The Other Brad

These photos are of the bouquet of Australian flowers I bought Karen for her birthday; of Jacob pretending to be outraged at wearing a school uniform for the first time; and of Karen Mercer and Kaylah and Tylah Hearn, all of whom have birthdays between the 12^th and 17^th of September.

Jacob seems to have made the adjustment well. According to Karen two giggling girls accompanied him to the car when she picked him up at the end of his first day at school. Then he announced that he wanted to get to school early the next morning because “my friends” would be playing basketball. Charlotte seems to be enjoying her job well enough, but at the end of her first week she still doesn’t know for sure exactly what she’s earning because she’s too intimidated by the boss to ask.

Karen failed her driving test on the second attempt, but came closer than the first try, so hopefully the third time is charm. And finally, we bought a car today which we’ll pick up on Monday.

We finally got to meet Roland’s brother Brad for the first time this week. He and his family were in town for a medical procedure on their 14-year-old daughter Kamilla, who has a heart defect which requires periodic attention. This visit went well medically. Brad and his wife and kids are a sweet family. The children enjoy playing with each other and Brad and Linda laugh easily. It’s been a nice visit.

Brad is a mechanic so he very graciously helped us find a good cheap used car online and then went to the dealership with us and checked it out, drove it around, and gave it a clean bill of health. That was very helpful. As difficult as buying a used car is anyway, it’s vastly more difficult when you struggle with the accent, the jargon, and a totally alien set of procedures and forms. He made it stress free.

I’ve just managed this week to start feeling like I’m becoming useful in the office, finding things that I can do on my own that free up other people and generate a little income for the business.

So, that’s our week. Next week I’ll try to have more exotic Australia photos and adventures to recount.