Howefitz Blog

Picture taken by Kat, and much appreciated by me...

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I’m getting ready to pick Kat up from the airport after her Australian adventure. I must say, I’ve enjoyed her texts, but I’m ready to really hear the stories.

In messages of 160 characters or less, I’ve learned that she repelled off of cliffs at the Blue Mountains, toured the Sidney Opera House and Parliament, visited aquariums and zoos, held a Koala, swam under a waterfall, and ate kangaroo, crocodile, and (live!!) green ants.

But I can’t wait to hear the stories. She hung out with aborigines and stayed with a family that’s as in to Asian culture as she is.

G’Day, Mates! This Fatherhood Friday, I wanted to give you the update on Kat’s Australian adventures!

We’ve been communicating through text and the leader has been emailing us, so unfortunately, there are no pictures yet. They are in and out of phone service, and don’t have access to email very often, but here’s what I know so far:

They have repelled off of the Blue Mountains, swam at the Olympic Park, toured the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Aquarium, visited the Opal Museum, took a cruise of Sydney Harbor, visited the Parliament House, swam at Edith Falls, visited Aborigines, and Kat wrestled a sheep.

After much deliberation, it has been decided that Joanne Owens (@hangglided on twitter) is the winner of my Sweet As Sugar Milk contest. She’ll be receiving her copy of Sugar Milk in the mail soon, I’m shipping it today! Congrats, and thank you so much Joanne!

With that, I am pleased to announce that through the generosity of my blog readers, friends, family, and a few impromptu garage sales (not to mention most of my tax return), Kat’s trip to Australia with People to People is now reality! She flies out on the 16th for 17 days in the Land Down Under. I can’t believe that it’s that soon! Incidentally, on the graphic above, I found a font on Artweaver called ‘Australian Sunrise’. What else would I use? Here’s a glance at Kat’s itinerary while she’s down there:

I don’t think a day goes by that I am not amazed at the stories my three year old, Calli, likes to tell. This is how storytime generally goes in my house:

Calli: Daddy, can’t you tell me a story? (This is how she asks for everything now. ‘Daddy, can’t you…’ As if she’s tired of asking.)

Me: What kind of story?

Calli: I don’t know…

Me: OK. So. Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Calli.

Calli: Was she a Princess?

Me: Yes, she was a beautiful Princess!

It’s Fatherhood Friday once again, and I’ll get right down to business. I would like to take this heightened traffic opportunity to once again ask for your help.

We just recently found out that Kat needs to finish raising the money for her People to People delegation to Australia by May 14th! If you are able, please make a donation of any comfortable amount by clicking on the Chip-In button to the right of this page. Kat and my wife are working on hand drawn thank you cards that will be sent to you from Australia, time allowing, or when she gets home. If you’ve already donated, you’re already on our mailing list!

What do they say about what the road to Hell is paved with? I had every good intention to knock out a very thought provoking ‘Sunday Sermon‘ today, but I didn’t get all of my research done. In keeping with one of my New Year’s Resolutions, if I can’t post the best entry ever, I won’t. Hopefully I get my act together next week and post something great…

Now for something completely different…

Twelve days without a blog post is an eternity in Blog Years. I could come up with a million excuses as to why I haven’t sat down and written anything, but that would go against my latest efforts to be a better Dad and Citizen of the Universe. (You can read about those efforts at my post, 21 Days. No Complaints. No Excuses.)

Let’s just say that life happens. Everything is ok, and soon future posts will give hints as to what I’ve been up to. If you follow me on twitter, you probably already have a good idea…

I remember my first backpacking trip in the Rocky Mountains. I can’t tell you exactly how old I was, but I was a young teen. What I do remember is that it was a new moon when we set up camp near the summit. I had never seen so many stars! I remember looking up and feeling like the Universe was at my fingertips. It also made me feel so very tiny. Who was I compared to THIS? What difference could I possibly make? I quickly realized that yes, the Universe is very large. But so was this mountain, and I had just conquered it, right? I was a part of this wondrous creation, and whatever The Plan was for my being here, I had faith that I would fulfill that destiny.

With my new three on, three off schedule at work, it gets hard to sit down and pound something out for certain days. Since I’m in the middle of the three on cycle, I’m furiously typing this just before leaving for work. I just had to give an update on Kat’s trip to Australia with People to People.