Thursday 29 August 2013

Term 3 Highlights

Well here we are in week 7 of 9, almost at the end of Term 3, how fast is this year going? Each term gets better and better for us out here as our relationship and rapport continues to build with the girls.We have had about 12-14 girls and sometimes even 15 girls for most weeks this term. It's been a busy 6 weeks that is for sure.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, since we have not updated the blog this entire term I figure by posting some picture highlights it will surely make up for our lack of updates. So here is Term 3 at a glance.

Before I post pictures of Term 3, I have to post some important ones from Term 2 when our good friend Lauren came to visit. Here we are looking for mud muscles. My face pretty much sums up the feeling of squelching through the mud.
It was a long and muddy day, so we finished off by having a dip in a really pretty river. Thanks for coming to visit Lauren.
When holidays came, we flew to the Solomon Islands and spent some quality time with the family. It was the first time being back since we were married, it was so special to to be together again.
Shortly after we returned they began doing some back burning in the forest areas around the college. As you can see this made for one very smoky week. 



A bit over a month after burning off, and look at the beautiful new green plants coming out of the ashes. Such a pretty time around here.
Dunstan is still going fishing with the boys on the weekend, however this term they have found a spot that actually seems to have fish:)
The brother of our Deputy CEO of the Tiwi Land Council came out for a visit. I had actually met Brendan and his wife last year as they came to the school I worked at. He and his wife head up a wonderful children's ministry called OK Kids. Here you can see him having a sing along with the girls.
In week 5 half of our girls went to participate in a football competition in Darwin, it was called the Ryco cup.
Here they are warming up, note that most of them are not wearing shoes. They were one of the two teams who didn't play with footy boots. These girls are a tough mob.
And there it is... the girls came home with the cup, champions for two years in a row now. So-proud.

For the girls who didn't go to Darwin for the footy, we took to the beach for a fish and BBQ. Here you can see one of the girls cooking mud muscles from a hunting trip on the weekend.

Two fish were caught this afternoon, she was very happy with her catch.
This is Sheree, Mohu and Meleani. They are the house parents for the other girls house. It was so-nice to have an outing with the other girls house.
What a great job we have! hey Dunstan?
6 of our girls were chosen to go on a trip to Melbourne. They stayed overnight at our house on Friday and left Saturday morning. We are excited to hear their stories when they return.   
This last weekend Dunstan and I went for a bike ride to South Beach. It took 55 minutes each way...
Neither of us wanted to sit down after that ride... ouch, we now know why they sell padded bike pants.  But it was really nice to have a change of scenery for a little while. 

The next change of scenery we will be seeing is BALI. In just under three weeks we will be going to Bali for the September school holidays. We are going with a couple of other staff from the school as well, needless to say we are all looking forward to a lot of relaxing, eating and shopping.

Well, hopefully you feel filled in on the goings on of Term 3 in the Tiwi Islands, well from Tiwi College, FGH4 anyways... 

There will be lots of exciting things coming up in term 4; The Tiwi Ashes, Nadine's Mum and Dad are visiting, Christmas... Lots to look forward to. As always, we love keeping in contact with friends and family from afar, this term we have been especially blessed with skype dates, packages, emails, and even video messages from Nadine's old work place. Personalized correspondence helps take the sting out of miles that separates us. So thank you to all who have made an extra effort this term. 

Much Love,
Mr & Mrs M
xo

No comments:

Post a Comment