Reunited!

Chickens and kids, Kids and Chooks - together again for a few hours today.  Scampering feet, little hungry mouths and squawking - and I wasn't describing the hens.  Libby was in 'chicken heaven' with our birds and my friend Kathys birds combined...she hung out with them while we sipped coffee, chatted and I of course, took my usual million pictures!

  And I gotta say, Kathy is one of the most chilled out and just super nice people to be around.  Nothing fazes her, not Vanessas wicked stories, my zooming in and out in front of her face with my camera, (well not really - I used a prime lens), or my kid whipping her clothes off and jumping in her pool on a whim.  She always manages to bring out some wonderful baked good and she's a great listener.  I hope that she knows that even though I have my face behind my Canon baby most of the time, I am actually listening to her too! ;)

I managed to step away from the camera for a few minutes, but not before my mate Vanessa had it pointed at me!  And you know what?  After the initial shock and my usual natural reaction of trying to run from the lens as fast as I can - I was actually quite pleased to have a few pictures of Lulu and I together - it's not like its a common occurrence!

Mmm, she's quite handy with the camera.  Not to self;  Take Vanessa everywhere with me from now on, so that I will have reminders one day that I was actually there, every step of the way...

And, this is her....she'll love me for this! Mwaaa haaa haaaaa!!!

Ahhh yes, revenge is SWEET!!! I'll getcha next time Kathy! ;)

And my lovely Libby had such a nice time, that she woke up asking if we could go and hang out with friends there again today, tomorrow and every day after that...you up for it Kathy?

Cheers to friends! xx

Nine Again

Just a quiet small blog this weekend, because it's been a quiet kind of a few days.

Friday was a good day.  Libby and Barny came home, after almost 7 weeks in the UK.

Lucy put on her shoes and sat by the door about 30 mins before we were ready to leave, she was so excited to be going to see her Brother and Sister.

 It was really good to see them both again.

Our open house wasn't as open as we'd like - in fact, not a soul came, not one tiny little person.  Bit gutted,  but we still managed to look on the bright side - a spotless and sparkling house, leaving us free to enjoy the remainder of our Saturday and most of Sunday just chilling out.  Ahhh, relax....

And then there was the pool...not sure what we'd do without it.   In the aftermath of Cyclone Yasi, I can't begin to describe how ridiculously humid it is here.  I feel as though I'm living in a caravan that's surrounded by a swamp.  The air feels thick and heavy with water, the kids walk around with beads of sweat on their foreheads, the little girls curls have coiled up even tighter, if that's possible and the temperature is barely dropping now even at night. 

Oh well, at least my garden is looking nice :)

Changes

 It's been a funny old week, a constant swing between tidying and cleaning our house ready for our 'Open' on Saturday, and school runs.   It's certainly no small feat keeping the place clutter free with so many smallies running around and I'm not sure how I'm going to find the energy to do this each week but somehow I know, I will.

But seriously, house tidying is not exciting if you're only 8.  A few hours at the park was long overdue, and we headed there whilst our house was being viewed.

And while some of the kids just weren't feelin it..

Others, lost themselves in their own little bubbles and enjoyed the freedom..

And just because we can (for the moment anyway), a play in the pool, when we got home. 

So for now, we're just making the most of what might be our last few months in this house that we have loved living in. 

More Yin, Less Yang

When you have to stop and wonder if you're able,  or if you have the ability to change things that we have no control over,  if there is some way in which you can physically put an end what seems like months of a long chain of bad luck, it makes you feel small.  Small and powerless, that's how I feel.  And sad that I can't seem to physically make things right for this family that I love. Sad that my Husband feels that he shouldn't get out of bed in the morning, for if he does, something else will surely break, go wrong, or put us on a whole other level of difficulty.  He feels responsible for all of it, and there isn't a thing I can do to alleviate his guilt.

We all have our struggles, memories of times in our lives that we look back on and sigh a big sigh of relief that we're not still there, in that place that dragged us down and made us feel as though we were trying to run through quick-sand.  I'm pretty sure that I'm in one of those times and I'm hoping that one day this will all be just a memory, that I'll look back and feel grateful to have come out of the other side of it, feel happy in the knowledge that my little family pulled through.

But why are the challenging and hard sometimes so unbalanced?  Why must we go through chunks of time when the yin is faded to almost nothing and the yang is 'rockin it out' like the diva that it can be? Honesty, I have no answer, all I know is that at some point, and at certain times, that wonderful thing called good old fashioned luck gets sucked right out of the equation, and all you are left with is one giant upward struggle.  That small insignificant thing that began the whole chain of unfortunate events has snowballed into what looks like a mountain and it's coming avalanche-ing towards you.

We still manage to find our Yin.  Fragments of it invade our days, shining through the dark and leaving us with moments like this..

 

Which is how I'm happy to say, I know I we will make it through the other side.  But I gotta say, right about now, Yin, wherever you are - there is a big empty space in the Wood household, with your name on it!

Queensland Flood Clean-up Begins

The floods have come and gone.  They've swirled, stormed and streamed through parts of Queensland, leaving their mark.  Homes have been underwater, lives have been destroyed and some families are left with nothing more then the clothes on their backs.

We spent an agonising few days at the beginning of the week wondering and waiting...not really knowing how we would be effected and hoping that our little town wouldn't be one of them.  But it was.  High on the Bellbowrie Chase, we were one of the lucky ones and it's been heartbreaking to see our friends, many of whom lost so much.

These images are just before the peak of the floods, in our suburb, Bellbowrie.

Roads were unrecognisable and water was up to the tops of the trees.

Power was turned off due to power lines being submerged and we had a few days of 'sink bathies', candlelight and boiling cups of tea on our BBQ gas ring.  Low food supplies meant a bit of improvisation but going back to the basics helped opened 'little eyes' to how much they have now and how blessed we all are.

Today, the clean up began.  Hundreds of people coming together to help out, deliver food, cook meals, clean out houses, sift through the debis, shelter the homeless, and lend a hand in whichever way they could.  It was heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time.  

This is Birkin Rd, where Poppy went to Kindy, where we used to go to buy our food before our gorcery store suffered floods up to the ceiling, and where a lot of our friends live.  Houses coated in mud, inside and out, furniture lying in soaked and stained piles on the front lawns, people with brooms, gurneys and sheer will-power to do whatever it takes to help out.  

The people of Queensland certainly know how to pull together, it's a pretty amazing place when disasters hit.

As for my lot..it's back to a bit of normality.

 And if they take anything at all from all of this, it has to be to count their blessings and be thankful and grateful for all that they have in this unpredictable world.  It's an awful lot compared to some.

I'd like to say a special thank you to Paula and Tom, our friends who helped us so much this week when we were without power and supplies.  And another one to Andrea - thanks so much honey for your constant support and info. xx