Monthly Archives: March 2006

Baby #2

Baby #2: Jesse Edward Tyrrell was born last Sunday.

The new boy

Mat woke us up at 11pm after having a nightmare about yoghurt and Jen started feeling a bit off. Her off-ness turned into pain quite shortly and so I spent most of the night massaging her lower back as contractions came and went.

Grandma came over at about 5am to collect Mat (who is having a great time holidaying with her and Grandpa), and Jen and I headed down to the hospital (I didn’t drive nearly as fast this time as I did with Mat).

After a few more hours of labouring, our obstetrician (Dr Parry – really good at obstretric-ing) told us that the baby hadn’t moved down at all and so Jen was labouring for very little gain. A caesarean-section was going to have to be arranged.

It all came about quite quickly, and Jen was prepped and ready within the hour, and I was dressed in surgical blues and brought it to sit with her while they finished cleaning the incision area and then while they removed the kid.

It was very quick, and within about five minutes we were shown a small, purple child and told that we had had a boy!

Hooray for a testosterone-filled house!

From then, Jen has healed remarkably quickly, getting up and walking around the day after the operation, and two days afterwards, having a shower by herself and feeling well enough to walk to a coffee shop in the next building for milkshakes with Mat and Grandma.

Thank God that we have another healthy boy to add to our collection – we already love him heaps, and are looking forward to raising two boys together.

Thanks to everyone who prayed for us and the boys.

I have created another page on this site filled with photos if you are interested.

RodeoClown: tired, but happy.

note: During the operation dropped my sister’s digital camera, killing the XD card inside (if anyone knows how to fix this so I can get some photos out of it pleeeeeease let me know asap, thanks).

Click! Click! (T.G.E. – Part 39 of 40)

The Escape Plan

I have been asked by Kim and Jason to take part in their Adultitis Escape Plan, a 40-day plan to become more childlike (not childish)
and to reduce stress and prevent dullness, depression and [insert
another word beginning with 'd' here]. Of course I’m gonna do it.

Dreary-ness, that begins with ‘D’.

The thirty-ninth task: Play a practical joke on someone.

I discovered a little trick about a while ago – if you click your fingers on both sides of someone’s head, the sound seems to come from inside their skull.

This isn’t a very amazing practical joke, but you can give people near-heart attacks with it if they don’t notice you coming. It’s even funnier if there is a bunch of people watching you creep up behind someone in mid-conversation.

I did this at work and nearly killed a guy (sorry Mark).

It has now become kind of my work trademark, and people see if they can catch me out with it too, they even mangage it occasionally.

In other kinda-related news: I once convinced my Nana I was a carpet steam-cleaning salesman and had her on the phone for fifteen minutes trying to convince me that she didn’t need her carpet cleaned. Sorry Nana.

RodeoClown: ha.

Almost Hand-made (T.G.E. – Part 38 of 40)

The Escape Plan

I have been asked by Kim and Jason to take part in their Adultitis Escape Plan, a 40-day plan to become more childlike (not childish)
and to reduce stress and prevent dullness, depression and [insert
another word beginning with 'd' here]. Of course I’m gonna do it.

Dreary-ness, that begins with ‘D’.

The thirty-eighth task: Make someone a homemade gift to show how much you care about him/her or to thank him/her for a job well done.

I won a competition on Kim and Jason’s podcast, but I didn’t tell Jen about it. Instead, when the prize (a K&J print) arrived, I bought a frame and framed it.

Doesn’t sound very hand-made, does it?

Jen and I have a ‘tradition’ of sticking things (photos, notes and the like) in the backs of frames. When we open the frame up, for whatever reason, a surprise is there waiting.

RodeoClown: will let you draw your own conclusion.

Tuna Noodles (T.G.E. – Part 37 of 40)

The Escape Plan

I have been asked by Kim and Jason to take part in their Adultitis Escape Plan, a 40-day plan to become more childlike (not childish)
and to reduce stress and prevent dullness, depression and [insert
another word beginning with 'd' here]. Of course I’m gonna do it.

Dreary-ness, that begins with ‘D’.

The thirty-seventh task: Eat or drink something today that brings back childhood memories.

I used to eat tuna noodles two or three times a week when I was still living with my parents, it was all my youngest sister and I cooked. It’s very yummy, and now Mat loves it too. Dinner tonight (and fairly frequently still) was this fantastic dish. Here is the recipe.

Tuna Noodles:

1. Start boiling some water (for the noodle part).

2. Turn on the heat under another saucepan, you want it to be about half-heat.
3. Whack a tablespoon or so of butter in the saucepan and let it melt a little.
4. While the butter is starting to melt, go find some flour and throw about a heaped tablespoon into the butter.
5. Mix these up.
6. Open a can of tuna in brine (NOT oil, springwater would probably work too, but it would taste terrible) – I normally use a 500g can. Toss the entire contents of this can into the mix (yes, with the brine).

7. If the water is boiling, chuck some noodles in there, if not, wait till it is and then do it. I like macaroni best, but this is good with most types of noodle.

8. Mix the sauce, adding milk till it’s runny, but not super wet (I normally just drop a half-cup or so of milk in at a time). If you have any cream or sour-cream in the fridge, throw it in now.
9. Grate some cheese – I normally grate about half a block of cheese, so about half a kilo worth. Chuck the cheese in too, leaving a small amount out to stick on top when it’s finished.
10. Keep adding milk so the sauce is a little runny (but still pretty thick), while the noodles cook.

11. When the noodles are ready, drain them.

12. Get a packet of french-onion soup mix, add some of that in (I find the no-name brands taste much better than the expensive ones for this, they make worse soup, but better condiments :) ).
13. Add some more cheese.
14. Serve the noodles with sauce, adding some grated cheese on top, along with a bit more soup mix.

14a. If you want to make this a bit more fancy, chuck it in a casserole dish and cover the top with cheese. Stick it under the grill until it goes golden-brown. Then eat it.

RodeoClown: eats this a lot.

KMC2006: Tin Shed Time – Leading in a Relationship

Jim Ramsey gave this talk which is labelled in the book we were given: A practical guide for husbands. Why this talk is called ‘Tin Shed Time’, and not just billed as another seminar is beyond me – at any rate, I think this talk had the most post-talk conversation and action. Probably because it was far less theoretical in nature than the other talks.

Let’s Run a Rescue Operation

  1. Family first…
    • Before Jesus
    • God made maleness and femaleness
    • Family was there – be it people/tribe/clan/house
    • The father’s line was used to follow the geneaology
  2. Genesis
    • Women became part of the man’s family  and not vice-versa
  3. Patricentrism
    • Father is at the centre
  4. We won’t understand marriage apart from Jesus – Mark 10:6-9
    • Jesus teaches we are male and female
    • There is a difference (and it’s not just the plumbing)
  5. We won’t understand Jesus apart from the cross – Mark 10:45
    • Jesus didn’t come to be a martyr for a cause, rather he came to pay our ransom
    • His death becomes the standard men have to have our marriage role meet
  6. We won’t understand marriage apart from the cross –

    7. Ephesians… then Eph 5:25-33

    • verses 5:25-33 need to be placed in the context set by the rest of Ephesians
    1. Men are to accept Jesus died for me to be forgiven, he is committed to us with no qualification – Faithful
    2. We have to love our wives sacrificially
      • Men protect wives
      • Wives protect kids
    3. To be unfaithful to our wives while relying on Jesus’ faithfulness is sheer, rank hypocrisy!

    Colossians… then Colossians 3:19

    • Submitting should be initiated by the woman
    • It is not commanded by the husband
    • It’s a command from God to wives
    • It’s hard for wives to submit when their husbands are:
    • indecisive
    • moody
    • childish
    • demeaning
    • not willing to pray
    • etc…
  1. It is easier (and a joy) to be submissive when the man is for his wife like Jesus is for the church.

    2. 1 Peter… then 1 Peter 3:19

    • God won’t hear our prayers unless we are considerate
    • (hmmm… this sounded right in context, but on it’s own sounds wrong – read the verse I guess)
  2. Truthfulness and Honesty
    • …at this point, the speaker pretty much stopped following the notes and talked about the problem that pornography presents to women.

    Pornography

    • This is a huge problem for men, and the temptation is huge. It’s everywhere in our current society.
    • If you decide you are going to stop looking at porn: do something about it RIGHT NOW! – ring someone or talk to someone, and get them to keep you accountable. Otherwise you won’t stop, and will put it off and it will come back to haunt you.
    • Pornography hurts your wife because she will think that when you make love to her you will be thinking about what you have been watching.
    • Don’t!

    At around this time, Jim started talking about adultery and how it is basically courtship – you don’t just jump in bed with another woman (usually), but rather it builds up from a friendship. He asked:

    ‘If you were to commit adultery, who would it be with?’

    He then said that if you have a name come into your head in the next second or two, you are very probably in big trouble! Talk to someone about it right now, and do something to stop it – change jobs if you have to.

    One final note, a quote at some point came out: “Foreplay starts at breakfast”, to which someone replied “It’ll be the longest day of your life”.

    But worth it.

    RodeoClown: wants to be a great leader.

    KMC2006: Talk 4 – Two Ways to Live

    David Cook gave this talk on Matthew 7:1-6.

    • 7:1-6 – Resist Pride:
    • Do not be judgemental
    • Pride in our mortality forgets the grace of God
    • Don’t think you can’t judge anything – but be discrning as to what is important and should be judged.
    • Pride is an aggressive cancer of the soul.
  3. 7:7-12 – The Alternatives:
    • Realise you are poor in spirit
    • The early church realised they couldn’t bring anything to God. Now we bring what we think we know.
    • Human pride is repulsive to God (think along the lines of magnets with the same polarity – they can’t join together. Spin one ’round and… snap!)
    • Two gates, two roads, two men… two of everything
  4. 7:24-27:
    • Pride of the pharisee is the worst kind.
    • It’s hard to listen when we’ve heard it all before.
  5. 7:24-25 – The Rock:
    • 7:26 – The Sand:
    • To be a Christian is to have lost control to Jesus.
  6. Do?
    • The Lord’s Prayer is the core of the sermon
    • Be passionate about God’s honour
    • Be dependant on God for physical and spiritual sustenance
    • Be careful

    One other thing I noted, but can’t remember exactly what it referred to is the following:

    Love is spelt:

    • T-A-L-K for your wife
    • T-I-M-E for your kids

    RodeoClown: is fighting pride.

    Convicted

    It sucks when you are convinced that what you are doing is wrong. Espescially when you are at the penultimate episode of a series.

    For later reference, the next episodes in each series that I have yet to watch are:

    • Smallville – Season 5 ep 16
    • 24 – Season 5 ep 10
    • Battlestar Galactica – Season 2 ep 19 (page 81 Penny Arcade forums)
    • Lost – Season 2 ep 16 (page 55 Penny Arcade forums)

    I guess I’ll have more free time now…

    RodeoClown: repentant.