Emerging From the Mists, and Other Undertakings...

Well, it's been quite some time since my last post - 8 months to be exact, and hopefully I won't have to begin every post with the start of this sentence!  Once again, so very much has happened in our family.

We have a new member!  Little Esther was born back in January (she's nearly 4 months old!) and after a fairly wild ride, I think things are starting to feel a bit more normal.  Well, as normal as they can be with a small baby who only ever wants to be awake for no longer than an hour at a time!  Despite feeling like a bit of a shut-in, we're evolving as a family, and we all love her bright chubby smiles and the giggles that are beginning to come.

Another big change has been Hannah beginning school, and Davey heading off to day care 2 days a week (it worked out to be just a bit more expensive than 2x 2 hour blocks of 3 year old kinder a week!).  Life feels a lot busier, when the kids are home, trying to make sure that I still have some quality and a decent quantity of time with each of them.  It's tough trying to figure out when to get housework done, in order to still be able to spend time with the kids!  It feels like there are a lot of competing priorities and methods of procrastination, and I know I don't always make the right choices, but I feel like I am finally starting to head into a brain space where I can consider things more clearly.

It's so sad how quickly spending time in God's word can be pushed aside.  I finally began meeting one-to-one with a friend from church this week, and I can actually remember feeling a bit grumpy about it, in the hours leading up to our meeting, because this was going to eat into my relaxing/tv watching/weaving (yes, stress apparently also leads to impulse purchases, as well as comfort eating, and I bought a vintage loom!) time!  How rude!  I'm so glad that we got to meet though!  What a relief to spend some time immersed in Ezra, and realising how quickly and disappointingly the Israelites slipped back into intermarrying with the nations around them, and disobedience, after God had intervened so obviously to bring them back to their land, and rebuild the temple!  What a reminder to me, not to tune God out with the soundtrack of the world!

I'm also trying to work my way through the "I Quit Sugar" program at the moment.  I'm 4 days into cutting out pretty much all fructose, and I have to say, it hasn't been as bad as I thought it might be!  I really miss fruit though, and am toying with the idea of adding it back in a bit earlier, but I guess I'll just stick to the plan for the moment.  Despite finding some of the recipes in the book pretty foul (you can add some egg to some quinoa and call it a macaroon, but it just isn't!!!), I'm quite interested in the research presented, and plan on looking into some other books on the sugar/fat issue too.  If what they're presenting is true, it's got some pretty scary implications for family health!  Bring on the whole foods.

Anyway, sadly this isn't particularly insight or inspiring, but more of a catch-up, and hopefully some motivation for myself to start putting together some of the posts that I've been thinking about for such a long time.  I hope that you're having a great year so far, and that we can spend some more time together!!

Children are for Sharing

Life can be pretty fun with small children, and after the week that I've had, also extremely frustrating and tiring, but on the whole Fun.  Their little voices are just so cute  as they giggle and play and snuggle up to read a book (or eat one, depending on their age and stage).  I've become increasingly convinced, however, that children are also for sharing.

We get told that we are a 'global village', but I think the every day reality as you walk down the street, especially in a big city, is one of individualism and busyness.  We can retreat into our own little worlds and struggle to connect with others, especially people we've never met before.  Children, however, can burn through all of that like a laser beam.  I now really try to take the time, whilst counselling Hannah to "Sit down... Stay where Mummy can see you... Put that back on the shelf - you can look, but don't touch," to see who is watching my kids and, if appropriate, take the opportunity to have a chat with them.  There's nothing like a 2 year old "changing bug's (a toy we take in the pram) nappy" in the waiting room, while your waiting to see a GP to connect with those around you and brighten their day.  It's such a natural way to strike up conversations as people start by asking their ages, and then keep on chatting.  I've been amazed at some of the more personal things people have told me, because being friendly and having kids with me seems to mark me out as someone trustworthy.  And the kids, aside from bringing smiles and giggles to those around them, can have a ministry all of their own.  One that sometimes I can learn from.

I remember my brother and sister-in-law telling me that their oldest son came home from school one day and declared that during lunch he had told his friend Jimmy that "he was going to go to hell because he didn't believe in Jesus."  While I wouldn't generally recommend that as an evangelism method, it certainly is direct!  One of my other favourite stories comes from an email that was circulating a few years ago.  Some of the details may be a bit off, but the gist is that a mother was busy working in her kitchen when she looked out the window and saw her 3 year old son sitting out on the porch of their next door neighbour's house, snuggled up on the elderly gent's lap.  She hoped that he wasn't being too annoying, because the old man had just lost his wife of fifty years.  Eventually the boy hopped down and came back home.  His Mum asked him what he had been doing next door and the little boy said, "Mr Jones is very sad, so I was helping him cry."

I hope that I can be so free to rejoice with others when they rejoice, and mourn with them when they mourn.

In the Quiet Moments

I have been feeling quite overwhelmed lately with just how much I love my children. They are currently 2 and 5 months. Now that the first few harder months have passed with my son and we're getting some more sleep overnight, I feel like life is settling into a routine and we're feeling a lot more "normal". We've developed a routine lately of having a little snuggle just before he goes down to sleep for the night. I lay him on my bed to get him zipped into his swaddle and then lay down next to him to give him some kisses and tickles. I can't explain just how much joy seeing him also enjoy my closeness brings me. It's just a little quiet moment, but so very precious.

I get a similar feeling with my daughter when I get her up from her naps and she just gives me a big relaxed, full body, head-on-my-shoulder hug - it's bliss. Or else when we're in a new place and she comes and wraps herself around my leg because she's feeling a bit wary, the knowledge that I am her place of safety and that feeling of closeness is so very special.

I love those small quiet moments.