A BIG Hello! From the De Bruin Family. Here's a little glimpse into our lives. I thought I should start at the beginning, seeing as this is my first newsletter, so that you will have a little background -lowdown on us. My mom always says "..Helen, start off as you intend to carry on - in everything." She's right. But.... I doubt that in future years I will have so much to write, so this occasion will be the exception to her golden rule. Hold on��.(hee hee)
I am Helen, blessed to be wife of Andre De Bruin. Twenty days after my birth in cold and sloshy Derby, England ~ Andre was born on the other side of the world, in the coastal town of Durban, South Africa. The Lord had already hand-picked us for each other, and yet we didn't come to this realisation until much later in our married life. My father had promised my mom a 'holiday of a lifetime', after facing poverty most of their married life with five of us children. Little did we know that the holiday in question would last much longer than the planned six-month return tickets had stated. The day we were to return to our homeland, we were busily carrying water to over four thousand chickens on a South African farm in the middle of nowhere, scorched by the heat and dodging the numerous and horrifying snakes, ticks, flies, and huge spiders - aka - 'hairy marys'.
And yet.... I am so grateful to the Lord, as this is where the 'beginning of the rest of my life' began, as I met and married my sweet man.....
Our first blessing, Emma was born in the province of Natal, South Africa and little did she know, at age three, that she would also be following in the footsteps of her mamma, as her daddy had made plans for us all to start a new life ~ in Australia.
Australia is very special to us in many ways. This is where we found the Lord. This is where we responded to His call. This is where we were also blessed with two more children. Sarah and Samuel are our two 'little Aussies', and we often joke that we are the 'League of Nations', sporting the Union Jack, the 'Old South African' flag and now the Australian flag. Three cultures blended into one. 'Tis our fifteenth year here and we are proud to be Australian and can honestly say, after many challenging times that we now call Australia - 'ome!
OUR FAMILY NOW
Andre is the head of our family. He is a man striving to learn more, as well as obey the Word of God. He is a man of substance and integrity. He is my best friend of all time and spoils me in so many ways. He is a firm, but loving father to our children. A dream of his, and one that he has held onto for many years is to have a business at home. By the grace of God, that dream may soon come to fruition. Andre is a fitter and turner by trade and not only enjoys his work, but is extremely talented in what he does. Andre loves to see, touch, browse and meddle with anything that is steel, or has a motor (or makes a noise). His passion is junk yards and cluttered farm sheds and paddocks. This year, he hopes to ".....get serious about knife-making and forging...."
Helen - me - the wife and mother and keeper of the home. Here is where my heart is. It hasn't always been that way, but each year, my desire to be home, stay home grows stronger. I just love being here with my children. I am blessed beyond belief. I sometimes wonder at how I have changed; my heart is now turned to my family and home life, when once it was on me and 'my' life out of the family. My 'thing' now includes learning more from God's Word, reading, writing (see www.egroups.com/group/heartchange ), decorating, homeschooling, gardening, re-arranging, organising. Home-life. Life in our castle.
Emma, our firstborn is now 18 years old. She is my right-hand girl. My second-in-charge. She can run our home, cook a mean full-course meal, hold a conversation with anybody on any level and has an interest in everything 'horse'. Emma is the artist of the family in every way and is a logical thinker. She and her dad 'don't need instructions' for anything! Oh, and dare I forget? Emma loves to work on the computer and design her own web pages. See www.geocities.com/locksleymeadows, as well as www.geocities.com/bowsatbarons.
Sarah, our second child is 12 years old. She is our little 'true-blue school girl'. She loves projects and challenges and tries her hand at anything. (As I type, she has helped herself to an old "Write Well" by Gordon Winch and Gregory Blaxwell). She loves to read and write and read some more. Sarah loves to do craft work and sewing too. She amazed us all with one of her recent endeavours; a quilt made from her old dresses. Painstakingly cut into small squares, positioned and then sewed into strips and pieced together. Then, thoughtfully shopping around for a backing-material, she chose to buy a single bed sheet in a coordinating colour. Her current project? Her own blouse.
Samuel is our third child and only son, who is 10 years old. Such a boy! What a joy it is to see him doing his boy-ish things, in a world of girls at home! Despite the fact the girls are busy on their own projects, Sam is always busy with his own. Pulling apart, putting back together, fixing then breaking. From knights to cowboys to soldiers and commandoes to gladiators. He's lived them all. His delight is working side by side with his dad in the workshop. Oh! how proud he is, as they stand, armed with grinders, donned with safety glasses, dressed in blue overalls, their faces streaked with sweat and oil. The 'Men'.
OUR HOME/TOWN
We live in 'Bushranger' country, as the locals refer to Collector, first named 'Kollegdor' by early Aboriginals who lived in this area. Collector is situated 35km south west from Goulburn, (the first inland city) and 60km north east from Canberra, (the national capital) and Queanbeyan. We have a total population of 155, are graced with three churches, one hotel (now closed down) and one shop that has also recently closed down. However, our local council has great plans to promote tourism within the shire.
Our home is known as the 'old meat pie shop'. Many truck drivers would stop to fill up, have a snack - usually a meat pie, (baked in the tiniest of ovens), have a shower and general boudoir, then a nap in their trucks, which were parked on the vacant block next door. Nowadays, we are striving to make this once jack-of-all-trades business establishment into our home.