Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Start of 2011 Quiz :-)

It's been so long since I blogged & going over my old pages thought "Gosh I forgot about that!" So this is just for my own prosperity.

1. What did you do between Jan 2010 & June 2011 that you’d never done before?


Went to Ellel in Sydney & Started leading Prayer Ministry. Went to a John Mellor healing conference & had my first kid in double digits! Imported a Harley Davidson.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?






Spent a lot of this year asking God "WHAT NOW" especially with regard to work direction. We closed our business so lots of changes.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?



No, sniff, sniff, although there are a few new babies on the way at church.

4. Did anyone close to you die?


No, thank God

5. What countries did you visit?



None :-( Just NSW lol

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?

More peace that it's okay to just go with the flow while I wait for God to really show us a change in plans.

7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

June 30, 2010 - Last day of our business
January, 2011 - Alec cut his hand open.
May 31, 2011 - Wake up call to "Seek first the Kingdom" and not chase money, my place is at home.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?



Putting more trust in God when things don't look certain.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Getting angry and paniced when finances were low. Pray before panic.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Same as 2009 just had a nasty sinus infection around September. Alec put his hand through the glass door.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

A harley so we could sell it. & the front loader washing machine, laptop.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

All the kids, they are each growing more and more and just really great kids. They have their bad days, but so do we. & Mark showing lots of trust in God & his developing relationship with his Dad.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?


Juliar Gillard - CARBON TAX

14. Where did most of your money go?

Fuel & Food

15. What did you get really excited about?

Our new kitty, Max

16. What song will always remind you of 2010/11?

I ask for the Nations.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
Happier or sadder? Happier, although there was nothing “sad” before that.
Thinner or fatter? Fatter, Sigh, not too much, but enough
Richer or poorer? God is just so good. no work for 12months yet we are richer!! There is cash in the bank & more debt paid off.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?



More trusting. Praying.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?



Worrying & tv.

20. How did you spend Christmas?




At home.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?



Yep, Two new loves in that time, Chance the dog & Max the kitty.

22. What was your favorite TV program?




The Block & Renovators.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?


I don't want to hate anyone, but just so peeved at the Greens & Labour party.

24. What was the best book you read?





The bible.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?



Worship!!!

26. What did you want and get?





TV & Xbox.

27. What did you want and not get?





A job, but God had better plans.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?




Ohhhh that's hard..... Just enjoyed all the Nicholas Sparks adaptations.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?


Sniff 35. I went to vinnies.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?





I was going to say having a little more money, but looking back, all our needs were met, and I feel right now very blessed. More money wouldn’t have changed that.
Exactly the same, but looking at that it's been part of my current journey, trusting God for all our needs & not worrying.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

Jeans.

32. What kept you sane?




My Husband.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Mark Clifford. He’s still a celebrity in my house!

34. What political issue stirred you the most?





Carbon Tax & pretty much anything that came out of Julia Gillard's & Bob Brown's mouth.

35. Who did you miss?



Tracey Smith. Need to chat more to her, wish we lived closer. KYB group closed

36. Who was the best new person you met?





WARWICK BAPTIST CHURCH & grew closer to Diane :-D

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.





God ALWAYS provides. (still learning!!)

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.



“you said, ask and you will recive, what ever your needs".

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

2009 Quiz :-)

I saw this Quiz on Katie's blog and really liked it, thought I'd do it too. Would love to see the answers on other peoples too :-)

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?

Wow a few things.
1. Bought a new house.
2. Had a caesarean
3. Had a premature baby
4. Joined a bible study group
5. Had my sisters stay at my house

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?




Don’t really make new year’s resolutions, but often God speaks to me a lot at the start of the year about where I’m headed. Last year it was the house, this year it is budgeting again & being a bit more on track with schooling and marketing the business.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?


I did, is that close enough to me?

4. Did anyone close to you die?


Yep, our dog L Thankfully no humans.

5. What countries did you visit?



Does NSW count?

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

Being on track and on time with School work stuff & more ADS clients.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Feburary 9th We settled on our house
Feburary 14th we moved our furniture out here and Mark and I spent our first night in the house.
Feburary 17th the rest of the family came out to the new house.
March 5th After an ambulance ride around the Darling Downs, I had a caesarean and Noah arrived 5wks early.
October 29th First Rodeo with the kids and we lost Mitchell

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?


Listening to God on the house and having things fall into place and living in a town where a lot of my neighbours are Christian & really encouraging.

9. What was your biggest failure?

I don’t think you ever fail, if you can learn from it and move on. I’m pretty sure I did a lot of learning though.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Just had a nasty sinus infection around September.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Just encase you haven’t been reading…. A HOUSE!!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

All the kids, they are each growing more and more and just really great kids. They have their bad days, but so do we.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?


My own. Allowed myself to get really worked up over something so stupid and swore at the kids & broke Mitchells Lego ship. :(

14. Where did most of your money go?

Feeding the tribe lol & fixing the house. Oh and Fuel.

15. What did you get really excited about?

Appart from the house, getting out of hospital with Noah and having all the kids come home!

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?

I would have to say the whole Casting Crowns Altar & The Door CD.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
Happier or sadder? Happier, although there was nothing “sad” before that.
Thinner or fatter? Thinner, which is not hard considering I was pregnant this time last year.
Richer or poorer? Cash in the Bank Poorer, but Asset wise, richer. And the Super Fund still went down, can’t wait to make that one self managed.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?



More time with the kids, especially more hands on schooling.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?



Computer & Pioneer Woman.

20. How did you spend Christmas?




At Maroochydore, spent the morning lazing around & the afternoon swimming in the river and chatting with a nice local couple.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?



Yep, his name is Noah.

22. What was your favorite TV program?





Foyle’s War.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?


That is such a primary school question!! NO!!

24. What was the best book you read?





Ohh boy a LOT. I swear each new Janette Oke book I read had me thinking that was the best book I had read. The last one I read at the beach house had me crying for the last two chapters.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?




Weren’t really “discoverys” but we finally bought a heap of new CDS. Casting Crowns, Third Day & Mercy Me.

26. What did you want and get?





The house. My fourth boy.

27. What did you want and not get?





Another water tank & Rain from June – October.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?


Star Trek.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?


I was 33 and went and had dinner for the first time at the Tannymorel Bowls Club.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?




I was going to say having a little more money, but looking back, all our needs were met, and I feel right now very blessed. More money wouldn’t have changed that.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

Jeans.

32. What kept you sane?




God & bible study with the ladies over the road & bible study and chats with Ali. Visits from family :-)

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Mark Clifford. He’s a celebrity in my house!

34. What political issue stirred you the most?




Emissions Trading. & pretty much anything that came out of Anna Bligh’s mouth.

35. Who did you miss?



I guess everyone at Pine Rivers Girls Brigade.

36. Who was the best new person you met?




Oh Gosh too many to mention!! Pretty much all our new neighbours :-) And a couple of Angels while I was in hospital at Toowoomba.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.





God ALWAYS provides. (although I learn it time after time)

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.



“Just how close can I get, Lord, to my surrender without losing all control
Lord, I feel You in this place and I know You're by my side
Loving me even on these nights when I'm caught in the middle”
Casting Crowns.

Monday, November 09, 2009

This is a photo heavy post, but hey a picture tells a 1000 words :-) And since it's been soooooo long between posts rather than write a few thousand word essay about what's been going on and have you all comatose by the end, lots of photos it is.

click on photos to see larger.

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Cowps fell over and pushed his front tooth all the way back into the socket. We were given a few scenarios from the dentist and took the "wait and see" approach. So thankful that his tooth came back down into the right position and no discolouring. Thank you Jesus!! :-D
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The kids found this frog & he's been a constant companion over the months. He lives in a big lilly under the kitchen window & is always so calm and collected with the kids. They've even rigged up a swing for the poor guy. I've never seen such a tollerant frog before!
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We're now 2nd generation chook owners ;-) We finally had a chicken hatch after two chooks had been broody. We've now got 3 broody hens all sitting together stealing any egg that's laid to go under them. This time we are taking the "set and forget" attitude with the chickens and letting them do their thing. Hopefully we'll have more bubby chicks soon :-D
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Finally catching up on all the "extra" school work that got a little neglected first half of the year. Kids have really enjoyed doing some science experiments together. Planing for next year's subjects is in full swing :-D Now just to get Mark up to speed on the whole system.
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We're just so blessed with our neighbours out here. This is Roger, he's also restoring an old home and is just such a wonderful guy. He's calls the kids his Grand kids and has become a part of the family. We often have him over for dinner and the kids are always baking him stuff. He bought the kids a kite and flys it with them and has built the boys a big pick up truck. We also have a beautiful group of laides that I bible study with. Just so amazed that in such a tiny town, there are so many Christians. Just confirms even more that this was God's place for us. I finally made it to church on Sunday & this Sunday we'll try another home church. Just got to find a place that both Mark & I feel at home with.

Ron, another neighbour has also made us a table and chairs for our kitchen. Will have to take photos of the kitchen progress. Ron's 82 and is just so active and has been a real encouragment to Mark. Today he's having a back opperation, so prayers for his healing and recovery would be a real blessing.

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Here's a typical view of the scenery of these parts. A trip to the shops isn't so bad with views like this, and NO TRAFFIC!! We laugh that if we pass more than one car on our road, it must be peak hour.
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I think apart from Mt Isa, Warwick hosts one of Australia's largest rodeos and campdraft competitions. We had a great time this year going with my sister Kym and her family. We're already planing next years. Also will be fun to go to the smaller local ones too. On the Saturday we lost Mitch at the rodeo. He lost sight of us and actually ran out of the rodeo thinking we were headed for the car. Thankfully God was looking out for him and we got him back safe and sound.
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The kids are all just growing up so fast!! Noah is just doted on something fierce by his big sisters. I can see some of those girly dress up photos making their way out at someone's 21st.

House has been moving along. Mark has just continued to amaze me at his skill and drive in renovating. So far he's put in new doors, kitchen (half way there), new wall for a boys room, plumbing, new windows & is on the way to a new shed. Just so thankful for all the work he does.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Right now......... For Today.....

Right Now.......

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Such typical scenes from our home. Bubby snuggled in our bed, kids picking up in the lounge before they can watch a movie. Through the doorway Hannah doing dishes, Alec on the couch thinking that he looks like he's helping, my left over morning tea & computer on the table & streamers left hanging up from Sunday nights little family award night hosted by the kiddos.


For Today....

Outside my window... Roger working on his house across the street.

I am thinking... Enjoy the rest before "work" this afternoon & better get meat out of the freezer or it will never defrost.

I am thankful for... God, A freezer full of cow & having a wood heater.

From the kitchen... Morning tea - Banana cake, chocolate cake & hot milo. Lunch - toasted sandwiches. Dinner - steak & gravy

I am wearing... Jeans & a purple jumper that's too small and with a green shirt hanging out the bottom & sheepskin slippers. It's a nice look.

I am creating... plans for a renovation.

I am going... to the chook pen.

I am reading... Janette Oke

I am hoping... for some good materials from JJ to do our kitchen and bathroom & that I will finally finish the birth story.

I am hearing... The kids watching Marley & Me, Noah's waking up & Alec is nagging about blankets.

Around the house... Laundry, sweeping, ADS work & keeping the fire going.

One of my favourite things... Rugged up on the couch with a hot milo, fruit toast & a good book.

A few plans for the rest of the week... It's tax time so.... work, gardening, visiting the local museum.

Friday, April 03, 2009

Chicks & Bubbies

This post is LONG overdue!! Noah and I came home on the Monday 16th of March and the rest of the kiddos came home on the Friday with my parents. Mum and Dad stayed till the following Tuesday and we got a fair bit done in the yard. Thanks Mum and Dad :-) When are you coming back??? hehe

Little man was due this week, amazing to think I've had an extra 5 weeks with this little guy. But with My Birthday last Friday & Hannah's this Tuesday I'm so glad we don't have 3 birthdays over 1 week!! 8


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Look at him he's just so serious!!

And last weekend we welcomed these to our home. Studly Rocky with one of his girls. This lucky boy has 5 ladies to keep him company. They're not laying yet & he's not crowing yet, so our neighbours are still our friends for the time being. (Although my neighbour today swears she heard crowing from our place yesterday....I'm in denial)888

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And someone please help me!! This is the best I can do for capturing 6 kids right now. Where's Pioneer Woman when you need her.

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I'm sorry Cowp's that's not your best angle, and excuse me for keeping you up Noah, that's payback for how Mummy feels about your insisting boob is a good thing at all hours.

& Here's Part 1 of Noah's birth story.

NOAH - PART 1

As your sister likes to tell you little man, you might be number 6, but you are full of firsts. Your entry into the world was certainly different from all the bigger kids.

We’d only just moved to our new home, I think we’d only lived here for about 3 weeks and we’d just started to feel settled. Your brothers and sisters had just started at Brigade, we were catching up on our school missed while moving and I was planing on renovating the bathroom and Dad was having an ongoing drama about getting our roof water collected.

Things were feeling good, we were all loving being out here and I had decided that I would give up my place at the Birth Centre in Brisbane and go to the Warwick hospital. On Monday 2nd of March I went into the Warwick hospital to organise my last lot of appointments with them and “book in”. The lady at admissions called and faxed the Birth Centre to have a referral sent over. I was told that I couldn't even make an appointment until those forms arrived. She then looked at me and said “You’re quite along aren’t you” and when I said 35wks she said “Stuff protocol, I’ll make you that appointment” She got me in to see the doctor that Wednesday 4th at 2:45pm.
Well Wednesday arrives, I was all set for my appointment at 3:45pm, I was getting ready to walk out the door. I double checked my letter to see where in the hospital I had to go & realised that my appointment was 2:45 and that was.. RIGHT NOW!! I rang the hospital to tell them my stuff up and that it takes me 25min to get there. They said it was okay and just to get there when I could. Finally at 4pm I get to see the doctor. We go over my history and he calls the RBH again to get my records as they still hadn’t arrived. The appointment was all good and I said “see you next week”, fully expecting about 4 or 5 more appointments at the hospital. When I hoped into the car, there was a message from the RBH saying that they had sent over my file to Warwick hospital.

All was good; I drove home via McDonald's, got my self a banana bread and Vanilla Latte and came home to cook dinner. That night we had some rain, Dad was so relived that his tanks were getting some water and the whole family sat out on the veranda watching the rain and having supper, it was a nice relaxed night before we all headed to bed. As Mummy and Daddy lay in bed we talked about your arrival, that any time in the next 6 weeks you would be here and as usual near the end of every pregnancy I said “I don’t want to do labour again”. I told your Dad that I knew it would only be about 3hrs of labour and in the big scheme of things that was such a short time, but the uncertainty of when and the waiting was so frustrating. I told your Dad, it would be like me telling him that sometime in the next 6 wks he had to run for 3hrs continuously. He wasn’t to know when he had to do the run but that at any stage he would need to do it. He agreed that that would be horrible and said “Knowing you, you’d wake me at 1:30am to do it”.

We went to sleep, I was ready for you to arrive, your bed was made up, your clothes folded and sorted, I bought nappies & maternity pads and the house looked like a baby was coming, but going on history, I was preparing myself for it being a long 6 weeks.

At 2am that night I woke up quite suddenly. I had a pulse throbbing really fast and hard and it felt like the veins in my neck were going to burst. My hands were swollen and I had tingling in my right hand and arm. I got out of bed pretty quickly and got to the toilet. Once I got on the toilet I had really strong pains in my tummy and couldn’t sit up on the toilet and was having to lean back. I couldn’t really move and my first thought was “I’m not having a baby on the toilet” I yelled out “MARK!!!” and your Dad came in and I told him what was going on and I needed his help to get up. Just as I started to get up, I got a really strong cramp in my leg. So your poor Dad was trying to get a cramp out of my leg before I could get up.

Once I got up I started pacing the kitchen trying to work out what was going on. I felt a bit panicked and thought, “either I’m going into labour or I’m getting sick” I also was having continual pain in my belly and back. After about 5 min of things not really getting better I said to your Dad, “I think I’d better pack a bag and call the ambulance”. We both agreed that it was better to go and get things checked out, than hang around and perhaps have things get worse. So I got a bag ready and made the call. As I was packing my bags I had said to your Dad “God had placed it on my heart this last week I might be delivering this baby without you and I’m okay with that”.

The lady on the phone was lovely and said the ambulance would be roughly half an hour as it had to come from Warwick. Due to the distance they would send a first response unit from Killarney to be with me till the ambulance arrived. After talking to her for a while things seamed to calm down and I thought perhaps I didn’t need the ambulance after all. After I said that to her I told her I thought my waters had broken. She asked me to check the amount of fluid and then I realised that it wasn’t my waters it was blood. So I went off to deal with that I gave the phone to Dad and I thought “I’m glad I’ve called an ambulance”. When I hopped back on the phone your Dad asked me “Have you felt Noah move?” It was then that I realised before I went to sleep you were moving a fair bit, but since I woke up I hadn’t felt you at all. I lay down hoping you would move, prodded you and poked you but you didn’t move. By then the ambulance arrived. The ambulance men came in and asked a few questions and said “We’re taking you in to Warwick hospital” as they were loading me into the ambulance the first responders arrived. At 3am I said goodbye to your Dad and left 5 little kiddies in their beds.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

I have a good excuse for the delay in posts

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Introducing Noah Benjamin Clifford.


Born March 5th 2009. Just a little bit early ;-) 5 weeks in fact. In the last post I said that we wanted to do the bathroom before April, before bubby arrived, my body had different ideas, I had a placental abruption which resulted in a ceasarian delivery at 35 weeks.

I'll put up the birth story later (will be a loooonnnngggg post, just don't want to forget God's hand in his delivery), we're still in hospital and hope to be home soon. We're both doing really well recovery wise and are desperate to go home.

And I need a new photo, he doesn't have tubes anymore :-)

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Again!!

It's late, Mark's away in Brissy doing inspections (we had enough for 2 days, Thank You Lord!!), I always put off sleep when he's not here.
I just did a layout using Willro&co's new "Quality Time" kit.
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Journaling Reads: Your perfect will and timing Lord won in the end. You told us to buy a house after Nov. 08, and the enemy put in a good effort to stop it. He used bleeding during my pregnancy, Cowper’s TEC, Holly’s eczema and Mark’s back. We are so thankful that we turned to you Lord and you got us back on track, and brought us here to Mt. Colliery.Your Timing,Your House for Us, Your Abundant Blessing, Your Victory!

Our neighbours over the back are such a wonderful couple. The kids are building a "club house" up the backyard and they often call out to Dawn to come and see what they have done. She is so good at encouraging them and looking out for them. I'm so grateful for having them as neighbours.
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We have a gate between our blocks. I hope one day that she feels as free to use that gate as she once did when the house was owned by the original owners Mr & Mrs Roach.
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Dawn has also had great stories to tell about the history of our house.

Mt Colliery from around 1930 to 1964 had a coal mine. Mick Roach who owned our house was the mine manager & his Dad was the one who discovered coal up in the mountain. Mick & his wife lived here well into their old age. Dawn actually drove with Mrs Roach in the ambulance as she was taken to hospital for the last time. Apparently Mrs Roach had a beautiful garden just bursting with flowers (some of her rose bushes live on) and fish ponds etc. Mr Roach then lived here for some time on his own, until he had a stroke in his 90's. Dawn would come down and do his ironing and keep an eye out for him. The house was then bought by Dawn's nephew and he and his partner lived here for a couple of years, then it was sold to the people we bought it from. In the 3 1/2 years they had it they were lucky if they stayed here 4 times and only for the day. Crazy stuff. She never got the water connected up and often would complain to Dawn that they can't stay because there is no water. However she did get the floors polished.

It's nearly a month since we've owned the place. In that time, Mark has got all the water tanks connected, installed a pump, got the hot water system working, all the water in the house working (shower, vanity, sink, toilet), gotten a lot of the yard under control, done a lot of roof plumbing, fixed the fencing and cleared out sheds. Nearly all the water work done in the first couple of days before we moved in. I'm so proud of the work he has done around the house and his "can do attitude". This is where I often find him.

Doing this:
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And he still keeps up his day job.
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It's sad that the house was left "abandoned" like that, the woman would often go back to Brissy and leave all the doors open and didn't really care. I'm thankful that our neighbours did and would come and close up to protect the house from the weather. I'm also really glad that a couple had a full life here, that they lived here till they were just to old to stay and they were known as a "wonderful people". We want to bring the old girl back to her glory as being a loved family home. However I don't really share the love of vinyl that Mr & Mrs Roach did. Up to 6 layers thick in some places!! It brings Mark and I great amusement each time we find some more.
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In a few weeks time we want to fix up a carport & start work on the bathroom. Praying that we can get the floor done & a new bath/shower in before the end of March or before bubs makes an entrance. Right now we have a small shower cubical and carpet in the bathroom, you can imagine my frustration each night trying to stop that carpet from getting a soaking (I couldn't care less about the carpet getting wrecked, it's the timber floor underneath). The sooner it's gone the better (and yep there is remnants of vinyl under it too!!).