Plot Australia

2023 was incredible 💫 After living within a one hour radius from hospitals for the last few years:

🏝️ Rachel went to Malaysia on a reality tv show
💊 Nate finished 2 years and 2 months of chemo
💼 Rachel got a new job with great favour
❄️ Josh went on a ski trip to NZ
🗺️ We bought a vintage caravan and went on 7 trips from Cairns to Ballina
🏫 Nate finished Grade 1, Jack finished his second kindy year, Zane finished his first kindy year

Honestly the year was absolutely unfathomable to us a year ago.

Psalm 27:13
“I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.”

It’s hard to imagine a better year to be honest. But I truly believe next year will be even bigger. And that is a gift in itself. To have hope {a positive expectation for the future}.

God has been merciful to us.

An Australian Christmas

First chemo free Christmas for three years 🌲

Backyard bird spotting with my boy 🐦

A pocket sized bird book is a great stocking stuffer 🎄 The boys have always loved flicking through the pages ever since they were toddlers. I’m BEYOND useless at picking what black shadow flitted across the sky but it’s often a crow anyway. Sometimes a galah, rainbow lorikeet, corella or glossy black cockatoo if we are SUPER lucky ❤️

Please avoid using this synthetic webbing to decorate your house for Halloween.

Native birds are nesting at the moment, and many species such as the beautiful White Plumed Honeyeater below will use (real) spiderwebs as a downy padding for their nests. Unsurprisingly, the parent birds cannot tell the difference between real and plastic spiderwebs, and when used for nesting, this material can result in fledgling birds becoming snared in their own nests. You can see the poor little bird in the attached image has a foot that is entirely bound up, and needed to be "cut out" of its nest.

The material can also trap bats, larger birds and insects, generally resulting in a slow, painful death.

Let's do better for all the wonderful wildlife we have! 🌿🐦🦉

Pictures and text by: Ryan Christopherson

Nothing like a reset 🤜🏻🤛🏻

🎶 Let’s go chasing waterfalls. Why would we stick to the rivers and the lakes that we’re used to? 🎶

And there I would rest, and lie,
My chin in my hands, and gaze
At the dazzle of sand below,
And the green waves curling slow,
And the grey-blue distant haze
Where the sea goes up to the sky…

And I’d say to myself as I looked to lazily down at the sea:

“There’s nobody else in the world, and the world was made for me.”

~ The Island by A.A. Milne.

Today (7th Sep) is National Threatened Species Day 🪲
It is a day to commemorate almost 2000 Australian plant and animal species that are listed as 'threatened'. This year I discovered a fun thing -The Threatened Species Bake Off! 🧁
Its an invitation to Australians to bake a dessert in the shape of a threatened species. The Bake Off aims to build awareness in the community about Australia’s remarkable and unique threatened wildlife. I chose to do the Masked Owl- a threatened species in the NT. 🦉Honestly I was pretty sceptical in the benefit of doing this…but the boys LOVED IT! They asked all types of questions about the owl and why it was threatened. I also introduced it to my new workplace and honestly- they smashed it out of the park! The comp is open online until the end of the month. Check out the Threatened Species Commissioners page for more details.

Fathers Day 🌟

Time for a Spring break!

As soon as I got off the island I called hubs and checked that everyone was healthy and ok (YAY no sickness ) phew!!! I knew he could do it, but I knew if anyone was sick it would have been a huge battle.
I said I couldn’t believe how far I’d gotten (we weren’t thinking I’d be away for five weeks) but SORRY I didn’t win any money. I didn’t want him thinking for six months before the show aired that we were millionaires 🤣
I told him that right at the end I was so close and tried so hard to get some cash for us ALL to go away on a family holiday together after Nate’s chemotherapy finished.
He said don’t worry about that- we’ve just got an email and been approved for a week stay at Palm Cove NQ thanks to the (Ronald McDonald House Charity) 🍟
We are sooooo excited to head away together next month 💫

“The blessing of the Lord makes a person rich, and He adds no sorrow to it” ~ Proverbs 10:22

THANK YOU

🤣

“A great father is someone who is willing to sacrifice their time and energy to allow their family to grow and be healthy”.

AMAZING Josh who stood by me, encouraged and made a way for me to pursue my healing and what God was calling me into. It was a mega sacrifice for him to solo parent for five weeks but he did a hero job. 💪🏻

We are all better for it because of him.

I got home on Valentine’s Day this year 🥰

A HUGE congratulations and THANKYOU to for an amazing fundraiser this weekend. Over $12,000 raised for Childhood Cancer Research 💫 Well done Jenaya! All the cards of the warrior children were beautiful to see ⭐️

After told us we’d be voting amongst ourselves - we were allowed to pitch to each other and then weren’t allowed to chat.
So there was no strategizing allowed amongst each other. We had to individually go aside and tell one of the crew who we were voting for and then not allowed to change it after that. We couldn’t alter our vote after hearing who other people were voting for. I was tossing up for voting between Brett and Kylie (and also of course my fellow log camper ). .ferriday.art was a huge support to me as a fellow mum on the island and I was so close to choosing her! But in the end I went with because his tree planting goal resounds with my passion of environmental science. He’d also played a big game! I guessed that if the votes went to a tie there was a strong chance Chelsea wouldn’t pick me. She was very close with Kylie and Brett was a top camper. She also knew how little importance I put upon the end game. My end game was always heading back to my family as a stronger person.
🏆 That’s been the ultimate win for me. 🏆
As soon as Chelsea chose Brett I hugged her and laughed and said it didn’t matter. I knew we’d still live out our dreams as a family 🏝
When you need things that money can’t buy (your child’s cancer never coming back), it gives a different perspective to things that are important.

Didn’t feel like I’d lost the challenge to be honest 🤣

Thanks for the lift 💪🏻

We did it! 💪🏻

Thank you for being such an amazing challenger

I love how stoked we both are in this picture 💫

And YES of course my feet were sore. Check out the indents on the bottom of Jordys foot!

For about five weeks I could feel the tender spot when I walked on it. I didn’t mind.

It reminded me of everything I’d walked through to get where I am now.

For the past two years I’d watched my son battle chemotherapy for cancer treatment. I’d watched as nurses (and myself) held him down while he looked me in the eyes and screamed WHYYYYYY?!!
I’d sat with him in the oncology ward, hearing other young children cry and wail as they fronted up for treatment time and time again.
I saw a lot of pain.
More than anything I wanted it to be me feeling the pain rather than the kids.
This challenge was such a healing moment for me.
I wasn’t motivated to stay around and win money. I was on the island for more worth than that. I was there to process and move forward from trauma.
In this challenge I leaned in.
I was the only one there who wanted to take the pain. Every time I felt pain in my foot I thought of all the kids I’d met on my sons journey. All the needles and injections and surgeries: Theo and Ellie and Slater and Carter and Rhianna and Sophie and Alice and too many (sadly) to count. My own son Nate.
I told myself they took the pain.
Far more than this.
Because there is no other option.
I told myself I was taking it away.
After an hour it crossed my mind how Jesus hung on a cross to take my pain away, but to be honest that made me too emotional, so I had to block that train of thought.
And so there I was and there I was staying until I fell.
2 hours and 45 minutes later.
And when I looked across and saw the happiness in Jordys face I felt huge joy for him. And I felt freedom for myself. That I’d left it all there. That I was leaving the island soon and going home to my family as a happy healed person who had grieved and rested and was able to dream again.
And it definitely didn’t feel like I’d lost.
⭐️ You don’t have to have the most money to be the richest person on the island ⭐️

You better believe it 💫

So thankful for the journey. The people. My family. The healing.

A fresh start. A new chapter.

“But the Lord stood with me and gave me strength.”

2 Timothy 4:17

Me checking my pulse because I can’t believe I made the top 7 on - I must be dreaming!

Tune in tonight on 7:30pm to watch the grand finale and see if I come away with a share of a million dollars 💸

I wasn’t motivated to stay for a million dollars.

God knows a million dollars doesn’t get me what I want. For my son to stay cancer free and us all move into the future happy and healthy and healed together.

Ant Middleton told me to find what motivates me. So as soon as I saw the targets I pictured cancer cells.

AND THERES NO WAY I WASN’T TAKING THEM OUT!

Sorry and .bellas that you got caught in my crossfire 🔥❤️ love you both dearly. It was one of my greatest honours being alongside you both on the beach.

Stream the HUGE Semi-Final of free on 7plus: https://7plus.link/MillionDollarAU-FB

Million Dollar Island top 10! Will I survive tonight’s episode? Tune in on at 7:30pm to find out!

When walking into the arena- as intense as some of the challenges were- they were NOTHING compared to the challenge of watching your child undergo cancer treatment.
The international awareness symbol for Childhood Cancer is a gold ribbon- And so every time I went to the arena; I carried my golden scarf or wore a golden headband (which was dirt colour in the end) because I wanted to send a signal flare to any oncology mum watching along from the hospital bedside- I SEE YOU! I know the challenge! YOU are the one in the battle arena facing the biggest fight of your life. One that cannot be lost. One that devastatingly sometimes is. So while it was all fun and games on the island (yes I still consider it a holiday)- I never once forgot all the mums battling the real challenge of childhood cancer. It can be so isolating and you can be very easily forgotten. I hope when people see me, they think of you. I hope you see me and are encouraged. That you will get through too. That there is hope and God still does miracles.
Even through crazy means such as a reality tv show. 🤪
So when you see me carrying a golden ribbon- know that I am CHEERING FOR YOU. ✨

"I wished it was me": Mum's 'Island' of adversity A Springfield mum has put herself through the ringer on a new reality competition program – mirroring the survival situation her own son endured after his can

This has taken a few days to mull over. How do I best write the words?
📝
Last week on Million Dollar Island left. 💔
I was trepidatious going on a reality tv show. Who would I find there? I determined in a crowd of 100, I only really needed one person.
I prayed to God “just let there be one.” (How glad I was to find more than one 🪵💪🏻).
But day one, person one I met Sue. My OG ❤️
Straight away I felt Sue understood me. She knew the vulnerable state I was in with my son finishing chemo treatment. She was kind and funny and strong. And she was great to sleep next to on the beach. Sue- I didn’t want your bracelet but I DID want your dry bag and socks - so thank you for leaving me with the things that really count!
For the rest of the time on the island, she left an empty spot beside me ❤️‍🩹 (although the divine .bellas thankfully joined Lisa and I sleeping on the beach).
I cried the night Sue left. And I cried through last weeks episode knowing what was coming. God knows I needed Sue those first 10 days 🥰
Thank you Sue!! For making my island time so happy! And again- thanks for the socks 🧦🤪