August

We are all back now and Em is well and now looking for some work to help with going off to Uni in Sydney next year.
The trip to Vanuatu was great and in a week we got a good look around and met some really great people.

Our nurse friends Lucy with help from Karen did a wonderful job looking after sleeping beauty. Lucy said she felt stretched at times but learnt to become more dependant on God and so really found it worthwhile and enjoyable.
Thank you for all of your prayer during this time.

Spring starts tomorrow and we are sure glad that the winter is over. It has been a long cold dreary winter this year but we are thankful to our friend Darryl from church who gave us two ute loads of wood for the fire. Our fire has hardly gone out day or night for the last 4 months now.
We thank God for our lovely house and little block.

The fruit trees are all starting to bud so it is Ange's favourite time of year in the garden.
Our sheep are all lambing at the moment which is exciting to see new life and even twins.
It is interesting to see all of the behaviour that the sheep display when there is a new birth. The ewe makes herself a "nest" and isolates herself from the flock and they check on her every now and then but somehow know to stay away. When they are born the other ewes will come down and get aquainted with much excited baaing and then leave her alone again and she stays with the lamb for several days before she rejoins the flock. This is a really strong time of bonding between the ewe and lamb and they make noises to each other that they never do at other times. There is a lot to contemplate here for an agriculturally minded Christian.....
I've heard people say you can't learn more about God from nature - ie His creation but only from His word- i don't believe it - The heavens declare the glory of God , night after night they pour forth speech... Can you not learn about an artist from his artwork?

God is so willing to reveal himself to us if we will have ears to listen.

Wed 15th July

Hi Georgie has been on the whole better of late than she used to be. She is coughing a lot the last few days again which is hard for her. Normally now unless she actually has a wog she is pretty settled and comfortable. We get her up in a special chair for about 6 hrs a day. She is more aware at times and definitely aware of our comings and goings and noises going on around her. Without the extra home help we find we can do the bare essentials for her but that's all. It is such a huge strain at times. It feels like our lives are shortened but God knows our feeble frame doesn't He? He provides so much. His word is so rich and so full of His love for us. Glory be to God for His faithfulness. He never tires, He does not sleep that He may watch over us. One day He will gather us all together like chicks under his wings. He cares so much you know In His very essence He is love. Slow to anger, abounding in love.
I've been building some fences at home and I was drilling right through a big iron bark post this morning and you know that tree had probably lived for fifty years and you could see all of the growth rings but then as I drilled through there would be hard layers and then soft layers. The years where the rings were close together were hard to get through and the tree had not expanded much. Those hard years made the tree tough.Then there were good seasons where the tree grew more quickly but they were softer. He spoke to me of the seasons in our lives, the hard times and the easy times and sometimes when we can feel we will almost die, (just like David said "my soul thirsts for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water") times when we battle just to get through but He keeps us nourished when we put our roots down into His good soil. Please keep praying for us.
Ange is a great mum.
We are missing Em a lot after 4 months now and her help too but know she is doing a great job over in Vanuatu. She is planning to go to Sydney Uni next year to study.