I seem to start every post these days apologizing for my absence so I am not going to say it ….
I thought I would throw in a few snaps of our holiday to Barwon Heads. We had a super time camping alongside the river and beach. I know some people loathe camping but I love how laid-back it is and how time does not matter – especially here in summer when the sun only starts setting at 9:30 pm. We spent the week relaxing, reading, cycling and running, swimming and sunbathing, taking walks and shopping in the quaint little villages and drinking coffee.
Barwon Heads is a small village on the Barwon River that gets packed out during the holiday season. We cheat and take our kids out of school a week before the end of term (as hubby’s school finishes early every year) and go camping before everyone descends on us. We have done this two years in a row and honestly it is the best idea as there are not people camping on top of us. Enjoy the photos.
Every morning honey and I would walk to the village and get a coffee from these two cute boys young men who had quite an innovative little business going. They had converted their beach buggy into a coffee wagon and set up the cutest coffee shop ever. Did I mention they were really cute? my kids were horrified when I told them about the cute coffee boys – my response – “I may be old but I’m not dead – I can still appreciate God’s awesome creation!!” Honey did not mind in the least – he still knows he’s the cutest boy ever in my life. It’s a small world. One of the young men I was flirting chatting with came from South Africa originally and his parents were visiting back there and playing golf in George which is the last place we lived before we immigrated. Had to throw in a photo of the cute boys – then I shall mention them no more!!!
We also managed to do some shopping while away – there were the most gorgeous gift shops and homeware stores. If I could have salivated I would have (which I didn’t even say about the two cute boys I’m not going to mention again!!) – but really there were some amazing things for sale – just wished I had a huge budget. It gave me some awesome ideas though and since we have been back from holiday we have made a couple of these items ourselves but I will tell you about that another time.
There were some beautiful nature tracks and cycling tracks which we rode and ran along too. Along the river from our campsite was a paved path that Aaron enjoyed skateboarding along.
All in all we had a fabulous holiday but were glad to leave when we did. The day we packed up 90 caravans were due to roll in for the holidays – we just managed to escape the mad rush. The best part though was that we had just had a weeks break and when we got back the school holidays were just starting – genius I say !!
I am delighted to announce that I have officially moved from being a blogger and writer to a published Indie-author. This has been six years in the making and more than anything I am thrilled that I saw this project through to completion. I am the queen of procrastination and starting projects but never finishing them (ask hubby – he’ll tell you!!) so the fact that I have persevered with this dream and completed it alone is a feat. I ordered 25 copies of my book and they arrived toady today (see I’m so excited I can’t even spell) but the thing that moved me to tears was my daughter Michaela jumping up and down in delight and hugging me saying “Mum I am so proud of you.” (I’m having another teary moment as I type this). So for those of you who don’t know, I have written a short fantasy fiction novel that is the first in a series of three (unless more inspiration strikes after the third) and it is set in the 17th Century and is the journey of a family through trials and tribulations. Here is the blurb below:
One Family…One Tyrant…One Truth…
Mackenzie Hamilton and his wife Imogene always did what was expected of them. Leaving their homeland to fulfil the prophecies spoken over them by the Elders of the Clan, they journey to Griswold with their four children. Once so beautiful, mysterious and magical, Griswold slowly turns to a desolate place without joy or hope. There they encounter a power hungry tyrant who rules his people with fear and manipulation. Never in their wildest dreams do they imagine what a threat they pose to his kingdom. When tragedy strikes and all is stripped away, tearing their family apart they have to dig deep to find courage within to take back what is theirs and to discover who they really are. Will the mistakes of their past be their undoing or will their faith in the Great One be enough to conquer an evil that threatens to consume them?
A novel where tragedy confronts belief and victory depends upon it.
I have learned so much about formatting books and the trials that go with it – trust me my family have seen me wrestling with my word document and learned a few new words from me as I did so. I have done the complete process on my own from start to finish simply by watching a thousand YouTube videos and reading countless articles. I formatted it, designed the cover and obviously wrote the story, then self-published through Createspace. Createspace allows me to sell print books based on demand so there were no costs for me. They distribute my book through various channels – you can see my book here at Amazon both the hard copy and the kindle version.
There is nothing more exciting than holding the book in your hands and feeling the finished product – especially when it has taken a long time to complete. So as a result of feeling so blessed I am giving away three of my books. Please leave a comment at the bottom of this post and you will be entered into the draw which will take place a week from today. I will write a personal message in each book. In the meantime I am feeling inspired to get the second book finished – the story is down and now the hard part starts – adding, editing, tweaking – and so it goes.
I want to say a big thank you to my family who have cheered me on and believed in me (even when I didn’t believe in myself) and to everyone who has purchased a copy of my book or given me encouragement – it is all so appreciated!
Okay so I have been an absent blogger for months and I apologize – hopefully that drought is over. I am so way behind on posts that I decided to just make a photo post of all the places we visited when Mom came over. I will shortly post the reason for my absence too.
So enjoy the Australian scenes – looking at these photos again makes me happy thinking of the special time we had. Love you Mom!
Emerald Lake (about 15 mins from our home in hills) The infamous Puffing Billy Train comes through frequently.
Mills Beach Mornington
Arthurs Seat and Sorrento
Ballarat and Daylesford (About an hour and a half from Melbourne)
Wilson’s Botannics (Our home is less than a kilometre from these beautiful gardens.)
Another favourite spot close to home (10 mins) is Lake Lysterfield
And here’s part 3 of our discovering Victoria with Mom post. One of the nicest places to visit near us is Phillip Island. It is about an hours drive south to the Western Port Bay. A small town called San Remo has a daily feeding program for the pelicans. We have also seen rays that come in for food although there were none the day we took Mom down (Murphy’s law of course).We did not stay to watch the pelicans being fed because it becomes a bit of a tourist trap but we did get to see them waiting for their food.
Love these big birds.
Then we crossed the big bridge onto Phillip Island. We headed to Woollamai Beach first for a look and then we went to Nobbies Point. Nobbies Point has a number of penguins that nest on the hillside. Every evening at sunset they come up the hill back to their nesting boxes. We were lucky enough to spot a baby penguin in it’s box from the boardwalk. We also were dive bombed by hundreds of seagulls – quite overwhelming.
The views along the point are magnificent – the sea an amazing colour. There is also a cave that the sea breaks into sending water out like a blowhole. I am happy to report we did not see any snakes – the nastier side of living in Australia! (The one thing I do miss about New Zealand – no snakes!!)
The geese in the above picture are amazing and I nearly drove everyone mad trying to get a decent picture. They are called Cape Barren Geese. Their beaks are most unusual- almost parrot looking.
This has to be one of my favourite pictures of Mom.
Then we went to the little village of Cowes and had some of the nicest fish and chips I’ve tasted in a while. What would a trip out without visiting some op shops be? Had to do that too of course.
All in all we had a great day – the weather held for us and we saw some lovely things, beautiful coastline. Sharing these places with Mom made it even more special.
I can’t believe that it is over three weeks since Mom has been here – in some ways it feels like forever ago. Anyway here is part 2 of her stay here. We live not too far from The Yarra Ranges and it makes a beautiful drive into the forests and hills. One of the few sunny days we decided to head up to the National Rhododendron Gardens in Olinda, It was the perfect time of year to head there as all the Rhododendron/ azalea varieties were starting to bloom. Add to that all the cherry blossom and Magnolias and it made a beautiful walk.
Enjoy the photo tour.
View over the Yarra Ranges
And finally one of the landmarks of Sassafras Village – Miss Marples Tearoom. There was no way we could get a seat so we opted for the Black Kettle instead.
September and October 2014 will be a month that I will always remember – it was so great having Mom come over from South Africa to stay for three weeks. I hadn’t realized how much I had missed her. When you immigrate to another country and you are so far away you try not to think and dwell on all the family things you miss out on. Every now and again there is a family event ( wedding, Christmas, special birthday/anniversary celebrations) that tug at my heart when I see everyone’s photos and suddenly I realize how much I miss family. So with that said we had a great time when Mom came over. The time flew by way too quickly and we tried to pack in as much as we could around the access visits our foster boys attend (see my blog Sweet Hope Chronicles for that journey).
It was fun showing her a bit of Australia – our wildlife and bird life are a bit different here and so we enjoyed seeing it too.
The day after Mom arrived we headed to our local lake for a walk. Lake Lysterfield is about a ten minute drive from our home and has lovely walks around the lake as well as mountain bike tracks and then of course there is the lake which is beautiful. We were hoping to see kangaroos but because it was a busy day full of people soaking up the elusive Melbourne sun they stayed in hiding.
The next week we managed to get in some shopping and I had great fun taking Mom to IKEA. She was amazed at how big it was and all the different homewares you can buy there. I also took her op shopping and that was great fun for her to see. Being in a new country gave Mom some opportunities to try some things she would not usually do at home. One of our favourite foods as a family is Sushi and we just had to convince her to try it. I remember when we moved to New Zealand I was not keen to try it as I always thought Sushi was raw fish and I had no desire to try that. However I soon discovered that in the context we lived in sushi was not that – it is meat, rice and vegetables wrapped in a seaweed paper and is absolutely delicious. So after buying some tuna, chicken and salmon sushi Mom and I sat down to lunch one day. I think she really enjoyed it.
Another new experience was filling up the car with petrol – we just had to get Mom to do it and explain that there would be no tip for her effort.
It was really great that Mom could do the everyday things with me come with me like watching Aaron do his school fun run.
One of the nicest trips we had was out to Healesville Sanctuary. This is wildlife park that has all the native Australian animals and birds. Even though we have been here for five years we had never actually been there before so it was a great outing for us too.We watched a bird show called ‘Birds in Flight’ that was fantastic. They brought out each bird and explained a bit about them. It was incredible getting up close and personal with them. The birds of prey were especially amazing and a wedge-tailed eagle flew so close over our heads that it actually brushed my hair. it was literally hair-raising but so exciting.
He truly was a magnificent specimen
We also saw the Black Breasted Buzzard and how he cracks things using a stone.
Some of the other birds we saw:
We got to see all the local Aussie wildlife too: Dingo pups (hard to believe they can be so dangerous when they look like your average dog)
A baby wombat
Red Kangaroo (male)
Finally Mom gets to see a Kangaroo – but not in the wild yet – we’ll get there!!
I really enjoyed seeing the koalas up close because after living here almost five years I have only ever seen them a couple of times and usually way up in the trees.
Echidna
Tasmanian Devil – their ears go bright red when they get angry – a mean little critter.
This baby koala was just too cute
A potoroo
We had a picnic lunch in the sanctuary which we all enjoyed while the sacred Ibis ate crumbs at our feet.
To get to Healesville Sanctuary we drove through the yarra Valley which is wine country and very pretty. Many of the trees were in blossom and made for beautiful scenery.
All in all we had a great outing. My next few posts will be about some of the other places we visited – too many to do in one post. Great memories and times together.
It has taken me nearly three years to write this post as I have been so worried about offending people, but really I just need to let go and enjoy being myself. I cannot change the way I feel and I don’t want to go back to my old way of thinking – EVER AGAIN!! I know this will disappoint some people who may think we are spiritual gurus and I apologize for that – we are not super-spiritual although many of our ex-friends will already be nodding vigorously in agreement and probably uttering “heretics” under their breath. The truth is I have been on a spiritual journey the last three years and there have been times I have been totally cynical and confused by everything I have gone through but I am so grateful for this journey. I have moved from blindly believing everything I have been taught to questioning everything to moving from what I know I don’t believe about God to now what do I believe about Him? Sounds confusing I know but I am getting to a great place now.
I grew up with a good Christian education and I went to church as a child and teen. I guess I never questioned what I believed – I just believed it because I was told it was right. I believed the Bible was the Word of God and that every word was infallible and true. With this mindset and thinking I became an adult and my world view and value system was tied to my belief. As a result I went into ministry with Hubby and we gave all to it. It came first in everything in our lives and even our kids came second to our meetings and church planting endeavours. After all we were taught that God comes first, then family then, work etc. Our motives for loving people were always with the idea of converting them in the back of our minds because we believed that if they did not accept Jesus as their Saviour they would be lost and go to hell. I am mortified when I think of how I always stressed that my Dad was not a church-goer – how I worried about him when actually I think now he had it right all the time. He sees God in nature – when he’s in the bush and enjoying creation. That is where he gets invigorated and energized. That is how it should be. I always viewed God as an external being – out there in the heavens looking down on us. I don’t believe that anymore. I believe God is not separate from us but within everything and everyone. He is within every living and non-living entity and so we cannot ever be apart from him. So when Dad gets out into nature he is one with God whether he feels it or not. God is not found only in a church building once a week and how we experience and enjoy life with him is not a function or designed experience – it is different for each of us. My journey has changed so much and I am loving it. My compassion and heart for others has increased tenfold since I stopped religious practice and behaviour. I am convinced that religion is evil and causes dissension amongst man no matter what religion it is. Religion says you have to pick a side, become something, give up other things, and follow a set of rules. Even the most contemporary system still is a system so I am not only talking about the old religions. Religion tells you that you have to behave a certain way and so I find loving people without an agenda becomes very hard when I have to live this way. Some people will not feel this and their joy and identity may be in the religious system they attend – I am so happy for you and wish you well, but for me I was feeling stifled, boxed, characterised and defined by what I did in the system and not who I really was. Worse, I judged those outside of my religious system!!
I have not been to church for two and a half years and there is not one day that I regret my choice to leave. I have not missed those meetings one bit. I have loved having time for my family and to give to the community in ways that really count. For a long time I had to detox from church – I hadn’t realized how religious I actually was. I hadn’t realized how dumb I became as a Christian because I never thought to question a whole lot of things that just don’t make sense to me now. I am not even sure I believe in hell anymore but it doesn’t matter because my thinking has changed. I believe that Jesus came for all and that everyone is loved and accepted by him, that all are saved by his grace. To me it didn’t make sense when scripture says he loves everyone but then we have to believe and say a prayer to get saved. If that is the case then he did nothing for us and salvation is not a free gift but a gift that is conditional and based on us saving ourselves. Rather I see that all are his children and loved – some realize it and believe it and they may enjoy relationship with him by their faith. Those that don’t believe are still his kids though – they are like orphans – they don’t experience relationship like believers but that doesn’t mean they aren’t his son or daughter. I am also realizing that in religion we define how we have relationship with God – we pray, read our Bibles and listen to sermons. I would hate it if I had a relationship with my Dad like that. Imagine if I only saw my family on a Sunday and that I had to follow a program to communicate with my kids. Imagine if they had to follow a prayer formula to ask hubby and I if they needed something. That would be weird!! Family and relationship is noisy, messy, complicated at times but one thing that is constant is love. It doesn’t matter how many times my kids piss me off or mess up. I always love them and forgive them because they are my kids!! Why would God treat us any differently? Why would he say he loves us but then threaten us with a place called hell if we don’t choose to follow him? Is that love? Sounds a bit like Hitler to me!! This is what religion teaches us though and I don’t believe God has ever wanted us to believe that of His character.
I posted this on my Facebook page today because I am tired of worrying what our old acquaintances in church circles will think. I know there will be comeback but I don’t really care anymore. We have discovered over this journey who our real friends are and who only called us friends when we were in ministry or thinking the same way as themselves. It’s sad but true – when you think for yourself people can’t cope and cut you off but I am okay with that – I would rather have a brain and use it than have others dictate my thoughts and beliefs. So Dad, I apologize for ever making you feel not good enough and I salute you for being yourself and for loving life the way you do. You have taught us how really communing with God should be and shown us how we have missed out on some amazing family times when we have been stuck in the four walls of a church meeting. I reckon you have experienced the wonder of God many times in your outdoor adventures.
Hubby and I have felt free to be who we want to be – when we were in church there was always unspoken rules you would follow. Tattoos were taboo, piercings limited and so on. Well we have broken out and maybe it is in reaction to our confinement in the religious system. Hubby got a tattoo after he did his Ironman and I have since had a nose piercing which I love ( Mom take a deep breath – it is a small nose stud) but for once I feel I can be creative in how I express myself without needing approval or worrying what others will think. Have we stopped believing in Jesus – NO WAY!! I think we feel Him more now that we have knocked down the religious walls. We feel his love and know that we are meant to enjoy this life – I am convinced that is why Jesus came – everyone believes it was to die for our sin but I’m not so sure about that. I think he came to show us the true character of God as love and to show us how to live with others who are different to us and how to enjoy life. So enjoy my Facebook post which I pasted below.
I used to be critical of anyone who did not follow my religious beliefs – they were wrong and I had to convince them/ get them saved or show them the light, because after all what I believed was right and the only way to God. A change of thinking and I now realize how isolating and narrow-minded that is – how I even put God in a little box and dictated who He should love and how. I am embarrassed at my dogmatic, narrow thinking that was shaped and formed by a system that includes only those who think the same.- I believe God is good and loves all mankind – that all are accepted irrespective of their choices because of His great love, not because of our belief. There is evil in this world as we watch our news daily and WE have to be the answer to it – hoping that God will reach down and rescue us is living with our heads in the sand – He put us here to make change and be the change in this world. Unfortunately many believe that means trying to change others to follow a belief/religious system as the answer. I don’t think God ever intended that. Rather it is when we refuse to turn a blind eye to cruelty, injustice and we refuse to treat others who are different to us with arrogance and contempt that we make change and this world a better place. We cannot teach compassion, love and goodness in our doctrines if we are not willing to accept people unconditionally without the motive of changing them to follow our beliefs. I know this will infuriate some people and I don’t need pages of religious comments or scripture to get me saved again (really!!) because I’m not challenging anyone’s opinions or asking you to change your beliefs just verbalizing my journey and where I am at. happytobelieveGodlovesall# letshavemorecompassion# I want to love people because everyone is worthy of love and compassion.
I love this link from Jim Palmer
Compassion transcends religious, ideological, and national differences. There are so many things that divide us as human beings, but we all share the basic idea that it is good to treat others the way we ourselves would wish to be treated. We are one human family, and we are all in this together. Division, hatred, violence, ego, selfishness, greed – aren’t we tired yet? Compassion compels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the center of our world and put another there, and to honor the worth and dignity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.
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.
The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a challenge for Hubby and I. It has been a time of settling things in my heart and learning to let go as far as my children are concerned. All these years we have based our parenting on our church values of what we believe is right and wrong. I am not saying this is a bad thing – in fact many of these values I still believe in and hold dear not because of religious reasons any more but because a lot of them make sense to protect and keep our kids safe. But at the same time I realize that a lot of what we believed and enforced as parents had the potential to make our children rebellious and resentful. I am just grateful that this never happened in major ways. However since we have decided to parent more with grace in our lives – giving our older children more opportunity to make choices and decisions for themselves it has become harder for me to get rid of the old mindset of “just do as you are told, we are the parents and you are the kids, you live in our home so respect the rules etc.” Continue reading →
It has been four weeks since we joined our local Parkrun and I am so surprised to say that I am really enjoying the runs. I have always had a bit of a mental block when it comes to running because I always used to get extremely painful shins and calves everytime I ran. Not to mention the fact that I would hardly be able to move for three days afterwards. This never helped me get over the hurdle of getting to the point of enjoying running. That is until now. First thing Hubby made me do was buy decent running shoes and what a difference it has made – I don’t ever get sore shins and calves anymore which is half the battle won.
He announced to me one day that he had found a great community event we could be involved in – the Parkrun. Parkrun organise free, weekly, 5km timed runs around the world. They are open to everyone, free, and are safe and easy to take part in. Running in scenic places also makes it far more pleasant and the sense of community fun is awesome. So every Saturday morning we bundle the two boys into the car and head off to our local park called Berwick Springs for our 8 am start. We have even managed to convince Michaela to join us the last couple of times and she has done so well. Like me she went from 0 km to 5 km in one go and was amazed that she could actually do it. This last week she and I both smashed our times for a new personal best so it is very exciting. Parkrun time you each week and then email your results to you later in the day. They also have volunteer photographers who come and take photos each week so the photos on this blog post are courtesy of Parkrun. All they ask is that every runner volunteers at least twice a year to help with the run so that it can continue – pretty good way to get a free run in each week. To find out more go to Parkrun to check it out. I laughed when I saw the photos – I reckon I run so slowly that I look like I am out for a casual walk in all of them. I have also had to learn how to run with a stroller – not an easy task when there are nearly 300 people running and you have to manoeuvre through the throng. It also means that I get to start right at the back of the field which suits me fine. The great thing about this run is that you compete with yourself by trying to better your time each week. I love not having the pressure to feel like it is a race.
It has also done wonders for my confidence and really motivated me to find some other challenging runs – I have a few in mind but just not sure yet. My ultimate goal is to participate in the Pink Triathlon next January – not a huge event but I have always wanted to do a triathlon ever since Hami caught the bug – watching him participate always motivated me.
The day before Australia Day was an event and we all had to dress up in our Aussie gear -I donated my shirt to Michaela so she and Hami looked like twins. There were some interesting outfits. I must say as much as I love living here in Oz, I still feel like a Kiwi and see myself as one. I still have a very soft spot for New Zealand and not sure if that will ever go away.
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