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| CHRISTMAS 2005 |
| Here we are in Australia again celebrating Christmas already! It has been an eventful year for us. After completing the season on a dairy farm in Lichfield, Waikato, New Zealand, we packed up yet again, this time bound for Brisbane, Australia! We enjoyed a comparatively mild winter here - blessed relief after winter in the South Waikato where the frosts were so hard that the milking plant froze up! In September we were blessed with a daughter! Gabrielle Faith was born via c-section at Nambour Hospital, Queensland - our first Aussie baby! Her cousin Joshua is delighted to have another Aussie in the family! Gabrielle is a very settled baby and much loved by her mummy and daddy and her four sisters! Since coming to Australia we have begun making wooden toys and ornaments. It's a fun hobby and one that soon pays for itself. We have made some sales by going door to door and also at the local markets. God has been drawing us closer to Him and together as a family as we settle again in a new land. Although similar in many ways to New Zealand, it is still a challenge to relocate to a different country. We have been studying the roots of Australia - it is amazing to realise that the first european to sight Australia (a Portugese Navagator named Pedro Fernandez de Quiros in 1606) named this land, "La Australia del Espiritu Santo" literally "Southland of the Holy Spirit". He went on to dedicate not only Australia, but as far as the Pole to the Holy Spirit! What an amazing heritage! We are glad to be here in La Australia del Espiritu Santo! |
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| Gabrielle Faith - 7 weeks old |
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| Dingo - taken at The Big Pineapple, QLD |
| Acting as pilgrims after reading "Little Pilgrims Progress". |
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| Doesn't really need a caption - it's a Koala! |
| Here is the Aussie Version of Jingle Bells! Dashing through the bush, in a rusty Holden Ute, Kicking up the dust, esky in the boot. Kelpie by my side, singing Christmas songs, It's summertime and I am in my singlet, shorts and thongs! Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way Christmas in Australia, on a scorching summers day! Hey! Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut! Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden Ute! Engines getting hot; we dodge the kangroos, The swaggie climbs aboard, he is welcome too. All the family's there, sitting by the pool Christmas day the Aussie way, by the B-B-Q! Come the afternoon, grandpa has a doze The kids and uncle bob are swimming in their clothes! The time comes 'round to go, we take the family snap We pack the car and all shoot through before the washing up! |
