Relief

The week began with a public holiday! I love the fact that we get a day off for the queen’s birthday even though it’s not actually her birthday and we don’t really care a great deal for the queen in Australia. I left home early, braving the coldest weather since last winter, and rode up Macquarie Pass and back. We knocked out 100kms for the morning. I met Kylie and the children at a park. The kids rode bikes and Annie climbed and slid on the playground equipment. Chanel and Kylie rode all the way from Wollongong to home – that’s around 10kms. But Chanel is finding the 10km rides to be quite short now. She prefers to do 15-20km rides when she gets the chance.

We spent the afternoon going through the filing cabinet in great detail, organising paperwork, and generally cleaning up our documents. Boring, frustrating, but good to have it completed. The children played with the neighbours while we worked. At one point we had our four children, two from next door, three from down the road, and two from around the corner – that’s eleven children – all playing in our yard. We love that the children have so many kids to play with and that they enjoy doing so in our home and yard. Chanel prepared a terrific family home evening about the importance of the temple. She did a great job and the whole family had an excellent time.

Tuesday was awful. Not only was it freezing cold, but it was so windy I only got to ride briefly. Then I spent the entire day at uni marking papers. The marking was starting to get a bit much by Tuesday afternoon when I left for home. Ella enjoyed a developmental victory on Tuesday. Ella is now tall enough to post letters in the big red postbox all by herself! I ran our Young Men’s class on Tuesday night and was glad the day was done when I finally arrived home.

Wednesday saw me spend most of the day either marking or attending meetings. I wish I could report that there was joy to be found in either, but both were draining. Annie told Kylie, “I want a ‘nana” and pointed to the bananas in the bowl. Most of her conversation is still gibberish, but now and then we get some real clarity from Annie.

Thursday I marked papers. All day. Until 9.30pm. By the time I left uni I was ready to burn the papers that were left. Kylie had made a lemon and lime cheesecake, and I ate most if it in my misery when I arrived home. It was good, but did little to lift my spirits in preparation for Friday.

Friday I had a breakthrough. I realised that I was marking papers for certain content, but upon evaluating the marking criteria I found I was doing at least four or five times the work needed. I made the changes necessary and completed the rest of my marking shortly after lunch. Relief! I will never take on such a large teaching load again. The extra money is handy but the impact that it had on my PhD was too great.

Friday night I decided to stay up and watch the football for one of the first times this year. It was a disappointing night, with both my teams being soundly thrashed. Early nights are the better strategy.

Saturday was a huge day for Kylie. For the past month Kylie has been organising a secret birthday party for a friend. Surprise guests were arranged from New Zealand, America, and various parts of NSW. The day began with Kylie leaving for the airport at 6am. The remainder of her day was spent organising and then celebrating with friends. Her friend was surprised beyond words as each friend entered the room. Special friendships were renewed between Debs and her old friends as memories were shared among a very intimate group. Kylie arrived home, completely satisfied that the day was a success.

I had a successful Saturday too. I spent the morning ferrying children from one playdate to another. I spent several hours on the interior and exterior of the car. I cleared vines from the rear balcony, hung washing, made lunches, put Annie to bed, tidied the house as best I could, and cooked dinner for the whole family and three missionaries! We ate a huge BBQ with a potato salad, green salad, and an enormous amount of food. Somehow it was still all eaten. The kids were in bed after Funny Home Videos and I finally relaxed at around 8pm, just as Kylie arrived home.

Sunday was our most successful day in church in months. The children were beautifully relevant. The talks were spiritual and uplifting. The meeting was meaningful. And I got to sit through over 45 minutes of it before Annie required some attention outside the chapel. After church we jumped in the car and raced to Gosford. Mum and Dad had planned on visiting us but circumstances conspired to make things awkward. So we drove north for 2.5 hours. The kids tested out the DVD player in the car and the wireless infra-red headphones. The verdict – thumbs up from children and parents. Kylie and I enjoyed a quiet ride in the car together for the first time in what seems like a decade! We enjoyed a delicious roast, and a fun but brief chat with family (never enough time to really talk properly to everyone). The children were delighted to spend a couple of hours with their cousins and played with maximum enthusiasm the entire time. A long week finished with a long drive home.