Christmas 2004 Newsletter from Ken and Elizabeth

There is a slideshow of photos from 2004 here..

In a world that seems increasingly threatening and violent the angel’s message, “glory to God and peace on earth to men of goodwill” is all the more welcome.

Through God’s wonderful intervention into the course of human history, born into the world in human form as Jesus the Christ, we have a source of great comfort and hope. We sincerely pray that you will be able to benefit from this comfort and hope and that you, as a person of goodwill, experience that peace of God which passes human understanding.

Our year started with the sale of the business to Virtual Cities, a computer wholesale and IT company. This meant that Ken effectively retired, doing only some casual teaching work for the new owners and for Nowra Anglican College. Elizabeth has also done some casual work with the Cancer Council and the Illawarra Area Health Service. We bought a lawnmower and other gear and took over the maintenance and development of our garden and started some renovations around the house.

As a result of this burst of exercise, with some additional walking and more disciplined food intake - mainly sticking to low GI foods - Ken has been able to shed over 20kg and has enjoyed the compliments this has earned him.

Elizabeth was also doing well in this regard until she tripped and dislocated her shoulder at the beginning of July. This then developed into a frozen shoulder. There’s lots about it on the Web, all of it not good news! It will heal, but it could take months to years, and in the meantime it has been very painful and debilitating. As time has passed the pain has almost gone but the shoulder has very limited movement. The worst thing: she can’t pick up her grandchildren! The moral is - when falling do not use your right hand to land on unless you are left handed!

Both of us spend quite a bit of time working with SECET (Shoalhaven Employers of Christian Education Teachers), Elizabeth as Secretary, Ken doing things with the website www.secet.org.au and their quarterly Newsletter. Ken still broadcasts for 2 hours fortnightly on the local community radio 		Speaking of grandchildren, we now have 10 and are proud of, and in love with them all!
  • Peter and Virginia have Ethan (2) and Elliot (1) in Unanderra (to be Coolah NSW in 2005: Peter will be Head Teacher Secondary at Coolah Central School);
  • Chris and Brooke have Laura (2) in Nowra and there are Sam (13), Ben (11) and Eliza (9) in Cooma;
  • Anna and Andrew have Joshua (8), Elisha (7), Jacob (5) and Zachary (1 in February) in Mildura.
  • Simeon and Kelly provide a Sydney residence for us and are a loving uncle and aunt.
Elizabeth’s mother suffered another stroke early in the year, and had to have her right leg amputated. This, with her almost complete loss of sight, makes her very limited. She was 90 in October. She was living at home with a lot of support until she fell late September and broke her right arm. This required her moving into care for some 6 weeks, and she is now receiving rehabilitation at Calvary Hospital in Kogarah.

Ken’s parents live independently in their Sydney home unit. Pa was 93 in November, Nana will be 90 in January. We are planning a celebration for this significant milestone.

We travelled some more this year, including some trips to Mildura. After one of these we crossed the state diagonally through Mungo National Park, Ivanhoe, Cobar and then Tamworth. There Elizabeth enjoyed a reunion weekend with almost all the nurses she trained with over 40 years ago. They had a lot to talk about – and talk they did, uproariously at times. There are some photos taken at this gathering here

From there we went north to Maryborough to visit Elizabeth’s sister and her daughter's family before heading home.

We are looking forward to a more flexible lifestyle with some work, some travel, some projects around the house and some hospitality.
Peter and Virginia live in Unanderra, a suburb of Wollongong about an hour north of us.

Peter teaches at Illawarra Senior College, Virginia has returned from maternity leave and has resumed working as a nurse in the Respiratory Unit in Wollongong on a part-time basis.

Peter has been given a promotion to Head Teacher, Secondary at Coolah Central School. Coolah is north of Mudgee, north-east of Dubbo in NSW. Some information is here. They will move there in January, probably into a teacher house. 		Chris and Brooke live in Nowra, about 15 minutes away from us. Chris works as a technician at Nowra Anglican College. Brooke still works with emovies management.

They have been carefully working on their home and it is increasingly comfortable, and attractive, and has more room for when Sam, Ben and Eliza visit, which is at least monthly and during school holidays.

We are looking forward to their new baby, due to be born in January.
Simeon and Kelly's home in Annandale, an inner city suburb of Sydney, is a handy city base for us! Simeon now works for Bigpond (Telstra's ISP division) as a project manager; Kelly is a lawyer with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

They have continued to work on their home, having almost repainted, re-curtained and other things. Their garden is useful and attractive, and they are developing plans for its remodelling also. 		Anna and Andrew keep very busy in Mildura, and having 4 children make sure it stays that way. Andrew works for the Citrus Growers organisation. Anna has continued her studies in education and has kept up a Distinction level of passes. She has one more subject to do next year, with some prac teaching and on-campus time.

Joshua, Elisha and Jacob will attend West Mildura State School next year, within walking distance of their home. Anna does some scripture teaching. Andrew's interest in bird breeding has meant the construction of more aviaries.