For the love of cats!

In response to Rikki's picture that he posted on my blog (**&^%^&$#@^&*%$##%) we love you too Rikki........ Agreed....feral cats are not good for the environment, but I wouldn't advocate stringing them up to a tree either.....they are still God's creatures!

The Cat Tree on the Oodnadatta Track, SA

Proving that cats and the environment can co-exist.

... but seriously, this is a community service announcement that if you keep your cats inside and look after them, that's fine. If they go feral, they'll end up on the Cat Tree.

Hello Lily.......Anisia had fun capturing kitty moments today as she had a late work start...then I accidentally posted the pics to Liz's blog....oh dear, they aren't cat lovers at all so I'm sure they won't stay there long.....anyway Sarah Kannis, these are for you. 

Upside down Lily..... 

hello to the soots!!!! 

aint she just the cutest? 

And yes..... who said they would never be friends?Lily and Sooty may chase each other around the house wildly, but they are growing closer very gradually. 

And as you know, blog entries are never complete withour our babies! I bought them some cat grass (ye who are not cat lovers I know will say how ridiculous buying your cat a plant!!!!) which Lily rapidly ate, but Sooty thought it was something to play with. It's better than them trying to eat the artifical flowers! 

Anisia's friends Matti Q. and Christie F. gave her a fondue set for her birthday, so it was a Toblerone chocolate fondue for dessert. For those who are uninitiated, one melts the chocolate of whatever variety and then dips fruit into the chocolate. Anisia invited her friend Emma over (to also have a wine and to toast marshmallows under the Bali Hut) and she is pictured below along with our German student Caro.

Mmmmm chocolate fondue....... 

Back view of the house for those of you who aren't familiar....most of the backyard is done now, except for the major pool renovation and new fences all the way around. 

Kevin enjoying the fruits of his labour....a cuppa under the "Bali Hut" 

Here we are at the end of another week. I was expecting to be Internet-less for the weekend while we changed over providers, and our 2 students were bemoaning lost contact with their loved ones in Germany and China. Whilst we were told next Wednesday as the expected date, lo and behold we were reconnected in under 3 days. O how we rely on modern technology; you might just as well have cut off my right leg.So was it worth the changeover? It's half the price of Bigpond and 10 times the speed. We have gone from 512/128 download/upload speed to a staggering 5000/1000 with a total of 25gigabytes download in a month. If that doesn't make sense to those of you who aren't IT nerds, that's a lot of very fast downloads. I can see why Telstra shares are going down, everyone is exiting like there's no tomorrow, and they can't match the zillion providers that are popping up everywhere.
I also thought I might post up our plans for Christmas this year....by choice we have elected to spend our very first Christmas in 29 years childless. It almost happened in 2005, but Cheyne saved the day. We have booked to go to China, leaving on the 12th December late in the evening, and returning to Australia after 4 nights in Singapore on the 10th January. We are travelling with our Chinese friends Sam and Selina to their home city (Chengdu) in Sichuan province, which is in the south-west of China. We plan to take several flights from Chengdu, one to Shanghai, the other to an ancient city of minority people. We will stay with Selina's parents in Chengdu for quite a bit of our time. We feel blessed to be able to make this trip. I have always had a passion to visit China, and we felt that God brought Sam and Selina into our lives as our adopted children for a reason. We feel that the plan is still unfolding, and we are most excited to see what evolves. On Sunday at church I met a South Korean couple who are doing mission work in China an hour's flight south of Chengdu....we are not always sure why God places people before us, but we continue to step out in faith that God is in control and that we continue to be faithful servants.Whilst we are sad that we will not be with family and friends this Christmas, we will be close to experiencing a white Christmas in a very chilly part of China.

hello 

Hello there....thought I would do a brief update of where I am at.I don't get to talk so often and my blogging generally consists of very random pics that don't really tell you much. Then again I'm not too sure that too many people read this, so for all I know I may just be talking to myself. If that be therapeutic, then so be it. The warblings of my protegy and my sister seem interesting enough when I read their blogs, and deeper insights are gleaned that may not have otherwise been, so that leaves me where?
Life is interesting. We are pruned by God so that fresh shoots may spring forth and bear fruit........my pruning has typically occurred in the wintertime when the leaves and branches have browned off & are unattractive. My winter time has been a darkened one, a time of hibernation and introspection and I am hoping that the spring and the sunshine will bring some fresh new growth. I have previously mused upon the idea that sometimes we are too attached to some things and need to let go, and I am albeit slowly succumbing....whether this alludes to one thing or many I am not sure. I think it is many.....
My life is currently consumed by my conscious immersion in my work, taking upon myself the woes of many and learning lessons in submission and humility. A new environment creates a steep learning curve upon which to test newly acquired skills and hypotheses, and to apply some old knowledge and wisdom taken from the old teacher in experience. I constantly see God's hand at work in the many interactions with new found friends, colleagues and even students. We sometimes learn from those we least expect. I learned today about the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, and that to assume something also means to "lift up" (so Sister Francine told me), as Mary, the mother of God as the Catholics profess, was assumed to God when her empty tomb was found.Every day brings a new lesson to my door, be it from an underweight adolescent who wants to lose 6kg in a week on a crash diet of fruit and soup, and who already has an eating disorder BMI; or from a delightful young girl who has overcome chronic enuresis through connecting with someone who cares; or another small child who is so overindulged by wealth and materialism that she brings along her excesses to share with her friends; or 2 adolescents who firstly engage in some impromptu passion and then decide to bare buttocks to an entourage of visiting Japanese; and a young boy who is overcoming incredible odds with a dual diagnosis, and who brings me his little disk each day because he has made the required ticks on his chart to get his reward, followed by a barrage of hugs as he makes his early exit for the day....and this was just a few of today's lessons........I am here where I am meant to be. I am asked why not move to where your children are? Why are we somewhere where we only have one living relative within 1000kms? God closes doors and opens windows....my window is where I am right now, and it is through this window that the sun will shine in and the new growth will spring forth, leaving the fertiliser behind to nourish the roots. One cannot remain dormant for too long.

Kevin and Neish enjoying lunch and some time out on the deck...... 

Three kookaburras (my favourite birds) enjoyed bathing in our pool then drying off on the pool fence yesterday when we were having lunch. Even gave us the odd laugh or two..... 

With Rikki and Kristin living in Adelaide, the best way we can regularly see and speak to Joshua and Simeon is to have webcam chats.......you can see me in the bottom corner of the screen taking the photo. 

Simeon Luke and Rikki having a chat with us on Webcam...... 

Web camming with Joshua on Saturday....a good way for us to regularly see our grandkids! 

New blog entries are never complete without another cat picture............Lily continues to love the attention. 

A birthday toast for Kevin and Anisia....... 

Celebrating Kevin's and Anisia's birthdays, Kevin 51 and Neish 25 (on Tuesday). 

For Kevin's and Anisia's birthdays I baked up a feast on Saturday night (%th August). Anisia invited her work colleague from Brisbane for the night. Snap here is showing off my catch, caught in Action Ashmore! 

yummy.....Meditteranean baked snapper. 

Oh dear that's Sedrick all finished........ 

Selina and Sam surprised Kevin for his birthday last night, arriving with all the goodies for one of their special Chinese meals.Here Selina is getting ready for Chinese hotpot....definitely the yummiest that we have had to date.I think I can nearly make one of these on my own now. 

Toasting a happy birthday for Kevin, celebrating with our special Chinese friends Sam and Selina, with Chinese hotpot brewing.