My inspiration Mondays - Kim and Brendan

My sister-in-law, Kim, and her husband, Brendan, are one of those motivating couples who use their gifts to full potential, and freely give of their time to help others.

Kim is a trained Parents Inc Toolbox facilitator and I've been the grateful recipient of some of her parenting wisdom. After we brought L home from the hospital, Kim spent the first few days with us, getting me settled into good routines, cooking all our meals and generally looking after me. She even got up in the middle of the night to help me with feeds, as I was trying to get used to breastfeeding with a lactaid.

Our Christmas gifts this past year were all homemade by Kim. She baked us cookies, using nuts she had foraged, and made berry and rhubarb sauce and lemon cordial, all beautifully packaged and labelled. Kim also sewed me a handbag and matching Mei Tai baby carrier, and filled the bag with things she knew would come in handy for me as a new mother.

Kim can often be found in her sewing room, whipping up beautiful dresses for her three girls, or making her own version of an outfit she's spotted in a shop. Every Christmas Eve Kim gives her daughters a new nightie or pajama set she's sewn them, which I think is a lovely tradition.

And on top of all this, Kim runs her own part-time physiotherapy clinic.

Brendan is a specialist high school teacher, and I'm sure a real blessing to the teachers and students he works with. He's also financially astute and a great person to talk to about investments and the wise use of money. On Sundays Brendan teaches Sunday school at their church, where Kim plays piano for the worship service.

Brendan is a great father, who has a lot of fun rough-housing with his three girls and teaching them how to make a decent Rugby tackle.

Kim and Brendan's Te Puke home and property is on the market at the moment, so I thought I would get in quick and showcase it for you. Their front yard is beautifully landscaped...

...while their backyard drops away into a gully they have put to good use growing citrus and plum trees, and letting sheep and chickens range about.

They've also planted berries and vegetables around their back fenceline. The next photo shows their youngest daughter in front of the winter vegetable garden.

After reading Animal Vegetable Miracle I had had many conversations with Brendan and Kim about the value of eating locally grown food. They are keen advocates of the practice - as seen in the following photo of one of their locavore meals. The pictured meat is home-kill beef raised by friends an hour's drive away, while the vegetables were either grown on their property or in their hometown.

Here's a photo of their middle daughter cooking pancakes.

And the next is their eldest daughter playing dressups.

I'm sure I haven't done justice to all the ways Kim and Brendan are a blessing to friends, family and local community, so if you have a story about them you would like to share, please use the comments box below to tell it.