Book Description

Glass Half Full: Our Australian Adventure Find out what it takes to keep the Glass Half Full, as challenging life events including grief, loss, PTSD and devastating floods, test this expat step-family to their limits. After enduring divorce and numerous child custody battles, Sarah Jane knew that a fresh start in Australia was their only chance of future happiness and that as a family they were making the right decisions. Living the Australian dream in Alice Springs was everything they hoped for until life-changing events started to test the foundations of this resilient family. Using every ounce of positivity they could muster they struggled on and just as they thought the worst was over Mother Nature intervened and washed away the roots to their new life during the Brisbane floods of 2011. This story lets you experience Australian life with an inspirational woman and her courageous family, as they struggle to survive challenging life events and keep their dreams alive. Life is never without its challenges, but how many life-changing events can one family endure before they reach breaking point? Find out in this heart wrenching and touching true story. Two Dogs and a Suitcase: Clueless in Charente Follows the French exploits of Sarah Jane and her family as they endeavour to rebuild their lives in another new country, after spending four and half years in Australia. The title says it all: literally what they have and where they are, but that's only part of the story. Their goal was to focus positively on the present and to start a new, optimistic chapter back in Europe nearer to the children, leaving the dark clouds of the challenges they faced in Australia as a distant memory. Share their experiences as they arrive in rural South West France portrayed through Sarah Jane’s reflections, thoughts and observations about her family and their new French lifestyle. Follow Sarah Jane’s tentative steps into a writing career as they start renovating a rustic cottage while managing the ups and downs of family life. Once again, Sarah Jane will make you laugh and cry as she endeavours to live life to the fullest with a generous helping of positive spin thrown in for good measure. Our Frugal Summer in Charente: An Expat’s Kitchen Garden Journal Meet Sarah Jane, a woman with a reputation for culinary catastrophe who tries to keep her family fed in challenging circumstances in rural France. Frugal living was not part of the plan when they arrived from Australia to undertake the renovation of a quaint cottage in the Charente. However, when life throws them a curve-ball the challenge was set. How would they survive in France with very little money and two Australian cattle dogs. The answer came in the form of 5 chickens, 4 ducks, a vegetable garden and hedgerow foraging! The frugal plan was to save money by any means possible, to enable any money they could earn to be invested into continuing the renovation of the cottage. In true ‘Good Life’ style Sarah Jane attacks this challenge head on by keeping some small livestock and converting a garden, that resembled a meadow, into a French ‘potager’ or kitchen garden.The French tradition of using produce from their ‘potagers’ is renowned for enabling families to create meals that are healthy, cost effective and simple. There are 31 recipes for a variety of food and drinks, included in a month by month account, of how they transformed a neglected garden into a frugal yet productive expat kitchen garden.