Day of leisure

Sunshine, a school friend, a passage littered with Barbies and empty yoghurt tubs, half coloured in pictures, a patio table filled from corner to corner with bowls containing garden specimens (gravel, rose petals, various leaves, sand, twigs etc), bouncing, laughing. Wonderful lazy day. Little planning... lots of joy.



I usually make a double batch of biscuit dough and freeze half for later. I got this out of the freezer yesterday. It removes all effort second time round. I have to write the instructions on it as I never remember which recipe I used (you think you'll remember but you don't - well, I don't)



Its like something out of an Enid Blyton novel when you have milk and cookies in the afternoon.

Here's my cup

Today I've been counting my blessings - this is a most beneficial exercise! When you lift your face up its amazing what you see. My list is pretty lengthy and I bet yours would be too.

Isaiah 51.22 applies... "see, I have taken out of your hand the cup of trembling" (Thank You - after last weeks escapades) and moving swiftly along to claim Psalm 23.5... "You anoint my head with oil (symbolic of soothing / refreshing) and my cup runs over (blessings)"

Cry Baby

My world this week held a lot of tears... some days go like that. In fact earlier this week I was reflecting that it had been a while since I had a good sob (now I see it was most certainly the Holy Spirit telling me to brace myself).

So many many things went awry...
- Rebecca had a crazy high fever on and off all week
- I injured my back, was in pain and had to sleep half sitting - not easy to do
- Wayne was away for 2 days
- I broke Rebecca's favourite alice band by mistake (yes, even such a silly thing made us
both cry)
- she had a concert that Wayne could not attend (we were both so sad)
- a metal pipe squashed my middle finger (can't even describe the agony and had no ice nearby)
- my new bank card didn't work (why would you issue a card when the equipment to use it is
not available?) so I had to leave a trolley full of shopping
- I have had hay fever in the worst way, my red eyes bulged like that hamster's in Bedtime
Stories

Some week's you would rather just see the back of!
But there is always an 'up' side... you really appreciate all the little things and when you husband arrives you sob again just because you are so extremely happy to see him. Also, when you are poured out, it does something to your soul... it seems to enlarge your capacity for compassion.

Values

This morning I was listening to Gary Thomas talk about his book 'Sacred Parenting' and he noted, rightly so, that character is more important than achievement. If you gain the whole world but have no patience, faithfulness, self-control etc or are unethical, what have you really gained?

I need to remember that the building of character is not an overnight incident, but the steady, consistent application and demonstration over time.

'Education without values as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.'
C S Lewis

all things american

Lately I've been gung-ho about American-style food, eg Cornbread, Southern Beans etc. All the blogs I read have them celebrating Fall (Autumn) at the moment, so as a tribute and because it sounded wonderful, I made Applesauce Spice Cake and boy was it good! My sister and I agreed that we will definitely be making this again and again, especially since we don't have a Starbucks here where we can have Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Fortunately we are only beginning our Spring and we can have an ice cold 'Gemmer Biertjie' instead.

So yum!~

It was such fab weather this weekend that we went visiting a couple of spots along the east coast... the glamour girls in the back...

So cool!~

Gardening: up and down

Things are beginning to bloom in the garden, happiness is...






But, happiness is not... can you see the trail through my garden, a mole has joined our clan.



I'm off to deal with the intruder. May your cup of joy overflow this weekend!

Penetrating Kindness

Last night I was worn out and a little hormonal. After supper and putting Rebecca to bed, I had whittled my sentences down to mere syllables. Wayne had lots of work to do, so my plan was just to have a bath and get under a blanket... but he noticed my mood. Instead of staying at his computer, he came downstairs with a big smile, made us mugs of tea and stayed with me for about half a hour.

It was such a simple yet grand act of kindness that it surrounded me just like my woolly covering... and I really had a most excellent night's sleep.