The Birthday Month.

A big Birthday Month ahead.
I want to wish my amazing daughter a very Happy Birthday today. Wish we could have celebrated it with you Sarah. Hope you have a wonderful day and will look forward to hearing all about it later. We love you to bits.

I've been a pretty slack blogger and photo taker laterly. Didn't manage to take too many photos at Easter this year. It was a kind of chill out week. We did go shopping, we went out for dinner, we went for walks, the boys fished, I read a couple of books, Steve did a lot of fishing, we watched a couple of DVDs. We did puzzles, but mostly we just chilled out. Pete came and spent a couple of days with us and then headed back to Brissie so that he could attend the Dawn Anzac Day Service. He and a friend have been attending them now for a few years, and he didn't want to miss it.

The following day he took off with some of his house mates and they climbed Mt. Warning. It was a bit wet, and lots of cloud cover - Judging by this photo, I have to wonder whether it was worth it.
The hit the pub afterwards for lunch before heading home. Took them a while to get back into Brissie though, as it was the end of a five day holidays. Seems like everyone else had the same idea as well.

He took off to Bribie then for a few days with his dog. Sarah went up and spent the weekend with him, and they took Penny for her first swim and play on the beach and she LOVED it. These are some of the text messages we got on Saturday whilst they were on the beach.

Still catching up on photos from Steve's week in Brissie when he took his mum down for her heart surgery in March. I am so thankful that he got the opportunity to spend that week with her in Brissie, and that they could catch up with the kids. Her surgery was the day before her birthday, and she got good news, with no marked deterioration since her visit last year, so she didn't need to have any more stints put in. Great news and it meant they could celebrate her birthday.
They actually got to stay in a little Unit near the Royal Brisbane Hospital. Pete also lent Steve his car which was great cause it meant Mum didn't have to do too much walking. It also allowed them to get out a bit more, they wished a couple of shopping centres before her surgery, caught up with the kids, and then drove home through the city at night. Mum loved seeing the city at night with all the lights. Things we take for granted.

They also spent some time with Pete and Sarah and got to meet this cute little girl. A much loved puppy by both the kids. She definately knows that Pete is her master, but Sarah does a lot of puppy sitting even when Pete doesn't really need her too. I think both Colin and Sarah get "Penny" withdrawn symptoms if they don't see her every week. Steve and his mum flew back to Bundy - and enjoyed the views from the plane. Everything is so green at the moment.
More current news. This week, a group of us girls went out to dinner to farewell our friend Kay who is off on her own 12 month adventure as they travel around Australia. We also wanted to celebrate both Kay and Jean's Birthday. Any excuse to have a night out.
Enjoying our night out, and the birthday girls with their cake.
More of the girls and some of the Presents that Kay got to help her remember us on her travels. I just fell in love with the birthday Present that Jean gave to Kay. This special little bag which contains a lovely mug, teaspoon, special coffees, different teas, little milks, and I just loved the embrodery on the front of the bag. I am sure she will not forget Jean whenever she sits down to have a cuppa.

And finally, I just want to acknowledge the awlful devastation in Birmingham and Tuscaloosa in the USA. We have some very good friends who live in Tuscaloosa, and their town has been descimated by these awlful tornadoes. These are just some of the Photos from Angie showing the devastation that their town has suffered.

It is incomprehendable that you could get up one morning to normality all around, and within the space of a few hours, your whole world has been turned upside down, with everything you own gone, including lives of those you love and hold dear. So far over 330 people have lost their lives with something like 500 odd people still missing. That is a huge gap in a community. It seems the weather around the world has gone crazy this year. Fortunately Angie and Chris and their daughter and son in law are safe and well and very busy helping out in crisis centres. I wish there was some tangible way we could help them from here, but I just want you guys to know that there are lots of us here in Aussie praying for you guys, and I would like to encourage anyone else reading my blog to pray for the folk of Tuscaloosa as I know they would appreciate it at this time.