Ten Years

This weekend marked ten years of married life for Shar and I. It possibly doesn't seem to be so long when one takes it all in at once, but then again, when we thought about it today, we decided that we actually had done quite a lot in that time. First of all we looked at the individual years.

Year 1: Rockhampton -  in a condemnable house. (We were the last tenants before it was demolished).
Year 2: Bowen and Cooranbong -  living apart. I studied, and Sharlene worked hard to help me do that.
Year 3: Cooranbong - I was studying and Sharlene working while living in another terribly old house. It was once the original farmhouse, then the morgue, then our residence. We also enjoyed our epic drive through the centre of Australia with Luke, just as he met Amy.
Year 4: Cooranbong - Both of us working. Bought our first house in Morriset. Diesel dog joined the family.
Year 5: Morrisett - Both working until our first son Zemiel was born.
Year 6: Morrisett - I worked. We both learned Auslan.
Year 7: Morrisett - I worked and welcomed our second son, Azariah.
Year 8: Bowen - Sharlene worked and I take on being a house dad.
Year 9: Bowen - Sharlene worked till mid year and then I took work in Mackay. Lived apart for a few weeks before Sharlene and boys joined me. Moved into house owned by Sharlene's dad. Welcomed third son, Zekiah.
Year 10: Mackay - bought unit in Mackay. Sharlene return to work part time, besides keeping house, and taking Zemiel to Brisbane every few weeks.

Well that about sums up the years in a nutshell, so to speak. We are still young and definitely have plans for big adventures yet to come.

Bowty Downter

Azariah has had a special friend for quite some time now called Bowty (or Boaty) Downter. This friend comes along with him everywhere and lends his name to many different objects and situations. When in doubt of what to call or name something, Bowty Downter is Azariah's naming fallback.

Today, Azariah and Sharlene sat down and wrote a song about Bowty Downter. The lyrics are as follows.

Bowty Downter has a friend,
His name is Bowty too.
At the creek they play all day,
And I play with them too.

Of course, Bowty Downter also gets blamed for misdemeanours and infractions of our home boundaries. So one may ask, just how long will the friendship will last?

Hiccups

I am beginning to doubt whether there will ever be anything in Zemiel's life that will 'proceed as planned' - without interruptions, delays, surprises, distress or alterations. 

Zem took a ride to Brisbane this week to see some specialists but has ended up getting sick. He had fevers yesterday and today Sharlene took him to emergency. Now I find out that, instead of returning home tonight, Zemiel has been admitted on an I V drip for the night because he wasn't recovering as fast as he ought to have been and wasn't fit to fly. I don't know what the new schedule is. 

Riah has spent some very happy days with Aunty Ellie and is now back with dad for the weekend. 

Our new chickens, Eor (pronouced ee-oh-are) and Book-Book are now both laying eggs. Eor's first egg was today while Book-Book's first egg was last sabbath.

Nava (one of our original chooks) has ceased to pick on the younger ones unless they are directly in her way. I got some pavers for their pen yesterday and Riah helped me put them in this morning.

Recent Holiday and Operations

At the end of September, Sharlene took the boys for a three week trip down to New South Wales to see friends and family. It was a great time for her to spend with the children and especially to have quality / quantity time with them. On the way home they stopped in Brisbane.

On October 12, Zemiel got his adenoids taken out and some gromits put in his ears. He went in at 7am and was able to leave the hospital in the mid afternoon. Everything went well for the operation. Although we now know that he had a lot of residual fluid in his ears. His left was infected and his right had 'glue ear'. I flew down to meet them, spent the night with Trev and Roni and then drove them home back to Mackay.

Zekiah had his first birthday while they were away but while he had started to take a few independent steps before he left, nothing really changed until he came back. But it was only when Sharlene took him to Cape Hillsborough for her women's retreat that he really jumped ahead. He went from only a couple of steps alone to almost completely independent.

Sharlene will be off to Brisbane again this week. Zemiel has an appointment with the ENT, Developmental specialist, Opthimologist, and Audiologist. He will be remapped and hopefully we will begin to see/hear the difference the gromits make.