Second Honeymoon

Wow, I have not stopped running since we got back from our time away celebrating our 25 years of marriage. It was so good to get away for four nights even though it required major organisation. We had to put our two foster boys into respite care and organize our own kids. We could have done anything for our time away and I did consider a few luxury options like a cruise, flying to the Gold Coast or Whitsundays, but really spending a fortune for a few days and having absolute luxury is just not us (I know you all think we are MAD!!). If it wasn’t winter we probably would have packed our tent and gone camping. Anyway we settled on a road trip – some of our best memories in our marriage is just being in the car and travelling – talking and sharing our dreams. So that is what we did. We jumped in the car and Hubby had no idea where we were going or staying – I totally surprised him. We headed up to the Sapphire Coast in New South Wales as we had not been that way before and it was beautiful. The beaches were stunning – crystal clear turquoise water and fine white sand. We stayed at a lovely hotel in a place called Huskisson that was a good mix of old world charm and modern comfort and was just us down to a tee. Sleeping in, long walks, eating out and getting to a movie is something we don’t often get to do these days with such a big family so we savoured every moment. We talked future and where we see our business going – a great time away. Thanks to my best friend and hubby – I love you babe – you have made life fun and adventurous – so love your enthusiasm for life and your positive outlook.

Enjoy all the pics

On the road – we saw some beautiful countryside

 The town of Huskisson where we stayed.

We went to the movies in this quaint little movie house – a converted mechanical institute building. Below  is a photo of our hotel that looked over the river mouth and the bay.

 

The sunrise and sunsets were magnificent

The best part was the stunning beaches

Honeymoon Bay

Even the kangaroos were romancing at honeymoon bay

Murrays Beach

Wreck Bay

We had many laughs trying to take selfies on the trip – some came out great and others were a disaster

Love this man!

Our last night was spent at a unit right on Quarantine Bay

We had such fun – we travelled through many state forests with our radio blaring and singing at the top of our voices – just because we could!!

On the way home we stopped at this little town called Cobargo. It had art cows all over the town.

Another place we passed through and loved was Lakes Entrance – about a 3 hour drive from home.

We loved the pelicans – they were waiting outside a boat restaurant for scraps.

All in all we had beautiful weather – not a drop of rain all week which changed of course when we were about an hour from home – back to wintry, rainy Melbourne. The kids seemed pleased to have us home.

We are not waiting another 25 years to do this again – we already have our dream of buying a caravan one day and touring Australia when the kids are gone. I take after my Mum and Dad.

Goodbye 2013…. been a great year!!

It’s 10 pm on New Years Eve and I just had to squeeze in one more post before the year ends. This year has been one of the best years I have had and I have so enjoyed it, but in saying that it has also been one of the  years that I have had to lay down my own personal time and projects. Don’t get me wrong – I am loving the two foster boys we care for but going back to nappies and toddler tantrums when I’m well into my forties has been somewhat of an adjustment. My goal for 2014 (among the many others I have) is to try and get the balance between  caring for these boys and making some me creativity time.

The end of this year has been great – we took the first week of our holidays and went to Anglesea which is about two hours South West of Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road (famous for the 12 Apostles which we visited two years ago – photo below to remind you).

 

We camped and had a great time as school had not yet officially finished so the campsite was quiet and we weren’t surrounded by numerous campers. The camp grounds had amazing facilities and our tents were about three hundred metres from the beach and the river. Sleeping to the sound of waves at night was most relaxing. The sunsets were particularly beautiful.

We also celebrated Bennies first birthday (photos on my Sweet Hope Chronicles blog – password required) and it was a delight to see him enjoying his birthday cake with abandon. We enjoyed swimming  and many cycle rides along the river and cliffs.

 

The little village of Anglesea was also great fun to shop at. I didn’t have to go without my fix of Op shopping either as there were two amazing  little second hand shops to visit. I managed to get myself a beautiful pair of sandals and a framed Paul Gauguin print which I love.

 

The kids had great fun bouncing on a giant inflated pillow and  playing mini golf too. The park had some super wood sculptures of sea creatures which meant we could have some fun taking photos.

 

Christmas was spent at home where we celebrated with a Christmas Eve dinner. Toasts and thanks were given by each of the children. We have been truly blessed to have such superb kids. It never ceases to amaze me how giving and generous our kids are. They have been incredible this year as we have welcomed two new faces into our hearts and lives. It has not always been easy on them but they have come through and all pulled their weight in helping to integrate the boys into our family.

Our kids have also excelled in their repective areas of study and work. Michaela will make an outstanding nurse/midwife and Ethan is starting to show keen interest in his Personal Fitness endeavours.

Mostly this year has been one where we have moved away from our religious efforts of being involved in structured church and leadership. We have explored other ways of connecting with like minded people and building true friendships and relationships out of the confines of a church meeting and it has been very refreshing and rewarding. We have felt freedom to question our theology and beliefs and to throw out the things that we believe have manipulated and controlled us over the years. Mostly it has been fun getting to know Jesus away from all the religious influences. This has been the year I have learned to love people who are different to me and to not judge them for their lifestyle choices. This has been a big thing for me coming out of a system that looks at people as either in or out ( you are in if you believe like I do and out if you are an unbeliever). Just believing that I ever thought that way is so ridiculous to me now. I am discovering that there is so much more to being a blessing in our community than by simply professing I am a christian and going to church each week. I have discovered the reality of actually doing – of getting up daily and loving two little boys who have been abandoned by their parents, dealing with their emotions and self-harming issues and I feel more fulfilled and alive than I ever did  as a pastor for ten years. I guess what I’m trying to say is that making a difference doesn’t require me to be super-spiritual  – it just requires ordinary me to open my heart and hands and just be willing to help and love people where I can – it’s that simple and yet it has taken me years to work it out.

2014 is going to be a great year – I can feel it! This is going to be the year we are living in blessing and with great joy – many dreams and creative ventures being fulfilled. I am looking forward to it with my amazing and beautiful family alongside me. I wish you all an equally fabulous 2014.

 

Nesting ….

I have been so busy over the last few months since we began fostering that I haven’t had time to be creative or the energy to work on projects. Just keeping my living room floor clear of toys and toddler gunk has been a mission. I have also been looking for another house for us to rent that has more space but to be honest I have not found what we are looking for. So now I have settled in my heart that we will stay where we are unless something amazing comes up that is affordable. For now we have good, manageable space and a great size yard and a very good rent. The owner of our property is also making some long needed improvements that will make a difference. After settling all the yearnings to move I got this crazy nesting urge – that is I felt the creative bug bite and I wanted some things done – NOW, TODAY, IMMEDIATELY. I am not the patient type when an idea comes to mind – lucky for me Hubby is the same and so off we went shopping and spent some of our tax return. I think too it is the start of Spring that has got me going – sunshine just makes me happy and feel energised.

I started with my veranda – Moved one of my paintings out there as a statement and added some cushions to the bench.

We have been eyeing out a giant canvas from IKEA for two years now but we have never splashed out on it because it was a luxury for us. Last year I was planning to get it for Hubby’s birthday but as usual some expense came up and we never quite got there. Yesterday we decided to just splash out and get it. It has been placed over our mantel and covers that horrible seventies arch brickwork. Although it covers almost the whole wall we love it because it is a picture with such depth and perspective and it draws you in creating a feeling of space. We just love how the rope  bridge  almost looks like an extension of our jute rug on the floor. The problem though was that the brick work was still ugly and seemed to diminish the beauty of the canvas so I bought some mdf and painted it with Taubmanns suede finish in a green colour. Then I put the two strips of green mdf down the side of the canvas covering the brickwork. I must say we are quite pleased with the result as the picture stands out more now.

The next thing I have been wanting to do for a while is to change the lights in our living room. Firstly the lighting was so poor  as the glass shades are yellow and secondly they are just plain UGLY!!!

I wanted to modernize the look a little without spending too much money. Initially I had my heart set on certain lights from IKEA but then Hubby and I were a little concerned they would be too dull again. Also they were more than I wanted to spend as this is a rental property. Eventually we settled on two large shades to hang from the ceiling at a very affordable price.

Since the boys have arrived to stay with us we have re-configured our home slightly. We have blocked off the doorway from our hallway into the living room so that you get access to the living room from the dining room and kitchen. The reason for this was to prevent the toddler using the circuit as a running track constantly and also because he gets very stressed when someone walks out the door – this was becoming stressful every time someone went out the front door. Now he is not always aware when someone leaves. We blocked off the door with a hutch in the entrance. Although this works it is not the prettiest sight in the living room as again the doorway is arched brickwork. I came up with a plan to  add texture to the wall and to cover the back of the hutch with a blind that hangs from ceiling to floor. I got this at an op shop for a few dollars.

For the longest time ever I have wanted a console table to hold some items in my lounge. I have been looking on Ebay for something I could restore but even the worst ones have been too pricey for my liking. As I was wandering through IKEA I spotted some metal trestle table legs that were going for a song so I snapped them up. I wanted my table to be very rustic in appearance so we popped into Bunnings and picked up three sleepers that had beautiful texture and colour. In no time Hubby had constructed my quick and easy console table for me. I had thought of wrapping the metal legs in jute twine to make it more rustic but I actually like the contrast of the metal and rough wood so for now it will stay the same. I still need to sand the table top and get it looking beautiful as at present it is still rough and ready.

We have picked up some very lovely pieces over the last few months from Op shops and specials. This standing lamp has a bit of an industrial feel/ movie set feel and we got it for $17 from Target on a clearance sale. Our deep red shag rugs that match my cute little sofa were a buy on sale again for $30.

I have been collecting old suitcases for ages – they have become quite fashionable again and so are not always reasonably priced, but these babies were going at various stores for a few bucks.

I decided to improve our entrance hall at the same time. It is still a work in progress but this is what I have done so far. Hubby  bought me a coat stand for the entrance hall ( I have been coveting one of these for years). He picked it up at an op shop for $6. I have plans to spray paint it a really funky bold colour – maybe a deep turquoise.  I was really bored with the look of the pine hutch so I  decided to paint it in antique white and then sand it so that the wood showed through in places. The knobs  will eventually be replaced by some colourful ceramic ones.

I have also been looking for a chair for the entrance hall. Finally I found this red vinyl chair for $10. It has been nick-named the “Thinking Chair” because the toddler gets put there regularly when he has tantrums. Seems to be working a treat.

Our dining room has also had a makeover slightly. The table needs to be sanded again and I plan to keep it lighter this time by simply applying some Danish Oil rather than a stain. Hubby brought home some high backed leather style dining chairs that were far more sturdy and comfortable than the set we had. He picked them up with a table for $30 from an op shop ( yes and you thought I was the op shop queen – he is fast usurping that title from me – I have trained him well). We didn’t need another table but we did want a small one for the computer so hubby quickly got our his saw and cut that table up to make a smaller one (Clever man!!).

Some other changes – I have moved my ladder from the bookshelves in the living room (as I feared a toddler would be squashed by falling ladder) and put it in my bathroom as a towel holder for when we shower.

This weekend has been spent getting our home back into some semblance of normality and order ( except for my laundry that is piled with washing as usual -SIGH…..) and I have loved being creative again – I have missed the satisfaction that comes from creating and making something/ re-purposing something. Hubby has been busy too out in the kitchen garden. New winter veggies are growing – broccoli and cauliflower and sweetpeas planted. We are trying out some new ideas we have recently seen too – growing plants on a trellis – so we have a passion fruit plant and an olive tree growing this way – can’t wait to see how they turn out. Roses are pruned and ready for spring/summer. Hubby found a whole lot of beautiful terracotta pots thrown out to plant so slips getting planted.

All in all this nesting spree has been very productive and the best part is that it has not cost us an arm and a leg (other than our beautiful canvas we treated ourselves to.

 

Date Night….

Last night my honey and I went out on a date night. Aaron was a bit confused – he said, “but that’s for people who aren’t married.” Shows you how often hubby and I go on these nights!!! We have always had coffees together during the week between his teaching schedule but going out for the evening has not been a common trend for us.

I was thinking about why we didn’t do this more often and realized that we were so busy with our church commitments that we hardly had any “US”  time between meetings. Since we have left the Institutional Church to join up with the Organic/Simple/Missional church our time has been so much more flexible and a freedom we have relished. We connect with people we really love being with out of friendship and not based around a meeting – it has been liberating!! To read more of our journey into this you can see our site  Rhythm- Doing Life Together

Another factor was that we live on a tight budget and so always sacrifice going out. Well this is going to change as once a month we hope to head out just the two of us as we realize we don’t have to spend much- just have the time and keep it simple.

Anyway back to date night …… First we had to explain to Aaron that this was good and normal in marriage – that being done we headed out to grab a bite to eat. One yummy hamburger later we decided to go to drive-in to watch ‘Safe Haven’. When we were about three cars away from the ticket booth I remembered that we had taken the car that has no radio ( since the battery died our radio hasn’t worked as we don’t have the manufacturers code and I haven’t got round to getting it again). Now we probably would have been able to hear from all the surrounding cars but honestly neither of us felt like paying money to hear half a movie. So a quick u-turn had us heading out, giggling that we couldn’t even organize a simple date night due to lack of practice. We decided to head for the beach as it was a beautiful evening. So below are some of our photos snapped on hubby’s iphone.

 

 

 

Definitely worth the night out.

Inverloch Camping Trip

We are home after a week camping at Inverloch. What a lovely time we had. Our only sadness was to arrive home and discover that our chickens had been killed by someone in our neighbourhood. Yes you heard right – they were deliberately decapitated by someone. We have our suspicions but no proof of course. We were all angry, heartsore and upset that our poor birds had been so brutally abused and attacked. I had a friend who lives a couple of houses away coming in each day to check on them and she found them – I feel so bad that she had to deal with all the ugliness of it, but relieved that Aaron didn’t find them that way – he loved them so much and had tamed them so well.

Anyway we are determined not to let some psycho spoil our time away.

Inverloch is a small village located on the Anderson Inlet. It is lovely and not too far from home – only about 100 km so very good for day trips too. We stayed at the Inverloch Foreshore Camping ground and we were only a few hundred metres from the beach. There were also some lovely walks in the area which we did each day.
The kids enjoyed swimming in the loch/inlet as it was always fairly warm and good for Aaron. We toasted ourselves in the sun and played beach cricket. I have read more books in the last few weeks than I have in the last few years and I have thoroughly enjoyed losing myself in stories – I don’t think I will give this up – I need to make time to read for myself.

 

 

 

I even managed to get some photos of my oldest son – amazing that he is becoming more camera friendly and not so aggressive when I take his picture. Nice for me to have some photos of him not scowling or hiding his face!!

I loved the trees in the area – they were gnarly and windswept with interesting shapes – this one tree in particular was amazing – hubby and I had to find a time when it wasn’t full of children to get a few photos.

One night we went down to the BBQ’s along the foreshore to have our dinner. Hubby barbequed some chops and the kids had fun playing soccer. Ethan did some amazing flips off the wooden boardwalk.

 

 

We enjoyed our last supper by getting pizza from the local take away as a treat and watching Prince of Persia on Hubby’s laptop in the tent. We did chuckle at the size TV our neighbours brought camping – it was a giant widescreen TV that took up the whole one side of their tent. Other people had their own solar panels and one tent even had an air-conditioner. We realized that we camp quite simply but that is the fun of it I think. We did however treat ourselves and bought camp stretchers as last year our inflatable mattresses deflated every night leaving us with backache and sleeping on the hard floor. Oh what a good idea!!!

The last day we were there we drove to Cape Paterson – a 10 minute drive from our campsite to a surf beach so that the kids could catch waves. What a lovely beach. I even swam a few times as it was so hot. The children loved the waves (as our closest beach in Melbourne doesn’t have waves as it is in the Port Philip Bay and so very flat) and spent hours in the water. Even Aaron was proud of his wave catching ability.

The day we packed up was not great – the weather had turned and the wind was howling. Fortunately we managed to get our tent down and everything packed before a full wind blizzard hit us and the rain came.

We are so glad that we had this time to get away despite the horrible arrival home. Holidays are very important and many times this camping trip I thought back to times when I was a kid and we went camping in remote and exciting places. They are memories I will never forget.

2013 – she’s a teenager now

I am looking forward to this year – I have a feeling it is going to be a good one – forget the superstition of the number 13! I believe that this year will be a year of incredible blessing for us as  a family. I feel as though some changes are on the horizon and I can’t wait for new adventures.

Tomorrow Zoe will be 13 – a teenager – gone will be the childhood years and the start of her early womanly years – I can’t believe how quickly time has gone – from this cute little button to a young girl who is starting to tower over me. Here are some of the lovely photos of my youngest daughter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And one of my most favourite photos of her.

 

Happy Birthday sweet girl – we love you lots – you bring such joy to our family – your fun-loving nature and sense of humour. May your teen years be full of fun and dreams being fulfilled.

Christmas Cheer

Well Christmas has come and gone – boy does it happen fast~!!  We had a family Christmas Eve dinner at home with glazed Ham and Turkey and vegetables. The baby carrots were grown by my sweetie and were delicious. Dessert was made by Michaela – a chocolate cheesecake with Ice cream, mince pies and brandy custard. I think we all overate. Now we are ploughing our way through the leftovers all week!!

Every year we try and take an updated photo of the family to send back to family in South Africa. This always causes some groans and moans but I must say the family are getting better at it. This year was probably the most successful self-family portrait we have done – teenage son is over his puberty grumpiness and has come out of his shell so he was happy and the girls have no problem having their photos taken so all was well. We decided to do some serious photos followed by some silly season photos. What fun we had – the giggling was intense.

A number of people here in Australia put reindeer antlers and a red nose on their cars – this has had hubby in stitches all December  and he has not been able to get over how ridiculous it looks. Michaela and I were in the store the other day looking for props for our silly photos when we spotted the car reindeer kit. It was marked down to a $1.50 so we couldn’t resist. We wrapped it up and gave it to Hami as an early Christmas gift. The shrieks of laughter when he opened it had us all rolling on the floor. Eldest son vowed that if he put it on the car he would not travel with us. In the end hubby attached the antlers to his hat and put the nose on for our silly photo. Here are the photos we took.

Then our real family photo

Christmas morning was a great success. Everyone got what they wanted – and all were happy. Teenage son wanted a Onesie (this is like an all in one babygro for adults – apparently all the rage – to be honest I had no idea what it was until I ordered it online.) he chose a bear and was very happy with it – great for winter I believe – now Michaela wants one for her birthday.

 

We hope you all had a Happy Christmas and that the New Year will bring new adventures for you all.

What are we looking forward to in 2013:

• Michaela starts University
• Fostering children in our community.
• Completing my Graphic Design studies.
• Publishing my first novel (this has to be done in 2013)
• Making a difference wherever we are.

There are so many more things I would love to write but can’t just yet so I’ll leave my list as is – I have way more expectations for 2013 but don’t want to share them all just yet.

As Dr Seuss says, ”

 “Oh the places you’ll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all.”

It’s been a while!!

Hello Blog and all my Friends,

It has been awhile since I was here last – not because I haven’t wanted to be here, but because there has been a lot happening in our lives over the last month or so. My top priority has been looking for work and although nothing has come through yet, I have applied for quite a few, had one interview and am presently waiting the outcome of that. We have also been working on a project that has been on our hearts for awhile and now we have seen the start of that – will share more later. Today is the last day of the school holidays and we are enjoying the beautiful weather. We have had a lovely holiday and it has been very relaxing. we have not really been anywhere but  having time to potter around at home and do some projects has been lovely.

I am very proud of Hami – he has built a treadle feeder for the chickens as we found the birds were eating so much of their food it was costing us a fortune – now with the new feeder we should save a lot of money as only the chooks will have access to the food. What a clever man I am married to!

I have also found a few more wooden ladders to add to my home – Hami took the one ladder apart and stained it for me – now it hangs on our bookshelf he built and looks like an old bookstore ladder -love it!!

The other little ladder just stands in the corner of our lounge – to hold books, a coffee mug or whatever – it looks very rustic – I love the unusual – no one could call my decor “normal”. We went to the market this morning and I found these flowers for $2 – they reminded me of the wild flowers that grew outside our back door when we lived in George – Zoe loved those flowers as you can see from the photo!

Another idea I had was to tear off the covers of old books and bind them together with old string – this gives an old feel and is lovely.

I also found this cute clock at the market for $5 – I love the way it looks like an old alarm – so cute!!

I am very happy with the way things are looking in my home – it really pleases me when I can find old things that others throw out to create  the look I want – I don’t want brand new, expensive items that cost a fortune – I like simple, recycled items that have history and a story.

Zoe and I had to tackle another project this holiday – she needed to make a puppet for school – what a performance!! We tried two different patterns that were far too complicated, but eventually we found a pattern that was so simple to follow and this is how she turned out – we were both delighted at the outcome – we still need to put a dress on her.

So now to tackle some last minute chores before evening – tomorrow we are back into routine and ready for term 2.

I hope to be back soon – I have missed you all!!

Ironman…

We have just returned from New Zealand after the Ironman event. This was the culmination of a few years dream that Hami had to complete this monster event. It took a lot of planning on our part – taking that first step to pay for his registration followed by searching for air tickets that were on sale and then accommodation that was both affordable and comfortable.It required buying equipment and clothing and then of course all the weeks and months of training that went into preparing for this event.When I look back and add up all the time and money required for this event it is astounding (and we did it on the budget triathlete scale – pros would spend thousands more!) – it required Hami to take a week of unpaid leave to follow his dream – something that impacts us all as a family. All this sounds admirable really, but in one moment every dream we pursue can to tossed on its head. For us this happened the weekend of the triathlon event. Hami was physically and mentally prepared for the day – excited and really nervous at the same time. The day before the event we received the news that the Ironman New Zealand event would be postponed till the Sunday and then cut in half to be a 70.3 Ironman. The reason?  – extreme weather conditions blowing in over Lake Taupo on event day. Oh the disappointment I felt for my man – all his hard work over the last year crushed with one weather front blowing in. He was gutted – but he is an amazing man and overcame the disappointment like a champion. Aaron even drew a picture on our wet window to show what had happened – dad has a sad face and there are big clouds and rain.

We decided to take a drive to Huka Falls to get our minds off the disappointment. These falls always amaze me – the sheer volume of water and the force is incredible – the water can fill 10 Olympic sized pools in 1 minute – that’s a lot of water!!

The decision turned out to be a good one – foul weather with extreme winds and pelting rain. The lake looked like an angry sea – people were even surfing on the lake in the late afternoon as the storm tapered off – boats were tossed all over and some even beached. Sunday morning was beautiful but freezing – the temperature was 5 degrees and the thought of my poor man swimming in that weather made me cold.

The event began at 7:55 am and 1500 swimmers hit the water. There were quite big swells that Hami says made it difficult to swim and left him feeling quite seasick. The water was icy and we saw many people being pulled out of the water onto kayaks and boats as they had cramp. I always pray really hard when Hami does his swim as this is not his favourite part of a triathlon. He did us proud and completed his swim in 47 minutes. He looked a combination of icy blue and seasick green when he left the water but he gave us a cheerful smile as he passed us nonetheless. The children love cheering for him and Michaela particularly is his most vocal supporter. His bike leg went well for the first half but there was quite a headwind on the return leg which was tricky.

 

The run went okay – he has ITB problems and this gave him some serious pain at 7km into the run. A few pain relief pills was the solution to that and just a case of managing the pain. He came into the stadium and completed the event in 6:45:05 – bettering his previous time. We all were so proud of him. He feels proud of his achievement but it is bittersweet as although they still classified it as the Ironman event and he has the medal to show for it, it wasn’t the actual Ironman distance.

 

 

Even Aaron and Zoe had a run down the Ironman carpet.

We realized this week that sometimes achieving your dream doesn’t always look the way you imagine it to look and we have also settled in our hearts that it is okay if it looks different to how you imagined it. It is the dreaming that is important and the running the race that counts – the cost we incurred getting there is not important in retrospect – what we have gained and learned is far more valuable –  he had the option to opt out when they shortened it, but he chose to run it anyway and to enjoy it regardless.  The children enjoyed catching up with friends too – Michaela was spoiled by her two good friends and taken out a few times.Aaron caught up with his mate too and it was as though they were never apart. Zoe too had fun catching up with friends again.

 

We wish to apply this to every area in our lives – dream big, have fun living life, make a difference! Technically I am married to an Ironman, but to me he has always been a champion and my best friend – this event just reinforced what I always knew. We have no regrets.

Thanks Everyone

Hi everyone,

I received wonderful news today and it’s all thanks to you!! This is the email I received:

Hi Caro Hemingway,

Congratulations! With 61 percent of the vote, your Hub was selected by the HubPages community as a winner! Excited? We are!

Your profile picture and an excerpt and link to your Hub will be included in today’s weekly HubPages newsletter that is sent to over 150,000 HubPages community members. You will also receive the HubNuggets Accolade, one of the rarest Accolades on HubPages.

Let me be the first to congratulate you and encourage you to continue to write such wonderful Hubs. You’re an example for all Hubbers who are getting started and an encouragement to “veterans” as well.

We hope that you continue to enjoy writing at HubPages and participating in the community. We certainly enjoy your work.

Congratulations again, and we look forward to seeing you around.
– Patty Inglish – MS

What can I say but thank you to everyone who voted for me – without your support I would never have achieved this – it has really helped boost my confidence and will give me more exposure so THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

I must say it was a great way to start the day! I have been feeling very excited about certain things unfolding in our lives – can’t exactly say what they are but I have itchy feet (This is probably not a good sign) and I am itching for some change. I can’t help myself – I am a nomad and it’s all my parents fault I think (just kidding Mom and Dad – I love that I like adventure or life would be so boring!!). The last few weeks I have found myself looking at real estate and dreaming of our own home. At this point we would need a miracle to get there, but hey, one can dream right? Now usually when I look at houses, I look at what we could possibly afford – that means they are too small for our family and we would have to squeeze in, but lately I have been looking at my dream property and not at the cost of it -okay I don’t look at homes in the millions – not quite that big a dreamer yet , but I have seen some amazing places that whet my appetite. I figure that if God doesn’t know exactly what I like then I won’t ever get it! This is the kind of house I absolutely love – yes a veranda is a must!!

I am not a girly girl, but when it comes to houses I do like pretty houses.

I have also looked at properties that are on bigger sections and slightly out of the suburbs so that we have views and space – I am longing for country living again and I really don’t know why. In the meantime Hami is indulging me and has built me a chicken coop in the backyard so that I can have a couple of egg-laying chooks. He has completely built this house out of thrown away materials and scraps he has found – the only expense we have had has been the chicken wire and that only cost us $20 for two rolls. Not bad when these coops sell for nearly $400 in the shops. I couldn’t even find one that cheap on Ebay. Couldn’t take any photos today but I will as soon as all building rubble is cleaned up.

Exams are over and Michaela is ecstatic. Zoe is getting ready for her year 6 graduation from primary school and so we are in the process of designing her a dress for it – I have decided to make her one and so hope that all goes well. Aaron starts his prep school orientation next week and is very excited about it all. I hope I will be allowed to take some photos of him.

So this is an exciting end to another year – looking forward to next year being even more promising!!