2023, 2022+ Christmas Letter and years before.

Hi Friends,

I used to write a Christmas letter but the last few years have been so very tiring and complex. I hate to say that they were hard as my life is so blessed - great family, wonderful professional opportunities, a life in friendship with the Lord God and all his interventions of love for me in my life, holiday opportunities, fantastic friendships with all of you most wonderful people. But every year has its challenges and these have tired me out at the end of the year and Christmas is alway so busy. So I have not sent one. Anyway, This blog is now going to be a catalogue of my Christmas letters, because I want to write a little summary for myself and for anyone who would like to read it. If I can, I will also add at the bottom, any previous letters that I have on this laptop. I am especially keen to document what happpened the year my mother died and how delightfful and terrible that was, so please read the 2021 paragraphs below. 

(To add to the fun, I am trying to make this blog a compilations of all the old Christmas Letters I can find. I'm not doing too well at it  at the moment, so if you have any saved anywhwere, please send them to me - I wish I had been more careful to keep them. The ones I have found are alot of fun to look back on.) 

 2023 when I started writing this newsletter (now editted) i could only think about how sad I was at the ending of my role at WHPS, but I know that concentrating on all the blessings of the year is going to be much more enjoyable for you, and much more true too, so I am going to leave the pofessional part till later. (After that, I will get to 2022, 2021, 2020 and who knows where that will go. Stop reading at any time please. But also, please reply. I would so love to hear from you. 

2023 Blessings. (I call them blessings because, in my mind and in my heart, all good things come from God. There were many blessings in my life at WHPS, but I will include those in the professional paragraph. Holidays were excellent. I think we had a few more than usual. People sometimes tell me we go on holidays alot but I think thats just becausime e I ime put photos on holidays. Most years, we go on one great holiday (not including great weeks or the ocassional weekend at Hawks Nest) but in 2023 we did actually go on three amazing adventures. 

2023 started  as our years often seem to do, with us tired after a busy Christmas and demanding year.  We headed to Hawks Nest for a Break, as suaul, but we also had a wonderful tip in January. (, organised by my sister. We headed to Brisbane and then coua train to Adelaide. It was a beautiful train. (the Gahn repoerupsed for summer. We had a number of stops along the way including several winderies and dinner on the beach at coffss harbour. As usualy, (weve done a trip like this before) the train was beautiful and the cabins comfy) Spending time with my sister and brother in lawa was great oo. Unfortunately, Mal came down with COVID when we got to Adeliade, but he spent three days in a  nice apartment, got his antiviarl medications, and was well enough to come out for dinner on the last day. It was super hot in Adeliaide, so at least he missed out on that, and still managed to engage from a distance with my sister and Dean. 

Later in the year, we headed to Tanzania. THe original impetus was a Christian medical associal conference, which turned out to be amazing. we also spent sometime in  zanzibar, in a hotel room on the beach, . WHat a great city. We loved it. The Freddy Mercury musieum was amazing and the araic architecture alot diffferent to the rest of Tanzania. Alsso, the sights and sounds of africa, were captivating. The snorkelling in Zanzibar was remarkalble, and the turtle sanctuary was alot of fun. I made alot of new friends.  we then flew to Arusha and took a 7 day safari. There are mililions of Zebra in Africa, as it turns out and they love having their photos taken. We sayw lots of other amazing animals too, including cheetahs that hunted and killed a gazelle, lions in a mating pair and many wildebeast. Our accommadation was right amongtst the animals, which was a bit scary at times. OUr guide was reallyl knowledgabel and adventurouse and the obviously got a real kick out of finding the animals for us.  The conference at the end of our stay was very encouraging and makde us wonder if God has something for us in our retirmenet in African, or at least, in mission. Strange coincidences continued out thinking. Eg, Mal got an email that his job at WSt Josephs was ending. I stat next to a missionary doctory who ran a discrenment course in the plan on the way home. . Neight of these things in their remarkalbe timeing could be coincidences. We have since done the discrernment course.  

WHPS At the start of the year,I was feeling devastated and lost and confused. I had worked as a chaplain in a public school for nearly 8 years and the program had been cancelled. This was no huge surprise, but the way it was managed in the school caused me enormous pain. False and ridiculous (unnecessary) accusations wwere made with no possibility of objection (such as, not turning up for programs I ran, on a day I was off sick - i won't detail for you the food poisoning that included a trip to casualty). its been a while since I wrote a Christmas letter, but I was keen to keep you updated on Bowman life, so, in the July school holidays, i am hoping to give you a summary of the last few years. Of course, its been impacted by COVID, but also the sickness and passing of all our parents. Combining those losses with COVID has been complex, but then I don't want to overstate that. COVID has been complex for all of you. I am aware that many of our friends are of a similar generation to us, and therefore, the aging and passing of the generation before ours, with all of its challenges, questions, new experiences, grief and hard work is something you may be in them middle of too. Becaue i am not restricted to a double sideof a4 papater, I will no doubt rambleon but Iwill try to stay organised and ifpossible, put a bitof a summary of topics atthe top of thepage, if that is a thing, in blogger.

Books I read this year

Past Christmas Letters: 

2019   https://rmbowmanblog.wordpress.com/2019/12/15/2019-christmas-letter/

(I apologise for the tiny squished up text. Click AMP (top left) if it looks squished and that should help)

Hi friends, I hope you have had a good year. As there was no letter or cards from us last year, I hope you have had a good two years. You may have read the paper version of this but it’s been such a huge couple of years for us, i just wanted the chance to add some more detail, as much for myself (as a way of processing so many activities and questions), as for you. Pardon me for the length. Pardon photo repeats too please. You can stop reading at any time. If you would like to respond or discuss any of the events listed, I would love that. You can text me on 0407215943, email rmbowman@netspace.net.au or message me on messenger. I’d love to hear from you. It’s taken me several months to finish this and some things have already changed so forgive me if some bits don’t make total sense. I will try to put the “very recent news” in parentheses.

Mother’s day at the Reptile Park

Last year, my focus on study and just getting through the year meant we didn’t see alot of our friends. If this is you, I apologise and hope to see you real soon. You could come for dinner one Friday night if you are free. Send me a date if (if its not too far to travel) and we can lock it in. That would be awesome.

Since I wrote this blog I have read it again and it sounds a bit like a tale of woe. Please don’t misunderstand. Many of the difficult experiences were the result of choices that we made, which we take responsibility for, and not just bad luck. These struggles stick out for me and so they have made it into this letter. I have told the stories to help me move on as much as anything, but I can also say that there have been many silver linings in the clouds. Additionally, there were many really excellent times, no doubt about that.

Study

Three of us finished our degrees in 2018-19. Everyone is just a little more relaxed and relieved (alot more, actually) . The final year was especially draining on us all. Chris now has a Bachelor of Industrial Design (Hons), Hannah a Bachelor of Science (Biomolecular Chemistry) and I have a Master of Counselling. Most of Chris time at uni was rewarding and he developed his design skills doing a course that seemed made for him However, his final year at uni was very discouraging for him. Nevertheless  he pushed on with courage and determination and completed an amazing project and internship. His honours supervisor was deliberately cruel, intimidating and harsh, having no kindness or understanding of the design project Chris was committed to. We are so proud of his perseverance under a relentless attack and of Chris’s impressive, well thought out and innovative project. The end of year showcase was a wonderful night and proved that Chris’s project was of a high standard, as good or better than his peers. However, the experience left Chris feeling battered and lacking confidence in his considerable creative skills. A determined attempt was made by students in Chris’s year to have some consequences brought against this teacher, but as far as we know, the university was not prepared to act and he continues to subject talented students to merciless bullying and arbitrary marking. (Please don’t ever discuss this with Chris as its a very painful memory).  Chris’s way of coping included escaping north alone in his car as far as Rainbow beach, and enjoying some tropical peace during the year, which helped strengthen him to continue. At the end of the year, another more significant trip again allowed for peace and perspective, and he returned to carry out an internship, ironically at the university, which went well and he graduated in September 2019. As far as I know, he has not seen his honours supervisor again.

Hannah loved every minute of uni. Having started because it seemed like the right thing to do, but with no particular direction, she became very motivated during her first year, having changed her degree from psychology to anatomy and science. She quickly made friends with highly motivated students and became committed to hard study and good results. Many all night study sessions in the library ensued. After doing some anatomy subjects, good marks allowed her to swap from arts to science, and she finished with biomolecular chemistry. During her holidays, she did some work in the anatomy labs preparing samples for the future students, work which she really enjoyed. She also enjoyed the culture of university and spent long hours there. However, she is now very glad to be finished and earning some real money.

I found my last year of counselling study very tough too, although for different reasons to Chris. My research thesis was a frustrating waste of 6 months, not to mention alot of money. After 3 years of wonderful teaching and academic growth, increasing developing counselling skills and personal progress, the research subject, supposed to be (with prac) the pinnacle of the masters course, was a badly taught, and poorly conceived subject and research study. The topic of our thesis was mandated, and it didn’t inspire me, or any of the other students, at all. The results were of no value (focussing only on our own professional development and reflecting on growth which we had already done through several other subjects already). We were told that our work would advantage the college, but there was almost no feedback given, and no suggestion that anyone else would ever read it or benefit. Our research teacher never even read it. This was perhaps due to our college experiencing some significant difficulties at that time, which necessarily preoccupied our professor and teachers. It was a disappointing experience to work so very very hard at a subject  and make many sacrifices to allow the needed time, and have nothing of value to show for it.  (I guess I am still angry about it, can you tell?) There could have been so much satisfaction in investigating and finding new insights into an exciting clinical topic, but instead, we were to focus only on ourselves, for very little reason other than the (apparent) difficulty of setting up a useful ethical research study in a small college. I feel quite ripped off. Since then, the college has wisely decided to make this subject an elective.

My final year of college involved practicum (2 days a week for one year at a Christian K-12 school and Anglicare) which were both exciting and challenging. I am so thankful to the many clients who put their mental health in the hands of me, a student. They all told me their life stories with trust and openness, and I learnt a great deal about how to be a therapist from them. At the end of the year, they graciously told me that they were helped and blessed through the time spent in my counselling room. (One sent me the graphic below which I just love). My colleagues also were wonderfully wise and encouraging. I made some wonderful friends and learnt a lot and I can’t complain about such an exceptional opportunity. Having two seperate complex prac sites as well as my chaplaincy at Winston Heights resulted in many both practical and emotional challenges, and left me exhausted.  Every week a new dilemma appeared that needed to be solved, often related to fitting all those tasks (and my research thesis) into one week and finding the physical space for each session. Counselling sites do not have unlimited space, and the school renovated the counselling offices while also expanding their team placing much pressure on the offices, and causing me to change my carefully organised schedule, weekly racing from one school to the other, catching late night trains home from the inner west and finding creative ways to fit exercise into these trips. I was required to tick off 200 face to face hours with clients, and this was not always easy, and so it was rather stressful, worrying that my course would not be completed at the end of July 2019 as I had hoped. This had already been delayed by 6 months through a course restructure, expensive for me in terms of time and money). Sadly, difficulty finding sufficient clients and prac sites had forced some of my other fellow students to postpone their completion dates by up to a year, and I did not want to face this. Additionally, I had supervision meetings, as well as my research lectures and thesis to write. I don’t know how I made it through. I was very worn out at the end, and thankful to God for keeping me going. Working full-time (and running a family) is not something I have done before, and at 57, its not something I am really up to. I miss working with those clients as well as the counselling colleagues at my practicum sites, but I am sure glad prac is finished. I have seen the fruit of it in my chaplaincy work as I feel more comfortable to help families navigate through severe crises. I hope in the future that I can use these skills to work in a real counsellor role, but that time has not come yet.

Work

I have continued with my chaplaincy work at Winston Heights. The school was very patient with me while I was doing prac. I was often very tired and mentally depleted when at Winston Heights and I am very appreciative of their support.  I also had to change my work hours several times during the year, something I promised myself I would never do but which turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the new hours, while tiring, were more effective with groups I was running. IN particular, a group for year 5 and 6 girls at lunch time where we discussed alot of issues that face girls, particularly as they head off to high school. All the girls who attended loved the group and became less judgemental of themselves, more able to manage stress, family and friendship troubles, less worried about high school and more confident and aware of their own value. It was a huge blessing to be part of that process. Thanks to God, there were no significant crises , and only a small number of referrals, for the first half of 2019 (when I was also at prac) However, since i finished prac, there have been many people to care for there this year and God has helped me to make a difference in some tough situations. Additionally, my counselling skills, experience and confidence have been useful in some of the relationships with students and parents. The federal government cut our funding just last month, but thankfully my school and P&C will generously fund the position in 2020 as they see its value. It’s hard to imagine why the government would not fully fund such a beneficial program, which saves the schools and the health system money in so many ways. Chaplains address issues that noone else does, and we do it for a very low cost. There are opponents who think the money should be put into more school counsellors and psychologists. However, those professionals (wonderful as they are) would not run groups to build resilience in boys, nor to strengthen girls against their negative body images etc. or to help young children become more confident in the playground or support parents through their marriage breakup and new family situation, or the death of a child.  I have seen so much fruit from those groups and relationships and the parents are really happy with how their children improve or how their family are helped to cope with devastation.  Anyway, the confidence and support of the principal, staff and p&c mean a great deal to me. and I am so thankful to be able to carry on this work in 2020.

The end of school in 2019 was bitter sweet. Many of the students I knew most well left for their next adventure (high school) and I have to admit I miss them alot. It was exciting helping them celebrate, as well as playing teachers vs year 6 Newcombe ball game (Teachers won, very competitive, great fun me still recovering after jarring my finger) Additionally, my office has moved to a different and very isolated part of the school. Making this work will be a challenge and I am sure there will be a positive side to this. At the moment, I am not real sure what that is.

In 2020 I also hoped to do a day a week of counselling work. I have applied one day a week and not been successful. I think the timing for me to have space is right. However I am planning to investigate some other options in the near future. Our church is starting a more organised pastoral care ministry and I am excited about his and keen to be involved. When I consider this, I recall that the emotional needs of people in my church was a major impetus in my commencement of counselling studies and perhaps this is where I should aim that knowledge for now.

Mal has reduced his workload due to his elderly parents increasing needs. He now only works at Wolper Jewish and St Josephs Public Rehab hospitals, and he is still enjoying this work. Things at Westmead became difficult at about the right time, making his decision easier and he is enjoying having more time to do his other jobs a little more thoroughly and kindly, and help his parents more. I have not once heard him say he misses the pressure, the weekend work, the manipulation or hospital politics at hat place. He is planning to take some long service leave this year. How this will work is unclear. I still have to work and Mal will still have his private job.

Chris quickly found a job after uni, designing and installing high end flooring in luxury boats. It’s been working out well, although he will be leaving soon to travel. We have checked out his work at the Sydney Boat Show and it’s really impressive. His boss is great, The two person factory situation has been hard, though, as he is keen for more friendships in his life – his closest friends now live quite a long way from him.

Hannah works in the paint industry as an industrial chemist. It’s perfect for an artist. She loves the fact that she makes paint (even if it is house paint). Hannah says she is very fortunate as most new graduates do some kind of testing, and that can be less satisfying. A job where you produce something is much richer and she is thriving there.

Home

Earlier this year, Chris moved out of home. It’s been his goal for a long time, only delayed by uni and travel. So, he’s been living the independent life this year in Summer Hill and really enjoying it. He found a room in a nice house on flatmates.com, with a group of nice people and a dog. However, that’s also about to come to an end for the sake of more travel, and we will get to have him at home for about a week. Its sounds pathetic, but mums like having their adult kids around a bit. We are really proud that Chris achieved his goal of being independent.

Hannah plans to move out in the next few months too, also heading to the Sydney inner west with some friends. With her grandparents leaving their flat, she has accumulated a lot of furniture and appliances. Now she just needs a house. (In more recnet news, Hannah nad her friends have found a nice house in Concord, and are just waiting for the previous tenenat to leave  and then they will move. This will happen any time now, I expect. We will miss her enormously as we miss Chris but we know we will see her regularly.

Travel Chris spent six months during 2018 in Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia, only returning when the money ran out. He had a wonderful time, buying a motorcycle and visiting a lot of less touristy areas. Some of his highlights included an elephant sanctuary and a scuba diving course, both in Thailand but his favourite thing was biking around Vietnam. His plan to trek to the Everest base camp didn’t eventuate due to the weather and time in Vietnam. Nevertheless, he is going to do that trek in 2020 instead as he heads off in January to India and surrounding countries. (In more recent news, Chris has headed over to Asia for another long holiday. He has been gone now for just over four weeks. He has been to Sri Lanka and Nepal, and will go to India next for the main part of his trip. His Aussie mates have met him in Nepal and they are hiking the Annapurna Circuit, having reached the 5400m highest point yesterday. They are so tired.)

Sri Lanka

Hannah’s holidays revolve around her passion for music and cultural festivals. She goes to as many as she can afford, having developed a firm group of festival loving friends. In the future, she hopes to show some of her art at a festival, as many other artists also do.

Thursday Island

The middle of nowhere

We made it to the tip

Mal and I have had two wonderful holidays in the past two years. In 2018 we ventured to the top of Cape York, hiring a Landcruiser in Cairns, and enjoying the wonderful sights and excellent weather. It was really a camping adventure of a lifetime. We knew that the next twelve months, with me doing prac, would be tough, so it was great to really get away from it all. We managed to survive the crocodiles, river crossings and isolation. I highly recommend this venture. A real highlight for me was Thursday Island. I think I would like to live there.

In 2019, we headed outback again, this time up the Birdsville track to enjoy the Big Red Bash music festival. If you saw the Nutbush World Record set this year, that was us!!! Meeting with our wonderful friends Mark and Deanne, and their buddies, we camped and enjoyed the best Aussie music available (including Midnight Oil), in an idealic dessert spot in front of Australia’s biggest dune and under a full moon. If you ever feel the pull to go to the Big Red Bash, do it. You won’t regret it. What an amazing experience. The trip there was also an adventure, as we hired a car in Dubbo, then drove out to Peterborough and headed north to Birdsville. Work delayed Mal a bit so I got to drive to Broken Hill alone also a great adventure. I stopped in for a lovely visit with old friends in Dubbo and stayed the night there. I still can’t beleive I also ran into  my friend Viv and her mum in Broken Hill. We had a lovely dinner together. Mal has always wanted to drive the Birdsville track and it didn’t disappoint. The trip home included some iconic places including Innamincka, Mungerannie, the Eulo artesian mud baths, Burke and Wills Dig tree, and the Eromanga dinosaur museum. We really do love the outback.

Iconic Hotel

Artesian Mud Baths at Eulo

Outback signs are often surprising

Big Red

We haven’t spent much time at Hawks Nest this year, but that place continues to be a source of peace and rest when life gets overwhelming and we are so blessed by it. I can’t remember when we did the renovations but the new bathroom and the sliding doors upstairs at the front have made the most wonderful difference there. Please know that you are welcome to use the house for a holiday free of charge any time.

Sunset from Barnes Rocks

2020 travel plans are coming together. A long planned trip to Uluru with my sister is finally happening, in July to see the Field of Light installation there. In order to make the most of this trip, Mal and I have also decided to hike some of the Larapinta trail out of Glen Helen. I am so excited. It’s a long track, about ten days usually, but we will only camp out one night due to time and fitness. It will be a huge challenge over rocky terrain and I need to start training. If you have walked it, any advice would be greatly appreciated. It will also be great to visit Alice Springs again, a place so close to our hearts.

Family

This year, Mal’s parents health deteriorated. We have come very close to losing them both, and, while their health is more stable now, they have moved to a nursing home with their own room. The family have emptied their flat and it will soon be sold. They are comfortable in their room now, and Mal still takes his Dad to the soccer sometimes.

Family lunch at the Epping Club

I’ve recently been diagnosed with sleep apnea. I must be honest, I am having trouble accepting this and getting used to the CPAP machine is a real struggle. Its not really helping as much as I would like and I am working on losing some weight, in the hope that this will improve the situation. (Long story, and I will spare you the boring details.)

My parent’s health has been more stable, although my dad is still struggling with the side effects of his (successful) chemotherapy. We also thought he was in his final weeks in April, but he and mum are now relatively well and still in their own home. Several weeks ago, my 95-year-old aunt Lilian left to be with God. She lived independently until her last few weeks. Also, this year my aunt Edith passed away, which means both my parents are now without siblings. Both these aunts were wonderful strong ladies and we joyously celebrated their lives with our cousins.

We also celebrated the wonderful marriage of my niece Cassie to her dream guy Craig. It was a wonderful day. The weather was mild (in amongst 45 degree days, and then torrential rain) and, thankfully all of Cassies grandparents were well enough to make it. Not long after that, my dad’s health took a seriuos downhill turn.

• 

Cassie and Craig’s wedding

At Cassie and Craigs’ wedding

(In revent news, my fathers condition recently deteriorated and he was diagnosed with leukemia. This week, he has moved to palliative care. If you pray, please pray about this. He is not comfortable living in a hospice, but my mum, who has done a heroic job caring for him in the past few years, cannot continue to do this as he becomes more frail. My sister has also been amazing in helping them to cope in their home. Please also pray that I be as supportive as I can for my mum, my dad and my wider family.)

Rest: Other things we have loved doing this year include : Hannah – painting, sewing, music gigs and festivals, Chris- music gigs, mountain biking, Western Sydney and Socceroos games, Mal- following soccer, walking, Me (Robyn) – crochet, running, gardening, walking and recently, learning singing and bass guitar.

Crochet

Cousins in Qld

U2 Concert (great concert, back row SCG)

At U2

Other super events: We were so excited to see our friends Ross and Ange’s this year when they visited from England. It was a quick visit, but wonderful and reminded me of the need to stay in touch with people who are geographically distant, more often. 

Geoff, Ahn, Ange, Ross, Me, Mal

We have also had alot of visitors from my family in Qld, coming to see my dad or other Sydney weddings. It’s been a joy to get to host them for a change as they are usually the ones hosting us.

Additionally, our young friend Dylan came to stay for a few months before his wedding back in 2018. It was fun to have a boarder again and to get to know him and Renee.

Rels from Qld walking the Clovelly to Bondi coastal walk.

Also some great concerts including Elton John and U2, plus a Louis Theroux show. 

2020

I was challenged to choose a word for 2020 and I chose two. They are endurance and perseverance. They are closely linked. I have spent alot of time recently taking it a little bit easy after a long frantic few years, but I don’t want to just rest when there are so many needs around. So I plan to get plenty of rest while also pushing on to do what God wants me to do with energy and determination. Only God really knows know what the future holds. We hope it holds no further study. It will most likely include a Queen Concert, Ben Folds and another Elton John concert (because he was amazing). We know that in the next few weeks my lovely niece Cassie will marry her dream man, Craig, and that’s exciting. Chris will travel, Hannah will move out, I will possibly find some counselling work and Mal will take some long service leave. I hope to play a role in the pastoral care work of our church and honour God through that role. I also hope to expand my part in the music team there. I’m loving learning to play bass guitar, but doubt if it will ever be more than just a home hobby. There are exciting changes happening at church and at my chaplaincy school. If you would like to pray for my chaplaincy work and receive my regular prayer letter, I would be very grateful. Please email me at rmbowman@netspace.net.au. Please also pray for my family through my dad’s illness.

We hope you had a blessed and joyous Christmas, and that 2020 involves satisfaction, joy, rest and peace for you and your friends and family.

with love from The Bowmans.

2015 (draft) christmas letter 2015b.docx

 Dear Friends,  

this is a busy time of the year, as I expect it is with you. We have visitors this week, a get together here next week, family events, many annoying broken appliances at home to repair including this temperamental laptop, and a painful shoulder which requires several appointments today. So please forgive me if this letter is rough, (what happened to the hyphenatimeon?)  I forget some events and perhaps not as many photos. I am sure you understand. I hope you have enjoyed a happy blessed an year. Ours has been as they always are – new things, old things, joys and struggles, never quite s much time as needed, nor quite as much rest as wanted,  and God’s love and provision seen in all of it.  

Chris and Hannah would both say they have had a good year.  

Chris has continued his Industrial Design studies at the Western Sydney Uni, greatly enjoying all the new skills and knowledge. He does the most interesting assignments, often involving 3D printers and other wonderful techniques. He combined his passion for biking with uni by inventing, producting and promoting a new bike tool for an assignment. The video was very entertaining. During his mid year holidays, he headed off alone to Canada, with his bike, to speed down high mountains for a month. He had a wonderful time, and hardly got injured at all. After that trip he walked into his favourite bike shop and asked for a job. They said yes and now he spends his weekends putting bikes together for customers, and doing repairs. It’s his perfect job, and his colleagues are all keen cyclists too. His previous unpleasant window cleaning job is a distant memory. I, however, decided there were too many bikes in our spare bedroom and I bought a prefab bike shed, got concrete laid, and Mal and Chris constructed it. (Now we have a guest bedroom again.) Chris contituens to enjoy church and bible study, keenly support the Western Sydney Wanderers (don’t believe what you read about them in the media) and he is still going out with the lovely Demi. This weekend he is camping at a music festival in Barrington tops.  

After a “gap year”, Hannah started uni. She started with Psychology but soon decided she preferred anatomy and biology, so she has transferred to a science degree. To say she is loving uni is a real understatement. She has really taken to it, and is a great advertisement for the fact that an ATAR is ot everthing, given that she is now doing really really well in a  course that she did not achieve the requriemtnes for in school. Not a lot of art has happened, but she is working a couple of afternoons a week caring for some children after school. During her mid year holidays, Hannah and her cousin Cassie headed over to Cambodia to colunteer in a childcare centre for a couple of weeks. They had an amazing expereicne, and while they didn’t get to do much sight-seeing, they spent a couple of days at Angkor Wat, and would both say the experience changed their lives. Hannah contines to enjoy church and bible study, and is still goi ng out with the lovely Stewart.  

We are very blessed to still have Jeremy in our lives. We see him most weeks for dinner, and he  has also had a good year. He continues to study teaching and only has about one year to go in his degree, which he is enjoying. This year, he has done some prac, which has been very rewarding. Living with his Dad has worked out very well for both of them, and even though we miss the daily contact, he is only 5 minutes away, and has grown into an admirable young man. We spent a lovely holiday with him this year in Berlin.  

Mal has had a challenging year. I know he would say there have been good times, but not always. He continues to keenly follow the Socceroos and the Western Sydney Wanderers soccer teams. His work has been more difficult. Management politics and some very heartbreaking and unjust (power related) decisions have caused him to wish he could just treat his patients and not have to worry about how the hospitals are run or how his professional staff are treated by management. These problems are now settling down, but many meetings and some ultimatums have been necessary. IF you know Mal well, you will know this garbage does not come easily to him. On top of this, his mother has been ill and this has caused him a lot of stress. Thank God, she is now on the mend. He had a wonderful trip to Kyrgystan with Jeremy to watch the socceroos play. They loved looking around that country, so very different to ours, and Mal really enjoyed being about to take Jeremy into a culture that few Aussies ever experience. A day long wait for a plane in Dubai spent at Ferrari world added to the great enjoyment for both of them. This trip was a real highliths of the year for both of them. They then met me in Berlin. Unfortunatly, neither Hannah nor Chris were able to come due to other trips and Uni which clashed..  

As for me, it's been a year of change. I am have commenced a mmaster's of counselling. Is a been exciting and very challenging. At times I have been amazed at the level of understanding we in first year are expected to have. Anyway, I have learnt alot and made some great new friends. I don’t know how I will use these new skills in the future, but I am sure God is briniging about his plans for me. I have continuec to love teaching year 6 scripture. My large class has been full of great questioning kids, who want to work out their own faith. Were had our last lesson on Wednesya, and now they are off to continue the journey in high school. Next year, I will perhaps take on some year 7 scritpure again. I am also planning to help out In a homework help club for refugee children. Also college will have some additional challenges in 2016 as our new college format means extra subjects, different days (Friday evenings and Saturdays) but, I think, more skills than in the previous format.   

Mischeif, Butters and Kylie continue to be cute, and lie around doing nothing most of the time. .  

Other hgihlights of the year for us have been 

• the visit from our cousins Sue, Dave, Mia and Liam 

• our new friends, Kirsty and Martin who are currently staying with us.  

• Excellent weekend at Hawks Nest with Lee and Michael,  

• And another excellent weekend with Nicole and Mike at Hawks Nest 

• Seeing the pond behind the HN house finally restored and the fullest ever. (Long story of vandalism) 

Please drop in and see us sometime. If you are ever on the mid north coast, perhaps we are there too, and we could get together at Hawks Nest. We would love to catch up.  

 

2014  Hi friends,  

Welcome to another brief summary of the year that was. If we haven’t seen you this year, we are sorry. Each year races by, and sitting down to write this, it only seems a few weeks since the last one. We would love to catch up. Give a us a call to arrange dinner, or send us an email. rmbowman@netspace.net.au .  

This year, Chris made a change at uni, into Industrial Design. He is loving it, and it suits his gifts. It’s so great to see him enjoying his studies and doing something that is really satisfying. He is often out in the carport with the workbench and powertools doing an assignment.  He has also finally gotten back into his mountain bike riding, speeding down rocky slopes on the northern beaches or blue mountains. He bought himself a better bike and his own car and seems to spend a lot of his spare time in the bush. Much of the rest of his spare time is devoted to the Western Sydney Wanderers, (our local  A-league soccer team)  supporting them and making flags for their games. Some of his best friends are also fans, so they all go to games together.  He is spending his holidays doing all the above mentioned things, and driving his 4WD on a beach in Newcastle this week. All this fun is funded by a job cleaning windows at many fast food restaurants. Its hard work with long days and not especially well paid, but it’s a job and, as I tell him, he doesn’t have to love it.  

Hannah finished her HSC in 2013, and is having a gap year. She is working at KFC, doing some paintings and selling some of those, hanging out with the boyfriend, (Stewart) and watching a lot of TV. Next year, she is going to Macquarie Uni to study Psychology, and is feeling very motivated now. I know she was not motivated at the start of the year, and needed some experience in the working world. She has grown up a lot. During the year, her 2013 HSC major work was hung in the Art Express Exhibition at a gallery in Parramatta. That was very exciting and she won a major prize in that Exhibition. Some of her friends from church and she were planning to move out for 6 months in 2015, but that plan has gone on hold for now.  

Mal is still working at Wolper Jewish hospital, Westmead private rehab and St Josephs  (public rehab) and enjoying those roles. Management changes at Wolper have lead to some real difficulties lately, and Mal is trying to work with integrity amongst others who play political games, at the expense of all the staff. It’s very trying for him, but we hope it will work out well for everyone involved. Nevertheless, he has had some pretty good times following the Western Sydney Wanderers this year. When they qualified for the Asian Champions League Final, we knew we would miss the Parramatta game,  (being in Darwin on holiday) so he went to the Saudi Arabia leg instead. He had a wonderful time there, particularly since they won the final, and are now Asian Champions.  

This year, believe it or not, Mal and I went on two holidays without our children. We could say that an era has ended but we are actually very keen to take them on a holiday with us again next year. Mal and I don’t usually get two big holidays in one year, but it just happened that way. Firstly, this is my chance to finally go on a conference trip with Mal, and top of my list was Turkey, and , amazingly, Turkey was his conference destination this year. We spent twelve days there, about 5 in Istanbul and the rest travelling around the west side and centre. What an amazing place, especially the sites that are found in the bible. Ephesus was amazing (We also bought real fake Rolexes there)We also saw some of the 7 cities of Revelation. Laodicea is especially stunning, although Collosae is just a mound of dirt no one has looked under yet. The cave country of Capadocia is also quite surreal, like a moonscape. We stayed in a cave for several nights. And Istanbul was very beautiful of course, with stunning mosques and other sites. I did a lot of exploring there while Mal was at the conference, but we spent afternoons and evenings site seeing, and shopping. We bought a Turkish carpet for our hallway, which is a great reminder of a lovely trip.  

Holiday number two was supposed to be a  tour to Israel with a group organised by my cousin. However, we all decided that it was not a good idea to go there as the political situation became quite unstable a couple of months before we were to leave. So, Mal and I were left with a choice and we decided to combine two holidays that we had always wanted to do. We caught the Indian Pacific to Perth, flew to Broome, hired a 4WD (a turbo diesel v8 landcruiser) with all the camping gear and drove the Gibb River Rd through the Kimberley to Darwin. Its been a few years since we have camped but the car came with everything we could need including a fridge, so we were well set up. Apart from accidentally leaving some of our possessions on the train, there wasn’t a hitch. The weather was hot (being near the end of the dry season) but there was no rain and therefore not too many  mozzies although the horse flies were nasty. River crossings were shallow, and the only crocodiles we came across were freshies (not dangerous) apart from the magnificent jumping crocodiles we saw on a boat cruise on the Adelaide River just near Darwin. All the camping grounds were good and had showers. They even had hot water, although we never used it. The cold water was so hot we could barely stand it. We loved the open dirt road, endless desert, amazing birds and beautiful gorges. We even met a guy who was cycling from Kununurra to Derby  and he didn’t seem insane, although he had run out of water. We got to stay a night at Edith Falls, north of Katherine, a place we loved when we visited it back in 1991, still one of the best places in the world. The train was wonderful too – very social and comfortable, and the most amazing food. Again, the endless desert is an awesome site. I could have stayed much longer. We made some lovely friends.  I am sure we will go to Israel another time. 

You may notice I haven’t mentioned Jeremy, the young man who has lived with us for 5 years. Well, he has now moved on to live with his Dad in the next suburb. It seems to be a good move for him, and is going well. He gets more privacy and independence than he did here, and has the chance to build a real father-son relationship, something he really values, of course. He comes back here for dinner once a week. It’s so great to see things working out for him this way and he seems more happy than I have ever seen him. I have to confess, I am finding it tough. We spent a lot of time together over the last 5 years, and it’s pretty quiet downstairs now. I think its going to be a while before I stop feeling sad about this. I am thankful for the time Jeremy spent with us, and for the way God has looked after me through his leaving and afterwards. (Ask me, if you want more amazing details). Nevertheless, I am not surprised to be heartbroken and a bit lost over the decline of a valued friendship and the role I had in his life. If you are a praying person, please pray for him.  

I have some potentially exciting plans for 2015. I have been offered a school chaplaincy job at a local school, pending their successful receipt of funding. I should know by next week. How exciting. I haven’t had a real job for about 20 years. I was at the school yesterday for a carols event. It was surreal to think a could soon be on the staff. I am also applying to study counselling. I have been planning that for over a year, but wanted to finish  my diploma of ministry first, which I finally have YAYYYY (pending a pass in Theology 211). I have an interview for the counselling course next week.  

In other news, we brought a new member into the family early in the year, a lovely little girl called Butters (domestic short hair). She has given the other cats a bit of a hard time but they have finally all gotten used to each other and might even be called friends. At times I think three is too many but usually they are no trouble.  

Well, we hope you and your family have an excellent Christmas. We plan to visit Hawks Nest for a few days over new year and then for a couple of weeks in the second half of January , although I might be at a conference between the 21st and 23rd. Please drop in if you are nearby. Our Christmas will be spent in Canberra for a change, which should be nice so I won’t be hosting any family Christmases.  

2012    Christmas letter 2012.docx

Hi Friends,  

We hope you have had a good year.  It’s always good to reflect on what has happened over the year so please reflect with me. It’s been an interesting year, but I think I say that every year. Mal and I have both turned 50, well, we will have by the time you read this. We have sadly lost several very precious friends but they are all in heaven and we will see them again. Nevertheless, we will feel some sadness at Christmas for their families who never expected to lose their loved ones so soon.  

This time last year we were relieved that Chris and Jeremy’s HSC exams were over, and just digesting their results, and thinking about their future. Hannah was looking forward to her school trip to Paris. We were planning some time away with friends and family at Hawks Nest. As well as that, we were planning for Christmas, and wondering what to do about Chris’s ill health, not realising what would be in store for him in less than two weeks.  

The short version of this is Chris ended up in hospital just after Christmas, having neurosurgery to remove a large abscess from his brain. Thanks to God and an excellent surgeon, he had no ill effects from the surgery and recovered really well. He spent three weeks in hospital but was really well the whole time. All his friends came and saw him, many times over. They played cards in the café, and kept his spirits up. When his specialist said he didn’t need the antibiotic drip any more, he came home.

These were not the holidays we had planned but the experience has really grown Chris. He spent the next 5 months playing his guitar and “Battlefield 3”, working on some maths for uni,  recovering, having another surgery on his sinuses, and recovering from that. (He would say

that was the worse one of the two.) Even though he was not 100% well, he decided to start uni in second semester instead of waiting till 2013. This was a surprise to us, but he was very motivated to get back into some type of active life so he started a Bachelor of Engineering at UWS. He has had to really work hard to overcome his lack of fitness, difficulty concentrating, and adjusting to the completely new situation, but he has really worked hard and achieved wonderful results. We are so proud of him. He still has some health problems, probably due to the high dose antibiotics damaging his stomach, but this is improving slowly too. If you saw him now, you probably wouldn’t realise anything had happened. The 32cm scar is under his hair, and he rides his bike and skateboard just like before. But he will never be the same because he has been through something traumatic and survived. He has learnt that he can rely on his family and on God, and that he never wants to be in hospital again.  

Hannah has just started year 12. She is feeling the pressure and constantly wishes she could work harder, but there are so many distractions. We are trying to be supportive and keep her focussed. She has just had a week of assessments which finished today, so she is enjoying some breathing space. She had a lovely time in Paris with her school friends, especially a very good friend Ashleigh. She wishes she could have been more involved with Chris while he was in hospital, but we shielded her a bit from the full seriousness of his illness so that she could really enjoy her trip. This seemed like the right thing to do at the time, for both her sake and ours. Maybe we made the wrong decision, but it wasn’t one that we had much experience of. Anyway, 2012 has been a good year for Hannah. She is still involved in her youth group, bible study and church, plus the ISCF group and breakfast club at school. Hannah got her driver’s license on her 17th birthday, so we now have to share three cars between 5 of us. It seems to be working ok. She drives herself to lots of places, and about once a week to school. Extension classes mean she starts at 7.30 every day, but that doesn’t mean getting the car every day. Who gets to drive to school every day after all?  

After much thought, Jeremy decided to pursue Law at university, commencing a Bachelor of Law/Bachelor of Arts at UWS. What a great result this is for him. We are so excited to see things really coming together for him, and he is feeling really positive about the future, and confident in his abilities. This year of uni has meant some really hard work, but he has been very focussed and his great results have been very satisfying for him. To think that a few years ago, I wasn’t sure he would be able to cope with the stress of year 12. His own determination has really paid off and we really admire him for this.  He has a couple of part-time jobs at the moment, is thinking about buying his own car, and still comes to church almost every week. He’s looking forward to spending time with his family at Christmas too. Like Mal and Chris (and quite a few of our friends) he has taken on an enthusiastic membership of the Western Sydney Wanderers Soccer club, and heads on down to the Parramatta Stadium whenever they play there. That new club is doing really well and has a huge supporter base already. They all look great in their red and black shirts and they are having a lot of fun.  

This year Mal continued working at Wolper Jewish Hospital, Westmead Private Rehab Hospital and St Joseph’s Public (Catholic) Hospital Auburn. It’s been a good year, with an overseas conference in Sweden, and enjoying a lot of soccer. However seeing his son so ill shook Mal up and it’s taken him a while to get his professional confidence back. Just over a month ago, Mal’s mum Beryl suffered a stroke and had to spend some weeks in rehab. This has also been a hard thing for Mal to experience but she is well on the road to recovery, and things are looking good for her. Mal and I are looking forward to a bit of relaxation after Christmas. We didn’t manage to hold our usual drop-in day at the end of 2011, so we are definitely going to have one before Christmas, oh, isn’t that next week? Better get on with it then.  

At the start of 2012, I enrolled in some pre-chaplaincy subjects at theological college. I worked really hard on 4 subjects for first semester. What an effort. I was so glad then that term was finished. My family didn’t know what had hit them. It was a tough few months. But I was pretty excited about taking on a chaplain’s job and really enjoyed the practical segment of the course. However, when the chaplaincy funding was announced later in the year, there was no job available that I could take up. It was a real shock and so disappointing, but as I thought about it, this was for the best. Chris was still struggling with sickness and Hannah was going to be doing her HSC in 2013. (She likes company when she studies) Perhaps I should focus more on the family for a few years, and an appropriate school chaplain’s job might come up in the next funding allocation in three years time. The training taught me some great skills and I can make use of them in my life without being a chaplain. I am sure God had a good purpose in having me undertake the course and I can already see myself putting those skills to use in my scripture teaching roles.  

Probably the other main highlight of the year was a 2 week trip to the east coast of the USA. Jeremy was not free to come unfortunately, with a busy uni schedule, but for the rest of us, it was an interesting time. We split our time between Washington, New York and Amish Country. I think for all of us, the highlight was the time in the Pennsylvania Amish country, where we got to learn about Amish culture, stay in an authentic cottage, and even have dinner with an Amish family. That was a real treat and I am a bit envious of their lifestyle. Perhaps we can go back there some time.  

Well, we pray that you are well and have been having a good year too, and will enjoy a peaceful Christmas with your family. If it’s possible, please catch up with us in 2013. That is one of my goals for this year, to catch up with lots of friends.  That will be excellent.  

Wishing you blessings at Christmas, 

From Robyn, Mal, Chris, Hannah and Jeremy.  

2011 christmas letter 2011.docx

Hi Friends,  

Apologies for the late card and letter. The last few weeks have been busy. Its Thursday so the chance of you getting this before Christmas is very very slim. Please don’t be put off by yet another Christmas letter. I love them. I actually read them and really appreciate the effort that goes into them, so if that you, thanks for yours.  

Yes, we have been busy, Its been a super demanding year, revolving heavily around the HSC. If you have been through it, you know it has a tendency to take over.  Now its over we are all breathing a sigh of relief. (I probably tried too hard to be supportive) Our recent busyness revolved around our church Christmas party here last Saturday. We had about 50 people, and I spent a lot of time getting the house into shape. I even built a new garden outside our tall fence. I had always wanted to do this, and the coming party gave me a good excuse, not that our church friends needed a new garden. I just felt really inspired (to garden) and energetic for the first time in a while. I had wanted to do it for 20 years. I didn’t have a lot of time so I just squeezed half an hour of gardening in here and there until it was done. It was really good exercise shovelling tons of clay and replacing it with dirt. Hardly any plants have died yet either. Now for the important stuff:  

You won’t recognise Chris.  He is so tall now and his long hair is gone. He looks like an 18 year old now. He got his licence early in the year and loves the independence that it brings. I remember exactly how good that feels. We found ourselves with way too few cars per driver, so we invested in an extra little car. (Chris drives it most of the time although I take it out sometimes. I love having a little manual so I can pretend I am still young.) Chris wishes he had worked harder this year but he had a lot fun in Year 12. He worked very hard in the month before his exams and he is happy with his results. He isn’t sure what he will do at uni yet but is looking towards engineering. Engineering Studies was by far his favourite subject in school and he is really good at it. One of his projects even got written up in the yearly school magazine as he got the best result in the history of the course. Chris has continued to enjoy his youth group, church and bible study groups, although youth group is now finished for him. That part of life closed with a schoolies camp. Sadly, that was not a fun week because Chris was ill for most of the time. If you are a praying person, please pray for Chris. He has struggled with sinus trouble for most of this year and is never without a headache and other discomfort. He is looking forward to some surgery to fix the problem early in 2012. It can’t come soon enough for him. It seems his holiday plans have been mostly effected by either rain or illness but the future still looks pretty rosy. Some big rock concerts are coming up, and the sinus/head pain will pass soon enough. The next stage of his life is bound to be challenging but also rewarding for him. We are very proud of the way he persevered in spite of being in constant pain. I can’t help wondering what his results would have been like if he had been well through his HSC.  

You may recall that Jeremy came here for a few months back in 2009. Months turned into years and we are very happy to have him still here with us. He also has just finished his HSC and is trying to decide what career is the right one for him. He focussed very hard on achieving the best results he possibly could and we have been so pleased to see him do really well. Like Chris, Jeremy is trying to make career decisions while still very young, and needing to at least decide about 2012 Uni places by the 5th January. He is looking at teaching, psychology or law, but I don’t think he really knows what he wants to do. Being away from his family has been hard for Jeremy. Again, if you pray, please pray that he will learn to trust God with his future, and look to Him for guidance in these and all decisions. He is spending a week away with his father and brother at the moment, but Christmas is likely to be a tough, confronting time for him again, as it is for all people whose family life is less than satisfying. Jeremy is an awesome young man, determined on doing as well as he can in life. As well as doing his HSC, Jeremy has already been offered a place at uni, done well in soccer and “ultimate Frisbee” (being given the chance to try out for the Australian team, but turned it down to study) and obtained his drivers licence (hence our need for a third car) He comes to church with Mal and I whenever he is able and is starting to feel a part of our church family.  

Hannah is now quite a lot taller than me. (I included her formal photo so you can see how beautiful she is). Smart too, but quiet. Not as quiet as Chris, but still fairly reserved. She has had a great year, working as hard as she could for the last ever school certificate exams (and feeling ripped off that she still had to do them). Her results were great and she had a tough time deciding what subjects to do for year 11. Art, obviously, was important. She wasn’t able to do art and physics so she has settled for art, chemistry and biology and a few others. She seems to be looking forward to the challenges of the HSC. Like Chris, she has enjoyed youth group, bible study and church this year. She is involved in the ISCF group at school and runs their “Breakfast Club” making free breakfast for any child in the school who wants it ever Wednesday. If she can, she will continue that in 2012. This year she has been doing clerical work for Mal submitting many of his work accounts to the various Health insurance companies. And, not to be left out, she also is driving. So that’s 5 of us. No wonder we needed the extra car. When she gets her P’s in 2012 there will need to be a new spirit of negotiation between her, Chris and Jeremy because I am over public transport. (Why is it that, even with an extra car, I still have to walk?) Hannah is also still learning guitar. She gave up art lessons as she got a bit old for the class, but still produces many amazing artworks In her upstairs ‘studio’.  

Mal has made a bit of a change, workwise this year, giving up his St Vincent’s job and taking on a similar job at St Josephs. He likes the reduced travelling although there are more hours of work. Maybe next year he will try to cut down or perhaps he just needs a holiday. Actually we all do. We have not had a family holiday this year due to the HSC and Chris’s illness. The 5 of us went to the USA in 2010, which was a fantastic holiday, (highlights- 6 Flags Amusement park and outlet shopping in LA) which I didn’t get to tell you about because there was no Christmas letter last year. (sorry) Mal went off the Marrakesh for a conference recently. The stopover for a soccer game in Oman was really nice (Australia lost but they played badly and deserved to lose, so I am told) but Marrakesh was not. Everyone just wanted to hassle him the whole time. He couldn’t wait to get home.  

As for me, 2012 has involved supporting the kids through their studies, most of all, especially Chris and Jeremy. I took the year off from studying and only taught one scripture class (year 6) but still stayed involved in years 7-10, plus several ISCF groups. Scripture has been really satisfying this year. The high school classes have run like discussion groups, so our team have all been very involved in every lesson, which has proved very fruitful. 2012 may hold a new challenge for me in the form of a school chaplaincy job. I need to pray and do a whole lot more research and some training before this job starts, but its exciting and at the moment, I feel like it is the right thing for me to do. I guess I will be busy (although it is only one day / week)  

There will be many new things happening for us this year, in terms of study (uni for the boys, year 11 for Hannah, college for me) church (Chris becoming more a part of the adult bible study network, and Mal and I having new staff in our church) and work (for me, and hopefully C and J will find part time jobs too). So that’s exciting. Only God knows what any of this actually means for any of us, but his plans are always perfect.  

Sorry for the packed newsletter and small print. I hope you could read it. We hope to catch up with you either on facebook, by letter or in person soon. And if we don’t please let us wish you, now, a really happy 2012.  

God bless, love from the Bowmans.  

2008

 christmasletter2008.docx

67 Fraser St 

Constitution Hill 2145 

rmbowman@netspace.net.au 

Hi friends,  

Its been another busy year in the Bowman house. At this time of year it all seems a bit of a blur, so forgive some rambling and disorganisation. Again, I wonder if I will get the cards and this letter ready in time. The printer is refusing to print envelopes, so there's no guarantee. If you live in Sydney or you are in Sydney next weekend, on the 20th December, we’d love you to drop in here. We are hoping to see lots of friends that day anytime between midday and midnight.  

Chris has managed to just about make it through year 9. I think he has had fun. He doesn’t say that much, but I understand that is a “year 9 thing”. His big interest these days is his downhill mountain bike that he got for his birthday. He is always either working on it, or riding it. Fortunately for us, he rides fairly carefully, but he will often be found on a Saturday down at the local bush with a shovel improving jumps and tracks that the other local boys have created. I think it’s a reasonably good use of time and keeps him out of trouble. He’s been working selling papers on Sunday to pay for his expensive hobby. You’d be amazed how much some of the parts cost (and just how far away some of the best bike shops are, for those of us who have to drive him)  If he isn’t at the bike jumps, he is down at a local skate.He’s really  quite skillful with his tricks these days.  

Chris is still enjoying the good friendships that he has at school. He has been very blessed in this regard, and chooses to go to school even on the last day of school. Its more interesting than home, I hear. Lots of his friends go along to the youth group with him too and I think this has helped make school a good place for a quiet boy like Chris. Youth group now involves a Sunday afternoon group  and Friday night bible study which they all seem to enjoy.  

Some of the highlights of the year were his youth group camp, a camping weekend at Katoomba youth convention (in spite of the freezing cold, and wet feet) and a recent hiking trip with school (quite challenging). Chris’s soccer team also had an excellent year and won their grand final. 

 

Hannah has absolutely loved her first year of high school. She has not missed primary school one bit. She quickly settled into a group of friends some of whom come from her old school, some from her new class and some from her youth group. Like Chris, there is a pretty strong link between her school and her youth group, so fitting into school has been much easier than it might have been. Hannah’s art work has continued to be a huge part of her life too. (see card) and she will often be found upstairs alone doing a sketch or another painting. She is always working to improve her artistic skill which has been rewarded with “first in the year” at school.  As I write this, her most immediate challenge is getting by with her left arm in a cast, after a fall at the youth group beach day last Sunday. She seems to be managing and we hope to have a waterproof cast put on this week but the dr says not to go to the beach. She is disappointed about that.  

 

Robyn: My year has been very busy. As well as looking after the family I've become more involved in Christian work in various schools, taking on  year 7 scripture class at Pendle Hill as well as my year 6 class at Toongabbie. Scripture has been a huge blessing to be part of. I’ve also (very surprisingly) started helping out with some of the ministry in Parramatta and Greystanes highs. Each of these roles are completely different, and each one just a great joy to be a part of. I’m also hoping to be involved in another school next year as well, My particular interest is breakfast clubs (we feed kids in the school for free once a week). It’s a fruitful ministry and I love being part of it. Lots of schools don’t have a breakfast club, so I am trying to start more of them in some of our local schools.  

I managed the soccer team again this year. As always I loved the friendships with the kids and seeing their soccer improve. The team played fantastically most of the year (under new coach Barry) , and as I already said, won the comp. Even though the team came in a minor premiers quite easily, the grand final was very tight and such a stressful experience for the parents. Some of our players were ill and one couldn’t make it at all, so we were understrength. It was a huge achievement for them all to win the cup.  

A big success of the year was the implementation by Hillsbus of a bus run from our area to the children’s school. Some of the local parents worked hard lobbying the company and local politicians (I have a funny Nathan Rees story to tell if you are interested  ) for two years to convince the bus company that a bus was warranted. With over 50 kids from the area going to MFHS is doesn’t sound like a hard job but the company resisted for years. Having a school bus has changed our lives.  

 

Mal : Mal’s been busy this year, with three different jobs. He is still really enjoying his work. There are always challenges there, especially with patients who don’t have good family support, or who want to stay in hospital longer than they should. He and Chris got to a  couple of soccer games in Europe, one in England (which was disappointing) and one in Milan (which was good) but in spite of huge efforts could not get to see a Roma game, and why, because he isn’t Roman. (???)  

 

Anniversary: This year was 20 years for Mal and I. Gee, it doesn’t seem like that long at all. We were fortunate to be able to get away while the kids were at camp. So we went to an island called Loataka, off Port Moresby. We had a wonderful time there, snorkeling and just enjoying the warm weather. (It was freezing in Sydney at the time) while our children were on their youth group camp. I think we were the only people on the island not there to do (or recover from) the Kokoda trail. It sounds so dangerous anyway, we are not that crazy. We had a great time but felt a bit sorry for the poor caged animal at the resort. He always looked so lonely.  

 

Holidays: This year we had a pretty huge holiday, heading over to London,  Italy and France for three weeks. We saw Mal’s brother Sean in London and stayed with him and his family. We also traveled about Italy and France and saw lots of the sites, like the Eiffel Tower, Learning Tower of Pisa, and the London Eye.  The kids enjoyed the holiday, although the highlight was staying with their cousins in London. We all loved Venice too and had a wonderful gondola ride. We travelled on planes, trains, buses and cars, all of which worked out very well. There were few dramas, if you don’t count missing the odd freeway turn off, and reverse parking very badly. I can’t navigate so I have to do the driving. The less said about that the better.  

  

Goals for 2009: I haven’t had a chance to make it back to bible college this year, but that is part of my plan for 2009. I am looking forward to it. My other big goal for 2009 is to help Chris to improve his study habits so he can do as well as possible in his School Certificate. They aren’t very exciting goals, are they. I will be teaching Year 7 scripture again, and probably year 5. I do want to see one or two more breakfast clubs up and running, and I expect, manage the soccer team again. I will really look forward to that.  

 

Hannah and Chris goals will be to work much harder at school. (although they don’t know it) and keep their rooms tidy. That’s a joke, actually. J That will take a miracle.  

Hope to see you soon.  

Love Robyn Mal, Chris and Hannah.

2008

2007