Tyre part 2

I was very relieved to see that Tyre itself was not as damaged as I had feared. There has already been a big effort to clear away alot and some places where there had been buildings brought down have already been bulldozed and are just neat piles of rubble now. Isn't that sad? It was great to see some of the staff at school. They were a bit surprised to see me still here, but I think it made an impression that we had stayed. Lou and I enjoyed a walk along the corniche this morning with the girls and it was lovely just being back there. I felt I just needed to see for myself how things really were and to take on, or own, some of what has happened. These photo's are all of the road home, the road that we should have been driving on to get back to Beirut. As you can imagine it will take time and money to get this all sorted. I am hoping to start going back every week when school starts, but we will have to see how it works out time wise on the road.

Back from Tyre

Well we managed to make it to Tyre and back. It was interesting. To begin with the trip there took us just under four hours!!! This is what I used to do in 1hr 20mins. There was a huge traffic jam whilst trying to get around Sidon. That was the main problem. We had to go around rather than through because of the main overpass being blown up. (Last Picture) Coming home was much better, about 2hrs. I went down with two friends and their two little girls. It was amazing going down the highway, and even before that in Beirut, just trying to get as far as the airport. It took ages because you have to detour around the bridges that are down. I will put a couple of photo's up. These are mine Deb, but not as impressive I'm afraid. They were taken from a moving vehicle, often through the window. Maybe if I go down on my own I can stop and get some better ones. Anyway, the destruction is massive on the highway but they have done huge amounts of clearing away already. Most of the bridges are now just half bridges as they have already removed the damaged sections. (Picture No2) Also the craters in the road are mostly filled in with gravel. There was one unfixed that we drove right past (First Picture) and there are a few places on the highway where you suddenly come across a pile of old tyres in the middle of the road to warn you there is a crater. More to follow.

Look at us now!

Well I may not be physicly able to party hard on the long weekend, but I will certanly be celebrating the casting out of my tonsills!!! They should be gone by the end of the day on the 27th of Sep. Hazah!Then we shall never speak of them again.
The rest of the fam are well and getting on with things.
Lindy I have to tell you that your letter was read out on Life FM. The story goes.......One of the dj's was invited to join in with the sunday school kids a few weeks back and was in church when I got up and shared where things where at for you guys,then, so I was told,the following day she read the letter and metioned our names, the prayer points and talked about the situation for about 5 mns and asked for everyone to pray!So there you go!
Iain should be back from Dubi on Fri ( with some perfume!) :)I hear all has gone well. So we will see some of you on the weekend and others another day! Take care all.
Love you. Kez. xx

Back to normal??!!

Well, just so there is something new to look at on the blog, I thought I should do another update. Things have been reletively quiet and uneventful over the past week or so. With the agreement by the UN and the EU to send a significant number of troops, people are a bit more optimistic about the ceasefire holding. Having said that, it seems we still have issues with fuel, with queues and some petrol stations closing. I'm not really sure why.
We managed to have our church service downtown today and it was nice to be back in our own building. We managed to get nearly 50 people and had communion together. Sadly, a few of our church members have told us that they will not be coming back for at least four or five months. This is mostly due to schooling issues or mission policies. On the positive side, in the next few weeks there should be at least a few folk returning and we are waiting for them with baited breath. I will be more than happy to hand over a few responsibilities to the 'newly returned'.
As far as I know the kids school will open sometime early October. I don't know yet what will happen with the school in Tyre, but I hope to go down some time this week to see the state of things.
That is about it for now.

4th floor please.

We were busy loading 448 sheep at Black Rock this morning. On their way to market at Dublin tomorrow. Feeling a bit worried as the truckie thought it was going to be another very big sale. One photo shows Spider man the truckie hanging on the side of the truck, he was putting sheep from economy into business class. At one stage he was walking on a 10 cm. wide rail on the top of the load. You may recognise that it is the same B_Double that came and loaded sheep out at Haynes yards a few weeks ago.
We had 200 lambs and 248 old ewes, they all loaded very well and we finished up with sheep on all four levels. About 730 head all up. Will let you know how they sell. Had a good wool sale last thurs. all but one line of wool sold for above valuation, that line will be offered next sale.

Life in Lebanon now

Well, to try and answer Debbie's question, there are many different opinions around at the moment about the future of Lebanon. Some are optimistic that it is all going to be calm and quiet now, and Israel are withdrawing without incident. The Lebanese army will take up their positions and Unifil will fill in the gaps. One problem with this scenario is the fact that no-one is willing to take on disarming Hezbollah. Not the Lebanese army or members of the new UN force. So that brings us to another opinion.
Some people are worried that now will start a time of civil unrest. Many Lebanese are very upset with Hezb for what has happened to this summer's tourist season. It was projected that this would be a very profitable year for hotels, shops and the country in general and many people went into debt to buy goods and prepare for the tourist season. So, the idea is that certain groups will want to hold them accountable for 'starting' this war, contrary to the government's policies and the wishes of most Lebanese.
I have doubts about that as people are so sick of war, they don't want more unrest. So we will just have to wait and see.
One thing I did want to comment on was the amazing speed with which the displaced have returned to their villages and homes. Most of us thought they would be here in the schools for at least a month or so, but within a couple of hours literally of the ceasefire, people were loading up cars and trucks and moving out. The roads south have been clogged with hundred of vehicles trying to cross temporary bridges and get around huge craters in the roads. I will put some photos up that I got from the BBC web site.

Girls Day Out!

Well, the Lebanese are truly amazing. We have had two quiet days in Beirut and already people are getting back to getting on with life. After spending around three hours bagging rice, sugar, tea and burghul, (my back and arms are so sore!!!!), Jessie and I had our 'date', which she has been asking for, for the past three weeks. Wadih was able to fill some petrol this morning with only a half hour wait and so we were able to go down to the mall. We just did girlie things like window shop, have lunch at McDonalds and we also got a new book each for John and Jessie. It was very nice to just be out and about and I was amazed at how many people were there. Things are still a bit uncertain and people are now worried about the civil state of affairs. More about that later.

One concern at the moment is lack of work. I have an opportunity to do some proof reading for a local librarie. I have to call the guy this week to get details, but it sounds good. I should be able to do most of the work at home. Please pray for work for Wadih. As you can imagine there are not many concerts or festivals happening at the moment and it is very hard for him just being at home. I am hoping that this is an opportunity to find something new, but we would appreciate your prayers. Love and blessings to you all.

Brighton news

We are alive and kicking,Annie has finished her netball for the year and continues to have a busy social life and growth spurts. Zac is also growing out of his clothes, hight wise anyway. They both enjoyed a worship disco at the church last sat night. Mike stayed home and had a Matrix night with Jo and a friend of his who turned out to have gone to the computer camp that Mike ran with S.U.( same one that you were on Deb, we had photos of him. Adelaide is so small sometimes.Mike is traveling again this week.
We are haveing Mel & George and Jenny ( the lady who looked after the cats) for tea tonight. Jenny is going back to Israel next week and wanted to see the babies one more time.
A designer guy is comming in the morning hopefully to make a start on the Uncle Trev memorial pergola. It would be nice to have it done by the end of Nov :) but Christmas would be ok too!
Many prayers and enquiries are made for you Lebanon mob and friends are still asking how you are going too Deb.
Annie wanted to know if anyone needed the answers to her puzzles.
I'll see if I can find any photos to add.
Thanks again for all of your news.
Love you all.. Kez....xxxx

WOMEN OF PURPOSE SAY HI TO LINDY

Last friday at their group Kerry Manning made the statement that Lindy is our Woman of Purpose in Lebanon, so they thought it would be good to send this photo and let you know that they are all praying for you and the family. We had a good day in Port Pirie with the other Pastors and their wives, they appreciated being able to read your report first hand and are amazed at how well you are coping through this experience.

We hope you can get some good nights sleep now that the ceasefire has come into effect and that the tankers can get in and unload fuel. Heaps of love and kisses, grandma Jeanie is keeping well but her shoulders are giving her a lot of pain.

This might be interesting

I thought you guys might find it interesting to see just how some of Beirut has been affected by this war. This is a before and after photo of a suburb in Beirut. You can see just how many of the buildings have been destroyed and this is just one area. The bombing that I spoke about today took out 8 more buildings with about 20 rockets. This has happened in many places all over Lebanon. This is war!

P.S. I am adding this a couple of hours after the original post as we have been regularly bombed all afternoon now. Every 1/2 hour or so there is another couple of explosions and it is hard to imagine that in a few hours, come morning, this will all be over. Talk about going out in a blaze of glory, Israel is certainly making the most the the last few hours before they are supposed to stop.!!!! I wonder how many more buildings will be gone come the dawn?

Another Sunday

Well, another week has past and with it another Sunday. As usual we were able to have a good service with the same faithful few in the chapel of the Baptist Seminary. We still had around 30 even though there were 4 gone from last week. And once again our lovely lunch in the garden at the end of the road was disturbed with a series of heavy rocket attacks, from both air and sea, that completely destroyed a number of buildings in the southern suburbs of Beirut. (That's what is in the photos) At home now, we are watching the footage on telly and there are multi storey buildings that have been knocked completely flat, but sideways, which I have never seen before. I guess they figure if there is going to be a ceasefire tomorrow morning, they will make the most of today and they have certainly done that. People here are cautious about getting too excited regarding the supposed ceasefire tomorrow. It is hard to imagine that these guys are just going to stop and so we are mostly keeping a 'wait and see' attitude. What we do hope for is that it will mean the ships that are waiting off shore with fuel will come in to port and that we can buy petrol again. In our area at least it is very rare to find a petrol station open and when there are, there are long, long lines, with up to 3 hours wait to get about 10 liters. Yesterday we all went down to the supermarket and it is starting to tell there now that supplies are getting low. But, we are not wasting away by any means and I commented to a friend how sad it is to be gaining weight while in war. Not good, but there is not alot else to do but be at home and cook and share meals with folk, so what can you do. We have starting going for family walks in the evenings which is nice, but it is not helping much. So the days drag on and each week we wonder if it will all end soon. Only time will tell. Blessings to you all, Lindy and family.

More Ridgetop photos

We have been invited out to Tom & Faye Case for lunch today and they are going to take us for a trip up over the Horseshoe ranges, so it looks like this will be the week for climbing mountains. Doubt if the photos will be as specky as Arkaroola but time will tell.
The big photo is looking back at the village in the centre of the picture. The road gives you some idea of the track, they send up to $100,000.00 a year on upkeep of the 42kms on the Ridgetop. The other photo is of the setting sun as we made our way back to the village. We are getting desperate for more rain, the crops are hanging on but will start to run to head if we dont get rain soon. Will be getting more sheep ready for sale this week. Have the Rostrevor team with us this weekend and are having a barby for lunch so hope the weather holds for one more day. Love to everyone and keep safe.

Mansourieh Update

Well, to get you all up to date, we are all okay and things are relatively quiet at the moment. I am sitting here at twenty to four in the morning and looking out over Beirut, it is eerily quiet and dark. There are whole large areas that are blacked out, which in reality, don't actually exist anymore. Complete blocks of apartments that have been flattened, and what is left standing in these suburbs certainly doesn't have electricity. As I look at the clock and realize that I have been awake for nearly 24 hours, it feels like a very strange day. I was awake so early to get someone off to prepare for evacuation. My house guest of the past four weeks left today on a ship with her four kids, along with Annette and her three kids and another friend from church. They went out with a French ship to Cyprus. It is going to be very quiet and strange for a while. The kids were very disappointed to hear that their friends, Nadine, Maria and Sam were going, but we hope that they will be able to return the end of September. After sitting waiting to hear if they would be accepted on the ship or not, I was able to visit some neighbours, just to share the sad feeling because more of our friends have gone. Then we had a treat to go swimming with another family at their club and then to another couple for pizza supper. It was good to spend time with others. There is not alot else to say at the moment. More people from church have left this week as well and what we are hearing from most who are out is that they will be staying out a bit longer yet, maybe til Christmas or for a whole year. Who knows what will happen. Still, we are all fine. The petrol stations are not open very much these days and the price has gone up. Fuel is now a desperate problem for hospitals in particular, that often depend on their generators for power. Fortunately we are still able to get to most places we need, either by walking or a very short drive. Lots of love to all. Keep the photos coming Dad. Will write more as there is news.

Chapter three

We thought you might like to see the vehicle. I was very impressed with the handling of the Prado on the dirt roads, I can see now why so many people who travel on dirt roads go for them.
Having done a few of the short tracks I must say it would be good to be able to do a few more off road adventures. You will be pleased to know that today was much more relaxed, mainly catching up on office work.
Never sure how the photos are going to arrange themselves. A look at the vehicle when we stopped for morning tea, a look at the southern wall of Wilpena from Rawnsley Park and the other photo taken looking at the eastern wall of Wilpena.
I was unable to take any photos on the last day because the memory card was full we got 92 photos but I had it set on scenery which meant some clearer pictures but they took up more memory, so we will just have to back again one day.

The Ridgetop Tour

A few more photos of the Ridgetop Tour that lasted for four & a half hours and a total of 84 kms.
The first photo was at Split Rock which was used in the filming of the "Tracker " starring Gary Sweet.
The second photo was from the same spot but looking further east.
The third photo is from Sillers Lookout. Not sure now which order they will come out when we publish.
It was back running today, up with the sparrows to get Aunty Kaye on the bus then down to the farm to fill and clean the Prado and check the feedlots. Then off to Port Augusta with an Ambulance carry followed by joining the ladies for a heart move exercise program. Finished the day by a trip around the farm to check on the sheep and waters because Darryl is away this week working at Hawker helping with shearing..
Will bring another series tomorrow if able and let you know what we think about 4 wheel driving. Not so many mistakes tonight. posted in a bit of a hurry last night.

We are back

Just a quick note to let you know that we are safely back home afet a wonderful 960 km trip to see some of the most spectacular world in the world. Everything was wonderful and we all feel that we have unwound from the pressures of life and were able to enjoy the scenery. Aunty Kaye has to catch the bus qt 6.00am so will write more tomorrow will try to include one photo from Sillers lookout Love to everyone.

One more Sunday!

Well, what a mixed day today was. We had a lovely service and still managed to get nearly 30 people (if you count the kids). Some could not make it this week, as fuel is now a big issue and you tend not to use your car unless you really need to. As usual, we all trooped down the road to the Chetti's beautiful garden for a pot luck lunch, although we could tell that the numbers for this were down on last week. As the afternoon wore on the hardy of us stayed to talk politics and set the world to rights (we wish), and then we were rocked by 11 enormous explosions as the jets flew over head. I tell you, it does make you jump as you don't hear the jets until after the bomb has exploded. They were hitting the southern suburbs again. It was a sad way to end a lovely afternoon.

The humanitarian situation is continuing to worsen. The bombing of the road north now means that Beirut is very isolated. It also makes it much harder for people who were planning to leave across the border. However, on a positive note, travel agents have been told that the airport will be open again on the 19th of this month. For my two friends who are due to fly out on the 20th, we hope that this is true. I still have a lounge room full of blue sacks of clothes and toys. It seems that every time I move one lot out, more arrive. At least I feel like I am helping with the need. It has not worked out as I thought to go down to help with the children's programs. I am quite disappointed about this but maybe in a couple of weeks, if they are still in the position to need it, I can go. That is all for today. Mum, Dad and Aunty Kaye, have a great trip and be safe. Lots of love to everyone. Lindy

Annie with the murderer

She had fun and the Crows won!(just!)

some more photos

Well for the Hoggies life is getting back to normal, though having Mike around this week has been "very noice!". The photos are from Movie World apart from the shot of the surfies at Manly beach near where we stayed. Yeh Baby! Sports tomorrow then Annies of to a party dressed as a punk rock chick to play a part in a mystrey murder night. We'll be home barracking for the crows!Thanks for your news Lindy, and hopeing for continued good health for you Deb and Have a great holiday Mum and Dad.
ps. saw Aunty Kaye and yelled out to her as we drove along Jetty road Glenelg. HOpe we didint scare her! Love you all! xx Kezz

Aug. Goyder Article

I am sure that many of us are struggling to make any sense out of all the destruction that is taking place in Lebanon and Israel with the loss of innocent lives and the destruction of much of the country’s infrastructure. But in every cloud there is a silver lining. Amongst all our concerns and cares for Lindy-Ann and her family we are seeing the love and concern that is being shown by many people in a variety of ways. As many of Lindy’s international friends are being recalled to their own countries they have given to Lindy their food and surplus clothes and toys for her own use and to be shared with those who have been displaced by the war. With much fresh food on hand that needed to be used up the family have been sharing meals with friends and the opportunity to share a meal together has reminded them of the enjoyment that can come out of having fellowship over a meal. It has also been good to hear that the Australian Government has been doing much behind the scenes to check and assist Australian citizens in Lebanon. Lindy has received calls from the Dept of Foreign Affairs in Canberra and Melbourne and we have also received a call from the Canberra Office inquiring about her safety and needs. On a personal note, the number of calls and enquiries we have received over the last week has reminded us that we live in a caring supportive community.
Some may ask why God allows such destruction and suffering of innocent people to happen. There are no easy answers, but we do know that God shares in our suffering and feels our pain and allows us to call on Him in our times of need and trouble. We are seeing the love of Jesus expressed through the concerns and prayers of many people.

God bless, John Cozens

We are okay

First of all we are all okay. Things are getting a bit mad and last night was definitely not a good one. We did not get much sleep and once again they have destroyed bridges that are on the last few roads out of Lebanon. Some of our friends who are planning to travel out via Syria are now not sure what to do. Things are quite tense this morning as people are pondering what is the best thing to do now. We are still feeling physically safe and food wise we are okay. Fuel is now a problem as alot of the petrol stations are closed or only open for a few hours at a time and you have to queue. When you get there you can only buy 8 litres at a time anyway. Not much for a 6 cylinder car! Electricity has started to be more erratic, but we still have set hours when the generator is on as well.

We have still managed to keep up with having people around. Last night especially was like grand central station, with folk coming and going and at least three extra's for supper. I am still enjoying it though. It is good to have friends around particularly when we cannot travel around very much. That is where we are at the moment. To be honest I think it will continue to get worse before it starts to get better, but I also still have peace about being here. Please pray for Wadih to get some work or a job somewhere, and for people who owe to be able and willing to pay. This is our biggest need right now. Fortunately the phone companies are not disconnecting even though we have not paid, but how long they will wait we don't know. Much love to all and keep in touch.

25 YEARS IN THE PLANNING

After talking about how we should do a trip up to Arkaroola we have finally made plans to make this a reality. Aunty Kaye is coming with us and the plan is to leave after lunch on Sunday and drive to Rawnsley Park and stay the night there (This station is just near Wilpenna Pound and has won many awards in recent years and has held Opera in the outback a number of times.)
Then onto Arkaroola monday morning getting there in time to do a Ridgetop tour at 1.00pm which lasts for four and a half hours. PHoto shows part of the tour. I am sure your mother will love living on the edge. Then make our way home on Tuesday. As I said earlier The Gillies have offered there 4 wheel Parada for the trip to enable us to explore some of the off road sights So hopefully we will have some photos to share next week

a little something 4 john and jessie

Hello my fellow friends!Heres some puzzles that i thought might interest you people that i love in lebanon!I found them very interesting and i give you the answers when you ask for them.
1.Can you arange the word oouswtdnerj to spell just one word?
2.Can you make 8 eights = 1000?
3.Think of a number between 1 and 9.multiply it by nine.add then 2 digit numbers together.subtract 5.if the number you have now is 1 your letter is A.remember your letter.if its 2=B , 3=B , 4=D.think of a country that begins with your letter.then with the second letter of your country think of a large mamal.now is that large mamal an elephant and was your country Denmark????????
have fun working these out!!!

(dont pay out my spelling mistakes i did this in a hurry!)
lots of love from annie XoX

What to say!?

Well I really don't know where to start today. I am tired and this is all just going on too long. Today I went with a friend down to the baptist school in Beirut. Last I heard there were over 700 people staying there and we went to do a program for some of the children. She goes down three days a week and I hope to be able to join her for at least two of them. We had over twenty five, 8-12 year olds. We did some singing and games with them, and then joined them in doing some puzzles or drawing. They were very happy to have something to do, although a number of them told me, they do the same puzzles each time. After a couple of hours with the kids, we went up to visit some of the families. It is amazing to go and see how these people are managing. 9 families in one classroom! That is between 35 to 40 people, trying to live, eat, sleep in a room that is probably no larger than 5 by 8 meters square. Nearly all the classrooms have that many in them. Thankfully, being in the school, there is some outside space where they can sit during the day and they have been provided with a couple of TV's so they can follow the news like the rest of the country. And these are the lucky ones. Most of them still hope they have homes to go back to when it is safe. Some were from southern Beirut, others were from villages further south. It just makes me very grateful. It was also wonderful to see so many people pitching in to help. From the Baptist churches, from local scouts, from the school. The Lebanese can pull together when necessary. And it is necessary now!!

MIXED RESULTS

We have just got back from the sale and as the title infers with mixed results. They had a record number of lambs in last week 21000 and everyone thought there can't be to many more and sent lambs in this week as as a result just under 25000 lambs this week with a weak demand from the buyers. we got $85.00 for the lambs we were hoping for 95-100 the market was 10-$12 cheaper. As for the older ewes we were hoping for $50.00 and the best of them made $54 we didn't see them all sold so not sure what the average will be. Over all our timing has not been the best this year with the selling of stock but overall the prices are still quite good compared to a few years ago photo of the lambs and one of the pen of ewes. Still have more to sell so hopefully prices will pick up.