WHEETBIX

One of the many aspects in life that Jane happens to love about of Australia is their interest in sport.  She loves the active lifestyle that exist here and that they hold school carnivals (competitions) throughout the year where she is able to push herself a little bit in running and swimming.  She loves the challenge and the ability to continually improve by achieving better times.

This last October, she brought home a flyer about an upcoming triathlon that was being held at Sydney Olympic Park - Wheetbix Triathlon.  Many of her classmates had done this triathlon in the past and said that it was great because there is NO PRESSURE.  The goal is just to have fun and it gives kids a chance to see what triathlons are all about.  Jane wanted to know if she could sign-up for it and of course, I said yes.  I think it is awesome that she would want to do something like this and she is a natural little athlete.  For the next few months, Jane would frequently head out of the house to train.  She was riding her bike, running and swimming - very self motivated!

The big day finally arrived and I thought she was going to be sick.  My girls love the idea of trying new things, however, when the NEW THING arrives, they often want to back out.  They are suddenly filled with nerves and always ask me WHY I allowed them to register for something so scary.  I try in the most loving and supportive way to encourage them that it is going to be okay and that they are SURVIVORS!  Often my encouragement puts them off and they are frustrated with me however, they always manage to PULL themselves out of the fear by jumping straight into the deep depths of uncertainty.  I am constantly amazed by their courage and determination.

On 16th of January 2015, Jane did just that.  She pulled herself together and jump straight into the olympic size swimming pool and swam her little heart out, biked 3 kilometres and ran to the finish.  She was FANTASTIC!  It was a very hot day but, she performed like she was made for triathlons.  She had a wonderful time and would love to do another one!

I am so proud of my girls and the courage that they possess.  They may be a little nervous to try new things but, they ALWAYS follow thru with their dreams and desires despite their concerns.  Let's face it, life is full of uncertainty and many times we must walk into the dark before we see any light.  Jane, I admire you!
 

FAMILY 2015 THEME

 
Prior to the new year, I wanted to chat with our girls about the importance of setting goals and to have them think about some goals/resolutions that they would like to set for 2015.  In addition to setting goals, I wanted to give our family a theme for the year.  When we lived in America, we would often tell our kids to "Be Strong, Be Confident and Happy."  It was constantly repeated to the kids and they truly felt that it helped them during certain situations.  


After moving to Australia, 20 months ago, OUR normal life was shaken up.  Suddenly, we found our support village gone. We missed our family, friends and neighbours   We were being challenged and stretched in every area of our lives.  There were days when we were utterly thrilled with the Australian adventure that lay ahead of us and then there were days when we just wanted to go back HOME to the comfortable safe environment that we left behind.  Tom and I felt that we needed to encourage the girls (and ourselves) so we came up with a theme for this difficult, yet exciting once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  It was "Good Timber Does Not Grow with Ease, the Stronger the Wind the Stronger the Trees."  We printed up beautiful signs with this quote and posted them everywhere around our house. We would often repeat this quote and tried HARD to embrace the WIND. 


The last 20 months have not been easy -- it was tough moving internationally.  There have been many low days, however, we have grown closer as family and learned how to cope with loneliness and disappointment at times.  The growth may have not been in the ways that we have wanted but, we are making it work and blossoming.  

Because we are finally feeling settled and adjusted to life here.  Tom and I felt that we were ready for a new theme for 2015.  We both put a lot of thought into this and scoured the Internet, quote books, our scriptures, conference talks, etc. for the right quote for our family.  A scripture in Matthew kept coming to my mind but, I wanted a personalized theme for us.  


The scripture that kept coming back to me was Matthew 5:16 - "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven."   With that scripture in mind, Tom and I came up with a word from this scripture that we would like to focus on as a family.  It is "SHINE."  However, we wanted each letter of the word to have meaning.  We composed an acrostic poem to incorporate all of our thoughts and dreams for our girls in the year of 2015 - see below for the details.

On News Years Day at dinner, we gave the girls individual copies of our poem, we set personal resolutions together and we celebrated with sparklers.  It is our hope that our girls will SHINE during 2015 and continue to be the wonderful girls that they are as they navigate their way through this new year.

2015 IS HERE

For New Years this year, Tom wanted to have the full experience of living in Sydney.  Last year, we went down to the Harbour to see the fireworks and only stayed for the 9 o'clock show.  The 9 o'clock show is for families with children and it is quite BEAUTIFUL! However, the BIG BANG show at MIDNIGHT is when they pull out all of the stops!  

Sydney spends about 7 million dollars on the fireworks show and you can definitely see it.  However, it was rough making it to the midnight show.  We were waiting down beside the bridge on a TINY patch of grass for about 8 hours (Tom was there for about 12 hours), crammed into our very small space with 1 million of our closet friends.  Two of my children were suffering bouts of claustrophobia just wishing all of the people would go home.  It was a hot summer day with very little breeze basically we were not feeling the happiest.  The life of a sardine, living in a teenzie tiny can, is not my idea of a GREAT time.

We endured the less than ideal conditions until the 9 o'clock show hoping that once we saw them we would be revived and it would push us over the midnight hump.    When the family show began one of the bridge pylons blocked our view.  Jane burst into tears and immediately Tom and I wondered if we had just made the biggest mistake of our lives by pushing them to wait the night away.  

We were feeling quite deflated but decided to just push through, no turning back, 12pm here we come. The midnight show did not disappoint us. The fireworks were UNBELIEVABLE.  I grew up in Washington DC and I thought I had seen fireworks.  Nothing I have ever seen compares to the New Years Eve fireworks off the Sydney Harbour Bridge!  It was mind blowing!  At one point fireworks were spilling over the edge of the bridge like a waterfall with fireworks completely crazy on the top.  We were overwhelmed and so excited!  It was a night to remember.  We joined the mass exodus with the other 1 million spectators and we did not make it home until 2 am in morning (a few of us were feeling like we might melt down).

It was a WONDERFUL, BRIGHT, once in a LIFE-TIME experience (I don't know that we will endure the crowds ever again).  

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2014

As a disclaimer, this is a long blog post so if you are not up for it...go ahead and skip this one.  

Christmas 2014 was wonderful.  It was very busy and full of activities but it was nice to be able to continue many of our traditions and have some firsts also.  We love the Christmas season because we are able to spend many hours together celebrating the TRUE meaning of Christmas.

Here is an overview of our December and many of our favorite activities.  Living so far way from family can be difficult during the holiday season.  We are so blessed to be part of such FANTASTIC extended families and we wish that during this holiday season we lived closer however, our hearts are there!

DECORATING THE TREE - 1ST OF DECEMBER
It is a little different decorating a tree when the weather outside is hot and sunny.

DAVID JONES CHRISTMAS WINDOWS - 13TH OF DECEMBER

This is a new tradition for us that started when we moved to Sydney.  This year we went up the Sydney Tower Eye, Saint Mary's Cathedral and Christmas Windows.

FAUX - GINGERBREAD HOUSE CONSTRUCTION PARTY - 14TH OF DECEMBER

We love to decorate gingerbread houses.  We use wafers (basically bricks) since you cannot buy graham crackers in Australia.  The construction party is always better with friends.

TEMPLE LIGHTS "LIFE OF CHRIST" - 19TH OF DECEMBER

We went to see the Sydney Temple Fairy Lights Display - always a beautiful experience.

CHRISTMAS EVE - 24TH OF DECEMBER

We went out for lunch and to see a movie "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day."  We loved the movie because it reminded us that everyone can have a bad day...but, you must move forward and have hope for a better tomorrow.

This was dropped off on our doorstep on Christmas Eve - We LOVE secret Santas!

CHRISTMAS DAY - 25TH OF DECEMBER

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - 28TH OF DECEMBER
We went to Canberra, Australia for two days to see the world's largest Christmas lights display (fairy lights) approximately 1,200,000.  It was wonderful to go to Canberra because the lights were unbelievable and it gave us a chance to see the nation's capital.  According to everything we have read, it was modeled after Washington, DC.  It was great to see Parliament House, all of the grounds, and embassy row - wow, it reminded us of HOME!

We hope that your Christmas was merry, bright, and full of Christmas cheer.