Airbags

Before the week started we knew that we would be busy. But we had no idea just how crazy it would be.

We have been busy painting walls, packing cartons, paving footpaths, and mulching gardens. It is funny as we look at the work we have done here. We can’t help wondering why we haven’t done it previously. The house is looking fantastic, but we’re moving out. We would have loved to have been here to enjoy it for a little longer. Although, if we were staying I somehow doubt that it would be getting done.

We have taken some time to enjoy people that we have come to love too. On Friday it was Chanel’s final day of school. We organised a party in the park for that afternoon, and invited all of Chanel’s and Abbie’s friends to come and enjoy a final get together. For two hours, we played and enjoyed the company of wonderful friends.

We said goodbye to our guinea pig this week too. We are not taking “Tuffy” to Wollongong with us, so he had to find a new home. Some friends of our lost their guinea pig recently, and were happy to adopt Tuffy.

We also enjoyed a celebration during the week. A good friend of mine from church and university was married. It has been a long time since we attended a wedding, and it was nice to experience the joy and love of the occasion.

The biggest news of week, though, is that our little Daihatsu was involved in a serious accident on Thursday night. I was driving with Abbie. We were following Kylie to her parent’s home for a family dinner. I was driving along the main road when a car came out of a side street in an attempt to turn in front of me in order to go in the opposite direction to that which I was travelling. I hit the brakes as hard as I could, but there was nothing I could have done to prevent the crash.

She had failed to see me. The Daihatsu t-boned her car, hitting just to the front of her driver side door. The impact spun her car around, while we basically kept going straight through. Both airbags were deployed. The airbag hit me right on the tip of my nose, but there was no pain. Abbie got the impact of the airbag above her right eye. She screamed as soon as the cars collided. It was amazing, in hindsight, how clearly I was thinking as it happened. The accident occurred extremely fast. There was no such thing as everything going in slow motion. In fact, it was just the opposite.

I stopped the car and jumped out instantly so I could look after Abbie. As I raced around the rear of the car I looked in the direction of the vehicle that we had hit and yelled, “What are you thinking?”

I reefed open Abbie’s door and carried her to the side of the road where I held her. She was extremely upset.

Meanwhile, Kylie had heard the impact from her position 500m ahead of me. She saw the car in her rear view mirror and turned around immediately. She came and looked after Abbie. A fireman was on his way home from work when it occurred and pulled up right behind the accident. He got the scene in order instantly. He was remarkably helpful.

Tow-trucks arrived within minutes (I don’t know how they can be so much faster than emergency services). It was almost as though they were hiding around the corner waiting for it to happen. The ambulance was on the scene a few minutes later. Abbie claimed she was hurting from the top of her head all the way down to her toes. We were a little worried about her. The other lady (who had pulled out in front of me) was physically fine. However, when she saw me take Abbie out of the car she had become extremely emotional at the thought of what might have happened. It took over an hour before she overcame the shock of the accident.

About fifteen minutes after the accident the adrenaline began to wear off. I became aware of a throbbing on my shin. I had an enormous lump that was continuing to expand. It ended up being almost the size of my fist. My leg must have hit under the dashboard on impact.

Abbie and I got to ride in an ambulance. The ambo’s felt that a doctor should look over Abbie as she was complaining that she was very sore. We arrived at the hospital, Abbie was given 5 ml of Panadol, No more hurties. She was fine.

We feel as though we have been so blessed. This accident could have been devastating. Instead we have all walked away without any real issues.

I had a truckload of mulch dumped on our driveway during the week. My intention was that I would spend a couple of days shovelling it onto our back garden. Due to my leg being sore, I had to ask for help. About ten men from church came by and moved the whole load in just over two hours. It would have taken me several days. I was so grateful for their service.

So now all the big jobs are done around the house. The paving is finished, and looks great. The painting has been done. The mulch has been spread. Still, there is packing to do. And we need to get our car situation figured out. We anticipate that the car will be written off, but this is yet to be assessed. We leave our home this week. And we are still looking for a house in Wollongong.

This Christmas is going to be interesting.

Note also, there will not be any blog updates until we are unpacked in Wollongong. I suspect this will be early in January. Have a joyful, blessed Christmas

Restaurant Music

I’m sitting down to write this with my little Ella sitting on my lap playing with a music box that plays Jingle Bells. Ella and Abbie have been very funny in recent weeks.

Abbie has received a CD player for her birthday (back in October). Each evening as we sit down for dinner as a family, Abbie tells us that we need to listen to some “restaurant music”. Our typical dinnertime accompaniment consists of children’s CD’s. We know all the words to all of the Playschool songs, Bindi Irwin (the Jungle girl), and every other children’s CD we own. It’s really cute. What seems funniest to Kylie and I is that Abbie knew about “restaurant music”. We don’t know where she got the idea from, but we sure get lots of entertainment at dinner time.

We’ve been playing a lot of hide ‘n seek recently. It usually works reasonably well, but I’m having a difficult time teaching Ella to stay hidden. Instead she gives lots of hints about where she is. Ella will knock on the wall to give away her position. If I enter the room and pretend not to have seen her, she’ll burst out of her hiding place shouting, “Here I am”! Usually she laughs so much that we find her very quickly. Ella is lots of fun.

Our precious gift, Annie Grace, is beautiful. Annie is now a little over three months old. She is comfortable holding her head up, and can lie on her stomach and push herself up just a little, even holding herself there. She still sleeps through most nights, although in the last few weeks things have begun to become a little less predictable. But boy, does she love to smile. We feel blessed to have been given such a content and beautiful little girl.

Unfortunately, however, my time to really appreciate the children has been reduced the past couple of weeks and will remain so until we move. I am doing an enormous amount of work, trying to pay as many bills as possible associated with the move. Our house has turned into what looks like a war zone. Packing removal cartons has that kind of an impact. There is a lot to do. We have walls to paint, pavers to lay, a back garden to plant and mulch, and new carpet to install. Plus we need to pack up our belongings and keep our children happy. It is a busy time.

We have decided that we must get rid of our Camry. We have just found out that it needs between $2500 and $3000 to keep it on the road. The car is only worth $1000. Oh dear! This car has been the worst car we have ever owned, and we will not miss it. But to have our hand forced is no fun.

I was going to take it to the wreckers and get a couple of hundred dollars for it. But then a panel beater I know said he’d take it and fix it up. He was going to pay me for it, but instead I’m having him fix up and repaint my motorbike. It is a fair trade as the motorbike would have cost me close to $800 if I paid for it. In fact, I think I’m doing really well. The only difficulty is that we will then have a very little car and a very big motorbike. It really should be the other way around. So we’re saving for a big car, and I’ll likely sell our little car and big motorbike.

We are still looking for a house in Wollongong. Hopefully we’ll receive some news this week. There are a couple of homes that look particularly nice to us.
And that’s about all this week. Another couple of very busy weeks in the lead up to Christmas and our move. We move out on December 22nd.

Endings and Beginnings

This is going to be a longer entry than usual because this week has been so significant. A lot of wonderful, challenging, and exciting things have occurred in the past seven days.

I’ll begin with the most significant.

After weeks of nail-biting suspense and painful waiting my university results were released on Wednesday. Having been unconditionally accepted into a Masters Degree here in QLD and conditionally accepted to a PhD in Wollongong, there was a lot riding on the result. To get the PhD and associated scholarship I had to receive a first class honours in my final year of the degree. To get a first class result required a score of 80 or greater.

Part of me wanted to get the first class result to do the PhD, but the other part didn’t want to. A move to Wollongong entails significant changes in our lives, many that I wasn’t sure I was comfortable making. To get a low score would mean no decision was necessary and we could just stay here.

Well, the result arrived. I was nervous beyond anything I recall as I received the outcome… 80.71! I got there by less than three-quarters of one percent! In hindsight, I guess that means I must have worked a little too hard as I only needed 80. That grade was too close to the edge for my liking. The amazing thing is that no one ever asks what grade I got. So whether it’s 80.71 or 99.71, the result is a first class honours and that’s all that matters. I feel remarkably blessed as I consider what it takes to get that result. To have done so with Kylie having our fourth baby and while working etc, it feels good.

With the result came a very important decision. Do we leave everything and move our family to start again in Wollongong? We’ve never been there, know very little about it, and love lots of things about where we are. We don’t really know what is involved in studying for a PhD. We have no social support there.

Or do we stay put, and do a Masters degree that will allow us to remain relatively comfortable and progress into a different area, more related to counseling?

Wednesday evening Kylie and I talked with the children. We asked them to help us determine the advantages and disadvantages associated with moving. We were surprised by their enthusiasm. As we talked and listed our ideas it became increasingly clear that one option was far superior to the other.

We’re moving. Mum reminded me of a quote from Helen Keller, “Life is a daring adventure or it is nothing.” We have been very happy and very comfortable for some time. There is always a lot happening in our lives, but real growth comes from being stretched. It’s time for a new adventure.

By the end of the first two weeks in January we expect to be settling into a new home in Wollongong. At this stage we do not know where. We’ll make some decisions in the next couple of weeks.

The following day we told Chanel’s school teacher, Jane Leishman. As Kylie told her, she became visibly saddened. She loves Chanel and said many wonderful things about our big girl. We have since received kind words about how special our children are from other teachers and parents who have been involved with our family over the past years. There is very little that makes a dad feel happier than to hear other people express heartfelt gratitude for the influence of his children. I feel so blessed to have such precious children.

Now that the decision has been made a change has come over Kylie and I. Where there was some concern and uncertainty about the future, we are now optimistic and even starting to look forward to our new direction. We will miss our family and friends in Queensland terrible. We don’t know how long we will be gone. But we are looking forward to an exciting future. More details will filter through this blog over the coming weeks as we find somewhere new to live and so on.

We had some other experiences this week that were like pages in my favourite books; dog-eared because I want to go back and savour them again and again.

On Wednesday Chanel swam at her school swimming carnival. She loves the pool and is enjoying her squad swimming. But when she started winning some races it was really exciting. I was timekeeper for one of the lanes for the day. I don’t remember the kids at school carnivals making so much noise when I went to school. Boy, did those kids scream and cheer! It was a big day.

Chanel swam really well. First, she won her 25m butterfly race in 29 seconds. Then she won her backstroke race in 35 seconds. She got a first in her 25m freestyle (26 seconds) and second in her breast-stroke race too. In the 50m free Chanel came third. She was happy, and I felt lucky to have been able to be there.
I left the carnival to go to Abbie’s kindergarten. They had their special Christmas Concert with all of the children performing for mums and dads for half an hour. It was such a treat to watch Abbie having great fun with all of her friends. She is a treasure.

So Wednesday was one of the best days I’ve had. Uni results, scholarships, and a day watching Chanel and Abbie having a great day with their friends, using their talents and skills, and enjoying the gifts and blessings that I have.

The other highlight of the week was yesterday (Saturday). We had arranged for a family Christmas party at our home, with Kylie’s sisters and their families, and Kylie’s parents coming over for an afternoon. Kylie and I spent most of Friday and Saturday morning preparing. Food and decorations were arranged. We worked hard, particularly Kylie. She has such a remarkable ability to organise, plan, and tastefully run spectacular events.

The food was breathtaking. Wonderful cheese and fruit platters for nibbles (the cherries were to die for, and the Camembert was top-shelf), followed by a main meal of salads and meats that were mouth-wateringly divine. Lastly, Kylie prepared a jaffa cheesecake. Choc-orange cheesecake with delectable chocolate dripped across the plate. It was better than a restaurant!

Most importantly, the company was special. Everyone had a terrific time. The family has become a remarkably cohesive group of people. Everyone was kind. We laughed and enjoyed one another. The children played. It was a little bit of heaven.

This is a photo of the family. Back row – Me, Kylie, Estelle and Adele (Kylie’s sisters), Ystyn and Madson (Adele’s husband and son).
Front row – Abbie (in front), Lisa (Kylie’s half sister), Les, Ella, Natasha, West (Adele’s other son), Payton (Lisa’s daughter) and Chanel.

It has been a remarkable week. We continually see blessings from Above in our lives, and this week has been a great example of that.