Twas the night before Christmas...

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not in my quiet house
They would have liked to, but couldn’t get up
With tummies filled on mighty fine grub

They came for a trial, came for a test
And I delivered them my very best
With apply pie and ice cream and all of the rest
I filled up their stomachs – intestines to oesophagus

(…ok, maybe that line is a bit quirky – but then again, what else have you come to expect from me??? J)

Was in the big store and shopping for food
I saw the red apples, and then I sure knew
I’d make a creation and make it look good
And if I was lucky, It’d taste good too

So off to the teller, or was it cashier?
Oh well, whatever, the time drawing near
I raced to my home and took out the stuff
And started my baking, at times looking rough

But on went the oven and in went the pie
In 45 minutes, appealing to eye
It looked oh so good, and tasted but great
I had to find company before was too late

So off to the next place, where thousands would be
I’d look for a friend, or maybe two or three
My search was successful, the place was my church
And after the service, well coffee of course

Invited them over, they almost declined
Then heard of creation, it sounded too fine
They came from anear, they came from afar
Alas, they came, in two separate cars


Well, this hardly seems like a great place to end the poem, but I need to rush off to the next place so I’ll call it the end J

Thought I’d leave you with a picture of the apple pie I made yesterday. Today, it’s off to the Blue Mountains to join a family for Christmas.

Wishing you all a merry Christmas and a great year to come.

Week off...

Oh how time flies. I had some things to post here but now that I look back, I see I didn’t so here goes.

Man’s version – We had a pretty severe hail storm, I just came home from a week away, had my last physio the day I left for the trip, and plans for Africa are coming along.

Woman’s version – hang on, how can I, a man, give a woman’s version? Since there’s no woman holding that significant part in my life right now, I’ll give it a try. – I was talking with a friend of mine who has a friend who was like really scared the other day. Apparently someone looked out the window and saw the wind speeding up and rain starting. It was only a few minutes before the wind was falling sideways and something really noisy was on the roof of the house. So it turns out that what was on the roof of the house was some really big pieces of ice. It looked a lot like hail. Actually, it was hail, and lots of it. It was coming down really hard and fast. It was so scary!!! I heard from someone that she had taken the rest of her family away from the window because it could break. In only a few minutes the ground was completely covered with hail. You know Penne, well, she was so lucky! She had just bought a new car and was driving it home when the hail came. She had a long drive to pick up the car and if she had come home one hour earlier, her new car would have been all dented up from the hail. Oh, I was so embarrassed! I was telling a friend of mine about the storm and she responded to my email with a comment about the “hair storm”. How could I make that mistake – to call it a hair storm instead of a hail storm. It was so embarrassing! It was so much worse than a bad hair day!!!. So I took some pictures during the storm and need to put at least one up here. They say a picture is worth a thousand words and I still have a long way to go before a thousand words so maybe this picture isn’t going to be worth as much. Anyway, The storm was pretty bad. There were many cars and homes damaged by it. Trees were uprooted and power lines were taken down. Quite a few roads were closed because trees had fallen across them. Some people were without power for a day and one man died when part of a building collapsed on him. Church was emptier that evening (it happened on a Sunday afternoon) because a lot of people couldn’t make it out of their communities.

On to my week off; not much to say except that it was really good to get away by myself for a few days. I took a lot of time to process things running through my head, spent quite a lot of time on the beaches close to where I was staying, and generally relaxed. On my way out to the place I was staying, I stopped for physio and was happy to hear them say I don’t need to come back; and that everything from here on is up to me

I had a little scare with my plans for Africa when I heard about a dangerous virus outbreak in one country I’m planning to go to. It’s a really serious virus. Thankfully, it’s quite a long distance from where I plan to be; and thankfully for the lives of many people, they say it has been contained. If it was running through the places I plan to go, I’d have to change my plans but it’s far enough away that I shouldn’t need to worry. I also saw a weather report for another area I plan to go to and immediately wondered why I’d want to spend time there right now because their temperature was running almost 15 degrees warmer than where I’m at right now. Warm is nice. Hot can even be enjoyable. But when it gets to the point of walking into a sauna to cool off, it’s a bit extreme. I still have some Canadian blood left in me.

Well, I think that’s about it for now cause it’s past midnight and I’m sure I’ve already lost half of you reading this because it’s so long – but then again, if you’re reading this, either I haven’t lost you, or you’re one of the people who reads the beginning and end and tries to fill in the middle section from that. Hey, don’t laugh; between that and watching the movie, this strategy worked great for me in English classes through high school and into university. Not that I would recommend it or anything but… I’ll leave you with just a couple of pictures to highlight my last couple of weeks.

Ha, as I was looking through my pictures deciding which ones to put up, I saw some from a couple weeks ago when I went bowling with connect group. Ten pin bowling can be quite a challenge with a bad knee less than two months after surgery. Only one of the people (besides myself) seemed genuinely happy for me to win. Maybe their egos took a hit loosing to someone they’ve been calling cripple, gimpy, tripod, hoppy, and a myriad of other names.


This was my backyard midway through the hail portion of the storm. I actually say this was the first time I've seen a storm in Australia that compares to the regular summer storms on the Canadian Prairies. One other storm came close but I wasn't in the middle of it.






Here's one of the beaches I was within walking distance of last week. This was the busier section. I had to be really careful going in the water because of safety concerns with so few people around in case of trouble. I also found out that there was a shark attack on this beach one of the days I was there. Missed it by a couple hours (whew). Other life forms I saw included pelicans, blue bottles (very much like a jellyfish and cause much pain if you get stung) a sting ray (was small and dead and washed up on shore) and a few dolphins. Unfortunately, I didn't get a lot of good photos, but had a good time.

Ready, Aim, Fire

“We’ll be using the shotgun approach today.” The doctor could have said this yesterday. In preparation for my trip to Africa, I have to see a doctor and get poked a number of times. Yesterday was the first visit and with each required immunization, she asked if I’d had that one before or within the last x number of years and to each question, the answer was the same. “No. No. No.” Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Typhoid, Malaria, Measles, Mumps, Yellow Fever, Rabbis, Tetanise, Chicken Pox, Turkey Flu, and the Wild Bird Variety, Influenza, Whooping Cough, a running nose and The Common Cold, Stiff neck, stiff upper lip, and generally body soreness that could come from a solid workout, an hour of sport (not counting injuries) or an number of sicknesses – especially if combined with a fever, which itself could be mistaken for simply being hot from the hotter climate, and the list goes on…

In case you haven’t figured this out yet, I did not get that many immunizations, but both arms were used and the doctor told me one leg would be too but the nurse disagreed and since the nurse had the needle, she won. Thank you. I don’t need two sore arms and two sore legs. It’s nice to have one limb without any holdback. My plans for the Africa trip are all coming together and looking good. I’ve now added on a few days in Thailand since I’m there anyways. After all, just like Hawaii last January, how often will I end up there as a result of saving money on a flight? May as well take advantage of it. Anyone know the best places to go and things to see around Bangkok?

Well, speaking of travelling, one of my friends is moving home to South Africa today. I’m scheduled to take him to the airport, and in typical South African fashion, he’s running late. Thankfully, in untypical South African fashion, he told me. I was to leave 1 ¾ hours ago to pick him up and right now I’m waiting for him to stop by my place… Ah, I’ve learned by now that when a South African say’s “I’ll be there just now” it means anywhere from 5 minutes to 3 months, and a schedule is nothing more than a general guideline – kind of like the speed limit in Alberta, Ontario, or Quebec (actually any part of Canada for that matter) or the lanes on the roads in Australia – a select few people stick within them and for the rest, well that’s where defensive driving comes in.

Africa

For those of you not on facebook, I’ve got some surprising news to share… On Friday, one of the pastors at Hillsong (Chris Mendez) contacted me to see if I’m up for a trip to Africa. If the flights he was booked on hadn’t been full, it would have taken less than 2 hours from the time I first heard about it to the time it was all set up. As it turned out, it took a few hours extra to find reasonable flight options so it was finalized Saturday morning. So the plan now is to leave Sydney on Jan 10, travelling through Bangkok. Arriving in Uganda on the 11th, I’ll spend the next 10 days or so seeing Watoto and Compassion sites there and in Kenya. It will be an action packed time and as Chris put it “We’ll be doing a lot of things tired.” I’m also doing what I can to see a girl I’ve been sponsoring in Uganda for a number of years.

I’m shocked, excited, in awe, and thankful all at the same time. I was hoping to go to Uganda and had to cancel my plans because of knee trouble and now I have another opportunity that was not expected. The other trip would have been a work project mixed with a bit of other stuff with people I’ve never met before and this one will be seeing the bigger picture of a couple of great organizations having a significant impact on extremely poor countries while travelling with one of my pastors and friends. In a lot of ways, it’s almost as though I gave up something because of a physical injury and have been blessed with a better opportunity. Not that the other one was bad or lacking in any way, but this one somehow seems like it will have a bigger impact on my life. God is good.

Going to the Opera

No, I haven't changed my taste in music... I just have to see a performance in one of the worlds most famous landmarks and greatest performance centres while the chance is still here. Who knows how long I'll be in Sydney so I'm doing it now. I just booked tickets to go see Handel's Messiah. There's 13 of us going. Should be great!

Connect group

I had my connect group over for a meal yesterday. We joined with another group and had a casual evening together. Initially, the other leaders (my housemate Stephen and another friend Kathy) and I were planning to prepare a meal for the group but then I had a thought and ran with it. It turned out wonderfully and we had a great evening together.

We started out the evening with some chips and dip, chocolate, and punch for everyone as they arrived and chatted with each other but soon got on to the main course...




A good friend of mine, James, is a chef so my great idea was to have him prepare the food for us. Here he is putting on the finishing touches.







People were starting to get hungry when they smelled the food and much more so when they saw it. As you can tell, people were quite impressed. On second thought, "in awe" might be a more accurate way of putting it. The guy who isn't in awe is my housemate Stephen and he's seen James cook before. He was just proud to be able to put this on for his group.




Here's the finished product of an incredible chef. He made a great meal for 20 of us (plus one dish for himself)








The group was provided with pens and paper and encouraged to write notes of encouragement for other people in the group to take home with them. It was a great opportunity to build people up and the group took advantage of it.






We had a great evening and as reflected later, I was really hit with the thought of how great these people are and how honoured I am to be able to lead this group. On a night designed to bless them, I got at least as much blessing. Isn't it great how God works!!!

Beach Day

So I went to the beach the other day and on the way we stopped for what turned out to be a rather interesting lunch experience. We walked in the door to the back of a line consisting of about eight people. There were three employees slowly meandering around the kitchen area, one “manager,” and one taking orders. As we waited our turn, one customer decided to develop a bit of an attitude because her order was taking too long. She had pre-ordered 80 pieces of chicken to be ready when she got there and it had not been started by the time she arrived. The people at the other end, waiting for their lunch, finally called her to see what was taking so long and she explained in quite colourful language (or maybe it wasn’t so colourful considering the extensive use of one particular word) what had happened. Well, this now required the attention of the manager, one full time kitchen person, and half the time of the one taking orders – all to start arguing about what should have happened and to call someone on the phone and argue some more. 15 minutes waiting and we’ve now progressed from 8 to 3 people in front of us in line (not counting the big order lady). We started questioning the wisdom of coming to this restaurant but stayed. Well, over the next 10 minutes, the other 3 people got their single meal orders and our turn arrived. One by one, we placed an order, waited for it to be filled, then placed the next order – no such thing as taking the second order while the first one was being filled by the kitchen staff. Just as we were finishing, the manager came out to tell everyone that they were closing. We get our food and one person asked for a fork but to no avail “We don’t have any” was the response. This is a branch of a worldwide chain of restaurants, many of their meals are better eaten with a fork, and they don’t have any. Maybe that’s why their closing during the lunch rush. So we exited the building and ate our food outside. After explaining to many potential customers that they were closed, we watched as someone pulled up in a taxi and rather angrily entered the store, ripped down the closed sign and had choice words with the staff who apparently had called him to help with their dilemma.

What happened after that remains a mystery, but this I know; I got in the water for the first time since my operation, I got a little colour on my skin, and I was really tired and sore from 2 ½ hours cramped into the back seat of a small car. All in all, it was a good day.

Mom, I'm bored...what can I do for fun???

I'm sure that subject line will put a smile on my mother's face - could someone please show it to her??? Thanks.

Now I'm not really bored - yet. I finished my last exam yesterday, came home, and felt lost. What do I do now? I've got no assignments to do and no exams to study for. Well, I just wasted the afternoon away then went out for the evening. We've got stuff happening at school for the next two weeks yet but when I come home from school, there's no homework to do. Yay!!! Now it's time to catch up on housework, phone calls, finances, etc. It's also time to start thinking about what I'll be doing the next number of months as far as church involvement and other volunteer activities. I've got a number of options and need to decide what to do with them.

Time to rest - kindof

I'm glad to report that I have some free time!!! Actually, I'm much more than glad about that. I've been pretty stressed with assignments this week and they are now done.

For some reason, most of the assignments for the term are set with a due date in the same week near the end of the semester; so I had two oral presentations, two in class evaluations (counselling type scenarios) and seven written assessments all due this week. Thankfully, two exams that were scheduled for this week were changed to next week. Now for someone who plans ahead, this normally doesn't present a large problem; but for various reasons, most of the assignments cannot be started much before the due date.

My other problem with it this time around was that I was pretty much out of commission in the weeks leading up to assignment time. Between lack of sleep due to pain and discomfort in my new knee (and maybe one or two other reasons) and lack of brain power due to lack of sleep and excess chemicals in my brain from the pain killers, it was really hard to get things done. A few people suggested I get an extension for some of the assignments, but I wanted to be done so I pushed through and got the last one done 12 1/2 hours before it was due!

On other fronts, I'm sure (or hoping people care enough for this anyways) that you want to know where my knee is at... well it's roughly half way between my foot and the top of my leg :) OK, that was bad... I'm taking less pain killers and feeling less pain. I have about 90% of the proper mobility (70% pain free) but strength is lacking. The other day I was working on the strength and the machine I was on could measure up to 500. With my left leg, I hit around 270 and with my right leg, I almost got above zero. I've got a ways to go.

Men's conference

Just have to write something really quick here... Hillsong Men's Conference just finished and I have to tell some people about it. There's the usual stuff like we had great speakers, great messages, great stories of old men hitting on young women who were helping out at conference (oops, did I say that publicly?) but what I want to highlight is something that will be news to people and some of my friends and family and friends at home will be quite excited about. No, I wasn't one of those old men - although I almost bought a coffee for one of the ladies working out in the rain and only 15 minutes after I decided not to did I realize how it could have come across. Whew, was I glad I hadn't done it.

So what I'm excited about is there's a new Mercy Ministries home starting in Lima, Peru. Now, I know that many people knew there were plans of one, but it's now one major step closer to reality. Some people have been working towards it for a while and they have trained staff ready to go who have actually been working with women in their own homes - doing what they can until the home can be purchased. Well, a couple of our pastors went over there in the last couple of weeks and checked out the place. What they didn't tell the pastor out there was the plans for us to give them the money to buy it. We took an offering at the men's conference to pass along to them to help with the home and after the offering was received, a phone call was made to the pastor heading up the plans in Peru and they were told they now have all the finances in place to buy the home. The offering was enough to cover the purchase and likely the furnishing of the home. What a blessing to be a part of. Needless to say, that pastor was quite ecstatic!

I really believe it's time for those of us in the wealthier nations of the world to give more money to qualified people in poorer nations to do God's work in their own home instead of spending our money sending people from our home to theirs. Now I fully realize there is a place for us to send people too, but I believe we have focused on that too much and spent too little helping people in those nations do the work that they can do better in their own homeland than we ever could.

What's new

Quickly, before I move on to other things I need to do...

I just got home from seeing the physiotherapist and doctor. To give you an idea of how physio operates, when the knee specialist was checking my knee, he got to around 110 degrees (estimated by him) of movement before I winced in pain and he stopped. Only an hour earlier, my physiotherapist pushed it to 133 degrees (measured). The extra 23 degrees...well lets just say the word I hear most out of her is "Sorry." She's not heartless. The doctor is happy with how well I'm doing so I'll try to go with his report instead of mine since I'm not happy with the progress until I'm completely better.

This weekend is Men's conference once again so I'm looking forward to that.

I've now got only two weeks of classes left. I've also got a bunch of assignments coming due in the next week so it will be a crazy week of spending a lot of time with my computer and trying to get my brain in gear. I think I may check into the possibility of having Gloria Jean's (kind of like the Aussie version of Tim Hortons or Starbucks - only 15 times better) coffee delivered :-)

I'm walking....or that's what I call it anyways...

.

Celebrate the small steps!!!

After one night in hospital, pain, two nights on the sofa, more pain, two nights in my own bed, yet more pain, and pretty much the rest my last week on the sofa, (oh, and did I mention the pain???) I'm having the best morning in a while. I got up this morning and felt safe taking a shower (just to be clear, I have kept myself clean, just had to use the bathtub instead of the shower!), so I did. Moving on from there, I got downstairs in a record 3 minutes or so! I then went on to the kitchen and made a good breakfast and walked over to my home for the last week - my sofa; yes I walked! Without crutches! I made it across the kitchen, into the living room - twice - carrying my breakfast. It was hard and slow, but I did it. For the first time, I can see how the doctor might be right that I could get off the crutches in 7-10 days.

Now just for those who regularly tell me to be careful and not push myself too hard, this is the first time in my life that a doctor has been anywhere near as aggressive as me in my own recovery, but he directly told me to "ditch those things as quick as possible." "Use your leg as much as possible," "Get the mobility back as quickly as possible," and "Put as much weight on it as you can." I like this doctor!

I've run out of prescription pain killers but am using some over the counter drugs, but the pain is decreasing.

Quick update

I'm now home again; watching a classic movie for the first time (Lord of the Rings) with my leg elevated and my knee covered in ice. I'm feeling all the normal side effects of anesthetic and surgery. The doctor is very happy with how it went and has told me to use it as much as possible and to put as much weight on it as I'm comfortable with. He also said to get rid of the crutches as soon as possible - hopefully within 7-10 days. If I can get the VCR hooked up, I just may sit back and watch the video of the surgery to see just what they actually did while I was asleep. :)

Bring on Private Health Care!!!

I guess that title is a bit controversial coming from someone born and raised in a country with what is widely regarded as the best public health care system in the world; but the truth is usually controversial. Now, I'm not saying that we should get rid of public health care in Canada, but I'm experiencing some of the benefits of a public/private system. When I started physiotherapy, I called one day and had my first appointment the next. When I needed to see a specialist, my physiotherapist made the referral instead of me having to wait a month to see my GP who would refer me to a specialist. To see the specialist, I had to wait a few weeks instead of the 3 months or more it would have taken in Canada after my GP referral. As of today, I have surgery booked for my knee; and instead of waiting a year or more in Canada, I have to wait all of 5 days.

Now, before I get all kinds of hate mail and rude remarks, let me just say that I appreciate the system we have in Canada; I know it has done much good; and it has a place in our country. However, there is room for improvement and that won't happen until people are willing to let go of their sacred cow and accept that change can sometimes be good.

Wow, that just kind of came; I guess if I post this, I've just ruined my chances of getting elected to any political post in Canada for the next 20 years.

So, the summary of why I'm putting up this post...well, come to think of it, maybe I'm actually putting it up to ruffle some feathers :)...

...but the reason I started writing it was to let you know that I have knee surgery booked for next week Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Gold Coast

I'm now home and looking forward to my next vacation. I got up at 4AM on Thursday to catch my flight; landed at the Gold Coast at 8:30AM and walked down the tarmac in 27 degree weather. What a great start! It was a great trip with lots of beach time, quite a few other activities, and little sleep - ranging from 3 to 7 hours per night. It was quite relaxing. Here are some of my pictures. Enjoy! One more place for me to take people who come to visit me.

I did the trip with one other friend. Juerger arrived in Sydney at the end of July and is in my connect group. As I was thinking about the possibility of taking a holiday, I was trying to think of who to go with and he came to mind. Here we are on the day of arrival. We didn't spend a lot of time at Surfer's Paradise because it's "tourist central" but we did go there and then we found some much better beaches to go to.

We stayed at a YWAM base a few km's from the beach and didn't rent a car. Public transport was not good so transportation was a bit of a challenge. We got up at 4AM and did the 1 1/2 hour walk to the beach for the sunrise. This is how we were welcomed...

In case anyone doubts I was actually there...

After two early mornings in a row, it was time for caffeine. Take a good look at the straw - It is not balancing against the side of the cup. Nothing like a strong coffee to wake a person up. Now, I know that putting up a picture like this will raise some eyebrows - it's a caramel latte; and yes, I did drink it.

After waking up a bit, it was time to head off to Seaworld. We started our time there by watching a water ski show. This picture was taken near the end.

Next was a dolphin show. They had some new kind of flying dolphin - kind of like a flying squirrel. I've never seen a flying dolphin before, but here's the proof... Ok, ok, it just jumped out of the water and I happened to get the dolphin without the water below it in the picture.

Having seen the water skiers and dolphins getting an adrenaline rush, it was our turn. This picture was taken from the top of a large Farris wheel. We later went on the roller coaster you see in the picture. It was good fun, and the operator asked a few questions to make sure I could handle it since he saw my knee was wrapped up.

After a long day, we found a quite place to sit - a little bit of sand, lots of water, and no other people! As we sat there eating leftovers from our picnic lunch and enjoying the sunset, a couple of pelicans swam by. Not too often they come this close, but I think it knew what I wanted; and I was ready.

Saturday morning I slept in to 5AM and caught the train to Brisbane where a friend of mine picked me up. She used to be in my connect group but went home to Queensland (neighboring state) in May. I hadn't seen her since that time so it was good to catch up. Her sister joined us and we went to the Australia Zoo. For those who don't know, that's the one that Steve Irwin built and ran. Although he passed away in a tragic accident last year, the zoo is going strong and really building on his image. The temperature went up to somewhere around 40 degrees so some ice cream was great to keep us a bit cooler.

Julie and her family really blessed me while I was there. She insisted on paying my entry fee to the zoo, they tried hard to make sure I had not costs for food or anything else while out there, gave me an i-pod (her sister had just bought a new one and was looking for someone to give the "old" (the second last model) one to.), had me join the family and some other guests for a big (and amazing) meal Saturday night, and put me up for the night (their suggestion). Julie even gave up her bedroom for me. I joined them for church Sunday morning then had fish and chips on the beach for lunch with her family before heading back. With all the other blessings, the greatest part was simply being in a home with a family. I love my friends, have a great house to live in, and have great house mates, but there's something different about a good family atmosphere.

One of the big things at the Australia Zoo is the "Crocaquarium" It's a 5,000 seat stadium where they do a crocodile show. They started the show with some children's singing and dance where they got 7 year old Bindi Irwin (Steve's daughter) involved as a naturally born entertainer. They then went on to some other things, and ended with the croc show. They started the show by telling us that crocodiles cannot be trained as many animals can, so the only way to do the show is to work with the croc's two instincts, food and territory. Terri Irwin was in charge of this show and did a great job although so many things went differently than planned that Terri said it was probably the most unusual show she had ever done.

We spent a relaxing Monday at the beach, then went to Byron Bay with someone from the YWAM base. I can now say that I've been as far east as I can go in Australia (not counting islands and water), so I guess now I have to work on the other three extremes.

Here's the typical coastline on the Gold Coast.

Every major outcropping of rock has to have a lighthouse right? As we walked to the lighthouse, we looked out over the ocean. This area is a popular migration route for whales and dolphins so we kept an eye out for them. We managed to see a few whales in the distance.

From the other side of the lighthouse we had a slightly different vantage point. You can't see this too well in the picture because I've compressed it, but if you look closely, you can see my right hand is swollen. I guess having a bummed knee isn't enough, so I'll just injure more body parts :) What happened is that after an hour in the back seat of a small car that morning, my knee was stiff and couldn't support my weight so as I was getting out of the car, I grabbed door frame to lift myself out. Little did I know, Juergen was looking the other way as he closed his door - with my hand caught between the door and the frame! I stood there in pain as he tried to open the locked door. He wasn't thinking clearly so I had to unlock the door and tell him that he needed to use the handle to open it - not just pull by my hand. No broken bones, and limited bruising but it's sore. I haven't completely believed her to this point, but my physiotherapist (who makes a living out of putting people through pain) says I have a high pain thresh-hold. I'm beginning to wonder if maybe she is right, because I should not have been the one thinking rationally in this situation. Oh well, as you can see in the picture, we're still friends :)

After going to the lighthouse, we bought some food and went to the beach again (noticing a theme here???) after an hour we noticed some clouds building up and people clearing off the beach in a hurry. We joined the throngs and almost made it off the sand before the rain started. We found a building to get protection in and watched through the open door as the rain poured.

It wasn't long before the rain turned to hail and we were really glad to be in a building.

...and thus, our beach time on the holiday was done. We went off for hot chocolate, then back home for one final meal before getting to the airport for out flight home. The flight was delay due to the storms happening in the area and I got home after midnight. It was a great trip, but I feel like I need a holiday to recover from my vacation. Isn't that the way it usually goes?

So, now I have classes for two days, church for two days, and then I'm off to another place for the AOG state conference. That will be followed by an intense time of finishing assignments, preparing for exams, likely having surgery, and men's conference.

This has come up really quick, but there's only 6 weeks of class left before Christmas. So now the next big decision is what to do then. Any suggestions? I have a few ideas and one invitation, but nothing confirmed yet. I have less than a year left to see the rest of the country. Anyone care to come join me for part of that time? It looks like going to Uganda is out of the question now because I'll be recovering from surgery and not able to work hard physically. I'm hoping to be able to walk without severe pain by then, but the normal standards would say I shouldn't get my hopes up too high. I'll see...

It's coming...I promise :)

I'm home from the Gold Coast and getting back into life. I took about 300 picture and have some great stories...unfortunately I don't have time just yet to sort through them and put a good post together; but I expect to get to it soon, so check back soon!!!

See you soon...

I'm off to Gold Coast for a bit!!!!!!!!!

Just figured I'd let you all know so you can be jealous:) no actually, I don't support jealousy. I just figured I'd tell you I likely won't be checking this blog for the next week so any comments made will not appear until then. If I do, bonus; but for now, don't expect too much. I'll put up some pictures of my holiday when I get back - and I'm confident I'll have some great pictures to post!!!

I'm still here...

There are a few reasons for this picture.

1. To show people I'm still alive - it's been a long time since I've put any pictures up so I figured some people may think my site has been hijacked and is being run by someone else. It's still me!

2. See the colour on my face? Even if you don't, it's there! I'm finally getting a bit of sun tan again after a "harsh" Australian winter

3. Take a look at the green trees in the background - spring is well underway! - this is the view from my bedroom

4. I'm still me. Yes, I'm still crazy enough to take a picture of myself looking like this.

5. Notice the clear blue sky. Figured it might be nice for some of you see more cloud than sun most of the time. It's a beautiful day today but I've actually turned down an invitation to go to the beach so I can stay home and take care of things I need to do - like assignments...

Gold Coast Getaway

I'm taking my first Aussie holiday! I booked the flights today. I'm planning a trip to the Gold Coast from October 4th to 9th with one of my friends. Pretty bad that I've lived in Australia for a year and have not been further than a 2 hour drive away from my home but that's about to change. Also note the timing of when I'm leaving. We're looking forward to it. Just thought I'd let you all know.

Ouch continued...

Latest update isn't great.

I saw a knee specialist this morning and he's convinced the MRI is correct and my ACL is completely torn. Basically, that means surgery will be needed. I'll be back basically to square one after the surgery and out of sports from now till 6 months after the surgery. I need to check into insurance coverage for this. It also isn't out of the question to wait till I get home to Canada and get the surgery for free. Need to make some decisions on this. Another thing playing into this is that if I get the surgery now, I won't be able to make the trip to Uganda. Oh the joys!!!

Here I go again...

I wish this wasn’t the case, but it is. I wish I was past it already, but I’m not. I wish I hadn’t been put in the position in the first place, but I was. I wish I could deal with it alone, but I can’t. I’m being forced to think through my past due to some classes and assignments. In my counselling class, we’re talking about grief for a few weeks. Yea! After that we’re moving on to depression – easily done after enough grief! And I basically feel like the in-house expert on the topic. This all brings me to a point of concern in my life. A few years ago, I had Jean convinced that it would be a good idea to go on an Alaskan cruise. We didn’t tell a lot of people but we had thought it would be a good way to celebrate our tenth anniversary. Rather than being on that cruise with her, she’s now in heaven and I’m in the next best place – ok, maybe Australia isn’t quite that good, but it is a great place. Anyways, my tenth anniversary would be October 4th this year. I’m looking for somewhere to go during this time because it also happens to be a school holiday. I wish grief didn’t affect me anymore but that’s not the way grief works and I’m starting to deal with it all now again as the special date comes up. So I’ll put out the petition again. Please pray. God has always been faithful in the past and I know He will be again, but I could use a little help in this.

Happy Birthday!!!

“Happy Birthday Larry!” That’s been the major theme of the last three days for me. Due to APEC meetings and world leaders from 21 countries coming to Sydney, Friday was declared a state holiday. There were so many security measures put in place that half the Sydney population wouldn’t be able to get to work and many more would need twice the time and be subject to random searches if they ventured out (ok, not quite that bad, but you get the point…The last time APEC was hosted by Canada was before the attack on the trade center on Sept 11, and we had to pull troops out of Afghanistan to cover the requirements of military presence around the “Remote location” chosen for the meetings; so you can imagine the level of security after Sept 11 and in the heart of a major harbour city).

So what does that have to do with my birthday? Having a holiday provided a whole day to celebrate, so I did. Between three different groups of people suggesting various – and partially overlapping – ideas, I had to co-ordinate my time with my friends. I ended up going for breakfast with some, having some over for games and movies in the afternoon, and going out with some in the evening. Some friends were present at two of the three activities. Doing all this on Friday was great but also created some confusion because people assumed my birthday was Friday. Well, on Saturday, I went out after church with a few more people and was treated to another rousing rendition of the classic song and another chocolate cake. This time they had the date right. Now on Sunday, I’ve been blessed by a few more. It’s been great.

I was debating for the last week if I’d set anything up for my birthday – as is the custom around here; and decided that some of the people I would invite would set something up anyways if I didn’t, so I left it to them and they didn’t disappoint. They did have some help as I sent out a text message to a few people and updated my status on facebook to beg for attention. Then, adding to my efforts and all the confusion was an effort someone else made to make sure I wouldn’t be forgotten. Some people found out via email about this day and made sure they passed it on to others. The only problem is that in addition to the confusion from my Friday activities, some of them were told my birthday was Sunday. Oops. Whoever would have thought that my own sister – the one who basically figures any man she dates has to consider me his best friend before she’ll marry the guy – would forget my birthday? So it’s ended up being a birthweekend instead of a birthday. That’s ok sis, I won’t tell too many people who it was… And I’ll do what I can to make sure I remember the correct date for your birthday on February 6th. ;)

On to a different note, I ran the other day! Ok, it was only 5 steps (4 too many), and normally, they would hardly be called running, but for someone who recently damaged his knee and everything around it, spent two weeks on crutches, still doesn’t have the full range of motion in his knee, can’t sit with his leg in one position for more than 10 minutes, and is working at building strength back to normal, it’s a pretty big deal. Running isn’t really an option yet, but apparently cycling is really good for healing and strengthening knees so I’ve been doing quite a lot of that. The other day I got on my bike and started driving. I got to a point I thought would be a good halfway mark and turned around for the return trip – only to realize I was now going uphill and against wind! It was great! “Don’t push yourself to hard” kept resounding in my head and I kept saying “I don’t care! I’m sick of this problem and I’m doing everything I can to fix it!” After arriving home, I checked a map and found I had just put on 15 km. Many people wouldn’t do this in full health so I felt pretty good that I could do it with a bad knee. The amazing thing is that I wasn’t sore from the bike ride! It’s been raining a lot since then and I’ve been really busy, so I haven’t been able to do as much, but I did 10 km on the exercise bike yesterday. I’m hoping for good weather tomorrow so I can do the real thing again. It’s kind of like the whole Coke/Pepsi debate... why would I use an exercise bike when a real bike down a great trail is an option? Just like I could drink a Pepsi or I could go with the real thing. The copy-cat does something, but it’s just not the same.

Changing seasons...

Last week of winter!!!!!!

I had physio again today and was told to go to the beach after the treatment. Something about lying in the sun on the sand is apparently good for healing knees…or at least that’s the story I’d like to go with; but since I know none of you will actually believe that version, I’ll tell the whole story.

As soon as I stepped out the door this morning, I realized that physiotherapy was not the best place for me today. It was 25 degrees with pure, bright sunshine – in my humble Canadian opinion, an absolutely perfect summer day. As I was getting the physio treatment, I commented that I should be at the beach instead of in there. “I reckon you should go” was the response of my physiotherapist. So, under the advice of a medical professional, I went. I wasn’t sure how my knee would hold up to the walk in the soft sand, but it held up quite well. I think it was actually good for it to use more muscles than are needed for walking on a straight surface. I was only there for a short time, but it was good.

I’ve been working hard at getting back into a proper healthy state and I’ve been getting better. I was put on a machine to work my leg muscles today. At first, it was set really light; aiming for around 25% of my maximum. After some discussion among the staff, it was decided that I should do the most I could without pain, so I went ahead with this. After about 30 reps with my damaged leg, I did a few with my strong leg – giving the weak one a break and providing a benchmark for comparison. With my left leg I was averaging around 200 (don’t know what units they were using) and I brought it up to 240 a couple of times. Knowing what that leg could do, I figured I could push harder with my right leg so under the watchful eye of the physiotherapist (and to her mild objection) I went from the previous 30-40 up to 80 and felt no pain. Took a short break and tried again. Being me, I couldn’t resist pushing it a little further, so I went as far as I could – 140. One last push – 170!!! I thought back to my childhood days and the frequent reminders from my mother “Don’t push yourself too hard.” Then I thought back to my dating and married days; “Don’t push yourself too hard.” Same comment coming from different women in response to my way of dealing with recovery from injury. I guess I don’t listen too well, cause I got the same comment today – and yesterday – and last week – and… I’ve lost track.

I had an MRI done a week ago today and got the results on Wednesday. The results basically said that everything around my knee was damaged – cartilage, muscle, bone (bruising only), tendons, all soft tissue. “You’ve done real well” was one comment I received in regard to the scan results. The official report stated that together with all the other damage, I had most likely completely torn my ACL – one of the key ligaments in the knee; and one that would require surgery to correct if it was in fact completely torn. I’ve been praying about this and have had some other people praying as well and I’ve noticed massive improvement. Basically, I’m doing too well for the ACL to be completely torn. I’m also doing better than I “should be” based on the rest of the damage that was done. It’s not normal for people with so much damage done to be doing as well as I am now. I haven’t been instantly healed, but answer to prayer is the only explanation for my recovery so far.

So that’s where things are at for the time being… 4 days of winter left! Forecast… sunshine and highs of 27, 22, 25, 23 (or something like that) What a way to end winter!!!!!!!!

Breaking news...so breaking, it hasn't even happened yet!

I think things have progressed far enough for me to tell people about this… Over the last number of months, I’ve been working on something and have gone from thinking it would happen to thinking it wouldn’t, back to thinking it would, and thinking it wouldn’t. At one point, it looked like it had completely fallen through and then I found another option and started working on that one. Again I went through the cycle of it happening, then not happening a few times. At this point, it looks like barring major unforeseen changes, the cycle is done and it’s happening.

So, what is “it”? Some more travelling, some physical labour, a number of immunizations, meeting a bunch of new people, giving up some holiday time, and experiencing something that could change my life. I’m finalizing plans to spend a few weeks in Africa. I’m looking at going to Uganda to help with a building project for Watoto from January 3 to 17th. I’m planning to join a group from another church in Australia for this. If it does happen, I’m also hoping to go see a girl I’ve been sponsoring for the last number of years in Uganda… and I may be able to get a layover in Johannesburg to see some friends whom I met in college. It’s all a little scary but very exciting. I expect to have more solid plans in place sometime in September. Will keep you all posted.

Update

Is there a doctor in the world who knows what they’re talking about? Ok, so it’s a bit a harsh question, but I just wonder…when you get 5 different opinions relating to the same problem from 4 different medical professionals, which one do you believe?

I was referred to someone who apparently is an amazing physiotherapist and I called there today to check into getting some treatment. I asked how soon after an injury I should start treatment and they said it should have started immediately. On the other extreme, I had an MD tell me to immobilize the leg for two weeks and then start considering some treatment and motion in it. I have the first appointment on Monday. I’m at a point of being physically able to walk (if you can call it walking) but I’ve also been told by a professional that with the ability I have so far, I’ll do more damage than good; so I’m still using the crutches.



On to another topic, it's been a while since I put any pictures up here, so I thought I should do some. I had some friends down for breakfast recently. Here are some pictures of that day.

They enjoyed the food and many of them helped clean up after eating - leaving me to take some pictures

Ok, I wasn't the only person taking pictures.

We played some games afterwards and certain people got really excited...

While other's slept.

the "Kneeded" healing is coming...

I’m definitely taking steps in the right direction. I’ve taken some down, some up, (the stairs) and some across the room. None backward; all forward. I took a few steps in public yesterday and because of my inability to walk normally, I faced 5 minutes of ridicule in addition to the names I’ve been called in the last week – Gimpy, Tripod, Hoppy, and a few others. Ok, it was all friendly jabs from friends. Many people (mostly guys) have asked what I would do if they kicked my knee; to which my general reply is simply a swift upward swinging motion of a crutch from the floor towards a certain part of their body. 80% of communication is non-verbal. Well, this morning, I decided to go a little further. I made it down the stairs, to the kitchen, and back up the stairs to my room carrying the crutches at my side. I did go to the arena the other day. I probably would have fit in quite well using one skate, but I didn’t want to take a chance of falling, so I had some good laughs from the sidelines instead.

By my standards, it’s taking way too long to heal, but from the medical perspective, I’m ahead of schedule. Clearly the power of God working in my body!

Update - I'm "lagging" behind

It’s been six days and I’m not walking yet. The swelling is down and the pain is much less, but there’s a long ways to go yet. I’ve been able to take a few very careful steps but any time I put more than about half my weight on the leg it hurts. I’m supposed to be going skating tonight for a friend’s birthday party. It’s sad to think that the Canadian in the group can’t even get onto the ice and show the poor Aussies how it’s meant to be done. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll go to the arena and just sit around or if I’ll wait for later in the evening when the whole group is coming to my house. Wish I could be active.

Ouch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I tried so hard to get some sympathy with my last post, but to no avail, so I decided to try again. The weather has been improving and the other day we actually broke the 20 degree mark for a daytime high. One person I know commented on that day that it’s good to finally be in double digits. Huh???

So I was out enjoying some of our improved weather and meeting some more people in a friendly game of soccer. I jumped for a header and when I landed, the ground was not the same as I expected. My foot slipped, and I collapsed to the ground. I looked at my knee and found something was not right. From my angle, I saw the top of my leg looking normal, a sharp shift at the knee, and then a continued straight line to my foot. From the back, the other guys saw what looked like a large lump on the back of my leg. My knee was out of joint by about 1 ½ inches. As I screamed in pain, the guys gathered around and prayed, then one of them slowly straightened my leg and it popped back into place. I could feel it move, and all of us could see it. So it’s back in place now, but there is some soft tissue damage around the knee so I can’t walk yet and it’s all sore and swollen. A friend has some crutches that he’s lending to me, but It’s a challenge to get around. I also can’t drive my car so I need to find another way of getting places like church and school. On the other hand, I can pray for complete healing and let God fix the rest of the damage. As of right now, I’m sitting on the couch keeping my leg somewhat elevated. One of the weird things about this is that usually I’m the one helping people, and now I’m receiving help. It's only been a few hours and I hate it already! I even have to limit my social schedule because of this!!! ;)

It's cold!!!!!!!!!!

Just thought some of you might like to know...


I got to my car on Sunday morning and the windows were all covered in frost! It seems nobody had sympathy on my when I said I could see my breath one morning (I actually received at least one email calling me names for my claims of feeling cold); but this is extreme!!!!!! To have frost on your car windows is just not the way things are meant to be. I'm in Australia after all; and we all know Australia never gets cold. Not only that; it's July and all good Canadians know July is not prime frost time. In fact, July is the only month of the year that I have never seen snow on the ground (mountains excluded). Will somebody please feel sorry for me? Please!!!!!???

ok, fine. Just thought I'd put a smile on the faces of some people reading this. Hope you are all doing great! I'm getting ready to start classes again. We've got just over 200 new students starting this week and I'm helping with enrolment tomorrow. Should be good.

NEWS FLASH!!!!

As I was writing this, a segment came on the radio saying that this is the coldest morning Sydney has seen in 20 year - and the forecast for tomorrow is colder than today. We are a full 4 degrees below average for this time of year!

Out with the old...In with the new...

I brought Ryan and Amy to the airport today. Another housemate, Stephen, came along too. We stopped along the way for one last meal together and then went on the airport. It must have looked like quite something for Stephen and me to get into the car after saying farewell; two grown men in tears… Oh well, real men do cry! There are a lot of people leaving in the next couple of weeks and hundreds of new students are starting a new life of their own. It’s hard to say goodbye to close friends but it has to be done, and we have a couple of great guys moving into our house in the next couple of weeks. We look back fondly on the memories we have, but we cannot dwell on the loss we are experiencing. Boy, after my last couple of years of letting go of people closest to me – some till the day I die, and others for unknown durations – you’d think I’d know how to do it well; but it seems to be quite the opposite. I guess it confirms for me that I am able to develop close relationships – a good sign of healing from grief after being widowed.

So I now have over a week off and I have not found any good plans for a vacation, so I guess I’ll be staying home and trying to make good use of my time off. Anyone who knows me knows that I get really bored and restless after more than a couple of days with nothing to do, so I’ll have to find something.

Exciting News!!!!!!!!

I’ve been waiting almost a year to post a message like this! At times, it has felt like a hopeless cause. Waiting… waiting…. waiting… hoping it will happen…. waiting… thinking it can’t happen… waiting… wondering why others are blessed like this while I’m not… waiting… hoping to be chosen by the one with the power to bless my life… doing something about it… waiting… Indicating my interest… waiting… hearing those blessed words of affirmation with hand reached out to mine!!!!!!!!!! Excitement!!!!!!!!!! No more waiting!!!!!!!!!!!!! My friends cheering with excitement for me!!!!!!!!!! Success at last!!!!!!! Now that I have your attention, here’s the rest of the story… At almost every church service, a pastor hands out free CD’s, DVD’s or books and tonight was my night. I was in church and the pastor held up a CD and DVD and asked who had been coming to church faithfully and had never been given anything personally by him. I put up my hand in response to his question and he gave me both. I am the proud new owner of the most recent Hillsong Live album, Saviour King. It was just released today – I got it on the release date!!! It’s an amazing album and a lot of my friends are on it. Just had to share the exciting news.

Conference, here we come!!!

The countdown is definitely on. I’ve been spending a lot of time this week getting ready for conference. After an evening out yesterday, I had to get up this morning and get back to the task of preparation. Tomorrow is the regular busy Sunday with a Canada Day celebration squeezed into the afternoon and possibly some casual social activity in the evening and then the fun begins. I leave home at 6:00 Monday morning to start the week. We’re also expecting a lot of extra people at church the next two weekends because of conference running all week.

So in case anyone decides to surprise me and post a comment, I likely won’t have time to respond until July 7 and I may not have a chance to read the comments until then either. If you make a comment and don’t see it published, that’s the reason – I’ll get it up later.

One more Aussie experience!!!

Wow! I’m posting two days in a row!!! Amazing what happens when you have a little more time and more activities out of the ordinary…

Earlier in the week, I was invited to join in a surprise activity for someone. As it turned out, there was no surprise left by Wednesday but the activity still happened. Since Ryan and Amy are leaving for home in a couple of weeks, Amy wanted to give her husband a chance to go see a live AFL game at the Telstra Stadium before going home. Ryan has been talking about this quite often and there are only a few games at this stadium during the year.

For those of you whom this means nothing to, Telstra Stadium is the largest facility in New South Wales; with a capacity of over 80,000 people – and this after changes that make it hold less. For the closing ceremonies of the 2000 Olympic Games, there were just under 115,000 in there. It’s a large facility!

Since most of you know nothing about authentic Australian sports, AFL (Aussie Rules Football) would be around the top. The basic idea of the game is to kick a ball through two upright poles at the end of the field. To get close enough to do this, you may kick the ball, bump it (holding it in one hand while hitting it with the other), or run with the ball (but only for a limited distance before bouncing it on the ground). While you’re doing this, the other team is trying their hardest to tackle you. If the ball is in the air on it’s way to you, you may jump and climb over the back of your opponent in an attempt to get higher than him; and if you catch the ball, there’s no penalty for using your feet and knees on the other guy’s back, but if you don’t catch the ball, there may be a penalty resulting in the other team gaining possession of the ball. Basically the only rule in tackling is that you can’t hit above the shoulders. You are also expected to be pushing and shoving your opponent at all times; whether he has the ball or not – although full on tackles are not the norm if the ball isn’t nearby. It’s a fast paced, extremely rough sport. Imagine body checks like ice hockey (ok, at a lower speed than on ice skates – but the same style of body check), tackles like CFL or NFL football, running like soccer, diving catches like baseball or football, and a bunch of wrestling moves throwing bodies around however possible. Now if that’s not enough, do it on the largest playing field of any team sport (except polo in which the horses are the ones doing the running), have no substitutes or line changes and no down time between plays unless there is a goal, the ball goes out of bounds, or if the ref determines that the ball has stopped moving due to the carrier being tackled and covered by a mass of bodies. Now do it all with no protective equipment! There you have it folks, authentic Aussie sport.

So, Ryan and I went to watch a game last night. We had Sydney Swans fans – one of whom had coached two of the professional players back in their teen years, on one side of us and Collingwood Magpie fans who had made the two hour flight for the event on the other side. It was great! In classic Aussie fashion, they were both friendly to us even though they were yelling at each other about the refs calls on the field and about the score, which was quite lopsided in favour of the visiting team. Now with that long preamble, here are a couple of pictures from game day.





Here we are before the big game. The players on the field are playing in a national youth competition. They played a game before the pros got on the field.






Here's the view from our seats. We were in the second row!









If I didn't know better, looking at the colours, I would have thought this was an international sporting competition being held in Canada. Red is the team colour for the hometown Sydney Swans.

Another general update...

I see the last post was a while back. That’s because I’ve been extremely busy – even by my standards. I mentioned in the last post that I had a number of social options for that night. I one I was thinking of initiating did happen and went very well; but before that one happened, I had to turn down one more invitation. Throughout the next week I faced a barrage of people asking why I hadn’t been to their function. What a great dilemma to have!!! When Betty was out visiting me she commented on the number of friends I have and how great they are. I am truly thankful for this.

So I’m now in the “calm before the storm.” I have a little more free time this week as I prepare for conference. I do have quite a bit to do in preparation, but considering the amount of time available for it, it’s very reasonable. It’s hard to believe that conference is just a little over a week away. It will be amazing!

After conference I get some time off and am thinking of seeing some other parts of Australia. Maybe get to a warm part of the country ;) Any ideas to pass on to me?

General update

I woke up this morning to the sound of rain. What’s so significant about that? It’s the same sound I went to bed to last night and the same sound I woke up to yesterday and the day before. Yea, so what??? This is in a country that over the last 6 years has suffered one of the worst droughts in its history! It’s now been confirmed that some parts of the country have had the lowest 12 month rainfall since records started being kept over 100 years ago. The water storage facilities are sitting around 35% of operating capacity instead of the 80-100% they were at before the drought began. Some would say I’m dreaming but I chalk this one up to the power of prayer. Tuesday was a big prayer meeting at church and rain was one of the big things on the agenda. There have been many prayers offered up by us and others and we’re seeing some answers.

Less than four weeks until conference! The last count I hear said we had just over 2000 volunteers. We need to double the number quickly. To put this in perspective, here are some comparisons for some of the people back home. We need to have roughly twice the total weekend attendance at Southland Community Church (my home church); around 8 or 9 times the attendance of Blumenort EMC; 12 times the attendance of Osler Mission Chapel; somewhere around 4 times the total population of the towns of Blumenort or Osler; or the entire customer base for Vern’s Pizza in Martensville (ok, I actually don’t know the total number of customers but I thought this is a good place to throw in a plug for the best pizza in the world – you’re welcome John). I’ve been named a leader for one of the many teams of volunteers for conference. I’ll be doing the same thing that I do for weekend services and did for the Colour conference in March. There will be around 20-25 people on my team and thankfully I’ll be leading it together with one other person so neither of us has to be on full duty for the entire 17-18 hours per day that we need a leader on the floor with the team. In case anyone is wondering; this is a big event with somewhere around 30,000 people representing over 150 different church denominations coming from 50 or more countries. It’s held in the biggest indoor venue in this part of the country and we also use numerous other buildings on and near the grounds. It’s an incredible privilege to be a part of but will also be very tiring.

I get just over a week off after conference before the next semester begins with somewhere around 250 new students starting a new phase in their lives. It’s hard to believe, but when that happens, it signals a switch for me into the second year of my program. I’m almost half done my schooling here. WOW! Has it ever gone by fast! It also signals a required shift in some of my friendships because some of my closer friends out here are leaving. I was actually at a farewell party last night for someone who’s leaving early to make it home for her sister’s wedding. It sort of brought home the reality of friends leaving to go do great things in other parts of the world and other people coming to start something great here.

Well, so long for now. I have many assignments to do so I can actually be in second year a month from now. And I also have a social life to maintain (for example, I have three current offers for activities tonight, one that I turned down, and one that I’m thinking of initiating which will definitely trump the others if it happens) so I’d better do the assignments so I can keep the social life.

It's getting cold

Just thought some of you would like to know...

Yesterday I actually saw my breath when I walked outside in the morning (even if it was just for one breath). We've also used the heat in the house a little bit. Oh well, it's still nice during the day. But the time has come when the weather in Canada is warmer than the weather in Sydney.

End of Holiday

Knowing many people are waiting for more pictures and stories about the last while; here's the end of my sister's time here.





We spent a day with one of my friends who grew up in the Blue Mountains. Here's one of the many great sites we saw.








One of the people slipped on the rock and got a little wet. Once we were all sure she wasn't hurt, we started laughing and taking pictures.







We took walk through the bush. Found some mud, lots of water, a few stairs, lots of hills, and the most beautiful scenery I've found yet in Australia. Here's a sample of the steepest steps we took. Certain people thought it was too demanding, but others say it's well worth it. I won't tell you who was in which group; but if any of you want to come visit me, I'll gladly take you to see the sights.




Look closely. There's something of significance being pointed at in this picture.







As the holiday began, so it must come to an end. Betty was introduced to the beach at the beginning of her time here; and she said farewell the same way.






So now the holiday is done and Betty is on her way home. Tomorrow I'm back to classes again and the regular routine is about to begin.

The real pizza

I was sent this picture to post on the blog just so the rest of the world can see what a real pizza looks like. I've said it for many years, Verns Pizza is better cold than any other pizza I've found hot and fresh - and it's that much better fresh.



Here's a message my brother John sent me to post on the blog


It looks like you are having fun out there Betty. Hopefully I can make it there soon on a business trip to check out the possibility of setting up a Vern's Pizza there. For those that haven't seen a Vern's Pizza before, I'll try to send Larry a Picture to post.

John, I'd love to host you on your business trip. I'd also love to see Vern's' expand it's horizons.

Finally

The last week has been really busy. My sister Betty is out and we've been keeping ourselves really busy doing things. Some of you have tried calling, some have sent email, and I've just been gone. Here's some results of what we've been doing. Enjoy!


Wanting to be the best host I could, I gave my room to my sister and set up a temporary bedroom for myself in the garage. I bought a camping bed and we hung bed sheets to make the room feel smaller and more cozy. I turned off the power to the garage door openers just in case :)


The weather was great at the beginning, some of us students were tired, and we all thought a relaxing day would help Betty get over the jet lag so we did what any good Aussie would do for relaxation on a hot summer day - we went to the beach! We found a quite one and actually convinced her to get wet. Once the convincing was done, she realized it can be fun to use a boogie board on the waves.


After a long hard day at the beach, Ryan and I found the best activity possible for a couple of Canadians living away from home. We found some pizza and had supper in front of the TV watching HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA!!! Ok, so it's not quite the same when the game is recorded, but it's great anyways. Now I do have to point out the beverage of choice. Also note, Ryan was the cook that night. Unlike the rumours he's been trying to spread, he's the one being converted to the truth.



It's important to know some stats about my new homeland... swimming really isn't that dangerous in regards to sharks - see the stats.



It's not a dog, and thankfully, not a horse, but she was able to pet it.

A large old catholic church we went into.


We got a tour of the Opera House. Here's a photo of the concert hall. Now I just need someone special to take in there for a performance :)


And speaking of someone special... We went to the Jenolan Caves. There are over 400 different caves in this area but only a small percentage of them are safe for the general public. This particular room is called the cathedral. What you see in the picture is about half the room. The roof is about 150 feet high. This room is used by some people for symphony's, operas, and weddings. I'm thinking it sounds like a good place for that. (just a little interesting to get in and out in wedding attire.


Another 2 photos of what's inside the caves.



In case anyone was wondering what makes it interesting to get in here with wedding attire, this is not a modified picture and Betty has not grown taller. She's still 5 feet tall, and this walkway was quite typical in the cave. She was revelling in the fact that I spent a 1 1/2 hour tour hunched over much of the time.



We took a ride down the steepest incline train in the world. As the picture shows, it went quite fast!

It was fun though.

And when we got to the bottom, Betty decided to take a closer look at where we had come from. Note, the track is just as steep as the staircase.

One last picture for this post. We did a lot of walking in the Blue Mountains and found some great scenery. Here's one of the waterfalls we found.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures, check back for more in the near future.