KARAOKE

OK i have been wanting to see Brooke perform in front of an audience for
some time now. well actually since i met her. So on the cruise we got the
opportunity as they had karaoke pretty much every night. Now Brooke has not
sung in front of people for a very long time so she was nervous but with much
convincing and lots of encouragement she was able to get up.

this is Brooke's first performance.

http://youtu.be/wDh2GImyZw4

i was so proud of Brookie i had a smile from ear to ear. she was
amazing. however i was not satisfied with just on performance.

http://youtu.be/TRo5dCysZC0

Brooke used to sing this song to me over skype. she did not tell me
which one she was going to sing but once she started i was well overwhelmed. i
was so excited that she could just get up and sing such amazing notes i wanted
to join her so i could experience this with her. however i suck when it comes
to singing. i am very much tone deaf. anyway the excitement of it all got too
much for me and i just could not help myself.

Brooke's and my duet. oh look out for the leprechaun towards the end of
this song...

http://youtu.be/AF_dBjLEa4M

and finally all of the cousins wanted to sing a song with Brooke. so her
final song was love story with the kids

http://youtu.be/9qU_ow41MZQ

I had so much fun. i wanted to do this with Brooke so much and pretty
much hassled her every night till we got to do it. i cant wait to do it again
soon. and Once Brooke started singing she could not stop. She love it. Welcome
back Brooke.

Parks and Recreation

      So this last week was what the aussies would refer to as "full on"... which means: insanely busy and overwhelming...  We had an on weekend with all five girls and then found out shortly before the weekend began that it would be for an extra night, making it three nights instead of the usual two... Ok deep breaths... fine, all is fine, we could handle it... No.  More than "handle it" we were happy and excited to have a bit more time with all our crazy wonderful girls.  I had been on the search for a new job and would be going in the following Wednesday for a "trial period" for how long I did not know...  and I was begining to feel that cold, sore, achiness that always preceeds an obnoxious, persistent cold.  Well, long story short: the cold got much worse, and the girls ended up being with us for SEVEN nights.  On Sunday in the throws of cold-miserable-no-makeup-wearing-large-wooly-"jumper"-wraped-around-me-twenty-four-seven-Cold-dom we decided to take the girls for a nice drive out to see the clinic where I might be working at soon, and to play at a totally fun park that we had noticed along the way.  In the end it was a wonderful family memory that I made sure to take tons of pictures of.  Lucy and Esther had made sure to bring the soccer ball, and Mick and the girls, minus Lana (who stayed and cuddled with me), ended up running around playing soccer, rolling in the grass and having tons of fun.  It was a gorgeous winter/fall day and I loved it. 

Lucy taking off with the ball while all the others try to catch up.

Mick and Esther battling it out!

Mick playing with all the girls... except Lana :)

Lana eating cookies and watching her sisters.

Lana with Daddy.

Off Into the Australian Rainforest...



Esther at Kondalilla Falls

          I know that I am way behind on my blogging... and so today as I have finally had a chance to sit down and take a breath after a madhouse week with all five girls, colds and fevers, job interviews and trials... I am finally on here ready to give you more!  For some reason uploading photos from my phone takes me a bit longer to get around to...  So unfortunately when I have found myself without a camera and only my phone camera on hand and taken pictures they have become lost to the four winds... and so have the many blog posts I meant to do with those pictures... But TAH DAH!  Finally, I did it... and here's a great one for you all...  Esther's class field trip to Kondallila Falls.
         A few weeks ago Esther came home all excited to tell us about an upcoming field trip to Kondallilla Falls... apparently a beautiful park much like Silver Falls not far from where we live... Ah!  Why hadn't Mick ever told me or taken me this gorgeous place?  So when the day came I agreed to be one of the parents to come along.  It turned out to be a very fun outing where I got to meet a lot of Esther's new little friends, who all looked up at me with wide eyes and called me "Esther's Mum"...  It was a great one on one time for me and Esther and I got to see first hand how well she is doing in her class, with her teacher and her classmates.

Stopping for "morning tea"

Esther and her classmates deep in the rainforest.

On a bridge over one of the waterfalls.

Esther and I at a gorgeous lookout point...

Esther enjoying her "second lunch"... Yes, that is right, here they have 2 lunches at school!

Lovin From My Woman's Oven

Mick here,

there are two traditions in my family growing up that i can remember doing ever since i can remember. The first one is Sunday afternoon BBQs which my Dad would prepare and cook for us. My parents still have this same BBQ today which they got like 30 years ago. One of us boys would peel the potatoes and sweet potatoes (only after a long fight as who would have to do it) along with meat and stuff. Then Dad would bring it in to us in rounds. He would say 'next'and we would all try to be the next to say the same to indicate to Dad to go get the next round. Ah good times, I even think Cindy & Carol have had the pleasure of this fine food.

The next tradition is... you guessed it Ginger Pudding. Again for as long as I can remember my Dad has being making this for us, we would even have it for a main meal. This meal is so entrenched in my family that we all go nuts when we have it. So for a few years this recipe got lost but Dave brought it back to life. He perfected it and now has passed it on to me.

Now it took Brooke only twice to perfect this recipe and now I am sure she could do it with her eyes closed. Brooke you are amazing you make me every happy. I don't actually know how to make it so i will let Brooke explain it to you but i will add pictures below.

enjoy...

mixing flour

these are the cranberries put into hot water and sugar sauce

rice bran oil...

adding the oil slowly to the flour mixture

pigs brains... well that is what it looks like. flour balls added to hot water mix

cooked and ready to serve

what a little beauty! it tastes just like heaven

Well there you have it, I hope this has helped those who are wanting to make it or made all of you really hungry and jealous. Oh yeah it tastes as good as it looks.

Wedding Bliss!

             So this last weekend we had the honor of witnessing another wonderful, happy moment in the Travis Family.  On Saturday Mick and I, Lucy and Esther got to attend, Mick's oldest brother, Dave's wedding to Tracy Walker.  It is always wonderful to see two people committing themselves to each other in love.  I know that after my divorce it was incredibly hard to imagine that I could ever find happiness again and yet I did... and I didn't just find happiness, but more than I could have ever imagined possible.  Mick, you are my answer to prayer and my blessing after years of heart break...  I was so happy to see Dave and Tracy finding their happiness as well.  Congratulations to both of you!  

Isn't love a wonderful thing...

Lucy, Esther, and I walking down to the beach before the wedding.

Watching the bride come down the isle.

Dave and Tracy exchanging rings.

Mick and I and Lucy and Esther.

The Bride with all of the Travis boys (minus Andrew)...

Mick looked so handsome that day... oh lah lah...

Lucy and Esther looking beautiful at the reception.

Dave and Tracy

Yummy Cupcakes

All the girl cousins.

The Lucky Country...

A few weeks ago Esther was complaining about one of her teeth hurting. So we gave her some panadol and booked her into a dentist. I was dreading this cause we all know how much dentists cost.
The first visit went like this, xrays which showed she needs 3 root canals and about 5 fillings. I could not believe it. The dentist did up a dental plan for the work needed and it came out to $3000. The worst part is that the rotted teeth are her baby teeth which will fall out in a few years anyway. We had no choice and got her in for her first visit which consisted of removing one of the rotted teeth.
We were worried that Lucy might have a similar problem so we booked her in and discovered she needed $1200 worth of work. Not as bad but still depressing. We thought that we would get you know who to help contribute but i think we would have a better chance of seeing a boomer firing a shotgun then getting any money from him.
OK before i continue a little background. The health system in Australia provides a dental van to primary schools. I remember going to one as whipper snapper (little kid). I could not remember how much or if government only payed a portion or how often they actually go to schools or even if they do major work.
A week or two later i just so happen to read in the girl's school newsletter that the dental van will be at there school for the next few months. I could not believe it. I also found out that these vans only go to schools every two years. We booked Esther and Lucy and Talyah in straight away and cancelled their appointments at the private dentist. Esther had her first appointment last Thursday and the lady dentist was awesome. She got her treatment done and better still it cost a total of $0. A free service to government schools. Oh man i am so totally grateful for Australia's health system. I know we pay high taxes but this dental van which just so happens to be at their school right now is a huge blessing. Esther now has follow up visits to get all of her work done and so is Lucy and Talyah. I am sorry to say but Australia is the lucky country!

The Places I Have Been...

                I know it has been a while since my last post, and many of you have certainly brought this to my attention :) ... But I must confess the reason why it has taken me so long to get back on here and give you something new to read... because, well, I have been ensued in an internal battle with myself...  The next thing I very much wanted to share with you all is also something quite personal... even a bit embarassing I must admitt.  But my time of thought and debating the issue is over and I have decided to just share with you all this wonderful moment in my life... Not be embarassed, but proud of where I have been, what I have made it through, and where I am now...
                As most of you know, Mick is my second husband... but honestly, as he once lovingly said to me, "No.  You are my first." ... Words that took my breath away because of the message of love behind them.  That even though we have both been married before, we both truely feel that right now our lives have finally begun, that for the first time we are truely "married" and have found love, and know what that truely is.  We both know we still have more to learn about the mysteries of love but we are happier than we have ever been in our lives and we learn "love" more and more everyday as we are giving it to each other...  Mick I love you, and I will never stop thanking our loving Heavenly Father for sending you into my life, you have shown me, as no one has ever before, what real, true love is. 
                Since moving here to the wild, beautiful, foreign land that is Australia I have been swept up in happiness, my future bright all about me, and yet there were still bits of my past still peeking out from the shadows.  One of the biggest issues I have had to face is my three names.  Yes, three names.  My former married name, my maiden name, and my new married name.  My old married name seemed to be staring back at me everywhere... on my bank card, on my passport... But most of all on my Unites States driver's liscence.  An old photo id I had to confront each time I opened my wallet reminding me of my past, a dark and sad time in my life staring up at me, like a ghost. 
                I was tired of being that person, almost emotional and angry when ever I still had to sign that old name onto paper.  I was done with it and I wanted it behind me.  I wanted to be a part of my husband, have his name, the name of the man I love.  Over time, since being here, the only document that had proof of my true name was on our marriage certificate...  We began the long battle of changing my name at the bank, and on my liscence but were turned away over and over and over again... We needed more proof... more paperwork!  It was maddening... and so for months I lugged around my three names...  My three identities... Kind of like a super spy... but no... not really.
              Finally sucess... a huge sucess... we got my name changed on my passport... Thank you America, my home sweet home.  And so armed with my new, appropriately named passport we set out again... got turned away again, but perservered... finally made it to the bank with all the right proof, and finally got my bank card with the correct name!  And so it was... a few weeks ago that we set out to the Department of Transportation armed with my new proof... Ready to declare to the world, "I am Brooke Travis damit!!!"  And finally... FINALLY, like a magic wand waved across... I became Brooke Travis, once and for all.  No longer does that old past stare up at me, but the brightness of my future, reminding me of the blessings God has given me, and that truley, Yes: BLESSINGS COME AFTER TRIAL.  I am living proof of that. 



My old photo...



My new photo