What if...?

What if there's another child God wants in your family yet because you've been raised in the culture of 'how many children do WE want?' you're turning that child away.

How that must grieve God.

The bible tells us that children are a blessing from God. Do you see them as this?

or do you see them as more work, more expense, more time, less fun holidays, more school fees, more days off work due to their illnesses.... OR over and above all that, a blessing from God.

Listen to how you talk about your children over the next few weeks, that will give some evidence of where your heart is. Do you talk about how wonderful it is to be able to have children, the miracle and blessing that it is or that he's sick again, made a crazy mess etc.

and so back to my original question...
What if there's another child God wants in your family yet because you've been raised in the culture of 'how many children do WE want?' you're turning that child away.

If He had 10 planned for you, would you take them all? Which ones would you reject?

Who rules your womb? You or God?

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Lost! A True Tale From The Bush

Thanks to Sarah We've just started reading 'Lost! A True Tale From The Bush'. If I remember correctly, Sarah picked up her copy in an op shop for about 50c and after looking up the book online I decided it would be great to read to the children as part of our work on Australia this year. I wasn't keen to spend $30 on it but was given the idea to ask my library to get it in (I didn't like my chances of finding it in an op shop LOL)
It arrived and we picked it up last week. I didn't start it right away as we were finishing up another book, but immediately I was impressed with the quality of the book - this is no ordinary children's book. The quality is that of 'coffee table' books...I'm starting to think that I'd be happy to pay $30 for it... maybe one day!
After starting to read it with the children today I can tell you this:
-It is well written and holds the children's attention
-The art work is interesting; different from most children's books around today, and the children have been pouring over it
-It is set in the 1860's and the end of each chapter shares a double page of what life was like in this time
-Another couple of days and we'll have finished reading it, as it's pretty quick to read even though it has over 100 pages
-Worth owning? YES!
For all the other info on the story itself click the picture above and have a browse yourself - it's worth your time!

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Monday Art

Here's last week's project: The bottom one is Nj's, the next one up is Melinda's and the one at the top that you can only see half of is mine that I did as as the example while they were watching.

This week I nabbed another idea (I think both came from the same art blog) and we did a version of 'Robots'
Again, I did an example with them watching and then left them to work on their own.

Example


Nathaniel


Melinda

and guess who woke early from his nap and discovered us with paint?

Master Timothy
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Sick Day Plans

I'm a mum. A SAHM. Who's going to give me a sick day?!

Ha! Not likely you say?

I rarely ever get sick but was thinking about this after a Face Book friend commented on her hubby being sick and that him being unwell was as unpleasant as being ill herself! I'd say this goes for most men. Some won't ever take a day off when 'sick' but it's a rare man who won't let you know about it!

Well, no one covers my work load if I get sick right? I don't have a mum or MIL that just pop in to help out as many of my friends do, So I've figured I need to get prepared myself! In fact the one time I've had kids and asked a family member to come and feed my toddler her dinner I was asked 'is it really needed?'. Can I tell you how much that HURT! (When a woman asks for help - she NEEDS it!!!! Most can't ask by the time they're desperate!! When someone asks you for help, please trust they need it unless you see a pattern that says otherwise) So yeah, not much by way of help around here.

Anyway, things I am going to get ready...
-Casserole in the freezer for this purpose only so dinner will be done with about 2 minutes effort.
-DVD kept back from the kids, ready for them to watch when I need to rest (a long one!)
-Print out some puzzle pages, cut & paste and colouring sheets for the kids
-Make a note of Audio CD's we have on standby so I'm not doing a read-a-loud
-Keep some healthy instant snacks on hand so I'm not caught out needing to bake
-Get a loaf or two of home made bread in the freezer also for the above reason

I know some mums are organised like this for the first couple of days of their period each month; I'm blessed not to need that but every now and then I'll be unwell or am just plain exhausted and the above will help keep the family running.
I already keep up on the washing so we're never more than a load behind and I'm working on that with the ironing!

What do you do when you're not well enough to carry on as usual?

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