Our day started off really early yesterday - we woke up at 7am as Dad had to be at the SES building at 7:45am. Yesterday was ANZAC Day - here's a little about it:
What is ANZAC Day? ANZAC Day – 25 April – is probably Australia's most important national occasion. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.
What does ANZAC stand for? ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The soldiers in those forces quickly became known as ANZACs, and the pride they took in that name endures to this day.
When Dad got to the SES building, each SES member was assigned a location which they were to go to so that they could each block off the parade route. Dad was stationed across the road from the woman who was selected to be saluted to by the veterans passing by - she was a flight squadron commander in the Australian Air Force. After the veterans passed by, Dad and the other SES members had to remain at their posts until the veterans returned back that way after the ceremony. Dad felt it was quite an honour to be able to help out in this way and Dad says that some people even said thank you to the SES members as they passed them by.
At 4pm, our friends, Robyn and Geoff came by. We had asked them to come to dinner and Geoff offered to come over early so that he could give us some more practice time on the scooter. He has been so good at offering his time to do that and we really appreciate him for that. Dad looked great on the scooter and very confident - he drove downtown so that he could get some practice riding in a busy part of town. John, our instructor, had told us that he would expect us to ride in little traffic, some traffic and a lot of traffic. Dad said that he was very comfortable riding in the busy part of town and I think that he is ready to take the final test of riding the scooter. I, on the other hand, am not quite there - but, I was better riding yesterday. I felt much more comfortable and even made a right hand turn (which is like making a left hand turn over there in Canada). I was a bit nervous doing it since I had to make sure to keep checking traffic both ways, but I managed to do it. It was a bit hard riding westward as the sun was going down that way and it was hard to see well. Geoff says he will come again on Thursday around noon so that I can practice driving in other parts of town without having to worry about the sun shining in my eyes.
It was lovely having Robyn and Geoff for dinner. They are about ten years older than us and are retired. Geoff was a police officer in Queensland and then taught police officers at a university in New South Wales. They are very easy to talk with and so the conversation flowed really easily. Next time they come over, we are going to teach them how to play cribbage and/or euchre. I think that Geoff knows how to play the games, but Robyn isn't much into card games, she said.
Today (Tuesday) was relaxing in the morning, but then things got busy. First was grocery shopping, clothes shopping (I bought two more blouses and a sweater), errands, then to Rob and Rosalea's for lunch. Rosalea wanted us to show her how to use the church's family history program. Her sister in Perth (western Australia) has done a lot of it and Rosalea wants to help out. We taught both her and Rob how to navigate around the website and they are both eager to get their family information entered into the program. Rosalea said that she might come on Wednesday nights once Dad starts opening up the Family History Centre on Wednesdays (first day: next week: May 4th).
The missionaries came over for dinner tonight - I made chicken parmesan as it is Elder Richardson's favourite and he had asked me to make it. I found an easy recipe and it was made even easier to make when I found that our local grocery store (Coles) make something called 'chicken schnitzel' which is basically a chicken breast pounded down and then soaked in an egg and milk mix and then covered in bread crumbs. We taught the missionaries how to play cribbage tonight- actually, it was just a refresher for Elder Richardson and Elder Paki caught on pretty quickly. We only had time to play one game before we had to make dinner, but we will play more games with them when they come over for dinner in the future. :-)
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Friday was a heavenly day - we couldn't have asked for a more perfect day for our picnic with our friends. When Robyn and I were visiting teaching Rosalea earlier this week, Rosalea asked us if we would like to meet at the beach for lunch on Friday. We all agreed it was a great idea, but because we figured that tons of people would be there since it was a holiday, we thought we should get there early - so, we decided to go for breakfast AND lunch. In the parks here, there are electric barbecues provided by the council. So, we all brought different items and then put them all together. For breakfast, we had eggs, bacon, onions, mushrooms and tomatoes on buns - I also had a hot cross bun - yummy! :-) We were going to go for a walk after breakfast, but we were worried about losing our place (we met at the barbecue which was under a shelter with picnic tables), so we just sat around and chatted 'til it was time for lunch. For lunch we all brought our own meat to barbecue and then each couple brought a salad to share. The weather was amazing - the sun was shining, it was so warm and there was a lovely breeze blowing there by the water. What could be better? Good friends, good food, and good weather!
After lunch, Dad and I went for a swim - well, it was more like a sit in the shallow water. :-) By the time we got to go swimming, the tide was going out - but, it was nice to just be in the water and enjoy the warm sun and cool breeze. Our friends came down to the beach after a while and Rob began using his metal detector. He has found lots of jewellry and coins and other metal things at the beach over the past couple of weeks since he bought it. Today, he didn't have much luck - he did find a 20c coin, but the rest of the things he found were things like bottlecaps, sinkers, nails and wire. When we got home, there was still a couple of hours of sunlight and so we went out onto the patio and sat in our chaise lounges to enjoy more of this beautiful day. We both were reading when I felt weary and so I turned over and rested my eyes. I never fell asleep, but it was lovely just relaxing outside listening to the music on the CD player. What a fantastic day! :-)
Yesterday was another fabulous day - nay, I would say a perfect day! :-) Dad and I packed up a lunch, put it in our esky (cooler) and headed off for the beach. After a quick dip, we ate lunch and then went back in the water again. We only went in waist deep, so we didn't have to wait for half an hour after eating to go in the water. :-) The water was quite cool, actually - we thought that since it was around noon, the water would have warmed up, but not so. It was still really nice just paddling around in the water. After our second dip, we went back up under the trees where we had put our chairs and camp stools (we use to put our feet up on) and sat and read for a while. While we were reading we noticed a bunch of sailboats on the water - it appeared that they were having a race - we don't get the local paper out here in Wondunna so we don't know what's going on locally. It was such a pretty picture with all those sailboats on the water and the sun shining down on the water - I wish that I had had my camera there to take some photos. After reading for another while, we had another dip and then read some more. Around 3pm, clouds rolled in and it looked like it was going to be a while before the sun peeked out again, so we decided to come home and spend time outside on our chaise lounges. We spent about two hours outside doing some more reading and a little napping. It was such a lovely, nay, perfect day! :-)
Today was another lovely day. We started it off by talking with our girls and boys. It's always nice to chat with our family - I couldn't believe how big Dominic is getting - he is going to be motoring around by the time we get back - I am so glad that we can Skype with everyone - it's almost like we are there. The talks today at church were focused on Easter, of course. Elder Paki, our friend, Robyn, and another member, Alistair, spoke about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Although we think about Jesus often, it's good to be reminded of just how much he suffered for us so that we can live again when we leave this world. I taught the Sharing Time lesson in Primary today and it, too, was based on the resurrection of Jesus. I first talked about how Jesus atoned for us so that when we repent, our sins are washed away and we are clean again. I did an object lesson: I showed them my clean hand and told them that this was like a person free from sin; then, I rubbed my hand in dirt and told them that this was like a person who has sinned; then, I washed my hands with soap and water and told them that this was like repenting and being forgiven and clean again. I told them, though, that it was only through the atonement of Christ that they could repent and be forgiven. The children were really focused during this object lesson. I really like these kinds of lessons because these are the ones that tend to stay with them.
After church, Dad and I went to the hospital to have a short visit with Judy, the woman in our ward who had a stroke a couple of weeks ago - she was transferred up to the Hervey Bay hospital this week which we are appreciative of as it was too far to go to see her in the Brisbane hospital where she was. It was really hard seeing Judy in the state she is. Before her stroke, she was a very active woman - she did everything for herself and her husband. When we saw her today, she could hardly move or talk. I could tell that she was frustrated, for sure. She didn't have the tv going and she had no energy to do anything else. She must be so bored. The nurse told us that it was going to be a very long recovery for Judy - I am sure inside she is screaming at feeling so 'useless'. As I was leaving the hospital, I felt very weepy. After lunch, Dad and I decided to go for a walk along the boardwalk by the beach. When we parked the car, Dad said that the car beside us belonged to friends from church. As we walked toward the boardwalk, we saw our friends, Sandy and Lloyd, so we sat with them and chatted for quite a while. They are a lovely couple - Lloyd is not a member of the church, but the missionaries tell us that he is a 'dry Mormon'. After our visit, we went for a walk along the boardwalk - it was such a lovely day today - being outside in the warmth was fabulous! :-)
After lunch, Dad and I went for a swim - well, it was more like a sit in the shallow water. :-) By the time we got to go swimming, the tide was going out - but, it was nice to just be in the water and enjoy the warm sun and cool breeze. Our friends came down to the beach after a while and Rob began using his metal detector. He has found lots of jewellry and coins and other metal things at the beach over the past couple of weeks since he bought it. Today, he didn't have much luck - he did find a 20c coin, but the rest of the things he found were things like bottlecaps, sinkers, nails and wire. When we got home, there was still a couple of hours of sunlight and so we went out onto the patio and sat in our chaise lounges to enjoy more of this beautiful day. We both were reading when I felt weary and so I turned over and rested my eyes. I never fell asleep, but it was lovely just relaxing outside listening to the music on the CD player. What a fantastic day! :-)
Yesterday was another fabulous day - nay, I would say a perfect day! :-) Dad and I packed up a lunch, put it in our esky (cooler) and headed off for the beach. After a quick dip, we ate lunch and then went back in the water again. We only went in waist deep, so we didn't have to wait for half an hour after eating to go in the water. :-) The water was quite cool, actually - we thought that since it was around noon, the water would have warmed up, but not so. It was still really nice just paddling around in the water. After our second dip, we went back up under the trees where we had put our chairs and camp stools (we use to put our feet up on) and sat and read for a while. While we were reading we noticed a bunch of sailboats on the water - it appeared that they were having a race - we don't get the local paper out here in Wondunna so we don't know what's going on locally. It was such a pretty picture with all those sailboats on the water and the sun shining down on the water - I wish that I had had my camera there to take some photos. After reading for another while, we had another dip and then read some more. Around 3pm, clouds rolled in and it looked like it was going to be a while before the sun peeked out again, so we decided to come home and spend time outside on our chaise lounges. We spent about two hours outside doing some more reading and a little napping. It was such a lovely, nay, perfect day! :-)
Today was another lovely day. We started it off by talking with our girls and boys. It's always nice to chat with our family - I couldn't believe how big Dominic is getting - he is going to be motoring around by the time we get back - I am so glad that we can Skype with everyone - it's almost like we are there. The talks today at church were focused on Easter, of course. Elder Paki, our friend, Robyn, and another member, Alistair, spoke about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Although we think about Jesus often, it's good to be reminded of just how much he suffered for us so that we can live again when we leave this world. I taught the Sharing Time lesson in Primary today and it, too, was based on the resurrection of Jesus. I first talked about how Jesus atoned for us so that when we repent, our sins are washed away and we are clean again. I did an object lesson: I showed them my clean hand and told them that this was like a person free from sin; then, I rubbed my hand in dirt and told them that this was like a person who has sinned; then, I washed my hands with soap and water and told them that this was like repenting and being forgiven and clean again. I told them, though, that it was only through the atonement of Christ that they could repent and be forgiven. The children were really focused during this object lesson. I really like these kinds of lessons because these are the ones that tend to stay with them.
After church, Dad and I went to the hospital to have a short visit with Judy, the woman in our ward who had a stroke a couple of weeks ago - she was transferred up to the Hervey Bay hospital this week which we are appreciative of as it was too far to go to see her in the Brisbane hospital where she was. It was really hard seeing Judy in the state she is. Before her stroke, she was a very active woman - she did everything for herself and her husband. When we saw her today, she could hardly move or talk. I could tell that she was frustrated, for sure. She didn't have the tv going and she had no energy to do anything else. She must be so bored. The nurse told us that it was going to be a very long recovery for Judy - I am sure inside she is screaming at feeling so 'useless'. As I was leaving the hospital, I felt very weepy. After lunch, Dad and I decided to go for a walk along the boardwalk by the beach. When we parked the car, Dad said that the car beside us belonged to friends from church. As we walked toward the boardwalk, we saw our friends, Sandy and Lloyd, so we sat with them and chatted for quite a while. They are a lovely couple - Lloyd is not a member of the church, but the missionaries tell us that he is a 'dry Mormon'. After our visit, we went for a walk along the boardwalk - it was such a lovely day today - being outside in the warmth was fabulous! :-)
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Where does the time go in a day - I think I need 48 hours per day these days! :-)
Yesterday (Wednesday), we were supposed to be having two little boys from church over for the day. I talked with their mom, Tammy, on Sunday about it and we decided that Wednesday would be the best day for all of us. I asked her to call me and waited for her call, but it never came. I guess I will find out on Sunday what happened. Tammy is about Terri-Ann's age and has three boys around Colin, Caleb and Benjamin's age. I know how challenging three boys can be and so I offered ages ago to watch the boys so that Tammy and Zander (short for Alexander) could go out on a date. Dad and I had been invited to come over to their house one day last year and Zeke (their eldest) has asked when we are coming over again. :-)
While we were waiting for the call, Dad and I worked on church stuff. After lunch, we went for a walk on the beach. I was hoping to get in a swim since it had rained on Tuesday when we had time to go for a swim. However, when we got to the beach, it was low tide. So we walked out a fair way to the edge of the water and just walked along the water's edge for about 45 minutes. It was really lovely - warm and with a slight breeze - I really hope we can get in a swim before the holiday is over.
Dad went over to Chris's house after our walk (he is a fellow from church who is the Elder's Quorum President). Since he and dad lead the men's groups at church, they are going to be getting together quite often to go over their lists and see if they can meet up with everyone who they are responsible for. It's been a while since the names/addresses have been checked and so Dad and Chris will focus on the names from Hervey Bay while the bishop, Geoff and the missionaries do the same for the names in Maryborough (another large city about half an hour from HB and which is part of our ward). They are hoping to find out who still lives in the area and who has moved on. Once all the visits have been made, they will make up the home teaching lists so that everyone can have visits from members once a month.
Today was a lovely day outside - perfect for going to the beach - and Dad and I were too busy to go there. Wahhhhh! I drove the car today to Meals on Wheels - I am trying to drive more so that I feel more confident driving which leads me to feel more confident riding the scooter. Today while doing Meals on Wheels, we found out that one of our clients had passed away during the week. When I saw his daughter, I expressed my condolences - she said thanks and then said that she was looking at this situation positively. Her dad was 89 years old and he had just returned from his walk which he enjoyed doing, took three short breaths and passed away. So, he had lived a good, long life and he was doing something he loved doing when he died. I thought that she had a really good attitude toward her dad's passing.
After MOW and doing some shopping, we headed home to meet up with Geoff and Robyn who had come over so that they could follow us around while we did some more practicing on our scooter. Dad went first and he did a great job riding - he was very confident and it showed in the way he rode. I, on the other hand, am not as confident, but, I did do better today. I didn't feel worried about going fast and actually got up to 70km/h. I did have a little trouble stopping at the line when I came to a street which I had to stop at (I stopped too soon) and I also needed more time working on starting from a complete stop on a hill (which I did practice more today). I hope we can get in a couple of more sessions before Geoff and Robyn leave for two months.
As soon as our scooter session was over, Dad had to leave to go to SES. The meeting was held earlier today as it wasn't a regular meeting because it's a long weekend this weekend (a very long weekend since it's Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon and Tues). Those who needed to recertify their CPR were the ones who attended the training today. Since Dad's certification runs out next month, he needed to attend today's training. While he was doing that, I was outside in our backyard enjoying the beautiful weather. :-)
Yesterday (Wednesday), we were supposed to be having two little boys from church over for the day. I talked with their mom, Tammy, on Sunday about it and we decided that Wednesday would be the best day for all of us. I asked her to call me and waited for her call, but it never came. I guess I will find out on Sunday what happened. Tammy is about Terri-Ann's age and has three boys around Colin, Caleb and Benjamin's age. I know how challenging three boys can be and so I offered ages ago to watch the boys so that Tammy and Zander (short for Alexander) could go out on a date. Dad and I had been invited to come over to their house one day last year and Zeke (their eldest) has asked when we are coming over again. :-)
While we were waiting for the call, Dad and I worked on church stuff. After lunch, we went for a walk on the beach. I was hoping to get in a swim since it had rained on Tuesday when we had time to go for a swim. However, when we got to the beach, it was low tide. So we walked out a fair way to the edge of the water and just walked along the water's edge for about 45 minutes. It was really lovely - warm and with a slight breeze - I really hope we can get in a swim before the holiday is over.
Dad went over to Chris's house after our walk (he is a fellow from church who is the Elder's Quorum President). Since he and dad lead the men's groups at church, they are going to be getting together quite often to go over their lists and see if they can meet up with everyone who they are responsible for. It's been a while since the names/addresses have been checked and so Dad and Chris will focus on the names from Hervey Bay while the bishop, Geoff and the missionaries do the same for the names in Maryborough (another large city about half an hour from HB and which is part of our ward). They are hoping to find out who still lives in the area and who has moved on. Once all the visits have been made, they will make up the home teaching lists so that everyone can have visits from members once a month.
Today was a lovely day outside - perfect for going to the beach - and Dad and I were too busy to go there. Wahhhhh! I drove the car today to Meals on Wheels - I am trying to drive more so that I feel more confident driving which leads me to feel more confident riding the scooter. Today while doing Meals on Wheels, we found out that one of our clients had passed away during the week. When I saw his daughter, I expressed my condolences - she said thanks and then said that she was looking at this situation positively. Her dad was 89 years old and he had just returned from his walk which he enjoyed doing, took three short breaths and passed away. So, he had lived a good, long life and he was doing something he loved doing when he died. I thought that she had a really good attitude toward her dad's passing.
After MOW and doing some shopping, we headed home to meet up with Geoff and Robyn who had come over so that they could follow us around while we did some more practicing on our scooter. Dad went first and he did a great job riding - he was very confident and it showed in the way he rode. I, on the other hand, am not as confident, but, I did do better today. I didn't feel worried about going fast and actually got up to 70km/h. I did have a little trouble stopping at the line when I came to a street which I had to stop at (I stopped too soon) and I also needed more time working on starting from a complete stop on a hill (which I did practice more today). I hope we can get in a couple of more sessions before Geoff and Robyn leave for two months.
As soon as our scooter session was over, Dad had to leave to go to SES. The meeting was held earlier today as it wasn't a regular meeting because it's a long weekend this weekend (a very long weekend since it's Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon and Tues). Those who needed to recertify their CPR were the ones who attended the training today. Since Dad's certification runs out next month, he needed to attend today's training. While he was doing that, I was outside in our backyard enjoying the beautiful weather. :-)
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Oops, remembered when we were in bed last night that I had forgotten to write in my blog - sorry about that. :-)
Monday was a busy day as usual. Dad was at the Family History Centre - he spent some time helping a couple of members do indexing. The phone also rang off the hook - Dad said that people had seen the article in the paper and were calling to see where the church was located. He was also able to do some of his own research and was able to find the marriage certificate for Grandma Noble's parents which now gives him some more information about her ancestors. Dad was very excited about this find! I spent the day in the Primary room again, going through more 'stuff'. I also wrote down all the stuff which is in the cupboards so that I can let the teachers know at our meeting on Sunday what's in there. The cupboard looks amazing, if I do say so myself. :-) It's all organized so everything is easily seen and accessible.
We seem to be spending our evenings doing Primary/High Priests work. There is a lot to do when you are the leader of an auxiliary in the church. I make lists of the things I need to do and every time I tick something off a list, it seems like I put two more items back on the list. :-) Dad's job right now is mostly finding out who the people are who are on the list he has been given. A number of the people have stopped coming to church and so, if they move, they don't let us know, and so there tends to be a large number of people on the lists, but the people are not necessarily even still living in Hervey Bay. My time is mostly taken up with getting the Primary running smoothly - and keeping up with all the things which need to be done along the way (like interviews to be organized with the Bishop when a child is going to be baptized or advancing to Young Men/Young Women's). I am so grateful to have an amazing secretary who really keeps things organized.
We took two meals over to our Relief Society President on Tuesday afternoon to be taken to the husband of the woman in our ward who had a heart attack/stroke last week and is in hospital in Brisbane. He is being provided with suppers for every night, but only two sisters are allowed to deliver them - this fellow isn't too keen on having church members come up to his door. So our RS president and the previous RS president are doing the delivering of the meals - one delivers them on Tuesdays and the other makes her delivery on Saturdays. I don't know how long the ward will provide the meals for him - it's going to be hard for him when he's on his own as he didn't even know how to use the toaster or the microwave oven - his wife did everything. I suggested that maybe they should suggest that he get Meals on Wheels to bring him meals - he can get a sandwich, main meal, and dessert for $7.00 a day.
We spent our afternoon yesterday doing cleaning - I was inside the house and Dad was outside. I don't like cleaning, never have and never will, and usually I don't do the main cleaning as Dad does it while I am at school, but since I am on school holidays, I thought that I should help out with the cleaning. :-) Dad was busy trying to clean the bug/spider eggs which were attached to the fans and the ceiling of the patio covering.
I was able to Skype with Char yesterday afternoon which was fun - I love the technology that allows us to keep in touch so easily. While I was talking with her, I showed her my scooter, our car and our new outdoor suite - it was so cool. It's amazing how cheap things have become to do things like this, too. I remember when I was a teenager and we called from Toronto to Wagga to talk with Grandma and Grandpa Dunkley at Christmas time and it cost us $3.00 per minute then.
We had the missionaries over for dinner again and, as usual, they were our 'guinea pigs' with the meal we planned. It was a beef and vegetable pie - basically, hamburger and tons of vegetables in a tomato base and topped with an all purpose biscuit mix (like Bisquick). It was okay, but it's not on the top of my list. I am looking forward to trying some meals with the black beans we bought back from Canada - I am going to cook the dried beans and see how they work in the recipes that I used to make back in Canada - I really like mexican and tex/mex meals, so I am happy that I can now cook them. We told the missionaries that next time they came, we would teach them how to play cribbage - we used to do that with the missionaries before we went to Canada in November. They are looking forward to that. They gave us a spiritual thought based on the scripture 1 Nephi 3:7 which says "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." We talked about the fact that we need to have faith in the Lord when we are asked to do something that He will always be with us to help us do whatever he has asked us to do. I love the faith that Nephi had - his brothers thought that what they had been asked to do would be impossible, but Nephi knew that Heavenly Father would help him to complete the task.
Monday was a busy day as usual. Dad was at the Family History Centre - he spent some time helping a couple of members do indexing. The phone also rang off the hook - Dad said that people had seen the article in the paper and were calling to see where the church was located. He was also able to do some of his own research and was able to find the marriage certificate for Grandma Noble's parents which now gives him some more information about her ancestors. Dad was very excited about this find! I spent the day in the Primary room again, going through more 'stuff'. I also wrote down all the stuff which is in the cupboards so that I can let the teachers know at our meeting on Sunday what's in there. The cupboard looks amazing, if I do say so myself. :-) It's all organized so everything is easily seen and accessible.
We seem to be spending our evenings doing Primary/High Priests work. There is a lot to do when you are the leader of an auxiliary in the church. I make lists of the things I need to do and every time I tick something off a list, it seems like I put two more items back on the list. :-) Dad's job right now is mostly finding out who the people are who are on the list he has been given. A number of the people have stopped coming to church and so, if they move, they don't let us know, and so there tends to be a large number of people on the lists, but the people are not necessarily even still living in Hervey Bay. My time is mostly taken up with getting the Primary running smoothly - and keeping up with all the things which need to be done along the way (like interviews to be organized with the Bishop when a child is going to be baptized or advancing to Young Men/Young Women's). I am so grateful to have an amazing secretary who really keeps things organized.
We took two meals over to our Relief Society President on Tuesday afternoon to be taken to the husband of the woman in our ward who had a heart attack/stroke last week and is in hospital in Brisbane. He is being provided with suppers for every night, but only two sisters are allowed to deliver them - this fellow isn't too keen on having church members come up to his door. So our RS president and the previous RS president are doing the delivering of the meals - one delivers them on Tuesdays and the other makes her delivery on Saturdays. I don't know how long the ward will provide the meals for him - it's going to be hard for him when he's on his own as he didn't even know how to use the toaster or the microwave oven - his wife did everything. I suggested that maybe they should suggest that he get Meals on Wheels to bring him meals - he can get a sandwich, main meal, and dessert for $7.00 a day.
We spent our afternoon yesterday doing cleaning - I was inside the house and Dad was outside. I don't like cleaning, never have and never will, and usually I don't do the main cleaning as Dad does it while I am at school, but since I am on school holidays, I thought that I should help out with the cleaning. :-) Dad was busy trying to clean the bug/spider eggs which were attached to the fans and the ceiling of the patio covering.
I was able to Skype with Char yesterday afternoon which was fun - I love the technology that allows us to keep in touch so easily. While I was talking with her, I showed her my scooter, our car and our new outdoor suite - it was so cool. It's amazing how cheap things have become to do things like this, too. I remember when I was a teenager and we called from Toronto to Wagga to talk with Grandma and Grandpa Dunkley at Christmas time and it cost us $3.00 per minute then.
We had the missionaries over for dinner again and, as usual, they were our 'guinea pigs' with the meal we planned. It was a beef and vegetable pie - basically, hamburger and tons of vegetables in a tomato base and topped with an all purpose biscuit mix (like Bisquick). It was okay, but it's not on the top of my list. I am looking forward to trying some meals with the black beans we bought back from Canada - I am going to cook the dried beans and see how they work in the recipes that I used to make back in Canada - I really like mexican and tex/mex meals, so I am happy that I can now cook them. We told the missionaries that next time they came, we would teach them how to play cribbage - we used to do that with the missionaries before we went to Canada in November. They are looking forward to that. They gave us a spiritual thought based on the scripture 1 Nephi 3:7 which says "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." We talked about the fact that we need to have faith in the Lord when we are asked to do something that He will always be with us to help us do whatever he has asked us to do. I love the faith that Nephi had - his brothers thought that what they had been asked to do would be impossible, but Nephi knew that Heavenly Father would help him to complete the task.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
I forgot to tell you all in my last blog that I was offered a job, which I turned down. It was a teacher's aide job working with children who are almost at level in reading and just need a little more assistance. I turned it down because the pay was half of what I can make at supply teaching. The teacher who called me told me that she figured that I wouldn't be interested in taking the position, but since I was in so often volunteering at the school, she wanted to offer it to me first. It would have meant working three days a week for eight weeks. I have been told that teachers are off a lot in the second term and so I felt that it would be better to keep my days open for supply teaching.
Since Friday was a 'Pupil Free Day' (like a PD Day), I spent the day at the chapel. I spent hours going through the filing cabinet and Primary cupboard - I found more stuff from 2002, 2005, etc. It felt great being able to clear it all out and throw away so much stuff. I think that people have just been letting things build up over the years and didn't want to throw anything out - I did not have that problem. :-) Dad spent time at the Family History Centre in the morning - mostly working on trying to figure out why the internet wasn't working - turns out he needed to reset the whole system - had to call the ward clerk in to the chapel to open the clerk's office to do that. He spent some time with me in the Primary room setting up the bulletin boards. Here are some pics to show you how it turned out.
I think I might have forgotten to tell you about Dad's celebrity status. :-) He was in the local newspaper. Our Ward Mission Leader, Geoff, wrote up an article about the Family History Centre and took a pic of Dad and Nicole (a new member) by one of the film readers. Here is the article.
Elder Richarson (left) and Elder Paki
Since Friday was a 'Pupil Free Day' (like a PD Day), I spent the day at the chapel. I spent hours going through the filing cabinet and Primary cupboard - I found more stuff from 2002, 2005, etc. It felt great being able to clear it all out and throw away so much stuff. I think that people have just been letting things build up over the years and didn't want to throw anything out - I did not have that problem. :-) Dad spent time at the Family History Centre in the morning - mostly working on trying to figure out why the internet wasn't working - turns out he needed to reset the whole system - had to call the ward clerk in to the chapel to open the clerk's office to do that. He spent some time with me in the Primary room setting up the bulletin boards. Here are some pics to show you how it turned out.
I think I might have forgotten to tell you about Dad's celebrity status. :-) He was in the local newspaper. Our Ward Mission Leader, Geoff, wrote up an article about the Family History Centre and took a pic of Dad and Nicole (a new member) by one of the film readers. Here is the article.
On Saturday, we Skyped with Terri-Ann, Colin, Caleb, Benjamin and Jennifer (Derek waved 'hi' in the background :-) It's always nice to talk with my girls and boys. :-) It's amazing to me how technology helps us to keep in touch as if we are almost there - it's great! :-)
The missionaries came for lunch on Saturday as they hadn't been able to come to us for dinner this week. The members take really good care of the missionaries in this ward. Not only do they get to come to members' homes for dinner, but people also bring food for them to the chapel on Sundays which they take home to eat for lunch during the week. Elders Richardson and Paki (pronounced Pah-key) told us that they love coming to our house which made us feel good. Elder Richardson wanted me to put a pic of them on my blog, so here it is.
After they left, we spent the rest of the day working on church stuff - Primary stuff for me and Dad worked on his small talk for the Music fireside today and also his High Priest group lesson for today as well. After dinner, we had four games of cribbage - it was so much fun - we haven't played it in ages.
Today, we had a 'church day' meaning that we were at church a lot today. We started out at 8:15am at our Ward Mission group meeting - we meet every Sunday to talk about how we can help the missionaries out (they are part of our group) - we talk about what we can do to help the church become better known in Hervey Bay. We also talk about things (like today - the music fireside) which we can invite non-members to to introduce them to the church.
There were many positive comments about the new bulletin boards in Primary - that was really nice to hear since Dad and I put a lot of time and effort into making it look good. Things are starting to come together in Primary, but it's taking time and patience (sometimes, patience is not my best quality :-) I am grateful for my secretary as she keeps me on track. My first counsellor is away right now with her daughter and my second counsellor has her daughter and four grandchildren living with her now, so it's mostly just me and Denise (secretary) who are getting things organized right now. I will be going in tomorrow while Dad is at the FHC and will work some more on getting the Primary room sorted out. I am hoping that this will be the last time I have to spend so much time clearing things up in there.
At 4:30pm, Dad and I went back to church for the musical fireside. It was based on music with an Easter theme (Christ, the atonement, etc) and we have many talented people in our ward. We had a lady play a harp which was absolutely beautiful. We had a number of singers including the women in the ward choir perform and then we had Elder Richardson read different scriptures which were interspersed with songs which the congregation sang. The fireside ended with Dad talking a little about worshipping through music and about the Saviour and the atonement - he finished by bearing his testimony about the resurrection of the Saviour. He did a really nice job - you wouldn't even have known that he was nervous. :-)
Thursday, April 14, 2011
I didn't get a call to supply teach Wednesday, so I went in to Kawungan to see if Terri wanted me to go over her students' writing task we did Tuesday with each of them. I was only able to get to a couple on that day as were two other teachers who came in to assist for a bit. Terri is such a lovely person and she was so appreciative of me helping her out. All day she kept saying "if you need to do something else, that's fine". I kept telling her that I was there for as long as she needed me. I didn't tell Luise I was there cuz I figured that I would only be with Terri for a little bit and then I would go and help Luise, but I didn't want to tell Luise I would be there in case things went differently than I imagined. Well, it sure did - it took me all day to go over the students' work with them. I was basically looking at how they had copied their corrected work on to a good copy. There was only one student who did it really well and a few who did it pretty well. Some teachers will just fix up the mistakes the students make when copying from rough copy to good copy, but I think it's more beneficial for the students if they do it themselves. Of course, if you are the classroom teacher, it's hard to find the time to do that. So having me do it would be a big help to Terri, I knew - I made notes as I went along as well so that she could use the comments if she wanted.
Dad spent the day at home doing the dreaded taxes. Man, the poor guy has really struggled with these. This is the Canadian taxes and there are no computer programs that Dad knows of which can do the taxes for him (like he used to do in Canada). He had to download pages and pages of information on how to fill out the forms - it literally took him all day and evening to finish them. I was so appreciative of him spending so much time to do this nasty job. He is going to contact the company which made the program he used to use to do his taxes in Canada to see if they have anything which might make it easier for him to do them next year. When we get back to Canada, we are going to take our info into H and R Block to make sure that he has done it the best way possible since there was so much information to go through and it was like legalese.
I didn't get a call to go in today, either (didn't think I would since it's the last day before the Easter holidays) and so I was able to go with Dad to do Meals on Wheels which I really enjoy doing. We were given a short route, so we were done quite quickly. Dad is so good with remembering where streets are - he can go on route one time and remember so much of the way we have to go - he's always been able to do that and it's a pretty amazing talent, I think.
This afternoon, our friends, Geoff and Robyn, came over. Geoff has a motorcycle license and he is allowed to drive behind us while we go on the scooter and practice riding. I went first and felt really comfortable riding it in our area of town (out in the boonies :-) Then, I rode down towards town, past the Anglican College, through the roundabout, and turned right (away from town) and drove with some of the traffic. When I got to the end of the street, I got off. I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed and so I let Dad have a turn. What I found was that it was hard to get into traffic and ride and think about everything at the same time. I also found it hard to go above 50km - it just seemed too fast for me. Dad got on and didn't seem to have any issues - fearless, he was. :-) Watching him, I wondered if part of my problem is that I have not driven over here in over a year - Dad seemed so comfortable in traffic. Riding the scooter itself is not a problem - it's easy to do - it's just that I didn't feel comfortable around the traffic and I wonder if that's cuz Dad always drives. I found it hard to guage the passenger side of the car here and so I stopped driving. I told Dad that I need to get more practice in driving so that I feel comfortable about it again. It was great being on the bike out in the country, though - I even got up to 60km/hr when I was on my second ride. That felt great! :-)
Robyn and I went visiting teaching today. We visited with a woman whose husband is not a member. She is a lovely woman and we enjoy visiting with her. We have good discussions and get a good yak in as well. I feel for her, though, as her life at home is not easy. She goes to work full-time and then has to come home and do all the home stuff. Today, she had started dinner and stopped it to visit with us. After about a half hour visit, she said she had to go and finish making dinner - her husband wouldn't even do that. I asked her if she could come out one day for dinner or lunch in town instead of us coming out to her house - thought she might like to get out and let someone else do the cooking for her. She made a bunch of excuses and then said that it was hard for her to even get out to Relief Society, basically telling us that her husband didn't like her going out to church stuff or with church people. I tell you what - it sure make me appreciate your Dad even more.
Tonight at SES, Dad joined in with the newbie group today as he missed the second half of that class while we were in Canada. So, tonight he was a team leader in a communication exercise. His task was to 'find the fox'. 'The fox' was another SES person in an SES truck - each of the four teams had a grid map of a 10 square block radius. In turn, each team could ask 'the fox' one question which could only be answered affirmative or negative and the question had to be based on compass point directions. So, through listening to the answers to the questions, they were to narrow down the area of focus until they could pinpoint 'the fox's' exact location. This was all done by walking the grid and listening to the answers/asking the questions via radio (walkie talkie). They repeated the exercise four or five times and Dad's team was able to locate 'the fox' once before the other teams were able to. Dad really enjoyed the exercise and found it was good practice to get on the radio.
Dad spent the day at home doing the dreaded taxes. Man, the poor guy has really struggled with these. This is the Canadian taxes and there are no computer programs that Dad knows of which can do the taxes for him (like he used to do in Canada). He had to download pages and pages of information on how to fill out the forms - it literally took him all day and evening to finish them. I was so appreciative of him spending so much time to do this nasty job. He is going to contact the company which made the program he used to use to do his taxes in Canada to see if they have anything which might make it easier for him to do them next year. When we get back to Canada, we are going to take our info into H and R Block to make sure that he has done it the best way possible since there was so much information to go through and it was like legalese.
I didn't get a call to go in today, either (didn't think I would since it's the last day before the Easter holidays) and so I was able to go with Dad to do Meals on Wheels which I really enjoy doing. We were given a short route, so we were done quite quickly. Dad is so good with remembering where streets are - he can go on route one time and remember so much of the way we have to go - he's always been able to do that and it's a pretty amazing talent, I think.
This afternoon, our friends, Geoff and Robyn, came over. Geoff has a motorcycle license and he is allowed to drive behind us while we go on the scooter and practice riding. I went first and felt really comfortable riding it in our area of town (out in the boonies :-) Then, I rode down towards town, past the Anglican College, through the roundabout, and turned right (away from town) and drove with some of the traffic. When I got to the end of the street, I got off. I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed and so I let Dad have a turn. What I found was that it was hard to get into traffic and ride and think about everything at the same time. I also found it hard to go above 50km - it just seemed too fast for me. Dad got on and didn't seem to have any issues - fearless, he was. :-) Watching him, I wondered if part of my problem is that I have not driven over here in over a year - Dad seemed so comfortable in traffic. Riding the scooter itself is not a problem - it's easy to do - it's just that I didn't feel comfortable around the traffic and I wonder if that's cuz Dad always drives. I found it hard to guage the passenger side of the car here and so I stopped driving. I told Dad that I need to get more practice in driving so that I feel comfortable about it again. It was great being on the bike out in the country, though - I even got up to 60km/hr when I was on my second ride. That felt great! :-)
Robyn and I went visiting teaching today. We visited with a woman whose husband is not a member. She is a lovely woman and we enjoy visiting with her. We have good discussions and get a good yak in as well. I feel for her, though, as her life at home is not easy. She goes to work full-time and then has to come home and do all the home stuff. Today, she had started dinner and stopped it to visit with us. After about a half hour visit, she said she had to go and finish making dinner - her husband wouldn't even do that. I asked her if she could come out one day for dinner or lunch in town instead of us coming out to her house - thought she might like to get out and let someone else do the cooking for her. She made a bunch of excuses and then said that it was hard for her to even get out to Relief Society, basically telling us that her husband didn't like her going out to church stuff or with church people. I tell you what - it sure make me appreciate your Dad even more.
Tonight at SES, Dad joined in with the newbie group today as he missed the second half of that class while we were in Canada. So, tonight he was a team leader in a communication exercise. His task was to 'find the fox'. 'The fox' was another SES person in an SES truck - each of the four teams had a grid map of a 10 square block radius. In turn, each team could ask 'the fox' one question which could only be answered affirmative or negative and the question had to be based on compass point directions. So, through listening to the answers to the questions, they were to narrow down the area of focus until they could pinpoint 'the fox's' exact location. This was all done by walking the grid and listening to the answers/asking the questions via radio (walkie talkie). They repeated the exercise four or five times and Dad's team was able to locate 'the fox' once before the other teams were able to. Dad really enjoyed the exercise and found it was good practice to get on the radio.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Whew! What a busy day for both Dad and I. I thought I wasn't going to be called in to teach today as I hadn't received a call by 7am, but at 7:15am, I received a call from Tracer asking me to teach a grade three class at Kawungan. It was a class which I had taught for half a day before - there are a few challenging children in there and so I wasn't overly thrilled about going, but it was a day's pay and it wasn't an awful class, so I said 'yes', and then got dressed in the shortest time I have ever gotten ready. When I got to school, I found that the teacher had left no plans (and found out later that this was pretty typical of her) and so I had to talk with the teacher next store to get some ideas. I worked out a basic plan and then just tweaked it as I went along. One boy in the class who should be on meds was off the wall and so I took him down to the deputy principal at little lunch - he stayed there for the whole lunch time and some more time as well. Then, at big lunch, I found out a bunch of kids had issues with scissors and so sent them down to see the deputy principal at big lunch. Travis, who was in Bronwyn's class last year was also 'off' today - he is 9, but acts about 4 - when he sets his mind to something, there is no changing it, so off he went with a teacher's aide to the deputy principal. We managed to fill the day with activities - nothing too exciting except for the 20 minutes of chess they played - but, at least I kept them busy. I also found out today that Terry, a grade two teacher, confirmed that she wanted me for tomorrow, so I am already in the system for that. I really like teaching grade two and so I imagine I am going to have a good day tomorrow.
Dad was so busy at the Family History Centre that, at times, there weren't enough computers for the number of patrons wanting to use them. This was very exciting for Dad since that rarely happens. Dad said that there were eight patrons today (a record for this FHC). He tried to do some indexing, but was kept busier helping the patrons with questions they had and having to show them how to use the machines there.
After school, although I was quite worn out, we went for a walk. We decided to just do the route around the park at the end of our street. Once around is a kilometre and so we went around three times. We try to do each round in ten minutes, but we are out of shape a little, I think, and it took us 14 minutes to do each round. We didn't worry about the timing that much as we know we are going to have to build up to it again. It was good to get out in the fresh air and sunshine and have a good talk while we walked. When we got home, I sat outside on my chaise lounge and enjoyed another 45 minutes of fresh air and sun.
I had a fabulous, fabulous time in Terri's grade two class today!!! I had talked with a teacher just before going in and she told me that Terri's class wasn't as lovely as last year. Oh no, I thought - that's just great. Anyway, I get in to the class and I take the attendance and two boys and a girl are away. I found out later, that the two boys who were away were the 'naughty' boys. Woo hoo! :-) So, the rest of the children were awesome and worked hard and followed instructions and listened well. I could hardly have asked for a better day. I told some of the teachers at Big Lunch that I don't feel I earned my pay today, it was that good. :-) I hope that next time I cover for Terri that those two boys are away again. I am sure that Terri is not going to be impressed that she didn't get to enjoy a day without those boys. :-)
Dad had a very busy day at home. He started out his day by hanging up the two loads of clothes which I had put in the washing machine this morning. Then, it was time to go outside and do some yard work: mowing the lawn, trimming, weeding, and spraying for bugs. After lunch, it was time to come inside and clean the house. Dad does a nice job of that - I appreciate not having to do it. When he gets a job, I am not going to like having to help out with this chore.
After doing some grocery shopping and 'Big W' (like Walmart) shopping, we came home. By this time, it was 5:30pm. I was going to get stuck into making dinner, but I couldn't give up the last half hour of light outside. So, I took my computer out there and lay on my chaise lounge and enjoyed the fresh air while I caught up on some emails. I am looking forward to Friday when our fall school holidays start. It will be a lovely ten days of relaxing and enjoying the outdoors. We plan on doing some swimming, walking, biking and lazing around outside on our chaise loungers. Life is great here in HB!!! :-)
Dad was so busy at the Family History Centre that, at times, there weren't enough computers for the number of patrons wanting to use them. This was very exciting for Dad since that rarely happens. Dad said that there were eight patrons today (a record for this FHC). He tried to do some indexing, but was kept busier helping the patrons with questions they had and having to show them how to use the machines there.
After school, although I was quite worn out, we went for a walk. We decided to just do the route around the park at the end of our street. Once around is a kilometre and so we went around three times. We try to do each round in ten minutes, but we are out of shape a little, I think, and it took us 14 minutes to do each round. We didn't worry about the timing that much as we know we are going to have to build up to it again. It was good to get out in the fresh air and sunshine and have a good talk while we walked. When we got home, I sat outside on my chaise lounge and enjoyed another 45 minutes of fresh air and sun.
I had a fabulous, fabulous time in Terri's grade two class today!!! I had talked with a teacher just before going in and she told me that Terri's class wasn't as lovely as last year. Oh no, I thought - that's just great. Anyway, I get in to the class and I take the attendance and two boys and a girl are away. I found out later, that the two boys who were away were the 'naughty' boys. Woo hoo! :-) So, the rest of the children were awesome and worked hard and followed instructions and listened well. I could hardly have asked for a better day. I told some of the teachers at Big Lunch that I don't feel I earned my pay today, it was that good. :-) I hope that next time I cover for Terri that those two boys are away again. I am sure that Terri is not going to be impressed that she didn't get to enjoy a day without those boys. :-)
Dad had a very busy day at home. He started out his day by hanging up the two loads of clothes which I had put in the washing machine this morning. Then, it was time to go outside and do some yard work: mowing the lawn, trimming, weeding, and spraying for bugs. After lunch, it was time to come inside and clean the house. Dad does a nice job of that - I appreciate not having to do it. When he gets a job, I am not going to like having to help out with this chore.
After doing some grocery shopping and 'Big W' (like Walmart) shopping, we came home. By this time, it was 5:30pm. I was going to get stuck into making dinner, but I couldn't give up the last half hour of light outside. So, I took my computer out there and lay on my chaise lounge and enjoyed the fresh air while I caught up on some emails. I am looking forward to Friday when our fall school holidays start. It will be a lovely ten days of relaxing and enjoying the outdoors. We plan on doing some swimming, walking, biking and lazing around outside on our chaise loungers. Life is great here in HB!!! :-)
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