Peru Day

Peru Day is an annual fundraiser held at Mount Saint Joseph with all money going to the poor in Peru. The connection with Peru is a sad one. Sister Irene McCormack, a Josephite nun from Australia, was sent to Peru in 1989 to help with the poor. On Tuesday May 21, 1991 members of Sendero Luminoso (The Shining Path) entered the town of Huasahuasi and executed Irene along with four fathers from the village. Irene's only 'sins' were - dispensing 'American food' and spreading American ideas by providing Peruvian school books. The spirit of Sister Irene lives on here in Australia as well as in Peru as the girls at MSJ organized a variety of initiatives (food booths, spray-on tattoos, raffles, rock concert, show bags, haunted house, alter-ego parade and a fan favourite - poison your teacher) to raise money.

Now get this - with only students and teachers in attendance, MSJ was able to raise $15 000!!! Not bad for a day off school!

No they're not students - Monica and Angela from the Maths Dept. decided to dress up as students!

My homeroom!


Crowded in the food court!


What's an Aussie celebration without a sausage sizzle!


Special guest appearance by Adam!


Apparently I have some enemies - not once but twice students paid to create a concoction for me to drink. The second one just about did me in - veg juice, Tabasco sauce, chili, tuna, and sardine topped off with baked beans! Yuk!

Sail me away!

Robin was kind enough to arrange with her dad, Bill, a day sailing in Sydney Harbour. Heidi unfortunately had to go back to Canada earlier than expected and couldn't join us - we're supposed to pretend that it was just an average outing but I've never been good at lying. It was awesome! Bill and his friend Greg took control of the boat and had us cruising across the harbour at what felt like 45 degrees. I felt a bit useless but heaved on the ropes whenever I was told, not really knowing what I was accomplishing. We dropped anchor in Quarintine Bay, enjoyed lunch, took a quick swim and cruised back to the marina taking time to look at the mulit-million dollar homes on the waterfront. Hard to imagine a more beautiful way to see the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. Thanks Robin and Bill for a memorable afternoon. Sorry Heidi - it was spectacular!

Year 8 Maths Excursion to Royal Botanical Gardens

Dinner at the Weeks

Never a dull moment on the weekends. Anne and Phil Weeks invited us and the Saleme family over for dinner and a swim on Sunday afternoon. Anne has fed me and the kids on a couple of occasions when Heidi's been away and we always look forward to her cooking! Charlee and Adam asked straight away "what's Anne cookin'?" Needless to say it was another delicious dinner topped off with homemade ice cream!




In the photos of the kids you'll notice Rebecca Saleme, Charlee and Adam - the rest of the kids are Weeks - Beth, Bridget, Paul, Tom and Kevin!

Thanks again Anne and Phil!
(and by the way Heidi's back in Canada - wink, wink, nudge, nudge!)

Farewell Part¥ at the Macky's

Natalie and Andrew Macky were kind enough to throw us a farewell party on Saturday night in their newly renovated house. Natalie has been looking after Adam and Charlee before and after school this year. Chris Betcher refers to Natalie as his second wife and over the course of the year I've found out why - she's a wealth of knowledge about all things that dads tend to forget like important events at school, birthdays, school hats, etc.

Nat had the house beautifully decorated for Christmas season and served an awesome dinner followed by desserts to die for. We had a great night of conversation and laughs (without the worry of our children interupting the fun!).

Thanks Nat and Andrew!

Sydney Architecture

Christmas in Sydney

We took the kids into the city last week to check out the window displays and visit Santa at David Jones department store.