'Before' photos (well almost... forgot to take them before the posts went in...)

Post natal depression or post traumatic stress or post whatever... my hubby has almost had it all... fixing this fence. These posts (no, not the one I am typing) have driven him to it! He really is not keen on the handy man type tasks - but this fence needed fixing. It was beginning to rot underneath and was on the lean. I ripped out the old fence/gate and David replaced the posts. Here they are... hefty things.... We cut off the rotting wood at the bottom of the fences, repainted, screwed the palings in (we found the nails had come loose over time) and made some other minor adjustments (major ones really for us, as we are very much amatures) We spent a couple of days coating and re coating them, deciding...re deciding, attaching... realising our mistakes,

re-aligning... you get the idea...

It is all still in progress so will keep you updated. We ended up moving the fence further back than it was originally to make room for some space for a few veggies. We also potted the plants which had survived the prickly berry bush infestation, dug up a mountain of weeds, put down plastic and new soil, built up with railway sleepers around the edge.

This morning Josh and I were able to add a few seedlings...

A peek of things to come:

I personally enjoy it - at least seeing the progress... There is something about being outdoors, enjoying God's world, working hard physically and having the little ones clambering around nearbye bouncing together on the tramp or playing "tea" in the cubby house... a renewed reminder of the blessings that surround me...

More photos to come...

Tomato/kalamata Penne

Here's a family favourite recipe that I use often. I like it because:

• I often have the ingredients for it in my cupboard (and is inexpensive if you don't use the whole bottle of kalamatas :)
• It is vegetarian - not that we are - just that you don't even have to remember to thaw out meat from the freezer!
• It is healthy and goes well with extra steamed veggies
• It is one of hubby's favourites, and the kids like it too (I serve the kalamatas only to those who can handle the delicious taste!)
• It is very quick to make

So... here it is..

Ingredients:

• Penne pasta


• Tomato cooking sauce/puree (I use tall bottles from Aldi)


• fresh garlic


• Fresh basil (to taste)


• olive oil


• freshly cracked black pepper


• salt


• mozzarella cheese (or whatever cheese your family likes) to top pasta


• handfull of pitted kalamata olives

Method:

Cook pasta with a little oil and salt added to keep from sticking together.

Pour about 2 tablespoons of oil into frying pan. Slice garlic into thin rounds. Add garlic and a couple torn basil leaves to oil in pan. The idea is to infuse the oil with the flavour from the garlic and basil but not to let them actually sizzle. Keep the heat low and swirl around in pan to disperse flavour in the oil. Do this for 2/3 min. Remove from heat. Add tomato puree, salt, freshly crushed black pepper and kalamata olives. You can also add more chopped basil if you have any. Simmer for 10 min.

Serve tomato mixture onto pasta. Add shaved cheese and a smidgen of cracked pepper and wa-lah!

Holidays and keeping busy

Finding things for little ones to do during the holidays is always a challenge for me... yes, we do lots of things - but seems there are many big gaps to fill for ambitious minds/hands/bodies...

A couple of things that have met with approval lately:

Puzzles, large ones (especially when Daddy comes to help!) Daddy got so involved and was so fixated, it was hard bekoning him away even with breakfast!

I just love seeing my men working on things together like this!

Here is an idea I have tried with Owen and Rosa - a great activity for 5-10 min whilst preparing dinner..

I drew a sheet of pictures using a black texta. I then scanned the page so I can just print more

out as needed.

Each set of pictures had some space for circles - the wheels on a bike, circles for eyes on faces, dots on a turtles' back.... I gave Owen and Rosa some stickers and showed them where to put

the stickers... away they went.

You can also use the little dot stickers for more fine motor skill challenge... or the little reinforced stickers (donut shaped). When they finished adding dots I let them colour it in.

Sometimes the stickers get used for freckles too ;)

... and of course there are always opportunities to read together, have friends over, rake leaves, go to the pool and hang out with grandma!

Any ideas of other fun activities for young un's during the holidays...

I love ideas... please!

PS - if anyone would like the pictures I think I could attach them to an email... just leave a comment and I'll see what I can do. They are very basic, nothing flash...

Repair job

Today Daddy and Mummy fixed "Hama" (the name Rosa gave her little bath dolly from Aunty Angela). Unfortunately her arm was accidentally amputated whilst we were on holidays...

I managed to salvage part of the saved join and using a button and fishing line, repair the broken join... but it took Daddy to fit it back to gether (a very tight squeeze).

Reminded me of this picture from my childhood...

it is from this book (I couldn't even take a photo of the cover of the book, it is in such bad repair). This book was a real favourite when I grew up... now even out of print (I think the Womens Lib. movement might have had a little roll... it was emphasising Men in various occupations, the only woman being a nurse... ). My mother even recently found out the rhyme about Dads from this book and laminated it for our kids. It is cute...

And now the repaired Hama doesn't want to leave Rosa's side...

Pleading for souls

We have some wonderful friends who serve faithfully in the Czech Republic. They have laboured there for quite some years now (12+yrs). We were priviledged to spend a couple of years working alongside them in 2002-2004. They are true servants of the Lord and have such serving, generous hearts... we are just so blessed to have spent some time with them...

Missionary life is tough... really tough... In recent days we recieved wonderful news that a neighbour of theirs came to the Lord. David and I know this young man well - he attended the English classes that David helped to teach. Before we left the Czech Republic (Owen needed heart surgery) we arranged to meet up with this man at a cafe. David challenged him to really seek Christ ... something our Czech missionary friends had also been challenging him to do for some time... What a shock/surprise/joy to hear that after all these years (and countless Bible studies with our missionary friends) the Lord has finally broken through the barriers in his heart. We have spoken to him on the phone. What a transformation!

It seems there has been a spiritual battle going on...

Another young man - professing Christ 5 years ago has recently made it clear recently that he is seriously considering abandoning his faith...

Sometimes we just throw up our hands and cry "Lord I just don't understand, ...but please save this young soul!" We have prayed, along with many others that these dear friends of ours would be encouraged, that Czech's would come to know Christ - that the Word of the Lord would do its work...
Lord, these beautiful servants have laboured faithfully, sacrificially...
Please encourage your own...
Please save.

Won't you pray with us that the Lord would transform this second young man ?
He has agreed to meet tomorrow with our missionary friend who is planning to plead for his soul...

The Lord hears the prayers of His people!

Natural Arch, naturally!

We have taken the opportunity to visit Natural Arch in Springbrook recently... in fact we have been there twice in the last few weeks, we enjoyed ourselves so much. The first time we went as a family and found a little creek bed beside the road to splash around in afterwards. The second visit we invited Uncle Peter, Aunty Jen and Matthias to join us. We tried out a new little creek which turned out perfect for the young un's.

The Natural Arch Bridge itself is spectacular... Dave tells me he used to swim in this water hole as a child... and some even dived through the hole in the top of the cave. It is now all off bounds to any (or at least those who observe the signs - did spot a couple of swimmers further down...)

We had lunch at Natural Arch and then went for a drive to find a little creek where we could cool off....

0r help others cool off;)


Daddy made a little "rock pool" where the little ones could paddle... perfect Daddy!! They loved it (even Rosa who is usually a bit fearful in water...)


Matthias wanted to grab the sun... here he is on his way up

First attempt failed - let's try it again! Never give up sonny!

These photos sum up the personality of my boys quite well.

Josh, our friendly, chatty boy - made a new friend...

Owen, when placed on a rock just broke into joyous song!

Playing "horsey" on a fallen branch...

And a shot of my spunky while totally unaware!

Searching for life at the bottom of the creek bed...

Daddy and Josh, up to no good.... might make a runner....!

Nativity

Christmas nativity in the cubby house. We started off reading the Christmas story.









Thanks Lauren for this idea - it was lots of fun.

We did have to convince little Rosa that her little dolly was ok and didn't need to be rescued from the rough prickly hay!

Nice to finish our day with celebrating the Lord's birth in this way

Christmas together

It seems we have unintentionally started a tradition. Over the past three years we have always managed to share one seat at the Christmas table with someone from another country. Initially it was a lovely girl from the Bahamas, in 2007, a good friend from Czech Republic. This year we were treated to having a girl from southern India. It has been so lovely to learn a little bit about these parts of the world, share together and get to know each of these ladies in turn.



My beautiful mother-in law... the one some of my friends envy because she is simply the best mother-in-law ever!! I honestly don't know how I would manage without her! Yes, she is the one who constantly offers to help by minding the children, comes and cleans my dishes, finds a job needing doing ... yeah all that and loads more! Please pray for my precious Mum as it must be jolly tough losing your beloved - and especially at occasions like Christmas with family all together...pray that the Lord would surround her with His loving kindness and tenderness...


I am sure I have more photos somewhere... or do I?? I think I was having too much fun - forgot to get more pickkies!

embellishing

Another thrifty idea...

I bought a plain dress in Big W - simple, striped red dress which was only about $10. I decided to add a little embelishment to dress it up a bit.

I added a big, black button, threaded with some coordinated ribbon I had (scrapbooking places have a lovely selection of ribbons).

I added some bows to each sleeve.

There you have it, a lovely, semi-christmassy dress...

Not quite as thrifty as my second-hand shop finds, but just another idea to dress up something simple.

Christmas thrift

This year we have already told the children that their Christmas present is the lovely Cubby House which we put up earlier in the year. Perhaps we will have some afternoon tea there on Christmas Day to celebrate the Lord's Birthday... If anyone has any ideas of making it special and involving the Cubby House please add a comment below. Would love to hear.

I decided to use the Christmas money from my mother-in-law (as it has been her suggestion before as well) to make the money stretch and have a peek at some second hand shops - particularly for clothing for the children.

I had in mind a little dolly for Rosa this year and was quite delighted to find one at Salvos. She looked very cuddly and just the right size for my girl. She has a couple of very tiny marks on the back of her head but overall very clean.

Once the kids went off to bed for the night I dug out some scraps of Lycra fabric and made her a little outfit. (Yes, I have a snap press so any of you who may want snaps put on anything - feel free let me know... they are very handy for many projects)

and blanket

I think she is going to like her! And all for about $2. And the ones I was looking at in the shop were in excess of $20 - gasp!

I also managed to find some really lovely girls clothes for Rosa to grow into, too...

Like this gorgeous smocked dress. I couldn't find a spot on it...

And another - which simply needs a new ribbon threaded around the waist

A summer top

And any girl has to love these dainty slippers! Lots of fun to clomp around in, calling the servants and sipping a cup of tea with the queen of England herself!

Admittedly I do not always find such lovely items in such good condition - especially for boys (they tend to wear things out faster) but I have been inspired to think thrifty, avoid the business of shops as much as possible and be more creative in the use of making money stretch.

... and to be honest, I had a lot more fun too!