Nature Journaling

Great to catch up with some lovely friends - this was the day Josh had been waiting for (see blog re. fork lift) The kids ate lunch in the cubby house, bounced on the trampoline and then did some scientific investigating of creepy crawlies! They found a grub, snails, a bee (with very pollen-laden back legs) and other little bugs under the surface of the bark. Out came the magnifying glass and pencils and they sketched away. The grub was quite a funny creature and was crawling along upside down in the tank...

Moving Days (literally)

Joshua has been looking forward to some friends coming over on Thursday. He has been talking about it a lot - in fact here's what he said this morning which made me smile:

He was holding this fork lift in his hand

- moving the prongs up and down - and he said "Mum, I can't wait until Thursday... I wish I could just lift up the days (here he did a demo) and move them out of the way so I could get to Thursday!"

answers to prayer

It has been lovely to see some answers to our prayers lately in our local church. On Sunday I was looking around the church to see more precious faces coming to worship. There were quite a few children, too. One sweet lady from the church arranged to bring colouring sheets and pencils for the kids. I watched Joshua's eyes light up when so many kids showed up - he was racing to hand out the colouring sheets. There was a little discussion after the service about a Sunday School starting up soon - WOW - so many prayers answered or in the process of being answered. What an encouragement to Joshua in particular who has prayed for these things with us! Thankyou Lord!

Sunday evening service at Grace was also a great encouragement from the last sermon of Stephen before he was martyred (Acts 7).
David so selflessly and voluntarily takes Owen and Rosa out during church when they squalk (and that has been every week for some time now) so that I can take in the message (he listens via. connection in Creche).

Imaginative play

I went to check on the boys this afternoon and this is how I found them. They were having such a lovely picnic! Ah, to be a child again!

I thank you Lord for the imagination,

for brothers having fun together

and for the sound of their happy voices

Let All Things Now Living

We sang this song together as a family tonight (Daddy's choice) from our hymn books. It is still singing away in my head - such a lovely tune and words of praise

Katherine K. Davis, 1892Music:
A traditional Welsh melody.

Let All Things Now Living
Let all things now living a song of thanksgiving
To God the creator triumphantly raise.
Who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us,
Who still guides us on to the end of our days.
God's banners are o'er us,
His light goes before us,
A pillar of fire shining forth in the night.
Till shadows have vanished and darkness is banished
As forward we travel from light into light.
His law he enforces, the stars in their courses
And sun in its orbit obediently shine;
The hills and the mountains, the rivers and fountains,
The deeps of the ocean proclaim him divine.
We too should be voicing our love and rejoicing;
With glad adoration a Song let us raise
Till all things now living unite in thanksgiving:
"To God in the highest, Hosanna and praise!"

...Do you know, I just realised this song has a Scientific Error in it - (it was written in 1892). According to what I was taught - the Sun doesn't actually orbit... perhaps it should be changed to the earth in its orbit...

Oh well, I guess that was the scientific understanding of the time - the God of the hymn hasn't changed however !!

Poetry rib-tickling

Poetry can be a lot of fun - and Josh and I have had stitches today over some of the crazy/nonsensical poems he has come up with. We took this simple poem:

To market, to market to buy a fat pig,
Home again, home again, jiggety jig;

To market to market to buy a fat hog,
Home again, home again, jiggety-jog.

We discussed which verses rhyme and wrote out the rhythm/syllable pattern of each verse. The tricky part for Josh was thinking of rhyming words which actually kind of related to
eachother... here is his first attempt - which had Dave and I laughing (perhaps it was the way he read it):

To Brisbane, to Brisbane to get a big hug
Home again, home again, sug, nug, tug wug!
(too much Dr. Seuss?)

And another one... (very boyish)

To Brisbane, to Brisbane to buy a big fish,
Home again, home again, cook in a dish;

To Brisbane, to Brisbane to buy a fat toad,
Home again, home again, squished on the road!

By the way, here is a helpful site for any homeschoolers/interested parents who frequent my blog. I stumbled across this in my searching for poetry help:

http://www.kathimitchell.com/poemtypes.html

sharing birthday cake with friends

We trotted on down to Owen's Prep. class on Friday to share some birthday cake with Owen and his friends. When we arrived, one of Owen's friends came up and gave me a bear hug. We walked down to Owen's class and eventually the rest of the class followed after their outdoor play. We say happy birthday, munched on cake and were invited to join in the afternoon program.

I thank the Lord for Owen's teacher and the teacher aides there. There are certainly a lot of needs amongst so few children - one constantly running off, another squealing, one rolling around on the floor and another stony silent. Each precious little one seemed to respond, however and seemed to have some idea of the routine - which to me is just incredible in any group of Special needs kids. They had most kids singing along, playing (or rather banging very loudly in most cases!) instruments and freezing when the music stopped.

Nanna Mulky

Owen and I enjoyed the treat of eachother's company on Thursday - just the two of us ( I think this might be a first, too!). I took Owen late night shopping to try and find him a trike/bike with training wheels that might encourage Owen to learn to pedal. Alas, we found nothing that was suitable as his legs are just too short or the peddles too far forward (physio) recommended having them directly below bottom so that gravity can also help with peddaling and transition to a two wheel bike is easier...

Well, we didn't find a trike but we had fun together. Owen seemed to just soak up all the extra attention he was getting and got quite giggly. We enjoyed some snuggles and a "nanna mulky" - milk shake. He got some smiles from the lady in Wendys when he peeked Over the counter, waiting for Mum to get an extra straw. Here is Owen, proud as punch!

Happy Birzday Oze!

It has been a whopping 5 years today since the Lord gave us our Owen. What a lot has happened in these five years. Owen was born in the Czech Republic (in the bathroom of our little apartment - but that is another story). David and I just lay on the hospital bed praying "Lord, we don't know how to raise a special needs child, help us please!". Since that time Owen has had two heart surgeries and multiple operations to insert grommets in his ears, tests for thyroid function, hearing, eye sight and a few others I just can't remember... but you know that all seems like nothing... nothing at all when you look at the cheeky grin he gives you, when you see him dance and bop to music, when you see him running with his arms swinging, Owen style! Ahh... these five years have been so full and so rewarding. We know that the Lord has been with us.

While you are just so full of mischief and still cause your Mum and Dad to wonder what on earth we are going to do sometimes - we just love you so much, Owen! You add such a dimension to our lives that we could never have imagined - you are so much fun. This morning you gave us that shy, delighted little smirky smile when we told you it was your birthday. You didn't seem to mind that big brother wanted to open all your presents right away and both Joshua and Rosa wanted to play with all your new toys. You don't hold grudges either, Owen!

You are so absolutely affectionate! When Daddy's relatives stayed with us before the funeral you were so quick to make friends with your great Aunt and Uncle - in fact you were instantly on Great Uncle Peter's lap and followed him around - best friends at once though you had never met him before.

I was once again blown away at Grandma's house, after the funeral when Grandma's new, elderly neighbour popped in to bring a boquet of flowers that had accidentally been delivered to his door. When asked, the gentleman said that he had no grandchildren of his own, to which grandma replied "Well here, have some!" You just jumped on the man's lap and gave him cuddles instantly! He was so blown away! He said he has only his three legged dog to talk to at home and though he was new in the neighbourhood you just made him feel right at home! Who could resist the warmth of your cuddles, Owen??

Owen our prayer for you is that your sweet affection may draw many to the Lord - that your welcoming ways and "Hi" to all you meet may help to make the outsider feel welcome...

XOXOX - hope you had a special day Owen!

PS - in case you are wondering - our cowboy happens to like ice creams (see photos above)!

Thanks Dad and Mum - every cowboy should have them!

earthly goodbye

Monday 12th of May 2008 - Dad C's funeral... seems so hard to believe that Dad was just his normal self just over a month ago.

The singing at the funeral was full of gusto - Dad was part of two choirs (Festival of Male voice Praise and the Amen Singers) - they just lifted the singing incredibly. Joshua read out what he had written (see previous blog - "Things I love about Grandpa"). David shared his Eulogy. Ian's long time friend, and pastor shared the message.

Although I thought it would all be ok - that I had dealt with all the teary side of things I am afraid I am a bit of an emotional mush ball sometimes... tears again...

Jennifer made a beautiful slide show with some pictures from Dad's life. Dad and Mum C are both singing in the background the song they sang at three of the grandchildren's dedication services. Dad left behind a beautiful legacy of faithfulness to Christ, tender love for his wife and an absolute delight in singing and playing music to His Lord. Plenty of opportunity for his tenor voice to praise to his heart's content where he is now!

You can view the slideshow Jen put together by clicking here (requires Adobe PDF viewer), and pressing down-arrow to move through the slides. Sorry about the lack of audio.