Waiting for Michael to pick us up yesterday from the shops I was saying to Kezi, Where’s Daddy? In her cute two year old way of speaking she sat there watching out for him and said over and over ‘Daddy, Where are you?’ (which actually comes out more like Duddy, Whereahou). All of sudden she got very excited and spotted a red car driving towards us at the front of a long line of cars, she yelled ‘There he is!!’ (which comes out more like ‘Dare e is’). I saw that it wasn’t our red car and said ‘no, Kez, thats not Daddy, not yet’ but she continued to clap her hands in excitement and say ‘There he is!’. Well, sure enough, as the red car in front turned away I could see that three cars behind it was in fact Micahel in OUR red car. That was the car she was excited to see! She has better eyes than I do!
Hi again, I think thats the longest I’ve ever gone without posting on my blog, hopefully I’ll be back to normal now. Not sure how creative I’ll be over the next few weeks as we have a lot to do. Michael goes off to Peru in three weeks time so we are busy with a lot of things before he goes.
The three of us arrived back from Melbourne on Friday night after a late flight. Kez did sleep on the flight eventually which was good. Its taken her a few days to get over the 2 hr time difference but she’s getting there.
The first week and a half I was on my own with Keziah in Geelong and Michael joined us on December 24. That was the same day that my sister in law came home from hospital with our little nephew Ty. Christmas day was a bit of a blurr but we all did our best and enjoyed a cooked lunch (thank you Michael) and opening presents. New Years Eve was a non occasion for all of us considering how tired we all were by then! We didn’t mind a bit though. (oh, happy new year by the way!).
Towards the end of our trip we all headed off to Sovereign Hill for the day which is a Pioneer Town in Ballarat Victoria setup to represent Australia in the gold rush of 1850. It was a lot of fun and we all had a great time watching the street performers and acts as well as demonstrations of things such as candlemaking and gold panning. Keziah loved it because there were so many ‘neighs’ (horses). In fact it was the same two groups of horses going round and round the town giving people rides on an old coach and wagon.
Anyway, I thought I’d do a big update and put a heap of photos here so be prepared for lots of photos below. There are none of Sovereign Hill as yet as they are all on Michael’s phone and we’re yet to download them. I’ll do a post about that later I think.
Johnathan and Candy, Malachi and little Ty are off to Papua New Guinea very soon and its likely that we won’t see them for at least two years so this time was special with them. We will miss them a lot but thanks to Skype we can chat to them every day.
The main reason for us going over (if you hadn’t already guessed) was to help them out while they were waiting on the birth of Ty and also afterwards. Of course it was also to spend Christmas and New Years with them before they leave.
Ok, so firstly, here are some great pics of Keziah and her cousin Malachi playing together. They are six months apart in age and had a great time. Every night they gave each other a hug and kiss goodnight and when we went out they held hands, some people asked if they were twins!!
Playing with Lego
Playing with Uncle Johnathan
Hide and Seek
Painting
Basket Cases
Ta Da!
Christmas Day
New Baby Ty Elijah Burns
Me with little Ty
Michael and Keziah at the Geelong Pier
Inside the National Wool Museum, I guess you’d call that a rocking ram
For our last 24 hours the three of us spent a night in Melbourne and got to do a few things. We went on the city circle free tram and did a tour, walked up to the Queen Victoria Markets, saw the Art Gallery of Victoria (I loved that!!) and spent and afternoon in the Melbourne Museum. We also got to see what Federation Square was as I’d only seen it on TV. Here are some photos from that time:
Federation Square
Outside the Racing Museum (Keziah with more neighs)
Michael and Kez with Phar Lap
Michael and Australia’s first computer. Apparently his phone has more power than it did (with which he took a photo).
So thats blog post one for 2008 and the first one with photos from our trip. There are quite a few more lovely shots on my brother’s camera and on Michael’s phone so I’ll post some different ones later on. Happy New Year everyone and thanks for reading!!
So, the small handful of people who read my blog may be wondering where I’ve been as I haven’t blogged all week.
Last Wednesday Keziah and I flew over to Geelong in Victoria as my sister in law is due to have their second baby any day now. Michael had to stay in Perth until later due to his commitments at church and with SIM.
Flying with a 2 year old is hard enough with two people but on my own it was a whole new realm of hard. Kez did pretty good really, she’s starting to get old enough to be more aware of her surroundings and was of course interested in all the buttons on her seat. Praise God though, she fell asleep within an hour of the flight taking off and woke up half an hour before landing.
We are anxiously awaiting the birth of Johnathan and Candy’s new baby. Could happen any day!
Hopefully I’ll get to post a few times over the next few weeks.
Here’s a meme from Rodney Olsen over at the Journey in which I was tagged to do. From his blog:
1. Write down five things that you’re thankful for.
2. Tag five friends who you’d like to see participate in this meme.
3. (Optional) Include a link to the original meme post and encourage others to place a link to their completed meme in the comments section of this post so we can keep track of the thankfulness running around the blogosphere.
1. I am thankful for my family - parents in PNG, brother and sister in law and nephew in Geelong and my in-laws here in Armadale. For Michael - he’s a great hubby and does his best in everything.
2. I am thankful for Keziah - she’s so sunny and happy most of the time. She’s great company during the day and I love her a lot.
3. I am thankful for our church - we have settled in well there and I feel part of the family.
4. I am thankful that God loves me. I am in awe of how much he cares for us and how much he does for us no matter how much I do or don’t do for him.
5. I am thankful for creativity - I would go completely insane if my thing was maths or accounting or anything like that. I’m soooooo glad I enjoy drawing and colour and using my hands!
There ya go Rodney, I tag –Duncan!!
5. I am thankful for creativity
Duncan over at Beyond the Black Stump has tagged me so here goes:
1. What time is it? 9.48am
2. What is your full name? I’m not putting that on the web!
3. What are you most afraid of? driving/spiders
4. Place of birth? Newcastle, NSW, Australia
5. Favourite food? mangos, white chocolate, corn, licorice bullets
6. Your natural hair colour? brown
7. Have you travelled? Yes, USA, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, England, Scotland, Niger, Benin, Singapore, Papua New Guinea, around Australia (every state and territory!). Yes, I love travel.
8. Do you scrunch or fold toilet paper? its a secret
9. Love someone so much it made you cry? Yes
10. Been in a car accident? No
11. BMW or Mercedes Benz? Neither - give me a VW anyday (see above)
12. Favourite day of the week? Friday
13. Favourite Restaurant? Nothing really, HUNGRY JACKS! (does that count)
14. Favourite Flower? Rose
15. Favourite sport to watch? Cricket/Tennis
16. Favourite Drink? Hot White Chocolate, Spearmint Milk
17. Favourite ice cream? Spearmint Chip
18. Disney or Warner Brothers? No opinion there
19. Favourite fast food restaurant? HUNGRY JACKS
20. What colour is your bedroom carpet? blue
21. How many times you failed your driver’s test? Failed once, got it second go
22. From whom did you get your last e-mail? Hester
23. Hobbies? Creativity
24. Bedtime? between 10 and 12
25. Who of your readers will answer this questionnaire? No one I reckon.
26. Who is the person you are most curious to see their answers? Candy and Simon
27. What means the most to you? God, Family, Honesty
28. Favourite TV shows? The Amazing Race, Survivor, House, Prison Break
29. Dating males or females? Married!
30. Tall or short? I’m short
31. What is your favourite colour? green
32. How many pets do you have? One rabbit (Alphie), three wiero’s and a lone budgie
33. Age? As of this Sunday I’ll be 33
34. What would you like to accomplish/do before you die? To bring up our child (ren) as kind, caring and godly people, to go overseas again, to be able to sell my wares in such a way that I can support a SIM project.
There ya go, I tag anyone who wants to have a go! Let me know in the comments if you are going to have a go.
The last few days have been quite full on. Michael was at the Go! Reachout conference for much of the weekend which meant that I had to do all the driving and take Kez to her swimming lesson this week. I also had to get into the water with her which was a first. Going to the gym went out of the window this last week, went once where I normally go at least 3-4 times!! Better go tomorrow!
One of my all time most hated things to do is to drive. There are people who love driving, those who couldn’t wait to get their license as a teenager and those who will do anything to drive somewhere. Thats not me.
These past two days Kez has been sick, she’s picked up a bug from somewhere and she’s in great need of cuddles and panadol (and nappies and a bucket). Its a first for me for her to be sick in this way (won’t go into it, yucky to say the least, you get the picture).
Tonight I did a polymer clay demonstration for a group at our church. It went very well and I got through it without making too many nervous stutters. I quite enjoyed it actually.
You may have picked up on a few things in this post, I hate driving, not too keen on swimming, have no idea with some ‘mummy’ things and hate talking in front of people. All have been waaayyyy outside my comfort zone but I’ve done them over these past four days. How do I feel about it all. Hmmmm, well driving makes me nervous but I did it, swimming wasn’t so bad afterall, I enjoyed presenting about the polyclay (even if my neck did go red from nervousness) and Keziah is fine!
I have a tendancy to stick to my routine and avoid those things I hate doing. I’d rather be doing the ironing or washing the dishes than talking up front or driving very far. God has been stretching me lately and I can feel him telling me to trust him more and not to give in to my fears. I think this is appropriate:
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6
I have been posting a lot about my polymer clay creations here this year and just wanted to take a minute to summarize a few things completely outside of that. I suppose to be honest, creating and being creative is an integral part of my everyday and this year I have been trying to get my Etsy and Wahmania (and now Mintd) stores up and running.
There are however other facets of my life that I would like to share. I’m sure that you’ve probably figured out what they are by now but here’s a summary of the things that I’m passionate about besides Etsy and selling my polymer clay.
1. God. Underlying all my decisions, behaviour, attitudes and reactions is God who reminds me gently when I’m off kilter or acting selfishly. No matter how undisciplined I might get as far as reading my Bible, its ingrained firmly in me that I need to pull myself back into line.
2. Family. My hubby, daughter, parents, brother, sister-in-law, nephew, in-laws and extended family are all very important to me. Our family is very close and yet most of us live very far apart. This is very hard but something I have accepted as I believe my parents and brother and sister-in-law are following what God has laid on their hearts to do (they are all missionaries in Papua New Guinea). Yay for Skype!
3. Missions. I have always been passionate about seeing others around the world hear the good news that they are not alone in this world. When I say always I mean since I was a little kid. Whether its SIM or another mission doesn’t matter to me. I also believe strongly in a holistic approach to this. There is no point in preaching at someone that Christ died for them and loves them if they have no food, water, education, skills or shelter. In order to really tell someone that Christ loves them you must first display this love GENUINELY. If someone chooses not to accept that Christ died for them then that is their choice. It makes me sad though.
4. Some General and Less Serious Passions. Op (thrift) shopping, Moleskine doodling, painting, drawing, playing with Keziah, white chocolate, malted milk, jam donuts, patterns, damask, being tidy, journaling, traveling, Africa, watching Survivor, watching the amazing race.
Ok, so if you didn’t really know me, now you’re getting a little closer. I may sound as if all I talk about is my Etsy shop but the truth is, that would be number five on the list of true passions, it just so happens that I find it easier to blog about it!
A few weeks ago my husband Michael was interviewed on Sonshine FM about our involvement in SIM here in WA. I’ve been meaning to put a link to the interview on here and only just remembered! So, here it is:
When I saw the PF theme this week this is the photo that came to mind. This was taken while we were visitng the West African country of Benin while we were short-termers with SIM in Niger. We went there on a holiday with another family. Apparently they are burning their crops but I’m not sure about the details behind it.
For as long as I can remember we have been going along to Keswick Conventionsand this weekend we’ve done it again. I almost said ‘continued the tradition’ but thats not really why we go. It used to be that we would go just for the meetings but ever since our involvement with SIM we go to put up our SIM display and represent the mission there too. Of course theres always a lot of catch up with people we haven’t seen in a while.
Our SIM display this time was nice and neat. I was hopint it would look a lot messier by the end of the convention (indicating that a lot of people have been there) but sadly it looks much the same. There are however a few magazines and brochures less so thats a good thing.
This time we just weren’t able to stand there and mann the display for much of the weekend. Normally we stand there half an hour before and after each meeting. We didn’t get to hear a lot of the speaker either this time, mostly because I needed to stop Kezi yelling in the middle of the message!
Here’s some pics from the weekend and the improved grounds of Camp Wattle Grove, home of Keswick Conventions in WA (click the link if you want to know more about them).
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