That next day was awfull. I went to work and was so sick all day. I had the chills in the morning, and so spent the time in front of the heater. I had a shocking temperature in the afternoon. Everyone thought I was stupid for coming in, and everyone was probably right, but I didn't know that I was going to feel so awfull. Before I left for work I felt like I only had head cold, and was pretty good. I got to work and found out different. Anyway, I survived.
It's almost the end of term. I am so worn out. I have had a great time, and I will miss the kids and the teachers over the holidays. I can't wait till next year, whatever that may bring.

Haven't blogged in ages. I have got the flu, which means I am trying to rest up and I have plenty of spare time for the first time in ages. Yesterday was Tuesday, which meant a long day for me. Morning at the primary school, afternoon at the High school and then some tutoring to finish it off. By the time I got home, I was shaking like a leaf, I quickly came down with a temperature, my eyes were watering and I felt miserable. I had a cuppa, read some of my Bible, had a shower, crashed, and slept for an hour. When I woke up I had lost my voice completely (which I have partially regained this morning) and was using a lot of sign language. Sarah can understand Sign language pretty well, but everyone else only knows a few, so Sarah was my interpreter. I am working back at the school tomorrow, so I hope my voice improves.

My Aunty took us kids to the snow a couple of weeks ago, and taught us to ski. I was very slow, but didn't fall over much. Sarah was a better skier, much faster, but she fell over regularly. It was a beautiful day. We arrived at about 10:00, and caught the chairlift up to the nursery slopes. As I had my skis on for the first time at the chairlift, I had no idea how to stop myself, and therefore mad a complete mess of getting on. I ended up getting separated from everyone else and going up the chairlift by myself. I am kind of glad that I did, because although I have only been on a chairlift once before, I love riding on them. I love the feeling of being so high up and flying along, and looking at the scenery. The dismount off the lift was about as bad as getting on. With the help of one of the attendants I eventually was able to right myself and go in search of Aunty Jane, her friend Heidi, and my siblings. After being reunited we made our way to the nursery slopes. Standing at the top, I couldn’t help feeling relieved that it wasn’t nearly as steep as I thought it would be. The feeling of relief didn’t last too long, we pushed off down the slope, and all of a sudden I was no longer self propelled! My skis had a mind of their own and I had no idea how to stop! I managed to turn to the right so I was parallel to the slope and throw myself over. After returning to the upright position, with the help of Heidi, I was off again. Although the first run down was a disaster, and I was on the verge of tears, the second run wasn’t so bad. I felt a little envious of the 5 year olds who whizzed past os on their skis as we waited our turn to get on the conveyer belt back to the top of the slope. The third run was almost easy and by the fourth run, I knew I would never want the day to end. After 4 or 5 runs each, we somewhat reluctantly left the slope to head to our lessons. Aunty Jane and Heidi went skiing by themselves while we had our lessons. The lesson took about 2 hours, and by the end of them I was much more confident. After playing on the nursery slopes a bit longer with Heidi and Aunty Jane, we took some pictures and decided to test our skills on the slope back down the village.
“We’ll do Wombats ramble once too see how we go, and then we’ll do it again to head back home.” Was Aunty Jane's decree.
Well, doing it twice sounded good. I had no idea that I would end up doing 5 or 6 times before we left. The first time my legs ached by the time I was at the bottom, from snowploughing. I was basically braking all the way down. I fell for the last time that day on that run. I was about to crash into some trees, and all I could think about was the blokes who had been killed the weekend before from crashing into trees. I knew I wasn’t going fast enough to kill myself, but in a split second I decided that throwing myself over was still the better option. The second time down was great, and by the time I had completed the 5 or 6 runs down, I was reluctant to part with my skis. It was a great day.

Settling in

Since we have moved to the dairy farm, things are beginning to settle down. After 5 weeks of living in caravans, we are finally in a house, and we finally have internet again. The house is small, but seems huge after the caravans. I have my own room which I am thrilled about. No more sharing with my sisters. I am still volunteering at the school. I love working there. It is a lot of fun and I am learning so much, thanks to people who are taking time to help me. The course I am working on is going well. Hopefully should be finished in a few months.

Moving

It is finally happening! We are moving! Into caravans. I realised this morning that I am going to sleep in my bed for the last time tonight. After that we will be sleeping in caravans. We already have one of them here. We went and picked it up yesterday. It is a nice enough caravan, but small and rundown. I realized just how small when we started to clean it. It is difficult to believe that such a small space is going to house four people. There are two single beds in it, and the table converts into a double bed. We still need to bring the other two caravans here. All three belong to different friends, all of whom are being very genorous.

I am going to update the Our Farm blog and add a new post called Our New Farm.

I had been excited about the move, but now that it is actually happening, the enthusiasm is wearing off. I am still looking forward to it, but yesterday I looked at the size of the beds we will be sleeping in, and then last night I slept in my bed, and believe me, there is a profound quality difference.

Finally Moving!!!!

It has come at last!!! We are finally moving down to the dairy. We will be living in caravans backed into a shed. 6 people crammed into a space about the size of our current living room. Just as well we all love each other! It will be a good lesson in loving people even when you don't feel like it. To tell the truth, I am greatly looking forward to it. I think it will be nice to have us close together, and it is going to be a bit of an adventure moving into a caravan. Ask me again after a couple of weeks of it and you might hear something different. It is going to be hard, I am not that stupid, but I am still looking forward to it.

Sarah and I both catch the bus to town to work and for Sar's courses. It will be a longer trip than it is from here. Another thing I am looking forward too. It means getting up earlier, but I love beong able to relax and wind down on the bus.

Fellowship

I turned 17 a while back, and we had a belated birthday treat. I had really wanted to see all the other local Christian homeschoolers, so we went to a fellowship that is held reguarly at the home of a friend. It was wonderful! This is my family! None of my extended family are believers, but Jesus promised us that what ever we give up for him, we wil recieve manifold more. How true! We can't go along with our family's sin, but our God has lovingly provided a family who loves Him and not this world! All my cousins are worldly, but I have Christian friends that are far closer than cousins too me. My grandparents hate God, but there is a lady who is more than a grandmother too me who loves God. It was wonderful to see them again, and I enjoyed the evening so much.

I was tutoring and volunteering at the school today, and both my pupils were really good today. I was so pleased. Lachie did excellently and Josh made an effort. He really needs to stop his "I can't get it, I give up," frustrated attitude. He also needs to try. He is such a boy when it comes to that. I am going to concentrate now on putting all he has learned into practice now. We both need to see some results. I know he has come a long way, but I want to be able to see it with his reading. Anyway, we'll get there.

Farm Day

On the weekend we had some city people come out to our farm for Farm Day. Farm Day was invented so people from the city could come and spend a day on a farm and see what country life is really like. We had a mother and daughter, Mariese and Mikaela, come and spend the weekend. They were really lovely people, and I enjoyed their company. Mikaela loves the animals, and I am convinced she would make a good vet. She knows how to handle an animal well and they seem to respond well too her. She is not afraid of them either.

Mikaela with Sheildy and Sylvester. I loved how she was not squeamish about putting her fingers in calves mouthes. She didn't mind them sucking on her at all.

The fog lifting over the hill

Mikaela was sitting outside a wombat burrow, and Blackie got his head in the way of the photo. We entitled this one "Needs Salt."

The calves feeding off the calfeteria.

I know this photo is blurry, but it is one of my favourites. I reckon it looks really good.

Mikaela helping feed the calves.

Mariese patting Patch

We have had more calves sick, and two more have died. It is hard to see them sick and dying, but sometimes it seems there is nothing you can do. And on the other hand there are the success stories of sick calves that have got better and live long, happy, healthy lives. Chille, one of the calves I was worried about, is one of those success stories. She is still a bit wonky on her feet, but she is gaining weight and strength, and it won't be too long before she is weaned.

I have recently begun voluneering in a Prep/Grade 1 classroom, so with that, and the little bit of tutoring I do, I have been looking on the internet for good worksheets. They can be hard to find, so I want to create another blog for listing the websites that I find. I will link them to this one, so anyone who wants to use these worksheets can follow the link. All the worksheets will be free to print off, and, hopefully, usefull for teachers, aides, homeschoolers, and anyone else who wants to use them.
If anyone has sugestions, or good sites they know of, please place a comment on this post with it. Thanks!

I have just added a list of recipes on the side bar of the blog. I only have one recipe so far, but hopefully soon will have more!
In other news: We have four more poddy calves. They are all so gorgeous! Unfortunately, one of the calves, Chille, has blood scours and is really sick. We are giving him antibiotics, which means injecting her, which is my job, which I hate! Poor Chille, it really hurts to have a needle jabbed into your neck! Hopefully it makes her better, though.

Today one of our calves died. We had been nursing it carefully, feeding it ResQ, an electrolyte drink, to rehydrate it, but unfortuately we were not able to save him.
We are now watching the other calves carefully to ensure they don't come down with whatever was wrong with the dead calf.

Poddies

We are currently raising poddy calves. There are currently 24 of them, but there are about another 30 to come in. They are so cute!!! There are three that are sick, and two of those we are worried about. One of them is so sick it can't even sit up! We have been feeding it through a tube down into it's stomach. It is horrible to do, but hopefully it will work.

I live in one of the most beautiful spots in the world, Cudgewa. Our Farm borders the Burrowe Pine Mountain National Park, which makes for beautiful walks and rides. We run beef cattle and own three horses, as well as four cats, a dog, and several chooks.

A view of the National Park from our farm.

Playing in the Snow

Not the most flattering photo of me! Misty looks better.

My beautiful Arabian mare, Rahan Meluka