Is it ever NOT cold during winter here
Today is is cool (-13). Earlier this week it was warm (-1). On Monday, we had rain hitting the frozen ground making it extremely dangerous to drive anywhere. I watched our neighbour drive past our house, then stop and just sit there before wisely deciding to slowly back up and put his car back in his garage. I’ve seen so many cars off the road (and totally lost control myself more than once) during these sort of conditions over the years that I now willingly justify the expense of new tires for the van.
It’s Australia Day and I feel like I’m pampering myself… watching the cricket while typing… 
Two overs to go and 17 to get for Warner to reach his hundred… and no one to share the tension with besides an inanimate blog! Ah well…
We are due to play ice hockey at 2:00. Ice hockey on Australia day… yeah. Weird. We’ve never done that before. The kids have enjoyed playing during the last month and grab any chance given to get out on the ice. I’ll take a pic and 
tack it on at the bottom of this post before I publish it.
Christmas was beautiful, as usual. Celebrating Christ’s birth in winter would be something I’d actually miss if I returned to Australia. The warmth and coziness of inside adds to the feeling of specialness. Elle, at 8 years old, is in the last years of not being able to stay in bed Christmas morning. She got up kinda early (1:30) and watched a video we’d set up for her before rechecking the clock and realizing it hadn’t read 7:30. She went back to bed for a bit but the excitement got her up again way before we were awake! Gotta love it.
Last night, the students again gathered at our home. It was good to see them all again as well as a few newies who seemed to not just enjoy the night but listened intently as I spoke about giving their lives to Jesus and serving Him because He is wonderful. Over the next few weeks, they will be hearing more and being challenged to take this step. We are praying that there will be some serious decisions made.
We ended up not going skating on Australia Day. We did go Monday night though.
Big snow day today. We’ve been trying to fix our heating system the last few days and have been very thankful for the warmer weather. Today we ran out of water in our water tank and have to wait for the well to fill it up again before I continue the chore of trying to get it working. Our fireplace is working overtime and we are staying warm at least in our lounge room and kitchen.