This Whirlwind We Call Life

Whirlwind is the only appropriate word I can think of to describe life at the moment.  I know I say it every time, but life is busy.  It has been so busy I wonder sometimes if it's all really worth it.  (Of course, I know it is, but you know, when you're tired you ask yourself silly questions.)  I have been intending to blog for some time now, and it just hasn't happened.  Well, it's happening now, and I shall attempt to sum up the last few weeks and the next few so as to update you on this whirlwind we call life.  

I can't even remember where I left off on my last post... *goes and checks*  Oh my goodness!!  It's been over a month!!!  Oops...

At the end of October/start of November, we had our family church camp.  As always, it was wonderful.  Our pastor asked me and another guy,Jeremy, to organize the games for the Saturday seeing as we had both been to kids camp a few weeks before.  We agreed and got together to organize it.  I have to say it was rather amusing as we are both very laid back and organizing isn't a strong point for either of us (although I think I do have the upper hand in that department out of the two of us!  XD)  We sat there for a bit and for the life of us could only remember two or three games from kids camp and we weren't sure how they would apply to a big group.  In the end, we scrapped kids camp inspiration and came up with our own ideas, even taking a couple of games and putting our own twist on them and making up our own rules to make them work for 50+ people.  It didn't go too badly at all.  Capture the flag was the hit game of the day.  We had four teams (Red, Blue, Yellow, and Green) and so there were two colours to a side for each round of the game.  Jeremy insisted on swapping the teams around every round of the game though, so as not to create any animosity between people of any two colour teams.  I have to say, that amused me somewhat.

Just in front of the sand, near the logs on the left
is where we have church by the lake.  Isn't it beautiful??
(Picture from the Generate Church Website)

On Sunday morning, we always have church by the lake at camp.  Because we are down by the lake, we have water baptisms there every year.  This year I decided to be water baptised.  Our pastor asked me if I would share my testimony with the church as well.  I agreed, but I was rather nervous.  I won't repeat it all here, but if you are interested in reading it, I wrote it all in a guest post over at Fullness of Joy.  What you read on the post is more than what I shared with the church.  I did intend to share most of it when I got up, but then I had a microphone in one hand and couldn't open my paper with the other because I was shaking too much!  So I said the main points as I could remember them, and I think it went exactly the way God wanted it, even if it wasn't what I had planned.  People told me afterwards that I spoke well and didn't sound or look nervous at all.  That was so encouraging!!  

The weekend after family camp, I had - wait for it! - another camp!!  This one was the kids camp out for our kids church, of which I am one of the leaders.  we were so pleased with the attendance and participation of the kids (we ended up with seven boys and seven girls.)  I was in charge of the food for the weekend and went shopping with co-leader Christy which was an experience all of it's own as we are like chalk and cheese with completely different personalities.  (Christy will write lists of lists she has to write, and I am like, "Oh, there were lesson plans for that??"  It is quite funny - we crack each other up!) 

The highlight of the weekend for me was on Saturday night when a few of the youth band came and did some worship with the kids.  We were so grateful and blessed to have them come - a couple of them even postponed plans they already had for the evening just to come and minister to the children.  To those of you who did that, I know you probably won't ever read this, but your selfless actions blew me away - your kingdom focus is amazing and I thankyou all from the bottom of my heart.  I know that the leaders and kids alike were incredibly blessed by the way you served us and the Lord.  

While we were all sitting in a circle singing along to the acoustic guitars, we got to the bit in Hosanna  where it says:

Heal my heart and make it clean,

Open up my eyes to the things unseen.

Show me how to love like you have loved me.

Break my heart for what breaks yours.

Everything I have for the kingdom's cause

As I walk from earth into eternity.

As those lines started the kids lifted up their voices and sang.  Yes, they sing other times, but this was worship and hearing their young voices singing out to their God to break their hearts for the things that break His, and committing themselves to the Kingdom of God, it brought tears to my eyes.  This is why we - my co-leaders and I - continue in kids ministry.  Hearing them worship that night puts it all in perspective.  When the presence of God comes and responds to the praise and the worship of children, you realize you have the key to changing the world.  Children respond to the presence of God, and God works powerfully  through them.  In our kids church, we have children who speak in tongues, children to have been baptised in the Holy Spirit, children who have seen visions from God and have learned to interpret them correctly, children who hear the prompting of the Holy Spirit and obey it, children who pray for the sick and see healing occur before their eyes, children whose hearts break to the point of tears when they learn of suffering and injustice.  And I don't believe that it is limited to our church - God is moving among the young people all over the planet.  Watch out world - there is an Army rising up who will stand for what they believe in, who aren't afraid of what people think, and who will shake the very foundations of hell.  

I see a generation, 
rising up to take their place,

With selfless faith...

The week after the camp out, I got really sick due to the fact that about five of the children who attended said camp were just recovering from some flu-bug thing.  It was really awful and had me flat on  my back for nearly four days.  Thankfully, I  recovered after that and Grace was the only other person in our house to really get it.  Not that those days were totally wasted... I watched all of the 2009 Emma and most of the BBC Mansfield Park in that time.  Emma  is my favourite Jane Austin - yes, even over Pride and Prejudice.  (I mean, who would want Mr. Darcy if you could have Mr. Knightly???  He is so kind and honourable, and he and Emma and Miss Bates and all the people from Highbury are such wonderful characters!)  

During all this time we have desperately been preparing for the church carols as well.  As well as being in the choir, I am the lead girl in one of the drama skits (we were a little short on people this year and several members of the choir are participating in multiple roles throughout the night!)  I have rehearsed one scene where I have to blow up at this guy who crashes into me by accident and breaks all the Christmas presents in my bags.  I really have trouble with this because I am pretty even-keel by nature and blowing up at people with sarcasm and a blaring temper is actually a challenge.  (Not that I am perfect by any means - I tend to react backhandedly when I get ticked off!)  On top of that, the guy who runs into me is played a good friend of ours and who I get along with really well.  Aaron is a funny man and we make each other laugh when we're not acting... I'm a hopeless case when we are -- especially when he calls me ma'am.  Do I look or sound like a ma'am to you???  No.  I didn't think so.  The other bit that makes me laugh is when I have to correct his grammar as part of the script.  I wanted to leave that part out, but Aaron said we should leave it in because his wife is a school teacher and will find that bit highly amusing.  "Just you wait," he told me. "You'll hear her giggle in the crowd!"

One part of the carols I am really looking forward to is the dress.  We try to theme each year differently, and this year the theme is rockabilly.  I was SO excited when I heard that, because it is my favourite era and style of dress... and it gave me a good excuse to buy a rockabilly dress.  It was a big decision for me because modest dresses are really hard to find for my height and build, and I wanted to be able to wear it again as I actually don't have any dresses in my

wardrobe at the moment.  Joy also wanted one and so we hit Ebay... and found exactly what we were looking for.  And yes, the dress pictured on the right there is mine.  Isn't it gorgeous??  I was so happy to find it!  Joy's is exactly the same but in a light blue.  There was also dark blue and white with black dots, but I liked the purple best which is odd because I'm not really a purple kind of girl.  :)  As of this moment, they are still currently making there way here from Hong Kong, but we are hoping they arrive very soon because we just can't wait to try them on!!  ^_^

Another thing that has been happening the last couple weeks is rehearsals for our nursing home ministry.  Our family joins with seven other people from our church and another girl every term and we go around to the nursing homes in town and entertain them... but it is so much more than entertainment.  We sing a combination of secular and Christian songs, because it is not about shoving the Gospel down their throats, but about being the hands and feet of Jesus and loving those people where they are at.  I always think that nursing homes are sad places... some of those dear old people are so overjoyed that we come and sing to them and talk with them because they never get visits from anyone else.  They get excited when we sing our Rock and Roll bracket because we dress up for swing dance and those who aren't singing dance.  Some of the patients join in as they can,but for others it brings back such precious memories of when they were younger.  Sometimes we sing a couple of old hymns like "Amazing Grace", "How Great Thou Art", "The Old Rugged Cross" and "It Is Well".  It amazes me every time how an elderly person can seem to be asleep, or be entirely unresponsive due to dementia, and yet know and sing along to every word of those hymns.  I have seen some of them break down and sob during those hymns, while others sit with tears running quietly down their wrinkled cheeks.  Others lean forward, enchanted by the thrill of the sweet, familiar lyrics.  These ones often have a glow of complete content and peace on their faces as they listen to words they may not have heard in decades...  

We have one more rehearsal before this round of concerts.  Needless to say, Christmas Carols are featuring in this term's run sheet.  The first concert is on Thursday week, and then the other two and on back to back eight days later.  

Joy and I are doing something very exciting this Sunday.  For the very first time, we are auditioning for the annual town stage production.  Remember how Mum and Dad played in the band for The Pirates of Penzance earlier in the year?  Well, for some unknown reason, the auditions for next year's show are happening before next year.  And the SATS show for 2016 is:  *drumroll please*

Joy and I are so excited, because even if we don't get a main role, we will be in the chorus which will be playing parts like munchkins, apple trees, poppies, and inhabitants of the Emerald City.  However we are auditioning for main roles first.  Joy is auditioning for Dorothy, and I... well... I can't make up my mind.  My plan ever since I learned of this production has been to audition for Glinda, but recently I have been second guessing myself.  I figured I am too tall for Dorothy and too young for Glinda, and so in the end I have decided to audition for them both and see what happens.  Mum says she thinks I suit the role of Glinda best out of the two roles.  I tend to agree, but I have practised the audition material for Dorothy as well, and I think playing Dorothy would be so much fun!  She also gets to sing Over the Rainbow.  :)  If you think of it, do pray for us to be courageous as we are rather nervous... and wish us a bit of luck too.  ;)

So as you can see, life has been crazy.  Between now and when we go away for holidays on the 21st of December, we have so much happening I wonder when we even get time to, you know... eat... or breathe...  I hope to get at least a couple more posts in before then, so fare thee well until then!  And always remember to live fully, give recklessly, love ceaselessly, hope eternally, and strive heavenward.  <3 <3

Spring Already???

Well, folks, spring is well and truly upon us.  For those of us in Aussie land, anyway (and if you happen to live in the southern hemisphere)... for those of you up north - I envy you.  You get winter soon!!!  *insert sad face* )

But even I'll admit that there are some wonderful things about spring.  Take away the wind, and the pollen and the allergies :P  and there is incredible new growth and new birth happening all around us.  In Australia, we have Easter in autumn, when everything is winding down and dying.  I can see why you people in the NH have it in spring.  New life is amazing.  There are daisies all over the park next door, and the wattle trees have blossomed in different shades of pink, red and yellow.  From where I sit, I can see the gardens of our neighbours.  Flowers are coming up and starting to show off their beautiful hues of purple, pink, and white.  Even the trees seem to have taken on a new sheen of green.  

Birds seem to be everywhere.  In the park next door, we always have a pair or two of magpies that nest in one of the trees.  (Never fear!  They like us, and let us in the park with no swooping in sight!!)  Yesterday, Elise got some sausage out of the fridge and sat under one of the trees with the meat in her hand.  The magpies were intrigued and came to investigate.  They hopped up a bit closer, and a bit closer and when they both were only a foot away from her hand, they threw back their heads and began to sing.   I don't think American and Australian magpies are the same... if you don't know when an Aussie magpie sounds like, check out the video here:

It's only a very small selection of what they can sing, but once they get into full voice, their song is so pretty!  Its one of my very favourite bird calls.  :)

With the thought of spring comes the realization that the end of the year is nearly upon us.  We are into Christmas rehearsals at church - I am in the choir this year which is proving to be rather fun, albeit amusing.  Most of the female singers in the choir are altos which leaves Joy and Me (and sometimes Elise) to sing soprano.  My problem is that there are some funny people in the choir who make me laugh whilst I am trying to sing a rather important melody.  My comfort is that the others singing said melody (Joy and two tenors) usually dissolve into laughter as well, so while it doesn't do any favours for the song, I am not the only one ruining it!!

We are also doing some drama for the Christmas production this year, which is exciting.  I did a bit of drama for it last year (I was a Disney shepherd and a Shakespearean Wiseman)  and so I am looking forward to seeing what I may be able t do this year.  Because our team for both choir and drama is not as large as we could wish, there will be some double-ups and some swapskies to get everything in.  But that's ok - it's why we call it creative arts!!


I thought I would share with you a picture taken at the end of August of me and three of my sisters.  It was taken at the women's conference that our church hosts every year.  The theme this year was "Imagine" and it was amazing to see women daring to dream and God giving people vision for the future... He is so wonderful!!  Anyway, I like the photo (although we had a hard time getting Grace to agree to come and join us!  XD)  From left to right: Joy (15), Jess (19), Grace (17), and me.  :)  

A couple of weeks ago, Jess and I spent a week at Tahlee to help cook for a youth camp.  Tahlee has a program for English immersion students and so currently they have six Koreans and two Bolivians staying at Tahlee to learn English (or learn to teach English).  They are such lovely people.  Jess and I got to know them quite well over the week.  On our last night there, the students invited us over for a movie night.  They told me to bring the movies so I borrowed a few from our adopted grandparents who live there, and went over after dinner.  We decided on Ever After starring Drew Barrymore.  It is really interesting to watch a movie that you know almost off by heart with 1) six Koreans who have never seen it before, and 2) two Bolivians who have only ever watched it in Spanish.  The first thing I noticed was how fast and what a thick British accent the characters in the movie speak with.  The reason I noticed this is because I had spent all week talking to students on only learning English - suddenly I was very aware of the English they would have more trouble understanding.  After the movie, one of the Korean girls asked me, "Was that a British accent?"
"Yes, it was," I replied.
"Do you understand it all?" she asked, awe creeping into her voice.
"Yes," I admitted.
"Ahhh!"  She cried in exaggerated frustration.  "ENGLISH!!!"

Koreans are very expressive - something happens in the movie and all six of them cry out, "Oooohhhhh!" at the same time and escalating to the same pitch at the same time.  Jess and I thought it was quite funny.
It was amusing too when the stepmother in the movie says some horrible things to Danielle, and my sweet Bolivian friend exclaimed, "It is even worse in English!"

Ever After is about a two-hour long movie and finished at about 9:45.  Most of our group (including Jess) said goodnight and went to bed, but one of the Bolivians and two of the Koreans informed me that they had never seen "The Sound of Music" and begged me to watch it with them, so we did... all three hours of it... starting at 10:00 pm.  I have to say I don't think I would do that again - start a movie of that kind of length at such an hour, but how often do you get to watch "The Sound of Music" with people who have never seen it before???  It was fun - everyone got quite tense towards the end, with my Bolivian friend talking to the screen in Spanish and holding onto my hand rather tightly.  I found the hardest thing about it was that none of them seemed to understand the enormity of Hitler's movement or what he stood for, and seemed to think that it would be better for Captain von Trapp just to do what he was told... I tried to explain best I could without talking over the next scene.  They really enjoyed it though, and it was a lovely time with them.

Sorry this post has been a long time coming - life has been in the way lately!!  Actually this whole year has been so incredibly, insanely busy... but it's good - we wouldn't really change it!   Hopefully I won't be so long in posting again next time!  Hope you all have a very blessed weekend!  :)

Pirates, More Pirates, Camps, and Eisteddfods

I am long overdue for a general post to tell y'all about how life is going.  So here it is now.  :)

As a lot of you would have known, Mum and Dad were involved in the local production of The Pirates of Penzance this year.  It was all rather exciting, as none of us have been involved with our theatrical society since Beauty and the Beast six years ago, and Mum and Dad have never done one together.  There is a consequence that must be realized when you commit yourself to being in a musical show, and that is that - while everyone involved is a volunteer - everyone must pay by being semi-tortured with the same songs going around and around your head day and night for months on end.  Thankfully, torture is only torture if you don't enjoy, and I think that, on the whole (in our family at least) we enjoyed the show and the music so much that we are only now beginning to wish we could forget it.  For those of you who do not know the story of The Pirates of Penzance here is a synopsis from The Utah Shakespeare Festival website:

On the coast of Cornwall, a gang of pirates play and party as Frederic (a pirate apprentice) reminds the pirate king that his obligation to the gang is soon over. He was apprenticed to the pirates only until his twenty-first birthday, which is that day, and he is leaving them. Ruth (Frederic’s nursery maid when he was younger) explains that Frederic should never have been a pirate except for her mistake: She was told to apprentice Frederic to a pilot, but she misunderstood and placed him with a pirate instead.

Frederic tells the pirates that, after he leaves the gang, he intends to destroy them, not because he doesn’t love them, but because he loathes what they do. He is a slave of duty and, when no longer a pirate, it will be his duty to destroy them. The pirates understand, and also complain that they cannot seem to make money. Because Frederic is a slave-of-duty to the pirates until noon, he tells them why: Because they are all orphans, the pirates will not rob another orphan; and since all their potential victims are aware of this, they all claim to be orphans!

Because Frederic has spent his entire life with the pirates, he has never seen another woman; thus he thinks he may want to take Ruth with him as his wife. He asks Ruth if she is beautiful, and she responds that she is. Frederic, a very trusting young man, says that he believes Ruth and he will not let her age come between them.

At this point, however, Frederic hears a chorus of girls in the vicinity. He sees a group of beautiful young women, realizes he was betrayed by Ruth, and rejects her. Frederic informs the girls that he is a pirate, but not for long. He asks if any of the girls will marry him, and the youngest, Mabel, agrees.

The pirates enter the scene, and each grabs a girl. Major-General Stanley enters and identifies himself as the girls’ father, demanding to know what is taking place. When the pirates tell Major-General Stanley that they intend to marry his daughters, he objects, saying he has an aversion to having pirates for sons-in-law; the pirates respond that they are opposed to having major-generals as fathers-in-law, but that they will put aside the objection.

Knowing about the pirates’ weakness, Major-General Stanley tells them he is an orphan and, thus, disarms the pirates and takes his daughters, along with Frederic, away to his family chapel and estate. The major-general, who actually is not an orphan, soon feels guilty about the lie he told the pirates. Frederic, however, has a plan to lead a squad of zany policemen against the his old gang.

Before he can act, however, the pirate king and Ruth arrive to tell him that he is still obligated to the pirates. Because Frederic was born on February 29 of a leap year, he has served only five birthdays, not the twenty-one required by his contract. A strong sense of duty forces Frederic to relent, and, because he is a member of the pirate band again, to reveal the truth that Major-General Stanley is not an orphan. The pirate king vows that he will have revenge on the major-general.

Mabel enters and begs Frederic not to go back to the pirates, but bound by duty, he leaves. The police ready their attack on the pirates, while the pirates creep in to take revenge on the major-general.

The pirates defeat the police. However, when Ruth divulges that the pirates are really noblemen and they swear their allegiance to the queen, the tables are turned--and the police take the pirates prisoner.

However, because the pirates have never really hurt anyone, they are soon forgiven. The ex-pirates win the girls, Frederic wins Mabel, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Quite frankly, I don't get tired of it - it has become one of my favourite musicals.  In fact, I went to see it five out of the ten shows that were playing here in town!  XDD  It is a very funny show.  Below are a few videos starring Jon English and Simon Gallagher that make up my favourite sequence in the whole thing (although, now that I think about it, it probably won't make a whole lot of sense if you don't know what's going on. XD)  Oh, and as an extra note... *giggles and whispers it* ....  I think our show was better!!!  XDD  But don't tell Jon English or Simon Gallagher that!  If you want to see photos of some of the characters in our show click HERE.  A lot of of these photos seem to be of the senior patrons who support the shows each year, but you can kind of get an idea from some of the pictures.  Oh, and if you look at photo number 10, that's my dad in the foreground with the parrot on his shoulder.  (He played bass.)  =D

Other than Pirates, I have been doing a few different things.  This weekend coming, Jess and I are going to a leaders training camp in preparation for Tahlee kids camp in September.  (It's the same camp I wrote about here.)  We are really looking forward to it.  I have been hanging out for kids camp since I had to say goodbye to my six little girls last year and send them home.  

This week is also the closing date for the region writing eisteddfod that I discovered we have last year.  I only entered two sections last year, but this year I am entering all three - short story, poetry, and a letter to the editor.  I did not enter the short story category last year as fictional prose is not my strong point when it comes to writing.  However I decided to do it this year and I am happy with the results.  Oddly enough, it is the poetry that is eluding me this time.  I kind of know what I am going for, but the right words are evading me at present.  Hopefully they come before the closing date.  We shall see, we shall see!!

Guess what??!  I am (attempting) to learn the violin!  I have sort have been interested for a while, but did not really want to start right at the start with Twinkle Twinkle.  My sister Joy offered to give me a lesson, and so I agreed, provided I could start with the second song.  She agreed.  Actually I don't think she particularly agreed with me, but she decided to humour me anyway.  So now, I have struck up a race with James.  I asked him who would reach performance level of the last song in Suzuki book 1.  He - of course! - is convinced it will be him.  At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we shall see, we shall see!  XDD

Talking about music lessons, I now have three piano students and am meeting with a potential fourth this week.  (Wow!  It's all happening this week!  O.o)  I so much enjoying teaching.  My three students are all ten years old, but apparently the little girl I am meeting on Thursday is only seven and has no musical training so I will be starting from scratch, so to speak.  I am rather looking forward to it.  :)

I think that is all I have to report for now... So long, farewell!  

Kids Camp 2014

I will place a disclaimer right here right now that I was not allowed to take photos of kids at all on this camp, and as it was a kids camp that would have been difficult, so I didn't even try.  ;)  These photos are from the Google image page so you get a feel for the beautiful place we stayed at.  :)

Now that that is out of the way, I will try and share how awesome the camp was... it is very hard to put in writing as my thoughts are running wild with all the different things I could say and would only I will probably forget half of them before I press that resolving "Publish" button.

I won't lie by saying that I was a little trepidatious in accepting an invitation to go and be a leader of a group of kids at the annual Tahlee Christian Kids Camp.  I had never 'done' a kids camp before in my life so I didn't really know what I was getting myself into.  Looking over the flyer, I was pretty sure it would be fun and as I love kids I wanted to embrace any opportunity to minister to them.

Jess and I went over to Tahlee on Saturday for two days of leaders training and looking over the programme.  The theme for this year's camp was Chains, Shackles and Freedman.  It was a significant theme for Tahlee as the property was originally an estate owned by a Christian couple in the 1830's who ministered to the convicts that arrived by ship directly onto the property.  By drawing a parallel between the convicts and humanity in sin, the kids were presented with a powerful illustration of what is is to be a slave to the world and to Satan, and the joy of being set free in Christ.  The two days of preparation were not easy - it was a rather pressing schedule to make sure we knew what we had to know, knew where we had to be at what times, organize who would be leading what segments, etc.  On the other hand, those two days - as well as the leaders meetings we had every morning and night for the duration of the camp - quickly knitted all of us leaders into a single unit: we clued each other in on certain children, prayed for each other, laughed and cried together, encouraged each other, supported each other... we made some wonderful new friends and it was such a blessed time every time we sat down and off loaded, shared funny little stories or had the joy of being able to relate a transformation in a child's life.

Monday came.  We gathered per normal in the the morning and prayed together for the children who would be arriving in just a couple hours time.  Eventually, everyone turned up and I was able to lead my group - the Cunning Convicts - to their dorm.  All up, the Cunning Convicts consisted of two leaders (myself and another young woman) and six little girls from grades 3-5.

Each day was run essentially the same:

• 7:00 am -  Leaders meeting, then race back to get the girls (who should be up and dressed and take them to the dining room for breakfast.
• 8:00 am - Breakfast, after which everyone heads back to the dorms to have 'dorm time'.
• Sometime between 8:30 and 9:00 - Dorm time.  This consists of everyone cleaning their dorms for the dorm inspections, and reviewing and discussing the previous day's lesson and preparing for that day's lesson.
• 9:30 am - Adventure Zone A in which we all meet for songs, skits, and teaching by the wonderful Mrs. A who taught from the Bible via chalk talks.  She did a fantastic job.  This session also included that day's memory verse presented in some way (usually a skit) so that parts of the verse could be taken down to stimulate the kids memory.  ;)
• 11:00 am - Morning tea.
• 11:30 am - Water sports.  This was arguably the most popular session of the day.  The options were tubing, swimming, fishing, canoeing  and a water slide.  I decided to join the water slide 'maintenance' team as it was the only option other than fishing that didn't involve being entirely on or in the water.  It turned out to be the best choice, in my opinion.  :D  So fun - just add detergent.  XDD
• 1:00 pm - Lunch time!
• 2:00 pm - Craft.  There was a lovely older couple at camp who have been part of the camp for 35 years.  Mrs. R organized the craft and made sure everyone had what they needed and that everyone listened to her step by step instructions.  We made treasure chests, kites and necklaces.
• 4:00 pm - afternoon tea.
• 4:30 pm - Adventure Zone B.  This session consisted of more songs, more skits and puppets, and an object lesson which was my session with Mr R, (only he let me organise it and did what I told him!)  Most of our object lessons were science experiments that we could relate to what Mrs. A had spoken about in the morning, so Mr. R presented himself as an absent minded professor and I was his level-headed assistant.  It was very funny, and the kids responded well to the demonstrations.  
• 6:00 pm - Dinner time.
• 7:00 pm - this time was varied from night to night.  Tuesday night was a history walk.  We took the kids to a cellar under Tahlee House, the boat harbour where convicts used to be dropped off, and the servants quarters behind the house.  At each station, the kids met a historical figure (a convict, Lady Isabella, and a maid) and learned what it was like for each person socially in the 1830's.  Wednesday night was the bush dance.  This was really very funny as +Toby Kolos and I were leading the dance and had practised before hand.  As a result, we knew what we were doing and did it relatively well, I thought.  (Most of the time, that is... I would keep forgetting whether it was right or left arm first!)  So we showed the kids how to do it, got into groups and gave it a shot.  The heel-toe polka is relatively straight forward, so that wasn't too bad, but then we demonstrated the "Strip the Willow" dance.  This one was my favourite of the two as it was more complicated and gave one a sense of accomplishment.  ;)  Anyway, Toby and I led the dance, skipped down the middle, skipped back, led the lines around and behind for the next couple to start their dance at the top.  Unfortunately, no one else really got the point of it and went randomly from one person to the next in utter disregard for beat or rhythm.  It was quite fun though.  Thursday night was very powerful as the Tahlee staff set up a recreation of Pilgrims Progress and the kids walked the trail with their burdens and learned about different aspects of the Christian walk.  
• 9:00 pm - Lights out for the kids and meeting for the leaders.  We would get to bed any time between 10:00 and 11:00.

Friday was the last day and even though we were all ready to go back home, we all knew it wasn't going to be easy to let the kids go and say goodbye.  One by one, they all went home and we said good-bye to the other leaders which was every bit as sad if not more than saying goodbye to the kids.  One of the other leaders - a really sweet Asian girl whom I got along really well with - is returning to her own country soon and saying good bye to her was very sad. As I said before, the entire leadership team became a single unit that worked together to minister to the kids so everyone checked up on everyone else to make sure we were all coming back next year.  :D

There are so many other things I could mention, but the one thing that stands out is the awesome privilege Jess and I had of being able to pray with a girl to accept Christ for the first time.  It was so exciting!

To sum it all up (if that is even remotely possible!) the entire week was such a blessing and I can't wait for next year already!  :D  Praise God for what He has done, what He is doing, and what He will do in the lives of children in our area, NSW, Australia, and the world over.