September 16, 2001

Well, its the end of the weekend again. On Saturday we went to the Science Museum which is a bit like the PowerHouse Museum but a bit bigger and better technology. We saw an amazing 3D movie at the IMAX theatre there, which Emily and Lauren enjoyed. Of course Bethany would not put the glasses on long enough to see anything. (No surprises there!) What was also interesting was some technology where you could have your picture taken and a computer would morph your face into the other sex (e.g., female => male). There was a whole stack of pother interesting things to see as well and we only saw a fraction of it because three of our five strong party were really only interested in rides, eating and drinking. There were also technology displays where you could have your retina and fingerprints scanned for identification.

Today was pretty restful actually. We went to Duke Street Church for the second week running and liked it. The minister preaches well, the prayers are honest, the music is good, the kids like the childrens programs and there is a cry room at the back of the church. After that we had lunch in the back yard. (Another beautiful day here in London. Don't know what the Brits are complaining about with the weather. It has been great so far, although it is cooling down. We now all have two layer, rainproof, windproof jackets just in case.) The kids played around the house while Cathy and I sporodically played with Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings.

Robyn arrives tomorrow and we are all looking forward to seeing a familiar face. We are off to Copenhagen next weekend and Stone Henge and Bath a few weekends after that.

September 11, 2001

I was supposed to fly from London to New York thisafternoon. I was at Heathrow and had checked in my bags when the terrorist attacks occurred in New York. Soon afterwards all flights to the US were cancelled. This is all quite shocking. While London is a long way from New York, this attack occurred at the same time that I was due to be in a meeting, in the World Trade Centre, tomorrow morning. What a difference 24 hours makes!!!

Events like these really make you think about how easily life can be lost. It is a harsh reminder that we live in a fallen world and that we need to be right with God now; because you don't know what tomorrow holds. If you pray, then please join with me to pray for all the lives lost, for the multitude of injured and for those working to save lives.

September 9, 2001

FYI, there are some new photos in the 2001: General photo folder. They include some shots of Emily's birthday party, Lauren blowing up a balloon and Lauren in her new school uniform.

Hello, this is my first entry to blogger! He made me!

September 6, 2001

It has been a while since I updated the web site but I really thought that I ought to today because it has been a big day for two reasons.

First, today was Lauren's first day at St. Richards with St. Andrews Church of England Primary School. Thankfully, she was fine leaving Cathy at the school playground to go with her teacher Miss Griffiths. Miss Griffiths is a bit like Miss Crawford at Pacific Hills in that she is young, pretty (so Cathy says) and enthusiastic. This is also her first year teaching at the school so Lauren is no newer to her than any of the other children. In chats with Lauren thisafternoon she said she liked school and was looking forward to going tomorrow. This really is answered prayer.

Second, OUR SEA FREIGHT ARRIVED TODAY!!! It is 10:10pm and we have just finished (mostly) putting things away. All the beds are set up and the furniture is in place. We had dinner tonight at our dining table (the round table we had in the back room at Cherrybrook) and therefore did not have to use the box the TV came in! It has now been retired to the cellar. This was also good because we could have dinner in the dining/computer room where we don't have to put up with Pink Panther re-runs while eating. That said, as soon as 7:00pm swung around, Lauren was off to the lounge room to watch Scooby Doo!

Actually, Lauren has become a bit of a Scooby Doo freak in recent weeks. She also likes Mutley from the Wacky Races and can regularly be heard quoting from either of those cartoons as she is playing around the house!

August 27, 2001

Another thought for the day courtesy of CNN:

As the estimated jackpot for the multi-state Powerball lottery reached the US$200 million mark this week, a nationally-known expert on odds and gambling, California State University Prof. Mike Orkin, spoke with CNN anchor Daryn Kagan about the chances of winning, "If you have to drive 10 miles to buy a lottery ticket, you are about 16 times more likely to get killed in a car crash on your way to buy the ticket than you are to win the Powerball jackpot."

August 23, 2001

Thought for the day courtesy of MV:

When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered that ballpoint pens would not work in 0 gravity. To combat this problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 billion developing a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on almost any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 300C. The Russians used a pencil.

Emily had a very nice 4th birthday yesterday. The present opening ceremony was held in the morning before I had to head off to work. Thanks to all the friends and family that sent presents over for Emily. She certainly did not miss out on presents for being here in the UK rather than in Australia! She, with a little help from Lauren, really enjoyed opening them.

Cathy put in a huge effort (particularly as she is still not feeling 100%) for Emily's birthday dinner. The weather was great, so we had a picnic dinner on Kew Green. Dinner consisted of fairy bread, home made sausage rolls and chocolate cake. (No complaints here!) When Emily cut her cake, Bethany was very keen to do the same (i.e., whinged and whined for ages about us not giving her the sharp knife). Although we thought she had eventually acquiesced, she was in fact hatching a cunning plan. After we had moved on from cake eating to other things, we found that Bethany had somehow acquired an ordinary knife and was hacking away at the remnants of the birthday cake! A strong-willed child that one!

We played chasings, aeroplanes, pass-the-parcel and there were even lolly bags for the three girls. To top it off, the lolly bags contained small bottles of bubble mixture, so the girls (including Cathy) blew lots of bubbles; even Bethany (pictures to come). All in all, not a bad family day at all.

Project IGI is complete. Life is good.

August 22, 2001

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY EMILY!!!