Stuff...
It occurred to me just the other day that there has been lots of stuff going on in our lives over the last short while. I mean there's external stuff, like the last weekend of October when we went to the Yungaburra markets for a visit (Very cool incidentally!) 
and took Mikaela with us, and re-visited some of the waterfalls we had seen a week earlier and some new ones (still not game to swim though, despite the sun).
There has been more gardening, and the flourishing of my magnificent passionfruit vines that now not only stretch right along the length of the fence, but which have also bridged the gap between the fence and the verandah and climbed into some nearby palms. I have new cherry tomato plants (an additional 9 of them) and 7 new beans which I should have followed Mez' advice on and done a photographic catalogue of progress it was so rapid how fast they got up the trellis I made for them! They get good loving. There's the impending cylone season, which the palms seem to predict and henceforth start dropping their excess branches madly. To the extent that I've all but given up trying to keep the place looking tidy there are just so many! There was a visit for a couple of days from Richard (Mez' cousin) and his girlfriend Samara who were en 
route to Townsville from London. (Good times, great company - and some great fish and chips!) There's Abbey who is just a daily delight, who helps Mez with dinner, and helps me water the garden (and harvesting - a lot of which she's a little too exuberant with - there's been plenty of green tomatoes picked, and today some 10cm capsicums! D'oh!) But she's delightful in her earnest desire to help mum and dad which is really heart warming (insert "Ooohhhh" sound effect). There's the great time of day first thing in the morning when Abbey wakes and there's three in the bed, with Abbey blowing stacks of rasberries to the ever expanding bump. There's work - which has been busier of late, owing to the fact that we just lost Tim - the other full time (and Kiwi) physio who was at the practice a few months before I got there. There's music, that we're playing and singing most weekends at church, and with that comes the practices (which, generally speaking are a complete delight!) There's the couple of new pets we've discovered in our garden -this delightful green tree frog (on the pool fence as opposed to a tree) 
and this deceptively large Golden Orb spider (aka bird-eating spider). I kid you not - with his legs outstretched he's almost the size of my head!) 
There's overfed ducks to be fed on a nearby pond. 
and took Mikaela with us, and re-visited some of the waterfalls we had seen a week earlier and some new ones (still not game to swim though, despite the sun). There has been more gardening, and the flourishing of my magnificent passionfruit vines that now not only stretch right along the length of the fence, but which have also bridged the gap between the fence and the verandah and climbed into some nearby palms. I have new cherry tomato plants (an additional 9 of them) and 7 new beans which I should have followed Mez' advice on and done a photographic catalogue of progress it was so rapid how fast they got up the trellis I made for them! They get good loving. There's the impending cylone season, which the palms seem to predict and henceforth start dropping their excess branches madly. To the extent that I've all but given up trying to keep the place looking tidy there are just so many! There was a visit for a couple of days from Richard (Mez' cousin) and his girlfriend Samara who were en 
route to Townsville from London. (Good times, great company - and some great fish and chips!) There's Abbey who is just a daily delight, who helps Mez with dinner, and helps me water the garden (and harvesting - a lot of which she's a little too exuberant with - there's been plenty of green tomatoes picked, and today some 10cm capsicums! D'oh!) But she's delightful in her earnest desire to help mum and dad which is really heart warming (insert "Ooohhhh" sound effect). There's the great time of day first thing in the morning when Abbey wakes and there's three in the bed, with Abbey blowing stacks of rasberries to the ever expanding bump. There's work - which has been busier of late, owing to the fact that we just lost Tim - the other full time (and Kiwi) physio who was at the practice a few months before I got there. There's music, that we're playing and singing most weekends at church, and with that comes the practices (which, generally speaking are a complete delight!) There's the couple of new pets we've discovered in our garden -this delightful green tree frog (on the pool fence as opposed to a tree) and this deceptively large Golden Orb spider (aka bird-eating spider). I kid you not - with his legs outstretched he's almost the size of my head!) There's overfed ducks to be fed on a nearby pond. 
And there was this weekend just past, when Abbey and I decided to make a flying trip to NZ.
Lots of stuff! But along with the external there is (of course) the internal stuff. The desire to see more and more of this wonderful country we're in. The desire to invest more and more of our time with our families.
The desire to fulfill a role in our local community. The desire to make one's work as fulfilling as it possibly can be. The desire to be the best parents we can be. The desire for our second child to make their appearance from beneath the veil of Mez' belly! It's hard to describe fully how I felt, leaving my 36 week pregnant wife alone and taking my (nearly) 16 month old daughter for a visit to NZ. As we were walking through a maze of corridoors in Wellington Airport en route to customs, I remarked to Abbey - "we're home now" - and quickly countered with: "though your understanding of 'home' is by now probably a little messed up - sorry about that!" Nonetheless, my young sociable wee lass had an absolute ball of a time with all the real live photographs! (She has photo's of all our family members on the wall as reminders of who they are!) And loved catching up with not only her wonderful grandies 
and aunties and uncles (Apologies to all McBride aunties and uncles who were there in all their splendour on the day, but absent when someone suggested family photos!)
but also Bonnie the dog 
as well as the chance to meet a couple of new cousins (Madeleine and Tane - sorry didn't manage to get a pic of Maddie!) 
and re-connecting with cousin Francesco. 
What a connection.
The trip also afforded lots of daddy-daughter time which I for one, thoroughly enjoyed. She's beautiful my daughter, you see. 
The other stuff I did while home, was to have a most enjoyable business meeting. Obviously foremost in our minds at present is the possibility of one final relocation back to where we started... and yet, for those who've read any or all of the blogs that come before this one, you'll recognise that we're nowhere near where we began... Funny how life moves us eh? Funny how stuff changes, and yet remains much the same? Funny how so much stuff goes on and we go on with it? And the sun keeps rising, and then it goes down again. King Solomon spoke it so well many hundreds of years ago. I don't think anyone's yet come up with a better or more descriptive notion of life. "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven..." Ecclesiastes 3:1
and aunties and uncles (Apologies to all McBride aunties and uncles who were there in all their splendour on the day, but absent when someone suggested family photos!)but also Bonnie the dog as well as the chance to meet a couple of new cousins (Madeleine and Tane - sorry didn't manage to get a pic of Maddie!) and re-connecting with cousin Francesco. What a connection. The trip also afforded lots of daddy-daughter time which I for one, thoroughly enjoyed. She's beautiful my daughter, you see. The other stuff I did while home, was to have a most enjoyable business meeting. Obviously foremost in our minds at present is the possibility of one final relocation back to where we started... and yet, for those who've read any or all of the blogs that come before this one, you'll recognise that we're nowhere near where we began... Funny how life moves us eh? Funny how stuff changes, and yet remains much the same? Funny how so much stuff goes on and we go on with it? And the sun keeps rising, and then it goes down again. King Solomon spoke it so well many hundreds of years ago. I don't think anyone's yet come up with a better or more descriptive notion of life. "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven..." Ecclesiastes 3:1 So the question for now is: what season are we moving into?
posted by Ryan and Mez at
9:22 AM
1 Comments:
Sounds like you're a very happy and contented chappie! Congratulations on the next one, very exciting news.
Martin and Lucy
By
Martin, at 11:15 AM
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