Next Chapter... Dear friends (if anyone still looks at this!) We came to Leongatha nearly four years ago. What a journey to get here it was. We have had four great years in many respects. Sam was able to go to CEDA for schooling. HE will finish there, almost, this year and wants to go to Melbourne for the final Year 13. So, we expect him to be gone from home next year. He wants to share with some friends, and his girlfriend. The latter part of that is not comfortable with us and could prove problematic for him in the future. But... he knows best of course. She is a lovely girl though, don't get me wrong. Jessie will be in Year 8 next year. She has a very restricted circle of fiend here at 'Gatha. It was Judith and my thinking that it would be good to get Jessie into a large church and school community soon, before the BIG years at school start in earnest. That's how we were thinking. LAst week I was told I don't have a job next year and Judith was offered only 1 1/2 days a week. It was a kick in the guts, to feel unvalued. I am not sure what else I could have done to be worth keeping, but obviously it was not enough. Consequently, we are now looking to where the next 'adventure', as Jude calls it, will be. We are leaning towards moving to the Peninsula area. Perhaps Somerville, Langwarrin or Narre Warren South. I have applied for several jobs already and am getting my resume done professionally. That means a move again, a new home loan, sad. We will never own a home now :-( unless something changes, which it could I guess. So, disturbing times. An adventure ahead no doubt. Who knows what we will be up to in the near future.

Pics.

Well, it does insert the pics after you publish the post. Good. Used to show it before publishing though. A bit annoying. The pic in the last post of the fire is using a feature of the new camera. On 'Nightshot' setting it take four pics quickly and mashes them together to form one pic. So that is a pic taken hand-held, no flash. I used to do that with film cameras, but it needed a tripod and someone to sit still for three or four minutes. How great is that. I have scanned many of our old pics now as well as all my slides. Ahhh. I used to have a red beard and hair on top. When I showed my photography students the old one of me on Little Horn, Cradle Mountain on one leg, they berated me for being so reckless!! (They pointed out that I tell them to be careful all the time). Cheers

Time flies

Has it really been that long since I was on the iMac?? I am now usually on the iPad, so don't get to this much, as you can see. Just re-read the last post. Pretty sad. I nearly deleted it, but it is how I often feel so, for the sake of history, I will leave it. What has been happening at the Clark's? Well, lots. Sam is nearly 18. He is flexing his authority a lot at times, and Jude is better at turning away than I am. He has a girlfriend, a nice girl, Holly by name. He seems to be taking his own course, as one should. Some aspects concern me, such as the deteriorating language. Jude says they all do it now-days, but I am worried about the eternal side of things. Jess is growing fast and developing into a little lady now. Seem sto be handling it quite well so far, occasional mood swings, but not too bad. Jude is great. There are some health issues that are a bit mysterious, she had a few pains that are strange and we don't know what they are, but overall she is fine. I am lighter than I used to be. Just reached the -11kg mark this week. I am aiming to lose another 5 or so kg. Might try to get further even, if that is possible. I walk to and from work each day, 14 mins. each way, eat less, keep away from potato, sugar and Jasmine rice. Slowly working. I snore less now and I have lost a couple of bra sizes as well! Bought a new camera (Canon 650D and second hand lens (28-135mm IS USM). It takes great pics. Still not a pro camera, but much better than the Canon 350D I had before. Been to a few weddings since last post. One on the Gold Coast, one in Tas. and one in Gippsland. All good, but I really liked the music from the Gold Coast one, the family in Tas. and the friends in Gippsland. All special in their own ways. Still no calls from the kids in Tasmania. Guess there never will be :-( School is about to merge with another one, so we are being interviewed for our jobs again. We are pretty unsettled as a result, as are the rest of the staff. Well, I tried to insert a few pics and I have the HTML code instead. I will post this now and see if it sorts itself out or not.

Today I decided to write something. Wow. I am in a particularly melancholy mood. If you are as well, best to not read below. There are a lot of things connected in life. Below is just a tip of the iceberg, for me. I have just driven the youngest son to Druoin, to catch a train to Melb., where he will help lead an activity as part of the SEDA school which he attends. He then also gets a ticket to the game tonight, and works in Melb. tomorrow, back tomorrow night. He loves SEDA, and that is great. I struggle with the obsession with sport, and the lack of interest in God. I guess all parents do have similar concerns about these things at times, if they have faith, that is. Otherwise , if they were in my situation,sport is their god possibly already and so it wouldn't matter a bit. When we went to the Tiwi Islands a bloke who was also a teacher there quite quickly asked if he could tell me something that God had told him about me. I said 'yep', and I am old enough to know that you can listen, but you must always weigh up such things carefully. He said that God told him that I had an 'Orphan Spirit'. Now, when you get told things such as this, with the intent that God has spoken, you either respond to it, and know exactly that it is right or what it means, or you go 'Well, thanks, but I reckon you had too much pizza last night!'. Of course, you may also be wrong either way, but time will prove/disprove that. To me, it was an enlightening moment. He had no more to tell me, no cure, no magic wand to wave, no further info from God. But it resounded in me deeply, and I knew exactly what it meant, and why. What I didn't, and still don't know, is what, if anything I should or could do about it. I immediately thought of all the times we were left at home to fend for ourselves. How I was very young and in charge of my siblings. I was a terrible brother. Power, without wisdom or guidance, will do that to you. I have never felt close to my parents, I didn't cry when Dad died. It was just sad-ish. I call mum on Mother's day and birthday, because that's what good kids do. She is a nice person, but not a particularly capable mother in connecting with children. When we were on the Tiwi Islands, it was the most adventurous/scary/amazing/compelling and overwhelming time we ever had as a family. My friends were always very eager to hear the latest info, get the most recent story of the roller-coaster ride that being there was. Strangely though, when I tried on several times to communicate with my eldest children, they were so uninterested that often I could actually stop talking about it mid-way through something, and they wouldn't even notice. I showed 40 pics of the place and what we were doing up there, in spite of obvious indifference, and was then told that I shouldn't do that again, as 'XX doesn't like slide shows'. There was nothing I could do to get a spark of interest. I was completely mystified. We never received calls to see how we were fairing. We still don't. I understand that a divorce, which remains an unhappy event, can devastate children, and I take full responsibility for that, and apologize deeply to my two eldest, lovely children. I am sorry and I love you deeply. I am stuck in the middle. Nothing coming down, nothing coming up. Unable to communicate with pretty much anyone. Not sure where to end. One day, they may read, perhaps understand. Perhaps even want to communicate. As I said in the beginning, I am in a melancholy mood, and have been for some time. Forgive me if it is too self-serving, I just wanted to write it down, and hope I don;t get into trouble for doing so.

Hey Len Help Me!

Gday mate,

Mark Copland here. I am on the way to Tiwi Islands in 30 minutes. And I was restarting my blog and when i signed in as coplanddiary@blogspot.com I was in charge of your blog and can't find mine? Can you help me?

Open Blog

Hi all. Len here.
Well, it has been some time since I used this blog. I just thought that I had little to say of interest to anyone.

However...

I am getting an urge to write again. I will see how that works out.

I am thinking that there are many pieces of poetic writing inside me that want expression, much about church life (people church, as opposed to Building 'Church') that we as a family are exploring and this means we must take some radical steps to be more true to our beliefs and the Word.
It will be a journey, but one I invite you to share, and to consider, as well.

The boring home news.
We have settled well into Leongatha. It is a very pretty place and friendly.
I miss my life long friends, but Burnie is gone for us.
We settled (finalised the sale of) our Burnie home last month and have sold our cars, buying a newer XTrail, that will hopefully take us through for many years yet.
We have just put on Solar hot water, in a bid to do at least something for the environment, which many speakers whe have listened to who have challenged all Christians of late to take seriously and lead the way, instead of following behind as we seem to do so easily.
(Go on, put on a jumper, turn off the light! Assist God's creation that He trusted us with)

All are well here.
We have just left the 'Church' (denomination) that we were attending and are possibly going to go to the AOG instead.

What I want to do is to start a Home Cell Network, as Church buildings etc are a pretty Pagan thing to be having (read 'Pagan Christianity) and were not considered part of genuine Christianity for the first 300 years, then Constantine built one to 'legitimize' Christianity up to the same status of other, pagan religions. He was also a Sun Worshiper. The lovely St. Peter's Cathedral, which we have seen in the news of late, has Jesus in an artwork depicted as Jesus-The Sun God! (Does that make you think?) This was common, and the beliefs were absorbed by the institutionalized 'church', and still are, but now they are 'our traditions'.

Anyway. I expect some may find this to be a bit controversial, although history and facts are just that.
This is why I have opened the blog to 'anyone' instead of being locked away as before. The constraints of Tiwi are not on me any longer and we may speak the truth, as opposed by the leaders of the school when were were up there.

Please feel free to comment and contribute. Enjoy the journey, seek the truth. I am reliably informed that it will 'set you free'.

Blessings,
Len

Platelets

The little suckers that help your blood clot had a party in Len's Leg, and forgot to leave and get on with their job of looking for cuts to mend etc.
There was a lump (sore one) on his inside left lower leg for some time, probably just where it must have been hit during the move, so it was thought.
Len also took up riding his bike to work a few days a week, and went to Ikea for 4 hours of shopping (standing!).
Jude has said all along that it must be looked at urgently.

Len is stupid.

On Wed. Len just knew that it was important t get in and have it looked at.
The medical people were great, rushed him through, got a doppler (whoooo, nice word) done and was sent straight to hospital. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, or clothing etc.

So, many needles to the stomach later, wolferine tablets, really 'nice' stockings to wear, and a few days laying down, Len is home again.

No walking much, no brussels sprouts, spinach, cabbage and all the other stuff that will be hard to give up (even ginger!), and perhaps 3 to 6 months of treatment, and having to wear the STUPID STOCKING until FOREVER.....

OK, calm now.

The food was quite respectable, the needles weren't.

The annoyance of having what feels like a disability is... well....annoying.

It was a Deep Vein Thrombosis.
Fortunately it did not travel around the body, or this blog might have a different title, along the lines of 'So long Len, some of us will miss you'.

On the travels down the West to Gippsland area w must have run over a hundred chinese people (that is supposed to give you bad luck, not that we believe in luck, but you get the drift.

The Prado cost $8000 to fix, on top of the $3000 we spent just before we left Darwin.
Our Air con blew up after a week of being in the new house.
The caravan is needing repairs and we were ripped off by the 'repair' (HA) man.
The good news is, friends have called, church people have called, Anthony and Len's mum called. People have been unbelievably kind.
The house is great, apart from the Air con and the fixing we will do, but the fixing items were what we wanted to do anyway, so it is still cool.

On Tuesday we get three aircons put in, and that will be better than sitting in front of the little fan heater as we are doing now, shivering a little.

Anyhoo.... that is the news.

Catch you next time.
The Clarks

The Prado Lives, and well it might!

Hey all,
We picked up the Prado today, finally.
I wrote that the bill might be $2500.

I was wrong. Again!

It was $7200.00

This was a shock, and now we have a Prado that has LOTS of new stuff, motor, fuel pump, etc etc etc etc.

Anyhoo, we have 5 weeks until 'Clinton Court' days.

We are unconditional with the contract now, so it is all ahead on 1st Sept.

So, keep in touch and blessings to you all.
Len