The week before Christmas....

 Our Christmas Tree - we love our new baubles

Our first official day of school holidays passed quietly and slowly.  The bulk of our Christmas shopping was done over the weekend, with plans for the final purchases to be made tomorrow.  Our Christmas menus have been assembled in consultation with everyone in the family.  Presents are wrapped and under the tree. 

I am quietly appalled at what I did not achieve today.  Every time I sit down I end up sleeping for a few hours and today was  no different.  My wonderful children are becoming very good at quietly going off to other corners of the house while I lay claim to the family room.  This morning Mr Busy followed my lead and claimed the other couch for a long morning nap.

This afternoon I was completely enthralled by the discovery of a birds nest in our apple trees.  When I looked closely a little mother bird was sitting there quietly.  I guess she was sitting on eggs because she didn't budge even a feather until Miss Sunshine got too close in her efforts to take a photo.  At that point I directed my over-zealous kids away so that mummy bird could tend her nest in peace.

Tomorrow I need to begin on my cleaning list.  Before I succumb to a nap.

Book Review: When Mockingbirds Sing by Billy Coffey

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My first review for the summer has been posted here at Relz Reviewz.  Surely the single-most exciting way to kick off a summer of reading.  My goal is to read more than 20 books.  I'm on my way!

Click on the link to read my review.  I adored this book and will be eagerly looking for more of Billy Coffey's works.

The Parenting Files: "I am doing a great work and cannot come down".

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I've been thinking a lot lately about seasons.  Not so much about the weather but about life.  I like how our Senior Pastor's wife put it in a recent sermon on seasons:  what occurs in the natural occurs in the spiritual.  I mentioned the other day that I had been feeling a bit put out that my planned season of rest has been somewhat usurped by children's needs.  I was reminded of the aforementioned sermon as I have tried to get my head around all that is going on, and the busyness that is the end of the school year and preparing for Christmas.  In this sermon we were given five principles regarding seasons that I have found helpful.  The sermon was a part of a series on marriage, but I am finding these principles helpful in all areas of my life at the moment and perhaps you might them helpful too:

1. Every season has a purpose.
   There is no such thing as a wasted season - even the dry ones have purpose.  Expect to have hope rekindled.
2. Recognise the season you are in.
   Don't over-spiritualise (Satan is out to get me) or under-spiritualise (oh, that's just what's happening right now) your season.  You will either see things that aren't there or miss what's really happening.  Be aware of what God is doing.
3. Respond appropriately.
   An incorrect response to a season can be disastrous - think David and Bathsheba.  That event occurred at a time when David had stayed back in Jerusalem during a season when he should have been off at war. (2 Sam 11:1)  Don't try to rush ahead of the season or hang on to one for longer than it is meant to be.
4. Persevere and push through.
   Sometimes we just have to grit our teeth and push through a season.  (Gal 6:9)
5. Find your 'great work' and do not be undermined.
   Like Nehemiah, do not allow others to undermine or distract you from the work God has given you to do.  I love the words of Nehemiah, when people tried to undermine his work rebuilding the city walls, that were given here "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down" (Neh 6:3).

Each of those principles is as valuable as gold to me.  But that last one "I am doing a great work and cannot come down" just reminds me to be content in my season, to learn all that God has to teach me, to commit myself to the work He has given me to do in this season and not to be distracted, and to know that my current season has a purpose.  Every time I try to step out of the season I'm in with a new activity my life starts to unravel until I say to myself "I am doing a great work and cannot come down" and return to where I am meant to be.

Right now my season is to prepare for the next season in my work.  Within that, this is my season to care for my children's needs and rest up for the final pushing through of my season of preparation.  I am feeling impatient in so many ways, but I am equally aware that it is important to learn all I can while I'm in this season.

What is your season?  What is your 'great work'?

A Day for Resting

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I got up and got dressed for work this morning.  Then I changed my mind.  And my clothes.  For the past week I've been fighting off and then succumbing to a head cold.  My body feels OK, but my head hurts.  Especially when I cough, which is often.  Yesterday my Head of Primary suggested I was unfair to bring my germs with me to work.  Today I conceded defeat and gave in to stay home on the couch.

It is exactly one year and one month since I was last laid out with a cold - I know because it was the last time I sent a text to let school know I wouldn't be at work.  A whole year!  After being sick twice the year before I wanted a whole year, and I got it.  I think now I need to aim for....well....five years seems good to me.  I wasn't willing to admit this cold either.  The kids were saying "Mum, you're sick" and I was in denial saying "No...no I'm really not".   It worked in May when I was on teaching rounds and couldn't take time off.  My sore throat never progressed beyond just that.  I won that one!  I thought I could win this one too.

My recipe for getting better?  Three hours with Anne of Green Gables and three hours of sleep.  A perfect balance, wouldn't you say?  That and plenty of cold/flu medicine and Vicks Vapodrops to "soothe the throat and clear the nose".  I was going to have a little nap and then have lunch and watch some episodes of Nigella, but....well....I didn't wake up.  No lunch.  No Nigella.  And you know what?  I haven't slept three hours in a row for over a week.  It was bliss.  I didn't even cough once I'd settled.  Fortunately I woke in time to go and pick the kids up from school!!

I'm out for the next two evenings and I have a precious little 5yo niece coming on Friday afternoon so I hope by tomorrow my nose will have settled and there will be fewer coughing fits to be endured.  Maybe more Anne of Green Gables is required?

Mocha Muffins

If you've been reading here for a little while you will know I find nothing more inspiring for getting me into the kitchen than a little bit of Nigella viewing on TV.  The ABC have been airing her 'Nigellissima' series again, which is on when we normally watch the news.  I am making use of technology and watching episodes at my leisure using my iView app.

The kids have been complaining that they have snacked too heavily over the weekend - a charge led by their father.  In any case by Tuesday everything I had bought had been consumed with the ferocity of a swarm of locusts.  So after some Nigella viewing I went and made some mocha muffins.  When we were in Costco the other day I found some Kirkland Signature semi-sweet chocolate chips and I just wanted to use some.  I also managed to get 2kg of unsalted butter for just $2 - it was close to use-by!  My recipe is a trusted, tested one from Steph's Country Kitchen Goodness.

And on that note I've been noticing some changes in my baking powder.  My closest friends know I have baking powder issues.  Any time someone heads to the US and asks me if I want anything my immediate response is Rumford's Baking Powder.  Last time my friend Rel was the one travelling and she brought me back some Clabber Girl Baking Powder.  Either way they're both double acting - something that seems to have escaped the baking powder manufacturers in this fair land and it just works soooooo much better!  Ever since our trip to the US I have pined for baking powder that actually works.  Last week I had to buy some more baking powder for 'general use' (the American stuff is saved for special things - I make it go as far as I can!) and the branding had changed on the container.  I used it in these muffins and it seemed to me that perhaps we now have double acting baking powder ourselves.  I think I'll need to do some more experimenting.

When life throws you a curveball....

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Just when I thought I could slow down life's curve-balls have decided to head this way.  Uni finished at the beginning of November, for me, so I thought things would slow down a little.  But no.  Rather than the particularly fine art of juggling Uni with everything else we're heading down a pathway of figuring out some kid-related issues instead. 

At first I was feeling a little bit miffed that my peaceful days of no Uni were being stolen from me unawares only to be replaced with other time-consuming affairs.  And then I realised my decision not to study over the summer was really God ensuring I had the space I was going to need.  I thought I was taking time to rest.  And I am, there will still be plenty of time to sleep and read and clean my house from one end to the other.  But these days will also be ones where I can manage extra appointments and ensure the 'issues' are being cared for in the best way possible.  God does indeed know the plans he has for us.

On top of it all I now have a Year 12 student in the house, as of yesterday.  Year 12.  I really don't know how that happened.  I'm pretty sure the last time I looked at my kids they were about waist high and in Primary school.  Now we're staring down the barrel of having a school leaver this time next year.

Breakfast Anyone?

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Dh has decided going out for breakfast is his new favourite thing.  All of a sudden the children are old enough to be home without us, and going out for a breaky for two is a much cheaper alternative to dinner for five hungry adult-sized people.  The kids are all up at different times of the morning so we feel less obligated to take them along.

Dh thinks we should 'up the hill' to the tourist road next.  I'm not so sure.  A swarm of locals on bicycles are quite the road hazard on Saturday's and Sunday's between here and there.  I think we need to revisit today's restaurant so I can try all the breakfasts I couldn't choose this morning!  I have to say though, my potato rosti with poached eggs and smoked salmon was a very delicious start to the day.

As of this morning we also have a new learner driver in the house.  Miss Mischief passed her test with 94%, a result all the more sweet when she realised she had beat Miss Sunshine's score.  I don't think I'll ever be allowed to drive my car again!  When Miss Sunshine's exams are over she's on notice that she'll be pushed into more practice.  The child needs to drive to get to Uni in 2015 and 120 hours of experience are hard to come by.  Miss Mischief, on the other hand, is chomping at the bit to get going.

Maybe when one of them has a license Dh and I will move on from breakfast out to ... ohhhh, I don't know - a trip overseas for two?!!  Disneyland is singing my name, I'm sure of it.