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.

Heatwave

As many of you will be aware, we are in the midst of a rather impressive heatwave here in Adelaide.
Today's sixth consecutive day of +40 deg C (+104 deg F) temperatures in Adelaide has equalled the record set in January 1908.

While it is certainly hot, unpleasant and hard to manage children in, it has also made me realise how good our lives are.

I am very glad to be living through this heatwave, rather than the 1908 one! Without much knowledge beyond a quick web search, I would venture to presume that in 1908:
- hardly any one had electricity to their homes (Adelaide only was connected to the grid in 1900)
- no air-conditioning (not invented till the 1920s/30s)
- no refrigeration (not made in the US until ~1915)
- clothing for women was corseted and ankle length
- keeping your babies/children cool would have been very hard
- I don't know how many houses would have been connected to water and sewerage

Therefore, I am very thankful to have air-conditioning, refrigeration, running water, shorts & singlet tops! I am also very happy when anyone with a pool invites us for a swim!

6 things I have learnt this year

Nicole tagged me in her post, encouraging people to think about what they learned in 2008. Here are mine: 

1. I loved school (not for me, but for my son!). I loved that he loved it and thrived in its environment. I loved seeing what he was learning. I also loved the fact that he was at school (does that make me an awful mother?!). I also learnt that if he was not enjoying school so much, the year could have been so much harder. 

2. I began to realise what people mean when they say the school years are more emotional (on the mother!) than physical (compared to the baby and toddler years). I found my son's issues making friends and learning to play in the playground (not major problems mind you) quite stressful, I wanted to help him but couldn't and wanted to 'deal with' the mean children. 

3. I learnt that setting a pattern for regular bible reading and prayer is the only way for me, even if the pattern changes regularly. Part of this was having a supportive husband who enabled me to have time in the evenings or whenever it was needed, and us being proactive in doing so. 

 

4. I learnt that regular exercise is so beneficial for me that I wonder how I keep getting out of the habit of doing it. It makes everything better as far as I am concerned - it gets me out of the house, gives me brain space and quiet time, I enjoy the area in which we live (swimming or riding along the river), gives me energy, and makes me sleep much better. 

5. I learnt (again) how much I love reading, and want to find more time to do so. (There will be lots of book reviews coming up here in the next few weeks). 

6. I learnt (perhaps more was reminded) how grateful I am to have a happy marriage and a wonderful supportive husband. We see marriages around us struggle in various ways, and we are reminded that we must continue to work on our marriage as a priority. I am constantly grateful to God for Husband.

Lucky, blessed or just thankful?

I had an unfortunate accident last week, which resulted in our large steel toolbox falling on me in the laundry. It hit my head and arm, resulting in some impressive bruising (which the photo does not really do credit to!) and quite a bit of pain.

However, when I thought about it later I realised it could have been much worse. My baby daughter had been in the room only minutes before; I was looking down (not up) so it hit me on the skull rather than the face; it hit me with a flat part, rather than a corner (which, I suspect, could have caused quite severe damage); and if it landed any other way, it could have broken my foot, nose, wrist, etc.

So, when I later explained what had happened to people, I was forced to look at the language I use. It's easy just to say "I was lucky", but I don't like saying that, as it implies that's all it was. I feel unnatural saying "it was a blessing", and really, being hit in the head by a steel toolbox is not a blessing!

In the end, I realised I was thankful. Thankful it had not been worse and that all was fine, and it was a timely reminder to look at how we store some things. Of course, I mean thankful to God, who controls all these events, large and small.


As an aside, I was amazed how few people commented on the bruises except close Christian friends, quite a few who joked something along the lines of "has Husband been at you again?". It did make me think how unprepared we are to confront potential signs of domestic abuse. I wonder if I would ask a friend or an acquaintance what had happened if she sported similar marks, and in a way to allow her to speak whatever the truth was (although, I suspect victims of domestic abuse don't show their scars quite so openly and happily as I did). These are much more sobering thoughts.