We had a lovely and very unexpected surprise -which was a visit from friends we hadn't seen in about 15 years -the Dobbies! Craig was the youth minister at the church we grew up in and was a major influence in Tony growing as a Christian and deciding to go into full time Christian ministry. He also preached at our wedding. It was fantastic seeing him and Louise again -and their teenage daughters who we used to babysit(!)

Holidays

We've just come to the end of our 2 week school holidays. It's been very strange without our Hansie girl, but we love knowing she's having fun with her friends and grandparnets and cousins etc.(ok, Tony and I love it...can't exactly say the same for the other two " stuck in Suva", but hey!) She's ticked off all the things she wanted to do and will head off to CMS Camp MMM tomorrow for her final week.

Meanwhile we have been having a quieter time of it here.Tennis and dog walking on dry days and playstation and milkshakes on the wet days. Holidays make us very aware of the fact that we can't just pop in on grandparents or meet friends at our favourite Sydney parks and cafes. But we have loved walking the dog at sunset with the mountains in the background. We have found the best lime thickshakes at the Mango Cafe. We have also found a great Adventure Park with flying fox, high ropes etc.. Oh and Ethan has become obsessed with tennis, which my Dad will enjoy with him when they come back on Saturday with Hannah...6 sleeps to go. Oh and we just got home from another dinner with the Year 13 youthworks team from Sydney. There are 94 teenagers here from Australia who are thinking about mission work in the future. It has been fun meeting them and answering their questions....even the 19 year old that I quickly realised I used to babysit when she was 2.....I'd felt so young and hip up until then...disappointing.

Heading into town for the movies

Adventure Park-raring to go!!

Soph on left, Eth on right and mum on solid ground sweating..

Viewing area to watch them come through on the flying fox

Tennis lessons down the road at the university

Dinner with Year 13 team

Exciting times around here with Hannah heading over to Sydney for a couple of weeks to see family and friends and go to CMS Camp MMM!! Thanks to our very generous parents! Its only been a day and we are all finding it very strange without Hannah here, but happy for her that she gets to do 2 weeks worth of fun stuff.We're keeping pretty busy though -kids doing tennis and art classes in the hols. In between playstation and episodes of Horrible Histories of course. The photos of Soph in her dance costume are for Hannahs sake as Soph said " I cant believe Hannah isnt here to see me go to my dress rehearsal" ha,ha!

Waiting at the airport before Hannah headed off.

A bushwalk and sand walk at the Sigatoka Sand Dunes on the way home from Nadi

Managed to squeeze in a quick swim before the rain came

Racing down the hill

Hanging out with some missionary friends from California who also help with the prison ministry

Seriously the Worlds Cutest Baby!!

Soph heading off to dress rehearsal

Farewell dinner with some Aussies who are going home after 6 months of helping with prison ministry.

Dolls and shopping games for the little ones...

.....and darts outside for the older kids!

A beautiful moment between Tony and Buddy..

The beginnings of Hannah's artwork

and the finished product!! SO good.

The other day when I was hanging out the washing a nervous looking probably 6 year old kid poked his face through our face asking for one of the guavas off our tree. I grabbed a few and passed them through the fence and the kid immediately started to eat them like an apple. Word got around and the next day he came back...with the other 10 kids he lives with! Ethan thought it was the best thing ever! Any shyness or lack of confidence was gone and Eth suddenly found himself taking orders and climbing pretty high up to get the ones they wanted. He realised that it was every man for himself and the littlest girl was actually missing out. Ethan would have none of this. His new approach is to pick the guavas on his own, cut them in half, get the kids in pairs and hand them their share in an orderly and civilised manner. If anyone has a problem with this, he/she will miss out. Simple. He's a thinker!

Ethan with his gang of hungry customers

Taking charge of the guava situation.

The good thing about being in Fiji is that we get visitors galore! Last weekend it was the Minchinbury mob and this weekend we had two sets of Aussies come. On Saturday night we went for dinner with a lovely couple from Shellharbour who have a 20 year history with Fiji -teaching PTC to local pastors and also having adopted a couple of kids from here many years ago. Then today we had our excellent friends from St Albans Lindfield, who came to church with us and then back for lunch. Lots of eating, lots of talking and, the highlight for the kids, 2 LITRES OF NUTELLA!!! So all up, a super weekend for us indeed.

Soph off to a party

The wonderful John and Sue Cornford

The girls and Hannah's school friend at church

Fun day with Tina, Aaron and Lukie Cheang

The kids loving having a little friend to play with.

Look at that table of goodies -very kind friends!

I don't seem to have written for a while -as we've either been sick or there hasn't been anything to write about. Tony continues to wait for a job description and the official beginning of his role. Meanwhile, he goes to a weekly staff meeting and gets the occasional invitation to speak at events or lead bible studies. He loves this -can be very hard for an extroverted, energetic guy who likes to be busy and challenged to be sitting around waiting, but the time will come I guess, when he misses the quiet and the chance to chew his way through a library of great books. I, on the other hand am the extreme introvert who has been out and about this week. The "Step out, step free" course has begun at the Womens Prison and will run for another week or so. It is a bible based course which looks at the issues of identity, significance etc.. and is run by Operation Foundation by some legendary Australians who have been here for 8 years with Pioneers. Really worthwhile and I am loving all of it -draining as it is. I'm also pretty wheezy here which is prob the high diesel pollution levels and the fact we live across the road from the bus stop?

Kids are chugging along, with Hannah counting down until she flies off to Sydney on June 27.She will take turns staying with both sets of grandparents and my sister -and in the second week will go to CMS camp MMM in Katoomba. Such a good camp and she is as high as a kite when she talks about it. Ethan seems sick a fair bit but soldiers on and Soph is as "go get 'em" as they come.She loves life and loves whatever comes her way really, little cherub. Other news, just gearing up for home-schooling (Hannah is fully pumped!....), the dog is full-on but growing on us and we are enjoying the cooler weather and massive amounts of rain. Here are some recent photos.

Cake decorating after school with Soph's new friend

A fun visit from some friends at Minchinbury Church-one of our link churches

Doing some craft at a local orphanage.

Tony was still sitting in that spot working on his craft LONG after the kids had all gone ha,ha! He wasn't going to leave until he got it right.

A favourite dog-walking spot and exercise equipment that I keep talking about going to.

The team at the prison and some of the ladies doing the course..

Jill doing some classroom teaching