Lessons

Well I guess if anyone still reads this blog they may think this is a post about homeschool but really it's just a short reflection on a lesson that I am learning and re-learning and being somewhat beaten over the head with as it really isn't all that easy to learn. Tolerance and Understanding See Photo

These two characters have been described by many as Friendly, Cute, Charming and many other lovely descriptive words. And they are all these things. Our little Miss Energizer is our most out going of daughters and I know that she has created a soft spot in many a heart. The same goes for our little pet pooch Angus. We are often told what good little friendly dog he is, strangers giving him a pet enjoying his soft fur. BUT I really believe they have another purpose in being a part of my life. To teach me patience and tolerance. Both these cute individuals are highly HIGHLY destructive. One tends to mark his scent on everything that comes into the house while the other just tries to break it. I know that we make a choice by letting them into the house, well I guess we are required by law to provide shelter to the human one but we could have made the decision to leave the other outside. Many people have outside dogs and maybe he would have been if he didn't bark at every little shadow in the yard causing our neighbours to ask that he be let in at nights. It also helped his cause that he has gotten in good with his master during the winter by keeping his feet warm underneath the desk :) In any case I don't really need to relay the many things that these two have done to make my life more difficult by either contributing to my work load, destroying things that I was sentimental about or just the general noise pollution they cause because the thing is without them I would have not learnt how to be understanding to strangers whose child was screaming their head off in a supermarket. I have learnt tolerance by being mindful that the small things do not matter. Finding and then having to clean up wee used to really push my buttons, i would grit my teeth and yell at the dog sending him scampering out the back door (I still believes he knows what he is doing is wrong but he's a dog and is going to do it anyway). Now we (yes the girls also do their fair share) just grab a paper towel or wet wipe and clean. I am very sure that when Paul encouraged the Christians going through trials to be encouraged because without these difficulties in life there is not change. Without change there is not growth or maturity. Not to mention what a dull life it would be without these gorgeous type of people.

Happy Birthday GH

I can hardly believe this man is turning 39. When we meet he would have been 24. We got married when he was 25. We had Princess just before he turned 31. Sweetness came along when he was 34. Energizer bounded into his life when he was 36. How our lives have changed. My love for him has grown in ways I could never have imagined. He is such a good man, even if i had never married him, which would have been the biggest mistake of my life, I still would have thought him to be the best man I had ever met. He has strength that goes way beyond the physical, he is a stronghold that my girls and I can feel safe beyond understanding. He guides us spiritually, never allowing us to take an easy path. Giving him respect has been so much easier than I ever thought it would be as he is truly respectable. He is an encourager, guidance giver, joy bringer and all round wonderful man. Our life has not been easy together, bringing ups and downs but I feel Jesus' presence in his character and I know we can get through all things together with God's help. He is not perfect but he is so good. I celebrate you GH, I am so blessed to say Happy Birthday Husband.

What we do

I suppose I thought that I would be posting alot more since we started homeschooling as I thought not having to spend so much time travelling we would have heaps of time on our handsto do lots of amazing blog posts sharing about what we are doing. All it takes is a look to the side bar beside to see that has not been the case. Yes we have been doing lots of fun and noteworthy things but we have simply been enjoying them for what they are and not trying to make them seem like the except to the rule. I could list off the places we have been, the things we have learnt and the changes that have taken place within the girls, and GH and I as well, but right now we are just enjoying all the newness it is for us, being together and having these moments where we get to treasure sharing it as a family. So why share these photos, even though some a poor quality, I want to read this post one day and laugh about the memories they envoke. Little Miss Energiser loves to do the dishes, we have a dishwasher but she seems to enjoy it right now. The other day she spent 20 minutes doing ALL the dishes and then asked if she could join in what her sisters were playing. I was so impressed by her commitment. We also went and visited the farm a little while ago. I think I could take the girls to Disneyland tomorrow and they would not have such a fun time as they do with their cousins. In fact these girls do enjoy loving on all their cousins lately. So what do we do...we have fun and we love and we learn. div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"> 

Character

When we think about character what is it that we think of?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recently we had the great priviledge to hear a guest lecturer from the US who talked about the importance of us seeing ourselves as a part of God's Story. Of course coming from the dramatic background I like to consider that we are characters who have parts in God's Story. Each of us have the choice as to how we play our parts. Some of us only want bit parts that flit on and off the stage, maybe the audience members wouldn't even notice their presence. Others again have loud voices, booming across the stage but are there one minute and gone the next, maybe choosing to be a part of His Story on Sundays but for the rest of the week they are 'in another story'. The challenge to me was to keep myself on the stage, I don't need a spotlight, I don't need to be talking all the time but I need to live there, I need to work there, I need to be on the stage in His presence.

Review

I'm not reviewing anything much, just my own blog. I was showing Sweetness the dress she wore at Her uncle's wedding and start looking at some of my posts back in 2008. Funny that I forgot that I posted on issues rather than my own children. I think now I am trying to guard my opinions not because I worry that the world will disagree with me but more because I think that it is important as a Christian to not appear judgemental or that I have the answers for all of life's problems. I have been learning more everyday that my opinion may not very well be in line with what Jesus would have said and that is a shock to my system. I realised that my belief have been passed on from others who I thought would have it right but although they may seem biblical they are far from Jesus' teachings. It is very funny to think about how much we 'knew' as a young person and that with age it seems we grow in uncertainty rather than assurance. When we think we know it all and have all our beliefs and opinions worked out then watch out because rest assured a great challenge will come and knock you for a six! In saying all that I am becoming more content in what I know and I believe, that is due to the fact that I do not need to fix this world, it is not up to me, it will not be done by me. It is God who will achieve this and it will not be done in my time or the way I want but in His time and by His ways. I just need to stay close to Him and rely on Him and not this world. Our days now are spent most often around the table doing book work but we also take the occasional break and take field trips to the Library, shops, the front road, music class and the other day we went to a Rural discovery day. Princess milked both a goat (that's Princess with the back pack on)and cow which surprised me greatly while Sweetness our animal loving girl kept away. She was happy to pat them though. We also had great grandma's 100th Birthday morning tea and the girls all dressed in red to match the theme colours. Life is very blessed in our household and even though things are not perfect I know that it is on the good things that we must dwell :)

This Girl is my baby no more

At three I realise that calling her baby may not be to her liking anymore, but hey age hasn't stopped my dad from calling me baby at 34 years of age so why should I stop. My BABY girl is 3! I don't even know where to begin to describe you my little bundle of energy. Lets start with some physical attributes: You are a size 4 going on 5 in clothes. You are not only tall but you solid too. I wouldn't call you a fatty because what you have on you is becoming more and more muscular. You have has a problem with your eye now for months but you have never let it bother you. I think physical pain is not a problem for you. One example why is that you ran through Poppy's rose bushes and nobody saw that your arms and legs were all torn up with scratches. Only when your sisters saw the blood did Poppy notice, Poppy even put ointment on your injuries and you just shrugged it off. I would say that your too hard though as we can see that you do have a precious heart in that big chest of yours and it can be bruised quite easily by a few hard words from your sisters or parents. When your bottom lip quivers I could jut melt. I try so hard not to as I know you NEED that discipline but you are just such a character. It's been a while since I have wanted to take you out many places. Being the character that you are makes it very hard to keep you under some kind of control in public places but just these past few weeks we have had a few nice trips to places. It's really lovely for me to spend some one on one time with you now. I know that this was the time you were going to be getting my undivided attention with both your sister in school but you are SO HAPPY to have them home. They don't always include you but when they do I can see you're in Heaven. It would seem playing Mums and babies or Mums and kittens are your favourite games. You always seem happy to play mum too. I guess you like the power of being the boss ;) Having you and your sister with me at home brings me such joy. I'm not sure how long we will all get to be at home together (including Daddy) but these past few months have been some of the greatest of my life and I am just so grateful to our Heavenly Father for allowing it to happen. And I am especially grateful at this time to Him for you, my energizing, creative story telling, thumb sucking, night waking, brave, yet shy, strong, yet sensitive, singing, laughing, hip hop dancing, big brown twinkling eyed, precious, gorgeous girl. Love you Terminator

Sometimes better/ sometimes harder

So I am not someone who does all that well with a timetable so when we started to prepare for the homeschooling I thought that I would have strict work to be done by lunch time and then we could do the fun stuff after lunch like visiting and crafts and baking. Well there are no too many days that this plan has gone to schedule. For example after just forty minutes of work the girls want a break, can you imagine they can't sit there and concentrate for a few measly hours straight ha ha. Really I realised this before we started but it would seem that a 5 minute break is not quite sufficient, especially when they have only just started playing the best game ever lol. One thing I am loving besides having all my girls with me is the work. I really love Princess' Language Arts and teaching her the phonetics. It wasn't how I was taught and it's so eye opening to me (as a secondary English teacher) that this makes so much more sense to me. I was ok at spelling but it was necessary for me to learn words by sight. Yes phonetics can be difficult but when you start looking at the different rules it makes such sense to me. Princess already has a greater understanding I feel as she didn't enjoy English last year and now I think when she is asked a question it may take her awhile but she 'gets' it and is able to really enjoy learning. I also love the ideas about science. I must admit I loathed science at school. I had a lovely but monotone teacher in year 8 and so I didn't pursue any of the sciences. We are not doing anything too in-depth but now I look forward to it as it just reminds me of what an awesome creator we have. Just to think about all the complexities of the animal kingdom, the body, plants, space, molecules and physics. So you will have to excuse if I don't post on here as often as I hoped I would. I'm just too busy trying to work out exactly how to enjoy the Sometimes Better and work out how to improve the Sometimes Harder. I do however have in mind 2 quick posts in the near future as I already have the photos to use. Thanks if you're reading this as I know checking back all the time and mostly seeing nothing new is annoying so thank-you for reading.