sheridan eketone

Here is a pic of us at Uncle Terry’s 70th birthday yesterday.  It was so lovely to be there. I found myself really overwhelmed by certain parts of the party.  My Uncle was born deaf after my Nana contracted German Measles whilst pregnant.  My Mother gave a beautiful speech to honor him yesterday.  She spoke of her Mother who had such a strong Faith in God & whose favorite verse was “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”  I loved hearing that again and being reminded of the great Heritage I have of family who have led the way in loving Jesus and putting him first in their lives.  Tears came as I tried to take in the enormity of the blessings that have followed because of this.  Then…. the surprise for my Uncle.  A bag piper who came in piping “happy birthday” The look on his face brought tears to my eyes, cupping his hand over his ears, trying desperately to catch some of the sound.  I was right beside the piper & felt I could have infact lost hearing from it. Again tears came as I watched him break into Scottish dancing (a great passion of his over the years)

It was beautiful seeing half the room hearing people and half the room deaf.  The way they all came together to honor my Uncle was beautiful.  I commented to Mum that I don’t think there would be too many deaf men who could fill a church hall at their 70th.  My Uncle spoke about his love for his daughters & how much he is proud of how smart they are & how sad he is that he feels so inadequate being their Dad.  His eyes welled with tears as he spoke.  Another beautiful reminder of a parents love for his children.

Just beautiful x

hmmm… some would say that is a contradiction.. wintery summers day?? Well that is exactly the day we had on Saturday… A storm was moving thru the North Island & after a yummy bunch of buttermilk pancakes, hubbie told us we were heading out for a walk!

This shot was taken half way thru our walk.. before the downpour! It seemed so odd heading out in winter coats on a Summers day, but it was so lovely to be outside…

I love this pic. Ella did so so well on the walk. Jaden had his bike & Myah had her scooter so they headed off ahead of us. I pushed Leila in the pram. The air was crisp and the sun was shining.. that was until the downpour…

it’s all good tho, just enough time for a photoshoot, hiding under the shelter of the yacht club… and the sun did return…

Isn’t this shot great! Gotta love the self portrait!  I do wish I was aging as well as my dear hubbie… those lines sure are creeping in there!  I love him for so so many reasons.  On this day I was struck again by how great a Dad he is. He took the kids down to the rocky part of the beach & to watch them hang on his every word reminded me of how much I love him as a Father. I always knew he would be a great Dad, but he has far exceeded my expectations..

It seems right to end on this angel face.  She is such a joy in our family. I’m so glad we went for the FOURTH.  Such a joy. Each day I am thankful.  Love you Leila girl x

So I’m painfully aware of my blog silence over the last few days or possibly weeks??!!

What’s new?? Our family are giving up TV for Lent! It’s been really AMAZING. Woaahhh so scary to realize how much time one wastes when you have a TV that you access on a regular basis.  Our evenings have consisted of… checking Facebook ;),  Ronnie learning scales on the guitar, writing songs & reading & me practicing my newly formed CROCHET skill… Then we get to about 9.30pm & go… “BED TIME??”  One could say less TV is good for our marriage if you know what I mean! 

Today I got my hair done by my lovely hair dresser who I see only maybe once or twice a year. (It’s so darned expensive)  But she is lovely… SO now.. I have tried to regain what I lost visiting a “DEAL” hairdresser who really didn’t get it and made my hair very red. THat faded to a quite nice coppery color which sits now under some choc brown streaks…

Myah has been sent home with 3 boxes of girl guide biscuits! EEEEEK! Hope they sell FAST otherwise I may just HAVE to eat them all….

Last thought .. I have the MOST incredible baby. She sat at the hair dressers for a good 2 hours, no complaints! SO so so so lovely… I ADORE her!!!

Ok.. that’s enough nothingness for now…

Till next time….

wow.. I really felt like an Angel visited me the other day. On Wednesday I headed out to Albany with my heavily pregnant, lovely friend Andrea, to visit another friend Vicky & her gorgeous baby.  We headed over the bridge in some pretty horrid rain.  Found her house, and headed inside for a chat, some coffee & an insanely GREAT piece of chocolate cake. We had been there an hour when we heard a knock at the door!  At the door stood a very handsome man, who proceeded to ask if we owned the toyota outside the house.  I said.. YES..  and he proceeded to tell me that my lights were on & he had been to two houses looking for me.  I couldn’t believe that he had actually stopped, gotten out of his car & tried to find me! So so so cool. I headed down to the car to find that the battery was indeed flat… and then watched as he jumped into his bmw, swung it around & got out his jumper leads.  I just kept saying … you are such an ANGEL… thank you so much for stopping.  Not only did he stop, but he searched to find me… how many 30 something men, who drive BMW’s would stop to hunt down a damsel in distress???  Was so tempted to ask if he knew Jesus.. I’m pretty sure he did!!

I chatted to him whilst we waited for the battery to charge & drove away astounded at the loveliness of this man.. it’s restored my faith in humanity ;)

Wow.. after talking about it for some time, the night finally came where we met together for the first Cousies Crochet Club!  It was, Aunty Veta, Mum, Maureen (from Australia), Beth, Bron, Cathie, Leigh, Keren & I.  It was so lovely to be together & hilarious watching us all try to master double crochet & V’s!  Mostly, it was so touching to watch Aunty Veta & realize how much she was loving us all being together. Really, this club is much more than just about learning to Crochet.  I want to learn all that I can from this incredible woman. She of course told us her tip for utilizing the juices from hot chickens… and then wouldn’t let us leave without providing tomorrow nights dinner for us… in the form of 2 frozen chickens & 2 cooked chickens.  Leigh & myself went for FROZEN & Keren & Cathie had the cooked!  Another example of this incredible woman.. always thinking of ways to bless others. I’m really excited about the next night…

Oh my goodness.. so here I am. Have been thinking about doing this for the longest time… and now here I am. Hoping I will continue on & will find enough interesting stuff to chat about… one can only hope!