The land down under

This month we journey down under to visit our Aussie and Kiwi friends. Australia is similar in many ways to the US, the native peoples there before settlers and the various regions from coast to deserts and mountains to coast again. But huge differences abound in animal and plant inhabitants, the seasons and cuisine. More about the food later, for now let's just say my boys will never forget Australia!
Many missionary's working in the country are there to reach the aboriginal people. These native peoples have a rich history, language and culture very set apart from the rest of Australia. They are very proud of their customs and rituals and most are happy to share their ways with you. Sadly, it doesn't include knowledge of Christ. As for the rest of Australia, it appears to be like the US. Now I cannot say with 100% certainty that this statement is true, but the influx of foreigners into the nation, fashion, entertainment and freedom to worship make it look to be true. But there are still people here and there and everywhere that need to know that Jesus loves them! So we pray for those called to do just that. And we learned a little something along the way. Judah is ready to pack his bags and head to Australia for real. One day, son, one day.....
Until then, we'll experience it from afar.
I had heard about Vegamite from Australian Ken Ham. He's a wonderful speaker and teacher on Biblical foundations. (Check out his site www.answersingenesis.org for more. I highly recommend it.) He says kids in Australia are often called Vegamite kids for how much of this food they consume. So I managed to get my hands on some. The boys were super excited to try this Australian delicacy. I knew it would be salty by the ingredients so I prepared the boys who thought, at the looks of the stuff, it would be sweet goodness. Well.....I didn't have time to even snap a picture. That's how fast they all spit it out, ran to the bathroom and rinsed with water. I think Caleb even grabbed a napkin and wiped his tongue! What did I think? It must be an acquired taste. I wanted to be brave for the boys' sake, but since they had already spit the stuff out, I felt safe in doing the same. The taste was still in my mouth hours later, too! Needless to say, if you'd like to try some Vegamite, you can have ours. We did enjoy some things though, like Australian licorice, bickies and lamingtons. So not all was lost!


And this go round, the boys were the chefs cooking up some ANZAC biscuits for our snack. I was the helper. They did an awesome job and we learned Australians call cookies bickies or biscuits.

It just wouldn't be an Australian study without boomerangs either.

We also did a map collage which the boys really liked since we used Australian animals and famous landmarks. Caleb even tells me he already knew about Ayers Rock from a show he saw. Ok then.....
One of the boys' favorite praise and worship DVD's is from Hillsong church in Sydney. So we blasted that while we worked. And that beautiful building at the top of the post is the famous Sydney Opera House which the boys built later on in the day just cause. Oh, how I love learning!
We'll check out New Zealand and New Guinea to round out the month.