Party, party, party

Friday 30th Nov: It was lovely to have an evening out tonight at the farm's Christmas Party. This was Rachel's last one as she will be finishing work on the farm at the end of this month. She has been working there for 5 years (every Thursday morning). She is so grateful for the opportunity she had to work there but is also very excited about the new adventures that lie ahead.

Saturday 1st Dec: It was the Youth Group lunch today. The water slide is always such a highlight. The weather was perfect.

So much fun.




And a traditional water balloon fight too. :-)

Anastasia enjoying playing with a bit of pumpkin. It was just too soft to eat with her hands though so ended up more of a mess than food.

I have been playing the piano regularly. It has become a bit of a routine for Anastasia once the children have left for school. She happily plays in the room while I play. This evening I went to play and Ruth quickly joined me with her guitar. We have had the piano tuned, but it's going to be a longer process to get it tuned properly. He brought it up a bit - but can't do too much at once as that might cause strings to break. So Ruth has to adjust her chords to play guitar along with the piano. She actually manages it (just finding a chord to fit) but I thought it would be more enjoyable to just play guitar together. Once we got started it was like a magnet to all the others. We had a lovely time singing together.

The start of December means that Ruth can put the tree up. She does love decorating for Christmas. The tree went up in two ways - up high enough for Anastasia to not be able to pull it over.
Sunday 2nd: This afternoon Hezekiah helped me in getting a load more CDs printed. He was a great helper and we had a good production line going.

Monday 3rd: Ruth decided to learn how to make a poached egg. Well done Ruth.




BELOW: Monthly children photo. I just couldn't decide between the two - so post them both.

Tuesday 4th: Ruth enjoying some sun this afternoon while eating an ice lolly. She is always so happy to share things with Anastasia who did really well with such a cold snack.







Wed 5th: While playing piano this evening Anastasia went exploring next to Hezekiah's bed.

Thursday 6th: Ruth had a follow up orthodontist appointment this afternoon. We were also able to organize to meet up with a lady from Nigeria who is studying in Christchurch. She was able to give us some great advice on how to look after Ruth's hair (which has all the braids out now). One specific thing she helped us with was what to do with it at night.

Friday 7th: We have a busy day planned for my birthday tomorrow, so we decided to do the cake today. I had seen a quick video of someone making a Toblerone cheesecake - so I had a go. I got a few on special earlier in the month in anticipation. The only other ingredients was a little bit of butter in the base (with blended Toblerone) and cream and mascarpone cheese for the filling (so it's a bit like a chocolate mousse). It was delicious.

Not often I get a photo with me and all the children. :-)

Saturday 8th:After breakfast Anastasia headed straight for the piano. So I got some playing in with her and Asher.

Rachel then took Asher to a Christmas Party in town. She forgot to take photos at the event but got this one after getting some chips for the trip home.

Rachel had suggested Brendon and I enjoy the day in town together as a treat for my birthday. It was so nice to be able to just enjoy a relaxed day together. The sushi we had for lunch was really picture worth. It was delicious. As well as being nice to enjoy the new food court at Northlands mall.

We enjoyed a movie together and did some shopping. The highlight was getting Rachel a Christmas present. She has started training to get her fitness up for applying for the Police. She had gotten herself some better shoes, but they were not proper running shoes (which were double what she was thinking of paying). What made it perfect was that Rachel and I have the same size feet. So I could try on a few of the shoes that were available and pick the best ones - knowing they would be the best fit for Rachel. I was so very excited about this Christmas present and both Brendon and I had to have a lot of patience to wait and give them to her on Christmas eve.
Because I'm so late at writing this post I can give the feedback now that she was absolutely thrilled with the shoes. They were a perfect fit and ended up even being the perfect colour choice for her too.

Wound, afro, gene test and party

Saturday 24th: Enjoying a cuddle with Anakin.








Such a great big brother to sit and read with Anastasia.


Although I am constantly asking Ruth to please not draw on herself, she has now taken it to a new level. This is her wound creation. I really don't like pen on their skin, but this is incredibly well done. It looks terribly painful - but is just ink.


Almost done getting all the braids undone.

Ruth's hair without any braids. She is not mad about her afro and doesn't like having it loose (that's the reason we only have a photo from behind). We do still need to get it all nicely brushed out and then will have to figure out what she is going to do with it now.

My back has been hurting a lot lately, so I was doing one of the stretches that the physio gave me (with a pillow under my back) and Asher decided it was a great time to come and have a cuddle.

Anastasia just loves all the different blankets we have for her. At first they were used for when I was breastfeeding, but now they are just for her enjoyment. She always has one in her bed and generally has one or two around in the lounge. She often carries one around in her mouth! Such a cutie.

Tickles with Ruth before she heads off on her Wellington trip tomorrow morning (Sunday to Thursday). We still need to wade through all the photos from that trip - so I'll leave them all for a separate post.

Tuesday 27th: Hezekiah had blood tests for the first time today. He has been on a gluten trial for the last 4 weeks due to increased stomach pain. Instead of just doing the blood tests that the GP had suggested, we decided to take him to Dr Ford (the expert on Gluten intolerance and Coeliac in NZ). Added to the GP's tests we also did the test for the Coeliac Gene.
We had the consultation with Dr Ford this morning and I learnt a lot more about Gluten intolerance and Coeliac. We managed to get the blood tests done at a lab in town before heading home.  The GP had suggested this as they are so experienced with children. They were really good. Hezekiah was also very brave and it went very well.

I had also had blood tests done to check for the gene and thankfully mine came back negative. So I will never get Coeliac disease. Hezekiah however is positive. Thankfully the other tests show that at this stage his body is not presenting with Coeliac disease. He is just more at risk of developing it in his lifetime. So being on a mostly wheat free diet is a good choice. Dr Ford also suggested getting the other tests done every 4 or 5 years, because even on a limited gluten diet, he could still develop Coeliac.

Asher had an appointment with her neurologist this afternoon, but thankfully he had organized to just do a phone call consultation this time. We told him we have increased her newer medication to 12ml twice a day (up from 10). He had said we could do this if we felt we wanted to. He has told me that we can safely move it up to 14ml if we feel the need at any point. I love that he is so trusting of our judgement of these medication decisions.
I told the doc that when she went up to 12ml we did see side effects. Her behaviour was really difficult for a week (at home and at school). Brendon encouraged me to just hang in there though, and by the end of the 2nd week it had all settled down. The doctor was very pleased we persevered. As he said, if the side effects are controlled, then it's worth trying. We don't know how much control this drug can give her if we don't give it a go.

Thursday 29th: Anastasia enjoying playing with some cooked carrot today. Unfortunately every time I introduce a new food to her, she seems to have a really bad night. So her stomach is just taking longer to mature and get comfortable with these new foods. I'm glad I didn't rush her food intake earlier. She clearly was just not ready for it.
Great to have Ruth back today. So many lovely memories made on her trip. Such fun stories to share.

Ruth always enjoys doing things with Anastasia. So she is very pleased that I am now giving her a bottle of milk during the day, as she can then get to feed her. I decided I needed the reduction of stress on me of breastfeeding. I was constantly worrying about my own diet and making sure that I had enough milk for her. I'm pleased I was able to provide for her for over a year (and actually much more than the others as it was breast-milk only into her 10th month)

Friday 30th: The farm's Christmas Party this evening. It is Rachel's last one with the farm as she will be finishing up on the farm in December. She has worked there for 5 years now (ever Thursday morning). She is very grateful for the opportunity, but also excited about the new adventures ahead.

Another advantage of getting Anastasia onto a bottle was that I could leave her at home and enjoy a child free evening out. I am so grateful and enjoyed the special night out.

Guide Camp and walking

Saturday 3rd: A beautiful rainbow to enjoy today. It did make us wonder how Ruth's camp was going though.

I was able to get a few photos from different people from their camp. There were times it was very windy and wet. Here the girls are all out enjoying the wind.
Thankfully they did have enough space inside to get some activities done. Here they were doing a dance they had choreographed.

Wonderfully the weather didn't stop them from getting out to do some shooting practice. Such a beautiful area. This photo also gives you an idea of how far away the targets were (those small rectangles on that brown board). It was apparently around 25 yards away.
This was how well Ruth did!! I think it's amazing. I think just hitting the paper was a great achievement.
Sunday 4th: They had their final hose shoe with all the parents there before they left.
Ruth got a couple more badges.
The leader told me that Ruth did really well. She had a really difficult group with two of the girls just not wanting to do anything. Ruth was running her own camp for the first 24 hours, and they were a real challenge. The leader said she did really well though. They had a debrief afterwards and spoke about all the issues that came up. So at least Ruth comes away knowing she handled a hard situation very well. She didn't get as many activities done as she would have liked, but she learnt a lot.
I undid a large section of Ruth's hair this evening. She wanted me to take a photo of the contrast of the two sides.

Monday 5th: This little sausage loving eating her sausage.
She is finally getting some food down her throat. I think what makes these so nice for her is that they are firm enough for her to pick up pieces (holding the whole sausage was just for the photo). But once she has chewed it a couple of times, it's soft enough to swallow.

Tuesday 6th: A video below of Anastasia walking - before her 1st birthday. Clever little poppet. And a chatterbox already. :-)

Welcome Debbie

Tuesday 16th: 8:45pm. Ruth wanted to drive with Brendon to fetch Debbie from the airport this evening. A late night for her, but special to spend the extra bit of time with Debbie. Debbie's brother paid for Debbie and her mother to come to NZ for a couple of months and so we were thrilled to be able to get her to come and spend a week with us. I never dreamt this would happen. What a wonderful blessing to us both.

Wed 17th: It didn't take Debbie long to get cuddles with Anastasia.


Once Rachel was home from work we got to enjoy Brendon's birthday cake.
Debbie's birthday was on the 8th of January and Brendon's is on the 20th (the same year) and so because she is 12 days older, he calls her "granny". :-)
We have such a special friendship with Debbie and it was so amazing to be able to have her staying with us for this week. She is my best friend and I have really missed her over the last 10 years.
Happy Birthday to you both.

Rachel did really well with the cake. The only challenge was piping the ganache. I think it was a bit too cold (and hard). We also don't have the perfect equipment for piping. So that may be something she will have to invest in to get that higher quality "look".

Asher didn't want to stay for the photo and Anastasia was moaning, so this was the best group photo we could get.

And gift-giving-Ruth asked that we give Dad his presents today too (no point taking them up to Hanmer to unwrap/un-bag).

And Ruth got a gift too. Debbie bought all the moisturizing creams bottles that the shop had (which will now last us many years) as well as this amazing comb. We undid some of the braids this evening for her to have a try. It works SO well. She sat there just brushing her hair. She noted that it was the first time she has ever been able to brush her hair.
Thank you so much Debbie. It will be used and appreciated for a very long time.

Thursday 18th: Asher unfortunately had a terrible morning. She started with her now-regular pacing but it eventually changed to pain. It was really special to see her going to get some comfort from Debbie.
Ruth suggested pain medication as there was clearly a lot of pain and it was not going away but getting worse. So we did that and I also started wondering about taking her to the doctor to see if there was a clear area causing the pain. When Rachel got home from work just before lunch, she didn't hesitate in saying "get her to the doctor". She was crying in pain by then and Asher never really cries for pain. So I took her down to get checked. Her ears and throat looked fine and most importantly for me, the doctor said he felt sure it was not her stomach (or appendicitis - which was a concern for me as the pain was just building).

She needed another dose of a different pain med to finally help clear the pain. Poor girl. The doc had wondered about a urinary tract infection but after seeing her through the rest of the afternoon we wonder if it was just a really bad headache. She can't even tell us where the pain is, so it's a huge challenge. I was so relieved when the pain subsided for her.
On the way back from the doctor I stopped at the pool to quickly take this photo.

Michelle was also visiting from Auckland today, so she took Hezekiah, Hannah and Ruth to the pool for a Pool Party that was being put on. Michelle took these photos, so I was pleased to have more to add from their outing.
What a treat that Hannah got to be Sports Susie's helper.
I also heard about all the fun they had in the pool. Michelle will be very stiff from all the playing she was involved in today.

I was so thankful that the children could enjoy the party as it was totally impossible for me to have taken them. So Michelle's visit was perfectly timed. They had lunch there (way more than just a sausage sizzle) and Hezekiah was so pleased he told me they even had gluten free bread for the sausages. :-)
Then some fun on the trampoline in the afternoon.

We enjoyed fish and chips together for dinner.

Thanks for making the effort to come and spend the day with us Michelle. So pleased you could get to meet Anastasia and have so much fun with the others at the pool. What special memories.

In the evening we headed down to our church for their bible study / cell group as I had organized for Debbie to share her testimony.
Sorry for only getting the one close up of you Debbie - with your eyes closed. I had Anastasia in my arms, so it was a little tricky.
We had car trouble just as we were leaving (a flat battery on the van) so Hannah could not join us. Rachel and Ruth came with though and we were so pleased to be able to have Debbie share. We had about 20 people attend. After Debbie shared some of her testimony I then asked her a few questions and shared some of what the Lord has done in my life through my friendship with her.

Debbie has always dreamt of traveling around the world to share with people what the Lord has done (and is doing) in her life. So this was just such a wonderful opportunity for her.
She shared at her brother's church in Auckland too.

Friday 19th: More cuddles.


In the evening we went to the summer bible study on the farm. It was great for Debbie to meet a few more people.


After dinner Brendon took Asher, Hezekiah and Hannah home to get into bed. So us "girls" had a nice time out together.