Hi Millie
Thanks for the new year wishes, I hope you have a bright,sparkely and happy 2002! We are surrounded by bushfires at the moment, much of the coast line and a large part of my favourite place - The Blue Mountains which lie between Bathurst (where I live) and Sydney are on fire. Our oldest native forest on the coast, on the outskirts of Sydney has been destroyed, the wildlife & park rangers said on the news the other night that just enough has been saved to sustain the wildlife population of the park. It is always the animals that suffer the most in these situations.
150 homes were lost on Christmas Day, but our fantastic volunteer bushfire units have managed to save the thousands of homes under threat since then. I know that I can count on you to keep these volunteers in your prayers, we have had word from the US that there are fireman ready to come to our aid if we need it because we helped them out during the fires that raged in your country a while ago. It's wonderful to think that even though our countries are so far away from each other, we are all willing to help each other out in times of crisis.
Well, time to do some work, all the public holidays are finished with here and it's time to get to work again. It's a bit of a challenge with three teenage daughters and a nine year old home for their summer holidays. They head back for the start of a new school year on January 31st. My eldest daughter completed her School Certificate this year and did better than expected (much to the relief of Shane & I). Now it's time for the really hard work, the next two years she will be in senior high school and study for her Higher School Certificate.
Looking forward to catching you online soon for a chat on MSN
love & gentle hugs
Jo (Australia)