Lynda's Blog

Today is ANZAC Day, commemorating those from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought together so bravely at Gallipoli. We remember and honour those who served. So many who never returned.   We also remember and honour those men and women who have served in any war or conflict, many who gave their lives in doing so. We honour and recognise those who are still serving. We are thankful for the sacrifice their families made. So many wars! I googled the wars that New Zealand and Australia have been involved in and was dismayed at the long list that came up. War has been around since at least 1880 BC in the days of Abram and Lot. What a reflection on mankind that countries go to war over land, religious differences, race, power and who knows what else! There are very many Christian views on war; some refuse to go to war, others will participate in non-combatant roles. Some say God is a God of peace so we should absolutely not fight, others say God hates evil so if peac...

  This renovation stuff is not for the faint hearted! Work is going ahead on dismantling our feature fireplace. The bricks and mantelpieces are down, the tiles on the hearth are gone and the top layer of concrete on our two tier hearth has gone—with some difficulty. We are on the bottom layer of concrete on the hearth and IT IS THICK. My brother has a small demolition hammer and is drilling into the concrete but it is extremely slow going. Yesterday involved much work with a crowbar and a sledge hammer plus a tool for cutting the multiple reinforcement bars within the concrete. I was on clean-up, raking and sweeping concrete chunks into piles then removing them to a wheelbarrow until someone had time to take it to the steadily growing pile of waste. So work is progressing. But the dust!   We cover everything in the open plan living area with sheets, blankets and plastic sheets, but the dust seeps into everything. We are doing our utmost not to track dust into the sleeping qu...

  These renovations are getting old really fast! We are living in such a mess. I am never good at living messy—I’m usually very organized and like a clean house with everything in its place. Coming up is stripping vinyl from the kitchen floor and packing up the kitchen cupboards while my brother works on dismantling our feature fireplace. The feature wall is old now and we need the space to create a long cabinet that will hold all the ‘stuff’ from cabinets, bookshelves, drawers and shelving units to create an overall dining, lounge and study space that has more room and less clutter as well as a better ‘flow’. I am definitely going to be disciplined about throwing stuff out. After all, it is only stuff and not of any real importance. Today we have received draft plans for our kitchen and the above-mentioned unit and are quite pleased with what we are seeing. We also visited one of the lighting shops to get some ideas. I think the hardest job is drawing everything together so th...

  What a hard week it’s been! I have had a head cold that has left me feeling tired and unwell, yet the renovations have to keep moving on. So after two days when I had to simply rest, it was back into sanding the walls head cold or not! We have completed the kitchen, study and dining rooms as much as possible (until cupboards are taken down). Today we will finish the lounge except for where we have to remove our feature brick fireplace which will be a huge job. My brother has stripped one and a half archways of the tiles that lined and framed the arches. My husband has been told very firmly by his health professional that he cannot sand or use his hand much for another month but he is helping as much as possible with the preparation (covering everything and moving furniture one-handed) and the clean up each day. Slowly the work is progressing. As I sand each wall, running my hand over to check for any imperfections that might need plastering, I think about how God is ‘sanding’...