Hast Luego Shepparton!

I know it's been a while since I posted, close to 6 months in fact.  Everyday life got in the way, and of course the Blog fell by the wayside, as I guessed it would.  But, I'm back on the blogging wagon.

We settled into life quite easily in Shepparton and established a good routine both spiritually and work-wise.  We helped make Salami with the Sortino's; had the Singleton's visit us for 2 weeks in June and had an absolute ball; house-sat for the Nania family for 6 weeks while they were on holidays in Europe; and then the months just flew by in a blur.  I've attached some pics of our last dinner with friends & going away BBQ.

We have now started on our journey to Mexico!  Finally!!!  It's been 2 1/2 years in the making, but hey, better late than never.  We left Shepparton on Friday night after a whirlwind of BBQ's, dinners and awesome company.  Jonno's family put on a fun afternoon farewell BBQ on Sunday complete with costumes, games and a cactus cake!

We renewed friendships, and made some really great new friends and are going to miss everyone in good ol' Shepp.  Thanks for all the support in service, the encouragement and great times!

Franky - the spit roast pork & rib master!

The brothers

Afrulla bringing out their tasty chicken wings

Wes & Simo getting the BBQ started

Jonno & Missy Moo

Best dresses couple - Frank & Frances

Paul & Tamzin, Frances & Frank, & the Nania girls

Posers!

Nadia & Anthony

Paul & Tamzin

Jo & Dave

Bryce & Di

The Stevens Family

The forgotten post!!

I cannot believe I didn't post this... Crazy! In my defence, we were about to move from one side of the country to the other, but I feel like a very bad daughter. I let my parents wedding anniversary pass by without a post... Shocking, I know! I was scanning my posts and matching up my pics and realised I completely passed it by. It probably doesn't help having 2 cameras plus an iPhone which I use to capture my memories. And for the occasion I pulled out my big gun - my Nikon DSLR D80. And as I don't often use it, I didn't post about it... All excuses aside!

So Mum and Dad decided to take a break from their remote community life inWeipa and spend time with the family and also to celebrate their 48th wedding anniversary. We thought about all going out for dinner but decided to put on a family feast at home. We got the nieces and nephews involved and decorated Suzi & Phil's (my sister and her husband) carport, while Suzi, Maureen and I cooked up a banquet. It poured with rain but we were all comfortable and mostly dry. To top off the evening, we organised to have all of Dad's old slides scanned to disc and played the slide show. The slides, which he shot in the 1960's in Papua New Guinea before and after he met Mum, were awesome to see. Most of them anyway. We didn't get a chance to censor them and there were a few of Dad in his single days enjoying himself a little too much. But it was still pretty cool to see our Dad when he was young and the adventures he had when he was single. I love my Parents and can't wait for their 50th anniversary!!

I have attached a few images of the night along with a few shots from Dad's slides for a bit of nostalgia.

Our Bunting flags that the girls made

The decorated carport

Three beautiful generations of women (Mum, Suzi & Kiri)

The Happy Couple

Mum with a mustache prop from the photobooth

The kids at the photobooth

And again!

Tight squeeze!

Dad in the Highlands of PNG in the 1960's

Mum sitting on the canoe

Mum & Suzi

Dad in Mt Hagen

My Dad - the Intrepid Explorer!

Camping!

So life has become pretty routine for us now in good ol' Shepparton. We've settled into our pioneering here and have some nice RV's finally. As I mentioned in my previous post, the territory here is very different to what we were used to and it's taken me a while to adjust. I've come to realise that we were living in a bubble in FNQ and were very spoilt with nice people and spiritually hungry people. Here.... Not so much. It's good training though, nothing toughens you up like a little abuse at the doors!
A family camping trip was organised, and at first we weren't so sure if we would go, but we are so happy we did. It was so great to just take time out and go for walks, do some fishing and spend time with our family. There is nothing like the smell of the campfire that seems to permeate everything. Even when you get home, and have washed everything, you still seem to smell it. Maybe it gets embedded into your nose. We introduced the family to s'mores, well as close to it as we can get here in Oz. I managed to find some Hershey's chocolate in Melbourne at USA Foods when we went down to stock up on Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce and some Stubbs Wing sauce that Jonno has become addicted to. Sorry, I digress. The only thing I had to substitute was the graham crackers, I had to use McVities Digestive, biscuits which as Google told me were the aussie substitute. They were a huge hit, although I'm not sure if Jonno over-indulged but he ended up hugging the porcelain later that night. Poor guy. I'm happy we weren't roughing it and had some amenities nearby.

The only down side to camping is that we might have got a bit of a chill as it stared to get cool, and we've both come down with the flu... But it was still a hell of a lot of fun! Can't wait for the next camp, hopefully in warmer weather.

Lake Sambell - Beechworth Vic

Autumn leaves in a nearby park

Lazy Days

Kickin' back with the family

All the kiddies

Fishing in the evening (nothing caught...)

The girls fishing

Jonno trying his luck

Simon

Our camp cupboard (thanks to Pinterest!)

The best camp fire thanks to Antony

Di & the cutest little man

Di with her Damper - Delicious!

Sunset over the lake

The happy (and cold!) campers!

Arrived and getting settled

It has been a little while since I last updated this blog, sorry about that.  In case you're wondering, we are still alive!

We made it safely to Shepparton, and are now ensconced in the spare bedroom of Jonno's parents house.  They have also added an additional room to our bedroom so we have our own little private retreat area, fully equipped with our office, TV and Blue Ray player, and their old couch which is still in great condition.  We haven't fully finished setting it all up, but it has been built, we painted it, got the floor coverings done and are slowly making it feel like our home!  I will post some pics up when it's all done.

We are enjoying the change of scenery, and the change of weather.  I am really NOT missing the stifling humidity of Cairns, and am loving the dryer heat of Shepparton.  Everyone here is complaining of the heat, and yes, it has been hot, but it's a different hot.  Since we've been here, it's been around 37 / 38 degress (98/100 for our Fahrenheit visitors).

I have been doing some work 1 day a week for the local TAFE and Jonno has been working for his brother Simon doing furniture removals.  But we've just been trying to focus on getting out in service here so we can  get some RV's and develop our ministry.  The service here is so different to what we're used to.  There is a real diversity in the people here in Shepparton now.  Lot's of refugees have moved here from the Congo and Sudan in Africa, in addition to the already established Muslim population.  So you never know who is going to answer the doors and what type of response you're going to get.  We are loving it!!

Close encounter with a Cow... Certainly not in Cairns anymore!

Jonno chasing his nieces & nephew around after a morning in Service

Very different scenery down here to what we're used to.  Cute little Country School!

Fresh Apples and Plums from the Orchard on a road side stand.

Tahbilk Winery, in our territory so a great way to finish off Sunday afternoon witnessing.

Fresh nectarines, grapes, figs & peaches fresh from Wes' garden (Jonno's dad)