Guess.........

where I went yesterday?

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Yep out to the house :-) The only water at the house is an 800ltr tank, ummmmm not quiet enough lol. There is a big 23000ltr tank in place just waiting to get hooked up properly. So we asked the current owners if we could go before settlement and try to get some rain water into that tank. Yesterday we made the trip out there to work out the ins and outs of what was there and what Mark needed to do to get the job done. Mark and John are back there today hooking it up. Just praying that God delivers some nice rain over the next two weeks so we don't have to buy in water.

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So while Mark did his thing the kids and I took a walk around "town". We met two of the locals, one guy who was born there then moved to Brisbane for a while & of all places worked here in Narangba lol and has been back "home" for the last 16 years. His mother and aunty and uncle etc still all live there. He told us that in his mother's life time she's seen snow twice in the town and he has seen it once. Me thinks winter mights be chilley!!

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Then we met our neighbour to the left of us (well he's across the street, but our only neighbour to the left). We hadn't even been talking a minuet and discover that he is a Christian. His comment to us was "We need more of them, Praise The Lord!". So nice to know that we have a brother in Christ as a neighbour :-)

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The kids and I also had a picnic on our little patio (we didn't have access to the house, just outside) and watched the mountain in front of us change colour as the afternoon progressed. I can see many a cups of tea out the front. We went around the yard a bit better and discovered two mature fruit trees, yeah!! It was the first time Hannah and Mitchell had been out there and the two of them spent a good hour at least exploring the yard.

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Mark & I will often come up to each other and affectionately say "You happy?". It's not that we're worried that we're not, but it's just a little thing we do. Yesterday just hanging out there I kept thinking "yeah I'm happy" so I beat him to it, walked up to him and put my arm around him gave him a big smile and said "I'm happy". He got it :-) Life just feels so content out there and we both left feeling that we'd really made the right choice. Or should I say so thankful that God lead us to this place.

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So a little tour around our town :-)

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The street that runs beside our house (there is a vacant block between us and the street)

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The main road into town. Our house is just there on the right (red roof)

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The other street that you turn off from the main road. At the end of the road is the T intersection, across the street is the hall, that's our street and that's the mountain we look at from our front veranda.

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The "street" behind our house.

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It was so cool. We walked the town, the kids could run ahead, I didn't have to worry about cars etc and the freedom we all felt was priceless.

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Holly said that as she was running down the street she was laughing and thinking "I feel free!!"

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I can't wait for move day!!!

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And I got an award. Thanks Karen :-)

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Here are the steps:

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1. Say one nice thing to the man in your life:
Mark I love you so much. I am so thankful that God blessed me with you as my husband. You are my best friend, my rock and constant source of joy. I truly delight in you :-) And I am just so excited about the journey we are about to start together.

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2. List at least 6 ways you measure success in your life:

- One day hearing the words "well done good and faithful servant"

- Walking with God

- Finding joy in the simple things

- Having a balanced life where family comes first

- Going where God leads me in all areas, friends, work, play

- Waking up with joy in my heart

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3. Assign 5 other blogs this award:

Chris

Jacqui

Leanne

Cass

Megan

A sad farewell.....

to a dear family member.

With a very heavy heart I said goodbye to a dear and loyal family member today. We parted with our dear old Ford Explorer. She was a good girl. I kind of felt like I'd gotten rid of a loyal dog that didn't deserve to be given away, but change of circumstances meant we had to.

The dear old Explorer has been our car for the last 5 years & she's been a good car & she was a keeper, but we had the dilemma of bubba #6 coming soon. An 8 person family and a 7 seater car don't really go together :-( We had looked at lots of options, trying to keep the Explorer and nothing was really coming together. What ever option we looked at involved an after market seat in the back of a car with no room for 3 booster seats. We have tiny kids and whilst Holly is 9 this year she still needs a booster of some kind. So we still had no idea about our future family transport & D day was looming. With the move approaching we didn't want to constantly make two car trips to Brissy and back.

Then on Friday we were sitting in traffic having the common "in the car discussion" of late, when we stopped at lights behind a Land Cruiser. I said to Mark "Hey I think you can get an 8 seater Crusier". That got us thinking and we decided that our option may be to trade the Explorer, we'd still have our 4WD that we didn't want to part with, but we might just have the 8 seater we longed for.

So after some looking around and some praying we decided to make some serious enquiries. The conditions we had were, we didn't want to have to outlay and money to swap over & we didn't want it to cost us any more than what we currently paid on the Explorer. So we found a car, it met our criteria and today we did the deal!

Don't get me wrong I am flat out excited to have a newer car & one that will fit the whole family & secretly I think I've fallen in love with her, but I cried as we drove up the highway to do the trade. I liked the Explorer she was a good girl & I just hope she finds a nice home. Mark reminded me that "it's just a machine" and I get that, but it's got me thinking about all the things happening right now. How hard will it be to say goodbye to our home of the last 4 1/2 years when I cried like a baby when I faced saying goodbye to our car. Mark put it well when he said "But we're leaving something that's not ours, for something that is" but it's walking away from 1 life to another. Driving into the new driveway in a car that's "different" just makes it really feel like we are stepping into a BIG new chapter of our lives. I guess it's like the cars, I'm HUGELY excited about what's to come, but it's hard to say goodbye to the familiar.

So Explorer, thanks for being a good car, for being ever reliable, and for being part of our family.

And to you Miss Cruiser, you have some big shoes to fill honey.

I'll leave you with today's journey in pictures.

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The Explorer's last "hurrah"

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Ohhhhh Marky look at you looking all cute in.......... what's that.... your new car!!!

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Please don't follow me.....

to the new place!!!!!


I heard a rumor that toads don't really like living where we are going to because of the cold temperatures in winter, it kills them off. I sure hope that's the case.



I grew up in Far North Queensland right in the middle of Cane Country and I've had my fair share of these guys. As a kid we would go on holidays to this old beach house and it had a gap on the outside wall that these guys could fit through..... lets just say you didn't want to cross the floor at night to get to the toilet...... I still have memories of waking in the night to see about 6 of them on the floor, busting to wee & not game to get off the bed. YUCK!!!


So for a little while I was spoilt, there weren't too many cane toads in Brissy and each year they get more and more. Now we have about 3 or 4 a night in our yard.


Last night I started having flash backs to my childhood. I just cling to the faint hope that perhaps, just perhaps I might be moving to a cane toad free area. I can only dream.......
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I really don't want to see you or your friends for a long time mate.

I've been dreaming of...........

this place constantly.

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Seriously now every night for about 3 weeks.

And I dreamt about this place about 3 months ago too.

Last year in Jan/Feb we got a rent increase where we were living and we considered moving. For a while now we had thought of buying a place in the country, but within driving distance to Brissy so we could still run our business. But Jan/Feb last year we weren't yet in a position to buy and thought about making the move and renting for a while. The rent would be lots cheaper and we could save more. So we prayed over it and we got the message loud and clear to wait. Wait until after November 2008. So we started waiting & then I feel pregnant & I questioned God about His whole planing etc.

So we waited and waited, we stalked realestate.com.au & domain.com.au and we saw houses come and go and we thought "will we be able to do this in November?" Then God placed Dave Ramsey in our path and we got some serious budgeting in our lives and we started working on correcting all the bad financial choices we had made.

Then came October and as the "financial crisis" loomed the Government announced the increase of the first home owners grant & the economic stimulus package. Both those things to happen "at the end of November" when God had told us to wait!! Then November came and things started to go wrong. I started bleeding with the pregnancy, Cowper's bone marrow stopped working, Holly's eczema went into overdrive and Mark started suffering from a bad back. I had planed to spend November doing tax returns etc to get our financials sorted to apply for a loan, I now spent it in hospital. By the start of December we were "so over it" and went on our holiday, we were also saying "do we really want to move with this going on?" "Should we wait till after the baby's born?". On holidays my bleeding continued & Holly's eczema worsened and I had a bit of a "woe is me" moment. We took it to the Lord in prayer and asked for what was going on. The only answer that came to us was that the enemy was attacking us to keep us from what God had called us to do. So we resolved that when we got home from holidays we would ring a loan broker and an estate agent and find out what we could realistically do house wise.

So we drive in the driveway, open our letterbox and are welcomed with a letter from our landlord putting the rent up $40 a week. Mark and I just looked at each other and said "Do you think God is telling us something?" So we made the calls.

Last year in the lead up to this 2 things happened. 1. We were given 4 jobs to do in the areas we were thinking about buying in and did a road trip thinking we would "Scope out the land". From what we had thought about and what we saw were two different things. Towns that were one the top of our list were now on the bottom & towns on the bottom were now at the top. 2. I had a really vivid dream about a house we would buy, the house itself was too bizarre to exist (think two, 3 storey homes, 100 years old, joined together about 3 old bathrooms). But it stuck in my mind and I couldn't shake it, there were things about it that really stood out for me. Mark often asked, have you found the house in your dream yet? But the main point we took away from that, was we weren't looking for something new, we were looking for something old & that we could do up over time. Don't look for fancy, but something most people would turn from. And from our trip we knew the area to look in.

There was one house that kind of fit the bill, it was old and it was in the price range, but it wasn't something we thought "yuck" about. I had seen houses online that were more expensive and I would think "there is no way I could live with that bathroom or kitchen" or they had no bathroom, because someone ripped it out and gave up. But this one house keep catching my eye. Mark said "ring the agent, and if it's still on the market we'll take a look".

So off we go, we took Holly, Alec & Cowper with us and we went and "had a look". There were things at this house that were in my dream. A veranda that needed a wall put up to become a bedroom, a cricket pitch that you could see from the veranda, the same age, same kitchen cupboards, overgrown yard (it was when we went), water & hills to the north, the same front fence. This house just had too many similarities.

So we went home and prayed on in and the next day put in an offer. The whole time we were just asking God for His will to prevail, if this was His plan for us, open the doors, if this wasn't to shut them firmly. The counter offer that came back was lower than our upper limit, so we accepted it. On December 31 Mark and I signed a contract & after more than a month of bleeding it stopped. I have not had one niggle, spot or anything since then. His plan to use my pregnancy to derail God's plans didn't work. Since then Mark's back has been improving, and the day we got the phone call saying "it looks like you'll go unconditional on Monday" Holly's eczema has started to improve like you wouldn't believe. Oh and Cowps blood results "close to normal".

It hasn't been a completely smooth ride, I've had moments where the "not knowing" and "waiting on others" has gotten the better of me and I've gotten snappy and had a good cry. But all along I have had a husband who has been so calm and confident in God's hand in all this and has quietly waited on Him and encouraged me to take my fears to God. Every time I got fearful or afraid Mark said "let pray" and immediately after our prayer we would have an answer from a 3rd party putting our minds at rest.

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am to finally "buy a house" and ALL of it is from God's blessings alone. He chose the time, His time frame gave us the Govt grants etc to help our deposit, and he gave us the dream to lead us to the right house. All things belong to God alone and we are just stewards of our earthly possessions. I am so thankful that we are steward of this house & I pray that we can do God's blessings justice.

The other thing that blows me away is 12 years ago Mark's parents were pressuring us to buy and we just felt uncomfortable to get a loan. We also didn't want to have repayments more than what we paid in rent & just couldn't conceive how we would ever achieve that. For so many years we've been afraid to borrow money and home loans have been a big fear in our life. This year God put in place the tools and education for us to get serious about our money and for the first time in 10 years actually budget. Rents are through the roof and what we pay now in rent would have paid for a mortgage easily all those years ago. Now we've waited, gone in with a 20% deposit (which we never thought we would ever achieve) and the weekly repayments are less than the cheapest rent we've ever paid. This is ALL because of God and his wisdom. Proverbs 3:5-6 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.

So for since we signed the contract this house has been in my dreams every night. It's constantly on my mind. Even though we signed the contract on the 31st of December, the sellers didn't get it back to the agent until the 8th of Jan, so the ball didn't start rolling until then. Today we got the news we've waited for "Finance Unconditional" there's no turning back.

So now it really starts. No more "is this really going to happen?" it's happening. All things going to plan (settle on the right date etc) we should be moving mid Feb.

In February we will start the life that God has called us for our family. We have waited 12 months for this move and I am excited beyond belief to see what God has in store for us living in the country.

I just have to keep thinking of the view that will soon be mine for paking motivation. That bit I'm not looking forward to. Hmmmm packing up a family of 7 (plus stuff for bubs) and a business, and cleaning the house that 5 little kids have lived in has kind of lost its gloss. I'm sure we'll get there, but the next month is sure going to be busy. Just another reason I'm so thankful we got the school year started early and a whole term fully planed out. I can't wait to be home schooling the kids here.

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And he're the "new" girl in colour.

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We've got a lot of plans for this place. I can't wait to share the journey with you guys.

Somebody in this house.....

just turned 6!!!

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Today is Mr Mitchell's birthday :-) And he's been anticipating it for weeks and weeks. It's pretty hard to watch your two little brothers have their birthdays in the weeks leading up to yours.

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We have a few birthday traditions in our house.

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1. Treasure hunt for your pressies

2. Open your stash on Dad & Mum's bed
3. play with pressies while Mum makes breakfast of choice (usually pancakes are ordered)

4. No chores for birthday person

5. Cake eating

6. Dinner of choice
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Mitchell's day looked a bit like this.

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Some things in life...

are just too hard to give up.



Like your favourite pair of shoes.



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These were Cowper's shoes this past winter and he loved his shoes, but alas come spring they just didn't fit anymore. He was devestated that I said "no" to the shoes :-( I've never seen a kid so distraught over a pair of shoes. We managed to get a pair of sandles on him and he carried the shoes with him in the car. After that day the shoes "dissapeared".

Well today many months later he found the shoes. He so sweetly bought me the shoes and wanted them back on. They didn't fit, he took it pretty well, but I think after all this time they are still a favourite.

I think Mr Cowps' mind shoes mean adventure. Shoes mean going in the car, going somewhere. Good things happen when you put on shoes. This morning while the big kids and I were doing school, Cowps was off doing Cowpie stuff & I mentioned to the big kids that we'd go to the park in the afternoon. Cowps was in ear shot, two seconds later he presents himself with a pair of shoes ready to go and sweetly says "park". He doesn't get "not now mate".

It's pretty hard being 2.

And on a brighter note for Cowps, the latest lots of blood tests were great :-) We're almost near normal levels. 1 more test in a month and I'll think they'll be done with us :-)

And so it begins.....

Another school year :-)

Today was our first day back at school for 2009. I know we're two weeks early, but the kids were excited to start (they saw their new supplies and were begging to use them, Mum was keen too) and with a bub due in April we thought strike while the irons hot and get the term underway.

I've just spent the last week lesson planing, book covering and after 3 yrs of home schooling have finally set up a functioning school shelf and have gotten ourselves well and truly organised for the year.

So here's what our 2009 school journey looks like so far (click on images to enlarge) :

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The stack of books I just covered in contact......48 in total......... I actually enjoy it........ I'm a bit sick that way........ Hannah was eyeing off the job........ I'm getting nervous of the potential competition........ There are a few things in life I'm anal about they are, 1. How you hang out clothes & 2. how you cover books. .............. Hands off my books Hannah!!!

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The book shelf. We have two of these shelves in our lounge, either side of the couch. One is right next to the hall and easily accessible, the other one is tucked away in a corner. This one used to hold, nick nacks etc and a few books. The stuff that it held was really more for looking at then getting access to, meanwhile the one in the corner pretty much sat empty. On the weekend I had a brain wave that I could put all the school stuff on the easily accessible one, and all the "look at stuff" on the hard to get to shelf. The kids stuff is colour co-ordinated, Holly is purple, Hannah pink & Mitch blue.

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This is our work chart. I print off two of these each week. One goes on the wall for everyone to see and then the 2nd one I cut up so the kids can each have just their day with them at their desk. It helps them and me keep track of what's still to go. Last year Hannah had a habit of convenietnly forgetting to do half of her English. Also this way it makes it a little easier if someone else needs to supervise for the day, what needs to be done is already worked out.

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Today was an interesting day, we started late as I was still getting a few things together & I had to leave at 12:45 for Cowper's follow up appointment at the hospital. Mitch did really well and had all his work done before I left, Holly had nearly all hers done & well Hannah, she'd only managed her math through lots of tears and just having a general "woe is me day". She even tried cheating on her speed drill by doing a few of them before she went into Mark to get timed. Just wasn't her day lol. So when I got home at 3:30pm she still had reading, phonics, grammar & social science to go. But her attitude was better. I could have shrugged it off and said "Oh well I did have to go out, let's just forget it" but I didn't want to reward her poor form in the morning. This was the end result, she did her school work late in the afternoon outside on a rug while I got the washing done. It's amazing how well she can get her work done out there. And that's the beauty of home schooling.. flexibility :-)

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And just because they looked cute........

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

WOW 2009 already!! I'm sure 2008 went by at twice the pace, would be wonderful if 2008 slowed a little.

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How many of you have plans this year? Any big changes or just things that you have always had on your plate, but always seem to be making the same resolutions year after year. That would be me. I always want a little bit more routine in my day and some more time to spend with friends. What ever your hopes and dreams are for 2009 I pray that it is a year full of many blessings for you.

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Well we had a mixed bag of a holiday. It was wonderful to get away and have the whole family chill out, but the start of it was plagued by Alec swallowing a screw and my body being a bit weird with this pregancy. I had spotting the whole time we were away and by mid holiday had a bit of a meltdown with it all. I sent out a prayer SOS and Mark prayed over me, after that I got it together. After praying I read Matthew chapter 6 and had God's reasurance that I should not worry about today and what "might" happen tomorrow, and should anything happen tomorrow I have His strength to get through it.

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So holidays were spent doing lots of this:
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And just to prove that I was on holidays, courtesy of Hannah:

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Then we went to John and Sam's place:
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We checked on our cowsies:

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Gave Wilson a swimming lesson:

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And hooned around on this:

I'm just so thankful that even though we had a few hicups at the end of the year we are so very blessed to have our family and above all a God who loves us more than anything else. I am just so excited about what God has planed for 2009 and I can't wait to walk the path He has laid out for us. My life verse is Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. May your 2009 be full of prosper, hope and a future full of joy. And remember what ever road you travell good or bad, God will be there to carry you through.

Going for the world's record of longest time between posts ;-)

I think I could almost claim that title!! Man I'm a shocker at this blog thing.

This has been a fairly big year for us, one of great blessings and also some struggles, but through all things the Lord has so graciously seen us through.

I’m not going to try and remember in order the things that happened this year but I will try to list as many as I can remember. Hmm woman with 5 children and a bad case of baby brain (yes it is a real condition no matter what you’ve heard, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it), we’ll see how much I can actually remember.

One of the highlights this year was the news that we are expecting another precious bundle to add to our wonderful bunch of little treasures. And yes 2 ultrasounds have confirmed that God has indeed given us another one of the male variety. I am seriously getting out numbered here! So around April 2009 we will welcome little Noah Benjamin into our family. He already is a much loved addition and he has 5 very anxious brothers and sisters waiting to kiss and cuddle him.

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The end of this year saw some worries with our little man Cowper. Over the period of a couple of weeks he kept passing out. Finally with an ambulance ride up to Caboolture hospital we were admitted and Cowps and I stayed 5 nights on the Children’s ward. As far as hospital stays go, we had it pretty good, a private room and a fully stocked play room at our beck and call (and 5 nights of no cooking for Mum). Dad held the fort at home and had 4 willing helpers. After heart checks etc it looks like the cause of the black outs was a condition where his bone marrow stoped making red blood cells, hence a very reduced ability to carry oxygen around his body. They say there is no apparent cause for the condition, about 0.5% of kids get it and it lasts for 1-2 months. After much praying for God to restore his little body after only 5 nights the tests showed that new cells were forming at a high rate and we could go home, Praise the Lord. He had a haemoglobin level of 65 (normal level is 130) and if we dropped to 50 he would require blood transfusions and a bone marrow biopsy. At present he’s on weekly blood tests and in January he has an EEG just to make sure the blackouts weren’t seizures, but all in all he’s happy and on the road to recovery.
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One of the big plans of 2007 was the Scrap of Faith retreat in November that I organised. The weekend was amazing. It was just so wonderful to finally meet in the flesh ladies who have become such a big part of my life. The fellowship that was shared was truly a great blessing to everyone who attended and I can’t wait to organise the next one for early 2010. I’m already plotting and planing ways to try and top this one.

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We’ve also gotten through a year of home schooling 3 kids. Holly grade 3, Hannah grade 2 & Mitchell in prep. Holly sat the National testing this year and I was just so happy for her that she did really well, above national average in all testing areas. I kind of felt like the test was not only about what she knew but also a test about our curriculum choices. Nice to know that so far we are on the right track. Next year will be full on, the work load for Mitchell increases and it’s Hannah’s turn for the test. I’ve just put in our order for 2009’s books and resources. I kind always get excited when the new books arrived, for a split second I think I might actually get organised for the new year and I’m one of those sickos that LOVE covering school books.

We’re also planing a move in early next year. Ever since Mark and I married we have longed to live in the country but never been brave enough to make the move. This year we really felt that call to make the move. After much praying about it we felt God tell us to wait until the summer of 08/09. Boy was that wait hard, but as always God’s timing is perfect! By waiting we’ve been able to take advantage of the first homeowners grant increase, the end of year cash bonus for having kids & the interest rates falling. So we’re on the look out for an old queenslander in the country. So far near Warwick is looking promising. I’m dreaming about vege gardens, chickens and wide open spaces. The girls are dreaming about ponies, the boys (big and little) dirt bikes. I’m praying that the right house comes along and that God’s timing has us moving just after bubs is born. But what is it they say… “How do you make God laugh? Tell him your plans.”

We also bought some cows. Marks brother and sister have been looking after them at their farm in Gympie and our little family of 4 cows grew to 5 and we’re hoping another calf is on the way. Hmmmm I can’t wait to get my teeth into some organic beef next year. And speaking of Gympie we’ve really enjoyed the trips that we’ve had up there this last year. Hannah is really in her element amongst the farm animals and has a real sense of spunk about her. Holly just LOVES the horses. The boys really come alive too and love the animals, playing in the creek and just being farm kids.

And drum roll……. After 12 years of wearing the same pair of glasses, Mark finally got a new pair of specs!! I can’t believe the difference a new set of glasses makes! If Mark knew the effect a new pair of specs would have on me I’m sure he would have had updated them long ago!!

And Alec & Mitch, what can I say about about those boys, except that they are super cute and your typical boys. Which means, getting into everything and learning things the hard way. But this stage will pass and we love them to bits. (We just have 2 more boys to go through this stage, hmmmm “I can do all things in Him who strengthens me”)

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We also had fun in the storms that hit Brisbane in November. The wind was blowing the water so hard it came in between the roof tiles and I had water coming through the light fittings in the kitchen and lounge. The timber surround around one of our aircons blew in with a ton of hail & we lost the shed. All this while Mark was out hunting. He drove back late that night after the storm and he said it was so eerie to drive through Brisbane with so many homes in darkness and trees everywhere. We were very blessed to have only lost the shed and be without power for 12 hrs.

So for 2008 that’s pretty much us :-) On Tuesday we head up to my Parent's beach house at Maroochydore for 12 days. The perfect way to finish the year, chilling out together with no work or school pressures. We always go the two weeks before Christmas. The beach is soooo quiet as everyone is too busy rushing around before Christmas. Then we come back home just after Christmas when all the builders and accountants are closed so we get a bit of a rest at home to do some cleaning and sorting. Perfect way to finish the year :-)