Happy 2nd Birthday Emma Gracie!

We love our girl. And she loves us. She had a splendid day today. BOTH sets of grandparents were present for her birthday this year. It's very special because it's unlikely to happen ever again - since both sets of parents live very far away from each other!

It has been a blessing to grow and learn with Emma Grace. I've learned heaps about little children, how they think, how they learn. I've also learned heaps about myself and the amazing grace of God! My greatest desire for our children is to see them come to know the Lord as their Saviour. It has been a joy to see her increased understanding of God this year. Of course it is so limited - how can you explain the unseen to a child? But she understands that we love her and we tell her God loves her more than we do, and that we love God more than we love anyone else. She is learning that she has a 'bad heart' or 'naughty heart' and that Jesus is the only one who ever had a 'good heart' which is why we need Him. She recently told me that Rachel (her doll) was having a good day because she had a 'happy heart'. She will also report to me during the day "I have a happy heart mummy". Which is something we strive to encourage Emma to have when she needs to practice self control against her sin nature. We are so very thankful to God for blessing us with the task of raising her and for the 2 years He has given us with her so far.

So...happy birthday to my beautiful daughter, Emma.

The 'Flood Victim Shop'

This piccy shows our bedroom

It’s really tiring going to the supermarket to constantly do ‘big shops’ in order to set up a pantry again. It’s starting to get embarrassing. It’s coming together, but there’s quite a few standard recipes I like to make that have common pantry ingredients, which I'm missing. Oh wait, I don’t have the recipe books anymore either. NUTS! That’s really annoying. sigh. oh well, what can you do? back to the grocery store . . .last week I bought PILLOWS from the grocery store. I’m not sure if this is common in other countries, but I never even knew you could purchase bedding from a grocery store. Tea towels, yes. but pillows?! who knew. Apparently not many folk, because I had tonnes of people look at me, doing double takes with a very confused face as if to say “you have pillows in your grocery basket . . . .huh?” Anyway, my in-laws are sleeping on them this week so I’ll learn from them if grocery store pillows are worth the embarrassment of purchasing them.

Brisbane Floods, January 2011

We were affected by the floods in Brisbane last month. I left the house on Tuesday morning the 11th with the children because the driveway was going to be flooded and we needed to get the car out. I had a Dr appointment that morning and as we definitely wouldn't be able to get back into the driveway, I packed overnight bags for the children and myself and took some laundry over to my mums house to be productive while we were out of our house.

Oh how little we knew at that moment.

Lyle and I discussed what we would do, he decided to stay there the night because even if the worst happened the next door neighbour had a boat he was going to stay in.

As the day progressed I received a call from my brother telling me to go to his place because he knew I wouldn't get into our place and we assumed mum and dads house would also be affected.

I spent the afternoon there and the kids loved hanging out with their cousins, although they were driving us a little nutty only being inside from the rain.

In the afternoon my brother and Lyle rocked up and said they heard it's going to be worse than the '74 floods. We've seen photos of our area from the 1974 floods and it wasn't good. In fact we could only see roof tops.

We all made some quick decisions, meanwhile my parents who were by all accounts were 'stuck' in another town and technically were unable to return to Brisbane . . .interestingly they rocked up at the driveway . . .I don't envy my mum that drive with my father!

All said and done Lyle managed to get 100% of all we needed out of the house - mainly paperwork and documents. We spent the night in a unit and following the announcement that the streets in that area may be affected and the power switched off we made the decision to move again. The first evacuation was necessary, the second was precautionary. But it was a good decision. We stayed with friends who were more than accommodating and blessed me personally with an awesome example of hospitality. We were there for over a week I think.

It's been heartbreaking for me to move the way we moved. But the Lord's providence is good. He is kind and gracious beyond compare. We are now in a place that suits our needs better than our old place and we have been witnesses to the staggering kindness of God through our brothers and sisters in Christ. We have a beautiful lounge suite, an incredibly comfortable bed and Emma has never seen more new toys at once . . .ever! And for now, they're all hers.

Flood Mud

Flood mud is worse than regular mud. It’s contaminated and smelly. I didn’t have the opportunity/chore of cleaning up the house and all its muddy contents the day after the flood (having small children really is a complete, full time job). I’m thankful I didn’t go, but at the same time I’m quite sure it’s taken me longer to comprehend what happened there. I’m glad for the photo’s that Lyle took, it’s helped me gain at least some understanding of how disgusting it all was. Our DVD collection was placed in a crate and is sitting downstairs in our new place. I’ve been rummaging through it a little to take out the DVD’s and throw away the cases. Some of the mud is still wet and as I got stuck into it for the first time I just thought ‘ewwwww’. Not teary though. It’s interesting the things that make you cry when you have this experience. Not the mud, it’s just gross.