Mid-Winter thoughts

Tonight I am so very thankful for God's provision. For his love, protection, timing, faithfulness, forgiveness, and most of all for His provision to my family.

So many times we may feel we are letting God down. I know I struggle with certain sin areas on a daily basis, and it always astounds me how much grace God offers to those who love Him. No matter my shortcomings, I know each day is a new day and that His grace is never-ending! What a wonderful, beautiful gift we have been given.

We have reached the middle month of Winter, and the cold has certainly settled in. We are using our fire place often, and enjoying the classic Winter comforts- feather doonas, lying in bed and chatting (always with little visitors!) in the mornings, very warm lavender baths, endless cups of tea, hot chocolate, coffee, warm soups, and of course cuddles by the fire. :) All good things.

And today? We were gifted with a surprise day of fellowship with our special little friends, Chloe and Declan. Their Mum, my sweet friend Cathy, is now 31 weeks and was having some pregnancy concerns which saw her require some hospital check-ups today. All is fine, but could I ask you to keep her in your prayers these coming weeks? She is just desiring a natural, healthy birth in God's timing and by His hand. Thank you for your prayers!!

We had a great day with our visitors, and got up to all sorts of holiday fun. We were so busy, I only took a couple of pictures.......... here they are.

Chloe brought these matching friendship necklaces over today. These two girls share such a special bond, I pray it will last right through their childhoods. They not only play and create and be little girls together, but they also share lots of deep thoughts and issues they are thinking through- I love catching bits of their quiet chats! They truly are a comfort and blessing to one another. So so sweet.

Two Pale faced Rosellas visited our bird feeder this afternoon. What a treat. I had two very excited little children running in to tell me to grab the camera!!

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In other family matters, Stuart and I are working on a few negative character habits we have seen creeping in with our older children these past months. It is so helpful having him home for the holidays to help me 'spot', train and encourage the children in these areas. How I wish he could be around all the time!! It has been an encouragement to us both to see some improvement, just in the past few days. I have found that children are so responsive when we are clear, intentional and consistent in our expectations of them.

I am hoping that the seeds we're sowing these holidays will bear some good fruit once we get back into our homeschool routine next term. I am feeling very optimistic about this!

God has opened my eyes to many things as I have spent time reflecting on our first term of homeschooling. Oh, He keeps opening my eyes to many many things in every area of our family life and although overwhelming at times, I do feel blessed and inspired and so thankful once again for his provision and care! It's good to keep in mind that being challenged is a positive thing. We are meant to keep growing spiritually throughout our lives and this can happen when we identify our weaknesses, hand them over to God and trust in His help in improving them. Remember, we have been promised:

"........... with God, all things are possible". Matthew19:26.

"Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you". Matthew 7:7.

I look forward to implementing some changes to the way we were doing things last term. I have been planning out the next term and look forward to sharing more with you soon.

Most importantly, Saraya (and Elijah too) is very enthusiastic about learning and is loving being home with me. I am so grateful for this! I too am loving and appreciating all the extra time I have been given with her.

Oh, and she is turning into quite the avid photographer too. :)

She spent rather a long time just before baths tonight trying to get the 'perfect' photo of her chicken Tulip- looking at the camera. She got it in the end! I was inside cooking dinner when she finally came in, satisfied at last that she had captured what she'd wanted to capture. I tell you, this girl sure is determined.

God bless you this week!

Saturday Swap Part One

A long time ago, my friend Cathy and I talked about the idea of doing a child-swap once a month... to create a free Saturday for us as couples to spend special time together. Today was our guinea-pig run, and Chloe and Declan spent the day with us. We had a blast!! All the children were absolutely exhausted and should hopefully sleep really well tonight. :)

This is what we got up to...........................

Making home-made strawberry jam, Jamie Oliver style

Declan entertaining us with his music on the back patio

Rest time = watching Deigo and Dora and reclining on cushions

William enjoying the entertainment of having extra kids around!!

Enjoying a swim in the paddle pool................. great that it was such a warm day today. :)

A walk and a play at the park nearby our place. One of the horses who lives in the Pony Club grounds next to the park came over for a chat and to eat the grass offered by 4 willing feeders!

Making octopus craft before tea (thanks Tamra for the idea!) I'll post a photo of the finished art tomorrow....



After a child-free day, Cathy and Gary joined us for dinner at our place. I don't have photos of the main, just the dessert (can you tell we are all sweet-tooth's around here?!). Orange jelly with strawberries, and donuts which we embellished with our homemade jam from this morning. Instant jam donuts!! It was great to share dinner with friends.

We finished off the evening with a spontaneous dance session in the living room to the kids worship song "Fruits of the Spirit" which Saraya and Chloe know from school. The boys joined in too! Tomorrow at church is a special children's service which will be fun for all. Apparently there'll be more singing and dancing then too. What a weekend! Thanks so much Chloe and Declan for coming to spend the day with us. We loved having you! ;)

Why not give this child-swap idea a go with some friends of yours? It was easy for us to have these 2 little ones over for the day; and it forced Stu and I to stop work and just have some genuine fun! I know their Mum and Dad had a pretty relaxing day too. :) I'm looking forward to our turn next month, and I know Saraya and Elijah are already looking forward to it too!!!