🍰 Maddie Turns 21 🌹

Happy Birthday 💙

On the Road

Our lives and business have changed dramatically over the past few months and at present Dave had been busy working for another company carting cattle, hay and a whole lot of other stuff out to stations far and beyond.

I would love to be able to go with him on all these trips, but sadly, someone has to stay home to run the other side of the business. 

But I was able to go with him recently on a cattle run overnight. 

There's something about seeing 4 triple road trains pulled up and being loaded and driving in convoy.  An awesome experience.

Trying to stay out of the way, I busied myself by taking photos and exploring the surrounds. 

We were loading at dawn, so the light was not exceptional for amazing photos, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Soak it in! NT beauty abounds! 

There is beauty all around you. Look beyond the dust and open plains. Thank God for ears to hear the crunch of dry leaves underfoot. Thank God for eyes to behold his wonders. Thank God for legs to walk and arms to reach out and touch his creation. 

Open your heart and let God fill your soul with worship for the one who made all things.

Only an awesome and loving God could create such wonders for our enjoyment! 

 

 Beautiful Grandbabies

 (that are quickly growing up!)

The days are flying by, and the babies are not all babies anymore. I still haven't done a proper photo shoot with little George and Esther, but I do manage to take a lot of photos on my phone and receive a lot of photos to go awww over from their mums and aunties! 💕

So, here's just a few from the last couple of weeks.

All our babies in one spot at one time

The oldest of the troupe

Rapidly becoming a little boy, not a baby anymore!

Fletcher gets some attention without being able to jump up on everyone! 

Charlie was not impressed with kisses from Fletcher

Our little super espressive one! 

Always into mischief but cute as a button

It's always fun when we're able to have all the kiddos together. Feeding time is like a little playgroup and Chloe is great at organizing activities for everyone. 

And these 2 little precious ones get fought over as to who gets to hold them first, and for how long! 

 Just a few photos....

Last month I went on a trip with Dave to the community of Bulman

Only 310 km away, but don't let that distance fool you. 

The road is part of the road to Gove, which is the worst road Dave

has EVER driven a truck on! 

It takes around 7 hours plus normally, and with our load and excitement, it took a lot, lot longer! We had some drama, to put it mildly. 

There were some narrow causeways along the way to navigate, but Dave is an amazing driver! 

We were loaded with 3 trailers of stuff for a camp to go to some seasonal bull catchers. 

We were passed many times by the army on their way to an exercise on a station. They left us in their dust. 

With our air con not working, windows down, we were showered in dust frequently.

We crossed some beautiful country, which I tried to focus on after our overnight traumatic experience.

It's too long a story to tell in writing, but basically, it saw us between 1am and 3am, struggling to get up a little jump up with our heavy load because of bull dust. 

This meant unhooking trailers, backing down the hill on crazy angles and unloading the grader we were carrying, at 3 in the morning, with Dave learning to drive one on the spot, never having used one before (and they have at least 12 levers to work the articulated, bladed vehicle!). Me holding the torch, sick to my stomach with fear, praying without ceasing, srsly, guiding him down the ramps, then chaining the grader to the Scania and Dave backing back up the hill, towing me along in the Scania.

Well, that's the short story of the most terrifying night I've ever spent! And then the next morning, after camping on the road in the truck, the batteries were dead. So, the next adventure began. Thankfully, Dave was able to make himself some bush mechanic jump starter cables and get us going after a couple hours.  

We were able to camp with the bull catchers in their camp overnight and they fed us some camel steaks which were very tasty. 

I'm so glad that God looks after his children, as he did for us that night. I haven't prayed that hard in a very long time, but God got us through, testing our faith and trust in him. 

This is the jump up we got stuck on, on the way back. Doesn't look so fearful in the daylight, but we left our mark on the road, from the spinning tyres, grader tracks, etc. 

There was a very picturesque lookout along the way that we were able to stop and sit for a while and enjoy God's creation. 

I am so thankful for God's protection. Dave is headed out tonight on that very road, and although fear lies down deep inside my soul, I know that God is in control and has his hand on him.

 Holmes Family Photo Dump

May 2022

Life has been a little busy of late. 

Here's just a few of the many photos I've been snapping away lately. 

God is good! 

Our annual Mother's Day photo just goes to prove how old Dave and I are getting!

We just passed our 27th wedding anniversary! 

And then there were 7!

Miriam

Lydia

Alyssa

Reuben

Charlie

Esther

George

.............and counting..........

Often, I post more photos of one grandkid than the others, simply because of remembering to get the camera out while they're here, or seeing them more frequently, but we love them all!! 

More to come over the next few weeks, I'm sure! 

 

Welcome George Henry Hockey💕

Yes, we have grandbaby number 7!!

Little George arrived on the 10th of May.

He is perfect, just like the others! 

 Other Recent Happenings

Back in March, I was blessed to be able to speak at a Ladies Conference held at Lake Bennett, near Darwin. It was a beautiful weekend of fellowship and learning lessons from Psalm 23. 

I think we all came away with fresh insight and a new understanding of this beautiful Psalm, as well as some new friends made. 

We also enjoyed awesome sunsets, lightning storms and the beauty of the sun going down over a calm lake. 

Also, back in February, it was very exciting to hold our very own Ladies Conference here in Katherine at Savannah Way Baptist Church for the first time. 

We had a good group of ladies come and I spoke on the subject of our identity in Christ.

Due to the conference having to be postponed numerous times because of lockdowns etc, I was given more time to gather a lot of information and do enormous amounts of study on the subject and it was such a blessing to be able to share with others the things God had taught me. 

On the home front, we have had a lot of quality time with the grandkids. As Abbi and the kids stayed with us for a couple of weeks before the birth of little Esther, we were able to have a lot of grandkid time and activities. 

Time spent helping Grandpa get ready for a trip, time spent helping Grandma and the Aunties sort the freight, time to wash the dog, playing in the sprinkler, painting, play dough, chalk art, cornflour goo, reading, baking, playing the piano etc. 

We now await our turn to watch Emilee and Laine's kiddos when their bub comes.