The cool thing about Oz

I am often reminded of how cool and how different living in Australia is.

There is an American here who is doing some training, it's his second trip here and the first time he stayed 6 months so we got to be pretty close friends during that time and have really enjoyed his second time around. This time his wife got to come for a visit which was absolutely wonderful, while they were here we went to this really cool place that we haven't visited before that is only like 10 minutes from our house, definitely going to put it on the "must do" list for our next visitors. It was one of those places that made you really feel like you were in Australia. We got to sit by a wombat.

Get up close and personal with some kangaroos.

Pet some koala's.


And just enjoy an afternoon out together. So wonderful getting to spend time with friends.

Side not on Tillly things:
- Today was her first day to really play "imaginative" she LOVES butter on her bread, I mean when she sees me getting out the container she gets excited, so today she has this little plastic jar thing and she kept walking around with it saying "butter" and pretending to eat out of it, and then offering Ed and I some.

Oh the funny things she says

I was checking my email this morning when Tilly popped up beside me with the old wallet I let her play with. She looked up at me and said "Money, mommy, money". So I asked if she needed money for her wallet and she said "yes" in her cute little lispy voice, then looked at her daddy and said "money". I figure it's only just begun. My they learn early :)

Other cute little saying:
poffee = coffee (every morning Ed and I have a coffee with breakfast, and Tilly wants her coffee too--don't worry she just gets some herbal tea, but it's pretty funny when we are out and this little 18 month old start asking for poffee)

tome on = sounds sort of like come on, which is what she means she is constantly saying this to all of us (have I mentioned before that she's bossy)

yogi =her yogurt, she usually says this as she is standing outside the fridge knocking on the door

rabbie's =rabbits, it's adorable. we took her to this farm a couple of weeks ago and they had some baby rabbits, all she talked about for the next week were the baby rabbie's

elphy- this is elephant, she is obsessed with animals, her fave videos are the planet earth ones that we are borrowing from a friend, we might have to invest in these

oh I know there are more but my mind is a blank right now, it's hard to think with a little one standing beside me playing with her fake cell phone and trying to call me :)

Our Little Parrot

I am constantly amazed by how much Tilly knows and how fast she learns things. People weren't kidding when they say children are little sponges. It seems like every day she is learning more habits and words. She talks so much now and repeats just about everything you say. This is usually really funny to hear her sweet little voice chirp up from the back seat, or wherever she might be doing her own little impressions of you, but it has also had me thinking how critical it is to be modeling godly behaviour. Am I being the kind of person that I want her to be? Does she hear me use words that are sprinkled with grace and not judgment or negativity? Does she hear my speak about God daily and what He has done in our lives? Am I showing her patience, understanding, selflessness? Does she see through my actions that that people and relationships are what is important and not things that we have or what we wear? Do we live lives of sacrifice and service?

I hope that I am showing her these things, but I know that sometimes I fail, sometimes I let selfishness, tiredness, busyness, or just stubbornness get in the way. But I also have to remember it's not just showing Matilda and what ever other children we may one day may be blessed with how to live righteously but I am called to live that way each and every day. I am grateful for His grace and mercy!!

Slacker

Well I guess I'm not totally a slacker it's just been REALLY busy around here lately (meaning the last few months). We decided to take it easy this week and it has been wonderful just getting to get a few things done, though I still feel like we are really busy.

So I guess I'll back up a bit and then maybe do a few post close together to update on what's going on. The weekend before last we went down to this little town south of Perth called Bridgetown. We drove down on Saturday (since it was a long weekend we stayed until Monday). We went down with one of my absolute favorite families the Harris's (Lindsey, his wife Ruth, and 4 kids--plus their oldest daughter has a little girl that came along) We had such a wonderful time. We went down to visit and study with Lindsey's sister and husband. We took it slow on the way down and met up for lunch in a town called Donnybrook. They have the most amazing playground ever!!!! It is ginormous and totally awesome--seriously I would consider moving down there just for the playground.









Rhonda and Brett's house (the people we stayed with) was beautiful, is sat atop a hill overlooking this beautiful valley that was covered with fog every morning. It was really hilly around there with lots of orchards and it made me feel more like home. It is such a cute little town, I can't wait to go back. We had an awesome visit and all worshiped together that morning I think there were 20 of us including the kids. It was just a great relaxing weekend away.

Alrighty enough for now, will update again soon with all the other stuff going on around these parts.