I planed to leave for Nelson a little later than normal on Monday just in case it was icy on the roads.
So 8am was my plan.
But then I ended up talking on the phone to the Police for nearly an hour and didn’t get out the door till 9am.
Had a good trip to town though.
It was frosty but no ice.
I listened to Chuck Missler on my ipod speaker all the way out – talking on ‘Daniel’s 70 weeks‘.
I got to town and did a couple of jobs.
Then popped into see a friend I hadn’t seen in around 4 years.
It was a good time to catch up.
We have both been going through hard times so good to share and listen and generally catch up with our families.
I left her later than I had planned so just had time to pop in to the gym. Hadn’t been to Curves in two months so was really needing to go. It was a good work out although I was very conscious of the time.
So no mucking about afterwards, Drove straight around to the motel. Dropped off my gear, changed into some tidy and warm clothes, turned on the electric blanket and headed off to pick up another friend.
We went to a CWCI dinner. Rosie Boom was the speaker. She played guitar, sang some of her own songs and spoke. She gave such an encouraging message – it spoke directly to my heart. Thank you God for allowing me to get there just to hear that message.
The title of her message was ‘Starry Starry Sky’. She spoke about the starry nights, the cloudy nights and the dark dark nights of our lives. She spoke from the heart and was so personal in her testimony and encouragement. She had us in tears and laughter as she shared stories from her own life and of her family.
One of the quotes at the end of her talk was what Hopeful said to Christian when they were locked in the castle (Pilgrims Progress), goes something like this
“Not everything is in the hands of the giant of despair.”
God is greater.
Clouds pass but stars remain. 
By the time we had finished our evening the skies had opened and it was pouring down so it was a mad dash to the vehicles and back to the motel.
Tuesday morning I spent a bit of time chatting to my cousin John before leaving the motel. He was on his own cuz Sally had gone over to Blenheim to spend some time with her parents.
I zipped around and got a few more jobs done before heading back to Hope Community Church for another meeting with Rosie. This time she was speaking at their weekly ladies meeting and our homeschool group was joining them. We had morning tea together and then she sang and talked to us.
Her message this time was ‘Seize the day’
Motherhood is made up of magical moments. Don’t miss them!’
She spoke about how as mothers we can so easily run out of petrol.
We begin with a full tank but as time goes on we forget to check our gauges and before we know it we are out of fuel and we are sitting on the side of the road feeling vulnerable and isolated.
Yet another very encouraging talk.
Afterwards we talked with friends and then too soon we had to leave and get on with the rest of life.
I headed into Richmond to get my groceries. I normally don’t go to Pak’n’Save but cuz I was close thought I would stop in. I actually hate that supermarket – too big and impersonal, it’s like a barn. Anyway, by the time I got what I needed and was heading out to the carpark the heavens had opened. It was deluging down. I grabbed a hot chicken pie from the bakery and then hooned across the carpark and lifted the hatch on the Terrano to try and keep dryish while unloading. Everything still got totally drenched. Chucked it all in willy-nilly, sent the trolley flying and jumped in the door and sat there in my soaked dishevelled state! Found some tissues to dry off a bit and then headed into Nelson.
Along the motorway the rain began pelting down even heavier. It was totally scary. It was so heavy that the wipers weren’t coping on full speed. I was hitting walls of water. Incredible! Then at the end of the motorway it all of a sudden stopped. From there on it was just gentle rain and then nothing.
I was planning on going back to the gym but I was so wet and tired that I decided to give it a miss and just head on home. So I grabbed some more groceries from Countdown, then my usual Caramel Venti Starbucks Frappuccino (I needed and deserved it 
) and left town mid afternoon. I called Tim to let him know I was on my way – he was astonished & very pleased, I never leave town that early normally.
I listened to Chuck Missler again on the way home speaking on the book of Zechariah this time.
I had a long chat with Graham at the gate and got home just as the children were having dinner. Tim helped me unpack the car – it was all wet and yucky.
It began pouring down again later in the evening. We knew Bri was somewhere along the road traveling home.
We woke this morning and found she was not in her room. Thankfully it didn’t take too long to trace her to Anson’s sleepout. It was much easier & dryer for her to crawl into his bed than to get to her own room.
We sat around talking with Bri over a long late breakfast hearing all about her trip to Thailand and Cambodia. Then the children have helped clean up the house. Amazing how messy it gets when they are loose for 2 days!! Shanni had fun cleaning out the bathroom cupboards – Azzan had fun keeping all the things that were thrown out 
Our two new wwoofers arrived after lunch – Mira from Germany and Takao from Japan. Mahalia had fun this arvo showing them around the place. Seb came in on his work boat to drop some anchor blocks in so Tim went along to say hullo. Said Seb was very bright and seemed happy out there so that is good.
I spent most of the afternoon cutting out warm pants for the 3 children, a nighty each for the girls and also a warm sweater for me. Although I think the pants and nighties will get made very quickly but my top may take a bit of figuring out. I was trying to make sense of the pattern but ended up putting it away cuz it was dinner time.
I did have things I intended to do today but they didn’t happen so maybe tomorrow.
One thing Rosie did say was that the greater the gap between our expectations and reality the deeper the hole between. I know I have to learn to close that gap!
Rabbits Nest 