Canterbury

We haven’t taken very many pictures this month. Mainly, we’ve been doing school and trying to recover from the shock of being told we have to move again, and of course, I’m dealing with morning sickness (although that is getting better, thankfully!). We have not found a house yet; there isn’t anything available to rent, and especially not anything that will suit us. We’re still praying about what to do, and pursuing any option that we are told about. We’re wondering if it is time to buy a house, although we really wanted a couple more years to save first. We’ll see what God opens up for us! Anyway, here are a few pictures from the month.

I dug one parsnip—but what a parsnip!

We went to Christchurch one day, and on our way home got to watch the moon rise. What a sight! Esther asked me to pull over so she could get a photo. Later that evening, I saw on Facebook something about the “honey moon” that was happening that night!

A hollow log across the creek, just before the digger pulled it out when our landlord cleaned out the creek.

One Sunday afternoon, Gayle took the children walking along the shore for a little while after church, while I rested in the van. They rolled down the steep bank in the gravel.

While the digger was here, we asked the man to move our container out of the paddock to the road, where it can be picked up by a truck to move it, when we move. We have no idea yet where we’re going, but we plan to pack as much as possible into the container, then get a truck with a crane to move it all to the new house. The paddock will still be too wet, so this will make it possible.

I had a lot of lemons to juice one day, and these two helped—until the juicer burned out.

The two little boys get pretty bored during school, so one day they invaded Esther’s room. They rearranged the jars on the shelves, then made themselves “beds”!

My little helper. I was making peanut butter, and he ate handfuls of peanuts!

One evening, Mr. Sweetie was trying to make himself a costume with a blanket and clothespins. His little brother tried to help!

We had another heavy rain, and were afraid that we would have another flood, but thankfully the rain slackened just before the creek overflowed. We did have water running along the footpaths in front of the house again, though.

A mob of a couple hundred—maybe several hundred—sheep went past several days ago. The leaders were approaching our place, and the tail end of the flock had still not turned onto our road! Those vehicles in the distance are on the other road, behind the mob. The sheep were spread out over about half a kilometer (over a quarter mile).

This is probably the winner of the giant pumpkin contest for this year, although there is still one more to be weighed. This one weighed 30 kg (66 pounds). Unfortunately, we proved to ourselves that Atlantic Giant pumpkins don’t taste good. Actually, that is a mis-statement. They have no flavor at all! The cow got it, but didn’t get through the whole thing before it rotted.

I came in from milking one evening and found the little boys washing the window! They had great fun.

One Saturday, Gayle took all the older children to clean a house that his co-worker is moving into. I stayed home with the little boys. They get along so well together—it is great fun to watch them play! They got this barrel and set it up under the tree, then climbed the tree to get on top of the barrel. Big brother helped little brother get settled, and they pretended there was a flood. The barrel rocked back and forth rather violently, then toppled over!

Little fellow got hold of a small ball of yarn, and “tied” it onto various things, stringing it from the hallway into the kitchen. Then, someone helped him make it into a “hut”, which he is standing in in this photo.

This is Elijah doing his math—his favorite place is on top the piano!

One very frosty morning, the “lake” in front of the house was frozen over, except for this open spot in the middle where the ducks were.

Another morning, we were eating breakfast when we looked out the window and saw these two herons in the trees across the road.

I was out with the camera one afternoon and enjoyed seeing the ducks relaxing.

On my way back to the house, I opened the door so the chickens could free-range for awhile.

Our landlord worked for awhile on repainting the house and got this side done!