Wednesday, April 30, 2014

F sings to her baby

6 1/2 weeks to go. Or thereabouts. 

The kids love to chat and sing to 'their baby'. I managed to record F the other day. Cuteness :)


"Love somebody, yes I do
Love somebody
I love my baby!"

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Empire building...

For a long time I've harboured visions of grand model railway empires, stretching for (scale) miles and miles.  I have very fond memories of the now defunct Flaxton Barn model railway at Mapleton, and another "big tin shed" display near Beenleigh/Beaudesert.

And last night, I took delivery of the first step in building my own empire:






It doesn't look like much yet, because it's the unassembled kit for a T-Trak N scale single module.  But hopefully, when it's finished it'll look something a little like this:





That's one of many sets of grain silos on the Western Downs - each little town had them, all right beside the rail line for ease of transport to the big smoke.

So watch this space for further updates.  And who knows, maybe in 30 years I can take early retirement and let people walk through my shed looking at my own little empire.

Friday, April 11, 2014

The curious account of Jeroboam II

If, like me, you'd normally need to look up your bible to know who Jeroboam II is, he's got one of the bit parts in 2 Kings; chapter 15:23-29 specifically.  One of the many godless kings of Israel in the lead up to its exile.

It starts off in the usual manner:

23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. 24 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin.

But then we get to this strange twist:

 25 He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher.

That seems out of place, given that usually the evil kings wound up losing territory, not gaining it.

But fear not, gentle reader.  God was in control all along:

26 For the Lord saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel. 27 But the Lord had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.
28 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and all that he did, and his might, how he fought, and how he restored Damascus and Hamath to Judah in Israel, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 29 And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, the kings of Israel, and Zechariah his son reigned in his place.

This isn't the first time I've read 2 Kings, but it's the first time I noticed verse 27, and I love it.  It's easy to complain about our government, to fear that we're "getting the government we [as a society] deserve", or to think that we need a Christian theocracy to be well governed, and things like that.  But this verse reminds us that God is still sovereign, and that he will look after us in the way he chooses, even through ungodly leaders.

PS - this is not intended as a commentary on any current or present governments in Australia or anywhere else.  It's an observation of how good God is.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

This day in history

April 8th... lots of interesting things happened in history on this day.

For example:
AD 217 Emperor Caracella assassinated by the Praetorian guard, and succeeded by guard prefect.
1879 Milk sold in glass bottles for the first time
1947 Henry "pick any colour as long as it's black" Ford died
1964 Gemini I launched
1966 Robin Wright Penn ("Buttercup" in The Princess Bride) born
1986 Clint Eastwood elected mayor of Carmel, California
2013 Margaret Thatcher died

Most interesting to me though, and much less widely reported, was the event in 2004, when a young couple thinking about Bible college gave a friend a lift up to a youth camp on the Sunshine Coast.  Being the loving people they are, they made sure their friend was introduced to others at the camp, including a young man on the organising team.

Being a polite chap he said hello, but didn't think any more about it at the time, until 12 months later he needed to find a singer for the camp music team.  Then he noticed that not only did she have a voice like an angel, she was also very pleasant on the eye, and very easy to talk to.  And most of all, she clearly loved God.

The rest, as they say, is history :)

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Lunchboxes

We seem to have a pretty good collection of different lunchboxes, but rarely one to suit just the purpose I want. 

We got SP a nude food one to start Kindy, and it's broken already, so I'm searching again. 

We have different sizes of Tupperware, but even the big long one doesn't hold that much food. Our kids are good eaters. 

Pretty keen on Bento Laptop Lunch Boxes after this review from Be A Fun Mum, but they're a bit pricey. 

What do you use?