Over the course of the past few weeks, we have been busy settling in and setting up our new home on the North Coast of NSW.
As you may gather from previous posts, we feel that God has led our family to Grafton - we are not exactly sure why, but we all felt an undeniable pull towards this place. Since our arrival, we have had many emotional swings between, 'Yay - we're here!', to 'What HAVE we done?' Well, at least I have - some of us just seem to be on the 'Yay - we're here!' thing on a constant basis!
As I sat on the river praying a few days ago, I began asking God, 'Why?'. 'Why take us so far away from our lifelong home? Couldn't we have found a place closer to family and to those we knew well? Why Grafton? Why here, and why now?'
And God asked me to kneel in prayer, and to listen to Him. Despite the very real possibility that my neighbours may have been looking on (yup, still a bit hesitant in some areas!), I did kneel, and after a few moments, the answer came back, 'To Serve'.
Of course, He was a little vague in the the 'who, what, when, why and how' area - He's often not one for giving away all the details - but the answer was loud and clear. We are here to serve our God and our neighbour.
After I shared my experience with my dear hubby, he simply smiled and agreed. 'Yep, that's it'. He had been given the same message! How cool is that?
As to the details of it all, only time will tell. We live as we all must - day by day, moment by moment. But now, we have a base plan, a motto, or however you'd like to look at it. We have been called to Grafton to serve, and we pray will serve Him in the very best way possible.
Have a wonderful day!
Linda.
All The Rivers Run
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Random Moment of the Week
After our son arrived on this afternoon’s plane (Yay!), we
were sitting in our lounge room, just chatting away, when I suddenly said,
‘what’s that noise’?
Daniel instantly stood up, looked out the door, and replied,
‘There seems to be some random people in our yard, patting the dog’. So we wandered out, and sure enough, a young
couple was standing in the back corner of our garden, lovingly stroking the
dog, with huge smiles on their faces.
We of course said ‘Hi’, and the young lad explained that
they were on their way back to the Gold Coast from Sydney, when they decided to
stop and take some photos of the river.
They then spied our dog, and being a kelpie lover, he couldn’t help but
say hello to our beloved pet. We of
course replied that it was fine, and they asked a few questions about her
temperament, how old she was and whether or not she could do any tricks. Daniel replied that she does know how to
fetch, but quite obviously, she’s not a very good guard dog! After a few seconds of silence, the young
lady replied with, ‘Well, yeh – I mean - we could’ve been anyone!’. At this point, Daniel looked sideways at me
and raises his eyebrows, as he is thinking to himself, ‘Well yes, you are!’
But all was well – we had a lovely chat, they thanked us for
‘allowing’ them to pat the dog (?) and then they continued on their merry way
up the highway towards home. Daniel and I were most amused, but we very much enjoyed having people drop in - even if it was only for a short time, and it was people we'll most likely never see again.
This whole living on the highway business is reminding me of
my in-laws – back in SA, they once lived on the main road leading into town,
and would often have miscellaneous strangers call in for water, food, Christmas dinner
or even somewhere to sleep – looks like we are keeping the tradition
alive! :)
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
A Week of Funny Comments....
It's seems we've had a week of very funny comments in our home! Here's just a sampling of the 'giggles' -
1. My dear husband was installing some new lights, so had the fuse out for safety. He wanders out to the power box to put the fuse back in, and mutters, 'Right, let's see if that works, or if the house will explode'. I casually decide that now would be an excellent time for a walk, and instantly head outside. Only after the lights come back on and I see that all is fine do I realise that while I may have been safely outside, I left all the children inside! What DOES that mean? That I totally trust in my husband's fixing abilities, or that maybe I really AM a terrible mother after all???
2. I check on the progress of my teenager daughters' bedroom. My 15 year old proudly shows me her cupboard with all her sewing materials - all neatly laid out and organised. I smile and praise her for the excellent job she's done - and how lovely it is to see such a beautifully organised cupboard. I leave with a smile on my face, only to hear behind me my 16 year old whisper, 'Whew - she's gone! Glad she didn't check MY cupboard!'.
3. So there I am, standing out the back of our house, looking over the river. I comment to my husband (as I have often done in the past three weeks), 'What HAVE we done? Moving so far away from our home!' This time, though, I add: 'And to think that I used to worry that one of our children would drown in that little creek when we visited Jamestown (our local town back home) - and NOW look at where we are!'. At this, my 15 year old pipes up and says, 'It's fine, Mum. Back then, we were toddlers, and would have drowned as helpless babies. Now, we're older, and we can drown in spectacular style!'. Yeh, thanks, Margaret - it really didn't help!
But the good news is, even with all the stress of moving - we're still having FUN!
Linda.
1. My dear husband was installing some new lights, so had the fuse out for safety. He wanders out to the power box to put the fuse back in, and mutters, 'Right, let's see if that works, or if the house will explode'. I casually decide that now would be an excellent time for a walk, and instantly head outside. Only after the lights come back on and I see that all is fine do I realise that while I may have been safely outside, I left all the children inside! What DOES that mean? That I totally trust in my husband's fixing abilities, or that maybe I really AM a terrible mother after all???
2. I check on the progress of my teenager daughters' bedroom. My 15 year old proudly shows me her cupboard with all her sewing materials - all neatly laid out and organised. I smile and praise her for the excellent job she's done - and how lovely it is to see such a beautifully organised cupboard. I leave with a smile on my face, only to hear behind me my 16 year old whisper, 'Whew - she's gone! Glad she didn't check MY cupboard!'.
3. So there I am, standing out the back of our house, looking over the river. I comment to my husband (as I have often done in the past three weeks), 'What HAVE we done? Moving so far away from our home!' This time, though, I add: 'And to think that I used to worry that one of our children would drown in that little creek when we visited Jamestown (our local town back home) - and NOW look at where we are!'. At this, my 15 year old pipes up and says, 'It's fine, Mum. Back then, we were toddlers, and would have drowned as helpless babies. Now, we're older, and we can drown in spectacular style!'. Yeh, thanks, Margaret - it really didn't help!
But the good news is, even with all the stress of moving - we're still having FUN!
Linda.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
An Anniversary!
Today, Bill and I celebrated our 23rd wedding
anniversary! As it was our very first
celebration in our new home, we decided to head out for some one-on-one time,
and celebrate in style! But where to
go? Having lived in such an isolated location
for so long, we found ourselves with so many choices! The movies? The
theatre? Out to dinner? In the end, we decided on the theatre, which
was very appropriate, given that we first got to know each other through our
local drama group back in SA.
The drama group here, the Criterion Theatre, had put
together a fabulous version of ‘A Christmas Carol’, and we were treated with a
wonderful night full of laughter and fun!
I haven’t laughed so much in months, and it was absolutely fantastic to
sit back and just enjoy ourselves.
Afterwards, we of course made ourselves know to several of the
performers, and yep, we’re booked in and ready for the auditions in
February! Next year, the group will be
performing a musical, comedy version of Robin Hood, entitled ‘Rockin’
Robin’ – sounds just like our thing, don’t you think? So we’ll be joining the group, and it will be wonderful to once
again be in touch with some ‘show people’.
Afterwards, we headed home to spend some time with the children,
and not long after we arrived, the entire town lost power. Never ones to simply sit around in the dark,
we made the most of it by heading outside and sitting on the highway to watch
the speed camera just down from our house show up in the dark all the speeds of
the passing vehicles. It turned into
quite a great party game, with the ‘winner’ being the one who could guess the
correct speeds of the oncoming traffic.
But finally, it was time to get some sleep, and fortunately,
the power was not out for long, and we had lights and fans before we climbed
into bed.
It was a great way to celebrate our anniversary, and a
wonderful evening. Did I ever mention
that I have the most wonderful husband and family? I am very blessed!
Linda.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Friday's Encouraging Expressions
You never know what battle is raging in someone's heart. Today, Smile!
Be God's light to them; it can go so, so far towards offering healing and joy to those you meet.
Have a wonderful Friday!
Linda.
Be God's light to them; it can go so, so far towards offering healing and joy to those you meet.
Have a wonderful Friday!
Linda.
The Return of the Business Giveaway!
To celebrate the re-opening of Adnil Press, and to thank you all for your patience while we made our big move to NSW, we are hosting a giveaway!
There are two prize packages to be won - one for the littlies in your life, and one for the older children. We will select two winners - simply indicate whether you would like to be included in the draw for the 1st package, the 2nd package, or both! We will use a random online generator to select the winner, so all entries have an even chance to win!
Each package is valued at around $80 RRP!
Here are the prizes:
Package No. 1:
Includes:
Package No. 2:
Includes:
Here's how it works:
1. Be a follower of this Blog.
2. On your own blog or message board, put up a post linking back to this post.
3. Leave a comment below, and include which draw you'd like to enter - remember, you can enter into either draw, or both!
The random draw will take place on December 17th - so you should receive your goodies by Christmas! Simply check back here on that date, and if you are the winner, email us with your address - we'll then send them out to you asap.
Good Luck!
Linda.
There are two prize packages to be won - one for the littlies in your life, and one for the older children. We will select two winners - simply indicate whether you would like to be included in the draw for the 1st package, the 2nd package, or both! We will use a random online generator to select the winner, so all entries have an even chance to win!
Each package is valued at around $80 RRP!
Here are the prizes:
Package No. 1:
Includes:
- 'The Ordinary Parents' Guide to Teaching Reading',
- 'Great Science Adventures - The World of Plants',
- 'Joseph the Canada Goose', and
- 'Anzac Day Parade'.
Package No. 2:
Includes:
- 'Exploring Planet Earth',
- 'Writing Strands - Creating Fiction',
- 'The Story of the Great Republic' (Guerber's Histories),
- 'Balance Benders', and
- 'Socrates Meets Jesus'.
Here's how it works:
1. Be a follower of this Blog.
2. On your own blog or message board, put up a post linking back to this post.
3. Leave a comment below, and include which draw you'd like to enter - remember, you can enter into either draw, or both!
The random draw will take place on December 17th - so you should receive your goodies by Christmas! Simply check back here on that date, and if you are the winner, email us with your address - we'll then send them out to you asap.
Good Luck!
Linda.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
A Successful Week!
So much has happened since I last posted a week ago! Normally, any one of the following events would entail a blog post on their own, but with limited time, let's squeeze in a heap of stuff into one, concise blog post:
1. Our girl has her P-Plates! Last week, our Jessica sat for her licence, and passed with flying colours! Congratulations, Jessica - it's a wonderful relief to know you'll be able to head out to your various activities in your own car.
2. The following day, Helena headed off for her audition at TAFE. As she and the lecturer emerged from the audition room, they headed straight for the registration desk. The receptionist asked if that would be for 'Certificate II, III or IV'? The lecturer replied, 'Oh, Cert IV - with bells on!' He then marched up to me and introduced himself - I definitely got the impression he was very impressed with our girl, and delighted to have her in his class next year. Well done, Helena!
3. Next, it was Daniel's turn for his audition. This was conducted via phone as he is still in SA, but once again - no problem. The lecturer was very impressed with Daniel's answers, and he was accepted into the course straight away. While Helena will be studying 'Cert IV in Music', Daniel has opted for the 'Sound Production' course, which I must admit, sounds like a very interesting one. Well done, Daniel!
4. On Sunday, it was time to put our skills into action and perform at the Conservatorium's end of year concert. Keep in mind that we'd only been to two practices, but nevertheless, concert, here we come! And it was a great day - with Helena performing in five bands, and myself in two. I am constantly amazed how well Helena can turn her hand to any type of music, and learn her pieces so fast! But she does, and she performed each piece beautifully.
That's Helena and I on each end - don't you love the way we both were positioned at the front of the stage? I was a little concerned that it may be so they could give us a 'shove' off the stage if we messed up, but fortunately, all was fine!
5. And finally, today - We've just received the news that our son Daniel has also passed his P-Plate driver's test! So now we have two with their licence - woohoo! Congratulations, Daniel! This is the reason our boy stayed behind in SA, so now with that test out the way, he can make preparations to join us in NSW very soon.
Not a bad week, eh?
Linda.
1. Our girl has her P-Plates! Last week, our Jessica sat for her licence, and passed with flying colours! Congratulations, Jessica - it's a wonderful relief to know you'll be able to head out to your various activities in your own car.
2. The following day, Helena headed off for her audition at TAFE. As she and the lecturer emerged from the audition room, they headed straight for the registration desk. The receptionist asked if that would be for 'Certificate II, III or IV'? The lecturer replied, 'Oh, Cert IV - with bells on!' He then marched up to me and introduced himself - I definitely got the impression he was very impressed with our girl, and delighted to have her in his class next year. Well done, Helena!
3. Next, it was Daniel's turn for his audition. This was conducted via phone as he is still in SA, but once again - no problem. The lecturer was very impressed with Daniel's answers, and he was accepted into the course straight away. While Helena will be studying 'Cert IV in Music', Daniel has opted for the 'Sound Production' course, which I must admit, sounds like a very interesting one. Well done, Daniel!
4. On Sunday, it was time to put our skills into action and perform at the Conservatorium's end of year concert. Keep in mind that we'd only been to two practices, but nevertheless, concert, here we come! And it was a great day - with Helena performing in five bands, and myself in two. I am constantly amazed how well Helena can turn her hand to any type of music, and learn her pieces so fast! But she does, and she performed each piece beautifully.
That's Helena and I on each end - don't you love the way we both were positioned at the front of the stage? I was a little concerned that it may be so they could give us a 'shove' off the stage if we messed up, but fortunately, all was fine!
5. And finally, today - We've just received the news that our son Daniel has also passed his P-Plate driver's test! So now we have two with their licence - woohoo! Congratulations, Daniel! This is the reason our boy stayed behind in SA, so now with that test out the way, he can make preparations to join us in NSW very soon.
Not a bad week, eh?
Linda.
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