This evening Katya started walking. She has been standing by herself for a few weeks and has been walking with holding on to things. Tonight she started walking between places without having to go to and from objects. It is quite exciting.
Interestingly, as soon as she realises she is walking, she immediately wants to sit down or hold on to something.
Tuesday, 29 April 2008
Saturday, 26 April 2008
Maybe we should have named her Hilary
Katya is in to climbing everything. Some stuff she climbs must be a bit scary.
Windows
We recently got some new double glazed windows fitted to our lounge. These pics are in reverse order, starting with the completed product. I had to prep, tile and paint them. Fortunately CLaire and Katya were in Whangarei for a week so I got to do this in my evenings. The paint was REAL enamel oil based stuff that stunk. It gets a really hard finish though.
Monday, 21 April 2008
The Cutest thing
This morning Katya woke up at 5.45am. This was not cute.
She did not want to go back to sleep so I bought her into our bed and I sat her down between Claire and I. She was a bit grizzly at first because she was still sleepy. So she ended up lying down. After a while she tucked herself under my armpit (poor girl!!!) and settled. Soon she was sleeping... except her eyes were open. I could tell she was sleeping as her breathing pattern changes.
Then she closed her eyes and went fully to sleep.
Then the cutest thing I have ever seen happened. She giggled. IN HER SLEEP.
She must have been dreaming but she giggled and then laughed a little. She slept through to 7.30am.
Anyway... it was very cute!
She did not want to go back to sleep so I bought her into our bed and I sat her down between Claire and I. She was a bit grizzly at first because she was still sleepy. So she ended up lying down. After a while she tucked herself under my armpit (poor girl!!!) and settled. Soon she was sleeping... except her eyes were open. I could tell she was sleeping as her breathing pattern changes.
Then she closed her eyes and went fully to sleep.
Then the cutest thing I have ever seen happened. She giggled. IN HER SLEEP.
She must have been dreaming but she giggled and then laughed a little. She slept through to 7.30am.
Anyway... it was very cute!
Saturday, 19 April 2008
NZ Justice System
This morning there was an interesting article in the paper...
Barlow 'foolish but not a murderer'
The Dominion Post | Saturday, 19 April 2008
John Barlow is taking the fight to clear his name to the Privy Council and says that though he has done some foolish things, he is not a double murderer.
"I maintain my innocence, as I have always done," he said in an exclusive statement to The Dominion Post.
"I know I did some foolish things and to some it looks suspicious, but I am not a murderer."
Barlow was convicted, after a rare third trial, of the 1994 murders of father and son businessmen Eugene and Gene Thomas in their offices on The Terrace in Wellington.
He was jailed for a minimum of 14 years and is due to be considered for parole for the first time in October. His lawyer Greg King says the focus is still on clearing his name, however.
"John Barlow wants to leave prison an innocent man, not a paroled murderer," Mr King said.
Barlow now has one last chance to clear his name, this time with the Privy Council in London.
"I am very disappointed that the Ministry of Justice refused to refer my case to our own appeal court but we are confident the Privy Council will give us a fair hearing," he said yesterday.
His appeal documents were filed with the Privy Council this week.
The court has rarely agreed to hear criminal cases from New Zealand and Barlow can ask for an appeal only because the Court of Appeal decided his case before the Supreme Court took over as this country's top court.
Last month Governor-General Anand Satyanand refused to refer his case back to the Court of Appeal.
Mr King is confident that if Barlow can clear the first hurdle of persuading the Privy Council to hear his case the convictions will be overturned on a full appeal.
Barlow was convicted after two High Court juries were unable to agree on verdicts. Mr King says the extra evidence at the third trial - which compared the composition of the metal in the bullets that killed the Thomases with bullets Barlow had - came from a United States witness from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The technique the witness used has now been discredited and convictions in the US have been overturned as a result.
I personally have no idea whether Barlow is guilty or not. To me it does not matter. The issue is that he has requested an appeal and the Ministry of Justice has denied him this. Since when have we as a nation agreed to bureaucrats being the gatekeepers to justice. I thought everyone was entitled to appeal. I have no confidence in bureaucrats making these decisions. I have much more confidence in our judges making these decisions.
I guess the argument is that if we had appeals available to anyone who asked for an appeal, the court system might get overloaded with spurious cases. A simple and fair solution to this would be to impose a penalty if the appeal was unsuccessful. Say 20% increase in sentence.
While we are at it, we also need to direct home some responsibility for unfair imprisonment. If this Barlow person is eventually freed, then those who have made decisions like this to deny him an appeal, need to feel it in their pockets... just as he has felt it in having his backside sitting in prison.
Barlow 'foolish but not a murderer'
The Dominion Post | Saturday, 19 April 2008
John Barlow is taking the fight to clear his name to the Privy Council and says that though he has done some foolish things, he is not a double murderer.
"I maintain my innocence, as I have always done," he said in an exclusive statement to The Dominion Post.
"I know I did some foolish things and to some it looks suspicious, but I am not a murderer."
Barlow was convicted, after a rare third trial, of the 1994 murders of father and son businessmen Eugene and Gene Thomas in their offices on The Terrace in Wellington.
He was jailed for a minimum of 14 years and is due to be considered for parole for the first time in October. His lawyer Greg King says the focus is still on clearing his name, however.
"John Barlow wants to leave prison an innocent man, not a paroled murderer," Mr King said.
Barlow now has one last chance to clear his name, this time with the Privy Council in London.
"I am very disappointed that the Ministry of Justice refused to refer my case to our own appeal court but we are confident the Privy Council will give us a fair hearing," he said yesterday.
His appeal documents were filed with the Privy Council this week.
The court has rarely agreed to hear criminal cases from New Zealand and Barlow can ask for an appeal only because the Court of Appeal decided his case before the Supreme Court took over as this country's top court.
Last month Governor-General Anand Satyanand refused to refer his case back to the Court of Appeal.
Mr King is confident that if Barlow can clear the first hurdle of persuading the Privy Council to hear his case the convictions will be overturned on a full appeal.
Barlow was convicted after two High Court juries were unable to agree on verdicts. Mr King says the extra evidence at the third trial - which compared the composition of the metal in the bullets that killed the Thomases with bullets Barlow had - came from a United States witness from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The technique the witness used has now been discredited and convictions in the US have been overturned as a result.
I personally have no idea whether Barlow is guilty or not. To me it does not matter. The issue is that he has requested an appeal and the Ministry of Justice has denied him this. Since when have we as a nation agreed to bureaucrats being the gatekeepers to justice. I thought everyone was entitled to appeal. I have no confidence in bureaucrats making these decisions. I have much more confidence in our judges making these decisions.
I guess the argument is that if we had appeals available to anyone who asked for an appeal, the court system might get overloaded with spurious cases. A simple and fair solution to this would be to impose a penalty if the appeal was unsuccessful. Say 20% increase in sentence.
While we are at it, we also need to direct home some responsibility for unfair imprisonment. If this Barlow person is eventually freed, then those who have made decisions like this to deny him an appeal, need to feel it in their pockets... just as he has felt it in having his backside sitting in prison.
Saturday, 12 April 2008
Sicko and The Kingdom
I have just watched two DVDs.
The first was Michael Moore's Sicko. Good thought provoking stuff. You have to hand it to the Cubans. They really know how to stick it to the US. The most interesting part was where he showed how much people like Bush and Clinton had been bought for. It is messages like this that will be what wins the Democratic nomination for Obama.
The second movie, The Kingdom, I found awesome. I thought it was going to be a shot'em up movie. Instead it turned out to be more of a social commentary than Sicko. The final scenes where each side says that their driving desire is to "Kill Them All" is what got the US stuck in Iraq and the Israeli's into their hole.
It got me thinking that Jesus preached an upside down kingdom... where to win you have to lose and so forth. He would say the only solution to the rubbish happening in the Middle East is forgiveness. However it seems forgiveness is impossible after so much bloodshed. I admire the Sth Africans and their approach to reconciliation. Essentially if you fessed up you would be forgiven and you would be free of punishment. This approach kept Sth Africa from turning into a blood bath of reprisals. Similar approaches have been applied in Ireland. Many nations with issues (NZ, Australia, various African nations, Palestine) need to learn from this.
The first was Michael Moore's Sicko. Good thought provoking stuff. You have to hand it to the Cubans. They really know how to stick it to the US. The most interesting part was where he showed how much people like Bush and Clinton had been bought for. It is messages like this that will be what wins the Democratic nomination for Obama.
The second movie, The Kingdom, I found awesome. I thought it was going to be a shot'em up movie. Instead it turned out to be more of a social commentary than Sicko. The final scenes where each side says that their driving desire is to "Kill Them All" is what got the US stuck in Iraq and the Israeli's into their hole.
It got me thinking that Jesus preached an upside down kingdom... where to win you have to lose and so forth. He would say the only solution to the rubbish happening in the Middle East is forgiveness. However it seems forgiveness is impossible after so much bloodshed. I admire the Sth Africans and their approach to reconciliation. Essentially if you fessed up you would be forgiven and you would be free of punishment. This approach kept Sth Africa from turning into a blood bath of reprisals. Similar approaches have been applied in Ireland. Many nations with issues (NZ, Australia, various African nations, Palestine) need to learn from this.
Thursday, 10 April 2008
Some recent pics
We have had our second aluminum double glazed window fitted and the first one finished off.
Katya's new glow stick and note the trail of destruction behind her in the other photo.
Sunday, 6 April 2008
Luke 22:39-46
This morning I spoke at OCC on Luke 22:39-46.
He came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him. When he reached the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.” Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.” Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground. When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of grief, and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial.”
These are interesting verses as they precede the whole death, burial and resurrection sequence.
They are also interesting from the perspective of the decision that Jesus made. It is truly frightening to think of what life would be like if Jesus had gone... "oh stuff it... this is all too hard... I'm out of here". If Jesus had not surrendered his will to that of God's we would be completely up the creek. Fortunately for us he stood strong.
This contrasts with the disciples in this story who 'went fetal'. They checked out and gave up.
I guess this is one of the challenges for a modern day Christian. How do we surrender ourselves to God's will and not 'go fetal'? It seems to me that they answer is to look at what Jesus valued and follow that. Essentially this is making what Jesus wants in our lives more important than our wants. We surrender our desires to his.
The funny think is that when we do this, things seem to work better. This is because we start living our lives the way they are designed to be lived. Sometimes this takes a while to happen but it is always better.
This sermon was the first sermon I have done off bullet points. I am trying to learn how to speak without a word for word script. It is quite different. I think I still have a lot to learn.
He came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him. When he reached the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.” Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.” Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground. When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of grief, and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial.”
These are interesting verses as they precede the whole death, burial and resurrection sequence.
They are also interesting from the perspective of the decision that Jesus made. It is truly frightening to think of what life would be like if Jesus had gone... "oh stuff it... this is all too hard... I'm out of here". If Jesus had not surrendered his will to that of God's we would be completely up the creek. Fortunately for us he stood strong.
This contrasts with the disciples in this story who 'went fetal'. They checked out and gave up.
I guess this is one of the challenges for a modern day Christian. How do we surrender ourselves to God's will and not 'go fetal'? It seems to me that they answer is to look at what Jesus valued and follow that. Essentially this is making what Jesus wants in our lives more important than our wants. We surrender our desires to his.
The funny think is that when we do this, things seem to work better. This is because we start living our lives the way they are designed to be lived. Sometimes this takes a while to happen but it is always better.
This sermon was the first sermon I have done off bullet points. I am trying to learn how to speak without a word for word script. It is quite different. I think I still have a lot to learn.
Friday, 4 April 2008
New Windows
Just before we went over to Russia we found one of our wooden windows had some rot in it. So we got a price for double glazed aluminum windows. We have had the first one partially fitted. The job was stalled as the other window was too heavy for the lifting gear. It should be in next week.
I think they will give our lounge a much more modern look.
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