|
Spiritual Depression in the Psalms By John Piper, Desiring God Blog I haven’t yet read part one of this series on the Psalms, but part two is worth a look. It is long but do persevere to the end, it has some great insights into how people respond to the dark times in their life.
|
|
I don’t know what it is about being heavily pregnant and feeling overwhelmed – hormones I guess. It couldn’t have anything to do with the lifestyle I lead – homeschooling, lots of children, living on a farm, lots of pets. I like to think I can manage almost anything (though I am fast changing my thoughts on that one). Simple and slow is my motto right now. Some days I think we don’t get enough done in the homeschool department. Especially after talking to someone whose children do rocket science at age ten. My ten year old struggles with math so much (math workbooks mainly) that I have decided during the last weeks of pregnancy, I am not going to push math at all. I would rather have a peaceful home than a stressful one. You know the verse, “But seek first the When everything is normal and I am in my right mind, the above problems don’t seem so big. Right now though, most issues are easily blown out of proportion. The baby’s birth day is only a matter of weeks away, and so far, I am not panicking. I can’t say I won’t panic as the time draws nearer. I don’t know. This is now our second pregnancy after loss and I have managed a lot better than I did with the first subsequent pregnancy. The hospital has helped by not requiring me to give birth in the Delivery Suite. I can actually go to the Birth Centre. I haven’t had to see an obstetrician this time either. I love obstetricians, when you need them. But they have a way of making you feel that anything that can go wrong will go wrong - not conducive to a peaceful frame of mind. So right now in my peaceful frame of mind, I look forward to the weeks flying by and I can hold a precious bundle in my arms. Before our baby died in 2004, I always thought of pregnancy as straight forward. Pregnancy equals live baby. Now, I am not so presumptuous. The possibility that something could go wrong is at the back of my mind. My prayers in the past have consisted of a plea for strength to get through labour and birth. My prayers now are for a live, healthy baby. |
|
In 1797, William Wilberforce wrote A Practical View of Christianity in which he addressed the defective nature of the Christianity many middle and upper class people in Wilberforce on the Wasted Life |
|
Fortunately, I don't have a waistline to worry about. Now I can eat the yummy things I received, guilt free. Almost.
|
|
Happy Mother's Day: Woman pregnant with 18th childHow exciting to be expecting your 18th child. I imagine their home life is never dull.Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mums out there.I love being a Mother. It is such a privilege. Is there any other career that can compare with motherhood?These are a few of my favourite things:Little voices greeting me in the morning.Smiling faces.Colourful drawings that hang on my fridge.A tiny voice telling me she “loves me so much.”Friendly chats with my older girls.Boys who love to show me their ‘huge’ muscles.Little feet touching my legs in the middle of the night.I am so spoiled. So far, today, I have had a beautiful cooked breakfast, and lots of lovely presents. A gourmet dinner will top it off tonight. I will try to post some photos soon.Until then, enjoy every moment you have with your children. They are such precious gifts. |
|
At the moment, our trees look beautiful in all their autumn splendour. Rebekah took a couple of the boys with her to rake the leaves and place them on our gardens for mulch. Here is her rendition of the memorable time they had. The Claret Ash and Golden Ash trees were covered with red and gold leaves until a few days ago. They looked so pretty when the sun was shining through them in the late afternoon. When their leaves did at last fall, the job gave itself to Jordan, Rob and I to gather them up and scatter them on as many gardens as was possible. It turned out to be quite a lot of fun. The boys had turns sitting on the pile of leaves in the wheelbarrow to keep them from blowing away, and when they least expected it I tipped them and the whole load out. It was a bit of a worry though, when one started screaming and I thought I’d cracked his neck. You don’t know how comfortable it is lying on a heap of raked up leaves. Apart from an occasional twig or two, it’s almost as nice as sleeping on a normal bed.
|
Hard yakka!
Yes, sir!
The twosome before a tipping.
“Let’s do that again!”|
The Piper’s have written another article on how to help your grieving friend.
10 Tips for Bringing Meals to a Grieving Friend
May 7, 2008 How to Help Your Grieving Friend, Part 10
When we lost Felicity, we had a lot of meal help from friends and family. I learned a few things from the people serving me about how to serve others—with food. 1. BRING MEALS! It is essential, really. Bringing meals is a profound ministry to the hurting. Your friend’s mind is otherwise engaged and simply cannot sequence the steps for making a meal. 2. Organize the meals so she doesn’t have to. Ideally, one person (not the griever) is coordinating meals immediately after the loss. If the grieving person has to coordinate what days they’re going to get a meal, who it’s coming from, what time it’s arriving, etc., that’s just as much work as trying to make meals herself. If there is no meal coordinator, volunteer! 3. Stagger the times that you bring meals. Depending on the size of the family, meals may only be necessary every other day or even every third day. Because of leftovers, one meal often provides for two days of eating. 4. Bring a frozen meal. As many of you know after a death, there’s often no shortage of food. A frozen meal can be set aside for when it’s most convenient. You can even organize your small group to bring a whole batch of frozen meals if they have an extra freezer (make sure first!). These come in handy a couple months down the road when the organized meals are over, and a particularly hard day/week comes. 5. Make sure everyone doesn’t bring the same thing. Soup and lasagna are the most common meals to bring because they taste so good, they’re the easiest to make, and they travel well. But make sure they haven’t received a bunch of those already (talk to the meal organizer about that). 6. Should I stay or should I go? Yes. When you bring a meal, feel the situation out for whether or not you should linger. They might want you to stick around and talk, but if you think not, it’s perfectly acceptable to drop it off and get going. 7. Don’t count on commiserating. You’re bringing a meal because of their loss, but they might not want to feel that loss with you right then. Just before dinner might not be a good time for “a moment.” 8. Deliver dinner in dishes you don’t need back. Always provide a meal in containers that don’t need to be returned to you. Having to keep track of 9×13’s and serving bowls is too much work. It requires the organizational effort that we’re trying to avoid. 9. Tell them not to thank you. Make sure they know that you don’t need a thank you note. You can even go as far as telling them that you’ll actually be bothered if they take the time to write you a note. 10. It’s never too late to bring a meal. Most of you probably don’t know anyone who lost a loved one so recently that meals are still being organized for them. But you do probably know someone who endured a loss six, seven, twelve months ago. I can almost guarantee that if you called and asked to bring dinner this week, you’d bless their oven mitts off. It’s never too late. Maybe some of you have been meal organizers or have had meals brought to you–what things have you found helpful? Any other tips you want to share?
|
|
Here are the Ball photos that some of you have been eagerly awaiting. They are not very good shots but they will give you an idea of the night.
The hair had to be curled. Four girls (actually, five girls, our friend came over to have her hair done) with long hair and curlers is a nightmare.
Well, that's all folks.
|
Even Lily had to help. Sam's hair was easy to do though. So we left it up to her.
Sam helping Jamie polish his shoes.
Rebekah looking on.
Jamie scrubbed up okay.
Jess, Rebekah and Rachael. I made the two dresses on the right (can't you tell) and Jessica had her dress made by a professional (can't you tell).
A group shot of the dancers on the night.
Our friend, Amy.
In this photo you can just see Karli, Jamie, Rebekah and Jess and Sam are the ones in the middle.|
What does the word “art,” mean to you? Art can be many different things to many different people. It might be a favorite painting, sculpture, or drawing. It might be a favorite building, photograph, or craft. It could be a favorite dance move, play, or favorite song. Discovering art with the Art Appreciation Project Pack will give your student an introduction and understanding to the world of art. This 51-page Project Pack includes a 16-page Research Guide about the different types of art, elements of art, famous artists, principles of design, styles of art, and appreciating art. After reading the guide, your student will use the information found to complete 15 hands-on activities to make a lapbook on Art Appreciation. We just downloaded this for free. Click on this link for your copy. Art Appreciation
|
|
We celebrated Jordan's tenth birthday on April 4th. Ten years passes by so quickly. With so many people to buy presents for it can be a challenge to find something interesting each time. But not with boys. Boys always love Lego. This Lego set kept Jordan occupied all day and he was very happy with the end-product.
|
|
I was going to blog about the lovely wedding we went to on Saturday. But my niece, Bethany, at Be Thou My Vision, beat me to it. She has taken some beautiful photos. |
|
How to Help Your Grieving Friend This excellent series of posts is by the Pipers whose second child was stillborn last September. If you haven’t read my book, Grief and Grace, then this series is a great place to start if you want to know how to help a grieving mother. So far, there are seven posts and I imagine there will be more. So keep reading.
|
|
What a delight to have a two year old in the house. I will be very sad on the day I have no more little ones in my home. I guess grandchildren will start to come along and that will make up for it in some way. I am sure I will love them to bits. But there is just no substitute for having your own to snuggle and laugh at when they are funny. Lily likes to copy everything we do. She cooks, she cleans... no, seriously, she does clean but the copying is mainly the things we say or do, like using the computer. The laptop was left down on the lounge one day and look who found it. And knew how to use it.
|
|
Boxes are a lot of fun. The children spent hours making and playing in this huge T.V box. Windows were cut out with coloured-in inserts for the panes. A letter box was placed on the side. It said No Junk Mail of course. This one also came with an ensuite. Lily placed her potty inside for easy access. The moral of the story: Buy a T.V. by all means, just don't watch it. Use the box instead.
|
|
Whip Crack Away Recently Jamie has taken up whip making . A friend from up the road has been giving him lessons. We found some old books that Matthew used when he was the same age, and now Jessica has joined in the whip making too.
|
|
Recent Happenings in Our Home – Part Two This is the second bat we have found in the five years we have lived here. I think they live down in the old brick sheds near the house. This one was found dead on our lawn. A cat kill perhaps.
|
|
Recent Happenings in Our Home - Part One
After our neighbour involved the children in his yabby (a small, freshwater crayfish) fishing a few weeks back,
Jamie and Jordan placed raw meat in the trap, threw it out into the dam, attached by a rope, and waited for the yabbies to take the bait. Here are two that they caught.
A friend gave us another trap to use; they then had double the chance of actually catching something. Last night two big (about the size of a big prawn or a small crab) yabbies met their fate, were cooked and eaten by two very excited boys. I don’t have a picture of the cooked product—they were eaten too quickly. But they actually turned a golden orange colour and tasted somewhat like a prawn. On catching a yabby you must first plunge them into salty water, they will then throw up any bad stuff from their gut. Bring a pot of salty water to a rolling boil, plunge the yabbies into this and they will die instantly. Once the water is boiling again they are ready to take out and cool. You peel the torso section like you would for a prawn. The claws need to be crushed and the meat taken out with a fine tool. Like when you eat lobster or crab.
|
|
“The industrial revolution came and took the men from the home. Compulsory schooling came and took the children from the home. Feminism came and took the women from the home. And now...they are all out working to pay the mortgage so the dog can stay at home by himself.” Excerpt taken from To Be At Home, a great article by Carolyn McCulley over at Radical Womanhood.
|
|
Decline of marriage is destroying our pupils, say teachers. • They're too mixed up to learn
|
|
Thank you to Tamara at Training Hearts for posting this article.
“I Love You More” is a good reminder that our selfishness is often the motivator for our actions. Do we love our will or the will God has for us?
I Love You More
posted in Inspiration, Parenting | Last summer, our family was going through a difficult time. My oldest daughter (then 16) just had a very extensive knee surgery, far more difficult than we expected. Our son (2) was going through a lot of behavior changes and having difficulty sleeping, obeying, responding when called, and the like. My other children were just fine, but the weeks were very long and hard. My frustration with my son was growing with each passing day. I would wake up more exhausted when I went to bed because he kept getting up at night. He woke several times each night screaming, crying, fussing, wandering the house, or whatever a two year old mind can think of to do when all the lights are out and everyone else is trying trying to sleep. I am very consistent with the discipline of my children and I was searching and praying or answers, solutions and quick fixes. The Lord had something else in mind for me. One night at 1:30 AM when he was up crying, rather than just sending him back to his bed, I went to his room and just rocked him and held him. As I looked in his sweet little face, I realized that I was putting my desire for a full night of sleep ahead of my precious son. I looked him in the face and told that little baby, “I will stay here and rock you all night if it helps you feel better. I love you more than I love a full night of sleep.” I rocked him for over an hour. As I sat and prayed about this child and my own selfish behavior, I was reminded of another home school family who just lost their own precious son (18) to cancer. I know his mother would gladly give up her nights of sleep for every night if she had the chance to hold her son again. I had to repent to my son and to the Lord. The next day, when I called his name he ran the other way. Instead of being frustrated, I did the right thing. I got up and went to him and reminded him that when I call his name, he was to come to mommy right away. As I did it, I said in my mind, “I love you more than I love sitting in my chair,” and I prayed for the Lord to make it so. He did. That week I was visiting at another mom’s house, he ran from me in the opposite direction, and headed around the house. I had to stop my conversation to go fetch and correct him, but the whole way, I could hear the Lord saying: “You love him more than what these other mom’s think, more than you love standing here and chatting, and more than having your dream of a perfectly well behaved child. ” Throughout my days I have been examining my own heart and all the little annoyances have faded as I look at each one and remind myself that I love these four children more than I love the dream of perfectly behaved children who never interrupt adults, make messes, argue with siblings, or embarrass me from time to time. Praise God, I really do love them more. I also realized I love the LORD more than I love a perfect house, a perfect car, all the laundry folded, the perfect hot meal on glass dishes on a table set with starched white linens. I can put those things aside temporarily to pursue my Savior in prayer and Bible reading. While all the normal tasks of homemaking must be done, and done to the best of my ability, I was sometimes forgetting that my loving Savior was there to walk me through it all, if only I took the time to seek Him. I know some of you struggle with some of the daily tasks of motherhood and home schooling. I know children can be frustrating and tiring, but I pray that my struggle will help you look at your precious children and husband, and instead of comparing them to your ideal vision, the Lord will give you a heart to say….”I love you more than this.” About the Author
| ||||