It's not over

Max was carrying on about something - can't remember what - and Alec said 'Max don't you know it's not over till the fat lady sings.'

Max opened his mouth - said 'well' - stopped -looked panicked - recovered - finished by saying 'Louisa, you haven't sung yet' - and looked relieved that he had dodged that bullet.

Clearly he was about to say Mum or Jesse but realised in the nick of time that only trouble could come from that and saved the day.

I'd be offended if his face wasn't so funny.

The Giver

Jesse, Roger and I have recently read The Giver by Lois Lowry. We'll be buying and reading the rest of the trilogy. In the meantime we are urging Peet to hurry up and read it so we can pass it on to the rest of the family. It's an insightful and thought provoking - and short - book. We spend our days now thinking about choices and freedoms and safety and balance. And colour. We look at green grass (which is everywhere here at the moment) or make a mistake or listen to someone really feeling sad or happy and breathe a sigh of relief and gratitude that God has made each of us sovereign over our thoughts and choices.

What Max really really wants

Max just asked 'do you know what I really really want to find? A friend.'

A tender little heart resides in that sassy boy.

Since Anastassia left Max has struggled to find his place. He is well established as the fight fixer. When he was sick the girls in his group told Mathilda that they needed Max to solve their fights. But Max is short of a bosom buddy.

Oscar (who is five) told his Mum that Max is his best friend. And the girls in the middle group love Max to death and want to play with him all the time.

But there is still no one to be a special friend. Mathilda talked to me this very afternoon about the problem. She is enduringly insightful and endlessly caring. Maris suggested Melou and Mya as possible friends - we'll invite them to play next term.

Max may be short of a soul mate - but he is not short of people who love him - at home or at school.

Jesse is taking him to bed to read some more.

Greenan's porridge

I'm not good at breakfast - I am aware that it is the most important meal of the day - it's also the earliest.

But at the Amos house warming a few weeks ago Andrew Greenan told us that he makes porridge with rolled oats, milk and a little sugar. We gave it a go and we're hooked.

It's rich to be sure - but with a bit of cream, pure maple syrup and fruit it's also heavenly.

Now we have 'Greenan's porridge' for breakfast and I feel a little better.

And now that I have recorded for posterity the reason we call it 'Greenan's porridge' credit can forever be given where it is due.

Three tricks & a riddle

Poor Peet - 13 years old is a pill.

A couple of nights ago we had a discussion about responding calmly to minor offences. (The definition of a minor offence is still at issue.)

I explained that I only have three tricks for changing teenage behaviour.

• Talking and reasoning.


• Renewing perspective by teaching about world events, history and the plan of salvation.


• Removing distractions - eg computer time. (On the basis that young brains sometimes can't stop processing things like computer games long enough to process kindly responses.)

Having tried all but the last I suggested we try that one.

Peet assured me that the others would probably work if I'd just try a little harder.

I'm giving it my best shot.

We have been talking about peace and the results of peace. We have been noticing the tender hearts of brothers and sisters (and mothers). We have been reading The Giver and talking about how important it is to have choices and learn from them. We have been reading 2 Nephi and talking about the result of unkindness. We have been practicing calm and promoting calm by slow evenings filled with reading and music and bonding games - like Pictionary (we don't set the bar too high around here.) We've reread the Word of Wisdom and talked about the importance of enough sleep.

And slowly I think we are getting there. Tonight Peet is reading to Max in bed and I don't think he's had even one unhappy moment.

I actually have a fourth trick too - service. Peet went home teaching with Malcolm Rea tonight and felt good about the world all night.

Now here's a riddle from Peet:

An Arab sheik tells his two sons to race their camels to a far off city, telling them that whoever's camel is slowest will inherit the sheiks fortune.

After wandering aimlessly for four days the sons meet a wise man who tells them one thing that makes them jump on the camels and race to the far off city.

What did the wise man say?

The answer is in the comments.

(In Peet's defence people laugh at me when I tell them Peet is hard work - it's just that he does so much else right that any wrong stands out like a sore thumb and screams to be worked on.)

Bits and Pieces

Louisa tells me that she hates being told a secret because 'then I have a dwelling in my mind and I just want to get rid of it.'

Max has started piano lessons. We love it.

We have a recorder craze going on.

Ammon is here at last.

Thomas is working at Toowoomba with Lee - funny that for two years we missed him but the family didn't seem too small. Now we're ok with him being away but the family seems small again. Must be because we think he should be here.

Peet has been home teaching for the first time with Malcolm Rea.

For two years we've been saying 'when Tom comes back he'll love ...'. Now he's busy reading:

watching:

and listening to:

And many more.

I have no idea how he'll squeeze in a job and uni!

(He's also doing heaps around the house, helping on the Fulchers house a bit, enrolling in uni, looking for work, preparing a couple of talks and soon he'll be helping out at Pine - so he's not really a drone.)

Pet parade

Pine's annual pet parade resulted in Fisher winning the prize for Jumpiest Pet and Gertie won Hungriest Pet.

A certain amount of pride was evident.

Sunshine

To celebrate Tom's return - and to remedy the lilly white skin he brought back from the Baltics -we spent the long weekend at Sunshine. A blessing upon Lee & Joan for their unit.

Perfect blue skies - warm days and cool nights - long walks - quick swims - football in the park - fish and chips - koala running along the path - rocks to scramble over - pictionary, trivial pursuit and lots of recorder playing while Max did situps.

Tom reclaimed an old love and walked to Hells Gate each morning. We said we'd meet him there on Monday morning so he set off at 6.30 am - notebook in hand - he's writing a story for Max. We said we'd leave before eight but left at nine.

Then we searched Hells Gate and called his name and figured he'd gone to the National park to wait.

Sadly he was just tucked into one of the cliffs and couldn't hear us. We finally phoned him at11.30 and he walked down to meet us after a four hour wait. He didn't mind one bit.

(Louisa and Max are hidden in this photo.)

The celebration was a success - we still have some work to do on the lily white skin.

Shabbat

Every time I visit the Jewish Synagogue in George Street I come away with two distinct impressions. Most importantly I realise what a rare and magnificent blessing and responsibility it is to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, and I am left with a lingering wishing for a more meaningful sabbath. It just all sounds so wonderful - the separation from the world in a much more dramatic way than we are accustomed to - the ritual meals - the watching for the sun to go down.

It's not that we're bad at keeping the sabbath day holy - and every Sunday I am grateful for the break from a week of worldy cares intruding - and Alec said just a week or two ago that without the Sabbath he thinks he might just explode from too much to do. But I long for a little bit more peace still. All in all though we are pretty decent sabbath keepers - we don't shop, watch TV, play computer games and so on and we do spend the day going to church, reading scriptures or other uplifting stuff and talking a lot (and resting).

But this week was Tom's first real sabbath at home - and the rest of the kids were merciless. They started the morning by asking to go to McDonald's for breakfast - these kids object violently to McDonald's any other day but knew that Tom didn't know that. Tom looked mildly alarmed. Roger and I sighed and said 'what do you think'.

Then when we arrived at Kawana Waters ward (we were at the beach for the weekend) and sacrament had been delayed for an hour they suggested a quick trip to the servo for snacks, wished they brought their togs because they could fit in a quick swim and so on. I think it was the swim that tipped Tom off that they were taking the mickey out of him.

It continued all afternoon with Tom looking bemused - he got the joke but it still made him nervous.

When evening rolled around and I said it was time for scriptures Max complained and wanted o go to bed. 'Only half an hour' I said.

'Half an hour! We never have scriptures for half an hour!'

By now Tom was onto the joke.

Funny day.

But next week our words as well as our actions will match again as we remember the blessing of the sabbath and the Saviour whose atoning sacrifice binds our family through good, bad and funny. And I'll try to make a special meal.