. Bear hugs from my son.
10. Long distance drives with my lovely husband - plenty of opportunities to chat, and sing and enjoy each other's company.
11. Celebrations of milestone events.
12. Sharing the gospel and meeting new people.
13. Making it through my first week back at school.
14. Encouragement.
15. The freshness of Spring.
16. The wisdom of God's word and how when I need it the most, there are words that speak directly to my heart and soul.
17. Worship music..
18. Scented candles and good books.
19. Life... abundant life...
20. Snuggles.

I don't know about you, but we all have something to be thankful for, don't we?
Hoping that you have an amazing week too!

The Trip Home

2011-10-02T21:55:00.029+10:00

We arrivied home tonight after having just on two weeks on the road. It was good to get away and put our van to good use again, although I think in future if we only have a couple of weeks, we might head to one area only and basically set up camp rather than travel each day. Whilst we have had a great time away, I wouldn't have called it a relaxing holiday.

Anyway we arrived home at lunch time today and have unpacked the van and done most of the cleaning and almost all the washing. Back to work tomorrow.

Another photo share of our week on the road.
We decided to head back to Queensland via the New England Highway. It was one of the routes we had planned to travel on our long service last year but because of all the flooding, we were unable to head home this way. The first day we got as far as Scone in the Hunter Valley. It was beautiful countryside, Lots of vineyards, and horse studs, all very green, lovely fences, fields of yellow flowers, lovely mountain ranges.

We took off early Wednesday morning on our drive to Armidale. WE passed through some lovely little towns.
Murrurundi was one of those pretty little town which some really lovely old buildings. I was really interested to see that the town had a Literacy Institute and wondered what that consisted of in days of old.

It was good to arrive at Tamwork and see the big Tamworth Entertainment Centre which is pretty well known for it's big Country and Western Festivals. Took some photos and then found the Big Golden Guitar,Of course both Steve and I had to have our photos take with the big guitar.

We took off towards Armidale and saw a sign saying Moonbi Lookout, so decided to go for a drive in and check it out. Fabulous views and huge boulders. I can see why this area is called the Granite Belt.

We probaby spent close to an hour here enjoying the view and going for a bit of a walk to check out some of the amazing rock formations. We were so glad we headed in for a look. In fact we were pretty surprised by the number of tourist that just head in from the highway to check it out.

Our next stop was Uralla.
Another lovely little country town. It also houses the Uralla Military Museum. We didn't manage to go through the museum itself but we did stop and have a little break here.

We pulled into Armidale just after lunch. The weather wasn't the best, very overcast, very cold, and the atmosphere was quite misty. When we arrived at Pembroke Caravan Park and booked in, they gave us a tourist map of the area. The Wollomombi Falls ( about 20 minutes out of Armidale) are the 2nd highest falls in the southern hemisphere, so we decided to drive out and check them out for ourselves.

We also went for a drive to Edgar's Lookout and the view through the gorge was just as spectactular there. Just a pity that it wasn't good photographing weather.
On our way back into Armidale, we say a sign saying Bakers Creek Falls, so thought we would head in and check them out also. Beautiful country drive with fabulous views, and from the highway you would never know these great places existed. By the time we arrived back in Armidale it had started raining. We headed to the shops to grab a few groceries and then fuelled up ready to head off again in the morning.

If you are going to Armidale, we can recommend the Pembroke Caravan Park. Nice clean park, and we were camped beside this lovely little area. When we arrived there was no water in the brook, but it was certainly running the following morning when we left.
It was pretty hard to get up, movitated and moving the following morning. The temperature got as low as 1 degrees, and it had rained all night. The thought of going out into the cold and rain to hitch up the van was not a good thought at all. It was still raining quite heavily when we were due to book out and I must admit it crossed my mind to just stay put and spend another day there. Mind you if we were on leave like we had been the previous year we probably would have stayed put, but we knew we had limited time to get home before we had to go back to work.

We finally managed to pull out around 11am, both of us wet and cold, and headed for Warwick. It rained for most of the trip with it just clearing as we headed towards the Queensland border. As we were heading towards Guyra, we were actually driving in the clouds.
Even though it was very wet, there is something about the rain on the land. It brings it too life, the colours are so much richer, a little like the sun is to water. The richness of the earth and the smells made it a really lovely trip.
We had planned to spend the night with friends Mark and Sal at Mt. Colliery just outside of Warwich. They definately like in a lovely piece of paradise.
Steve and Mark went for a drive up the mountain just on Sunset and got same amazing photos. Kind of pleased I didn't go, as the wind was howling and it was very very cold.

They are very close to the border here, and from the top of Mt. Colliery you could actually see into NSW. We had a lovely evening sitting in front of Mark and Sal's fireplace catching up. It has been a couple of years since we have managed to catch up with them, and it was so nice to sit down and chat and pick up from where we had left off as if it were only yesterday since we had last seen them.

We left early the next morning and took a lovely drive through the countryside along the Cedar Route back onto the main highway. I am in awe of this wonderful country we live in, and God's marvellous creation. This trip only helps to cement in my mind that I want to see more of this beautiful country.
To drive back into Brisbane we had to go down through Cunningham's Gap. We were held up here for quite a while because of all the road works. I did not realize how much damage the rain and floods at the start of the year had done to this section of road. It has pretty much washed out great sections of the Gap. It had to be seen to be beleived.
The views looking back once we had come down through the Gap though were really lovely. We arrived back in Brissie just before Lunch. Time to book into the Brisbane Gateway Resort. Great park with lots of great amenities and very close to Sarah's place. We had time to do a couple of loads of wash before catching up with Sarah for lunch. We enjoyed a lovely evening with Sarah, and she came for an early morning jog the following morning and woke us up. She was keen for a little exercise, so they hit the tennis court for an early morning game.

These pair are quite competitive, but I think Steve came out on top at the end. Pete had other commitments on Friday night so we didn't manage to catch up with him until Breakfast on Saturday morning. This called for a special breakfast celebration.
It was good to catch up with Pete although we didn't have enough time together. Still he is coming home for a weekend real soon, so we will have to make the most of it then,.

We took off mid morning, and headed to the Sunny Coast where we caught up with my parents for a couple of hours before heading off to Bundy to catch up with Steve's folk. It was pretty late by the time we got there so ended up spending the night. The trip up the coast wasn't too pleasant as the atmosphere was filled with smoke from all the bushfires. In fact in a couple of places the smoke was almost overpowering, The up side of all the smoke though was that we witnessed a beautiful sunset.
We took off early on Sunday morning on the last leg of our journey home. We couldn't get over all the caravans on the road. I think we counted 109 vans heading south between Bundy and Rocky, and that didn't include all the ones we saw camping on the banks of the Callide River. There were at least 18 there. I am not sure whether there are actually more vans on the road these days or whether it is just because we are now a caravan owner that we notice them more now.

The month of September was sure hectic, it was back to work today, and already I feel like I need a holidays. In hindsight it would have been good to have had a few days at home before heading back to work. The next few weeks are going to be pretty busy as we prepare for our second Teacher Aide Professional Development Day.

Will be back again soon.

Bev's 50th Birthday Weekend

2011-09-29T08:41:00.026+10:00

Our holiday this time was planned around driving to Camden to help my cousin Bev celebrate her 50th Birthday. Not only is Bev my cousin but her husband Bruce is also a good friend and was best man for us when we got married.

We were also very close to my Aunty and her seven children growing up. They lost their dad to cancer at an early age and my dad and his only sister were pretty close growing up, and so there fore we spent many weekends out on the farm in Bundy. It has been years since we have seen some of my cousins and all exept for one family made it to Bev's 50th so you can just imagine the weekend we all had catching up with each other.

The weather wasn't the best. It was glorious when we first arrived but by Saturday it was very overcast and cold and Sunday was really wet so instead of going off to the beach like we all planned, we actually staying home where it was nice and warm, did plenty of chatting, played games and watched movies. It was a really lovely relaxing time.

We added to the humour by getting locked in our van. Somehow Saturday night the door handle to the van broke and locked us in, so we had to remove all the locking systems and handles off the doors to get out. We had others on the otherside trying to help.... not very pleasant in the rain and cold I might add.

This post will be a massive photo share.

We were the first to arrive on Thursday afternoon, and we set up the van in their back yard (tent city). Barry and Robyn and their family arrived about 8.30pm Thursday night, but didn't set up until the next morning. There were 7 of them.
Just loving the way Barry and Robyn have organised the back of their van to fit everything in. Robyn says it is great for when she does her grocery shopping too. What a terrific family they are. Everyone got in and put up the tents. Their kids are really great, really hard workers and so helpful and polite. This is the most I have had to do with their kids and they definately are a credit to them.

Bruce has spent the last twelve months renovating their home ( from when we were down there this time last year) and it was amazing to see the transformation. He has done an absolute fabulous job and their home looks fantasic now. It has been a HUGE undertaking, and they were working around the clock to have it finished for Bev's party. Nothing like a deadline to get the job done.
Bev received these gorgeous birthday flowers and they really complimented their living area. They were just gorgeous and the photos really do not do them justice.

On Friday everyone else arrived, Lots of chatting and laughter.

Bev, Cathy and Ross cooked up a storm and we had this amazing seafood paella for dinner. It was fabulous. Bruce found extra tables so that we could all sit and have a meal together and we took up the whole of their dining room. There was heaps more of sitting around and chatting again after dinner before we all went to bed.

Saturday the weather wasn't so kind, it was much colder, and quite overcast but the sun did manage to come out just for us to have lunch outside.
Joy, Heather and I spent the morning shopping for food to make trays and trays of sandwiches for lunch. Also fruit for fruit platters. We were feeding 30 for the weekend.
It seemed most of the weekend was about preparing food and cleaning up. It was all good.
There was plenty of talking and chatting up happening also. It was great seeing all the younger cousins having an awesome time together too.

In the afternoon this little fellow wandered accross their back yard. The kids were all so excited and everyone was out there taking photos. I am sure that he was pretty young as he didn't seem to afraid and actually wandered back under our van and sat there for a while.
The younger kids were super excited to get up close and personal to him.

We were having a sit down three course meal for Bev's birthday dinner and they had caterers come in and cook it in their kitchen. The smells during the afternoon were amazing.
Bev has a kitche to die for I might add. She has only managed to get back into her new kitchen herself in the last couple of weeks.

Their new dining room is huge and we were able to set it up to seat 30 people for dinner.
Saturday night we had heaps of family photos taken before dinner. Not often that 7 families all get together so it was great to get family photos done.

Barry and Robyn, Cathy and Ross, Bev and Bruce, Robbie and Trudy and Joy and Peter.
Steve and I, Paul, Heather and Alex, Aunty Joan and Cathy, all the younger cousins, and Heather and Aunty Joan.
Norm and Aunty Joan, Heather Paul and Alex, Family group waving, Trudy and her youngest Sam, and Bev with her son David.
Then we took some photos of the family groups. Bruce and Bev and their famiy, Robbie and Trudy and their family, Ross and Cathy and some of their family, and Barry and Robyn and most of their family, Their eldest son Brady is travelling through Europe at the moment.
Some random shots of everyone. You can tell that when the boys get together it is a laugh a minute. They are very good at reminising of their adventures of the past.

After the photos, Bev opened her presents. Lots of fun.
and then we had some piano recitals by her girls who play beauitfully. I could honestly sit and listen to them all night. They often play the piano and we got to hear them play heaps whilst we were there. They enjoy it and often play for relaxation.
Not to be outdone. Their son David got in and played a Duet with Caitlyn too. Lots of fun and a real birthday treat for Bev.

We then all sat down to eat.. Beautiful food, beautiful company. lovely night.
Before long it was time to light the candles.
After dinner, we all gathered in their rumpus room and viewed a presentation that Bruce had put together of Bev's 50 years. Most of us present were included in photos somewhere during the presentation, and there were lots of good memories and lots of laughs and other stories.Bruce and Bev have lead very interesting lives, even living in the States for a couple of years, so it was good to fill in some of the missing pieces. They moved to NSW not long after they were married, so have missed lots of yearly Scott family get togethers because most of the other Scotts now live in Qld in the south east corner, so do manage to get together on a pretty regular basis.

On Sunday night we enjoyed a second birthday cake. Bev made this for Alex (her nephew) who happens to share the same birthday as she does. Pity he wasn't there to enjoy it, but we sang Happy Birthday to him and definately enjoyed his cake for desert.
We spent a wonderful 4 days in Camden and I really want to thank Bruce and Bev for their wonderful hospitality. It was such an honor to be included in their celebrations. We really love catching up with you guys.

Though with all good things, they come to an end way too soon, and it wasn't long before we were packing up to head home again.

At the moment we are in Armidale. Wet wet cold Armidale. Have some more photos to share of our travels to here but they will have to wait for another post. We need to get packing so that we can head off real soon. Not looking forward to the travel today in the rain.

Will be back to share the rest of the adventure in the next couple of days.

Heading down the coast to Camden

2011-09-27T20:55:00.017+10:00

It has been a crazy holiday. Weddings, and then last Tuesday we took off to head to Camden for my cousin Bev's 50th Birthday. It felt really good to be on the road again with the van, and as Steve and I left Brissie, we couldn't help but feel a little excited. We got to Ballina on the first night and stayed in this great caravan park called Ballina Headlands Leisure Park at Skennars Head (on the road between Byron Bay and Ballina)
It was a great park, very very clean, great amenties, friendly helpful owners and we kind of wished we had a few extra days we could have stayed there.
This is the view that greeted us and we took off the next morning. Just a perfect day with perfect coastline. Mind you I am glad that we were there last Tuesday and not on the weekend.

I am so glad that we weren't there on the weekend because I would have hated to have been in this.Ballina had the biggest hail storm. The ground was covered in ice. If you didn't know better you would have thought it had snowed. I am glad our car and caravan was spared the damage. Mind you it was pretty windy and very wet in Camden on Sunday as well. That I can deal with.
We travelled this same stretch of road when we took off on our big trip this time last year, and it really did feel good to be back on the road. Only wish we were the grey nomads and could go for 4-5 months again. The country this year is nowhere near as green as what it was this time last year but never the less we enjoyed the drive. We drove though Coff's Harbour - the ocean was gorgeous. Felt like pulling in there for a few nights also, but we couldn't we kept going. Lots and lots of road works going on around Coff's. It won't be long before you will bypass it completely.
We headed through to Macksville where we stopped for some lunch. It is quite a pretty place. I love going over the river there and seeing this beautiful hotel with its lovely wrought iron verandahs. Just lovely.

We headed to here.
and spent the night at Port Macquarie. I love the Port. We have been here for holidays at least three or four times now, and I still love to come back. We didn't get in until close to 5pm, so we were quick to set up so that we could go for a drive down to the beaches. We arrived on Sunset. It was just beautiful. We found out on the Thursday that my cousin Cathy and her family were also in The Port of the same night. They realized the next morning when I left a message on Facebook. They came looking for us but we had left an hour earlier.

We stayed here
Not quite as nice a park as the one in Ballina, but they did have beautiful facilities, very clean, even if they were a little older. We didn't unpack much as we wanted an early start the next morning as we needed to get to Camden by that night. We decided to have a nice cooked breakfast using their camp kitchen. We figured that we wouldn't manage to get lunch until quite late, as once we hit Newcastle area we wouldn't have much of an opportunity to stop them until we got to Camden mid afternoon. We enjoyed a hearty breakfast and still managed to pull out of the park by 8.30am. and after getting fuel we left The Port about 9.10am and had a good run along the highway for a couple of hours when we decided to stop for a cuppa at one of the last rest ares we could find.
That is the beauty of caravaning. You can pretty much just pull up anywhere and have a break.
We were around Newcastle at lunch time, and then had another couple of hours ahead of us before we got to Bruce and Bev's. I was looking forward to the drive into Sydney along the F3 as the views are pretty spectacular. I was looking forward to taking photos, especially of the Hawksberry, but it was really smokey and hazy. I did manage to get some of these great shots of driving into Sydney though. I love driving up through all these cuttings.
We managed to arrive mid afternoon. So good to be back here.

Other exciting news this week. This very special friend of mine got good news the other day.
Her daughter in law YiiMei and son Garreth were expecting their first chichld in November. WEell Garreth and his cousin from America have been touring around New Zealand enjoying the Wordl Cup, when suddenly they get a call to say YiiMei has gone into labour, A mad dash to get back to Auckland, boook flights and get get back to Australia as soon as possible. Talk about drama. Garreth made it home with about 15 minutes to spare and was able to welcome this little bundle of joy into the world.

I would love to introduce the very special and much loved daughter and grand daughter of Garreth and YiiMei Phillips, and John and Barb Ross.

Introducing you to Bronte Isla Phillips
Born Monday 26th September 2011
5lb 8oz.
Congratulations Garreth and YiiMei
Congratulations John and Barb.

Well I need to hit the bed. I am falling asleep as I type this. Have heaps more to upload on Bev's Paty but I am thinking that it will need to be left for another. day.

Just had to add this photo today or the proud Granny and Mum with baby Bronte.. Isn't she just the cutest little Bub... I'm so excited for them. I can hardly wait to meet her.

Long overdue for a blog post - Josh and Lauren's Wedding

2011-09-26T09:58:00.004+10:00

I'm long over due for a blog post. It has been a crazy week since we finished school. I flew out of Rocky on the Friday evening after I finished work so that I could go to Josh and Lauren's wedding on the Saturday. Unfortunately Steve was unable to make it as he had work deadlines, and we were heading off to Sydney early in the week to attend my cousin's 50th party this past weekend.(That will be a separate post.

The wedding was gogeous. Lots of fun... they are a fun couple and have been together for years. Josh is one of our Pete's house mates, they have been good mates all of their lives, in fact Josh parents have been family friends since we first arrived in Rocky, so we really all had a great time. This post will mainly be a photo post...
The boys all waiting for the arrival of the bride.... no nerves, such a relaxed wedding. They just chatted to the guests and to each other.
The bride arrives and is looking stunning.... the bridesmaids all helping to get her dress just right to walk down the aisle.
The walk down the aisle and the service.
Their attendants during the service. Thought they all looked terrific, especially the boys ( but then I am probably pretty biased as my son was one of the groomsmen.

Good friends as well as family. My two and Sarah's brother and sister in laws.... Love seeing how close they all are.
My gorgeous kids.... Am I not a biased Mum. It is not often I get opportunities to take photos of these pair. Pete usually hates getting his photo taken but I was given permission today to take as many as I liked as it was Lauren and Josh's day, so as you can imagine I made the most of every opportunity I got.
Josh and Lauren hired this Limmo to take the whole bridal party around for the afternoon for photos etc. Pete said it was great fun as they were all in the vehicle together, they were spoilt with drinks and chocolates, even got the red carpet treatment. It looked pretty awesome inside too.
The reception centre looked lovely too - all set up in black and white. and we each received one of the little boxes above filled with conversation lollies. Thought they were pretty cute. Have never seen these before.
More of my awesome kids and son in law. I am indeed blessed.
Time to cut the cake... and a few speeches.
The Bridal Walz.
The bridal party joins in.
Sarah and Colin take to the dance floor....
The boys from Bakewell Street, and now Myrtle Street. They have shared a few houses together now, and still remain good friends. (Think having a cleaning lady now has helped an awlful lot in them remaining friends...)
Time to throw the garter and bouquet...
Time for the bride and groom to leave. Everyone formed a big arch, and they went through saying goodbye to everyone....
The party continued though after they had left. Just had to snap these photos of my pair on the dancefloor together..
I also made sure that I at least got a couple of photos taken with the kids, you are never quite sure when the opportunity might arise again.
It really was a great night... I had loads of fun, but definately paid for it the next day, as I am not sure what I did, my I could barely stand up on the Sunday...

Pete took Monday off, and managed to take me to see a Chiropractor who was fantasic.... I had heard about her when I was down in June, so rang my friend Bek who had told me about her, and she was able to see me. I can highly recommend her if you are looking for a good chiropractor in Brissie. Quite often I have been to chiropractors when I have been away, without a lot of success in adjusting my back. She wouldn't let me out until she knew it was right. I must have spent a good 40 minutes with her and her fees were very reasonable. Not more expensive than I have paid elsewhere.

Steve left Rocky on Monday afternoon, stayed in Bundy over night and then arrived in Brissie on the Tuesday. I managed to catch up with my good friend Kathy that morning,
and we spent a few hours with her before we had to leave to head to Ballina ( our first stop heading south). Kathy took us to do a little shopping ( as our car was hitched to the van and we didn't really want to unhitch it) and we found ourselves stranded and had to call the RACQ. The upside of this though was that we got to go back to Kathy's ( and got to catch up with Ian who had to come home and rescue us) and I also got to spot these.

Her son Ben had bought them for her, and they had opened that morning. The colours were superb, and honestly the photos do not do them justice. I really do marvel at God's creation and I am so thankful for the gift of sight. I just had to snap some photos of them.

Steve also managed to snap this photo of us both together. Love these guys, really appreaciate the lessons we have learnt from them over the 30 years of our friendship. They really have been a huge inspiration to us and faithful and loyal friends. We have been incredibly blessed by them and feel very honoured to be considered their friends. Love you guys....

Well this post is long, so will update in the next few days with photos of our trip to Sydney, and then photos of the big weekend party.

Matt and Hannah's Wedding.

2011-09-12T23:14:00.016+10:00

On Saturday we had the priviledge of attending the wedding o
f one of Chloe's school friends. It was the perfect day, and a very beautiful wedding.

Hannah looked just gorgeous, and the service was absolutely beautiful, quite traditional, but very meaningful.
and then the kiss.
Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Matt Stewart.
One of their close friends Tara was unable to make it as she had Uni exams on the day. A bit sad for them all.

Some highlights from the wedding.

The reception was held at the old Customs House. It was just beautifully set up.

Some fun shots
Some family shots
This Saturday we have another wedding to attend. Flying to Brissie on Friday night so that I can go to Josh and Lauren's wedding. Josh is Pete's house mate, and he is one of the groomsmen.
Can't believe the number of celebrations we are attending this month.

Life has been busy here. Steve has partly torn his archillies tendon, so have had to try and rest his foot. An almost impossible thing for him to do. He has to see the surgeon next month.

Work is busy for both of us, Steve with the end of term exams and assignments. He has to have them all in and marked before he can go on holidays, so will probably spend the whole weekend marking so that he can get away on Monday. I have been really busy, trying to move back into our new library, and also orgnanising another Teacher Aide PD day which we are running on the pupil free day next month.

Until next time

Smart phones

2011-09-10T16:10:00.001+10:00

Amazing what you can do with phones these days.
I learnt so much about my phone ( mind you I have only had it now for 5 months) by spending an evening with all my neices and nephews, and of course my own kids.

Never thought I would see the day when I was a covergirl for VOGUE magazine.

or the day Steve was a masterpiece in an art gallery

or his photo was on a big board

and I bet non of you knew that I was a great sketcher

how I love free apps on the smart phones these days.

We have been to a wedding this afternoon. One of Chloe's best friends got married this afternoon. She looked stunning. Looking forward to sharing the photos with you soon.

Just home for a few minutes before we head off to the reception.

If you know of any good apps for your smart phone, especially the free ones, leave me a message.

Be back soon with some photos of Hannah and Matts wedding.

MORE CELEBRATIONS

2011-09-06T19:07:00.019+10:00

Wishing my wonderful Dad a very Happy 80th Birthday today. Twelve months ago today, he lay in a hospital and we wondered whether he would make his 80th birthday after suffering a pretty big stroke.
We had a lovely time as a whole family all getting together to celebrate the milestone of Dad's 80th. It was great to be able to do something so nice together after a pretty rough month for my parents. My mum took a heart turn a few weeks ago and ended up spending a week in hospital.

Mum and Dad knew that Steve and I were coming down to spend a few days with them so that we could celebrate his birthday, but he had no idea that the rest of our family, my sister Jude and her family, and my younger sister Lea and her family were all going to join us for dinner on Saturday night to surprise him for his birthday. It was quite an emotional time for him, but a good emotional time I might add.

Our 80th Birthday celebrations

My neice Natalie and her beautiful family
My youngest sister Lea and her beaut family
My middle sister Jude and her great family
And some not too good shots of us. Don't get to have too many decent photos taken of you when you are behind the camera most of the night.
All the cousins having a great time together
It was also great that we were all together for Father's Day, we got to celebrate it with Dad and all our kids got to celebrate with their dads also. We had a family breakfast down on the beach at Alexandra Headlands, and the weather was just perfect. The little kids had all taken their skate boards or scooters, and had a ball all together.
Our picnic spot at Alex Heads.

It was such a memorable weekend, the first time we have all been together like this in ages. Only two of the grandchildren were missing. It is times like this that makes you want to organise more family holidays so that you can all get together more often.

Thought I would share a few other photos from the weekend.
Love these photos of my girls trying to share their strawberries.
Love that they enjoy spending time together.

Now I am not sure I own this man. So typical of Pete. He actually drove up to the coast dressed like this and I am sure he would have even been game enough to bear it out to dinner if we had all let hime.
Aptly named - Pete the penguin. or as the boys in his house call him Penguin with a moustache.

Pete also bought his dog up for the weekend. She is such a gorgeous little thing, and Chloe couldn't get enough of spending time playing with her.

As Steve had been really sick all last week, we didn't end up driving through to the Sunshind Coast, but rather just drove to Bundy on the Thursday night and then headed off to the Sunshine Coast the following morning.

It has also been a while since we have caught up with Steve's family, so it was good to have a nigth with them. Steve's dad has been pretty sick also with this dreadful flu, so it was nice to spend some time with them.

A lot of mum's orchids were flowing in her greenhouse, so I wanted to take some photos of her flowers for her. These orchinds are absolutely magnificent at the moment.
We have another busy week ahead. A wedding this weekend.

Being with family this past weekend has made me realize us how wonderfully blessed we really are, so this week, I am so thankful for

1. A wonderful Dad who has beent here for us all our lives and who has had a huge influence on us where our Christian faith is concerned.
2. Great sisters and brother in laws.
3. Wonderful neices and nephews, and gorgeous great neices and nephews.
4. Amazing kids.
5. Safety on the roads as we travelled on the weekend.
6. That Steve was stil able to get around even though he has torn his tendon in his foot.
7. The opportunities for great chats in the car as we travelled for more than six hours together.
8. Worship music
9. Wonderful fathers in our lives.
1o. Wonderful weather this week.

Will be back again soon....

100th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS

2011-08-31T22:34:00.007+10:00

What a wonderful evening we have had tonight celebrating this man's 100th Birthday.

Our neighbour Jack had a party tonight to celebrate the milestone of celebrating his100th Birthday. Over 70 people celebrated "Jack's" 100th Birthday Party at our local Golf Club. It was nice to catch up with folk in our street, and also to meet some lovely elderly folk who have rich and amazing stories to tell of days of a bygone era.

He is quite an amazing man, still lives at home, still enjoys a good yarn, still works in his garden and until today still held his drivers licence. He had to hand it in today on his 100th birthday.

His mind is as alert as ever, and loves to have a chat, and has a real interest in people. He has lived a very full and busy life, and still enjoys socializing with friends. Still attends his local church, and goes shopping each Saturday with his son.
He gave a lovely speech, thanking everyone for making his day so special. He had been counting down the weeks for almost the past year waiting for his party tonight and was so delighted to see that he still had some many wonderful friends and family that made the special effort to be here to celebrate this wonderful occassion with him.

I love this photo of Jack.
You can still see that even at 100 he still has a wonderful sense of humour. It has been such an honour to know Jack and his lovely late wife Edith over the past 30 years and have them as neighbours.

May you have many more happy Birthdays Jack.

WET and MISERABLE

2011-08-29T20:49:00.013+10:00

Wet and Miserable - that pretty much sums up our weekend. Not that we really minded the wet, except Steve would have loved to have finished the retaining wall as we have very few free weekends between now and the end of the year. On the other hand we were happy to see the rain, and to see the lawn and neighbourhood slowing showing signs of greenery again.
Miserable - we were both miserable, I spent the weekend over a bowl and the toilet. It seems the gastro bug is everywhere here at the moment. Steve has come down with a good dose of the flu... fevers, aches, pains, cough and has spent the day in bed.... We thought that he did well not to catch it off me a month ago when I had it, but he hasn't missed it this time round. Therefore not a lot of photo taking or things to report this week.

Thought I would share this insteasd

Outside my Window..... Too dark to see, and no moon to light the night sky..
I am thinking...... about all the things I need to do this week before we head off to go catch up with family and celebrate my dad's 80th Birthday.
I am thankful for..... soooooooooooo much, My God, my husband, my family, my home, my friends.... I AM BLESSED.
From my Kitchen..... this
Beef Stroganoff and Vegetables for dinner tonight
I am wearing..... Skirt, top and my comfy havaiana thongs.
I am creating..... cards for a 100th and 80th birthday..
I am going..... to have a shower and get ready for bed
I am reading...Son of Hamas, Leaving, and my Bible.
I am hoping..... that we all get well real soon
I am hearing.... my poor husband sniffling and coughing.
Around the house..... I feel love.
One of my favourite things..... these
A lovely gift from my husband yesterday...
A few plans for the rest of the week.... Meetings at work, Afternoon tea with the girls, attending my neighbours 100th Birthday Party, housework, heading to the Sunshine Coast, celebrating my dad's 80th Birthday, getting a haircut, catching up with my kids and the rest of my family...

We are still crazy busy at work trying to move into our new library. I am also back on class this week so that is slowing the process a little also...

Love being on Facebook with you kids.... a good way to catch up on photos and what they have been up too, especially getting photos of Pete.... he is definately photoshy around me.... have to steal photos of others to get any decent photos of him.

Chloe has been having a bit of fun with her camera and her editing program this week. Just a few of the photos she has played with that I really like.

A couple of quotes I have read this week that have impressed me

"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read and all the friends I want to see. John Burroughs.

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us Helen Keller

A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed. Henrik Ibsen.

Your life is a message to the world, make it inspiring..... Anon

Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.. Scott Adams ( this one is one of my favourites.)

It isn't the mountains ahead that wear you out, it's the grain of sand in your shoe... Author Unkown.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Martin Luther King Jr.

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Proverbs 3:3

"Each time he said, 'My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.' So now I am glad to boast about my weakness, so that the power of Christ can work through me"
2 Corinthians 12:9

We must lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us. C.S. Lewis.

For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness. - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know who soon it will be too late. Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Until next week.....