In A Winter Wonderland

(seasonally adjusted)

Car horns honk, asphalt's melting/Seat belts burn

Kids are shouting no parking space/Red in the face

Sweating in a summer wonderland

In the park we can have a picnic

Paper plates and flies all buzzing round

Poor old Santa looks a little sick Nick

As the fire truck drives him round the footy ground

Later on, we perspire/smell of smoke, there's a fire

The truck leaves flat chat/ Santa holding his hat

Sweating in a summer wonderland

It's pretty true here in this place down under. I must say Christmas day on the beach sound a bit to weird for my taste. I never thought I would see an advertisement saying summer Christmas specials. We are all upside down over here. I don't mind the heat so much during the day, but it is the nights that really kill me. Especially with now air conditioner. Well, I hope everyone in America has a wonderful WHITE Christmas. Make a snowman in honor of me. For all you Aussies have a very hot Christmas. That is so weird.

What do you call it?

Lately we have been getting the question "are you on the pop or soda side of America" Well, I always just called it coke no matter what it was, but apparently that is just me. I am told that I am on the pop side. So besides pop, soda, and coke, here they call things fizzy, or even lemonade. Yeah, that sounds very weird but it is just like coke. Lemonade was the first carbonated drink, so therefore everything after that is still referred to as lemonade. Well that is actually more of the older generation. So I have changed from calling it pop (or coke) to mostly calling it fizzy. We have been having this conversation a lot lately, don't ask me why. I was just wondering though what do you call it?

All in His hands

Here are just a few pictures of our fun with them.

I climb the hill sometimes riding, mostly pushing my bike to the top. I finally arive at the top and start to coast down the other side. I glance to my left and there in my sight is a vast blueness which is not the sky. Every time I see this I am reminded that I am here and not there. Who knows when I will be there again? For now, I am here. We are all here together, but not for long. Soon they will have to leave us. They will be there, and we will be here. And who knows when we will be together again. It should be eaiser the second time. This will never be eaiser. It will only get harder. Doing it onve was enough to last a life time. I don't think I could do it again without His grace to get me through. The first time was horrible. We were going, but we were leaving them behind in that world that is now like a dream, like another life that I left behind. We left them there, and with them, I left some of my heart. This time, they are leaving us here. They are going back there to that other life, and leaving us here. They will take some of my heart with them. I am happy for them, they will be going home, but I am sad for my loss, for our loss. I take them for granted so much when they are with me, but when they are gone, something is missing. Saying goodbye for a second time will be so hard. Espescially when only He knows when we will see them again. The only thing that gives me comfort in all this, is knowing tha it is all in His hands. He will always take care of us. He will always remain the same no matter if I am living here or there. My life is in His hands, and I can rejoice in that.

Verses of the post: Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. "
Psalm 31:15a "My times are in your hand."

Outreach service

This comming sunday (the fifthe sunday of this month) we are having an outreach service in McKinnon and Frankston. We delivered a few invatations in McKinnon when we knocked on doors. We (dad and I) talked to one gusy that sounded kind of intrested in comming, so we might see him on sunday morning. In Frankston we delivered probably a hundred fliers to the surrounding neighborhoods. Chaity and Tamara had one young mother that sounded pretty intrested, so hopfully she and her two children will be able to attend. Mother and I talked to one lady that said her daughter had seen our sign and was intrested in checking it out, so that would be really neat if she came. If you guys could just pray for the service, and just that we will get a lot of people that will come.

In other news, this comming saturday the fun with the boys for (summer holidays and stuff) begins. We are going to walhalla. It is this old gold mining town. It should be heaps of fun. As I said, the fun with the boys has begun. Hopfully we will be able to do most of the things of our list of things to do some of which include:

• have a BBQ on the beach
• have a bike trip
• go on the great ocean road
• go to wilsons prom
• go to the beach at least 3 times every day :)
  

and heaps more things that I can't think of right now. Man, we are going to have heaps of fun. I am not so sure about the last one though. :)

Well, I finally updated after many months. Charity just always tells about what I want to say. I must say that durring paper round, your mind makes up whole posts to write, but I almost never actually get around to writing them. Oh well, I will try to just keep up updaiting hopfully more then in the past, but I can't make any promises. It is so hard to spend heaps of time on the computer when just minutes from our house is the ocean, and most days now are the perfact temperatures for going outside. It is great weather, but this summer is going to be sooo hot. I don't know if us poor americans can survive it.

song of the post: Man its so loud in here (also known as baby Jenson by Benjamin Blackwood:)) They might be giants.

Man, memories of car rides to GCA!

What to name him

Yesterday all day, we five younger kids and mom went shopping at Queen Victoria Markets. It is like a flea market. It was really fun. I don't use spell-check. We all came home with lots of stuff for others and ourselvs. It was really fun. We all got Australian T-shirts. We will get a picture of all of us in them sometime, and I will post it on my blog whenever that happens. Probably the most exciting thing we came home with yesterday was A BUNNY!!! I real live 5 week old dwarf rabit. It is the cutest thing. There is only one problem... what to name him?!?! Here are some of the names that we came up with. Take a look at him, and tell me what you think his name should be. Either one of these or one of your own. Here are the names:

• Howard (howie for short)
• Thumper (the bunny off of bambie)
• Dopey (because he is a dwarf)
• Stevie (In honor of Steve Erwin, and becuase it can be a girl or boy name)
• Timothy (just becasue we have had a Dog named Paul, and a cat named Barnabas)
• Bugs Bunny (thanks Anna Pulliam)
• Storm (or stormy because he is the color of storm)
• Cinnimon (because Allen had a stuffed rabbit named that for like 10 years)

Those are what we came up with. We actually came up with a bunch more, but these are the ones we thought were the best.

That the US is better then Australia

We three girls are taking debating this semister at our homeschool classes, and yesterday morning, Charity, Tamara, and I had our first debate. It went pretty well. We ended up wining, so that is probably a good sign, but we didn't really prepair as much as we should have. Charity was the first speaker. She did a really good job. I was second speaker, and I did ok I guess. I made up on rebutle on the spot, and that was kind of hard to do, and it really didn't make much since unless you knew what I was talking about, which the Australians didn't. Tamara was the third speaker, and she had the hardest job because she couldn't do much preparation, most of what she did was on the spot. She still did a good job, but we didn't do all of the rebutles that we should have. We also painted our houses in pottery. So we are all done with pottery. It was a LOT of fun to do. Here are some pictures from debate. I don't have any pictures of our houses, but Zachary should put them up on his website soon.

6 bible verses spoken most in our home (mostly by mum)

Have you ever heard these words at your house?

Don't fight with your siblings.
obey right now
stop complaining and do it

Well, maybe you don't at your house, but we hear things like that a lot. Mostly they go something like this (these aren't exact quotes from the bible, they are my moms words)

• Blesses are the peacemakers
• Do EVERYTHING without grumbling and complaining
  
• A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger
• Pride goes before a fall
• He how loves to argue loves to argue loves sin
• Delayed obedience is disobedience

I get annoyed with it sometimes, but when Mum feels the need to say it is probably when I need to hear it. I thank God that he gave me parents who correct me when I need correction. I love them for it! The most important thing that they have done for me is introducing me to Jesus, and teaching me most of what I know about him.

Sorry it has taken me so long to update, I will try to get back into updating more often

I LOVE SNOW!!!

This past week we spent it at Mount Baw Baw! We all had a blast! We were there Monday around 5pm to Friday around 4pm. It was a fantastic week. We skied/snowborded, built snowmen, had snowball fights, went bush walking, made snow angels, and all that fun stuff it was a blast!

If you want to read more about our week check out Charitys blog. (I didn't think it would be worth recaping our week on my blog too since most of you guys who read my blog also read Charitys)

To look at pictures go here and check out all of his cool pictures

I also took Zachary's advise, and decided to put my picture up on a website instead of the blog they were on, so go here to see all of those beautiful pictures

Let it snow...

Oh the weather outside is frightful (really it is, but not because I don't like winter, but because winter without snow is like a peanut butter sandwich without the jelly)
But the fire is so delightful (well, at least our heated living room is)
and since we've lots of places to go (like skiing)
let it snow let it snow let it snow

I am still getting used to this whole winter in June - August deal. It is winter here right now, but winter is no fun without Christmas, and snow, so...

...On Monday we are leaving for a holiday in the mountains (Allen and Zachary aren't coming until Thursday though). We are staying in cabins with heaps of other people (like 5 families or so). Hopefully there will be snow when we get there, and maybe it will even snow while we are there. So we are going to go skiing, tobogganing, tubing, making snow men, and snow angels, having snowball fights, and just playing around. I am sure we will have a wonderful time. I LOVE SNOW!

Have a GREAT week everyone!

It is really funny that my last post was all about spending time at the beach, and this one is all about playing in the snow!

A day at the Bay

Most saturdays at my house (if I am home on saturday) are just spent either working or lazing around doing nothing, but not last saturday.

WE HAD SOOOO MUCH FUN!!!

So, Zachary, Tamara, Benjamin, and I decided to get out and do something this saturday. So we decided to take a bike ride. We hoped on bikes and took off on a ride planing on heading to a beach about (10 minutes or so away in a car). So we packed a few apples some shorts, a towel, and some water. We went riding along rather quickly, then I came to a hill and realized that my gears didn't exactly work, but it was too late now to turn back, so we kept right on going. Then it started to rain, and Benjamin wanted to turn back, but we just kept right on going. Then we came to a road with a down hill (finally), but when we got to the bottom of that you practally had to look straight up to see the top of the next hill, but we just kept on going. We finally made it to the beach after about 50 minutes. First we climbed a clif and threw our stuff behind this bush thingy. Then we all changed into shorts and played in the water, and found shells, and seaglass, and climbed all over sharp rocks, and cut up our feet and legs. Then we got bored playing on rockes, so we went to an actual beach and played in the sand and got really wet(it was raining part of the time, but it didn't make much difference, we were already pretty wet) , and so much fun stuff like. Keep in mind it is the middle of winter over here. So we were out playing in the water and these people would walk past in scarves and hats and give us really weird looks and stuff. We eventually had to pull ourselvs away from the beach and ride home. We were a little bit more wet on the way home, but it was fun even if it was mostly uphill the entire way.

Like I said IT WAS SOOOO MUCH FUN!!!

Zachary is going to put pictures up soon. So while waiting check out all of his other cool pictures.

Quotes of the post:
little boy "Daddy, can I go play in the water?"
his dad "No it is too cold!"
little boy "but they (pointing at tamara and I) are in the water"
Such bad examples us Americans.

Me " Look! Sea glass! I love sea glass!"
Benjamin "No look, I found shells!"
Zachary "You can see glass any day, but you certinly can't see shell"

About me

I apologize for the randomness of this post, but I really needed to update, and I don't have much to say really. Not much is going on in my life, well, that isn't really true. Check out Charitys blog to hear about my life.

Favorites

My Favorite smells

• Freshly baked bread
• trees
• mowed grass
• Christians
• my mom's brownies
• my grandma's pies
• lake water
• horses
• most any animals
• squishy pillows ( I don't know what they are really called, but the pillows with little tiny bean things inside that are all sorts of different shapes. )
• new books
• new cars
• leaves in the fall
• outdoors in the early spring morning
• hot coco after playing in the snow
• fresh tomatoes from the garden

My favorite sounds

• pulling out of a gravel driveway
• most any music
• dogs toenails on a hard wood floor
• AIO
• voices (especially my family's)
• leaves crunching underneath feet in the fall
• the noise before the 'do walk sign" in Australia
• horses hoofs pounding the ground, and their panting
• cats purr
• singing of psalms
• cameras
• dog barks
• kids laughing
• duct tape being pealed off the roll
• leaves in the wind
• squeaky swings
• flip flops
• talking into a fan
• lawn mowers
• Cole family gatherings
• the woods at night
• birds
• storms

My favorite things to feel

• horses
• dogs
• cats
• bunnies
• kangaroos
• mud between my toes
• water
• outdoors under bear feet
• snow
• fire on a cold day (not actually touching it)
• peoples hair
• rolling down hills in Australia (no chiggers)
• a mighty wind
• clay
• Charity's legs :)

My favorite tastes

• pizza
• American ice cream
• milo
• roasted American marshmallows
• burnt Australian marshmallows
• mountain dew (even if it doesn't have cafine in it)
• mom's hot coco
• veggies from the garden
• most any fruit
• warm cookies
• peanut butter and marshmallow cream
• warm salt water

My favorite sights

• my family
• my friends
• horses in a field
• country road
• hills with green grass covered in sheep or cows or horses
• SNOW ON CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!
• kittens cuddles up together
• sunrises
• sunsets
• the ocean
• water
• the woods
• kangaroos in the wild
• a full sanctuary at McKinnon church
• lightning while in an aeroplane
• big storms
• most any animal

My Favorite things to do

• hang out with friends/family
• go to church
• ride horses
• play with younger kids
• play with animals
• knit
• cross stitch
• read
• listen to AIO
• listen to music
• ride bikes
• swing
• watch movies with people
• explore anything
• shopping ( I have to be in the mood for it, but I wouldn't call it my very favorite thing to do)
• play guitar
• climb trees

Not so favorites

Smells

• wet dogs
• my hands after washing dishes
• moth balls
• sour milk

Sounds

• ticking clocks
• buzzing lights
• fingernails on a chalk board

Things to feel

• food particles in the bottom of the sink after draining the water after washing dishes
• crickets
• sticky hair

Taste

• grilled cheese
• tomato soup
• Turkish delight

Sights

• aero planes
• Chicago train station
• curdled milk

To do

• wash dishes
• clean bathrooms
• sleep in beds ( I prefer the ground or a chair)
• talk in front of people
• say goodbye

They are leaving on a jet plane

Today that missions team left to go back to America. :( I am going to miss them all soooo much. The past few weeks with them was a BLAST!! All but Eleni and my brothers departed this morning. It was sad to see them go, but I am sure they are looking forward to seeing their familys again. Pray for them all as they are heading back to America. Safe travels. And thank God for the blessing that there time was here. They were such a blessing to the churches here. They are all such godly examples to me. I hope to see them all again soon!


Bethany: don't forget your bible. You can sleep in my bed anytime!
Christie: I hope you get enought sleep. Don't go eating to many cookies and funnelcakes.
Luke: lets play the shoulder game, and sing my song
Tricia: You know who can't wait for you to get back? Don't annoy too many people with your didgerydo.

I LOVE YOU GUYS!

I hope you dance 

Lovin' might be a mistakeBut it's worth making
















I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance














I hope you still feel small When you stand by the ocean



















God forbid love ever leave you empty handed















May you never take one single breath for granted














You get your fill to eat
But always keep that hunger














I hope you never lose your sense of wonder

In just one week from now...

I will be hanging out with a bunch of youth ( SEVEN OF WHICH WILL BE THE MISSIONS TEAM!!!) at Dixons Creek! I am most excited about seeing my brothers. The day will never come soon enough. I am overly excited about it. We (Charity, Tamara, and I) are always talking about doing this and that when the boys get here. We have so many things planed for the missions team. It is going to be a GREAT three weeks! It will be fun to have some new Americans here, so people can make fun of them instead of us. :) JK! Next week is going to be so hectic getting everything ready for the missions team, but it will be worth it. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

To make things even better Charity, Tamara, and I are going to be spending this weekend with the Mickelsons girls from Geelong. We are going to there house for the night tonight, then tomorrow they are going to come home with us and stay till Sunday. It is going to be so fun.

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Sorry that I haven't updated in forever! I probable won't update much in the next month or so. With the missions team coming and all.

Another day, another round...

(or as we would say in America route) Charity, Tamara, Benjamin, and I all do this paper round. It is not the best paying money, but it is better then nothing. We do two rounds a week. About 625 newspapers, but we usually don't end up delivering all of them. Tamara and I ride on bikes with baskets on our handlebars. Charity and Benjamin walk, Charity pushing a cart. We usually get it done in about an hour. We always do it when the school kids get out though, and they like to make fun of us 'Weird American kids'. It is pretty fun though. I enjoy it. We actually get to talk to some people in out neighborhood if they happen to be in the yard when we deliver.

Joke of the post: NOTE THIS IS JUST A JOKE

Child:"Mommy Mommy! I keep going around in circles!"

Mother: "Be quiet or I will nail your other foot to the ground!"

"Mommy Mommy! My pigtails are too tight!"

"Mommy Mommy! Open the elevator doors!"

Quote of the post: Mom"Ed! You drank all the milk!"
Dad"No I didn't!"
Mom"There are about three drops left"
Dad" Well, one for me, one for you, and one for the kids to fight over"

Song ot the post: White Flag-Dido
-this song is for the Glover family (especially Matt and his beautiful singing of this song) I hope you like the song.

Random Question of the post: What is your favorite way to cook a potato?

• baked
• mashed
• boiled

how about an egg?

• scrambled
• fried
• boiled

Fridays

I LOVE THEM!!

Friday is my second favorite day of the week. (Sunday being my favorite) This past friday was a very busy, but very fun day. Like most every other friday in the past month, it was cold and rainy, but that didn't stop us from doing anything.

On Friday morning, we just did normal things like school. I am currently reading the Chronicles of Narnia which I really enjoy, and I had a math test which always takes less time then my lessons. So I got done with school relativly early.

After school was over, we were rushing around. I went to the shops with mom to get some groceries. We did it as fast as we could because we had to get home in less then an hour. We got done with plenty of time to spair, but we ended up getting lost on the way home, so we made it home 15 minutes later then we needed to be. When we got there, Justine and her children were all waiting for us.We hurridly unpacked the food, then jumped in vans and took off.

We were heading for a dairy farm. I know it sounds like such a homeschooler thing to do (but hey, I am one and I am proud to be one) but we were taking a field trip to a dairy farm. My mom started this homeschool group for Frankston people. We are going to take field trips with them. So this was the first one. The ride there was pretty fun. We listened to the beatels with Justine. When we got there, we had the best hot chocoalate that I have ever had. Then we went to watch to cows get milked. It was actually pretty intrestering to see. We didn't have a big enough group to have someone actually tell us all about it, so we just watched. We watched for about 20 minutes. When we were done with that, there was this little place where we got to hold animals like chickens and rabbits and gennie pigs, and a few baby cows. It was so neat. They were so cute. Soon after, we ended up leaving. The ride home was just as fun.

When we got home, we packed up and went to Benjamins footy. When we got there, we found out it was canceled because it was too wet. I was a little confused about that because it has rained almost every friday durring footy, and they haven't canceled it before, but it was ok. It ment more time at the Plukes.

We went to the Plukes to spend the night. Jackie took us home right after we didn't do footy. When we got there, we watched toy story 2 while we ate sausages and chips (aka hot dogs and frenchfries). After dinner, we (Charity, Tamara, and I) talked to Matthew and James (Casey wasn't home from work yet). It was fun. James and I tried to get them to play the chocolate game with us. They wouldn't do it though. Charity, Tamara, and Matthew stayed out around the fire and talked. James and I talked inside till he went to bed. Then I talked to Jackie till Casey got home. When she got home, we watched coach carter, and put on fake nails. It was very fun. We all put them on. We decided to see who could keep theirs on the longest. Charity took hers off the next day. Casey ( who actually only had 3 nails on to start with) and Tamara took theirs off on Sunday. I still have mine on. I am trying to keep them on till at least tomorrow, but I don't know if it will happen. When the movie was done, we all went to bed.

Altogerther it was a GREAT friday! Have a great week everyone!

Song of the post: "Me and Emily" by Rachel Proctor

Quote of the post: Charity-"we are going to a dairy farm? That is such a homeschooler thing to do"
Dad-" Charity, you had the choice to go to school."
Charity-"Are you kidding? I love being a homeschooler!"

After much extensive research.......

...We have come to the conclusion that the reason the ice-cream is so weird is all because of the kangaroos. That's right, it is the kangaroos fault. Maybe I should explain. Well, you see, the ice-cream is so weird because the milk is so weird. The milk is so weird because the cows are so weird. The cows are so weird because they jump around with kangaroos. So therefore, it is all the fault of the kangeroos.

Song of the post: " Your name here (sunrise Highway)" by Straylight run

Baskin Robins & Bagels

Last Thursday, we as a family went down to McKinnon to count houses. I know that sounds weird, but that is exactly what we did.
We are having a 60th anniversary service on the 30th of this month. (please pray that it will be a success) We handed out flyers today to all the people in the surrounding area. Well, we had to know how many flyers to make, so we counted houses. Charity and I walked together. We did a ton of walking and a ton of counting.
When we all finished our house counting, we went out for lunch. We stopped in at five different bakery's until we found one that had bagels. YEAH!!!! They have to be like my favorite food ever! When I had braces, I wasn't aloud to eat bagels. It was pretty sad to go 2 years without eating bagels. Here they are hard to find, they don't just sell them in any old grocery stores. We bought this bakery out of bagels (it was only about 20) Then we went to a store and bought meat, cheese, and cream cheese. It was the best lunch I have had in a long time!
Then after we had ate lunch, we went to Baskin Robins. It actually tasted like American icecream. It wasn't like what you would get at Baskin Robins in America, it was more like what you would buy in the grocery store in America. But at least it was American tasting. We all enjoyed it. Except for they didn't have cookiedough, so that was a bit disapointing, but it was still good.

Today, we had our work day at church for the 60th annaversery service that we are having at our church. We cleaned the church so it was sparkeling clean. Mr. McKeeman brought his vacuume. It was the kind that you put on your back and have a hose to vacuume with. I used it to vacuume out the sanctery. It was fun to use. Then we went flyer handing. Matt Pluke, Bethany Glover, and I all took one block. Matt would go on one side of the street, and Beth and I went on the other side. We handed out onehundred flyers. It was good. I only got three rejections, and Matt got four. I guess girls are a little less intemidating. I was a bit nerveous at first, but it wasn't so bad after a while. Hopfully we will have a good turnout next sunday.

Quote of the post:There's something soft and fluffy, and icy and cold
It's very nice to look at but much too cold to hold
Whether you're on an outing or spending time at home
You cannot eat this with your hands so put it on a cone

I love icecream...well, American icecream anyway

Dixons Creek

THIS IS A NEW POST!

I just wanted to make that clear having the same title as the last post, it might be a bit confusing.

Well, I know that I said that I would write all about Dixons Creek, but Charity wrote all about it on her blog, and most you you who read mine probably read hers too. So if you want to know all about it, read her blog. It was a blast. Also, we have a bunch of pictures put up from it. So go here to check them out. We put some up yesterday, but we are still putting more up. With five digital cameras tehre, we took a LOT of pictures. Enjoy them

Dixons Creek

For easter weekend. Friday through Monday. We (my family and I) are going to Dixons Creek for presbytery camp. In that it is a presbyterian camp, it is like covfamikoi, but otherwise, we are told to not expect anything like covfamikoi. It is more like camping. Because we don't have anything to camp in, we are staying in cabin type things. People bring campers/tents or sleep in the cabins. So it probably wont be as nice as covy, but I am sure it will be a TON of fun! We are all really looking forward to it. When We get back, I will post all about it. will take tons of pictures and put them on our picture website.

Speaking of pictures, we now all, but for Benjamin, have our own digital cameras.
My dad just bought a new one because he broke mine, and I broke his, so we were going to split the price, but when we got home he fixed both of the cameras, and we couldn't give the other one back. That made charity happy though, becuase my dad kept the new one and gave the old one her. I now have mine from Zachary, working. Tamara got one for Christmas. My mom and Allen both have ones on their phone. And of corse Zachary has his. Everyone who knows him knows that. So that is pretty cool. Maybe Benjamin will get one for Christmas. It is kinda weird for us all to have them, because we can always share, but this is pretty cool.

Sorry that I haven't updated for a while, I have been pretty busy latly, and I havent been on the computer latly.

Song of the post: Perfact situation-Weezer.

Quote of teh post: We were showing a picture of a kangeroo to Mr. Burns:
Mr. Burns:"Is that a Joey?"
Dad:"No more like a Joseph, it is a bit older"
That is such a dad joke, and I actualy don't find it very amusing, but maybe you guys will find it funny.

Footy

Today was again footy with Benji ( my brother) and James (Pluke). Our whole family went to support him. We girls actually ended up helping out a lot. We asked coach if there was anything that we could do to help. He let us hold the bag thing that the kids run into. (you can tell that I know a lot about football....NOT! I don't even though what it is called) It was very fun. There are about 20 or 30 kindergardeners, and about that many firstgraders. About 15 or so secondgraders. 5 third graders, 1 forth graders, and 2 fifth graders (Benji and James). The boys still enjoy it a lot I think. We girls had a ton of fun helping. They little kids are so cute! It was very fun to watch them. The secondgraders probably did the best job listening. The third through fifth graders were pretty honoree. They just enjoyed showing off. I learned several off the kids names, but I did have a bit of trouble. There were at least 4 Williams, and 6 or 7 Thomas'. There was this one boy, Joel, and he was a bit upset because I couldn't say his name correctly. I guess I just don't say it with an Australian accent. Overall, it was very fun to help out. When practice was ending, it started to rain VERY hard!!! All the kids went inside, but we girls continued to play in the rain. It was pretty amazing, because in one corner of the field, it was barely raining, and in the rest of the field it was poring!!! It was pretty amazing. I love playing in the rain. It was very cold, but very fun! We are going to volunteer every week, we all had a bunch of fun!

Well, my fingers are going numb, and my legs are shaking from the cold, so I had better end this post, and go in to get warm!

Have a great day everyone!

Quote of the post: "I can't wait to go play football with all the little kids, and squash them!"-James Pluke

The end

Well, it is the end of the blogging contest. This is my last post for the blogging contest. I don't know if I am happy or sad that it is over. I have to admit that it was a lot more fun then I thought it would be. Nathan, you did a great job organizing it. I am a little bit scared about the tourny, but I am sure it will work out ok. I think that I am relieved that I don't have to post every day anymore, but I will try to keep posting pretty regularly. I don't know how long that will last, but hey, I will try.

I should probably be trying to make my post very worthwhile, but hey, I am hoping that I will get comments beccause of a certin something that is happening today. *cough cough. Wink wink. Nudge nudge* Who knows why today is so special? Any takers?

Thats all for now folks!

God has blessed me...

God has blessed me with a wonderful family. I don't thank God as much as I should for my family, I know that. They are so wonderful!

I have two AMAZING parents.

My mom( or mum as the aussies say): Makes the best meals. She always wakes up early to make breakfast for me every morning. She is the best cook. My mom does so much for me. She is an amazing lady. I love her so much.

My dad: He is my hero. I would love to someday have a husband just like my father. He is such a loving father. I am so blessed to have been raised in a Christian home where my parents taught me so much about God. I love my dad!

God not only blessed me with two AMAZING parents, but also 5 WONDERFUL siblings!

Allen:He is the best older brother I could ever ask for. You know how there are some things that you just don't appreciate until they are gone? Well that is how I feel about my two older brothers. I love them so much and I wish that they were living with me right now, but I know that Lord willing I will see them soon. Allen is a great comforter. He is a great example to me in everything he does. He is my favorite oldest brother! I love him!

Zachary: He is such a sweet brother. He loves to tease us, but I know that it is all in fun. He is great at cheering me up when I am down. He is so funny in all that he does. He is such a giver. He has always been known in our family for giving the best gifts to his siblings! He is the best photographer that I know :)! He definitely takes classic pictures! I love him, he is my favorite older younger brother!

Charity: She is a great Sister. She is one of my best friends. I can tell her anything, and trust that she won't tell anyone. She is such a great example to me. She always helps me when I need it. She is a great friend to me. I love her so much! They best older sister that I could ever ask for!

Tamara: I have probably spent the most time with my sister Tamara out of all of my siblings. We always tell eachother everything! We have shared a room most of our lives, and have gotten to know eachother so well from those loooong late night talks. She is an amazing younger sister. I love her dearly!

Benjamin: He is the cutest little brother I could ever have. He is a typical younger brother. He loves to pester us, but that is just what he does as a little brother. I love playing with him. We have great fun on bike rides, playing at the park, and in just whatever we do. He is always a great playmate. I love my little brother, and I always will.

Thank you God for my WONDERFUL family! I love you guys!

Song of the post: I have been blessed-Martina McBride

Quotes of the post:Families are like fudge... mostly sweet with a few nuts. ~Author Unknown

I don't care how poor a man is; if he has family, he's rich. ~Dan Wilcox

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. ~Desmond Tutu

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. ~Jane Howard

I love all of these quotes. They are great.

Burnt Toast

We have the strangest toaster I have ever seen. We used to have to set it on 2 or 3 to actually get toast. Otherwise it would just be warm bread. Then, anything higher then 1 would burn it. Now, you put it on 1 1/2 or two. That is just the beginning of the weirdness. Sometime our toaster will pop the toast out, and it will just fly out of the toaster, so you find yourself looking everywhere for the toast. Sometimes the toast gets stuck down, so you have to dig in the toaster to get the toast. Sometimes it just pops up, not enough to make it fly, but not so little that you have to dig for it. We have a strange toaster. Today, Benjamin decided to try an experiment with our toaster. He decided to try to find out what would happen to toast if he set the toaster on 6. Well, we didn't even find out what would happen, because after a while, the smoke alarm went off, and we had to pop it up. It was the blackest toast that I had ever seen. It also left our house smothered in smoke. My dad said that he could smell it even before he made it to our house. We had to open all the windows in the house to let the smoke out. Finally our house got aired out. It no longer smells like burnt toast. Benjamin did actually end up eating the toast, after he scraped off most of the charcoal. It was an interesting day.

The rain is falling in Australia...

...And it is FREEZING cold. I think that we just skipped fall, and went right to winter. It is really weird when one week the temperature is in the 90's, and just the next week, it is in the 40's and 50's. How weird. We literally have been wearing our coats around the house. This morning we kids sat around in our living room (the only heated room) warming our selves. We got the winter clothes out today. It is going to be really weird having winter without snow. It is no fun to have cold weather without snow. Hopfully we will be able to go skiing in the mountains sometime this winter.
Three days till the end of the blogging contest. When this thing is over, I don't think I will continue posting every day, but I will try to keep updating pretty regularly. I will try at least once a week.
I know that this post is short, but I have places to go (like my living room) and people to see (like the Plukes). We have a record of seeing the Plukes for 17 days in a row. We are trying to keep our record going for at least twenty days. So far so good.

Quote of the post:As we are driving past cow pastures filled with cows...
Tamara-"WOW! Why do they need such tall fences for only cows? (the fences were literally 10 feet tall)
Charity-"haven't you ever heard of the cow that jumped over the moon?"

Song of the post:Don't worry be happy-Bobby Mcferrin
this song is for my brother Zachary. He is great at singing it to cheer us up when we are down.

Hey guys, We just wanted you to know that today, my dad was putting legs on the piano, and Charity got in the way, and it fell on her foot and crushed it. My dad rushed her to the hospital, and that is where she is now. We are hoping that there will be no perminate dammage in her foot. I will post further updates later.































April fools day!

A POST!

well, we were in the middle of watching the first LOTR, adn I remembered that I hadnt updated today. Well, I am going to try to make this post as worth while as possible while at the same time making it as short as possible.
Today we went to this homeschool group. We girls are all taking the same classes. We first did learn and earn. Basically you find out what sort of job is good for you, and you learn how to write a resama and all that good stuff. We took this test to find out what kind of job we should do, and I scored best in outdoors. I was looking at jobs, and I am thinking about doing something involving animals. I looked at horse training, and it really looks like something I would be intrested in, but I dont know if I will always think that. It is a pretty good class, and I bet I will learn a lot. Second I am doing guitar. I am the only one taking it. I have been intrested in it for a while, and I tried to teach myself, so I know some, but I am sure it will be fun to actually take lessons. Next we are doing this class called junk yard wars. It is based on the american t.v. show. It is very fun to do. We dont actually build stuff out of junk though, we use certin materials that the teachers pick out. Lastly we are doing Iresh barn dancing. We did it today, and it wasnt the best time of myi life or anything. It was ok, but we might end up switching to sport. I think that I am going to enjoy these classes for the most part though. Well, I better get back to my movie. Have a great day everyone!

Ok, we had absolutly now idea what this was when someone gave it to us. If you cut it open you know right away what it is, but I just wanted to see if any of you guys knows what this is. First off, is it a fruit or veggie? Second, what is the name of it. As far as I know, they dont have them in Indiana, but I am probably wrong about that. We just never saw one till we came here. They are really good as far as I am concerned.  

just to keep up my score

Ok, I know that I said I would do a real update today, but I really cant, so I will do a real live update tomorrow! look forward to it then.

It is funny how things change....

I was thinking today about all of the things that have changed from when I was younger. When I was little, I would never take pictures. I would save my film, and maybe take one picture a month, if that. Now that I have a digital camera, I take pictures like crazy. I take pictures most every day. When we were younger, we kids used to sit out and wait for hours for my grandparents to come. When we moved to Indiana, we wouldn't even necessarily come right to the door when my grandparents showed up. Just last year, I was very excited when my brothers moved out, because I got my own room. Now, I miss them like crazy and I wish they still lived with us. In Indiana, we barely knew our next-door-neighbors names, but here, we already know our neighbors, and we talk to them fairly regularly. At church, we used to talk to kids our age mostly, and almost never adults. It is funny how in a small church, you know everybody, and you talk to everyone. Five years ago, I was pretty bad at giving directions, I got severely people extremely lost. Now, my mom has me giver her directions. Just 3 years ago, in my wildest dreams, I wouldn't have dreamed of living in Australia, and now, here we are. It is funny how much things change. I love talking about old times, and how different things were.

savers
On Monday, we went to this store called Savers. It is A LOT like goodwill, and that makes us all really happy because we all LOVE goodwill. I will have to admit that goodwill is a little better, but it is cool to have a store like it. We went because everything in the store was 50% off. We all ,with the exception of Charity, got something. We three younger kids all got koala keychains with vests on that say I love Australia. They are really cute. Benjamin also got some hats and shoes for footy. I also got some pants and a top. My dad got a book. My mom got some dishes.

A Funny Story

This is a story that Benjamin had to read for school. I found it very amusing, but Benjamin didn't get it until I explained it to him. Tell me if you think that it is funny, and if it make since.

Why cows don't Fly

Leaving Ebeltoft church one Sunday, Peter and gunner walked down to the bay.

"You know,"said Peter, "it's very odd."

"What is?"

"About the birds. I often wonder about the birds."

Gunnar eyed the gulls patrolling the shoreline. "What about them? They're just birds, that's all."

"No, well, the preacher always talks about the ways of God being mysterious. What I cant understand is how birds get to fly."

"They fly because they're birds," said Gunnar. "That's what birds do. They wouldn't be birds if they didn't."

"No, what I mean is birds are little. They don't need very much. Yet God gave them wings and they can fly all over the place to get what they want."

"That's true enough," said Gunnar, watching the gulls.

"Now, cows are much bigger. They have to eat all the time. Yet here they are, stuck on the ground."

At that moment something splashed on Gunnar's upturned face.

"I just don't understand it," Peter went on. He was looking out over the bay. Gunnar wiped his face on his sleeve.

"Peter,"he said, "I think I know why God in his wisdom didn't give wings to the cow."

Prayer requests

Last night we had a time of prayer last night, and here are some things that you guys could pray about please. Your prayers are greatly appreciated.
1. Martin Lumly. He has Lymphoma cancer, and yesterday he got some tests done and they found out that it is something that he is going to have it permanently. Whenever it comes back, he is supposed to do radiation.
2. Matt Glover who has a rash from medication, and he is very uncomfortable. Please pray that it will go away.
3. Josh Glover-He cut his foot yesterday and had to get stitches.
4. Charity-she went to the doctor yesterday, and found out that she is stressed. She has been having lots of headaches and chest pains lately, and just that they will end. It may be from the move .
5. We are having a 60th anniversary celebration on April 30th. That it will go well. That a lot of people will come, and it will be a good success.
6. Norma McKeeman's brother Mervin- He fell off a roof. He is in the hospital in intensive care. He has a chest infection, and just pray that he will get over it soon. Also they have to take his blood pressure every 20 minutes, and it is really painful for him. Just that the pain would ease. He does have movement in his right arm which is a good sign.
7. Brett Mikelson(Josh McEwen's sister Alex's husband)-he goes to the Geelong church. He got his hand crushed. He is having surgery to shorten some of his fingers. Hopfully he will be able to keep his thumb and index finger and use them still.
8. For the missions trip that is coming here. Specifically for Allen and Zachary. That they can raise the money to get here, and that the details with school will be worked out.

I want to say thanks to everyone who comments on my blog. It really helps my score. I am hoping to end up in the top 10, and now it looks like that might happen. Thank you guys for all the support.

Well, I would say that this post is long enough to make up for the last two really short posts. Sorry that it is so long, I got a little carried away with it. I wont be offended if you don't read it all. I just felt like posting a post that people will just have fun reading, rather then a 'this is a post' type post. I will try my best to post worthwhile posts from now on.

Quick post

Ok, I am actually supposed to be going to bed right now, but I have to keep my record for updating every day since I said I would. Everyone have a great day today which is actually yesterday for us. I am just going to try to be in the top ten, that is my hope. I just need some comments to help me out. Check out the picture blog, if you haven't already, it is beautiful. Well, I really need to go to bed, so goodnight even though it is actually 6:30 in the morning there, so in that case, goodmorning to all you folks who actually get up at 6:30 in the morning. Oh, and if you didn't notice, all three of us girls have the same song on our blog now. It is really cool, and it is a GREAT song! Ok, for real now, good night/morning to y'all.

Camping

Yesterday we (The McKeemans, and our family)all piled into cars and ventured off on our first Australian camping trip. It was better then I expected it to be. On our way there...WE FINALLY SAWR(yes I put the R there on purpose, I am trying to sound Australian) A KANGAROO!!!! Actually Two! It was AMAZING!! We just saw them as we were driving up to the campsite. When we got there, we set up camp, then went to see the beach. I don't even have words to express how beautiful it was. The softest sand you have ever felt, the setting sun on the horizon, mountains in the distance, etc... It was amazing. We kids ran around and played in the sand, we found it amazing. We then had dinner of sausages. After diner we drank coffee, ate kettle corn, and sang some psalms. It was nice. We went to bed shortly after because we were playing on getting up early to go see some wildlife. We girls were all sharing a tent, and we were all a little hyper, so we laughed and sang (if you can call it that) until we fell asleep. Dad woke us up at 10 till 6. I know this sounds weird, but I just love the feeling of waking up in the morning when you are camping all sore and tired from sleeping on the ground, to the smell of the campground....Well, I just love camping! We kids, Dad, and Tony got into our can and headed off to see wildlife. We saw a field with 4...No! 5....No, there are two more, 7 kangaroos all together. We got out and took pictures of them. We drove further, and all together I think we saw about twenty all together. Some wallabys also, but it is hard to tell the difference. It was definitely worth getting up at 6. When we got back to the campsite, we met the Plukes (who had just arrived) and ate breaky. Then we went to the beach. Well all you guys back in Indiana are having snowball fights, and making snow angels, and going sledding, we here in Australia are having sandball fights, making sand angels, and going surfing (we really did) There wasn't good surf, so we didn't do much surfing. The Plukes taught us how to do it, so for the next time, we will know how, but mostly we just pulled each other around on a buggyboard. We ate lunch, then went to another beach on our way out. It was called squeaky beach because when you walk on the sand, it squeaks. It is pretty neat. There were also a bunch of rocks and we kids and Tony went rock climbing. Afterwards, we headed home. It was a GREAT camping trip. If you want to see pictures then go here

Can you believe it...

...Benjamin Carl Blackwood, my youngest brother, is going to play football with his good friend James Pluke. I know it is hard to believe, but I am sure it will be very cute. He sure doesn't act like a football player, he is scared of flies....Literally. I think that it will be fun to watch him play football. I don't expect him to be a 'great' player, but hey, he could surprise me. He is a wimpy little 11 year old who cant lift 5 pounds with out struggling. Ok, so he isn't that bad. He is a great little brother...Most of the time. I feel sorry for him a lot of the time because he is the only boy left at home.

In other news,today and tomorrow we are going camping for two days. We are going to this place call Wilsons prom. We are hopfully going to see kangaroos and koala bears. We are also going to learn how to serf. It will be so fun I am sure. We are going with the McKeemans, and three, maybe four of the Plukes (Matthew, Casey, James, and maybe Bret). We are all Really excited about it. When/If we see kangeroos, I will be sure to put a picture up ASAP!! I love you all.

Quote of the post: Benjamin-squeals like a little girl
Charity:Benjamin are you ok.
Benjamin:Yeah, there was a fly (in a horrified voice)
Dad:I give you...Benjamin the brave

Tea Parties

Today, Miss Casy Pluke and her brother James came over for a visit. They brought with them a blueberry tea cake. It was actually a big blueberry muffin, or so I thought. Benjamin and James ran off outside, and we girls sat down to have cuppas. We decided that we should have a tea party. We made tea in our teapot, we got out the tea cups, tea, sugar, milk, blueberry muffin, and some icecream to go along with it. It was very fun. It has been quite a while since I have had a teaparty. It was very fun. We started talking about our mothers, and the garden, and all of that good teaparty talk. It was very fun. I love tea parties, and I wish I could have them more often. We all had a very fun time.

Quote of the post:Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things.
-Chaim Potok

Song of the post:My Front Porch Looking In-Lonestar

Please pray

I would really appriciate it if you guys would keep in mind a man from the church here in your prayers.
Martin Lumly has cancer. He had it before, but it has come back for a second time. He almost died last time not really from the cancer, but more from the treatments. He and his wife are a great blessing to the church. Pray that God will give him strength to get through this. Pray for the doctores as they treat him, that God will give them wisdom to know what to do. Pray for his wife Jan Lumly, and his three daughters. One of his daughters goes to our church, Justene. I am not sure if his other daughters are Christians or not, but if not, please pray that they will come to recognize Christ as their savior. Also please pray for the grandchildren. Justene has three young children, James, Beth, and Josh. I can't even imagine what it is like for them to see their grandpa sick.


If you could just remember Him in your prayers, I am sure that they would both really appriciate it a lot.

The ever dirty room

We have problems keeping our room clean. It is hard having three girls all in one room. We have so much stuff in our room, but not enough places to keep it all. We don't want to get rid of our stuff, but we just don't have room for it all. It seems like every time we clean our room, it stays clean for only a few hours or sometimes not even that long. When I shared a room with Tamara, it was dirty a lot too, but when I had my own room, even though it was such a short time, it was always clean. I decided that it must not be my fault that the room is dirty, but my sisters. JK! I know that that is totally not true, because my stuff often is all over the floor, and my bed is not always made. Do other people have these problems, or do we just live in an ever dirty room? That is my question of the post.

Quote of the post:
Charity"We really need to clean our room"
Tamara"I tried, but it didn't work"

Sunglasses (or sunnies as the Aussies say)

Today I decided that I don't like wearing sunglasses. I wore them most of the day today, because we were out in the sunshine. Whenever I would take them off, I would see how bright the world really is. I would be so used to wearing them, and I would just think that the world looked like it did through my sunglasses. When ever I took them off, I would discover how bright and beautiful the world really was.

Giving money to people (espescially Australian people) who really don't want it is harder then I thought. We borrowed (or hired as the Aussies say) some movies from blockbuster on the Plukes membership, and we kept them for was too long, so the were very overdue. We told the Plukes that we would pay for them, but they wouldn't have it. We gave it to them, and they tried to sneak it in to a bag that was our so we would bring it home. My mom discovered it, and we put it inside one of the DVD's, but Jackie discovered it there, and so she casually dropped it in our van window when we weren't looking. As we were pulling out, I asked Jackie if she had the money "Yeah. Thanks!" she replied. I wasn't so sure I believed her, so I asked her to show it to me, but she just went in side with out responding. I then looked in the van and saw it. I told mom to pull almost to the road, and I grabbed it, ran in side, dropped it inside their door, yelled goodbye, and ran to the van. I jumped in, and my mom pealed out of the driveway, with James Pluke running behind waving the money in his hand. We actually got it to them, but it sure was a lot of trouble.

My blog is having heaps of troubles at the time, so I dont know if anyone will be able to even read this. I am going to take the song off, and see if that helps.

Ok, from now on to the end of the blogging contest, I am going to try to post every day except for Sunday. I don't actually know how long that will last, but hey, I will try.

Quote of the post: Keep your head twards the sunshine and the shadows will fall behind you.

At the mall

Today, my parents were gone most of the day. We kids had to get Charity and Tamara birthday presents, so we decided to go to the mall. We all hopped on bikes, and headed off. We made it there safly, although we had a little trouble finding the place. When we got there, we walked around a trillion different stores. We found Tamara her present ( I better not say what it is just in case she reads this), but we couldnt find anything for Charity. We looked and looked and looked, and finally in the last store that we looked in, we found something for her. Why is it always that you find things in the place you look?:)(think about that one, it is really confusing to think about) We thad been there for about 3 hours, but it was fun. When we were FINALLY done, we all rode home. We didnt exactly get lost, because I knew where we were the whole time, but we did go the wrong way, and had to turn around go the othere way. In the end, we got home safly with no more trouble.

Quote of the post:
Dad"Me and mom went shopping."
Me"Did you buy anything?"
Dad"No we just went window shopping."
Benjamin"We need new windows?"
Charity"The computer is broken?"
Benjamin thought that he was talking about buying windows, and charity thought that we were talking about windows XP

Adventures in Odyssey

Ever since I can remember everyone in my family has LOVED Adventures in Odyssey. They are great. We now listen to them ALL the time. We enjoy saying quotes from them. People may say that they are childish and dumb, but we all love them. When we lived in Evansville, we used to listen to them every day after school on the radio, and we would record them so we could listen to them whenever we wanted. When we moved to Indianapolis, we discovered Adventures in Odyssey on the Internet. Now we listen to them all the time, but especially on Sunday nights after church while eating supper. Charity, Tamara, and I have been listening to them every night before we go to bed. They don't have the Audio adventures here, but we can still listen to them on the Internet. They do have the videos here, but we all like the Audio ones better.

Quote of the post:
Whit"I can see you have never heard the story of Jameson Shoemaker. He was an Indiana farmer."
Tom"Was? I take it then he is no longer with us."
Horace"Where did he go?"
Connie"He died Horace."
Horace"Oh!"
Whit"Well, it is only natural. He lived more then 100 years ago."
Horace"Wow, if he were alive today, He would be dead."
Connie"Very good."

Check out our picture blog, we updated it.

happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to them,
Happy Birthday to them,
Happy Birthday to Charity and Tamaraaaaa
Happy Birthday to them!!

Today is Charity's 16th birthday and Tamara's 13th Birthday, so go to their blogs and tell them happy birthday!

Song of the post:Older-They Might Be Giants

At age 14, I, Maria JoAnn Blackwood, am officially...

...Going gray. Well ok, it all started two Sundays ago when charity was looking through my hair, and she found two gray hairs. I told her not to pull them out because supposedly for every gray hair you pull out, two grow in its place. She pulled them out anyway. Well it must be true, because yesterday Charity was straightening my hair, and she found 4 gray hairs. They actually weren't exactly gray, they were more a silvery white. I think that that is better then gray.

Washing the dishes
Washing the dishes used to be my least favorite job ever. But now...Well it is not my least favorite job ever. I guess I must have just gotten used to it. It doesn't bother me so much anymore. I work a lot better when I am working with music. I love listening to the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack when I am working with Benjamin in the kitchen because he sings along, and he can actually do it pretty well. I also like washing the dishes when tamara rinses, because we get a lot of time to talk about everything. It is fun.

Going under...way under
Today Benjamin and I went under the house in the crawl space. He first crawled under from one end of the house, all the way to the other. He got all dressed up in jeans, tennis shoes, and a long sleeve shirt. We tied some twine to his shoe, and he went under. We put our computers out into our weird American kids club house, but the only way to get internet access to our shed was to put a cord from our living room(because it is the only room that gets internet access) to my dads office and then we have an intenna to point to my dads office. We put the cord under the house. First Benjamin crawled under to get the cord under the house. He then crawled back out with the cord. Then we both had to go back under to nail the cord up. We went all the way to the other end of the house to nail it up. When we got there, we found out that Benjamin had accidentally left the hammer behind somewhere. I sent him back to get it. He eventually found it, and brought it back. We nailed the cord up. We were in there for almost two hours total. When we got out, we were both COVERED in dirt. We will try to put up pictures on our picture website soon.

Funny Quotes

Bethany: "Our neighbor stole our rope."
James: " Yeah, he doesn't know the 10 commandments."

Mrs. McEwen:"What do you call instant pudding?"
Carolyn:"Pudding right now."

Bethany handed tamara a jar of beads...
Tamara:"Sweet!"
Bethany:"No they aren't sweet, they are beads!"

Joshua had just spilled a glass of juice, and tamara was refilling his cup...
Tamara"Do you want more or are you good?"
Joshua:"Well I am good holding this cup, and I am good at drinking out of a big cup..."

Charity tried to talk to Jon, but he ran away from her.
Charity:"I am so sad, I really want Jon to be my friend, but he is scared of me or something."
Casey:"Its your nose...Its too big"

Charity:"I have been getting eating habits off of our shipping crate box. It said use long forks, so I switched forks."

Here in Australia they call the last day of the meal tea. Benjamin and I went over to the Glovers...
Matt:"You can come it, we are just eating tea."
Benjamin:"How do you eat tea?"
Matt:"Good question....With a knife and a fork"

After we had finished eating salami (bologna) ...
Charity:"I'm so full of Bologna"

Home

We got our shipping crate today. We had a ton of stuff. We unload several things, but we still have several boxes both full and empty laying around It feels more like home now that we have our things in our house, and not just borrowed things. There is so much that just makes it feel more like home such as pictures, dishes, books, etc. There are some things that we wish we hadn't brought, and something that we were hoping were in it, but now know we left at home because of lack of space. We have a ton of belongings, and I don't know where we are going to put it all. Hopfully we will get it all set up soon. It will probably take all week at least, but when it is all set up we will be home. We have this picture that my grandfather painted, and in Indiana we had it hung in our living room, and when we opened that box and put up the picture above the mantle in our living room, it just made our house feel like home. When we finally get everything in the house set up, we can start to set up our Weird American Kids Clubhouse (aka W.A.K.C.) That will be so cool when we do get that set up.

We will try to update our picture website soon with picturers of our house now, and of other events that have happened in our life in Australia.

Random question of the post: Is spinach better cooked or raw?

Quotes of the post: Me-"I sent you an email today"(talking to Elizabeth Enas)
Elizabeth: "Well than I probably won't get it until tomorrow"
Tamara and I found that funny, but maybe you had to be there.

Dad:"We can start having people over now that we have our house"
Me:"We didn't have our house before?"
Dad:"Nope, it was in a box"

Its down

Well, today we had a power surge, and our computer completely shut down, and the internet is not working at all. I don't know how soon it will be up and running, so I don't know if I will be able to post every day anymore. If we don't get it fixed, we girls might ride down to the library, or some friends house (which is what I am doing right now) and update. I want to stay in the contest, but I will probably end up losing.

We are probably getting our shipping crate tomorrow, so we are all really excited about that, but I am sure it will be a very hectic day. We are hoping that noting got broken or ruined. We aren't even sure what all is in it, we are hoping that we remembered to put some things in it, but I guess that we will just have to wait and see.

Charity, Tamara, and I have been trying to either run or bike every day, and so far we have done a pretty good job. Hopfully we can keep up the good work that we have done so far. I enjoy both running and biking, and I think that we all do and will continue to do a lot of it here. We are close enough to run, or at least bike to everyone in the Frankston church's house. It is really cool.

Have a great day everyone, and good going to everyone who is in the Blog contest. Make sure and give charity lots of comments, because I am rooting for her to win. God Bless.

Navigator

Ever since we have been in Australia, my new job is navigator. My dad likes to give me the map when ever we go anywere. It is kind of fun to read maps, but kind of scary to know that if we get lost, I will probably be responsable. I guess I should be happy that my dad and mom trust me to get them places rather then one of the other kids, but it gets kind of annoying when I have to go somewere with my mom just so I can direct her there and back. I think that I have done a pretty good job considering I have only gotten us lost twice, and both times I also got us back on track. I like that I know my way around though. It really is a good thing to know.

Quote of the Post: Me-"Why do I have to get mom home, why can't Charity?"
Dad-"Mom would probably be better off by herself trying to get home, then with Charity trying to help her"
-So said my father to me when I had to go somewere just to get my mom home

Random Question of the Post: Is is better to squeeze the toothpaste from the middle of the tube, or the bottom?

It's started

Today is the first day for the blog contest, and this is my first post. It actually, I don't think, has begun for people back in the US yet, we here in Australia are just the privileged ones, and we get to start before everyone else. If you want to join, it is not to late. For complete rules go here. I am not expecting to win because I probably wont be able to update every day, because our computer doesn't always work, and I don't get nearly as many comments as several other people in the contest. I just think that it will be fun to do. I cant wait to see who does win though.
To everyone who is in is have fun.

You know you're a Blackwood when...

• You know how to argue by the time you're 2 years old.
• When you're upset with someone, you simply say their name in a disapprobing/disgusted way.
• You've actually eaten green eggs and ham.
• You carry your Bible in the box that it came in.
• Your scedule gets all messed up if you dont have Frideay night pizza and Saturday morning chocolate-chip pancakes with peanut butter and syrup
• Your birthday just isnt a birthday without monkey bread.
• Nearly every phrase reminds you of a song (and you start singing the song out loud)
• Thr front row of your church is often filled by you and your family.
• You're late to everything except for church.
• You're known by nearly all RP'ers as "Ed's kids"
• Pouring/spilling water/food on somone is a common accurance during dinner
• You're very easily entertained.
• Your disagreements often go something like this...

"Allen, you are wrong"

"No, Zachary you are wrong"

"Allen, no you are wrong"

"Zachary, No! Zachary you are wrong" etc

• While driving along in the car with your siblings, you enjoy loudly singing along to weird music and bobbing you heads back and forth in rythem with the music
• You've always Loved "Adventures in Odyssey" and often quote lines from them
• You're used to at least six people talking at once.
• One of your favorite things to do with people is tell them your life stories for hours and hours
• your big vacation of the summer is covfamikoi
• You start crying when you hear the words "look at your feet" and "put your hands on the bed"
• You think the shoulders on the side of the highway are for spanking kids.

Feel free add on