CHRISTMAS 2013

Sandie and I never thought we would ever live at Moe. She grew up here and I grew up in Sale, about an hour's drive from here. But here we are. And it's all good. We are settling in to the Moe New Life Christian Centre, where we have lots of old friends.
Our new home has 3 bedrooms, one of which I've claimed as my study, and one of which Sandie is using half for a sewing room. We still have room for guests in the other half of that room!

God has blessed us in all sorts of amazing ways. The timing of things, unexpected provisions, serendipitous meetings, etc. Life isn't always easy but God has His own unique ways of bringing things together for good!
In the 34 years we've been married, we've never hosted Sandie's family Christmas gathering. Well, that's about to change in two weeks. It's going to be a challenge for Sandie, because she still has a daily battle with chronic pain, but we're looking forward to it. (Until 26th December - then we'll be looking backwards to it!)
I have pretty much finished the initial draft of a very ambitious 80,000 word novel. What lies ahead is a somewhat daunting process of reviewing and re-reviewing, then submitting it to publishers.
Writing is not something that comes naturally, even to me. It requires vast amounts of focus and discipline. For this reason, I'm trying to set aside my mornings as minimum writing time.
Last Christmas, Sandie and I were in Oklahoma with our son Joel, his wife Rose, and all her family. We will miss them this year.
Simon's wife, Lorraine, has been involved in the massive Ring Cycle operas at the Melbourne Arts Centre. While it's obviously been an amazing experience, I'm pretty sure Simon will be glad to have Lorraine at home a bit more when it's all over.
I can't believe that Aulani, Simon's daughter and our granddaughter, is turning nine very soon. She stayed overnight with us recently, which was great.
Ami and Luke are still in Dennington, we've been missing them since we moved and I think they're missing us. But they have a very supportive church family and it's not hard to keep in touch these days.
Finally, Joanna has informed us that, with her friend Emma, she intends to spend a year in England and Europe. Initial tickets are booked for late September next year - which means she will miss out on St Kilda winning the premiership - but that doesn't seem to bother her at all!
Well that's all for now.
A happy, blessed and meaningful Christmas to all our friends!

Our new home

On 25th October, we officially sold our house in Dennington and bought this one at 34 Victoria St, Moe. This is just the side and back views of the house.

 

 

Our furniture was all packed into the removalist truck on the Friday, and then delivered on the Monday. Two weeks later, we're pretty well settled in. It's a smaller house than the one we had in Dennington but I still managed to claim one of the bedrooms as a study.

 

Sandie's Dad, with help from her Mum and our brother-in-law David, has built a cat cage and run in the back yard. The plan is to also build some sort of enclosure for a few chooks.

 

God has blessed us in many ways.  It hasn't been the easiest year for us, and we've really had to trust God. But His timing is perfect and He has provided wonderfully well. We are looking forward to this new chapter in our lives.

SImon and Lorraine Wedding

Our eldest son Simon was married to Lorraine on Friday 5th October, at Wattle Park Chalet, in Melbourne.  It was a beautiful day and a delight to be part of.  We finally found out that they are honeymooning in New Zealand and we wish them God's blessings at the start of their life together and on through the years.
Here are a couple of photos.

Daylesford Gospel Music Outing

Sandie and I had a wonderful time on Saturday visiting with our eldest son Simon and his fiancee Lorraine at beautiful Daylesford. After a tasty lunch at a sushi cafe, Simon led us out of town to a place called Shepherds Flat and the house that he will be renting. The irony is that Shepherd's Flat is very hilly - anything but flat. There was a kangaroo on the next hill and abundant evidence that many kangaroos regularly visit the grassy area just near the house.
We made it back into Daylesford in time to catch a workshop run by the Melbourne Mass Gospel Choir in a large room below the Town Hall. That was good fun although, at one point, I felt transported back to the time of slave working gangs in the US. Simon and I joined the tenor section while Sandie was in the Sopranos. Not sure what group Lorraine was in.
After that, we enjoyed some poetry performances from Cameron Semmens, and then a proper concert from the MMGC. Great vocal energy and skill!After the concert, we met Lorraine's Mum, Sylvia and, rather than taking in more of the other singers at the concert, we chose a restaurant nearby where we could all have something that suited our palate and level of hunger. It was getting pretty cold and wet by this stage.
Congratulations to the Daylesford Community Church (the church Simon attends) for putting on a great event. Hope you'll be able to do it again! It was a long day for us, coming from Warrnambool, and we were pretty tired by the time we got home. But the day was thoroughly enjoyable. And we wish Simon and Lorraine every blessing in God's good grace.

Christmas Update 2011

Here we are again at the end of another year.  And what a year it's been!

                Ami married Luke Nicholls on 5th March.  It was a lovely wedding.  Ami planned everything herself.  Luke is a really great guy.  They were able to buy a nice house just a few blocks away from us.  Luke and Ami met while they were both working at McDonalds.  Now Luke works at Autobarn and Ami works for Wheelie Waste.

Joel went to USA and surprised us by getting married in a simple ceremony while he was over there. Here's a pic of Joel and Rose. 

Joel had to come home after the wedding but went back in July. 

They live in Oklahoma.  She grooms dogs and he spends most of

his time filling in forms to get permission to stay and work in

the US.  Not as easy as it sounds!

       

Sandie and I had a lovely holiday in Thailand

in late July/ early August. This is the Karon

Sea Sands resort, where we stayed for 10

nights. It's in Phuket but we had a few nights

in Bangkok as well.

Joanna is doing well in Melbourne.  She's survived her first year of a teaching degree at Monash.

We're also very proud of Simon, who still works in Creswick as Head of Development at Spark Systems, a computer software company.  But Sandie still has health issues.  Back pain, shoulder pain, migraines.  It just goes on and on.  But she copes... and prays... and works.  Together, we lead a fantastic church here in Warrnambool.  So life is difficult but good!

Merry Christmas everyone.