February is half over, and the first six weeks of this year
are a bit of a blur.
There hasn’t been much summery weather this summer, which is
a disappointment to a lot of people, I know, but as I was working most of the
time, it wasn’t really an issue for me. We did a few fun things with Jonathan
though, such as going for a bike ride.
We also finished up setting up the Lego and invited various
families around to see and play with it, before taking most of it down. We also
put the camera on the train and took a video. Mark discovered some pretty
amazing Lego train videos on YouTube. I’ll probably dismantle some more during
General Conference.
Mark and I both read my bookgroup book, The Sparrow, which
is religious science-fiction. A very interesting read.
I finished papering two of the walls in my little room. I’m
pretty pleased with how it looks now. Shame it took me so many years to
actually stick down the pictures. Maybe I can finally finish it off next
summer.
We minded Seth once, and he cried a lot but we all survived.
The highlight of the month was going camping with the Young
Women, Kate and Nate Baird, and our bishop, Jeff Clendon. The main tent was a
bit of a challenge to erect as the labels on the poles did not correspond to
the labels in the instructions. Gradually through problem solving, duct tape
and extra rope we managed to get it in a moderately satisfactory manner,
though. We stayed again at Balmoral Forest.
I have been struggling to reconcile my own experience of
being treated as an equal in the world, with being sidelined and pigeon-holed
in the church. This is an interesting position to be in, as the Stake Relief
Society President. I have chatted frankly with the Stake President and he is
happy to leave me in my calling despite my reservations. We work together well,
and maybe I can help men in our stake be more aware of the inherent sexism in
the structure and culture of the church. I feel inspired by Chieko Okazaki, who
had the courage to speak out on behalf of the oppressed and forgotten.
I gave a lesson about Jesus Christ and listened to a lovely
song called “Softly and Tenderly”. We also sang “Come thou fount of every
blessing”, which used to be in the hymnbook but is no longer.
In preparation for my sales trips, I had an appointment with
the hairdresser to make me look like “Dr Nic” again. This is my persona on the
website and videos. The kids seem to like Dr Nic, so I get to look at lots of
pictures of myself on the site all the time.
My brother, Peter, came over from Melbourne with his family,
Misa, Emma and Carter. My mother treated
us all out to dinner at an ethnic restaurant. There were the following people:
Linda, Des, Tim, Allie, Milan, Preston, Marcel, Jessica Ward, fiancé whose name
escapes me, Lucy Ward, Mark, me, Jonathan, William, Jessica Petty, Seth, Peter,
Misa, Emma and Carter. It was quite a crowd and lots of fun.
I’ve started reading the book, “Inequality, A New Zealand
Crisis”. I would recommend all people to read it, particularly in election
year. The much vaunted, “Trickle down effect”, which implies that poor people
benefit from a better economy, is not working. I am most impressed at the way the
new pope is speaking out against inequality. As a church I think we should be doing
more to help poor people - and probably worrying less about gay marriage. I’ve
had socialist leanings all my life, and this book is cementing them. When there
is poverty and obscene wealth, we all suffer. I will be injecting interesting
statistics about the nature and effects of poverty in my statistical data in
order to help students be more aware of the circumstances in which far too many
New Zealanders live.
The inequalities have been glaringly obvious to me as I have
visited schools in the last few weeks. The schools in the rich areas have flash
entrance-ways, and resources, and long-term staff members. The schools in the
more challenging areas have more humble resources, and a more transient
population of students and teachers. This is only the cosmetic effect. I have
no doubt that there are good teachers and bad teachers in all schools, but it
is so much easier to teach students who are well fed and housed, and not
suffering from the stresses of poverty. It even bothers me that mainly the
well-off schools are buying our resources. Once we are better set up, I will
see what we can do about getting sponsorship for other schools – or even
ministry funding.
We invited a dear couple over for ice cream as they are
returning to the US after two years of blessing our ward with their presence.
Kate and Nate Baird were such nice, nice people. I do wonder how they will find
being back in the US, after two years of NZ life. They came to Jonathan’s
birthday last year. I will miss Kate especially. We got to know them well because
we went to girls’ camp with them for two summers.
I had my first sales trip of the year, and had three days in
Auckland. I stayed on the North Shore and mostly visited schools there. We are
getting quite a good response. At one school the teachers were very happy to
see me, and even had their photos taken with me.
Seth is doing great, especially as Jessica has managed to
get him sleeping happily in his cot during the day. Jessica is very happy with
the Plunket Line, that she can ring up and get help. She is also joining in
with a playgroup in the area and making new friends.
Mark is busy at work, and helping out with the business. We
are hoping he can leave surveying in a few years again, but for now we need the
money coming in.
Jonathan has had a very relaxing time, doing nothing much.
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