family time

I’ve been spending some time with my sister up in Darwin. It is the big build-up to the wet season at the moment, the time of year tourists normally stay away and locals go a bit crazy with the ever-increasing heat and humidity that will only break when the big rains arrive… not very good timing for this girl, who is happiest in the cold, rainy winters of the south but it was important to go up now as she has a couple of big things going on in her life and so I wanted to be close by for a little while…

The first (and very exciting) thing is the recent arrival of her partners four-year-old boy from Liberia- he is going to be a permanent part of the family, such a blessing for her after always wanting to be a mum!

So… meet George!

Cheeky ; )

Here he is after his first visit to the cinema- 3D no less!- which, like all the other new things he has faced since the move from remote village life, he took in his stride, the little star. After a lot of fending for himself within a large extended family, it has been a big transition to being at the core of a nuclear family.

The little family

In some ways older than his years, he is also just a little boy soaking up everything with (mostly) so much excitement and joy… and for the new parents, instant parenthood is proving amazingly rewarding, happy and startling, if somewhat relentless! I wish them so much joy together.

Learning what a loveheart is and how to draw one

Sarah especially needs her little family with her right now because she has a fight on her hands. There is a massive tumour growing in her belly and we are all very worried for her… treatment is gruelling and she is unwell a lot of the time but the daily routine that a small child demands is giving her a structure for her own self-care and, more importantly, a focus while things are really hard. Her world is small at the moment and that is as it should be- her energy is focused on the three of them and their life together. It was wonderful to see her and to spend time with her and her family but, more than that, I just wish I could be there more to help with the menial stuff like doing the dishes, emptying the compost and giving her breaks to sleep- but hopefully things will go well with her and she’ll be on the up soon… Big sis, I’m with you.