"Why build these cities glorious

 if man unbuilded goes? 

In vain we build the world, unless

the builder also grows."

- Edwin Markham

September and early October 2014 have been and we did some things in them. One of these is we started reading The Seven Habits of Highly Effective people by Steven Covey to help us be more effective as people. It's a real thought provoker. We're still sort of towards the start - actually haven't got to the first habit yet, but we're looking forward to it. One good lesson from what we have read is that to be effective we need to value principles, or truths about the universe and effective human behaviour. If we consciously or somewhat unconsciously are influenced by the world to value something that's not a true principle - for example, "to maximize happiness and peace I need to be rich" - then we won't get the results we're after. This is one reason we're glad to hear messages from general conference (being viewed widely in Australia today) - they remind us of true principles.

This past month we also welcomed Dan's brother and sister-in-laws new bub Jacob into the world, welcomed Dan's brother Aaron home from his mission, and welcomed spring by taking a nice walk along the coast.

Bri with Jake

Bri surveys the Pacific Ocean

"The Gap"

View of the westward, harbour side of the headland, with the city and harbour bridge on the horizon