New Car

Our new car is finally here. We’ve waited for this one for a while. It was with some sadness (particularly on Zekiah’s part) that the grey car left us. However, it seems that our new Isuzu MU-X has wiggled its way into everyone’s affections. 

It has been fun exploring the car to see new features. 

Baby Quail

We came back from caving with Pathfinders this weekend to find our quail eggs have hatched. We now have 4 baby quail and a fifth has tapped a hole in his egg. One of the babies got trapped under the incubator plate so has somewhat splayed legs. I have made some hobbles for it. Hopefully will get it walking well tomorrow.

These are brown quail eggs. I found the nest when I was mowing and unfortunately uncovered it. Fortunately, none were broken and we began incubating. Hatched on the 17th day @ 37.5 degrees.

Azariah’s Baptism

Through the year Azariah has been attending Bible studies through his school. He and a friend, Benjamin, chose to be baptised on December 5th at Platypus Beach. It was well attended by the wider church and we had surprises from Uncle Trevor and Aunty Roni and family, as well as Levi Obst and his dad from Townsville. So proud of our family and so thankful for close friends. 

Fire on the Mountain

Our place was threatened by a fire last year. 

A dry lightning strike sparked a grass fire that swept through. The rural firefighters kept our place safe though. When the fir looked to get into the long grass the wind changes direction and consequently our bore was preserved. 

Meet Stormy-Sky

Our dogs are no more. They escaped one night and killed a lamb and about 8 of our neighbours chickens. They were a failed attempt to get a pet that could help with Zemiel’s anxiety.

In October I organised to buy a Ragdoll kitten to fulfil the same task. I drove to Townsville on the Friday before Sharlene’s birthday. The breeder gave her a name of ‘Stormy’. Azariah once read a book about a Siamese kitten called Sky. By happy coincidence our new kitten had the same markings, so we named her Stormy-Sky in keeping with the girls of our family having hyphenated names. 

Rainbow Valley

A good time to be reminded of God's promises...

Click on photo to see full picture.

COVID-19 and its Consequences

So, the world has been turned upside down by a virus that few took seriously until a few weeks ago.
Panic buying has emptied the stores of pasta, rice, flour, sugar and toilet paper.
Currently, most restaurants, pubs, clubs, and social gatherings have been either banned or restricted.

Churches have closed. Our North Mackay Church is now all online. We are using Zoom to connect with other members and trying to keep our elderly ones safe.

As I work at the shopping centre, I've been able to buy TP  for some of Sharlene's colleagues that have had difficulty in getting to the shops in time. Everything is bought out by 9am.

Queensland has enforced either early holidays or student free days. NDIS offices are reducing staffing to skeleton crew, meaning I'll be working remotely from home alternate weeks.

Solar Panels are GO!

The solar panels that Sharlene’s tax return bought were installed today and began reducing our power bill from 1:10pm, at which time our meter read 7227kw hours.

Our system is about 7kw on two strings with 8.2kw inverter, evenly divided north and west facing.

Junior Camp and its Aftermath

A week into January, Zem and Az went off to Junior camp. They caught a bus that was traveling through to Somerset. 

By Wednesday, Zem had somehow fractured his heel but initially everyone thought it was a sprain. (Not sure how, but the closest we can get is that he pencil dived into the shallow end of a pool.) He was eventually put in plaster after an X-ray identified a crack in the bone. “No weight-bearing!” Was the instruction. But try telling that to a 12 year old who doesn’t feel pain well.  

Well, on Tuesday, it was the first day at school. It was raining. Hard. I dropped the younger ones to their school, but Zem was going to his new high school. So we prayed for the rain to stop while Zem was settling in. In the 10 minutes it took to drive to his school, the rain slowed and stopped, so that Zem’s cast stayed dry. It stayed stopped until I got back in my car to leave, and then it poured down again.

On Thursday, Zem had a CT scan in his heel and it was identified that the break was more significant than previously thought. He now has a ‘moon boot’, so at least he can now have a bath, but still on crutches and still no weight bearing. 

Check up in 4 weeks.

Christmas 2019

This year we planned to drive southwards to catch up with Grandma Mac and that side of the family who were gathering at the caravan park where she was holidaying. Unfortunately, on the 23rd, our car broke which resulted in a cancelled trip and a quiet Christmas at home. 

This Christmas was enjoyable in that the children gave quite thoughtful gifts to each other - ones that showed an obvious impact of gratitude and expression of unrestrained joy and enthusiasm. 

Lily received a Sylanian Families car and kangaroo family. Sharlene also sewed some sleeping bags for them. 

Zekiah got several sets of lego, the greatest of which was a helicopter with moving blades and sliding door and windable drop line.

Azariah and Zemiel both received gel blasters and have been blasting away ever since. Zemiel is content with shooting at targets, and doesn’t much want to be targeted. The gel balls do sting when hit at close range, and Zem is vey risk adverse. Having said that, he will call for a truce and then fire on you when you back is turned. So will Azariah for that matter who will pretend to be out of ammunition and then shoot at close range.

Liana and Ki have water blasters and so join in the games - with Lilly looking the meanest.

Shar got a dress making manakin, but has spent the last few days making dresses for Lilly.