SCHOOL AND JARRETT'S BIRTHDAY

3rd and 4th June 2010

How fortunate are we that the sun has been shinning so beautifully the past couple of days so it was a lovely day to attend school. On a Thursday at school I have Australian Studies and we learnt about primary and secondary sources. Primary sources are items like diaries, artefact's, letters and parliamentary notes which are all written at the time the event was taking place. A secondary source is one which is second hand information that people have researched from primary information these are things like the Internet and books. However you have to remember with primary sources that they are from a persons point of view, so can vary in detail because of how the person sees the event through their own eyes. We then looked at a protection plan that was set up for the Aborigines but unfortunately even though it was done with good intentions it failed because the settlers were still trying to make the Aborigines conform to their way of life and did not respect how they had lived for years or their customs. I found this was all really interesting, I enjoy Australian Studies. We then had double mathematics and we went over our tests, checking the answers together and also making sure the teacher had corrected them properly, teachers are only human and can make errors sometimes so it is a good thing to check over their marking. I was really pleased with how I went I only got a few answers wrong and I was able to answer all the most difficult questions,it is possible that I may get an excelling for it, which equates to an A. When we were going over the answers in class the teacher asked me to go through how I worked out one of the tricky questions and I explained it and he said he would give me a diary star for answering it correctly. We still have to wait to receive our final results once the teacher has gone over them once more. After we went over the test we then did some more work on area with unusual shapes, I enjoy doing area, I have found you just have to make sure you look at each shape carefully and you need to know which formula to use to work it out.

My right arm was so painful and I still can not use it to write it is so weak and it has pins and needles in it, I try to move it as much as I can but the pain shoots up my arm and makes me feel terribly ill. I rested when I came home as I felt quite exhausted after going over the maths test.

I wanted to make something special for Jarrett's Birthday, I had a plain wooden door sign and I decided to decoupage it in red and black, two of Jarrett's favourite colours. It was definitely extremely difficult to go through the decoupage process using my left hand but I did it anyway. When it is dry I am going to stick his name on it, I hope he will really love it, I enjoy making special craft things for people because I put so much thought and love into making them.

Father Mark and Fiona came over, did a blessing mass and gave me communion, hopefully God will be with me when I return to Sydney next week and my tumour will have remained stable.
It was running training in the afternoon and even though the sun was still shinning by the afternoon the Canberra Winter chill hits the air around 4pm and that is too cold for me to cope with. I watched Jarrett run from the car, he is amazing and when he jogs between sets he looks like he is still running! I am inspired by him to run again and fly like I have wings on my heels.

Today the cloudy sky disappeared early in the morning and let the suns rays shine through which was terrific especially because it was Jarrett's 15th Birthday. He received some great gifts like a leather jacket from Jay Jays that we bought for a bargain price because it was the last extra small one and they had a huge sale on the day we got it, he thinks it is really cool, I think he might think he is like Zac Efron in 17 Again because he put on his black spray on jeans with a white tee-shirt and sunnies and he has a hairstyle similar to Zac. He had a splendiferous day because all his exams are over and today at school for him was an easy day. As our oven is unable to be fixed for another week and a half, the fan has ceased, I could not make him a delicious cake so we bought a chocolate mud cake and I have decorated it with strawberries which are his favourite fruit and cream, it looks magnificent!

Today I did not have school, I do a five day fortnight and that is enough for me as I am so fatigued and the pain that I have been experiencing makes me feel terribly ill. I helped Mum to sort out our DVD's into alphabetical order in categories, that was fun. We had the Blind Shop man come and we are getting lovely, clean new blinds in all the bedrooms and venetian blinds in the bathroom, laundry, ensuite and toilet. We were allowed to choose the colour, we went for a neutral one, we will have them in a couple of weeks, this is wonderful as in Jarrett's room there are blinds missing so light comes in at night time, luckily he always sleeps well. I also had a special delivery from Robyn, she has been collecting Teddy Bear cards for me from people all around the World that they know, they put them in a gorgeous box with hearts on it and called it a box full of love. I have been reading through them and have cried when I have read some of the touching messages people have written. So many people think that I am courageous, a hero and inspirational, I do not think of myself in this way I am just a girl who has been given a really difficult journey and I face that journey the best way I can and that is by being as positive as I can, having faith, smiling as often as I can and trying to help others as this gives me so much comfort. I am going to try to write back to all the people who gave them to me, it may take a little time but this is important for me to acknowledge their thoughts and prayers.

Denis from the International Brain Tumour Alliance headed off today with a flyer and my book to share with the people he meets on his travels and of course at the Conference in Vienna. My hope and dream is that I can reach people overseas and that if my story can spread far and wide that more people will understand paediatric brain tumours, the devastating treatment and then together we can somehow through raising funds make a difference that will lead to a cure into the future.

'Whenever there is a negative in our lives we have to try to find a positive that we can then look upon to give us strength'.