1

design winner....art by calli

blank canvas....art by kenzi

mo's

fresh...farmer boy's food

You know, every time I think of Kt and Si in my head I hear,
"Farm boy, fetch me some greens from the garden."
To which her farm boy replies,
"As you wish."

day 7..High Tea

day 6

day 5....play

day 4.....chicken pox art

day 3....thank you day for paramedics.

Thank you wonderful paramedic lady who saves lives and makes our lives wonderful.

Dresses and beautiful models..day 2

A Photo A Day

There has been little business here of late.
Changing that will mean a bit of creative time management.
So, creatively I am going to put up a photo a day.
We will see how long that lasts!
Could be of anything.
Today is bought to you by silly faces and sweet girls.

LOST PHONE

Just so you know I have no phone at the moment.
So our birthday message to Harri did not happen, nor am I getting any of the messages!
Just so you know, I love you all and did remember Harri's birthday.
Oh and Cal, your dresses are being posted tomorrow and Australia Post assures me they will take 10 days to get there!

Read Across the Universe

The kids had book week last week. You may have noticed we have all been a little absent from here. That's because life is busy for all of us in very different ways.
Mine is busy making alien costumes for read across the universe.
So I just wanted to pop in and say hello and show you how busy I have been.

Sweet Sunday's

TRIXY JOY - our first sponsor letter

for the sisters.

How are you? If we are to be asked, we're fine. 

By the way I am Rhea, 28 years old, mother of Trixy Joy. 

As a mother, all I'm doing is to take care of my children.

 My husband is Gary, 30 years old. He is  farmer but sometimes he is doing construction. 

We have three children and she is the middle child. Trixy Joy is really doing well in her studies. She's very eager to learn. 

We are so much thankful for choosing Trixy Joy as one of the sponsored children you have in your program. Thank you so much. 

Trixy Joy asks, 'Where do you live?' and do you have any family? She asks your prayer for her studies. She also asks your prayer for her health. 

Thank you and God bless!

Rhea (mother of Trixy Joy)

I will post some pictures and more information for everyone soon...right now though I am just too excited about our first letter not to post it. I love the beautiful way this letter is written. I love that we as sisters are doing this together even though we are not. I love that we are taking part in changing the world 1 child at a time.

Yoghurt

There's two types of yoghurt in Gamba. Actually, there's one type of yoghurt and a 'dairy dessert' that doesn't require refrigeration until open. I'm not sure that counts as yoghurt. Anyways, I've been craving a big pot of yoghurt to dig into and as the other yoghurt (plain, made in Libreville) only comes in dinky little 125 gram pots I thought I'd have a bash at making my own. Without a thermometer. Or a yoghurt maker. And only long life milk. Here's how...



1. Pour 1 litre of milk into a saucepan and heat. Keep dipping your finger (preferably clean) in the milk until it's too hot to keep in there and little bubbles are just appearing.



2. Pour milk into a bowl to cool a little, until it's comfortable to keep your finger in. This only takes a few minutes.






3. Put 2 cups of milk into another bowl and add 2 tablespoons of yoghurt. Mix every now and then for 5 minutes.



4. Mix the yoghurty-milk back in with the warm milk then transfer to whatever containers you want the yoghurt to set in. Or a jug covered in a plastic bag if you live in the jungles of Africa and all your worldly goods including Tupperware containers are on a ship somewhere between Australia and Gabon.






5. Place a towel in the bottom of an esky. Put in the yoghurt and bottles filled with boiling water. Cover with another towel and a picnic blanket. Close lid and leave for between 12 and 24 hours, changing the hot water after about 8 hours.

Voila, fresh yoghurt! Sans sugar, Kt Mac get on it!

I'm not sure this is exactly orthodox yoghurt making but it works for us. Yoghurt, glorious yoghurt!

Sometimes Knowing People...

We have some beautiful friends. These particular beautiful friends are good people to know...not only because they have beautiful hearts and are very kind...but because they own Oakvale Farm.

Yesterday Kenzi got up close and personal inside enclosures with all manner of animal life. Needless to say she was fulfilled, satisfied and renewed in her dream to be an animal doctor who may or may not do a bit of acting on the side!

Monkeys!

Our afternoon walk took a different route when we saw our neighbour running home to get her camera because the monkeys were on the golf course road.

When we got there the only monkey we could see was a furry blob up a tree far from the side of the road and one that ran across the road a long way from where we were. I was still mega excited and would have been happy with that.

Nothing else happened for 20 minutes and we were all starting to go home when the monkeys descended chattering like parrots (I actually mistook their cry for a bird and was going to leave but thankfully our neighbour knew otherwise).

Big ones, little ones, medium sized ones. Babies being carried by their mumma's, big daddies going first, toddler monkeys scampering across the road under the watchful eye of both parents. Our neighbour got some beautiful shots on her big camera but you guys will have to live with iPhone shots:


Daddy on the pipe, littlie scampering across in the middle, mumma on the left (the mum monkeys are quite small).


Some of them darted across like lightening and others just strolled.


A bit blurry but this mumma is carrying a baby on her tummy.

Life is definitely different to how it's been but I love that today Langlan was flying his paper airplane with the French-speaking security guard in our front garden, I was singing English worship songs with our Gabonese gardener beside the house and we finished the day drinking sweet, milky Indian tea in Bindiya's beautiful garden with her mum and mum-in-law from Delhi and Bangalore. Life is varied but sweet.

Poo

Elephant poo. I've never been so excited to see manure!

Holiday To-Do List

Holiday Snack Rack

I know that everyone thinks I am the food Nazi. And I will happily wear that tag...but just so you know that my kids get their fair share of nasty, chemical laden food have a look at our Holiday Snack Rack.

This way nasty food intake is monitored. You have to get a punch whenever you take any thing. If you choose to have 2 nasties in a day...then there will be a day that you cannot have any. There are 22 days of the holidays and there are 22 snacks each.

I did this because it reminded me of when we all stayed together at Shoal Bay and the parents would set up a lolly shop and we would take our twenty cent pieces and get our lollies in cool paper cones that Mum made.
This snack rack comes for free and it doesn't have cool paper cones...but it does have dinky little plastic containers with mixed lollies them

 Kenzi had white chocolate for breakfast this morning....and this food Nazi turned her head away and grinned because this is what memories are made of.

Rockin' it up in the 50's

And yes we did hog the photobooth just a little!