New Years resolutions?

What better New Years resolution could we make - Paul's words say it all!

Philippians 3:12-14
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Blessings on this first day of 2012 dear friends!

Dawn, Sunrise and Twilight

Earlier this year DH was the highest bidder at a fund raising fun auction. He won a weekend away at a wonderful place on Sydney's eastern coast called Collaroy. The booking was made and we looked forward for months to our 'weekend away' however little did we know that it would be cut short by my flying out to Auckland on the Sunday afternoon.

However it worked out well and we had a beautifully relaxing time.  Our 1st story room had a balcony which overlooked the ocean - an amazing spot to view the dawn, sunrise and twilight.  We were blessed!



Dawn



Sunrise



Twilight



THE WEEK THAT WAS

A busy week - daughter's birthday, chimney swept, naval oranges ready to pick, rainbow on the road to Canberra, ducks visited on a rainy day, August 1 - Wattle Day, camellia's blooming, first Daphne flower burst open, beautiful sunrise this morning  ... God's blessings!

LAST DAYS WITH THE TEXAS CONNECTION

The following days passed too quickly. With the children at their respective schools during the week, we had time to wander through shops, sit in the sun, more shops. The wildflowers of Texas are so beautiful - they grow along the sides of highways, out on sidewalk gardens, in ‘yet unbuilt on’ parts of new housing areas. Beautiful bluebonnets, evening primrose, pretty coloured daisy varieties, Indian paintbrush - all so brilliant and showing God’s handiwork in colour. The school where Grand-daughter A11 (soon to graduate for Middle School) attends, has a wildflower garden - DIL had provided them with seed of red bluebonnet flowers which had been growing in her garden, and they were also blooming amongst the other varieties. So, so pretty. A visit to the school during lunchtime allowed me to photograph some of them. A11’s classmates also had the opportunity to taste some ’down under’ Vegemite on crackers as well as a chocolate ’Freddo Frog’! One afternoon was spent watching Grandson A13 playing tennis against another school team. Considering he had only been playing for about a month, he did extremely well - but then he is a born sportsman and does well at most sports - just like his Dad and Grandpa!

Son took a day off work and took his Dad out to the ‘range’ - DIL and I presumed they meant the golf practice range. When they got back we were informed that it was the shooting range - they weren’t sure what my reaction would be if I’d known beforehand! In Australia it is illegal to carry guns unless you have a licence to do so - for instance police officers carry them on duty. I have never been able to get my head around the idea of people having guns in their homes (let alone carrying them). However Son has become quite proficient at shooting as a hobby and every so often goes with a group to areas specifically for the purpose of shooting wildlife. Son and a friend had a great morning ‘teaching’ Dad how to shoot targets! Of course got a photo for posterity! LOL

Sitting out on the deck some afternoons I was fascinated by the red cardinal birds who appeared to be nesting somewhere close by. The male, so vibrant in colour and his paler little mate would fly from tree to tree gathering nest-building material. I managed to get a photo of him but his back was turned - they are so quick and the trees so large it was difficult to just get the ‘perfect’ shot. Other cheeky birds were bolder and came closer to the house. Feeders for hummingbirds were hung during the week with great excitement when the first one came to drink. I managed to see one at quite a distance and was amazed at the minute size. Such amazing little birds!

Red Cardinal

Texas wildflowers Red Bonnets

Our son had purchased a shade sail to put up over his newly built deck - Dad came in handy with suggestions of what was needed to erect it and assisting to buy the necessary equipment then helping to get it up. It certainly made a big difference to the area and with a new outdoor setting gifted, outdoor meals and lounging during the summer months should be more comfortable this year.

The night before we left, we were treated to a great meal at The Salt Lick BBQ restaurant a little distance outside of Austin. The weather was warm and meeting with friends ensured a very memorable evening. We were sad to be leaving the family the next morning but all good holidays come to an end and in many ways it felt good to be going back home and sleeping in our own bed again.

The family at The Salt Lick

Resident peacock at The Salt Lick

Our flight back to Los Angeles was uneventful and we arrived there about 1pm - our flight to Sydney Australia wasn't due out until 10.30pm that night and as we didn't fancy sitting around the airport for all those hours, we took a bus to Westwood Village, near to UCLA and spent a couple of hours wandering around the area. Before we headed back to the airport we had coffee and cake at a little coffee shop. It was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

We were quite excited to know that the aircraft we were to fly in back to Sydney was a new A380 - what a huge machine! Fortunate also to have seats in a row which enabled DH to stretch his legs out in front of him - a treat indeed when travelling economy class!

Our son was at the airport to meet us when we arrived at 6.30am the next morning and once home and unpacked, sad to say it didn't take long to get back into the 'normal everyday' mode! Still we were grateful for good health and safe travels all the way around the world - I know our Heavenly Father had something to do with that!

FAMILY - here we come!

As soon as we reached the airport from the coach, we made for the airline desk and found we were able to check in and get our boarding passes for the morning’s flight. That saved us a good hour of extra ‘sleep in’ time and what was to have been a 3.30am wake up call! After checking in to the hotel we did a quick ‘re-pack’ of our bags - we tried to put equal weight in each to save any problems at weigh in the next morning, then in the early evening after a short walk from the hotel we found a typical English ‘pub’ and had a nice meal before settling back in our room for the night.

After boarding the shuttle bus from the hotel, we made it in very good time to the airport by about 4.45am. Our bags checked in, we had plenty of time to make for the departure gate at 6.30am. It was rather sad to be leaving England - we’d had a marvellous time there - but we were excited about meeting the family again. It had been some years since we had all met and we were so looking forward to catching up with our grandchildren and with the new puppy addition to their family.

Sidney

We had a long day of flying ahead of us. From London Heathrow, our next stop was Frankfurt, Germany. Our flight was very smooth and we landed in Frankfurt on time. Because it was still so early in the day, with few shops even open, we made our way to the departure gate to wait. And wait we did. Our boarding time came and went, and so did our departure time. Eventually we were loaded on to the plane an hour and a half late. We were soon told the reason - the smoke and ash from the volcano in Iceland had begun to create havoc with air traffic - planes were being diverted and consequently late in arriving at their destination. We were so fortunate we were able to leave when we did - we saw the dirty brown ash line as we flew south of England and on towards the USA. Our next stop was Los Angeles where we had to clear Customs and Immigration before we could board a domestic flight to Texas and because of our late departure, we were very much afraid we would miss our connecting flight. However, all went well and we were able to reach our departure terminal without further problems. We arrived in Texas on time but feeling very weary - it had been about 27 hours since we had left London - but even the heavy rain falling couldn’t dampen our feelings of excitement in meeting our family again.

Our DIL Rachel had made arrangements for me to go with her and some friends to a Womens Bible Conference being held in North Austin. We were to overnight at an hotel to save travelling once the Friday night session had finished and so the next morning I found myself packing my small cabin bag again with what I would need for the next couple of days. Lisa had already picked up Liz when she called for us in her vehicle and the four of us set off, excited about hearing speakers who were coming from California. It was a pleasant drive and although showery, the temperature was comfortable - which was rather enjoyable after the cooler UK days. Sheri Silk and Kim Walker-Smith were exciting speakers and kept the attention of the women during their sessions. Kim, a multi-talented young woman was the guest soloist on the Friday night and all who were there were thrilled at not only her voice but her Spirit-filled presence in praise and worship. Getting back to the hotel at the close of the session, it seemed rather strange to be sleeping in a room with three other women but the Lord took care of all the details and I think we all got our fair share of sleep without disturbance from any stray snores!

Rachel & me

Breakfast at the hotel then a ‘high maintenance’ call to a popular coffee shop to ensure we all were ‘wide awake’ and ready for the day. Another talented soloist, Bethany Martin accompanying herself on the piano, brought us into the Lord’s presence ready to worship. All too soon it was over - animated discussion while travelling back held our attention and in no time it seemed we were back to our family and catching up with what they had done while we’d been away. It was only just over 24 hours since we’d left but much ‘God Glorifying’ had been packed into those hours. I was so very grateful I had been asked to go - thanks Rachel, Lisa and Liz!

WORTH A LOOK

http://journeydeeperin2godsword.wordpress.com/about/


Blessings!

BLESSINGS IN DISGUISE?

As I stepped on to the wooden floorboards in the kitchen I was immediately conscious of grains of rice which had fallen on the floor. As I went to get the dustpan and broom to sweep them up I realised with a shock that we hadn't eaten rice in our house for a good 4 months (diet blamed here!). A closer look at the floor revealed - MAGGOTS! I nearly heaved - then quickly went for the can of insect spray. Spraying them like crazy didn't really help. There must have been a couple of dozen of the critters and each second they were creating a wider circle in all directions - mostly towards my feet - and all the spray was doing was creating a slick on the floor which wasn't stopping them.

In panic mode now I dove into the laundry to grab the dustpan and broom and started furiously sweeping them up, racking my brain the whole time wondering where they had come from and was there any more lurking where I couldn't see!

They just kept wriggling along and as I inspected the rest of the kitchen floor found a few where they had managed to crawl/wriggle along the edge of the wall. Even now a couple of hours later I am absolutely puzzled to know where they came from.

After the cleanup I inspected all cupboards and drawers within the vicinity and could find nothing resembling the afore-mentioned critters. Can 'things' like this hatch in such a short time? My husband had been pottering in the kitchen only minutes before this as he made preparations for breakfast then left for work.

On checking the internet it seems they can hatch almost within minutes of the eggs being laid. Had the grandsons here yesterday afternoon and they have a habit of leaving the scrren door open. Last night I had spotted a fly in the kitchen area which must have sneaked in and had sprayed it with insecticide but didn't find the 'evidence' of its death. This morning it was on the benchtop - dead. I'm now wondering whether in it's last moments it had laid eggs on the floor and this morning's little 'troop' was the result - eek - it still sends shivers up my spine even thinking about it!

As I sit here typing close to the back door there is a dreadful racket going on outside - from birds! I've mentioned before that we have a large number of native bird who come regularly to the yard here to get fed with bread. In the past months we have also had some 'imports' of the brown Indian Mynah birds who have taken up resident in our neighbours garage roof and bred now two lots of babies. They are extremely territorial and quite vicious in attacking the natives in what they have seemed to claim as 'their' backyard. A couple of them had come down looking for bits left by the natives and had been immediately 'shoo-ed' off by both them and a couple of magpies who got in on the act for good measure. Now that they've been banished back to the neighbours yard, it is quietly peaceful except for the occasional bird calls of the maggies or beautiful butcher bird.

A good start to the day? Perhaps blessings in disguise - depends on which way you look at it I guess!

Blessings to you dear friends!

FRIENDSHIP RENEWED

Aren't friendships great? People we met and worked with in Zambia 10 years ago live in England. They are in Australia at present on business and flew in to Sydney from Hong Kong on Saturday on their way to Melbourne. We met them at the airport and had a few hours with them catching up on each others news, families, mutual friends and showing them a little bit of Sydney. Had yummy fish and chips at our famous Manly beach and got them back to the airport in time to check in for their flight to Melbourne. How good it was to spend time with them. God is good!

Manly beach - water still only 18C

Refreshments

View while we ate our fish and chips

Manly beach ocean side southern most end

PICTURES TELL THE STORY

Grandson has turned 6!

No need for words - the pictures tell the story. So precious!

Six claps for six years

Blow hard

Making a wish!

THAT SCARY BIRD (NO! NOT THE ONE IN THE TREE)!

I've discovered that the 'friendly' Butcher Bird who lives in a tree in my front yard - is not at all friendly - at least at present it's not.

For the past 10 days or so when I've gone to the letter box, or to potter in the garden or bring the garbage bin up from the road, the Butcher Bird would appear quite quickly in a nearby branch and sit kinda peering down at me. I thought it was 'asking' for a tidbit of bread as I'd seen it sometimes in the back yard when the Rainbow Lorikeets have been flying in for theirs. It seemed quite shy then and would only fly down to retrieve some bread if I threw it quite close to where it was sitting, and then only after what appeared to be quite long 'inspection' of the morsel. I got a scare recently when coming back from the letterbox to hear a loud 'clack' beside me and realised the bird had flown very close to me and continued up into a tree. It un-nerved me for a second or two until I realised it was Mr or Mrs Butcher Bird. Oh well, it must want bread real bad to do that was my thought.

After having this busy bird 'swoop' at me three times now I've realised (slow learner here I think)! that the poor thing is protecting a nest. There are several of these birds in our area, one of them found dead on the ground recently with an 'attacked head' - the work we suspect of a flock of dreadful Indian Myna birds who terrorise the bird colony around our home. This seems to be their modus operandi when wanting to rid other birds of what they consider their territory. I've actually seen one of these scavengers attack a Rainbow Lorikeet in this manner. Dreadful to watch!

Anyway to get back to the Butcher Bird household. Since it dawned on me that the bird is actually trying to frighten me away from its nest, I'm really rather apprehensive about going outside the front door! I know it sounds foolish - I'm sure the bird wouldn't actually touch me - but I simply don't like the thought of being 'dive bombed'. It's not being aware that it's going to happen that freaks me. I'm sure if my neighbours have seen me in the past few days surrepticiously edging my way down the path they would certainly wonder what had come over me. Since the majority of them go out to work during the day, I don't think they've had to wonder.

These birds belong to the magpie family and from what I've read, they usually don't swoop from the front - I'm sure that's correct since this fellow certainly came each time from behind me. I'm thinking maybe I should buy one of those kids plastic yellow hard hats and glue a pair of eyes on the back. They say a plastic ice cream container works OK as well. Fortunately this kind of behaviour only happens between September and November - until the chicks have fled the nest.

Baby Butcher Bird taken 2007

Even though I've found it scary, I still have to marvel at the way God's little creatures take care of their young. Fancy something so small taking on something of human being size! Not a day goes by that God doesn't teach me more about the person He is! I am grateful and blessed!

Blessings friends!

MEANINGFUL VERSES from Sunday

Meaningful verses I have brought away with me from attending worship at my church this morning.

Psalm 77 verses 11 to 15a

Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. With your mighty arm you redeemed your people.

Philippians 1 verses 3 to 6

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Sydney Harbour lighthouse

WHALE WATCHING

Is it really a week since I updated this journal? Come to think of it - it was a rather busy week. You'll remember I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that it was DH's birthday. To celebrate we took a trip last Sunday afternoon to (hopefully) see some whales out of Sydney harbour. Because it was a Sunday afternoon, we thought it was probably going to be fairly tight getting into the city after our church service so instead of taking the train as we had originally planned, we drove to the Opera House parking station which is only about 10 minutes walk from where the boat was leaving from. We did get there earlier than we thought but it was rather nice being able to sit on a seat in the sun and watch the ferries and other small craft coming and going.

We boarded the vessel with quite a lot of other people and there was a kind of aura of anticipation amongst us all - would we see any whales or not ?? (The company operating the vessel offers another free trip if no whales are sighted on the day) There were about 100 people on board.

The weather was brilliant inside the harbour - sunny but quite cool with a bit of a breeze. It took about 10 minutes to get to the 'heads' and once there, the boat began rocking and rolling big time! Outside the entrance to the harbour the swell must have been at least 3 metres and everybody was hanging on tightly to avoid falling.

The boat was in touch by radio with 'spotters' - some on the cliffs above the ocean and others on boats already viewing these mammals. We were all so excited by the news that there was quite a large pod about 1 1/2 miles ahead. As we made for the spot, I went up on to the top deck (3 levels in all) with camera in hand, woollen beanie and thick jacket - oh was it cold and windy. I could feel the wind trying to jerk my beanie off my head, despite it being pulled down well over my ears. With camera in one hand and hanging on to the rail with the other we came upon our first sight of these magnificent creatures. There were about 11 in the group and they were swimming north at about 5 miles an hour. The boat kept up with them cruising slowly parallel to them. Because there were so many in the group, there always seemed to be two or three up on the surface. Apparently they dive deep and are down for around 7 minutes before coming to the surface for 4 or 5 'blows' from their blowhole - then off they dive down again.

We are so fortunate here on the east coast of Australia to have the annual breeding migration in our winter, from south to north and again during our summer when the whales return to the south with their babies. They pass our coastline so closely which gives us the opportunity of viewing them frequently. They are seen from the shore quite often but of course seeing them so closely from a boat gives the opportunity to just how large they are.

What an awesome and exhilarating experience to see these wonderful hump back whales so close in their own natural environment. The boats by law must stay at least 100 metres away from the whales but on one occasion when we had moved to another spot, two of these massive animals surfaced just about 25 metres away from the boat - on the side that I was on. Wow - they are so huge. They were simply about their own business and apparently had decided to change course. They just kept swimming away from us - but oh what a moment!

All in all, this was a wonderful afternoon, despite the cold wind and the 'bumpy' ride, we were just so wonderfully blessed to see God's creatures so close. Isn't He wonderful?

Have a blessed day!

GETTING BACK TO NORMAL

My first time back in church this morning since my surgery. It was good to meet up with friends again and be in the presence of the Lord in corporate worship.

Thank you Lord for your healing, blessings and mercies. I believe I'm on the road to recovery - and heaven!

Have a blessed Sunday!

DAYS ARE BRIGHTER

These are the cheekiest little birds ever. They usually come flying over to the house from the trees at the back of our house and perch themselves on the shade sail directly above the kitchen window each morning as soon as they hear human sounds - the kettle beginning to heat, water running from the sink or even just us moving back and forth being busy with breakfast or coffee.

How could you be anything but cheerful when they poke their brightly coloured heads over the side of the sail and chirp and chitter making sure we know they are wanting their scraps of bread?

I managed to catch one a few days ago with my camera beginning to fly off the sail - it was unfortunate that I wasn't able to capture the wings totally but I did get a glimpse of the brilliant colours - no wonder they are called Rainbow Lorikeets. God's wonderful handiwork!

Blessings!

LAST ROSE OF THE SEASON

Woke up this morning to bright sunshine and a cool temperature. There had been a shower of rain overnight which put a sprinkle of 'dewiness' on this beautiful rose - the last of our season.

It's called Yvonne Kenny - named after a famous Australian opera singer.



Just had to show you what a gorgeous bloom this one is and what a blessing that it is just outside my kitchen window where I can look at it each time I need to do something at the kitchen bench.

I'm off on my first 'experimental' walk and will let you know how it goes.

IT'S GETTING BETTER

Three good nights makes the world of difference! Instead of crawling out of bed in the morning because I couldn't bear being there any longer, I've gotten out feeling at last I'm beginning to feel as though I can join the human race again. There have been times during the past few weeks when sleep has not been possible, mainly because of leg and back pain. All I could do was talk to the Lord and tell Him how I felt - of course that didn't immediately take the pain away - but I was comforted by the fact of knowing that He knew all about my pain and I did have faith enough to believe that it would get better - and it is.

Yesterday DH spent a busy day doing chores, washing and pegging it on the clothesline, making a big saucepan full of beautiful vegetable soup, mowing the lawns and as well drove me to the library to both return and pick up more reading material and DVD's. While out we picked up a few groceries at the supermarket and then headed for home. Probably we were out for a couple of hours - and I was totally pooped when we arrived home. But it was so good to get away from the house for even that short time.

Tomorrow I plan to start walking a little way. I think doing a circuit of our street will be enough to begin - normally I expect it would only take me about 4 minutes to do it however I am thinking I'll be lucky to make it in about 6 or 7 tomorrow. The weather should hold out - we've had a few days of beautiful sunshine after a couple of frosty starts and we are expecting more rain later in the week - so I think tomorrow I must make the effort and try to do a little each day. I am feeling stronger - and I know I'm gaining some of the weight I lost - so that is enough incentive for me to give it a try.

Have a blessed Sunday!

BEAUTIFUL SUNRISE

Happened to be up a little earlier than usual just before our clocks were put forward recently and caught a lovely sunrise. I was amazed at how quickly the sky changed, in fact by the time I had grabbed my camera it was almost gone.

A FABULOUS 50TH REUNION

For months I've been anticipating the reunion and now it's over! What a wonderful day it was though. In April 1959 I began my nursing training in Auckland New Zealand. Last weekend 57 of those girls who were able to make it back to Auckland celebrated those 50 years which have intervened with photos, renewing friendships, demonstrations, speakers, and of course delicious food and a wonderful cake made by one of the girls.

Hard to believe that all those years ago we were innocent and naive young 17 year olds stepping out into the big brave world of nursing. What wonderful things have happened in the world of medicine and nursing since then and to think I have lived to see most of it is just amazing. And yet the one thing that has not changed from the time of Florence Nightingale till the present day, is the bedside care nurses and doctors give patients which for most is the motivation for entering this brave profession. Having been on the 'receiving end' a few times in those 50 years I've had a taste of what its like and even with todays 'graduates' who learn most of their nursing techniques after they begin their practical experience in hospital wards, care for the sick remains much the same.

Our next reunion is in 5 years time and already we are talking and looking forward to it. If it's as successful as the 50th, then we're in for a great time!

MY WISH FOR ME

“This is my wish for you: Comfort on difficult days, smiles when sadness intrudes, rainbows to follow the clouds, laughter to kiss your lips, sunsets to warm your heart, hugs when spirits sag, beauty for your eyes to see, friendships to brighten your being, faith so that you can believe, confidence for when you doubt, courage to know yourself, patience to accept the truth, Love to complete your life.” ~Unknown

Today I'm wishing this for myself. I'm really struggling with pain down my right leg which is caused by bulging discs in my spine. I've been waiting a couple of months for an appointment to see a specialist about it and it wasn't to have been until 17th April but I got a phone call this morning from his office to say there had been a cancellation for next Monday - would I like to take it? Would I ever??

So although I've been feeling miserable, I'm encouraged and grateful that I may get some ideas on how to manage the problem sooner than I expected. God is good and answers prayer!

A LITTLE PRAYER

Every single evening as I'm lying here in bed,

This tiny little prayer keeps running through my head.

God bless all my family, wherever they may be

Keep them warm and safe from harm, for they're so close to me.

And God, there is one more thing I wish that you could do

Hope You don't mind me asking, please bless my computer too.

I know that it's unusual to bless a motherboard

But listen just a second while I explain it to you Lord.

You see, that little metal box holds more than odds and ends;

Inside those small compartments, rest so many of my friends.

I know so much about them by the kindness that they give

And this little scrap of metal takes me in to where they live.

By faith is how I know them - much the same as You,

We share in what life brings us and from that our friendships grew.

Please take an extra minute from Your duties up above

To bless those in my address book that's filled with so much love.

Wherever else this prayer may reach, to each and every friend,

Bless each email in-box, and each person who hits 'send'.

When You update Your heavenly list, on Your own great CD-Rom,

Bless everyone who says this prayer, sent up to GOD.com

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