Saddness and great excitement?

Saddness.....

Well this week has started off  with saddness.

Good friends and family are moving to another small town to do Ministry work,

off to where our Saviour leads.

We are happy for them to be doing what the Lord would want them to do,

but we are sad to have them leave our little fellowship here.

Sam - in my Sunday School Class

JB is really going to miss the fun times with his little friend Amy.

They had a fantastic time last night playing all those games that nearly 3 and 4 year olds play together

- bikes, cubby houses, dolls, trains and games.



Amy and JB - Little Monkeys!

Damo and I are really going to miss the fellowship and encouragement with Andrew and Kylie.

Time goes so quickly

and you wished you had done so many more things together!

When we got home,

we decided to try out our 'new' purchase for JB:

Toilet Steps!!!

The Great Excitement??

JB on his toilet steps.

JB very first 'wee' on the big toilet!

YAY for JB!!





BLUE AND WHITE DUCKLINGS FOR JB

We had 2 ducklings back in September....

We accidentally forgot to put them away one night and they just   *disappeared* (fox we think)

So when we went away for our summer holidays to Kiama,

on the way we saw a sign in one of the many small towns that you pass through advertising ducklings, chickens and the like,

I mentally tucked away that it might be nice to replace them.

JB certainly had a lot of fun with the last pair we had.

So, as we were driving past I suggested that maybe we should go and have a look to hubby....

He is not at all keen on the idea of chicken's, but apparently ducks are OK?!

Anyway, we pulled in to this yard - 18 foot caravan and all -

I must say it was the most interesting and scary place that I have been to for quite some time!

There were yards and cages with various animals everywhere!

~Including those BIG NASTY looking dogs~

I was hoping that they were all behind the fences.

I looked at Damo

He said - if you want them you are going to have to go and ask for them.

ish....

oh well I thought, here goes.

So I got out and then 'yelled' -  there was NO way I was going to go into the yard and knock on the door!

Eventually, the owners came out and took us into the small shed with hundreds of various chickens and ducklings.

The 'man' caught the two that I thought were pretty cute with a small fish net.

Into a cardboard box they went and off we went home!

They were pretty little - so we left them inside for a few days in a cardboard box.

Everyday JB sat on the lounge and had cuddles with them.

He named them 'blue' and 'white'.

Babies of any description grow up so fast don't they?

It seems like just yesterday we brought JB home from the hospital - a tiny little bundle of cuddles!

Now he is demanding his Independence in so many ways! :)

Amazing!

These tiny little ducks are now huge, flying their way around our small block!

JB still plays with them everyday ~

Now he chases them around the back yard, crash tackling them

and sometimes carrying them around upside down, no less!

Isn't she graceful?

I've learnt something having ducks!

Did you know that the 'girl' ducks talk the most and the loudest? :D

They also have a much shorter tail.

'Boy' ducks have a squeaky quack and they hardy ever 'talk'

They also have the longest tail and a handsome red 'mask' around their beaks.

Happy Quacking!

I'm linking with FARM GIRL FRIDAY BLOG HOP #60! for this post.

Corinne

How do I love you after 9 years?

It has been 9 years today
that we have been happily married.
26/4/2003

How fast the years have flown by as we travelled together
through the joys and trials
that this world brings to life.





I couldn't resist the opportunity to show the many ways that I love my husband.





The dictionary gives these meanings for:~

loved, loving.

1.

a profoundly tender, passionate affection.

2.

a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a friend.

3.

sexual passion or desire.

4.

a person toward whom love is felt; beloved person; sweetheart.

5.

to embrace and kiss

6.

affectionate concern for the well-being

7.

strong predilection, enthusiasm, or liking for

8.

the object or thing so liked: Damien was her great love.

9.

the benevolent affection of God for His creatures, or the reverent affection due from them to God.

= Our shared love of God

10.

to have a strong liking for; take great pleasure in loving.

11.

to need or require; benefit greatly from.



In these ways and many more I love and continue to grow in love with my husband, Damien.






I thank God daily for bringing into my life,
the God fearing,
loving man
that my husband is.

I pray that God has placed in your life someone to care for deeply.


God's Blessing On You Today and Always,
Corinne 

"Dunn's Swamp"

"Dunn's Swamp"

 ~ Doesn't that sound inviting?

I mean if your good friends rang you up and

invited you on a few days holiday to "Dunn's Swamp"

wouldn't you be excited?

Even more so when they tell you that there is

NO water?

NO shower?

NO electricity?

I can tell you it took a while of mulling

 over to convince

this little red hen that

anywhere

with out a shower was a good idea!

I can also tell you that some of my good friends back home

tried to convince me that it would be a

 romantic?

time away with my hubby!?

I'm pretty sure that after a few days with out a shower

that romantic was not the right term to use!

Perhaps rustic or rough or rugged or REVOLTING.......

Anyway,

we packed up
- so many blankets, lots of good food, good coffee...

Thank heavens for a caravan!!! and not a tent! :)

We travelled all Saturday

and were getting fairly close to our destination

"Dunn's Swamp",

but it was getting pretty dark by this stage

and we knew that the road on the way

into the camp ground was very rugged

and we didn't want to risk it in the dark.

We had a quick look around a tiny place called Wattle Flat....

There was nothing much there,

so we decided to see what the next place was like.

Welcome to Sofala!

What a strange and quirky little old gold rush town.

We pushed our way down the very narrow street in our caravan

There were bikers EVERYWHERE

lined up either side of the street outside the pub

One man stood right next to the car mirrors

as we drove through and tried to stare me out

I was itching to take a photo but I just could not move

 - he didn't move either and we missed him by "that much".

We thought we would drive just a little ways out of town

and see if we could find  some where to camp (we had snuck in a generator).

As we went over the bridge

we saw that there were a few people camped down beside the river.

So we thought we would check it out ~

What a strange bunch of very random people!

In fact they looked very unfriendly and a tad scary.

What to do?

We went back to Wattle Flat!

"Wattle Flat"
Easter Sunday Morning

We had a great night there -

we were parked right next to the school.

While Damo set up a few things,

JB and I played in the sand and on the play equipment.

After an early tea, a few books

and watching a little bit of

"Shaun the Sheep" on our portable DVD player,

JB went straight to sleep.

Damo and I relaxed

and read a book

to the quiet hum of a generator! :)

Have you ever seen a "drop/pit toilet"?

Ever smelt a drop toilet?

The only scary thing about Wattle Flat was the scary toilet!

Nearly full,

cleaned - NEVER,

big hairy huntsman spiders,

no toilet paper ?

(glad a I packed that;)

So off we went again, Sunday Morning.

Back down the "hill" to Sofala.

We wondered if it would be any better in broad day light!

We decided to wander around and have a look,

who can't resist the opportunity to have a pick through someones garage sale?

Damo is a "picker" from way back!

He loves a good bargain and the opportunity to haggle :)

We picked up a "solar shower", the camp stretcher bunks, an oven for the church, a bag full of bolts, and a laundry tub!

JB had a bit fun on the slides,

while we looked at all the old timber

gold miners cottages and buildings.

On the road again....

The way into "Dunn's Swamp"
It was VERY rough!

JB had by this stage was quite tired -
but guess who had forgotten to put his ted in the car?


It's a good thing that Daddy's jumper is a great alternative to cuddle!

When we arrived it looked like
there was going to be no where to camp!

There were people
in tents,
and vans,
and campers,
and trailers,
and caravans.....

Damo walked around until we found a nice spot. It was lucky that we hadn't tried to come in the night before, as we were told that there were no spaces available.

Would you believe that there were a family originally from PNG camped right behind us that knew Joe and Helen??
Amazing!

Not long after we arrived, we debated about putting up the annexe.
But not for long after a few storms rolled through!

My boys playing in the dirt!

The next day was beautiful!
Now we were waiting to see what time the H's were turning up!
It wasn't too long - someone must have been up early making lots of noise ;)

J and JB

We helped put up their tent and setting up the "camp kitchen"
We had a lot of fun cooking various meals on the fire.

Damo, Uncle Mick, Aunty Merrry

Meredith & Lizzy

We finally got a nice sunny day!
The girls and Uncle Mick decided to go for a paddle.
Damo, me, JB, J, Aunty Merry, and Katie
walked around to the big rock.

Canoeing on "Dunn's Swamp" ~ Claire Lizzy Uncle Mick

JB and "J" checking out the big rock jump!

The BIG rock jump!

Here is a photo story of the "big rock jump"

Watching the action!

The kids had a great time playing around in the sandy dirt right near the caravan.

"best mates"

book club

fellowship

Rock climbing

Family

rock climbing!

Timed Photos! =D

As we were getting more and more feral
- the landscape seemed to get more beautiful.

~ Our God is an amazing creator!

I think the only one who wasn't feral was JB
 - he managed to have a nice warm creek water bath every night!

It almost became a competition to see who could go the longest without a wash!
I did try our solar shower - its no where near as good as the real thing - but it did make you feel a little less feral!

The last feral day!

All too soon it was over and it was time for sad farewells.

JB & Lizzy

After saying goodbye to you best mate.

So would you like to try out "Dunn's Swamp" ?
I'd recommend it!

Have a wonderful day,
Corinne

Straw Bales

Our garden takes a heck of a lot of mulch....

Last year I put on 300 small squares

~ yep 300!

So as you might imagine this could get quite expensive,

~if ~

you had to buy this many.

Thankfully, sometimes (like last year)

we have our own lucerne hay.

But not this year unfortunately.

So our good friend Pete offered us to help him do some for his garden

 ~ and then we could grab some too.

One Saturday afternoon in February 

"we" went out to make some hay.

( OK, I just watched and took photo's

 ~ that's kind-of work isn't it? ;)

Don't they look pretty sitting all in rows - all golden?

You just can't explain the smell of fresh hay.

Damo is driving the tractor and baler

"The baler"

looking out the back window of the tractor

Damo watching the baler carefully because it caused all sorts of trouble - breaking bales, snapping strings, knots in the wrong places....

Well, by the time we had done a lap,

 the weather was coming in fast

(some of you may have read the post

about the flooding in early March 

~ well this was the beginning of that)
You can read about that

HERE

I was pretty thankful to be sitting inside our car

~ poor Damo!

Did you know that straw sticks really well when its wet?

Damo strapping down our loaded hay....in the pouring rain!

Rain on the window pane.

The weather closing in - the last moment of sun for quite a few days.

I just thought I'd share just one last photo

~ our family c:

Damo, me and JB

I'm linking with FarmGirl Friday for this post!

You'll find all the other interesting posts HERE: farmgirl-friday-51

Have a lovely day,

Corinne