Timaru tidings

We spent Saturday night in Timaru, and this is what happened.
Zachary stepped up and stepped into the wall cavities to help Chris and Barry Clearwater re-wire bits of the house for computer stuff (if you want to know exactly, please ask Chris.) So, my baby boy, complete with headlamp has been crawling under the house, into crawl spaces and between the wall, happy as a chimney sweep. I've always thought of chimney sweeps as oppressed, a dire blight on Dickensian society, but I was wrong. Zach loved it! We also had to bring his bike back because he wants to participate in a biathlon on Monday week.
Hannah has her 'class critter' home for the weekend, so we spent Sunday taking photos of Hannah and said critter ( a stuffed, white, baby eagle) in various poses around the church and on the way back to Dunedin. Katarina has downloaded the photos onto a memory stick to take to school tomorrow. Ah, the wonders of technology!
Janine and Katarina have exams this week, so they are busy procrastinating so they don't have study. I have bought them a protractor each to replace the ones that were a) lost and b) broken, so at least that excuse has been dealt with.
We have lots of ballet practices. Katarina is going to be a runner for the performances on Friday, and Saturday. Mum is coming down on Saturday to see Hannah's ballet, and hear Zach's song.
I am currently checking footnotes and hope to finish that, and get a final draft of my thesis in this week.
Chris is staying in Timaru this week. He is meeting lots of people, and one of our parishoners turns out to be distant family, through marriage. While her husband has died, she had a photo album which, once they realised the connection, she was more than happy to give to us to get to my dad in Oamaru. The photos have raised a number of questions. Turns out there could be quite a lot of distant family in Timaru, as well as a cousin of mine. The great great's lived in Burkes Pass, and so their children, grand-children etc. have tended to drift into Timaru.

Invitation

You are invited to the world premiere of Zachary Konings' first composition, "Winter Piece", November 6, 10am at George Street Normal School Hall. Zach's original melody has been adapted for recorders by his mum and proudly performed by the 2008 recorder ensemble in 4 parts. It is a lyrical piece in 3 sections, with some unexpected syncopation at the end. It's cool!

Da dum de dum

We've survived the Saturday onslaught, complicated this week somewhat by two weddings (one to attend, one to conduct), two sleepovers (neither at our place!), and two birthday parties, one in Mosgiel, and one just up the road. Chris had the weekend off to help, which is just as well! All good things to be a part of.
We went to Leith on Sunday which was lovely, communion with gluten free bread which means I get to join in (yay!). I've managed to train a few churches around the place to at least provide rice crackers, but the need to provide these alternatives hasn't registered with everybody yet. A work in progress. I've been thinking about all the barriers that prevent people from coming and sharing in communion; throughout history, we've placed all sorts of stumbling blocks - are you good enough, will we offer alcohol or unfermented grape juice, big cup or little cups, do you belong to this church, and now, will this bread make you sick? The point is that communion is about Jesus. There's more work to be done around how our history and tradition become just one more barrier to be overcome for people. Hmmmm.
Hannah had a sleepover at her friend Leah's house, not that there was much sleeping going on and she spent much of Sunday afternoon asleep on the couch. Zach also had a 'wakeover' and was surprised to find himself sleeping in this morning, having refused point blank to have a quick sleep in the afternoon (which we ALL paid for!) Ah well.
Janine is still coughing away so I've made an appointment for her at the doctor; I keep hoping it will just go away by itself, but doesn't seem to have. The girls both have been accepted for their respective schools in Timaru, Katarina at Craighead and Janine at Timaru Girls. This is their choice, but we will review it at the end of next year, and just see how things are going.
We've had a couple of people through to look at the house with a view to renting it, and I am also working on quotes to replace the carpet in the living room and lounge, stairs and hallway.
Interesting moral dilemmas go on in this process - how much is the house worth to rent? Can we get a family in to support the school? Why put new carpet in for renters to ruin? Funny the things people say.

Birthday girl

Hannah turned 7 on Friday, and we celebrated with a party. Gosh it was hot! The girls mostly played indoors, apart from the treasure hunt. Hannah is delighted, she even managed to get most of the things on her list, and she was highly organised, invitations out a full 2 weeks before the day, and a list of games to be played. The big girls are a big help at these events as always, although not having them home until 4 was interesting! Chris didn't get back from Timaru until Sunday afternoon, but arrived with more presents from Auntie Tracey, and from him, so all was forgiven. Janine made the teddy bear cake, with supporting roles from mum and Katarina. And friend Leah stayed over, which turned into a 'wakeover' rather than a 'sleepover', there wasn't an awful lot of sleeping going on until ten. They woke up at 6am and I was serenaded with recorder duets until 7 - they share a music class. As a result, Hannah fell asleep Saturday afternoon after a busy morning.
The end of year is approaching, so our Saturday routines have expanded to include a 2 hour ballet practice. Dec 6th is going to be an interesting day with 2 ballet concerts and a music concert including the world premiere of Zach's composition.
On Sunday Hannah was keen to go to both Batch and Leith (for the chocolates, of course) although she also managed to get a present for 10 attendances! And then we were invited to lunch at Roxborogh's, which was very pleasant!

Key dates

Feb 1, 2009 is the date of our induction at Trinity and St Stephens Timaru. The service will begin 3pm at Trinity, and move midway to St Stephens, followed by a light meal. All welcome.

Our moving date will be around Dec 19, after the children finish school.

We are celebrating Christmas this year in Timaru and Oamaru (thanks mum!). We are also planning on being in Timaru on New Year's Eve - apparently there is an old fashioned community carnival at Caroline Bay worth seeing, plus fireworks! Who could ask for more? Katarina has friends coming Jan 6...

Crazy weekend

Preached in Timaru this weekend after a weird week weather wise, lots of squally sleety, snowy showers blasting their way across the city, and then rushed back for Valedictory service. It was good to be there to see Silvia Purdie, and Sue Fenton and Jono Ryan complete their training. Yay.

The children enjoyed the fire works in Timaru, especially Katarina who made friends with the neighbors beagle, which is her all time favorite animal breed. There was a great game of volleyball on the church lawn while we waited for darkness to descend, and the neighbors even brought over the rest of their fireworks for us to set off. Brilliant.

The next few weeks continue with all sorts of extras building up for the end of the year - weddings, ballet concerts and the world premiere of Zach's first composition. Cool!

Remember, remember

Katarina had some art work displayed at the Glenfalloch Gardens last weekend, along with other girls from Columba College, so we drove out to see her first 'exhibition'! The gardens are lovely, and the event was part of the Rhododendron festival in Dunedin. Janine and Katarina had a school service at Knox last night.
After dropping them off, I went to the political meeting at Opoho church. It was a little surreal as I had been preaching there this morning, and the church was much fuller at night! However, it was a great meeting, brilliantly chaired and I have a much better idea of who I won't be voting for!
Chris is back home after a week in Timaru, but he is already packing to go back. We have a couple of months still of this, and already I can see it is going to be a pain because there are things there that are still needed here, not that you know that when you pack them. The week has gone well, quite quickly actually.