Lennox Luke Hankinson

Lennox was born at 6:20pm 17th August 2007 to Julie and Jason Hankinson by ceasarean section at the San. He weighed in at 3.5kg and was 51.5 cm long. As you can see he's got blonde hair and we reckon that he looks a lot like Julie at the same age... not sure what that means for his future! Everyone's well and Caleb's happy so far!

Not quite ready!

Julie was due to have a Cesear tomorrow, but the doctor told her that she's got the joy of carrying her new boy for another week. He's now due on the 17th! Watch this space! Literally!

We've bought a new home!

This is our new home...

We (Robyn, Warren & Westpac) have bought a new home! One of our friends owned it and let us know that it was for sale. It's just an investment. Something that we should have done years ago. Now that I have more time, I've been able to organise things like this. The lady living there will continue to stay there.

Hopefully the market will improve and that will keep us ahead of interest and payments!

Honey Moon is Over!

In my "work" clothes!

(The picture was taken with my phone... I'll get a better one up soon.)

It's work I'm talking about! For the past few weeks, I've been working full time! I've been doing some extra shifts in the at Gosford Hospital as well as my regular work. From next month, I'll have full time work at Wyong for at least a 6 month period, but that will probably become permanent. I miss the free time! By Friday night, I'm pretty tired too! The extra income is not only good, but very necessary if we're ever going to get this house paid off!

Robyn was full time for the past few months, but she's back to week on - week off, with a few extra shifts during her week off. She's been pretty tired too!

Last take off from Cooranbong

(Pr Len Barnard, me, John Strong & Kevin Strong, just before take off)!

Since the closure of the Cooranbong Airstrip Dec 05, we have been flying from private property under CASA guidelines of an ALA (Aircraft Landing Area). A developer in our area has told us that he doesn't want aircraft flying over his new development. The local council tells us the he has put a complaint in and the council has said that an airport has been built and operations must cease immediately or face a $110,000 fine. Now you know why we had our last flight from Cooranbong!

We have moved the plane to Cessnock which is a good home for our plane, but it takes about 40 minutes to get thre!

Blog Updates - automatic notification

Do you want to take the guess out of whether a blog (or any web page for that matter) has been updated? It's pretty simple.... just go to http://changedetection.com/monitor.html and follow the directions. It's real simple.... just fill in the blog or web page you want to monitor, then add your email address and you'll receive an email when the page has been updated! I've been trying it for a few months and it works really well.

New Corolla

We have bought a 2004 Corolla. We bought it damaged and it has now been repaired. Our nephew Daz Scale organised it and meticulously watched over the repairs to make sure it was done well. You can't even see any sign of damage. I went down to Melbourne a couple of weekends ago and picked it up. It uses less than half of the fuel our Prado 4WD does! No wonder they are the most popular car in the world.

It was great to catch up with family. It's something that we don't do enough. I think I might sell this one and buy another one so that I can catch up with family again!

I saw our niece Delwyn as well and it seems that with God's help, she has gained the victory in her battle with breast cancer. Praise the Lord and may she remain clear in the future.
Our former neighbour Heather was down there (coincidentally) the same weekend. It was her first meeting of Daz and Neda's son, Jalen. We miss not having them next door!

Julie & Caleb

Julie and Jason are expecting again! She's due in August! She's had lots of morning sickness this time, may be a girl? Maxalon helped a lot! At 4 months, she's pretty much over it.

Caleb is still getting cuter and cuter. He's walking very fast, almost running now! You can ask him questions "Where's Grandma or Pa? or where's Dad or Mum? and he is now pointing to the right people! He's now 18 months old!

He loves using mobile phones....

Caleb enjoys standing by the air conditioning compressor with the wind blowing in his hair! (Pa's jealous of his hair!)

Operating Theatres

It's been about a month since I've done any updating! Work is going well, and I'm still enjoying it very much. We do a good variety of surgery at Wyong. From eyes, vascular, general (including endoscopic) , gyny, urology, ortho - lots of joint replacements. It's quite a challenge knowing the surgery well enough so that you can anticipate what the surgeon will need next without him having to ask!

I spent a few hour in recovery recently. It's nice having the automated gadgets that take and record, BP, pulse, respirations, O2 levels etc.

I'm working 20 hours a week. Three days one week and two the next week. I'm mostly doing morning shifts with the occasional evening shift - till 9:30pm.

My feet are getting much more used to it, but I've still got a bit to go!

Update on Theatre Work

I scrubbed the other day - meaning I was the RN in charge of preparing and handing the instruments to the surgeon - the first time in 25 years! It all come back and I was quite confident. The next day, I scrubbed for another list of operations, and was going well, but when it came time to close up and do the count, I discovered that I had counted a ligature pack as a needle, and so I was one needle short, but on checking and realising the mistake, I wasn't really short at all. I informed the surgeon (and apologised) and an x-ray proved that there was nothing left behind! Now, that's a lesson I've learnt the hard way.

Apart from that, all is going well... my legs and feet are getting more used to it, and one of the RN's gave my a nice compliment and said it was hard to believe I was away for 25 years! At this stage, it's fun being back in theatre!

Working in Theatres

I worked yesterday in Theatres for the first time in 25 years! It was really interesting to see how little the instruments have changed!

The worst thing was at the end of the day, my feet were killing me and my back was aching something terrible! Today I wore compression socks (the ones you wear on a plane to prevent DVT's) , and I took every opportunity to sit down and today was lots better!

The staff there seem great and I have a good boss!

I spent the first 3 days of the week at Gosford for general Orientation - that was interesting - significant changes in OH & S. I'll be down in Gosford for another 3 days at the end of the month for specific orientation for the Theatres.

It's nice to be employed again. It's a good feeling making a contribution to society again.

Flying - Good Landing (2nd try)

We've had some lousy weather for flying lately! It was a bit windy Monday morning so we thought we'd fly in the afternoon when the winds usually drop down. The wind finally died down about 7:00pm, so I took off with my passenger, Tim Strong, the son of the owner of the paddock we use as our air strip. It was a bit rough up, but not too bad, but coming in to land, it really started blowing and gusting again! I approached quite high and quite fast, (this approach helps maintain control) but the wind was blowing me all over the place, so at about 50 feet, I aborted and "went around". Another high and fast approach and I pulled off a good landing into a 25 knot cross wind! I was glad to be on the ground, and my passenger, Tim, thoroughly enjoyed it. I thank the Lord for another safe flight!

I've got a job!

A phone call from Wyong Operating Theatre manager confirmed that I have job! I'll be starting the return to practice on the 15th of January and then on the 29th I start work in the theatres! This is taking me back 25 years to when I last worked in theatres at Auburn District Hospital. The job is only part time, 20 hours a week, but it shouldn't be too hard to get additional work. Praise the Lord!

Nursing

I went for an interview last Friday for a job at the Operating Theartres at Wyong Hospital. It went quite well, but it will still take them some time for a decision.

In the mean time, I have been approved to start my "return to practice" program in the Operating Theatres at Wyong, on January 15. This will be a chance to see what it's like! I'm even pleased that I passed the criminal record check!

Thai SDA Centenial Celebrations

It has been a great weekend celebrating 100 years of the work of the SDA church in Thailand! It's great to see so many "old" friends - you can read that both ways! It's good to see how much the work has progressed over the years. There were close to 1,500 people attending from all corners of Thailand. Bill Townend, the SAUM president was there, along with Pr Gulfen, the Division president.

The celebrations coincided with Thailand celebrating the King's 60 years on the throne! Wow!

Here is a link for photos of this weekend http://community.webshots.com/user/scas01

In Bangkok

Bangkok is a great place to be! There's so much beautiful food! So many good friends! Great shopping and did I mention Pantip Plaza? I always seem to spend some money there! Oh, and I didn't forget about the good, no, great Thai massages!

We're staying with Greg and Alison, so it's been great to spend some time with them! Probably be the last time we get to do that before they leave!

Today the celebrations start for the 100 years of SDA work in Thailand. It's going to be good to be reminded of the way the Lord has lead here, and also to catch up with more friends!

Caleb has been walking again!

I cut Caleb's hair last week! Wow, it was a challenge to cut his hair while he was moving! He looks more of a "boy" now.
Caleb is walking heaps today! He's really getting his confidence, but he still walks with his arms up in the air!

Going to Bangkok

The SDA church in Thailand is celebrating 100 years of work / presence in Thailand with a special weekend on December 9 - 10. We look forward to catching up with lots of friends that we've made during our 13 years in Thailand (from 1980 - 1993).

Employment

It's been hard trying to find International Development work around Newcastle or the Central Coast, so I've re-registered as a RN and have applied to do a "Return to Practice" program at Wyong Hospital. I've also applied for a job there in the Operating Theatres. Will be interesting to see where this goes!

Caleb is walking

Great to see the favourite grandson is walking! He's now 14 months old. This is still pretty new, so there are times, he's content to just crawl!