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).

Cyclone Anthony

With our first real cyclone of the season bearing down on us, it is time to batten down the hatches and tidy up the yard. Although it is only a category 2, it brings a nervous energy with it. Those south side of a cyclone always cop the worst of the storm. We don't expect anything bad to happen though. Here's a recent pic from the Bureau of Meteorology.

There is another system out near Fiji which bears watching though, it could be a doozy if it came our way.

New Addition

On Thursday we set up our guinea pig hutch. It wasn't the easiest job with Az and Zem wanting to spend almost all of the time in it. Azariah managed to crawl through every gap and fit into every crevice of the cage. He looked like a contortionist wiggling his way through. Thankfully, I managed to get most of it done whilst they were sleeping. Az woke up first, shortly after Sharlene came home. We took him over to the pet shop and chose out the new toy.... erm... pet.

After spending some time letting the little critter get used to the pokes and prods (and force feeding) from Azi, we took him down and let him get used to his new home. Diesel was all for eating him and ended tied up some distance away. Finally we roused Zemiel and brought him down to see it. He was amazed. I don't think he has fathomed that he can keep it yet or that it will still be there tomorrow.  We had a terrible time saying goodbye.

We've decided to name it Cavalier. Partly to carry on our nobility names for pets, and partly because it is a cavy. Ha ha. For those who are interested and even for those who aren't, the names of our other pets are:
Diesel - the dog
Sir Mauvealot - the budgie
Princess Gwenevegg - the budgie
Razzamatopaz - the budgie
Baby bird - the budgie


Guess who named the last one on the list!

Surprises

Zem surprised us and his speech pathologist yesterday with how much progress he has made. All the speech milestones that he needed to work on during the holidays have now been achieved. He is now talking in small sentences (with a little prompting) and babbling during play.

When we came home yesterday, we had our new guinea pig cage waiting for us and also my wambi and brazilian cherry trees were delivered. They are only small but one has to start somewhere.

Today's activities will likely be setting up the cage and looking for a suitable tenant.

More Travel

We went to Mackay today. Well, we are still here actually. We came down because it is Rosie's birthday and Sharlene and family are going out for a dinner. Happy Birthday Rosie! It is also exactly one year since we moved into our house in Bowen, so it is a bit ironic that we aren't there. Tomorrow we're back, but not before we go to Townsville. Zemiel is starting up his speech pathology again and it will be one of the rare times for Sharlene to go as well.

Today we went to see how Janice and Gerard are coping at our Mackay school and it seems like they will have their hands full sorting out useful stuff from junk and writing programs. Janice has already made a lot of headway though. Zem and Az had a great time exploring and rearranging the toys and furniture of the room. Zemiel even got his train 'fix' for the day with the room's train set.

Sharlene has made some apricot slice for the today's and tomorrow's trip but honestly I don't know how many will remain for tomorrow. They have been pretty well received (and eaten) by everyone (especially me) since we left.

Summer Day

What a great day we had yesterday!

The day began at 4:30 with Azariah waking up and asking for an ice block.

We began watering the plants early. We've developed a system where I fill up a larger bucket with water and Zem gets a smaller bucket and pours water onto the pots  and plants. Azariah also gets a bucket and pours water onto himself.

We got our windscreen replaced yesterday. The crack in it was getting bigger every day. (It started when a truck threw a rock at us on our trip from Brisbane in late December). The boys and I decided to spend some time down at the beach while we waited for the work to be done. The shop wasn't far from Front Beach, so that was a natural choice and we got to see other parts of the beach that we hadn't really been to yet.

There was a small shelter dedicated to the 'Catalina' floating planes which apparently had 11 squadron and 20 squadron stationed in Bowen during the 2nd world war. The whole place was quite nicely done. The tide was out and we could see many different birds out sifting through the sand looking for crustaceans and worms. Further on and we went to the playground where we usually spend our time. The boys spent most of the time wanting to play on the wheelchair swing. Which I'm not sure I understand entirely because it couldn't move without a key. Anyway, they played quite happily on/around it for about 20 minutes - until I got bored and decided to try something else.

Next, we went and had a water drinking party on one of the tables there. Bowen water is notoriously unreliable and potentially health threatening but I decided to chance it. The boys were definitely thirsty and we also enjoyed watching the black cockatoos in the she-oaks above. Following our drinks, I tried to get Zem interested in tree climbing by putting him up in a tree fork (about my head height). He wasn't too fussed at first, but got more interested when he could see the ants that were crawling up the tree. Even so, he was keen for me to try it. So down he came and up I went. It wasn't the easiest tree to get a hold of and up, but eventually I made it and Zem loved it. Azariah was watching from a safe distance in the pram. Now Zem wanted up as well. I couldn't reach him so we exchanged places. This time he liked it more and signed for me to go up, up, up (to the count of 10). (Which, for the uninitiated, means that he wants me to go up the tree as high as humanly possible). I decided that it was time to go try something else.

Next stop was the rocks. These rocks were used by the original surveyors to lay out the town. I released Azariah and both he and Zem had a lot of fun climbing up the rocks to get me. The only problem was that these rocks were out in the sun and so the boys got a little pink from this activity.

From there, we still had a few minutes to wait, so we went to the IGA nearby, besides being air conditioned, it still had a few low quality peaches remaining. (Because of the floods down south, all our fresh food up north has not gotten through. So we have a lot of empty shelves at the moment.) I got a peach each for the boys and we sat down outside to eat them. That done, it was time to go and get our car and drive home.

We had only been home for a few minutes (long enough to each a sandwich each and hop into bed) when Sharlene came in through the door - early home from work. The boys had a short sleep and then what to do? Why what else but go outside and chase and catch grass hoppers. And that kept everyone entertained until it was time for tea, baths and bed.

Thanks for a good day boys.

2 Years of Hearing

Today is a special day. It has now been two years since Zem was 'switched on'. I don't know exactly how we are going to celebrate, but perhaps we'll leave that up to him. At the moment he is interested in the beach, whales and trains. Azariah is interested in anything that Zem is doing.

New Software

Zemi's last Map wasn't a very successful one in terms of his hearing ability. The program worked great for individual frequencies but when they were all turned on at once, his face just twitched all the time with the amount of information that was being sent. His next Map was supposed to be scheduled for March 2011, but because some new software was made available last month, we decided that we wouldn't wait and instead get it loaded sooner rather than later.

So we all went to Brisbane last Monday to see if we could get a better deal for him, and we are glad we did. The volume that he can now cope with is about 50% higher than it was last time, which means he can hear quieter noises better. Also, his ability to hear background low frequencies has changed. We hope it will be an improvement.

The trip itself was quite eventful, with stops at Aunty Bon and Lindon's property, Great Aunt Suzie's address, Pop Cole and Marilynn's house, Grandma Mac and Malcolm's home, and Poppy Brian and Nana's place. On the way we played with cousins Aleena and Brayden, tyson and Ella, Luke and Eli.

With God's blessing we managed to navigate our way down to Brisbane in some of the heaviest periods of rain that can be remembered. The highway was being cut and cars stopped from passing through behind us. The deepest washout that we went through was about 40cm on the flood markers. It made for a very slow trip though. On the way back, we had to take the highway from Bundaberg instead of going past Rosedale to Miriam Vale, due to water still covering roads. We had fears about Rockhampton, as the flood waters came through from Emerald, and the river was definitely high.

Now, with Christmas coming up quickly, it is time to get our presents wrapped and put near our nativity scene at home.