Jono's Walking

I saw Jono last Thursday, and that day he'd been with the physio and had taken a few steps using the parallel bars.

Today I got this email from his mother.

Yesterday Jono walked from the bathroom to the bedroom. It was SOO exciting! About 6 metres. He also is getting around in a wheelchair - driving with one hand - Tricky stuff - even around corners, using his foot to maneuver the front wheels. He's fun to watch. His left hand is getting stronger but he still can't move his middle two fingers. God has been so good to us. We Praise Him. The doctor said he'd never walk again so this has now been proved wrong and we are very thankful.
He is a great witness to everyone in the room including the nurses, cleaners, etc.

Anyway, 'bye for now. Love Jenny

Amen, Praise God!

Hird's Return Sets things in Motion

What can I say, the man is a legend! James Hird returned from injury this week, and for the first time in 4 months (16 rounds of footy) the Bombers get a win!!

I was out, so only caught the end of the Essendon/Brisbane game, but what I saw from the end of the 3rd quarter on, was a vast improvement from what's been happening in previous weeks. The Bombers sent the ball forward, they kicked in confidence instead of handballing back into compromising situations like we've seen most of the season.

Hird's presence was hard to miss, 4 goals, the teams top possessions for the match, and he moved himself around wherever needed. There's no doubting the leadership role Hird filled last night.

It was also slightly satisfying seeing the Bomber beat the Lions, there's been a fair bit of competitiveness there over the last few seasons, with the Lions usually coming out on top. On Brissie TV this week, the Lions v Bombers game was advertised with a slogan "Lion's have got this one in the bag." Spoke too soon didn't you guys!!! :-)

Queensland Bigpond 400.

Last weekend was the local round of the V8 Supercars at Queensland Raceway in Ipswich.

Dad and I have been involved in motorsports chaplaincy for almost 2 years, but this was the first V8 Supercar event we have done the main chaplains job. Usually Garry Coleman travels with the V8s as their series chaplain, Dad and I are usually his 'helpers'. However this year Garry had a bad back and didn't want to make the trip up to Qld, so Dad and I inherited the soul responsibility for the event.

It was a really easy weekend actually, no big accidents (unlike last year....) and the officials were great guys. Dad gave a quick talk and a prayer at the official's briefing on the Sunday morning, and we stood with the officials in the pits for a few of the Fujitsu Development Series races. Other than that we cruised through the paddock, speaking with a couple of teams, mainly Formula Ford and the other support categories. The Sunday we spent most of the day as spectators, sitting on Turn 1, where all the action was.

Love the V8s, pity about the Holden win, but we had a great time - and I believe we gave glory to God in our care and attitude to the drivers, teams and track officials (which was the whole reason we were there).

Jono Update

I vistited Jono again last night. He's doing well for someone who had such a bad accident. He showed me how he can move a finger on his left hand now, it's the first movement he's had in that hand/arm.

His progress is coming along quickly, he's got a lot of strength in his right arm, and can pull himself up on his bed. He can move his right side very well, including his leg, at physio he can stand with assistance, putting nearly all his weight on his right leg. His nervs are still a little shot, he told me about how in the shower he can put the water on his left leg and it feels hot, but when he puts it on his right it feels cold. He's also got this one sweaty patch on his forehead, which seems to be some nervs just playing up and telling him it's too hot in that one spot.

For old time WECcers you may know Jono's physiotherapist, Joel Dunstan. How amazing is God!! He has put Joel (WEC leader from about 3 years ago) right there to help Jono recover, and have a good mate with him most of the day. I spoke to Joel on the phone last night, and he's confident Jono's condition will continue to get better.

Jono's got lots of stuff, cause he's had lots of visitors. There's a nice 'tiger print' cowboy hat, a stuffed emu, couple of teddy bears, a dog, and a bunny. I'm sure he thinks the best prezzie is the model of Craig Lowndes' V8 Supercar which I took him last night :-P There are also cards ringing his bed, a couple of bunches of flowers and a few balloons. It's like partyland around his bed!

Keep praying.

Belly-flopping Bomber

No this isn't about the Essendon Bombers, though belly-flopping may be a good descirption of their season so far....

Qld news was full of stories on Tuesday about the RAAF F1-11 Bomber which lost a landing gear wheel on take-off and was forced to do a 'wheels-up' landing at Amberly.

My Father works at Amberly, and watched the landing take place. The pilot did exceptionally well to land so cleanly without his landing gear. Dad reckons that there probably isn't too much damage to the jet and they'll have it flying again eventually.

If you saw the footage on the news you know what I mean when I say it was amazing to watch, and Dad caught all the little stories the news missed, like where the wheel ended up, and how fast the pilot and navagator exited and ran from the jet.

Anyway here are 2 photos taken just before the jet hit the ground, I love the one where it's just been caught on the sling.

A Friend's Bad Accident.

A great mate of mine, Jono, had an accident during a Motocross race out near Chinchilla last weekend.

He was on a jump and missed his footpeg, falling off the bike and landing on his head. He broke his neck. The doctor said that the injury is very similar to someone diving into a shallow pool. First up the doctor said that Jono would never walk again. He had a piece of bone floating near his spinal chord so he was in surgery at the Princess Alexandria Hospital for around 6 hours on Sunday.

Waking up he had sensation in his toes. Something that probably was not expected, but something we can thank God for.

I received this email from his mother this morning.

Yesterday Jono was sleepy a lot of the day. They had increased his morphine, but also he didn't sleep well the night before. He talks to us just like normal and is great to be around (as usual) He cheers everyone up who comes ( and therefore us too ) He has lovely flowers - 4 bunches - and a balloon and a teddy holding a balloon. The nurses say he's the most visited person in the hospital and the other men in the room are enjoying it too - He's having morphine every 3 hours.

He can lift his left leg off the bed 4 inches and his arm 6 inches but can't move his fingers. He can rotate his hand. His right hand he can scratch his head with as he has more strength also his right leg is pretty good. Yesterday the physio had him sitting on the side of the bed. He balanced there by himself for 1 minute. She was very pleased.

Thankyou so much for your prayers. Love from Jenny & Paul

Praise God for healing miracles, it's still too early to know if Jono will walk, but with his attitude and the power of God I'm sure he will.

Keep him and his family in your prayers.

MY!! Car

I received a letter in the mail yesterday. I have made my last payment on my car loan. So the XR6 really is MINE!!!!!!!!

I worked really hard to keep the payments up, and have knocked off the loan in just under 18 months. Funny enough they included options for housing loans with my letter, but I don't think I'll be using those for a while.

Random Shots of Life

Well I've had my Nokia 3250 for 2 months now, and am loving it. It's such a versatile little unit, and very handy to have on you all the time.

It's also allowing me to take many a photo just because I have a camera with me all the time. So I thought I'd share a few from over the last couple of months.








Elijah Zambra, my youth Pastor's son, what a little dude.









My cardboard models on my desk at work. Not that exciting, but hey go the RACQ/NRMA promo!







Ok Seriously, what would happen if this truck rolled!!! What a clean up effort that would be.











Elise and one of her youth group girls at Amped/WHY? one Friday night.

A Season to Forget

13 straight losses!

Um, I really don't know what to say, I knew the Bombers have been out of form, but this season is becoming a nightmare.

And just look at the injuries in last nights game, more players sitting out.

It doesn't look like it will get much better.

WEC Camp - Take 2

The second week of WEC Highschooler's Camps is over. And I am wrecked! 1 week is usually a tiring time, so 2 weeks has been a big push.

This week I wasn't a cabin leader, but what we call a 'floater'. Basically I 'floated' around doing all the behind the scenese stuff that needed to be done. This also included being a Dorm Inspector, it was nice to be on the other side of inspections for once.

It was a great week, God moved on our Wednesday night Gospel Presentation, and most of the camp felt moved to either accept Jesus as the Saviour of their lives, or to realign their lives with their creator. There were a few tears, and lots of deep conversation as 60 young people got their lives right with God. It was a priverlidge to be able to help them through all that.

We had basically the same layout as last week, with mostly the same activities. The music videos were awesome this week, very professional, and the ice slide got a little widler with a few surfers trying a few tricks on the slope.
There's over 100 photos just of camp B on the WEC Campsite Photos blog but here are a few of my favourites.

WEC Highschoolers Camp Photo Site

As a spin off to WEC Camps this week... I was asked to put up a site for photos from camp.

I did this back in 2003 and was surprised to find the site still active - check out www.geocities.com/wec_photos

I don't have the time to create a site from scratch like that one... so what better to use than blogger, and flickr!!!

I whipped this site up in a couple of hours... http://weccamp.blogspot.com so to see photos from Camp check it out - I think I'll put a link to the flickr account on my side bar as well.

I'm also hoping that the campers will make use of the c-box I put on the site to keep encouraging one another now they are back in the 'real world'.

Here are a small sample of some of the camp A photos... HOW AWESOME IS THAT ICE SLIDE!!!


Camp Bornhoffen, nice quite place in the middle of the mountains!

Riding a Boogie Board down the ice slide, nice!

A little style on the Ice Slide

See the ice fly

Bush Dancing

The cool drummer boy!!! (me :-P)

Group shot of Camp A

WEC Camp 06 - Great Cabin Group

I had a great group of grade 10 guys this year. We learnt all about the missionaries in our chosen country (I need to be a bit secretive about which country it is due to its political views on Christianity).

All I can say though is that the couple we learnt about come from Southport on the Gold Coast and are doing amazing work where they are. They've been in country for 3 years, have learnt the language and are now working on building relationships with the locals and ministering to them so they can see you Jesus Christ really is, and why it's the true religion, not Islam!

Camp was so much fun, we had an ice slide, bush dance, video hits competition and as always the room inspections. My cabin did well, coming second and only loosing by 2 points to the girls cabin from India. We nailed our memory verses (Psalms 139:14, Ephesians 2:10, 1 Corinthians 10:13 and 1 Corinthians 6:19,20) and our Field Focus' were creative and informative.

On Thursday we were doing our bible study sitting on the grass, I was bitten by what I though at the time was a green ant on my toe, painfull but not really a problem I thought.

By the end of the study I felt a pain just above my left eye, I could feel what I thought were more bites on my eyelid. Strange, but I just asked one of the guys for some sting cream cause I thought I must have been bitten there too, and it was quite painful. Well when I realised that my eye was puffing up big time, and I was getting blotches all over my face, arms and back I got a bit more worried.

It turns out I had a pretty violent allergic reaction to whatever bit me, or it was a poisonous spider or something. I took some antihistamines and went to bed. I felt pretty crook for the rest of camp, but all the swelling and most of the blotches went away after a couple of hours. I still have a big red mark on my toe where I was bitten though.

I've just found out they need someone to help out on Camp B for general leading and music stuff so I'm taking next week off work as well and heading up to Mt Tamborine for another week of WEC Camp!

Yeehaw!