Eastern Europe circa 1910, in colour

This is very cool.  Both the glimpse back in time, and the technology used to do it:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/08/russia_in_color_a_century_ago.html

Psalm 71:1-6 audio

I'm enjoying memorising Psalm 71 with the ladies at Do Not Depart. This week we'll be aiming for verses 4 & 5. Incidentally, does anybody know how many women are registered? Just curious. 

I can't seem to help turning memory verses into a song of some sort. Here's my version of verses 1-6. It's no musical masterpiece, but it's helping me learn, and I hope that it will help some other people too.

Sorry it's just a vocal line at this stage. I've been having microphone issues with instrumentation. Still working on it.

Are you working on any memory verses at the moment?

Bible Bookcase Puzzle

Whilst googling for a 'books of the bible' graphic for Sunday School, I came upon this game. 

I'm tempted. 

Does anybody have it? Do you think your kids (or adults) would have fun with it, either at home or at church?

Yes, it could happen to you

Click on over to Biscuit magazine & read 'Beating Breast Cancer'. 

I went to school with Sarah & Tarah, who is also a member of our playgroup. Such an awful thing for a young mum to go through. 

Eat more vegies

Our kids are good eaters, but I've been trying to think of ways to incorporate vegies throughout their day (and mine), instead of leaving them all to dinner time. 

So the other day, I served up a bowl of partially defrosted peas for morning tea. 

It was a big hit. I went back to the freezer 3 times for more! 

I suspect the success was partially because we were all eating with our fingers. But also because cold, juicy peas actually taste really good. 

What's the weirdest thing you've eaten this week?

Memorising the Bible

If you're a regular reader and you have a good memory, you may have found yourself wondering, 'whatever happened to Petrina's plan to memorise the whole of 1 Peter last term?' Well, it didn't get all that far. I did pretty well with the first 2 sections, but then reality took over. A whole book, even a short one, in one term was a bit too ambitious for this season of life.

Also, I found that my method of setting the words to hymn tunes, which had worked well for me in the past, wasn't helping me to think about the meaning of the words. Maybe 1 Peter is less lyrical than other books, I don't know.

So my memorising took a bit of a break. Until a friend posted on Facebook about a project that she's joined. Over the next 14 weeks, the ladies at Do Not Depart are helping each other to memorise Psalm 71. A lot more realistic. Count me in!

If you want to join in, you're encouraged to register here. And head to their resources page for easy print outs of the weekly verses (1-2 per week) and other bits & pieces, and to the link up page for other people's thoughts, as well as info on where Psalm 71 fits in the story of the bible. 

I was planning to go tune-less for this one, but it's turning itself into a song in my head already. If it's a decent one that helps with meaning and remembering, I might record it up and post it. But no promises. 

As it turns out, the last memorisation project at Do Not Depart was 1 Peter 1. Which I've just done. How cool is that?

Are you learning any Bible verses at the moment?

Summer Day Play

What's more fun than watering plants? Watering people! 

We sit in the little paddling pool (aka the sandpit lid) and water each other with the watering can. 

Add a towel path from pool to sandpit, a makeshift shade, some pegs, and a 'new' muffin tin for sand cooking. Result: children (& mum) cool and happy on a hot day. 

I think we'll be heading back down after rest time...

I don't cry in sad movies

As Dave has already said, we saw Les Miserables last night. I took a big hanky, and had it at the ready. Then I remembered something. 

I don't cry in sad movies. I cry in happy ones. 

I cried in Stuart Little, when little Stuart powered on through to win the boat race (is that even what happened? It's been a long time since I saw it.)

I was getting teary in last night's preview for 'The Impossible,' a movie about a family caught in the 2004 tsunami. It only takes a couple of bars of swelling 'reunion of loved ones'-type music to get me going. 

Even inspiring blog posts can make me choke up. Like this one from Hands Free Mama, that I read just a few minutes ago. 

Les Mis was amazing. The rawness of the emotion in the soliloquies blew me away. Even though I know the music very, very well, I was discovering the story all over again. 

But it didn't make me cry. 

At the movies...

After about a year of not going out to the movies at all, we've managed to see two movies in the last six days.  Not surprising really, if you know us and know what's new: The Hobbit (part 1/3) and Les Miserables.  A big thanks to my mum for babysitting twice so we could do it!

It's funny the way we process different movies.  We saw the Hobbit first; despite some criticism from some quarters for not sticking to every letter of the book, I thought it was fantastic.  I loved the way it drew on the appendices in the Lord of the Rings to flesh out a lot of the back story and other things that are going on at the same time as Bilbo's adventures.  I was also impressed (hat-tip to my brother Phil for educating me in this to begin with) at how they chose Azog the orc to be the "strong enemy" and the focal point of the orcish antagonism to the dwarves.  And the film certainly gets you in.  Petrina was snuggling up close to me at one point for security, despite knowing full well that if a dwarf and an orc are fighting, it's definitely not real.  We got home afterwards and I wanted to turn around and go see it again straight away.  Good thing for all our sakes that they don't do many midnight showings...

We saw Les Miserables last night.  Again, fantastic.  I don't know the story as well - when I was a teenager the rest of the family quite like listening to it, but I didn't pay much attention, mainly due to being (a) contrarian (how can I like the same thing as my brother? ugh!) and (b) a bit of a puritan (but it's got prostitutes, it can't be good!).

The singing was great, the acting just what you'd expect with Jackman, Hathaway, et al.  This time the emotions were the other way round though.  I teared up a bit when Fantine died; nearly lost it when Javert pinned his medal on Gavroche's corpse, and again during Valjean's death.  And it's got much deeper themes running through it too.  Redemption, forgiveness, justice, mercy.  Javert and Valjean both claim to be right with God, yet Javert has a strong "correctness" approach - people who work hard and obey the law are righteous, and if not you're damned to hell forever, vs Valjean's mercy and sacrifice.  That contrast came out much more strongly than I remember from the CD of the stage show.  One of my first comments coming out afterwards was thankfulness that, for all its problems, we live here and now.  There are a lot of other times and places where basic survival is much more of an issue than it is for us.

The other astounding thing was the price difference.  We were using up a couple of gift cards, so we didn't go to our usual cinema, where it's $8.50 a ticket.  For the Hoyts we went to, $15.50 each, and for the Greater Union, $20.00 each!  I think we'll be back to the regular for whatever's next...

Repurposed

From desk to I-don't-need-this-anymore-should-I-send-it-to-lifeline to bathroom cupboard. 

Insert peaceful sigh here.  

Sugar high

I gave myself Christmas Day off from fructose-free eating. And probably consumed more sugar than I have in the whole rest of the year combined. 

I fell into bed exhausted at 9pm, got up about 15 minutes later, brain racing, and it's now 12:15. 

Tiredness and sugar-withdrawal crankiness will likely characterise my next few days. Sorry everybody. 

Can you please remind me of this next time?

On the opening of Christmas presents

There seem to be two distinct present opening methods at Christmas time. I'm going to call them 'One-at-a-time' and 'Everybody-in.'

I come from a family of predominantly one-at-a-timers. One person was designated 'Santa,' handing out gifts in an orderly fashion. Everybody was expected to ooh and aah over every gift. Often we paused for photographs.

In the years of the biggest Christmas gatherings, this must have taken a long time. But I don't remember it being so. Perusal of the opened presents and anticipation of those still in the pile helped to fill in the time while the adults opened up their underwear and calendars.

Dave's family are predominantly everybody-in. Oh, the joy of opening present after present after present, all for me. The thrill of all that paper and noise and energy. The sea of chatter as gifts are opened all around. No chance for boredom here!

Two families of origin, with different ways of doing things.

This Christmas, this is what present-opening looked like for us:

One-at-a-time at home before church. One gift each for four people, two of whom can't open independently. It didn't take very long, and we just had time to sit and read a chapter of SP's freshly opened 'The Enchanted Wood' before church.

After church, it was everybody-in with the extended family. We did presents before lunch this year, which worked really well. It meant that SP had new things to play with between courses (particularly his mower), and F could participate in the presents then go to sleep after the entree. I'll admit to getting a little frazzled, as I tried to 'help' F open her gifts, and open mine, and keep the Present Book*, without lagging dreadfully behind everybody else. And I have very little idea of what other people gave each other. But one-at-a-time would have made lunch quite late.

One special one-at-a-time gift, kept back from the others, was opened over lunch. Even if the earlier gifts and their givers were blurred in SP's mind, we wanted him to know that his uncle and aunt in Melbourne were thinking of him and wished they could be there. This is the nativity set they gave – highly recommended.

I guess it doesn't make much difference either way, really. Gifts were given and received, and love was shared. But I like to think things through, and make them as pleasant and meaningful as possible. I'm always searching for a better way. The best way. Though probably it doesn't exist.

So now it's your turn. What did your family do this year? What's your ideal?

*A household notebook where every gift, at every occasion, is recorded. Originally designed to help in thank you card writing, but I like looking back over the years as well.  

Christmas in numbers

One baby waking us in the too-early morning...

One little boy excited for the day...

Two children who waited until after breakfast and Morning 5 to open presents (I wonder if they'll have that much patience next year)...

One Christmas church service...

One conversation with a twice-a-year church attendee - next time I'm praying to hit her much harder with the gospel...

Nine guests at family lunch...

Many, many more presents unwrapped...

Two plastic lawnmowers keeping Aunty Bev's lawn spick and span...

Three yummy courses of lunch, lasting most of the afternoon...

One slightly cranky drive home...

One abbreviated evening routine (not much dinner needed!)...

Two tired children in their beds...

Two tired parents cleaning up and heading to bed too...

One Saviour whose birth we celebrate. 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We're meeting our neighbours

We've been in our current house for our whole married life, nearly 6 years. Yet we only know a few of our neighbours. For a few years now, I've wanted to deliver little Christmas gifts, to get to know some more. This year, we're making it happen. 

We've only done a few deliveries so far. Lots of people not home, and a couple of teenage boy recipients, who were hardly likely to have an indepth conversation. 

But this afternoon, the family of one of the teenage boys left a gift of their own on our front steps. We went over to thank them in person and had a lovely chat.

I was quite chuffed. 

Hopefully we'll meet a few more people tomorrow afternoon. 

A breath of fresh air

Another excellent article from Rachel Jankovic - 6 ways to handle stress this Christmas

Little angel

We didn't take any photos ourselves during the carols, so other people's are just starting to trickle in. Here's one my favourites so far... 

Farewell

Our church said goodbye to Andrew & Simone today.

I was an 18 year old baby Christian when they arrived, and my life has been enriched in so many ways by their 10 years of faithful ministry. 

I've spent half an hour trying to draft an appropriate post, illustrating the impact they have made, and I'm getting nowhere. But I've already made a speech and written a letter, so maybe they've got the message ;)

Instead, here's a photo of four lovely boys. The little one will miss the big ones a whole lot.

Today's farewell lunch was so encouraging. I wish we'd marked their anniversaries along the way. Why do we only celebrate people's contributions when they're about to leave?

Praise God for blogs. They won't be so far away.

6th Anniversary

Dave & I were married 6 years ago today. Six wonderful, fun, challenging, lovely years.

Apparently the appropriate gifts for a 6th anniversary are iron and sugar. So part of my gift to Dave was a big cup of Deb's Superstar Chocolate Fudge Sauce. Made with dextrose instead of sugar, and poured over a spare helping of Dave's semifreddo (like icecream), it looks, acts & tastes exactly like McDonalds chocolate sauce on a sundae. Yummo!

He bought me a new slow cooker. The best useful gifts are those that I haven't asked for. Thanks honey, and thank you for the last 6 years.

He gets it, but does he really get it?

SP is pretty good with the Christmas story. He knows all the answers he should. Including the whole 'animal feed trough as bed' bit. As long as it's in its nice sanitised Christmas story context.

Earlier today, we were reading a farm book together. With a picture of a farmer putting feed in a trough. 

So I asked "would we put a baby to sleep in there?" 

He put on his 'that's ridiculous' face. "No!"

"Even if we cleaned it out?"

"No! That's where they eat from."

"But that's what Mary & Joseph had to do with baby Jesus..."

Suddenly he saw the story in a whole new light. 

The most exciting night of the 3 year old's year

Carols night, including Church4Kids / Playgroup Christmas Pageant. 8 primary schoolers & 20 littlies. Whew!

The big kids were awesome. We've got some lovely singers. And the little ones had a ball.

SP was a very quiet sheep, a bit over-awed with the whole thing I think. And F spent most of the time on Nana's lap in the front row of the audience, rather than on the rug with her fellow angels, but she was mighty cute. 

If I had my time over, we'd spend 3 times as long rehearsing the big kids with parts, and 1/3 as long practicing the nursery rhymes with the little one. A lesson for next time. 

Praying especially for all the playgroup parents/grandparents/friends who came, many of whom may have heard the gospel for the very first time tonight. That makes it totally worth it.