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On Saturday night my dh and I went to his 20th School Reunion! It is amazing to think that 20 years have gone by since he graduated from High School! Of course I didn’t know him back then and I was very interested to see all the people that he had gone to school with. I had seen photos and heard many stories of his exploits at boarding school

We went for a tour of the boarding house and the school. It is an old school, est. 1807, and we all spent a bit of time in the archive room looking at photos, etc. There was a mini museum with items like medals that were donated, and also a couple of “boating hats” that they used to wear in the “old days”!

After the tours we all had dinner together at an upmarket little restaurant. By this stage most people had well and truly started drinking… and by the time we left early (11pm!) many were swaying on their feet….

As I looked at all dh’s classmates and talked to many of them, I thought how blessed I was to have married the pick of the bunch! I love him so much and am so thankful that I was blessed to be able to marry him. He works hard so that I can stay home with the children. He never complains when I am behind on the housework. He loves me just as I am, faults and all!

My husband, my blessing.

Our weekend was busy and just flew by! I was so tired today.. I had an extra long nap

Our good friends were here for the weekend as it was their last before they headed back to the States. The kids and I had made their son, 11, a special lapbook to take with him on the plane. We had lots of fun making it and we hope he will have lots of fun reading it!

The children made little joke books, a “spot the difference” picture, funny Fairy tale stories, comics, codes and messages, and we put together photos and made a small photo album of our time together over the past years. Oh, and to top it all off, the latest Star Wars Magazine! Here are some photos of the inside:

I also went to visit Robyn in hospital after she had her hip operation last Wednesday. I’d spoken to her a few times, but hadn’t had a chance yet to visit. It was good to see her. She was looking pale because of her low blood pressure and low iron levels, but was sitting up having lunch. Despite being in hospital, she was positive as usual, and full of what God had been telling her over the past few days! She is in pain, of course, and still has a long way to go, but she is coming home tomorrow and is doing as well as can be expected. Thanks to all of you who have been praying for her.

A new week ahead and sooooo much to do! One day at a time, thank goodness, is all He asks of us Have a great week everyone!

Over the past couple of weeks, as I have tried to get back into a routine with school and home, I have felt myself becoming discouraged. I had it all so nicely planned! But we are struggling to get into that “nicely planned” routine! I know that part of this is a discipline issue, and part is just living life. No day will go the same as the day before, and we need to take each day and let it flow. My routine is just a guide, not a rigid “have-to-live-by-or-else”! Now that that is clear in my mind I can get on with the next issue - my blog & website!

As I was not seeming to get everything done that I wanted to get done, I did what the natural thing was and tried to see what I was doing that took up a lot of time, and then asked myself if it was a necessary part of my life, or just a distraction. One of these areas was my blog and website and the time I was spending on the internet. What was my purpose for this site and should it really be part of my life now?

Just the other day I was reminded about a verse God gave me at the beginning of the year:

“What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight;

what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs”

Matthew 10:27

God had been whispering lots of thing in my ears over the years, and each time I said to myself, “I’m not ready yet! I’m not old enough to be a role model! I can’t do it!!”

Finally I took the plunge and I was beset with doubts. I got my domain names, started blogging, started writing, and started proclaiming….. and little voices kept saying -”You can’t do it! You don’t have time! You should be doing other things!”

I did have encouragement along the way too, however. Robyn, my older woman, was excited to hear about what I was doing. She also has been a keeper all her life, and I was encouraging her to join in with me to be our “resident Older Woman” on this site! After thinking and praying about it, she realized that this was a way to share all the things she has learned over the years. She has no daughters, and as yet no grand-daughters, but she hopes one day she will have the latter. She was wondering how she could leave a legacy to them, and was so excited to think that this may be a way in which she could do so.

I was reminded this morning of the conversation Robyn and I had about leaving a legacy when I read this post:

Memoirs - Leaving a Legacy

I was encouraged, because this is one of the reasons I wanted to start this blog. I have often wished I had diaries, cookbooks or notebooks from my own grandmothers. I wish I could have picked their brains on how they used to live - how they brought up children during the war, and afterwards. How they managed their homes… how they were wives and mothers.

As much as I want to bless other women around the world with this website, I also want to leave a legacy for my own daughter and possible grand-daughters. Is this then worthy of my time at this stage of my life? Yes :), because if I wait until the children are gone, I will have forgotten what my daily life was like while they were growing up. I will forget the times when I felt down because I didn’t want to wash another dish, or cook another meal, or iron another shirt! I will forget the times when I came to the Lord in tears and frustration and the peace and strength I received afterwards. I will forget the times when we all piled into our bed, cuddled up, forgot about everything that was happening around us, and just enjoyed a book together.

Yes, this blog is worthy of my time. Leaving a legacy is worthy of my time. It is also worthy of yours. Do not be discouraged, dear friends. If God is calling you to spend your time on something specific at this stage of your life, then do it! He will give you strength and confirmation.

Robyn is one of my dear older women. Today she is going to have her second hip operation. She had her first one about two years ago and it was a great success. Now her other hip is going to be done and she is looking forward to being without pain soon. But in the meantime, she has to go through the operation and at least 6 weeks of recovery.

Although she has been in a lot of pain over the past years, Robyn has been such an inspiration to me. Having bad hips did not slow her down in living life - she still traveled, went on mission trips and was a blessing to many. We met up with her two years ago in Jordan just before her first operation. I remember seeing her walking towards me with the brightest smile on her face while slowly walking with her walking stick. She was in a lot of pain, but it didn’t make her stay at home and mope. She went to the Jordan River, climbed hundreds of steps in the Roman Theater and did many other touristy things that are just plain hard work for those of us who are well!

So often things get too much for me and I just want to go and hide (in bed or under it! LOL!). Robyn is my role model - she just goes ahead and does the next thing.

Please be with Robyn today, Lord. Stay by her side and give her peace as she goes into hospital. I pray that You will guide the hands of the surgeons, that You will be there in the operating theater with them, that You will keep her in Your hands.

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On Sunday my wonderful dh took the children to McDonalds for brunch and after that to a playground. You know what it is like being a homeschool mum and having the children around you 24/7. Sometimes you just want a break!

While they were gone, the house was so quiet! I had a nice long Quiet Time, and then I started muddling around the house. As the time wore on, I thought, what would it be like to have no children at all? Imagine if I didn’t have my three around me all the time, what a quiet, boring life that would be!

When they came back they all ran to me to tell me what they had done. I gathered up my youngest in my arms and said, “I missed you!” I’m sure they didn’t miss me, they had a ball and were probably wondering why their Mum was so mushy!!!

It made me realize, however, how truly blessed I am. Sometimes I wish I had more time to do things for myself, like read, quilt, go out,…. whatever. But in about 10 years my children will probably have all flown the nest… and then I will have all the time in the world… alone,…. quiet…..peaceful….. and oh I will miss them!!!

My Children - My Blessings

Are there things that you put off, and put off, and put off? I have many of these things! Some are things like mending, or decluttering a certain area of the house….. or ironing.

When I was a University student, I used to earn money through tutoring and cleaning houses. One of my jobs also required ironing the business shirts of the husband (the wife worked too, which was why she got me in to clean). I used to organize myself very well - half an hour ironing shirts, vacuuming, a cup of tea, cleaning bathrooms and mopping. It was a big house. In three hours I got all of this done, plus some window cleaning as well.

I always had those shirts ironed! Every week! I got paid to do it!

Fast forward to my current “job”. The one I don’t get paid for Well, not directly anyway! Ironing my husbands shirts unfortunately is often a last minute thing. I got to thinking about how long it actually takes me to iron a shirt. So I timed myself just now, and it takes me about 2 1/2 minutes to leisurely iron one of my husband’s business shirts. 2 1/2 minutes to bless my husband. That is not a lot of time

Note to self: stop putting off those things which take up more of my time worrying about, than actually doing.

It was a busy week of getting ready for Term 3 and for DH starting work on Monday. We only heard on Thursday night for sure that he would be starting, but we were working towards it already!

It was officially school holidays in our state, so we had some friends drop in a few times, which was lovely. We really enjoy the times of fellowship we can have with other Christians, and also the fun we have together.

Here are a few things that went on last week:

~*~ We spent the first few days of the week at our friends’ house a few hours drive away. We had another sewing marathon while the kids did their school work and our hubbies went about their business. Alice’s dh went to work and mine went in to talk about his new job – job description, contract, pay, etc! I worked on some friendship quilts that I need to finish and also pinned and quilted a pinwheel quilt that I had just finished putting borders on. I usually put off the actual quilting, so I was pleased that I made myself just get on with it!

~*~ When we got home I found out it was that time of the month ! I had a day of not feeling well at all, but I had a lot of things I still wanted to do, so I pushed myself to do some baking – cookies, muffins and cupcakes. Some I froze for later, some we had right away. My good friend Robyn came around at this time and saw that I was feeling a bit down. She said I should have been taking it easy for a day or two I agreed, but things were too out of order in the house. I was so sick of postponing the baking (yes kids, I will make you some cookies…. Tomorrow….!)

The next day she came around and put her money where her mouth was and helped me in various areas of the house. What a blessing that was! It just helped me to feel more on top of things as we went around together finding homes for some of the things that were laying around and also putting some things aside for the opshop. There is something about having someone come and work alongside you that is so helpful and motivating! I felt so much better and on top of things and was able to sit down and relax in the evenings because of her help. Thank you Robyn!

~*~ The past two Fridays Robyn has come around in the afternoon to “play”! Last Friday we made bags! We had a few that we wanted to try to copy, and they worked out well.

From this:

To this:

Isn’t it cute! Robyn made it! I want to try it this week! Robyn had some small scarves/big hankies that held sentimental value and that she wanted to use for something useful, rather than just have them sit in her drawer. She turned some of them into cushion covers and some into these little bags! I think it was a great idea!

Well, that was a bit about my week It was quite productive in the end!

The local gospel radio was playing this song yesterday Here are a few photos of our little bit of snow.

The photos didn’t work out real well at all. They didn’t really show the snow falling! I wanted to make the kids stand still while the snow collected on their clothes, but I felt sorry for them - they looked so cold!

As I said, to those of you who have heaps of snow, our little bit must be quite funny! It was lovely for us though to be able to look out the window and watch large flakes fall steadily from the sky - it’s only a pity they melted as soon as they hit the ground! LOL!

While the kids had their snow free day, I did a small bulk cook, so that I can concentrate on having fun with our visitors over the next few days and not worry about what I will feed them! Here is what I made:

I made a beef and pasta casserole and put it in a bigger dish and also some in a small dish for the freezer. That can be for hubby one day when he comes home late. The front right casserole is a tuna casserole, a family favorite! The front left casserole is macaroni cheese which we ate for dinner last night. The big pot is full of Mince Meat (Ground Beef) Pasta sauce. I will divide that up into portions and freeze them. This is the way I usually cook mince - it is my master recipe which I then use for Spaghetti Bolognaise, Tacos, Nachos, Taco Salad, and many more recipes. I will put these recipes up on my recipe page soon

So I felt like I had quite a productive day yesterday, despite the disruption of snow!

I have some photos I want to put up, but for some reason I can’t log into my photo gallery account! Oh, where is dh when you need him? At work, where else…??? Yes, it is taking a bit of getting used to hubby not being home all day! At night when he comes home he gets pounced on by all of us, trying to tell him what we’ve done for the day! He grinned last night and commented to me about it. I guess we miss him!

On the other hand, we do get more done when he isn’t here We muddle around in a sort of routine and manage to get lots done.

What did the kids do with their snow free day yesterday? Well, they played a little in the morning and then decided to make a Lego movie So they got the camera out, props ready, and spent hours directing and planning their own little Star Wars Lego movie! I just love it when they get creative! They have been working on the computer this morning doing stuff with the photos and putting it into a movie maker program. I think they might be learning something, don’t you?

Tonight we have a birthday dinner to go to and then some friends are coming to spend a few days with us. I have cleared the guest room and just have to change the sheets, so I am fairly organized. It is such a blessing to have an extra room where we can have guests (this is a four bedroom house). We could have it for a bedroom, or office, or sewing room, but we want to keep it free so that we can have people just drop in and stay. I am thankful that we can do this right now. We have not always had a house where we were able to do this.

I just want to share with you a cool link I found for sewing a peasant skirt. I want to try to make one for Elizabeth soon.

http://www.jcarolinecreative.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=JC&Screen=PSKIRT

This is so cool because you can make it to fit your own size And it’s free! I might have to make one for myself too!

Well, that’s all for today. I hope you are all having a joyful week

I told my children a story from my youth…. when I was going to High School in Holland, it used to snow once or twice a year. When it did snow, we got sooo excited of course! The first time I was just excited because I had lived in the tropics all my life and had never really seen it snow. There was a different undercurrent of excitement amongst the students, however. It was like they were waiting for something. As the hours went by and the snow looked like it was going to stick and not just melt, the excitement grew greater. We all went to play in it at recess, throwing snowballs and having the usual fun. About an hour before lunch, things started to happen. We heard noises in the corridors, doors banging, boots stomping, and finally a chant: “Snow Free Day! Snow Free Day! Snow Free Day!” Our teacher grinned as we saw hordes of students marching past our windows and with a nod gave us permission to join them. We followed the crowds and joined in the chanting until we ended up in front of the Principal’s office! “Snow Free Day! Snow Free Day!”

It didn’t take long for the Principal to come out, lift his hand up (reminds me of press conference!) and say - “Go back to your classrooms!” Hundreds of students let out a collective sigh as we all headed back to our rooms. Older student explained to us newbies that this happened every year, and sometimes, just sometimes, the Principal gives in and lets the students have the rest of the day off - “A Snow Free Day”.

And sure enough, just before the lunch bell rang, the Principal gave an announcement over the intercom telling us we could go home and enjoy the snow! You can imagine the cheers and excitement! Ah, tradition!

I thought this was a lovely story to tell my children. You know,.. when I was young… The problem with telling our children these stories is that they usually get thrown back in your face So I realized when I awoke this morning to chants of “Snow Free Day!” “Mum! It’s snowing!!!!”

It was beautiful and some of it was actually sticking! It is a really special thing to have snow where we live, but it does usually happen once a year! And when it does happen, it is very exciting! We took photos, which I will put up later. Those of you who live in countries with LOTS of snow, will laugh! It is so little, but so much for us who never get snow!

I was then faced with this dilemma - it is only the second day of term and the children are asking for a Snow Free Day! Do I give in or not?!

Yes, I did give in Why? Because one day they will tell their children a story of when they were at school and it snowed… and how they marched up to their teacher’s door (while she was still in bed!) and chanted “Snow Free Day! Snow Free Day!” and how their teacher said they could have the day off…. and maybe their children in turn will get to say the same thing to their teacher ….. and …. that is how traditions are born