I’m going to blame “baby brain” for that. Many people would argue that baby brain only affects new mothers, but I reckon it’s a family wide event.

He was born on 29 April, 2011 here in Calgary. We are all so excited for his arrival, and are starting to remember what it means to have a newborn in the house. It’s certainly a big jump from two to three kids!

Here’s some photos for you to enjoy…

• Elijah meets Caleb and Jessica

   

  http://billhutchison.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Elijah_Caleb_Jessica_Floor.jpg

• Elijah's First Bath Time

   

  http://billhutchison.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Elijah_Bruce_Hutchison_Bath.jpg

• Elijah with a very Proud Mum and Dad

   

  http://billhutchison.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Elijah_Bruce_Hutchison.jpg

• Elijah and Daddy

   

  http://billhutchison.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Elijah_and_Daddy.jpg

You can check it out at www.billandtamara.com to read the article.

Here’s the rub…

The set that he’s been saving all his birthday and Christmas money for in the last few years sells for $179.99 in the USA. Going by today’s exchange rate it should then have a regular price of about $176.40. Good deal right?

The current price of the exact same Lego Train Set set here in Canada is $269.00, plus GST!

That price difference is simply ridiculous so we are looking at having a friend pick it up for us in the USA and bring it back with them. It should be under their personal purchase limit, so there should be no duty or taxes owed on it.

Given that most other Lego sets have that same price discrepancy I will be encouraging Caleb to wait in the future and get whatever Lego he wants from the States if we ever visit, or if friends visit.

Hmmm, I wonder how much I can stock up on birthday and Christmas gifts …

I remember my first big purchase that I saved up for as a kid was a Sanyo Ghetto Blaster (boombox) that I got using the money from delivering flyers. I was much older than Caleb at that point and if this kid already has good habits for saving I reckon he’s off to a good start.

Here is a video of the Lego Cargo Train Set (7939) he has saved up for:

Although it’s February already I’m now looking at goals for myself this year and I want to be successful at actually achieving them this time. To help me do that I’m taking a much different approach to it. This time I’m going to try it one at a time, starting to work on a new personal goal every two months.

This month I’m starting by working on my personal sleep hygiene. Sleep hygiene might sound like a silly thing to be working on, but ever since moving to Canada my sleep patterns have pretty much sucked. I’ve averaged probably 4-hours of sleep each night, which isn’t enough, so I’m aiming for 6-hours a night.

They say that you need at least 30-days to learn a new habit. Sometimes I’m a bit slow, so I’m giving myself 60-days to learn my new habits. Better sleep is the first, but what should I do next…

Image supplied by FreeFoto.com

Because of our current circumstances and health issues in our house I am usually busy during the day and other than a few hours here and there I usually start work at about 8:30 or 9:00 at night. By that time I’m tired, cranky (just ask my wife) and not nearly as efficient as I should be. It feels like I usually get more done in the eight hours or so of “day-time work” during the week than I do during all the hours of late night work.

This runs contrary to how I’ve usually worked as my thoughts have always been the more hours I can put it, the more I will get done. As I proved to myself this weekend though with not being able to produce the week’s YWAM Podcast, there comes a point where no matter how hard I try to work, if I’m too tired it just doesn’t come together.

My thoughts are that by getting 7 – 8 hours of sleep a night I’m going to increase my efficiency to where I will be getting as much done for each hour I work at night as I do for my daylight hours. By being more rested in general it will also help me to get more done during those daytime hours, and it should have a positive flow over effect into all other areas of my life…

Tamara is now two months pregnant and we are excited for the upcoming arrival of our next child. The baby is due around the end of April 2011 and we have lots to do to prepare for his or her arrival.

If you have been following our story for a while you will know that this new baby is actually baby number 4 for us. Caleb was a twin, but his twin died while Tamara was still pregnant with the two of them. I remember very well the moment of excitement when we found out she was pregnant with twins, and the deflation when we found out that we had lost one. You can read the whole story about Caleb and his twin which we named Jordan on our family ministry web-site, The Hutchisons in YWAM – Caleb and Jordan.

We would appreciate your continued prayer and support for us during this exciting and life changing time.

Aussie Jingle Bells

As you can hear, especially at the end, our son loves Aussie Jingle Bells, and gets really into it. We thought that he was going to overload the web-cam at some points …

Here are the words for The Australian Version of Jingle Bells, at least, it’s the version that we sing:

Jingle Bells – The Australian Version

Dashing through the bush
In a rusty Holden Ute
Kicking up the dust
Esky in the boot
Kelpie by my side
Singing Christmas songs
It’s summer time and I am in
My singlet, shorts & thongs

CHORUS:
OH, JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE BELLS
JINGLE ALL THE WAY
CHRISTMAS IN AUSTRALIA
ON A SCORCHING SUMMER’S DAY
JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE BELLS
CHRISTMAS TIME IS BEAUT
OH WHAT FUN IT IS TO RIDE
IN A RUSTY HOLDEN UTE

Engine’s getting hot
Dodge the kangaroos
Swaggy climbs aboard
He is welcome too
All the family is there
Sitting by the pool
Christmas day, the Aussie way
By the barbecue!

CHORUS

Come the afternoon
Grandpa has a doze
The kids and uncle Bruce
Are swimming in their clothes
The time comes round to go
We take a family snap
Then pack the car and all shoot through
Before the washing up

CHORUS

The Aussie 12-Days of Christmas

And here are the words for Aussie 12-Days of Christmas, at least it’s the version that we sing, as there are at least four different versions that we have heard.

The 12-Days of Christmas – The Australian Version

On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
A kookaburra in a gum tree

On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Two snakes on skis, and a kookaburra in a gum tree

Three wet galahs …
Four lyrebirds …
Five kangaroos …
Six sharks a – surfing …
Seven emus laying …
Eight dingos dancing …
Nine crocs a – snoozing …
Ten wombats washing …
Eleven lizards leaping …
Twelve possums playing …

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Twelve possums playing, Eleven lizards leaping,
Ten wombats washing, Nine crocs a – snoozing,
Eight dingos dancing, Seven emus laying,
Six sharks a – surfing, Five kangaroos,
Four lyrebirds, Three wet galahs,
Two snakes on skia, And a kookaburra in a gum tree.

This is one post that I was thinking about today that I wanted to move to this new web-site.

I wrote this original article in July 2005. About a year after I wrote it Tamara’s Pop had a stroke, which has left him in a weakened physical state, and with dementia. He has since been admitted to a nursing home and just isn’t the man that he was when I first wrote this article …

I just got back from having lunch with Tamara’s Pop, her Mum’s father. I asked him a lot of questions, and got a lot of amazing answers.  I can’t help but think about how much our generation owes to their generation.

His Dad was a WWI veteran who instilled some amazing values into Tamara’s Pop.  During the Great Depression in the 30s he left school after grade 7 to go to work and help support the family.  He started out there as a messenger boy in a hose fitting company.  When he retired in the late 70′s he was the manager at the Adelaide Postal Exchange, with over 700 employees that he was responsible.  I already respected him a lot, but that respect grew as I sat and just listened to some of his stories.

Pop joined up with what would now probably be the Australian Reserve Forces in 1938 as soon as he could, at 16. He said that in ’38 they thought that there was a possibility of an upcoming conflict. As soon as he turned 19 he joined the AIF (Australian Imperial Force) and was put into the Signals Corp as he had taught himself mores code by the time he was 10.

How do you think our generation respond during a time like that? Would we sign up, or would we run? Does our generation still have the same sense of values and responsibility that his generation did?

He taught me a lot today as we spoke and I could probably write for pages. I wish that I had some more time with him but they are heading back to Adelaide tomorrow, but I am very grateful for the hour that we had today.We owe so much to the generation before us, but we don’t acknowledge it enough. We don’t show them the respect that they deserve. We don’t know the hardships that they went through so that we could have it as easy as we do now.

The VP60 (Victory in the Pacific – 60 years) Celebrations are coming up here in Townsville this month.  There aren’t many of the veterans left and we can’t forget what they and the generations before them have done for us…

In Canada we will be working primarily with the Youth With A Mission International Chairman’s Team (YWAM ICT). The work with the YWAM ICT will involve:

• Communicating what God is doing in YWAM around the world and assisting locations that do not have the means to communicate themselves.
• Developing ways to help YWAM to communicate and coordinate better between the over 1200 locations around the world.
• Evaluating cutting edge technology through a biblical filter and applying it within YWAM.

We will be also tying in with the local YWAM base in Calgary a bit in addition to the work we will be doing for the YWAM ICT.

Before I did my YWAM Discipleship Training School in 1998 I did a YWAM Niko through YWAM Calgary, which was a great personal development opportunity for myself, and a good introduction to YWAM. Ironically when I went back to Calgary in June 1999 after my YWAM DTS I spoke to the leaders of YWAM Calgary about joining staff there in 2000, but that never eventuated. Now it looks like I will be working them after all, only 9-years later than I originally thought …

You can read more about the YWAM ICT here and YWAM Calgary here.