Self-sufficiency

SP now kisses his own bumps and scrapes. 

Evangel... what?

Yes, I do know the difference between Evangelical and Evangelistic. Previous post has been corrected of error. 

If you don't know, don't worry about it :) I vividly remember being corrected about 10 years ago when all that language was brand new to me. What I wanted to convey is that SP gets that non-Christians don't get to be with God forever, so he's keen to help them know about Jesus. 

Heaven and hell

Remember SP's confusion about Goliath going to heaven? 

We've since had lots of little conversations about people needing to trust Jesus to go to heaven etc etc etc etc. I think SP now has a pretty good grasp of it. And his evangelistic fervor has increased as a result. 

Then this comes from the back sheet of the car:

"When we're in heaven, we might go down to hell to see Goliath."

One-to-one High

I've just spent the evening with a lovely young woman from church. We don't know each other well, despite being at the same small church for 3 1/2 years. I don't seem to have the knack of turning 'how's your week been?' into a decent conversation.

But there's something powerful about opening the Bible together. Even with a random passage selection, starting the conversation with God's word leads to opening our hearts to each other. 

This is why I love one-to-one ministry. I'm sad that I've let it slip from my life the past few years, but I'm excited that it's back. 

First spam comment

Not a good or useful thing, I know. But I can't help feeling that we've 'arrived'.

We did it! Ride for Refugees Report

Collectively, our family rode about 77km today. 

That's 50km for Dave, 25km for me, and about 2km for SP. 

Dave's usual ride to work is about 13km each way, though with a lot more hills than today's course, so I'm impressed that he did the 50km as easily as he did, though he reports tiredness and soreness tonight. 

I had been planning to gently ramp up to the 25km over the last couple of months, but for a variety of reasons it didn't really happen. Most of my preparatory riding has been in 2-4km bouts with SP riding ahead of me, and the biggest solo (ie adult speed) ride I'd done was about 8km. So 25 was a big step up. I really didn't know if I'd make it, and I'm quite proud that I did. 

SP was so excited to discover a trike on the roadside yesterday (there's a real culture of 'if you don't want it anymore, leave it on the kerb' around here), and he took that along instead of his balance bike or going in the trailer. Apparently he loved it for just over 2 laps of the kids' circuit, then one of the back wheels came off. He coped admirably, still scooting it around and doing 'tricks'. 

Excellent day. I'm glad we'd planned to have a quiet afternoon, and I will be very sore tomorrow, but it's nice to accomplish something measurable. 

Bring on Ride for Refugees 2014 :)

Blog reading crossroads

I'm a Google Reader user. I love having lots of lovely new blog posts sitting waiting for me when I log in. But Google Reader won't exist after 1 July. 

I've been looking at this article, trying to choose a replacement. 

Any suggestions?

Let's Get Moving

I was finishing up the April edition of Brisbane's Child last night, and feeling convicted about getting SP moving a bit more. We spend a fair bit of time outside, but lots of it is bike riding or play on his plastic fort, and I wondered if he was practicing all the different movements and skills that he could be. 

Then I remembered 'Let's Get Moving', a free activity pack that I'd ordered from the Dept of Sport & Recreation, when SP was way too young for it, and forgotten about. 

I pulled the book out and started having a flick through it this morning. SP saw the board game mat, and wanted to play IMMEDIATELY! 

It was raining, so we confined our play to the lounge room, and did some improvising with ribbon for a curved line to march on, and cardboard tubes and cushions for batting practice. SP had a great time and F thought the whole thing was hilarious and was pretty keen to join in, although most of the movements were beyond her. We kept things simple by just having 1 counter and taking turns to roll the die, so we did the movements together. 

They're not sending out the printed resources anymore, but the whole thing is available online at http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/community-programs/school-community/childhood-programs/preschooler.html Note that if you download the 3.4MB PDF, you'll still want to download & print the Activity Map (aka game board). 

The target age is 3-6, but with a bit of creativity, I think it could work for toddlers right up through primary. I think it's something a family of kids could do without adult help, as long as there's a reader among them. 

Highly recommended. Let's get those little bodies moving!

Meekness and Quietness of Spirit

Nancy Ann at Femina, one of my favourite 'thinking about God and motherhood' blogs, has recently published a series of blog posts summarising Matthew Henry's 'The Quest for Meekness and Quietness of Spirit', first published in 1698. Some quotes:

“Meekness is easiness for it accommodates the soul to every occurrence, and so makes a man easy to himself and to all about.” In other words, when we are meek, we do not react or get fussed up or fired up. We stay in control of ourselves and “keep possession of our souls” in the midst of unforeseen occurrences. 

“Meekness preserves the mind from being ruffled and discomposed, and the spirit from being unhinged by the vanities and vexations of this lower world.”

Meekness keeps the soul peaceful and quiet, which Henry says “puts a charming loveliness and amiableness upon the soul, which renders it acceptable to all who know what true worth and beauty is.”

“He has the sweetest and surest peace who is most master of his own passions. The comfort that a man has in governing himself is much greater than he could have in having people serve him and nations bow down to him. It is certain that the worst enemies we have, if ever they break loose and get head, are in our own bosoms.”

I'd like some of that!

You can read the series here: 

Meekness

Anger Management

The Yoke of Christ

Self-governed

Quietness of Spirit

The Beauty of Meekness

Mastering Our Passions

Excuses

The book is now out of copyright, so I found it at the Internet Archive here. Haven't started reading it yet, but I'm looking forward to it. Click one of the links under in the 'View the Book' section to the left. 

Toy of the Day

The humble paddle-pop stick.

Psalm 71 update

I zipped through the first 6 or so verses of Psalm 71. I'd written my tune, and once I have that I find it pretty easy to get the words into my memory. 

Then I ran out of tune, and didn't write more. And since the tune was 'The Plan', I let the whole thing slide. 

Officially, the Psalm 71 challenge is over. But I've just picked it up again. Wisely, the ladies at Do Not Depart planned that May would be spent revising. Or still learning, as the case may be. 

June to August is going to be 'Memory Classics,' 8 most-memorised passages, like Psalm 23. I'm going to try having SP learn along too. And I'm going to try not setting the words to music, because I think that's actually been my downfall this time round.

Having the next project in sight in so helpful for getting this one finished off...

New Kids Book

I just read about this one over at Girltalk. They're doing a giveaway - can anybody think of a funny thing one of my kids has done so I can enter? Or maybe your kids are the funny ones and you'll win...

Call the Midwife clips on YouTube

Are you watching Call the Midwife? It's my one show at the moment. Love it. 

I came across this video on Facebook yesterday - Comic Relief with the cast of Call the Midwife & a cameo from Dr Who, created to raise money for Red Nose Day in the UK. Worth watching if you're a fan. 

There's also this one about using prosthetic babies - I love this behind the scenes sort of stuff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNe6xt3O0uI

I also discovered there's a soundtrack CD & an official companion book. I'm tempted by the CD. I've always been into soundtracks, and 50s & 60s albums are great to clean to. 

And it turns out that the book is in the library. I'll put a hold on it once the series is finished - I'd rather not be spoiled if I can help it. So perhaps I'd better stop poking around the internet...

Does God wear shoes?

Specifically, did God and Jesus wear shoes before they made the world?

We read 'The Elves and the Shoemaker' this afternoon, and SP asked at dinnertime why the people went to the shoemaker to get shoes instead of going to a shoe shop. Cue discussion about handmade local goods vs modern factories, transportation etc. 

I thought we'd covered it all pretty well. Then the above question was raised. 

Hmm. 

I'm sure there was an easy way out that I didn't take. I headed down the 'God is a spirit' road. Way too confusing. Then he flits from shoes to clothes, and is imagining everyone in heaven running around nudie. And the usual 'I don't think the Bible tells us' wasn't cutting it. 

Soon I was getting my Bible out and flicking through Revelation. Bear in mind that this is all happening in the middle of dinner, and Dave is working lates this week. Not very conducive to theological somersaults. 

We ended up talking about white robes and crowns, but it wasn't very satisfactory for either of us. 

Help me out - what would you have said?

Reading the Bible with SOAP

No, I haven't been taking my Bible in the shower with me. But I have started using a new technique in my Bible reading times: S.O.A.P

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across it here. I don't know where it originated, and a quick google gives lots of explanations & resources. 

The basic idea is: 

S: Scripture - write it out. 

O: Observations. 

A: Applications

P: Prayer 

When I found this, I was feeling pretty uninspired in my readings, and trying something new nearly always helps with that, so I gave it a go straight away. And I'm loving it. 

I've been taking the Bible readings from church (1 Tim and Titus), dividing them into 6-7 parts, and reading one part each day in the lead up to the sermon. 

Since I'm doing my Bible readings first thing in the morning. I'm finding that the simple act of writing out the passage goes a long way towards waking me up and focusing my attention. I may be bleary eyed at the start, but by the time I've copied out a couple of sentences, my brain is much more engaged than it would be if I'd just been reading them. 

I write my observations, applications and prayers too. It keeps me focused, and at the end of my quiet time, I look at the page of notes I've written and feel like I've accomplished something. 

And there's one more thing that's been adding value to my Bible reading time: 

Our house has a lot of doorways and not so many doors, so using this little beauty (from IKEA) rather than the overhead dining room light means the children don't feel so inclined to come and join me. 

I'm still not really enjoying getting up to read the Bible, but I am enjoying being up. Praise God. 

Mess

I hadn't realised how much tidier 3 1/2 year old play is, compared to younger kids. Yes, SP makes a mess, but his messes are generally in defined areas, and thus easy to clean up. And he (sometimes) helps. 

F, on the other hand, has just discovered the joy of carrying things around. So there's interesting bits and pieces spread everywhere. I had forgotten this phase, but now I remember. 

Or not

Back to The Enchanted Wood at rest time :)

Finally!

SP is showing signs of moving on from his obsession with The Enchanted Wood! 

It all started when we bought him a beautiful full-colour copy for Christmas. Although he originally assumed he was too little for it (it's the first chapter book we've read him, apart from a few chapters of Winnie-the-Pooh), he fell in love very quickly and has requested it almost every rest time and bed time (and other times) ever since. We've probably read it through close to 15 times now. He's acquiesced to a few chapters of some other Enid Blytons here and there, but it's always been The Enchanted Wood at bedtime. 

Yesterday, we started reading Dick King-Smith's 'The Sheep-Pig' (aka Babe). It was deemed suitable for bedtime and rest time reading, and it's only 12 chapters, so we finished it today. This evening, I was holding my breath for The Enchanted Wood to be requested again, but no - he wanted to start the Sheep-Pig back at the beginning. 

When we're chatting about it, it's obvious that quite a lot of it has gone over his head on the first read-through. But some things go straight in and ruminate - he's been asking tonight if somebody else would be his foster-parent if his dad & I were gone and he got a bit lonely, like Fly is Babe's foster-parent. 

What books are your kids into?

God made babies just the way they need to be

A while ago I said I'd share some tidbits from the books I'm reading. Since then, I've marked many pages, but none have turned into actual blog posts. Until now. 

Here's one little gem from Dr Susan Prescott's 'The Allergy Epidemic,' which I'd recommend to anybody who has even a passing interest in allergies and their recent increase. It surprised me by its readability, which perhaps the following quote (from the middle of one of the more technical chapters) doesn't demonstrate very well. But bear with me. 

... exposure to allergens through the oral route (the gut) is more likely to induce immune tolerance... there is some evidence that immune cells in the gut are more likely to suppress allergic responses, compared with the same kinds of cells in the skin or the respiratory tract. (pg 49)

Did you catch that? I'll paraphrase:

The immune cells in our guts are better at telling the difference between things they need to react to and things they don't, than the cells in our skin or lungs are. 

Which means that the best and safest way to teach our immune systems to operate properly is to get lots of different particles in our mouths. 

So what do babies do? Put everything in their mouths. Yes, it's how they learn about objects, but now we find out it's teaching their immune systems too. 

God really has designed human beings very, very well.

Oh, the debris!

I took the long weekend off. We had plenty of responsibilities at church and still had children to feed and clothe. But I let the non-essential housework slide, in favour of things like family bike rides and sitting on the couch reading a book. It was good to have a break. 

And then this morning arrived. And, predictably, the house resembled a bomb site, the regular housework was way behind, and the kids just wanted me to sit on the floor and read to them all morning. 

Hmm. 

I considered my regular plan of action: Pick a room, and tidy it til it looks lovely. Excellent, one room down. Start on the next one. But the kids seem to realise that this process could take a while, so by this point they're usually clamouring for attention. Then I get annoyed with them for wanting me while I just want to get things done, and try to keep working. Unsurprisingly, their behaviour deteriorates, my frustration levels rise, and... you can guess what happens then. 

Today, a slightly different tack. 

I pick my first room, then set my trusty timer. Actually, it's my phone. 5 minutes. It's effective motivation - I tidy fast. The timer goes off, and things in that room are looking pretty good. The kids are happily playing, they'll do without me for another 5. Let's move on to the next room, and set the timer again. This room is BAD. My 5 minutes is over before I know it, and there's still a lot to do. But I know the perfectionist trap I'm about to get caught in, so I tell myself that I can come back later and move on.

Another 5 minutes and F is asking for a story. Having accomplished 3 rooms already, I'm fine with that. We read. And read. And SP joins the party, and we read some more. But that's ok, it was part of the plan. 

And so we continue on. There's still sibling spats, and a time-out, more mess being created in the rooms I've just done, and a moment's annoyance when it comes to morning tea time and I haven't tidied the kitchen from breakfast yet.

A little later, I glance at the clock. It's 10am. The house looks reasonable. We're sitting on the upturned coffee table sailing to the beach for a plastic bread and pizza picnic. We've enjoyed each other's company and done a reasonable job of having everybody's needs met, conflicting as they may have seemed 3 hours ago. 

Housework with little ones is a slow process, but today, I'm ok with that. 

Now to maintain that attitude for the afternoon. The floor's overdue for a vacuum, the shower's getting slimy, dinner won't cook itself... Here we go again...