Communion - Thursday

Written 1.6.12

This weekend is communion at our church; that means a service Thursday morning, Thursday night, Friday morning, Friday night, Saturday morning, Saturday night, Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Monday morning. Actually I think there are a couple of prayer meetings too... Most services are about 1 ½ hours long, but Sunday morning will be more like 2 ½. Lots of practice for young children learning to sit quietly!!

We actually don’t go to all the services, but it still takes enough time that I don’t get much school work done. I can’t remember the last time I did a full day of school work. Come to think of it, I’m not sure I can even remember what a full day of school work is. Hmm, might need to do some on Saturdays as well!

Due to the fact that we no longer all fit in the van (we have eight seats and eight children), one of us either has to catch a ride, or not go. So Thursday morning Danielle went to work with Dad.

We couldn’t stay long to talk after church (I reckon it was too cold to stay anyway!!!); the Campbells were coming to give Jarrod and Monique their violin lessons.

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Written 13.6.12

Most of us had lunch, Mum took the van for a WOF, the Campbells came and went (taking Jarrod with them to pick up some kittens from the SPCA; they would drop him back later on), I attempted some school work, Mrs. Bramwell rung to see if it was a suitable time to drop in for a chat, and finally, Mum arrived home.

The Bramwells did come over; my siblings enjoyed the chance to play with their friends!

Then there was washing to get off the line and dinner to make before I went to Bible Study and the others went to church.

Eltham - Day 3 - Sunday December 25th

Written December 27th

Uncle Bill's present (from Uncle Mike).
Just as well he loves looking at
Uncle Mike every hour of the day...hehe!

On Sunday morning, I slept in (and yay I wasn’t the only one! lol), missed breakfast (oops..), then grabbed my gifts and camera as it had been decided to do give the Jago presents. I received $10 from Nana (yay I can go shopping now! Lol), a Pandora bracelet (I think that’s what it’s called?) from Uncle Mike and Aunty Sonia, and Uncle Marty and Aunty Denise, and Uncle Bill and Aunty Melissa did family presents. Uncle Marty and Aunty Denise gave us a portable dvd player, and Uncle Bill and Aunty Melissa gave us a chocolate fondue fountain (let’s have another Bible Study breakup shall we?! Lol!), a tub of chalk, and a ‘boyfriend.’ Explanation: ‘Boyfriend’ is the Tupperware© term for a small square piece of rubber, used to open jars and things. =)

Mum thought that would be a good time to listen to a sermon, so we went back to our room, sang, prayed, and played the CD containing the sermon. We didn’t get to finish it though, I think the CD must have been scratched as it stopped before it finished.

Pork, anyone?

Dad then came and announced that the spit was taking longer than had been expected, and the pig wouldn’t be ready for a while longer, so all were having filled rolls to tide them through until lunch was ready, and we should come down and have some too. Kaiser rolls are SO much nicer than the Tom Thumbs we always buy in Auckland! Thanks Uncle Mike and Aunty Sonia =)


I helped prepare some of the desserts before lunch was ready. We then consumed a LOT of food! =) Namely, ham, chicken, multiple salads (thanks Aunty Denise!), breads, and stuffing. Out of the 35 people in attendance, there were comparatively few hands which had not entered the stuffing during the long preparation!




The designated group-meals table



After a very filling lunch, some of the others went down to the creak, and, yes, they came back soaked! I prefer something not quite so wet, however, and I sat down to read a bit more in Ruth: Her story for today by Keith M Watkins, which was a gift to me from our minister, Mr Smith (Officially: Rev. Jett Smith).

Finally everyone was ready for dessert, so we consumed a lot more food, yet, in proportion to the total amount, it really wasn’t that much! After the dishes and stuff were done we just sat around talking.

Bible Study Breakup

Written 24th and 26th December

Monday, December 22nd saw me baking banana cakes, writing a shopping list, and rushing around the supermarket when Mum finally took me! When she dropped me home, I made a pasta salad, and iced one of the cakes almost as fast as I could. Then I got myself ready, and was picked up by the Sonnevelds at about 3:15, and went to their house.

My friends and I cut and prepared a LOT of food(!), and had a go at making punch…although no one seemed to have much of an idea of how to make it! We survived the ordeal with only one bottle of soft drink spilt (don’t worry Joanna! (4years)), and a few blood splotches on the floor because Joanna had cut her foot (I think without realising?)

Once we had all the food ready, we took it down to the flat, er, garage (it doesn’t look like a garage though…!).

We turned on the plate thingie (what’s it called?) for the gourmet dinner, and were slightly surprised at how fast it heated up! So we quickly lit the candles, and put some food into the trays to cook. For those of us who like to do things as fast as possible, the food cooked a little too slowly, but we did really enjoy it!

Middy has an ipod, so we played music for a while, and someone also came up with the idea of us singing! As tradition has it, I had a mind blank and couldn’t think of any songs I knew and could sing (although, in fact, I love music and singing along to it, so there probably is at least a few songs that I know well enough to have been able to sing them!), but it was fun watching, photographing, and videoing the others! I took all the photos on my camera, and all the videos on a friend’s camera, but unfortunately they deleted all the videos. =(

Middy, Ruth, Essie

Amid the singing (and laughing!) we did find time to eat! A lot too...haha We ate TONS of dinner, then decided to go for a bit of a walk before dessert. We walked through a paddock (inhabited by sheep...why on earth didn’t I put something on my feet???!) to a rope swing, that swung over a decent sized drop! We soon walked back for dessert.

We lit the candle and poured the chocolate into the bowl for the fondue, and while we waited for it to melt, we roasted, and completely burned, some marshmellows (yum!) . Anyway, it did melt, and we dug in..it was delicious! My friends then went a little crazy (I think they{er, we!} may have had too much sugar?!?!):

Middy, Ruth, Essie

Essie



Middy



Burning marshmellows....*grin*



And a group pic just before we left...



Mrs Sonneveld did eventually manage to get us all into the car to drop us home! (Thank you!)
And thus ended our awesome night! =D

Bee