Does it get any better?

I’m laughing to myself as I begin typing. It’s just on 7 pm Sunday night. The children have had cuddles and are in bed reading stories to themselves before we turn the lights out in a few more minutes (Kylie is reading to Chanel). Ella has just climbed onto Abbie’s bed as Abbie reads. Ella is trying to put up an umbrella while balancing above Abbie. She is so funny!

This past week has been absolutely super. I’m going to try to be brief, but I’m overflowing with enthusiasm and gratitude for the amazing week we’ve enjoyed. Before I go through the calendar of events, it’s probably worth sharing a few priceless funny moments we’ve laughed at.

Chanel has been typing a lot, and is becoming quite familiar with the computer. Whenever the computer indicates that Chanel has spelled a word incorrectly she clicks on the spellcheck function and, instead of looking for the correct spelling, she ADDS her misspelled word to the computer’s inbuilt dictionary! Talk about Little Miss Know-it-all.

Ella has been reading Abbie’s fairy chapter books. Obviously Ella cannot read though. Instead she just stares at the pages of the book and creates a fairy story all of her own. She tells the story at the top of her voice, flicking through the pages as she imagines her own private fairy world. A couple of nights ago I asked her to turn off the light and go to sleep. She turned off the light but kept “reading”. A few minutes later all was quiet. This girl is priceless. We’ve also been pleased with her speech, and this week Ella woke up four days in a row with a dry nappy. She felt terrific. We’ve also had a few wet ones though, so we’re hoping that things are about to improve for her.

Annie has been climbing the stairs most days. Early in the week she negotiated her way DOWN the back step. By the end of the week she was climbing down our staircase. She makes me nervous. We watch her all the way and she is amazing. Very methodical, slow, and deliberate. She’s doing well.

The week was somewhat productive for me, though I didn’t get a huge amount done. The main reason was that I had to give three lectures and that required quite a bit of rehearsal time and delivery time. It is so cool to be lecturing at university. Who would have ever thought this former radio jock would be teaching psychology students at uni? Monday I gave two lectures. One was on the science of attraction and mate selection. It was a fun lecture but the students’ minds were elsewhere (probably asleep since it was 9.30 on Monday morning). The second lecture was a positive psychology lecture about how positive emotions can build resilience and be beneficial in overcoming stress, depression, and anxiety. I spent quite a bit of time talking about savouring and reminiscence. It was a great lecture, and REALLY enjoyable. That afternoon I gave my students an assignment to write a 300-word letter to someone who has contributed significantly to their life. They were instructed to visit that person and read the letter out loud. I’m looking forward to the reports next week.

We had a fun family home evening on Monday night. Tuesday I searched in vain for some surf. It’s been dead flat for weeks. Spring is great for weather, but awful for surfing. Tuesday was also really exciting because some of our great friends from Brisbane came for a visit for a couple of days. Shaun and Elena Thayer brought their three little ones along. Elissa is Abbie’s BEST friend, and they had a terrific time catching up, playing, and generally being in each other’s pockets again. Ella enjoyed the younger kids too, and Kylie and I relished time with our good friends. It was great to see them. We showed them around the ‘Gong on Tuesday afternoon after eating a superb Chicko’s lunch (they were suitably impressed with the amazing food). Shaun left early Wednesday to travel to Canberra. There he participated in an interview to get into medical school. He says he’s unlikely to accept even if they’ll take him though as he has been accepted into the armed forces to train as a pilot. Flying seems more exciting to him than another five years of study and poverty. Fair enough.

While Shaun was in Canberra Kylie took Elena with her children, along with Ella and Abbie (who happily took the day off school) to the park while I watched our sleeping Annie. I also rewrote my lecture for the following day after reviewing it and finding it 20 minutes short. We farewelled the Thayers on Wednesday night.

Thursday morning Abbie visited the dentist and had her front tooth plucked out. She was superb, brave, and pleased to see the end of that tooth. It was the one that has been grey for several years. I delivered my final lecture that afternoon. Another really fun one, on the social psychology of human communication. I spent considerable time talking about the anatomy of an argument and how acceptance can be a greater force for blessing a relationship than the ongoing efforts to “change” someone. The students seemed to genuinely enjoy the lecture which was satisfying for me.

Friday was a big day in the Coulson household. Chanel had the day off because it was the last day of the school term, and Abbie had spent Wednesday at home with Elissa. During the morning Chanel and Kylie spent some time together, before Chanel and I went for a bike ride. We parked at City Beach, Wollongong, and rode almost 6 klms north along the bike track that parallels the beach. At Towradgi (pronounced Ta-rodg-ee) we turned around and headed back to the car. Chanel did an 11.5 klm bike ride – and loved every minute of it.

We returned home for lunch and then Kylie, Chanel, and I had a very ‘adult’ conversation. Because we are interested in Chanel’s daily activities we have discovered that the content of some conversations Chanel is exposed to at school has been quite intimate. For some months I have been telling Kylie that Chanel was nearly ready for “the talk” about “the facts of life”. Kylie has been reluctant, and we both felt that age eight was too young. Based on some conversations we’ve had with Chanel though, we knew if we didn’t explain things to her someone far less helpful and knowledgeable might.

I’m not going to reveal too much, but have to share just a little. The conversation was a wonderful experience and a terrific success. Chanel was embarrassed but when we explained that talking about adult things required her to be suitably mature she really smartened up. Chanel determined the direction of the conversation, and her interest or questions allowed us to know how best to help her understand. She was duly unimpressed to know how babies are made, and cringed at the thought that her parents had no other option when there was a desire to procreate. Worse still, the fact that such an act preceded four babies was almost too much for her! It was very funny.

Chanel assured us that she would find another way to have a baby when she was married and old enough to be a mum. She also pointed out that Abraham and Sarah in the bible had a baby because they prayed, and therefore the physical intimacy wasn’t a prerequisite after all. I hope that she maintains that attitude for a VERY LONG TIME! And I hope that subsequent discussions with her, and the requisite discussions that we will have with her sisters, when the time comes, will be equally positive experiences.

I checked my university email Friday night since I hadn’t been in that day. The Catholic Education Office gave me clearance to use their schools to collect data for my PhD project. It only took them one single day to approve it. What a great result! I was expecting to have to wait at least four weeks.

Saturday morning was terrific too. I went for a bike ride from Wollongong to Bulli and back with one of the men I home-teach (at church we visit people every month to share spiritual messages, help out and so on). He loves bike-riding and was really excited that I love to ride. We had a great time, although he’s a touch older than me and seemed to be less able to ride at my preferred speed. Despite that I slowed right down and enjoyed the company and the ride. I cannot believe how much I enjoy riding my bike! At the end of the ride he commented on the “acceleration” my bike seemed to possess! I laughed and suggested that the bike didn’t have the acceleration – it was my legs!

After the ride I had arranged to meet Kylie and the kids at the beach, so I farewelled my friend and spent a couple of hours on the sand watching the kids play at the lagoon and having a terrific time. We live in a great place. We returned home at about 10 am. I don’t like the children being out in the sun much after 10 – it gets too hot. The car got a spruce up (badly needed), and the veggies got some attention too. The tomatoes are growing well, and the spinach is unbelievable! The lettuce is going to have to come out though, and the capsicum is growing a little slowly. And I think that I might have killed our chilli plant.

While we worked in the garden the children and I got to see about six sulphur-crested cockatoos strut around our backyard and in the branches of our trees. They are noisy pests to some, but we were thrilled to be so close to such beautiful looking birds.

One of my favourite moments this week was Saturday afternoon. Kylie was at Campbelltown for a church activity and I had all four kids. When it was time for Annie to go to sleep I wrapped her up, cradled her, and fed the bottle to her. The whole time she stared up at me with her gorgeous hazel eyes. It was a moment that could last forever. She looked up at me with perfect trust, and made me feel so blessed.

The highlight of the week, though, was today. Chanel woke me up at a few minutes to six am. We wrote a talk together about Family Home Evening. I gave Chanel a few questions to answer, and they formed the basic talk. She did a great job answering them, and responded really well. I helped her find a couple of quotes, and we inserted the story of Naaman and Elisha. Then Chanel practiced.

Normally children under twelve don’t speak in sacrament meetings. But because we have a smaller congregation Chanel, aged eight, was asked to speak. She stood at the pulpit and delivered her talk with absolute confidence. She spoke beautifully clearly, gave meaning and animation to her words, and stunned the congregation. An amazing job done by my little baby. Her talk lasted about five minutes, and for the entire five minutes I fought back tears that threatened to spill out of my eyes. My heart was swollen with joy, and I relished the immense feelings of gratitude I had for my precious princess as she talked about our family. This has been an amazing week – one week-long blessing.

Focused Effectiveness

I want to start this week’s update with a letter Abbie wrote a few weeks back about her family. Here’s how it goes:

My Family:

I have a mum and dad and sisters and me. My mum likes to make food and it is yummy. My dad likes to make me laugh. My sisters like to play with me. My family likes to spend time with each other.

Abbie May brings a smile to our faces and warmth into our hearts. Randomly, and unexpectedly, Abbie will often call to Kylie or I. When we respond she simply says, “I love you”, and carries on with whatever she was doing. She is a joy. This week we got a terrific surprise too. Abbie came home with a list of very big words and proceeded to read them to us. They were the Grade 5 list of words. Abbie is in kindergarten, not even Grade 1. I know I sound like a boastful dad, but we were stunned. She is excelling at school, and despite her high-pitched whining (which she does quite a lot of), she is a wonderful daughter.

The week began for me with ongoing struggles with the cold that seemingly reached out and grabbed me during Winter’s last gasp. Lethargy and weight loss combined to keep me feeling pretty low all week. But I feel like I’m finally back on top and ready to get back into things in top gear again.

I had an excellent week of focused study time for the first time in ages. I wrote a first draft of an article I’m working on; about 4 300 words which was pretty good for a one week effort. The first 3000 words represent my best thinking and I’m so pleased with it. The last 1300 words were a shemozzle (I’m sure I spelt that poorly). But by the time I got to the end I was over it and needed to send it to my supervisors just so I can get some fresh thinking going into it for the second draft. I’m really looking forward to tidying it up and feel like it will be successfully reviewed when I finally get to submit it. I am also making progress on having my ethics application approved, and should be able to start running some research very soon.

I had a pretty serious heart to heart conversation with the administrators at the swimming complex where the girls have their lessons and training. I have been quite disappointed with their progress of all the children and made it clearly known. We got some pretty good attention this week after my conversation with them. And it looks as though there’ll be some fairly significant changes too. Hopefully that means that in the coming months there will be some positive progress.

Our poor little Chanel Lauren is still having an awful time at school. It seems that her former “best friend” is taking enormous delight in dragging Chanel’s feelings through the mud, and the thrill of the kill is even more tantalising because of Chanel’s tender heart. I would love to march down to the school and give that little girl a good talking to, but instead I have to be patient and coach Chanel in how best to work through things. Unfortunately Chanel is not a good student when Kylie and I tell her one thing and her confused and forgiving heart wants to do something else. So Chanel continually attempts to repair a lost relationship, and experiences ongoing pain as her former friend tramples on her feelings. We are glad that this is the final week of school before the holidays. Chanel can enjoy a couple of weeks of respite, and hopefully return to school for her final term with a new resolve, and a new set of friends.

At the end of a wonderful week we decided that we really needed to spend some great family time together. Saturday morning was like a summer’s day. It was HOT. We packed the bikes onto the back of the car and drove to North Wollongong. The bikes never got off the back of the car though. As soon as the kids saw the sand and waves they forgot all about bike riding! We spent a couple of wonderful hours playing on the beach. The water is still like ice, but that didn’t stop any of the kids from getting drenched several times over. We finally returned to the car, exhausted, but entirely satisfied. It was a great morning. That afternoon we had a bbq at a friend’s house. Steak, salad, ginger beer! It was great fun.

After the kids were asleep – and it didn’t take long – Kylie spent some time with her semi-estranged friend. I waited up… and waited… and waited… needless to say, they worked things out reasonably well. Kylie didn’t get home until after midnight. That is SO past my bedtime!

Today was church. Owing to our poor preparations for the Sabbath, we were a little sluggish during the service. I’d like to say that it was uplifting and edifying. Instead, it was a challenge to get through. An absent organist made the singing extra sleepy too! Somehow we kept our eyes open though, and made it through to the end of the meeting block. I was about to take the children home (Kylie had a meeting) when Kylie suggested that the kids stay in one of the classrooms and I baby sit. In so doing I could help out some other folks who needed their kids watched. I agreed. Oops. At one point I was watching 18 children, ON MY OWN! Fortunately a couple of other men came and helped out. We fed 18 children lasagne for lunch. After an hour I was certain that Kylie was going to be finishing things up. Wrong! The meeting went for two-and-a-half hours! Oh boy. It was a relief to come home.

It’s a funny thing, as I reflect on the week’s experiences each week, and consider the highlights and things that have made the week a blessing to me, I can’t help but feel great. Right now I’m super tired, Kylie is asleep in one of the girls’ beds (probably Ella’s), all four of the girls are snoring soundly, and the new week is about to begin. And all I can do is smile and feel grateful that our lives are so blessed. And I can’t wait for the new week to fire up! But first, I need to attack Kylie’s leftover homemade oven-baked cheesecake that’s sitting needlessly in the fridge!

Annie's Birthday

Here are a few photo's from Annie Grace's 1st Birthday.

Wow! A cake with sparklers. What a great idea since I can't blow out a candle anyway!

So the cake was for scrunching up and mashing wasn't it? I mean, who eats chocolate? It's so bad for you!

Do I look like a grown-up now that I'm one?

Contemplation... I've mashed the cake... should I eat any? Nah...

Here's the pretty chocolate cake mum made for me to mash up! Thanks mum!

Here's my big sister Ella with her woolly toy. Isn't she a cutie.

More conflict than normal

Wow! The last day of Winter. How does it all happen so fast? A huge week with so little time and space to fill you in. I’ll start off with some small updates for the family.

Kylie has had a LOT on her plate. There is a series of books that Kylie has begun reading. They are big, and long, and Kylie is addicted. You know how it is when you sink your teeth into a great book! Well, Kylie cannot put them down, which means it’s a real challenge to get her moving on anything other than reading! In fact Kylie was so absorbed that when Ella was having her swimming lesson Kylie kept reading. Annie crawled to the pool! Ella yelled at her teacher, who was trying to instruct her: “Stop!” and then looked at Annie and cried, “Danger!” That was enough to reclaim Kylie’s focus and Annie was fine, though a little wet. Kylie closed the book after that! But we’re getting there. Two of the books are now completed: Twilight, and New Moon.

Kylie also had a rather unfortunate argument with a friend this week. It is always upsetting when relationships are conflict-riddled. This friend is unbelievable to us! We love her and her family, and Kylie and her are terrific friends. However, the possibility of our eventual departure from Wollongong (in a couple of years) is a little confronting for her. As such, a discussion about our possible move in 2010 or 2011 led to heartbreak. Hopefully time will settle emotions and this friend will understand that we can have a wonderful relationship whether nearby or at a distance.

Chanel has had an up and down week. An ongoing conflict with her best friend in Wollongong, Paige, appears to be healing, but the relationship looks unlikely to return to its previous strength. What is it with females and relationships? Boys don’t have anywhere near the interpersonal struggles! What is it going to be like when I have four teenage daughters? Oh no! Our poor little girl has been getting teased at school quite a lot because she doesn’t swear, she goes to church on Sunday, her parents don’t drink alcohol, and any number of other things. It’s heartbreaking.

Chanel also put herself into some serious trouble this week though. A friend was playing with her on Saturday morning, and Abbie was attempting to join in. Chanel did something particularly repulsive and had Abbie repeat it in order to get her in trouble. This was done in front of the friend, so Chanel tainted both of the children. Abbie did get into trouble. But then we realised her innocence. Chanel received a talking to more severe than she has ever experienced. Her friend was at home by this stage so after she apologised to her sister we drove to our friend’s home. Chanel then had the opportunity to apologise to her friend. Then she apologised to her friend’s parents for betraying their trust too. Lessons were learned. I don’t know that I have ever been so upset with one of my children.

I have reflected on that quite a lot. I am grateful that Chanel learned. However, I wonder if I might have been more patient and loving in the experience. When it was over I invited her to write me a letter explaining what she had learned from the experience. She learned three things. The first was perfect. But the second and third items on the list reflected her perception that she learned if she did the wrong thing her daddy didn’t love her. I had to do some more teaching. That misunderstanding was cleared up with a little more time and kindness. I am glad that my Father above is more patient with me, and doesn’t come down so hard on me when I make mistakes – even big ones.

On the bright side, Chanel has begun sharing jokes… endlessly. And they’re terrible! Oh no. I remember when I used to do that all the time. I would walk around the house reading jokes that were completely lame to whoever would listen. Now it’s my turn to be on the receiving end. Oh no!

Chanel, Abbie, and Ella have all been fighting a losing battle with nits for the past month. We have treated, washed, cleaned, combed, re-treated, combed, cleaned and re-treated their hair so many times! We hope that we have finally seen the end of it all. Boys don’t have this much nit trouble!

Abbie and Ella have had a relatively quiet week, not a lot to report. Oh – except that when we pray now Ella has become the prayer police. And we don’t fold our arms anymore. She has us place our palms together in the Catholic way. I’m not sure where she got it from, but if we don’t do it right Ella stops the prayer and insists that we do as she says! It’s very funny. She takes it very seriously.

Annie Grace celebrated her first birthday on the 30th (Saturday). I cannot understand how my little girl is one already. She is still an angel, peaceful, and a complete delight. Several more teeth have cut through and she is dealing with them beautifully. We love to lie on the bed and watch her play. She sits herself up, then allows herself to fall all the way back. Then we hear her giggle, and climb back up to do it again. She is beautiful.

One of the highlights of our week was an unscheduled visit from mum and dad. They drove down with Paris for Sunday afternoon. We ate vegetable soup… lots of vegetable soup. The kids played and laughed. And we enjoyed our time with mum and dad. Then we had cake! Annie did what all one-year-olds do with their first birthday cake. None of it went into her mouth – it all went into her hair! No surprises for us the fourth time around, but wonderfully cute. She was given some beautiful gifts from grandparents and friends, and I’m sure if she could say thanks she would.

As for my week, I felt like it was a little flat. Tuesday I gave a 30 minute presentation at uni as a “confirmation” of my PhD. It had to be good enough to prove that I have a viable PhD topic and that my progress is satisfactory. I felt like it stank. I’m used to very different presentations. Instead of the receptive audience I enjoy when I usually teach family presentations or church lessons my audience was a bunch of dry, critical-thinking psychological scientists. So without interaction and emotion it was a scientific, dry presentation that even I got bored with. My supervisors assured me that it went well. In fact apparently it went very well. And they felt like I did everything right. On the very bright side, all of the attendees believe that my research has a very strong commercial viability and have indicated that the University will fly me back to Brisbane to attend a conference on protecting my intellectual property and research. So I didn’t like it, but it appears to have gone reasonable well anywayJ.

I took Wednesday off and went to the temple. I felt like I needed the recharge, and it felt good to be there. I miss being 10 minutes from the temple like we were in Brisbane. Down here it’s quite an expedition and takes half a day!

Friday I picked up 5 or 6 of the youth in the ward and went camping. We went to a farm our bishop owns just south of Gerringong. They had a terrific time, ate too many lollies, stayed up too late, played with the fire too much, and generally drove me mad! But it was worth it all… I just missed my family.

Sunday morning began with a rude awakening. Kylie was pushing me out of bed just before 6am. I was still asleep, but was vaguely aware that I was being told to look after one of the children. I got to the base of our wooden staircase. Then I heard a terrible sound. One of the kids was about to be sick. I got up about 4 steps when I heard an even worse noise. It was the splatter of the expelled waste on the stairs. Oh no! Next thing I knew, I was cleaning up an awful, stinky mess. Poor Abbie was feeling terrible. Disinfectant was popular this morning! So Abbie and Annie stayed home from church while I took Chanel and Ella. It was nice to be there, to participate in the meeting.

YM activities

OK - For the YM of Wollongong Ward, here's the info you need until the end of the year.

UPDATED: 30th Sept 2008

Sept 2 - Duty to God
Sept 9 - Ten Pin Bowling night
Sept 16 - Combined night with YW: Scripture Mastery Prep (with food)
Sept 23 - LDS Movie Night: The best two years
Sept 30 - Cooking night: Risotto

Oct 7 - Birthday Party (Justin): We're playing WATER BALLOON VOLLEYBALL!
Oct 14 - Priests 10km run (in 60 mins), Deacons run 2km run and other fitness
Oct 21 - Mt Keira hike
Sat Oct 25 - 50km bike ride to Thirroul
Oct 28 - Duty to God

Nov 4 - Combined night with YW: Mini-olympics
Nov 11 - First Aid Night (Raff to teach)
Sat Nov 15 - Mount Kosciuscko hike
Nov 18 - Pool night with Duty to God requirements
Nov 25 - Duty to God

Dec 2 - Combined night with YW: Lost in the suburbs
Dec 9 - Jack's codebreaker/puzzle night
Dec 16 - Breakup party at McCalls

Here's the recipe for the Risotto so you can cook it for your families...

What you'll need:
1 large onion chopped finely
2 teaspoons of garlic
1 chicken breast (dice it up)
A little less than a quarter of a pumpkin (depending on the size of the pumpkin) diced up
1 teaspoon of mixed herbs
1 and a half cups of arborio rice
1 litre of water
4 teaspoons of chicken stock powder

What you do:
Cook the onion and garlic in a little bit of oil
Add the chicken until it's cooked
Add the pumpkin pieces and cook them for a couple of minutes
Add the rice and stir it up so it coats everything in the pot for a couple of minutes
Add the water and stock powder and the mixed herbs and bring it to the boil
Lower the water to a simmer and cook it until the water is almost gone (but keep it moist)
Turn it off and let it sit for 5 minutes before serving

A Quiet Sunday

It has been a difficult week for me this week. I have been at university while Kylie has had the children for the final week of school holidays. Unfortunately my efforts at university were lacklustre at best. Easily distracted, struggling to focus, and feeling theoretically bereft. I took time off here and there but it didn’t help me focus at all. By Friday I had enough and took the whole day off. I spent the morning with Kylie and the children before locking myself in the bedroom to read for the afternoon. It was the best study I did all week. I accomplished more in those 4 hours than I had in the four previous days. And I uncovered lots of work to be done. I feel revitalised and ready to pursue my passion again. I also decided I will study at home in a locked bedroom more often. There are far fewer distractions at home than at university (when I’m locked in my bedroom).

During the week we received some new furniture. A former client of my parents had not paid any bills for several years regarding the storage of their furniture. We claimed a King size bed! Wow – they’re so big. Of course, we have no linen for the bed – no blankets, sheets, or anything else. Oops. I got in trouble for that one. Fortunately, a generous friend had a few spare sets she happily shared. And Kylie’s sisters provided us an early birthday present to make up what we were missing. The generosity we have experienced in the past few months has been incredible. We certainly did nothing to deserve it. We feel remarkably blessed. I see a powerful spiritual parallel in relation to the gift of mercy. We cannot earn it, yet we receive it. If we earned it, it would cease to be mercy, but would instead be justice. I digress…

The main reason I wanted the king size bed was because the children climb in at all hours of the night. When we slept in the queen bed, it got quite tight at times. Somehow, this still happens even though the new bed is enormous. That’s because when one of the children climbs in, she’ll snuggle up to me. To give myself room I edge towards Kylie. Then my precious daughter will slide across in an attempt to be closer. Soon enough all three of us are squished on one side of the bed wondering how a king size bed can be so tight! I’ll have to try and put the child in the middle from now on. That may solve the problem.

We met with another psychologist regarding Ella. We feel that we’re chasing our tails a little bit though. I get the feeling that Ella is simply a little more challenging than most children, but that she’ll grow out of it. She is alarming us consistently with her talking and her very mature way of perceiving some things. Of course, she reminds us that she’s only four consistently too.

Kylie adds: The kids have had a fairly active week as the school holidays come to a close. There have been play dates galore and long-anticipated time with the neighbours. Chanel and Mary (one of the four girls from next door) even put on another little backyard show for both families. They showed us some ‘death-defying’ tricks on their bicycles. Our neighbours are a doctor and nurse. It is so funny watching them freak out as their children play with our children. Our kids seem to like to take a lot more risks than John and Catherine are comfortable with!

Chanel has been on her newly fixed bike, venturing a little further from the house with each passing day. After her last outing, which left me (Kylie) in a panic we put a stop to her adventures for a short while. Her 20 minute bike ride turned into an hour, with a bump to the head and a slightly bent front wheel! Chanel forgot to use her brakes going down the hill. She collided with a brick letterbox! I think we’ll have to reassess her current route. Perhaps some advanced rider lessons?

Back to Justin: During the past couple of weeks the children watched Peter Pan. They love the story. Several times Kylie and I have heard loud shouting from the children. Upon closer investigation we have found the three girls sitting in a room shouting at the top of their unified voices, “I do, I do, I do believe in fairies.” Over and over again!
When we visited Gosford a couple of weeks ago my mum told us about the church seminary class she teaches with about a dozen students. As part of seminary classes the students are encouraged to memorise about 25 scriptures – the task is called scripture mastery. Mum found a resource where the scriptures are sung to music and put the mp3’s onto CD for each student. She gave Chanel a copy, and a list of each of the scriptures. Chanel has now memorised half of the 25 scriptures – in one week! That’s more than many of the students! She is a memorising machine. Kylie and I haven’t encouraged her, it’s all self-motivated. And she is amazing. Abbie is even picking a few up too. It’s all Old Testament and Chanel is probably not understanding much of what she’s memorising, but she’s enjoying the process. She even learned the ten commandments verbatim!

Saturday was a brilliant day. After spending some time in the vegetable patch (they’re coming along nicely, much to Kylie’s chagrin) we put the children in the car and went ten-pin bowling. The kids had such a great time. It was a little challenging with all four of them. Ella chased Kylie toward the lane at one point. As Kylie swung the ball back before bringing it forward and releasing it, Ella was right behind her. How the ball missed her head I don’t know. Somehow we got through the hour without any injuries. Yikes. I think we may wait a couple of years before we try that one again!

Next we jumped in the car and went to the home of an associate of mine from the university. She rides horses and lives on a large property. We had our bags and shovels, and were there for the horse manure. While I shovelled, Kylie and the children patted horses, lay in the sun, chased the gorgeous beagle called Bella, and enjoyed the amazing winter afternoon. It was beautiful. I filled six big garbage bags and loaded them into the back of the car. They didn’t smell too bad – while the doors and windows were open. Once we started driving I had to put the windows up though because of the cold and the wind. We hadn’t gone far before the windows went back down again! Yeeha cowboy! It sure was fragrant in the car. To make things worse, Kylie wanted to call in at the shops to pick up a lay-by. We sat in the hot sun in the car waiting for 30 minutes. I can hold my nose and breath for a while, but not that long. It was a relief when we finally got on the road again. I industriously emptied the bags into the soon to be fertile veggie patch and called it a day.

Today I went to church alone. All three of the older children were sick, Abbie particularly so. I was able to concentrate at church for the first time in years! But it wasn’t the same without Kylie and the girls. When I arrived home the house was so quiet. All of the children were resting. It was heaven. Kylie and I worked through lots of things we had been itching to discuss and organise. It felt good. We had quiet time with the kids. As the night concluded I went to our fireplace with some wood left over from a tree which fell one windy night some weeks back. The fireplace works wonderfully. As I sit here enjoying the peace of a Sunday evening, I am basking in the glow of a happy wife, a warm crackling fire, and the quietest Sunday in living memory! I’m sure the children will have plenty of life back in them by tomorrow, so I’m enjoying it while it lasts. Of course, I’ll enjoy whatever tomorrow brings as well. Our lives are so blessed.

Photo's from the Winter Break

Strolling at Darling Harbour with Deb & Trev Stewart, Me, and Kim & Mick McCall.

Eating ice-cream on the balcony at Point St, Pyrmont with Annie Grace (10 months) and I.

Kylie and Annie enjoying the sunshine at Darling Harbour.

Ella, getting the hang of riding her bike, aged 4.

Ella (aged 4) at swimming lessons, ready to make a SPLASH!

Chanel, helping out with the fish. Terrigal Haven.