Correct Ten

When Peter image googled for a good looking Ten Commandments in Hebrew, none were to his liking. Worse than that, he found one image where one commandment had been left out. Obviously it was posted by one who thought it was right but could not read Hebrew. It just looked good without needing to be correct.

At least Peter can claim that these are the first word/s of each commandment in the Hebrew font. It is simply translated (from the right) as: don't have..., don't make..., don't take..., remember..., honour..., don't murder, don't commit adultry, don't steal, don't answer..., and don't desire...

We hope that is of help.

Dan's Tatt

Dan gave permission to post this. After much research on rat with sickle graphics and further consultation with a tattooist, he went ahead and had the desired image worked into his back to remain with him all his life. It took many visits to reach completion.

And Dan is very pleased. He can't wait till the warmer weather when he can show it off more.

Goulburn River Flats

With all the recent rain the Goulburn River Flats at Seymour are a picture of rich green and worth blogging about. Someone keeps the grass mowed from the caravan park to the river. It's a very nice place to contemplate life. A good friend of ours lives there beside the river. What a blessed place for a home.

Bandana Colour

Children's Church kids were all given bandanas last Sunday, first for the four quarter game, and then in small groups when they added their own slogan design to theirs with permanent markers. There were four different colour bandanas available: red, yellow, green and light blue. The disribution was fairly even. By the end of our Children's Church time, the kids were all going about having their bandanas signed by their mates. It was sure a spontaneous and positive time.

The Funk Five

Just recently we again visited Bec, Gord, Piper, Jasper and Jethro. That is sure a mouthful. That's from two to five in five and a half years. Life has a steady way of going on and bringing in its changes and challenges. We reflect on this a bit now.

Bec and Gord are on raw food so even their diet is a-changing. Hopefully this redirection will also get on top of Jethro's skin allergy.

Piper just invented a way to use the spare mattress, hammock style. Otherwise it was used as a fence or jail wall to keep prisoners contained for easy escapes.

We had an opportunity to walk to the Gembrook hot bread shop with Piper and Jasper on their bikes. The weather was pretty blowy but we did make it there and the kids had a treat each.

Jethro has reached the stage where he is beginning to sample different foods. His big brother is kindly helping him with a piece of apple.

Jasper always enjoys his breakfast and his latest company is a little brown mouns that happened to come from IKEA. There is a story about it but we'll have to let Bec and Gord tell that one.

Piper took this last picture. Usually after every picture taken, the kids want to see behind the camera to see themselves. There is also the occasional need to let them have total power over the device to make their own image.

Spiritual Arabic

Translation: I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
Textual source: John 15:1
Produced: Al Kalima, Lebanon.
Framed and hung: Institute of Archaeology, Melbourne.

Ticking Away

Recenty Peter had his dad's fob watch serviced in order to bring it back to life. Max had purchased it in Switzerland when he and Val travelled through Europe in the late 70's so it is not rally an antique... yet. But that means that there is plenty of live in the old dear... plenty of ticks. Peter faithfully winds it up each night. It holds very accurate time. Keeping it ticking helps Peter, in some mysterious way, keep something of his dad continually alive. He likes that.

Community Collage

At Children's Church last Sunday our grade six kids all made a part of a giant collage. This was a fun and creative activity that helped to focus on being part of a larger unit... a community focus. We provided A3 light weight card, scissors and glue sticks, and loads of magazine pages to find images from. The kids had a ball.

Peter joined the sheets to make one huge sheet, like a double A0 size, taping the backs together. A few of us then pasted some more images to cover over a fair amount of the joins to help "blend" the separate efforts. It turned out pretty well we thought. But the mess....

Lunch at Degani

More often lately, after church, we have been lunching with Joy, Craig and Abigail, though more often just with Joy and Abigail. Last Sunday it was at Degani's at University Hill, Bundoora. We like the casualness of the place, igniring the electronic enticement of the big screen and its suggestive appeals for having the perfect body and all that goes with it. We just relax even with that "noise" and the movement of people through the place. Having a few puzzles for Abigail worked a treat and we constructed them a number of times while waiting for the food to come. Abigail took the snap. Nice memory.

Overnighter Piper

Piper had expressed great interest in going again to our Children's Church, so we arranged a two night sleepover at our place. Bec brought her on the Friday afternoon and stayed for a cuppa. Once Bec had gone we found that Piper was hanging out to watch movie after movie. In the evenings it went this way with the occasional story being read to her for a bit of variety. During Saturday, Barb took Piper to a shopping plaza, and later in the day she went with us to a wedding. On the Sunday, Piper enjoyed her time at Children's Church and made a couple of bookmarks during the craft time. Afterward, we lunched with Joy, Craig and young Abigail who Piper knew. Everything we did went well and this all made for a memorable Piper experience.

Even the trip to Gembrook was memorable. While Barb napped, Peter and Piper went through a few stories and settled on a made up one about a carpet snake that lived in the upstairs of a bouse. Peter drove and let the story travel as we travelled. It is amazing what you can to with one carpet snake, three dark rooms, plenty of mice and four curious kids. The trip seemed to go faster. Peter was able to grab at enough motifs from his imagination to keep the story going long enough. There was a moment when Piper said, "Oh Poppa, I'm feeling scared." What a terrible Poppa! But when he offered to change the story, she wanted none of that. In the end, Peter was able to keep those kids from being trapped by the snake... but only just.

When we got there, Gord, with Jasper sort of helping, pulled together supper. Bec and Gord had enjoyed the different space the weekend had without their eldest. So it was a nice experience all round. Piper pressed us to repeat the overnighter. Sounds good, but we are still to work out when.