Hi all and happy Sunday.  I hope you are having a lovely weekend.

This week has been an interesting one.  Good and bad news from all directions.  It has been said that the only thing that is consistent in life is change and I have to agree.  Change is scary.  Change is new and intimidating.  Change also means growth, new life and progress.  There have been a lot of changes in my life.  Most notably, a year ago we changed countries.  Now we are watching the Olympics, cheering for the US and Australian teams.  We have been adopted here, in a country full of other immigrants and natives, and made it our home.  Not an easy or common change to make.  Closer to present, I have had some turnover at work.  Any change of routine and familiarity can be hard.  But time passes and we must move beyond it; to adapt and carry on.  I am sad that these nurses are moving on, but happy for them to make these changes in life for their own personal growth and happiness.  Without change, we are stagnant, without change, we become complacent; life starts running on autopilot and we stop being grateful for what we have.  God loves change.  It draws us closer to Him and His goals for us.  Even if you aren’t religious, there is evidence for balance being desired in the universe.  Equilibrium.  In order for it to occur there must be give and take; there must be change.  May you all have peace in your hearts when you encounter the changes in your lives.

Enough being philosophical for the moment and let us come to our interesting week.  I had good news from my dad’s doctor visits.  He is healed and has started the reversing process for his many tubes and bags. He has one more surgery to go and can do it close to home so that is great news.  My parents celebrated their 37th Wedding Anniversary. YAY!! Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!!  Here in Sydney, this week brought a mix of weathers, but Brandon and I enjoyed some nice sunrises and sun sets and walks around, exploring more of our neighborhood.  I made it through training again Tuesday night.  We do strength and conditioning circuits for the first bit, then drills the second.   I feel my reaction time and pivoting skills are improving with every session.  Brandon’s work has still been a bit slow.  He has a few things pending and one in progress at the moment.  He has been doing a lot of research into machine learning and AI.  We both enjoyed watching all the hoopla of the Space X Falcon Heavy launch.  I am glad there are people in the world like Elon Musk.  He is such an idol and inspiration to nerds and tree huggers alike.  Someday we will own a Tesla, but not in Sydney; it would just smashed into in days.  People here drive crazy!

This weekend was low key.  There was a bit of a damper on our activities from news back in Wisconsin.  My brother in law was in a car accident and is in the hospital with a busted up leg.  Please send good thoughts and prayers their way as they sort through this and he heals.  We went to the Sydney Fish Market Saturday for lunch to enjoy the sun and get out of the house.  I did a lot of reading, as my favorite author, Tamora Pierce, just released a new book.  Today we went to church and had lunch in Balmain at a cafe.  My Brioche toast had cotton candy on it; yum!  Crazy that lent starts next week already.  Time goes so fast!  We had a wander around the Rozelle Markets and then went into Annandale to get more house plants and finally caved in buying liquor.  It was the cheapest we have seen amaretto and Jameson to have on special occasions.  I think we will be watching quite a bit of the Olympics this week and I have a book to read for our book club meet up at the end of the month.  Ciara will be celebrating her Birthday in WI this week.  Wishing her a nice night for her #30!! Have a Happy Birthday Ciara!!