Mooching, Mumps and Moving

Well this week has been a little different. Braveheart and I got bees in our bonnets and decided very swiftly to go on holiday. We needed some R&R, and we needed quality time with the kids too. We found a great mid week special at Montagu Springs, getting two nights for the price of three, and off we went!

We had a great time, as did the kids, and it gave me the head space we needed. The highlight was Aragorn realizing he could float with armbands, a huge breakthrough, and King Arthur spent 5 hours in the pool the one day. Swimming in heated pools makes all the difference in the world to my kids!

We got back ready to move...and Aragorn has mumps. This poor little fellow!
Check out these jowls!

He is being very brave and handling it all well. I had mumps as a kid, but none of the rest of my family has had it yet. Tis a waiting game to see if any of them succumb!

So we aim to move tomorrow, somewhat thwarted by helpers what with the mumps and the threat of sterility in adult help, so we'll see how far we get!

Marriage Matters

Funny how as parents we can spend endless hours seeking the best advice on how to bring up our children....and forget that our marriages need as much tender loving care as our children do. Funny how we expect our marriages to look after themselves when they really are living, breathing entities that need to also be fed and nurtured. Funny how we can prioritize giving the kids time, or spending time together as a family, and forget that we, as husband and wife, also need time to grow together. Funny how when we first met we spent time doing what each other liked, and now, with time being spread so thin with family responsibilities, it's easy to settle into a selfish routine of doing only what you like.

Except I'm not really laughing. Our marriages...my marriage, is the foundation on which family life is built. I forget this far too often, and am feeling very challenged over the last few days.

Marriage matters - more than I think we realize...

Truly A Different Drumbeat

Sometimes along life's journey you are privileged to meet people who also walk to the beat of a different drum ... and today I want to take the opportunity to introduce you to my good friends, Mark and Laura.

You can read about their tale here, but I marvel at what they have chosen to do with their lives. They've given everything up in the UK - safety, security, to go back to the sticks (Zim slang for rural areas) and serve people. I am humbled by what they have chosen to do, especially in light of the fact that I am moving into a bigger house, whilst they have yet to find a home in which to live in the mining village. They've been offered a room in a house....picture dust and gravel, and the equivalent of a domestic quarters.

(How is that we have come to picture being blessed equals a nice place to live? Surely being blessed means something our Christian culture has missed completely...one only has to think of the beatitudes and realize how far we have fallen from the truth.)

But here's the thing - to them, it feels completely normal, and in their heart of hearts this is where they want to be. I can do birth in foreign countries, I can do financial hardship, I can do making movies, but I'm not sure I can do what they are doing.

And dear friends, that is the beauty of grace. His grace is enough for what we are all called to do. But if we are hoodwinked into thinking we all have to do what each other is doing, then we lose sight of the bigger picture, of the freedom that Christ has called us to. Let's just stop looking at each other, keep our eyes on him  and let Him do the work - let him lead us and guide us. And let us be willing - to reach out and support those who are doing something completely out of our comfort zone.

Their journey has also made me question education and teaching AGAIN! Education, in the third world, can be such a stepping stone for people out of poverty, and I think I easily forget that. These children's parents are desperate for them to have a better future than they themselves have had - they want them to have opportunities they never did. How else are these children going to receive that unless through school?

Food for thought huh?

Lens of Truth

I read this post over at Generation Cedar, and I note Kelly Crawford has actually changed the purpose of her blog now - she now writes to equip families with truth. Her blog has completely challenged me in the past, although I don't read her very often anymore, her blog has challenged and altered my world views on a number of occasions.

I've copied her post here, as it's just really thought provoking - her entire site is:

“My mom gave me $40 on my new pair of jeans, but she still thinks they’re too expensive.”

Fourteen-year-old “Amy” told my daughter.

“They cost $150 but everybody has a pair and I’ve been wanting some for so long.  I (interject squeal) loooooove them!”

My bugged eyes matched my open mouth as I listened to the conversation.
This is what we call “the real world”?  This is *not* “the real world”.  This is one we are fabricating.  A world that is being perpetuated through childhood and on into adulthood.  A world where adults are slaves to debt because they *must* have what everyone else has, no matter the cost.  A world where one’s identity is wrapped up in the name on his label.
Another overheard conversation involved the recent break-up of a young girlfriend and boyfriend.  In the prime of their youth, when life offers so many opportunities for growth and preparation, they are distracted, consumed and wounded with premature romance.
Preparing for the real world? What, a world where a boy has practiced leaving the one he “loves” when he gets tired of her?  A world where a girl is always looking for a “better relationship”?  Do those habits just give way to fidelity once the vows are made?
No.  And you can confirm that with about 60% of the population.  This is our reality.  This is the world we’ve created.
If you say “I want my children to be prepared for the real world”,  you had better define which world that is.  Because this world is not a world where the principles of God reign.  It is not a world where wisdom is exalted.  It is not a world where children are grown into responsible, productive adults who love Heaven more than earth.
I watch a family frantically shuffling their schedule to figure out when they might eat supper.  “I’ll pick up Tyler at 4, but you’ll have to take Katy to her soccer practice and I won’t make it because Tyler’s team has pictures afterwards.  Oh, and don’t forget Katy’s game is tomorrow night.  We’ll just pick up a burger.”
Is this the real world?  Every ounce of time, money and energy poured into a recreation that will most likely be a distant memory in a few years? Preparing them for the real world?  A world where the family table is only a place to hold the clutter of going and coming people?  A world where people are so busy they don’t notice how little they know about each other until it’s too late?  A world where our children learn where our hearts are because of where we spend our treasure?
Yes, I’m afraid that is exactly the world we’ve created.
Welcome to the “new real world”.


Just plain food for thought huh?

I should have been a Sloth

Seriously. Do you know that sloths sleep on average, 18 hours a day? My day began with a sleep in till 7 (aren't I married to a honey?) and then lifting for King Arthur's class outing to the Scratch Patch. By 0830 I could not stop yawning, and then by lunch time it was all I could do to keep my eyelids from drooping. A nap was not to be sadly, as it was King Arthur's gymnastics watching day - he did brilliantly - teaching him about commitment to something is paying off!

Some background to my slothful tendencies - my nights are very broken at the moment. I need some serious solutions to snoring, as Braveheart seems to be journeying down this path. A friend suggested ear plugs, and in all fairness, I can't really seem to get them into my ears to really try. I also think I have supersonic hearing. Quit laughing, it's true! A few years ago I had terrible ear ache, and had to see an audiologist as well as the ENT, and she was very impressed with my range of hearing - apparently I hear through the bone behind my ear as well as my ear drum or something like that. (So now it makes sense my earliest memories of asking my folks to turn down the radio in the mornings, and my kids incessant requests to turn things up! Often when we watch TV it feels like it is blaring to me, yet Braveheart is quite fine.) I could be the next Bionic woman!

Okay, but enough with the bragging. The point is, I tried these things in my ear (the foam ones) and could pretty much hear everything as normal. So that doesn't really seem like it's going to do much. My solutions at the moment are to keep prodding poor Braveheart ( he seems to snore less on his side), and to sleep with a thick pillow over my head, but with summer approaching I think it's going to get a bit hot. Are any of you married to snorers? Help dear friends. Help!

(I feel i should, to Braveheart's credit, note that for the record, when I am asleep, I sleep soundly. I do not stir. I do not wake. Nay, I am dead to the world. And so it is this man that ends up getting up to the kids 9 times out of 10. Just for the record!)

Beddy byes people. Beddy byes.