The weather is warming up now, albeit we get days of the lingering cold that are reluctant to say goodbye. Generally, it’s warmer enough, and the days long enough, for the barbie to be fired up again. So, yesterday, after a “new comers’ lunch” at SBC, Tress and I went and got some steaks, salmon fillets, and other stuff to go a barbie for Kiddo and her mob.

I fired up the GA again and it was wonderful to have Kiddo, Mic and the girls in our home, eating and playing and allowing their full toddler and infant antics to be demonstrated unabated. It was a wonderful way to end the weekend.

This morning, Tress and I woke up earlier than usual, and trekked into the city. Steer Inc. sponsored a table at the National Prayer Breakfast at the Parliament House and Garth had asked if Tress and I would like to be there. It was good to see Garth again, and though the event was nice, it probably needed more work to have more traction as a prayer event.

The keynote address was delivered by John Dickson, a familiar voice for me as I’m a regular listener of his Undeceptions podcast.

There were also short talks by Michelle Rowland the Attorney General (which was underwhelming) and Susan Ley, the Opposition Leader, who must have thought she needed all the prayers she can get, as the Liberals tanked badly in the latest polls. Her speech was a bit better than the AG’s but that may have been because it was more heartfelt. It sounded like it came from her heart, much more than the AG’s speech was.

We had offered Garth to stay with us when he came up but he stayed with the parents of his daughter’s newly acquired husband. Graeme and Linda Tinney are Canberrans and they were at the event so I got to talking a bit with them. We also bumped into John Steenhof and his daughter Annaliese. Tress had a few of her World Vision Australia colleagues there too and we also spotted the likes of Andrew Hastie and Matt Canavan and of course, David Smith, our MP (Bean electorate) who is a co-chair of the Parliamentary Christian Fellowship (together with a Queensland rep). I haven’t been in a room with so many pollies for a long time. Thankfully, the Great Hall of the Parliament is cavernous so there was enough air to go around.

We got back around 9am and I quickly logged onto work.