Abbie's new look

There is not alot of new news. R.T. had Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off of work. It was great having him home. He was a great help in teaching Abbie about Ceasar Augustus. R.T. and I are planning a trip to Hobart (Tasmania, AU - feel free to look at this one on a map) We will be leaving at the end of Feb. and we will be gone just for 3 nights. We are using the excuse of our upcoming 14th anniversary to do this trip alone.
The biggest news is that Abbie got her hair cut. This is always a hard thing for the boys in our family to take, but in the end it is all worth it. Abbie is growing up into such a special, beautiful girl. God has completely blessed her with the gift of hospitality. Last Saturday morning, I came in from my long run about 7:00 and she was standing on a chair making homemade yeast waffles. I went about my business and a while later she served up a hot, fresh, yummy breakfast.
On friday morning the kids did childcare for our MOPS program at church. Cas and Abbie entertained 12 - 2 year olds for 2 1/2 hours (with the help of a few adults). Cas said the hardest thing was the short attention span of a two year old. They came away feeling exhausted, but with a great feeling of accomplishment.

Weekend at the lake

We spent this past weekend at the lake. It is actually a salt water and a fresh water lake. Supposedly, you can walk across it as it is not very deep. I am going to let the pictures do the talking....


R.T. got to take a catamaran out on the lake


we introduced smores to our friends. I ordered the graham crackers and the Hershey bars as I cannot get them in the local market. They seemed to be enjoyed by all.



a wild roo. We still get excited when we see one

just a good picture of a good looking kid

These are our dear friends. I think that we are going to kidnap them and bring them back to the states.

the kids - learning to Kayak. It was a great place to learn. When they were having struggles, R.T. could just walk out and help them

The next few pics are of the queenlander that we stayed in. We were disappointed to learn this weekend, that they take a lot of up keep. R.T. and I really enjoy the design.

Natural Disasters

We have been getting some questions about the natural disasters currently happening in this country. The word that we are getting is that 60% of the state of Queensland is under water. We live in the state of Queensland, but we are still experiencing a drought. North Queensland (approx 12-20 hours from here) has been having rain every day since Christmas - some days it is up to 7-8 inches. Please pray for this situation.
Down south in the state of Victoria (this is about a 2.5 hour flight from us) there are forest fires. The news we hear from them has been devastating. Many have lost their lives. A town called Maryville was completely vaporized. Unfortunately, this town has many close connections to our friends at church. Our pastor lived there and took care of a camp for kids...it is gone. This town has river walks, cute candy stores, business etc. It is all gone. Our friends have a friend who saw the fires coming and he jumped in a ditch to save his life; unfortunately, his wife and child died. This is so tragic. Please pray for our adopted country and our dear friends who are saddened by such great loss.

Slip, Slap, Slop

Cas and his board


Abbie taking a break from the surf

R.T. caught a big wave

Abbie is coasting after catching a wave

Letitia enjoying the surf

Cas and his wave

Three cheers for the Aussie lifeguards

Helicopter rescue demonstration

This is the Aussie Skin cancer motto. "Slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen and slap on a hat". 1 in 2 people get skin cancer. We have found that we put on sunscreen and have to reapply every 1 -2 hours to prevent getting burned.

This past weekend we went to another beach. We arrived in time to see the lifeguard rescue demonstration/practice and then Abbie got a bad cut on her toe and the lifeguards got to practice on her. Daddy saved her from getting stitches by going down to the local newstand and getting some super glue.

Going back to the lifeguards....we have been impressed with how serious Aussies are about keeping their beach goers safe. When Abbie got her injury, we had 4 lifeguards around us within about 2 minutes. They have a swim area marked on the beach and within that area they have guards in the water, on the shore and on a tower with binoculars.

While at the beach, we perfected the art of boogie boarding. You can see from the pictures that we all enjoyed the surf....maybe a bit to much.