another project

Thank you all for your lovely comments! I truly had a lot of fun making the box, so winning was just a double bonus! I don't think I'll be starting too many new projects with a new bubs to arrive soon.... (still finishing some old ones :)

Below is one of the most recently finished projects in our house... Promised to put up some photos for family... I did not think of idea myself, though, just came across this idea on the internet.... as well as idea for display shelf from Lauren's lovely play room. I asked hubby if he could help me put two display shelves together. Here is the finished result:

So far it has been wonderful - keeps Rosa's mind off pulling out clothes and trying them on each morning;) , gives her something to do and the best part - easy for her to put books back herself!

Sharon craftily wins prize

Sharon's husband David here. She hesitates to post here about it but I'm proud to say that my wife Sharon was one of the winners at a competition run on the Salvation Army web site http://www.furnishwithaconscience.com/ to renovate used furniture purchased from their store.

Congratulations Sharon !!! XOX

Goofin'

Sometimes it is a treat to savour some precious family time - just goofing around or doing things 'just cause'. I decided to make Devonshire tea with Rosa and Owen while Josh was working on putting together a project earlier this week. To be honest, I am not usually very adventurous with my younger two, knowing the huge mess cooking creates and how long it will take me to clean it all away... ah, said I to self.. "who cares about mess today - let's just have fun!" So we made a batch of scones, beat up some cream and then set the table. Josh, who had returned by then agreed to show Rosa where some suitable flowers were for the table and Rosa cut them. The scones were warm and fresh, the tea bags mutilated in their tea cups (no, Owen, I don't know why tea companies insist on putting those little tags on the tea bags) the hot water and milk served... but the company was the sweetest of all!

... and the leftover mess didn't seem nearly so big as the fun we had!

Tonight Daddy decided it was dance time and had us all dancing around and being goofy! Yes, even me, with my swaying belly - we had circle dances with hands into the middle and bellies bumping! I am always fascinated by the differences in dance styles - Owen had some very funny moves (Uncle Ken taught him, incidentally/and completely unintentionally ... but that's another story....! ), Josh dances from the hip, Rosa just crashes into things and Daddy makes great facial expressions. And, no, this is just family goofin' stuff, we certainly are closet dancers and do not do shows, videos, or even items on concert nights of that nature...

Ah, don't you just love that you can be a complete goof ball to your family and they'll still talk to you in the morning!

Arriving in Melbourne

When we arrived in Melbourne we Taxi-ed to 'Rent a Bomb' and strapped our munchkins in:

... and the next two weeks we spent catching up with...

Grampy and Nanny and the youngest addition, Bethany...

Doing some wacky games together

,

eating together, more eating and eating (did I mention eating? ... and no - I didn't swallow a whole watermelon - though it may look like it!)

Enjoying some company with Great Grampy and Nanny...

And lots of catching up with family...

and lots of fime for cousins to catch up...

and make wanted posters for Uncle Sam - who decided to grow facial hair just for the occasion!

... See the resemblance?

We make quite a group when we actually all get together (except Rosa who happened to be sound asleep when the photo was taken - there's always one isn't there?)

I am sure you can only begin to imagine all the noise we make when together, all the food we eat, all the fun we have ... what a blessing it is to be surrounded by family!

Lead up to Christmas 09

Our busy lead up to Christmas....

Involved a lot of dear friends. David has been busy helping Joseph get his Aussie Driver's License...

Lots of drop in visits from Trokon who was glad to be finished school for the year (one more year to go!)...

A lovely Campbell Pre-Christmas dinner

A church dinner

... and then it was time to prepare for our flight to Melbourne...

Christmas ideas

BTW -here is a cute idea for Christmas decorations (made from paddle-pop sticks) that looks fun and inexpensive. Not that we get snow in this part of the world - but it is a nice thought!

Storage box - another one!

I finally finished entering the Salvos Competition - Furnish with a Conscience. I think the hardest part was figuring out how to upload photos and enter information into their website (my very patient hubby helped me with that:)!

Well here is the before photo:

Not actually sure what this ugly box was before - it had no base, so I flipped it over and made the top the base and added a lid from MDF (plus a trim of wood to neaten up the rough edges around the new "top"

I bought it for a massive $5

I painted the box a tan colour (using a tin of mistint paint I picked up for $3) then painted little creatures on each side. I outlined the pictures with a brown Nikko pen (which cost me more than the box... eeek!).

I padded the top and blanket-stitched a star onto the fabric (I picked fabric up from toss out bin at Salvos, too). Next I staple-gunned the fabric down and my beloved husband (ever so patient with my ridiculous projects:) helped me chisel a tad so I could add hinges to the box.

Here are some After shots:

Some views of each side:

:

The majority of the work has been finished for some time - only just got to the hinges last night!

Well it is now in Rosa's room and will soon be holding a bunch of nappies - both for a two-and-a half-year old and soon a newborn! (This way Rosa can actually reach them for herself - yay!)

Was all fun - but as always, nice to be finished (am sure to find another arty project soon;)

Salvation

Well, it was my foggy, pregnant brain! I am so sorry about that :(

Well, here is something new and exciting that just happened today - puts a smile in my heart.

This morning we witnessed the testimony and baptism of a gentleman from our church (hopefully photos to come). This gentleman, about 50-ish (eek - terrible at guessing ages:) has been a believer for about 3 yrs.

He shared that he had grown up in a Catholic church and having a fear of sharing with the priest his 'confession' as well as witnessing some coldness within the church decided religion was not for him. He married a sweet lady who was also a non-believer. Through the witness of a neighbour, his wife came to the Lord. This faithful prayer-warrior prayed for 30 long years for her hubby to come to know Christ. She went through a lot when he joined the police force and struggled to come to terms with what he witnessed. He took out his frustrations on his family and kids and became even harder. He later suffered a heart attack and was challenged by a friend to be ready to meet Christ (maybe a Christian police officer - not sure on specific details - only that an officer friend invited him to the Salvation Army Church). The Lord worked on his heart during a particular service there which lead to his salvation. After 30 long years of prayer he has come into a relationship with His creator! This man broke down and wept when he shared how long his wife had prayed for him.

The Lord truly cares for the lost

The prayers of a faithful, consistent wife (or Father, Uncle, friend, whoever...) are heard!

The whole event of a genuine conversion can have a bonding effect on the church. After the service I dropped a few people home and was so encouraged to hear the conversation in the van - one woman from Ghana encouraging another gentleman to see that his daughter could come to the Lord - that he should keep praying! Am encouraged to pray for this woman too - and discovered today that her baby is due on the same day as mine... will know in more ways that one how to pray for her.

Our God is an awesome God!

memories

I had planned to post these thoughts a long time ago. I wrote myself a huge list and then forgot the 'safe' place that I put it... nonetheless ... Please... don't tell me I did end up posting this? Somehow I remember writing it all out but I do believe I never posted it? OR could it be my foggy, forgetful pregnant brain?

Sometimes I wonder what things my children will remember. I wonder what stays in their mind - the pleasant memories as well as the things that really upset them or things they may feel quite strongly about having experienced them in one way or other.

I wonder what spiritual lessons they will learn easily - and those that might be harder to learn because of the particular way the Lord wired them up. Those things become more obvious as they get older...

I have some fond memories from childhood. Many are quite simple things... little memories I have. I like to reflect on them from time to time and remember to do those things that may also be precious memories for my children.

Just thought I'd share a few little things that are sweet memories for me:

• Being wrapped tightly in a towel and snuggled tight after a bath
• Going off to sleep with my Dad practicing hymns for playing at church - somehow i just attached a sense of security to it.
• When my little dolly's leg broke and my Dad glued it (it couldn't swivel anymore) but instead made a pair of crutches for it out of paddle pop sticks
• Adults at church who took the time to talk to me as an individual (and we three sisters were often inseparable - in fact were often called "Hui, Duey and Lui" because we were always sitting together)
• Sitting in our lounge, where we had prayer meeting watching missionary slide shows from missos who were back for a time (and being allowed to stay up to watch)
• Having a tea party with my Grandma and Grandpa - being allowed to put 'real' tea into the cups and having real lollies to dish out to them :)
• Sitting in our apricot tree and feeding my face with yummy Tasmanian, home-grown apricots!
• Being allowed to select a hymn to sing in Bible study time (I think I nearly always chose the same one - Hymn no. 2 - To God be the Glory...)
• Having long chats with Mum sitting on the end of my bed (right into my teens - loved those chats!)

There are other memories that come to mind every now and then. I find, in reflecting on them, I am challenged to remember to incorporate little memories into the lives of our children. I am also challenged to be more flexible (a few late nights never hurt - a hard one for me to learn!). Most importantly I am challenged to make sure the moments count - that we make the most of those incidental conversations on spiritual matters, create an open atmosphere where our children can ask questions about what they read in the Bible, where they feel loved and cared for.... and all of that amongst the noisy, chaos that happens in our house on a daily, moment-by moment basis!

Help me Lord to hear your promptings amongst the noise and chaos, the arguing and the squealing!

What are some fond memories you have?

On observation of the above - no/little money was involved in any of these memories!

Christmas Teacher Gifts

...Please bear with me... lots of crafty type blog posts lately with various projects I've been doing. Well here are some Christmas treats we made for the staff at Owen's school.

Today Owen's class does a mini presentation (I believe they are singing a song about rainbow colours as Owen has been singing about different colours around the house;)

We have been again, pleasantly surprised by the caliber of teachers at his school - their extreme patience (which, trust me, they need mountains of!!) and their commitment to helping kids learn. We do not expect them to share our value system, but are extremely thankful that to date nothing has been deliberately opposing our views, either. We are so thankful. Also so thankful that our Owen has a close friend who he just loves to be with. Whenever he is away (and according to his report that has been a massive - 23 day this year (slow recovery time with colds, etc. as well as the regular medical appointments) he gets such a welcome back from his friend - who squeals with delight when he sees Owen and tells him over and over how much he was missed. Just beautiful to see.

...Anyway, here are the Christmas treats we threw together... So glad I thought to make these a week or so ago when the weather was cooler (froze them). All we had to do yesterday was decorate them. We used mini M&Ms ...

I also found some long, red-striped notebooks which came with matching pens. I decided to add a little embellishment:

With a little note from Owen on the back:

Then packaged them:

Or rather a bunch of them:

Ready for the day...

Though I must confess that a couple of the men disappeared somewhere along the production line:

... but who could blame such a cute culprit?

Rosa had such fun handing me bags for the men, M&M's for the eyes, etc. and has been talking about the whole procedure to Grandma who came to look after the kids last night! Might have a another keen crafter in the family!