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

Term 2; campfires and hairy men.

Well Hello There.

Greetings from the Tiwi Islands. 

I don't know about you?, but this year is just flying! I can't believe we are about to begin week 5 of term 2.

It was really great to go back to Brisbane to visit family and friends for the holidays. We came back feeling very refreshed and supported. We were unsure what to expect from the girls coming into term 2. However, we have been pleasantly surprised at how well everyone settled back into routine. There is also a sense of closeness and relationship has obviously just come through time as we all learn to trust and enjoy each other. Of course, we've had some hard times thrown into the mix but as I sit here to write this it's the good and more pleasant times that I remember most and will share with you here.

Our house serving at Community Dinner in week 2

 As it is the dry season now, it means nights are a bit cooler. We have made a nice big area to have bonfires after homework and have also taken the girls out for drives. They like trying to hunt for possums, however I'm not sure who of our girls will actually run out of the car when they see one?. The girls and even some of the boys get quite scared at night time due to stories of the "hairy man" running around and grabbing people...But they never cease to surprise me, so we shall see when the time comes.

Nancy teaching us how to make damper

We have had pretty much a full house (12 girls) since the beginning of this term. We have two new girls who have joined us and are such a great addition here at FGH4. It's also been encouraging to have the girls from last term come back every week. This week the senior girls are away for work experience in Darwin. They were a little nervous, but we know they will do a great job and hopefully they will learn a few things from being away. 

Our two new girls (sisters) Jessie and Kathleen

Well thats us for now.

Thought it was about time for an update as before we know it the term will be over.

We'll be back soon, as you can see we have changed our blog around to be something that documents all different areas of our life. So feel free to subscribe via email or just check in whenever you think of us.

Your prayers and encouragement is greatly needed and is changing lives out here...

Love,
Mr & Mrs M

Football and other Fun Festivities...

It's the holidays!!!!!
I can't believe how fast this term has gone. Today we said goodbye to our girls and tomorrow we fly off the Island for a two week break over Easter. Before we go I thought I'd post a few pictures of whats been happening the last few weeks of this term.

On Sunday a couple of weeks ago the local footy grand final was played between the Tiwi teams. We drove about 30 minutes, then caught the barge over to the other Island to watch the game. We were able to check out some local art and as you can see passionately cheer on our teams (just kidding we left after the first quarter because it was sooo hot) But a fun outing none the less.

In week 8 our girls footy team made it to the grand final, in the women's competition. As you can see from the above photos our girls came away victorious and won the game. It was a great afternoon and so-wonderful to see our girls play so-well.  Very proud house-parent moment. Go the Baby Bombers!!!

As the end of the term was drawing near, and keeping in theme with Easter I had the girls decorate some Easter eggs to decorate our Easter Tree. We also made invitations to our Easter afternoon tea where the girls would be cooking all the different foods they learned to prepare throughout the term in life skills.

The girls did a great job in preparing the food and as you can see there was quite a nice spread.

Here are some photos of everyone enjoying the food. The girls invited some of the female members of staff to come along.

In the last week we had a house party, watched the movie Hop on the big screen and had an Easter egg hunt. I also did a wee bit of baking and packaged some little treats for them to take home.

 Well I think you're all caught up on the latest of whats been happening in Family Group Home 4.

We fly into Brisbane on Saturday morning and are looking forward to catching up with you!

A snapshot of our week.

Welcome to our wacky weeks...

It has been a little while since Dunstan and I posted in here and so we thought it would be good considering it is the end of WEEK 5! to give a little update. Seriously, time is flying out here and we are over half way through the term. This post is to share, as the heading suggests a snapshot into our weekly routine here at Family Group Home 4. Hopefully it will provide a bit more understanding into what we do out here.

This is a typical activity for our girls, watching movies (sometimes the same one over and over and over again)

Monday:
The girls arrive from their communities anywhere between 11-1 on Monday. We prepare a hot lunch for them to eat before heading off to school.
The girls have Growing Young Women AFL training at 4:00pm and then dinner at 6:30pm. After dinner is hygiene night, or "nits night" where we do lice treatment for all the girls (this can take quite a bit of time considering some weeks we have up to 12 girls). Good times.

Around the dinner table

 Tuesday:
Their day begins with breakfast and then showers before leaving for school at 8:20am. After school on Tuesdays and Thursdays is Life Skills, which is a time set aside for the Family Group home parents to teach the girls basic skills. On Tuesdays we have been teaching the girls different things to bake and in week 8 we will put on an afternoon tea for some female staff and the girls will use their new found baking skills to serve their guests.
After dinner the girls go to homework, which Dunstan or I accompany them to and help out where we can. Homework is run in their classrooms for half an hour. After homework the lights are switched on at the basketball court for the students enjoyment for the evening.

Edwina making my Mum's banana cake recipe

Wednesday:
The girls have AFL training and homework night.

Watching carefully

At homework one night this week, a YWAM team taught on social media

Thursday:
The girls have their football game, and whoever doesn't make it on the team has to take part in the life skill program. Thursdays is when we get the girls to do cleaning around the home, so you can imagine how much they love this afternoon (insert sarcastic tone). We then have community dinner at 6:30 where all the house parents bring a meal to share on the basketball court and all staff and students come along.

Phylly our pool shark

Friday:
Friday morning Dunstan and I cook the girls a nice hot breaky before sending them off to school.  School finishes at midday with an assembly and then they come home for a prepared hot lunch before they jump in the troopys to return to their communities. Dunstan I then wash all their bedding, and clean the house before putting our feet up and welcoming in the weekend... 

Dunstan and I serving dinner

*The past two weeks we have had a team from YWAM Townsville here at the college. We had four wonderful helpers assigned to our house. They truly were a blessing to us and the girls. Its exciting to have a YWAM connection out here considering YWAM was such a huge part of mine and Dunstan's life for so-long. The photos are courtesy of one of the girls who helped at our house.

Due to various community activities we only had seven girls, the white people are the wonderful YWAMers:)

Well there you have it. That is a fairly typical week at Family Group Home 4. We hope you have had a really good week, wherever you are and in whatever you are doing... Thank you for your continual love and support.

Love,
Mr & Mrs M
xo