Yesterday was a very lovely day and a busy one as well. We spent the day with three church couples - at different times of the day. We started out sleeping in 'til a very respectable 'sleeping in' time - 9:30am! :-) Dad and I rarely are able to sleep in (when we have days we don't have to get up early) and that's annoying! :-) Our first visit was with Chris and Christine - Christine hurt her leg a few weeks ago at church and she is basically homebound - I have been trying to connect with her to come over and visit. On Sunday at church I asked Chris if I could just drop by and he said to just let him know when I would be coming and I said how about Monday at 11am. When we got there, Cherylyn, the Relief Society president was there mopping the kitchen floor. The four of us (Chris, Christine, Dad and I) started chatting and Cherylyn joined us when she was done mopping. It was lovely to just sit and chat with our friends - you just don't get to do that much at church.
We had to leave there at 1pm as Geoff and Robyn were meeting us at our house for 1:30pm for another scooter practice session. Geoff has been so good to us asking us if we want to go for rides and giving up his time to follow us around and giving us hints (well, giving me hints anyway :-) The day was so beautiful yesterday - beautiful blue sky with some light fluffy white clouds and really warm - a perfect day for a ride. Dad feels confident enough and didn't think he needed a practice, but I suggested he take one more ride downtown to get one more turn in heavy traffic, so he went first. I needed to practice right turns and so I rode around a VERY large block a number of times to do that. The key is to make sure I am as close to the middle line when I make the turn (last week, I turned right from the middle of the lane and Geoff said that a cop might call me up on that). We are going to go out again hopefully on Wednesday - because I haven't driven much around HB, I don't know it very well and so, rather than be nervous today about riding because I'm not sure where I'm going, Dad and I are going to map out a route for me to go and Geoff and Robyn and Dad will follow me around on Wednesday if it's a nice day and given me some practice riding in an area which is a bit busier than the streets I have been riding around so far. When we got home from riding, Geoff asked us if we were still planning on taking a walk along the beach. When we said 'yes' (there is no way we weren't going to enjoy this perfect day some more), they said that they would meet us down there and we could walk along together. We thought that was a great idea - we get along really well with Geoff and Robyn and were happy to go along and have some more time to chat while we walked along the beach on this beautiful day!
On our way home from the beach, I asked Dad to stop at the home of the Gilbert family. Their daughter, Bethany, was assigned a talk on Sunday and her mom, Haidi, was home sick and I wasn't sure if her dad, Alistair, would have seen the piece of paper with the assignment on it on Sunday. Now, to preface this, I gave each parent a three month schedule with a piece of magnet on the back to put on their fridge so they all had plenty of notice as to when their child would have an assignment for Sharing Time and what they would be asked to do. Anyway, their son, Kyle, had been assigned to give a talk a couple of weeks ago and hadn't prepared it, so I wanted to make sure that both parents knew about Bethany's assignment and knew what the talk was supposed to be about. Haidi and Alistair invited us in to visit with them and we stayed for almost an hour. They are originally from South Africa and then moved to Great Britain in 1996. They then moved to Australia about a year ago. It was really nice to sit with them and get to know them a little better. We look forward to having them over to dinner and getting to know them even more.
Today, I was back to my volunteering - Louise was very pleased when I showed up. She had a lot of assessment which needed doing and so I spent most of the day working on that with the children in her class. I also spent a bit of time in Rachel's grade one class. She is the teacher whose class I wanted to take over when she goes on long service leave later in the year, but she had someone else in mind and didn't seem too pleased that I was asking about taking the contract (before I knew she had someone else for the job), and she hasn't really been all that friendly towards me. Well, today, she was very appreciative of my help - I find the grade one teachers a little hard to read - well, some of them anyway.
Dad spent the day doing Census stuff. He has seven areas that he is in charge of and today he spent the day going around one of the areas to check that the number of dwellings he had been told were in the area, actually were - he found in this area that there were more dwellings than posted which means there are more houses for the collectors to go to. Dad also had to go into all of the businesses in the area to make sure that no-one lives on the premises.
The missionaries came over for dinner tonight - Tuesday night is our regular night to have them over. It's becoming a shorter time to eat dinner, though, as they now have a meeting with the Bishopric at 6:15pm whereas it used to be about 6:45pm, so we might have to think about a different night to have them. We made a delicious dinner of chicken fajitas and started to play a game of cribbage. Elder Richardson is playing well (he's my partner) and Elder Paki is really catching on quickly (although I had to help both of them with one of their hands as they weren't sure what to throw away). They left in time to get to their meeting and Dad left soon after that to get to his meeting which starts at 6:45pm with the Bishopric, the Ward Mission Leader (our friend, Geoff) and the Elder's Quorum President (our friend, Chris). At the meeting, they discuss the needs of the people in the ward. Generally, the meeting goes for an hour, but they are taking a little longer at the moment as they are trying to seek out those people who are on the ward list who no-one knows, so that they can find out if they are still in the area.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Friday was a busy day for Dad at the Family History Centre. There have been a number of people come in to the FHC as a result of that article in the paper with Dad's picture. It's great that that one article has done so much good and is helping more people to search for their ancestors. I stayed home Friday to work on my Primary stuff. I am looking for activities to do with the 8 - 11 year olds - we are going to be holding activities twice a month for this group of children in Primary. Anyway, I was looking on the net for an idea which I had seen previously and I wanted to find it again. I searched for ages - somewhere along the line, I had this impression that I should look in the file I already had with info I had printed out. But, silly me, I discounted the impression and kept spending time on the net. After more time internet surfing, I decided to heed the impression and, sure enough, there was the info I needed right where I had the impression it would be. Sometimes, I wonder if Heavenly Father hits his head with his hand when it comes to me not listening. :-)
Dad spent most of Saturday at a meeting for the Census area supervisors. The meeting was held by the District Manager who is in charge of training the area supervisors. The area supervisors were given information about what they are going to be doing in the next few months. Dad now has to check out the buildings/houses in his area to make sure that the information he has been given is correct. He will also have to interview a couple of dozen people who have applied to be census collectors and choose eight of them to work in his area. He will be very busy in the next couple of weeks. I spent Saturday looking for more information to use for the Activity Days in Primary. I was able to get every meeting planned until the end of the year when school holidays start and now I just have to do the nitty gritty of the planning. It feels good to have so much planning done as I still have a month to get the specifics down. I spoke to the Bishop today about someone in the ward to lead Activity Days and he said he would speak with her this week and get back to me next week. It looks like I will also be losing my pianist in Primary. As it turns out, I have four musical people in Primary (one music leader, one pianist and two teachers) and Relief Society has none. I told the Bishop that I could ask one of my teachers to play the organ as well as teach.
Today was a lovely, but very busy day at church. It started off with our Ward Missionary Meeting, then we had a very nice Fast and Testimony meeting (as full on as always - I think that I am going to have to get up fast next month if I want to bear my testimony in this ward :-) Then, Primary went smoothly - well, for the most part - two of our children who were supposed to be part of our meeting (scripture reading and closing prayer) were not here today, but fortunately we were able to find others to do those. After church, we had Ward Council, and as Primary President, I had to attend. Dad, as High Priest group leader, also had to go. Basically, what they do there is have each leader of each auxiliary report what's happening in each auxiliary and plan activities so that no dates overlap. It took about 45 minutes, so that wasn't too bad.
Right after the meeting, Dad and I drove to the HB hospital to see our friend, Judy. We knew that the young men had gone earlier in the day to visit with her and when we got there, our Relief Society and her granddaughter were visiting with Judy. They left right away and after a few minutes visiting with Judy, we could tell that she was too tired to visit with us. We asked her if she wanted to sleep and she said 'yes', so we told her we would come back this week to see her. We spent the rest of the day resting up and tomorrow hope to spend some time walking along the beach since we haven't been there much over the holidays.
Dad spent most of Saturday at a meeting for the Census area supervisors. The meeting was held by the District Manager who is in charge of training the area supervisors. The area supervisors were given information about what they are going to be doing in the next few months. Dad now has to check out the buildings/houses in his area to make sure that the information he has been given is correct. He will also have to interview a couple of dozen people who have applied to be census collectors and choose eight of them to work in his area. He will be very busy in the next couple of weeks. I spent Saturday looking for more information to use for the Activity Days in Primary. I was able to get every meeting planned until the end of the year when school holidays start and now I just have to do the nitty gritty of the planning. It feels good to have so much planning done as I still have a month to get the specifics down. I spoke to the Bishop today about someone in the ward to lead Activity Days and he said he would speak with her this week and get back to me next week. It looks like I will also be losing my pianist in Primary. As it turns out, I have four musical people in Primary (one music leader, one pianist and two teachers) and Relief Society has none. I told the Bishop that I could ask one of my teachers to play the organ as well as teach.
Today was a lovely, but very busy day at church. It started off with our Ward Missionary Meeting, then we had a very nice Fast and Testimony meeting (as full on as always - I think that I am going to have to get up fast next month if I want to bear my testimony in this ward :-) Then, Primary went smoothly - well, for the most part - two of our children who were supposed to be part of our meeting (scripture reading and closing prayer) were not here today, but fortunately we were able to find others to do those. After church, we had Ward Council, and as Primary President, I had to attend. Dad, as High Priest group leader, also had to go. Basically, what they do there is have each leader of each auxiliary report what's happening in each auxiliary and plan activities so that no dates overlap. It took about 45 minutes, so that wasn't too bad.
Right after the meeting, Dad and I drove to the HB hospital to see our friend, Judy. We knew that the young men had gone earlier in the day to visit with her and when we got there, our Relief Society and her granddaughter were visiting with Judy. They left right away and after a few minutes visiting with Judy, we could tell that she was too tired to visit with us. We asked her if she wanted to sleep and she said 'yes', so we told her we would come back this week to see her. We spent the rest of the day resting up and tomorrow hope to spend some time walking along the beach since we haven't been there much over the holidays.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
These past two days have been pretty uneventful, so there's not much to tell in this blog. The weather has been really crappy - grey skies and rain, rain, rain. I had decided not to go into the school this week unless I got a call (which I haven't). The idea was that Dad and I would spend some time at the beach, but it was not to be. :-( So, yesterday, Dad and I just stayed home and worked on church stuff. Dad and I did Meals on Wheels this morning. On our way there, we were at a stoplight and when it turned green, Dad started to go - lo and behold, a woman turned right, right in front of us. I couldn't believe it! We were going straight and this woman didn't even look in our direction - she just looked in the direction she was going. The other day, something similar happened to us - we were in a round-a-bout and were about to exit the round-a-bout, when a woman drove fast right in front of us. Thank goodness Dad is a very defensive driver and was able to avoid hitting her - again, he was in the right and she was just looking straight ahead. Sheesh!
Our Meals on Wheels run was short today for some reason. Whenever people are going to be away, they cancel the meals and so we only had 15 deliveries and we usually have about 20 or so. Even with so few to do, we still ran into problems. Two people weren't home when we stopped by - usually, both are at home, so it was odd that they weren't home today. We ended up going back to one lady at the end of our route and she was home by this time. She apologized for not being home - she had an appointment at the hospital and had forgotten about her meal coming.
After doing some shopping, we came home and spent the day doing more church stuff for me and census stuff for Dad. It turns out that Dad has a lot of reading and test taking to do. He even had to watch a dvd on the duties he has to perform as an area supervisor. He is going to have to interview people to choose some census collectors (enumerators) - he needs to find seven to cover his area.
I got an email from Chantelle tonight, the young girl who did her student teaching with me and Bronwyn last year - she is now at Torquay State School and she has been handing my card around to teachers in the school. She also talked with the principal and deputy principal about me. I have supply taught once in her school and I guess I did a good job because Chantelle told me in her email that the teachers were given a list of supply teachers who they were supposed to call if they were going to be away, and I am on the list! :-) That was so awesome to know - hopefully, that might lead to more supply jobs and maybe a more permanent position.
At SES tonight, Dad took part in two more practical exercises to complete his communications certificate. The first exercise was like the 'Chinese whisper game' where they had to receive a message from one team via radio, record it and then pass that message on to another team via radio on a different channel. The second exercise was reviewing how to fill in a radio log: keeping a record of everything that's happening over the radio in an activation exercise. Dad was asked by one of the assistant instructors today if he was interested in volunteering for Boy Scouts or EMQ (Emergency Management Queensland) cadets who are young people who are interested in becoming emergency personnel (eg: firefighter, police officer, etc.). She told Dad both were on Tuesday nights and Dad told her that he already has volunteer commitments on Tuesday nights - he has his Priesthood Executive Committee meeting at church every Tuesday. Even though he isn't able to fulfil her request, he was pleased to be asked.
Our Meals on Wheels run was short today for some reason. Whenever people are going to be away, they cancel the meals and so we only had 15 deliveries and we usually have about 20 or so. Even with so few to do, we still ran into problems. Two people weren't home when we stopped by - usually, both are at home, so it was odd that they weren't home today. We ended up going back to one lady at the end of our route and she was home by this time. She apologized for not being home - she had an appointment at the hospital and had forgotten about her meal coming.
After doing some shopping, we came home and spent the day doing more church stuff for me and census stuff for Dad. It turns out that Dad has a lot of reading and test taking to do. He even had to watch a dvd on the duties he has to perform as an area supervisor. He is going to have to interview people to choose some census collectors (enumerators) - he needs to find seven to cover his area.
I got an email from Chantelle tonight, the young girl who did her student teaching with me and Bronwyn last year - she is now at Torquay State School and she has been handing my card around to teachers in the school. She also talked with the principal and deputy principal about me. I have supply taught once in her school and I guess I did a good job because Chantelle told me in her email that the teachers were given a list of supply teachers who they were supposed to call if they were going to be away, and I am on the list! :-) That was so awesome to know - hopefully, that might lead to more supply jobs and maybe a more permanent position.
At SES tonight, Dad took part in two more practical exercises to complete his communications certificate. The first exercise was like the 'Chinese whisper game' where they had to receive a message from one team via radio, record it and then pass that message on to another team via radio on a different channel. The second exercise was reviewing how to fill in a radio log: keeping a record of everything that's happening over the radio in an activation exercise. Dad was asked by one of the assistant instructors today if he was interested in volunteering for Boy Scouts or EMQ (Emergency Management Queensland) cadets who are young people who are interested in becoming emergency personnel (eg: firefighter, police officer, etc.). She told Dad both were on Tuesday nights and Dad told her that he already has volunteer commitments on Tuesday nights - he has his Priesthood Executive Committee meeting at church every Tuesday. Even though he isn't able to fulfil her request, he was pleased to be asked.
Tuesday, April 25, 2011
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. :-)
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.
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