Monday 30 November 2015

Wacky Hair Day!

Another year, another crazy hair day at school. This year the kids brought a gold coin donation to raise funds for a charity of their choice (at this stage I am not quite sure what they raised money for...Elliot is telling me it was for 'cyclone Tracy' - but that hit in 1974 so I doubt that is correct, haha).





Sunday 29 November 2015

Quiet weekend.

Oh, what a quiet weekend it has been so far - the girls have been away on a sleepover with friends. They've had so much fun, and even went bowling.

I received this picture  - ready for bedtime with mattresses all over the floor :-)

Bowling bunny ears!!


But now it is so good to have them back home!!

....and we're off for the Gymnastics Christmas show in a minute...



Saturday 28 November 2015

Lapdog!

Nah...sitting in your own designated dog seat is overrated anyways...I'd rather sit on you lap!


Thursday 26 November 2015

Tokyo!

Milla's bestie has been to Tokyo on a family holiday, and she brought back little Japanese treasures!


Arigato!!!


Wednesday 25 November 2015

Triangles of cool!!!

This is definitely the coolest building in Adelaide! I had a meeting here at the South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute today, and I am loving the architecture by Woods Bagot! The sculptural, iconic form is characterised by a striking transparent facade that unifies the organic diamond shaped plan - it is a little bit outer-worldly! 












Tuesday 24 November 2015

Agnes got told off!!!

Oh my wordy...look what happened at school...!!!



Agnes got told off by the teacher - and twister (Elliot = twin sister) was there to mock her :-)



Monday 23 November 2015

Lilac!

This is Adelaide - at the moment all the Jacaranda trees are in full bloom. It is pretty, isn't it?!


Sunday 22 November 2015

Next door :)

What's better than a lazy Sunday spent with little friends next door?!


And of course, our lil' guinea pigs needs some Sunday cuddles too.


Hope you all had a good weekend :)




Saturday 21 November 2015

Dentist check-up

Home, and back in the swing of things, we have lots of things to catch up on - such as our dentist check ups :-)


No cavities and brilliant tooth-brushing report cards - well done, girls! Keep up the good work.



Friday 20 November 2015

Mælkesjokolade!

Heime på Mølnarodden der sett vi no å ægne lina og et på Mælkesjokolade....

Det er godt å komme hjem til en stor pakke som venter på meg fra mamma!! Ukeblader, melkesjokolade, Smash og leverpostei - da er det glade piker her i huset, ja :-)



Thursday 19 November 2015

Home sweet home!

After a very successful trip overseas it was time to head back home. The flights back were excruciatingly, painfully loooooooong. But check out my hotel room at Vancouver Airport where I stopped for a nano-sleep!!!


WOW!!! What a view!



Can you see the skyline of Vancouver in the distance?

And then... FINALLY HOME!!! I txt'ed Gregg the minute I landed in Adelaide, and got this reply: '....so sorry, but we are running about 20 mins late...'. Safe to say I was so disappointed, but said we'd meet at the baggage-carousel. And as I'm walking out of the plane...there they were!! Waiving through the glass. They tricked me!! What a nice surprise. I cried like a baby. We all did :-) 

At home I was met with beautiful welcome-home messages from my beautiful girls.








Aaaawww. Love. Love. Love.





Tuesday 17 November 2015

Meegwetch!

Thank you University of Saskatchewan - in particular to Heather who made our fantastic programme in and around Regina. Thank you also to Flinders for allowing us this opportunity! We have all learned a lot and this experience I am sure will impact the future nursing practice of these 5wonderful nurses, who all have warm hearts!

Meegwetch Heather!



Thank you Elaine!

Thank you Lynn!

We will stay in touch! 


Fort Qu'Appelle White Raven Healing Centre

When the All Nations Healing Hospital opened its doors on June 12, 2004, the facility replaced the old Fort Qu’Appelle Indian Hospital built nearly 80 years ago. The hospital provides acute, palliative care, emergency services, women's health and midwife services, and laboratory and radiology services. As a hospital it includes 13 acute care beds, one palliative care bed, a large outpatient and diagnostic area and support services.  

The White Raven Healing Centre provides mental health services and a spiritual cultural program. The culturally sensitive design elements incorporated into the facility accommodate an approach to health care that recognizes the relationship between mind, spirit, body and community.

We were lucky to spend some time here to learn from Wendell, Dallas, Donna and Lorna.




The birthing centre

Notice the star-blanket on the bed. To give a blanket is to demonstrate great respect, honor and admiration for an individual. When receiving a blanket as a gift, the giver holds the individual in very high respects for their generosity and accomplishments. It is believed that receiving a blanket will bring good dreams and prosperity.

When a blanket is placed on an individual, it is like wrapping the respect and admiration of everyone in the community around them physically and spiritually.
Blankets are meant to be “circular” or wrapped around a person so that no square edges or corners. Just fluid lines of color and texture, which convey a sense of motion.



Just to the side of the All Nations Healing Hospital lies the White Raven Healing Centre. This centre's main aim is to assist with the trans-generational trauma of the Indian Residential School system.

The vision of the White Raven Healing Centre is to provide client-centered mental health and addictions services that integrates the best of mainstream therapeutic techniques with traditional First Nation healing practices to provide a holistic approach to heal from past traumatic experiences and current psychological issues. 

The mission is to promote guiding principles that will encourage open communication with all individuals, families and communities. Its primary focus is to provide traditional and conventional counseling designed to address the legacy of inter-generational impacts of residential schools and unresolved trauma and family violence. 

The White Raven Healing Centre was obtained through a traditional naming ceremony and was named by the Grandmother Spirit, White Raven, the  head Grandmother who sits in the West. 

The White Raven Healing Centre is a program of the File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal Council. The File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal Council has eleven (11) member First Nations. The mission of the File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal Council is to:
Protect and Implement Inherent Treaty Rights Promote Self-Determination Assist in the development of productive and safe communities Provide technical and advisory services Address the common interests of First Nations in an equitable and professional manner while respecting the priorities of culture.

The mandate of the First Nation Integrated Mental Health Centre is to provide holistic counseling programs in a safe, culturally sensitive environment to assist individuals, families and communities in healing past trauma and to maintain emotional wellness. The Centre operates within a First Nation culturally appropriate, community specific framework, utilizing the principle of empowerment to promote and facilitate individual and collective development.

The healing philosophy:
The White Raven Healing Centre philosophy of "Traditional Healing" is to use culture as healing. This encompasses the concept that the human body is an organism with self-healing and strong recuperative capabilities, which when maintained properly is capable of on-going health and longevity. Where disease does exist, a Traditional Healer aims to correct both the internal and external imbalances between the four aspects of human beings. In First Nations cultures healing is the process of bringing one's body, mind, spirit to a deeper level of inner knowing that leads towards integration and balance. Euro-Canadian physicians seek to cure disease, First Nations Traditional Healers do not claim to cure the disease but work to facilitate the body's own recuperative power. Our traditional and contemporary healing methods strive to assist individuals in restoring balance in a holistic manner.


I read this book when I was doing my PhD on Indigenous Midwifery!

Another star-blanket

Aren't you glad you quit???






Again, notice all the round walls - no corners



Donna Okeeweehow - Elder Harry's daughter

The healing room was very powerful


We were invited into the Medicine Room where all traditional medicines were stored and prepared for usage at the hospital. Wendell Starblanket and Dallas shared learning stories for hours - wow, what an amazing experience we had!

First up he gave us something to chew...and then we listened.





Sweet grass. When I close my eyes I can still smell the sweet smell...




 





Afterwards we ended the afternoon over at Treaty 4 Governance Centre (each province of Canada has their own treaty - Saskatchewan is number 4). The File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council is a strong vibrant organization evolving to assist, enhance and promote First Nations entities and it’s people, based on the spirit and intent of the Treaties.




Wendell did the Tipi Teaching's with us








I cannot thank Wendell Starblanket enough - what an amazing man. He reminded me of the importance of patience and being thankful. Two crucial aspects of today that is so often lost in our everyday chase of living.

Meegwetch!