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.

Winter Break

Two enormous weeks with events galore and blessings abounding!

There is so much to share that I’ll run through it in point form to keep it brief.

I’ll start with teeth. Abbie finally lost her first tooth! She wibbled and wobbled it so much but was petrified to really pull it in case it hurt. It was so loose we thought it would never give, and then – plop! It finally let go. Abbie was so excited and the tooth fairy was called into action. Just a couple of days later, Abbie lost her adjacent tooth. It was barely loose but practically tumbled out. The tooth fairy took out an overdraft with the bank! Two teeth in one week!

Chanel went to the dentist for her second tooth extraction in a month. Last time it was a dream. This time was not so smooth. I held her hand as she silently wept from the pain of the local anaesthetic needle. The procedure took much longer this time, was more complicated, and caused substantially more pain. This time we had not prayed and Chanel had not received a priesthood blessing. Coincidence? I think not. Plus, the tooth fairy was called in to action again! Oh no!

We received an unexpected visit from one of the ladies at church. Beryl Tolhurst brought around a plate of tantalisingly tasty profiteroles! Wow, they were good. Mmm. Amazing. I have a sweet tooth. She reminded Kylie that even though she’s not family, she’s here and she loves us. Kindness – we’ve enjoyed it so much since we arrived in Wollongong.

State of Origin III was played in Sydney and I got an unexpected invite to go to the game. Murray Stewart rang out of the blue and asked if I’d like to go with him. I didn’t need much persuading! It was a terrific atmosphere and loads of fun. NSW got beaten, and it’s easier to follow the game on television, but I was grateful for the experience. Terrific night! But we arrived home super late.

I have begun a new schedule to enhance and optimise my time. I am in bed early-ish, and rise at 6am. That may not sound too scary, but doing it every day is tough, particularly with multiple wake-ups in the night, and the icy-cold weather, cold wooden floorboards, and chilly house. I read my scriptures before anything else, and then commence the day. My productivity has skyrocketed. I am getting so much done in all aspects that it is remarkable. And the quality of what I’m doing has been great! Plus, I love getting up early. It feels fantastic.

We sat in church last week and were surprised at how reverent the children were being. I noticed that Ella was occupied with something near her face. I watched carefully until I recognised what she was doing. Ella was attempting to put a pencil up her nose! That girl keeps us somewhere between barrels of laughs and the emergency room!

A quick visit to our friend, Deb’s, by Kylie and the girls one afternoon resulted in a funny incident too. As soon as they arrived Abbie complained that she was hungry. Deb offered a piece of fruit. Abbie declined. Deb offered some crackers. Abbie refused that too. “Well, there’s not really anything else I can offer you”, Deb responded. Abbie questioned, “Do you have Weet-Bix?” Abbie gulped down three Weet-Bix for her afternoon tea.

Wollongong is a remarkably windy place. A few weeks ago I mentioned the tree that fell in our front yard. It smashed through the Colourbond fence and flattened the neighbour’s shed. (It still hasn’t been fixed – our landlord is not one to respond to issues in a hurry). Well, I don’t know if we can blame this on the wind or not, but after one of the windiest nights I’ve ever experienced, our letterbox has gone missing! That’s right. Gone! We have no idea how it disappeared. I’m disinclined to think it was drunken louts because had they smashed it, they certainly are unlikely to have meticulously removed the wooden remains. It was screwed in, very well, to the top of a wooden retaining wall. I cannot imagine the wind blowing it away! But it’s gone. Hopefully the landlord will act quickly for us on that one.

The biggest news of the past couple of weeks is that we took around six days off and had a break.

Day one was Friday. We took the children out of school around 1pm and took them to Auburn. A brief visit with Nan and Pop Bunt was fun. We met my mum there. She took the kids (excepting Annie) back to Gosford with her. Kylie and I (and Annie) drove into Sydney. Some friends own a top floor apartment overlooking the harbour. They plan to sell it and invited us to spend the weekend with them as a final farewell to the property. What a place! We had a terrific evening talking, eating Thai, eating chocolate, eating sweets and ice-cream, eating Krispy-Kreme donuts, and eating just about anything else we could find.

Saturday began slowly with a huge breakfast, more donuts, chocolate, ice-cream etc, and then a walk and a wander through parts of Darling Harbour. We hijacked a tour bus while the driver was away! And generally enjoyed being out with good friends.

Then we farewelled them and drove to Gosford.

The remainder of our holidays included spending lots of time with the kids; taking them to spend time with their cousins; catching up with Nan Coulson & Auntie Jan (who happened to be visiting Gosford); eating good food, including a delectable dinner at The Cowrie; resolving family disputes (ouch – always a challenge); and generally relaxing. It was a nice visit, although less conflict and more relaxing would be great next time.

Uni is going great guns! I cannot believe how much I enjoy it. I’m starting to feel some substantial pressure with what I’m doing. The writing has begun in earnest, detailed planning is causing several re-thinks. But things are progressing, I am learning, and despite all of my fears I am pressing on optimistically (and no doubt naïvely).

Yesterday I returned to the temple for the first time in around a year. Dad surprised me by showing up. It was great to sit with him and share that experience. I enjoyed the blessing of being there.

Life constantly provides us with challenges, but it is amazing!

Planting seeds

Last Sunday I was pondering some spiritual things. I have been studying the sacrament lately. I had new insights about the sacramental prayers, and it was exhilarating. I felt grateful for so many blessings and gifts.

I enjoyed initial completion of a major project at uni this week, only 10 weeks early! In late August I am due to submit a report outlining my research and plans for the remainder of my Ph. D. My first draft is now ready for review and I’m extremely pleased. It’s a little long though. I have a 3000-word limit, and I’m currently at 5500. I know, I know. It’s unusual for me to have too much to say! My major focus this week will be refining the project and completing another important document; my ethics application.

For some strange reason (perhaps connected to my bike fall a couple of weeks ago), I ended up with a sore neck this week. I cannot believe how badly a sore neck or back can affect life. It meant more time resting and trying to get better, but only time seems to make an impact on this kind of trouble. Cold and flu, sore hand, crook neck! It’s been a rough time lately. On the plus side, I must be coming out of it soon! And we’ve had the BEST waves of the year in the past fortnight. I’ve missed it all.

During the week we had violent winds. Our house makes LOTS of noises in the wind. There are creaks and rattles, there are what Chanel calls “ghost” noises, and there was the wind itself. I was awoken at around 3.30 am and could not get back to sleep because of all the noise. When I went out into the front yard I saw one of the big trees on our fence line had been entirely blown down. Some of those borer grubs had been into the base and weakened it to the point that it toppled. The colourbond fence was totalled and the neighbour’s shed was crushed too – with all of his stuff in there.

Kylie is getting right into her crafts and things again. I love it when she’s doing those crafty bits. I don’t have a deep appreciation for that kind of thing but I’m gaining one. More than that, though, I have a great appreciation of seeing Kylie deeply involved in something that she loves and can be absorbed in. Kylie’s spent more time on craft than I do surfing! And I think she enjoys her craft as much as I enjoy my surfing. If only I had something to show for all my time in the water! The work Kylie produces is really worth seeing.

We ended up at Bunnings Hardware Store last week looking for some items for Kylie’s crafts. I got distracted while Kylie shopped and ended up in the horticulture section. I have always wanted to have a vegetable garden, and I decided that the time has come. I purchased two trays of seedlings: cauliflower and lettuce. The kids and I got out in the backyard with some tools and got things moving. We now have vegetables growing! This week I’ll collect some cow poo, and we’re getting the composter going too! In a few weeks we’ll plant some silverbeet, leek, and some herbs in the soon to be prepared herb garden. Kylie is skeptical, saying she doesn’t think I can grow anything at all! But… we shall see! When we’re munching on home grown lettuce, and eating Coulson-cultivated Cauliflower I’ll be able to relish it that much more!

A quick update on the children: Chanel is excelling at everything – including driving Kylie and I crazy. She is always organising events, gatherings with friends and so on. She is always wanting to “just make a phone call” or “just get on the Internet” and forever too “busy to actually help out. But now and then she surprises us and does an exceptional job of looking after her sisters (particularly Annie). Abbie, or Fabulous Abulous (or the Abster) has more nicknames than any child I’ve ever heard of. She is tremendous. She is showing courage and maturity in awkward situations (I’ll mention a quick incident shortly), and is doing an amazing job at school. Her reading skills are excellent, and she is performing better than many of the year 1 students (she’s in Kindergarten). Ella is wonderful most of the time. We love it when she is, because when she isn’t – wow, it’s a challenge. And Annie is so full of joy it’s bursting out of her, as you can see in the photo below. Annie is so happy that her smile hasn’t got enough room to show the extent of her joy!

Saturday was easily my favourite day this week. Despite the sore hand and neck I committed to having a productive day. It was one of those perfect winter days. The sun shone, the sky was flawless blue, there was no wind – it felt almost like Spring. The kids were up early and playing with the neighbours. I spent a couple of hours on the car: it looks perfect, and may stay that way for at least a couple of days before the kids destroy it all again! I spent a little more time on the garden, picked up sticks from the windy days earlier in the week, and emptied out the unused veggie patch. It’s unused because the previous tenants of this house used the space to dump their kitty litter. It was so toxic that even weeds wouldn’t grow in it! I’ve emptied it out now, and we’ll slowly fill it with potting mix, compost, and cow poo. In no time we’ll have a perfect patch for more vegetables!

All the while, Kylie was being crafty… and loving it. After lunch Kylie took Chanel, Abbie and Annie to Campbelltown for a church activity. Abbie was placed into a team where she knew no one. She felt isolated and scared, but she got involved anyway. Kylie said she was nervous but had a go. I was so proud of my little angel. While Kylie was at the activity I stayed home with Ella. We had so much fun.

I put Ella on her bike and we cruised around the top of the hill where we live. There is a small flat section amongst all the hills and Ella had endless fun. She has no idea how to ride, but I wasn’t allowed to help. She did it all herself. Other than a couple of very close shaves I was very impressed with her ability on the bike. We were out for about 90 minutes, and it was so much fun I think we’ll do it again this afternoon after church! Then it was home time, where we did some more weeding, and I cooked dinner. It was a productive family day, and it was the best day of the week.

Reality Check

The past week was a busy one… but not at school!

Monday I spent the first half of the day at uni, but came home at lunch time to try to sort out several “loose ends”. Little else occurred on Monday of any note.

Tuesday I was up early and at the doctor’s offices by 7.30am. She examined my hand and confirmed that it was unlikely to be broken. Instead she suggested that it simply has some soft tissue damage (quite a bit, actually) and that it will take at least two weeks to stop hurting and up to six weeks before I’ve forgotten all about it. It’s been nearly two weeks, and still hurts, so I hope she’s right.

Kylie and I took the girls to school when I arrived back at home, and then Ella was off to the psychologist so we could find out if there are any developmental or neurological issues. It was an expensive two hours - $260. But… we do these things for our kids, and it is crucial for us to know that Ella is okay and how we can best help her. Next we picked Chanel up early from school (midday) and tore up to Sydney so she could have her tooth removed.

The Children’s Dental Hospital is literally on the doorstep of Central Station in the City. So with nowhere to park – and knowing that this would be an issue but not wanting Kylie and Chanel to have to catch the train – I left Kylie with the soon to be ‘toothless’ Chanel and took Annie for what I was hoping to be a leisurely drive around the CBD. It may have been many things, but leisurely does not quite accurately describe it. Annie was awake and a little unhappy. I also struggled to find my way to my planned destination near Darling Harbour, although I got there in the end. I ended up parking illegally in a little side street in Pyrmont, feeding a crying baby, changing her nappy and desperately awaiting the call from Kylie to return and pick them up… if only I could find my way back to the dental hospital!

The call came much faster than expected, and I accurately navigated the maze to pick up Kylie and our little 8 year-old. I anticipated tears and a mournful greeting when I got to them. Instead Chanel was swinging around a pole and laughing. “Didn’t the extraction happen?” I asked Kylie. Kylie assured me that Chanel was, indeed, missing a tooth. Chanel was quick to proffer evidence. Chanel had inhaled her “happy gas” upon arrival, before application of a gel to numb the gum surrounding her tooth. Then a local anaesthetic was injected. Chanel was unaware that a needle had been employed. At this point Chanel attempted to convince Kylie and the dentist that the happy gas and the local were having no effect, unaware that she was speaking at the top of her voice and she was constantly inserting her hands into her mouth trying to feel her gums – and she was smiling the whole time. Kylie had to hold her hands to keep her still, the tooth was literally plucked out, and the whole episode was over. Chanel didn’t even know it had happened (and obviously the gel, needle, and gas worked very well indeed).

Around half an hour after we commenced our journey home to Wollongong the effects of the anaesthetic began to dissipate. Chanel became a little emotional and indicated some pain. She had a rest in the back of the car and by the time we arrived home she was a bundle of positive energy again. She confidently consumed a regular dinner and we have not heard a peep from her about the tooth or any associated pain since. It seems we were all a little more concerned that we needed to be. Chanel is a superb child.

Wednesday I was back in Sydney. I caught the train this time. Fuel prices are near $1.70 a litre here and one long car trip in a pay cycle was enough. I was running some training sessions at the Reserve Bank of Australia. They were the same ones I used to do out in Emerald or in Newcastle etc on relationships. The sessions did not go as well as they usually do. The corporate environment was never a target audience when the workshop was created, and it showed. It is a session put together for a blue-collar environment. These people were far more sophisticated. The workshop was still enjoyable and I knew that people obtained some helpful ideas. But it really did not meet their needs as effectively as I would have liked. As an unrelated aside, I was not paid as well as I’m used to being paid either, but I’ve indicated my discontent (politely) and won’t be working so cheap again. I had to take the entire day off uni and spend 5 hours on trains! Two-and-a-half hours each way on the train for two hours of work. The train ride drove me insane. It’s not possible to read for that long! But I was grateful for the work. We need it at the moment.

While I was in the city I was approached by a lady from Channel 7. She was one of the producers of the “Morning Show” which I didn’t know existed (and after watching it on Thursday morning I’m glad – I won’t waste my time on that one again). She put a camera in front of me (a little too close for my liking) and asked what I thought of swearing, and children swearing. I told her I find it offensive and I don’t swear – EVER. She was quite surprised and questioned me. I reaffirmed the fact, and then got to see it on the network TV on Thursday morning. It felt great to be able to say that and know it was fact. I was kinda proud of myself.

Thursday was Kylie’s day. She had a church activity to run that evening, and as always, was preparing intently, doing over and above what anyone would ever reasonably expect. It’s so great to see her fully engaged in something that is challenging and utilises her resources and talents. Her evening was not without small hiccups but overall, genuinely successful. In fact, at its completion about twenty women remained at the chapel to help clean up – something that is apparently unheard of after these activities. (My day at uni was somewhat unproductive and not noteworthy in any respect). As always, I took the girls to swimming in the afternoon. They LOVE being in the pool, and are doing really well.

Friday I had a reality check at uni. For six months I’ve enjoyed reading, thinking, and talking about ideas. But my time for that is up. I have begun writing. Talking is easy; writing is hard. Especially the writing I’m required to do. My supervisors met with me and we reviewed my plans. Things are looking as positive as ever, but now it is time for detail… and lots of it – the deeper the better. So this weekend I have been adjusting my mindset. I know that when I get back to uni tomorrow I must be more focussed than ever, and improve my work ethic significantly. I’m really looking forward to writing too, as foreboding as it seems.

Kylie went to her friend’s birthday party on Friday night. Another late night – but lots of fun! You can see the photo of the box Kylie MADE… that’s right – MADE! I’m amazed at the cool things Kylie can do with a piece of cardboard and some ribbon. Chanel enjoyed a special treat on Friday night too. A kind friend from church took her to Disney on Ice at the Wollongong Entertainment Centre. She had a tremendous time and felt utterly spoiled. Chanel was buzzing when it was all over. Her favourite parts were Lilo & Stitch, the Little Mermaid, and the Lion King.

Yesterday we had a meeting with the psychologist to discuss Ella’s assessment outcomes. It appears that based on her assessments, Ella is essentially right where she should be in terms of her performance compared with other children her age. Clearly her speech deficits are an issue but because of this, verbal IQ wasn’t assessed anyway. In all facets outside of her verbal performance Ella performs at appropriate developmental milestones (and in some cases above) for her age group. This was wonderfully reassuring for us, but also perplexing as we try to uncover ways to deal with the challenges she presents us. We have been very lenient with Ella over the past years because we have not wanted to be too hard if she had cognitive delays, and because of the speech difficulties. But as her speech has improved and we have received these results we know that we can lift our expectations of her, and be confident that she’ll get better with things. Of course, the psychologist recommended rewards and punishments as the keys to “shape” Ella’s behaviour. As we listened, several keys that I often teach to others came back to me though, and we’re already seeing some positive changes in the 24 hours since the meeting. We’re confident that this little angel is going to get her wings soon. She’s such a treasure.

A Day Out at Darling Harbour