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.