We go to Wodonga to see uncle Si before he passed away, Vern, Ellen, Carmen and Austin go to NZ, Marion starts her exams, and Dylan comes home for a holiday.
The first of the month found us still on holidays. One of Vern’s uncles, Simon Samson who is married to her dad’s youngest sister has been sick for some time with cancer. They have one daughter and lived in Sydney for many years. Vern stayed with them before we got married in the Sydney Temple. When Simon became sick they moved to Wodonga to be closer to some of his family. We got the call that he was coming to the end so Vern, Austin, Carmen and I drove up on the first to say goodbye. Vern’s parents, Michelle, Jake and Rainer also came down from Canberra and met us there.
Simon had gone into a coma a few days before and was at the home with the nurses coming out each day. It was a little confronting for the children to see him that way but it is all part of life and they were fine. We had a good visit in their nice little unit that has a balcony overlooking some farmland. We drove home that afternoon and had dinner at TGIs in Epping. The next day he passed away.
The Tsunami in Samoa has claimed the lives of family members of some friends from our stake. Bishop Fuataga lost up to eight members of his extended family and his wife Victoria lost her sister. The Fuataga’s are good friends of ours, we have known them for many years and we met that sister at their daughters wedding last year. As a Stake Presidency we visited the Meadow Heights Ward on the fourth to show our support, Vern and the children came along as well.
For family home evening on the fifth we went down to the Stake Centre and watched one of the talks from General Conference while I was making copies for the next weekend. After that we went and played some table tennis, fusse ball and badminton in the hall.
We watched the General Conference broadcast on the weekend of the tenth. Vern wasn’t able to attend due to basketball grand finals on the Saturday and looking after Jaylen on the Sunday. Ellen watched Saturday sessions with her friends in another Stake but it was nice talking to her on Sunday morning and comparing notes. Our first Sunday session didn’t start until mid day so Calvin didn’t get up until ten. He ate his breakfast then said “Now for Lunch”.
Thursday the fifteenth I dropped Vern, Ellen, Carmen and Austin off at the airport at 7.00am to catch their flight to New Zealand. Vern was asked to go by her family because her parents, Les, Moana and Michelle were heading over. I thought it would be nice for the Carmen and Austin to go and Ellen also decided to tag along. As it turned out their flight was delayed and they didn’t leave until mid afternoon.
I decided to paint the front door and replace the handle as it was looking a little worst for wear. After I had finished, I left it open to dry then closed it. The next morning I went to go to an early morning High Council meeting and I couldn’t open the door. The paint had stuck to the foam door seal. I had to go out the back door and once outside I was able to push it open. That day I also finished fixing up and repainting the park bench that Nan bought us years ago, luckily nothing stuck to that.
It was very quite around the house with just Marion, Calvin and I. Vernice had planned out the meals before she left and Marion did a good job keeping us fed. It was the last week of Seminary for Marion and the last week of classes at High School. On one day they had some sort of dress up day and Marion went as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.
The gang came back on Thursday the twenty second, although Ellen stayed another few days and came back on the Saturday. That day was also the children’s basketball finals and their teams all won. I cut down the two fir trees in by the front door as they were getting too big and blocking the light.
We had the Mormon helping hands Ward service project up at Humevale cleaning up after the fires. It was a very hot day and we got black moving the burn wood around. On Humevale road only one house still stands and sixteen people lost their lives. The owner of the property we were working on survived because she was picking up he son from cricket at the time. It nice to be able to help out there is still so much hurt and heartache for the people effected up there and they are so appreciative for the help since some still find it hard to return to their properties.
The first of the month found us still on holidays. One of Vern’s uncles, Simon Samson who is married to her dad’s youngest sister has been sick for some time with cancer. They have one daughter and lived in Sydney for many years. Vern stayed with them before we got married in the Sydney Temple. When Simon became sick they moved to Wodonga to be closer to some of his family. We got the call that he was coming to the end so Vern, Austin, Carmen and I drove up on the first to say goodbye. Vern’s parents, Michelle, Jake and Rainer also came down from Canberra and met us there.
Simon had gone into a coma a few days before and was at the home with the nurses coming out each day. It was a little confronting for the children to see him that way but it is all part of life and they were fine. We had a good visit in their nice little unit that has a balcony overlooking some farmland. We drove home that afternoon and had dinner at TGIs in Epping. The next day he passed away.
The Tsunami in Samoa has claimed the lives of family members of some friends from our stake. Bishop Fuataga lost up to eight members of his extended family and his wife Victoria lost her sister. The Fuataga’s are good friends of ours, we have known them for many years and we met that sister at their daughters wedding last year. As a Stake Presidency we visited the Meadow Heights Ward on the fourth to show our support, Vern and the children came along as well.
For family home evening on the fifth we went down to the Stake Centre and watched one of the talks from General Conference while I was making copies for the next weekend. After that we went and played some table tennis, fusse ball and badminton in the hall.
We watched the General Conference broadcast on the weekend of the tenth. Vern wasn’t able to attend due to basketball grand finals on the Saturday and looking after Jaylen on the Sunday. Ellen watched Saturday sessions with her friends in another Stake but it was nice talking to her on Sunday morning and comparing notes. Our first Sunday session didn’t start until mid day so Calvin didn’t get up until ten. He ate his breakfast then said “Now for Lunch”.
Thursday the fifteenth I dropped Vern, Ellen, Carmen and Austin off at the airport at 7.00am to catch their flight to New Zealand. Vern was asked to go by her family because her parents, Les, Moana and Michelle were heading over. I thought it would be nice for the Carmen and Austin to go and Ellen also decided to tag along. As it turned out their flight was delayed and they didn’t leave until mid afternoon.
I decided to paint the front door and replace the handle as it was looking a little worst for wear. After I had finished, I left it open to dry then closed it. The next morning I went to go to an early morning High Council meeting and I couldn’t open the door. The paint had stuck to the foam door seal. I had to go out the back door and once outside I was able to push it open. That day I also finished fixing up and repainting the park bench that Nan bought us years ago, luckily nothing stuck to that.
It was very quite around the house with just Marion, Calvin and I. Vernice had planned out the meals before she left and Marion did a good job keeping us fed. It was the last week of Seminary for Marion and the last week of classes at High School. On one day they had some sort of dress up day and Marion went as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.
The gang came back on Thursday the twenty second, although Ellen stayed another few days and came back on the Saturday. That day was also the children’s basketball finals and their teams all won. I cut down the two fir trees in by the front door as they were getting too big and blocking the light.
Dylan wanted to finish work since he now has the money for his mission, however his boss asked him to stay on until the end of December to help out. This he will do but he took a week off and came home for a holiday. His flight left at mid day on the twenty seventh and they still made him work that morning for a few hours, nice to be wanted. The next day Vern had him booked to see the Doctor and Dentist for his mission papers. It is good to have him back he is fun to have around. He is big and brown but says he is tried of digging holes and operating machinery.
We had the Mormon helping hands Ward service project up at Humevale cleaning up after the fires. It was a very hot day and we got black moving the burn wood around. On Humevale road only one house still stands and sixteen people lost their lives. The owner of the property we were working on survived because she was picking up he son from cricket at the time. It nice to be able to help out there is still so much hurt and heartache for the people effected up there and they are so appreciative for the help since some still find it hard to return to their properties.
Nathan.
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