State of the Union

It's customary for the media to chart the first 100 days of the US Presidency (although I still shake my head that Dubya is the 'leader' of the greediest nation on earth - at least until India then China's economies really start firing). It's also said the first 100 days in a new job hold the much of the keys to your long-term future there.

Today marks Lydia's first 'ton' - and while not as rapid as Adam Gilchrist's last lightning fast Pommy-bashing in the one-day final decider, she's certainly made a significant milestone. Some reflections:

Weaning proceeds well - and as soon as she's reached the stage where breast milk is no longer produced, we are then free to share her with our network of friends so we can briefly pretend that we're DINKS once more and perhaps see a movie in a cinema together again (the last one was Robots - I have seen Revenge of the Sith and Fantastic 4 with friends, but V's yet to do a girl film).

The power of a community of caring relationships is remarkable. We have been inundated with love and practical support - at times embarassingly so. For the first 5 weeks, we received three home cooked meals every Monday, Wednesday & Friday. While Lydia has more stuffed toys than we have names for, we also were given a cot (both fixed and portable), a pram, a play mat, multiple bunny rugs, nappies, car seat - clothing (most it brand new). Everything that anyone could think of that was a big ticket item, we often had a choice of which one we accepted.

Victoria's mum's craft capabilities having us almost drowning in many of the practical things like singlets, but with the loving touch of hand-sewn flowers. Patterns of fabric are being purchased in advance for the creation of future fashions.

All of this leads me to the conclusion that blood is truly thicker than water. While conventional wisdom would interpret blood as 'biological family', the reality of following Jesus means that your blood ties extend so much further. We're so grateful that Lydia has so many brothers, sisters, aunties, uncles and grandparents so willing to love and care for us all. I don't know how many of my peers who work similar or longer hours than I without a similar level of support actually do it. The sad fact is, many don't make it - or settle for a life that's a carbon-copy (either Friends, Desperate Housewives or Lost - take your pick).

I wonder about the number of people who the ABS tell us now live alone, or only have a network of peers for support. What kind of community does it create? One that's great in a crisis or celebration, maybe - but how about the everyday relationships? Whatever one thinks of Hilary Clinton, she was right when she said it takes a village to raise a child. Although Lydia is a combination of Victoria & I, without a broader community she'd be a very isolated little girl (and even if we have more, we'd be an isolated little family. The more I look at Lydia when she's sleeping, or gaze into her eyes while bottle-feeding, or give her things to grab on the playmat, the more I'm so glad we're not in this alone. I can't imagine what it would be like if she had any major health challenges and we didn't have the people we do in our lives.

All this ruminating comes in the midst of a season of great busyness. Work is really firing up - for the next 2 Fridays I'm in Orange then Melbourne. I had three days in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago for training at very short notice. Good to connect with the Vic team, stay in Hawthorn and experience Melbourne culture a bit. Outside paid work continues to flow in at a rate which mean that Victoria may not need to take on full-time work outside of home for a considerable period of time. It's nice to be paid to get a crash-course in cutting-edge Human Resource practices. All I need to to find writing gigs in Finance, IT and Management Strategy, and I'll have covered off on an MBA while earning the $50,000 it takes to study at a blue-chip business school.

Anyhow, Lyddy's due up in 15, and it's a big day - new suits to buy (first for 7 years!), dry-cleaning, V's chiropractor, the latest Harry Potter to pick up (although when I'll finish reading it is anyone's guess), marketing strategies to draft, and family bonding in the midst of it all.

Have a good one, whatever you're doing out there in blog-land :-).