Energy Levels

Sometimes the energy level around here gets a bit out of control.

Like Friday week ago.

It was the first early dark night. Louisa, Max and I stayed late at the park with the Parry's. then went slipper shopping, and picked up Jesse from the train in the dark. All of which added to, but did not cause, the extreme energy level that night.

It was Lee & Joan's fault. When they saw Max that day they told him he would be coming with us to Laos.

Max was very pleased. During his piano lesson that afternoon he stopped mid-song, threw both arms in the air and shouted "I'm going to a third world country' - which gave his teacher pause.

And then Max, Louisa and Peet spent the whole night creating enough energy to run a small village in Laos.

Thomas, Jesse and I spent the whole night trying to calm things down - and were almost winning when Roger came home and it started all over again.

Grace Noll Crowell

We have a bit of a thing for Crowell - she wrote the words to Because I Have Been Given Much.

She's a very 1950's poet and wrote such sweet poems about home life and sorrow and happiness and God.

To wit:

I Have Found Such Joy in Simple Things

I have found such joy in simple things;
A plain, clean room, a nut-brown loaf of bread
A cup of milk, a kettle as it sings,
The shelter of a roof above my head,
And in a leaf-laced square along the floor,
Where yellow sunlight glimmers through a door.
I have found such joy in things that fill
My quiet days: a curtain's blowing grace,
A potted plant upon my window sill,
A rose, fresh-cut and placed within a vase;
A table cleared, a lamp beside a chair,
And books I long have loved beside me there.
Oh, I have found such joys I wish I might
Tell every woman who goes seeking far
For some elusive, feverish delight,
That very close to home the great joys are:
The elemental things--old as the race,
Yet never, through the ages, commonplace.

Mornings

Louisa and Max are supposed to be up at 6.30am for scriptures, then on to getting ready for school, animals, jobs, cello or piano practice and out of the house by 8 am.

But it's getting cooler and sometimes when they have a late night (anything after 9pm) I let them sleep in a bit.

Then when I finally go in to get them up I find:

I think I am the only one wholly committed to the morning schedule.

Easter

Peet says this was his best Easter ever. He and Louisa went to the coast with Lee and Joan where Joan took then for a walk around to Noosa. Via Alexandrea Bay (that would be the nudist beach - but that's not why it was the best Easter ever - they left early enough in the morning that the beach was empty - or so they told me.)

This is why it was the best Easter ever:

He lost one of his rubber thongs but managed to not get swept away - so I guess it was the best Easter ever.

Roger and Tom went deer hunting - and came home with Venison. (Sadly it was shot by someone else - still the freezer is full again.)

Jesse, Max and I stayed home, slept, read and went to Monty's* for chocolate.

Roger and Tom picked up Peet and Louisa on their way home and we had Easter Sunday together with corn beef for dinner and linen placemats recently handed down from Joan.

The Easter Bunny came on Monday (he rests on Fast Sunday), then we delivered phone books and in a celebration of all things chocolate took the whole family to Monty's. Where we worried about my car which was making strange noises. (But has since been fixed thanks to Mark Parry's genius.)

* A newish cafe dedicated to all things chocolate with exquisite hot chocolates and sample plates including chocolate covered roasted cocoa beans - we have convinced ourselves they would be fair trade.

Rude Awakenings

I sent Louisa to wake up Max. She said "I gave him a rude awakening."

And Max, barely awake, mumbled "Yes, she said poo, bottom, toilet."

She didn't - but Max couldn't let the moment pass.

Watoto

Louisa and Max and I went to the Watoto Children's Choir. We were the only family members with a night spare when they were performing - and the others have been many times. Max, however, couldn't remember seeing them - even though he has been many times. It's a fantastic night.

Watoto is a Christian children's orphanage in Uganda where they take up to 8 children and put them in a three bedroom house with a mother who they stay with their whole life. The mother is usually a woman who has been abandoned by her husband. The children are usually found on the streets - although some mothers will organise for the children to go to Watoto when the mother knows she is dying. They have 180,000 children now - that's about 1% of Uganda's orphans.

And to raise awareness and funds, and to show some of the children the world, they form choirs and go on tours. Usually the kids are 8 - 18, and are the most charming, energetic and happy children God ever placed on the planet. The cuteness practically kills us.

So they sing songs about Jesus and dance. Then some of the kids tell their stories and some video of others is shown - then they pass around the hat and it gets very full.

Listening to the stories of war, deprivation and depravity Max asked 'why do so many bad things happen to black people?" Don't know.

And Louisa said it makes her feel bad for the things she crys about sometimes (mainly school and Young Women). Yes, I understand.

Mainly though it leads to days of talking about how joyful we should be to not only have Jesus Christ as Saviour but to have the restored gospel and an intact family. It's good for the soul.

(I forgot my camera so this if from their website - and is a much better photo than I would have taken anyway.)

Dangerous Book for Boys Book of Days

The Easter Bunny very generously brings books to our house and this year Roger's book was the Dangerous Book for Boys Book of Dates.

It has some interesting and often dangerous events from history for each day of the year and a space to write your own escapades.

So far we've added that Roger got a goodly bolt of electric shock when he didn't quite get the wiring right on the shed, and that he found a snake* when he was sorting the stuff in the little green shed.

It was a big hit. Then because dinner was ready and I had the table set I begged them to throw it away. So it got let go way down in Honey's paddock**. Now it lives with the goats and will have to move when we add chooks.

* Apparently we didn't bother to tell Thomas - he just walked, saw the photos and asked 'When did someone get a snake?"
** It's no longer Honey's paddock -she has gone to live on a few hundred acres to have some babies (I think it will be a rude awakening for a cow who thought she was at the very least a dog.)