Some crazy pictures from my life. :)



Before my hair was done. Me with Mr. nut craker



me in Joshy's chair before..... *dun dun dun* it HAPPENED!



Allll the action! Even though I looked worried, I have full and complete trust in Justine...



And that's when I finally found a mirror..."OH MY GOODNESS! YOU DIDN'T TELL ME IT WAS RED!!!!!"



I guess it's okay. James, Joshy, and Beth still love me!



Justine's payment for doing my hair. :)



It was too hot for coffee, so we just decided to use the coffee table for the next best thing: our feet!



We were laughing too much to pose...can ya tell??



For some reason I kinda like that girl...not sure why.



Lovin' the hair...lovin' the hair. ;)



What are YOU lookin' at??!



Me at the Park (Charity was having some fun with the camara. we love taking pictures... if you couldn't tell ;))



Charity got a hold of the camera again...and, of course, grabbed me for a shot. *sigh* If we keep up this posing together, people are gonna start saying things. :-j



We're cool. We're posed. We're on wood. Yeah.
I'm up in a tree, as usual.
...and Charity's still on the ground, as usual.
(Maria likes to call this one "A Monkey and a Princess" hehehe)



Pretty much, this is just a cool picture. Period.
(Too bad the most beautiful sister isn't pictured there....HAH! But who would take our picture??)


This was actually on the way to the Glovers'.... we had to stop and make a quick call. *sigh* C just can't stay away from the phone. :-P



So Charity pulls her long jean skirt out of the closet on Sunday morning. Maria protests, "You can't wear that! I'm going to wear mine!" Then I come out of my closet and say, "Hey...I was going to wear mine, too!" *sigh* What were we to do?? (Allen says we look like Baptist girls who aren't allowed to wear anything but skirts...humph. I think we look purty! :))



The three newest members of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Australia! Maria, Ralph Blakston, and me. (This is a little blurry, but still cute.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well I hope you enjoy looking at some fun moments in my life. :) Enjoy the pictures everyone and enjoy life my Friends. God bless you all!

Song: "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol

C got their new CD after Christmas and we love it! :)

Life is a Highway...

I wanna ride it all night long.
















us kids all together one last time (for awhile)















doesn't that just make you wanna cry? :'( it makes me sad.
















now this is happy- all together again at last! I was SOO happy- Overjoyed!!

















Us with the Blakstons at the Melborne air port before they (Allen and Zach ;)) left.















Our last family picture with them for awhile.
















Us five older kids together for a snap of a picture, then they were gone.

*sigh* how life goes on.... 'tis a very crazy highway.... But by- and only by- My Gods grace have we made it this fare- through the ups and Downs. Its curvy and dark sometimes, but He's ALWAYS looking out for us.
Statement:
I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!!

Well Lord willing we'll be back again together before to long. *sigh*... I hate the air port. Except for when I'm picking up.... so just dropping off, those trips about kill me! But God is good!

Quote: (Ben Blakston said after the boys left) "I'm going to pretent to be Allen today so the Blakwoods won't be sad. And Harry can be Zachary."

"life is a highway"- Rascal Flatts
inspired by- watching Cars- great film, a must see! :)

hot, sweaty, and happy

Its around about 92-95 F degrees today (32-35 C). And the sun was just a'blazen' down. Rule: when your in Australian Sun ALWAYS were sun screen! But today was pretty good, so i'm pretty happy.

Anyways, its cooling down now this evening, which is good and Tomorrow until Tuesday are supposed to be a little cooler, which will be nice.
_________________________________________________________________

A big happy birthday to Justine G today. You are SO sweet. I love you!
__________________________________________________

Well I'm hopefully am going to have pictures on here soon (the ones of us at the air port, my hair, New years day, just good times.) but right now I'm going to go in and watch "Fox and the Hound".... oh boy, that brings back memories.
Have a fabulous weekend.

"forget it"- Breaking Benjamin

Thanking God for each breath

As I think of the new year ahead of me, I have think Him for the year past, and how amazing He has been and how gracious, Almighty, and sovereign He has been to me and my family. I shouldn't just thank God for that at the end of the year and the beginning of a new one, but i should every day, every breath I take should remind me to thank Him for being my God and giving me strength. But most of the time its not till after something really good happens that i thank Him. But the truth is He gives me EVERYTHING I've ever had or have now. And I should thank Him for the straggles and the good times. Not just the good times. Well just some random thoughts of mine. :)

We spend New years eve Lunch with Friends of ours from Kahoonah (sp)- John Taylor and his wife and two adorable kids. Mr. & Mrs. De Jong and there song Peter- and with Graeme and Alison Heart. The Hearts spent the night (Graeme preached in McKinnon) and we stayed up till the new year with them. It was really great spending it with them. Today we spend the day at sorrento beach with Jono and Lou Blakston, The Glover's, The lumleys, Ralph Blakston, and the Stuarts. It was a great day. Almost perfect..... but we were missing two very special people. But I still had a great time.

So I could make a list of How good God has been to me this past year, but that would take way to long! So I'll just say a couple of things I'm very thankful for that's happened this past year.

1. That I moved to Australia
2. That I had my family all together with me for Christmas
3. That God showed me how be content.
4. That God will never give up on me or fail me.

Well that's 4 of about a 2000 # list. But last year-2006- was.... the best and worst year of my life. The saddest and happiest year. Full of lots of hello's and many goodbyes... to many Goodbyes. I've felt overflowing Love for my new family in Christ, but also so much heartache for the one I left back home. Not being able to deside whats home and whats not. Having to go though all that heartach that comes with having two homes, but also feeling so much love in each home. Its been full of so many ups and downs, its like a roller coaster. But Gods always been there watching over and never left. With him I'll never surrender even when life gets tough.
So this year, instead of making new years resolutions, I'm going to try and live my life with Christ shining though me and thanking God for each breath.

So happy new years everyone and May God bless each one of you in this new year He has given' to us.

Psamls 150:6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.

Song: "white Flag"-by Dido

They're Gone again,

Once again my brothers are gone, but this time I watched them walk away, instead of them watching me walk way. Yesterday at 11:20 (iss) they walked though those airport doors and *snaps fingers* just like that, they were gone.
I didn't really cry at the air port, all of yesterday I was actually reasonable happy (I'll tell you why in a minute), Wednesday was the killer. I guess I got all my tears out Wed night, cus' boy-oh-boy did I cry. Silently on the way home from the Glovers (at 9:45. our last car ride with just us 5 older kids for awhile), then when we got home I cried and cried for about 5 or 10 minutes alone in our dark living room. Then with my sisters a little after that. It was good though because I got all my tears out so my Brothers didn't see me cry.

I'm sure more tears will spill over later when it hits me that they are gone, but for now I'm ok. So Jono And Lou Blakston and their 4 kiddo's met us at the air port- before that we had breakfast at Jono's parents house- then after the goodbyes they came back to our house for lunch *laugh*, it was a lunch that turned into afternoon tea, then a game, then dinner, then a movie, then showers for the kids, then at 9:30 ish they left. :-) I was good to have them though, it made us happy. But when they left I hit the bunks, 4 hours of sleep made me very tired. But i didn't go to sleep right away, I heard the phone ring at 2:30 am- the boys calling to say they had made it safe- then I went to sleep till 9 something.

So, They left on a jet plane, and Lord willing they'll be back again in less then 5 months, But oh babe, I hatted to see them go.

A big thanks to Zachary!

my dear brother, For helping me get the Rose thing back up and helping me out with my blog. Ok so I've got a pink blog.... is that to wierd? Well I can mess around with it still, not anymore right now. I'm sick of messing with this blog, but I hope you like it. Thanks again Zach!

Two more days till christmas. Are you ready? I'm not, Ive got all the gifts and everything i'm just not ready for this Christmas, everything' to wierd. But it does feel more like Christmas now then it did.
Welp God bless and have a very Merry Christmas all! (and if there is any, through a snow ball for me :))

~from the girl "down under"

Ok right now I'm very frustrated. Maria decided to help me upgrade my blog and it destroyed my old template... :( I'm very sad and annoyed. Oh well I'll work on it later. I don't think I can get my old template on here, so maybe later (with some help from my family) I'll mess around with this and make it pretty. Maybe Charity can help me again and make another pretty blog.

~later
"last kiss"- Pearl Jam

lalalalalife is wonderful

10 reasons why my life is wonderful!

#1. I've got my whole family here for Christmas.
#2. Saturday I went lazor taging and bowling with the bedfords
#3. I had a great run yesterday night
#4. I've got the best sisters in the world!
#5. I've got the greatest Brothers ever!
#6. Its warm.
#7. we have a beach 5 minutes away.
#8. I've got the best parents you could ever ask for!
#9. My church family loves me and I love them!
#10. My God has blessed my with great family, friends, and home, and He's always there!


:) Those are 10 reasons why I have a wonderful life!

thanks to Ruth for the great song!

"life is wonderful"-Jason Mraz

This ain't the Christmas I know.....

It's supposed to be snowing. We are supposed to be getting our warm clothes out. We are supposed to be making snow angels, making hot chocolate to warm us when we come inside with clod hands and noces. We are supposed to be sitting 'round the fire. Thats my Christmas is supposed to be.

We aren't suppose to be waiting for rain 'cuz its so hot and dry, our summer clothes aren't supposed to come out for another 6 months. We aren't supposed to be laying out in the sand, drinking ice cold lemonade to cool us down we we come inside from the blazing sun. We aren't suppose to be sitting around a pool! This isn't my christmas, its not the way its supposed to be...

I miss waking up, looking outside and seeing how calm and white everything is. The first snow, getting all excited, getting my snow suit on and running outside and loving that first mouthfull of snow.

We should NOT be waiting for the first warm day, getting our bathers on, then running down the ocean, and getting our first splash in the face of salt water.

The days are suppposed to be getting shorter and colder, not longer and warmer. Where are the coats and scarves? Not shorts and flip-flops. Where has my Christmas gone..... But I guess Christmas really isn't about all taht, maybe I should focas more on Jesus's birth, and less on the seasons. It really isn't that big of a deal weather we have sand or snow under our feet.
Christmas (in my eyes at least) is a day to be with our family and friends and celabrate Christ's birth. And maybe, even though I miss my white Christmas, I should try harder to see what their Christmas season is all about. See it there Their eyes.

A Christmas on the beach won't really compair with a white christmas, but maybe, just maybe if I give it a chance, I might even like it. :) Besides I've got my 5 siblings with me and my parents. Can't ask for much more. :) Plus I've got all my new Ossie friends. Don't get my wrong, I miss all you guys like crazy, and miss my white Christmas, but I love my new second home and I'm willing to give this Christmas a chance.

Pictures From our vacation in Nhill

actaully these our of our stops on the way there! :) good fun

(a post Lord willing will come later... maybe, and then a post about our adventure at Kennet River will come after that. Charity has a great lovely long post about out adventure in the country on here lovely blog and Zachary has some GREAT, MUST SEE pictures on his websigh! They really are great! Enjoy)

More pictues...

Pictures

these our from Hanging Rock. Make sure you read the post below!

what's new in my life

Well... Its a new month, we have two new Elders in our church (3 including my Father), and we had a new exciting LONG weekend.

A Blakston weekend!
you can't get much better than that.
Friday night was the installation of my Father, Tony, and Matt. Afterward us girls went to Lynsey and karin Blakstons for the weekend. We got up around 9:30- 10:30 (hey we didn't get home till midnight the night before) at 11 we went opp-shopping then we went and had a picnic at Hanging Rock. We took the walk up to hanging rock which was only suppose to take 50 min, but because Maria and I were all over the place (I just couldn't resist climbing on all the huge rocks!)! :-) It was so much fun. And Karin, Lynsey were right behind us. So 2 hour later we got down and went and got some ice-cream and went on another walk to see this huge Cross, that wasn't as long but by the time we got in the car I was So tired out! That night we watched the movie Picnic at Hanging - which I advise non of you to watch! It had no ending! There were some good and funny scenes in it but it was pretty dumb! :) Then they took us to church Sunday morning.

Then after evening church we had Jono and Lou Blakston (Karin's Son and his family) and their kids over to spend the night- the live in Geelong and came down for the thing on Friday- and all day Monday. We went to a park and ate lunch with them and the Glovers and that was good fun, then we came home and later some of us went to another close park and played before we went to the Bay. That evening Us kids stayed home and watched their kids while the adults went out to Tea. Then the sad goodbye came and they went about 8.

Yesterday we got school off again for the Melbourne Cup ( the only horse race that they say "stops the whole nation". How sweet a two minute race and you get the whole day off! :)) and first I went to the Glovers to help finish up the fence for the goats then at 3 our family went to Ralph Blakstons-Lynsey's brother- which was great fun! Then we had bible study they night.

They Blakstons are a way-cool family (and their are more of them) and you really can't get much better than spending a long weekend with them! They are great!

Two weekends ago Matt organized a trip to this place called Walla-halla. I will try and put some pictures up of it so I won't tell to much about it. A gold-mining little town. That was really fun too!

Now tomorrow we leave for Nile- some place in the middle of know where. :) I'm excited... Well not to thrilled about the 8+ hour car ride in our 8 pasenger, but it should be fun! I'll tell all about it when I get back home next Wednesday!

God bless all,
~Tamara Rose~

this song is dedicated to my Hero- aka my Oldest brother Allen!

I'll try and put pictures up tomorrow, they aren't working for me tonight. Sorry.

Stressed, tired, but SO happy that its Saturday and i'm alive! :-)

Ok so right now Im getting a massage by my wonderful sister Charity. And oh boy do I need it! See yesterday we went to Berwick (our lovely homeschool group :-P).... oh wait I must tell you what I did Thursday.

Ok so I was stressing about our debate we were supposed to have done the next day (Friday) and I had just started. We don't have to actually do the debate till next friday but our teacher wanted it done yesterday so we could perfect it all this week (which won't happen! ;)). So I was stressing because I was supposed to go over to Casey's in one hour and I had just started! Well Jakie came at 4:20 and I hadn't packed or anything, but I just threw everything in a bag and left. :) Leaving my lovely debate partner, aka Maria my sister, to finish. :) It was HEAPS of fun at Casey's (even though she had to work from 5:30-9)! But I only got 6 (at the most!) hr. of sleep, but I forgot about all my stresses and worries and just relaxed and had a lovely time, so that was great!

Ok so Friday morning, after we messed aroud and Casey did my hair ( :) look at the pic down below of it), Me, James, John, and Jakie were off to Berwick. And to my supprise my WONDERFUL sister had got all my jumbled thoughts and info I had thrown on a page, together and made it into a great speach... well as great a speach as it can be with a title of "That sewer water should be recyled" Yuck! But hey, I gatta do it. We had lunch (my favorite period! :)) then Drama, which was good, then sport! :) Was that fun or what!? Pluse it was raining and we were playing Ultimate Frisbee (pluse at lunch time I played soccer in the rain)! Even though it was very cold I had a blast, and had SO much energy for some unknow reason, maybe thats what lack of sleep does to me.

Anyways, now I'm tired today from all that 'muckin' aroud in the rain yesterday, but Charity was giving me a massage, :) she got tired i guess and is now on the compie again. Oh well it was very nice of her anyways. Look at here lovely new post. (P.S. I totally helped with that poem!).

Now the rain has gone and the sun has come out! *sigh*.... isn't it great to be alive!

Psalms-

27:13, I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
14, Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

94:18, When I said, "My foot is slipping," your love, O LORD, supported me.
19, When anxiety was great within me,your consolation brought joy to my soul.

Here are some pic for all-ya'll enjoyment. :-)

Song of the post- "I wish I was a punck rocker"-sandi thom
This is like my all time favorite song ever.... ;) well maybe not, but I like it a lot!

More Pictures
(make sure you read the beautiful post below! :))


me burning up! ahh...
our lunch with Josh and Lucila Sunday when we were up in Geelong

me and Ben on our way to the Back Beach

up at Aurthers Seat (after we went to

the beach) with Josh and Sarah and

Her parents (the prichard)

Serrento Back beach. Beautiful huh?

A

scary pic of me and my new cute Bunny,

Dopey

I'm finally back!

Never fear Tamara's here! :) hah sorry guys it took me so long to get back to this lovely Blogio. But I'm back now.

Two weeks of Spring break (aka- school holidays) was great but very busy! I'll tell you the highlights of it: Going to Serrento back beach. Having a BBQ with the Prichards and the church people. The Jr. camp and Dixon's Creek I helped lead. That was so much fun! The Drama was classic! If you have every led or been around 8-11 year old's for a couple days then you know what I'm talking about! I got a bit stressed out when I had to lead all 15 of them in on a bush walk in a dried up over grown creek! "Jonno where did you go!?!" ;) but it was fun. And I tried to be responsible. Ask one of the other great leaders: Jono B, Karin B, or Alex M, to find out the REAL story. :-)
We had Kids club in McKinnon and Frankston the second week of school holidays and those went pretty well. Friday we went to Vic Markets ( Queen Victoria Market). That was really fun! That was the first time seance we have been here that I actually went shopping for myself and bought more than one thing that wasn't at an op-shop. Besides getting cloths and shoes and things, we got a dwarf bunny! Its so cute! It fits in my palm! I love it. We named it Dopey, sense its a dwarf. ;) Then the last weekend of the holidays we went to Geelong. My dad preached up there.

Last week we were just getting back into school and playing with out new bunny. We went again to Geelong. Friday night us girls took the train up and had a movie night with Sara B. That was heaps of fun! Meg and Emily M. came too! We stayed up soo late but had heaps of fun! At 11 we got up and ate breaky then went to a Charity Footy mach that a bunch of guys from Geelong (and my brothers) and some others were playing in. It was really nice day (pretty hot out in the field, but it least it wasn't rainy and cold like last year, or so they told me). We went to Meg and Brandon's after the game and practiced our song. You see that night they had a charity concert (this charity concert and footy thing was not actaully for my sister Charity, its for a gal who used to go to Geelong RP church and had Brest cancer, They announced that about $1600 was made and more still comming so it was good turn out) and they had asked our family to do something in it, so we did. I also played the drums along with others in my family who sang and played other insterments and sang pluse three other people. It was really fun! We sang the Star Wars Weird Al song. It was great! haha. We didn't back to Frankston till about 11:30 or so. It was a late night, but a good one.

Yesterday I sprained my ankle or something. I was playing on a fallen down tree in the Glovers back yard ( a family in our church) and me and MJ were just messing around and trying to pass each other, with out falling. We finally did it once without falling and we were trying to do it again and I feel and my foot sorta went sideways and I think I heard it pop. Yeah... Ouch! It was extremely painful but I'm alright. I have been limping and hopping today but I just think its maybe sprained. I might go to a Dr. but I don't think its that bad. If it still is on Thursday I might but I think I'll be fine. ;)

Well now you all are all caught up on my life. I'm not going to say I'll try to update more in the future because I always say that and it never happens. :-) I'm going to try and get some pic up here and change this song finally! :) But if the pic don't work go to Zachary's web page and you'll see lots of lovely pictures! :) God bless all and have a lovely week!

the american hick serving! :)



t
me and brandon



Springs here!

And it feels great!

Last weekend we went up for sarah's 21st! It was heaps of fun. I'm going to try and put a couple pic on so you can see our lovely outfits! :)

Well We have some new friends! And They live right behind us! Amy (she is 16) and her mom. Claire, and her gandma, Rosa! Pluse they are all christans! They are all really sweet! I love them all! And its great to have new Christan friends!

Well Amy and Claire are here to play a card game so I better go!
Happy laborday to everyone in the States! Miss you all. I'll try to change the song later.
God bless

A sad ending to a great week!

Good report first:
Mt. Baw-Baw (or Boar-Boar as the Aussies say) was a blast! It was really nice Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday-Friday weren't sunny, but good skiing weather. Wednesday it was almost like a blizzard! It was great fun. I went out in in jeans and a hoodie, right after I had had a shower, dryed my hair, and got all nice (bad idea ;)). So I went out down to the slopes where some of my family and some of the Blakstons were. It was alright at first, just sleeting/snowing a bit, on and off. Then it started getting real windy and I decided to be crazy and go on a walk while they were finishing up skiing. I went up and up, down, around in circles, everywhere (mind you, I was wearing no hat or gloves)! Finally, I made it back to civilization. I was alive! ;) Ok it wasn't that bad, but I was frozen. Well, Jono and Lou were still skiing away so I, being the crazy person I am, went back for a nother walk. :) Thankfully I didn't get lost but I wasn't going back up again, at least till I got warm! Joel and Angie Blakston (there were a LOT of those Blakstons. :) but they made it heaps of fun!) walked me back, and when I got in everyone asked were I went and I just said "around" and I wasn't ever lost lost. I always knew I was on Mt. Baw-Baw. :) But that was heaps of fun. I went snowbording with Charity Tuesday and Friday. Friday was better because Jono and Allen snowboarded (Jono tried it Wednessday afternoon, he said he learned how by watching what us girls did wrong. He did everything opposite what we did. So in a round-about way, I taught him how. :-P lol sorta) and they sorta toutored us. :) I wiped out a TON, but it was loads of fun! I thought I did alright for never having skied or snowborded before (you can ask my family for the real story ;-D). We had dinner with Jono and his family after we got down from the Mountans Friday night then came home. It was a great, de-stressing (not distressing) week!

Sunday morning (13th) kind of wrecked out relaxful week. Sort of. We got a phone call (my dad did) and then I come in my room and Charity said Megan and Brandon's front room caught on fire. Then she said Allen was in the house when it happend. My first thought was that she was just kidding. Then when I figured out that she was serious I was shocked! It was like she had knocked me over with the news! Sunday was not a very good day. My mom was sick. Thankfully Greame Heart was preaching so my dad after lunch, we had with Greame and his parents over, and my dad took off to Gelonge to be with Allen. So us kids had to make sure the Hearts got entertained, do lunch and clean up, make sure every thing Sunday night was alright, on top of ever thing that had happend in Gelonge. I'm sure most of you saw the pictures and got the e-mail from the Fishers. If not go to their Blog and you can see them or go here. It got more than just the front room. The front three rooms are all burned, nothing left. The hall way is buned. All but one room (the spare room) has bad smoke damage. Its so scary and sad how quick the fire just swallowed up everthing!

Thankfully, God has been very good and has provided for them in amazing ways. Allen was pretty shaken up last week, but he is doing pretty well now. He lost a lot of stuff, too, but I'm sure God will continue to provide for him and the Fisher's.

Last weekend was SO MUCH FUN! We went to Geelong Friday-Monday. Geelong people are so great, I tell you! Well...all except Brett Mikelsons. (JUST KIDDING!) We stayed with the Mikelsons Friday and Saturday night (much to Brett's dismay! hehe), which was a blast. I love that family! We also got to eat lunch with the Hart's, and spend Sunday night and Monday morning with them. Maria and I almost missed the train home! We had to run from Allison's car to the train, with less than one minute to spare!

We may get to go back to Geelong again this weekend because we were invited to our friend, Sarah's, 21st birthday party.

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!


I LOVE THESE GIRLS!!! We had so much fun "cheerleading". Haha!


Proof that I really DID snowboard. Yep, this makes me look like quite the pro, huh? well...don't be toooo fooled. ;)


The whole group(excluding The Fisher's and Feldman's, who left early).


Here's a picture from "Swimming in the beach in winter". More photos at www.zachary.blackwoods.us!!!


***Thanks to Charity for editing and finishing this post***

Let it snow, let it snow!

I really want it to snow in the Mountains! It needs to snow in the Mountains! See next week, monday-Frinday, Our family and a bunch of other people are going to Mount Baw Baw. Its going to be a blast! Except I'm learning how to ski here in Augest! Which is a bit wierd, first that is is winter in August, and second that i'm learning how to ski here! Ok thats a lot wierd! ;) Allen and Zahcary are coming up Thursday night. It would be cool if they could come the whole time but they have school.

Maybe you all should pray for me, or all the people out on the slops who are going to get run over. :) Some one's going to get hurt I just know it. :-P Hopfully I won't kill anywon or myself.

My suitcase is so full! I was kind of sad when I was packing, which is wierd because I love to pack (or I did), and I couldn't figure it out but I think it was because The last time I packed was when we moved and all the feelings were coming back. Its pathetic I know but I don't like packing anymore. It reminds me to much of Leaving.

*sigh* but even though I am a big nervase and a bit sad, I'm still very excited. I miss snow in the winter. Now when Christmas comes and i'm swiming in the ocean, thats just going to be to wierd. Charistmas on teh beach, thats pushing it! ;)

God Bless ya'll