Seasons are changing

I cannot believe how cold it is getting in the early morning and evening. Autumn has arrived.

Monday seems like years ago already, but it was a good fun day. Kylie and I invited several friends over, from church. We had a quiet morning brunch in the backyard which lasted until well after 1pm for most, and 2pm for others. Our friends here in Wollongong have worked hard to make us feel welcome and we appreciate it.

Tuesday and Wednesday I spent time in my office attempting to refine my topic for my thesis. No luck. I’m learning loads of great things which I’m sure will come in handy, but at this point I have not improved on the direction issues I’m challenged by. That’s fine though, all part of the process, and I’m sure I’ll have many more weeks with similar challenges. I went for a quick surf on Wednesday too, but it was tiny. I only went in because the day was perfect and the water was so inviting. Twenty minutes later I was back in the car and heading home.

Wednesday was also the cross country event at Figtree Primary School. The day was transformed into a major sports day for the kids with representatives from Rugby League, AFL, cricket and a half dozen other sports providing activities for the kids all day. As they rotated around the activities they eventually got to run in their cross country event. Chanel stunned me. She took off with the rest of the pack but remembered my advice to avoid the sprint at the start. This meant that at the first turn Chanel was at the back of the pack. But 100m later the others were already slowing. Chanel kept those feet moving and started to advance. Eventually we lost sight of the group as they went behind the buildings. When we saw them again, Chanel was in 4th place, and only metres from the leaders. She finished the race superbly in 5th place and was super proud of her efforts.

Abbie’s race occurred later in the day. Kylie came back with me to watch the race. Abbie began to run and cried within moments. She was already at the back of the pack. With the teachers permission I ran and joined the race with her. She ran alongside me as I talked to her. A few times she stopped with tears in her eyes as she discovered how hard running uphill can be. Eventually we reached the end, in 6th place. What a great effort! She was disappointed at not winning, but eventually she got over it.

Thursday afternoon Abbie and Chanel had school friends come over to stay. It was really nice. It seems that with a little extra attention on the friends issues, the girls are doing well. Abbie now has a couple of terrific friends, and Chanel has a great friend who has been close to her since day one. We feel better, and Abbie is doing super well. She loves school, and is incredibly optimistic. Speaking of character traits, Chanel made a funny comment to Kylie and I this afternoon. We were asked whether we new about the Mr. Men series and the accompanying Little Miss series of books. Kylie and I responded that we knew the books. Chanel then stated, “I think I should be Little Miss Plan Ahead”. A remarkably accurate character assessment from our little 8 year old. Very insightful.

We took the kids to the park on Thursday afternoon. They spend more time chasing other people’s dogs than playing in the park. The girls love playing with dogs. Perhaps we might buy one when we are in a house that it is allowed (or when we buy our own house).

Saturday was a wonderful day. Two good friends, Kate and Ben Walter, came to visit. Ben and I had a terrific surf for a couple of hours. I love surfing. Then we ate chicken, chips and chicken Caesar salad on the lawn next to the beach and lagoon at North Wollongong beach. The kids had so much fun playing (and accosting other people’s dogs). The Walters stayed until 4pm. Great to catch up with excellent friends. Then I went for another surf. Two in one day! I cleaned the kitchen and made dinner first, and then got nearly two more hours in the water.

Church was a feast today. Kylie spoke in sacrament meeting. Her talk was superb, about the blessings of family. Our stake president was visiting. He was so impressed he invited Kylie to share that same talk in our upcoming stake conference! Kylie was stunned. I was so grateful for such a wonderful wife.

During class I had a wonderful insight about the scattering of Israel and God’s love for His children. I always thought that Israel was scattered because they were wicked and had been punished. But I saw that His mercy led to their being spared but scattered so He could gather more of His children home. The scattering led to repentance, faith and salvation. Without it, they would not have been saved.

Finally tonight, Chanel and I had a long talk on her bed about how much she misses Brisbane and why we had to come here. She is so mature and understanding. As we finished talking Chanel asked, “Can we do this every night?” She really enjoyed it. And so did I.

11 weeks in Wollongong

By my count we’ve been in Wollongong for 11 weeks now. I’ve been at university for about 8 of those weeks. We’re still having fun, but reality is starting to set in… What that means is that there are challenges in Wollongong just like anywhere else we might live.

Abbie May is not adjusting well socially at school. Kylie has seen her, several times, wandering around the playground with nary a friend to be seen. We’ll see if we can help things along a little this week. It hurts so much to see her struggle. She’s such an angel. And Abbie is so enthusiastic about school and learning. We pray that things get better for her.

Kylie’s sister, Adele, had a baby girl this week. That is baby number three for her little family. Kylie has been homesick. She really wanted to be there.

And the optimistic visions I have had for my PhD were dashed during the week when I received an email indicating that I still have some work to do before my topic is decided. There are some flaws, or potential issues, with the direction I have been looking at. So the seemingly endless refining continues.

Now, the magic moments of the week.

We had a really quiet start to the week, with very little occurring. Kylie and I were really excited to get to Thursday as we were to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. We had planned a quiet day together while the children were at school. A nice lunch and time at the beach. But life has a way of interfering in best laid plans.

Instead, on Thursday we had a washing machine mechanic fixing up our machine at 6.15am (it was still dark!). Then we took the kids to school and stayed so Abbie could show Annie for “Show and Tell.” We raced off to speech therapy for Ella, then back to the school for an interview we’d requested with the principal. We shared some great ideas about how things could be improved based on our Qld experience. He was more interested in talking than listening. Then we dashed off to the health nurse to have Annie checked out. Good news, she’s healthy. We squeezed in a ten minute lunch amidst two tired children, and then raced back to the school for the Easter Bonnet Parade.


The kids came home from school following the parade, and we spent a little while reading, doing multiplication tables and talking about the day. We also spent some time creating, repairing, and improving Easter bonnets so the entire family had one to show off. Then we cooked some dinner and raced off to church for a pot luck dinner and Easter celebration. We each wore our hats and Kylie won a prize for hers.

So our wedding anniversary was hardly the romantic day we had planned. It was a far cry from our idyllic perfect day. But we spent the day focused on doing all of the things that have come to be most important to our lives in the past ten years, and we did it together. It was a wonderful anniversary.

Chanel has her cross-country running race this coming week and I offered to do some running with her to help her prepare. She embraced the idea, but forgot how big the hill we live on is. She has done really well and runs hard. We’re working on the stamina issue. Chanel likes to stop and rest when she gets tired and I’ve tried to help her understand that stopping is not the most effective way to run a race. On Friday we ran a little over 4kms in about 40 minutes. She’s doing really well. I’m really sore! My quadriceps and hammies have been letting me know they exist every time I stand up or sit down.

Friday we ate dinner with the missionaries as well. They brought the Spirit of God with them. He was a welcome visitor. It felt good, and the food was delicious.

I managed to grab a quick surf Saturday. It was superb. Then some board games at home with the kids, and a bushwalk in the cold and rain at the top of Mt. Keira. We only walked about 500m and turned back because of the weather, but we’ll go again soon. It’s a magical view, and a terrific walk.

The kids have eaten far too much chocolate, and church was a real challenge today. I was woken up by six little feet scurrying around the house at 1.30am this morning. The girls had woken each other up and were looking for all of the eggs the Easter Bunny had left for them! I was a little grumpy about it. They were up again before 6. It’s been a tiring day. It felt good to be at church though, and to hear some great messages. This afternoon we’ll have a lesson with the children about Easter and the resurrection. Then we eat a roast!

Exhausting... but worth it

So many fantastic things to talk about again. I’ll go back a full week to last Sunday. I was asked to speak in church. I did so, and cried… a lot. I didn’t expect to but as I spoke of Jesus and His Love and Sacrifice for me I was deeply touched, and my gratitude for Him spilled out. It feels so good to talk of Him, and feel His Spirit.

After church we piled into the car and drove 200kms north to my sister, Karina. Her youngest daughter, Teanu, was having her first birthday party. Along the way we stopped in Sydney to wish my Nanna Bunt a happy birthday. We had the most terrific visit in a long time. We talked, and gave her the photo-album of her old wedding photo’s that Kylie had redone for her. It looked wonderful, and Nan was overcome. The kids had a few treats which they relished. While Kylie and I were talking to Nan, Chanel went to Pop and asked, “Pop, will tell us all the vegetables that are growing in your garden?” Pop didn’t need to be asked twice. It was the most wonderful feeling to see my grandfather, at age 80, spending time in the backyard teaching my little girls.

We finally got to the party an hour later than expected after having such a great time at Nan and Pop’s. For the first time in as long as I can remember, Kylie and I genuinely enjoyed ourselves and DIDN’T want to leave. We’re generally ready to get away after a short while, and retreat to the peace and comfort of our little family. Instead, we left well before we wanted. We raced over to Auntie Tracey’s because it was also her birthday. Our five minutes there turned into 45, and they were late for their restaurant booking. Another 250kms and we finally arrived home. Exhausting, but worth it every bit.

I think I wrote a week or two ago about the ball we attended. I’ve included a pic. Kylie looked stunning. Not so sure about the bloke beside her though. I don’t know what she sees in him.

We attended a family fun day at Ella’s kindy. Kylie suggested we attend, so I did it reluctantly. I cooked over 300 sausages. Wow! That’s a lot of offal. I didn’t eat a single snag, but I smelt like bbq sausages for a couple of days. I couldn’t get the grease out of my pores, and my jeans, shirt and shoes were covered in sausage fat. It felt good to serve others though. Kylie cooked scones with jam and cream. One of the women looked at them and said she didn’t think anyone would want them, maybe just a few for the adults (I guess she didn’t like scones). Every one of the 100 or so scones disappeared almost instantly! One little boy ran up to Kylie and said, “These are the BEST.”

Wednesday morning I was up at 4.30 and on the train to Gosford. It took 3½ hours to get there! I finally picked up my motorcycle. The panel beaters have had it for nearly three months... and I'm still not satisfied with the job, but they're not getting another go! I nervously got on it to ride it the 200 klms back to Wollongong. So little experience, and so far to go. The trip went really well, but I had a sore bottom by the time I got all the way back to the ‘gong. It’s so good to have the bike back. Much more flexibility, and much less fuel in the car. The day was exhausting, but worth it.

Wednesday afternoon I also had a meeting with my supervisor at uni. He loves what I’m doing with my project and we seem to be ramping up the intensity somewhat. I don’t feel ready to be moving along at this rate of knots, but it seems to be happening whether I like it or not. It’s great to know that I’m doing something worthwhile, and that I’m on the right track.

Thursday morning I had a quick surf at Fairy Meadow. So much fun, and I scored a nice little barrel on my last wave. Coming out of one of those is indescribable. I just want to surf, surf, surf! That night we played snakes and ladders with the kids. It was supposed to be a quick game, but it went for over 45 minutes! Those darned snakes! Abbie was the eventual victor. It was so funny to watch her. When she landed on the last square and we told her she’d won the elation was enormous. It was like she was the world champion. Both arms shot up into the air, eyes and mouth wide open. Her first words, “I beat daddy! I won, I won. I beat daddy!” I’ve never seen such a long game of snakes and ladders. Exhausting, but worth it.

We woke up Friday morning to Chanel, Abbie and Ella dancing in the lounge room to the Beach Boys song, “Wouldn’t it be nice.” They bring so much joy to us. Annie is such a delight. She is starting to recognise me and show it. Her eyes meet mine when I walk into a room, and her face lights up with an enormous smile. It melts my heart.

Yesterday was an enormous day. We woke the children up at 6.30am and went to the beach. We played in the sand and the surf, and the kids had a go on some boogie boards on loan from a friend. It was so much fun. The waves were tiny and the kids really enjoyed themselves. There had been a party on the beach the night before. Kylie and Ella spent 20 minutes picking up the mess. The unsightly spot looked pristine when they finished and the children learned a valuable lesson. The highlight was when Kylie, who had not brought togs or a towel, decided to go swimming anyway! She dove into the waves in her clothes! We all loved the spontaneity and enthusiasm we saw.

Saturday also meant mowing the lawn and doing the car inside and out. Everything looked so much better after the work was done. And we were blessed to find Kylie’s bracelet that Chanel lost last weekend. Relief!

We also spent about three or four hours relaying pavers out the front of the house. Tree roots have made them really uneven. We’ve asked the landlord to deal with it unsuccessfully for three months, so we just did it ourselves. It is far from perfect, but it is done. And I felt great after such a productive day. Exhausting, but worth every bit.

Peace and Focus

I’ve been at university for around six weeks now. I feel as though I’m settling in to things and really enjoy being there. The brain strain is pretty intense though. It isn’t possible to read, absorb, process and make decisions on too much information at once, so my days are a little over 6 hours and that is it. There are a couple of pretty big breaks in there too, or it just gets too much. It has really surprised me just how difficult sitting, reading, and thinking can be. My roommate is finally a little more comfortable with me and things are going well.

I’m really excited about the direction I’m taking. Some students begin their Ph. D with a topic and never look back. Others can take up to 6 months to work out exactly what they’re doing. It appears that 6 weeks should be enough for me. I think I have a topic. There have been a lot of researchers trying to understand what it is that makes a family functional or dysfunctional. I think there’s a substantial difference between a family that is functional and a family that is flourishing. It seems that if I’m right, I’ll be spending the next three years outlining a theoretical approach to family flourishing, developing a model of family flourishing (designing what it looks like), and then testing that model. It may not be everyone’s kettle of fish, but I’m thrilled about it!

One of the most difficult things about my study is that it is so much an individualistic pursuit. I have all these thoughts, some terrific and some less so, but no one else is studying this, so there is no one to bounce ideas off. It is easy to see how people who work at a university forget that there’s a real world out there. It’s entirely absorbing.

Kylie is still settling in and I expect this process will take a while. There are some great friendships beginning here, but relationships left behind are irreplaceable. Kylie is doing some amazing craft, scrapbooking and handiwork though, and is really focussed on working with the children . I'm so grateful for her.

Chanel went to the dentist last week and we discovered that Chanel needs three fillings. It is weird for me to say that. I’ve never had a filling and I wonder if I did something wrong? As usual, Chanel is in the thick of everything. She is the most active and involved child I’ve ever seen. At school she has joined the choir. In a vote for the Student Representative Council Chanel obtained the second highest number of votes in her class (and only missed out by one). Not bad for the new girl that’s only been there four weeks.

Abbie has been such a treasure since she started school. She absolutely loves reading. Abbie reads her nightly book to us at least 5 times and gets just as excited about it each time. She has now learned over 50 words by sight and pesters me every day to spend more time practicing her reading. We’ve had her reading books at level one and two for her reading program. The teacher assessed her a few days ago and said that Abbie should be on level five. Whoa! That’s progress.

Ella is still playing with snails. She loves them. We’ve stopped getting upset about it because it makes no difference. Plus, she really gets a great deal of joy out of them. Ella still hates going to bed and has made that quite clear several times recently. That said, twice in the past week her head has been on the pillow and eyes closed for the night before we’ve been able to hug her. And Ella still makes us laugh and is more enthusiastic about life than anyone else.

Ella also started speech pathology again this week. We had small reservations about her speechy in Brisbane, but didn’t know what alternatives we may have had, nor did we want to look around for another new one. Now that we have seen what the alternative could have been we feel like we wasted a lot of time and money in Brisbane. The new speechy we have is amazing. She is VERY experienced (and charges for it), and after one session we are confident that we will see some exciting developments in Ella’s ability to communicate. We feel blessed to have found her.


Annie Grace is such a dream. She has decided that food is worth developing an interest in, and is eating lots, at least twice a day. Annie still has that magic ability to glance in my direction and change the course of my day. It is impossible to feel anything other than happiness when a gorgeous 6 month-old baby girl smiles at me like that.

After 8 weeks in the house we finally got the oven wired in. We’re using it, but it doesn’t fit! We couldn’t believe it when the electrician tried to slide it in and the oven was too big. It goes most of the way in, only sticking out a few inches, but we don’t care. We just ate lasagne! And the roast is cooking… Ahhh, heaven.

On other house news, we finally got rid of the rubbish. The pile of garbage I dragged out of the backyard from previous tenants was enough to fill a 5 cubic metre skip bin, which we did! And there’s still more under the house, but that will have to stay. We don’t use that area anyway.
More good news… after 3 months of waiting, and three resprays because they got it wrong, my motorbike is finally on its way down from Queensland. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever see it again! I should get it this week. And I’m told by someone trustworthy that the third respray is quite good.

Things are going great at church. Last week we had great fun on Tuesday night with lost in the suburbs. I took about ten kids out into the middle of a suburb. They were blindfolded and had no idea where we were. I gave them a map with no writing on it and no street names, and told them to get to the spot named X. It was about 4 kilometres and they had about 45 minutes to get there. Great fun. One group got very lost! It made for some terrific stories.

We also had an amazing night with the young men for their activity this week. We talked about the promise we make to God when we are baptised. When we keep that promise we are guaranteed to have His Spirit. What’s amazing is that once we make that promise, that’s it for the rest of our lives. We make a decision at such a young age, and commit to a path. I am so grateful I am on that path. Because I am on that path, I have blessings beyond deserving in my life. Even better, I have peace.

Interpersonal Challenges

We’ve just had a fairly quiet week, which is nice now and then. Chanel competed in her district swimming carnival on Wednesday. I took the day off uni to be with her. It turns out that Chanel is the 18th fastest girl turning 9 this year in 50m freestyle, and the 10th fastest in 50m butterfly. It was so much fun to watch Chanel swim. She felt reasonably pleased with her efforts, and we were thrilled for her.
I got to do some surfing (four times this week). On Thursday it was particularly exciting. Very big, more than double overhead. Great fun. I’m really getting into my surfing, but Kylie has said that I have to limit myself to once per week. Too much petrol! Hard to cope with, but I’ll see how it goes. Perhaps we can make it twice a week, if I smile just right.

I had a challenging interpersonal issue arise this week. Someone I share an office with decided to tell me she wasn’t comfortable sharing an office with me. I was shocked, as I thought things were going remarkably well. While part of me was all too willing to be offended, my better nature took over. I thanked her, invited her suggestions for how things might be improved, and assured her that I had no concerns with her. I shared my feelings about her strengths and why it was positive for me to be in the same office as her. Then I left it to her to decide whether we should seek for me to be relocated.

The next day I discovered that she was willing to leave things as they are. We had a very positive conversation. It also turned out that when she moved into the office over three years ago it took over a year for her to be comfortable with a guy there. And several months when the last girl moved in. So, I’m going well! She’s ok with me after just 4 or 5 weeks! Clearly there’s more to it than I know, but being as soft, understanding and supportive as I could made a big difference.

The situation shook me up a little though. Being told you make someone feel so uncomfortable they have migraines and can’t come to work isn’t good for the ego. It also made me question a few things about my study. I realised I really have no idea what I’m doing. I began to feel a little lost. Then I decided that was probably correct. At this point I should be lost. And even though I don’t really know what I’m doing, I know why I’m doing it. I think that’s more important, and I think that will get me further.

I spent a few hours trying to get the Internet connected wirelessly this week. No joy. Hopefully we’ll make more progress this week.

Speaking of progress, I have my fingers crossed that we’ll finally have our oven installed this week. It’s 8 weeks since we moved in and it’s still not done. This is driving me crazy! So it the heap of rubbish next to the carport that we’ve been asking to have moved. Renting is no fun. And we still don’t know what’s happening with the motorbike. It’s in QLD, and should be either painted or sold. At this point it is neither painted nor sold. I’ve been without it over two months and things are about to come to a climax! Hopefully by next week I’ll be able to report that I have sold the bike, gotten rid of the rubbish, and am cooking a roast! I hope…

Last night it was off to the chapel for a 70th birthday party as a surprise for one of the older ladies in the congregation. It was a lot of fun. We are making some great friends down here in Wollongong, and feeling increasingly comfortable here. But I think I had too many lemonades. Dehydration and headaches today! If lemonade does that, I’m grateful I don’t drink. I don’t think my constitution would let me survive!

Two more quick comments. Firstly, I LOVE what I’m studying. The research on happiness is entirely stimulating for me. I am thrilled to be paid a scholarship to think! I think all day. Mostly I’m thinking about what purposeful positive relationship behaviours are critical for families to flourish. It is invigorating.

Secondly, I LOVE the opportunity to be teaching at church again. It seems to have been some time since I’ve had that opportunity. While the young men I teach do not get anywhere near as much out of what I’m saying, it feels so good to teach Truth.

Swimming and Snails

What a fortnight!

We have enjoyed so many blessings, and had so many terrific experiences that it’s hard to know where to begin.

Chanel is becoming a superstar! Our big girl has settled in remarkably quickly at her new school and is doing extremely well scholastically. While Chanel doesn’t have much motivation to work hard, and usually procrastinates as much as possible, she performs at a very high standard. She also loves to play! She spends as much time in the backyard, up trees, or on the swings and trampoline, as she can. We’re reading Black Beauty together each evening. She’s really enjoying it.

Last week Chanel attended her swimming carnival. She was full of optimism following her successes at Cannon Hill last year. But when I saw how big some of the girls turning 9 this year were I grew concerned. Chanel came 3rd in her freestyle 50m. She felt ok but a little disappointed. Then came backstroke. Oops; dead last. Breast stroke wasn’t much better. Then came the announcement for the 50m butterfly. I saw a glimmer of hope in her eyes and wished her well, but I was less than helpful. My pessimism was strengthened when I saw she was the youngest and smallest in the event. The race was for 8, 9 and 10 year old girls.

Chanel dived in beautifully and began the race. I heard the four boys in front of me saying, “Look at that Chantelle girl!” “No, it’s Chanel”. “Oh, whatever, look how good she is.” Sure enough, Chanel was in the front and charging up the centre of the pool. I got so excited I started yelling “Go Chanel!” as I ran alongside the pool. She came first! WOW! I was so thrilled for her.

Because of her successful swimming, Chanel goes to the District swimming carnival this Wednesday. What an achiever! She also got selected for “house relays” and swam brilliantly. Kylie and I are in awe of Chanel.

Abbie and Ella are settling into their routines and school environments well too. I think that the effects of the move are finally being overcome, and the girls are bouncing back from the massive changes they’ve been through. Ella was even excited about going to church today – the first time since we got to Wollongong nearly 7 weeks ago.

Kylie and I have reviewed the way we structure our schedule and changed things so that I come home around 4pm, shortly after Kylie has done the school pick-up. This allows us to spend time with the children reading and doing other worthwhile activities related to schooling. (I’m quite opposed to mindless homework sheets, but love to see the children engaged in meaningful projects or reading). I’ve been using the time to teach Abbie her “sight words.” These are the words that children should be able to recognise on sight. It has been so much fun. Abbie learned 10 words this week: big, I, come, jump, up, down, A, and, not and in. Abbie is so excited! And we are having great fun. Kylie laminated two sets of all the words (100 of them) and we do a couple each day. We put them all together and play games like snap, memory, fish and so on. I think Abbie will be a terrific reader.

Ella is a real scientist. She is particularly enamoured with anything that crawls outside. Snails have really captured her attention recently due to the remarkably moist conditions we’ve experienced. We have tried to tell Ella that snails are kinda gross, but she is committed to continuing her investigations of them. The other day we were eating breakfast at the table. I noticed that Ella was looking in her breast pocket every few seconds. She was keeping a couple of snails in there! Oh dear.

Ella’s pre-school is amazing. The quality of care and education is second to none. But it comes at a price. We misread the materials due to our enthusiasm for the facility and thought the cost was similar to what we paid for Abbie in Brisbane. But Abbie’s weekly cost is what we pay PER DAY for Ella. Ella’s pre-school is triple what we thought it was. Ouch.

But we’re very, exceptionally, happy with it, and we’ll persist. There’s a teacher who spends a couple of hours each day one-on-one with Ella working on her speech and language. The facilities are superb. So we’ll keep it up.

Our home is wonderfully conducive to the children spending a lot of time playing. The tv is on less than half of what it used to be in Brisbane. And while the kids would love to watch more, they happily amuse themselves when we direct them to another room or outside. The yard is great, the trees are perfect for climbing, and the house is still an adventure. Kylie is such a wonderful support. Most of her day is spent with Ella (when she’s at home) and Annie. Her commitment and effort (not to mention support) are amazing. Kylie is making friends with neighbours and ladies from church and is slowly feeling more comfortable. I think it will be a while still, and her friends from Brisbane are irreplaceable, but things are getting better.

And Annie has decided that she’s serious about getting bigger. She is putting on lots of weight, smiling as much as ever, and has decided to eat solids three times a day! We are amazed at Annie. I’ve never seen a baby who is so loving, and able to show it. She has three mothers in her big sisters. They adore her, particularly Chanel.

Last weekend Pop Bunt got a surprise. It was his 80th birthday, and mum organised a surprise party. About 70 family and friends showed up to the Auburn tennis club to celebrate with him, and surprise him. Mum organised a bus to pick Nan and Pop up from their home. It was the same bus that Pop drove when he was a bus-driver about 40 years ago. We all got on the old bus and drove to the house. When he came out and saw it he was tickled pink! He got on board, saying “I’m overwhelmed.” We had such a great time being there with him and nan. What’s most thrilling for Kylie and I is that our kids are experiencing their great-grandparents. We hope they have great memories of wonderful people.

As for me, I cannot remember living a more balanced, wonderful life! I am having the most terrific time living in Wollongong! Surfing has become a three or four session-a-week activity. I am having so much fun surfing, and finding it incredibly fulfilling.

My studies are going beautifully. I love what I am learning, and I am learning amazing things almost every day.

After being in this house for a little over 6 weeks we finally had an oven delivered yesterday. We have been pleading for one for weeks! It gets really hard to enjoy a wide variety of food without an oven. It should be wired up in the next couple of days. I can’t wait for that first roast! My stomach is rumbling just thinking of it.

This afternoon we realigned our Sunday afternoon priorities. We’re writing in journals more. We started it off by showing the kids what we wrote in our journals as children their age. They loved hearing about the things we wrote about and did at their age. Kylie and I were also grateful for the things that our parents took the time to record on our behalf. It was fascinating to hear what our parents really thought of us as little tykes! The memories are priceless. What’s incredible to me is that without the journals it would all be forgotten. I’m so grateful we have them.

And spiritually, things are improving. I went to a super leadership training at Campbelltown on Friday night. I was so inspired by what I was taught. Today at church I spoke to the young men about the Plan of Salvation. We spent a lot of time talking about what it is to learn Faith in Jesus Christ and why it is so important. As we talked about the nature of our relationship with Him because of the atonement I was uplifted. I hope they were too.

Not only is it impossible for me to count my blessings, but I cannot comprehend the breadth and depth of them!

Starting School

So many blessings, so much to delight in.

Kylie is not as in love with our new surroundings as me, but that’s understandable. I’m ready to buy a house here! Obviously we can’t do that right now, but Wollongong is a terrific place. But Kylie is warming to things here. We like it.

This week Annie began rolling over, and back! And after showing absolutely no interest in solid food two weeks ago, began attacking a melon that Kylie was holding yesterday. She is growing too fast. But the best thing about Annie is still that unending infectious smile.

Most noteworthy events this week were the three eldest girls commencing school. Abbie began “big school” for the first time. She approached the schoolyard optimistically. As children were called in to class her mood changed to solemn. Then came some tears. I wanted to get a photo so I asked Abbie to look at the camera. Instantly she smiled! The conditioned response took over and the tears were forgotten. I got a nice picture of her. She went to class happily and willingly and hasn’t looked back. There are still a few small complaints about mummy attending school for the whole day, but Abbie is settling in as well as we could have hoped.

Chanel went into Grade 3 at Figtree Public School. Confident and happy. At the end of her first day at school Chanel reported eight friends! Wow! Chanel is settling in well. I should also mention that our neighbours have four daughters. Chanel and Mary (one of the neighbour’s girls) held a “concert” in our backyard this week. Invitations were given to all family members. The backyard was reorganized with seating for all. Seat allocations were provided, refreshments offered, and entertainment delivered. The girls had a great time and we got to know the Milross family a little better. Just before the concert I spotted a blue-tongue lizard. I was too scared to pick it up, although I never admitted that to anyone. Despite my reluctance, Chanel gave chase and within seconds she had the lizard in her grasp. No fear!


Ella also started at a community kindergarten. Kylie, who has a background in early childhood education, said that the kindergarten is exceptional. It is well staffed, very supportive, and should facilitate Ella’s learning and development optimally. We’re feeling so blessed not only that we got Ella in two days each week, but that we even found it! Our little Ella is very frustrated at the moment, trying to communicate with us and feeling like too many things have happened too fast. For all her challenges, Ella is remarkably endearing. We think the world of that little girl.

It was a privilege to bless my girls before they went to school. I’m confident that the Lord watches my children.

I’m really excited for Kylie at the moment as well. Kylie has begun to read several of the very best books that I have on my bookshelf. She’s really enjoying them! That makes me really excited as we experience shared insights. The books are really changing Kylie too. It’s exciting to see and participate.

I love my studies. It is a really strange situation. I have no curriculum to follow, and nobody prodding me, giving me deadlines, or showing me where to go or what to do. Such is the nature of post-graduate research. So I go to my office at the university each day and simply do whatever I think I should. Entire autonomy.

My studies are centering on what it takes to live “the good life”, and particularly how character strengths and virtues help us obtain a feeling of well-being and satisfaction in our lives. Psychologists are increasingly discovering empirically what has been known for centuries; that meaning and happiness in life are founded upon living a life of character and goodness. Jefferson, in 1819, stated “Happiness is the aim of life, but virtue is the foundation of happiness.”

As I considered his statement I was reminded of a scripture that tells us that we “are that [we] may have joy.” Another prophet warned that “wickedness never was happiness.” Ironic that thousands of years after prophets have told us how to be happy, psychologists are just getting the message. In living virtuously, developing character strengths, we find satisfaction in our own lives. But this satisfaction is not so much a result or “effect” of living such a life. Instead it is entwined in virtue in the same way that in an ocean sunrise we find beauty. One doesn’t cause the other, rather they are implicit within each other, inseparably connected.

I love my life! And I love my studies!

Finally, a personal note. Life is wonderful. We have been so blessed. However, like everyone, there have been moments this week where I have been below my best. This afternoon I attended a funeral service for a man that I believe was a prophet of God. The President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints – Gordon Bitner Hinckley – passed away last week aged 97. As I attended the service (via satellite) I was reminded of the goodness, even the greatness, of what I can be. He was a great man; in service, humility, kindness, wisdom, and so many other virtues. Leaving the service I was inspired to be better in every way. Especially as a father and husband. So from today I will work harder to stand a little taller in the most important roles I will ever have. In so doing, perhaps I might be seen as one who follows in the footsteps of great men.