Why to visit a gospel partner

This January we enjoyed a trip to Cambodia, visiting friends on the field.  We have several dear friends who are gospel partners overseas (we used to call them missionaries, but this is the term now!). Some we studied at college with, some we have met at church over the years. This lovely family we have only ever known on the field, for they left Adelaide the same year we arrived, and a relationship has built up over various home assignments and connections in between.

The trip has been a long time in the planning, and finally this year we were able to make it work.

It was fantastic. We saw the sights of Phnom Penh in the capable hands of locals, ate together, spent time in their home, had them for meals at our hotel, went to church together, and had lots and lots of conversation. Our kids know their kids quite well, all being similar ages and having spent time together over the years. It took a little while on the first day for the ice to break again, but then they were like old friends - playing basketball, swimming, joking, sharing food and talking.

They emphasised that our visit was a blessing to them, and we feel the trip was exactly the same for us.  Here are some of the blessings:

1. Understanding. Yes, it's only a very small amount, we were only with them for two full days. But we now have a glimpse of what their home, their school and their church is like. We have a feel for their city - the major traffic and driving skills required, the street vendors, the fun of riding tuk tuks, the haggling in the markets. We saw the range of poverty and wealth, the beauty of the city and the friendliness of the people.
2. Conversation. We talked and talked and talked. The women talked, the men talked, the families talked. We learnt more about Theravadabuddhism, the monks of the city, and what living there is like. We heard the story of how they met and married. We shared about our life in Australia and what we are involved in.
3. Fun. While the adults enjoyed all the conversations and catch ups, the kids really had fun together. Whether it was sharing food, tuk tuk rides, nerf gun wars or basketball, it was a great chance to be reminded that no matter where you live, the same things are still fun. 
4. Connection. One of their concerns is that their children won't develop the same Christian friendships that they might if in Australia. So the time for the kids was very beneficial. We’re looking forward to them being back on home assignment, and when they are, we'll treat them as the normal friends they are, not as if they're the 'special missionaries' who generally aren't approached. Our kids are already talking about how to connect with them again when they’re next here.
5. A wider worldview. Australia is a very egalitarian and secular culture, and we don't realise it until we come face to face with the strong contrast of wealth and poverty side by side, and the overt elements of religion all over a city. 
6. A wider acceptance of difference. Travel the world and you encounter different languages, traditions, ways of communicating and understanding. Having to be the outsider is a good thing. Struggling to communicate teaches you how much you value being able to do so easily. Having to wear pants and longer sleeves, even when the weather is very hot, is a small price to pay to learn that we show respect in different ways. Communicating to our children that there are differences and considering why, means we are hopefully raising them to understand and analyse a variety of cultures.
7. Insight into what they actually do. In many ways, their lives are very similar to ours: the kids go to school, the wife is involved in school management and teaching, and the husband is involved in translation work. They go to church as a family and they try to connect with locals in myriad ways. It's very normal. It's not super special and it's not super spiritual, but it's living faithfully for Jesus in their context, just as we would hope we are all doing in our own contexts.   
8. Food for prayer. We have prayed for this family for years. Now we can pray more informed, specific prayers for this family, with an idea of what their days and weeks look like.

Another option is to consider holidays together. A few years ago, I met a dear friend in Dubai for ten days. She worked in a country with high safety risks and was required to have regular out-of-country breaks. While I never saw her life ‘in–situ’ there were still wonderful benefits for us both: a break, encouragement, fun being tourists together, the chance to worship together, and lots of time to talk and debrief. For a single woman, there was the added bonus that she had a companion for her holidays. For me, it was a marvellous treat to be away from the responsibilities of my own family life!


Both trips have been highlights of the past few years, and times of great fun, joy, conversation and encouragement.

Do you have friends who are gospel partners?  Could you visit them or holiday together? Of course, talk about it, make sure it can work and it would be helpful, but it's definitely worth considering. Not everyone can do this (we have certainly counted it a great privilege), but if you can everyone is likely to be encouraged and blessed by the experience.

A visit to our sponsor children

We have recently returned from a trip to Thailand, where we had the privilege of visiting our Compassion sponsor children. We had one day spent with two children, both of whom attend the same project in the slums of Bangkok. (A second day, visiting a third child had been planned. One week out however we heard he had left the project.  Sad for us, but good news for him, as his mother had found work and was able to take him back to another province.)

It was a wonderful day. We met the children (who I'll call Mr N and Miss N, both aged 13) along with the Project Director (PD), who was our host for the day.  After learning about the project and exchanging some gifts, we walked up the back alleys and beside a waste water stream to Miss N's house - a one room wood panel structure, probably 6x3m. Her grandmother looks after five grandchildren there, of whom Miss N is the oldest. We all sat on the floor and talked, aided by the helpful translation of the PD, and then played Uno together.

After that we headed out to a restaurant for steamboat lunch, chosen by the children.  At this point the awkward barriers started to come down as the kids (Thai and Australian together) chose what they wanted from the picture menu and shared it together at their table.

However, the highlight for all the kids was the time at a waterpark for the afternoon. A large floating inflatable world where Miss N, her younger brother, Mr N and our Mr 14, Miss 12 and Miss 10 quickly learnt that play together in water is universal joy in any language. There were laughs as people fell, encouragements and urgings to climb up higher, and fun with all trying to balance on inflatables at the same time. My husband and I joined in for some and enjoyed watching as well.

When we told people in Australia about this trip there were three main reactions:

1. The majority were interested and excited for us. Most people we know also are child sponsors or see the value of it, and while they were possibly surprised that we were going they thought it was good. 
2. A few, particularly those not from Australia, had no idea what we were talking about. Friends from India and Singapore had never heard of child sponsorship before. 
3. One neighbour expressed absolute surprise that the children on sponsorship pictures were real children that you could meet, not just children used in photos. 

As we reflected on our emotions and thoughts afterwards as a family, here are some of the range of things we felt and the things we can now talk about with others:

Impressed with the project and the work Compassion are doing, and particularly the PD. She has a real heart for the children, she walks the streets encouraging children to come and showing parents that the project is good for their kids. She knows the kids personally, as well as their families and situations, and cares deeply for them. Over the course of the day we learnt how she came to Christ and how it changed her life. Key staff like this are essential to Compassion's work, there will be many children in a centre, but the staff hold it together and set the tone.

Encouraged. To see the project staff so clearly love the children they are entrusted with, as well as wanting to tell them about Jesus and model Christ, is a marvellous encouragement. Our PD spent all her time on the site, which was a church and preschool as well. She ran the project on Saturdays, went to church there on Sundays, worked there mid week, and lived on site. We were reminded of 1 Thess 2:8 "We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us." (NIV84)

Conflicted. As I walked into our shining marble hotel lobby afterwards, only about 1 km from the project, I started weeping. All I could see was Miss N's house and how about 20 of them would fit in that unused space alone. Then we came upstairs to a hotel suite that was larger than her home and a buffet dinner than probably had more food on offer than her family would see in a month (she and her brother devoured every bit of food offered on the day). It's appropriate to feel this. I knew we would. And we should.

Guilty. This is not the purpose of a trip like this, but it's inevitable that you are challenged by the marked disparity between wealth and poverty in the world and how we are those who live in wealth.

Excited. We’re even more excited about Compassion and their work. They’re doing great things, and we’re proud to stand behind them. We’re thrilled that we know these children and their families personally.  God works in every people and nation and we saw evidence of that.

Confident. I didn't really understand before the link between Compassion being Christian and how that affects who they sponsor. My conclusion is that it's a little like some Christian schools. There are Christian leaders, matters of faith are spoken of, taught about and prayed about, but there is no requirement to be Christian to participate. Our PD estimated that 10% of the children in the project had made a commitment of faith, but the benefits of the program are open to all. I am now even more confident that the help goes to families in need, the truths of Christ are taught, but receipt of the benefits does not require an expression of faith.

Prayerful. We can pray for those we do not know personally and we should bring the world and all its variety to God. But the joy now is that our prayer for Miss N and Mr N and their families will be personal.  A day is only a small taste of their reality, but it's a day more that we had before. We've laughed together, we've prayed together, and now we can keep praying for them.  More than that, we've realised the importance of the staff and particularly the PD, and will ensure we are praying for them as well.

The whole day was a remarkable privilege for which we are very thankful, and we will definitely consider going again in the future.

Kids Christian Camps

Our two eldest (age 9 & 11) went to their first Christian camp this holidays. It was a big deal – mainly because they were both away for 4 nights and had never been away for that long without a family member. Also, because we have been waiting for these fun times to start for a while now!

It was the perfect choice for them: they could go together, the camp was aimed at 9-13 year-olds and thanks to some planning and a number of dear friends across Adelaide with similar age children, each went with a group of friends who were in their small groups and dorm rooms.

I had some feelings of misgiving when I dropped them off. There was no reason to: the camp was well-organised, the kids were welcomed wonderfully (as was I), and due to Adelaide being a small place we knew a number of the leaders personally. Yet there is always that feeling of anxiety when you leave your children anywhere.

Fast forward five days and I was back to pick them up. The end of the camp was in an auditorium packed with kids, leaders and parents.

I spotted my two surrounded by friends and leaders. They, with all the others, recited from memory the verses they had learnt during the week - Hebrews 12:1-2. The all leapt up to sing and dance unashamedly to Colin Buchanan’s “Super Saviour”. They hugged and thanked their leaders. Then a photo collage came up and showed snapshots of the week.

I found myself a bit misty-eyed as I watched. For what a gift and privilege it is to have people who are willing to teach and lead camps for kids. Who are willing to be Christians and be fun with children. Who are willing to talk about Jesus unashamedly. Who are willing to sleep for a week with a bunch of giggling 9-year old girls or a bunch of noisy smelly older boys. Who are willing to lose sleep, listen to inane conversations, make craft, be silly, yet do it all in the name of Jesus so that these kids have role models who follow Jesus.

I know for certain that we, their parents, are their main teachers. It is our job to teach them of Christ and his marvellous work. But I also know that we do this as part of a team, and we are entering that youth stage where the team is growing. More members need to be enlisted. Young men who will show my son how to stand up and stand strong for Jesus. Young women who will show my girls what it looks like to find your value in Christ alone.

I am so incredibly thankful for all the people who give their time on this camp, it was great for the children and the kids loved it. But, we as parents loved it too and are incredibly thankful.

This camp (and others in time) will now be a regular feature of our January. We will need to re-think the timing of our annual leave to make it work. Our youngest is now counting down the two years until she is allowed to go. I know not everyone lives in places where these options are available, but if they are – it’s worth making it happen. Expand the team of role models for your kids!

Facing up to the Candy Crush Addiction

I would have loved to title this post “Beating the Candy Crush Addiction”, but that would be a lie. Facing up to it is much more realistic, managing it is a skill that is getting there but it is real and it has been a problem.

I have always known I have an addictive personality. My desire to always be in control of myself physically and emotionally probably meant I was unlikely to be drawn to some things like smoking, drinking or drugs. However, I have also always been thankful I never liked them much and so the attraction was not there.

However I know I struggle with what some might term ‘less obviously damaging’ addictions. My body and mind stay healthy - but boy can I waste time! I can play iPhone games for hours, I can read fiction for hours, I can get obsessed by home projects for hours and I can look at Facebook multiple times a day.

Realising this tendency and being willing to acknowledge it has taken years. But it’s probably taken having children that are at an age to notice what I do that has really made me pay attention.

When they would walk out and check what level I was up to on Candy Crush or my progress on Plants vs. Zombies, or wonder why I was spending hours of the weekend sanding windows, I had to analyse my own behaviour and what I was modelling.

• Do I want my children to learn self-control? Yes
• Do I want my children to know when to stop? Yes
• Do I want my children to know they are more important than a game? Yes
• Do I want my children to think that as a stay-at-home mum I had endless time that I wasted? No
• Do I want my children to learn that leisure activities and hobbies are fine, but in moderation and generally only when essential things are completed? Yes
• Do I often feel that I should spend more time with my kids playing games and reading books, but don’t? Yes

This issue has been drifting around for me for ages. I have managed it with reading only in holidays, downloading certain games only on holidays and I shut down Facebook for 9 months. But it really came to a head with Candy Crush this year. (For those who don’t know what it is, be thankful, but it’s an app that you move things around to get groups of three and need to solve challenges in doing so. When described like that, one wonders what the attraction is!)

I listened to an ABC conversation on gambling, and the speaker had written a book on casinos and gambling and how they destroy lives. The interviewer asked if she had ever had a gambling problem. She said, no, but while writing the book she developed an addiction to Candy Crush and started to realise the attraction of gambling and poker machines. It is called something like “Positive Feedback Reinforcement” where nice colours and flashing symbols make you feel good. It rang very true for me.

So cue decision time. First was acknowledging it was a problem, this took much longer than it should have. Second was deleting it off most devices. Third was telling the kids what I had done and why (& my husband and some friends).

It’s still in management phase. It has crept back onto most devices, because the kids also like to play it and their screen time is very monitored.  I seem to have it pretty well under control at the moment. I generally only let myself play during tea/coffee breaks and only for as long as it take me to drink the tea/coffee - and seeing I like it hot, that’s not too long.

So, there you go - my issues for you all to read about.

Do you struggle with similar things? How have you managed it?

Continue On

Sometimes you come across something that touches your heart.  This was one for me.  My husband gave me this after I found myself asking similar questions.  Perhaps you might like it too...

A woman once fretted over the willfulness of her life. She feared she was wasting her potential, being a devoted wife and mother. She wondered if the time and energy she invested in her husband and children would make a difference. At times she got discouraged because so much of what she did seemed to go unnoticed and unappreciated. “Is it worth it?” she often wondered. “Is there something better I could do with my time?”

It was during one of those moments of questioning that she heard the still small voice of her heavenly Father speak to her heart.

“You are a wife and mother because this is what I have called you to be. Much of what you do is hidden from the public eye – but I notice. Most of what you give is done without praise – but I am your reward.”

“Your husband cannot be the man I have called him to be without your support. Your influence upon him is greater than you think and more powerful than you will ever know. I bless him through your service and honor him through your love.”

"Your children are precious to Me, even more precious than they are to you. I have entrusted them to your care to raise for Me. What you invest in them is an offering to Me. You may never be in the public spotlight, but your obedience shines as a bright light before Me. Continue on. Remember, you are My servant. Do all to please Me.”

(by Roy Lessin)

A comedy of errors

Yesterday was a day like no other – the day I am calling my ‘comedy of errors’ day. I thought I would share it with you all for three reasons. 1. It’s rather funny. 2. If there are any preconceived ideas about me being organised and in control on this blog, this could help dispel them and 3. God is amazingly kind and generous, even when I am remarkably silly.

Here is how it went:

• I had the day free so I headed out for a long run (11kms, which was rather a stretch)
• When I got home I realised that I had been planning to get up on the roof for some time to check on some cracks, etc. So I got out on the roof via the balcony door.
• Having taken my iPhone up there I proceeded to take photos of the things which I needed to ask the experts at the hardware store about.
• After a few photos, my phone battery ran out (here is where things started to go wrong…)
• I returned to the balcony after a complete roof inspection, rather pleased with my work and having enjoyed the view.
• I went to re-enter the house via the balcony door to find that it was locked.
• There is no safe way down from the balcony.
• I toured around the roof trying to find a safe way down and could not find one that did not require me to stand on rotting wood or jump a potential ankle-breaking height.
• It appears we have a remarkably quiet street.
• However, we did have tradesmen in that day (God’s incredible kindness #1) and I knew they were to return to the house within the hour, so I sat down in the sun and waited.
• Upon their return, they accessed the ladder via the garage and I was able to get down safely. (God’s incredible kindness #2)
• However, I was still locked out of the house (the usual spare key stored outside was removed only 2 hours before because of said tradesmen!) with no phone, wallet, car keys, etc.
• I borrowed the phone of the tradie and left a message for my husband, saying I was on my way in to get his keys.
• I hopped on my bike and rode into town to meet him at uni.
• I found another staffworker at uni (God’s incredible kindness #3) to call & locate my husband.
• He met me, kindly fed me, provided me with said key and I returned home (God’s incredible kindness #4), taking the time to try and enjoy the 12km return bike ride.
• Saga started at 11am, sorted by 1:30pm. But it felt like so much longer!
• I was very tired last night and a little sore all over!

What I realised throughout was how much worse the whole thing could have been: there could have been no-one to help me down, I could have hurt myself doing so, my husband could have been away or unfindable, we could live much further away from his work, it could have been pouring with rain, it could have happened when I was due to pick up the kids, etc, etc.

So, even in the midst of it all (and I must say the reality of being locked out of your house and stuck on the roof at the same time was a little sobering) I realised how God was so kind in the whole situation.  I am very thankful for the reminder of his goodness on such a day.

Slowing down

One of the things that has continued to surface in my thoughts since reading Love Tears & Autism was that the therapy they decided on for their son’s autism had as a major component the need for their family to slow down.

As I have thought about this further I wonder whether this is advice all parents could heed, not just parents of children with special needs.

I watch families run themselves ragged with school, music, sport and church activities. There is no family time, there is no playtime and there is no ‘relax and find something to do’ time.

It has to be adding to the stress of families and the increasing stress of kids. We expect them to be ready to go, with piano music practiced, sport clothes ready to wear and ready to eat food when we have time to fit it in.

Our family has slowed down a bit this year.  I have pulled out of or said no to a number of things that even 12 months ago I would have thought were not-negotiable and I had to do. Apparently I don’t! There is very little I have to do. Most things I do are because I want to, I like to, I feel like I should, etc. None of them are bad things and almost all of them are very good. But none of them are crucial.

My husband has spent a good deal of our marriage trying to convince me that I am not indispensable. Kindly of course, but nevertheless trying to get me to see that the world continues to turn, ministry continues to happen and the Lord continues to work whether or not I am involved.

This year for the first time, I think I have come to believe him.

What it has meant is that I am more relaxed. I am not rushing from one thing to another. I seem to have (a little) more time and patience with the kids. I do less in the daytime to ensure I have time for my family in the afternoons and evenings.

For the moment there are only a few things that I have decided are crucial and that I will keep doing this year:

• Daily bible reading and prayer
• Prioritising time & energy for my husband and my kids
• Keeping the house running (food, clothes, etc)
• Church & a prayer group

It feels like a very small amount to me. But I have decided these are the best things for me at the moment.

What to do?

My husband has been insisting for a long time that when the little one starts school that I will not say ‘yes’ to anything new for a year. He does not want me to overcommit (which admittedly is quite likely). He wants me to stop and think about this next stage. As I look at things, the last stage went for 10 years, this one will go for 8 (with all 3 at school). That’s a good chunk of time to think about.

So that’s what this term is for – thinking through the next stage.

I’ll let you know my thoughts as time progresses.

A new phase - school!

Our youngest child started school this week.

It comes almost exactly 10 years after I finished my 3rd year Bible College exams 20 weeks pregnant with our first child. Therefore I have been home as a mum with young kids for a decade. That’s a long time. It’s also the end of an era.

No more babies or pre-schoolers.

No more naps or nappies.

No more kindy (pre-school) run.

No more little people to take grocery shopping.

No-one to chat to during the day.

No helper as I clean.

Just one pick-up and drop-off each day.

I have found it an absolute privilege and (mostly) a joy to be a stay-at-home mum over the last 10 years. I wouldn’t have done it any other way and I know I will look back over these years with thanks for the freedom and ability to be at home.

However, all good things come to an end, and as far as I am concerned, often move on to better things!  My overwhelming thought on Monday (when she started school) was:

It’s the first day of the rest of my life!

A wonderful gift

I have just been the recipient of the most wonderful gift.  Time. 

Time to rest, read, meditate & be refreshed.

Time to listen to sermons, embroider, watch DVDs, take photos & sleep.

Time without noise, errands or tasks.

I have just been away for 3 days.  A gift generously given by my family, although given at most cost by my husband.  A gift generously supported by the congregation members who supplied a wonderful holiday home and a car in which to get there.

We planned this months ago, when life was busier and I was more stressed.  However, in God’s good timing, it turned into a continued recuperation from the operation and a quieter time than originally planned.

I caught up on sermon listening, read the bible and some Christian books and have generally been surprised by how much I wanted to spend time in God’s word and thinking about it.

A break from home routines has not been a break from God as well.  Instead it’s been a chance to stop, refresh, revitalise and be thankful again for His many abundant blessings.

God is indeed good, friends.  His mercies are new every morning.

Life interrupted

Life often just goes along doesn’t it? Day to day, week to week, term to term. For ages my prayer point in various groups has been that we just keep keeping on in the regular things of life, for not much was happening.

Then you get a little spun off course. Not too much mind you in the scheme of things, but enough to throw it all off kilter.

On Sunday I had my appendix out. A few days of unexplained abdominal pain and a few tests suggested investigations were necessary, so some investigative surgery and an appendectomy followed. Not fun generally.


Again I am reminded of how fragile we are.

How much recovery from even relatively minor surgery can hurt.

How much you generally fit into a week.

How much you do at home.

How much of what you do you never explain to anyone.

How competent and caring my husband is.

How wonderfully servant-hearted the Christian community is.


How much I take my normally excellent health for granted.

How much I am going to miss running.

How alarming the words ‘we took a biopsy’ sound (seems OK at this stage).

How thankful I am to live in a time and place with excellent, fast, intelligent health care.

How much I am willing to pay for such healthcare.

How many people do not have such a privilege and how uncomfortable I am about that.


Further thoughts may follow in time, but that is all I am up for at the moment.

For the longest time...

I moved a lot as a child. Dad had a job which required a lot of international moves, so we moved every 1-3 years. When I finished school I had attended 7 schools and lived in 9* houses. By the time we got married, went to college and moved to our current house, the number of houses had risen to 14. That averaged one house for every two years of my life.

Since the end of last year we have been in our house for 7 years. This house in Adelaide, which we love and which is lovingly provided by the church Husband works for - is the winner: “The house that Wendy has lived in the longest”.

Having moved so much has made me realise a few things:

1. Kids are resilient. More resilient than we often given them credit for. I was a painfully shy creature, yet I coped with move after move (I know, not all children will). For me, moving lots during primary school was no real problem, it was when we got to upper high school that it got really hard.

2. I plot the events of my childhood and remember things according to where I was living (either house or city), or which school I was at. For my husband, who attended 2 schools and lived in one house, this doesn’t work for him.

3. Family are very important. The reason I coped as well as I did was because we had a very close family. The four of us were all we needed to be happy, and we were. I had an extremely close relationship with my sister, we had to be each other’s friends until we met new friends in the new school.

4. I am always planning the next move. Until very recently we kept all boxes for appliances and everything that might need to be repacked. I often think about what I will throw out when we move.  Only in the last month have I thrown out a whole lot of this stuff.

5. Just this last year I have realised that when you are in a house for 7 years, it and the furniture & things in it really need a full clean every few years. You can’t just plan to do it properly when you move. Now I clean it because I want to live in it with it that clean.

I wonder how long it will take to get “the next move” out of my mind, or if it will always be part of who I am? 

* to be precise, there were more than 9 houses - but these include rentals during renovations, etc. 

To a better place...

The great chicken experiment has come to an end.

Almost a year to the day, we have drawn the curtains, end of the show, no more chickens here.

They truly have gone to a better place. Not a chicken pie factory. But rather a 1 acre property in the hills, where they can happily make friends with 3 other chooks in a lovely large pen, and free range to their hearts' content.

What have I learnt from the chicken experiment?

• if they get out (and one was truly an excellent escape artist), they will always destroy the one part of the garden you are trying to preserve
• they are very messy, being birds and all that
• they make a lot of noise, in the hope of getting either company or food.
  
• the eggs were lovely
  
• the major lesson: in a marriage, if one partner really and truly does not want something, and has expressed it, it is wise for the other partner (ie. me in this scenario), to listen and respect said opinion.

Hence, for family harmony and my own sanity, the chickens have gone.

Now I await the areas newly renovated transformation into a veggie patch.

I will miss the eggs though. We had our final weekly scrambled eggs for Sunday night dinner last night, using 10 eggs. Unlikely to happen as a weekly occurrence any more - can't imagine I'll actually buy 21 eggs per week!

Running

I went in another fun run on Sunday.

The City-Bay again, although unlike last year's 6km, this time I attempted the 12kms. 

It was really hard.  

I don't really know why - I can run that distance, I have done it before.  But the rush of the day, all the people, the heat - who knows - I found it hard to run, hard to keep running and extremely hard not to stop.  My body has been sore for days.

Ah well, good to be humbled yet again.

(My offical time was 81:18, I had been hoping to beat 78, with a back up of 80 mins - oh well!)

No more needles

We have reached the end of childhood vaccinations in this house.

All those needles at 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months and 4 years are now completed.

Miss 4 had her last ones last week. I think the four year ones are the worst, because once they get one, they really know what is coming for the second one.

And for the first time of all of them, I cried too. Don't think it was nostalgia, but rather sympathy... some parts of childhood you are happy to complete.

Not quite yet

I had a great interaction with a school mum today, which made me realise we are like-minded.

Today is Miss 4's birthday, and this mum (of a 5-yr old boy and 2-yr old twin boys) asked if she was turning 5? I said, no, 4.

She said in a resigned voice: "bugger".
(for non-Australian readers - this would be 'bummer' or 'shame', said with emphasis!)

I laughed out loud. It was such a classic response from a parent who is happy to see her kids get older and looks forward to them being school age. We had a good laugh about it. I realise I have a kindred spirit in her now!

A hint of spring

After a very cold and wet winter, it's lovely to see the beginnings of spring around the place. every year I am surprised by how early our almond tree blossoms, it started last weekend, with it's gorgeous white flowers:


And the beginnings of new leaves:


One week later, it is covered in new growth, and our backyard begins yet again to look less bare.

Also, my favourite trees in all Adelaide are blossoming - the pink ones (I have no idea what they are, someone could surely enlighten me?)


Spring is surely one of the best times in this city.

My ideal job

I was part of a conversation recently where someone asked me what my ideal job would be.

I stopped and thought.

You know what my answer was?

"What I am doing now".

It even surprised me a little. Previously when someone has asked me that, I have articulated what I would want to do if I had to work.

However, I realised in those few brief seconds when I stopped to think of an answer - I am doing what I want to do.

I am wife to a wonderful man.
I am mother to three children whom I love and adore, and I have the privilege of raising them and teaching them the things of God.
We are involved in ministry and serving God's people.
I do not have to work and to this point have chosen not to.

For me, all of these things are a marvellous blessing.

Of course these things are not what is required to be content with what God has given us. We can find joy and contentment in many of life's circumstances.

Whenever I find things hard, I remember my answer to her question, and give thanks that God has put me where I am and that it's where I want to be.

Benefits of literacy

I love it when my children learn to read and write. For my daughter, who would talk all the time if she could, it has opened up a whole new way to communicate with me.

This is the type of note that now greets me in the bathroom.

Can't underestimate the benefits of literacy, you might even get your hair done the way you like!

How old are your spices?

Have you looked at your spice rack recently? I wonder if all spice racks accurately tell the time that the home was set up? (ie you moved out, got married, etc)

It turns out I have a number of spice jars that are 10 years past their use-by date.

Here is my suggested scenario:

• you get married/move out and set up a home
• you decide to try to learn to cook all sorts of new recipes
• you try a range of new things, some work and some don't
• the ones which you didn't like still required the purchase of ingredients
  
• some of those ingredients, like spices, sit on a shelf for years to come

Which are mine?

• Ground coriander seeds - expiry 03/02
  
• Chinese five spice (used for one meal and one only) - expiry 08/01. Still a very full jar.
• Ground cloves - expiry 07/01

And the winner is:

• Sage leaves - expiry 02/01 - used once per year for the stuffing recipe for Christmas turkey, still only half empty
  

Have a look at your spice rack. Which ones are embarrassingly out of date? If yours are longer than mine, my guess is you set up a house before I did in 1999.

Who has the most out of date spice in their home? See if you can beat me.