After reading the Blackwood blogs I realized that I should say a bit about our days here. It has been a year, 365 days. It seems like fewer than that though. Really the year has gone by so fast, it is hard to realize. There has been a lot that has happened since stepping off the plane and all of it I can say B and I are thankful for. Though there have been some difficult times we have enjoyed the time here so far and look forward to the next 365 days.
We came here to serve the church and yet it seems that the church has served us more. We are thankful for all the people here, they mean a lot to us and we are thankful that we have many more days to come with them. We also look forward to how God will be using us.
Brandon is involved in leading a new kids club this year. He is in charge of leading the Psalms. Everyone else claimed that they couldn't carry a tune. Brandon has yet to be convinced :-)
Our fellowship group starts up again tomorrow. A good time of discussing the Bible, having food, and good fellowship. B is involved in the leading of this as well.
I am going back to my playgroup. I am enjoying getting to know the girls more and more.
Women's prayer starts up again this coming Monday, always a good time.
I will sign off now, someone just called on the phone for me.
Meg
31.1.07
26.1.07
Happy Australia Day!
This is the equivalent to the 4th of July. To celebrate we went to the zoo and saw some monkeys. Jolene enjoyed chasing the seagulls around more than anything else. We could of done that for free in the parking lot of the grocery store. Oh well, at least we can remind her some day of all the great things we did for her when she was young :-)
I will leave you with an Anzac biscuit recipe to help you celebrate as well. Anzacs are usually baked annually on April 25th to help commemorate the fallen soldiers at Gallipoli in 1915-1916 during WW1.
1 c. rolled oats
1 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. unrefined light brown sugar
1/2 c. flaked coconut
1/2 c. sweet butter (regular butter will work too)
2 T. golden syrup (use corn syrup if they don't have golden syrup in the States)
1/2 t. baking soda
1 T. hot water
Preheat oven to 175 C (350 F). Grease 2 baking sheets.
Mix the oats, flour, sugar, and coconut together in a bowl.
Melt the butter and golden syrup in a saucepan over low heat. Mix the baking soda
with the hot water and stir into the butter mixture. Pour the hot butter mixture into the
dry ingrediants.
Drop tablespoons of the dough onto the sheets 5 cm (2 in. ) apart and flatten slightly with
a fork. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden. Cool for 5 minutes.
Store in airtight container for up to 5 days.
Yum, yum!
I will leave you with an Anzac biscuit recipe to help you celebrate as well. Anzacs are usually baked annually on April 25th to help commemorate the fallen soldiers at Gallipoli in 1915-1916 during WW1.
1 c. rolled oats
1 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. unrefined light brown sugar
1/2 c. flaked coconut
1/2 c. sweet butter (regular butter will work too)
2 T. golden syrup (use corn syrup if they don't have golden syrup in the States)
1/2 t. baking soda
1 T. hot water
Preheat oven to 175 C (350 F). Grease 2 baking sheets.
Mix the oats, flour, sugar, and coconut together in a bowl.
Melt the butter and golden syrup in a saucepan over low heat. Mix the baking soda
with the hot water and stir into the butter mixture. Pour the hot butter mixture into the
dry ingrediants.
Drop tablespoons of the dough onto the sheets 5 cm (2 in. ) apart and flatten slightly with
a fork. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden. Cool for 5 minutes.
Store in airtight container for up to 5 days.
Yum, yum!
24.1.07
Rub a dub, dub, two girls in the tub
Some bath pictures and a closeup of Adele's brace. She only has to wear it for a month right now and we get to take it off for baths.
23.1.07
May your queen burn a thousand deaths and be eaten by spiders
I greatly dislike ants at this moment in time. Why? Here is why,
They are sending out raiding parties into our upstairs living room. For some reason they think they can find more food up here than they can outside. I'll show them! Oh and they tend to mistake my feet and legs for something they can actually drag away to their queen's dinner. Hello! Don't you guys know that you can only carry things that are 100 times greater than your body weight NOT 1,000,000,000 (or whatever it actually is) greater. Do you know how annoying it is to be reading,watching TV, or typing on the comp and keep getting little bites on your toes? Very annoying.
Another reason why. They have decided that their metropolis should be located right under the clothes line. This results in me hopping around the line so that I don't get multiple bites as I hang up the wash. Of course I could wear shoes but it is summer. So I guess it comes down to, should I look crazy because I am wearing boots in the summer or because I am hopping around the yard : -)
It has been awhile since last posting. The past few weeks have been rather busy, in some ways good and in some ways bad.
Good ways = friends from Sydney and friends from church
Bad ways = appointments galore, power outage, and broken washing machine
So on with explaining the week.
Monday: Our washing machine broke, it won't get up to high rpms to spin the water out of the clothes. The room also smells a little smoky afterwards as well. The machine still (as of today) has not been fixed due to the fact that we can't find a repair man that will honor the warranty (why does that not surprise me?).
Tuesday: The day started out cool so I had all the windows open. The power went out at 4pm, had no idea why because the phones were not working and neither was the radio. Brandon got home before 5pm and said they had lost power too. Riding his bike back he said all the traffic lights were out as well as the shops. Right after Brandon got back we were hit with a northerly. It is a wind coming from the north that feels like a hair dryer. The temp shot up to 40 C (104 F) within a hour or so. It was soo weird. I have never felt a wind so hot before. The big problem was we still had no power. I couldn't open the fridge for fear the food would be ruined. We couldn't go out to eat because no one else had power. Dinner consisted of fruit, bread and honey, and crackers. The power finally came back on at 8pm, the fans helped cool us off some but that night was pretty miserable.
Wednesday: Much cooler (like 80F). Took Adele to see the specialist. They were so unorganized at the hospital. There were five of us all waiting to see the same guy. The lady at the desk just looked at us and then started arguing with another lady about what she was supposed to do with us. I guess they had just switched systems and it wasn't really working out. Our appointment was at 2 and we saw him around 2:30. We then had to go visit the orthopedics to get Adele measured for the brace.
The fun part of the day was when our friends from Sydney showed up.
The Richardson's were taking a tour of Victoria and stopped by to stay with us for two nights. They have three girls, close to the ages of 9, 12, and 15. They went out on the Great Ocean Road for the day and hung out. We had a great time talking, playing games, going for ice cream, etc. I love the fact that we have a house big enough to have other families come stay with us. When we look for our next house to rent that will certainly be at the top of the list.
Thursday : had fun with the Richardson's. This involved dinner, park, ice cream, and games.
Friday: Went and picked up Adele's brace. She screamed until dinner time. I have never seen a little baby so angry! She was so mad about not being able to move her legs that she was actually choking herself. She finally calmed down right when our friends came for dinner, allowing us to have a somewhat calm dinner. Got our kids and their two boys in bed and asleep by 8:30 (Adele being the last to go down). Yea!!!!! Free time for the adults.
Saturday: Relaxed and tried to find someone to fix the washer
Sunday: Day of rest
Monday: Washing machine still broken, invade Josh and Sarah's house to do my five loads. Can't hold out any longer, no more clean socks!!!!
Tuesday: Adele's goes to maternal nurse for 2 month check up. Weighs 5 kilos (11lbs). Finish washing at J & S's (good thing, they get home tomorrow), start hanging out to dry and get bit by stupid ants. Retreat from ants and decide to write for awhile. Maybe they will be gone by dinner if not I'll sweetly ask Brandon if he can help :-)
There you go, you are all caught up and so am I. Frankly, I am tired of appointments. I am supposed to schedule one for me, they need to make sure I am ok after the delivery. I am going to rebel and not call. I'll go if I feel like I am dying but nothing before.
Need to go vacuum up some ants,
Meg
They are sending out raiding parties into our upstairs living room. For some reason they think they can find more food up here than they can outside. I'll show them! Oh and they tend to mistake my feet and legs for something they can actually drag away to their queen's dinner. Hello! Don't you guys know that you can only carry things that are 100 times greater than your body weight NOT 1,000,000,000 (or whatever it actually is) greater. Do you know how annoying it is to be reading,watching TV, or typing on the comp and keep getting little bites on your toes? Very annoying.
Another reason why. They have decided that their metropolis should be located right under the clothes line. This results in me hopping around the line so that I don't get multiple bites as I hang up the wash. Of course I could wear shoes but it is summer. So I guess it comes down to, should I look crazy because I am wearing boots in the summer or because I am hopping around the yard : -)
It has been awhile since last posting. The past few weeks have been rather busy, in some ways good and in some ways bad.
Good ways = friends from Sydney and friends from church
Bad ways = appointments galore, power outage, and broken washing machine
So on with explaining the week.
Monday: Our washing machine broke, it won't get up to high rpms to spin the water out of the clothes. The room also smells a little smoky afterwards as well. The machine still (as of today) has not been fixed due to the fact that we can't find a repair man that will honor the warranty (why does that not surprise me?).
Tuesday: The day started out cool so I had all the windows open. The power went out at 4pm, had no idea why because the phones were not working and neither was the radio. Brandon got home before 5pm and said they had lost power too. Riding his bike back he said all the traffic lights were out as well as the shops. Right after Brandon got back we were hit with a northerly. It is a wind coming from the north that feels like a hair dryer. The temp shot up to 40 C (104 F) within a hour or so. It was soo weird. I have never felt a wind so hot before. The big problem was we still had no power. I couldn't open the fridge for fear the food would be ruined. We couldn't go out to eat because no one else had power. Dinner consisted of fruit, bread and honey, and crackers. The power finally came back on at 8pm, the fans helped cool us off some but that night was pretty miserable.
Wednesday: Much cooler (like 80F). Took Adele to see the specialist. They were so unorganized at the hospital. There were five of us all waiting to see the same guy. The lady at the desk just looked at us and then started arguing with another lady about what she was supposed to do with us. I guess they had just switched systems and it wasn't really working out. Our appointment was at 2 and we saw him around 2:30. We then had to go visit the orthopedics to get Adele measured for the brace.
The fun part of the day was when our friends from Sydney showed up.
The Richardson's were taking a tour of Victoria and stopped by to stay with us for two nights. They have three girls, close to the ages of 9, 12, and 15. They went out on the Great Ocean Road for the day and hung out. We had a great time talking, playing games, going for ice cream, etc. I love the fact that we have a house big enough to have other families come stay with us. When we look for our next house to rent that will certainly be at the top of the list.
Thursday : had fun with the Richardson's. This involved dinner, park, ice cream, and games.
Friday: Went and picked up Adele's brace. She screamed until dinner time. I have never seen a little baby so angry! She was so mad about not being able to move her legs that she was actually choking herself. She finally calmed down right when our friends came for dinner, allowing us to have a somewhat calm dinner. Got our kids and their two boys in bed and asleep by 8:30 (Adele being the last to go down). Yea!!!!! Free time for the adults.
Saturday: Relaxed and tried to find someone to fix the washer
Sunday: Day of rest
Monday: Washing machine still broken, invade Josh and Sarah's house to do my five loads. Can't hold out any longer, no more clean socks!!!!
Tuesday: Adele's goes to maternal nurse for 2 month check up. Weighs 5 kilos (11lbs). Finish washing at J & S's (good thing, they get home tomorrow), start hanging out to dry and get bit by stupid ants. Retreat from ants and decide to write for awhile. Maybe they will be gone by dinner if not I'll sweetly ask Brandon if he can help :-)
There you go, you are all caught up and so am I. Frankly, I am tired of appointments. I am supposed to schedule one for me, they need to make sure I am ok after the delivery. I am going to rebel and not call. I'll go if I feel like I am dying but nothing before.
Need to go vacuum up some ants,
Meg
16.1.07
recycle-freecycle
I just joined a local yahoo group here in Geelong. There are freecycle groups all over the world, go here to see if they have one close to you.
What is freecycle? This is from their sight....
"The Freecycle Network™ is made up of many individual groups across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them's good people). Membership is free. To sign up, find your community by clicking on the region on the left. You may then go directly to your local group by clicking on "Go To" or you may immediately joining by clicking on "Join." It will generate an automatic e-mail which, when sent, will sign you up for the local group and send you a response with instructions on how it works. Can't find a group near you? You might want to consider starting one (click on "Start a Group" for instructions). Have fun!
The Freecycle Network was started in May 2003 to promote waste reduction in Tucson's downtown and help save desert landscape from being taken over by landfills. The Network provides individuals and non-profits an electronic forum to "recycle" unwanted items. One person's trash can truly be another's treasure!"
So basically you just post about items you want to get rid of and then let people come get them if they want them. You can also post wanted ads once you start giving other things away.
I joined to see what is out there, and to possibly post a few things. Anyone want a burnt couch? :-)
10.1.07
Update on Adele's hips
We went and saw the pediatrician yesterday. He didn't do much just looked at her hips. He said that they are underdeveloped and that it is a moderate case. He called a specialist and referred us to him. We are going to see him next Wednesday.
The pediatrician said he would be very surprised if Adele is not put into a harness/brace type deal. I am hoping that it won't be for 12 weeks but we will have to wait until next week to find that out.
Going to the beach tonight. Tomorrow it is supposed to be really hot. We are going over to McEwen's house (Josh's parent's house) during the day because they have AC.
For those of you who know her, Kate Kent (formally McEwen) had her baby. It was a little girl. They named her Charlotte Alexandra. We went and saw her on Sunday night. Charlotte has a lot of hair, I mean a lot. She is very cute and I'm sure her big sisters are going to have a lot of fun with her.
Have a good day,
Meg
The pediatrician said he would be very surprised if Adele is not put into a harness/brace type deal. I am hoping that it won't be for 12 weeks but we will have to wait until next week to find that out.
Going to the beach tonight. Tomorrow it is supposed to be really hot. We are going over to McEwen's house (Josh's parent's house) during the day because they have AC.
For those of you who know her, Kate Kent (formally McEwen) had her baby. It was a little girl. They named her Charlotte Alexandra. We went and saw her on Sunday night. Charlotte has a lot of hair, I mean a lot. She is very cute and I'm sure her big sisters are going to have a lot of fun with her.
Have a good day,
Meg
8.1.07
Adele's Hip
Before we were allowed to take Adele home from the hospital the doctor had to give her a check up to make sure everything was ok. During the check up the doctor detected a clicking in one of her hips. Because of that we had to schedule an ultrasound to have it looked at.
Last Thursday was the ultrasound. The guy who did the ultrasound said that her hips and sockets look underdeveloped for her age. I am not sure what that means and what will have to be done to fix it.
Tuesday we go see a pediatrician to talk about it. There is another little girl in our church who also had hip problems. They discovered that one of her legs was longer than the other at 4 months of age (her hip was not being held in the socket properly). Because they found it when she was a little older they had to put her in a restrictive brace for 12 weeks. She can't have the brace off at all and has to go in for frequent x-rays. I guess after the brace is off she will still have to have x-rays every six months until she is four. She seems too not mind it much at all which is good. I think it would a lot harder if she were more mobile.
It is possible that because Adele is so young when the problem was found that she won't need such a restrictive brace. I guess we will have to wait until Tuesday to find out what is going on with her. She doesn't seems to be in any pain or favoring one side over the other.
This website Hip Kids Australia talks about what can be done to fix the problem and also shows pictures of different braces worn by the kids.
It has been hot this past week and humid which is more rare. It is usually just hot and dry. Wednesday it is supposed to be 36 (97 F) so I think we will be going to the beach and hang out with some people from church. Adele doesn't sleep very well when it is this hot mainly because we don't have any air conditioning. Thankfully she is so tired by the evening that she will sleep almost all night, only getting up once usually to feed.
Jan. 26th is Australia Day, kind of like our 4th of July but not so patriotic.
The new Australian RP church website is up. There are a few things I need to change and still work on but it is functional. Here is the url,
http://www.rpca.org.au
Last Thursday was the ultrasound. The guy who did the ultrasound said that her hips and sockets look underdeveloped for her age. I am not sure what that means and what will have to be done to fix it.
Tuesday we go see a pediatrician to talk about it. There is another little girl in our church who also had hip problems. They discovered that one of her legs was longer than the other at 4 months of age (her hip was not being held in the socket properly). Because they found it when she was a little older they had to put her in a restrictive brace for 12 weeks. She can't have the brace off at all and has to go in for frequent x-rays. I guess after the brace is off she will still have to have x-rays every six months until she is four. She seems too not mind it much at all which is good. I think it would a lot harder if she were more mobile.
It is possible that because Adele is so young when the problem was found that she won't need such a restrictive brace. I guess we will have to wait until Tuesday to find out what is going on with her. She doesn't seems to be in any pain or favoring one side over the other.
This website Hip Kids Australia talks about what can be done to fix the problem and also shows pictures of different braces worn by the kids.
It has been hot this past week and humid which is more rare. It is usually just hot and dry. Wednesday it is supposed to be 36 (97 F) so I think we will be going to the beach and hang out with some people from church. Adele doesn't sleep very well when it is this hot mainly because we don't have any air conditioning. Thankfully she is so tired by the evening that she will sleep almost all night, only getting up once usually to feed.
Jan. 26th is Australia Day, kind of like our 4th of July but not so patriotic.
The new Australian RP church website is up. There are a few things I need to change and still work on but it is functional. Here is the url,
http://www.rpca.org.au
3.1.07
New Year's Eve and Melbourne Museum
For New Year's Eve we had some people from church over. We played Balderdash and ate food most of the night, a good time. Brandon threw together a ball drop at the last minute, see pic. It is supposed to recreate the Times Square ball drop, our ball of lights can be lowered as well just like the real one!
We were able to see the Geelong fireworks from our balcony and we think we even saw some of Melbourne's.
For New Year's Day we drove to Melbourne in the Honda (save on petrol) and went to the Melbourne Museum. It was only $6 for all of us to get in since we had a concession card! I was quite surprised that kids are free and adults are only $6, at home it would have cost close to $30 for us to get in.
We had lots of fun looking at all the exhibits. We saw dinosaurs, Aussie designers section, kids play center, the Ashes trophy ( yes we saw the real thing ), and a few more.
Jolene had a blast, and ran herself into the ground. She was asleep 5 minutes after we got into the car. She enjoyed looking at the whale, bugs, sand with shells, and everything else she could touch.
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