A helpful analogy

At times I am asked what we are trying to achieve with the treatment that Wayman is currently having. Do we expect that the tumour will shrink? How is it helping?

I have explained the hoped for result with this analogy.

Our journey is like taking a car trip with a child in the back seat. If the child is irritable, and unsettled, it is difficult to ignore them. They are always needing attention to keep them under control. If they are quiet and well behaved you can take the ride more comfortably. The child is still there, but when they are quiet you can concentrate on other things.

Waymans tumour is our child in the back seat. This drug is helping to keep the activity under control. It won't make it disappear. The oncologist was encouraged this week with his response, so he has had a third treatment.

The side effects are quite profound, sleepiness is Waymans constant companion and he has to deal with other things like mouth ulceration and small bleeds into his muscles.

I am monitoring his diabetes with varying degrees of intensity. I want to give him some freedom but high BSLs cause some issues, infection being a constant possibility.

He is still enjoying his food, and while he isn't moving about much outside, I am grateful that it is football season, and that Collingwood are playing well.

Please pray for me as I am required to do more for Wayman and I need to stay fit and strong.

At this stage I am coping well, as I use nursing skills that are decades old!

We are reading Romans at the moment, and I have added some verses that were part of the reading from the royal wedding. We watched the big day with delight. No-one does pomp and ceremony like the Brits!

The hero they never knew

Anzac has always been a special time in our family. Wayman has used it to instil in his girls a sense of national pride and a respect for history. But it is much more than that. Waymans father Doug served in WW2 and this national holiday has always been special to Wayman.

Doug joined up in 1939 at the age of 19, and served right through the war with the Australian 9th division.

He saw action in North Africa and the Pacific islands, his two big "shows" being El Alamein and a small island called Tarakan.

El Alamein was the battle that halted Rommels march across North Africa and Tarakan was a tiny island that had a strategic significance in the Pacific because it had an airfield.

Wayman grew up hearing his Dads stories of these conflicts. Of course they were sanitised versions, almost his own Boys Own Adventure with mateship and heros a plenty. But there were nights when little Wayman found it hard to make his way to bed in the sleepout on the front veranda after stories of jungle warfare.

Doug died in 1971 at the age of 50, nine months before we married. Wayman was 20.

In 2008 Wayman wrote a memoir of Dougs war service using his own memories and official war records as his back up. He gave the girls copies for Christmas that year. The boys and I watched that day as they cried and read about this hero they had been hearing about all their lives but had never met.

At the time Cassie blogged on this at Stories from Porter

in April 2009

This is worth the read, as she paints a beautiful picture of the Grandpa who died a decade before she was born.

For around 70 years Dougs medals have been in a box in various cupboards in Waymans many different homes.

Doug was never one for show, and he would have thought it appropriate they were never on display.

But this year we have had them mounted so they can be worn

Please accept my apologies for my poor photography!

This Anzac day Wayman will not be able to go to a dawn service or a march, but he will watch the day on the TV and wear his fathers medals with great pride.

A five day break

Here in Australia we have a unique experience this year with Easter and Anzac combining to give us a five day break. Apparently it won't happen again until 2095!

It seems that everyone has traditions that occur in their families at Easter time.

I have spoken to one lady whose family makes it the time to gather fire wood with multiple chainsaws and a picnic in the paddock.

Many people go camping as autumn is often the perfect time for campfires and hiking.

At Oakbank the country race club hosts the biggest steeplechase event in Australia over the Saturday and Monday of Easter. The traffic is bumper to bumper past our gate from early in the morning, with cars piled high carrying barbeques and deck chairs for the perfect picnic race meeting. The course is very pretty and while jumps races have come in for scrutiny lately it is still a popular family event.

With all these alternatives it is difficult to broach the subject of why we have Easter on our calendar as a nation. Christmas is somehow easier as a baby in a manger is cute and we can easily make it something that is cuddly and sweet.

Easter is much more confronting. The cross is not cute, or cuddly or sweet, and we struggle to understand the relevance in 2011. So we go camping, and to the races and we try not to think too deeply about things that we find hard.

But people throughout history have been drawn to the cross as the answer to the big questions of life. At those times when we do contemplate why there is trouble in the world and why bad things happen to good people,why families break down or people hurt each other, Jesus dying on a cross to make us right with the God actually makes sense. The God who made the trees we cut up as fire wood, the scenery that we endure camping conditions to enjoy, the beautiful horses we admire at the races, planned the cross so we could spend eternity with him.

All this comes into sharp focus when you are in the situation that Wayman and I in at the moment. Eternity is real to us, and after a life time of understanding that Jesus died so we could spend it with him in glory we are more convinced than ever that Easter is the most beautiful celebration of all because of the stark brutality of the cross.

the trench

Last post I mentioned that we needed to be away from home for a few days so that work could be done to prepare for our power upgrade.

We stayed with Steph and Shane as our shack was without water. If you own a place that requires a pump and a foot valve you will understand that these things can go wrong at any time, and ours did. We are very grateful that Shane and his friend Matt have spent a day in the Murray river working against the current to put a new foot valve on the inlet pipe. I am glad they are both strong swimmers.

But here is what was happening at our place that required us to be away from home.

We were having a trench dug to take the new power cables.

This is the last section that still has to be back filled tomorrow.

This trench had to go all the way past the dam.....

to the road.

You can just see the road at the end of the driveway. The electrician estimated that they walked 15 kms back and forth, bent over to feed the conduit over the cabling. I think his apprentice loathes our place!!! He is lovely young man and I have made a mental note to feed him scones and jam and cream next time he has to work here!

While there are other things to be done [the green box on the driveway will be shifted] we are getting our issue sorted. The neighbour is also having their power changed.

The weather has stayed mild, and we are able to keep the house warm without the new power supply, but it will become more difficult as it closes in. We are grateful to Shane and his wonderful sub-contractors who have worked hard to get us to this point so quickly.

Meanwhile a comforting fire in the lounge is doing a great job.

Wayman is spending a lot of time in the lounge, and is enjoying the fire. I am managing to keep the wood supply up, as we had several trees cut down last year and have it stock piled around the property. I don't need to go to the gym for my exercise, a wheel barrow full of timber makes for good weight training!

Autumn

Autumn is here, and the hills are a beautiful place to be.

We are spending most of our time at home and so are witnessing the leaves changing every day.

Wayman is finding that he is struggling with sleepiness most of the time. He has a nap in the mornings, then often has to sleep again in the afternoons. This frustrates him as he has always been active, but we are grateful that there are no other side effects from the new treatment.

We have visitors to see us, and our friends and family are very understanding, staying for short times, thereby helping Wayman to fill in the days without becoming too tired.

I read the Bible for us at night when we go to bed, and often I think he has dozed off, so I stop, only to have him say "don't stop!" I am so glad we have this opportunity.

Next week we have a challenge as we need to be out of our home for three days while work is done to prepare for our power upgrade. We plan to go to the river for that time. Please pray that Wayman will manage the few days there in comfort.

Like the seasons our situation is constantly changing, but we both are confident that we are sustained by our God who never changes.

Country living?

Some people would argue that we don't really live in the country. After all, we have a housing estate on one side of our property and a farm on the other.

So how do you judge this? When do you know that you are really a country dweller?

I have compiled a list that may help me qualify.

You know you live in the country when.......

the post mistress doesn't wear a name tag but everyone knows she is Margaret

and she will happily talk about the rain!

the jeweller in the local shop talks about his new house, and you know where it is,

[it's the one on the ridge, just before Sunny-side farm]

the car is dirty from mud or dust rather than road grime.

the noisy neighbour is the farmer on his tractor.

you hesitate to wear open toed shoes because they catch twigs and small stones

men wear suits and ties to funerals.

you can hear the birds in the trees throughout the day

there are more bakeries in your area than coffee shops

the lady that serves you at the local cafe is Nicole who did a fabulous job catering for

your Big Birthday Bash and....

the girl who works in the newsagent was a waitress at the BBB so she now proudly calls you by your christian name

the hairdresser can recommend the right person to dig a trench, fix a gate, clean your windows, or mow the lawns.. and she knows them personally.

she also happily passes messages between clients who visit the salon on different days.

your neighbour shares information with you as you try to sort out a sensitive power supply issue.... [the field officer has changed Richard has left, now we are dealing with Rodney]

you take your Rossi boots with you when visiting a friend to see her new veggie patch....

and you worry that you may not be able to give away your many pumpkins because everyone has a veggie patch!

I think I qualify........ and I love it!