New lessons :)

The older 3 kiddos began new swimming lessons with the local homeschooling group. They were so looking forward to it and it ended up being FANTASTIC for them! While I was with the older kids, Brett and Sull took the two little ones out for a date ;-)

After the class we went and hang out eating some chips, looking at a some different nature study things and heading down to a waterfall we love.

To top it all off, I had two beautiful phone calls with Anth and Michelle :-)

More to come soon.

Happy 11th Anniversary Honey

On Ethan's birthday (saturday) it was also our 11th wedding anniverary!

Brett's sis and parents kindly offered to take the 4 older kiddos for a sleepover for us so that we could have a special time together (with Zeeki of course!)

That was such a lovely treat!

So on Friday night, we dropped the kids off and went to our fave Thai spot and got some take out.

We put Zeeki to bed and then sat down and enjoyed some special time together.

The next day the kiddos headed back over and we all enjoyed a lovely celebratory bbq for Ethi's lunch.
Before they came back though, while I was cooking (and burning!) Ethan's cake, Brett and I enjoyed reflecting on and talking about the past 12.5 years we've been together.
We recalled memorable moments, challenging times and special experiences that have bonded us as a couple and as a family in a way that we could never have expected.
We laughed and cried as we rememberd and gave thanks to Yah for His love and provision to us.

This morning I was listening to a programme that was talking about the increase in divorce rates in those who had been married for 25 years and then as the nest empties, realise that they are no longer 'in love' and go their separate ways. One of the reasons the 'expert' wanted to talk about this was because she said if you can encourage people to invest NOW in their relationships, it might help them to not drift apart down the track.
One thing I love about my relationship with Brett is that (although it's not perfect!) we still love to laugh together. We make a real effort to spend time together and not just live parralel lives. Sometimes the only time we can manage together is when the kiddos are all in bed and we settle down for a special night on the couch watching a movie or chatting or playing cards. We talk about our hopes for the future and pray together for our family and about the everyday situations we find ourselves in. Sometimes I just talk about how overwhelming I'm finding the kids' behaviour, or Brett will talk about a work (or lack thereof!) situation. The point is, that we share it together. We used to try and solve each other's problems but we've learnt that often it's better just to listen to each other. Sometimes when I'm out, I'll pick up a special treat that Brett loves to eat or he'll tell me to go and have a bath on my own and will bring me a platter of cheese, olives and crackers. Sometimes it's as simple as the two of us holding off to eat our dinner until the kids have eaten and are in bed and then we sit down, light some candles and just eat dinner together. That doesn't happen often because we LOVE sitting together as a family. But every now and then, it's just what we need.

All these measures are things that we are doing now to invest in our relationship for the future.
My life is richer for knowing and loving you Brett.

I love you mate with all my heart.
Happy 11th Anniversary.
Here's to many, many more!

Love Lus x

This past week...

 ...Zippi requested this outfit to go play outside in...beanie, gloves, jacket and camera.
She is such a little character!

This week Stass took this lovely shot of me and Brett...

and Brett took this one of me with our four (plus one in the tum!)

I had a great chat with my Natti and made this MCN cover (it's not so bad hey Nat?!?! lol! Thanks for your inspiration mate!)...



This week we had a play at the park...

...and climbed trees. Stass reckons this one is the perfect reading-tree!
She finished reading through Anne of Green Gables this week and is now 15 chapters into the sequel Anne of Avon-Lea. Thanks Bridge for lending her these - she really loves them!
We watched the first movie and I'll try tracking down the sequel to watch too when she's finished reading the book...

This week the boys spotted an activity in a craft book and asked if we could have a turn at it. It involved using straws to see if you could suck a smartie or similar candy to the end of it just using your breath. I was excited that they had READ the instructions about it themselves!
So we bought a packet and counted out how many there were in the box of each colour. These we then graphed. This was the boys' first intro to bar graphs. They got it really quickly.
Then we had a competition to see who could hold their smartie the longest on the end of the straw. These results were graphed on a line graph.
We talked about which force we use to create suction and they all said "PULL!" (we have a song about force being either a push or a pull).
Fun + Maths/Science = everyone happy really :)

We picked the first of the garden-harvest for this winter season....some rainbow spinach which we thanked Yah for and ate with our dinner the other night. Yummo!

This week Liji requested to make this project out of a craft book we have.
He waited until we had the brown paper bags from the shops and then got stuck into it.
He was really pleased with how it turned out and made a little video talking about it.

This week our Caboo arrived!
Thanks again MEREDITH!

Ethi asked if he could make THE EASY CHOC COCONUT CRUNCH RECIPE WHICH I INTRODUCED TO OUR FAMILY THIS YEAR THANKS TO MEL GOODSELL'S FAB RECIPE!This is the very first recipe that Ethan has asked to make from scratch, by himself, following a recipe.
He asked if we could make a video of him talking through all the steps which we did.
And he really enjoyed licking the bowl!




This week Brett finished work on his greenhouse (except for the little door he's adding) but I think it looks so GREAT!

Everyone helped shovel a trailer load of vegie soil into the wheel barrow...

...even Zip...too cute!

And she was rewarded for her hard work with a little wheel barrow ride from daddy...

We went to the Grower's Market and bought a whole heap of vegies and herbs"
common mint
oregano
dill
corriander
and these will go in the herb garden where we already have a huge bay leaf tree, chives, chocolate- mint and curry leaves.

We also got from the Grower's Market some:
zucchini's
tomato plants
and a couple of other things that I've now forgotten! lol

We potted up the herbs...

The boys played footy...

Brett put the billy and some toast on the open fire out the back...

 

and we enjoyed a lovely Sunday afternoon tea out there together...

This week I made Brett's fave coconut cake/muffin recipe...

and Liji picked these lovely flowers for me from the backyard, brought them inside, found a vase, filled it with water and gave them to me as a gift.

So sweet :)

And this week I enjoyed finishing off some changes to the loungeroom...

This week:

* We played Music Notation Bingo

* Listened to Psalm 119

* Played the Board Game 'Pilgrim's Progress'

* Had Hazel visit and listen to my feelings about pregnancy and birth, check on bubs and reassure me that all was well!

* Posted letters together at the Post Office

* I had lovely catch up chats with Nat, my Anth and Lori

* We learnt a bit about Mozart and found Austria on the World Map

* Went grocery shopping (with Brett) while I went to see the chiropractor

* We talked about how close we are to meeting our newest family member

* I read aloud from several different books on the parts that make up a human eye (since Liji had drawn one in detail last weekend). So we had a look at all the different parts of an eye in books and on diagrams and labelled THIS SHEET by using THIS ONE FOR COPYWORK.

* Stass and I worked on two of her find-a-words from her book together

* Zip regressed a little with toilet training but that's ok...she's done so well with it so far.

* I'm now 38 weeks pregnant with Bubba #5.

Well that's about it as a recap from the week that was.

Hope life is lovely your way too!

Much love,

A Mix of Old and New IPhone Shots I Just Found!

Must be my week for reminiscing!
We finally got around to uploading photos from my iphone onto the hard drive (i won't mention that there were about ahem 800!)
Of course the quality of the photos is not great but the quality of the memories are!!!
Anyway, thought I'd pop up some of my faves...

From when Brett and I went on a date earlier this year while mum and dad were visiting and minded the kids for us...



Zippi's first (and only) haircut at the hairdressers!

Waiting for daddy while he was in the dentist and eating their lunches.
This was our first REALLY cold day just before Winter officially kicked in...

When I found out I was pregnant in December!

Some special time with Uncle Pete...

Catching up with my beautiful sis Dee and her lovely man Kit and my parents after attending the funeral earlier this month...

Us...

Date night for me and Stass also earlier this month...

Having a vegetarian brekky at one of our fave local cafe's earlier this year...

This one was from 2 years ago when Liji got crook with a small asthma attack and needed some help poor little guy...

And another from about a year and a bit ago when we all went for a bushwalk and I was having snuggles with Zipster in the Ergo...

I really love looking back at old photos.
Reminds me so much of all the special family times we've had together.
More another time,

The Feast of Unleavened Bread...Day Seven AND the Feast of First Fruits!!!

What an awesome day we just had!

I mentioned before that according to the scriptures, the day after Passover is to be the first day of the celebration of the feast of unleavened bread. It is to last for 7 days.

We celebrated Passover on the Sunday night last week which made Monday last week day 1 of Unleavened Bread which made today Day 7 of the feast; the final day. It is always an extra sabbath too.

It happened to coincide this year with First Fruits which always takes place on the day after the weekly sabbath of the week of Passover - the first day of the week.

Isn't it amazing that on the very day the High Priest was waving the sheaf of barley before the Father to make the whole harvest acceptable, that Yeshua (Jesus) who is our High Priest, was waving Himself before the Father in order to make the whole harvest of souls acceptable to Yah?!?!

AWESOME!!!!

Here's how our day unfolded....

We awoke early (athough our alarm didn't go off/wasn't set right lol) to Ben's text message asking if it was still all going ahead! We jumped out of bed (almost literally!) and I ran down to wake up the kids. Ethi also almost literally jumped out of bed and got dressed as quick as could be. Then you could just hear them calling out to each other, "Happy First Fruits!!!" with so much joy. Really blesses my heart to hear them excited about Yah's appointed times!

Zippi stayed asleep during all this which was fab because it meant we could quickly get everything together. We had 15 mins to be up, dressed and out the door - all 8 of us (including my folks).

We met Michael and Katie over at Ben and Jas' house and we all drove over to our fave spot which we've affectionately named 'Praying Rock'. Brett had wanted to go to another lookout but we wouldn't have made it in time. Maybe next year!

There was light but the sun hadn't actually risen yet as we all climbed up the rocks...

I know I posted a photo last year similar to this but it just reminded me again of how fresh the morning was; beads of dew still on the wet ground...

We'd all gathered up on the rock...

and before long Jas had spotted the first part of the sun rising! You can see it here; just a little pink in the distance (i think you can click on these photos to enlarge them...maybe)...

and more of the sun rising quite quickly before our eyes...

which had all of us mesmerised...

both young and old alike...

the boys stood still for just a little while; long enough to be captivated by Yah's amazing creation... 

the sun had risen....and so has the SON! HalleluYAH!

We read from the FIRST FRUITS BOOKLETS I had prepared for each family. I read about the Torah instructions of the High Priest waving the barley grain, the first fruits of the harvest before the Father. I read about the Messianic significance of Yeshua doing the same with his resurrected body. We also about all the different ways that Yeshua is mentioned as 'the first' in Scripture.

Brett read from Leviticus 23 about this feast, then from Mark 12 how Yeshua prophesied that he would be in the heart of the earth for 3 days AND 3 nights. And then Brett read from John 20 when Mary went to the tomb when it was still dark, that she found out that He was not there - he had indeed risen!

Praise Yehovah for His might and power and His plan of redemption!!!

We stood together during the readings and some enjoyed a hot drink...

(loved this shot of the sun just beginning to hit the side of Ethi's face too much not to include it!)

Such a great time of being in the Word together!

I took the ukelele along again and together we sang the song from last year, 'He is the First Fruit of the Resurrection'...

After enjoying the sunrise a little more, we ended with prayer + praise...

It was really special for me to have my mum and dad with our family to celebrate this feast for the first time!

Me + My beautiful husband...

Our kiddos so excited to be travelling back home for the next part of the celebration!

(I was thinking, wow, this time next year we'll have 5 in those seats!!! Our little man will be around 8 months old this time next year - WOW!)

While I made unleavened pancakes (1:1:1 of plain flour, egg and milk), mum and dad helped prepare the fruit...

Brett enjoyed a special snuggle with his big princess...

We so enjoyed having Ben + Jas and Michael and Katie (Ben's sis) with us to celebrate and remember this special time!

The table all set with all the fruits;

this year we had:

apples (red + green), mandarins, passionfruit, fresh pineapple, bananas (only a few b/c they are soooo expensive!) lychees, strawberries, kiwi fruit, purple grapes, pink grapefruit and peaches on pancakes!

Did I mention we also had icecream? lol ;)

Enjoying our time together...

We also shared about the counting of the days until the next feast which is Shavuot (Pentecost/Feast of Weeks). God's people were instructed to count off 7 weeks from today (First Fruits) with today being day 1. That makes 50 days until we arrive at the Feast of Weeks. Intrestingly (because it is ALWAYS interesting when God's timing is involved!!!!) the disciples were told to wait 50 days until they received power from on high which took place during the Feast of Weeks! More on that another time :)

The decorations for the table this year were....

the barley sheaf in the big hurricane lamp that the kids coloured in the other day...

+ Stassi made a couple of special things...

one was this paper plate she'd decorated a couple of weeks ago...

and another was this sign. She'd written it on black with black texta so later on decided to go over it with liquid paper pen!

She drew and coloured in and pasted all those little fruits up the top...

I made this little banner to go over the door and stuck it up last night before going to bed. The kids were so excited when they saw it hanging up this morning when they awoke!

Some of the other activities we did...

The rest of the Day 7 of Unleavened Bread + the Feast of First Fruits was very relaxed for us.

I went back to bed and had a nice catch up sleep while Brett looked after the munchkins.

When I woke up, Stass and I made some tzit tzits (tassels - see Numbers 15:31 onwards) since Jas kindly leant us her threads...

Nan taught her how to plait this week so she wanted to plait some tzits tzits herself and they turned out so great!

We finished the arvo off with another lovely walk around the old race track. Trying to fit in as many walks as we can while my back is holding up and while the weather is not....well...freezing!

Some of what we ate on Day 7 of Unleavened Bread + the Feast of First Fruits...

Breakfast:

See above!

Lunch:

Pasta

Snacks:

Fruit! and popcorn

Dinner:

Meatloaf + potatoes + peas

And for the last reading of the feast, Brett read aloud from Exodus 16 - the account of Israel being provided for in the desert. They were given manna - kind of like a bread. We too are sustained by the bread of life; the Word of Yah! He always provides for His people when we walk faithfully with Him.

We finished the night with a Bible Trivia Game (Ethi won!) and us taking turns to reflect and pray about the wonderful rememberances we've taken part in this week.

It has been a full on week in many ways, but a really special one that we won't ever forget.

Thank you Yah!

More another time,

Love