School Holidays

It has been an action-packed week!

School holidays have just finished and the kids are back at school tomorrow. We love having the children around, but with my endless and enormous study- and work-loads I haven’t had the opportunity to do as much with the children and I would have liked.

Kylie took Chanel to the cinema to see Evan Almighty. They came home raving about the film, saying it was one of the funniest things they’ve seen in a long time. I’ll look forward to seeing the DVD in a few months. Other than that, Kylie has been taking them to the shops for activities, to the park, and to friend’s houses. It has been a busy time.

Fortunately we have a baby who is very calm and comfortable most of the time. Annie is a gift from heaven. I cannot walk past her without pausing to stare into her eyes. I’m in awe of her. Everyone who sees her is instantly in love. She is a special little girl. And wow, can she sleep! Annie is only 5 weeks old but most nights she sleeps happily for around eight hours. Sometimes it’s a little more, other times it’s a little less. But it’s a good sleep!

Kylie celebrated her 29th birthday on the 6th. It was a quiet birthday this year, as mine will be on the 9th. I had a compulsory psychology conference to go to from 8am until 5.30pm on her birthday. Failure to attend the conference would mean failure to complete my degree. They take these things very seriously. This meant that Kylie had to spend the day on her own. I’m grateful that Kylie has good friends. She had a breakfast with her family in the park. Then a friend took the three older girls so Kylie could have a quiet and relaxing day. Shopping, and sleep.

I got home from my conference a little early and decided that we had to buy dinner. Kylie wasn’t going to cook on her birthday and I didn’t have the capacity to. So we had chicken, chips and salad. It was a hit. Then we had an early night.

My week has been a blur. Study, writing, study, research, study. There’s been a little bit of sleep thrown in, but this has been a heavy week. Most nights haven’t finished until close to midnight.

On Tuesday night I called Wally Goddard in the USA. We talked about positive psychology and parenting. We discussed what I might do for a PhD project here in Australia. His guidance and knowledge are gigantic gifts in my life. I was on the phone to the USA from 10pm til midnight. I hope he wasn’t late to work (that’s 7-9am Arkansas time).

And of course, as I mentioned before, I gave a presentation on Kylie’s birthday. It was to a group of about 40 or 50 people and described my research on praise. Knowing that all of the students would be giving similar presentations on their topic, it was important to me that I make mine worth listening to. So I made it fun, and energetic, and full of life. I provided specific applications of what my research meant. And people responded really well. They enjoyed it. In fact, I had several comments from people saying just how much they had enjoyed it.

Only a short report this week as I’ve done little other than study. My thesis is almost completed (if it is possible to ever complete something like that) and the holidays are over. Work is good, and I cannot do any more than I have.

General conference talks are coming out of Salt Lake City today. I heard some this morning on the Internet. I love hearing what our prophets teach us. Inspiring teaching from inspired leaders.