Bunnings and Icecream

Today we headed off to Cannonvale to see the new Bunnings they have there. Yeah, sure. Seen one Bunnings - you've seen them all. But they don't always have free jumping castles, face painting and snow cones! Besides, we bought a raised garden bed kit to get our gardens growing again.  On the way home, we stopped at the 'Big Mango' and had some sorbet and ice-cream. Nice way to end a Sunday I should think.

Oh. I almost forgot. This morning we had a possum stuck up one of our trees. Diesel had it pinned up there since early morning. It was probably Zemiel's first look at a real possum. It eventually escaped after we tied poor Diesel up.

New Beds

The boys have a new bed set. Here's a look at what we got.

Under the bunks is a trundle bed. So, with Zem's original bed and the cot we now have the potential to sleep four kids and 1 baby in the one room. (Not that we expect to.)

Blast from the Past

While I'm on to newspaper clippings. Here's a real oldie. It was preserved by my father and step-mother and given back to me last time we visited just before Christmas. It is a picture of a group of Duke of Edinburgh Awardees. I received my Bronze award on this occasion. 

Okay, let's see if I can remember their names. (I'll leave out last names for privacy).

Back row: Glenn, Jason, Chris, Linden, Daniel (me), and Clinton.

Middle row: Paul, Jodie, Julie, and Marina.

Front row: Duane and Simon. (These two received their Gold award).

Everyone except for Chris was in our Pathfinder club and I knew Chris from school.

Local News - Australia Day

A newspaper clipping of our family on Australia Day this year.

(Yes, we actually did have hats. But the photographer made us take them off.)

A Busy Week

Wow, where has the month gone?!?! In the last two weeks, I have been about as busy as I ever want to be.

Azariah has now had his 18 month immunisations.  Chloe came and spent a day with us. Even on that day (Thursday) we were run off our feet with things to do. Zemiel had his first day at the Bowen Special Unit and we finally met the other little girl in Bowen with implants. (They didn't work for her). The teachers there are learning sign because of us and are even getting some training at the TAFE. Sharlene and I have just been given permission to join in on these sessions.

While Zemiel was at school, Azariah went to Mainly Music. He loves to dance and move. After this, we picked up Zemiel and we stopped at Front Beach for the boys to have a play. They promptly ran into the surf, clothes and all. Zemiel at least had the sense to pause at the water's edge for me to take off his implants, but Azariah just kept on walking until a wave knocked him over backwards. That boy has no fear. We then pulled Sharlene out of school for lunch at Muller's Lagoon. Later that afternoon, our Dad's Playgroup hosted a waterfight. We found all our old water pistols and small buckets and even went to the shop and bought some new ones. Thus equipped, we proceeded to drench each other. I got a soaking, while one of the other dads hardly got touched. Zemiel started to swim in one of the water sources. Azariah poured water on himself. The other kids were quick learners and adapted rapidly to the quantity (of the buckets) rather than  accuracy (of the pistols). Indeed, the pistols were soon discarded as ineffective. Especially when I grabbed the hose...

The next day, Sharlene's parents came up. Patti stayed with Sharlene and the boys for the weekend whilst Brian and I travelled up to Townsville for the Elder's and Minister's meetings held by the Northern Australian Conference. For me it was a very spiritual and personally challenging weekend. For Sharlene it was more exhausting. Azariah took sick while I was gone and Zemiel ended up with some sort of red mark on his hand. Sharlene is unsure if it was an insect or spider bite or whether it was a burn, but it has since blistered up, busted and now starting to heal. Zem is a brave kid, he only tells us that it is sore when we touch it or ask to look at it.

We came back from the meetings on Sunday, and left again for Townsville on Monday. Our agenda for the day was to look at some cars, and to have a get together with all of Zemiel's stakeholders. Royal Children's hospital was there, as was his advisory visiting teacher. His Speech Pathologist was also present. The meeting was a bit slow to get started, but I think we got some good goals out of it by the end.

Tuesday was a quieter day. First we went to the Neighbourhood Centre to have my photo taken for the local newspaper and then we went to our regular Library Storytime. But the boys were so tired that we went home early. Finally, I finished with tutoring in the afternoon.
This is the picture that was taken.

On Wednesday, we went back up to Townsville. This time to have his speech therapy session. He has made good progress with his 'n' sounds. Also, his play 'babble' is starting to really take off.  I think I caught what Azariah had. So with a touch of nausea and a resounding headache, we soldiered on through the day. I also finally went ahead and bought the bee suit that I've been wanting for a while. For those who don't know, Sharlene and I are trying to get a bee hive operating. We'll be going halves with another fellow here in Bowen. The suit is coming from America so will let you know more about it when it arrives.

If I could delete any day of this past week it would have been Thursday. The 24 hour bug that was going around hit me full swing and, and the boy's new bed set came. Their bedroom was a mess with packing boxes and the boys were upset with the change in routine. They didn't sleep or rest and generally ran amuck.

Friday, and I managed to finish the bed set. Zemiel also had his Tele Conferencing session, where his interest in spiders was exploited.

I  am so very thankful that we keep Sabbath. I need a day just to chill. Tonight we were going to be heading to Mackay for a youth rally and tomorrow I should have been going to Proserpine for a regional day. But we have decided to drop all that (due to illness and tiredness) and just stay home and recover. The boys are sleeping in their new beds for the first time tonight. We even bought matching sheet sets for them. So far, they have slept soundly.

I apologise for the blow-by-blow account, but perhaps Zemiel or Azariah will find it interesting reading in future years.

Azariah 19 mths and Zemiel 3.4 yrs

Here's two pictures we took of the boys at Sabbath School the other week. Azi has turned more and more blonde as time passes, and Zemiel's curls are universally admired.

Close Call for Velvet

Zemiel let one of our guinea pigs go today. It ran through our long grass into a large pile of dead branches and palm fronds on the school property. Thankfully, she wasn't too far into the pile and was coaxed out of hiding with a carrot lure. Velvet's short burst of freedom was another lesson in obedience for Zemiel.

On a totally different topic, here's a picture I took of Port Denison, Bowen. This photo is taken from beside the 'Big Mango' on the highway.

First Sermon

I preached my first sermon today. I surprised myself: I wasn't that nervous and I actually enjoyed the experience. I discussed the seven churches of Revelation and how the attributes of Jesus can be applied to our individual needs. I talked for about an hour and I gather that it was pretty well received. The topic was difficult to shorten more than that, and that was the only criticism.

This afternoon, we hacked into two green coconuts and discovered that Zemiel really does not like coconut, and Azariah really does. Azariah even tried to eat the husk. This led to his first lesson in spitting something out of his mouth. He greatly enjoyed that too, as he continued to take mouthfuls of husk, just so he could spit it out.

Ants have invaded our house again. They do it every summer. They aren't aggressive but they certainly do get everywhere. Especially with the humid weather that we have right now, they turn up in anything that isn't air tight (and some things that are), they cover the floor at night, foraging. They end up in our bed and between Zemiel's fingertips. (Which is often their demise).

Zemiel is getting much better with small creatures and insects in general. He often holds worms (a love affair that goes back to 29th October, 2009), grasshoppers and even a small jumping spider last Sabbath. He really does love his animals. One of the best rewards we can give him is allowing him to see a nature documentary on whales. Azariah loves animals too...but for some reason, they don't love him...mainly because they are dead (or terribly maimed) by the end of the experience. Our guinea pigs are still alive, however.

Swimming in the Shower

Zemmy wanted to go swimming today. Well, that's not strictly true. He wants to go swimming every day.
Where do you want to swim Zem?
At home.
Where at home?
No answer
Do you want to swim in the bath?
No daddy.
Do you want to swim in the shower?
Yes!!! Daddy!!!
Oh...

Cyclone Yasi

Wow! Two cyclones in one week. The premier was calling them David and Goliath. Yasi was truely something that I wouldn't want to experience in its full force. There are so many pictures of lost roofs, relocated water tanks, tipped over cane bins, busses and cars, trees like toothpicks, banana plantations and cane fields flattened. Mission Beach, Cardwell and Ingham coped it the worst. Townsville still doesn't have power or water. The storm surge there was pretty high and came right into the cbd.

Our house faired well. The winds were stronger than Anthony and there was a lot more rain too. More trees fell this time with the wet soil and sustained attack. Our poinciana lost a large limb, and a eucalypt in the school yard toppled. Another gum tree beside our house (also on school property) is now on a lean towards our house...so will have to get that seen to before the next one comes along. It also lost some large branches, but none hit the house thankfully.

The boys thought that camping out in the lounge was great fun. I think Zemiel would gladly do another cyclone just so that he could sleep with food next to his bed again! The wind and rain made them run around like crazy. Zem and Az both loved looking at the palm trees as they twisted and swayed. We were one of the last to lose power at about 11 that night and we got it back about 2 the next day.

So we are all safe and well. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. My uncle in Mission Beach is also safe (and his house is too).