My Elijah Boy

I've noticed some big changes in my beautiful Elijah boy over the past few weeks. He is changing and growing and developing at a new pace.

He suddenly just seems more grown up. The feeling is, for me, bittersweet. :)

He has taken quite an interest in drawing lately, and makes all sorts of little things which delight me. Not just drawings, but characters which have names and interact with one another. Last week he made a "backdrop" (a forest picture with a big slit in it to stick puppets through), and a whole collection of little puppets (drawings of animals and people and clouds and raindrops etc. all stuck onto little coloured matchsticks). He has performed little shows with them. He is so imaginative.

He is getting quite interested in numbers. He loves to work out little sums, and is constantly seeing patterns everywhere.

His interest in space continues. He has found a craft project which he wants to try in one of his big sister's art books. It is basically making cards with pop-out astronauts and planets. etc., and it looks quite tricky. But I want to say "YES!" to him. He is such a gracious, patient little guy and I just love saying yes to Elijah. So make the cards we will.

He has learnt to buckle himself in in the car.

He has learnt to wipe his own bottom, all the time. ;)

He has started to put on his own socks and sneakers; he gets out of the bath on his own, dries off and gets pyjamas on all by himself. :D He gets up early every morning, and finds things to do quietly in his room. By the time we get up (at the oh so late hour of 6am or so :)), he has quite a few things to show me.

Perhaps some little boys Elijah's age have been able to do these things for awhile already. That's okay. Every child develops at their own pace. Eli is small for his age (still wearing a size 3 at 5 and a half years old), he hasn't lost any teeth yet (no wobblies yet either), he doesn't even own a 2-wheeler bike (Christmas is coming though! Hang on Elijah!)......... he is a little man who is taking his time growing up.

But growing up he is.

I'm so proud of my Elijah Samuel. He is a beautiful, sweet little boy who will never eat a bite before giving thanks for his dinner, and making sure we all do too. Who kisses and cuddles me all the day long. Who is humble and kind and won't lay a hand on William despite the hits over the head he receives from time to time. Who tells me I'm the best cook in the whole wide world. :D

Love you Elijah! xx

Our Family Bed

We read many books by Dr Sears and other authors who encouraged the family bed - allowing children to co-sleep with their parents - before we got married and had our babies. For the most part, I have always enjoyed having my children close to me as they sleep. As babies they would either sleep in a cradle next to our bed, or right next to us snuggled up close. This made night-time feeding easier, gave them (and me) peace of mind as we slept, and (as studies are now proving) reduced the risks of SIDS.

By the weaning age of around 2 years, our children have gone into their own beds and rooms. Saraya and Eiljah generally sleep through the night now, though William still joins us at some point during the night. He'll cuddle up next to me and go back to sleep.

Occasionally though, if Stuart is going to be away for the night, I'll invite Saraya to sleep in with me. She LOVES to do this. :) So on Saturday morning, with Stuart away at the Junior School Camp, this is what I woke up to. I had been squished there on the edge with the double pillows.

Two of my babies sleeping soundly beside me, the other one soon to appear and join me on the verandah for an early-morning cup of tea while the sleepy two kept on sleeping.

I love being close to my children, fostering trust and love, and cherishing these times when they are little and actually desire being close to their Mama. ;) They are growing up all too quickly.

William, Today

Our little William is such a delight. I swear, he is 2 going on 20. Everyone who meets him describes him as "a little man" - and that's exactly right! He loves anything blokey. He knows he is a boy. He loves tools, machinery, work sites and buildings and anyone in a trade's uniform. :) He is so so different from his big brother. My stepbrother Luke came to visit yesterday, and he works for a forklift company. His van had pictures of forklifts on the side, and Will was so impressed. He just loved Uncle Luke being here because he talked about tools and such. :) William brings me so much joy and makes us all laugh. He honestly is witty and hilarious, and he knows it! Here are some pictures of William, today.

Playing with his own little tool set (thanks Grandad!)

Watching Playschool with his big brother

The boys and I cuddled and read about a dozen library books this morning while Saraya did her literacy work. Here I am reading "Small Bear Lost" by Martin Waddell - this is Will's most favourite book at the moment and he asks me to read it again and again.. and again and again..

Playing at the pool this afternoon. It was cool and rainy but I'd promised the kids we'd go on Friday afternoon, so I wanted to follow through! They didn't mind the weather, they all had a great time.

Reading in bed with Stuart tonight. Will loves me a lot, but I think he loves his Papa even more. :) He gets SO excited every day when Stu gets home, it's lovely to watch.

We love you William David, thanks for being such a wonderful little boy! I can't wait to see God's plans unfold in your life. I'm so proud to be your Mama. xx

Cutting Back

I have been reading much lately about women deciding to quit blogging, for various reasons. For most, it is the sheer distraction of the computer, luring us away from our real-life duties and into the virtual world. On a hard day, the virtual world can be a comfort, filled with ideas and inspiring pictures to help us on our way.

I have also heard many people shunning the 'beautiful' blogs out there...... blogs where the mother is content, the children happy, the family strong. This I will not do. I know (as we all should) that blogs are a snippet of real life. No-one has a perfect life. We are all human, all sinners, all flawed. All striving to do our best with what we have been given. For me, I gain so much from reading the inspirational, the beautiful, learning of the peaceful lives other families are striving to create. Homeschooling advice from seasoned homeschool mothers. Recipes. Craft ideas. I can then apply these things to my own life. Should this not be our goal as women? Always learning, always growing? And striving for peace and beauty and love in our homes?

Lately, I have felt the pull of the computer. It ebbs and flows, as does life, but right now it is luring me in. Blogging is a bit of a passion. :) And one I'm not going to give up. Blogging has taught me to seek the beauty in the every day. And reading those blogs which encourage and teach me and fill my cup - well, I'd be foolish to give that up!

So. I'm telling you all this to simply share that I'm going to be cutting back. I will not be posting frequently, at least for awhile. I want to concentrate on some other things........ working in the garden daily, playing more with the children, baking bread more regularly again, and making some birthday gifts for the boys (birthdays coming up soon!). I'm thinking I'll just do weekly posts on the weekends. I will catch up on blog reading at that time also. If I post during the week, it will just be little posts. One photo of something significant, a quote from a book I'm reading, that sort of thing.

I love you all, and wish you a very happy Mother's day!! Hope you all feel special today, as you should - you are shaping little ones who will change the world. xoxo

A Bittersweet Transition

I am grappling to get my head around a bittersweet transition little William has decided to impose on me this week.

He has decided to start using the toilet.

Yes, my sweet 22 month old is requesting to use the toilet. A poo yesterday afternoon and a wee this morning. What a clever boy he is!! He has decided his reward for a successful toilet trip is that I read him 'Peepo' - his current favourite peek-a-boo picture book. I'm happy with that!

Goodbye fluffy nappy bottoms and hello toddler training pants. *Sigh*. Am I ready for my littlest babe to be doing this?!? He is growing up way too fast.

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Photos: William sleeping in the sling.

And my bigger Will, joining in with craft at the table last week.

William's Busy Weekend

This weekend

William mastered putting his gumboots on

all by himself

and felt extremely accomplished in doing so

and snuggled in Nanna's arms (falling asleep shortly after :))

and walked around bare-bottomed in the garden

and carried this little 'William' rabbit around, tucked into his shirt

or into his backpack

and had a tea party with 4 furry friends.

From the Teacher's Desk.... ;)

Okay, so I just liked the idea of that title - but I rarely think of myself as a teacher, actually. :) At least no more of a teacher than any other parent. We are all teachers, all of the time!

I've been asked lots of questions recently along the lines of "how do you manage to fit everything in?" - that is, three young children, homeschooling, home maintenance, family commitments, exercise, and more recently - everything involved in moving house including PACKING! Well the truthful answer is, I often don't. :) Most days there is something that slips. It might be homeschooling. Or dinner. :) We've had lots of easy dinners lately! Or exercise (this one especially, lately. :( Thank goodness I'll be back at dancing tomorrow....). It is rare that I feel like I've truly achieved everything I want to / need to achieve in a day. But. I am learning to be more content with what I do get done, and stress less about what I don't.

Anyway, I'll stop babbling and start answering some of the questions you've been asking!

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How do you get everything done?

I've probably answered that above. I don't!! But I do try. I think time management is important, as well as planning a basic list the night before of what you'd like to get done tomorrow. For me this really helps. It includes everything - house stuff, cooking, homeschooling, phone calls, outings, etc. My diary sits on my kitchen counter and I refer to it a lot during each day. When a quiet moment arises, I seize it! It's hard to plan quiet moments with small children in the house, so when it happens grab it, and do something from that list!! I also constantly pick up. I can't stand masses of mess, so I pick up regularly and definitely get my kids to help.

Do you get any time for yourself?

Yes, absolutely! Not a lot, but just enough. :0) Just like seizing moments to make phone calls or to clean the toilet, I seize moments to just breathe sometimes, too. :) As mothers we may not get a whole hour to ourselves, but we may be able to grab 5 minutes. I've learnt to just enjoy those minutes and try not to resent being interrupted. I'm a stay-at-home Mum for a reason - to look after my children! They are not interruptions. They are my work, and my blessings! 5 minutes checking emails or jumping on facebook, picking up a book to read, or phoning a friend. 5 minutes to pray. 5 minutes to stand outside just watching the sky.

And then there's the evenings. Night time is my true down time. The children go to bed fairly early, and I always do something with my husband and something just for me before I go to bed - often it's blogging, or just reading other blogs I enjoy. And the load is always lighter on weekends too, when there are 2 adults around. :)

How long have you been homeschooling?

We have wanted to homeschool our children since before they were born, and believe we have always homeschooled them - but I've only been homeschooling a school-age child for about 6 months. :)

What curriculum do you use?

I don't use a set curriculum at present. The children are still little, and I don't feel that the purchase of a full curriculum is necessary at this stage. I am enjoying researching what I plan to use in future years though! For now we are teaching the foundations and other things we or the children find interesting. In everything we do I try to find opportunities to tie in the key learning areas. And I prefer to let the children direct their own learning wherever possible. Elijah is still kindergarten age, and his days are completely play based. For Saraya, we have a strong literacy focus and do a lot of reading. If she is interested in something or if there is something I wish to teach her, I will try to find a great book to use as our foundation for learning - either a children's picture book, a junior non-fiction, or a "living book" for older readers or even adults - this is a book written by someone who intimately knows and is passionate about their topic. Interesting books make for interested students!

So.......... for literacy we read, read, read. Saraya also does handwriting activities a few times a week as well as writing her own notes in her Nature Notebook. Other writing may include poster captions for our science unit, story-writing, or writing letters/cards to friends. This is her absolute favourite activity and something she does nearly every day!

For history we are studying Early Australian History, and using "The Australia Book" by Eve Pownall.

Saraya is really enjoying this unit! Because I don't have a curriculum telling me what her follow-up activities should be after learning new information, I create them myself. Sometimes I might ask her to write a few sentences from the book. Sometimes she will create art on what she enjoyed most. Sometimes I will ask her to narrate to me orally everything she can remember from what we have just read, and I note her narration down. We talk a lot, I ask her questions, she asks me questions, and we really have good discussions. I would rather spend an hour looking at something while she is fully engaged in it than put a time limit on a subject and stop her in the midst of great learning.

For maths, we use Mathletics on weekends - she does this with Stuart. Other maths we wind into daily life - time, money, shape, fractions, and simple arithmetic. If you look for them, the opportunities abound!

For science we are learning about the structure and workings of the human body. We have a bunch of resources for this unit, and are also working from a Christian homeschool workbook on this topic as our base. We do regular nature walks, nature journalling and experiments for science as well.

We are currently reading the second Story Girl novel by L.M. Montgomery.

We are learning about composers using starfall.com - great fun!!!

We aren't doing any formal Bible study at the moment. Our faith is very intertwined into each day though, and I love that Saraya will often ask to turn on her lamp after Elijah is asleep to read her Bible. :) I love that. We pray together, read Bible stories and sing songs together. Next year I have some resources to use with both the older children to learn some new memory verses etc.

And that, my dears, is about it. Do we do all of this every day? No way! I do about an hour of formal learning with Saraya each day. Almost the rest of the day is free for her. SO much learning goes on, all day, every day, without me co-ordinating or planning a single bit of it. That's just how children are. Give them time, and resources, and ideas, and they will just run with them. They are sponges. They are made to learn.

I involve the children in the cooking, the cleaning, the packing. :) We talk together, all the time. Sometimes I long for quiet!! And I usually get it, eventually. :) We are also involved in the community through our friendships, and our interests and hobbies. We usually go to town 3-4 days a week.

How do you homeschool with a baby in the house?

Well. This is indeed a burning question, and one which has taken me on a steep learning curve already this year! I do find having WIlliam around the biggest homeschooling hurdle. If the rest of us are up at the table doing something together, he just wants to be up there too! :) Of course, his version of making patterns with counters is to tip them all over the floor or put them in his pockets. And to him painting art like Mary Pissaro is more like dipping his hands in the paint and painting everything in the room. ;) This has caused lots of tears both for him and for the other children, and sometimes even for me. I realised I had to come up with something that would work for us. I know there are hundreds of homeschooling families out there, many of them with lots of children and babies in the house, so I knew it must be possible!!

I had begun the year doing what most schools do, which is sitting down to start formal learning at 9am. I've since changed things, and our routine looks like this most week days:

6:30am - up and cuddling children, time in prayer, checking emails, opening windows etc.

7am - breakfast and make Stu's lunch; clean-up from breakfast and waving Stu off to work

8am - morning chores for everyone; children begin their free-play time while I continue house chores

9am - children play outdoors

9:30am - children watch Play School; I use this time for phone calls, emailing, washing, cooking, whatever needs to be done

10am - morning tea together, reading together

10:30 - either an outing to town / library / groceries / music group on Tuesdays / visiting a friend etc. OR I put out activities for the children such as painting, craft, playdough, puzzles, games, construction, drawing OR we do a special activity together - something I can walk away from as Will often needs me OR the children play. Sometimes they get into a creative game and there's no stopping them!!

12pm - we eat lunch together; clean up; Will goes down for his nap

12:30pm - Elijah has his quiet time either reading books, using construction materials or playing educational computer software. Now Saraya and I do our homeschooling! This gives me a full hour of uninterrupted time with her and we achieve SO much. I turn the phone off and just focus on her, and it's working so well.

1:30 / 2pm - Saraya finishes up and heads into some quiet alone time. She either makes craft, plays with dolls in a creative game in her room, or uses the computer etc. William is up by now and I spend this time with the little boys. We play, put on some music, read books, or sometimes they just follow me around while I do some house chores. :)

3pm - afternoon tea outside

3:30pm - either the children play outside until baths OR we go to town for afternoon activities

4:30 / 5pm - I cook dinner; children finish play and tidy up then have baths

That is our day in a nutshell! I am finding it very full at the moment with all the extra paperwork and packing related to moving house, but normally our daily routine is pretty manageable. I am so looking forward to resettling in our new home and getting things back to normal again!

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This may have been a little long and boring. Just feels good to have finally answered some questions that have been coming my way. :) Now off to have a cuppa and head to bed!...... ;)

Ups and Downs

It never ceases to amaze me how motherhood is full of so many ups and downs. One minute you've got rosy children quietly reading books on their laps, classical music playing, and you're thinking how sunny life is. The next minute your toddler has fiddled and possibly broken the cd player, the music has stopped, the phone is ringing and the other kids are running through the house making more noise than you thought imaginable from two small children!!!! You reach for the panadol.....

I was going to do a post last night on my ups and downs of yesterday, but was too tired - probably from the downs we experienced..... :) But this morning didn't fail to provide me with more ups and downs to share and I'm grabbing a quiet half hour to do so while the children rest.

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My biggest down this morning most definitely happened whilst in the library. Are you ready for a ripper of a story?? Here goes. We had done our market shopping, swapped veggies for books at the car and headed on down to the library. One of those lovely "isn't motherhood grand?" moments occurred as I plucked books from the shelves and watched Saraya and Elijah happily sitting and reading together (cue angels singing......) when suddenly, William appeared from behind the DVD racks, walking toward me and telling me a big babbly story about something. I looked up and to my horror he was holding his nappy. His nappy? Surely his nappy was on his bottom? No, it was in his hand. And it was full of poo. It had come off, from inside his overalls and down his leg. Apparently it had happened over at the DVD rack and he had carried it all the way over to me. There was poo on his hands. Poo down his legs. Poo through his sandals. Poo all through his overalls. And yes. Lovely blobs of smelly poo on the library carpet (cue dramatic frantic mummy music.....).

Well the next few minutes were a blur as I grabbed the wipes, gave Saraya the job of restraining William (to her dismay) and quickly wiped up the blobs of poo off the carpet before anyone noticed what had happened. Thankfully the poo came up easily, but the job of wiping up a very horrid William while he wriggled and fussed and drew more attention to us than I wanted..... let's just say it wasn't a good moment!!!! Half a packet of wipes later and the smell was dissipating, Will was clean and walking around barefoot in nothing but a t-shirt and nappy, and boy was I ready to leave the library! We checked out some books and leave we did.

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Bring on the highest point of my morning!!! (I mean comparatively speaking, anything would have been great after that experience..) I took the children to lunch at our favourite local cafe, Between the Buns. These guys have wonderfully healthy, yummy, affordable lunch options, delicious smoothies and the best organic locally grown coffee around!! And very very genuine service to boot.

The coffee tasted especially good today. :)

And my chicken, spinach, sundried tomato and bocconcini toasted panini was sensational!

The children had their usual chicken, cheese and avocado toasted panini and a banana/mango smoothie to share - yum! The waitress actually put it into individual cups for them.

Lunch out improved everyone's mood and we came home happy. :) William went straight in a lavender bath, then to bed, and the older children and I read a few stories before their quiet time. But they're up again now so I'd better go.

Life with little ones sure is full of surprises, isn't it?! You can plan your day but never really know how things will pan out. :) Just got to enjoy those peaceful moments when they happen as they're hard to plan in. I've really learnt over the years to seize opportunities for rest and recovery or a quiet cup of tea when they present themselves, because you never know how long they will last. ;)

Stuart is away tonight at the Wakakirri finals, supporting Riverside, but thankfully I don't have to cook tea as we have some of the pizzas I made yesterday leftover. Hooray for leftovers!! And hooray for motherhood. You just have to laugh, or you'll cry. :)

Reflecting on the week

What have we been up to in our little homeschool this week?

We have explored a Times Table Grid - I'll put up more details next week; it's been a hit!

We have been reading lots and lots and lots of books together and separately. I estimate that I read to the children an hour a day, Stuart reads to them half an hour, they read to themselves about half and hour, and I read my own books about the same. Saraya's reading has absolutely taken off since she has been homeschooling- and really, all I've done is read to her and have her read to me- all the time.

We have poured over cookbooks, made meal plans, shopping lists, and shopped together.

We have spent time at the park, in the garden, at friends' homes, and of course, at our home.

We have cooked and baked more meals and bread and juiced more fruit than I care to remember.

We have cleaned and tidied and beautified our home all the while.

We have enjoyed the sudden warmer weather (though I hear it will be cold again tonight, and I'm excited- this could be the last cold snap and the last chance to use the fireplace!). The children have had the chance to play in the sandpit in their underwear this week, with the hose on- more than once.

We have sung and made music and danced and dressed-up (well, the children have).

We have learnt about Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly across the Atlantic - and made art about it.

We have licked many spoons. Today was mixture for Chocolate Chip Cookies and Crisp Coconut Cookies. About 4 dozen of each. :) Not all for us, though!!

We have allowed the children a bit of time after dinner before bed to pour over reference books - they love them, and tonight it was "The Atlas of World Wildlife", a childhood book of Stuart's!

We have made use of our Little People toys, the Mega Blocks, the baby dolls, and the Box of Lentils with the tiny cars to drive through.

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And today, Laura and Almanzo got married.

It was very exciting - the bridal outfits were arranged and adorned while I was busy inside; then there was music and singing and vows before a congregation of two. :)

Home-made rings.

The insisted-upon first kiss! Complete with lots of giggling. :0)

And the farewells as they departed for their Honeymoon....... to New Zealand.

In the Horse-drawn Wagon.

Just a Spoonful of Sugar...........

As I have mentioned before, the author of Mary Poppins (P.L.Travers) was born in Maryborough, and our little heritage town has made her a bit of an icon. :) Because we are 'Mary'-borough, and our river is the Mary, etc, Mary Poppins has become special to the town. Remember this post? Each early July weekend is the annual "Mary Poppins Festival" which has been growing and getting better and better each year. This year it was attended by over 5000 people which is quite a substantial number of visitors! Lots of locals of course, but many tourists as well. Queen's Park is transformed into a mini fair-ground with lots of rides and entertainment for the children. Market stalls line Wharf Street and the Portside parklands, and street theatre performers entertain the crowds. Recognise one of these chimney sweeps?

Stuart joined the 'Merry Mary Troupe' (there's that name again....) recently and is enjoying it. They dress up and perform for various things happening around town. He is in the middle above!

Actually there were lots of people in costume, all over town.

Any excuse to go through our clothes and dress-ups and join in the fun!

Oh how I wish I could dress my children like this every day. :) They do too!

It was like going back in time for a day. We all loved it!

The highlight of the day was joining in the Grand Parade- not something we had planned to do but when we found out anyone in costume could join in, we couldn't resist! And our efforts (no sacrifice really - what a great experience for the children, and they loved every minute of it) were rewarded as we won the runners-up prize for the best dressed family!! The prize pack was eagerly opened by the children and included the Mary Poppins movie on DVD (which we own-would anyone like a copy?!), family meals at McDonalds and a family pass to ride on the Mary-Ann train (our local steam train). Fun!

Elijah got quite tired after the parade while we waited for the judging, and lay down on the road. He was absolutely adorable and was noticed by the cameraman for the local paper- and subsequently wound up in the newspaper today, tummy down on the road with his head on his fists and a sweet smile on his face! I will endeavour to scan in the photo sometime to show you.

Next up was lunch under the trees....... then the Chimneysweep Championship, which Stu was keen to enter! What would it involve? He had no idea, but wanted to join in anyway!

Half an hour of chimneysweep acting and showmanship followed, and yes he wowed the crowds with his charm and character. :) And won that too. SO, now we have a voucher for a flash restaurant in town and will be having a date night sometime soon!

All in all a great day. Oh, did I mention that last Friday night was watching Mary Poppins under the stars down at Portside (a parklands by the river)? Part of the whole Mary Poppins week of celebrations! We went along with Stu's sister, husband and boys who were up for the week, and had a great, cold, night. :)

You can just see the screen on the left in the first picture. We were so rugged up!! The children loved watching the movie on the big screen under the night sky! How wonderful that the major event held in our town each year is based on a musical. How appropriate and how blessed we feel to live here! :)

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After yesterday's activities, we stayed home today. Stuart went to work for a few hours but the children and I stayed in by the fire. Cool day again! My main goal for the day was sorting through all our homeschool resources and getting organised for school starting again next week. That included stationary- a massive job. I must have sharpened over 200 pencils this afternoon! And threw out a big bag of dry textas, after testing every single one of them. The children did help for awhile....... but really, it was a long long job. Once Stuart was home he read outside in the hammock while the children played in the yard and I finished the sorting. :) And now, it is done!!

This is what the table looked like half-way through the process. Iwill take a photo for you of our new pencil / texta/ lead pencil / crayon tubs soon. So much better.

And the books are sorted and in a new basket which I'm planning to keep handy to the big table where we will do our work. I have a few new resources for Elijah who is oh-so-keen to join in with lessons, and we have just ordered a wonderful multi age P-12 history curriculum which we'll get in the coming weeks (I hope).

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We had some church friends over last night to watch the movie Fireproof. If you haven't seen it, it's worth tracking it down and watching it with your partner or friends. A challenging and emotional Christian movie starring Kirk Cameron (remember him?!). Definitely watch it if you can.

Two verses which have been on my heart this week are.........

Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."

and...........

Philippians 4:6-7
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Are we spending time thinking about what is lovely, what is pure, what is right? Are we dwelling in the positives or the negatives? What about guarding our minds? Our hearts? Are we protecting them? For the Word tells us to "guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it" Philippians 4:23. This is clearly so important! What are we watching? Reading? Listening to? Who are we listening to? What are we doing with our time? I have been so challenged with this.

What about our children? Are we seeking to guard their hearts and minds? Are we paying close attention to the things they watch and read? Are we discerning about the kinds of games they play?

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote:

'Watch your thoughts, they become your words;

Watch your words, they become your actions
;
Watch your actions, they become your habits
;
Watch your habits, they become your character;

Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.'

How wise we would be to remember this! And to teach this to our children also. We are working on some habits with Saraya at the moment. Some improvement though still some struggles. It is an ongoing journey- and one through which I have the challenge as well as the opportunity to show her grace as she ultimately works to guard her thoughts, words, actions and habits. It is nice to pray with her about these things. We had an issue with forgiveness this week over a broken keepsake, and I was able to show her some verses which did help. Her favourite one was "If you forgive the failure of others, your heavenly Father will also forgive you" (Matthew 6:14). :)

I am using scripture more and more as the children grow, and am realising the true value of spending as much time in the word as I can! This certainly makes it easier to teach and train the children- the verses are already there in my mind or in my notebook, ready to draw on as we need them.

My goodness, this has been a looong post! My new routine seems to be to post every 4 or 5 days- and make up for lost time. :) I would love to post more regularly but just can't manage it. I will try not to post such long posts, but I will have to slot blogging into my new schedule for next term somehow! I still think though, once or twice a week will have to be my limit. :)

Until next time, goodnight and God bless! Oh, and if you want to come along to the festival with us next July we'd love to have you come stay for the weekend!