Monday, September 1, 2014

August 31 2014 Weekly Letter

Australia Sunday August 31, 2014
Dear Family and Friends,
The last day of another month, the time is going by so fast.  The past 2 weeks have been very rainy and cold, in the 50’s most days.  The news last night said it is the coldest and rainiest August in 16 years.  Last August was the driest and warmest in 10 years.  We have experienced both extremes.  Today was sunny and in the 60’s, and beautiful.  It was so nice going to Church with sun, and having the air conditioning on to come home because the car had been in the sun.  We are hoping for better weather especially on weekends.
Last Monday was Family Home Evening at the Feil’s because Buckland House was being used by the missionaries.   Sister Smith had lasagna, salad and bread, and the Smylie’s had desert, chocolate cheesecake and pavalova from the Cheesecake Store.  It was all very good.  Elder Smylie gave the lesson.  He is an art history major, so he gave us boards to write on as a table, and art paper and a piece of lead and an eraser.  After each of us taking turns drawing what he told us to, the women were to draw our husband’s head.  He would draw on the board the shape to use, and then we were to look at our husbands and draw.  It turned out amazingly well seeing as though I have no art ability.  It was a fun activity.
Tuesday night after going to the Temple and eating, we ran downstairs to the Killebrew’s to take a light bulb that had burned out.  When we got there the Archibald’s were there, and we tried to stay at the door and Elder Killebrew insisted we went in as he needed Dad’s help.  I was in my sweats and sweatshirt, and dad in p j bottoms and we had our slippers on.  Elder Killebrew has been having severe migraines since he fell a couple of months ago and dislocated his jaw.  Elder Archibald was there to give him a blessing and wanted dad’s help.  I guess we were supposed to go down at that time.  When he came in our office the next morning to bring a bulb, we told him to go over across the street to the clinic and get a referral to a specialist.  He did and they gave him something for the pain and he said it was helping a little when he came back.  He goes to a specialist in a month.
On Wednesday we had a devotional at 12:30, piped in from New Zealand to announce the release of Terry Oaks as the Director of Temporal Affairs for the Pacific Area and put in the new one, Brent Buckner from South Weber.  It let out about 1:30 and then we had pizza and garlic bread, and ice cream bars.  It was nice they had lunch for us.  New favorite pizza flavor, they said it is true Aussie, bacon and egg.  It was really good, looked weird though with scrambled egg on it.
Wednesday night after we had dinner, Chris Archibald came with peanut butter fingers.  They were so good, and we had enough to take for lunch on Thursday.  We ran across the street for lunch, it wasn’t raining, but rained hard while we were in the mall, then had stopped when we came out.  Good thing too, because I didn’t take the umbrella.  We are really getting tired of taking lunches every day, but can’t afford to eat out too often, about once every two weeks.
Mark was in the office on Monday, then was gone to Tasmania the rest of the week.  On Monday he told us to email or call the Hill’s in Brisbane and see if they still wanted to bring Sister Rogers down in October.  I got an email from them on Wednesday that said she was planning on coming and very surprised we are close to being done.  It will be good to see them all again.  Sister Rogers in going on a bus trip in September.  She is amazing for almost 88 years old.  We are on track to finish the cards by the middle of October.  We are doing at least one box a week and have 7 left.  We just finished a difficult box on Friday, lots of glued on articles and at least half with info on both sides.  The box this week is a very easy one so we will have no problem finishing it, and no meetings that we know of.
Yesterday when we woke up it had been raining all night, and was still raining.  We were trying to decide what to do when the Smith’s called and asked if we wanted to go to Parklea with them and then to lunch.  We said sure so they came and got us around 9.  We got a couple of things we have wanted, and found some really good looking green beans.  It is still a little early for them but these were really good.  We were hoping we could find some good grapes, but not yet.  The apples and oranges are still really good.  We then went to a really good Chinese restaurant at the Baulkham Hills mall.  We each got a dish and shared.  Dad even tried the Moroccan lamb.  The chicken and corn soup was really good.  It is definitely a place to go back too, pretty expensive though.
It was good to get back to Blacktown Ward after a 2 week break,   we went to Oatlands Ward with Dave and Rashika 2 weeks ago, and last week we were in Ulladulla.  We were just getting dinner on when the Smith’s called and said they were bringing desert over.  She had bought some rhubarb at Parklea and made a crisp with it and strawberries, and they brought ice cream.  It was really good and we enjoyed visiting.  They are looking for places to go see in one day, as they are taking one Monday off a month because they have activities all day Saturday.  We showed them pictures of some of the places we have been to and we had our map book to show them where they could go.
A very Happy Birthday to Violet on Friday.  She is getting so big.  It is fun to see the pictures from the kid’s activities.  Keep them coming.  All of the kids are in school now, Dallen in High School, Grason in Middle School, Aunna in her 3rd year of Chinese Immersion, and Anaston started 1st grade in Portuguese Immersion.  Mylie is also in 1st grade.  Henry started Kindergarten.    They are all growing up so fast. 
Ruston is back in the classroom teaching 5th grade in Ogden.  The students in his class are so lucky to have him as a teacher.  It will be fun when we get home to see his classroom and school.  Hope all of you have a wonder school year.
May the Lord bless and keep you in his care.  We Love You All!

Mum and Dad

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