T.I.A: New Beginnings, Old Things to Catch up on

So much has happened since the last time I entered. Belinda is also going to write up some stuff as well. Look out for "THE WATERCLOSET CHRONICLES". Riveting reading I am sure. I turned 40 in September and within the week I had torn my groin badly playing my last game of football for the mighty South Alice Springs Kangaroos. The previous week we had beaten the highly fancied Santa Teresa Saints by 3 points. I know I played pretty well, along with many other blokes and it was a fantastic game to be a part of. We eventually lost to Federals who won their 1st flag for 40 years so losing to the eventual winners is small consolation. I have retired and Belinda is happy, but I look forward to playing Super Rules (Masters) next year and purposely having excuses to be slow. During this week after I played my last game of footy, turned 40 and eaten a plate full of pancakes to celebrate my birthday, the VERY day of my 40th I experienced incredible chest pains and pain up my left arm. A great birthday present...no, not a heart attack, but pneumonia. I then had 2 weeks off work.

I at least got a chance to celebrate my birthday with my boys (above) and my class (below). They did get sick of me telling them it was my birthday, but we had a fantastic day together. As I wrote above, by the afternoon I was in intense pain. Hard to believe even now as I write how bad I felt. Joseph loved having me at home and he really has a compassionate heart and would sleep with me during the day and even come into my bed at night to put me to bed. We really bonded, so it was very hard for him for me to go back to work.

To make me feel even worse I had my brother and his family and my Mum and Dad surprise me for my 40th and come to Alice Springs for the week. I saw them for a day and spent the rest of the week in bed and went out to tea to the "Barra on Todd" one night, and then had another week off.

I guess some of the experiences we/I had caused me to evaluate where we were going as family. We decided that it was time to leave Alice Springs after 4 years. My job has taken a huge toll on my family life. I have loved working with the kids at Yirara and many of the things I did with the kids there at night I chose to do. It was my ministry and I loved the support my family gave me. But getting sick, having 3, sometimes 4 nights out per week, being tired and worn out all the time can take its toll. You will see some of the end of year activities I took part in, but also a number of activities I missed out on- most of them involved me missing my family stuff.

One last trip to Uluru was magical and a sad moment. Belinda's mum came out and we took her there to wonder at the majesty of the place. We were going to climb it, but I ran out of breath andcould not go on and it was just not worth the risk. I had been "well" for a week and I did not want to regress.

Another visit to the the rock wallabies was magical and they were feisty and came to the party and were easy to feed. Joseph still tried to catch them.

At Yirara this year I co-ran a program for the fellas called "Strong Way". Basically a course that looked at the tranisition from childhood to adulthood. We tried to look at this in a way that looked at the good things in aboriginal and western culture, but challenged ourselves on what was not so good in both. We then tried to balance that out by looking at "Kingdom Culture"- How does God want us to live in this world as followers of Him? not as aborigines or whitefellas, but as Christians. We had a formal dinner with the girls of the "Strong Way" and also had a end of year trip with the Clontarf football academy to the Sunshine Coast (coincidentally, this is where we are now moving to in 2012).

Movember came and went. Love the "Mo", but gee I look tired.

The Desert Knowledge Australia Youth Leadership Group had their graduation in November. I am very proud of these 3 who stuck it out with me till the end. I missed their trip to Melbourne due to sickness, but all 3 have grown this year.

Movember! Need I say more!

We visited the Henbury Meteorite Crate one weekend on the way to our last visit to King's Canyon. We arrived at King's Canyon, went for a swim in the resort pool and then it rained all afternoon and night and we didn't get a chance to see the canyon again. Good bonding time for us all though.

Things are a bit out of sync, but I want to catalogue everything. This is my, before I got all choked up, saying goodbye to Yirara. It has been hard to leave, but necessary for me and my family. A good decision. I have no job at writing, but I think God really does want me to spend more time with my boys. But, who knows what will come. Teaching? Something else? Let's wait and see.

Kurtis "graduated" from Grade 6 and had a special dinner for the occasion. A night I missed, but apparently he busted a move on the dancefloor that night. Don't know where he got the dancing gene from- certainly wasn't me