Christmas Day 2014

We had a lovely Christmas Lunch at Paul and Jeni's. We missed the family members that couldn't be there this year, but we enjoyed the time very much.
Stuart, Cherie, Lois and Phoebe arrived safely in Seoul, Sth Korea. We were grateful for that. They are having a wonderful 2 week or so holiday with Cherie's family and they will hopefully catch up with friends as well.
Dad made it there. Amazing feat after spending the last couple of weeks in hospital, with conditions including Bronchitis and later on Pneumonia.
Bruce took this photo of us. Baby Alice was asleep.

Merry Christmas!

Where does the time go?
AS you can observe, I haven't been keeping up with my blog updates.
Hopefully will get some time to update this year...in January!

For the meantime I wish you a merry Christmas with lots of fun and good times with family and friends, safe holidays and some relaxing time out of the normal hustle and bustle. I didn't send any Christmas cards this year as I had planned to do an update here.
Here is a brief version:
We celebrated our family Christmas on Saturday 20th December. It was a great day.... mainly watching the girls having fun with their abundant gifts. Grandparents went a little bit over the top! Rick's borther Andrew joined us which was special. In the afternoon we had a swim and afternoon tea at Bruce and Sylvia's and Stuart and family caught up with the Canberra cousins and their families. Thanks Bruce for this photo: Sam, Ben, Lois and Phoebe  enjoying time together after a swim. They see each other once a week and their Mainly Music playgroup.

There is great excitement as Stuart, Cherie, Lois and Phoebe are off to Korea on Christmas Eve to visit Cherie's family and  catch up with some friends. They'll be away for just over two weeks.
After taking the Stu-fam to the airport, I will stay in Sydney and Rick and Cameron will arrive later on Christmas Eve.
Dad is in hospital and is very ill with Pneumonia and several other conditions. This is following another bout in hospital last week.
So it will be a different Christmas this year. Not sure how well he will be and it's very likely he will have a steady stream of family visitors in the hospital over the time.... if he is up to that. Mum is coping really well but must be exhausted. I was in Sydney with Mum for a few days last week and Deirdre and Paul and spouses are helping out lots this week. So Mum has got lots of support, which she needs right now.

The year seemed very busy. Rick and I both worked.. Rick full-time, me part time.. which felt like full time!  Noticing more health tests and doctor visits and bills... this year!
I have reached the 5 year clear-of-cancer milestone, which feels really great! My brother Bruce has reached it too. Lots of reasons to celebrate!

Cameron continues to work hard... and keep an eye on his dad who works on the same floor! He is having  two week break from work now, to rest and recharge his energy for the new year.

I hope you have a wonderful, peaceful and safe Christmas with family and with friends.

I try and upload some pics soon!

CPAP... the new normal

Well, I have been busy and haven't added much to our blog lately!
Since we returned from Broadbeach in October, we've both been working hard.  I've been working a lot more than I expected this term! I have been to Sydney to spend some time with Mum and Dad.  Dad has had too many health challenges this year but has been amazingly positive and has faced them all courageously. Life isn't much fun for him these days!

I've been getting used to using my CPAP machine to sleep and have been sleeping much better. I have been feeling less tired and have found that my blood pressure has gone back to within the normal range. This is good news. No need for any blood pressure medication.

I wouldn't wish the CPAP machine on anyone, but it has helped me and I am told it will increase my life span. The first two months while using the rental machine was pretty difficult.

Since late September I have been using my own brand new machine and things have been good, despite a few setbacks with a bad season of hay fever and a rye neck that was very painful. Rick had a few medical check-ups and also a trip to emergency with a kidney stone. He seems to be fine now.

We've been enjoying minding Lois and Phoebe a bit more regularly to enable both Stuart and Cherie to attend worship team practices together. This has meant we get to see them on Tuesday nights and then I mind the girls on Thursday afternoons.

Towards the end of the term I was asked to work a few full- week stints, so then I had to  miss out on minding the girls as well as going to my Thursday morning group at church.

Note added 22/12/14
I am really enjoying having more energy now I have adjusted well to my CPAP machine. What a difference consistent and quality sleep  makes! For our family Christmas I prepared breakfast, morning tea, lunch and dinner; went for a swim in the afternoon  and still went to bed after 10pm, feeling a bit tired but not thoroughly exhausted as I have been for years! I could not have done all that this time last year! Amazing!