Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Hooray!

We have got a new house!
We have found ourselves a fantastic place to move to - less than 2 kms away - and right around the corner form where we lived in Narangba previously.
It is a brand new house and we will be the first occupants. It is airconditioned, has 4 bedrooms, a study, two large separate living areas, a media room, an office, a double garage and 2 bathrooms. The master bedroom has a huge walk in robe and the ensuitehas a corner bath as well as a shower. The kitchen is fantastic with plenty of cupboards and pantry space and excellent appliances.
The yard is a little small, but fenced and the dog is allowed. There is a patio and we are on the northern side of a hill overlooking a valley.
Photos to come later.

Praise the Lord - this is just the sort of house we were looking for.


Posted by: Jethro | 5:28 PM |

10th Wedding anniversary

Its kind of weird. We have been married 10 years. We had one of three annual anniversaries on Easter Monday.
We actually had our first date on Easter Monday 1994. Easter Monday 1995 we were married in a lovely garden ceremony in Nelson, New Zealand. Then we had a second wedding in June back in Australia for the Australian people to attend. We did the whole thing including a (fake) signing the register.
So we have 3 anniversaries. One for the actual date, 1 for Easter Monday and 1 in June.
Thus you could say that we have just had our 27th anniversary with 2 more to go this year.
This makes us more married than John and Barbara who were married only 23 years in February.
Spring chickens!
Congratulations John and Barbara.

Thank you my darling wife of 10 years for being my bestest friend, my lover and confidante, the mother of my 6 amazing kids (2 in heaven), my business partner, my encourager and my sweetheart. I will always love you.


Posted by: Jethro | 2:36 AM |

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Gigantic Hail Pieces

Here are some photos of the hail we received the other day. We kept some pieces in the freezer. These photos were taken about an hour after the hail.
These were representative of the majority of pieces. Some were smaller but not much smaller than golf balls. We didn't dare go out in it. My friends car (in the original photos) was half in our garage - all that would fit). He got 8 decent sized dents in the roof. Fortunately insurance will cover it.


Posted by: Jethro | 11:47 PM |

Monday, March 28, 2005

Syndication

Great news!
I have been picked up by Robin Good from masternewmedia.org to have my content syndicated.
Watch this space for further news.


Posted by: Jethro | 11:05 AM |

Saturday, March 26, 2005

Hail Storm

We just had the worst hail storm I have ever seen.
Most of the hail pieces were larger than golfballs - the little stuff was the size of marbles.
The first photo shows the hail falling.
The second the rain has come as well.
The third is a close up of some of the hail.
If you zoom in on any of the pictures you can see th hail pieces falling.
I will publish a picture of some of the hail stones we froze later.


Posted by: Jethro | 5:08 PM |

Friday, March 25, 2005

School Photos

This is amazing! I could not believe they could do something like this.

See for yourself.

Have a look at this, incredible that they actually have a copy of your photos. Kind of scary.
Check it out.
This website is amazing - they actually have photographs of almost every School in the Western World. Unless you went to School in China or cameras weren't invented, you will find a photo of yourself or at least your classmates.

Click on the link below:
Enter the name of your school and the year that you were there.

www.worldschoolphotographs.com


Posted by: Jethro | 9:36 AM |

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Soccer Injuries

The injuries have started - and we haven't even started the season!
At the game last weekend I copped an elbow to the face - giving me a fat lip. Not much I know - but I got penalised for it! - Not Fair!
Tonight at training I got another whack in the face with a forearm - cutting the inside of my cheek and bleeding profusely.
Lets hope those are the worst injuries this year!


Posted by: Jethro | 2:17 AM |

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Welcome back Andy

Andy - from Walking Stick fame and Facial Hair February 2004 Infamy has returned to the blogosphere after a hiatus of 10 months (explained here) and brought his ex-girlfriend with him.
She is now his fiance! Well done Andy.


Posted by: Jethro | 1:32 PM |

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Rental applications

We put in an application today. Brand new house - just finished being built. Big open plan living 3 bedrooms and study with large joined garage (my office / workshop).
Let's see what happens.


Posted by: Jethro | 11:08 PM |

Monday, March 21, 2005

Babys and Dinosaurs

Jadeen and Erin just came into my office for a 15 second cameo performance.
Jadeen opens her hand to show me a small lizard in her palm.
"It's a baby lizard - its a dinosaur" she said. She turned to walk out.
Erin had her pink blanket draped over one shoulder and her bottle of milk in her mouth.
Looking up at me with solemn eyes she grunted in agreement with the notion that lizards are dinosaurs- "Humph".
She leisurely followed her sister out, hitching the blanket up as it dragged behind her.


Posted by: Jethro | 9:41 AM |

Saturday, March 19, 2005

Soccer results

Rivers Baptist Soccer 5th division team results.
We played three games and lost each game by 1 goal.
1-0, 2-1 and 1-0.
All three teams we played were in a division above us.
A pretty pleasing result actually. Some players hadn't played for years, one chap was 51 and had never played soccer in his life as he was a rugby league player - he did pretty well at right back.
I played center back or sweeper most of each three games. I was able to make some pretty good tackles and I was happy with one thigh grazing slide that managed to clear the ball from the attacking player's feet without tripping him - probably a goal saver.
I also took plenty of high ball headers and cleared corner shots. I am quite enjoying playing in this team and playing as sweeper. That and center midfield are the only positions I had never played before.
On the way home I dropped in on the girls at the teddy bear picnic they were at.


Posted by: Jethro | 4:15 PM |

Soccer Carnival

Wednesday night I had soccer training.
Thursday night I played basketball.
Last night I played indoor soccer and we won 7-6.
Today I have 3 soccer games - 30 minutes each. If we get to the finals we will have a 4th game. This is the pre season charity shield mini tournament. In the first day of 3 games we drew 1-1 and lost the other two games 1-0. Not bad considering we are a new team and that was our first games together. The two teams that beat us are also in a division above us.
I will come home tonight exhausted - and happy!


Posted by: Jethro | 7:50 AM |

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Exciting news re the Tsunami

I received the following email today which I am posting in its entirety.

Dear Mr. Miller
Trust the below information is of help to you.
Blessings!
Bill Hekman

I have received this further word (below) from Pastor Hekman ... and have CONFIRMED THE STORY via a follow up phone call to Himawan Duhana of the Indonesian Relief Fund in California.

"I just had a call from Pastor Arnold Abraham in Ambon. I can now confirm the story about the 400 Christians who were saved from destruction by the Tsunami.

Pastor Abraham had a visit from some Chinese Indonesian pastors, one which now lives in the States. The names of the 3 men are Rev. Himawan (representing www.irfusa.org and www.cityblessing.org), Rev. Hana Ananda (founder and president of Pondok Kasih in Surabaya), and Jhon Kahuluge (also from Pondok Kasih in Surabaya). They were accompanies by Rev. Abraham Gitono from Surabaya, a board member of Pondok Kasih, ordained by the Bethany Church. The other 9 in the group came from 7 different humanitarian organizations from the US. They had come from visiting Meulaboh, Aceh and heard this account from the believers in Meulaboh. The 400 believers involved are from the Roman Catholic Church, GPIB Church and HKPB Church. They had requested permission from the District Leader (Camat), Police (POLRES) and DANDIM (Army) to celebrate Christmas in Meulaboh. They were told that since Meulaboh is under Sharia Islamic law it would better to go somewhere where there are no moslems. So the believers left the morning of Dec. 25th and walked about 5 kms to a hill area. They were accompanied by some members of the Marine Corps who were also Christians. They celebrated Christmas the afternoon of Dec. 25th and stayed there for the night. They had brought food, etc to camp there for the night. The Tsunami took place the morning of the 26th of Dec. These believers are now refugees living in Aceh Jaya. "

You can see pictures from Himawan's recent mission trip to Aceh at www.IRFUSA.org

We have posted another accounting of the story ( a bit longer than the above), on this page on the site www.expat.or.id/orgs/calvarylifefellowship.html

Sorry for the "back and forth" on this story .. but I wanted to get to the heart of it and find out from an authoritative source that it was true!!

All the best,

--
Danielle Surkatty
Member of the Organizing Committee
Living in Indonesia, A Site for Expatriates
www.expat.or.id


Posted by: Jethro | 10:54 PM |

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Bill Hekman and Cavlary Life Fellowship in Indonesia

I am inclined to believe this story is true for several reasons. (Follow up article)
First the major media has not appeared with a discredit story (and unlikely to appear with a credit story given their agnostic tendencies).
Second there are numerous corroborations including Steve Van Nattan.

Finally I have emailed pastor Bill Hekman himself looking for confirmation.

Here is a copy of the email I sent him.
Hi Bill
Sorry to take your time with probably yet another request for information regarding this amazing story.
I have found a huge amount of interest in this story by Christians and skeptics alike.
Can you please confirm for me if the story as posted on the Calvary Life Website is true.
I would appreciate that very much.
Regards
Tim


Posted by: Jethro | 12:29 PM |

New Family Website

I have been slowly working on the new Miller Family website.
I have now got a number of photo galleries up including some taken yesterday of Miranda riding the motorbike and all 4 girls having fun in the pool.
Use the Individual Image Gallery links on the right hand side of the website to find the individual picture of the girls.


Posted by: Jethro | 1:56 AM |

Saturday, March 12, 2005

New fish - the pleco has arrived!

A new resident has moved in today.
Bristlenose Plecostamus (Ancistrus dolichopterus)
See the photos of this gorgeous fish.


Posted by: Jethro | 12:47 AM |

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Making Money on the Net

Heres a novel idea.
Create a web site saying you are going to eat the cuddly rabbit named Toby (cute photos included) if you don't receive $US50,000 by a certain date. Please donate $1.

Well so far the chap has made $17K!

Check it out - www.savetoby.com


Posted by: Jethro | 8:45 PM |

Monday, March 07, 2005

Soccer and LAN

Yesterday I ran the LAN and also went to a soccer carnival. I played 2 and a bit games (I was late for the first) and did pretty well. Its a new team and I trained for the first time with them last week. The team is comprised of a bunch of lads around 15 yrs old and 4-5 older blokes (my age and older). Hopefully we have the experience and the youth have the speed and stamina! We lost the first and second 1-0 and drew the third 1-1. I was particularly happy with the second game as the team we were playing was a lot better than us and should have beaten us by more. However we were able to hold them, and an unfortunate missed penalty meant we lost instead of drawing. I was playing center back and the opposing team had a very fluid forward line meaning that there were 4-5 players who I might have to mark, and then call the switches with the other backs. We had a fast young fellow on as sweeper and he was able to remove most challenges that got past me or the other backs - both of whom were also the older chaps.

The LAN was awesome for the first tournament of the year. After the initial teething problems with patching people to the same versions of the games we had a real ball. Can't wait til next month!


Posted by: Jethro | 1:00 AM |

Friday, March 04, 2005

Relaxing

This afternoon I took the kids up to the empty grassy paddock near our place and sat on the grass while Miranda rode the Yamaha PW50 motorbike around.
Erin and Jadeen played with a gigantic grassy weed they found pulled out of the ground. It had gone to seed and the seed heads were fluffy and shining in the late afternoon sun. They decorated my head with them. Mercedes sat quietly in my lap almost the entire time we were there and just looked at everything and cooed delightfully. She is such a funny baby. Miranda had a ball and is becoming a fairly proficient rider on the flat. She fell over once taking a corner too tightly. She bounced to her feet and raised the bike up declaring she was fine. She got it restarted quickly and was on her way again. She revels in braking hard and skidding to a stop.


Posted by: Jethro | 12:52 AM |

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Its amazing what can happen sometimes...

Some of the amazing things that have happened to me lately include:

trying to cough while 18 feet under water
wet kisses on the cheek from a baby
riding my pushbike hard through the bush and up and down the quarry walls
mischievous winks from a 3 year old
helping people can be exhausting mentally
lingering cuddles from a gorgeous 6 year old
meeting new people can force you to broaden your mind as you encounter new concepts
played railroad tycoon 3 with an 8 year old
increased broadband speed means faster downloads
heartfelt thanks from my best friend and wife


Posted by: Jethro | 11:55 PM |