While driving to a friend's house....
J: "Are wishes good?"
Me: "What do you mean by good?"
J: "Some people say 'make a wish.' Is that good?"
M: "Some people say that when blowing out birthday candles. The better thing to do instead of making a wish is pray to God. We can talk to God about anything and ask him for whatever as well."
B: "According to his will. Ask according to His will."
A: (in a very melancholy tone with a long and dejected face attached) "I wish my dreams would come true."
B: "Yeah? What do you dream about?"
A: "I'm not telling."
G: " Can weee westle?"
G: "I whant to westle!"
Me: Coming out of the bedroom dressed for church. Wearing a new dress.
G: "Ohhhhh I wike your dress."
G: "I wuve it. Yes, I do."
Me:(thinking) And your too cute little man.
22.5.11
Just a day
Played in my first game yesterday after three weeks of injury rest (tore three ligaments in my ankle). I was able to play a good 60 minutes. Happy that cycling at the gym has kept my fitness up enough to play for that long.
We have all been sick for the past week. Brandon had a sore throat and fevers. The kids had gastro of some sort, mainly just cramps and no eating. I had gastro as well. I thought I was better until we headed home from my game yesterday. I now feel like I have been hit by a truck (which may be due to the game more than the sickness), sore throat and fever.
Gu headed back to China yesterday for a three week holiday. When he returns he will be leaving us and moving in with a classmate. I find it odd that he never calls them friends. They are only referred to as classmates. Even those he went out with at home were also given the name classmate, never friend. Perhaps westerners use the term too loosely? Or maybe they don't use it enough? We are a little sad that he won't be living with us any longer but understand the desire to live with a friend, I mean classmate, as well as someone that speaks your native language. The university has already asked us if we would take a student from Japan. I would like to but we might need to take a pass this time around.
Upon arriving home from the soccer game yesterday we met another neighbor. He is from Chile and lives directly behind us. I am not sure if he had planned to walk by our place. He did have something to discuss. Apparently he is worried about the back fence. He thinks it will fall over soon due to time taking its tole. We explained to him that we are renting and that this type of problem the landlord needs to handle. I didn't want to discourage him by stating that there were several things inside the house needing to be fixed which were being ignored. Brandon said that our next door neighbors had commented on the fence as well. They were also worried it would be falling over soon. So I suppose we will be writing another e-mail asking that the fence issue be addressed. I really don't want to be on bad terms with the neighbors over a fence.
This morning the same next door neighbors came over and asked if we had heard any commotion last night. Apparently around 3am someone had smashed their back window with a crowbar while attempting to break into their house. The unnerving part is that the whole family was home at the time. They had two cars in the driveway. Brandon thinks they were after their nice media centre. We don't have anything too nice so we may be overlooked. The girls have been worried about robbers for sometime and often ask about it before bed. They are especially worried that the wobbers (as A says) might take their jewelry. I told them that their jewelry should be fine and not to worry. I can't imagine the pawn shops receiving much demand for plastic, sparkly, heart shaped rings.
While writing this something peculiar came to mind. Brandon and I have both been approached by a white van in the car park of our local shopping centre. They drive around slowly with their window down asking if you might be interested in buying a stereo system.
Well that just about sums up our Saturday plus a few hours on either end.
We have all been sick for the past week. Brandon had a sore throat and fevers. The kids had gastro of some sort, mainly just cramps and no eating. I had gastro as well. I thought I was better until we headed home from my game yesterday. I now feel like I have been hit by a truck (which may be due to the game more than the sickness), sore throat and fever.
Gu headed back to China yesterday for a three week holiday. When he returns he will be leaving us and moving in with a classmate. I find it odd that he never calls them friends. They are only referred to as classmates. Even those he went out with at home were also given the name classmate, never friend. Perhaps westerners use the term too loosely? Or maybe they don't use it enough? We are a little sad that he won't be living with us any longer but understand the desire to live with a friend, I mean classmate, as well as someone that speaks your native language. The university has already asked us if we would take a student from Japan. I would like to but we might need to take a pass this time around.
Upon arriving home from the soccer game yesterday we met another neighbor. He is from Chile and lives directly behind us. I am not sure if he had planned to walk by our place. He did have something to discuss. Apparently he is worried about the back fence. He thinks it will fall over soon due to time taking its tole. We explained to him that we are renting and that this type of problem the landlord needs to handle. I didn't want to discourage him by stating that there were several things inside the house needing to be fixed which were being ignored. Brandon said that our next door neighbors had commented on the fence as well. They were also worried it would be falling over soon. So I suppose we will be writing another e-mail asking that the fence issue be addressed. I really don't want to be on bad terms with the neighbors over a fence.
This morning the same next door neighbors came over and asked if we had heard any commotion last night. Apparently around 3am someone had smashed their back window with a crowbar while attempting to break into their house. The unnerving part is that the whole family was home at the time. They had two cars in the driveway. Brandon thinks they were after their nice media centre. We don't have anything too nice so we may be overlooked. The girls have been worried about robbers for sometime and often ask about it before bed. They are especially worried that the wobbers (as A says) might take their jewelry. I told them that their jewelry should be fine and not to worry. I can't imagine the pawn shops receiving much demand for plastic, sparkly, heart shaped rings.
While writing this something peculiar came to mind. Brandon and I have both been approached by a white van in the car park of our local shopping centre. They drive around slowly with their window down asking if you might be interested in buying a stereo system.
Well that just about sums up our Saturday plus a few hours on either end.
16.5.11
Reading
This post is a bit overdue.
A read her first words on Friday!
I love the look on their faces when they suddenly realize they have just read their first word. It is very precious. I wish someone could have taken a picture of J and A's faces when this happened. To capture the moment when new doors all of a sudden have opened right before their eyes, would be very cool indeed.
A's words are basic, pat, sat, and bat, but words none the less. Her eyes grew very wide when it dawned upon her what she had just done. Well done 'del! I am very excited for you!
Now on to the hard stuff. Letter pairings and exceptions to the rules.
A is having a bit of a struggle with the letters A, P, B, D, and T. Their sounds get all muddled in her head and come out every which way. I have been working on going over those every day and I think it is clearing things up ever so slowly. Still it can be a bit frustrating when I have just talked to her about the letter P and its sound then show her a card with P on it and she says that it is the letter D or B. Patience, Patience. It will come eventually.
A read her first words on Friday!
I love the look on their faces when they suddenly realize they have just read their first word. It is very precious. I wish someone could have taken a picture of J and A's faces when this happened. To capture the moment when new doors all of a sudden have opened right before their eyes, would be very cool indeed.
A's words are basic, pat, sat, and bat, but words none the less. Her eyes grew very wide when it dawned upon her what she had just done. Well done 'del! I am very excited for you!
Now on to the hard stuff. Letter pairings and exceptions to the rules.
A is having a bit of a struggle with the letters A, P, B, D, and T. Their sounds get all muddled in her head and come out every which way. I have been working on going over those every day and I think it is clearing things up ever so slowly. Still it can be a bit frustrating when I have just talked to her about the letter P and its sound then show her a card with P on it and she says that it is the letter D or B. Patience, Patience. It will come eventually.
15.5.11
Waste Not
Just read this article this. Brandon and I had a little discussion several months ago about food production. Brandon thought that if we suddenly had to grow our own food a lot of people around here might go hungry. One of his thoughts was that there isn't enough free land around Melbourne (maybe we were still living in Geelong at this point, don't remember) to grow the food this city would need. I thought that perhaps if we didn't waste as much food or land we might be able to grow the food needed. This is all hypothetical and just another brain exercise/debate that he and I often like to take part in.
But honestly, we really do not use space very well in this city. All those nature strips you drive by could turn into great gardens. Instead of having paper bark and red gum trees why not plant fruit trees instead? We don't even think to use our roofs or vertical space.
And honestly I do throw food away. According to the above article I throw away this much...
And this all leads me to the bread ministry we have going on at the McKinnon church. It was started about a year ago by one of the families at church. I can't recall all the details about how it started. But anyway here is what this family picks up every Friday night. This is just from one bakery on one night. This bakery gets rid of bread every night. There are hundreds of bakeries all over Melbourne. Now I suppose in this case the waste of the bakery (due to their business slogan promising a full store even at closing!) is helping those who are in need. But I just wonder how many bakeries on how many nights end up putting it all in the rubbish?
By Sunday morning there are usually only a couple bags left. Through this ministry contacts have been made with the community in McKinnon, the local AA group that meets at the church, and a few other folk. We are thankful for the bread ministry God has given us. The opportunity to provide food for the body as well as for the soul.
Waste not.
But honestly, we really do not use space very well in this city. All those nature strips you drive by could turn into great gardens. Instead of having paper bark and red gum trees why not plant fruit trees instead? We don't even think to use our roofs or vertical space.
And honestly I do throw food away. According to the above article I throw away this much...
Per capita, Europeans and North Americans waste between 95 and 115 kilograms of food. Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia ( I seriously doubt Australia is a food saving nation. We should be alongside the EU and the US) waste much, much less – between 6 and 11 kilograms per person. The takeaway? The developed world wastes 10 times more food than the developing one.
And this all leads me to the bread ministry we have going on at the McKinnon church. It was started about a year ago by one of the families at church. I can't recall all the details about how it started. But anyway here is what this family picks up every Friday night. This is just from one bakery on one night. This bakery gets rid of bread every night. There are hundreds of bakeries all over Melbourne. Now I suppose in this case the waste of the bakery (due to their business slogan promising a full store even at closing!) is helping those who are in need. But I just wonder how many bakeries on how many nights end up putting it all in the rubbish? 
By Sunday morning there are usually only a couple bags left. Through this ministry contacts have been made with the community in McKinnon, the local AA group that meets at the church, and a few other folk. We are thankful for the bread ministry God has given us. The opportunity to provide food for the body as well as for the soul.
Waste not.
5.5.11
2.5.11
Reading list for young ones
Brandon and I have been reminiscing over the books we read as little kids. Here is the beginning of the list. I am excited that I was able to buy all four Mary Poppins books off eBay for $20. I have to say that I am quite disappointed with the selection these days at the local libraries. Most of the young reader books are either really silly looking, over the top girlie, or have heaps of vampires, death, and the occasional blood spatters on the front cover. Oh yipee.
The Mary Poppins series
The Borrowers series
The Wizard of Oz series
Wrinkle in Time series - maybe in a year or two
Boxcar Children series
The Black Stallion series - The books towards the end of the series get a little weird.
Books by Jim Kjelgaard
Books by Beverly Cleary - Brandon and I both liked the Ralph Mouse series and the Ramona series
Walk the World's Rim - About a boy in South America who goes on a long trek in the Andes
Little Britches - About a boy and his family out west.
By the Great Horn Spoon - A boy and his butler heading out West in the US.
Indian in the Cupboard series
The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White
Caddie Woodlawn - by Carol Ryrie Brink
I recently stumbled upon this trilogy by Annie O'Dowd. Unfortunately they are out of print so you may have to look around some to find them. I found two on eBay and another on Amazon.
Any more suggestions?
The Mary Poppins series
The Borrowers series
The Wizard of Oz series
Wrinkle in Time series - maybe in a year or two
Boxcar Children series
The Black Stallion series - The books towards the end of the series get a little weird.
Books by Jim Kjelgaard
Books by Beverly Cleary - Brandon and I both liked the Ralph Mouse series and the Ramona series
Walk the World's Rim - About a boy in South America who goes on a long trek in the Andes
Little Britches - About a boy and his family out west.
By the Great Horn Spoon - A boy and his butler heading out West in the US.
Indian in the Cupboard series
The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White
Caddie Woodlawn - by Carol Ryrie Brink
I recently stumbled upon this trilogy by Annie O'Dowd. Unfortunately they are out of print so you may have to look around some to find them. I found two on eBay and another on Amazon.
Any more suggestions?
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