HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year. It is so hard to believe that another year has come and gone. 2007 has been a year full of many memories, many changes and many lessons. God has blessed us, God is never failing and God is always forgiving and loving. May God Bless you all in 2008! Another exciting year begins, one I know will be filled with more major decisions and changes.....I will elaborate more on this in the New Year.

We have already celebrated our New Year, but have been watching your New Year on the tube. All of the beachside festivities and fireworks were cancelled here. We are going through a wicked storm. All of the beaches are closed, it has been raining on and off like crazy, the winds have reached over 90km/hr, the ocean has flooded certain carparks and surf clubs and we were without power for a few hours yesterday. So we watched movies and went to bed early, not much else we could do! :o)

My attempt at family photos, did not go so well. While they are not perfect, it is perfectly us!

Another "free" digital layout from Two Peas. This one is the "Be Merry Kit" by Cherie Mask and the other two that I did below of my inlaws are from the"March Free Kit" by Rhonna Farrer.

Our Christmas Festivities "down under"

Christmas seemed to just come upon us so quickly this year. We weren't ready, but I wasn't stressed out about it (this is a first). We felt lonely, but were so happy and blessed to have John's parents with us. We missed family and friends and it didn't feel like Christmas as we were sweating profusely in the humidity, but then I remembered the true meaning of CHRISTmas and we realized that no matter where in the world we are, how far away from family we may be, CHRIST's birthday is important and can be celebrated everywhere! It truly is a remarkable season when we think about all of the things that CHRIST has given us, sacrificed for us and blessed us with.

Sunday

To start our festivities off, on Sunday December 23rd we attended a Christmas Barbie (BBQ) and Carols night at our church. Our church here is very family oriented so they had a jumpy castle, train rides, indoor playground, face painting and a petting zoo for the kids. After the BBQ they had a concert. They had a whole symphony (just recently put together consisting of the old and young and a huge variety of instruments from the violins, cellos, flutes, trumpets, tubas, and harmonica) and a choir. It was their debut and they played really nice (kind of reminded me of the band in our church)!! They also put on the Christmas story and did it with some Aussie humour! It was very nice. To end the evening they sang my favourite Christmas carol "Oh Holy Night". It always gives me tingles and now I just belt it out. They had a soloist who sang for the first time, and his voice was amazing.

Monday

We had a relaxing day as we prepared for a nice meal in the evening. I decided to do a roast chicken with dressing, potatoes, gravy, salad, peas & carrots, egg nog salad (a Gooch favourite--made by my mother-in-law) and a green salad. It really was much to humid to turn on the oven, but I made the sacrifice. We had a nice meal and then opened our presents. We did not wait until the morning, as we had to leave bright and early to make it to John's cousins in-laws for the day. We were spoiled and it was fun watching Zech learn to open the wrapping paper. He was more enthused with the wrapping paper than with the actual gift--go figure!!

I did a couple digital layouts of my in-laws that I thought I would share......

A new book from Aunty Michelle, Uncle Jason and cousins---he LOVES Books!!

A new sun hat and special swim suit from NaNa and Grandpa

Tuesday (The birth of Christ!!!)

Christmas Day we were up when Zech the alarm clock went off (7 am). We got ready and headed out for the 2 1/2 hour drive up to the Sunshine Coast to celebrate with Wayne & Victoria Gooch and Victoria's family. Victoria's sister Ruth and brother-in-law Tony have a beautiful acreage up close to Marochydore. They thoughtfully invited us to partake in their Christmas celebrations. They had a fabulous salt water pool, a beautiful house which felt so warm and cozy and Christmas like. We spent time in the pool, ate some appetizers and then had our feast which consisted of a variety of salads, roasted veggies, including roasted pumpkin (an aussie staple--which was amazing), and BBQ meat including a ham, pork roast and chicken loaves. For dessert we had trifle, chocolate cake, and of course Christmas pudding. It was a fabulous day, with great people and awesome food. We headed back that evening.



We made it home safe and sound and a little plumper than when we left. Just as we walked in the door, poor little Zech vomitted all over me. I have never had so much vomit on myself before in my life!! I was seriously covered head to toe!! Now the fun had really begun. Zech was sick. We spent most of the night up with him and finally John got up and brought him into our room. It was coming out both ends and I had just finished changing Zech, when all of a sudden John was running. Zech seemed to feel a little better, but John was now feeling ill. So Zech finally went to sleep and John was up for the rest of the night. Morning came far too quickly and then it was my turn. Thank God we had Mom & Dad Gooch around. They spent the morning caring for Zech, who was still a little under the weather, while John slept and I spent my time gathered round the porcelein bowl. That evening JOhn's Dad started and was up most of the night and then of course Mom Gooch started. SO we were hit by the nasty flu and it hit us hard.

We have spent the last couple of days recovering. Zech had a relapse this morning. John's parents took us out for brunch as they were leaving back to Sydney today, and all of a sudden Zech vomitted all over the table. He is also getting two more teeth and these ones are painful, so painful he refuses to eat anything. After these teeth cut through, Zech only has two more and then his back molars to come in. I can't wait until he is finished teething. He really does not teeth well and it is such a miserable time for him as well as for Mom and Dad!

So we did have a nice Christmas. We did really miss our families, but were happy that we had some of our family to spend it with. We also received a surprise phone call on Christmas Day from the "Halwa" side. Every Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember we have spent it with the Halwa side. Lots of good eats and fun times! It was so great to hear from everyone and talk to my Grandma, my Aunts and Uncles and even cousins!! Thanks so much for thinking about us and taking the time to call us, it really meant the world to us!!

Attempting Christmas Photos

A few weeks ago, I attempted to take some Christmas pictures of Zech. Well it failed miserably!! He was not too happy and wanted no part of pictures. We also tried to take him to see Santa and get a nice picture with Santa. That too failed miserably and he screamed like he has never screamed before. He is really afraid of masks and mascots. I think that we will try again, but one of us will have to sit in the picture with him.

Here are a few pictures that we got!

Sydney

We headed to Sydney on Friday and by the time we got organized, we left a little later than we wanted! :o) It is a long trip--about 12 hours by car. Poor Zech ended up getting sick and we had to stop a couple of times to clean up. Goat milk is not a pleasant smell! We arrived late and went straight to bed.

SATURDAY

On Saturday we had a small luncheon to remember John's Grandma. It was nice and we got to meet a few more of John's relatives. We were still really tired. John and Zech went for a nap and I went on a walk with John's parents. They showed me a bit of the neighbourhood, which was nice.

SUNDAY

We went exploring. We went to Penrith (a suburb of Sydney) and caught the fast cat ferry right into the Sydney Harbour. It was really neat and a beautiful day for a ferry ride. From Sydney Harbour we caught a ferry to Manly Beach and spent some time walking around and playing in the water.

The famous "Coat Hanger" Bridge.

The Opera House

Some old building down by the Harbour (I thought it was so nice and festive)

The Boys and the Aboriginals. They were playing the Dedridoo--pretty neat!

A prison right in the middle of the Harbour.

Exploring Manly Beach and area.

Manly Beach - the only semi-nice day we had in Sydney!

MONDAY

On Monday John's Mom took us around to show us her old stompin' grounds. We went to the first place that she lived in Peakhurst. It was really neat to here her tell us about all of the people and shops that used to be there. It has completely changed, it is almost like an industrial area now. Her old place was situated on a large corner lot, and it was bought out by a Gas Station. The house was moved across the street and we think it was the same house, with a few reno's.


After she took us to her old elementary school just up the hill. It was still the same school and it is still being used today.


Next, we went to the beach where John's Mom used to go as a little girl. The name of the beach was Cronulla. It was a lovely little beach.


Finally, we went to the second house that Ann (my mother -in-law) moved and lived in. It was in a really nice area called Baulkham Hills. The house was completely redone, and looks quite lovely.





It was a really nice day and we really learned a lot about Ann's child hood. I think that she was really happy to show us around too.

TUESDAY

We relaxed and went to a couple of malls around the area. We also packed up and got ready to leave the next morning.

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday morning was the viewing, so all went down to the Funeral home. I stayed in the car with Zech, but John and his parents went and his AUnt. It was pretty hard for them, as the viewings always are. It never does look like your loved one and it is hard to see them like that--I guess it does bring closure though.

After the viewing we started heading back home. John's parents decided to come back up with us. They were originally going to fly or bus up closer to Christmas time, but everything was booked up or super expensive. So we said that we would stay a few extra days in Sydney so that we could drive his parents back up with us. We stayed the night in Coffs Harbour, a beautiful little town on the beach and then we headed home on Thursday.

THURSDAY

We finally had nice weather. It rained and rained in Sydney and it was really cold. We were not prepared for the cooler temperatures in Sydney, which is really unusual for this time of year. So we had a nice trip back and we actually dropped John's parents off in Surfer's Paradise so that we could go home and clean up before we showed them our place. We left it in a hurry and it was a bit of a disaster. So we cleaned up and then went and picked them up.


Now we are all back home and enjoying the beautiful sunshine and the heat. It keeps getting hotter and hotter and it will get a lot more humid.

The Buzz

We finally decided to give Zech's hair a little buzz. The last couple of times, John and I have trimmed Zech's hair ourselves---not too successfully! We were in the mall on Thursday before we left to Sydney and we decided it was time to give his hair a buzz. It is really hot here and the poor little guy has been sweating like crazy. He would wake up and his hair would be soaked. So we took him in and he was buzzed. He did pretty good, was a little scared of the razor, but he got a balloon so that kept him busy. They spiked it all nice when we left, but I didn't get a picture of it. I think it looks so cute and it is so much cooler for him!

Sad but Happy times....

We are sad to tell you that John's Grandma passed away on Sunday. We knew it was coming for a while now, but she was one tough lady. We did take a trip down to Sydney to visit her in the hospital. It was the first time John had seen her in over 16 years. She was pretty out of it, but John does have a great sense of humour and asked her to come surfing with him when she was out of the hospital---she thought that was pretty funny. Zech also really seemed to brighten her day, she kept looking at him, trying to smile and wanted to touch him. I am glad that we did have the opportunity to see her before she passed, even though John didn't know her that well, I think it is so important to keep your family close and dear as you never know when it is their time.

John's Mom was really happy that we went to see her and so was John's Aunt. I think it meant a lot to both of them. So this is the sad news......

The good news is that John's parents are on a plane as we speak. Of course please keep Ann (my mother-in-law) and her sister Gab in your prayers. I know it is a difficult time for them and my thoughts and prayers are with them. We will be attending the service sometime soon. We are really excited though to have John's parents here for Christmas. They will be in Australia for 2 months. They will be in Sydney first of course to handle all of the funeral arrangements, etc. Then they will be staying with us for the rest of the time. I think that I am the one that is really excited----I do feel lonely and it will be so nice to have some familiar faces with us for a while. Plus, maybe John and I can get a date night or two and my mother-in-law is an amazing cook, so maybe she will help me get some Christmas baking done.

FIRST DIGITAL LAYOUT EVER!!

I stayed up a little too late last night playing with this Digital Scrapbooking template. I do have all of my scrapbooking stuff here, but we are not organized yet and I am itching to get back into it. I have so many trips, events, etc., to scrap book and I need to start somewhere, so I thought why not try a few Digital Pages.

I am really new to this, like have never done it before in my life. So when they started talking about layering for example, I was already lost. However, thanks to my good friend and scrapbooking genius Heather, she had sent out a link to this company Two Peas in a Bucket. Well they have a link on how to digital scrapbook and they even allow you to download some free templates and use them. So I played last night and I will show you my first ever Digital layout. I really did have a lot of fun with it.....a little frustration at first, but once I figured it out it was smooth sailing. Of course I still have so much to learn.

Prayers Please......

We could really use some prayers please!

First for our nephew Cody who just had surgery because his appendix ruptured. He is recoverying well and should be out of the hospital tomorrow. He is most upset that he won't get to play hockey for a bit. It is a big ordeal for a little guy like him to go through and I am sure the pain is a little unbearable at times. So please pray for a speedy recovery, free of any complications.

Second, we could use a lot of prayer right now. Every day there has been something that has come up or completely blind sighted us. We are questioning what God's plan is for us over here. We knew that it would not be easy, but we never expected this many problems. We keep wondering if we are trying to force something that is not God's will, or if we are supposed to somehow endure the trials---or the storm (that's what it feels like right now)! Please pray that God will speak to us and make His Will clear to us. We are feeling like we are on our last straw now and are ready to pack things up and head back to Canada. So please keep us in your prayers!

Hope you are all having a good week!

God Bless!

First Steps.....

Someone just decided to take his first steps yesterday. Of course when he decided to do it we did not have our camera or video camera. We were actually at our old place cleaning it and handing back the keys. John was on baby watch duty, while I was on cleaning duty.

Zech has been standing up for a week now or more, and by that I mean he will be in the middle of the room, yard or beach and just decide that he wants to stand up, so he does. He reminds me of a gofer, or a rabbit when they stand up to check things out.

Well yesterday he stood up and decided to take a few steps. So the most he took was 6, but he was so proud of himself. He would stand up and take a few steps and then fall down and clap and laugh for himself and then try it all over again. Oh I wish we could have had it on video!

When we got home he was trying in the yard and I got my camera, but he would do it with his back turned to me, or else he would do it and then as soon as I went to shot a picture he would sit down and laugh at me! I did get this cute shot yesterday and the black and white one today. He still isn't confident and steady on his own, but today we walked around the yard and he was just holding my one hand and was doing fine. So before we know it he will be off and runnning!

Paradise Point

So here are a few pictures of our new place in Paradise Point. We are slowly getting organized, unpacked, settled, etc. Zech loves it here. He has his own room, which he spends hours in, but most of his time is spent outside in the nice big yard. He gets so upset when we take him inside for his nap, bath, to eat, etc.

We do have room for visitiors. We have turned the garage into the Spare/office/storage/laundry room. Houses here are a little smaller and do not have the storage space like in Canada. That is probably because they spend most of their time at home outside.

Hope to see some of you soon! :o)

The front

The front/side view

The side

The back--along with all of our boxes

Little Rueben

Everytime we went to visit Grandpa Halwa in the Manor, Zech was known as "little Rueben". It is a fitting title as he does have so many characteristics that remind me of Dad. We took these pictures and I had to share these, as when we were reviewing them we could not get over how much Zech looked like Dad. I guess it is just the facial expression and the way he is sitting that reminded us so much of Dad.

Another long week!!

We moved into our new place yesterday and it was a long tiring day--especially for my dear hubby who had to do the second load all by himself. He is such a strong, wonderful man!! We were up late unloading and then this morning we had to have the truck back first thing, so we were up early. We still have the old place for a week, so it will give us some time to do all the cleaning, etc.

We are trying to unpack and get settled and it is now starting to feel a little more like home. We also went on a nice walk around our new neighbourhood and we really, really like it here (plus we are sick of moving)! It is really quiet and peaceful here and of course we are close to the beach and there are tonnes of parks and running trails!

I will post pictures of our new home and area later this week, once we get a little more settled. It has almost been like Christmas time here, unpacking and opening all these boxes of our stuff that we haven't seen in almost four months now. Zech was in his glory with all of his new (well old) toys and the big yard for him to roam around in.

Just thought I would post some pictures that I took a couple of weeks ago. It is the rainy season here and it does get quite chilly, so we have had to put on pants and long sleeves. I have quite a few outfits for Zech that he has never worn and I was afraid he wouldn't get to wear because of the heat, but I was wrong. He has had a chance to wear a few now. So here is a favourite that Grandma H gave him.

He actually let me put his hat on and he kept it on!

He was so mad at me for switching his hat around! This is a good indication of the mood that my little man has been in for a while now--whiney and angry, but I guess I can't blame him with all the transitions and all the teeth! (I love this picture, even though he is so mad, he is so darn cute!)

And now for the speaches. Zech gets into speach mode and he goes on and on and on. Of course we can't understand a word, but the more we agree with him, the more he talks. He is so animated too, he loves to use his hands and his finger. I think he gets this from Grandma H--I remember her talking and using her hands and Dad would imitate her gestures in a exaggerated fashion--it was too funny. I am so glad that I was able to capture these photos of him in speach mode. Usually he gives his best and longest speaches in the car and it is kind of hard to capture those on the camera!

Steve Irwin Day

Today we celebrated 'Steve Irwin Day'. It has been just over a year now since Steve Irwin passed away. They chose to make November 15 the State of Queenslands 'Steve Irwin Day', as this was the day (two years ago) that Harriet the Sea Turtle passed away. Harriet was an Australian Zoo icon. She was over 150 years old and Steve's favourite animal in the zoo.

We got up early, dressed in Khaki and headed to the Zoo to celebrate Steve Irwin Day. It was packed, there were thousands of people there, but we are glad that we went. I have always liked Steve Irwin, I thought that he was a little extreme and yes a little crazy, but he had such an infectious personality. His research and documentaries are invaluable and he has made so many of us more aware of nature and of how we need to protect it and conserve it.

A bit of history about the Australian Zoo: it opened in the early 1970s and was a mere 4 acres. It is now 70 acres and over the next five years it will expand to 100 acres with the end goal being close to 500 acres. Oh Crikey, that is a lot!! It just received the award for being Queenslands major tourist attraction for 2007.

Terri Irwin and the kids were present. Terri released and was signing her new book My Steve so people were lined up for hours to get her to sign it.

Terri unvelied this new memorial which is located at the front of the Zoo just past the admissions area. Steve was known for his love of his family, conservation and of course having fun.

The crocoseum (designed by Steve so that people could see how the Crocs really act in the wild) was packed for some pretty neat performances. Bindi Irwin and the Crocmen received awards for their album reaching gold. Bindi was also the youngest Australian to receive an Aria award. She preformed two new releases that were dedicated to her Dad. She is pretty cute and loves the camera and people!

We also heard Olivia Newton John sing three of Terri and Steve's favourites. She does have a beautiful voice.

We did get a chance to check out the Zoo. There were lots of activities that we could have stuck around for, but we did want to see the Zoo. Some favourites were Kangaroo Island. You can get up close and personal with the Kangaroos. Feed them, pet them, talk to them. We got some great video of us petting them (my camera batteries died, but thankfully we had the video camera with us). We also got to pet the Koalas and that was really neat. The snake cave was really neat too. I do not like snakes, but it was really neat to see the different venemous snakes and where they live--yikes! Of course the Crocs were pretty cool too. Terri did a Croc show in the Crocoseum. We got it on video and it is pretty amazing.

I have a lot more pictures to share, but will have to do it on another post. In the end we had one tired little boy, who was so excited to see all of the different kinds of animals. He loves animals, especially dogs, so every animal to him is a papapa--that is how he says puppy!