Sunday, 31 December 2017

my goodness how time flies when you are having fun!!!!!  It is now really 2018.  Where did 2017 go?

Monday, 18 Dec -  The morning was spent with Sister Haley helping declutter the sister's house.  Elder Haley ran other errands.  The afternoon was spent taking apart Bethlehem, Zarahemla and Grafton Christmas scenes.  It was a lovely activity and everyone seemed to have a great time.

Tuesday, 19 Dec - Last primary activity day before the summer holidays.  We also spent time at Bunnings (like Home Depot) looking for some parts for the curtains we are working on at the branch meeting house.

Wednesday, 20 Dec - a "normal" day, kind of.  We got ready for the District Training Meeting.  Tonight we have the elders from Coffs as well as the Grafton Elders, so there is more food to prepare - pancakes and bacon (that is what they wanted).  We are amazed at how these young men (and women) step up and are able to lead the meetings and bring really good, spiritual thoughts.  The power of being a full time missionary.  We gave each of the elders a small Christmas present.

Thursday, 21 Dec - lots of errands and tasks and yard work. Have to start getting things cleaned up for our YSA guests who come in on Sunday. We went shopping to fill 3 Christmas hampers for some of the members in the branch who have less.

Friday, 22 Dec - Clean the meetinghouse.  We delivered the hampers with President Norman in the afternoon.

Saturday, 23 Dec - nothing written on the calendar, so we must have died today.  I am sure we did things as there never seems to be a dull day around here.

Sunday, 24 Dec - The Hyde Park YSA arrived this evening at about 5 pm - Shawn Long, Klaus Ni, Deshao Liu, Kayi Ng, Emma Teng, Wu Jie (Vicky).  All are from Hong Kong or China. These kids are great and we really enjoy being with them.  We rented an 8 passenger van to haul us all around the area.  We just drove around the Junction Hill area today and saw some kangaroos and looked at the stars.

Monday, 25 Dec - CHRISTMAS.  Santa was able to find Grafton, NSW, and left presents for the YSA and the Haleys.  One of the presents for the guys was a large bubble wand, so everyone went into the back yard and made bubbles.  We went to President Normans for Christmas lunch - Ham, Turkey, and all the fixins and desserts.  A HUGE storm came in at 3:15 just after we finished lunch and drenched the entire town. We were eating outside under the porch awning, so we did not get wet.  Then back to our home where we goofed off and played board games.

Tuesday, 26 Dec - Boxing day.  We drove over to Broomshead to see the ocean from the bluff.  We also were able to find a number of roos for the kids to see and photo.  They were able to get within 10 feet or so of some of the roos which was a delight for those who had not seen roos in the wild before.  We then went home, went to Coles to buy the makings of dumplings,  and then home to start a production line on making a million (or so it seemed) pork or lamb dumplings.  The best part of making the dumplings was in eating them after they were made

Wednesday, 27 Dec - A sad day.  We took the YSA to the train station and sent them back to Sydney 😢  The rest of the day was in cleaning up the house and washing the bed sheets.  The YSA are good at cleaning up after themselves - they do all the cooking and washing of the dishes.  It is a real pleasure to have them here.

Thursday, 28 Dec - Talked with Mom this morning instead of Wednesday am.  Another errand and clean up day. Busy, but nothing exciting.

Friday, 29 Dec - Talk about exciting.  Today is Margaret's birthday.  Happy Birthday Margaret/Sister Haley.  We went to Coffs Harbour for the day.  Spent much of it with the Coffs elders.  We needed to check out several things in their flat that the landlord said needed replacing - some can be repaired in my opinion.  Took the elders out for lunch at one of the local Chinese restaurants.  Margaret and I went to the "jetty" where we walked out to the end and watched the ocean.  We did see some kayaks get into the water and then row out past the jetty into the sea - more power to them. We drove along the beach front and stopped at a few places to see the ocean/beach.  Then started to head home and went to Sealy Lookoout where you can see the entire valley around Coffs Harbour.  It was a really nice view.  We then took the back roads to Woolgoolga and saw this little town that we have heard about, but never visited.  It is just a small beach front town that gets heaps of visitors/campers during the summer; and then dwindles back to normal size after the summer holiday season.  We had dinner at a Thai restaurant there.  Then we headed for home and got back home around 930pm.

Saturday, 30 Dec - Lots of calls on Viber from the kids, wishing Margaret a Happy Birthday.  Finished cleaning up the house and getting ready for Sunday.  We did run some shopping errands and took one of the sisters into shop so she would not go shopping on Sunday.

Sunday, 31 Dec - Last day of 2017.  Attended our Church meetings.  worked on several assignments for the Branch.  We did stay up until midnight so we could watch the fireworks in Sydney - live on Youtube.  Then collapsed in bed from staying up so late - we must be getting old.

Clean up after the Branch Christmas activity

Our favourite calf - the white/brown speckled one with mom

One Charley Brown Christmas tree

Silver & purple - waiting on Santa

Oh boy, pancakes and bacon

One of the things that elders do best - eat

Happy campers after dinner & dessert

One set of curtains that we have bought and hung in the meetinghouse

Two of the Christmas hampers we delivered

Christmas tree in the living room

our favourite calf again. Love the big, floppy ears. He is part Brahma

look at those ears.  Dumbo would be jealous

Flowers all over the place. Allamandra

The train is arriving from Sydney.  Hooray

We are not excited or anything 

The YSA contingent from Sydney. Shawn, Deshao, Klaus, Vicky, Emma, Ka Yi

the happy group. Hail, Hail the gangs all here

The girls

The guys

On the way to the Clarence River.  Our evening walk

Sunset

Sunset.  The sunsets are absolutely gorgeous here in Grafton

I am forever blowing bubbles

bubbles - more

and more bubbles

and more

Margaret checking out the bubble makers

Catch it on your tongue. Yuck, what a taste

Christmas breakfast - Danish compliments of Margaret

The ham for Christmas lunch

Where there are YSA, there movies & videos

Christmas lunch is served

Let's eat. What are we waiting for?

dessert.  Pavlova, fruit, ice cream

Spencer Norman (aka Harry Potter), Ka Yi, Emma

The rain after Christmas dinner

Oh, and did I tell you that this is our favourite calf?

A nice, cozy game of cards whilst it is raining outside

Christmas is a time to relax - hang in there Shawn

The crew in a sugar cane field

Brooms Head bluff

Roos laying down on the job at one of the Brooms Head camp sites

On part of the beach, Brooms Head

the YSA on the hunt of a roo

Happy and in the kitchen.  Working on making dumplings

Klaus kneading dough for the dumplings

The team at work

the assembly line - even Margaret is getting into the act

Dumplings, dumplings.  coming out of our ears

and more dumplings

Sending Vicky off on the train to Sydney

Love the kids and they love Sister Haley

Vicky on the train before departing for Sydney

Sigh - sending the kids home

The YSA - love them

Oh, Elder & Sister Haley

Coffs Harbour.  The jetty is on the right

The Jetty - looking out to sea

The Jetty - it is a long walk

Kayakers in the ocean, past the protection of the Jetty

Coffs Harbour from Sealy Lookout

The other side of Coffs from Sealy Lookout

A banana bunch with the flower on the bottom of the bunch

Another bunch of bananas

A bunch of bananas covered to protect them from birds.  The bottom is open to allow the bunch to get air and grow

Banana field

Margaret on the hunt for a wild banana

Sikh Temple at Woolgoolga

Woolgoolga headlands

Woolgoolga headlands with Margaret

What is Mike taking a picture of?

This crevice and surf

Maclean Rodeo

Aussie, Aussie

Under 11 years, calf riding

Team steer roping. One rider lassos the head and the other lassos the hind legs

Bull riding

Now this is a bull that is trying to be ridden - good luck and watch out for the horns

Oh man, the bull was mean