15th January 2011

Have any of you watched that video on You Tube of the guy and the double rainbow? I admit I laughed the first time I watched it, the guy seemed bizarre in his awe of the double rainbow, but this morning I felt like the double rainbow guy! I was awake at 5am and noticed a golden light through the curtains, I was still half asleep but decided to have a look. It had rained all night (another 40mm praise God) and the sky was still slightly grey but the sun was coming up and its golden rays were gently awakening the mountains around us. The whole sky was lit up and there was this incredibly big, full rainbow stretching across the sky. A beautiful array of colours that were intensified by the grey sky behind them! It was glorious!!! I grabbed the camera and headed outside to get a few snaps but I did have to just stand there and be amazed by our King! Who could possibly create such an amazing picture other than Him! So double rainbow guy I know how you felt that day!

The rock wall at the back is almost complete! The guys are working super fast! Matt has been doing his fair share of the work too, driving to collect stones all over the place and collecting river sand down the road for the cement. I have had to give him a few back rubs the last few nights! It is all looking a lot tidier back there now. It was being put up mainly to stop the hill that is back there from eroding and falling down on top of us. It does make a nice feature though and I am sure that Moses will have a few good ideas for it. He has been doing an amazing job at the front, the grass is all weeded and pulled up and he is planting new lawn in perfectly measured out rows and contours. What a blessing he is to our poor little garden that desperately needs some help!

14th January 2011

We had lovely gentle rain in the night – perfect timing as the guys are still working on the wall, so rain in the night works out well for everyone.

There is a huge gum tree down by the dam which we are convinced has been drinking all the water from the little dam that is down there. For ages we have been threatening to cut it down – Matt is a skilled lumber jack but this tree got the better of him. Our next door neighbor has a guy around at the moment cutting some trees for him so we asked him to come and do that one. And wow what a process! It took him 3 hours to get it to fall! As it was right by the dam they were trying to figure out how to get it to fall without falling into the dam, which wouldn’t have been too much of a problem, but it would have made a big splash and I’m not sure what else it would have done. The guy was doing all kinds of things to get it to go, cutting extra chunks into it and made a “z” shape but it was all balanced out nicely and not intending on falling. I had the camera and was at the bottom of the hill by the tree taking pictures but I felt ridiculously scared standing at the base of this gigantic tree that I knew was coming down!!! So I retreated up the hill to safety. The tree came down eventually with a power snap and a bang. I felt sad watching such an old tree having to fall like that, but its branches which were once the nesting place for birds will now be the adventure land of many children I think. I almost wished that I was a kid again and could go scrambling through its branches.

Now in all of this – I had my own mini adventure/chaos/horror – depending on who you are reading this. Matt asked me to go back to the house to get some more oil for the chainsaw – we are using our friend’s truck which doesn’t have a handbrake. Just throwing that point out there… I got to the house, picked up the oil and was heading back up the drive way – a somewhat steep road and I went a little too slowly at the top and it cut out and rolled backwards. Remember that point about no handbrake – well yes I just couldn’t get it to start again. By now I am hot and bothered and stuck on the side of the road where I went to try get to a level bit of ground to start up again. I just got it going, was moving and got stuck once more, the engine cut out and started to roll backwards at great speed down the hill – I honestly don’t remember what happened just that I couldn’t get the foot brake to work either and there were trees coming up behind me rather quickly – I just missed them and went hurtling on to the other side of the driveway and up on to a ridge that finally stopped me! I was a nervous wreck and slightly embarrassed to – but found the level ground I needed to start again! I eventually got it going again and made it all the way up the hill to get the oil to Matt – and being the woman that I am I burst into tears! I can laugh at it all now, but say thank you Lord for helping me, I did not want to crash our borrowed vehicle. I am sure all the men folk reading this are saying ah that would have been easy to do and yes it probably jolly well was easy to do – but man I lost all idea of what I was doing in those split seconds! I am alive to tell the tale though and the truck is just fine!

Isn’t faith a glorious thing! I have been looking up verses on faith and studying it a bit more – mainly because for me our water supply is a constant faith trial – and through that I am just so aware of God’s faithfulness and how much more I feel I can just trust Him in all things. A verse that has stuck out to me so much more is Hebrews 11 vs 1 – “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” (NLT) The study note for that verse explains faith as the feeling a child gets as a birthday approaches, that feeling of being excited and anxious to know what gift they will get, that perfect birthday surprise. And that is what faith is – waiting with anticipation for God’s surprises. I just love that – He has perfect surprises for us and just longs to give them to us – we just need to wait and believe that they are coming. Another challenge for you this year – keep your faith strong and keep your heart open for God’s surprises.

13th January 2011

Today Matt was the baboon assassin! Usually I don’t like things being killed, however when it is baboons – in the vege garden - their days are numbered as far as I am concerned!! Yes it is not a nice thing to kill things – well that’s my opinion but they mustn’t mess with our vege garden!! The alpha male escaped once again, to keep them away fully he is the guy to get, but he is also very clever and doesn’t stay with the rest of the troupe so he is hard to catch. He ran off into the gums while the others carried on in the field below the road. One poor soul had its last meal today! I’m always “go get ‘em love” but hate to watch it really!

I have been reading a book called “Love Revolution” and it is very appropriate for what we are wanting to do up here at Golden Harvest. I have missed being in the classroom and missed being with children but have come to the realisation that maybe my season in the classroom is over for now and that while I am here God can use me in other ways. God simply wants us to look after widows and orphans. And I have been challenged that as fun as it is and as necessary as it is to make our home a home there are people here that need to be spoken to and children that need to be enjoyed. Anyway “Love Revolution” is so much about being a people who have that heart of God’s – our hearts cry should always be “break my heart for what breaks Yours” and to see where we can be used and do it! The chapter I am on at the moment is about making people feel valuable and there is a quote from Mother Teresa that I really enjoyed,

“Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired!”

It spoke to me so much about just doing the small things for people, paying a compliment, doing something that they need done and even just a smile can brighten someone’s day. Make that a challenge for this new year, loving without getting tired and seeing how many people you can make feel valuable! What’s the worst that can happen, you end up smiling more?

12th January 2011

We had 42 mm of rain yesterday!!! It came in gently and then continued for hours after! We brought up a 2500 litre tank on Monday and placed it under a gutter and today – it is full!!!! Our King is amazing. Often when it rains like that we look out at the garden and think ah we need to catch ALL the water, but over the few days of watching the garden be completely drenched and water logged, we have come to the realisation that this water truly is like manna. It comes in when we need it, it fills up what we have available to fill up and then that is all we can do – we can’t look at it longingly and wish we could keep all of it – because we serve a faithful God and when we run dry again – He brings more rain! Such a test of faith!

And with all that rain... we had a BATH last night!!!! It was so exciting – we boiled enough water and put in a few buckets of cold water and we were able to actually sit in the bath and get clean! It felt so good. My dad joked this morning that we are now a one star hotel!!

Matt has become a real jack of all trades recently. This morning he was fixing a rabbit hutch and this afternoon he was being a regular ‘ole lumber jack! It was quite an exciting event to watch really. Matt was one end cutting the tree while William (our new hard worker who is often up working soon after the sun is up) and Moses (our most recent addition to Golden Harvest, also a hard worker and the new “gardener/landscaper/herbalist” who has amazing ideas for what the garden should look like and getting on with it) were the other end holding on to the rope tied around the tree. I was standing just below the hill that the tree was on – hanging up the washing, and a little concerned that either my washing would get squashed or that the guys might get squashed. I was even measuring with my hand how tall the tree was and where it may fall. The tree was however a lot taller that I had expected and as it began to topple all I could do where I was, was to shout “run” to William and Moses who couldn’t hear me, but who took off in different directions with nervous laughter. The tree was perfectly placed though and landed just where it was meant to land – and not on Matt like one did once before for all of you who know that story – this time I didn’t have to say “I told you that you should have been wearing your hard hat” thankfully!! I can hear the sound of chainsaw again and must go see the next felling.

9th January 2011

The New Year has started out pretty well. We started it at an inn about 45 minutes drive from us - we were up there for our anniversary! 2 whole years already.

We have been spending more time at Golden Harvest and it is becoming more like home now. It is amazing what having a fridge can do ;-) the simple things of life. And we laugh as we drive down the road and what we call a traffic jam is a herd of cows standing smack in the middle of the road! Although there is still no running water, it seems to be closer to there being some - now more than before! I sigh with a sigh of relief and Matt carries on enjoying the "ruggedness" of it all. Our little grass shower that is set up in the garden has been put to some use the last few days. My mom and dad were with us for Christmas and they thoroughly enjoyed it. I guess it is the things that seem old to us, that become alive again when others who have not had the chance to experience it find it exhilarating. I have to admit I was craving a shower - a proper running one by the end of last week - 10 days of bucket "baths" seems to make a woman more tense than it does a guy. When we had arrived at the Inn we went straight to our room and ran a deep bath and relaxed in it for quite a long time! But we have started the process of bringing tanks here for water storage and bought a few pipes and things needed to bring the water to the house - so one step closer, a step at a time. It sure does make us appreciate the things in life we took for granted growing-up. The rain comes so often though, and is like manna to us. Our drums go empty and they are filled again pretty soon after! I often feel like we are pioneers all over again. But as I sit here and look around our little home - I am amazed at how far we have come since we first moved here. There are chairs now, beds and pictures, and Matt has been busy putting his carpentry skills to use making a book shelf, while I have been putting my Texas-learned tiling skills to use in the bathroom. It is home! My nest is becoming a nest.

As I sit here, there is a storm brewing across the valley and the thunder rumbles, echoing in the hill tops. Matt is outside with 2 guys building a stone wall. The rocks have been piling up for months and are finally being put to some use now.

We have many ideas for this year - and give them all that the Lord that they will become his ideas not ours. I am hoping to get more involved with the orphanage down the road at Bonda, and am excited to be involved with children again - my heart for them has been missing them for too long now! Our nation cries out for a helping hand and we feel so blessed to be here to be able to do what we can where we are. May the Lord receive all the glory for the coming year and what it holds for us all.

A new year!

2011 has started! Amazing! Where did the last year go to?

We are excited for this new chapter in our lives and the new things that will come our way. We are sitting looking over a majestic view and so amazed at the beauty of our country! A land that has a special place in our hearts! We feel blessed to be called to a land such as this for such a time as this and as you journey with us may you be blessed in this new year!