Dec 3rd

Hey fab family & friends: Mariah, Art and family left this past Thursday, that's the tear, ok tears,
the next thought was gratitude that we had such a great time with them; sure hope they can sort
of had a good time with us. I had agonized months ago about us needing to stay in our mission &
knowing we needed to stay within our mission area, while we are still actually serving. I wanted
them to fill they got to see a bit of Australia because of the fairly heavy duty cost of pure and simple just coming over here, when Mariah calmed my somewhat troubled spirit, telling me(us), they
were coming over to see us. We traveled down to the coast to Merimbula to stay at a lovely
3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath free-standing bungalo w/stainless steel appliances, no less. Large dining area with a huge table w/8 chairs and another large table w/8 chairs on the deck: over-looking the ocean. It was a beautiful setting. The kids loved the pool, the ocean and sand, etc. We also, traveled to another lovely ocean area for a few hours and spent some time at a couple of other
beachs in Eden. We were at the tail end of whale watching and frankly never saw any.
We traveled back to Canberra, a 3 hr. drive from Merimbula and Mariah, Art and kids went to the
National Museum of Au. ( a freebie at that and what a National treasure it was/is); meanwhile Dad & I went to have my knew checked out and one of the two ports was still bleeding after the surgery 9 days prior to, so they really put that special tape they now use. My knee looked like a many-sided star, with the tape really criss-crossing and that really did the job. The tape just recently came off. I felt so good those first two days after the surgery; I thought the doctor was a miracle man, until those couple of days later when all the pain-dulling stuff they injected into my knee wore off and pain returned, coupled with a stiff knee. While at the doctor's office and being re-taped, the nurse/receptionist said on a scale of 1-4, 4 is the worse- I was in fact a 4. Her comment was it doesn't go to a 5. Nobody told me it was that serious, until 9 days later. I wish they would have told us/me and that I should really take it a bit easier; two days after the surgery, I cooked for 5 YSA's, plus us for supper and helped with a B of M lesson and felt such pain. I tended to think it is just the aging thing. At that last appointment, I told,Judy thnurse/receptionis t, I'd had the pain for a good 5-6 weeks prior to the surgery and was wondering if it was just the aging thing and she said, nope it was the tear. I'm still stiff kneed and am continuing to do the knee exercises, but feel frustrated the knee still hurts like heck a fair amount of the time. Thank goodness for Ibuprophen!!
Anyway, back to Mariah, Art & kids being here in Canberra (pronouced Cambra), Friday we all went
to a great museum, with lots of hands on stuff to do; took our lunch, ate it outside; stayed most
of the day, so we got our money's worth, as it had an entrance fee. Then after leaving that museum, called Questacon, which is a heart beat away from Lake Burley-Griffin, we fed the black
swans, which have red eyes & beaks. The kids liked that and no one fell in.
The next day was Saturday, and we went on a tour of the New Parliament house, which we all
thought was so interesting, the building is so unique. Oh, the night before, Brett, one of the more
recent converts came over to our flat and cooked a unique dinner: lamb tangine/ curry with fruits anda vegetable couscous, with a separate one for the kids, with fruits and nuts. He brought a
fresh loaf of turkish bread. It was a more typical Australian meal, not an English meal! Yeah, it was a real treat. Saturday, after we toured the Parliament house, we met Brett again and he, Art, Evan and Doug climbed Mount Ainslie, which is actually a lovely tall hill overlooking the city of Canberra.
Mariah and I, at the same time went to the National War Memoria, which is really quite spectacular
and also a freebie. There was a neat children's area, where Lili & Noah, happily played for close to
an hour. Noah, had a blast sitting in and steering a helicopter from the Viet Nam war. It makes all
kinds of noise and he loved it. Then we hooked back up with the guys and drove up to Mt. Ainslie
for our picnic lunch and to over-look the city and see just how lovely it really is. Then, we went about a 45 min. drive to Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve and the kids loved seeing kangaroos fairly close up, along with emus. I think we all enjoyed seeing so much wild life. We drove back, thanks to Mariah, we made/actually I only helped, Brett stayed for dinner and played games with the kids.
The next day, now a week had already gone by; we all went to our home ward, Woden. Came
back for some dinner, made a batch of choc. chip cookies (thanks to Kris/Mariah for that great
receipe that has a bit of lemon juice and cinnamon), packed up and drove to Sydney for the last
several days. Monday, was exhausting, but great: we started out going into the Sydney Aquarium and wildlife World on Darling Harbour. They were both fabulous, although I loved the Wildlife World
thing the most. Once you went inside, it was hard to believe the city was all around us. We saw
wondrerful wildlife, including koalas and it was even mating season for them. Then we went on the
monorail and could jump on and off with our pass: the first stop was to the absolutely lovely Chinese Gardens and as we came out of that, Mariah and Art noticed a building when they had a
free 1/2 hour show of Sounds of the Outback, performed live by an artist playing the didjeridoo, with the most fabulous backdrop behind him with scenes of th Outback in the most beautiful colors.
Art and I were both so impressed with the show, we each bought a CD, called Sounds of the Outback, which was the music we had just heard. The show was so professiona and entertaining,
I woudl pay to see it. I'm probably driving Dad nuts listening to the music, but it is so peaceful and I'm so glad I bought it. Next, we jumped back onto the monorail and went to see the Sydney Tower and OzTrek, which is probably the only thing, I wouldn't really care to see again. By time we got
back it was probably close to 8PM, but what a great day. ALthough, truth be told, we had a hard
time keeping up with Mariah & Art, Dad and I with our bad legs.
The next day, Mariah, Art & kids went to a nearby museum and we stayed back in the 3 bedroom
apartment we were renting for those last 4 days in Sydney. Then, when they returned we all
set off the see the beautiful Syney Opera House and went for a one hour tour, which again was
so interesting and sooo beautiful. From the Opera House, we could walk to the beautiful Sydney
Botanical Gardens, which we had seen with most of the senior missionaries from our mission last
month. Evan, especially enjoyed seeing all the flying fox bats hanging from so many of the trees.
The next day, Dad & I dropped Mariah, Art & kids at Bondi beach and they walked along a beautiful
walk way and I think they saw 4 or 5 beachs and ended up where we were waiting for them. I think it was close to a 3-4 mile walk. The beautiful public beachs over here have a part of the beach,
that is particianed off, ocean water, almost like a pool. In one of the beachs, Mariah said, it was
like a lap pool. Pretty cool idea. That last day was absolutely a perfect day for the beach, warm
and sunny. Frankly, even though both Dad & I didn't attemp the walk with them, by time we
got back to our Sydney apartment, when Dad & I got there; I suggested we get two guns and fire
at each other to put us out of our misery, like you might do with horses that have broken legs. Dad
walks almost as funny as I do, but it's his left leg and I had the surgery on my right leg. Inspite of
our legs letting us down, and we're hopeful we didn't rain on Mariah & Art's parade:WE ABSOLUTELY
LOVED SPENDING TIME WITH THEM AND DOING ALL THE FUN THINGS WE DID AND SEEING THE
WONDERFUL THINGS WE SAW. Have to tell all of you, family and friends, we cherish our great trips/
vacations we have had with you. It was sad/and a bit hard to say goodby to them, but again se
so appreciate them coming/being here. After that we met with our Seminary/Institute Supervisor,
Bro. Neill, who gave us our new seminary/institute supplies to take back with us to Canberra. We
then had our 3 hours drive to get back; he reminded us we had a seminary/intitute meeting back
in Sydney a day and half later. Friday, we tried playing catch up. Sat. morning, we were on the
road by 5 AM to attend that meeting that started at 8 AM and ended at noon, returning to Canberra mid afternoon. At least a ten hour day, cut well worth up. It was inspiring and uplifting.
Yesterday, Sunday we attended two wards for not quite 6 hours, we didn't attend the second
RS/Priesthood meetings. In the second set of meetings in Ginninderra, we talked with the former
stake RS President and her husband, who had just recently put in their senior missionary papers
and were called to be the replacement for the Utah couple, who had just recently left. I told them,
Bro. & Sis. Cartner, we are happy for them and we will see them once in a while and will certainly
talk with them on the phone. I told them, they will love the mission president and his great wife.
They will go on their mission the end of this month, what a great blessing for our mission president,
because the wait for an American couple would be months and months more than likely.
Last night, after leaving Ginninderra we drove back to make some homemade brownies, cut up some
fresh pineapple and kiwi's to take to the monthly fast breaker with our YSA's. Again, Brett brought
another wonderful curry, which I ate. We always enjoy socializing with them. Today, Monday, we
had one YSA, again a fairly recent convert in for his own private gospel centered lesson/discussion
with lunch with us. He asked if we were aware of several other recent converts, who might apprecaite some one on one gospel sharing/strenghenin g discussions and when we asked him to
get us their names and phone numbers, he said he would. We also, worked on prep. for our
Tuesday night Institute lesson and our Thursday night B of M supper/group. SO, we are right back
in the swing of things, as well we should be. This Friday night, we will attend the Woden ward
Christmas party and Sunday we will attend the First Presidency Christmas message, coupled with
a stake Christmas music presentation and supper at the stake center. We will attend our Woden
ward meetings Sunday, along with attending Tuggeranong' s meetings. Boy, Sunday's are right up
Dad's alley, typically 6 hrs. of meetings.
Well, want you all to know, we love the Lord and hope in ever so small ways, we can do some good. Hope this finds you all well. Want you to know, you are soooooooo beloved.
Love, Sister Mac aka mom mac/grandma mac
Sweet Noelle turns 8 on Dec. 15th and will be baptized after Christmas and Morgan, the oldest of
5 kids under the age of 3, will have her 3rd birthday on the day after Christmas! Happy birthday,
beautiful gals!!! Love ya!!!