The hills are alive...

... with the sound of music!!! Just when you think you have time to breathe - reality kicks in and it's all back to the busyness of life. Here are a few things I'm involved that are coming up soon:

• ANU Open Day: I am 100% stoked for this!!! I have been asked to play in a flute masterclass with Virginia Taylor, participate in a flute ensemble concert, and perform a solo piece in a pre-tertiary showcase recital. Apart from that I absolutely cannot wait to talk to some people there about the courses ANU has to offer, career advice, and all that sort of stuff. I am really looking forward to a very rewarding, educational day.

• U3A Music Appreciation Concert: This is the 2'nd concert I've ever had (the privilege...?) to organize. Involving the Snowy Mountains Ensemble, it's really encouraging to see how much progress we have made since we did the same concert last year. I'm also accompanying about 10 solo items for this concert, the first 'real' accompanying I've had to do yet. Should be a challengingly nerve-racking but fun afternoon.

• This is the real BIG news for me!! I have very kindly been given the opportunity to play with a professional orchestra in the Cooma Choir Festival 2011!!! The combined choir will be performing a comic opera, 'Trial by Jury,' for which the orchestra will accompany them. The ridiculously crazy thing about it is that I will be getting paid to play! Everyone in the orchestra is getting paid from a grant, and somehow that includes me. I still haven't gotten my head around this concept; normally I would pay a LOT of money to have the opportunity to play with such a good orchestra, but somehow it's the other way around?!?! I don't need to tell you how excited I am, do I?!

• The next weekend is the annual Cooma Music Competition which is a huge highlight for me/us. Last year we didn't get very involved at all, but this year it looks like we'll be quite busy. My students will be quite involved too; I'm looking forward to encouraging them to take the plunge and discover the joys and terrors of playing in public. One thing I love about this competition is that every year we discover some new hidden talent in the community. Plus it's great to be able to catch up with all the rest of the music community and see what progress everyone has made. Watching people learn and improve (at anything, not just music) is so inspiring.

Other exciting but not-so-close things are our holiday to Kioloa (near Bateman's Bay) with Mum's family, the Australian Flute Festival, the Cooma Band Festival, and Cooma's production of Handel's Messiah. We are so privileged and blessed to be given so many fantastic opportunities in a rural area like Cooma.

Sorry this was all about music. One of the advantages of having a blog, though, is that you can talk about whatever you want, and people only have to read it if they want to and enjoy doing so. =)

What are you looking forward to?

Community Carols Night

This year I've been asked again to help organize the annual Community Carols Night at our church. The Snowy Mountains Ensemble (which our family plays in) will be playing the music for the evening and our church is doing everything else (including the supper... our congregation is very good at making loads of delicious morsels of delight), so if you live within driving distance of Cooma, you should definitely try and come! It would make me happy beyond imaginability to see a good number of people turn up and make the event a success. So - don't miss this opportunity to enjoy quality worship, fellowship, good food, and singing carols with an orchestra!

Music

So I thought I'd do a post about the thing that takes up so much of my time these days - music. This is the time of year when everything starts happening in Cooma, and the music-scene is no exception. In 3 weeks is the annual Cooma Music Competition which is the highlight of my year. We're not doing much this year, except a piece in the small vocal ensemble section. Our family (namely Mum, Bradley, Emma, Caitlyn, Sarah, and myself) has been getting into singing in 4-part harmony lately, so we thought it might be fun to do a piece in the competition.

The Snowy Mountains Ensemble is also expected to perform in the final concert as guests, so we have been polishing our best piece in preparation. On top of that, the Ensemble has been asked to put on a concert for some U3A Music Appreciation program thing the day before, which has kept us busy. Being a new ensemble with new music, there are only a couple of pieces we can play well, so our family ensemble will be playing some pieces to supplement. Unfortunately Joshua won't be back from Newcastle then, so Emma will be doing her first performance in this ensemble on viola (her main instrument is the violin, but she has taught herself how to play viola so that she can play the much-needed parts in ensemble pieces).

Speaking of ensembles, at MuST last week we had a masterclass with a touring ensemble from Chicago. It was really great to be able to talk to them about life as an ensemble musician and hear them play. They were doing a concert at the Wesley Music Centre that evening, but they played most of the program for us, so we essentially got a free concert!

Finally - and before you get too bored to read the rest of this post - I will announce the Snowy Mountains Ensemble's Christmas Carols. This coming Thursday and every Thursday from November 11 to the end of this school term we will be rehearsing simple, fun arrangements of Christmas carols - the idea is that we will invite as many people to join us for those rehearsals as possible, giving local musicians the opportunity to experience ensemble playing in a relaxed atmosphere, and hopefully, if they enjoy the experience, some of them will stay on as permanent members. Easy arrangements and an open strings violin part mean that musicians of any skill level are welcome, and we now have clarinet parts. After all the work we've put into organizing all this (and trust me, it has been hours upon hours of hard work), it would be very nice to see some people participating in and benefiting from this opportunity. So if you know of anyone around that plays an orchestral string or woodwind instrument, tell them to come! :-)

Apart from that there is not much to report, except that I am preparing for an audition next month and I've started learning the coolest piece ever written for flute (well... maybe not quite) - The Great Train Race by Ian Clarke, which is subtitled "The Flute as you don't usually hear it." Quite aptly so, too, as it employs several extended techniques such as residual fast tonguing, singing while playing (!!), lip bending, explosive harmonics, use of quarter-tones, multiphonics and optional circular breathing! It's very fascinating, but the bit that interests me most is the multiphonic section. Until last week I never knew that it was possible for a flute to play more than 1 note at a time - it turns out that flutes can play 2, or even 3 notes at once (multiphonics). Obviously I am very excited to learn this fascinating new piece...

 

Kitchen Capers

This is what happens when Mum leaves the house and leaves me in the kitchen with 2 hyper-active toddlers...

Joseph: just being his usual self. Caleb is becoming frustrated.

 

Joseph again being 'normal'. Well, normal for him.

 Joseph: "I have a brilliant idea!" Caleb shares his enthusiasm.

Back to work while I start working on Joseph's masterplan.

And here it is - a mega cookie! Yes, he is the coolest 4-year-old alive! Why didn't I think of that years ago? His hand shows a size comparison here.

After being cooked...

Smelling very tempting...

A proud moment! I felt like one of my [very many] life goals had been accomplished with the completion of this mega cookie.

The finished work of art...

My first page-turning experience...

was, in a word, nerve-racking. As I mentioned briefly at the end of my last post, I had been asked to act as a page-turner for the pianist at a concert today. This wasn't just any concert, it was a concert put on by [apparently] one of Australia's best cellists, an extremely accomplished pianist, and a fantastic clarinettist - meaning that there was a huge amount of pressure on my shoulders to not stuff up anything. Unfortunately I had never done any amount of page-turning before - not even at home - so I was already feeling quite nervous. The rehearsal did absolutely nothing to help my nerves, especially with quite a large audience gathering 1 hour and 15 minutes before the concert! I hadn't felt so nervous since... well actually last time I performed, because I did this enormous stuff-up in which I totally forgot what to play and had to 'fudge it' (aka improvise) for about 15 bars... anyway, I was feeling extremely nervous. Enjoying the beautiful music only helped a little, because I had to pay such rigid attention to following the music so I wouldn't get lost. While it was a good experience and I was delighted to be able to help in some way, it wasn't exactly the sort of thing I would choose to do for fun. It is unbelievably easy to make a mistake that could ruin the performance, or even the whole concert.

On the bright side, I was given the privilege of meeting and getting to know David Pereira, which I'm very pleased about. I was also very happy to be able to do a favour for the pianist, who has done lots of things for me in the past.

The moral of the story is that I now have a proper appreciation for page-turners and what they have to go through. To anyone in the world who's ever done page-turning - thank you for making a difference by offering your services, and I can now empathise with you.

And now I shall go find a CD so I can hear what Beethoven's Clarinet Trio IV actually sounds like without the sound of a heart thumping 180 beats per minute...

My exam is OVER!

Yes, it's almost too good to be true! Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed preparing for it and I'm 100% glad I did it, but it's so good to have it behind me and know that I don't have to do anything now except wait for my results.

For those of you who are wondering what I'm going on about, I had an AMEB Theory of Music exam this morning. It started at 9:30 am, so we had to get up at 5:45 am to get ready and leave on time. We arrived at the Institute of Technology at 8:30, so I had plenty of time to sit around and get nervous. Finding a couple of people I knew quickly made me feel more at ease, though. A very musical homeschooling family we know from Yass had a daughter doing a theory exam, too, so I spent some time chatting with them.

As for the exam, it was significantly different to the practice tests I had done - but not really any harder. I was caught off guard for a couple of questions, but I think I got enough right to at least pass... Thanks to those who helped me out - you know who you are.

Anyway, the main thing is it's over now. No more exam pressure for 10 whole months!! Maybe now I can actually get some practice done. Which reminds me - on Saturday we're attending a concert which is being put on by David Pereira (apparently one of Australia's best cellists), and 2 local musicans (1 is my old music teacher and the other is my accompanist whenever I have to perform somewhere :-P) and I have been asked to be a page turner!! It's only for one piece for the pianist, but I'm 100% excited to be involved in a concert by David Pereira!

This week I have...

1) Had my first day at school (even if it was only for 1½ hours). That's right, a real school. I went to vaccinate the school's rabbit for one of the teachers who I know and she asked me to stay and sit in on her Year 10 Drama class.

2) Become the only double-reed player in Poa ensemble - and already I've been dragged into playing in a concert on Wednesday! Later on I found out that most bassoonists start out exactly the same way, due to the high demand for bassoons in ensembles.

3) Started a new subject/course called Successful Living. It is a 1-year study based on the first 9 chapters of the book of Proverbs. It looks great so far, and I'm very much looking forward to doing more work on it.

4) Saw a policeman directing traffic - definitely one of the highlights of my week.

5) Saw the number plate 'MY CAR' which happens to be one I've been looking for for years - one of the highlights of my month.

6) Have officially started teaching my first student - a family friend who is learning the flute. I've given him 6 lessons on a trial basis to see whether he is interested in continuing, which he is, so I'll be teaching him until at least the end of this term.

7) Finally gotten around to doing a blog post. Although I guess that's kind of self apparent...

And such concludes all the major happenings of my week that I can remember at the moment.

1 week old kittens

As promised, here are some photos of Pepper's new litter. All 7 kittens are growing healthy and strong, and are due to open their eyes and ears tomorrow or the day after. After that, it won't be long before they start leaving the nest to explore.

To give you an idea of how much they have grown in one week, here are 2 photos of the same kitten, taken only 1 week apart!!

This one has a rex coat, and also a very nice colour called Broken Sooty Fawn. As she does with all Sooty Fawns, Caitlyn has fallen in love with it and named it Francine. We have decided we are definitely going to keep this one, and probably sell all the rest.

This one looks like it has a normal coat, and is Blue. Sorry about the awful quality of the photo. I've re-discovered (as I do every time we have a new litter) that it is simply impossible to take a good quality photo of a baby rabbit sitting still. The only way to get one anywhere near satisfactory is to hold the rabbit still with your hand, take the photo, and jerk your hand away just before the photo is taken. Take your hand away 1 second too soon and the rabbit scrambles out of the way, and take it away too late and you get your hand in the photo. That's why you can see my hand in so many of these photos. In light of that, please excuse the terrible quality and try to focus on the bunnies. ;-)

Not sure about this colour yet... although we're fairly certain it has a long coat. We're praying it will turn out to be a doe (female) because someone has promised to give us a Plush Lop in exchange for a long-haired female rabbit. In case you're not aware, Plush Lops are the breed that we long after the most (besides Silky Lops!), and this one is LILAC! So I can't wait to determine the gender of this kitten (which, unfortunately, won't be for at least 4 weeks).

Caitlyn has adopted this one and named him Arthur. He has a normal coat, so we won't be able to keep him, but hopefully we will be able to find a friend or at least someone we know interested in taking him like we did with her last 2 adopted children (Dora & Winifred) so that we will be still able to visit him after he has left home.

Here's the same photo of my favourite kitten again. She deserves the double-photo. ;-)

She's done it again!

Pepper and Muffin are pleased to announce the arrival their 7 new healthy kittens!! They were born late on Wednesday night. The total litter size was 9, but 2 didn't make it (Pepper was really stubborn and refused to build the nest where I kept telling her to...); but we still have 7 healthy babies to rejoice about! It's a bit early to state the colours accurately yet, but it looks like there is a Broken Black (black + white markings), Blue, a couple of broken Sooty Fawns (orange with black shading + white markings), Beige (fawn with blue shading ), Broken Siamese Sable (Siamese cat colour + white markings) and possibly an Iron Grey or 2 (creamy white with dark grey shading).

AND the best news is that there are 2 rex kittens in this litter!! Getting a rex is the reason I bred this litter, and it's great to have 2 to choose from, so I can select the best. They're also more in demand as pets, and consequently easier to sell. ;-)

I've decided to include a couple of photos of the newborn kittens, even though they look really ugly at this stage. For those of you who haven't seen a newborn rabbit before, yes, it is normal for them to look like this, and no, they won't be this ugly for long! In a week they will have tripled their weight and started growing fur, and in 2 weeks they will have opened their eyes and will be walking about! I'll try and post some photos when they've grown a bit, so you can see how not-ugly they actually are!

 

This one is [what looks like] a Broken Sooty Fawn with the rex coat. (You can tell if it is a rex coat because it has very short, curly whiskers.)

 

Another rex-coated kitten, that looks to be Broken Blue.

All 7 kittens in the nest (I dare you to find them all!). We had to lift up all the fur so you could actually see them, then quickly snap the photo before the wriggled out of sight again! By the way, all these photos were taken by Caitlyn, my loyal assistant.

I want a pet possum!

Yesterday morning Caitlyn and I were walking back to the house after feeding the rabbits, and we noticed Amelia, particularly agitated, barking up a tree. Further investigation showed that there was a possum in the tree, in broad daylight, in one of the lowest branches of the gum tree next to the carport. The weird thing is that it was just sitting/hanging there without making any effort whatsoever to move to a safer/more protected place. It was so low I could have reached out and touched it without moving my hand higher than my head. In spite of all the noise of excited children and a barking dog, it just sat there and stared at us. Although I know it was probably because it was sick or hurt, I like to imagine it was actually really tame and quite enjoyed our presence.

Anyway, here's a picture I took of him. We named him Harold, by the way. I took lots more photos, but since Harold wouldn't move, they all turned out pretty much the same.

Have a great weekend!!

Catch up post

So this is just a catch-up post to let you know what I/we have been up to. Pretty much the whole family has been sick, so we haven't been out and about much this past week, but fortunately most of us have seen the worst of it and are now on the way to recovery. This virus has been particularly nasty, primarily because it means I haven't been able to sing OR play the flute!! In fact, I have lost a whole octave of my vocal range since getting sick!! It was worse for Caitlyn, though - she couldn't even speak until yesterday, after having lost her voice for several days. Like I said, though, we're mostly on the way to recovery now, which is something we can really be thankful for.

About the composition workshop last week, though: it was actually not how I expected it to be at first. At all. It was completely different to the description, but still really good! The most notable difference was that it was all about "orchestration" and not so much about composition. In fact, we only did a little bit of composing in the last 20 minutes of the 3-hour workshop, and that amounted to each group (there were 3 groups) writing 1 bar each, all based on a different chord. The ensemble (which at the time consisted of flute, violin, & cello since the pianist was directing the composition) then played these bars together in a certain chord pattern to create the "tune" which the students had just composed. Given that most of them had never written music before, it actually didn't sound too bad. But the thing I liked most about the whole day was the concert at the end. About two-thirds of the concert were pieces composed by the man who was directing the workshop - it was amazing to hear some original compositions after spending a day learning about them. Other works were a piano trio by Debussy and a piccolo suite by Schocker, a contemporary American flautist and composer. The piccolo/flute player was amazing!!! I got to speak to her, which was excellent, because she told me all about what it's like studying music at ANU, what the flute classes are like, all about the teachers, and all the interesting sort of things I really wanted to know! The musicians were incredibly friendly and helpful, and the whole thing would have been worth it if only to get to know them. The pianist had the funniest sense of humor, and had everyone in stitches the whole time!! In a word, the day was inspirational.

Today I got to revisit all the rabbits I sold a couple of weeks ago because they were due for their vaccinations. It's so nice to be able to see them again, check up on how they're doing, and see how much they've changed. Not to mention I've always loved giving rabbits vaccinations (except for that first time when Peter's skin was really tough and I couldn't jab the needle into him...).

Other interesting things that have happened to me this week are listed below in no particular order:

• I finally found out what this "MLIA" thing is that everyone is talking about. It is THE easiest way to waste a whole lot of time without getting anything done at all. Take my advince, and don't ever get started on MLIA.
• I found my latest favourite song! I LOVE this song so much. That's why I put it on this blog post - so that the rest of the world can benefit from hearing it too. It's called "You know better than I" from the movie Joseph the Dreamer, which is the Biblical story of Joseph in Egypt.
• This afternoon I discovered that I had the ability to bring laughing fits upon myself at will. I had lots of fun until the others made me stop.
• I got my very own DVD of The Phantom of the Opera!!! Best present EVER!
• I was walking outside today and suddenly found something stuck in my throat. I think it was a fly, because I could feel it moving. I couldn't cough it back out, so I swallowed it. The cool thing was (other than the fact that I can now say I've swallowed a fly) I discovered I could actually sing for the first time all week! And reasonably well at that!! That fly made my day. Must keep it in mind for next time I lose my voice... 
•  I brought the Clavinova back into my room! It didn't end up going to Newcastle after all... instead it just sat in the garage, and I was here wishing we could rearrange our room to make it fit again. We didn't, but I brought it in anyway. At the moment it's just dumped in front of my bed which is slightly inconvenient, but a huge improvement on not being there at all.

Can't think of anything else to say now, so I shall sign off. Have a great week!

Runaway dog!!

Today Mum, Dad, Sarah and the babies are going to Goulburn to meet up with our cousins to pick up our dog. That's right, our dog managed to escape to Sydney! Fortunately our cousins like her and didn't mind having an extra dog around for a couple of weeks - and we didn't really miss the poor thing either. But I'm sure that our cousins will be glad to be relieved of her, and that Sarah and Bobby (Sarah's cat) will be pleased to have her back. Bobby and Amelia get along really well together, and usually seem quite lost when they are without each other.

So how did she get to Sydney? Actually, she stowed away in our cousins' caravan a couple of weeks ago when they were visiting us. We still have no idea how she got in there, but the most popular theory at the moment is that, after a quick conference with Bobby to decide who would go, she sneakily climbed into the caravan while Bobby successfully distracted everyone. Whatever happened, she surreptitiously made her getaway, and gave our cousins a major surprise when they got to Sydney and opened the caravan only to find this little dog wagging her tail at them!

So she's finally coming home today. Mum and Dad are taking Joey and Caleb to see some train museum in Goulburn, which they're bound to love. Sarah tagged along to welcome Amelia back. Emma, Caitlyn & Bradley all had their first soccer game of the year today, so they stayed home, and I stayed back because I had some things I needed to get done today. I spent my morning playing piano and composing - because I can't usually do that with a houseful of noisy people - and had the best Saturday in months! I'm so pumped for the composition workshop tomorrow afternoon! I've even started counting down the hours!! Only 23 more hours to go...

A little window into my life

One of the reasons I initally created this blog was to record interesting events and happenings in my life. Well it struck me yesterday that I haven't really done much of that. I had a very eventful day on Tuesday, which I thought might be interesting enough to blog about, so here goes:

I started by riding 10-12 km into town (not sure about the exact distance) on a bike that had only been assembled the evening before. By me. That in itself was cause for worry, because I'd never assembled a bike before in my life, nor did I have instructions to follow to ensure I did it properly. It would appear that I didn't do anything majorly wrong, though, because the bike held together all the way into town (and is still in one piece now, believe it or not). I got into town early and spent half an hour walking around town singing, looking at the latest rabbits in the Pet Shop, and eating a Billabong ice block. When the bus came I was very disappointed to find that I had left my ipod at home. So I got to spend 2 hours sitting on the bus doing nothing much except look at the same scenery I see for 4 hours every other week. I tend to do a lot of thinking in a situation like that, which is somewhat unfortunate for those who follow my blog, because when I do lot of thinking I blog about my thoughts, which is, I think, quite mundane for those who have to put up with me.

Anyway, the trip up was quite ordinary, and I tried to pass the time by thinking up some lyrics for a piece I need to compose for an assignment. My MuST classes were quite average, and nothing much of interest happened. (Except that I found out we will be having an oral test in 2 weeks. I've never had an oral test before... and apparently they are quite challenging. But this isn't interesting for those reading my blog so I shall change to a new subject.)

The return bus trip found us making quite good time, and I was pleased to note that at this rate we would arrive back in Cooma 20 minutes earlier than usual. Even the train we had to wait for at Canberra Station was early. Things were looking up. Don't count your chickens before they're hatched, Matthew. No sooner had we (the bus occupants) left Canberra than we were all startled by a sharp popping sound followed by a constant, high-pitched sound. The bus driver pulled over as soon as possible to inspect the cause for this, and found that a hose had burst. It was no major calamity, he assured us, and was easily fixed, provided he had the clamp necessary to repair it. It turns out he had literally everything BUT the clamp. So we had to wait on the side of the highway for over an hour for the mechanic to arrive. I decided it would be a good idea to call Mum and let her know about the delay so she wouldn't be waiting to pick me up all night wondering where I am. THEN I found out that my mobile phone was out of credit. How on earth was that possible? I don't know. I've only had it for about 8 weeks, of which I only turn it on once a week, on Tuesdays. Even then, I only usually make one call in the evening to let Mum know to pick me up. And because we have a system of signals, she doesn't even have to pick up! Apparently it doesn't cost anything that way. I've heard people talk about how their mobile credit mysteriously disappears, but never took much notice. Now I know it's true - just like there is a little monster living inside each washing machine that eats socks, there is also a mobile phone monster that eats up credit!! For a while I was too shy to ask anyone if I could borrow their mobile, but eventually necessity overcame apprehension, and I borrowed an elderly lady's phone to call home.

After more than an hour of waiting, the mechanic arrived with the clamp, the problem was fixed in no time, and the bus was back on the road. It was good to be on the way home again! As I was looking out the window at the well-known scenery, I realized that everything was totally different now. It almost seemed foreign now, and I hardly recognized the places we were travelling through. You know what was different? The sun had set. Everything was dark. It dawned upon me what a tremendous difference light makes to our lives. That 1 hour of waiting made a remarkable difference to the trip home. Nothing looked the same anymore. Not only that - the blanket of darkness made everything feel different too! Have you ever gone for a walk at night and come back later during the day only to find that the place is nothing like how you imagined it was at first? That's exactly how I felt. All the way back I was having this mental battle with myself, trying to convince my subconscious mind that it IS the same place I travel through every week. I kept telling myself that the ONLY difference is that the sun is now on the other side of the planet. The result? Absence of light. My subconscious mind responded with, "Pah! As if a little thing like that would make so much difference to this place!" I had to agree with him there. I think my subconscious mind won the mental battle this time.

If someone had tried to tell me what an enormous effect absence of light had on the human mind, I probably wouldn't have believed them. Having experienced it myself now, I strongly encourage you to do the same. Next time you get the chance, take a walk on your own in a quiet, outdoor place, and feel the difference. If you return to the same place the next morning, I guarantee you will be amazed at how different everything seems. The only word I can think of that describes it properly is "indescribable."

The situation kept reminded me of a bible passage I had memorized some years ago. When I got home I looked it up, and found it was a passage in John:

 ¹⁹And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
 ²⁰For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
 ²¹But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. (John 3:19-21, King James Version)

I learned a helpful lesson from this. A lot of my thinking involves asking myself questions and then pondering them. The questions I asked this time was, "Do people perceive you as walking in darkness or light? Is there even a noticeable difference between the way you live and the world? Do you act like a really good Christian in the "daytime", but change character when the "darkness" comes?" It's so easy to turn from our Christian walk when we think no one will notice. Have you ever experienced that feeling when you go for a walk at night on your own, and you feel so carefree and casual, as if you could do anything you wanted, and no one would mind? It's a dangerous feeling, and often leads to stumbling if we don't make an effort control ourselves. Jesus is the source of all "light." Are you letting his light shine through you onto the world? Are you an encumbrance, or do you magnify the light for all to see?

 ¹⁴Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
 ¹⁵Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
 ¹⁶Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16, King James Version)

How much longer?

Okay, you may think that's a weird blog title, but bear with me and I'll try to explain. I've got an interesting and quite meaningful (to me, anyway) story to share.

On Tuesday night at about 6:30 we were enjoying our dinner when we received an unexpected telephone call from a neighbour, whose husband happens to be a policeman. She told us about a family who had a missing 8-year-old son. The situation sounded pretty desperate, and she asked if we could go to the family's place and join the search party.

We quickly gathered what torches and spare batteries we had, threw on a couple of jackets and headed off. Since Bradley was at soccer training, that left only Dad and me. It didn't take us long to get there, as they lived just across the river, which is only about 5 minutes from our place. When we got there, we found a few police cars with their lights on. If you've ever seen a police car in the dark with its lights on, but no siren, you'll understand what an eerie feeling it is. It seems alien, and becomes quite unnerving after a while. I'm getting off track, though.

To get back to the story, we formed a group of about 9 people, and walked to the top of a ridge that was behind the house. At this point Dad realized he wouldn't be able to manage it with his bad knee, so he turned back and returned to the car while I went on with the rest of the search party. We spread out leaving a 20 metre gap between each person, in a line from the top of the ridge to as far down as we could reach.

Keeping this formation, we walked for what seemed like ages. I'm pretty sure it would have been about 4 or 5 kilometres, but then I fail at estimating distance especially when I'm tired and especially when I'm walking in the bush with no sense of time. It was the most rugged country I've ever had to walk in, made worse by the fact that it was nighttime, and I could hardly see where I was stepping. It was an extremely steep hill, and very rocky. The problem was that the rocks were all smallish loose rocks, so whenever you take a step, you inevitably send a shower of pebbles onto the person below you. Sometimes there were larger rocks, and these posed a real danger to those searching below. At one point I got stuck on a cliff face - and I mean a literal cliff, not just a steep rocky outcrop - and it took me a while to find a way out. By that time everyone else had gone ahead, and I couldn't even see their lights. Fortunately I managed to find and catch up with them. It's interesting that in all that time, I don't think anyone considered their own safety once. Everybody was solely concerned with finding the missing boy, and praying that he hadn't gotten lost in such a place as this. Not many children would have been able to manage such rough country on their own, especially in the dark.

All in all, I'm very surprised that no one got hurt. It was a long night - or at least felt like it. The search lasted for a total of about 3½ hours... add treacherous terrain, pitch darkness, and sub-zero temperatures, and it felt like at least double that time.

I've since learned that there were 30 police and SES personnel searching at the same time. The situation was quite a lot more serious than I initially thought. Cooma police even sent for a helicopter from Canberra to help in the search, although I don't think it reached here in time. At about 9:30 PM one of the members of the search party received a text message informing him that the boy had been found. I can't begin to describe how relieved everyone was, especially the boy's family. Apparently he had been found at a house on the other side of the Murrumbidgee river. He must have walked about 4 kilometres downstream and seen some lights in the distance, so he crossed the river (I think he just waded across at a shallow area), and found his way to the house. Miraculously, the boy was completely unharmed, without any signs of hypothermia, in spite of being exposed to sub-zero temperatures for several hours while wearing shorts and a light jacket.

So in the end everything turned out well, but it left me thinking how lucky we all were that nothing more serious had occured. The situation could easily have been far worse. The 8-year-old boy could have been swept down the river when he tried to cross, any of the searchers might have slipped and gotten injured, or worse still, lost (very easy to, believe me), the boy may not have found his way to the neighbour's house, and he may not even have been found at all. Even though I had no idea who the boy was (and still don't), I am so grateful that he came to no harm. That night could easily have been his last.

Which brings me back to the title of this blog post - "How much longer?". You never know which day or night may be your last. How much longer will you spend living on this earth? Are you prepared for the life to come after this one? Is there anything that you can/need to do to be prepared? Never lose sight of the brevity of our time here - always remember that this life is about deciding how we are going to spend our eternal life. How will you spend yours? How much longer do you have to decide?