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National Diana Waring Conferences

Diana Waring is well loved for her bright enthusiastic presentation of history. Extremely happily married since 1979, Bill and Diana homeschooled their three children nearly twenty years. The Waring kids (now all grown) were the proving grounds for all the concepts and encouragements Bill and Diana teach in real-life examples of the wonders of home schooling!

They will be visiting Australia around September/October this year. Don’t miss this wonderful opportunity to hear an inspiring and experienced home schooler.

If you would like to receive a list of workshop descriptions, suggest a workshop topic or find out further information about meetings, or other ways to be involved, please contact Bernie via her contact page or ph 02 4938 8142.

Diana and Bill have worked in speaking and writing for the Christian home school and private school community for 18 years. Through their business/ministry Diana Waring Presents (formerly, Diana Waring—History Alive!), they have met and talked with home schoolers in 46 states, half of Canada, and three other continents.

The curriculum for world history study Diana wrote, beginning in 1994, has been growing and expanding. She is in the midst of a five year effort to update and expand the research and presentation of the material. She is well known for her rapid-fire history recordings and workshops, but is also appreciated for her workshops and books of home school encouragement, like Beyond Survival and Reaping the Harvest.

Visit the Diana Waring website to find out all about her history curriculum. There are free sample chapters and audios to download. For a sneak preview of Diana’s speaking, download this inspiring, free interview about homeschooling, the arts, learning styles, history and more, visit Blog Talk Radio .

The Waring’s mission: To serve families by encouraging, equipping, and educating in an entertaining way.

Visit the Diana DownUnder website for more information

Registrations are now being taken for most locations. The AussieHomeschool Calendar has further details, based on each date. However each venue has not been fully decided yet.

Sept 22 Inverell
Sept 25-26 Sydney
Sept 28 Maitland
Oct 10 Brisbane
Oct 16-17 Melbourne
Oct 19-20 Adelaide
Oct 23-24 Canberra

State Allows Growing Trend of Eating At Home

For your tongue-in-cheek giggle for today…

State Allows Growing Trend of Eating At Home

———————-

April 13, 2099

Reunited Press

After much heated debate on the house floor, legislation was passed today to allow a growing number of families to cook meals for their families in their homes. The children must have annual physical examinations to assure proper growth and weight gain. Attempts to require weekly meal plans and monthly kitchen inspections were voted down.

A spokesperson from the National Association of Nutritionists (NANs) condemns this decision. “These children are being denied the rich socialization and diversity that is an essential part of the eating process. Without the proper nutritional background, it is impossible for the average person to feed their own children. We, as child advocates, see this as a step backwards and speak out for the sake of the children who cannot speak for themselves.”

Homecooking parents say the benefits of eating at home include increased family unity and the ability to tailor a diet to a particular need. Elizabeth Crocker, a home cook, states, “We started cooking and eating at home when we realized that my son had a severe allergy to eggs. The public kitchens required him to take numerous medications that had serious side effects in order to counteract his allergy. We found that eliminating eggs was a simpler method and our son has thrived since we began doing so.”

After this experience, the Crockers decided to home cook for all of their children, and converted their media room into a kitchen.

Elizabeth says, “We have experienced so much closeness as we have explored recipes and spent time cooking together and eating together.

We have a dining circle with other families where we sometimes share ideas and meals together.”

The Crocker children have done well physically under their mother’s care, weighing in at optimum weights for their ages and having health records far above average. It should be noted that Mrs. Crocker, while not a professional nutritionist, has a family history rich with nutritionists and home economists. “Surely the success of the Crocker children is due to the background of their mother,” responded the spokesman from NANs. “The results they have achieved should not be viewed as normative.” Mrs. Crocker counters that her background was actually a hindrance to the nutritional principles she follows. “Our paternal great-grandmother was a home economist, but she prepared most meal from pre-made mixes. In our homecooking we try not to duplicate public-kitchen meals, but to tailor our meals to the needs and preferences of our children.”

In a related issue, legislation is in committee that would provide oversight for the emerging homecooking movement. Says the Home Eating Legal Defense Association (HELDA): “We want to provide umbrella kitchens to aid parents in the complicated tasks of feeding their children. Many families lack the expertise of the Crocker family, yet desire to eat at home. As we have seen, the umbrella kitchens meet the needs of all concerned. We are happy to provide this service.”

My Life as an Only but Not Lonely Child

I’m an only child! And I loved it. I just never knew any different.

Being an only, I learned to entertain myself and be creative with my imagination.
Being an only gave me lots of uninterrupted time…to think and ponder.
Being an only child allowed me to have other friends sleep over and become part of our family. My best friend was one of 10 children so she became my mum & dad’s adopted daughter and my sister.
Being an only child afforded me to have a special and close relationship with my Mum and Dad.

As I never knew any different I didn’t really wish for anything different. Oh, I do recall asking Mum and Dad for siblings but most children want what they don’t have- it was a fad. I got over it.

We didn’t have much money…we were always fairly poor. But I knew my parents loved me and would bend over backwards to do anything for me that they could. They had a positive attitude and I knew I was loved. I wasn’t showered with material possessions so selfishness never became an issue. My parents just taught me other ways how to share and how to be giving and kind.

Naturally I went everywhere with my parents, so this gave me lots of opportunity for learning how to get on with many others but especially elderly people. I dearly love the elderly and have a great respect for them.

My parents always told me that they would have loved more children, that they tried but they just couldn’t have any more. Knowing that they wanted more children allowed me to see them as more human…it also allowed me to see that the whole world didn’t revolve around me.

I now have four biological children and am blessed to care for my husband’s son (blended family). Sometimes my girls fight and I do not understand it at all. I don’t know how girls can be catty one second and then talk like ‘besties’ the next minute. They tell me it’s a sister thing…I guess I’ll take their word for it because I simply don’t know. Siblings seem to be quite forgiving of each other.

Another hurdle that I had to get over was when I had my own babies. It was all totally foreign to me! I had no idea of what babies entailed…but there are many ways to get round this. We just didn’t know anyone with little children when I was growing up. My mum was quite a bit older when she had me.

The only other hurdle that I had to deal with was that my mum spoiled me. Not in a good way though, more in the true sense of the word, spoiled. She doted on me hand and foot, meaning I simply didn’t learn how to do most things for myself until I got married and was left to sink or swim! Mum regretted not allowing me to do more for myself. She said it was a big mistake of hers and she hoped I would make my children do chores and do things for themselves. Overall, I loved my childhood and wouldn’t have wished for much different.

Yes, that me!

How about you? Are you an only child? Why don’t you post about your childhood or birthorder and pop back here and let me know so I can visit your blog?

Dealing with My Thorn in the Flesh

John is away for work. He may be away for approximately 10 weeks out of the next 16 weeks. We will miss him like crazy…and I just hope and pray that nothing too technical breaks down on our servers, but we’ll manage. I’m not particularly fazed or scared about him being away so much.

Except.

Except in one area. Those who know me in real life, or have followed my blog for awhile may guess as to my area of concern…which also led to my previous post where I voiced this concern about parenting from grace or law. Not that the two can be separated (imbalance is always the result) but my concern is the daily living. The practical reality of everyday life when it is not perfect or ideal.

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

There was a time when I was verbally and physically abrasive. I despised that about myself. I also inherited those traits as learned behaviour and I wanted to break that vicious cycle. So, I set about identifying my triggers. Once identified I became proactive in ordering my lifestyle and habits so as to avoid these triggers as much as possible. Yes sadly, I still need to be controlled by externals in some areas of my life. However, by the grace of God, He is doing a work in me and the things He has taught me have helped me to avoid being abusive toward the ones I love. The problem with external controls is that when they are removed or not in place for various reasons, then self control must take over or all hell breaks loose. I live with a situation that is a huge trigger for me. Much of it is allayed by the fact that I am under my husband’s authority and so he handles much of the situation which is a trigger for me. But when he goes away, he trusts me and delegates full authority to me.

I am not scared of the person. I’m scared of myself. I have seen myself in action and it is not pretty. It is harmful. It can be devastating. I am weak. I will be clinging to 2 Cor 12:9-10

Getting back to my previous post: I like to set fairly rigid rules for our family to live by when John isn’t at home. Problem is, we don’t have too many rules normally. As an example, sometimes, I’ll send the children to bed at 9.30pm and other times it will be midnight. There is never any fuss- this is part of how we practically live by grace. But one child cannot live that way. This child needs a concrete line drawn in the sand. Without it, the child simply will not go to bed at all. Even when the line is drawn, they will push, and push and push- nagging, whining, yelling, screaming: doing anything necessary to *win* (as seen in their eyes).

We parent using natural consequences. If one would like to wear clean clothes on Tuesday, then one will need to wash on Monday. Right? Fair enough? If one does not put them in the laundry or wash them for themselves, then they will not be ready. No, I will NOT run down to the store and buy some brand new socks! No, you may not use my socks. You will have to live with the consequences of your own actions. Harsh? maybe…but fair. However, there is one child who refuses to accept this way of life. Simply and point blank refuses.

So with John not home, the only way I know how to cope is to set firm rules and we all live by them. However, it is really quite draining and hard to live by rules all the time. I find it sucks the very life-joy from me. I know not everyone feels this way but in this situation, I do. We have lived by our Family Ways before and most of us can do it…but it’s wearing. It’s wearing because there is only one who sets out to make it very difficult. Hence my dilemma of what to do and who to do it. I do not want to be broken to the point where I resort to past behaviour. I am weak. I am not strong, like some women have mistakenly believed about me. In fact, I’m not even nice. I can be horrible. I need God’s grace. I need His peace. And I need Him to be very real in my life throughout the coming months.

I know God will help me. I know He will be with me. With all my pro activeness and practising of self control, can I, without God, do that which is commanded of me? Can I submit my flesh, to God? Will I ever be at the point where this ‘thorn in my flesh’ will be able to be used for my own good…let alone God’s glory?

Resistance Training

Just learned that weight lifting is the second lowest injury sport one can do. Walking is the safest and then weight lifting bcz it is done in a controlled, supervised way unlike many other activities. However, more than walking, weight lifting after searching supplement reviews and then buying the best one can actually makes your bones stronger!

I want to be able to lift my grandkids up in the air and to keep up with them. Well, while walking is good, it’s not as good for my bones as weight lifting or resistance training.

I don’t worry about getting all huge and masculine like. It’s not likely that I’ll train enough to look masculine. (One has to work VERY hard and take HEAPS of protein to achieve that) Plus, being female, I don’t have the natural advantage of testosterone so I won’t get bulky and huge rather toned and strong. Whoohoo, the Proverbs 31 in physical action!

For those that are keen but don’t have weights or are scared of them or can’t afford them: never fear. A set of resistance bands (AMart, Kmart, Big W, Target will do) will do exactly the same job! And, it’s very safe! Whilst there are many websites that will show you how to use the bands, here is one just to get you started.

How cool is that?

Do you use weights or resistance? How? What is your program? How much do you do? Please share?

Resistance workout

Exercising my Options

OPTION: noun
1) The power of choosing; the right of choice or election.
2) The power of wishing.
3) Choice; election; preference.

Exercising my options…if only that it what I had been doing… really. We all make choices in life. We all live with the consequences of those choices. It’s a principle that I try to teach my children and I thought I lived by.

Wrong! Or rather it’s true…but only with some things. Not with the hard things.

I have two boys at home. Master J is currently 14 and Master C is 11yo, nearly 12. I tell you, it’s tough being a homeschool mum to these two rambunctious fellows. And I thought it was tough with girls…but this is stretching me in other ways- previously untouched by homeschooling the girls. Doing the hard things, going the extra mile, giving a little bit more, perseverance, diligence…these are all traits that all people do well to practice but the way I need to teach it to my girls is quite different to the way I teach it to the boys. Homeschooling is like getting a mirror and holding it up to see myself. I see all the bumps, cracks and crevices, the warts, the pimples, laughter lines and worry lines. I don’t believe any parent can embrace the homeschooling lifestyle and remain untouched or unchallenged!

I love my cup of tea in the morning. It isn’t an option for me. It is what I do. Always. I have 2 cups of tea and then a milk coffee. It has been non negotiable. I didn’t even really think about it…just did it.

I love my daily computer time. It isn’t an option. It’s just what I do. It’s non negotiable…I just do it.

There are some things in life that I do which are not healthy…the fruits of which are not strength, life, joy, peace. So why do I do them? Why have I made them non negotiable?

I don’t like exercise. I don’t like to sweat. I do not like to drink water. These were all options. I could exercise but I choose not to. I can drink water but I prefer not to. Why? Where will these choices or options get me? Why or when did I make exercise an option, that I could choose to do or choose not to? Why was it not a priority for me?

It was easy for me, as a homeschooler, to let go of my athletic nature. Many years ago, I attended a beautiful homeschool fellowship evening, where mums shared and encouraged each other. It was lovely. The leader of the group was quite academic with a strong focus on literature, the humanities and the arts. Nothing wrong with that though. She stated that she considered it more important for a child to be able to recite poetry than to compete in a sport or be athletic. Ackkkk! Our family was the complete opposite- driven by our sport and fuelled by our love of exercise, this comment stuck with me. I’m embarrassed to admit that it stayed with me and I allowed it to shape my own view for many years. Sadly, I allowed an imbalance to take place in our family and in my own life. And I was reaping the fruit of it- bitter, sharp and biting in the form of thrombophlebitis.

I would make excuses like, I don’t have time. I have to teach 4 children, prepare meals, do laundry, etc but the truth is we all have 1,440 minutes in a day. We choose how to spend that time. My sons were a mirror that allowed me to see what I had become and what modelling for them. And I was not pleased with my reflection! I saw a woman who did not like to do hard things…who preferred to take tasks or activities that I knew would be natural or easy for me. I showed no guts, no determination and very little perseverance. How can I teach these growing young men these traits when my life modelled the exact opposite? Ugh what a reality check!

Was I lazy? No, I wouldn’t say that. I simply didn’t understand how it is possible to find the time to build a healthy and strong body. I wasn’t looking ahead to see where my inactivity would lead me. Thrombophlebitis put a little bit of healthy fear in me. When I look at it I only need about 4 hours per week to build a healthy body! How hard is that? Well, in reality it is a little more than 4 hours simply because I need lots of time to focus. Focusing and researching assists me in making something a priority– whether it be homeschooling, website building, gardening, writing, softball, nutrition or fitness. However, 4 hours would be a better start than no hours at all! Hmm, where would I find those 4 hours? Less TV, less computer, less coffee drinking…the list goes on.

First, I had to make the quest (my Fit n 40 quest) a priority. This means that exercise is now not an option! it’s non negotiable. It’s not an option now. It’s just something that I do. Only this non-option is actually good for me! Do I feel like sitting down to check my emails this morning or do I feel like working out? I DON”T FEEL LIKE WORKING OUT! Not one bit! But, I do want the benefit of it. So, I have a plan, which helps me not to get too bogged down with indecision or procrastination, which will invariably lead to me doing nothing. (Remember the 6 P’s: Prior Preparation & Planning Prevents Poor Performance)

Make the decision.
Prioritise and make exercise non negotiable.
Plan my exercise and nutrition to avoid procrastination.

This is only week 4 for me…so I hope I don’t sound like I’m preachy. I’m not. But I am excited about the changes that I’ve seen happen in my own body and life…and in the life of my children! Whoohoo, talk about positive! we are all learning more about self control, self discipline, dying to the flesh and more! I also realised that this concept of options and choices can relate to any area of our life. We all make choices. We all have things which are optional and non option in our daily lives.

What are some of your non optional activities? Why do you have them and how do they work for you? I’d love to hear more.

Exercise Week: Mon 18th – Sun 24th

Monday
AM – Hard HIIT session on bike for 20 min
PM – Upper Body workout with free weights

Tuesday
Rest (Funeral)

Wednesday
AM – 20min HIIT treadmill I HATE that machine! 2.0km in 20min pftttt! LOL
PM – Lower Body & Abs Workout

Thursday
Rest: Busy day out and about. Went to the theatre (Phantom of the Opera) at night. Didn’t eat enough nor drink any water.

Friday
Upper Body Workout, including 5 min cardio warmup

Saturday Free Day
Out and about with hubby…getting new tyres, etc. Also prepared clothes for his trip. Cooked huge meal (Spaghetti Bolognese) and had a house full. Today was my Free Day.
Sunday
Saw hubby off for 2 weeks. Cleaned the house.

Notes
Exercise was harder in intensity this week but also scattered, due to life situations. Ideally I don’t want to do two workouts per day on day one and then nothing on day two…but I’m a work in progress. SO long as I’m doing something it is better than nothing!

Hmm, have noticed that I drink at least 1.2 litres of water on the days that I train. There’s something in that eh?

Whoohoo! 5 workouts done. 1 workout past target.

My Epiphany on Non Negotiables

I am buzzing!

Monday morning I was feeling down after jumping on the scales. I know I don’t like the scales and I don’t even do a weigh in on Monday so why did I even jump on them? That was dumb. Since then, I’ve had an epiphany of sorts, sparked by online conversations with a friend. I enable myself to fail. I allow myself to treat me badly. For some reason, I accept that this way is okay.

Even working out I have been way too soft on myself. If I do what I’ve always done, then I’ll get what I’ve always got. Exercising half heartedly is not going to get me where I want to be, is it?

Too often I make excuses for myself- in the physical and the emotional, which crosses over to real life:

Oh, I can’t coach softball this year
I’m a homeschool mum with a prodigal child- it is too much stress!
I never ‘came back’ from the knee reconstruction so I have to be careful.
I had an altering surgery 10 years ago which totally affected me…therefore I can’t exercise???
I don’t like to sweat
I don’t like to drink water
I don’t like to get puffed

Well, frankly there must be a pay-off for me somewhere. Somewhere, somehow, I must like the way I am. If I didn’t I would do something about it! What is my payoff?

I allow myself to make and live in excuses to win.

I changed that this week. When? Well, I weighed in on Monday and got real grumpy. REAL grumpy. But I decided that I can choose to be a victim or not. I can choose to allow scales or tape measures or clothes dictate how I should feel…or not! I decided to hit the bike, HARD. It felt good. Tuesday I had the funeral and it was a hard day in many ways….I got up yesterday morning and decided to hit the treadmill HARD. Nothing soft. I did. I pushed. I was pooped. But afterward I was pumped. I actually pushed myself. Wahoo! Then yesterday afternoon, I did my Lower Body Workout and pushed it. Whoohoo! I was just pumped.

Good news? Yeah I’ve got that too. We’ve decided as a family (minus one) to enter the City to Bay run! I have been trying to encourage my son’s (Master J) fitness for 12 months…but all he’s interested in is looking buff and muscly. But he just doesn’t seem to listen when I talk about cardio fitness. Well, he went to Cadets on Tuesday night and he has volunteered to run in the Fun Run for charity!!! (He’s funny like that- he wants to experience as much as he can so he tends to volunteer for anything and everything) So, we had the most educational day yesterday, talking and planning and learning AND doing. He is now committed to it. This makes me happy because I know how beneficial training of any kind can be. I believe in the power of sport and training. I don’t like much of what I see in sports today but I’m not about to throw it all out. I know that training for softball has been THE best life coach and trainer for both Miss A and myself. Now Master C wants to do the walk so it looks like John, myself, Miss A, Master J and Master C will all be doing it, God willing.

We’ve talked about goal setting and mini goals and one step at a time, etc and planning and all those things. I don’t know what has happened but I feel as though a switch has been turned on, in me.

For some reason now I am not hoping that I will achieve success in this area. I know I will. But it won’t happen just by my wishing it. I have to make it work. Which means getting up off my butt and working it. It isn’t easy. It won’t be easy but do I want it?

High Intensity Interval Training for Homeschool Mums

If you have read any of my Fitn40 posts you would have seen the acronym HIIT. You may have wondered what on earth it is all about. Quite simply, it is short for High Intensity Interval Training– a method of working out. You can see my initial thoughts on it in a previous post.

What is it?
HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training is a form of cardio that involves intervals of varying intensities, with some of those intensities quite high. A typical HIIT session will involve some bursts of “give-it-all-I’ve-got” training followed by periods of lower intensity that allow for active recovery (this means my body can recover somewhat even though I haven’t completely stopped exercising).

Where can I do it?
Anywhere! I can use a machine as in a treadmill, bike, rower, elliptical trainer or other such things or you can do it while walking around the oval, swimming or jogging. I usually use the exercise bike or the treadmill.

When can I/should I do it?
Anytime is a good time! However, some enthusiasts like to do their HIIT workout before breakfast. I can see how beneficial this might be but it’s usually not viable for me at this time. My daughter loves to do a hard HIIT workout after tea. She says she sleeps like a baby that night.

Why should I do it?

The advantages of HIIT training are that I burn more calories in a shorter period of time.
It trains my cardiovascular system to work under a heavier stress load. Strengthening my heart is a good thing!
HIIT boosts my metabolism for up to 18 hours after the session. Whoohoo! This has to be good! So I can lose weight/burn fat while I sit at the computer.
The disadvantage of HIIT is that it is high intensity and therefore requires time to recover. I (along with most other people) can only manage a few (three or four) HIIT sessions per week. HIIT is not beneficial for everyone- especially for those who are on a very restricted calorie intake, which I’m not. It depends upon your needs.
It doesn’t take me too long. I can’t stand the thought of working out for hours (boring!) nor am a delighted at the prospect of training to get fit only to spend hours more time working out. HIIT gives me a solid cardio workout in a short amount of time. In a word: Efficiency.
I’m able to customise my cardio workout to suit my needs. It can be adapted to suit any fitness level according to the individual’s needs and goals. (Um, why wouldn’t a homeschooler go in for that philosophy? 😉 )
It’s about working smarter- not longer.
To be a good role model for my children. This not only encourages them to be fit and healthy but also encourages me and my family members to push through – to not give up.

How do I do it?
The HIIT method that I use is detailed in Body for Life by Bill Phillips. It involves a few minutes of warm-up, followed by intervals that last a minute. For example, on the treadmill or bike I might do a minute at 5 miles per hour (mph), then a minute at 6mph, a minute at 7mph, a minute at 8mph, then you drop back down to 5mph and repeat.

Body for Life has some information on it, including a handy chart.

Choose a form of aerobic exercise – walking or running on a treadmill or elliptical machine or biking inside or outside. On a scale of 1 -10, 1 being the easiest and 10 the hardest, start exercising at a level 5 intensity (Your level 5 will be different to my level 5).

1. Minute 1 – warm up at Intensity Level 5
2. Minute 2 -3 – move from Intensity Level 5 to 6
3. Minute 3 – Level 7
4. Minute 4 – Level 8
5. Minute 5 – Level 9 – Give It Everything Minute
6. Minute 6 – Back to Level 6
7. Minute 7 – Level 7
8. Minute 8 – Level 8
9. Minute 9- Level 9 – Give It Everything Minute
10. Minute 10 – Level 6
11. Minute 11 – Level 7
12. Minute 12 – Level 8
13. Minute 13 – Level 9 – Give It Everything Minute
14. Minute 14 – Level 6
15. Minute 15 – Level 7
16. Minute 16 – Level 8
17. Minute 17 – Level 9 – Give It Everything Minute
18. Minute 18 – Level 10 – C’mon, Give me Just One More Minute
19. Minute 19 – Back to Level 5 – Cool down
20. Walk gently while stretching out.

Alternate weight-training and cardio workouts for six consecutive days and rest on the seventh day.

I have a printout which is pinned to the wall, right above the tready and bike- so I can easily keep track of where I need to be. You can download it here, (pdf) from my download section.

The Sacred Cows of Homeschooling

I’m not much different to a biker! No, not really. My husband was a biker, not just rode a bike but was a biker, in every true sense of the word. He lived by a code. I wasn’t not a biker by any stretch of the imagination. But I still lived by a code- a different code to that of my husband but a code nevertheless. We can all tend to live by a code if we’re not careful. Just because we stick a Jesus or fish sticker on the code, doesn’t make it right.

Thankfully God revealed Himself to us and He poured His grace upon us. Ah, the freedom, the liberty, the absolute peace that living under grace was all about was astounding. The Holy Spirit moved through us as we ministered to others and He also ministered to us directly. I was young in the faith but my love for God and His word, my passion and zeal was strong. I knew I had things to learn but I also knew where I’d come from and how much God had taught me in a relatively short time. I knew He would continue to teach me- and then I would know it was truly His work in me- not a work of the flesh.

Early on in our marriage, John and I were in ministry and had learned something of the ‘cows that Christians hold sacred’. What a Christian is supposed to do and not supposed to do- according to Scripture…supposedly. Our sacred cows are often nothing more than filthy rags…an outworking of the flesh. We have always fought against sacred cows both in Church life and personal Christian life.

When our children came along we wanted the best for them. We wanted to train them in the ways of the Lord and build solid relationships with them- encouraging them always toward God. We wanted to help them to discover their God-given gifts and talents. We wanted to encourage them to serve the Lord with their whole heart. To serve man, as serving the Lord.

With great enthusiasm we entered the wide world of home education. It was exciting and everything we wanted for our family. I started to see better ways of homeschooling. Better ways of training our children. More godly ways of teaching our children. More godly forms of dress, of eating, of playing, of work.

Sacred Cows.

I have lived through the ‘Thief in the Night’ era, the scare of the New Age movement, the Christian Rock era, the laughing spirit, the gold dust, gold teeth, spiritual barking in the aisles, spiritual dancing era and much more. Fads fall in and out of fashion, even within Christianity, sadly. These teachings all have a place but we can tend to take them to extremes and become unbalanced.

I see danger.

We live on the super information highway. We have so much information available to us that it’s just plain scary. It’s confusing. Daunting. Overwhelming. Constantly, we are told by the media what to think, what to wear, what to eat, how to spend money, etc. As believers who are slaves of Christ and not the world, let us not conform to man made traditions…we shouldn’t check our brains at the church door just because it is church. Or just because a book/teacher/lovely woman said so.

As a Christian who sees the danger in this modern world it is easy to embrace the sacred cows of homeschooling. And one thing I have learned is that homeschooling is often extreme. Sure it’s extreme in many ways and I actually love and appreciate that. But the extreme baggage that comes with it is something I do not appreciate. Maybe you didn’t know it beforehand, but the homeschooling lifestyle often has its own CODE. Just like bikers have their code, so did I.

After all, I desired to serve God with my whole heart. I want nothing more than to dedicate my life to serving Him. I want my children to know Him as I know Him. I desire that they love Him as I love Him. But in this day, how can I be sure that will happen? By living according to the code. I’ve often seen it applied and lived out as a formula, but another term is ‘a code’. Regardless, it’s a trap, it’s wrong. It’s an idol.The code takes biblical principles and makes a law out of them. The code replaces grace. The code is cleverly disguised. The code is upheld as being better, more godly, more spiritual, etc but it is simply another system. Another law. Another set of standards in which to live by. There is no grace involved in the practical sense, only in the words.

What is this code?

What exactly is in this code that so many start to innocently and genuinely embrace? The homeschool code may have started with God’s commands but it has added to it. It has complete doctrines built around it. It is putting words into the mouth of Scripture that simply are not there. But there is a feeling of safety in the code. It’s easier to look toward a code for how to live than to trust in God for every step.

I believe that much of the homeschool code is a knee-jerk reaction. We don’t want to be worldly so the opposite of that must be …The Code! Matters of preference and liberty are made into Law. We replace God’s actual Law and principles with our own interpretation of what we believe God’s principles OUGHT to be. Replacing God’s word (and grace, freedom, liberty, relationship) with a code robs us of our freedom and our joy in Christ. What? Does our freedom in Christ mean we can wear pants, buy store-bought bread and not head cover? True Christian freedom comes from having the freedom not to sin. That’s it. Anything more and it becomes the code.

The Law

Okay so what does this Homeschool Code look like?

Homeschool, homebirth, anti-vaccination, home-made cooking, home made bread, grinding own wheat, dresses only, plain dresses only, no pants, head-covering, training girls to only be SAHM, no university for girls, home business, homesteading, country life, father-centred homes, quiverfull, courtship, no tv…oh boy, the list just goes on and on. It’s all preference, not mandated. Now these are not bad or wrong. In themselves they’re good issues to seriously and prayerfully consider. But they are not law. They are not a formula for success. Adhering to them will not achieve salvation or be pleasing to God. Salvation is made possible because of the fullness of Christ and the work on the Cross. These issues are not wrong in and of themselves but they can become idolatrous. Idolatry begins in our heart- anything that takes the place of God.
Funny thing I’ve noticed is that despite all the teaching to the contrary it is often the homeschool mums who are striving for for this type of life…often it is she who read, studies and decides ( or puts the matter convincingly before her husband) upon this lifestyle. There’s an ideal lifestyle. That ideal looks pretty much perfect. And many strive for it. The result? Burnout, frustration, feeling of failure, feeling of guilt or sin…

I know. I was guilty of it. I read the books. I developed the vision. I strove toward it. My husband’s view of most issues hasn’t changed since the day we met. My ideals changed as I read books that purported the Christian Homeschool Code.

I believe God wants more from us than that. He wants more than His people living out a code. He wants relationship. He wants to lead us- daily. He wants us to go to Him, not man. The food we eat, the clothes we wear, the shows we watch, the books we read. He will give us His direction for our family. In fact, He did give my husband direction…but it wasn’t the same as what the Homeschool Code suggested and I tried to change our direction.

I don’t know if I have made any sense here. These are unprocessed thoughts I’ve had tumbling through my mind. I wrestled with the thought of not even publishing this post as I don’t wish to discourage anyone but after leaving it as a draft for some time I do believe need to speak it. I don’t know if anyone else but me needs to hear it, but I need to speak it. if none of this makes any sense to you, just put it out of your mind. If it bugs you, then feel free to ask me to clarify or feel free to comment and disagree. But most of all, pray about it and seek the Scriptures. Not a writer or a book but God’s word.

What sacred cows do you hold? Who or what do you serve? Really?

Living By Grace…Or By the Law

Living with others, by grace, is not always an easy thing, is it? Oh, it’s easy when one is away at church camp or at fellowship meeting but what about when one of those other imperfect people lives with you, in your house?

Let me be honest. At times, I feel it is easier to follow rules- to live BY THE LAW and to heed whatever my Overland Park Theft Lawyer says, than to live in grace. So many times I want to establish house rules, family rules, and by golly (as I punch my fist into my hand) I WILL assert those rules. Sometimes I want to run my home as if it were a military base (and I’m not the family member in the military!). Strangely, John (the military member) is one who cannot tolerate any form of legalism…yet I sometimes find myself strangely drawn to it. I think I find safety in it. If I obey XYZ rules, then God will protect me, right? Nothing bad will happen, right? I will be blessed, right? I will be happy, free, at peace, right?

WRONG!

It doesn’t happen like that. Unless you follow popular, modern teaching of prosperity or legalism teaching (in which case, it is unconfessed sin in my life or something I haven’t done right that resulted in an unfortunate situation) which is unbiblical. Sometimes stuff just happens! For various reasons- and only God knows why. I don’t believe that’s the issue though. The issue is more “Ok Father, how would you have me live within this or through this?”

A time is coming where I want to lay down the law in my home. I want to set a set of rules and by golly, everyone (except John, of course) WILL obey. But will they obey in love…will I have their heart? In all situations is that what is important? Where do we draw the line? Where is that line that is drawn between allowing attitudes and behaviour in order to keep lines of communication open and/or protecting/guarding the others in the family? How much can a parent take, before they have to draw the line?

Sorry for the incoherent ramble. This probably doesn’t make any sense…it’s just tumbling out of my mouth and onto the screen.

I don’t know…I don’t have any answers. Do you? Any words of wisdom to impart?

My son's loss

I received a phone call from my son on Friday night. His mother had been killed in a motorbike accident. She was only 48. ‘S’ has been a part of my life (for better and for worse) since I was 18. She is the birth mother of my son (step-son). She was, for 10years, a very good friend of mine and through her (by positive and negative experiences experiences) I learned a lot. We drifted apart once we started moving around the nation. It happens. Life takes people in different directions. I did manage to catch up with S a few months ago though.

We spent several hours with D…and many more to come, no doubt. This boy (who is now 26, but will always be ‘one of my boys‘ hasn’t had the easiest of lives and I’d like to ask you to pray for him – that not only will God give him peace but that He will draw D to Himself like never before… that He will indeed turn something for good out of this tragedy.

Some of my readers will know of S and my relationship with her. Some may be confused by this post and for that, I apologise. Many readers will not be aware that I became an instant mum when I was married at age 18. My husband had a son. He was 5 when we met and he turned 6 just before we got married. I totally dislike the term step-son and step-mother but that’s what we were. Ever since I determined to be John’s wife I accepted that D would be my son. He calls me Mum and I call him my son. However, I need to distinguish this sometimes as it can become confusing for others. You have no idea how many looks we have had over the years- especially when people do the math and realise that I was 14 when D was born.

If I’m not around much over the next week -10 days, you’ll know where I am. I’m grieving for my friend and supporting my loved ones in their time of loss and sorrow.

Exercise for wk3

Exercise Journal from4th – 9th May

Exercise
Mon: Attempted Billy Blanks Basic Bootcamp. Ain’t nothing basic about it. Good, hard fun. (Didn’t use resistance bands)
Tues:
Wed: Basic Bootcamp.
Thur:
Fri: 20min High Intensity Interval Workout on bike
Sat:

Notes:
Ugh, felt good on Monday…a little stiff on Tuesday but I was feeling ridiculously stiff by Wednesday. I really needed to do some basic treadmill/bike/stretching on the Tuesday.

Wednesday was good- Bill Blanks (BB) is tough but very good for the WHOLE body. of course, I look like a frog in a blender but no one sees me so it’s all good.

Friday was ok. didn’t feel like doing anything but pushed myself to do the bike. Bike is good but not as total body as BB.

This is Wk 3 of my Fit n 40 Quest. In Wk 5 I might go back to aiming for 4 workouts a week- even if it is just walking or bike.

All in all, a good week. Haven’t weighed in- not going to. Too negative. But my body has felt good and John commented that I even seem to be carrying my self better- better posture.

Mothers Day 2009

I was planning a feast for Mother’s Day. I wanted to celebrate being a mum and I wanted to bless my husband and children- for without them I wouldn’t be a mum! However John won’t be home on Sunday…he has to work. This disappointed Miss A so yesterday she got with the other children and went shopping for a gift.

I woke up this morning and they children took me out for breakfast. We went to Cafe Verdi and had yummy food and good coffee. (Okay, the coffee wasn’t the best but the company and event made it the best). The children presented their lavish gifts to me. Wow, did they spoil me or what!

(Click to see larger image)

I received a lovely black top, with Indian style needlework down the front. A Bottle of Kylie’s “Showtime”, a purse, a great coffee mug filled to the brim with honey coated cashews and a bottle of liquorice Sambuca. And…and the recent Paul Potts CD: Passione. Whoohoo, I’ve wanted this as soon as I heard about it. And a card…I love cards. Especially when they children write in them. (Tehee, the slogan on the coffee mug is “I have children and a sense of humour, What’s your super power?”)

(Click to see larger image)

I used to look at some mum’s and wonder why my children didn’t do those lovely, sweet things. Problem was, I was looking at the mums who had teens and young adults and wishing my younger children would be like that. Pffttt! How unreal of me. Mother’s Day certainly looks different now to when I had young children…but I love all the stages. Grubby little hand prints and misspellings on cards…weeds picked and given as flowers…ah, how sweet and adorable is that?

But that season of life has passed for me…I now get more ‘grown up’ gifts but as the mother of a prodigal it is not all roses and chocolate. The day also brought yet another heartache…as special family days usually do when a family has a prodigal child. So with John away at the moment, it was lovely to receive a phone call from him. He wasn’t due to call me until late tonight but somehow he was able. Thank you Lord for prompting him and providing opportunity for him to call, if only for a brief few minutes.

How are you planning to celebrate Mother’s Day this year? Are you in a stage of celebrating and blessing others? Are you training your children in the art of blessing others? What will you do this Sunday?

Fitn40 weekly record

Exercise record from Tuesday 28th until Sunday 3rd April

Tues 28th

EXERCISE:
10 min HIIT on bike
10 HIIT treadmill
*HIIT= High Intensity Interval Training
20 x Tricep curls
20 x Bicep thingys
Abs:
Back-friendly crunches 3 styles @ 20 each
Flexibility:
Stretching routine
Notes
Good day- felt great.

Wednesday 29th

EXERCISE:
5 min warmup on bike
5min warmup on treadmill
Lower body
Steps up 10@ each leg
15x Body weight Squats
15x Medball Squats
5 raised lunges
Abs:
20x Reverse crunches
10x leg extensions
Flexibility:
Stretching routine
Notes
Actually felt like doing something first thing this morning!

Thursday 30th
EXERCISE:
5 min warmup on bike
5min warmup on treadmill
Lower body

Abs: Abi put me through some paces

Flexibility:
Stretching routine

Friday
EXERCISE:
5 min warmup on bike
5min warmup on treadmill
Lower body

Flexibility:
Stretching routine

No S Diet and starting weights

I don’t record anything on days that begin with S- so that’s Saturday and Sunday. (as well as Special Days and Sick days)

The No S diet.

No Snacks
No Sweets
No Second Servings
…except on days that start with S.

I did a silly thing last week on the 21st April. I started exercising. No, that isn’t silly but my old train of thought of No Pain- No Gain skipped in again and I totally overdid it. I put myself out of action for about 4 days.

WarmUp-
2min on bike to get blood going through leg
5min on treadmill
Circuit: I did two sets of 20 generally
40x Fast, low-step running right leg (using step)
40x Fast, low-step running right leg (using step)
20x Push ups on knees
40x Free standing body weight squat
40x Standing shoulder press with light dumbells (1.2kgeach)
20x Static lunge each leg
40x Standing bicep curl with light barbell
Abs:
20x Crunches
10x Crunches with left twist
10x Crunches with right twist
Flexibility: Stretching routine

22nd April was better

WarmUp-
5min on bike to get blood going through leg
5min on treadmill
Circuit:
420 x lat pull downs
20x Chest Press with dumbbells
20x light squats (no weights more for stretching due to soreness)
20x towel pulls
10min on treadmill @ 5kph
Abs:
Back-friendly crunches 3 styles @ 20 each
Flexibility:
Stretching routine
Notes
I think I overdid it a little yesterday (Tue) with the squats. My lower thigh muscle was sore all day, and still this morning. Have to remember that I am not 20 anymore, more like 40. It’s also good for Miss A to work with me as she has heaps of personal experience with athletes but not with unfit, 40 yo ex-athletes! I’m so thankful for my husband that made the verandah area so we can put all the gym equipment and I’m also very thankful for Miss A, who encourages and supports me along the way.

Fit and 40- yes!

My Mini Goal is to lose 4.5kg. I just get overwhelmed if I don’t set mini goals so that’s my starting point. However, the real goal is to get fit and be strong…to have strong muscles and bones and be able to keep up with my children and be a good role model.

The key for me is not food…it is exercise. There is a lot of food that my body cannot tolerate so my food choices are fairly limited. I tend to eat the things I can freely eat- I can’t help it if it is cheese, milk and chocolate! Yes, I’m laughing but I’m also serious. I can’t deny myself any more food as I don’t eat that much (people who know me IRL will know what I mean) but I need to move. I can feel my joints stiffening up – ankle pain, knee pain, back pain, hip pain, etc. I know a lot of it is from overuse as an ex softball player (softball pitchers use knees and hips a lot) but if those joints and muscles were more mobile, I wouldn’t be in half as much trouble. I suffer from very low B12 levels and am severely iron deficient so good, healthy, real food is important to me. I need to eat more real food. I don’t eat enough of the good stuff. However calorie restriction is not my issue so I won’t focus on it.

After recently suffering a bout of thrombophlebitis, I really need to get moving and get strong again. I want to be be a fit and 40year old mama! I had always been fit, even when I was overweight. I’ve been fit through pregnancies, miscarriages, ankle surgery and casts, etc. But 5 years ago I did my knee in and had a total knee reconstruction and I’ve never gotten on top of things since then. It has taken me 5 years to get to this ridiculously low point but I am tired of being unfit. For goodness sake, I am a level 2 softball coach, an ex player- someone who liked to be fit and strong…where has that part of me gone? A homeschool mum needs all the energy she can get- I can’t afford to be unfit.

About 18 months ago I was ready and raring to go – to do something about it. Then, we moved. It took me awhile to get back into the swing of things. Then one year ago I was ready and raring to go again. Nothing happened…for me. Some fellow homeschool friends lost weight but I just kept making excuses for myself. Well, I’m ready to try again. Slow but steady steps…

With exercise I usually fall into the trap of *if a little is good, then a lot must be better* but the problem is I can’t stick to it. Miss A is studying her Cert 3 in Fitness and she is helping me- rather supervising/regulating me so I don’t crash and burn.

Thing is, I want a guarantee! I want to know that if I apply myself to this that I will reap the rewards (feeling better) but with my body type and the [health] condition that I live with I have doubts. Of course my dear husband and daughter say pish posh to that and that I’m trying to excuse myself. 😉

Maybe it’s part of different season’s in one’s life but I’m feeling like a bear who has just woken up from hibernation- it’s time to groggily start moving and greet the world again! 😉

I have used every excuse known to man. I used to say I couldn’t exercise regularly as the children were little and I couldn’t afford to be away from them too much (let’s just totally leave out how they’d entertain themselves if I was on the computer) but aside from that, my children are now older and I can have lots of time to myself if I need it.

I have to want it enough. I have the equipment to exercise rain, hail or shine. It is my self discipline- the mental determination to just do it and stick with it. I do feel that if I can stick with it for awhile I WILL feel some results and I know that will spur me on- it’s the initial kick-start I need.

What is my plan of attack?
A combination of fitness routines. I simply can’t follow just one. Most plans/books/methods I’ve researched have valid points and are very good but for various reasons they just don’t fit my lifestyle. But I have enough knowledge on the topic to make it work for me- with tweaking and tailoring to suit. I like Body for Life by Bill Phillips, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle by Tom Venuto, Crunch Time by Michelle Bridges but being a softball coach I also have knowledge in the area so will apply that.

I’m in such a bad way that I’m aiming for 20min 4 times a week to start with. Yes, it’s pathetic but it’s where I need to start. Why am I writing here on my blog for all to see? Why not? I know I’m not the only homeschool mum who struggles in this area…so if I can encourage others in any small way then it’s worth blogging about. So, I’ll post in the Health & Fitness category of my blog.

Just Let Go

This poem sums up ‘letting go lessons’ that I’ve learned over the years. I’m sure though, that my time of lesson learning is not behind me…I still have some ways to go yet.

To ‘let go” does not mean to stop caring;
it means to accept that I can’t do it for someone else.
To ‘let go” is not to cut myself off;
it is the realization I can’t control another.
To ‘let go” is not to enable,
but to allow learning from the natural consequences of the choices we make.
To ‘let go” is to acknowledge that which I cannot change and
to pursue that which I can.
To ‘let go” is to admit powerlessness,
which means the outcome is out of my hands.
To ‘let go” is not to try to change or blame another;
it is to make the most of myself.
To ‘let go” is not to care for but to care about.
To ‘let go” is not to fix but to be supportive.
To ‘let go” is not to judge
but to allow another to be a human being.
To ‘let go” is not to be in the middle arranging all the outcomes
but to allow other to effect their own destinies.
To ‘let go” is not to be protective;
it is to permit another to face reality.
To ‘let go” is not to deny but to accept.
To ‘let go” is not to nag, scold or argue,
but instead to search out my own shortcomings and to correct them.
To ‘let go” is not to adjust everything to my own desires
but to take each day as it comes and to cherish myself in it.
To ‘let go” is not to criticize and regulate anybody
but to try to become what I dream I can be.
To ‘let go” is not regret the past nor fear the future
but to grow and live in the present.
To ‘let go” is to forgive, not to condone.
To ‘let go” is to free myself of my collection of past hurts and resentments.
To ‘let go” is to fear less and to love more.

Anonymous

Noteworthy Free Bible studies

Further to my post about not profiting from the preaching of the gospel I’d like to highlight a few sites that give free Bible studies suitable for home and family use. There are many more I’m sure but these are some that we’ve used. If you know of others, feel free to leave a comment and share the URL.

Free Bible curriculum for use in the homeschool and family setting!

Calvary Chapel Sunday School lessons have been created for the purpose of supporting and blessing those who minister to children. Excellent!

Bible Class Books are excellent for elementary, OT, NT, Topical studies and character traits. Do check them out. Well worth your time. http://www.bibleclassbooks.com/index.html

Coromandel Baptist has many free resources, including a SS program that can be easily modified for home use.

The Christian Basics series and the Christian Faith series makes a great study for older children/teens.
http://www.corobaptist.org.au/articles/index.html

New Creation Teaching Ministries has many resources which are free…but even if you wish to purchase their books they are sooo cheap, only charging for printing/publishing costs. Help Me to Grow by Rev. Dr John Annells is a bible study for new Christians BUT I suggest that it is also great for teens.

The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus by John R. Cross, from GoodSeed: http://www.goodseed.com/
This fully illustrated, 304-page book is written for adults and teens who know little or nothing about the Bible. It explains in a straightforward way the greatest themes of the Bible, step by step creating an understanding of sin, substitution and atonement. Available chapter by chapter download.

Corresponding free workbook
Corresponding Answer Booklet
Free Audio download of the book

Bible 101 – A Self-Paced Course
It’s been called “the greatest story ever told.” Now the central message of the Bible is brought to life in this eleven-hour online video series. This self-paced course has been adapted from the popular award winning DVD series – The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus.
http://www.goodseed.com/learning/bible-101/

By This Name is was written to give to or teach people who come from a polytheistic or pantheistic background. It is also geared for those who don’t believe in absolute truth, or say things like “That’s true for you but not for me.” Great study for teens!
http://www.goodseed.com/products/btn-eng-book/

The Lamb by John R. Cross
186 page full color book for children that explains the main message of the Bible

EBible Teacher has lessons for the slightly younger children.
Old Testament and New Testament lessons and Books of the Bible

All that the Prophets have Spoken
As the influence of Islam becomes more widespread and you start to meet more Muslims, you want to be able to communicate with them what you believe to be the central message of Scripture. But where do you begin? How do you even start?

And Beginning with Moses
Are you looking for a way to clearly teach the Bible in a world where truth is relative and God is seen as a force? Have you been noticing a shift in our culture and are struggling to know how to share the gospel with this new generation? You want to teach the Bible, but when people don’t even understand who God is, where do you begin? Great for teens!

Sunday School Lessons on the Tabernacle
The following lesson plans have been designed for a Sunday school class or weekly Bible study for adults or young adults. Each lesson, which can be completed in 45 minutes to an hour, includes one or two main biblical passage(s) on which the lesson is based, a short background description, and several discussion questions. Through these lessons, your students will be able to better understand Christ’s redemptive work on the cross and how He fulfilled every aspect of the tabernacle. Our hope is that they will come away with a stronger, clearer and more accurate grasp of the Gospel.

Bible Explorer
Bible Explorer is the fastest and easiest to use free bible study software. Over 2,800 Bible and Bible reference works available!

I’d like to encourage you to use the materials above to teach and instruct your family. If you use the materials, consider donating to the ministries. While this isn’t necessary it will further help spread God’ word. Please don’t fall for the trap that says ‘just because a book costs a few dollars it must be better than the free ones’. It’s just not true.

My Boy is 14 today

Happy Birthday to My Boy.

14 today!

I know you’ll hate this picture but oh well, it’s my blog so I can put it up. It’s called being a parent. 😉

When you were first born and wouldn’t wake up long enough to feed, and subsequently lost too much weight and were taken to the RAH for heart tests, I went in and stayed at the hospital praying for you all the time, while dad stayed home to look after the girls. We were so scared. On day 14 you woke up, demanded to be fed and haven’t stopped eating since! Where you put all that food has me in constant amazement.

We’ve loved getting to know you and your particular strengths and weaknesses and quirks. We love watching you grow and develop and slowly becoming a young, independent man within the home. It’s such a pleasure to watch you grow in maturity, determination and many other fine character traits. We are very proud of you and look forward to spending more time with you over the coming few years.

HaPpY 14th BiRtHdAy

Passion of Christ Movie

This post was originally written in August 2007…but thought I’d bring it to the front again.

My husband and I both watched the movie, The Passion of the Christ. I spent a few days in prayer and study in order to prepare for the movie. I’m glad I did. During the week after the movie, God revealed something to me during that time that has convicted me so deeply… affected my life in a way that I have only shared with 2 other people (my husband a friend). It wasn’t something that I feel the need to share with everyone, and I know not everyone would understand it, as it quite contrary to popular mainstream Christianity but it is too special, too personal to share lightly. Of course I would share in the right situation but flippancy is one downfall that I have seen as a direct result of this movie. I think that’s a shame.

We also prepared 16yo ‘Miss A’ to view the movie. Only she has seen it, out of our four children here. (Damian is 23 and the eldest but is not living in QLD with us) She is a Christian of her own volition, by fact that she has repented and taken responsibility or ownership of her faith as she matured which is different to my other children who still believe because mum and dad believe. Do you know what I mean? There’s nothing wrong with this… it’s as it should be. But there comes a time in everyone?s life where they need to know what they believe and why… that it isn’t just because it is tradition to do so.

I started preparing my daughter for this a few years ago. We read books, she did the Messiah unit through Heart of Wisdom, etc. We taught her (as we also continue to learn) about the wonderful, liberating, profound, sacrifice that happened on that cross. This movie, as with any movie, focuses upon the physical death of Jesus the Christ. History shows us that many other people since that time have suffered horrendous torture.

We have taught our daughter in depth about the cross…it is so much more than physical punishment…so much more than the flippancy than it is often preached. With every fibre of His being, Jesus suffered more than any other, not physically but in that “he bore our sins in his own body on the tree“, and “he who knew no sin was made sin for us,” as “he suffered the just for the unjust” when God “laid upon him the iniquity of us all“. In being ‘the propitiation for our sins’ he bore the wrath of God upon all evil. The physical side of his crucifixion, painful as it was, was very minor in comparison with his sin-bearing…his separation from The Father.

No amount of emotion or painful sight can pierce the heart in such a way that a viewer can truly comprehend the real meaning of the death on a cross. This death was not just this way as to move us to feel sad, or feel emotion. Jesus told his disciples, “. . . this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

I have seen many people who watched the movie, were touched at the time but have continued on with their lives as though they had just watched a horror flick! Aacckkkkk! I have discussed with others how they didn’t think much of this whole ‘Jesus thing‘ because others have gone through more pain – therefore they missed the message of the cross. God is the one who will draw people…He will reveal Himself to people in His time. He doesn’t need a movie to do so, although He can use it if He so desires. He chose instead, to use words, language, vocabulary, the tradition of oral story telling in which to let us know of His message. So, we are preparing our children in the Word of God first so that they will be grounded in His teachings before being exposed to the visual and emotional pull of such a movie. We need a solid grasp of what happened on the cross before we see it *performed*. After all, no matter how good, it is still a performance – acting. No actor can thoroughly communicate the victory of His cry, ‘It is finished!‘ nor truly portray the utter trust of Jesus when he said, ‘Father! Into thy hands I commit my spirit‘. What did these words mean? I’ve been studying them for over a year and a half and I’m nowhere near finished yet!

Those who read this blog or know me in real life will also know that we aren’t overly cautious or protectionistic (it’s my word) with the television. We like Sci-Fi and LOTR (Oh boy, I’ve lost some people now eh?) but there are some things that are simply too precious, too meaningful to throw before our children in an attempt to impact a generation or teach them understanding.

Jon Gabriel Book Review

I spent 15 weeks on the library waiting list. The library notified me that the book was in for me to pick up. Couldn’t get there. The book went to the next person on the list. I went back on the waiting list. Only a 12 week waiting period this time. The library emailed me again to say the book was in. I made sure I got to it this time.

I read it form cover to cover to get an overview of the message. Thought I was missing something. I read it again- slower this time. Hmm, still not impressed. I was going to write a more in-depth review but I really can’t be bothered to devote too much time to it. I usually provide a few links for readers to check out, but as I don’t recommend the books I won’t link to any sites. I have searched and searched for others who might share similar thoughts to me…but I can’t find any other review that speaks out against teh new-age practices in this book!

What book am I talking about? Jon Gabriel’s, The Revolutionary DIET-FREE Way to Totally Transform Your Body.

The book makes some outstanding claims and they may very well be true for some readers. However, as a Jesus follower I just can’t practice the methods purported in the book. I believe many of the methods to be new-age (personal transformation) and have roots in mysticism and Gnosticism. (Yep, now I’m making the broad claims!)

After reading The Gabriel Method, you will learn:

Your body has a reason why it’s holding on to weight–and it’s not your fault.
Fat is a cushion–a protective barrier that our mind believes is helping to protect us.
If you can change that belief, you can change your body; Stop the cycle of crash dieting and start eating what you want, when you want it.
How to choose healthy, nutritious foods that nourish the cells in your body, not starve them.
Delicious shakes and smoothies, and super-power supplements, that can jump start your success.
The simple way you can train your mind and body to work with your goal of health, not against it.
Eliminate the emotional and mental reasons your body holds on to weight in just 10 minutes a day.

The book is [apparently] quite scientific and the author has studied biochemistry (I don’t know if it was an accredited course). Mr. Gabriel writes that the body has an internal logic that determines how fat or thin each person will be at any given time. Therefore the way to weight loss is not in struggling, dieting or even exercise but to understand the logic (?) or reasoning within your body and work with it, not against it. When your body feels safe and desires to be thinner, weight loss is inevitable, automatic and effortless. Apparently, one can transform themselves into a thin person and eat whatever they want, whenever they want!

The book contains a CD which the reader/listener is supposed to listen to at night, while in bed [preferably]. This immediately sets alarm bells ringing in my head as it should any Christian. The practices of hypnosis, positive self-talk, visualisation, meditation, and other methods used throughout this book take the onus away from man created in the image of God and toward a more pantheistic view of man. The methods used in the book are often a quick way to be introduced to new age thoughts and beliefs (world view). These practices often lead one to another as they take hold of a person’s life and the person begins to ‘grow’ in self awareness, etc.

Just because a book doesn’t swear, or does mention God doesn’t mean its foundational principles are based on science or the word of God.

No doubt that many people like this book and have benefited from it but as a believer and a Creationist I could not recommend this book to anyone- in fact, quite the opposite! Get a calorie counter, bottle of water and hit the treadmill instead. if you do want to read some good books that I do recommend, try Body for Life by Bill Phillips or Crunch Time by Michelle Bridges.

Jesus Died!

Listen to this short presentation today or tomorrow. Watch it with your children, your husband. Pass it on to others. It is about the fulfillment of the Passover…it is The Easter Story.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a11ASw5NRUw

Messianic Seder: Celebrating Passover

The Messianic Seder

There are no set rules for the basic order of the seder. Just like with Thanksgiving dinner, traditions vary among families. In this chapter is an example of:

1.) a very simple seder with no specific readings.

2.) a traditional seder outline. This outline consists of eighteen traditional steps you can adapt for your family.

3.) an easy-to-use twenty-four page step-by-step Haggadah* (you may reproduce for your family’s use) that explains just what to say for each blessing as you pour the wine, when to eat and drink, and a list of the Bible verses to read. The leader simply reads aloud the text from the gray box on each page as the rest of the group follows the directions.

4.) a basic checklist of what you need to have at (or close by) the dinner table.

The one thing you should not do is get all bound up in “doing it right” and ruin the dinner. That would defeat the purpose. Pray and trust God to lead you. Passover was reintroduced by Hezekiah in Bible times (Numbers 9). They were unable to follow every step outlined in Leviticus; however, God knew their hearts. He had grace towards them and healed their people.

*The 24 page reproducible Haggadah is included in the book A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays.

An excellent Passover video is available from Sojourner Ministries. You can view a clip online. Click The Unleavened Messiah Video

More About Passover

If you think these articles were interesting you haven’t seen anything yet! Wouldn’t you like to have all this information fully illustrated at your fingertips in one volume? All of the REALLY GOOD stuff is in the book…
Click to Order the A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays or Order Electronic Files and Begin Reading Today!

An excellent Passover video is available from Sojourner Ministries. You can view a clip online. Click The Unleavened Messiah Video

Kindly used with permission from Robin Sampson, Biblical Holidays

Are You Really Saved?

This will only take 5 minutes but it’s good to listen to…and assess exactly what we teach our children. Are we teaching good manners, good behaviour? Are we trying to teach good fruit? We can’t! We can’t present the gospel message to our children…ask them to repeat the sinner’s prayer after you and then think they are saved.

When I listen to messages it affects every aspect of my life – my own spiritual life but also how I interact with others, including my children. My husband has often said, “We have nothing to do with our own salvation. We aren’t saved because of any decision we made…if we do, ooohhh, we’re on shaky ground” . This short message by Paul Washer goes into that a little further.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc5lY9YP_bE

Messiah in the Passover

Several symbolic clues during Passover are fulfilled in Christ. John the Baptist introduced Jesus by saying, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29). The Jews had been celebrating Passover for 1,500 years. They understood the significance of John’s statements.

Isaiah 53, written hundreds of years before Christ, records the suffering the human lamb would experience.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand (Isa. 53:7-10).

Triumphal Entry of the Lambs

In the first century, a lamb was chosen by the high priest outside of Jerusalem on the tenth of Nisan. Then the priest would lead this lamb into the city while crowds of worshippers lined the streets waving palm branches and singing Psalm 118, “Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord.”

Jesus our Messiah entered Jerusalem this same day, on a donkey (usually ridden by a king), probably right behind the High Priest’s procession. The crowds that had just heralded the entrance of the sacrificial lamb heralded the entrance of the Lamb of God. Accordingly, Jesus identified himself with the Passover sacrifice (John 12:9-19). The next day, as Jesus entered Jerusalem, His entry fulfilled prophecy.

Enthusiasm filled the air. All Israel knew that it would be in Jerusalem where Messiah would be enthroned as their King. Edersheim writes,

Everyone in Israel was thinking about the Feast, Everyone was going to Jerusalem, or had those near and dear to them there, or at least watched the festive processions to the Metropolis of Judaism. It was a gathering of universal Israel, that of the memorial of the birth-night of the nation, and of its Exodus, when friends from afar would meet, and new friends be made; when offerings long due would be brought, and purification long needed be obtained and all worship in that grand and glorious Temple, with its gorgeous ritual. National and religious feelings were alike stirred in what reached far back to the first, and pointed far forward to the final Deliverance.

The High Priest would then take the lamb to the Temple, where it would be tied in public view so that it could be inspected for blemish. In the same way, Yeshua sat and taught in the Temple courtyard for four days. He was inspected and questioned as the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the teachers of the law sought to trip him up in His words and entrap Him. They could not, because He was perfect and without blemish (Lancaster1996).

Passover pronounces redemption. To believers in Messiah, the Passover feast has a special meaning. Though we are not slaves, as God’s people in Egypt, we were slaves to our sin, our own wants and desires. Sin was our master until Jesus, the Passover Lamb, delivered us from our Egypt. The lamb slain during Passover is a foreshadow of the redemption we find in Jesus, the Messiah, our Passover lamb. The principle of redemption is the concept of bondage to the slavery of sin and freedom from its domination (John 8:31-36). To be “redeemed” means to be purchased from slavery. Jesus Christ purchased our freedom with His blood as the payment for the redemption (Ps. 34:22; 1 Peter 1:18,19; Gal. 3:13; Eph. 1:7; 1 John 1:7).

Jesus ate the Passover meal with eleven of His disciples (see Passover in Bible Times). Just as the priest was to teach, pray, and offer sacrifice, Christ, the High Priest, taught, prayed, and then offered Himself as our sacrifice.

After the Meal

When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples. (John 18:1).

Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane. The garden has many ancient olive trees today, some of which may have grown from the roots of the trees that were present in Jesus’ time. (All trees in and around Jerusalem were cut down when the Romans conquered the city in 70 a.d. Olive trees can regenerate from their roots and live for thousands of years.) The name Gethsemane comes from the Hebrew Gat Shmanim, meaning “oil press” (Kollek). Since oil is used in the Bible to symbolize the Holy Spirit, it may be said that the garden is where “the Spirit of God was crushed” (Missler 1995).

It was here that Jesus agonized in prayer over what was to occur. It is significant that this is the only place in the King James Version where the word agony is mentioned (Strong’s concordance). The Greek word for agony means to be “engaged in combat” (Pink). Jesus agonized over what He was to go through, feeling that He was at the point of death (Mark 14:34). Yet He prayed, “Not my will, but thine be done” (Terasaka 1996).

Of medical significance is that Luke mentions Him as having sweat like blood. The medical term for this, hemohidrosis, or hematidrosis, has been seen in patients who have experienced extreme stress or shock to their systems (Edwards). The capillaries around the sweat pores become fragile, and leak blood into the sweat. A case history is recorded in which a young girl who had a fear of air raids in World War I developed the condition after a gas explosion occurred in the house next door (Scott). Another report mentions a nun who, as she was threatened with death by the swords of the enemy soldiers, “was so terrified that she bled from every part of her body and died of hemorrhage in the sight of her assailants.” (Grafenberg) As a memorial to Jesus’ ordeal, a church which now stands in Gethsemane is known as the Church of the Agony (ibid).

Immediately thereafter, He was betrayed by Judas (Mark 14:43), and captured by the high priest and taken for trial before Caiaphas (Luke 22:54). Consequently, Jesus was crucified between two thieves, fulfilling His own prediction that “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up” (John 3:14). Most of His disciples fled at His arrest; only a group of women and one disciple, called “the disciple whom He loved,’ were present at the cross when He died (John 19:25-27; compare Matthew 27:55-56; Mark 15:40; and Luke 23:49).

Jesus’ Trial, Death, and Resurrection

Many of us have a hard time grasping the pain and suffering Christ went through on the crucifixion day. Television today has de-sensitized our feelings pertaining to the horrifying violence of the torture and slow death of Jesus.

The following is just a portion of an article by Dr. C. Truman Davis, M.D., M.S., titled: “The Crucifixion Of Jesus: The Passion Of Christ From A Medical Point Of View,” which explains some of the agony of Christ:

In the early morning, Jesus, battered and bruised, dehydrated, and exhausted from a sleepless night, is taken across Jerusalem to Pontius Pilate. The prisoner is stripped of His clothing and His hands tied to a post above His head. A short whip consisting of several heavy, leather thongs with two small balls of lead attached near the ends of each is brought down with full force again and again across Jesusÿ shoulders, back and legs.

The condemned man was forced to carry the patibulum [cross bar], apparently weighing about 110 pounds, from the prison to the place of execution. Without any historical or Biblical proof, medieval and Renaissance painters have given us our picture of Christ carrying the entire cross. Many of these painters and most of the sculptors of crucifixes today show the nails through the palm. Roman historical accounts and experimental work have shown that the nails were driven between the small bones of the wrists and not through the palms. Nails driven through the palms will strip out between the fingers when they support the weight of the human body. The misconception may have come about through a misunderstanding of Jesus’ words to Thomas, observe my hands. Anatomists, both modern and ancient, have always considered the wrists as a part of the hand. A titilus, or small sign, stating the victims crime was usually carried at the front of the procession and later nailed to the cross above the head. A small bundle of flexible branches covered with long thorns (commonly used for firewood) are plaited into the shape of a crown and this is pressed into His scalp. The heavy patibulum [crossbar]of the cross is tied across His shoulders, and the procession headed by a centurion, begins its slow journey along the Via Dolorosa. In spite of His efforts to walk erect, the weight of the heavy wooden beam, together with the shock produced by copious blood loss, is too much. He stumbles and falls. The centurion, anxious to get on with the crucifixion, selects a stalwart North African onlooker, Simon of Cyrene, to carry the cross.

The crucifixion begins. The legionnaire drives a heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. The patibulum is then lifted in place at the top of the stipes and the titulus reading, ÿJesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews is nailed in place.

Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber; then another agony begins. A deep crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart.

The body of Jesus is now in extremis, and He can feel the chill of death creeping through His tissues. This realization brings out possibly little more than a tortured whisper, ÿIt is finished.ÿ

His mission of atonement has been completed. Finally He can allow His body to die.

With one last surge of strength, He once again presses His torn feet against the nail, straightens His legs, takes a deeper breath, and utters His seventh and last cry, ÿFather, into thy hands I commit my spiritÿ (Truman 1965).

Jesus died as the lambs for the Passover meal were being slain. Not a bone was to be broken in these sacrificial lambs (Ex. 12:46; Num. 9:12). Jesus, the Lamb of God, was the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world (1 Cor. 5:7).

During the Passover time, a sign hung on each lamb’s neck, bearing the name of the owner of the lamb. Jesus was crucified with a sign hung over His head with the name of His Father. Studies have shown the Tetragrammaton probably appeared over Jesus when He hung on the cross. During Bible times, messages were commonly written with the first letter of each word. An example in English: UPS, stands for United Parcel Service. The phrase Jesus of Nazareth and King of the Jews was written in three languages on a sign above Jesus as He hung on the cross (John 19:19). The Hebrew initials for Jesus of Nazareth and King of the Jews was YHWH. That is why the priest asked Pilate to change the writing. Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews. Pilate answered, What I have written I have written (John 19: 21-22).

The story does not end with the death of Jesus. His body was placed in a new tomb that belonged to a man named Joseph of Arimathea (Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42). The greatest event that separates Jesus from all others is the fact that He overcame death. In three days He rose again and lives today. He arose from the grave on the Feasts of Firstfruits!

On Nisan 17, when Israel emerged from the Red Sea, this emergence was a shadow of the fulfillment of the day of Firstfruits (Lev. 23:9-14). This was the first of God’s people to emerge from sin (Egypt). It was fulfilled 1,478 years later on Nisan 17, 30 a.d. when Jesus was resurrected and ascended to heaven as our high priest, the Firstfruit of the resurrected (John 20:17).

Two Passovers

The gospels appear to say that the Messiah ate a Passover meal with the twelve on the evening beginning Nisan 14, and John appears to say Jews were having their Passover meal one day later. There are different theories to explain this.

1. The Sadducees and Pharisees disagreed on the day of Passover. The Sadducees (more conservative group) believed the Feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread were separate feast days. They held Passover on the fourteenth as God decreed in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. Those of the majority opinion, including the Pharisees, held Passover on the fifteenth. Jesus may have been following both dates by having Passover with the disciples on the fourteenth and becoming the Passover lamb on the fifteenth.

2. Thousands of people would come to Jerusalem to have their lambs ritually slain in the Temple. If they only had one day in which to prepare for the Passover, it would have been extremely difficult to have slaughtered all the lambs brought in to be sacrificed. Therefore, they worked on two different time scales. The northern part of the country went with the old way of dating (starting from morning and going to the following morning). The southern part of the country followed the official dating method (from evening to evening). Thus, there were two times when lambs were being killed in the Temple for sacrifice.2

This controversy as to what day Passover should be is not the purpose of this. You must study to decide for yourself which day is correct. Some families celebrate both days, one with their church and one at home.
Three days, Three Nights

“For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matt 12:40).

Friday to Sunday does not equal three days.

Click here to view a chart of the last week of Christ’s life on earth. (Acrobat file)

More About Passover

If you think these articles were interesting you haven’t seen anything yet! Wouldn’t you like to have all this information fully illustrated at your fingertips in one volume? All of the REALLY GOOD stuff is in the book…
Click to Order the A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays or Order Electronic Files and Begin Reading Today!

An excellent Passover video is available from Sojourner Ministries. You can view a clip online. Click The Unleavened Messiah Video

Kindly used with permission from Robin Sampson, Biblical Holidays

Have I Been Educated?

Only takes about 3 minutes. I read this poem many years ago and it encapsulated our thoughts of educational philosophy.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZEMJubS8ac

Never Givin’ Up – Devotional

Never Givin’ Up
Thoughts of a 12 year old girl

“I will never leave you, nor forsake you.”
Joshua 1:5

This scripture spoke to me in a remarkable way. When I think of this song it helps me to remember that God will never give up on me.

I ran as fast as I could to the softball dugout, put my hair up into a pony-tail and hid behind the chair. I had just been prank calling, and called the Police. A live voice on the other end said, “We know where you are, you will be charged.” and then they hung up.

Later that night, still at the softball field, I just couldn’t hold it in. I had to tell my parents. Were they happy? No way! I got grounded and a huge scolding in the middle of the softball grounds. On the way home we saw some police cars and my mother said “A, I am very disappointed in you.” I had a guilty conscience all week.

“When the sky opens up to rain on you,
I’ll be there with open arms to cover you,
don’t give up now,
there’s nothing that I wouldn’t do,
Never Givin’ Up On You”

I knew that prank calling was wrong. I thought to myself ” Why? Why did I listen to my friends?” Now I know that they were not my true friends at all.

That night I thought about the Bible verse Joshua 1:5, “I will never leave you nor forsake you”. And then I realised that God had forgiven me because I had asked Him for forgiveness and He forgives those who have done wrong through Jesus. Everything was ok.

Happy 18th birthday

Happy 18th Birthday to my sweet daughter.

We all love you very much.

Jewish Customs of Passover Today

Passover is the most popular Jewish holiday. The dinner celebration is called a seder. The Passover Seder is a meal with special foods, practices, and Scripture readings that commemorate the liberation from Egyptian slavery, in accordance with God’s instructions (Lev. 23:1,4, Exod. 12:14,24-27).

Seder means “order.” The seder invites each family to recount its own version of the great story of Passover with each family member actively involved. The meal induces the experience of going from slavery to liberty through the food experiences and story as the meal turns into an elaborate feast. There is no “right way” to conduct a seder.

The seder is usually a family dinner but can also be held with your family or with a church group. During the Seder, the narrative of the exodus is related and prayers of thanksgiving are offered up to God for his loving protection. The dinner table is beautifully set with fancy dishes and candles. There is a special pillow on the chair for the leader of the seder to lean on to symbolize the comfort of a free person reclining (as opposed to a slave who never rests). Orthodox Jewish tradition directs that, during Passover, meals be prepared and served using sets of utensils and dishes reserved strictly for that festival. The readings, songs, and prayers of the Seder are included in the Haggadah.

The Haggadah

The Haggadah is the prayer book used at the Seder, or ritual dinner observed at Passover. Sometimes there is a small book for each person participating in the seder. Haggadah means “telling.” The Haggadah is a “script” of what the leader and participants should say and the order of eating and drinking during each part of the meal as it tells the story of the Exodus from Egypt. The Haggadahs were not used until the eighth century a.d. before this oral tradition was used to tell the Passover story. There are over three thousand different Haggadah versions available.

We have included a Messianic Haggadah in this chapter that you may reproduce, for your family only. This Haggadah is written to be used with a family with small children. We have also included a Messianic Seder Outline so you can make your own Haggadah, if desired.

The Seder Plate

There is a special plate in front of the leader called the seder plate. The Seder consists of three directive foods listed in Exodus 12 and customary foods later added by the Rabbis. Each of the foods symbolizes some aspect of the ordeal undergone by the Israelites during their enslavement in Egypt

Foods listed in Exodus 12

Bitter Herbs (usually horseradish) representing the bitterness of bondage
Shank Bone of a Lamb symbolizes the lamb eaten before they fled Egypt.
Matzah– must be made solely of special flour and water (no leaven).

Customary foods later added by the Rabbis

Haroset (it looks unappetizing but is delicious) is a mixture of apples, nuts, grape juice, and cinnamon. It represents the mortar the Israelites used to build the Egyptian cities and the sweetness of a better world.
Roasted Egg is said to be the symbol of life, but we believe it came in with the pagan fertility rituals (Boaz 1996). (Our family decided to leave off the egg.)
Karpas or fresh greens (usually parsley or celery) symbolizes the new life for the Jewish people and the hyssop used to sprinkle blood on the door post. The parsley is dipped into salt water representing the tears of slavery.

| Four Questions | Four Cups | Matzah |
An excellent Passover video is available from Sojourner Ministries. You can view a clip online. Click The Unleavened Messiah Video

If you think these articles were interesting you haven’t seen anything yet! Wouldn’t you like to have all this information fully illustrated at your fingertips in one volume? All of the REALLY GOOD stuff is in the book…
Click to Order the A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays or Order Electronic Files and Begin Reading Today!

News! We have a location

Whoohoo!

We have a posting! John just called to say that we are indeed staying here in S.A.

The last week has been tumultuous as one day things have looked as though we’re staying and the next day it looked as if we were definitely headed for Darwin. Now there’s nothing wrong with Darwin and we would love to be posted there. One day…but our family is such that at the moment we really needed the stability of staying here for awhile.

We don’t know how long this posting is – could be till the end of 2009 or it could be extended till the end of 2010. That we don’t know…yet. But at least we can commit to things now like softball, coaching, cadets, etc. Due to softball commitments, Miss A put of her Fitness Training course until the off-season. Off season is May through to beginning of October. This is the only time she has to do the bulk of her course work. She had to postpone it last year because of our move and I feared she’d have to do the same (and sit on her hands) for another year. Well, she can start her course now! Master J is happy as he gets to stay in his Cadet unit and continue partaking in all the activities. Miss R gets to finish Yr 11 here, which is a bonus because it will mean that for the first time since she’s been attending school, she will have attended the same school for one whole year! Wow!

Thank you Lord…that part of the waiting is over.

How Long Have You Been Homeschooling?

Tell Me Tuesday is being hosted at the AussieHomeschool Blog. Here’s today’s question.

How long have you been homeschooling?

2009 marks our 12 year of learning at home. We unofficially started in late 1997 and 1998 was our first year.

How about you? Would you like to join in with the Tell Me Tuesday meme? Pop over to the blog and see what it is all about.

Passover Overview

Passover Overview

The name of the festival, Pesach in Hebrew, passing over or protection, is derived from the instructions given to Moses by God (Ex. 6:6-8). Moses was chosen by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. God commanded Moses to tell the children of Israel:

Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD (Ex. 6:6-8).

Passover is the time of beginnings for Israel. This festival ushers in the coming of spring on the Jewish calendar. It is celebrated on the fourteenth1 day of Abib (the first month of the Jewish religious calendar, later called Nisan). Each of the three pilgrimage festivals Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles has an agricultural basis as well as an historical significance. Many different things are celebrated during Passover. A few of these include: the end of the rainy season and the beginning of the growing season; the new lambing time, and the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt during Passover.

It cannot be overemphasized as to how foundational Passover is in God’s eternal redemption plan. Only Nisan can be the first month in God’s calendar. Though other cycles and other aspects of life in the LORD are important, it is the sacrifice of the Lamb that gives it all meaning. Except for the sacrifice of the Passover and the blood on the doorposts, Israel would have suffered the same fate as the Egyptians.

The promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would have then become void. With no Passover sacrifice and with no blood on the doorposts, then no Torah could have been given and no other celebrations could have followed. Apart from the sacrifice of the Passover and the blood on the door posts, there would have been no basis for Messiah, our Passover, to be sacrificed on the anniversary of that momentous occasion. We would have no hope and remain dead in our sins; however, the command was obeyed and deliverance was accomplished. Indeed, for us, this is most certainly the first of all the months, the first month of the year, truly the real beginning of all spiritual life (Michael 1996).

God directs parents, this special night of the year, to take on the role of teacher, and pass down His story of the exodus from Egypt to future generations. This ceremony not only looks back to the miraculous story of God delivering His people, but it also presents the promise of Messiah’s death and resurrection. It is an exciting experience centering on a mixture of ritual foods. The matzah, bitter herbs, wine, and the rest, provide a lasting link through the march of history.

Israel’s Redemption from Egypt

( Exodus 1:1-27 )

The Old Testament story of Passover has more light, more splendor, more vividness, and a richer application to life than any other story in the book of Exodus. Moses and his brother Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him that the Lord said to let the Israelites go. Pharaoh refused to release the Israelites, even for a brief visit to the desert to worship their God. In fact, he made life for the Israelite slaves even worse. Moses had warned Pharaoh that God would send a series of plagues upon Egypt unless the people were freed.

God sent the plagues to show the people that He is the one true God. He confronted the things that the Egyptians called gods. The ten plagues were righteous plagues, and justly inflicted upon the Egyptians because each plague had something to do with the false gods that the Egyptians worshipped. God makes those false things that we worship a burden to us.

The word plague is from the Hebrew word oth, which means “sign”. The Egyptians believed in magic. They were always trying to override the laws of nature to perform their “tricks” God used the laws of nature to bring about His signs and wonders.

The entire episode of the plagues is supposed to have happened within eight to ten months. Each of the plagues spoke as a sign to the Egyptians, showing them that He is greater than their so-called gods. The first three plagues affected all the people, even the Hebrews. The next three plagues were much more intense and only happened to the Egyptians (I will put a division between my people and thy people v. 23). Before each plague, God commanded Moses and Aaron to warn Pharaoh, Let My people go or I [God] will bring a plague upon you. Before each plague, for three weeks, Moses warned Pharaoh. The actual plague lasted one week.

Click here to Read about the Ten Plagues

Seder

During the Passover celebration, Jews and Christians remember this great event by eating special foods associated with the bitterness of slavery and the sweetness of freedom. The entire meal, called the seder, is eaten as the story of Israel’s freedom is told. Everything in the Seder is directed toward the prime command from the Bible: And thou shall shew thy son in that day saying, This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt (Exod. 13:8). See a Messianic Seder Process in the next chapter.

Redemption

The great miracle of the splitting of the Red Sea is the climax of the departure from Egypt and the inspiring wonder that forged a group of slaves into a nation. The redemption from Egypt is not only that of Israel but also a salvation by faith in general. The celebration of redemption from Egypt will be a pattern for salvation from all other evil.

During this God-ordained night we celebrate the doctrines of our salvation. Thus, like ancient Israel, we are sovereignty brought to the edge of the “sea” with no hope except to trust His deliverance and to follow Him. We marvel at His overwhelming sufficiency. Like ancient Israel, when we trust Him for deliverance and walk through the “sea” with Him, we end up singing and dancing on the other side. That’s Pesach! (Berkowitz 1996)

Note: A day on the Jewish calendar begins at sunset. When a date is given for a Jewish holiday, the holiday actually begins at sundown on the preceding day.

Kindly used, with permission. Robin Sampson, Biblical Holidays.

Stop Meddling – A Lesson from Proverbs

This past week we discussed Proverbs 26:17

Whoever meddles in a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears.
Proverbs 26:17

Often when using Proverbs I find I don’t need to dig all that deeply in order to understand. This Proverb is pretty clear. What a word picture!

When you butt into an issue, [argument, quarrel, fight, etc] that is none of your business it is like grabbing a mad dog by the ears as you walk by.

Grabbing my Archeological Bible I noticed that it had a section on Dogs in the Ancient World. In ancient Israel dogs were generally not domesticated and ran in wild scavenging packs. They are depicted as roaming carnivores that hunted in packs, even inside cities. To have one’s corpse devoured by dogs was a dreadful fate, the epithet “dog” was extremely insulting and humiliating… implying that a human being was either worthless or evil. Some other cultures viewed dogs more favourably but we do not know how the ancient Israelites viewed dogs (or cats for that matter). What we can say however, is that the dogs this Proverb is referring to are not the cute puppies or Labradors that we have as common house pets. Grabbing one by the ears would be inviting serious harm.

I then asked the children to imagine an ancient Israelite scene. Could they imagine wild, carnivorous dogs roaming the city? Would they reach out and grab such an animal by the ears? Could they see the folly/stupidity in such an action? That’s exactly what we do when we add our 2c worth to an argument or quarrel in which we have no business.

Do we have any responsibility in the matter?

Do we have any authority in the area?

Will my words be ones of encouragement, bringing comfort, peace, grace or will they be ones that cause unnecessary grief and concern and cause hurt?

I reminded the children of the THINK principle. How do we know what is our business or affair?

Do we have any responsibility in the matter?
Do we have any authority in the area?
Will my words be ones of encouragement, bringing comfort, peace, grace or will they be ones that cause unnecessary grief and concern and cause hurt?

The proverbs are fantastic for instilling life principles in our little ones. They are literary and filled with vivid word pictures which also help keep them open to hearing to God’s word. Even resistant teens respond to this type of lesson! In fact, I’ve learned that I can teach my proverb principles to [biblically] resistant people by learning to speak in a proverbs way, quoting straight from the Scriptures without pointing out the references. After learning about this proverb that contains such word pictures it is then easy to reinforce this lesson as we live our days side by side: walking down the street, sitting down and and working and resting.

Meet… Pearls of Truth

pearlsoftruth

Priceless Pearls has been blogging since November, 2008 but she has a chuckling literary style, great love for the Lord and well, she posts regularly! That is always a positive in the blog world. I also know this blogger in real life. We’re quite good friends. Our children know each other and they were quiet good friends too…until they moved to another town. Hmphhh! Usually it is us that does the moving, so the experience was fairly new to us.

I had been trying to gently encourage Amanda to start a blog for many months…to no avail. Then one day she just decided to up and start one! I’m so glad she did. Priceless Pearls is where Amanda shares her life, thoughts, happenings and her opinions. She doesn’t claim to be 100% right or to know it all but she does like to share! she is a lovely lady, with an extraordinarily big heart who loves to give- of her time, of herself, in any way she can. She’s married to a lovely guy and she has two delightful children. She loves the Lord and this is extremely visible once visiting her blog and reading her posts.

Books, celebrations, Christianity and faith, her beloved Darcy, family, friends, motherhood, movies, nature, social issues, riotous randoms and anything else that takes her fancy for the day are just some of the topics she writes about in her deliciously funny way. At times you’ll be in fits of laughter and other times you’ll be left pondering the state of your own heart, after she shares her own journey. Not that PP writes to convict or to tell others how they should feel or how they should live. Rather she shares from her own life. Seeing real faith worked out in the real lives of others is often convicting though, isn’t it?

A few favourite posts:

She had her fellow blog friends in a tizz for days as she eluded to the fact that she was going overseas…wouldn’t tell us where, when or why but had a guessing for days. I think she secretly enjoyed the thrill of seeing us all in a frenzy.
I love that she also enjoyed the same series as me – Gods and Kings series by Lynn Austin. Amanda shared her own learnings in this post
I can’t choose a favourite post in the category of Christian/Faith so I’ll link to the whole category. Go read all her posts in this section.
Mum’s the word
Pearls from Job & Matthew

Amanda and me...non-stop talk and coffee

So if you’ve never visited Pearls of Truth before, why don’t you pop over there right now and say hello! I’m sure you’ll find something of interest.

Tell Me Tuesdays

To go along with the new AussieHomeschool blog meme (Tell Me Tuesdays) I thought I should at least try and post! So here goes.

Tell of your own blogging habits- frequent, infrequent, irregular, frequently irregular, etc

I blog when I can. When I want to. I never feel pressure to blog. Sometimes I’ve been known to blog twice a day but then I can go more than a week without posting.
How long have you been blogging?
I first started blogging over at HomeschoolBlogger.com about 4 years ago. I was hooked! I loved the community spirit that blogging provides as well as the opportunity to express my opinion and design my own site colours.

Why do you blog?

Hmm, there are actually quite a few reasons. Initially I simply used my blog as a method of storing forum thread responses. I found that I was repeating myself a bit or copying and pasting from previous threads. So I started a blog and referred to that. However, it soon grew to be more than that. I use blog writing as way to process my thoughts. Writing has taught me a lot about critical thinking- sequential thinking. Actually, not so much the art of writing taught me this but the questioning from readers if my writing was unclear. I was forced to look back over a post and edit or clarify things.

I also like to try and encourage others and inform others. If I learn of a good resource, I want to share it. I want to share how we pursue a Bible based education in our home. I want to encourage people to not treat the Bible as purely another subject…but to see The Living Word as foundational to everything we do – even homeschooling and academics.

Lastly, I love to design sites, change colours and play with apps!

What do you blog about?

I post my thoughts, opinions and things that I may be struggling with or learning. I post about our days, our learning opportunities and activities. I post about anything that comes to my mind. Here I asked readers, ‘what should I blog about‘?

What’s your favourite aspect of blogging?

The community! Meeting other bloggers and getting to know them via their blogs…reading their thoughts, opinions and events. The relationships that are developed.

What is your least favourite aspect of blogging?

That I can be 68% addicted to blogging!
The temptation to get caught up in time wasting with tags and all that kind of thing. If I do a tag, it has to be worth my time to do so.
The temptation to get so caught up with blogging that I neglect the online forums that I am a part of…that I am committed to serving.

The AussieHomeschool Blog

Another new blog?

AussieHomeschool Blog

Who is writing at the blog?
This blog will not be written by one person. Rather is will be a combined effort of all Australian home-learning bloggers.

Why another blog?
Through this blog, we hope to encourage all homeschoolers parents, or those with an attitude of home-based-learning, by our written words- blogs. We aim to accomplish this by providing a common place in which to pull many Australian homeschool bloggers together so that the younger parents will glean wisdom from the old and the older ones may gain inspiration from the younger parents.

What is it about?
It is a blog – a magazine style blog. The purpose of the Aussie Homeschool Blog is to unite Australian homeschoolers regardless of differing ages, schedules, methods, curricula, locations or preferences.
By following this blog, and those on the blog roll you will come to see some real Australian homeschooling parents- the nitty and the gritty, the ups and down and the down right funny.

When will there be new content?
We hope to update the blog weekly…although the meme’s will be added to by individual bloggers, as they like.

Where is this fantastic new blog?
You’ll find it at the following address – http://aussiehomeschool.com/blog

In fact, today is Tell Me Tuesday…a meme. There is also a meme to join in on Thursday and Friday. These meme’s use Mr.Linky, which is real easy to use, fun and it also drives more traffic to your website!

You can also join the blog roll which will give you more traffic and also enable you to visit other Aussie homeschooling bloggers!

So pop over, have a read… bookmark the site so you can visit again. You can subscribe via RSS or email and receive all new posts. The blog will be an invaluable source of inspiration, encouragement, information and fun…as much as you contribute.

Hope to see you there!

Spring Holydays

Guest post from Robin Sampson at Biblical Holidays

Three of the four spring holidays are celebrated within an eight-day period (Abib 14-21). The three spring festivals overlap or run into each other. The fourth and final spring feast is the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot or Pentecost). The Feast of Weeks is held seven weeks or fifty days following the morrow after the Sabbath of Passover.

The spring holidays of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits are a portrait of the death and resurrection of Y’shua (Jesus). He sacrificed Himself on Passover, was buried on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and was resurrected on Firstfruits. The Feast of Weeks (Shavuot or Pentecost) was the day the Holy Sprit fell on believers.

Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are held in immediate sequence. The lamb was slain on the fourteenth and the Feast of Unleavened bread began on the fifteenth day of the first month. And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the LORD. And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast: seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten (Num. 28:16-17). This passage might account for why Jesus began His Passover seder on the fourteenth. These are distinctly different holidays falling on different days; however, due to their closeness they are usually treated as one festival. (The scriptures seem to teach that these are two names for the same festival. See Exodus 13:3-8.)

As you study the Spring Festivals, you will see the plan of God fulfilled in such dramatic detail that you cannot help but be stricken by the awesomeness of our Eternal King. The spring festivals clearly prophesy the first coming of Messiah and the fall festivals are prophetic of His second coming.

Dates

All holidays begin at sundown of the preceding day and end at nightfall of the final day of observance.

Passover (Pesach)
April 09, 2009 (15th of Nisan, 5769)
Pentecost (Shavuot)
May 29, 2009 (6th of Sivan, 5769)

Click to Order the A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays or Order Electronic Files and Begin Reading Today!

The Shack

If you want to read a treatise on theology or religion then do not read this book. If you want to read a fictional account of one believer’s journey from religion to an intimate relationship with God, then maybe you’ll enjoy The Shack. Maybe.

I wanted to know what all the hype and controversy was about. I like to read the reviews of others but I won’t base my opinion on them. “Don’t let someone else think for me” is one of my mottoes. In my opinion I don’t think the book warrants either- the hype or the controversy. There has been so much discussion on this book that I’m not going to post all my thoughts, nor will I dissect the book. It’s been done to death. Just do a google search on it and you’ll see what I mean. (Then again maybe it would be quicker just to read the book- it’s easy reading.) However, I wanted to read it myself. So I did. I asked my husband to read it also. We thought about the possibility of having Miss A read it but decided that it wasn’t really necessary for her to read. She has a relationship with the Lord-her relationship with Him is not based on rules and we didn’t believe she’d really benefit from reading it. However, she is reading another book called “CCM: Why I left”

Yes, there are much better books out there- both in literary style and theology. Is the book the work of the devil and to be avoided at all costs? Well, if your faith rests on your own doctrine and upholding all the rules to perfection (having all your theological ducks in a row) then yes, you should avoid it. Otherwise, read it. But read it as it was written. It was not written as a theological treatise. It’s a work of fiction! (Some people seem to forget that at times). What I find weird is that some people will go on about the evil of this book yet not bother looking too closely at the theology within the Narnia series! Yet if the theology paralleled in the Narnia series doesn’t agree with your own, then it too, is harmful- even more so because parents often put it directly into the hands of their children and then pull it to pieces with a unit study! Now I’m not using Narnia for any other reason other than to say it is fiction also…treat the book as such.
‘The Shack’ was endorsed by Eugene Peterson and put ‘up there’ with Pilgrim’s Progress.

“This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress did for his. It’s that good.”

Wow, bold claim but I remembered that this was Mr. Peterson’s statement and not that of the author. In fact, it’s a bizarre statement- one I don’t understand. John Bunyan wrote the Christian classic Pilgrim’s Progress while in prison for the sake of the Gospel. Every word was rooted in the Scriptures. John Bunyan never took propositional truths of Scripture to mould/modernise/paraphrase then into a modern, easy-to-read fictional book. I believe there will always be much room for error when we attempt to portray a dialogue between God and man, aside from text straight from the Scriptures. Some people believe this book will damage the Church. Well I’m not so sure of that. The book generates a lot of discussion, a lot of Bible study and surely has pointed many people toward a deeper and real relationship with The Father. However, if any book is going to do global damage to the Church maybe it is more so Eugene Peterson’s work, “The Message”…or Rick Warren or the Emerging Church…but that’s my 2c worth, for another post, maybe, one day. 😉 The book does not cover every doctrinal teaching of the church- although some think it should and other think it did, by mere omission of any concrete statements or references. I wonder if some people read more into it than what was actually written?

The author desires to teach the reader about God and God’s relationship to his creation. He labours some points but this is obviously something he did purposely, to the exclusion of other points. I didn’t agree with everything…but then again, who do I agree 100 % with? 😉 Not even my favourite authors! I’m not about to take the superior attitude that all my beliefs are right therefore you are all wrong! 😉

The book will be helpful and beneficial for some…for some that had/have a skewed image of God…of God as Father and Creator. As a believer for over 20 years I didn’t have issues with the book. I chewed on the meat and spat out the bones. However, I believe that I am learning to be more discerning…trying to develop that skill (when in doubt I ask my husband). I won’t recommend the book to anyone and everyone though.

Throughout reading this book, I was driven to the Scriptures to search out various issues. This was a good thing! For in the analysing and comparing it with scripture and then learning to articulate my position (striving for discernment) I grow in the knowledge and understanding of God.

I was blessed, encouraged and strengthened to read of the relationship between the Godhead. I enjoyed seeing how God and the Holy Spirit were portrayed. People who have an issue with God being portrayed as a dark skinned woman may really have a few issues that God wants to deal with- in the area of Himself and His nature – His sexuality – True sexuality. Many people have this view of God as male – 100% male and are totally horrified to think of God in any way, as maternal or nurturing. God presents Himself to us in the Scriptures as male but he created us in His own image

Why does God allow evil? Why doesn’t He intervene in a real, tangible way? How can God be three yet one? What does it mean that Jesus lived here as fully God and fully man?

The book shows me that I can have a real relationship with our Father…shows me that The Father desires it! I don’t see the big picture…I certainly don’t see how anything evil can ever fit in with or be a part of the fulfillment of God’s plan. But I am learning to trust in God more…to trust in the faithful Father of the Bible. Even when I can’t see it or am not experiencing the feeling or sense of His love I am trusting In Him. I don’t have to understand it all but I can trust in Him and His heart.

How can I presume to know what God does and why? I do not know the whole Truth…I know God but I don’t know all the mysteries and truths of God. What I do know is that He is a just God, a righteous God, a loving God who rules over all with omnipotence and in omniscience.

That, I know from the scriptures…but as to anything else, I do not know. I don’t know much. I don’t understand much. I don’t have all my theological ducks in a row…and for what it’s worth I’ve met people who have seemingly had their theological ducks in a row and then been affected by personal tragedy and their theology has not held them – this is where relationship comes into play. God desires relationship with us- not strict adherence to a set of rules, or a prescribed way of living but a relationship – fellowship with us – communion with us, His creation.

This is my theology- when I don’t understand God’s ways or His doing, I look at trusting His heart. ( I remember reading that quote years ago- it’s a Spurgeon one from memory)

Ultimately if you choose to read it I pray that it will drive you to the Scriptures to seek more clearly the God of the Bible…that you will desire a closer walk with the Father. If you choose to not read it, then buy or listen to Pilgrim’s Progress or better yet, grab a pen and paper and your Bible and get into The Word. My relationship with my God was strengthened and deepened by reading The Shack…but again, that’s my opinion from my perspective. Your mileage may vary. It’s fiction. God’s word is not. Read The Shack if you want to…read it alongside your Bible. Line it up with the word…but don’t be scared of a book. It won’t turn you away from God- it will point you to a deeper relationship with Him. Go to Him. run to Him. Hide in Him.

“And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
(1 Timothy 4:4)

Weight loss with Green Smoothies

Just a quick post…

John (DH) went back to the doctor yesterday. The doctor was really pleased and a little surprised with him. Why?

John has lost 3 kg in weight and 4 cm from his waist!

The doctor wanted to know how or what he had done to achieve this positive result. He answered by telling the doctor that it’s all his “wife’s doing…it’s this green stuff she’s making me drink”

He went on to tell the doctor about green smoothies and the doc said it as great and to tell ‘the wife’ that she’s doing an excellent job! How’s that for cool?

Yesterday’s smoothie was delicious.

About 2-3 cups of watermelon.
About 3 large handfuls of cos lettuce
1 orange
1 fennel bulb
2 frozen bananas
Dash of flaxseed oil

Smooth yet creamy…sweet but not overly so…very healthy.

Waiting

I’m probably boring everyone to tears with my moving-not-moving saga but I did say I would post In Real Time.

Today, John put in the paper for the ‘powers-that-be‘ to look over. From this, they decide where we will be. Every aspect of our life (from location, housing, career options, promotions, children, education,etc. ) are decided by them. We can put in preferences but in reality this doesn’t mean a lot. It all depends on who is managing the case file. It shouldn’t be like that but often it is.

So we have put in our preferences. Now, we wait. We wait to be told where we will spend the next few years of our life…where we will call home. We wait to see when we will have to say goodbye to family and friends here in Adelaide. We wait for them to tell us when to start packing. We wait to to hear where we’ll be moving so we can decide what to take with us and what to leave in storage or give away.

Now, we wait…and try not to get too excited over the possibilities in case we don’t get that particular location. Again, we wait to see where Miss A will fit in with her health and fitness studies. Will she do correspondence or attend on campus? I find it hard to trust when we’re not the ones making decision for our life, for our future. I stress a bit that others (who may not know us, or like us or even give a hoot) get to make major decisions that will impact my family…my children’s lives.

Now, the hard part. Waiting.

If you would continue to pray for us I’d be so thankful. Please pray that our Father moves the hearts of those who are making decisions for our lives. Please pray for our children. Please pray that we will be still and know that God is our Father and ultimately will work things for our eternal good? Please pray that I will indeed trust Him- whether or not I see Him working or not?

Meet…

… my friend, Beyond Bluestockings.

Mrs. BB, as she is sometimes affectionately known, has been blogging for about one and a half years. I know Mrs. BB in real life. She may be petite, dainty and delicate in size but she has a huge heart, joyous nature, quick wit, a wicked (in the modern sens of the word) sense of humour and sharp intelligence. She is a delight to be around and a blessing to all those that she comes in contact with.

She homeschools her four darling children, loves good books, has an insatiable appetite for learning but possibly the best things about her is the fact that she, like me, loves her chocolate and coffee. 🙂

When you visit her blog, you’ll find a mixture of topics to stimulate your mind for she is a literal six-day Creationist with conservative political leanings combined with a mild red-necked opinion that she isn’t too afraid to share (politely and respectfully of course). Although raised as a feminist, she has a deep desire for God and His word and this will be obvious if you spend just one minute on her site. 😉

She writes on many topics, from education, parenting, science, politics, and books to religion and recipes. You are bound to leave her site just a little wiser yet without even realising it due to her clever writing style and amazing intellect and wit.

A few posts that I particular like and think are very useful are:

Blogging to Learn
Education, a victim of fashion?
Teach your young children to love reading
Truly Delightful Truffles (which I hope to taste next time we see each other IRL)
Are you a Christian?
Food as an idol and
a book review of Tortured for Christ.

Do pop over to BeyondBluestockings…You’ll see me over there as well. Read some of her posts and leave her a comment.

Choose…

Okay, my attitude is changing. Thanks for praying for us. I can’t explain exactly how it is happening…but I can tell you where my mindset is now.

If we fight to stay here, we’ll still only be here for another 12 months…then we’re off to another posting. Because of the nature of the posting DH will be unable to do promotional courses so it is really just 12 months of marking time. It will be at least 5 years before we could look at coming back here.

Where did my adventurous spirit go? Where or when did I lose it? I don’t know…I think it started to wane 2 houses ago. But you know what? I liked that adventurous spirit. It was exciting. It was fresh and made everything seem new. If we were to go away again now, there might be a possibility that we could return again in a few years.God, I want that attitude back again – for me, for my husband and for my children.

I can move again. I have another move left in me. I can bloom somewhere else…the glass is half full. Life is full of opportunities if only I’m willing to see them that way. Homeschooling and the military is our chosen way of life. Both help to provide full, rich learning experiences for our children. The fact that one of those choices is what puts bread on the table also can’t be overlooked.

Here I was stressing over some of the children (and they have had it hard but since when has my job been to make their life easy?) yet this is life. If my Master J wants to join the Defence Force as an adult (and he says he does) well, this is it! Military life in real time! If he decides it’s not for him, at least he will know before he signs up and commits as an adult! That is a positive.

We might get to see a part of Australia that we have never seen yet, and are unlikely to see without moving there. We’re off on another adventure! (Still don’t know any details but this is my mental attitude). John just called me to to confirm that I haven’t been drinking lol. (Just kidding people- it’s his way of asking if I was just trying to ‘put on a brave face’ for him or if I could truly live with the decision.)

Challenges. Opportunities. Half-full. Bloom. Choose to be thankful. Choose an attitude. Choose to be positive. Choose joy.

This is where I’m at right now…stay tuned. 😉

Town A or town B?

We were fairly settled in brisbane…but some family members were quite ill back home (in SA) so the army wanted to be supportive and sent us back home for a CoPas posting which is 12 months. That is up soon, at the end of March. However, John hasn’t seen any paperwork yet, which isn’t right. His bosses are more than happy for him to stay here in SA but it isn’t up to them. The decision lies with the Soldier’s Career management unit. They can be good but then can be pigheaded and pigeonhole people. My husband looks a fair bit younger than he is. He is often mistaken for being between 33-38 years old. He turns 50 this year!!!! He is pretty fit for his age but come on, with all the mismanagement of injuries he’s had over the years he just can’t do what the 30-40 yo’s can do. He does do more than he needs to for his age though. For some reason this career management unit just seems to treat him like he’s 20 and climbing the corporate ladder…when this is the opposite of what he wants! We don’t move around all this much for John to get another promotion. That’s not where he is at.

Some of my blog readers know the drama we’ve had with one of our children. This particular child also goes to school. But let me tell you, homeschooling and defence life are suited to each other like a glove is to a hand. Perfect! Schooling and defence life are pretty hard for a child and a teen. This child has difficulty getting into the subjects or classes that they need because they get enrolled in a new school too late (like half way through the year), etc. It is very tough…amidst the emotional, hormonal youthful years. So yes, moving with my ‘challenging child’ is at the very forefront of my mind. I wonder what difficulty will be put before them this time…just when it seems like the child is really starting to try to get their life together.

Master 13’s main concern is for a decent cadet unit. Master 11 doesn’t really have any concerns. So long as his mum and dad are there, he’s happy. 🙂

I’ve always tried to foster an adventurous attitude toward moving…for this is how I’ve viewed it. I’ve had opportunities to see and experience parts of Australia that I would not have been able to do, if not for military life. I always try to believe and live that I will “bloom where I am planted” and the ‘glass is half full’ and all that kind of positive talk. Despite this, there have been negatives. However, short of applying for a discharge posting it looks like we will indeed be off again. And taking a discharge posting is really not viable at the point in our lives. 12 months…12 lousy months I have been home and we’re off again. Do I know where to this time? Nope! But it will be far from here…far from my dad…far from my extended family.

Possibilities that I have to get my head around are Brisbane, Darwin, Sydney, Townsville or Ross Island. There are pro’s and con’s to both Brisbane and Darwin…but in the end, the decision isn’t ours. I guess that’s what I find hard. I’m more than willing to weigh things up- make a decision and then live with the consequences…I find it hard to live with the consequences of something that isn’t really my choice. Someone else looks over a few paper’s in our file and then they decide where we will spend the next few years of our life-regardless of how it may affect my children. Sure I get to have a choice- I get to put in a preference for town A or town B…doesn’t matter if I don’t want either of them. Goodness, I have moved so much over the last 8 years. If my hubby has to be there, I’ll be there. I’ve gone anywhere, done anything, put up with anything…but sometimes in one’s life there comes a time when one just can’t keep up with that. I’ll definitely be relying on the strength of the Lord…Oh Lord, please be very real to me right now.

As Beyond Bluestockings tried to encourage me in her comment, I am trying to see God’s sovereignty in it all. I see His hand in dealing with the Israelites and with others but in this situation? Hmm…this is where I’m having difficulty. I know He can move mountains but I’m seeing military bureaucracy as being immovable and insurmountable at the moment. They seem to hold the key to my family’s future in their hands. Dramatic? Maybe but it actually contains an element of truth to it.

So we’re weighing up the pro’s and the con’s so we can put in our preferences, after staying here of course. lol. Please pray for us and for those that hold the power of the decision.

Moving posts…

Ever written a post and wished you could delete it? Well, that’s kinda how I felt about my last post. Not because I threw a hissy fit…I have done that previously with life and God, rather because it wasn’t encouraging or informative. I did think twice about posting it (and even left it in my draft folder for 24hours, aren’t I a good blogger? lol) because it didn’t point to Christ…didn’t encourage anyone to seek God’s word or aim for anything (health, family life, etc). I was simply having a whinge. I wondered if I should delete the post. But then I realised that this is my site…if you came to my house and had coffee with me, you would hear it from my lips. If you are my ‘IRL’ (In Real Life) friend you would be walking this journey with me IRT (In Real Time) so why not on my blog?

I guess I’ll apologise in advance for the fact that my posts related to the possibility of moving may not be encouraging, uplifting, informative or the like…but they will be real- an autobiography of my thoughts during this period of my life. Don’t like it? Tell me about it. I have to be a little careful as I’m talking about a government agency…so I will try to refrain from truly speaking my mind but you’ll get the gist of where my head and my heart is. You’ll get to share in my ups and downs, the nitty and the gritty. Don’t expect it all to look like sweetness and light. Yup, God is my Father and He is mighty…doesn’t mean I walk in that 24/7, unfortunately. I’d like to say that I don’t compartmetalise God and most of my theology doesn’t…but the ‘rubber meets the road’ not as much in doctrine but in real life eh.

So if you don’t care for these posts, don’t read. If you do need to know 😉 they will be tagged with ‘moving house‘.

As a total aside to this post…God is good! I got my baby back yesterday. :rotfl: Yes! Yes! Yes! (She exclaims wildly with fists pumping in the air!) He knows my wants, er needs. lol

Homeschool Link Up

Time for some Linky Love…some interesting posts I’ve found throughout my web wanderings.

Homeschooling

You just have to check out Spunky’s post, Over the Hill Homeschooling. You’ll know you’ve become an over-the-hill homeschooling mom when….

You no longer read child training books, but gobble up everything on menopause.

You realize that the vendor who told you that his program was the ONLY spelling curriculum you’ll ever need, lied.

You talk about college choices more than curriculum choices.

You understand that you can have a very bad year and your children will never notice.

It’s funny and I found myself nodding along in agreement to almost every line!

Why Homeschool posted an entry titled Homeschool Fantasy vs. Reality.

Huber Hof Academy posted Whose Homeschool Life are you leading?

Amy Bayliss from In Pursuit of Proverbs has written a good 3 part series on Instilling a love of reading. Part One, Part Two and Part Three.

Robin Sampson from Heart of Wisdom is wanting to give more stuff away in this post with a contest and some free downloads! Included is a must-read resource, which is a full chapter from her book. The chapter is Choosing and Using Homeschool Resources (31p PDF)Includes list of classics by grade level.

Robin has also posted an amazing entry about using digital scrapbooking for Nature Study. If you’re into nature study or CM’s methods, you will want to check this out!

Jeanne has a beautiful and excellent blog for those Aussies using good living books, CM’s methods or trying to Australianise Ambleside Online. Do check her blog out.

Need some writing prompts to help you teach writing to your children? Check out the WriteShop blog.

Parenting

I found a great site called Intentional Parenting. They have a chart where, when I was truly honest with myself, I could see what type of parent I am and what type of parent I desire to be. The blurb for the site is: “Welcome to Intentional Parents, a Christian ministry that encourages parents to teach and train their children thoughtfully and deliberately to the glory of God.” This is a sister site of Simply Charlotte Mason.

Books

Ever read Hinds Feet on High Places? Here is a free study guide to go along with it. Not everyone agrees with the theology contained within this book, but it very well will help to lead you into a deper relationship with the Lord.

Beautiful

Dana, from Living Stones Ministry, doesn’t post all that often but when she does, her posts are usually full of wisdom. Here she has a guest post that writes about the method that Jesus used when dealing with stress. 😉

Throwing a tantrum

Okay I’m scared. I’ll admit that I’m worried. I’m confused. And I’m stubborn.

We’ve only been here for 12 months. I’m not ready to leave. The children aren’t ready to leave. We have lives here- commitments, relationships. I like being back home. Yeah I know I didn’t really want to come back here a year ago but as soon as we arrived back in SA I was happy to be here.

Did I love Canberra? Yes! Didn’t want to leave.

Did I like Albury /Wodonga? Nope, not really- more than happy to leave.

Did I love Brisbane? Oh boy, did I ever!

But it’s not the point. I’m here now.

I’m not ready for the eighth house in 8 years. I’m not ready for the fourth city in 8 years. I’ll move house but I just want to stay here in this state. Ask me again in another year or two and I might feel differently but for now, I want to stay put! I’m tired of moving and uprooting the family. I’m battle weary from knowing what it does too my children when they have to leave friendships and try to start again. I mean, some people grow up in a town and live there for nearly their whole adult lives- maybe moving once! People fortunate enough to be in that situation will never experience what it is like to say goodbye and start again… and again… and again. We go to new places, trying to break into the friendship cliques that exist everywhere. We know that (generally) people are living their full, rich lives; complete without us. We know that WE need other people – yet their lives are already full- they don’t need us. It hurts and I’m so tired from it.

I don’t believe that people try to be rude…and most people aren’t at all. It’s just hard when trying to break into a group and make new friends, feeling that they share something that you don’t – history. They have a history together. Whilst we can try to get in and forge our own history with them, it’s not always easy, especially if they are aware that we’ll only be around for 12 months or 2 years. Can’t say I blame them, in one sense.

Tired of finding new doctor’s, new podiatrists, new school, new hairdresser, new optometrist, new chiropractor, etc. Even daily/weekly activities become a major event as I have to find the place and navigate there. I’m sick of it. I don’t wanna go anywhere!

This is my official ‘online’ temper tantrum. Believe me, you do not want to see my ‘real life’ tantrum.

How Do We Parent?

Do you get sick of reading parenting books? I did. I’ll be honest. They get on my nerves. There are more different kinds of Christian parenting books than coloured jelly beans. How’s a parent supposed to know what to do? Ezzo? Pearls? Tripp? Barth? Grace-based? Law based? Where on earth does it end?

Good Information – Wrong Time

Sometimes reading books will actually provide us with information that is wrong at the time. We should not read parenting books BEFORE we have gone to God. Bold statement, I know. I used to read the books, arm myself with lots of information and then go to God, trusting that He would guide me in this parenting/homeschooling journey. Pfft! Talk about putting the cart before the horse!

Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.
Ecclesiastes 12:12

Parenting Experts or The Parent?

Why do we continually go to ‘the experts’ when we can go directly to THE Expert? Why do we need a writer, an author to tell us when, where, and how to discipline? Is it because we don’t look to see The Father’s parenting in our own lives? It seems to be a superior attitude to me; that we don’t like to see ourselves as children when we are parenting our children. We separate or compartmentalise areas of our life. Sometimes we’re parents; other times we are children of God…yet the two are intertwined.

How did God treat me before I was saved…before I came to believe on His son?

How does God treat me now?

In other words…

How does God parent me?

I am His child.

When I see the way that God parents me I am more able to parent my children in love, in grace…with discipline as it should be – loving discipline. Discipline that restores, not tears down or breaks hearts. Every action the Father does toward me is one of restoration, although I don’t always see that at the time. But it is. That is His nature and I trust Him.

How do I parent my children?

How does God parent me?

The blessing of our relationship with The Father should have us teach our children in the same ways – not holding back anything that is good for them, not disheartening them with our requirements. As we are being taught by Our Father, as He disciplines those that He loves, He does not despair or get impatient when we are slow but He continues to work in our heart and mind and in our family by his grace.

Let us seek the favour of God upon our homes!

Chow Mein

After reading Beyond Bluestockings Cabbage Salad, which made me drool, I commented on our crude form of Chow Mein. Beyond Bluestockings asked me to share the recipe. Last night I taught Master 13 how to prepare this meal and sometime within the next two weeks I’ll get him to cook it for us all, by himself. I say it is crude because it is not a proper Chow Mein, but it is a quick, easy, nutritious and delicious! What more does a homeschool momma need?

Chow Mein

1 onion
500grams mince kangaroo (any mince will do)
2 tb butter, oil or coconut oil (butter is nice!)
half a medium sized green cabbage
2 tb rice
1 dessertspoon curry
2 pkt chicken noodle soup mix (home brand is fine)
250 grams French beans or carrots (I use any veggies)
2 and a half cups water

Chow mein is a generic Chinese term for a dish of stir-fried noodles, of which there are many varieties. Chow mein is generally made of soft noodles, however Hong Kong-style chow mein is made from thin crispy noodles.

Lightly brown the mince in butter or oil. Once brown, add all other ingredients. Stir with a fork occasionally and cook for 20minutes.
Done!

I won’t share a picture…whilst it tastes delicious it doesn’t look all that appealing. 😉

Chicken Chow Mein

Cube and fry chicken cubes and onion. Remove chicken.
Add chicken noodle soup packet along with 6 cups of water, 2 cups of rice and any veggies available. (Cabbage is delicious)
Leave to simmer until rice has absorbed the water, about 20-25minutes.
Add chicken back in prior to serving and mix through.
Add more water if necessary

Done!

Domestic Science Routine 2009

Originally written in May 2007 but revised to reflect changes for 2009.

Confession time! I am not a highly organised person. I like the cosy warmth of clutter. I love my ornaments and nick-knacks as they all have a story behind them…they have sentimental value. I can’t take them with me when I go to be with the Lord, and I can live without them, but they are like good friends- I like to have them around.

I used to love decorating and making my home a cosy place to retreat but it has become harder to do as we move around frequently. I also find that modern homes, while clean and lovely, don’t have the same warmth and character- they lack the homey ambiance of older homes. However, I didn’t set out to write about decorating or house style but organisation so I need to get back to the point!

So I’m not overly organised…my home gets messy but it’s always clean. I can look beyond clutter. Okay, I can even look beyond dust but I can’t look beyond dirt or filth. I loved homeschooling in our home! I could hang time lines on the wall…and draw the measuring chart on the architrave, and hang beautiful pictures on the wall. This is not practical in the homes we have been living in…especially as we’ve only been in them for approximately 12-18 months at a time.

DAILY

My mother always told me that the most important things to get done in the morning are the beds to be made, dishes done and the bathroom needs a quick wipe over. I can get this done. This way, if I have friends or company drop in unexpectedly I don’t mind. Since we’ve been in the rental homes I struggle with just doing this before lessons. I often want the house to be spotless (or my version of immaculate) before I start our lessons but the problem with this is that by the time all the work is done, I’m tired and it’s time to start cooking tea! So, I know that doesn’t work. I also put on a load of laundry every day. I’m also Out and About every single day…it wasn’t always like that but as children get older and we outsource to develop their interests it just means that I have to go out! Yes, our learning is based-at-home but isn’t limited or confined to the home only. I have days set aside where I aim to get certain things done. However, they may not always happen on those days- it depends on who is working on what days and who has to be where!

Each day, the boys unstack the dishwasher and drainer board. They also clean down the table and re-stack the dishwasher. Three times a week Master C vacuums the floors while master J is responsible for the shower cubicle as well as the kitchen benches and door fronts, etc.

On Monday, I like to go right through the house and clean all the floors– vacuuming and mopping. This gives me a fresh start to the week. Clean floors and a clean kitchen. But Monday is also my laundry day. I get any linen done along with the dark clothes from the weekend. I aim to have them washed, dried and put away by 4pm. I also like to clean right through teh house- bathrooms, dusting, cleaning bookshelves, etc. Monday is a full-on day.

Tuesday is another busy day as Master J has cadets Tuesday evening so I try and prepare a meal that can be eaten and cleaned away by 5.45pm. John takes Master J to Cadets and Miss A goes straight from work to softball training. We aren’t all home together until 10.30pm that night, by which time I’m usually in bed. Today is a fairly ‘light’ housework day with just a load of washing to be done and general kitchen maintenance. We do try and have a quick Neat ‘n’ Tidy about 4pm, in time for Dad to come home to a fairly neat home.

Wednesday is another laundry day. Oh! confession time. I don’t hang underwear (except white singlets), socks, handkerchiefs or other fiddly, small items on the line. I used to but not anymore, for two reasons. I love the feel of crisp, sun bleached clothes but we only have one of those clothes lines that folds up alongside the dark, sheltered side of the house. (Why they install them in the shade, I will never understand) I also have decided to maximise my time. Honestly, socks don’t last that long in my house anyway so there’s no need for me to try and preserve them as thoroughly as I might other items of clothing. So, I tumble dry them! So much easier and quicker. I think to myself, “What would I rather do? Cook a meal, iron a shirt, write a blog post, read a book or play a game with my children, speak on the phone with my dad or hang up socks ‘n’ jocks!!!!” I would rather do all those things rather than hang up socks. Anyway, I aim to have the loads of laundry, washed, dried and put away by 4pm, but this rarely happens. Master C vacuums again this morning while Master J tends to the kitchen. I potter with laundry, bathrooms, meal preparation, etc. ‘Master C’ does excellent 15 minute tidies. He goes around and put all the stray things away where they belong- shoes in people’s rooms, blocks in drawers, books in booknook, pens, cups, papers, etc. I used to have my office/accounting time on Thursday but this has changed. I now try and do organise my finances and look through catalogues for specials in preparation for our Out and About Day on Friday. We do a quick Neat ‘n’ Tidy in preparation for John to come home.

Thursday is the day where we’ll go shopping, pay bills, etc. If I haven’t cleaned the fridge and pantry on Thursday (in preparation for shopping day) I will do it today. Other that that, if I am home it is a fairly ‘light on’ housework day. or, I may end up doing the shopping on this day, leaving Friday free to do other things.

Friday is a big day for me. If it is not Out and About Day, we will clean the house, vacuum and do bathrooms, etc. It is also laundry day, in preparation for the weekend. If it is Out and About Day, we’ll go shopping, which is a pretty full on experience in our home! I like to look through catalogs and select where to shop but this all takes time and I don’t like to waste too much fuel just to save a dollar. Sometimes, if it is Out and About day we won’t have gotten the vacuuming and wet areas done…but I don’t try and play catch-up…it’s not going anywhere.

Saturday– Is my Day of Rest. I don’t do housework or meal preparation on this day, unless we’re having a celebration or something in particular. I like to read, spend time in God’s Word, listen to an audio sermon and write a blog post or two. I like to make myself available for John if he ever wants to do something. In the summer months we refresh, rest and then go to softball!

On Sunday I will usually put on two loads of laundry so that everyone has clean clothes for the Monday. Most people probably do them on the Saturday but that is my rest day so I do it today! I’ll get the clothes washed and ironed today. We may do a quick Neat ‘n’ Tidy in the morning, as well as the vacuuming (if it wasn’t done on Friday) but this is so we can continue to enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Focus Areas:

Monday: Floors | Laundry | General Housework and wet area
Tuesday: Odd jobs | Wet areas
Wednesday: Floors | Laundry | Finances | Grocery List
Thursday: Out and About
Friday: Floors | Laundry | Bathrooms
Alternate Friday: Out and About Day
Saturday: Rest Day
Sunday: Neat ‘n’ Tidy | Quick Clean | Laundry

This is the routine that I have created while in this house, in this situation. However, the routine changes with each move…and as the children get older. With ‘Miss A’ working full time, and Miss R is a senior in High School, my laundry routine has changed. John also doesn’t come home for lunch nowadays which seems to give me a few extra hours in my day. I loved it when he came home from work but it did eat into my day a lot and I found I was often behind in work.

After being in any new house for a few months, allowing the new routine to settle, I ask John in what ways I can serve him better or more effectively. He does not like to answer this as we live by grace in our home but he has learned that I need this in order to focus- it is really helpful for me. So now, I try to always have the clothes washed, dried and put away. Does it always happen? No way! But it is a focus point…without it, we’ll never have clean clothes that are easily accessible but I’ll get loads of lessons done or wonderfully lavish meals cooked.

My other focus point is clean floors, (I hate crunchiness or stickiness under my feet!) and wet areas. Looking after wet areas is something that I’ve learned slowly, after being in army homes. It makes sense though. Wet areas are subject to moisture- thus susceptible to mould, grime and bacteria. They’re also hard to clean when left for too long and they can be expensive to mend. Don’t fuss over the dust, but keep on top of the wet area!

How about you? what is your weekly domestic routine? If you share, please drop me a note so I can visit your blog post…I’m needing more ideas and inspiration. 🙂

Let me help you clean

Monday is my housework day so I’ve been in a mad clean all day. Will you let me do some spot cleaning for you? I think your computer screen needs cleaning. Here, let me help!

Click THIS link.

Lost Generation

Have you got 1 minute and 44 seconds to watch this quick message?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA

Hat Tip: Theresa

Things I Have Done

Okay…got this from Linda’s blog…Pillars of Pine

Highlight the ones you have done so far, in your lifetime (I’ve put mine in bold):

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Every Australian State
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Cuddled a Koala
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped (but I have done IFly)
12. Visited ‘The Dog on the Tuckerbox’ (Gundagai)
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the largest Wooden Rocking Horse (at Gumeracha in South Australia)
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Thrown a boomerang (but it didn’t come back)
25. Held a lamb
26. Rode a horse
27. Ran a Marathon
28. Eaten a pie floater (disgusting!)
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise (5)
33. Seen Ayers Rock in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen a platypus
36. Taught yourself a new language (does Elvish, HTML and CSS count?)
37. Been unable to pay at the checkout
38. Seen the Big Orange (Berri, SA) in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen a Pro Hart painting in person (also met Pro Hart)
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen the Great Barrier Reef
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Been to Darwin
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sydney Opera House in person
50. Been bush dancing
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Big Banana in Queensland
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Seen the Swan River (Perth) in person
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching (10 min at Victor Harbour…does that count?)
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving (does iFly count?)
66. Visited someone in prison
67. Bounced a cheque
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favourite childhood toy
70. Visited the War Memorial in Canberra
71. Eaten Caviar (disgusting!)
72. Made a quilt
73. Patted a kangaroo
74. Toured the Outback
75. Been fired from a job
76. Broken an expensive item
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Dandenong Ranges in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited a Cathedral
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Swam in the ocean
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited Parliament House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Been to Rottnest Island (WA)
96. Been to a gym
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a mobile phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

Old Book Art

Old Book Art is a beautiful website..for everyone who appreciates art/illustrations in old books.

Courtesy of Old Book Art

The Mission of Old Book Art

To provide & facilitate access to free illustrations: pictures, drawings, maps and other images scanned from antiquarian, public-domain books and other old documents. We have over 3,200 images in our gallery with more added regularly, all at no cost and most available at very high resolution. Most of these we have scanned and edited ourselves. We will also screen and provide links to other high quality resources.

Why Does the Site Exist?

Simply to share public domain resources. Zephyrus Books comes across a lot of antiquarian books with wonderful old illustrations in the public domain. Many of these are not available for public sharing anywhere on the internet, at least not in an easily accessible or larger scale format, so this site was started as a free resource for anyone looking for out of copyright images.

But I imagine that hot-linking is not wanted. Click the images and save them to your own computer, ready for uploading to your site. Provide a link back to Old Book Art, along with the image.

Fabre’s Book of Insects. Courtesy of Old Book Art

Categories
Atlases & Maps
Children
History
Literature & Poetry
Nature & Natural History
Places & Travel

Wise Economic Survival Guide

Some wise advice was shared, from the following article, on HOMEschool Fellowship. The full article is by Chuck Norris, recalling his mother’s wisdom. I looked at the original article and thought it was too good not to share, especially when I turned on the news this morning to hear of even more Australian jobs being cut…fuel cost increases and interest rate rises, again!

An old Spanish proverb says, “An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy.” I believe that value will hold, in or out of a recession. And being that my 87-year-old mother lived through the Great Depression, I think her value (and those like her) will actually increase through these tough economic times, because their insider wisdom can help us all.

Chuck Norris asked his 87-year-old mother, “How would you encourage the average American to weather the economic storms of today?”

Here’s her advice, in her words:

“Get back to the basics. Simplify your life. Live within your means. People have got to be willing to downsize and be OK with it. We must quit borrowing and cut spending. Be grateful for what you have, especially your health and loved ones. Be content with what you have, and remember the stuff will never make you happy. Never. Back then, we didn’t have 1/100th of what people do today, and yet we seemed happier than most today, even during the Great Depression.

“Be humble and willing to work. Back then, any work was good work. We picked cotton, picked up cans, scrap metal, whatever it took to get by. Where’s that work ethic today? If someone’s not being paid $10 an hour today, they’re whining and unwilling to work, even if they don’t have a job. Today, too many won’t stoop to scoop poop, but I hear sewer work pays pretty well these days. The message from yesteryear is don’t be too proud to do whatever it takes to meet the financial needs of your family.

“Be rich in love. We didn’t have much. In fact we had nothing at all, compared to people today, but we had each other. We were poor, but rich in love. We’ve lost the value of family and friends today, and we’ve got to gain it back if we’re ever to get back on track. If we lose all our stuff and still have one another and our health, what have we really lost?

“Be a part of a community. Today, people are much more alone – much more isolated. We used to be close with our neighbors. We cared for one another, watched one another’s kids and shared meals together. If one person had a bigger or better garden or orchard, they shared the vegetables and fruits with others in need. We used to speak to one another daily at our fences – today, you can barely see over a neighbor’s fence. Society has shifted from caring for one another to being dependent upon government aid and welfare – that is why so many today trust in government to deliver them. They’ve forgotten an America that used to rally around one another in smaller clusters called neighborhoods and communities. We must rekindle those local communal fires, and relearn the power of that age-old commandment, ‘Love thy neighbor.’

“Help someone else. We never quit helping others back then. Today, too many people are consumed with their own problems and only helping themselves. ‘What’s in it for me?’ is the question most are asking. But back then, it was, ‘What can I do to help my neighbor?’ I love Rick Warren’s book, ‘The Purpose-Driven Life,’ and especially his thought, ‘We were created for community, designed to be a blessing to others.’ If we help others, others will want to help us too. But if we never reach out, and no one else knows our needs, how can we help people or people help us? Most of all, helping others gets our minds off our problems and puts things into better perspective.

“Lean upon God for help and strength. We didn’t just have each other to lean on, but we had God, too. We all attended church and belonged to a faith community. Church was the hub of society, the community core and rallying point. Today, people turn to government the way we used to turn to the churches. It’s been that way ever since Herbert Hoover’s alleged promise of a ‘chicken in every pot’ and President Roosevelt’s New Deal. Too many have abandoned faith and community. We trust money more than God. And maybe that’s a reason why we’re in this economic pickle. If greed has become our god, then maybe we’d be better off to view the recession more like a realignment. But who will admit today to being off center? We all get lost sometimes. We all need the Lord. I don’t know how or why people today try to live without Him. As the old adage goes, He’s always only a prayer away.”

Now’s that conventional wisdom that should be shouted and posted in every corridor of government, every community across America and every blog on the Internet.

Call me overly pragmatic, but I think a little practical wisdom and encouragement is what we all need about now. Mom has always been good for that. She still is.

Chuck Norris is the star of more than 20 films and the long-running TV series “Walker, Texas Ranger.” You can see more about him, his life and ministry at the official website: ChuckNorris.com.
You can see the entire article at World Net Daily.

Who Cares about Greens Anyway?

Why all this fuss about greens? Who cares? Why are they different to any other vegetable?
Green fruits and vegetables are rich in health promoting phytochemicals such as lutein and folate. Green foods can support most bodily functions and eliminate toxins such as heavy metals, which can weaken our tissues and lead to disease over time. Add arugula, avocado, kale, broccoli, kiwi, spinach, and Swiss chard to your diet to boost your energy level.

1. Mineral salts naturally occurring in greens help neutralize and expel waste in our bodies.

2. Greens are a good source of natural fibre, helping to keep colon healthy

3. Greens provide important nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, copper, iron, potassium, phosphorus, zinc and other minerals not found in fruits, nuts and seeds (unless you eat the white pith or seeds of oranges or figs, blended for digestion)

4. Greens are a rich source of vitamins A, B complex, D and E

5. Greens (especially sunflower greens – which are delicious) are a wonderful source of lecithin, which helps break fatty acids down into a digestible form

6. Greens are full of chlorophyll and carotenoids (components of vitamin A), which benefits the blood, tissues, and inflammation, supports our immune system, our vision, and protects against coronary disease, and tumours

7. Greens are our best sources of folates and folic acid (a B vitamin), which are important for cell growth and reproduction

8. Greens like spinach, parsley, kale, and mustard greens, are extremely high in vitamin C.

9. Unlike fruits and fats, leafy greens have never been accused of causing acidity in the body.

Hat Tip: Thanks to Raw Divas for this information.

Persuasion, manipulation, encouragement…call it what you will. Just eat your greens!

Some may call it manipulation but I call it the art of gentle persuasion. 😉 Gentle encouragement, strong encouragement, gentle persuasion, narrowing down the choices… call it what you want. I just want to get the greens down!

A few years ago I made my family drink Spirulina. Oh I mixed it with some juice but if you’ve ever had spirulina you’ll know that it seems to be the worst of all the green superfoods…it is just disgusting. “Pond scum” is what John and Lisa call it. But I made my family drink it…rather attempt to drink it. They were gagging and dry-reaching every time. I even tried to hide small doses of it in other foods but it seems that they could sniff it out a mile away! They just couldn’t stomach it.

I resorted to capsules. Man, those thing are the size of small vans! I broke them in two halves…I crushed them. But my family thought they were too clever and could detect Spirulina tablets in anything. There was no way it would work. So I tried Chorella and Barley Greens and Wheat Grass. Same result. But these are superfoods. I need my family to take them…don’t I?

Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe there is more than one way to get all the goodness into their bodies. Enter Green Smoothies. Served in nice, real, glasses. (not plastic)

Some people like to add lots of fruit to their green smoothie to make it palatable for children. They say to start off with about 60% fruit and slowly increase the amount of greens each time. Pish posh! Soft! Maybe it will work for other people’s children but not for my tribe. I’ve never been one to go soft on my children- food and smoothies included. I say to go in with the hard line…then it’s easier to ease back…creates an attitude of thankfulness and a willingness to work with me, rather than against me. Is it manipulation? Um, is it any less manipulation than loading them up with way too much sugar (fruit) and then trying to wean them off? I don’t think so.

After the horrors of all the pond scum that I tried to make them drink, green smoothies seem so easy, so delicious. In their mind it’s either Green Smoothies or Pond Scum! Hehee, the funny thing is, my lovely family think they’re oh! so clever for ganging up on me and not drinking the Spirulina. But maybe, just maybe it was all part of my secret plan. Maybe there is a method to my madness!

Green Smoothies

Seeing as how my few readers seem so keen to talk more about Green Smoothies I thought I’d post a few links, a recipe or two and a video. I’m so keen to share this so would like to offer as much help as I can.

First, a few links but searching google will easily bring up many sites:

The Raw Divas has blogs, articles, recipes and more.
The Green Smoothie Blog has loads of information also.
Raw Foods-Living Foods has a section on Green Smoothies
YouTube search brings up many hits.

Recipes

Plain Smoothie
Little cold water
Blender full of greens. I used baby spinach.
2 apples
2 bananas
smidgen of flaxseed oil
ice

Fennel & Orange
One stalk of fennel including leaves and bulb
Two oranges, peeled and segmented
One handful baby spinach
Water or ice
Smidgen of flaxseed oil
1 tsp Bee Pollen

Plain smoothie
Cos lettuce
1 apple
1 cup carrot/celery juice (from the morning’s juicing session)
Handful of frozen strawberries
Some freshly ground flaxseed
Few grapes
Ice

Videos
ReasonablyRaw
Karen Knowles: quick and dirty guide to making a green smoothie

Blender Dilemma: SOLVED

Don’t you love your hubby? I do! Here I was researching various blenders, which would have taken me a month of Sunday’s to narrow it down, when on the way to the airport, to get Miss A, I told John that I could do with his input. I gave him the summary:

Super-duper expensive at approximately $1899.
Super expensive between $700 – $900
Expensive of the cheap range: approximately $200 or
Cheap: $200 and under.

Green Smoothie

1 bulb of fennel

2 oranges, peeled

2 handfuls baby spinach

dash of honey (or maple syrup)

Some flaxseed oil

ice cubes

He listened to my blurb about the Thermomix and said it would be good if we had a business and could recoup some of that money back…which we don’t. I guess he crossed that one off his mental list pretty quickly.

Then came the super expensive ones…thankfully my husband knows me to well. When I get an interest in something I need to dabble in it…but that doesn’t mean it will necessarily become a life long passion or lifestyle so I guess he crossed these off the list too.

I talked to him about the more expensive of the cheap range- and his ears pricked up…he was listening intently. Then he heard that it was in the Sunbeam Cafe Series (same as our coffee machine) and he took a detour and dropped into The Good Guys. Thirty minutes later and guess who has a new blender?

Whoohoo! Yup, that would be me! I’ve already put it to good use. I made a green smoothie and coerced, forced, strongly encouraged everyone to have a glass.

Do you make green or savoury smoothies? Please share your favourite recipes with me. I know there are many websites that have recipes, and I’ve visited most of them! but I’d love to hear readers favourites.

Growing Your Blog

Regular readers of my blog will know that I don’t do stats– don’t care about them, don’t record them in any way. It’s just not important to me. While visiting The Mother Lode today (who incidentally has a great post on “What curriculum should I use for my Kindegardener? ) she talked about AlphaInventions. Having absolutely no idea what it was I thought I’d pop over there and see. I’m still not sure what it is but it is designed to get page hits for your site. In the interest of seeing how this works and with the aim of letting others know about it in case it interests them, I thought I’d give it a whirl. Alphainventions.com is useful for wordpress.com, typepad.com, spaces.live.com, and blogger.com.

Perspective…again

What is it with me and perspective so far this year? Anyone might think I’m turning 40 this year! :silly:

Just a funny…although it’s probably only funny in our home, to us.

John doesn’t understand how I can build e-commerce websites and community websites that serve over 900 people yet I’m still technologically challenged with everyday household goods, like the TV, and x-box. (But, we have 4 remote controls with 2 recording devices and it all runs through his computer! C’mon, could you be bothered with that?)

I don’t understand how he can fix any gadget that has ever broken in our home…he can do all the back-end work of my websites (servers, php, etc) and can program his computer to record a TV show yet he can’t figure out an easy-peasy blogging platform like WordPress. Ha! I love it! :inlove: And he calls me technologically challenged. Uhuh. Sure honey…whatever you say.

:kissing:

Perspective eh?

Carnival of Relaxed Homeschooling

Whoohoo, there’s a new carnival in town…and it’s right up my alley.

The Carnival of Relaxed Homeschooling is for anyone using relaxed, eclectic or less traditional methods of home education for any or all of their studies.

Using a relaxed approach for the upper grades, i.e., middle and high schoolers, becomes a little more challenging so if you use a relaxed style in any or all of your studies, you have something of great value to offer to other homeschoolers interested in becoming less formal in their approach. Submissions can include ideas, approaches, successes, “failures”, frustration, encouragement or anything else!

Submissions don’t have to be new posts, they can be, but it’s not necessary. What you do want to do, however, is look for one of your best posts. Dig deep if you want, just submit one of your posts that is especially pleasing to you!

If you are new to the concept of “carnivals”, check out this post.

I always enjoy the homeschooling carnivals. I love to see how others approach home education so long as I understand and accept that I don’t have to try and incorporate all the ideas I read into our family home.

Day trip adds perspective

Yesterday we dropped Miss A at the airport so that she could go to Sydney for 7 days for the Senior Women’s National Softball Tournament. This is the final series so after being away four times over the last 4 months, I think she’ll be a little relieved to see the end of this series. It isn’t the softball she loathes, just the traveling and being away from home. However not only am I without my oldest daughter, who is also my personal barista but I’m still without my coffee machine!

We dropped into the brickwork Markets for an impromptu visit. Wow, it was empty, nearly lifeless. I pondered how my perspective has changed over the years. I grew up in a small, country, mining town where we had Big W, Woolworths and a small Coles. That was pretty much it in the way of department and larger stores. So you can imagine my delight and awe upon getting married and moving to Adelaide where shops abound. The furniture stores, the cheap $2 stores, etc. Man, I could get anything and everything in that place! [Adelaide] As I was newly married and decorating the home I started to decorate on a budget…which wasn’t that hard to do with all those cheap stores around. 😉 However over the years my taste started to refine. I came to see and appreciate fine quality and thought it was better to go without something for a long time than buy a cheap imitation only to have it break or look tacky.

Most of my regular readers will know that my husband’s job then took us to a few different cities: ACT, Brisbane, etc. where I saw many different styles and preferences and options for dressing and decorating, which I’ve since grown to appreciate although I might not wish to take on as my own style.

Anyway, I’m rambling, back to the story. I seemed to recall (from 20 years ago) that the Brickwork Markets had many stalls, many of local produce and home made, small business type of product. I loved this as the goods were all unique. Well, did I get a shock yesterday or what! Aside from most stalls being empty or closed, most of the stalls contained clothes that can be purchased anywhere- stock standard stuff that I could buy at Supre, if I shopped there…which I don’t. 😉 I was so disappointed. I guess I was expecting something like it used to be or similar to the markets at the Gold Coast or Caloundra. Had the Brickworks really gone downhill or was it simply my perspective?

Perspective

We then started talking with the boys and made an impromptu decision to drive out to Mannum and show the boys ‘our block’ with ‘our house’. When we were newly married, we bought 10 acres and built our home there. Actually to be truthful we lived in a shed and bus for 18months while the transportable was being built. So Miss A had her beginnings in a a shed! John built an extension on the house, along with front and back verandah’s and well, he built the entire house and land with his two bare hands! And then we sold. And then we moved.

We had to quickly drive home to change cars and pick up Miss R and her friend, Mr.D and get the camera. The drive there was uneventful although fun. I had a few wistful moments as I saw how expensive land there is now…but I don’t regret moving, just can’t fathom our luck. (Not that I believe in luck- it’s just a figure of speech) Anyway, as we ate hot chips on the riverbank and took the ferry across the river we listened to Miss R who was astounded at how small everything looked. It was all so much bigger when she was 3 and four! There were some things that had changed. Obviously some houses aren’t maintained so they deteriorate and new homes are built. But some things just don’t change- like the size of the buildings or our 10 acres. But her perspective changed- as she grew bigger. Her experiences changed the way she saw Mannum.

Perspective

I was struck with the thought that when I was young and my experience of fashions were limited I was easily pleased. As I’ve gotten older and had a few more life experiences I am a little more selective with my decorating, food, clothing style. That isn’t to say that my previous likes were wrong or even that there were immature but they were based upon my experience.

I likened that to my growing desire for God’s word. I’m starting to see things more from His perspective…the more I read, the more I spend time with Him, some Bible passages take on new meaning. Not because I’m seeing new things rather that I’m seeing them with the eyes of the Holy Spirit, not just the eyes of my own understanding.

Am I trying to say anything in this post? Nope! Just sharing our day and my thought process.

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings to search out a thing.”
Prov. 25:2

Super Simple Spiritual Sunday Meme Feb15

Super Simple Spiritual Sunday Meme

First, I have to tell you about a Christian homeschool mum who is really into website development. She has a new website where you’ll find a little information about her service…but I warn you- the website is a little like a mechanic who never gets to fix his own car. Okay, so it’s really me and my site :rotfl: but still, why don’t you pop over and have a look? Kerugma Designs is where you’ll find a few details about my new website development service, where I help you to build your online home. If you need a web presence at an affordable rate, give me a hoy as the website isn’t finished with up-to-date details just yet.

Okay, on to some more links that I have enjoyed recently:

Biblical Descriptions of Women is a delightful post. Go through it with your Bible and your daughter!

The Bible is not a jigsaw by Frank Viola

Do your children know who you really are?

Rest & Peace by Sally Clarkson

Yesterday was Valentines Day (for anyone who cares!) and Phyliss has a post with some good article links and downloads.

Health & Nutrition

The World’s Healthiest Foods: The George Mateljan Foundation is a non-profit organization with no commercial influence, which provides this website for you free of charge. We are dedicated to making the world a healthier place by providing you with cutting-edge information about why the World’s Healthiest Foods are the key to vibrant health and energy and how you can easily make them a part of your healthy lifestyle. You might find the Getting Started page the best place to start looking at this large site.

The Recipe Assistant at WHF : Are you interested in customizing your search for WHFoods recipes? Then use our innovative Recipe Assistant. With this easy to use tool all you have to do is select foods that you want to be included or excluded (e.g., if you are lactose intolerant, you choose to identify recipes without milk) and it will provide you with a list of recipes meeting your criteria.

Healthy Eating Shouldn’t Cost an Arm and a Leg: Food Budget Strategies that Help Avoid the High Cost of Illness by Kelly the Kitchen Kop

Looking for some raw food recipes? Try here at Hallelujah Acres.

Home Managment and Organisation

Have I mentioned TipNut before? Tipnut.com began as a way to organize all the household tips, craft projects, recipes, kitchen & cooking tips and other neat-o hints that I’ve collected over the years.

Freebies

Mountain Bread CookBook– free download as pdf. Mountain Bread™ has a thin, dry and soft texture that is not doughy like other breads and is widely regarded as a healthy alternative and is therefore highly popular with dieters and doctors. Mountain Bread™ has traditionally been used as a bread substitute for sandwiches and wraps or as a pasta substitute; but there are many uses of this versatile bread ranging from savoury to sweet.

Also, just in case you were a bit of a blog stalker and wanted to know where else I read and comment, you can see most of my blogging travels and comments around the WWW here.

Are they bored?

“Life is never boring,but some people choose to be bored.”

I’ve never accepted it when my children have said, “Mum, I’m bored“. I would always respond with various quips until they simply stopped telling me that they were bored. I made a chart and pinned it to the wall so that the minute I started to hear that whine of “Muuuum…I’m …” I would send them to the chart. Always worked! They became busy and productive in areas and the boredom soon disappeared. However, I’ve always found it easiest to teach the children about boredom when they are not bored! I talked to them about it, taught them what to do when they’re bored…told them about their choices – encouraged them to be proactive. Then, when that familiar cry comes, I was simply reinforcing what I’d already taught.

I would tell the children that boredom is an attitude and a choice. They could choose not to be bored! That’s quite empowering, isn’t it? And it’s true. However, there are times when boredom is a good thing- if handled correctly. Firstly, I’d make sure that the child’s basic needs were all met- physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, etc. (The book series, The Five Love Languages are especially helpful for discerning needs of children) Once I had ascertained that their needs were met, chores had been done, etc I would point them toward the list.

Sometimes it’s good to be bored as it gives us the opportunity to have some quiet time and just *be*…time to think, to process. Usually though, this is a slightly different thing to boredom as my children have never claimed to be bored while having this ‘time’.

Here are the things I put on the chart but I’m sure you could think of much more.

Read a book
Make a card for someone
Write a letter
Play dress ups
Write a story
Jigsaw puzzle
Board games
Ping pong
Listen to music and dance
Take Jazz for walk
Do a nature hunt
Trampoline
Clean backyard
Clean car
Iron clothes
Bake a cake
Make popcorn and then make jewelry
Have a bath and play in it
Do a word search
Colour in or do drawing
Leaf or tree rubbings
Make paper (paper kit)
Throw softball
Rehearse a play and put on show
Write book review
Science experiment
Hide and Seek
Create cubby house
Make paper airplanes / dolls
Garden
Have a ‘drinking water contest’
Do a crossword
Look at photo albums
Carve soap
Chess
Lego
Look for ways to bless your brother/sister/mother/father…

“Only those who want everything done for them are bored.”
~Billy Graham

“Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something that is beautiful or to discover something that is true.”
W. R. Inge

“A man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore”
Samuel Butler (1835-1902)

Originally compiled in 2001 but I lost it until hunting around on my computer in 2009

Firestorms 2009

I feel sick. Nauseous. A churning in my tummy that just won’t go away.

Two weeks ago, on was supposed to be our first day back at lessons, my brother-in-law passed away, after a long, difficult illness. Last Sunday, a service was held in the gardens to celebrate and remember his life. My husband (his brother) was asked to lead and facilitate the service. While this was an honour, I felt for my husband who was also grieving at the time. It wouldn’t have been easy to try and be ‘all things to all men’ while also going through your own pains of grief and sorrow.

The day after the service, Monday, we awoke to hear of the horrific fire storms that are ravaging Victoria. Stories of loss, homelessness and terror are hard enough but the deaths have been awful. I am many miles away and seemingly unaffected by the effects of this horror yet I can’t help but want to shed many tears. People being incinerated in their cars while trying to escape…in their homes…children, elderly…I just can’t think straight my heart is hurting for them. Three bodies were found crowded in a bath. They must have hoped the water would save them but instead it would have boiled in the intense heat. How?

I turn on the television to watch for a little while and catch updates but I have to turn it off. The torment, the fear, the devastation, the loss of life makes me ill. 173 people dead…but this is expected to rise within the coming weeks- and the fires aren’t even over yet.

We were living in Canberra during the awful 2003 fires. Although we were not directly affected our house was under threat from burning embers that had travelled miles and were falling on our roof. The devastation that fire caused was terrible but this one…this fire storm is huge. For those that don’t understand the enormity of this disaster it has been reported that the burn victims are much much worse than those victims of the Bali bombings. The fires moved incredibly fast at approximately 100 mph. The fires have been likened to a slow moving atomic explosion. Cars have melted, entire towns wiped out, over 800,000 acres burnt and over 750 homes destroyed. The loss of life is just to painful. And I’m not even there. I’m hundreds of miles away in South Australia.

For those readers who live in other countries and may not have a grasp on the tragedy that is happening, I’ll share a few links:

An interactive map of the fire storms. Here is another map which shows the fires.

Donate blood or money to the Red Cross.

A chilling tale of how one man survived: How we cheated flames of death.

There’s already an entry at Wikipedia on the Victorian Fires of 2009.

Victorian fires amongst the most deadly in the world.

Pray. Please pray. And give.

In ironic contrast, the northern end of Australia has been dealing with floods for over 3 weeks. You can read a little about it here at the ABC reports and here

Teaching Our Children How To Give Compliments

Have you ever spent hours on planning an evening meal to share with guests and you’ve worked yourself to a silly sweat in the kitchen…set the table with your finest linen, cutlery and crockery and eagerly awaited their arrival? I have. I made our family favourite – my go-to dish: home made lasagne.

The visitors came…and ate. The husband really liked the meal and complimented me. My own husband complimented me. My children complimented me, as per their upbringing. There was something missing. The woman’s absence of any comment made me believe that she didn’t like the meal…or that she didn’t appreciate that I had used our ‘best’.

Now I realise that my lasagne may not be everyone’s idea of delicious but…
From there, I have tried to practice the art of complimenting…on something. I’ve taught (am in the process of teaching) my children to do the same.

If you have a message of encouragement for the people, please speak.
~Acts 13:15

We’ve had friends who have very different standards to us…when it comes to cleanliness. Now I’m no perfectionist when it comes to cleanliness or tidiness but…I don’t allow animals inside. I would never allow my cats (if I had them) to wander on my kitchen benches to malt their hair all over the bread board and find its way into a sandwich and I certainly never allowed my pets (dogs or cats) to drink or eat out of the same cup/bowl as me. However, I’ve got friends who do this naturally…they wouldn’t dream of doing anything else.

These friends also had a generous heart and loved to entertain and be hospitable so they’d often cook and invite us over to share a meal with them. I’ll be honest with ya. I did not find it easy to drink a cup of coffee from the cups, knowing that they might share that cup with their pooch. In fact, my stomach got queasy and it just went against every instinct in my body. But, I forced myself to drink…and to do so with a smile. These guys just didn’t know any different…they didn’t see anything wrong. I firmly believe that if I had said anything or spoken with my body language we could have destroyed a friendship and discouraged them in their faith.

However I found it so hard to be encouraging. I found it hard to say, “Thanks for the cuppa, it was lovely” as it just wasn’t true and I want to be honest and transparent. So, what’s a gal to do? How does one not be rude when there’s little to be complimentary about?

Well, I try to have a policy. Yes, I have lots of personal policies but this one is:

Try to say something true, helpful, inspiring, kind, necessary or nice wherever possible.

Sometimes, most times, it is just plain rude to say nothing. How could I go to their place…drink with them, eat with them, share with them and hear their heart and not say something positive?

Along with my policy above, goes the second part that I try to consider when I do need to open my mouth:

Do I have any responsibility in this area? Do I have any authority in this area? Will my words be ones of encouragement, bringing comfort, peace, grace or will they be ones that cause unnecessary grief and concern and cause hurt? The question of what, when, and how to speak is usually answered as I ask myself these questions.

So, how then do I find something to say? Some people, and I’ve said to my children, that if you can’t say something good, then don’t say anything at all. And this is generally good advice but I think that is many situations you simply have to say something…so I have to find something to say.

Speak when the words build up. Speak if the words bring a smile. Speak where reassurance is needed. Speak what gives hearts courage. Speak how He would. Words that encourage. Words that give life. Words that bless.
If you have those kinds of words on the tip of your tongue, then please speak. Otherwise, maybe it is best not to.

Okay, back to my friend- so the coffee wasn’t nice. The cup was filthy and the kitchen table was covered in dog hair but…this woman had a giving heart. She’d give you her last shirt off her back if you needed it.She would be available 24 hours a day, to help you if needed. She had a servant’s heart and loved to bless people. She grew most of her own vegetables organically and she had a quriky sense of decorating. Oh, she decorated her house in the brightest, most vivid colours that most people would shy away from…but not her.

So, I found myself starting to use words like, “interesting” and fascinating, captivating, enthralling; appealing, attractive; amusing, entertaining, stimulating, thought-provoking, intriguing. (Yes, I used the thesaurus here)

I just couldn’t say the coffee was delicious but I needed to say something, right? I could comment on the new style of quirky curtains she made and put up. I could comment on her serving heart and how much she blesses others by making meals to give to those in need. In other situations I could comment on how the lemon gratings over the steamed broccoli was quite unusual, omitting to say that the potato was raw.

In other words, I don’t need to point out [what I perceive to be] her faults or areas she needs to change or improve in. That’s not my role. It’s glaringly obvious to all (or so I would think) but it’s not my place. No authority or responsibility.

I’ve learned that my preference is not that of anther’s. My lifestyle choices are not that of others…but this doesn’t mean that I’m right and they are wrong. This also doesn’t mean that I can’t fellowship with them. Sometimes we Christians can be so uptight, so self righteous that we appear to others to act as though our own sweat doesn’t stink…that we are holy and they are not. We might relay the message (through body language more so than words) that until they have their act together we can’t fellowship. Oi voi! I’m so glad that God didn’t wait for us to get our act together before He wanted a relationship with us. We shouldn’t use our convictions or beliefs as a weapon or a rod…leave that to God. [generally speaking in context with my post here]

So what are you teaching your children about manners and relationships? Is it acceptable to simply ignore those that don’t fit in with your views, your beliefs? Or should they speak out against every single thing that goes against their beliefs? How then do they speak words of encouragement to others?

And lastly, what on earth does this have to do with blogging, if anything? I really like the page, Biblical Advice for Bloggers, and I think 5 and 6 are quite applicable here, don’t you?

5. Let us therefore make every effort to blog what leads to peace and to mutual edification. (Ro 14:19)
And Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the blog of peace (Eph 4:2)
Do we make every effort to maintain peace and unity in the body of Christ? Or do we focus on what divides us? When we disagree, are we humble and gentle?

6. Accept him whose blog is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters…Let us stop blogging judgment on one another… whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. (Ro 14 1-22)
Let us be careful not to condemn ourselves by dividing the body of Christ over disputable matters, or by judging the spiritual state of our brothers and sisters with whom we disagree.

What say you? Does this ring true in your life…either in real time or online? Or am I so long winded that you gave up reading or I totally lost you? That’s okay, I’m sure you’ll be able to find something encouraging to say. O:-)

Zabaglione

My husband has fond memories of a special breakfast meal that his mother would prepare for him. I say fondness because that’s what I see and hear on his face as he recalls the memory. But the look on his face is strange, as though hiding mixed feelings. You know that look where one’s nose curls up in disgust yet the mouth is smiling? That look. I can’t quite figure out what feelings are behind the look and he can’t really verbalise it accurately. I do know that he is now extremely fussy when it comes to eating eggs- they now have to be cooked very well. He wonders if this extreme fussiness is because of zabaglione. (That’s my disclaimer)

Anyway, his ma would make zabaglione for breakfast sometimes. Not all the time, it was a special treat. Zabaglione is a simple but deliciously rich, Italian dessert made of egg yolks, sugar, and Marsala wine. Espresso, champagne, sherry or wine can be used. (My mother-in-law made it with orange juice in place of the marsala) It is usually served warm, though it can be served cold, or as a sauce, or even frozen. Coupled with fruit it is truly a deliciously, rich dessert. For breakfast, it can be served with biscotti and a cappuccino. when served with biscotti and coffee, you may find you want to add a little more sugar.

However, Italian cooking is so diverse that no two recipes look the same. Every region in Italy has its own style of cooking but even further, each village has their own way of doing things as well. So every town has its own recipe for bread or sauce and zabaglione. It doesn’t mean that the recipe is wrong…it’s just a different recipe, most likely from a different region than another recipe. Italians can tell what region a person is from often by their way of cooking. My husband’s family are from a southern region of Italy: Calabria.

Zabaglione
4 servings

4 large egg yolks
4 tbsp caster sugar (white will do)
4 tbsp Marsala, Espresso, juice or other
Drop or two of vanilla essence

1) Put the egg yolks and sugar in a large heatproof bowl and whisk together until light and fluffy and approximately doubles in size.. We use an electric egg beater but be very careful to not over-beat.
When the mixture starts to thicken, place the bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. A double-boiler can be used if you have one. Alternatively, you can use a metal or other heatproof bowl that can be suspended over simmering water. Just be sure to not let the water touch the bottom of the bowl.

2) Add vanilla, marsala, juice or espresso and whisk ( we cheat and use an electric egg beater) continuously until the mixture becomes thick, hot and foamy. The eggs need to be cooked gently so the mixture stays smooth.

3) Spoon the zabaglione into serving dishes and serve with accompaniments. (Either biscotti, cream, fresh or stewed fruit, etc)

Variations for dessert

Zabaglione with Cream
Take a tub of thickened cream and whip it until it is stiff. Once the zabaglione is cooked, very gently add most of the whipped cream to the slightly cooled zabaglione and gently fold together. Use the remaining cream to decorate after spooning the zabaglione into separate small dishes or cups.

Chocolate Zabaglione
Gently melt some chopped semi-sweet, good quality chocolate. Once zabaglione is cooked, gently fold in the melted chocolate. Decorate with shaved chocolate and fresh berries make a lovely addition to this dish.

Zabaglione with Ice Cream
Pour warm zabaglione over a good quality ice cream or gelati for a rich and beautiful dessert.

Baked or Chilled Zabaglione
Spoon the thick custard like zabaglione into individual bowls/dishes and sprinkle with chocolate or sugar. Either bake in the oven or chill in the fridge.

A few links although not too many as there are too many variations

Zabaglione at Anna Maria‘s

Simply Recipes

Cold Zabaglione by Nigella

Lydia’s Kitchen recipe

Video on youtube– cooking course 108 (this guy is verbose and one swear word)

Video on videojug

Do you have a favourite recipe for Zabaglione?

Addendum

Okay so I got it wrong. John’s ma used to make his different to what I posted last night.

She didn’t cook it! She would whip up the egg yolks with the sugar and a little coffee and just keep whipping it in the electric mixer for about 7 min, till it went smooth and creamy. Ewwwwww, is it any wonder he can only eat eggs that are over cooked? No cooking, just whipping! When I suggested that this could be the reason for his aversion to properly cooked eggs he responded with,

“Nah, the Zabaglione didn’t turn me off. That was yummy! But she used to make me suck raw eggs as a nutritional food”. Ewww gross!

Just thought I’d better come back and set the record straight.

Boy with Nails and the fence

THE FENCE

There was a little boy with a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, to hammer a nail in the back fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Then it gradually dwindled down.

He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, “You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry, the wound is still there.”

A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one. Friends are a very rare jewel, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share a word of praise, and they always want to open their hearts to us. Show your friends how much you care.

This was a story that I received via email many years ago. I shared it with the children as an object lesson and it has always stuck with them.

Sweet, rich, coffee at home? Thoughts on the Sunbeam EM6910

Triple rosetta, courtesy of AbiGrace

Oh no! The next three weeks are going to be tough…about the only thing to make it a little easier for me to bear is the heatwave we are in the midst of. I know I will get through it of course, but…it will be tough. I don’t have too many vices anymore, except the occasional chocolate (and it is occasional nowadays as I want to share it more with my children) and my love of dry, hard Parmesan cheese. But my greatest vice of all is cappuccino.

I mean how could it not be? Not only do did we have a great machine that extracted a sweet shot but the steamer creates the most velvety, creamy, sweet milk, which forms the perfect cappuccino. Well, I suppose I should be honest and say that it only works that way when my own Personal Barista makes it for me…my own shot is not quite so sweet and I burn the burn, separating the sweetness of it resulting in a slightly bitter and burned taste.

But alas! my beautiful machine is not well. She needs a major over haul and some internal surgery. I could be without her for up to three weeks! 3 weeks!!! What am I to do? I shall have to find some way to cope, I suppose. The machines run best when using filtered water only but we don’t have a water filter. Our earthenware water filter was cracked in our last move and we haven’t gotten around to buying another one. We think that is what has caused the problem.

Lisa asked me awhile ago to recommend a good espresso machine that wouldn’t break the budget. Well, I had asked Miss A (the Barista) to write a post for me and she was happy to but tell me, how does one pin a 17 yo young lady, who is driving all over the place, down to write a blog post? It obviously just didn’t happen. So here I am instead…but I am armed with her recommendation.

Our machine is a Sunbeam EM6910 (pictured above).

Why do we like it and what makes it better than some of the other machines on the market?

Paul Bassett was an Australian Barista Champion and he helped develop this machine. However, that alone doesn’t make it any good. With espresso machines you largely get what you pay for- in what it delivers and life expectancy of the machine. The reason this machine is better than others in a similar price range is that it has a twin pump and thermoblock system. It also has an espresso gauge so you can see/test the quality of your extraction. (Users like me find this helpful but the more professional users, like Miss A, would not use an electrical gadget to measure the quality of their coffee) And much more. Suffice to say that the quality is that of commercial use but for the domestic home.

Appreciating a fine coffee, we didn’t want an automatic machine because…

1) There’s no fun in it and…

2) It is cookie-cutter mentality coffee- not individualised. There are some automatic machines available (e.g. the Nespresso) whereby you have to purchase the manufacturer’s brand of coffee, pre ground. Eww, pre ground coffee beans are gross!

This machine allows us to extract a shot of coffee and texture the milk at the same time, resulting in a fresher cappuccino. We’re able to regulate the temperature of the water, which is very handy in getting a good cup. The machine is strong and robust and quite easy to clean. However, it does need regular cleaning – it’s not a kettle. It works with ground coffee and milk so of course it needs thorough cleaning. Not everyone realises the amount of work needed to care for an espresso/cappuccino machine and some people are disappointed by this.

There are other very good machines on the market for home use, but there is no way that we could afford the $3000 to buy one. In our opinion, this is The Best machine at an affordable price. However, it will only produce as good a coffee as your bean and your milk texturing technique. If you don’t want to take time to learn of these things it might be best to stick to store-bought or buy an expensive automated machine. When you purchase this machine, you are also able to do the free Paul Bassett Coffee Appreciation Course, which not only teaches you a little about coffee but more importantly, how to care for your machine.

So there. That’s my thoughts on the Sunbeam…no doubt AbiGracewould do a much more thorough job of it but she didn’t…and I did. So there. 🙂

How To Attract More Traffic To Your Site

I’m going to cheat a little and post something that I originally wrote as a response to a question on a favourite message board. The discussion was about how to build a reader base for one’s website or blog. Now I’m not into this kind of things for myself – goodness, I don’t even have a (and have a reason for doing so) but as part of my website development business I have learned these things. So here we go!

“Dear ____

Now on to building your blog/site. Bear in mind that as part of my work I know these things but I do NOT do them. I build websites but I don’t do any of this stuff because I don’t need/want to. But, it works!

Sadly, the important thing is content distribution- not even quality of writing. Sad but true. You need to build a commenting base and a readership.How to do this?

Comments! It’s the best way. You have to visit other blogs and leave comments. This lets other readers see you and follow back to your blog but so will the blog owner. I notice you don’t allow comments- matey, this is blog suicide! You need to build readership- you need to build relationships.

Link to other sites. Yep, I know it sounds contrary to send people away from your site but it works. Also link back to your own writings. refer to your previous posts but don’t expect everyone to know the history so fill in the blanks when doing this. Also link to your previous posts- keeps people on your site plus builds a relationship with them. Blogging is all about developing relationships!Subscribe to this blog and read the good articles

I notice you don’t have a blogroll. Don’t underestimate the performance of a blogroll. It helps build readership and get you around the ‘net.

Submit your site to all the social networking sites. Build your reader base through RSS. This is SO important. People read blogs via RSS more so than visiting the site these days so, get your feedburner account up and running and get it looking swish. Make it VERY easy for people to subscribe to your blog.

Get your name out there more…actually I just searched for your name/sitename and your ‘previous’ blog came up first so you need to do some more work on your blog to push it up in the ranks. Get your keywords. Tag all posts. Get your mission statement or aim and put it in your blog. Work that blog girl! Hey, I know you’ve done that but it needs more!

You need a few pages – A visitor will only be on your blog for about 6 seconds if you’re lucky. You need to GRAB them. They need to see everything in one hit. Where is your About Me page? How do I contact you? Remember, make it easy for me, the reader. Why would I want to contact you? Are you available as a guest writer? A guest speaker? Sell yourself to me T__ ! Tell me why I need you! Tell me why I want to visit your site.

Freebies! Everyone loves something to download so get some freebies to give away. You’re a gifted writer and speaker. Make a few podcasts and offer them for free!

Learn to use typography to your advantage. It helps break up a post into bite sized pieces and makes skimming easier. And, like it or not, most people skim.

Get some useful plugins. Do others readers really care about the live feed? I know YOU do but do others need to see it? Nah, not really. But how about a Related Postsplugin? That kinda thing. Oh, related posts to your OWN posts, not others. See this post of mine I have two plugins (they both give good related posts). One is at the bottom of each post and the other is in the sidebar.

Personalise your site even more! Yes, it is possible without giving away all your personal details. eg: design your own logo or avatar so that it can follow you around the Internet. Sign up with Gravatar or OpenID so that everytime you comment on another blog it links back to your site and it includes YOUR avatar! It is important- builds familiarity-relationship. You can include your avatar or logo on your site in the sidebar or in the top of every post! Design a banner that you can give to other sites to display, that links back to your site.

Study how to build your site. Subscribe to blogs that primarily exist for this reason.I’ll list a few with good info, but bear in mind that they are not Christian.

http://www.adsensetipssite.com/adsenseblogging/tentipsblogging.html
http://www.problogger.net/
http://lorelle.wordpress.com/
http://www.successful-blog.com/
http://www.blogbloke.com/
to name a few…but this would get your started.

Another way is to follow the example of others- look at Cindy Rushton and Robin Sampson! Now, there’s two Christian homeschool mums (moms) who are using the Internet to their full advantage to build a business. Study the things they do and see how you can incorporate some of those ideas into your writing site.

T____, pop over to my site. Now I know the colours aren’t everyone’s ideas of nice but they’re *mine*. I would tone it down a lot if it were a business site, but not everyone does, aka. Cindy Rushton. From the outset you can see my RSS feeds (posts AND comments) in the top right hand corner PLUS on every single blog post I remind the reader that they can subscribe.

I have an easy to use , and page and the navigation is fairly easy, I think. Also, you can see that I’ve put my footer to good use. It has the necessary stuff but also a link to another page in my site!

Does all this take time?

Yup! It’s a part time business but if you want to succeed to any degree you need a strong online presence. You have a presence- you need to build it and that takes work.

Of course if you’re really serious, you could also go with your own domain name and hosting which allows for heaps more individual customisation. Let me know if you need some help with that.

That’s it for starters…gee I should start a web development business eh? LOL

Family Holiday 2008

In between comings and going, sicknesses and computers that don’t want to play nicely I never did get around to writing about our holidays. It’s a ll a bit of a blur now but I still want to talk a little about it.

There's a bear in there...

A few days before we set off to Broken Hill, Miss R’s friend “D” heard back from the doctor that he did indeed have whooping cough. 🙁 This wasn’t good. Not only had he been sick for a few weeks but now Master J was coughing and spluttering as was Miss R. I dosed Master C and Miss A up on some herbal/natural supplements. Seeing as how the two sickies had started their course of antibiotics, (thus reducing the transmission rate not the symptoms of the virus) we got started on our way. We’d planned to leave at about 7am but typically, we left at 10am. We were all squashed in the Tarago like a can of sardines. But that’s half the fun eh! Aside from washing our hands with antibacterial wash every hour and the coughing and spluttering, it was a fairly uneventful trip. Oh! About an hour out of Broken Hill, approximately 10 metres off the side of the highway is what looks like a pile of junk. We delighted in showing The Teddy Bear to the children. Tehee they had no idea what it was- thinking it to be a junk yard. But it’s not, it’s quite funny. The story goes that once, someone left a large teddy bear in the middle of a bare patch of ground, about half way between Yunta and BH. It became known as The Teddy Bear…there’s a bear in there, etc. Well, some bright person added a chair for teddy to sit on (there’s a chair as well). Then others slowly added to the collection until Teddy has just about everything he needs! (see the photo)

Shrubs at Umberumberka

I took a few photo’s from inside the car, while travelling. They don’t make for the best pictures but it’s all fun. We arrived, popped in on my dad and then settled into the cabin at the caravan park.

We spent the next few days wandering around Broken Hill, the ‘Silver City‘, reminiscing. I hadn’t been back to The Hill since my mum’s funeral (Dec ’97). It’s changed a fair bit since then…but that’s the nature of a tourist town, that’s population can be quite transient. We went to Silverton and went through the historic gaol. John has always teased me about the sights of Broken Hill. I think because it is a totally different type of scenery and historic place then most other places in Australia…but in his heart he really loves it. It’s an affectionate teasing. At least I think it is. While on the topic of Silverton did you know that one of Charles Dickens sons ran a stock and station agency in Silverton in the late 1800s? Who woulda thunk it? A Dicken’s…all the way out in little old Silverton!!??

We then went to the Silverton Hotel where some people wanted to have their picture taken with the Mad Max car. Okay so it’s a replica but do you think they care?

From there we drove 5 kms west and reached the Mund Mundi Plains. It is stunning! You have to see it to really appreciate it. It’s wide, flat, dry, red and goes on far as the eye can see. You would have seen it before, even if you’ve never been there. It is the backdrop scenery in quite a few films, including Mad Max II. (Not that I suppose many readers of this blog would have seen that movie or the others that have been filmed at Silverton – but one learns these as a local). I took a few pictures of the native shrubbery, and we had a quick lesson revision on methods of seed dispersal. 😉

We continued on for another 4 kms to the Umberumberka Dam, which has always been a favourite spot of mine. I simply love Broken Hill- the scenery is just stunning. Okay, so I know it isn’t tropical Queensland but I love the dry, hot, red earth, the saltbush, the rolling plains and the odd hill. There’s not much to see at Umberumberka but I took quite a few photo’s anyway. 😎

On the way home, we stopped at Penrose Park to have a BBQ lunch. Left there and went to go home for a rest. Oh, on the way home, I couldn’t go past the White Rocks memorial. A distant relative was killed in the Picnic Train Attack so I had to stop by and show the children. On New Year’s Day 1915, two Afghanistan men flying a Turkish flag attacked a picnic train, carrying 1200 people, on the outskirts of Broken Hill. A gun battle later took place and both attackers were shot dead. Four other people were killed and seven wounded. One of the men was a butcher, the other an ice cream vendor.. They are also the only hostilities on Australian soil during WW1. The rocky outcrop of Quartz is where the gun battle took place. It’s known as White Rocks. Alma Cowie, aged 17, ws killed on the Picnic Train that was attacked. I’m distantly related to her on my mother’s side. You can see the pictures of the Ice cream truck that the men used in the photo album. There is a very interesting page at the SmithsonianMag about the Battle at Broken Hill.

The coffee isn’t too great in Broken Hill. It’s kind of surprising really, being a tourist town and all…and not that far from Adelaide, which is pretty well known for its good coffee. We had one decent cup of coffee while we were there and that was at the Broken Earth Cafe and Restaurant, which has been built as a memorial – to the many men who have lost their lives in mining tragedies in the BH mines.
I used to LOVE the huge, dormant, black mountain of ore body that stood proudly off the main street of BH.I used to think it was THE biggest hill ever in BH.But now there’s an ever bigger deposit of ore…but they’ve done something with it this time! The restaurant stands atop the Line of Lode.

I loved seeing my dad again but it was bittersweet because our time there was too short. If you’re looking for an educational, different, cultural holiday, do consider Broken Hill. There’s so much to see and do and experience…maybe you’ll see why I love it so much. We didn’t get to see all the things I wanted to: we just ran out of time. Still, there’s always another time eh? We left BH and arrived home safely. Miss A had softball training every day from the next day until the day she flew out to Melbourne.

It was about this time that I started to get The Cough. Ugh, not what I wanted at all! Anyway, we saw Miss A off at the airport, took Miss R over to her friend’s house where she was staying while the rest of us were in Melbourne. The boys, John and I set off the net morning, bright and early at 6am, in the trusty Tarago. NOT! We got an hour away, into the Adelaide Hills, and the brakes were causing some terribly grinding noises from the wheels. It wouldn’t make it to Melbourne…we were lucky to turn around and get home again! Thankfully, Praise God, we did make it home. John tried to get the brake parts but they needed to be ordered so we transferred all the luggage into John’s work car, the Pintara, and headed out once again. Actually, it all worked out well taking the Pinnie, as it was more economical in fuel and it had a working air conditioner! We eventually got to Melbourne and had a week of softball, – what more can one ask for? Well, I would have loved to NOT been sick, but…oh well. The coughing spasms are horrid, causing me to lose my breathe, vomit and then get real dizzy, ending in me feeling quite drained. But I got through it. Another year, another Nationals tournament!

Links:

http://www.silverton.org.au/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_Broken_Hill
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_Hill,_New_South_Wales
http://www.brokenhill.nsw.gov.au/
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/history/2011/10/the-battle-of-broken-hill/

That’s about it! All over, for another year. Feel free to have a look around my photo album. I hope to add to it more as the year goes on.

Relationship or Religion

To do what is right and just is more pleasing to ADONAI than sacrifice.
CJB

I’m a simple kind of gal. I love the poetic richness of the KJV but there are some times when I like to read other versions of the Bible as well. I’ve found it helpful in my walk as a believer but also as a parent, to learn the language of various Bible versions. I don’t talk in a ‘King James’ way. I can talk in a ‘ESV’ way but I often talk in a paraphrased way. I want to teach my children to walk in the ways of the Lord…to instill in them a love of God’s ways and discussion is one of my most influential and common ways that I can do this. It has something to do with living every day with my children- allowing them to see my life- letting them share in my life, that equals= relationship. This is why I tend to speak in paraphrased proverbs…it’s a natural thing for me to do.

I make mistakes. My children make mistakes. That’s okay. I don’t want them to grow up in an atmosphere of fear- scared to make a mistake. I don’t parent out of fear. None of that pleases the Lord.

Yes, it might good that my children would sing in the church choir, help lead the Sunday School class, and score highly in their Bible study curriculum test. But that alone does not mean that their hearts are serving the Lord.

I can sacrifice my career to stay at home and teach my children, cook from scratch and sew all my own clothes yet my heart can still be far from what the Lord desires.

Good works aren’t bad. But by themselves they are just religion. Religion is simply ‘man trying to work their way to earn God’s favour’. God isn’t interested in religion. He’s after relationship! He desires us to simply trust and obey Him more so than running around trying to prove our worth or earn His favour.

Proverbs 21:3
To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
NIV

To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
King James Version

To do righteousness and justice
Is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
New KJV

Doing what is righteous and just
is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
Holman Christian Standard

To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
Amplified

Clean living before God and justice with our neighbors
mean far more to God than religious performance.
The Message

Father God would have you live right, to spend time with Him, to think of others, rather than running around working hard, trying to impress, by working for Him.
Susan’s paraphrase.

Again, some might say this is heretical of me to do but it’s real life- it’s allowing the word to penetrate my heart and my life. It’s then how I speak with my family. Speaking biblical principles in an everyday way that we each relate to. Speaking

What about you? Do you encourage yourself in the word this way? Or any other ways? How would you paraphrase this proverb? Go on, have a go – leave a comment and link to your post so other’s can see it and be encouraged. 🙂

Super Simple Spiritual Sunday Meme

I used to participate in the SSSS meme but I haven’t for ages. Weekly meme’s just come around far too quickly for me 😀 However, I do like to share links and today is Sunday! So, I’m going to do a SSSS meme again posting some articles or sites I’ve enjoyed over the last week. So here are a few of the sites I’ve gleaned from this month.

I used to tell my children about the dangers and futility of MySpace but what’s a person to do with the supposedly more mature FaceBook? I liked this post from Elizabeth Esther as she explains why she ‘broke up with FB‘.

Seeking to glorify posted about podcasts for kids. If you have younger children these could be very helpful.

Along with my continued learning about evangelism, I found a post by TeacherDave. The video posted on this blog is a clip of an atheist and his thoughts on witnessing or proselytizing. It’s quite interesting. Something in it for all of us, mehtinks.

ChristianAudio: Each month christianaudio gives away a premium audiobook download for free. The way it works? They give away one audiobook download each month totally free, available only during that month, only once – ever.

For those who know of our journey with our , you might also like to read Barbara Frank’s post: Temperamental Teens. Speaking of Barbara Frank…she also has an article on teaching children about personal finance.

Want to instill music appreciation in your High School aged children but don’t know how to go about it? Use this free curriculum from Harmony Fine Arts. You might like to listen to the podcasts and get an idea of how it all works.

Robin has a list of helpful meme’s to participate in, if you want to. Check her list here.

If you like this type of post, don’t forget to view the past ‘.

Confession: My Ducks Are Not In A Row

True confession.

I do not have all my ducks in a row. Not in any area of my life. Surprised?

I’ve been told that I can sound like I have it all together…and then people meet me in real life and come to see reality.

My ducks aren’t in a row when it comes to my personal life, family life, computer life, meal planning, health, fitness, housework, parenting, homeschool life nor my theology. I simply don’t have concrete thoughts or actions on it all. I might sound it, but I don’t. There have been times in my life when I mistakenly thought I had my ducks in a row in a particular area, like homeschooling. But then something will change and I’ll realise that I never did have it all under control…or maybe I did for that time, that season, that place. But life circumstances change. Right? Surely, at the very least, I would have my theology ducks all lined up in a nice, neat row eh? Ah! wrong again! Just when I thought I did- something happens and slowly I’ve come to see that I don’t even have a handle on that. (Yes yes, I can hear some of you giggling right now).

Would you believe that there was a time that I was firmly convinced that not all children who die would go to heaven? It just didn’t mesh with my theology. And then I had a child… I became a parent. My perspective changed. My circumstance changed. I was able to learn something through my experience. I learned something about the nature of God – God the Father. My understanding of God as Father changed, thus my theology ducks changed. Did God change? Of course not, but I did.

I used to silently believe that there were certain things that my children would never do. I would look at other children/youth and think that my children would be different. I would parent them so as not to harvest ‘that’ fruit. And then I became a parent. Then my children grew and started going through puberty. Then my perspective changed.

I had many dreams or ideals. They weren’t wrong or silly, but my dreams didn’t allow for deviation, therefore I often found my inner self struggling to accept things that were often outside of my control. Maybe I dreamed or aimed too high but I don’t think so. I just need to have the Father’s heart in it all – I need a godly perspective in it all.

Over the last few years, I’ve had to realise and accept that I can tend to be a control freak…and when it hasn’t gone my way I can get myself into a real head mess. It ain’t pretty. But it happens because I let my dreams and ideals take a place in my life that they shouldn’t have. I was still looking at all the outward stuff – I’d created images of what I thought was good, pure, noble, worthy, family, relationships, etc. A good homeschool student, a good homeschool mum, a good, Christian wife, a good Christian family, etc. I was looking to others and to images that I’d built up or created in my own mind. I saw these images as good – having all my ducks in a row. While it was a dream, it was a good dream but rarely reality.

Many times over the last few years, life has felt like this!

Looking back over the last 2 years I would have to say that my life theme was “I don’t have all my ducks in a row”. You know what? I don’t plan a theme- I usually discern it at the end of the year but I can’t help but feel that it will be the repeated theme for me this year. But that’s life! I can’t control everything, regardless of how much I try. I will make mistakes. I will learn new things. I will pick myself back up and try again. That’s life. And I praise God for every breathe that He gives to me.

What If Starbucks Marketed Like the Church? A Parable.

Not only am I a follower of Christ but coffee is also one of my passions so this brief video is painfully funny but also relevant. Okay this might upset some readers so I guess it’s pretty controversial but I think for those who have been Christians for awhile or been raised as Christians there are some important lessons we can learn here. Actually there are many valid points of view that we can see from this quick video. If it offends you after watching it, ponder it for a day or so and then come back and watch it again…

I watched it with mixed emotions. I’ve been a follower of Christ for over 20 years so whenever the Church is poked I feel a little hurt but, as a follower who despises Christian-ese and the ‘playing-at-christianity‘ that many churches and Christians partake in, there’s a bit of truth in this message. So I watched it with a view to the Lord showing me His heart in it all.

You can find the original clip and more info at the Beyond Relevance site, which I’m not necessarily endorsing.
Plus I’ve had a few Starbucks coffee’s here in Australia and every cup has been bitter, which is a sure sign that the espresso shot was not extracted properly and I’ve needed 2 sugars, which is an indication that the milk has been scalded (burned) which is a big bad.

watch?v=D7_dZTrjw9I

Perspective

Fount this at Fish n Cans…thought it was too good not to share.

A young couple moves into a new neighborhood.
The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside.
“That laundry is not very clean”, she said.
“She doesn’t know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap”

Her husband looked on, but remained silent.

Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments.

About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband:

“Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this?”

The husband said, “I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.”

And so it is with life.. What we see when watching others depends on the purity of the window through which we look.

Participating in…

I was browsing some blogs (again) and I thought this post was so true and yet so applicable to my life, and no doubt, the life of many other homeschoolers…although it isn’t specifically about homeschooling at all.

Go check it out! And The Rock Was Christ posting ‘Things that matter’

It seems to me that there are lots of things that matter in life. But, sometimes one is faced – or confronted, with the brevity of life. Like when someone you know is suddenly taken from this life. Death, can come so quickly. It catches us, it takes by surprise. It leaves its deep shock in our spirit.

So then, what matters? Just having fun? Doing lots of good things? Having lots of friends? Laughter? Joy? Or, as the cynics, might say… nothing.
http://nwcc.wordpress.com/2008/11/21/things-that-matter/

Calvinist? Homeschooler? Something else?

This quote sums up why I don’t call myself by any particular label. Granted I don’t know the complete context in which Mr. Washer is talking about or to whom he is addressing but the general thought is still good.

“Anytime your banner becomes anything other than Jesus Christ you ought to be afraid of Hell. If your banner is “I’m a Calvinist”, if your banner is “I’m a homeschooler”, if your banner is this, that, or anything else, if you’re rallying under any other name than Jesus Christ; you’re in danger. You are in danger!”~Paul Washer

Mother of Boys

I was catching up on some blog posts this morning and came across a gem (which is not unusual from Mrs. Wilson’s blog) about parenting boys. Here’s a snippet but do pop over to read the post in its entirety.

According to Proverbs, mothers are to lay down the law, particularly to their sons. “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck” (Prov. 1:8-9).

Mothers sometimes think that Dad is the one with all the authority around the house, particularly when it comes to dealing with the boys. But this is just false. God has established the authority of both parents in the home. Sons are to be well acquainted with the law of their mothers, and this is a good thing. In fact, God tells the sons that this instruction and law are like a crown and a necklace.

Mothers need to establish their authority over their children when they are little (particularly the boys), but that includes bringing them up by means of godly instruction, not just by use of raw authority. Children must obey both parents, and both parents must exercise their authority with wisdom and humility, knowing that they answer to God for how they are bringing up their children.

A mother who refuses to give instruction and correction not only damages the child, but also guarantees her own sorrow. “The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame” (Prov. 29:15). “A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother” (Prov. 10:1).

Did this speak to you or encourage you as much as it did me?

Struggling for Sanctification?

While we are looking at God we do not see ourselves–blessed riddance. The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the perfect One. While he looks at Christ the very things he has so long been trying to do will be getting done within him. It will be God working in him to will and to do.”

~A.W. Tozer

Quote from Tozer

God will not hold us responsible to understand the mysteries of election, predestination and the divine sovereignty. The best and safest way to deal with these truths is to raise our eyes to God and in deepest reverence say, `O Lord, Thou knowest.’ Those things belong to the deep and mysterious Profound of God’s omniscience. Prying into them may make theologians, but it will never make saints.”

~A.W.Tozer

Rss feeds are up and running!

New RSS Feed address

For those of you who catch up with my blog via RSS feeds, you can see the new details here: http://susanpriolo.com/subscribe

There are a few options for receiving notification of new posts/comments to this blog. You can receive posts and/or comments via email or by RSS feeds.

Subscribe to posts
http://susanpriolo.com/feed
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Subscribe to Comments
http://susanpriolo.com/wp-commentsrss2.php
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Need to know what the deal is with all this RSS and feed talk? Read these posts.
What is RSS or feeds?
Another help for RSS and feeds

2008 Overview

Popular posts from 2008

Throughout 2008, I posted a few posts which were really questions. Questions I asked you, the readers to share. You can see the various posts here, in Your Turn.

Jan 2008
What! NO New Years Resolutions?

Feb 2008
I learned and important and ongoing lesson about how God sets us in place

March 2008
Must have been either real busy or real boring. :yawn:

April
I shared about Growth Spurts

May
I shared a day in the life of our unschooled teen
Mother’s Day Part One
Mother’s Day Part Two

June
Another busy or boring month :yawn:

July
Child Run Homes
Free five Bible study lessons for your family
Free Devotional Journal for your family
Doing it all or are we neglecting to teach necessary life skills

August
How do you learn?
Teaching reading: the HomeGrownKids way

September
Prioritising: big rocks, little rocks & sand

October
Worthwhile pastimes: should I encourage that?

November
Downfall of homeschool blogging?
Convinced or Convicted
Walking by grace
A re-post about how we ‘do’ Christmas

December
Delighting in our children – God delights in us
Self harm? No, we’re Christian homeschoolers
I wrote a 3 part series on being Conformed or Transformed:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three

I’ve been blogging for 3 and a half years now and had some verbose times and some quiet times. I’ve enjoyed blogging this past year, especially when I’ve kept it in perspective. I’d like to say THANK YOU to all the people who read my blog…and especially to those who comment:
Jacqui, Lisa, Leonie, Amanda, Sombra, Robin, Joi, Judith and Yoan, Michelle and Jocelyn, to mention a few- thank you! I hope and pray you have a fulfilling year.

Another year: another design!

Welcome! You’ve made it to my new site/blog. I’m glad you’re here.

I’d been planning an upgrade of my blog and website. It was rather redundant to have both so I’ve now melded them together to make just the one site, blog included. For now, the old blog is still there but as soon as everything is done and dusted I’ll take it down.

The blog posts are the same, complete with comments. The theme and structure is a little different here but it loads quicker and is easier to manage. As usual, it is not finished but a gal’s gotta do housework and meal preparation some time eh? :victory:

Over the next few days, I will get around to changing the rss feed update and hope to make the transition as smooth as possible for readers. The very top navigational menu ( Kerugma, Home Based Learning, Home n Hearth, Reviews, Quotes & Inspiration, Freebies, Soapbox, Potpourri, Web stuff, Your Turn! ) is the category structure of blog posts. The next menu down from that are the website pages. The sidebar will change depending upon which pages you are viewing. I can easily be contacted through the ‘contact’ page or by emailing the link on my signature.

The recent comments and recent posts may all be a little out of whack for a time…databases aren’t really keen on being moved and melded and they tend to do some weird things. Eventually it will right itself. I’m in no hurry. Blogging is my hobby and something I enjoy playing with.

Come again soon!

Education is Not the Filling of a Pail

Education is not the filling of a pail,
rather the lighting of a fire.
~ William Butler Yeats

Going away…

It sure is Silly Season here at our place. We’re heading off tomorrow to visit with my Dad and I have several loads of laundry to do, the car needs to be cleaned, as does the house and in all that some people still want to be fed! Ha, they’ve got buckley’s!

We get home for a week and then we’re off to Melbourne for a week’s worth of National Softball. Acckkk I can hardly wait, it’s so exciting.

Oh, did I forget to mention that we have ‘suspected’ whooping cough in our home? Yup! Miss R’s *friend* had a terrible cough for several weeks and was quite ill. Eventually he was diagnosed as having whooping cough. within the week, Master J started coughing and felt quite ill as did Miss R. So they have been quarantined at home. The rest of us have tried to stay at home as much as possible so as not to spread the nasty bug. The two sickies started on a course of antibiotics which doesn’t reduce their infection levels rather it reduces the amount of days that they are contagious.

In the meanwhile I have been dosing Master C and Miss A up on a whole range of healthies like:

General teen multi vitamin
Zinc supplements
AstraForte mixed with Grape juice. AstraForte is a special preparation of traditional oriental herbs to support the immune system and to help restore good health.
Yakult, which is a fermented milk drink that contains a very high concentration of a unique, beneficial bacterium called Lactobacillus casei Shirota strain.
Vit B12 supplements and
Loads of water, daily sunshine and fresh air with a good combination of rest and exercise.

The mother of Miss R’s ‘friend’ is a pharmacist. I think she might believe I’m either a counter culture hippie or a witch! LOL Obviously, being a pharmacist, she advocates many medicines and vaccines. Well, we don’t do vaccinations! Tehee, I wonder what she makes of that! Don’t do school, don’t vaccinate, what next??? I just found it ironic that so far, only 2 of our unvaccinated children have caught the ‘cough’ from a fully immunised child!!!! And whilst they have a cough, they aren’t overly ill with it at all…but it’s still a good practice to quarantine them to prevent the spread. Ah well…I think she believes me (although doesn’t agree) when I tell her that our decision to not vaccinate is not based on laziness rather, what we feel is, an informed, conscious decision. Same with homeschooling.

In term 4, the local public school teachers had gone on strike for some half days. This meant that school was between 12noon and 3.15pm. Of course, this mucked many working parents around so they simply made alternative arrnagments for their children and they didn’t attend school on those days. The teachers knew this would happen and thus prepared no lesson activities other than yard work or busy table work. I simply didn’t see the point in Miss R attending on those days. not everyone agrees with me and it has even been said that

“maybe you need to take education more seriously”.

LOLOLOLOL…oh dear, I had a hard time keeping silent on that one! but I did manage to simply smile and gently reply,

“Oh, we do take education very seriously in our home.”

and left it at that. Do people really believe that we just yanked our children out of school to let them run wild? Maybe because we were too lazy to be good parents? Wow! I don’t know of many homeschool parents like that…not any actually but I’m sure there may be some people like that. I just haven’t met any. Anyway, enough rant…it’s a long way down from that soapbox!

So another year of blogging has come and gone…I’ll be back next year sometimes, probably, possibly. I hope that my friends (both online and IRL) and blog readers have a blessed and safe time over the holiday period.

In His Grace,

Family and Parenting Resources: Audio Sermons

Here are a few good resources for your encouragement, information and edification.

Dr. Voddie Baucham:
Child Training – 49 min.
Baucham+Washer Q&A pt1.
Baucham+Washer Q&A pt2.

Paul Washer Family Series:
pt 1: Adolesence and Obedience -53 min
pt 2: Honour, the Gateway to Blessings -52 min
pt 3: Responsibility, the Duty of Fathers -49 min
pt 4: Father, Where are You? -52 min
Paul Washer-Recreational Dating is Unbiblical

Matt Haney:
Matt Haney-Excellent 3 part Parenting- Children Series.

Ray Comfort:
How to Bring Your Children To Christ -57 min
True and False Conversion -64 min

My Mother

This post is from my heart. It’s not meant to encourage, inspire or inform. It’s just my way of expressing a deep feeling. It is personal yet need not be private. It is just me wanting to write, to honour, to respect a woman who was the most dearest woman to me. Her graduating to be with the Lord was obviously a necessary thing (for God ordains our time here on earth) and I’m glad she went to be with Him, to be without any more pain, tears or suffering but… it doesn’t change the fact that I miss her.

I’m a grown woman, nearly 40, yet two days ago I bawled my eyes out like a young child.

I want my mum.

I want her to see me, to talk with me, to share her wisdom with me. I want her to see my children and to know them. I want my children to be able to know her. I know that my wants are fairly selfish and that it is all about me…but I miss her. I hate that my children don’t know their grandmother, who loved them so intensely, so passionately, so deeply. I don’t know why she had to die when she did. She wanted to read good stories to my children, to teach them, to help me guide them, to offer wisdom and love to them. She wanted to watch them grow up. She loved my children with a fierce passion…but she is not here.

Will I ever stop missing my mum?

No, I don’t think I will. Was my mum a saint? No way! But she was my mum who had a deep love for her Lord (even if her theology wasn’t always spot on), and had a true servant’s heart. My mum taught me a lot about being a Christian woman, even though she only spent the last fifteen years or so of her life as a believer.

Today marks the day, 11years ago, that my mother left this earth to be with her Lord. I’ll forever treasure the last night I spent with her- talking to her, reading from the Psalms and just holding her hand. I’ll never forget the strength she had- the assurance of eternal life she knew she had because of Christs’ work on the cross. And I know that one day I will see her again.

I love my mother. I’m thankful that I am her daughter and that she shared her whole life with me. She impacted me in such a way that I cannot describe. I love her and I miss her.

Conformed or transformed? (P3)

Conformed or Transformed~ Part 1-3

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

“Transformation” is different in that it is a process…an outward expression that does come from within! Did you know that the Greek word underlying the word transformed is the verb, ‘metaorphoo’. Yup, from that we get the English words ‘metamorphose and metamorphosis.’ The word of God, the Living Christ transforms us from the inside out. (James 1:21,22).

So how can I be transformed instead of conforming?

1) Come before the Lord daily. No, not for a 7 minute devotional or a 30 minute prayer session but with a wholehearted, dying-to-self prayer…and all day attitude. It means giving over everything, even homeschooling. (Homeschooling used to be so all consuming for me- all my time and energy went into learning about new ways, new books, talking about it) For some it is a job, career, spouse, house, university, sport, methodology, church, ministry…but we all struggle, just with different things. Wherever our thoughts, time, energy is, that is where our heart is. We can set our mind upon Christ…yes, for awhile it may need to be a conscious decision but we can turn our eyes upon Jesus.

2) Make a conscious to not conform. Who do you think is watching you? The homeschool police? The Charlotte Mason Police? The church pastor? Your boss? Who am I aiming to please? The other ladies at homeschool group? Who am I trying to impress? Oh, our hearts need to turn back to the Lord in thought, word and deed. It is only then that we can find true freedom, abundance and joy in every area of our lives.

3) Be transformed! By dying to self…by not conforming…by sitting at the feet of Jesus daily…by saturating ourselves more in God’s word than any other book/movie is the way to have our minds renewed and our lives transformed.

Our Father God will give us direction, forgiveness, transformation, a new mind, a purpose, His rest if we turn to Him- yield everything (our desires, dreams, ambitions, etc) to Him.

The wonderful thing about God’s grace is that we don’t have to wait until a Monday or a New Year or a new month. We don’t even have to wait until tomorrow.

It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:2
(English Standard Version)

Posts in the ‘Conformed or Transformed’ series

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
To read posts in other series, click here.

Conformed or transformed (P2)

Conformed or Transformed~ Part 1-3

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

“Conformed’ means to assume an outward expression that does not come from within. It is basically to masquerade, to put on a mask. If we are doing ’something’ for Christ then it is possible it is an act of conformity.

I often write that I went through a time of bondage – in regard to homeschooling. In fact, while the bondage manifested itself through my homeschooling life, it was in fact a spiritual matter…isn’t that usually the case?

I found myself being convinced of many things…things that sounded so good and worthy. I wanted them for my life, for my family. But in fact, I was conforming to the world…even though in this instance it was conforming to an ideology – the Christian homeschool community. I spent hours on forums (blogs weren’t around then) reading about how others lived and what they did…and I wanted it too!

I failed to see any contradiction when it came to this conforming issue. As a Christian I didn’t recognise this conforming struggle…I was blinded by well meaning, articulate arguments instead of being renewed in my mind. I was trying to conform, not to the ‘non-believing word’ but the Christian homeschool world – which is still not Christ! So with that in mind I’ll list some of the things that I struggled with – in my process of trying to conform to the “Christian homeschool community”

Wearing dresses only – long, plain dresses so as not to draw too much attention to myself.
Going without makeup and jewelry, although I did continue to shave my legs.
Dressing my girls in similar attire.
Being impractical with our lifestyle: Hey! We really do like SciFi and white bread!
Watching only tv shows or movies that other Christian homeschoolers approved of!
Training the children to outward obedience.

The list goes on…

Conformity is outward based. It is rules based. Don’t touch. Don’t associate. Don’t eat. Don’t taste. Be in fear. Make rules, guidelines, policies, ways based on that fear. (Col 2:20-23)

Another problem is that conformity isn’t In-Your-Face-Obvious. It is subtle. I can feel good, maybe even just a little righteous…I can feel that my life is pleasing to God…that my stances and actions are pleasing to Him. In fact, I could really enjoy this nice, clean, noble, higher life. But it doesn’t mean that the Lord is pleased. I’ve had to ask myself. Is God pleased with me? If so, WHY is He pleased? (In other words, is any righteousness or pleasing my doing or that of Christ?) What have I done that pleases Him? If the answers to these questions don’t line up with the same theology of grace that I read in His word, then something is wrong!

Often all the rules that we build our lifestyle around are based on outward attributes – dress, behaviour, food, manners, etc. In the Colossians verse, Paul says these things are the commandments of men. Let us not be fooled into thinking that our man made rules will please God. Our good, clean life…our living according to the rules is flesh based. It is not grace based and it does not please God. (See Romans 8:8)

I had to look at my heart. Assess my motives. Ask God to reveal the depths of my heart to me, for in my flesh I can be quick to deny my sin. However, God heard the cry of my heart…He knows that my desire is for Him…He was faithful. Through revealing my sin (of pride, comparison, conformity) He has shown me more of Himself…of His total grace and He is now doing a transforming work in my heart and my life. I haven’t lost anything by giving up or by dying to self – but I gained an immeasurable wealth. Go on, I urge you to also, it’s worth it.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:2
(English Standard Version)

Conformed or Transformed~ Part 1-3

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Conformed or transformed? (P1)

I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
For by the grace given to me I bid every one among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith which God has assigned him.
Romans 12: 1-3

Many people pull their children out of school and begin to homeschool and they cite Romans 12:2 as a favourite scripture. Oh, I don’t have a problem with that per se, but have you ever noticed how we can soon start to conform to a whole nother system or set of rules – the Christian homeschool way of doing things?

You know what I mean, come on admit it. You might visit a forum and realise that no one there fesses up to watching science fiction and you don’t want to be the one to open your mouth and dump your family in it. Or a slightly different angle might be that you doggedly get out of bed at 5.30am every day to do devotions before the children awake and you believe that this is the key to being a successful Christian homeschool mum? Maybe if everyone else did this, they wouldn’t have their problems eh? 😉

Ah…God wants so much more than that for us! Just as he doesn’t want us to conform to the world, He doesn’t want us to conform to a system, a set of activities or walking by the rules. He does want us to be transformed…

What’s the difference?

“Conformed’ means to assume an outward expression that does not come from within. It is basically to masquerade, to put on a mask. If we are doing ‘something’ for Christ then it is possible it is an act of conformity.

“Transformation” is different in that it is a process…an outward expression that does come from within! Did you know that the Greek word underlying the word transformed is the verb, ‘metaorphoo’. Yup, from that we get the English words ‘metamorphose and metamorphosis.’ The word of God, the Living Christ transforms us from the inside out. (James 1:21,22).

So what do we need to do? Surely we need to do something?

All we need to do is to soak in, breathe in, be immersed in the Word of God. The word will renew our minds and transform us, from the inside out!

When we stop trying to conform and instead yield ourselves to Christ, He expresses Himself through our daily lives. This is the metamorphic process – this is a truly radical transformation. Once we experience this ongoing transformation in our lives, why would we want to substitute our freedom in Christ to become bound or try and conform to another system, method or way of doing things? God wants so much more than that!

You think the learning-at-home journey is radical? It is nothing compared to being transformed by the renewing of our mind, according to His good, pleasing and perfect will.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:2
(English Standard Version)

Conformed or Transformed~ Part 1-3

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Superstitious mumbo-jumbo or Bible Literacy

I’m off again on another rant. It’s in relation to a newspaper article which you can find here.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24753674-1248,00.html

A QUEENSLAND father of five has taken action in the Anti-Discrimination Commission after his four-year-old daughter was asked to help make a replica of Noah’s Ark at the local state school.

R** W********, who has five children under the age of 10, is opposed to religious instruction in state schools.

He said he was taking action because he did not believe students should be “exposed to superstitious mumbo-jumbo, presented as fact, in an educational setting”, The Australian reports.

The Bible Literacy report
Can be found in its entirety here: http://tinyurl.com/6xovm4

Almost without exception, English professors we surveyed at major American colleges and universities see knowledge of the Bible as a deeply important part of a good education.

For example, when asked to respond to the question, “Regardless of a person’s faith, an educated person needs to know about the Bible,” no professor disagreed; nine provided additional explanation. When asked, “Some scholars say Western literature is steeped in references to the Bible. How would you respond to that?” 38 of 39 English professors agreed; 24 strongly. When asked, “In your opinion, how important is it for students who take your courses to be familiar with the Bible?” 38 of 39 professors said it was important.

Overwhelmingly, professors in this survey indicated that a lack of basic Bible literacy hampers students’ ability to understand both classics and contemporary work. Arduously “decoding” scripture references detracts from absorbing and responding to great works of art, both ancient and modern. At the same time, a number of professors expressed discomfort or reservations with appearing to “take sides” in favor of the Bible in the contemporary context.

They did not wish to associate themselves with a political movement around the Bible, or to seem to detract from the importance of other aspects of a good education, including the value of becoming knowledgeable about other world religions.

This report concludes that high schools should make basic Bible knowledge part of their curriculum, especially for college preparatory students. Doing so requires developing a variety of educational materials and curricula that simultaneously:

(a) acknowledge the Bible’s status as sacred scripture to millions of Americans,
(b) are fair to students of all faith traditions, and
(c) are of high academic quality.

Doing so will be an important part of meeting the next generation’s educational needs in an increasingly diverse population.

The King James version of the Bible has been of major impact in the development of the English language. In terms of the English language, it ranks up there with Shakespeare and the Oxford English Dictionary. It is a rich, literary source which still has cultural meaning today. Many people are probably not even aware of how many common phrases used daily originate from the Bible. If a parent values education, then surely a stance such is akin to their child being led like a ‘lamb to the slaughter‘.(Or another reference) It is my hope that the ‘powers that be‘ will encourage Biblical Literacy in our school thus enabling future generations to go from ‘strength to strength‘.

Self harm? Don't Be Ignorant

Today’s blog post isn’t something pleasant, but it is something that I want to write about…to encourage other parents to be aware of. Self harm, self injury, mutilation, call it what you will.

Teens devise elaborate self-harm
SOME troubled teens are embedding nails, paper clips, bits of rock, glass and even crayons in their bodies as a way to cope with disturbing thoughts and feelings, US researchers say.
Taken from news.com.au

All forms of self harm are shocking. Did you know that there are many forms of self harm? Did you know that even *good kids* can wind up practicing self harm and self mutilation? Just because you are a Christian who homeschools don’t be fooled into thinking that your child could or would never do something like that.

Who self harms

According to some research, girls are seven times more likely to self harm than boys. The behaviour usually starts in adolescence but is also known amongst younger children.

In my experience, self harm can start very young. It doesn’t always look the same but the attitudes, the pain, the inability to deal with guilt, the anger is still present. I’ve known of a child who cannot/will not be smacked by his parents. They say it is because “he is such a sensitive child…” and they went on to tell me that every time he starts to get into trouble or be corrected, he would throw himself onto the floor and bang his head on the floor, thus preventing him from being disciplined by his parents!!! Strangely enough, the mother of said child often has exhibited self harm behaviour. When this person is upset or angry, she will hit her head against a wall repeatedly. This is a grown woman! So, I would say that self harm is something that can start to manifest in young children because it can be an inability to deal with pain, hurt, anger, frustration, etc.

As parents what can we do?

Become informed. Learn to recognise possible warning signs. There is a lot of information available on the Internet, but please exercise caution. There is a lot of pop psychology out there and secular worldviews pervade the ‘behaviour of teens’ industry so please line everything you read up against the word of God.

Observe our children. When they make a mistake, how do they react, cope? How do they deal with being corrected?

We need to teach our children correct Biblical views about guilt, forgiveness, (atonement for sin) shame. Teach them how to deal with and/or express their anger. Teach them/lead them to the Cross for the forgiveness of their sins. Teach them Scripture. Teach them who they are in Christ and what He has done for us. But more importantly, we need to model these things. They will be watching us and learning how we deal with anger and guilt.

Resources:

See my disclaimer policy

The Presbyterian Church in Ireland has a download which is a good starting point.

Self-Injury.org Is an anonymously edited series of pages written by a former female self harmer from a Christian perspective. It gives a comprehensive list of Bible verses which relate to the subject. The author helpfully reviews other resources which have been published and writes personally about her own story.

Secret Shame (self-injury information and resources) This site covers many areas, such as why someone would injure him or herself, information for family and friends, and ways that a self-injurer can help him or herself. It is well documented and contains information from people who injure themselves as well as from books about the subject and other resources.

Christians in Recovery — A Christian recovery ministry containing both Christian and secular information about recovering from abuse, depression, addictions, etc.

But we’re a Christian family!

Yes, even Christians can self harm! Even Christian children can self harm. Hiding away, denying it, trying to avoid the shame and humiliation from other Christians is not going to help the problem…it simply reinforces to the child that denial of sin is the way to deal with it. So, ask for prayer…see your pastor but don’t live with it alone or trying to pretend it can’t be happening.

In His Grace,

What should I blog?

I know I blog primarily for me…but I also like to have a focus, a purpose. This blog started primarily as a way for me to keep all the emails and forums responses that I had written. I still receive questions via email and often my response will be edited and end up here on my blog. But I’d like to hear from you, the reader.

You can check out some posts in each category, to get a feel for what I’m talking about. Using the little tab on the right hand side, click on ‘categories’ and a few posts will come up.

What posts have you particularly enjoyed reading on my blog? What topics do you like to read on my blog? What sort of things do you think you’d like to see me write about?

Here’s a few things I tend to write about but feel free to add a suggestion either as a comment to this post or using the widget in the sidebar.

Aussie Homeschooling
Book Talk
Educational Philosophy
Homeschool Subjects
High School
Teens/Youth
Homeschool Efficiency
Lifestyle of Learning
Reviews

Home & Family
Health & Fitness
Journal of my days and general thoughts
Recipes

Bible study
My Spiritual Journey
Web stuff and Internet goodies (web design, web helps, etc)

Delighting in our children

I’ve been chewing over a thought. It keeps coming back to me every day. I can’t shake the thought even if I wanted to. So I’ll write about it. I don’t expect that I’ll be all that coherent as writing is usually the way I process my thoughts and it takes me a few goes at saying something before it starts to make sense to anyone else other than myself…so read along if you dare…but if you do, please leave your thoughts. I’d love to hear them!

Friends of mine (IRL and online) will know that I have often talked about parenting our children as God parents us. God is The Ultimate Parent…we do well to model our parenting methods after Him.

I’ve often hear and have used the phrase ‘ pleasing unto the Lord’ or that which ‘pleases God’. I try to live by it…knowing that of myself I cannot earn God’s favour, but to do those things which please Him, not to earn salvation but because His love, His grace compels me to do those things which please Him. For those readers who might be thinking that I’m steering toward a ‘works based’ mentality- I’m not. Not at all…I’m still very much aware of Isaiah 64:6

One of my children struggles with the sin of perfectionism. This leads to much frustration on their part (and ours). This child grumps and humphs in frustration or anger or impatience…and I’ve realised that I do not like being around them when they choose to display that behaviour! Their behaviour doesn’t give me pleasure…I don’t take delight in being with them at that time.

I’m not a parent who takes joy in only singing hymns, nor do we have special ‘approved’ activities which sit well with my moral compass and make me happy. For me, there are no activities that are more spiritual than others. One child plays softball with her whole heart, as unto the Lord. She works at every aspect of it and has experienced a lot of growth through the sport. For her, playing softball is an act of worship (her words). She plays like she was born to play softball. I LOVE watching her play. I get great delight in watching her play.

My son has recently started at Cadets. He practices his drill daily. He researches. He talks with his younger brother about it. He takes part in all the activities with gusto. He enjoys it. I LOVE watching him ‘do his thing’. I take pleasure in watching him do his Cadets thing.

Worship is an attitude, an act, a thought.

It isn’t something we just ‘put on’, it is a lifestyle. Worship isn’t just lighting candles, jumping up and down, singing or kneeling although all those things can be an act of worship. I’ve been learning how worship is all this – not just a prescribed set of actions.

Knowing that God is The Ultimate Parent, I’ll venture on…I’m trying to find a point here somewhere.

If I take pleasure watching my child partake in an activity with their whole heart (as unto the Lord), and they are enjoying themselves and have a good attitude, does God take pleasure in watching me as I go about my daily activities with joy? As much as I don’t take great pleasure in being with a child who is choosing to stomp around, maybe it doesn’t give God pleasure when I’m stomping around or thinking negatively or nastily. Can I do these things? Yup! (Does my freedom that allows me to do them make it beneficial or right?) Does it give God pleasure? Does He delight in seeing me act that way?

So what does God delight in?

And how does this affect my parenting- the way I interact with my children? I’m not talking about living a just, honest life and all those good things. As a parent I want to see my children living according to biblical guidelines but that isn’t what I’m trying to get at. My children each have unique interests and different abilities. I love to watch them as they discover those abilities and even more as they learn to grow and mature those abilities. It’s not just a ‘fun’ type of pleasure, it’s a deeper type of joyous, satisfying delight. To see them live out those interests with their unique abilities, seeking only to glorify the father gives me pleasure. I don’t see playing an instrument in church any more ‘spiritual’ than playing softball or painting. The activity itself isn’t the major point, it’s the heart attitude. (Obviously this is not a theological essay so I’m sure you’ll bear with my inconsistent thoughts).

As I’ve watched one of my children, trying to run away from God, I am learning a lot about the fatherly nature of God. On the other hand, as I’ve watched another child I and also learning a lot about his nature. This child has given their whole life to the Lord, to be in His service. They discovered an ability, they grow and mature that ability, all the while giving glory to God. During all this, their heart is turned toward their father and I. We know this child and have a good relationship with them. We cry with them and we laugh with them. We share in their ups and downs. They desire to do that which pleases us, as we are the child’s parents. We know that they respect, honour and love us. When this child embraces their ability and participates in it, it feels natural…we love to watch and be a part of it. It doesn’t give us any more pleasure than an activity that is more ‘socially acceptable’ as a form of worship. Yet this is worship- real life, total worship of the Creator, The Father, God.

What do I delight in seeing in my children?

A heart that will ‘toe the line’ with following our guidelines… A heart that doesn’t *delight* in our relationship or a relationship with my child that allows them to make mistakes…knowing that they desire to please me out of love, gratitude and relationship not in order to ‘look good’ or appearing to be obedient or trying to win my approval?

I don’t mind when my children make mistakes, if their heart is filled with love and is turned toward me. A mistake is a mistake. But there are some children who want to live life all their own way – not in relationship – living purely by the rules – nothing more, nothing less. This type of obedience fills me with sorrow as they are missing out on so much – relationship. I love my children. I want to have a deep, real, honest relationship with each one of them…I haven’t stopped loving them. I haven’t set my face to turn against them. I have forgiven. I haven’t moved away. But they don’t always want that. They sometimes want to walk their own road by themselves, regardless of what it may bring.:::: sigh ::::

Is God like that with me, I wonder?

Does He delight in me, does He smile, when watching me partaking in activities and using the gifts that He has given me? I have a relationship with Him…my heart and life is His.

Our view of God will affect the way we parent our children.

So, if we want to do a good job of parenting then we need to know what it is to be a child. We need to know who the Ultimate Parent is.

I’m not trying to put the cart before the horse, nor am I getting into heresy. I’m simply seeing another side to my relationship with the Father – how a father delights in His children. Here we have what pleases the Lord: Psalm 147:10-11

His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his pleasure in the legs of a man;
but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love.

Delight.

What a word…delight. Jesus is a delight to the Father. He delighted in His Son. Through being born again, we have been adopted into God’s family and we are His sons and daughters. He delights in you. He delights in me.

Again, I’m not trying to compare my parenting practices to God. I learn more about the nature of God through being a parent. I’m sure some will have issues with this post but I hope you will hear my heart and not just my words. I know this post doesn’t have all its theological ducks in a row but I do hope and pray that you can read the ethos of it.

Book Meme

I don’t usually do tags but one of my dearest friends has recently started a blog (after much pestering from me) and she tagged me. So, as not to appear anti-blogging-social I will go along with this tag. Here it is:

Pass this on to 5 blogging friends. Open the closest book to you, not your favourite or most intellectual book, but the book closest to you at the moment, to page 56. Write the 5th sentence, as well as two to five sentences following that.

I have two books closest to me. One is “Why It’s Hard to Love Jesus” by Joseph Stowell, which I’m re-reading and the other is “Passionate Housewives Desperate for God” by Chancey & MacDonald (available through Credo Trust) I’ll use Passionate Housewives as it was on top of the other one.

from page 56:

Be assured that neither your efforts nor your tears (Psalm 56:8) have gone unnoticed by our wise, good and powerful God; and that He has ordained your steps (Psalm 16:7).

Go to Him; plead for His strength and mercy. He will give you the rest needed to accomplish His will; as He promises:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11: 28-30

There, that wasn’t so hard, was it? But who shall I tag? Most of my blogging friends have been tagged with this one so I’ll try something different – I TAG EVERYONE!!!! If you read my blog, you are tagged! Just tag yourself, post your entry and leave me a comment so I can go read your post. 🙂

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Sacred Cows.

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Free Bible curriculum for use in the homeschool and family setting!

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Jesus’ Trial, Death, and Resurrection

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How did God treat me before I was saved…before I came to believe on His son?

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How do I parent my children?

How does God parent me?

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Addendum

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Conformed or Transformed~ Part 1-3

So how can I be transformed instead of conforming?

Conformed or Transformed~ Part 1-3

Conformed or Transformed~ Part 1-3

What’s the difference?

So what do we need to do? Surely we need to do something?

Conformed or Transformed~ Part 1-3

Worship is an attitude, an act, a thought.

So what does God delight in?

What do I delight in seeing in my children?

Is God like that with me, I wonder?

Our view of God will affect the way we parent our children.

Delight.