Last week my wife gave me the best present ever; our first child, a son.

Looking into his sweet face I am overwhelmed with love for this little person and can't help but think how much greater God's is for all of us. I pray that God equips us for the task of raising this little man to be a faithful child of God and a responsible citizen.

On the edge

The view of the ocean is so changeable here.

Some days you can see Cape Le Grand and the islands in the bay,

other days it looks like we live on the edge of the world.

What is the temperature at your place?

As you have seen from the photos so far there was big temperature difference from Ontario to Western Australia. The photos below are the evidence.

Clarksburg, Ontario, January 16, 2011

Lake Grace, Western Australia, January 22, 2011

An hour after this photo we drove through a thunderstorm and the temperature went from 42 to 29 in 7 minutes, then slowly climbed up to 40 again before we got home.

It was such a warm welcome back. People ask, "is it hard to adjust." No it's not, 42 is horrible no matter where you were the day before.

Sins, science and saints

Canadians struggle at times with the Aussie accent, especially if they are not used to it.

One day we were in a bookshop and I ask the lady,

"Do you have a book on the saints?"

She replied, "On sins?"

"No, on the saints," I repeated.

"Oh, on science," she said, and headed off in the direction of the science books.

Desperate to be understood I pulled out my fake North American accent, which had served me so well in the past in similar situations, and repeated my original question. To which she replied, "On the saints, I'm not sure. Let me check."

As an aside to this story, Bec asked another bookstore lady that same question two days later who thought she said science.

Oh Canada

Last Saturday we arrived home from our wonderful three and a half week vacation in you guessed it: Canada.

It was great spending time with family and friends we don't get to see very often. But we also had days where we did very little but hang out at home, eat food (including many Christmas goodies), fill in cross words and play games.

A few pictures from the trip.

I had to do it. Don't worry, it was only -6.

Rebecca aquatinting herself with the winter time animals.

Are they penguin footprints?

Could it be any prettier.

Our unwanted visitors

What is a hairy grey-brown noctuid?

Here's a clue. His mates are brown diamondback, nate and bogong.

If you said moth you are correct. Currently there are millions of them here. And that is just in our street! Today we flushed 40 of them out from the gap around our hatchback to stop them from flying into the car when we put in the groceries. Thankfully they are disappearing.

On other matters. The vege-garden is looking well. The broccoli has finished, the carrots are 10-12cm long, tomatoes are flowering and growing well, as are the onions, capsicums, leeks and parsley. Oh, and the poppies are beautiful.

My theory

I have a theory.

Pregnant women can smell with their eyes. Rebecca can just look at a piece of chicken from... O did I tell you that we are pregnant. Rebecca and I will welcome our little one into the world on April 22 next year. Yeah, as if Good Friday was not going to be busy enough.

So back to my theory, Rebecca only has to see a piece of chicken from 20 metres and she puts her hand over her nose and says, "that smells disgusting."

Ah, the joys of pregnancy.

Latest project

I asked the confirmation class to make something that reflected there faith in God. As a member of the class I thought it best if I do the same. So I am making a celtic cross out of some Jarrah left over from the house renovations. You will get to see the finished item.

For now here are a few more photos of Esperance.

Looking to Esperance from Wylie Bay

Twilight Beach at sunset

The weather

Autumn is my favourite time of the year. Last week we had rain, lots of rain, and this weeks weather has been glorious. Cool 10 degree nights with 20-22 degree days. Living is easy in these days.

Thistle Cove, our favourite beach in Cape Le Grand NP.

Our visitors

Rebecca's Mum and Dad have been with us for a week and we are enjoying their company as much as they are enjoying the scenery of Esperance.

On Saturday we go up to Kalgoorlie for the 25th celebration of the opening of the church building, before going on to Perth and they fly back home.

My Dad got home in time for Easter and he is doing well. Praise be to God.

Big Day

On Sunday, we had two worship services, one AGM and drove 504 km.

It was a big day.

We love Mondays.

The latest

Twiggy's Landing, Woody Island

Life got real busy after we were married and I got out of the habit of going to my blog. Sorry for not keeping in contact.

So here is a run down of the last 6 months:

• October - we got married and had 4 wedding celebrations.
• November - Pastor's Conference in Perth and lots of shopping for furniture.
• December - our first Christmas together, Mum and dad came to visit.
• January - it got to 47 one day, our air con was broken, we went to Woody Island.
• February - Justin and Kelsey (from Canada) came to visit, we went to Albany for two wonderful days.
• March - we went to Melbourne to visit Dad and the rest of Kramers.

Thank you all for your prayers and support for our family since Dad's accident. He is getting better and will be moving to a rehabilitation hospital soon. We pray that his head injury has not done much damage.

God bless

Adrian

We is married

Adrian and Rebecca Kramer now exist. YAY!!

We are at Bec's parents for Thanksgiving Day and will go to our B+B this evening for the first part of our honeymoon.

The day was perfect: the service was wonderful, the rain stopped early in the day to make the photos great and reception was lots of fun. This morning there was the lightest snow falling as we drove to church.

We are both tired but really, really happy.

A & R Kramer

The build up

What joy it is to be here in Ontario with my darling Rebecca. Long plane flights are not my preferred way of spending time, but they are worth every minute to see my Bec.

The last few things that need to be done before the wedding have come together nicely and the weather today is sunny. The forecast for snow on Saturday has been changed to Sunday. What a tragedy it would be if we were snowed in on our honeymoon! As long as we make our flight on Wednesday.

God's blessings

Adrian

I'm on my way...

'I'm on my way from misery to happiness...' tomorrow.

Tomorrow afternoon I begin my trip to Canada by going to Kalgoorlie to preach on Sunday. After the service I will fly to Adelaide, stay the night and leave for Canada Monday morning arriving in beloved's arms on Tuesday at 6:11am.

Ain't life grand.

This time next week...

This time next week I will be in the arms of my beloved. Ontario is 12 hours behind WA time and I will be landing in Toronto at 6:11am. So, by this time, 7:30, I should be through customs and reunited with Rebecca.

I love you Becca. Not long now.

God's blessing to you all.

-Adrian

Guess who?

Yes, that is me. I have had my glasses for a couple of weeks now and they are doing a great job. The people in church don't look like they left home without combing their hair. They are no longer fuzzy, but clear.

I am very busy at the moment getting everything ready for while I am away and doing the last few things for the wedding. We have waited so long and now it is so close. Only 15 days, 11 hours and 40 minutes until we are married.

Our new shower and bathroom.

The family room and kitchen during the sanding back.

Hello from the future Mrs

Howdy all! I'm guest blogging for Adrian today.

I've made it back to Ontario from BC. The trip was long and eventful and long. Lots of coffee and salads, fun with friends & family and pictures of dirty windscreens. Oh, did I mention it was long? I drove the 5000 km home in 2 weeks. I took my time for the most part, seeing old roommates and homes. I spent a week of my trip with my brother and his family. I got to go to a good friend (and colleague)'s wedding. And though the trip was tiring (who ever sleeps well on the road?), it was wonderful. My sister Tracey kept me company and sane during the last two days where we covered over 2000 km of the trip. There are a million memories and highlights from a trip like that, especially being out of the car!

Since being back, I've raced around peculiarly humid southern Ontario doing this, that and the other thing - all in the name of wedding planning. We're counting down the days til we get to be together, not to say goodbye again.

Hope you're all doing - sorry - going well.
Rebecca

On the move again

Things have been quiet on the building front for the last 3 weeks. However, today the gyp-rockers/plasterers/drywallers arrived and things are on the move again.

Considering the poor health of the dining room ceiling, it was decided it should come down, and it did, along with a pile of dirt. Not to worry, the job is forward.

Will it be done by October 21 when my beloved and I return from Canada?

The things you read about

In breaking news...

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/22/2633243.htm

I think the police should be checking all Canadian citizens to see if they have bought a rock off the back of a truck lately. Or maybe someone was looking for cheap paper weights in the economic downturn!

Sweep hard my friends, EH!