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