Sunday, December 11, 2005

Bits and pieces

The ship arrived back in port this morning, and it’s always nice to see it coming back, especially when you know it carries something for you! We went to the post office at about 3.15 today just to check, and there was some mail (a birthday card for Nick and some Baptist Today’s), and also a slip for a parcel collection, but we were just too late to collect, so I will go on Monday.

Today I finished sewing all the cushion covers for the diningroom lounge suite. Wow, what a difference. We’ve also rearranged the furniture in there, so instead of the table being in the middle with the couches and chairs scattered around the perimeter of the room, we’ve moved the table to one corner and the loungey bit to the other side, so we have in effect a sitting room. I spend quite a lot of time in the diningroom, more in there than any other place other than my craft room, so when it was in a shambles it led me to despair. The guest room is also receiving some finishing touches, and it’s definitely the nicest looking room in the house now. Even by SA standards it’s a good looking room. Everyone who has seen it is very impressed with the changes and they all think it looks very professional.

This morning the Good News Club held it’s year end party. If you’re wondering why we haven’t mentioned the GNC before, it’s because we took the boys there last week for the first time. It’s held in the schoolroom, and is run by a couple of people in the church, for the purpose of sharing the gospel with the kids in Jamestown. We will definitely take the boys there next year on a regular basis, and most likely Nick and I will also get involved because it seems they need the help. I was initially loathe to get involved because our Saturday mornings have been used for exploring, but perhaps being useful in a ministry is more important! Besides, we still have the rest of the day on Saturday or the whole of Monday to do other stuff. Anyway, back to the party – this involved lots of singing, then some games, then LOTS of eating of cupcakes and sausage rolls and savoury nibblies and cheesesticks and ice cream and popcorn and sweets and chips and juice. Typical Saint catering. Then Father Christmas came, with a wrapped present for each kiddie there, including our boys. Hopefully the people who arranged the whole thing drew on the church budget for this, because I’m sure it was quite costly. We haven’t let the boys open the presents yet though, they have to wait for Christmas. So now Aaron asks, every five minutes, “is it Christmas yet?” Grrrrrrr….

Yesterday Nick went to the radio station to do a recording of a sermonette which will be broadcast tomorrow evening at 7 pm. If I remember I’ll tape it. He also recorded one of his songs because they offered to record it for free, and then it will probably get radio time as well. Unfortunately though, their systems were not adequately set up for them to do multiple track recording, and there is a violin accompaniment, so each track (guitar, vocal and violin) needs to be separately recorded and then mixed. They will try to get something better set up and then Nick will try again. Shame, a bit of a disappointment that it couldn’t be done then.

Caleb continues to mature and is really a lovely little boy. For the most part, he tries hard to be good, but has his lapses. Even his eating habits have improved. If he doesn’t like something now (eg squash) he will put it in his mouth and swish it around with long teeth, but seldom gags on it and doesn’t vomit. He tries to like it, and does his best to eat it anyway. He also prays very well, often with countless repetitions of the same thought, but perhaps he just wants to be sure that God understands (for example, “Dear Father God, thank you for this day, and thank You that we can do the stuff that we are supposed to and not to things that we shouldn’t, and that we must try to do the good stuff we should do. Amen.”) Aaron prays along the lines of “Dear Jesus, please help me to be good, and help me not to steal people’s cars and fight people, and not to punch them and break their houses.” ? We have to just try to keep a straight face. They still enjoy one another’s company tremendously and get up to mischief together, very seldom do they do naughty or silly stuff alone. Often Caleb doesn’t sleep in the afternoons, but we make him stay in his room and play quietly. Usually though he ends up straying out before Aaron is awake, but he’s very pleasant on his own.

The Christmas lights in town have been switched on now. They look so pretty – I took a drive to town after the boys were down because Nick had been out to do Jacob’s Ladder shortly before that and said that I should go. There are coloured lights strung up all over the main roads, from one side of the road to the other in a zigzag all the way down, and the shops are open until late now in these two weeks before Christmas. Next week we will ask Steve and Maureen to babysit one evening and take a walk down and get some photos on slow shutter speed.

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