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.

Graham Girls School has opened

Yes our first week of schooling is complete and it's only lunchtime on Friday. Nice how we can do that:) We started same time as many schools although on Monday I had my doubts as we had no electricity until early Tuesday morning but we decided it was a good day to begin. These are the girls excursion uniforms. I thought it was a good idea to be able to see them in a crowd:)

So Tuesday morning after photos we started our day with our Bible Unit. This was Princess' unit but it is easy enough to adapt for all and it keeps even our littlest occupied. Next comes Language Arts for Princess while Sweetness just works from one book the whole time as Princess moves on to Maths, or Math as our curriculum is from the US.

The girls then had the afternoon with their grammy, most times they are going to do some crafts with Grammy so that is great as it will be one less thing for me to do, not to mention less mess to clean up afterwards. Speaking of mess since the girls now have more time on their hands we are slowly adding more jobs for them to do. Simple things such as each girl does a mealtime table wipe. They are also going to be responsible for their own clothes. They have a day where they need to put their clothes into the washing machine, checking for toys etc (except little one), by afternoon I should have them washed and dried and then the girls fold and put away. Time consuming but good to teach them to look after their things now rather than later. After Grammy took the girls I ran off to Ikea to get some things for the girls work spaces and it was lucky I did as the car park at Ikea was flooded by that evening. The last floods in 2011 didn't affect us at all but this time I actually got to witness the water rising through Logan, like Golf Courses underwater near the Logan River. So this was a bit closer to home. The rest of our week has been good. Princess sometimes gets a bit of an attitude and doesn't enjoy certain work but I think it's to do with the fact she's a bit of a perfectionist and that until she realises exactly how it's done she won't even attempt it. Pity she doesn't have the same perfectionism though with her handwriting lol. We have meet with a few other families this week who also homeschool so it was nice for the girls to see life outside their special school. It's fun to see how much they still enjoy playing with eachother even though they have been together non stop since early December. Lord Willing this will really cement the relationship for all of them for life. I just love seeing them love on and care for eachother.

One last time

at least for 2012. This year has been an interesting year to say the least. We've been in some difficult situations and I believe extremely blessed through them. Of course at the time it is difficult in the moment to see the blessings but I am so very grateful to God for giving me a husband that I can admire for his strength and attitude in ugly situations. I also give thanks for my children who are such a joy to me. I see our three little girls and am struck by their innocence and purity which makes me realise why it is so important to be like children. Our girls so happily and readily believe that God will look after them and the doubts and lack of faith that comes to adults does not yet burden them. We are also VERY blessed that they are such happy girls and that they enjoy sisterhood and love each other so much. The New Year holds many adventures for us as a family. *starting the new year with GH working from home *bringing Princess home and homeschooling her *Sweetness starting school (homeschooling) *freedom to visit and spend time with loved ones *my taking up the role officially as educator to our children *my desire to further my education of sewing and making clothes for our family *making our lives simplified *adding responsibilities to our lives e.g chickens:) and especially our spiritual journeys and our desire to grow in our faith, wisdom, knowledge and love. Lord willing I will try to 'keep up' more with my blog next year and not become so filled with doubts and woes as to not share the amazing blessings that we are given.