Work on shed

Poppy Cole has been up for a week. We’ve been working on improving the drainage around the shed before we can safely install everything for the honey extraction room we have planned. 

Every afternoon after school the kids have been keen to get on tools and start digging out more dirt.

4am phone call

Got the message this morning that my step mother has died. Always a shock.

New home

Last year, on the 23rd of June, we were driving to big camp when we received a call to let us know that our new property had settled. It was exciting and we couldn’t wait to start new adventures. I’ll detail some in subsequent posts. Below are some pictures though to help you appreciate what we enjoy about this place.

Zekiah snail

 

Zekiah' idea of a fun change to the sleep routine. "I am not a snail."

June the 5th

Henseforth let this day, June the 5th be remembered as a day of thanksgiving for God's blessings. 

New home

Shar and I have been actively praying and searching for a new house for our family for some time now. Our little unit is finally becoming too cramped for our maturing family. Each time we found a place we thought might do, we prayed for the Lord's guidance and within a couple of days the property would be under contract. We approached a bank about getting a loan approval in principle but because if the cyclone and a few other commitments and Easter also, we didn't send in the requires information until a few weeks later. When we did send, the emIl went to the banker's junk box and she didn't see it. After some days I rang up to confirm that she got the email, she discovered it and finally sent our approval. It arrived on Wednesday 19. I had booked a viewing of a place on Thursday. Meanwhile, Shar and I had written a list of all the things that our new home needed and presented it to God. When we saw the house on Thursday, we realised that the house fulfilled all the points on our list. The agent turned out to be Shar's mums's first cousin and remembered her. 

We couldn't afford the asking price. And the seller had little motivation to sell cheaply. We offered what we could. The seller had previously held firm in price but for us he came down a further 5K to accept our offer! God is good!

I'm sure that the Lord had his hand in the timing of the approval, the timing of looking at the place that satisfied our list and having a family member working as liaison. God also worked to secure the house for our price.  

Today the contract was signed and we paid the deposit. Tomorrow is Anzac Day and on Wednesday we approach the bank to get our loan sorted. 

Exciting times!

Shoe laces

Let Wednesday, 19th April henceforth be remembered as the day Zemiel first tied his own shoelaces! Well done Zemmy!

Carved in Stone

For the last while I've been experimenting with pumice stone carving. It's been lots of fun and all the kids get excited and try to make their own carvings. It's a great way of wasting an afternoon. Lately, I've been asking Shar to give me a challenge, so she will give me a random subject for me to carve. Today's challenges involved a duck and two linked rings.

We've just experienced cyclone Debbie. We lost power for nearly four days and Shar's cousin Lance came to stay with us as his home in Halliday Bay had to be evacuated. We had some fun playing games cooking with the gas camp stove and using the LED lights on battery. We lost everything in the fridge and freezers but that's fine. None of our trees were destroyed, so we consider ourselves quite blessed. 

Recently I bought a new Apple TV. Now we stream 3ABN, Hope channel, and other edifying programming to our tv. 

Some photos of the carvings:

The duck.

 

The linked rings.

 

Clam.

 

Rounded and edged hearts.

 

 

 

Azariah made a shoe as his carving. It broke a little so he patched it with pva glue.

 

Cedar Grove

This Christmas, we took the children camping. All through my young life, I recall my family camping at Cedar Grove near Gympie. My extended family still go there and so I thought it was time to introduce the next generation to the joys of this piece of paradise. 

We stayed for 5 days finishing on Boxing Day. Uncle Trev and Aunty Roni camped with us and Aunty Bonny and Uncle Lindon came on Sabbath with their family.

We had a great time swimming and bushwalking, tending the fire, eating camp food and playing games. 

It stormed for most of Christmas Day, but we didn't mind that so much either.

 

Cedar Grove swimming hole.

 

Lily with her new vest that gave a lot of confidence in the water.

 

All the cousins together on Christmas Day.

Can't wait til next time.

 

Rechargeable Zemi

During the first week of September holidays, we went to Brisbane as a family. We went to Big Camp in Brisbane and enjoyed a few days with Uncle Trev and Auntie Roni. Zemiel went into audiology on Thursday and came out with rechargeable batteries for his implants, complete with charging packs. The batteries come in two versions: 10hrs or 4hrs. Zemi is highly motivated to keep them charged and changed.

We also got some new beekeeping equipment whilst down in Brisbane. We came back with some new bee tools, wood for making frames, new wire and some extra foundation. Enough to keep us busy for the next few weeks.

I robbed hives during the second week of the holidays and we extracted honey on Tuesday night. We had 5 boxes of honey to extract and got almost 4 buckets of honey.