Jerome writes:
We had a great day celebrating Molly's 6th birthday last Tuesday. We had pancakes for morning tea in the camp kitchen of the caravan park, and everyone there sang "Happy Birthday" to Molly! Then we went to an awesome playground. We spent some time there, running to the car to avoid the rain and then enjoying the sunshine that followed. After that we came home for a swim in the pool and spa, then we had a nice dinner and invited another family to come and have ice creams with us for dessert (we had helped them celebrate their daughters 5th birthday the day before!).
We enjoyed the sunny weather of Merimbula until Friday and then we headed south out of New South Wales and along the east coast of Victoria. We suddenly realised we were travelling west and there was a cheer as we realized that it is pretty much all westward from now!
We stayed a night at a showground in the town of Sale, then on Saturday, we headed on to visit the McKenna's, some friends of ours that moved to Victoria four years ago, they used to go to Livingstone when it first started. We planned to stay at the McKenna's a couple of nights and we drove off road and up hill and down to find their place. Their property is set amongst rolling green hills and pastures, with a river that winds its way at the bottom of the hills, it is a beautiful place, a real sanctuary of peace.
It was great to catch with with the McKenna's, all their children have grown up so much since we saw them last. We played lots of games together and one game I played a game with Joise, Hannah, James and Isaac is called the 60 seconds tabletop game, you had to speak continuosly for a minute on a certain topic, without saying 'um' or 'ah' or pausing. There were some great topics, including 'Excuses for being late' and 'What to do when you're stuck in an elevator'!
The McKenna's have quite a zoo, including 6 cats, two dogs, cows, 2 bunnies, and chickens! On Sunday, we had a fellowship time with them in the morning, which was great. The kids all play a musical instruments, James and Danielle play the piano, Hannah plays the flute and Isaac plays the violin.
We went for walks up and down hill being careful not to touch the electric fences that kept the cows in! We felt we were very blessed to spend time with such great people and enjoy the fellowship of likeminded godly friends who inspired us and with whom we enjoyed lots of fun.
Looks and sounds great Jerome, your writing is getting better all the time.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Molly, is there any cake left?
It's funny when you're travelling, no matter how good a time you may be having there is still a great feeling when you get home and your cheers at heading west reflect that. By the time you get there it will have been a very long trip. You are very blessed to have had the opportunity, what an abundance of memories and experiences you'll have to look back on.
Hey Birchy, you missed a fantastic night last weekend. No, not the Cats and the Dockers at the G, although that was pretty good!
Cam and Broadie organised a surprise dinner for me as a "Farewell to Chaplaincy lap of honour" at SU house. It was truly wonderful (and a complete surprise, I was literally gob-smacked!!) I thought my chances for that sort of event were Buckley's and nil after the way chaplaincy finished for me so to be blessed and honoured in such a way by a group of friends and colleagues was very special and incredibly humbling.
I received an apology from you. I don't know if Broady just made it up (as if he would do something like that!) but I prefer to think that they let you know about it and of course you were unable to be there. I know you would have been if you'd been home. I felt like you were there. You stood by me and supported me when I hit the depths. Your friendship and respect is something I value very highly. And of course, I love your family.
We are less than three weeks from D-Day and although lots of things are falling into place (job, house, finance) there is a LOT still to do and not much time to do it. It would have been helpful if Paul didn't have a soccer Grand Final in Marg R at 9.00 on Sat and then we didn't have my niece's wedding to go to in Perth at 2.00!!!! Not quite sure how we'll manage that! Big family gathering in Perth on the weekend though so that will be great, and a bit of a goodbye for us as well.
Can't finish without saying Carn the Cats, gee I hope we beat Collingwood on Friday night!
Take care Birchies and may God continue to bless your journey.
Much love
Marcus