hubby is hilarious

Here's what my hubby did the other night... Decided to take a photo of his wife through his ring... Not sure where he got the idea, maybe it came to him after recently attending one of those "guys only" Christian seminars...

Now it is all sweetness and mushyness until you notice the pile of dishes in the background.


Of course as Dave took the photo I said "loves, you might like to note what is in the background... please hide the mess" Ah I laugh as I type...


Like a true romantic he was so busy taking photos of his subject I guess he just didn't notice:)

mr cabinet himself

Now you really couldn't get cuter photos of my cabinet (if I do say so myself!). Daddy thought it was real fun to slot Owen right in while it was laying down ...

These photos just make me wanna give those cheeky little cheeks a kiss and the ribs a tickle!

good health

Ah - so good to be over the nasty flu, have a tad of energy and just do the normal things of life... The flu that has circulated our family (bar Josh - don't know how he missed this one) had us knocked out. I just couldn't venture far from bed at all. I spent a large part of three days mostly in bed. I set Joshua a list of work to go on with. Rosa played for quite some time in the port-a-cot down near David as he worked (poor hubby - trying to keep her happy) and Owen was in bed with me sniffling away while I went from hot to cold/cold to hot... Ah... not the way to homeschool - I can tell you! I don't think anyone really tells you how to deal with these days when you set out home schooling. Needless to say it feels like our homeschooling is all over the place, that I have a mountain to catch up on...

However...

What a blessing to be back in good health, I thank the Lord that this sickness was tempory, that my children are all on the mend and that the sun felt so good on my back. I sat with the younger two in our sunroom - back to the glass... the sun just soaking in after feeling too light-headed to even walk around the previous day. Oh it felt good!

Thank you Lord for your mercies. Thankyou for good health. Thankyou that you pour out your goodness like the warmth of the sun..

cabinet making - come on all you mums - you should try your hand at it!

I have recently tried my hand at some very basic cabinet making. Having priced having a simple shelf made for laundry baskets under our dryer we decided that it was a no-goer - seemed ridiculous to pay so much for something so basic. I had to cut the timber to fit it in the van (we had quite a few large pieces of timber in our garage from moving a wall to the garage years ago.



So I have made it myself (with some help of course - as I have never done anything of this type since highschool and even then it was only a little wooden shape to put hot pots on...) I found out that there is a place nearby where you can go and cut your own timber. They charge a fee for the machine use per hour and the first visit you must also pay for some supervision/help in using the machines. I must admit I felt rather odd amongst so many men there but the supervisor was most helpful and very picky about exact measurements (he told me that I had one measurement 1/4 of a mm out! and then asked if he was being too picky .... I just smiled).

At any rate it is now sitting downstairs almost complete ... waiting for the next coat of paint and some wheels on the base. Because the shelves are so deep I need to wear a shower cap whilst painting so that I don't come out with white hair.

It has been fun but I am very keen to have this project out of the way soon (blocks up quite some space in the laundry until it is put into its little nook) Must confess to starting too many big projects of late (hubby can testify!).

Unfortunately I have some flu or something now and have spent the morning in bed shivering...

That'll teach me (maybe....)

photos of finished job to come...

Antinomian (against the law - lawless....)

Looks like we have an antinomian in the family! Please.... let me explain...

We have had ongoing verbal battles between Rosa and Owen. Owen will say "apple pie" and Rosa will crossly say "No apple pie!" and then "eat" and Rosa, "no eat!" and so on... hmmm... the old sin nature at it again!

Anyway we have been learning the verse from Galatians 5v 22 and 23...

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control, against such things there is no law.

Rosa was sitting on the potty one day - Owen walks up and starts talking about this verse - saying "law!" and of course, Rosa... "No law!"

A few nights ago at the dinner table there was a rare quiet moment while all were eating. All of the sudden Rosa declares "No law!"

I must confess at this point that we all ended up in stitches! (and of course now we are going to have to try and help her learn the rest of the verse :)

Friends and more Doulos

Some pictures Daddy took/had taken on another outing to Doulos with our neighbours.

Joshua with his two friends - an answer to his prayers. Joshua prayed that some children would come along to our church and the Lord answered. Here he is with his friends Zachariah and Innocent. Thanks Lord for hearing the prayers of our Joshua! He is so pleased to see them each week.

We also picked up 4 Doulosites (is that a word?) and brought them to church on Sunday. They shared a little about the work of the Doulos, a little skit and a children's talk. They were from Germany, Sweden (two of them) and South Africa. Was a wonderful day to have them fellowshipping amongst us - truly a multicultural church service!

Bird feeder experiment

Wondering how that bird experiment is going? Well here are some of our visitors. Not sure exactly what the little birds are - some type of finch? If you know, please drop me a post. Otherwise it is to the library to look up some Aussie bird identifier books.

So far it looks like the small seeds are most popular (of course the photo above shows just how many came one morning - must say it was a little hard to count as there were this many more nearby on fence - they seemed to take turns feasting their little bellies)

It has been amazing to see birds coming from all over the place - such beauty and a reminder that the Lord looks after these little birds and cares when even one sparrow falls to the ground...

Funny Logic

Mum told me I should keep a record of the funny things my kids say... so I have a little book which I keep in the pantry (close at hand) and have jotted some down from time to time. Here are a few funnies...

This first one was only a couple of days ago:

Mum, what is your favourite type of weed? (this one had me chuckling!)

When Josh was about 4 he said to a friend who was staying with us:

"You look different today... maybe you had a bath!". Thankfully it was taken in good humour!

Another time Joshua (5 + yrs) was praying and said "It's funny that you made people out of dust, isn't it Lord?"

After a meal that must have made some sort of impression:
"I am very content with you cooking that yummy meal, Mummy!"

...And some logic from our then 4 year old:

We had just bought a new computer and Joshua was asking if he could use his special CD, Reader Rabbit on it. We had just sold our old computer. Daddy explained that Reader Rabbit only worked on the old computer. Joshua thought for a minute and then said "Oh well.(sigh).. we'll just have to wait until it's old!"

What are some funny things your kids have said to you?

Curry Puff Tutorial

Here's a fun recipe (cheat's version - I don't make my own pastry) that I make every once in a blue moon for a morning tea/snack or something to take along to a party, etc.

Curry Puffs

Ingredients:

• 500g mince meat
• Indian spices - I use cummin seeds, garam masala, tumeric and curry powder (use whatever spices your family likes)
• frozen peas
• 2 finely diced onions
• grated zucchini (optional - found it added a tiny bit of moisture without being to soggy for pastry)
• garlic - to taste (we love garlic and I used about 3-4 large cloves.
• 1 egg lightly beaten
• puff pastry

Method

• Brown mince - drain off fat/water so that the mixture is not too moist (or it will leak out of the sides of pastry - making it soggy.


• add diced onion and finely chopped garlic - continue cooking


• add indian spices
  
• throw in peas and grated zucchini
  

Cut 1 sheet of pastry into four squares (no wastage - yay!). Cut each of these squares into two triangles like this:

Picking up one triange - fold the long side of the triangle in half and pinch sides together like so:

Fill with a Tablespoon of mince mixture

Pinch the top points of the triangle together and it will become a square shape. Pinch open ends together like this:

Place on baking tray. Brush with egg.

Cook in hot oven (approx. 220C) for 15 min. or until golden brown on top. Serve with chilli sauce or with some cucumber raita for a meal. Enjoy.

You could also cube pre-cooked potatoes and add to mince mixture - or even forget the curry thing and make spinach and fetta pastries - might try those sometime...

Rosa wasn't too sure about the curry mixture but had three helpings of Raita. Josh was keen on the pastries. Owen probably preferred the Raita but made a huge mess all over the floor! Think I had better go and clean up more of the remains I just spotted...

What is your favourite recipe to take to a party/special occasion?

Doulos

We have all come home exhausted but having had a wonderful afternoon & evening exploring the Doulos ship which is in port in Brisbane at the moment (and are here till' 19 August for those who still plan to try and make a trip). Even Daddy was able to join us as he worked a bit of overtime in previous few days .

We joined some other home schoolers on board the ship for a bit of an overview about the ship,

some multi-choice questions in a quiz, watch a couple of little skits (one about how people from different cultures greet eachother) and then enjoy a wander around the book shop (oh and nice prices on books with international money unit and Aussie dollar ;) Found a lovely Kate Greenaway book... (just love her illustrations!)but that's another subject...

A while later we went on a tour of the ship with a friendly tour guide from Nigeria.

Took a peek in the noisy engine room

Unfortunately Owen got taken away in the dirty laundry bin (honestly Dad's are so much fun to take on excursions - just can't resist opportunities to tease, can they?... and just look at Owen's face - just loves it!!)

Joshua and Sariah enjoyed trying on the Captains cap.

A little later our guide pointed out the real captain of the ship himself, and it was "Aye, Aye, Captain!" from our cheeky Josh... and a too hard to resist photo opportunity!

Overall it was a lovely day and great to see so many Christians working and living together in tight quarters (and the room they showed us was tiny indeed) - learning to serve the Lord together.

Our tour guide was telling us about the many opportunities for Bibles to be available in countries that normally oppose them being available to non-Christians. Seems that when Bibles are forbidden to those of other religions - they just want them with a passion! They have even had trouble keeping up with the demand in some cases!

My advice to any who wish to visit the doulos with kids:

Take plenty of drinks & snacks and more drinks and snacks (never seem to have enough of these with my kids), warm jackets, camera and be prepared to carry little ones for a while (quite a bit of walking and very steep stair cases)... oh and try not to let your little one lie down from exhaustion right near the entry way stairs on the way out like my 5 year old did (had to scrape him off the ground he was quite ready to sleep there on the hard deck... yikes... what type of mother allows that??)

And do you know what? Our kids have all hit the pillow and there is not a peep to be heard!