Quote of the Day

SP slips off the bathroom stool: 

"I dropped myself!"

I spent 3 minutes and 40 seconds on the bus this morning

It used to be about 10-15 minutes. 

I LOVE our new busway :D

Projects, projects, projects

I think I must be an ideas person. I never really thought of myself as such, but yesterday I turned to SP and said 'I've got an idea' and he gave me the exact same look that Dave does. A look that says "Oh, here comes another crazy scheme, what will it be this time..."

So I thought I'd share some of the 'ideas' that have become 'projects' that I'm currently working on. 

• A little something for Fathers Day. I will say no more here, because said Father will read it. But chances are he's already guessed that something is coming. 
• A photo prayer diary for SP. 
• A hutch dresser for SP's cardboard kitchen. It really needs some more storage space!
• A tray table for SP for our road trip. Haven't got past the planning stage with this yet, but I'm modelling it on this one.  
• A button toy for SP, also for the road trip. A button on the end of a bit of ribbon, with lots of squares of felt with holes to button on. I saw this on a blog but can't find the link right now. 
• An overhaul / computerisation of my recipe box, to fit with my new routine of monthly Aldi shops. 
• A display board for SP's artwork. I just decided yesterday that a newly-organised corner needs one.
• Christmas crackers for our family celebration (yes, a while away, but still in my thoughts). 
• Converting our long, narrow sleepout (ie. study / library / reading area) into 2 partitioned rooms, one of which will be a nursery. This actually involves a fair few smaller 'projects', but there's no need to list them all here!

I think this will keep me busy for a little while :)

Free nappies & giftcards anyone?

I've just registered my interest with Q&A research for this product trial. Sounds good to me!

Mothers, of babies that are in the weight range of 10-15kgs, who use disposable nappies to trial 3 brands of nappies over the next 2 weeks.If you participate you will receive 3 x 25 nappies and after the completing the questionnaires, you will receive a $20 Coles Myer Gift card. The trial will be from Monday 29^th – 9^th September.If your child fits the criteria above or you know anyone, please pass along our details and ask them to call  or you call on 07 3119 8003.And just mention the NAPPY TRIAL.

John Piper Live

I loved pretty much everything about QTC's John Piper evening yesterday. 

I'd just finished reading Piper's 'Don't Waste Your Life' and it was really helpful to hear bits that I recognised in his talk but have them expanded and expressed differently so I understood them just a little bit more. And lots of new material too.

Colin Buchanan is such a professional. As much as I enjoyed his music, and I did, I also learned so much from him as a song leader. It's actually okay for the song leader to totally stop singing and let the congregation take it away. Very cool. 

My 'high' for the evening: If singing praises to God sounds that good with 3200 people, how great is heaven going to be!!

Yep, I'm now one of those parents

I always cringed at people who post their kids saying memory verses on youtube, but now I have one of my own...

Click here to hear SP, age 2 years 3 weeks, singing our current Church4Kids memory verse, Isaiah 12:1-2. With just a couple of prompts from Mummy. 

There's something so special about hearing him randomly singing around the house "Surely God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid..." Even if he doesn't quite get what it means yet. 

And no, I did not do hours of coaching to get this recording! We sing it around the house a bit (but not that much), and he started singing it at the dinner table so I got my phone out. And turned into a puddle of proud-mummy-goo :)

Oops

Today's lowlight: Paying $150 for a suitcase we don't need or want, because SP was playing with it in the shop and it got scratched. 

For the record, I'm not blaming the store or their staff at all, except that it's unfortunate that they had concrete flooring. I let SP get too far away from me. I was letting him play more vigorously than he should in that environment. It really was scratched all over one side. And it should have cost us $180; they gave us a discount because they felt sorry for me!

Not my proudest parenting moment. 

I'll try again tomorrow. 

SP's Quotable Quotes

At just over 2, SP is full of words, sentences and ideas. And he cracks me up! Here's some recent quotable quotes:

When we were in the back yard and all the afternoon tea food was inside: “Better go upstairs then.”

When I was a bit slack on the admin side at playgroup: “Nametag Mummy!”

“S______ get on his trike and put his helmet on and ride to work and carry his trike up the stairs in Daddy’s foyer.” All said through tears - he really wanted to go!

While climbing up on stool: “Climbing up like Jack and Jill climbed up the hill to get some water.”

Any time he wants something that he thinks isn’t going to happen: “Today or not today”

eg. “Mummy get in your cot.”

            “Sorry, Mummy doesn’t fit in your cot.”

            “Mummy get in your cot today or not today.”

Any time he doesn’t understand the conversation: “Mummy and Daddy are talking about..."

Hello there baby!

We finally had a scan this week :) All looking pretty good at this stage. This baby has the same ectopic heartbeat that SP had in utero, although it's more pronounced and earlier this time. We're praying that all it will mean is extra monitoring between now and birth, rather than any pre- or post-birth complications. 

SP did a great job sitting with Dave through the ultrasound, with only a little bit of distraction needed, and he did seem genuinely interested in what was going on. At one point, I told him that we were looking at the baby's nose and asked him where his was - he pointed to his nose then the baby raised its hand to its face too. We told SP that the baby was copying him, and he looked very chuffed at that. He's now a bit confused about the baby's location though - previously he knew it was inside Mummy, but now he's seen it on a TV screen he doesn't seem so sure! He's still convinced its a girl though. And no, we didn't find out and don't want to :)

Bliss

SP had his first proper sleepover on Friday night, at Grandma's house. 

Dave & I had a sleepover too - at the Stamford Plaza!

It was an early 5th wedding anniversary celebration, as our actual anniversary is 2 weeks before Baby is due. 

I loved the luxury of the whole thing, and the relaxed morning was particularly wonderful. We finally appeared at the buffet for breakfast after 9am. At home that's morning tea time!

Thanks honey :)

The Birthday Party - finally

As I hinted earlier, SP had a Winnie-the-Pooh birthday party for his second birthday. For the occasion, we turned the backyard into the Hundred-Acre Wood, and were very blessed by the beautiful sunny morning.

The inspiration for the Hundred-Acre Wood idea was a big forked branch that came loose from one of our trees a few weeks before the party. It became the doorway for Eeyore's house. 

We made Pooh and Piglet's houses with a couple of big cardboard boxes, thanks to the helpful people at the Harvey Norman warehouse, then re-named the sandpit as 'the Sandy Pit where Roo Plays' and the herb garden as 'Rabbit's Vegie Patch'. 

SP's essentials for a birthday party: streamers, balloons, party hats and cake with candles to blow out.

We certainly satisfied the streamer aspect of things! Just a few balloons, as blowing them up is currently making me nauseous and Dave was 2 days post-wisdom-tooth-removal. For party hats, we printed some Winnie-the-Pooh pictures and let the kids decorate with crayons & glitter.

   

And of course, a Winnie-the-Pooh cake! SP and I did the baking (all fructose free, including the icing!), then Dave showed that spending his days working under a microscope produces useful hand-skills for real life too. I'm very proud of his decorating. 

My favourite party moment happened before the party even started. Dave and I set up the backyard while SP  was having Independent Play Time in his room. When we were done, we brought him out through the front door to see the balloons on the gate and the Hundred-Acre Wood sign. Then down the side... 

"Streamers!" "Eeyore's house!" "Pooh's house!" I pray I'll remember the look of wonder on his face forever. 

For those with the password, here's some more photos...

Last 3 lessons done!

Just in time for the meeting tomorrow. 

But I'm not going to get to the blog post tonight. 

Maybe tomorrow, if the census doesn't take too long. 

Thanks for your patience. 

Birthday Boy

Just to let you know, I have a birthday post planned, but I'm not going to let myself write it until the next lesson of my Isaiah Sunday School material is done. 

It'll have to be before my meeting on Tuesday. 

Noises from naptime

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero...

"Blast off!!"

Thank you, Colin Buchanan, for teaching my son to count. Even if it is backwards. 

Party Prep

There's a Winnie-the-Pooh birthday party in the works. Here's a sneak peak...

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Our afternoon

I had a fair few jobs that needed to be done this afternoon. I was feeling pretty unmotivated, and couldn't decide where to start. So I let SP decide. 

This was our afternoon: 

A daytime sleep!

Another sleep-related post! Fellow parents will not be surprised, given how much sleeping seems to affect everything else. I'll try to post about something more interesting soon - so much going on at the moment that I don't seem to have the brain space to write about it!

Anyway, SP's having a day sleep for the first time in a week! Turns out it's REALLY important at the moment that he's in bed by midday, and too many days of the week we're just getting home & starting lunch about then. 

Time for some better time management strategies, I think...

A sleep in!

On an average weekday we're all up at 6, and we'll stretch it out a maximum 10-15 minutes on weekends before SP becomes insistent. When Dave turned to me this morning and said it was nearly 6:30, I just about fell out of bed. 

He reminded me of a conversation we had on the Saturday after SP was due to be born (and a week before his actual birth): he wanted to get up and get things done, but I suggested we rest a bit longer because post-baby we might not have the chance for a long time. I was right. 

But today, we didn't hear SP until about 6:45. Then it became a challenge to stay in bed until 7 just to see if we could. 

When I went in to get him (which is usually Dave's job), he was sitting huddled in bed with his sheet over his knees and his beloved wrap held around his shoulders, granny style. My gorgeous boy :) 

PBC Expo 2011

I said last year that we'd make the Pregnancy, Babies & Children's Expo at the Convention Centre an annual event, especially for the joy of the animal farm. For a trip down memory lane, here's last year's post and photos. 

SP & I made the trip (on the bus!) on Friday, and had another great time. We spontaneously met up with a friend from church and her kids, and a very dear friend with her gorgeous adopted son whom I hadn't previously met - hooray!

The animal farm was a hit again. SP was very excited to tell Uncle Phil about the 'little piggy' on the phone this afternoon.

Dorothy the Dinosaur wasn't as exciting as I thought it might be. Captain Feathersword's impersonation of Incey Wincey Spider falling down was quite traumatic; Sam LOVES Incey Wincey and I think he was quite concerned for his dear friend's safety. Plus, the absence of the actual Wiggles was keenly felt. 

So while Dorothy continued, we headed over to the Red Nose Day Traffic School. He's always been into riding cars, and he's currently into parking them as well. Bobby Cars look fantastic, but we really don't need more ride-ons at this point!

We didn't see much of the actual stalls, but we went for the entertainment and got what we were looking for. We'll be heading there again next year, I suspect.

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A new ticker

Creative sparks

I've been working on Isaiah sunday school material all year. It's been hard slog. 

Finally (a few weeks before it's due to be used) I've got some creative presentation ideas. Now my brain's running a mile a minute. Bring it on!!

Airport Lookout

Thanks to a friend, we've discovered a new favourite place to go - the lookout just past the domestic terminal at the airport.

Parking, grass for running, a concrete platform to stand on and lots of planes to watch. And a whole lot of new words for SP's burgeoning vocabulary.

We got the finer details from here: http://www.jetspotter.com/forum/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=42 - it's the first one on the list.

Anybody need an airport pick up?

Dear SP

I'm very happy that you're excited about another airport run tomorrow, and it's very cute that you can say 'pick up airy (area)', but I'd really prefer that you spent naptime asleep. Trust me, we'll all have a happier afternoon if you do.

Love Mummy

Boy or Girl

A conversation with SP this afternoon. 

SP: Sam boy.

Me: What's Mummy?

SP: Girl.

Me: What's Daddy?

SP: Boy

Me: What's Nana?

SP: Girl.

Me: What's Grandma?

SP: Girl. 

Me: What's Aunty Rachel?

SP: Girl.

Me: What's Uncle Phil?

SP: Man. 

Right. 

Pastitsio Love

I cooked an old favourite last night, that I'm so glad I remembered after a year or so of absence. I have no idea why it fell out of use, but it's back now. It tasted so good that I just had to share the recipe and share the love. No photo unfortunately, it was eaten before I thought of that. I'll put one up next time I make it. 

Pastitsio is a bit like a greek version of lasagna. I have no idea how authentic our recipe is, but it's all we know. It originally came from a book called 'Cooking with Herbs and Spices', whose author I didn't record. And it really is the herbs and spices that make the dish - if you don't have cinnamon, cumin & mint, buy them! Do not substitute or it just won't be the same :(

2 cups macaroni (I used pasta spirals because that's what we had)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

450g mince (I used a bit less mince and some beans, because I often do)

300mL beef stock (or water if you're out of stock powder, as we were yesterday)

2 tsp tomato paste

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp mint

50g butter

1/4 cup plain flour

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup natural yoghurt

1 1/2 cups grated cheese

- Cook pasta & drain

- In frying pan, heat oil & cook onion & garlic for 8-10 mins until soft

- Add mince, stir until browned

- Stir in stock, tomato paste, cinnamon, cumin & mint

- Cook gently for 10-15 mins until sauce is thick and flavoursome.

- Melt butter in saucepan

- Stir in flour, cook 1 min

- Remove from heat, gradually stir in milk & yoghurt

- Cook gently 5 minutes

- Stir in half the cheese & all the pasta

- To Assemble: Spread half the pasta mixture in the base of your dish. Cover with meat sauce and top with remaining pasta. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. 

- Bake 45 mins or until golden brown. 

Yum!!!  

A is for Up

Imagine SP and I discussing the letters on my shirt, as we often seem to these days. On this occasion, the 'A' in 'Istanbul' is of particular importance to him, but there's some confusion.

"A. Up."

I gently correct. "A is for aeroplane."

"A. Up."

He usually knows this one. I try again. "A is for apple. A is for ant."

SP remains adamant. "A. Up."

I try a different tack. "U is for up."

A pause, and a confused little face.

"Me?"

Mothers Day is looking good

I'm banned from the kitchen while Dave cooks up a storm.

Mums-don't-cook-on-mothers-day is one family tradition that I've been very happy to adopt :)

The cuteness of toddler speech

SP's speech isn't his strongest point, but it's getting there. 

He's had proper nouns for some time: Mum, Dad, and other extended family members (including Nana's dogs - very important). 

Other nouns he generally signs. Except barber - Grandma taught him to say that one and it comes out a lot, especially as he's desperately in need of a hair cut. 

Verbs he also signs, or imitates. It surprises me how accurately he can reproduce an action that he's only seen a small number of times. 

SP's favourite part of speech at the moment: prepositions! Up, in, out & on mostly. Useful for almost any situation. I never realised how many different phrases and contexts include 'up' until it became SP's favourite word to imitate. Apart from the obvious directional meaning, there's clean up, pack up, fix up, tie up, makeup,  and many more that I can't think of right now. 

Here's SP yesterday, reading up on local news and events...

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Royal wedding

Yes, I watched last night. And felt a little voyeuristic, but I guess that's ok for the royals. 

I agree with Simone that Jerusalem was a low point. High point for me: 2 billion people all heard the Bible. 

And now the furore is over, maybe we can all get back to our lives. And normal TV programming. 

God Answers Prayer

About a month ago, our best drummer, Pete, left the church. And left a big hole in Dave's music roster. 

We found out today that a new guy plays drums. His first Sunday with us was Pete's last. 

Thank you, God. 

Easter Calendar Finished

I mentioned a couple of months ago that I was thinking of doing an Easter Calendar with SP this year. We did it, and it's done!

It was inspired by the material we used for Church4Kids in term 4 last year, which went through Matthew. 

The top row of pictures were the 6 Sundays of Lent - Jesus' life & ministry up to Palm Sunday. 

The middle row is Monday-Thursday of Easter Week, following what happened in that week. 

Then bottom row is Good Friday and Easter Sunday. 

Once I'd picked the passages it was actually really easy to organise - I just printed & coloured clip art (except for the upturned table which Dave drew), we read straight from Dave's bible, did a quick SP-language summary and sang a related kids song together. 

I wasn't expecting too much understanding from SP, although he always takes in more than we realise. Just wanted to get the system up and running while the idea was fresh. In future years we'll add memory verses, reading from other gospels etc etc. I like to think long-term :)

I think that reading from the grown-up bible was a key to our success this year. SP loved it! On Easter Sunday he got the bible by himself and sat down waiting for us to join him...

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I pray that he'll always be so willing to learn about Jesus. 

What we're reading: The Book Thief

Markus Zusak's The Book Thief is the next book club book. I borrowed it from the library on Wednesday and I'm nearly finished. So much easier (and smaller) than Wolf Hall!

Can I please be in 2 places at once?

Found my next super-fun, perfectly me-shaped choral opportunity. I was SO excited, then I realised it's the same day as my high school reunion. 

The two events are about 500m apart, but I can't exactly skip out halfway through a concert for a quick chat with friends...

What would you do?

We're on You Tube!

The Hallelujah Chorus from last night's Sing It Yourself Messiah. Not bad for 2 hours rehearsal!

Boys night in, Girls night out

I'm going to a sing-it-yourself Messiah this afternoon, with my mum and mum-in-law. Dave & SP staying home. I see lots of Duplo in their future, and lots of lovely harmonies in ours.

I suspect it's only going to increase my desire to get back into choral singing... 

Obligatory photos of SP

I know this is what you out-of-towners come here for.

Balloon family

We got the balloons out this afternoon intending to make plant pot drums. But the balloons were way too small, so we made our family instead. 

Can you guess who is who?

Tip of the Day

How do you fix a failing car remote?

Put it through the washing machine. 

Yes, really. 

Famous connections

My niece Emma is making her debut as a presenter on Play School on Tuesday morning. 9:30 ABC2. 

You can even read about her on the Play School website.

How exciting!!

Travelators, trolleys and children

A parenting dilemma: 

When we're at the shops, SP is in the trolley more often than not. He likes it, I like it, I don't have to remember to bring the pram, and we have room for lots of stuff. All good. 

Except that I noted a couple of months ago that one of the posted rules of travelators is 'no children riding in trolleys'. 

I've been ignoring the rule for a while, but my conscience is getting the better of me. So this afternoon, instead of putting SP back in the trolley for the walk from the kids playzone back to the car, I thought I'd obey the rule. 

This is where the problems start. If I am to hold onto the rail with one hand (another posted rule), and also hold my child's hand (yep, that's a rule too), how do I hold on to the trolley?

I guess its between my conscience and the very inconveniently placed lift. 

Am I a self-absorbed Mummy?

Just been reading this: 

http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/baby/baby-blog/are-you-a-self-absorbed-mummy-20110324-1c7bp.html

Actually, I think it should be child-absorbed, rather than self-absorbed. Apparently, not everyone wants to hear every little detail of every little accomplishment in my child's life. 

Oh well. I'm going to keep posting about the little details, uninteresting as they may be to others. You can choose whether to read about them or not :)

But if I start to get too child-absorbed in public, feel free to let me know. 

What we're reading: The Tale of Peter Rabbit

I first read this to SP a few days ago and he loves it! I'm a bit surprised that he's taken to it so much, as it's quite a bit longer than your average toddler picture book. I guess it wouldn't have been popular for so many years if it didn't have something special. The copy we're reading from was given to me when I was young, so it's a bit special in that way too.

It may be a bit wordy, but SP definitely has the basic plot down pat. He shakes his head vehemently when Peter goes under the gate into Mr McGregor's garden, and has taken to walking around the house pretending to sneeze and hop away, just like Peter when he hides in a watering can. Cute, but dribbly!

Here's some photos:

What we're reading: The Shaping of a Christian Family

After my Wolf Hall post, I've decided to blog about the books I'm reading for a while. Hopefully it will help me to distill my thoughts about them, and to finish some books that I've been meaning to for a while.

Today's book: The Shaping of a Christian Family, by Elisabeth Elliot.

I've intended to read some Elisabeth Elliot for a while and I picked this one up second hand, so it's become my introduction to her writing. I'll be reading more. 

The 'Christian Family' referred to in the title is Elliot's own family of origin, and substantial portions of the book are taken from her parent's diaries, detailing her life and upbringing. It seems like the perfect family to me. Old-fashioned, yes, but I like that sort of thing :) Life is orderly, routine, and manageable, the kids are well-behaved, hard working and considerate, everybody gets along with everybody else, and faith in Jesus is palpable and contagious. The kind of house I dream of having.

I don't agree with all the methods in the book, but I did find her mother Katherine's diaries to be particularly inspiring; there was some considerable hero-worship going on. I actually got quite a shock near the end of the book when a letter from Katherine to the adult Elisabeth read:

...I try to put into words my thankfulness to our Father for His good hand upon you over the years, for His faithfulness when I have been so faithless, ...  (emphasis mine)

Yikes! If she is faithless, what am I? Never fear, a few pages later...

Be not dismayed! If you are convinced of the value of standard here set forth, never think of the impossible. It is always possible to do the will of God. Begin to be ready to do. What do you want your home to be? What does God want it to be? Waste no time wondering if you can do it. The question is simply Will you? Your weakness is itself a potent claim on the divine mercy. (emphasis in original)

I think I may have that stuck on my mirror for some time. 

Photos

I promised my loved ones a photo update some time ago, intending to post quite a lot of photos and info from the last few months. But I don't think that's going to happen, so here's an update on the last couple of weeks.

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New Ticker

The observant among you will notice that the little picture at the top of the blog that tells you SP's current age has changed. The little sitting baby we had before didn't seem quite appropriate anymore. 

But the new one makes me realise that he'll be 2 in a few months time. Yikes!

Playgroup

Our church Playgroup started (or restarted) this morning! 

SP has been very excited, pointing to the calendar and signing 'play' for the last two weeks or so. And I think it lived up to his expectations - he had a great time. 

A few kinks to iron out, but overall it was a lot of fun for kids and mums. Bring on next Thursday!

Book Club - Wolf Hall

I read a few of the books that our church book club read last year, but haven't made it to a meeting yet. I'm planning to get there next weekend though - after 600+ pages, a bit of discussion is warranted, I think.

The book was Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall - a novelisation of the life of Thomas Cromwell, who is a key player in the saga of Henry VIII's divorce of his first wife, Katherine, and marriage to Anne Boleyn. 

I enjoyed the book, and once I'd waded through the first 200 pages, the rest went quite quickly. My impressions are unfortunately clouded by a personal pet peeve: the title of the book has almost nothing to do with the book itself. The Seymours, who live at Wolf Hall, are characters in the book, but the story ends well before Jane Seymour becomes Henry's next wife. Maybe the author uses the title as a foreshadowing of the future. Whatever the reason, it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Other than that, it's a good read. The cast of characters list at the beginning is worth having, and I'm still confused about where a few of them fit, but the lives and characters of the main players are quite artfully revealed as the story progresses. I found it interesting to see the Catholic/Protestant debate from both sides, although actions, rather than doctrines, are the focus of the book. I think the following quote neatly captures the religious changes afoot at the time:

...he feels a force ready to break, as spring breaks from the dead tree. As the word of God spreads, the people's eyes are opened to new truths. Until now, ... they knew Noah and the Flood, but not St Paul. They could count over the sorrows of our Blessed Mother, and say how the damned are carried down to Hell. But they did not know the manifold miracles and sayings of Christ, nor the words and deeds of the apostles, simple men who, like the poor of London, pursued simple wordless trades. The story is much bigger than they ever thought it was. ... They have seen their religion painted on the walls of churches, or carved in stone, but now God's pen is poised, and he is ready to write his words in the books of their hearts.  (pp 515-516)

There's a sequel on the way, apparently. I doubt I'll go out of my way to get it, but if I see it on the shelf in the library, I'll probably pick it up.

Easter Calendar

We all enjoyed our Noel Calendar so much at Christmas that I'm working on one for easter. A story about Jesus and a picture to stick up for each of the 6 Sundays of Lent, then one each day from Monday-Sunday of Easter week. 

I'm pretty sure that most of the stories I want to cover will be in at least one of our kids bibles, but right now I'm considering reading them straight from the NIV (or maybe NIrV). There'll be a toddler-speak summary at the end, that we'll then repeat and add to each week/day until Easter. 

Too ambitious? 

Helpfulness vs 'helpfulness'

SP loves to be 'helpful', as I think most little kids do. But 'helpfulness' is not always helpful to whoever he's helping. 

Recently though, there are elements of his 'helpfulness' that are actually helpful! In the last few days, he's learnt to pull the dry socks & jocks off multi-peg-hanger that hangs off the clothes line and put them in the basket. Keeps him busy while I bring the other things in, and it's a whole category of clothing that I don't have to do myself anymore!

There are some slight issues when he 'helpfully' pulls off the wet things as I'm putting them out, but we're working on that :)

Long live helpfulness!

Church

SP loves church. He loves the music, the friends, the music, the toys, the music, the food, and especially the music :) Hopefully at some point he'll also love being at church to learn about Jesus and be with God's people. 

I love that he loves church. I like that he often talks (ie signs) about church (especially about the music!) during the week. 

I don't love that he had a HUGE tantrum this morning because we're not going to church today.

We've now looked at the calendar and talked about church days and non-church days. I think we might also make ourselves a book about church. Any other ideas?

Want a laugh?

I don't know where this is originally from, but I saw it on Facebook. Worth doing. 

1. Go to Google Maps and click on "Get Directions." 

2. Enter "USA" as your start point. 

3. Enter "Japan" as your destination. 

4. Go to the 31st point on your route. 

5. When you stop laughing, post this as your status so that others can laugh at it too..

First Guitar part 2

A guitar need not always be a guitar...

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Now to get him into bed without it... Or maybe not?

SP's first guitar

Thanks to clip art, cardboard, paddle pop sticks for stability, and 10 minutes on a Sunday afternoon. He's already frustrated that it's not strummable, but it's a start.

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Christmas Traditions

All December I've been planning to do a big post (or even a series - how many times have I promised one of those here?) on our Christmas decorations & traditions this year. I read Noel Piper's Treasuring God in Our Traditions recently and I may have gone a little overboard. But it's now Christmas Eve and naptime is nearly over, so I'll have to be relatively brief.

Little things we're doing to try to keep the Christ in Christmas:

• our Advent Calendar is a homemade version of the Noel Calendar from the above book. I had fun making the decorations and although SP doesn't always seem attentive, he can point to all the different nativity characters and sometimes points to a character moments BEFORE I get to that bit in the story. So it seems that he's taking it in. 

 December 6

• I made a gingerbread nativity at our gingerbread house making event at church last month. It didn't come out looking quite like the picture in my head (blame my icing skills for that) but I like that I tried.
• A new tradition I came up with: when we put up the Christmas Tree, Dave & I each took a little red slip of paper and wrote on it something that we're thankful for. We've added the date, paper-chained them together, with 'Thank you God for' as the first chain, and hope to add to them each year. 
• Our Christmas cards are attached to our entryway blinds with pegs that spell out 'Thank you God for family and friends'. Yes, I think this is where I went a little overboard. 

Probably the biggest decision we've made is not to do Santa in our family. I don't have anything against Santa (he treated me VERY well as a kid ;) ), but I like to put him in the same category as Thomas the Tank Engine or the Green Sheep, and not confuse him with anybody real. Being the people-pleaser that I am, I've wondered worried how to explain to others (and in time to SP) why Santa doesn't come to our house. But I realised at the markets yesterday what a great opportunity it presents...

Stall-holder: (to SP) Are you ready for Santa to come?
Me: Actually, we don't do Santa. We want him to know that Christmas is all about Jesus.

And from that, we had a discussion about God and what this guy thought about church. Brief, and clumsy on my part, but a conversation nonetheless. Which wouldn't have come about if we'd been looking forward to Santa.


And I almost forgot: the article that prompted me to finally write this post. A brief biography of the real St Nicholas, parts 1 and 2. . I'll be keeping this one for when SP is a bit older.

Merry Christmas!

Random ramblings

Apologies to anyone who's still reading this for the lack of posts recently, it's been a busy few months.

I had one of the nicest dad moments the other week at church. Standing chatting afterwards, I feel a thud against the back of my knees. SP had seen me from across the hall somewhere and run over to give me a cuddle, and as I looked down, he was looking back up with this enormous grin on his face.

Now to get all festive for a minute, I'd heard the end of this song a couple of times on the radio. It's a great a-capella Christmas medley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbaRoNFBNcY

And getting back to my usual fare, I came across this amazing story yesterday. Not many adults get published in peer-reviewed journals, let alone a bunch of 8 year olds. That's right, 8 year olds.

C4K done for the year

 

Today was the last week of Church4Kids for 2010. We did a relay game as a review activity and it was encouraging to see the little kids remembering the words, titles and memory verses, and the big kids voluntarily checking their bibles when they were stuck on a clue.

Right now, I'm exhausted. Hopefully enthusiasm for next year's material will kick in soon.

My major stressor isn't the material though. It's leaders. Our oldest group could do with a 2nd leader so they can go and find their own space, and with more little ones being old enough for C4K next year, our littlest group will need a 2nd too. 6 leaders x 4 terms = 24 people per year. In a church of about 40 regular adults. Hmm...

Must trust God. Must trust God. Prayers appreciated. And volunteers ;)

First hairdressing

SP had his first official haircut yesterday (the few strands I snipped off a month ago don't really count...)


He watched, fascinated, while Daddy had his hair cut, then sat reasonably still to have his done.

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Lovely! 

Signing

I was at the computer this afternoon when SP left his toys and came over. He tapped me on the arm to get my attention and signed 'eat'. We went to get afternoon tea.

No crying, no whingeing, no misunderstanding. Just communication.

I love signing!

This video made me all teary...

My Dad would have loved to have been surprised by this. Not to mention the joy of God's glory being proclaimed in the middle of all that consumerism...

Now that I've got you intrigued, watch it... http://www.youtube.com/v/SXh7JR9oKVE?fs=1&hl=en_US

 

Photos

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You Can Change

We're hearing a short series of talks based on Tim Chester's book, You Can Change, at the moment. We've been working through it at Bible Study as well. I'm actually still waiting for my copy of the book to arrive, but I've been getting a lot out of the talks and studies anyway.

I was vaguely thinking about writing a post about my thinking from Tuesday's study, but then I read this one from Jean, which is actually a response to another Tim Chester book. She's captured my thinking far more elegantly than I ever could.

And I'll definitely be trying the 3 column thing. Remind me of it next time I'm getting snowed under.

 

At home

Being at home with SP has been tough this week. And we haven't really been home that much.

So this article is a good reminder of why I'm doing it: serving God & ministering to my husband and child.

Now I need to go & minister to SP by convincing him that one 45 min nap is not enough for the day... :s

 

Advent Plans

There are Christmas decorations in the shops (yikes!) and a couple of other people have started blogging about advent-type things (Molly's post here and Cathy's post here). I'm thinking about it too.

My long-term super-ambitious plan is to make a pocket wall-hanging advent calendar. Actually, I just want to make one of these:

(from http://pocketsoflearning.com/wallhangframe.html)

In my dreams, the letters on mine will be removable, and there will be numbers as well. So in December, it becomes an Advent Calendar. But as I've had this idea for a couple of years and have made no concrete steps towards it, I suspect it won't be ready by the start of December ;)
So in the last half hour or so, I've come up with this year's solution...

An Advent Book!

I'll make up a little A5 booklet with a page for each day, then during breakfast bible time, he'll get to open a special box and pull out his crayons, glue and a picture for the day. We'll "colour" it, stick it in, add some words, and have a bit more story to read endless times each day. On second thoughts, maybe not during breakfast bible time. Porridge and paper are not a good combination.

I like this idea because:
- it involves a box with a lid. SP loves boxes with lids.
- it involves a book. SP loves books.
- it involves crayons and glue. SP loves crayons and glue.
- it shouldn't cost anything. Fits my budget exactly!
- I don't have to have it all organised by December 1. Stapled pages and a vague idea of how I'm going to break up the story into 25 parts should be sufficient.
- it a simple, fun routine to do together each day. Routine and repetition are good.
- we can read the book multiple times during the day. More repetition.
- when we're done, we have a book to keep. Or toss if it's dodgy. We'll see.

We're coming...

We've booked flights to Melbourne for early next month. Sam & I will have 6 nights away, Dave 2.

Excellent!

Sign time

I'm so thankful that we've been doing some signing with SP. His expressive language may not be great at this point ('mama' is reliable and specific & he said 'gama' (grandma) and 'bub' for the first time yesterday), but with signing he can definitely get his message across. And I'm enjoying learning some Auslan too. Maybe it will come in useful someday.


His favourite signs are:

• finished
• bye bye
• plane
• car
• milk
• cheese (I think. We only started this one a couple of days ago, as cheese is his favourite food)
• cuddles
• Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (twinkle hands & a 'diamond')
• Away in a Manger (cuddle arms & a sleeping head)
• me (especially when we're reading his God Loves Me Bible. "God loved [insert bible character here]. And God loves 'ME'". So cute!)

 I had some photos of Twinkle Twinkle and Me to share, but I just realised they're on Aunty Rachel's camera. I'll post them soon.

Home

We're home from helping with music at OMF's Asia Focus Weekend. Going in, I didn't have much clue what to expect, but we all had a good time, and I learnt so much.

So tired now though. Bed will be early tonight.

 

Children's Ministry Network

I went to a meeting last night with Children's Ministry workers from our church and 2 others. All wonderful people who love God, love kids and want to see them understand the Bible and come to know Jesus.

I'm so encouraged. And fired up for the coming term. I'm doing an airport run this morning & hopefully I'll have time on the way to drop into church and measure the noticeboard. I've got plans...

 

Junior Masterchef

Poor SP has got a viral rash at the moment, and a temp that goes up and down, but thankfully not the URTI or gastro the doctor warned us could happen next. It isn't dampening his spirits too much though.

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