2009 Wrap

Sunday 3rd January, 2010

The New Year has begun. And with our family finally being settled in our new home it’s time to reacquaint myself with my journalistic weekly reviews and reinvigorate a habit that has fallen idly to the side in the past couple of months while I’ve been overly occupied with everything else!

It’s 4am as I write this update. Sleep is not being my friend tonight. I’ve been awake a little over an hour contemplating two of my favourite topics: parenting, and cycling.

Rather than try to catch things up for the past few months (September was the last time I wrote), and in the interest of brevity, I’ll highlight a few high points from the year, and review the week that has been.

In late October we determined to buy a home. I had tired of renting, and we were out of patience with a landlord who failed to maintain the home we lived in. Endless reminders to him about work that he was required to do to keep his house in order proved fruitless. We negotiated to buy the house from him but he didn’t want this to occur until June/July 2010. We inspected a house the following day and unexpectedly fell for it. This was a house we wanted for ourselves. So the negotiation on our rental was ceased and we bought our new home. The move occurred in early December. We had ample help from friends at church, and things went extremely well.

Our new home is quite large, with 5 bedrooms. There are also 3 bathrooms, although we will be converting one into a laundry when we commence renovations. The home has 2 kitchens (about 30 years old), which will also go in the renovations. We enjoy the double garage with all of its storage capacity! And I love my workbench. But the biggest and most enjoyable highlight of the home is the swimming pool. The children are in there at least 5 times a day, and relish the opportunity to play in the water.

One of the unexpected but welcome changes required as a result of a new home was the need to send the children to a new school. Nareena Hills Primary School is just around the corner from our home. While nervous about the change, we opted to move the children during term 4 so that the Christmas holiday would not involve any nervous waiting for them. Relationships have already been established in a very positive way, and we are delighted with the new school and the way in which it deals with things.

Ella ran away from the school on her orientation day during December. This led to meetings with the school, and we were impressed with their efforts to understand Ella and her needs. We are confident that, while challenging for her, Ella will be well looked after at this school – particularly compared with the old school the children were attending. The attention we’ve received has been remarkable in comparison to what we previously experienced. We are delighted with the new school, and the children appear to be too.

The only other major family event of recent times occurred during the past week. My little brother, Timothy James, finally married his sweetheart, Keshia Vinson. It was a lovely celebration of their love and commitment. The temple wedding ceremony was at 9am. Photos were taken before we made our way into Darlinghurst and Oxford St to eat at their favourite pizza shop – Love Supreme. I was invited to MC the reception. It’s not a task that I enjoy, but I agreed… it was for my brother! They did things a lot like Kylie and I. The reception was only just over 2 hours long, and very informal. No reserved seating, just lots of friends together, mingling and enjoying pizza. Their wedding cake was a giant Rocky Road! And it was wonderful.

As I consider 2009 for our family, it has been a rocky road of sorts too – one with sweet parts on occasion, but plenty of bumps too, and they weren’t all chocolate coated!

For me, my PhD has been a challenge. Things have not gone particularly well. Yet I’m optimistic about 2010. I’ve learned an awful lot about research, and know my area better than I would have thought (and probably better than most people in Australia). Progress has been slow, almost non-existent. But the progress that has been made has been important. My cycling has become a great outlet for me, and I have found renewed vigour in working with the Young Men at church after some challenges. But I’m probably more tired than I was last year. And I feel that my children deserve more of me. This will need to be remedied in 2010.

Kylie is an inspiration, but pregnancy is tiring her out. We are delighted, though, with the thought of a precious baby coming into our home. We eagerly await April. Questions about more children will not be answered for some time. Kylie is also anticipating the opportunity to renovate our new home and add her inspired touch. I can’t wait to see what she accomplishes!

Chanel has had a difficult year but we are confident things will improve. Riding has been an on-again and off-again pursuit for her. We are not sure how likely it is that she’ll continue, but for now she is back into it. Her swimming is now at two days each week in squad and we are delighted with her progress. She is also very excited to swim. Mondays we’re at the pool at 6am in addition to her Thursday afternoon swim. We are hopeful that her academic interests will improve in 2010 after a poor two years at her previous school.

Abbie is a joy, and loves school and piano. We have so much to be grateful for with this little girl. We are looking forward to her increasing emotional maturity as I’m sure she’ll be even more delightful as she learns to regulate herself a little better and develops greater independence.

Ella Rose completed her final year of preschool in December. She’s off to big school for 2010. This represents a massive milestone for our precious Energetic Ella. We are praying for a good friend for her. Ella has no children her age at church with whom she can be best friends. This is difficult for her. The other children have always enjoyed special relationships with at least one church friend. Additionally, because of the nature of preschool, Ella has not really formed any close relationships with children there. And few, if any, of her preschool buddies will be attending the same school as Ella. So we are hopeful that 2010 will be the year Ella gets a great friend.

And Annie is simply a delight. We wish we could share Annie with everyone. They would smile in their hearts for the entire day after a few short minutes with her. Absolutely amazing!

Last Friday was Christmas Day. We shared a wonderful morning together as a family. Then we drove to Gosford via Auburn. It was a treat to share some time with Nan and Pop, but as always time was getting away on us and we had to race to Gosford. One day I’m going to pull up at Cardigan St without having to be somewhere else in a hurry. Mum and Dad’s place was a hive of activity. And while it was nice to be with family, we determined that our own growing family will no longer travel for Christmas. We will have Christmas celebrations with extended family before or after the holiday instead. Our children need our traditions, and we’re our own family now. We arrived home from Gosford at midnight and slept in on Boxing Day.

Since then we’ve enjoyed a week off. The university has been closed. I’ve been at home. We’ve read books, swam in the pool, eaten good food, visited the beach, and I’ve done a lot of riding. We’ve discussed the future, dealt with some frightening issues raised by Centrelink (the government agency that assists us with income while I’m a student), and made plans for the New Year. And we’ve made preparations for the first full week of January where we expect to make room for Kylie’s entire family to visit… parents, sisters, and their husbands and children.

Finally – as I conclude this week’s update – Sunday has come and gone again. I love Sunday. I often don’t get as much out of it as I would like due to the children and their desire for more activity and less quiet, but I still love Sunday. I visited with four families from church this afternoon and enjoyed uplifting conversations. Kylie cooked corned beef that left me feeling deeply grateful for cows – it tasted sooo good. The children are in bed, sleeping peacefully and I’ve just returned from a friend’s home where I enjoyed a late evening lemon meringue after an unexpected invitation. Savouring the delights has only made them better again.