Home again safely, praise be to God!

Holiday pics coming soon.

Caravanning from Perth to Adelaide & back

We are presently somewhere between Kimba and Kyancutta on our way back home. Our last few days in Adelaide didn't quite go as planned since I had yet another (!) anaphylactic reaction that took me to hospital when I sat with the rest of the family as they ate dinner at the Adelaide Central Markets on Fri night; and everyone except Sam (cross fingers) has had gastro in the last three days. But we are on our way back home, and having just finished reading Corrie ten Boom's autobiographical book The Hiding Place, I am feeling much more like celebrating God's grace to me and mine than wanting to whine over the 2500km to go!

A week at the beach

With Granny, Gramps, Uncle, Auntie and cousin Jonathan.

Spotting crabs:
Clambering over rocks:
Sunset on the first day:
Swimming on the second afternoon:We swam every day but Granny wasn't always there to take photos. Each day the waves grew, which gave the kids an opportunity gradually to become familiar with the joy of being tossed by breakers onto the shore as each day made for bigger crashes.

A bike ride on the foreshore:
Water fight on the back lawn of the rental house:
Ganging up against Jeff:

Christmas vist with Grandpa

Grandpa (Jeff's Dad) arrived for a visit on Boxing Day, and stayed until New Year's Eve. Uncle Andrew, Auntie Kim and cousin Jonathan spent a few nights with us as well.[Sam took the photo above.]
We took Grandpa to the local shops to see the kids smile their biggest smiles ever while they each had a go on FlyMotion.
We showed him our expertise with the family Christmas gift of Nerf guns (last year it was water guns - there seems to be a theme here that might have something to do with Jeff, the ex-army officer, choosing the presents).
We went for a sunset picnic to King's Park and then had barefoot races on the soft grass at dusk.
We flew a kite in the park next to our house

and even had a kick of the footy.
A busy, beautiful Christmas visit.

11 books to read aloud to the kids in 2011

1. Pannikin and Pinta by Colin Thiele
Already read this one - it was short!

2. Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
Finished! 8/2/11

Anna was very excited when I told her we had bought the Mary Poppins Omnibus rather than just borrowing it from the library, so it is ours to keep and read over and over again!

3. Mary Poppins Comes Back by P.L. Travers
Finished! 1/3/11

4. Mary Poppins Opens the Door by P.L. Travers
Finished! 13/3/11

5. Mary Poppins in the Park by P.L. Travers
Finished! 19/4/11

6. Mary Poppins in Cherry Tree Lane by P.L. Travers
Finished! 15/4/11

7. Mary Poppins and the House Next Door by P.L. Travers

8. Atticus the Storyteller's 100 Greek Myths by Lucy Coats, illus by Anthony Lewis

9. The Aesop for Children illus by Milo Winter

10. The Complete Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault

11. The Search for Delicious by Natalie Babbitt

11 books to read (or finish reading) in 2011

1. Confessions by Augustine
I'm actually three-quarters of the way through this at the moment. But since I started reading it with my friend Shelley way back in June 2010, I want to commit to finishing it this year.
Finished! 31/1/11

2. King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard
Finished! 6/1/11

3. The Travels by Marco Polo
Finished! 26/4/11

4. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
Again, I have only a few chapters to read to complete this book, but I think I started reading it at the end of 2009, so I'd like to get back to it and through it finally.
Finished! 12/1/11

5. Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus by D.A. Carson
Finished! 28/5/11

6. Desiring God by John Piper

7. The American Patriot's Almanac by William J. Bennett and John T.E. Cribb
This was my Christmas gift from Amy who has discovered Jeff and my woeful lack of knowledge of the history of the United States.

8. The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
Finished! 23/1/11

9. The books of Deeanne Gist
I'm counting them all as one since they will each take me only a day or so to read.
A Bride Most Begrudging
The Measure of a Lady
Courting Trouble
Deep in the Heart of Trouble
A Bride in the Bargain
Beguiled (With J Mark Bertrand)
Maid to Match
Finished! 20/4/11

(and as a contrast to the former)

10. Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory, complete and unabridged
It took my brother Daryl several years to get through this and he car pools for an hour each way to his work site, so it is quite conceivable that I might not get through it this year. But I'm determined to get started on it, at least.

11. The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons
My friend Shelley has been telling me about this book for a year now, so I'm finally going to read it.
Finished! 1/4/11
Also Finished! The Bridge to Holy Cross and The Summer Garden 8/4/11

This is probably against the spirit of this 11 books in 2011 thing ... but I'm going to add
12. All the Harry Potter Books by JK Rowling
Finished! 9/3/11

11 goals for 2011

1. Love and worship God more, more of the time.

2. (er... this one is a secret between me and my husband)

3. Help Sam settle into Childcare two days a week... somehow!
26/05/11 Jeff and I talked to Sam a lot about this and he is doing really well with this now. He still says "I hate childcare" on the mornings before I take him, but we pray together as we walk to the room, and he almost always is happy and quickly settles when we arrive. There is no more crying or tantrums, just the occasional crossed arms and frown - which is a huge improvement. So what was the solution? We bribed Sam with a McDs icecream cone each afternoon after we collected him if we heard from his carers that he had settled well that day. Now we're down to just an icecream on Friday if he settled well into childcare on Tue and Fri and into BSF Bible Study on Wed morning.

4. Be diligent in supervising Abigail's Grade 1 homework as she learns to read and write.

5. Encourage Anna as she learns the self-discipline required for gentleness with others - and learn along with her.

6. Support Joshua to being more self-controlled emotionally - and improve in this myself.

7. Start and finish a digital scrapbook for our holiday to England and Singapore five years ago.

8. Make time and put in effort to complete the book I have begun writing and submit it for publication.

9. Learn the basics of Biblical Greek from Jeff, as he revises and refreshes his own skills.

10. Spend more time outdoors on my bike and in the pool and park so I can lose 10kg.

11. Do a good job mentoring and discipling the young Sunday School teachers who will be meeting with me weekly for Bible Study and Sunday School planning this year.