2016 Christmas letter plus

Christmas Letter Blog: Draft.  Thanks for visiting. 

I am having trouble with this blog, please come back and look again tomorrow. It is currently the same as the letter without any photos. 

Blessings

Robyn. 

Dear Friends, I suspect this will be my quickest Christmas letter ever, given the late date. Its long, though, so I will embolden the highlights, and write all the additional bits (additional to the paper letter) in red. Its lovely to have a chance to tell you about our year, which has been huge .
About half way through 2016 I acquired a frozen shoulder. Its a condition that goes through a sequence of freezing, being frozen (completely immobile) and then thawing. The "freezing" process is excruciating, making many normal activities, like dressing, washing hair, hanging clothes, opening car doors, and much more, extremely painful. My hair style became one of those 80's type side ponytails. Sleep is almost impossible. For more information, look up "adhesive capsulitis". The one good thing is that its not permanent and after a period of about 12-18 months, it goes away. Physiotherapy and exercise helps a little. Fortunately, it was my left shoulder and I am right handed. Also fortunately, I was not so busy during the worst phase of the illness, and I managed to pay and bribe some people to help me get normal activities done. I managed to continue my running, hosting Christmas events and having fun with my family on holidays, which I think prevented me from getting depressed. By about February I had absolutely had enough of this awful pain (think of a knife sticking out of your shoulder joint, all the time, getting bumped on everything- I think thats a reasonable analogy) So I decided to try a medical procedure that might speed up the course of the recovery. Saline and cortisone was pumped into my joint under pressure to break the adhesions and reduce the pain. This did seem to be a turning point, although its hard to tell. The pain was certainly reduced and by April, I was feeling alot better, could tie my hair back (almost symmetrically) and putting my bra on was still painful but at least it was possible. (Sorry if thats a bit too personal). I am glad to say that, apart from not sleeping well on my left side, I am completely recovered. 

We have been fortunate to have two holidays this year with Chris and Hannah.

Glasshouse Mountains

In February we spent a week at the Sunshine Coast. Lying on the beach, sitting in the pool and doing some excellent challenging walks made for a great trip. Our flight home delayed by storms in Sydney meant an extra day of the same. J I had been struggling with a frozen shoulder for about 6 months at the time, (total of 9 moths) which was an excruciating drag so it was great to have such a distraction.

Passage Peak, Hamilton Island

In June we also headed together to Hamilton Island. We are now restricted in our holidays to School hols, but a week in the Whitsundays is nothing to complain about. Again, lying on the beach, hiking, reading, boating, snorkelling at the reef, knitting, and some water sports made for a great week there, and a wonderful time to refresh in the warmth. 

From Feb, I planned to continue with my Master of Counselling studies. Then, several chaplaincy jobs came up in local schools including Winston Heights. I hadn’t ever thought of working there, (although I had my heart set on chaplaincy) and it took some prayer and contemplation before I applied for any. I was given the job at Winston Heights and have worked 14 hours/week there since the start of term 2. It’s a delightful job, caring pastorally for many different children, mostly those whose family circumstances present them with challenges in terms of behaviour, loss and emotion. It’s great to see children learn to make good decisions and use their strengths and support networks to cope through unsettled times. (Fortunately after some aggressive treatment, my shoulder was almost healed by the time I started work.) After three terms, I am still getting to know the staff, students parents and the job. Our very supportive principal is retiring and so there is some uncertainty for me around her replacement. I have found balancing chaplaincy, scripture teaching, church, family, friends and college a big challenge. I feel I have not doing anything well. (If you are one of the many people I had hoped to catch up with in 2016, please accept my apologies.)  I have never been so busy. So, in 2016, I will be taking a two year break from scripture teaching. After ten years, I know it’s the right thing. This will give me some needed flexibility to be available to help my parents, as my father is currently ill, as well as allow me to be more focussed on chaplaincy. College should be more flexible next year too. I still want to study counselling as the chaplaincy funding may be cut in the next few years. I do want to share a book I have just read. As I love to go running, I listen to audio books, and the latest is Stories of a War Boy by Deng Adut, NSW Aussie of the year, local guy, South Sudanese Refugee and former boy soldier. It’s amazing to think of a 7 year old with a Kalashnikov assault rifle. This man is amazing, and has a stunning story.  I recommend this book (on audio or paper)   

Mal is still working at St Josephs, Westmead and Wolper, all Rehab facilities. Some of these  have had their ups and downs this year, but things are going well at the moment. The last few months have been one party after another with staff change overs, Christmas and catchups. I am told they do actually do some work too. J He and Chris went on a short holiday to Thailand a few months ago, watching the Socceroos play, vesting some friends and seeing some sights. They had a great time. Mal also went to a conference in Portugal earlier in the year, which was a great experience. His parents have not been well over the last few years and he spends time each week supporting them.

Chris is about to enter 4^th year of Industrial Design. His course is challenging sometimes, but he enjoys it and is always creating some new and interesting project. He is still loving his downhill mountain biking. A nasty accident (tree 1, Chris 0) put him off the bike for a few weeks but he was back on it as soon as possible. He often drives to Wollongong for some good hills, and went camping at Mt Stromlo for a few days riding with friends. I am also very proud that he, Hannah and his Bowman cousins got together for a weekend away at a music festival. Its lovely to see your offspring wanted to stay connected with their cousins. They had a great time. A highlight of his year was a week away travelling to Adelaide by Winnebago for the A-League soccer grand final with his friends. The banner he made assisted the festivities, even though the other team was better on the day. Mal and I flew down for an 18 hour visit due to work, sorry to our Adelaide friends that we couldn’t visit. We all follow the Western Sydney Wanderers and try to get to as many games as we can.

Hannah continues to study science at Macquarie Uni. She is working as hard as she can, but also has the goal this coming year to buy her own car. She has managed well sharing with me up till now but I understand that it’s time for a bit more independence. So she has taken on some additional child-care work, which is working out nicely. Stewart is still her significant other.

Jeremy is still a part of our lives, even though he lives with his dad. He is working part time while he finishes off his teaching degree. Things are going really well for him, and we are so happy to see him satisfied and continuing to reach his goals in his life.

These coming holidays, we are all planning on some rest and time away. Jeremy has just been to New Zealand for a short break with his brother, checking out The Lord of the Rings sites, and having some fun in Queenstown. Chris also is heading there tomorrow with his mates, to do some walking and adventuring around Queenstown. Believe it or not, Mal and I also are planning a trip to New Zealand to do a three day walk (you guessed it) out of Queenstown in February. In the meantime, Hannah and some friends are planning some time at Hawks Nest, and Mal and I will be spending a few weeks also at Hawks Nest after Christmas. If you are there, or nearby, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and come and see us. We have lots of spare bedrooms too. Call me on 0407215943 if you would like to visit.

Other highlights of 2016 include some wonderful weddings of good friends, aniversary weekend in the city at Vivid,

Vivid

excellent concerts (Coldplay last night) and my birthday at the vintage nostalgic Putt Putt course. (see pic)

2017 holds a challenge for our family in the serious illness of my father. If you pray, please pray for him. His latest scan results come out tomorrow and a lot hangs on his doctor’s report.

That’s all from us for now. Please stay in touch, if only by Facebook messenger.

With all our love, from the Bowmans.