REMEMBERING GRANDDAD AND NANA NIGHT #2

My sister Kate sharing her memories. She is wearing a blouse of my mother's and a black woollen singlet my father wore when shearing sheep. You will notice she has a bag of goodies beside her.

Out they come one by one. Here she shows everyone my mother's wedding dress. My parents were married in Hastings, New Zealand on the 27th March, 1940.

Here Kate shows a dress my mother made with beautiful beading work. She was a wonderful dressmaker and made all her own clothes, including her own hats. She always dressed like a queen.

Arden takes his turn to share. I am wearing a dress that my mother made for me many years ago. I also gave a quizz of facts about my parents' lives. The children who answered correctly got a packet of peanuts. They really enjoyed this.

Sharar shares. Little Shepherd is in front of him.

REMEMBERING GRANDDAD AND NANA NIGHT #3

The grandchildren are lining up to have their turn to share a memory about their great-granddad Bowen--Meadow, Rashida, Bowen and Arrow.

Bowen, Arrow and Jireh.

Zadok has his turn.

Serene shares her memories of her Granddad and Nana. Little Shepherd climbs up beside her.

Pearl's turn.

MR. SHEEP

What a privilege to be blessed with such a wonderful father.

Dad, at the Agrodome, in Rotorua, New Zealand, where he was the Entertainer for many years and where, even after he retired, he turned up every day to keep an eye on the sheep and to train his sheep dogs.

Demonstrating at Agrodome how his sheep dogs work. With his different whistles he could make the dog take the sheep to the right, to the left or wherever--even between his legs!

Shearing a sheep blind-folded--not so hard when you have shorn about a million and a half sheep!

SHEARING DAYS

Interspersed between current pictures of the children and the grandchildren I want to print memories of my heritage. The following are a few pictures of my father's shearing days.

This is Dad after winning the first Golden Shears Shearing Competition in New Zealand.

Dad and his brother, Godfrey talking to the Queen of England again after doing a shearing demonstration for her.

Dad and Uncle Godfrey shearing before the Queen.

Talking to the Queen of England after a shearing demonstration.

LIFE WITH JOHNSONS

Evangeline and Howard are 6' tall, but you can see that at only 15 years Zadok is by-passing his parents. And he is still growing! I wonder if he will catch up to our son Wesley,

his uncle, who is 6' 8"!

Hip the guinea fowl following Evangeline and the children. He follows them wherever they go. They used to have Hop too, but he died.

Rashida with her pet rabbit.

Crusoe and Sharar riding on the two bikes the boys welded together!

Sharar doing a pull-up. This bar is between the kitchen and their utility room. The children can practice pull-ups as they go from one room to the other.

MORE LIFE WITH JOHNSONS

The Johnson cooks! Rashida has been a wonderful cook since she was about five years old--able to cook delicious meals for the whole family. Now it looks like her sisters, Tiveria and Sahara are going to follow in her footsteps. This is little Sahara.

Tiveria and Sahara cooking together.

Sharar doing one of his many tricks.

Evangeline is our golden-haired daughter, but up until now she has not produced any redheads! Not to be outdone, Iqara wears a wig!

HOAR FROST

I love the beauty of the snow when everything is a winter wonderland, but I think I love the hoarfrost even more. While we were in Idaho they had a hoar frost. The drive home to the airport from Kamiah to Spokane was delightful. We drove most of the way alongside the beautiful Clearwater River, enjoying the beauty of the hoar frost on the trees all the way.

The hoar frost ices around every stick and every blade of grass.

Isn't this tree beautiful? It looked more beautiful than the picture shows. Thank you, Lord, for your glorious creation.