Some After shots - long overdue

For those of you who haven't had a chance to see it yet, here's an idea. But you must forgive the pre-Christmas mess on the dining table. There's a LOT of work to be done this time of year...and it's so nice to have the space to spread it out on :)

Some may have said that we got into the spirit of Christmas just a tad early... I really wanted to remember some traditions around thanksgiving this year. So we decided to celebrate it in our own little family way. After a long day of work and report-card writing, we set up the tree and decorations on Thanksgiving Thursday night. while we listened to good old Christmas music and waited for just a half of a small turkey to roast. It took 3 hours. unbelievable. We didn't get to eat until nearly 9:00! But it was a fun and festive night nonetheless.

A shot of our lounge-room pre-Christmas decorations. Now there's a nice little bunch of fake poinsettas, but it wasn't really worth photo-ing.

My roses blooms are gone now. They were gorgeous all through October and a few days of November. Now I think they're just sadly lacking water. Don't know if I should spoil them with buckets of it though...don't know if they should get used to such a luxury item.

Another big event in October was nephew Sebastian's first birthday. It was Glorious baby-watching fun.

Turned out he wasn't quite sure what to make of his cake. He'd never had cake before. These cakes are gorgeous. I'd never seen this done before moving here, but it's a really simple kids' cake. It's basically just 2 thin cakes with whipped cream in between and on top. Then they top off the cake with fruit and jello (which here is known as jelly - don't get them confused. The stuff you put on toast is called jam. And it's acceptable on toast and pikelets - little pancakes- but not so common on sandwiches with peanutbutter cause who eats peanutbutter anyway?)

Well, that's about it for that lot. I'm afraid I haven't got many words at the moment, since so many of them are going into my reports. Just 2 more weeks of school...and it's that crazy year-end + Christmas crunch time. But I have got a few more photos to share in the next blog.

:)

Before and During

So here is what our house has looked like in the past month. Let's start in the kitchen. Yes, that was the kitchen & dining area before the house was officially ours - with the most lovely brown carpet you ever did see! That just had to go!

So we began the renovating process. Lots and lots of scraping and puttying... Dan and Uncle Terry were up at that ceiling for many hours of fun!

And then there was the painting. I reckon Pam had the most artistic touch of all -- she brough along her own special paintbrush! If you ever come to visit, be sure to notice the fine detail work on the bathroom ceiling!

And here we are - homeowners in our backyard. That was just after the work had begun...we were already a bit tired.

And Pam and Geoff enjoy a break under the mammoth Jacaranda tree.

There are more photos, but unfortunately, I can only choose 5 at a time to post. Computer's being real stubborn about that. So the AFTER shots will be forthcoming. :)

Our New Home

(Our Backyard garden & Gate)

Who knew moving in to your own home would be such exhausting, time-consuming work? And why didn't you tell us??!! We are stuffed! We need a holiday!

Ok, enough of the whinging. We are really loving living in this place!! Slowly by slowly, it's beginning to feel a bit more like home, and a bit less like this overwhelming-project-we-must -complete-by-a-certain-date. All the must-be-done's seem a bit more conquerable now... now that we have a kitchen -- the Lord-knows-why-it-was-there-in-the-first-place carpet in the kitchen is gone, the new faux-wood floors look and feel perfect, the kitchen stuff is unpacked. :) And in the study it's the same story, and we finally have a computer with working internet. Ah yes, relaxing can happen once again. And blogging :) (As the photos show, it's still a work-in-progress, still a very lived-in sort of place. not the kind of photos I'd want going to any home and Garden magazines just yet, but I wanted you to get a feel for where we live.)

It's still hard to believe it's actually ours. And that we won't be moving again for... years? Weird. Not moving. Having sheds and multiple rooms for storage. Having a guest room for people to visit from far away. I'm starting to feel like a real grown-up!

My garden is gorgeous! In the midst of all these must-be-dones, I find botanical surprise gifts -- literally in our own back yard. We have joyful pink-orange lillies, bunches of blue hydrangias, and my childhood favourites -- orange-yellow gladiolas in the front yard. It is the most beautiful welcome. Soon, I must learn how to take care of them!
Our Jacaranda tree is amazing. It began to bloom the very moment we and October arrived. Now its purple blossoms fall in much the same way as the leaves of Minnesota Maples in this month - sporadically and constantly, covering our yard with blankets of colour. I love it! (But our yard does desperately need a good rake and a lawn-mower!)

We really will have a house-warming bbq party at some point, but I have no idea when. When I feel our home is ready I guess. When somethings are on the walls and we have some sort of dining room table and a bbq and the lawn gets mowed...that would be a start. :) We'll let you know.
I've got to get to school. This is starting to be a really good term. I'm really enjoying it. Dan seems to be enjoying his new job as well. More responsibility, more projects and challenges...but he has to wear a tie every day now. More about work stuff later...if I can think of more to say :)
I'd love to hear from friends and family anytime... we think of you often, even in our busy-ness.
Lots of love :)

(I'm having a bit of trouble posting more photos here, so I'll post them seperately...coming soon!)

Pray For Rain

When I was in high school, Pray For Rain was one of my favourite bands. I was an onofficial but highly passionate and somewhat spindly groupie. It's still got a very nostolgic place in my heart.
I never thought it was something I'd actually do. :)

This weekend, a lot of people around Brisbane rallied to pray for rain. (In case you haven't heard, we're in the midst of a pretty serious drought.) Sunday morning -- yesterday morning -- a bunch of people prayed at the same time, probably a culminating event for what a lot of us have been doing randomly for awhile now.
And today it rained. Most of the afternoon it rained, and it's 10:40 at night and it's still drizzling. The forcast is for rain all the rest of this week. Now we wait and pray and hope that a lot of it falls in the cachement areas, and the dam levels can begin to rise again. Either way, it's really good to have the rain.

Today Danny and I entered into a contract to buy a house. A house much better than we thought we could afford, and one that we feared we wouldn't actually get because another contract was in place before us. That contract fell through. We got the official contract on the house today. I felt just a little bit blessed-beyond-deserving, and a little bit like the "yee of little faith."

Sometimes I pray, and nothing seems to happen. (Maybe I feel a bit more at peace, but I don't see what I'd like to call "results") And after this happens a few times, I don't really expect anything to happen. (Except a greater sense of peace and the ability to handle my prayers not being answered. And I think I'm usually ok with that.) And then, when we pray and something does happen, I am so unexpecting it that I'm almost unbeleiving.

How can I possibly predict what prayers will be answered and how? Who makes the crazy rules I sometimes find in my head? -- that I couldn't hear him for what felt like such a long time, he surely won't answer now. Or that he's been blessing us in so many ways, something's bound to go terribly wrong soon.
hmmm... I know who breaks those rules.

I wish my faith were stronger and more patient, and didn't expect him to play silly games with us. Maybe that should be my next prayer. I think in the weeks to come, we're going to need a lot of that peace and faith stuff... to face all the overwhelming and exciting.

May you be blessed with all the rain you need and don't expect.