Phillipses Visit

I was surprised last night when Brendon said it's expected to be clear today. It has rained almost the whole day yesterday and the cloud cover looked thick still in the evening. But the weather report had it right and there was a beautiful blue sky this morning. Photo taken at 5:48am with the morning star still in the sky.

The girls were helpful in getting the last things ready for the Phillipses who would be arriving for lunch and staying overnight. The girls have been so excited about their visit and have been counting down the sleeps.

By 9:30 Brendon was off loading another trailer load of wood. Paul just stayed to help off load it this time.

So while the men off loaded the trailer I started packing some of the wood. It's amazing how much less space it takes up when it's nicely packed. Paul told Brendon he would be bringing another load today - so we had to get packing.

Hannah was really tired this morning so we encouraged her to have a nap before lunch. She was excited about sleeping on Rachel's bed in their room and I was really thankful when I saw that she had actually fallen asleep. There is no way she would want to nap in the afternoon with guests here.

By 12 Brendon and Paul were busy on the next load. What a blessing to have the wood shed filled (and with very minimal effort).

The Phillipses arrived at around 1pm and we enjoyed lunch and a catch up. Petru's parents are visiting them from South Africa and it was great to meet them. Being farmers in SA the were really interested in the pig farm. So Brendon took them to have a look around while I got the last things done for dinner. Rachel's milk tarts were enjoyed for afternoon tea before they went to the farm and the comment was made that they taste like the "real thing".

I had kept some cream aside to let the Phillipses have a go at making butter. We decided to have a competition between the adults and the children but it ended up being between Grant and the children. He was so excited about making butter himself for the first time that he was reluctant to have his bottle over to anyone else.

After dinner we hardly saw the children. When I checked what Hannah was doing I found her with the "teenagers" (as Ruth called them) playing with one of their cell-phones. The children all got along so well and again Rachel and Jaydon hit it off quickly again (being close in age). Ruth also told me that she has now become better friends with Dinnay (who is just a year older than her).

Once the children were in bed (a little later than normal for all of them) the adults got into some serious chatting. We had such an amazing time with Petru's Dad. He shared stories and encouraged and challenged us. What a blessing to have an instant connection with him like that. We will remember that time with much fondness.