Internation Conference bible quize bowl '04

All of us in Pigtails '05

GCA awards '04

Hat day

Blackwood Family Reunion '05

ECHO '05

Covfamikoi '05

Dance on Tap (aka Clogging) at the State fair with Faith Hovee and Grandma and Katy!

halloween/Grandpa Coles birthday

Cole Thanksgiving '05

Winter Conference '05

Christmas '05

I love the Manns!

goodbye to SSRP

Moving

Goodbye to America and Hello to Australia

Happy New Year

Eating spiced popcorn
drinking ice water
it is raining

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM AUSTRALIA!!
(for all yous still in America weare totally a year ahead of you.)

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.