Just Fine in '09!

Last week was a most delightful week. Visiting with friends, enjoying family. Meeting a new addition for the first time. Our Ladies' Bible Study "Break up" which was at a nice coffee place. A luxury for most of us girls.

Then this week has been just as busily delightful. A trip to the coast to see holidaying relatives. A VERY long lunch with two special friends to celebrate my birthday. (One is a mum of 9 and one a mum of 7 expecting her 8th) That means they don't have a lot of time for socializing so I appreciate them making time for us to catch up.

Yesterday marked my birthday. What a great day I had. So many lovely phone calls, cards and visits. I feel spoilt and special!
Believe me, I am exhausted. The heat has been bearable and at long last the rain has fallen! Praise God

Some special gifts from my beautiful daughters.

My GS1 is a curly haired ball of energy. ♥

He is adjusting to big brother status and finding the wet weather indoor restrictions hard to handle. Let me outa here!




A rose between the thorns!♥
My friends sweet one week old daughter came to visit!

My darling GS3.

He is growing like topsy. Very cute and so far, very placid!

GS2 loves the music.♥

Loves any noise as a matter of fact! Banging drums is a speciality.

He'll be a musician for sure.

Lots of thoughtful messages and cards.♥

One of particular interest on the right. A family history which I am really thrilled to receive and have already begun to read. Special thanks to the thoughtful sender.

God has blessed me and my family ABUNDANTLY throughout this year for which I am truly thankful. ♥

Remember the Sabbath Day

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work:

but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Exodus 20: 8 - 11

Many years ago the great athlete and christian missionary, Eric Liddell refuses to compete in the Olympic Games. His story is well known, loved and remembered in the movie, Chariots of Fire. Christians in our day are still standing up and declaring this day holy. Here is a link to an article about young Scottish footballer, Euan Murray, who has recently taken that same stand.

Reading his story this morning reminded me how far we fall short in making a clear testimony to the watching world, that we are the Lord's people. How many opportunities do I miss, no matter how quietly, to choose to obey God, but instead go the way of my own flesh?

Lord, give me a longing to love and serve you, to put away the foolish things of this world, and to seek wisdom.

Wishing everyone a great week - the last of 2009! In one week we celebrate our wedding anniversary, my birthday and New Year. Busy, busy.

The Highest End

Here is a link to a beautiful meditation on the first catechism. (Westminster Confession of Faith, Larger Catechism) by Reverend Matthew Winzer.

What is the chief and highest end of man?

Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him for ever.

Wait upon the Lord...

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard,

that the everlasting God, the Lord,

the Creator of the ends of the earth,

fainteth not neither is weary?

there is no searching of his understanding.

He giveth power to the faint,

and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary

and the young men shall utterly fall.

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength,

they shall mount up with wings as eagles,

they shall run, and not be weary

and they shall walk, and not faint.

Isaiah 40: 28 - 31

Waiting on God

God often keeps his people long in expectation of the comforts he designs them, for the confirmation of their faith; but though the answers of prayer, and the performance of promises, come slowly, yet they come surely.
Matthew Henry on Genesis 15:12-16



Psalm 130.

1 Lord, from the depths to thee I cried.
2 My voice, Lord, do thou hear:
Unto my supplication's voice
give an attentive ear.

3 Lord, who shall stand, if thou, O Lord,
should'st mark iniquity?
4 But yet with thee forgiveness is,
that feared thou mayest be.

5 I wait for God, my soul doth wait,
my hope is in his word.
6 More than they that for morning watch,
my soul waits for the Lord;

I say, more than they that do watch
the morning light to see.
7 Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with him mercies be;

And plenteous redemption
is ever found with him.
8 And from all his iniquities
he Isr'el shall redeem.

Scottish Metrical Version

And on a more thoughtful note...

The miracle of new life is a constant source of wonder and amazement! Watching my new grandson is fascinating and reminds me once again of the blessing of fruitfulness. The great blessing of being given children in the first place but also that they are healthy and beautifully formed. We take this so much for granted, don't we? those of us who have them? Think of our sisters who have the great heartbreak of barrenness... Think of those who are battling day by day with special needs children...

I sometimes ask myself whether I am supporting my sisters and friends who are in much harder situations than I am. Once at a Right to Life seminar we were challenged on this very point. Can we protest the aborting of little souls and not follow up with support to young mothers when they keep their babies. Especially the mothers of little ones who are born with physical and mental disabilities which add to the difficulty of raising them. Are we prepared to follow through and put our christian ethics into action?

I know several friends who carry the great burden of God withholding children from them. Think of Rachel who cried to Jacob, "Give me children else I die." I do not know how to reach and comfort these dear ones, but I do know that one or two of them have been a great source of strength and amazement to me and to others. While we see our children along with husbands and homes, as our calling I see these special people shining in other areas. God has brought them through this great trial and given them a special lot in life.

One older lady told me recently that when she realised God was not going to give her children naturally she and her husband looked into adoption and were later blessed with two children in this way. They are in their 70s now and love and serve the people of God tirelessly. I have never heard her whinge or complain about the hand dealt to her, only to rejoice in how good God was to them.

Another friend wrote recently, "The Lord has dealt bountifully with me." How much more meaningful these words are from one who truly has cried to God for the desire of her heart, and yet can say, "Thy will be done" when it seems these prayers are not answered. Those of us with children need to think again before we complain that they take up all our time and energy, don't give us a moments peace, cost a fortune to raise. There are some who would change places with us in a heartbeat.

My own daughter is facing the challenges of having two babies very close together and an older child in the house. I see her dealing so sweetly with them and laying down her own desires for them and thank God for her. I see my other daughter also, so young and sometimes lonely, sacrificing a work and social life for her little fellow. May God do a mighty work in their hearts♥♥
These are rambling thoughts and those of you who read here regularly will have put it together that I do go off on meandering rabbit trails at times!

To everyone ... have a great weekend!

That's the new little grandson at one week old at the top♥

Great little win, Great little name!

Amy at Blogamy Lake, ran a fun little competition a few weeks ago. She is expecting her ninth child and asked readers to suggest names for a baby girl beginning with M or E. I made the suggestion of Miranda, which is a girl's name I have liked for years and usually made my top 10 list when we were trying to name our babies.

It seems Amy and her family liked it too as I have won a little prize for my efforts!

This of course, is just a bit of fun and they are not committing themselves to any of the names which were submitting, but I am looking forward to that new bundle of pink arriving and hearing what she will be called. I received an excellent little booklet titled "Bitterness" for my efforts. It is in the "to read" queue and it looks good, so I may write a little about it soon. Thank you so much Amy, a great topic which we all need to give some thought and action to.

Bethany at Covered by His Hand has counted down to her due date today, too! Thinking of you Bethany and hoping you have a short wait now. Her baby is named after a good King of Israel so I have my guesses as to what it is. Bethany and her husband are also celebrating their tenth wedding anniversary. Hi you two!

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One of my real life friends had a baby girl early this week, too. We have spent little chunks of time with my daughter and the new baby. Trying to be helpful, trying to help the "Big Boy" to know he is loved and not been usurped! Trying not to fuss too much over bubby♥

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It's been a great week. I am very tired. I haven't done some of the planned things but I am feeling very contented. Thank you, Lord.

I plan to...

Use it up,

Wear it out,

Make it do,

Or do without.

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I've read this quote a few times and understood that it originated from a World War II poster. When I googled, it seemed that there are a number of claims to it.

Still, good advice. It is one of the things I am thinking about as I begin to plan for 2010.

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"She looketh well to the ways of her household..."

Ah..The Good Life.

I wondered to myself last week, whether I would spend way too much time on the internet and blog on these long holidays. I have quite a few posts "in the pipeline" and lots of places bookmarked to read - in my spare time! But now it's the second week of the break and I am actually wondering how we ever get our school work done!I am way behind in my regular reads - sorry all- and not getting my emails answered either.

But, it's all good!

Some of the view at our beautiful local Botanic Gardens. Scene of a relaxing morning with a couple of friends, and a heap of kids!

This is one of the huge, spreading banyan trees at the Botanic Gardens. The forward thinking founder of the gardens, I think his name was Thozet, planted these nearly 140 years ago. Today they spread across many meters and need to be held up in places. As you can see they naturally put down roots which hold up the very long branches.
ooOoo

Big boys shopping with GS1. Sweeeeet! He's a big brother now!

Amidst visits and shopping trips with the girls, play time with the babies, coffee with friends AND the big arrival ot the new baby, I have managed to Blitz my kitchen cupboards. Sorry, I forgot to take pics, Organizing Mommy.
I am taking the quote "If you do stuff, you get stuff done" as my holiday motto. I find I am actually more on top on things when we have the routine of the school day to follow. Everyone knows what needs doing and when. I am trying to do lots but stay flexible to spend lots of time with my family and especially the newly usurped baby, who is now a big brother. He is finding it all strange having baby in the house and is very keen to come with me when we visit. We're making time for play times with his cousin, and the uncles to give mummy a break. The early release has worked out well, but little ones are just so busy. I think young mums without family support must find it much harder to go home so early. They have been to the doctor today and all checked out fine, and the midwife has visited a number of times.

I am crashing into bed exhausted at night, but we are all enjoying the break!

Carol's Book...Take a Look!

It's here!!

Congratulations Carol.

Here is Carol (NewKidontheBlogg)'s book. Hot off the press. Read all about it!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR;

"Nice girls don't yell!" Oh yeah" The author does some yelling in this book. Carol Noren Johnson is a retired English teacher who discovered that niceness gets in the way of being effective, genuine and godly. She writes truthfully about incidents in the life and her growing understanding of godliness. she lives in Plant City, Florida with her husband. Mrs Johnson holds a B.A. in Teaching Arts and English from Westmont College and M.A. in Educational Systems Development from San Jose State University. She is a Distinguished Toastmaster and is working on a Ed.D. in Counseling and Education from Whitefield Theological Seminary.

To read more about Carol and her book pop over to her website and her blog and you can also order from Carol (See her blog for her details) or from amazon.

I am honoured and delighted to have a copy already, sent to me by Carol herself. Carol has become a friend through contact, first on a Christian Forum which we both post on and later by email and our blogs. This book is her personal memoir but touches on areas which most of us can indentify with. Carol has a great desire to grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to do all things for His glory. Carol bestowed a great honour on me by inviting me to write the Forword to her book, so I am very excited to see it in hard copy right now!

May the Lord bless this work to His glory and the good of many, Carol.

What is the RPW?

The Regulative Principle of Worship is a principle presented in the Scriptures (Gen. 4:3-7; Ex. 20:4-6; 25:40; Lev. 10:1-3; Deut. 4:2; 12:32; I Sam. 13:11ff; I Ki. 12:32-33; I Chr. 15:13; II Chr. 26:16; Jer. 7:31; Matt. 15:9; Matt. 28:19-20; John 4:22-24; Acts 17:23-25; Col. 2:18-23).

It teaches that we are to worship God only in ways He commands in His Word. We are not to insert into the worship service any elements which are the fabrications and inventions of man. God is honoured only when we worship Him according to means set forth in His Word (either by direct commandment or logical implication), and when we do not add to or take away from anything set forth therein.

Westminster Confession of Faith - Chapter 21.1 The light of nature showeth that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all, is good, and doth good unto all, and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshiped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture.

ooOoo

Some argue that what is not forbidden in God's Word is permissible concerning the worship of God. How can we offer less in worship to God than what he has commanded? How can a man- imagined offering be pleasing to the Holy, Righteous Creator of all? How can we say we worship Christ, it is all about Jesus, we are honouring the Lord, when the focus is man centred and man delighting and not in keeping with God's own commands? Why do we who have the best (The inspired Word of God) want so much to imitate the world?

"Howbeit, in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men." Mark 7:7

Introducing...

My sweet little grandson at a few hours of age♥♥

Starting labour after mid night, my daughter rang at 2.30 am to get me to take her to hospital. Her partner staying with the sleeping 15 month old, intending to be there for the birth later in the morning. No siree!! On the 10 minute drive from her house to the hospital she had 3 contractions and this little fellow had no intention of waiting for Dad! We got there at about 3.20 and he was born just at 4.03 am.

He weighed in at 3040grams, which is about 6lb 7 so is a wee tiny mite, but he is absolutely, gorgeous and perfectly formed. Mother and baby went home at around 3.30pm. Well, that's how they do things these days!

My daughter was amazingly calm and focused♥ Her first labour was 8 hours long with about 2 hours at the hospital and no drugs or stitches. This time, about 4.5 hours and no drugs or stitches. She is such a beautiful mother and daughter.

My girls' births have been a tremendous blessing and wonderment for me. I had such un-natural pregnancies and births. I thank God that he has blessed them in this way. I also praise and thank the Lord for the dear little grandchildren he has bestowed on us. May He be pleased to use us to influence them that they may know the Lord. Especially today I marvel at this tiny miracle as I gazed at him and held him for the first time after all these months.

We've had the fun of having "Big Brother" here today!♥ He had a disturbed night, Picked up by Mumma in the dark, finally going back to sleep. Up early and a big day. Then finally meeting the baby (Not too sure about him!) What a sweetie. Lord willing, we will be able to spend lots of time with him over the next few weeks.

Truly Grandmotherhood is full of joys and blessings!♥

I have not used my families' names on the blog so I haven't divulged it here but if it is any consolation, the name they have had picked for about 6 months has been in a little doubt today, so I am not even sure of it.

Another Blue One!

Praise ye the Lord, O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever!

Psalm 106:1

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I am very thankful to God this morning for the quick and safe arrival of my daughter's baby about two hours ago! Another grandson - thankyou Lord.

We have been up since 2.30 but her little toddler, whom we are minding , has gone back to sleep, and it's a little early here (6am) to be ringing around. So I'll blog it instead! :-) I will head back up to the hospital later this morning and hopefully have some pictures and details later today.

The Sunshine State

150 years today since Queensland was proclaimed a State.

Our emblems

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The Cooktown Orchid

The Koala

Barrier Reef Anemone Fish

End of Year Celebration

On Friday we celebrated the end

of the 2009 school year with a day at the beach.

9am Sand Castle and Sculptures competition.

Er, did anyone think to check the tide times?

Work fast kids!

The Titanic
The entry from my boys and a few of their mates won their section.

Building a dyke to keep out the sea.

Bail Mum, bail!

Winning castle in the littlies section.

The children had to build fast as the tide was coming in. This fun competition was followed by a swim and then morning tea. One of the mums had made up a clever scavenger hunt, which the children loved. They had to "find" some very obscure things. A pirate with a wooden leg, a finger nail 10cm long, a treasure map... Some of the groups proved very creative!

After games of footy (yes Queenslanders are strange like that!) and other fun and strenuous things we enjoyed lunch together. Plenty of swimming and chatting and then the sleepy trip home. As mentioned in other posts it is only a 40min trip to the coast, so a nice day out for us all.

We are very blessed to have a large, active and supportive group of parents and children in this area. Phew! Another year down.

The Weaver

My Life is but a weaving
between my Lord and me;
I cannot choose the colors
He worketh steadily.
Oft times He weaveth sorrow
And I, in foolish pride,
Forget He sees the upper,
And I the under side.
Not til the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly,
Shall God unroll the canvas
And explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful
In the Weaver's skillful hand,
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned.

B.M. Franklin

Just do it!

If you do stuff...

You get stuff done.

Love it! This classic quote was a blog title I stumbled across on a rabbit trail. Sorry , I can't retrace it but I have been chuckling about it ever since. Ah, the answer to all my jobs awaiting attention. Just do it.

Introducing MamaArcher

MamaArcher is celebrating her 1,000th blog post!

Wow, that's some sort of achievement!

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This lovely Alaskan mama was one of the early blogs which I began to read when I first ventured into the world of blogs. MamaArcher, so named for her convictions concerning Psalm 127, posts on many and varied subjects and ideas.

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She is a Christian of Reformed persuasion, a Pastor's wife and mother of nine.

I enjoy her blog because she has a great mix of theology, home schooling, large family and motherly posts and very down to earth and thought provoking deeper topics.

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Pop over and check out her blog. You will be amazed at the sweet face of a sixteen year old which is the pic of this blog's author, who by all reckoning must be quite a few years older. Must be the cold weather, eh, Kristine. Here in Australia one tends to shrivel in the intense sunlight.

MamaArcher is hosting a great looking Give Away in celebration of this momentous occasion as well, so read her post and join in.

Staying Calm

Incredibly, it seems it has all gone.

In the past two days, I held my breathe, hoping...praying...that all my files would be able to be restored.

The Bad News: Apparently, you can loose the whole lot, if the C drive is cleared, which, unbelievably we managed to do. {Sob} Like many women, I learn about the computer's capabilities on an as needs basis. I now can do most of the basics with pictures, documents, emails, the blog, facebook. Who needs more? Like most men, hubby needs to know what's under the bonnet. He tinkers. This is a wonderful attribute that God has given men, to discover, to invent. Just, why , oh why, on our computer!

The Good News: In the past two days, I have been able to assemble all the disks I had backed up, and I discovered that I had hard copy of most of the documents that were going to be really hard to reproduce. PRAISE GOD. Long time readers will remember we have had similar dramas before. I had kept a lot more than I originally thought. Most of the hard work will be in recopying a few files of old photographs which I am working on. These are from originals of Mum and Dad's so at least I have the photographs to work with. A huge job, but do-able. Serves me right for waiting too long to copy to disk.

Solution? Hubby suggests I get an external hard drive. He can tinker on his things without fear of wiping me out again. This was also suggested by MommyMindy, and seems to have worked for her family.

Thanks for all your supportive comments.

I really am fine. The shock has worn off and I've had a day off reading blogs. Catch up with you all soon!

The Amazing Eye

“Presented with a word’s image on the retina, average readers of English can, within a few 10ths of a second, match it with one of 50,000 or more words stored in their mental dictionaries, comprehend its meaning in context and proceed seamlessly to the next word.”
—Susan Okie, in her review of Reading in the Brain

Marvel again at the incredible way God has created the human eye!

I read this quote at Miscellanies. Yes, I do link to that blog a bit, because he has some very linkable quotes over there!

Woe is me!

Our baby is sick!

We need to take the computer for some professional help, so just letting you know that if you don't hear from me it is really serious.

Lord willing, it will be easily remedied.

I cannot tell all the symptoms...too distraught!

Actually, it is working fine, but we have lost . poof ...gone...vamoosh, everything. Pictures, documetns, programs, all my family history and completed memoirs for our book. SOME was backed up...some not. I have been assured it can be retrieved.

Okay, I told you any how! I am off now. Bye.