"Will you marry me?" asked he...

....And she said "yes!"

Announcing the engagement of my brother, David, to his lovely lass, Kedesh! I love this couple - they go so well together. And I know she must be quite a catch for my (NZ) brother to give up watching the World Cup Final to propose to her!!!

We celebrate with them in their happiness and look forward to celebrating their wedding with them next February!

The ring:

(this was my Grandma's ring, from her first husband, David - David's namesake)


And my fave pic of them together:

A Tent, a Table, and a Thank you Mum!

I feel extravagant in our spending lately. Especially when our purchase list includes a tent and a massage table! We tend to buy a lot of our bigger purchases off eBay (as our families can attest :)). But not these. Jonathan wanted to get good quality to ensure they would last the distance. And I am very pleased with both. We call these our investment into our family and our marriage.

We have gotten ourselves a tent with the plan to go away regularly throughout the year for little camping holidays. A break from home (and it's constant demands of upkeep) to enjoy ourselves together as a family - at low cost (hence a tent). I'm really looking forward to it! One of my best holiday memories is from a couple of Christmases before I got married. My brother and I went away camping at Shakespeare Bay on our own. We tramped around the peninsula, explored, swam in the ocean. And ate way too many marshmallows. It was a great time and I have very fond memories of it. Now I know it's not going to be quite the same with two little ones, but I think we will have great fun. Jonathan and I set the tent up on the weekend (to practice), and the kids love playing in it. I like going out and lying in there too (Jon blew the air mattress up and put it out there) - I could happily go to sleep (if I wasn't being jumped on by two little girls)! Now to learn where the good camping spots for families are!

Jonathan set his will on getting us a folding massage table. So Friday found me making a trip to the Valley to purchase the one he had hunted out. (Yes, I got lost coming home; hate Ann Street! But getting the first massage on it that evening compensated :)). Jonathan and I both have back trouble, and I have trouble with my calves, so regular massage would be wonderful - but it wasn't happening. Tiredness, awkwardness of working on a bed and so forth. Now we expect it to be a regular part of our week. Jon made sure we got a face cradle with arm support so that the person getting the massage can read out loud - currently we're working our way through a great parenting book, "Don't Make Me Count To Three", and the book of Enoch together. I have a therapeutic massage book, and Jonathan has (finally!) been studying it to learn how to do a good massage - I'm quite willing to be practiced on! Time for me to put in some practice too (yay! says he).

(A big thank you to my mum who gave me so many massages for my back and legs in my late teens. I didn't fully appreciate the time and effort it cost you at the time, but now I do! Thank you so much!)(My mum is great at massages).

So, in future if you visit us, you might just get to sleep in the tent (kidding! unless you want to, of course!) and get a massage!

My garden

I don't dream of owning a house one day, but I do have a dream garden. I want a BIG vegetable garden. Some fruit trees or bushes wouldn't go amiss either. I'd plant marigolds around the border - they're a pest deterent and they are so bright and sunny. I'd plant all sorts of leafy greens, leeks, pumpkins, cucumbers, tomatoes, and beetroot (homemade pickled beetroot - yum!!!). And herbs. Parsley and coriander particularly. But the fruition (get it!? get it?! Jonathan and I love puns. Well, Jonathan loves puns and I love Jonathan so therefore I love puns) of such a dream isn't in the near future at least, so I decided to make do with whatever I do have. After all, I'm not exactly a green thumb (weeds grow without frequent watering, so surely plants can too???).

This is what our back garden looks like. I love it. All the different greens (gorgeous!). All the many gaps (very useful!). Here's what I've planted in the garden:

These are my celery plants. When I buy celery, I chop the bottom of the bunch off and put it in a bowl of water on my window sill and leave it a few days until it starts to grow out the top. Then I plant it (pictured is one I was about to plant). And water it lots (celery is a thirsty plant). I am very pleased with how these are growing - they are now ready to start picking stalks off as I need to. For a more traditional looking upright bunch, you have to contain the plant with a container of some sort. I didn't have anything suitable so I've just let them grow as is.

These are my spring onions. As you can see, they have gone to flower so I need to cut them back. I grew these from the roots of spring onions I bought, and from a few onions that started to sprout. I just planted them and they've grown. Very easy and very cheap - just cut what you need and it'll grow back!

Love my parsley so have half a dozen small plants slowly growing (I bought these as seedlings). And some chives which were already in the garden when we moved in.

Here we have pak choy in the foreground which I've grown from seeds. Then in pots (L-R) is more parsley, mint, cumquat, and aloe vera. Behind the pots is my compost heap. I grew up with all food scraps either being composted or going to the dog/cat, and have found it very hard renting in the city where you have to put it in with the rubbish. I ease my conscience by composting what I can in the limited space we have. I am looking forward to this lot finishing breaking down so I can dig it through the garden as the soil isn't the greatest quality.

The hailstorm from yesterday flattened the seedlings I had moved outside so I've planted some more seeds. Here we have (L-R) more pak choy, silverbeet, and cos lettuce. I was going to plant coriander seeds too. But I can't find my coriander seeds so I'll do them another time. (Don't you just love my little watering 'jug' - I got that little cutie at the Salvos).

Gardens and gardening are full of allegories and parables so I can't finish up without spouting some of my own!

As I was pushing the silverbeet seeds into the soil this morning, I thought about the poor things getting pushed under the dark soil. In a week or so they'll sprout and grow up and out and I'll be able to see the plants. But for now their work is unseen.

A bit like mothers.
 
We stay-at-home-mums certainly do seem to be thought to not be doing much at home in our society. Not that I'm always busy doing stuff or being productive - while some weeks I can't seem to get on top of all that needs doing, eventually a day or two comes where I can breathe a sigh of relief and just enjoy my girls. And I do. I don't feel guilty, because mothering, after all, isn't simply about keeping kids fed and clean and clothed. A lot of the work is simply in being with them. Quantity time with your kids is, after all, better than quality time (yes, it does say quantity before quality. Recent research on children and their development/happiness/success has shown this. Kids need their mums [and dads too of course]!. It's in the day to day of life that most of their growing and being shaped happens).

With Abigail talking and blossoming into a little girl, I am mindful of how I tend my little 'gardens'. While I am to keep our home running efficiently, I am also to be 'busy' sowing into my children's lives. Good things; godly things; as well as practical things. To teach them the Word of God in the day to day.

God make me humble - to not seek status in the eye's of the world. And give me an eternal perspective of my role as mother - it's value in your eyes, especially when I feel undervalued or unvaluable.

And please, one day, may I have a big vegetable garden!

The week, my girls, and the rugby

This week was a funny week. It started well, and it's ended well, but there were some 'bad' days in the middle. My poor kids had a grumpy mother for a couple of days who wanted them to go away (terrible mother, I know :( ) or for her hubby, or mum, or sisters to be at home with her (oh to just 'hang' out!). A Daily Light reading from this week had the verse:
"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why are thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, [who is] the health of my countenance, and my God."
I was reminded of my need to CHOOSE to look to God in such times, and to praise Him for all He has done for me - not to let my circumstances or emotions to govern my attitude. But I failed to do it. The same Daily Light reading held the verse:
"For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee."
So as I wrote earlier in the week, I am thankful for new starts - that God, through Jesus Christ's sacrifice for us on the cross, wipes our 'slate' clean.

Sarah is working on standing unsupported at present. And she's busy adding a few more teeth to her current four. I often marvel at what a happy chappy she is - (for the most part) she is such a delight!

She loves her food. Except sandwiches. She won't eat sandwiches (!?). But she loves her veggies - I had her sitting inside the trolley while I did the fruit and vege shopping recently and looked down to find her eating through the bag of tomatoes (plastic and all!). When that was removed she promptly seized the tray of cucumbers. Once all fruit and veges were rescued from her and I had put her back in the trolley seat, (demoting a disappointed Abigail) the offered jam sandwich was decidedly spurned. The above photo is of her after her evening meal one night. Sarah feeds herself for most meals - I put the food on the spoon and she gets it in her mouth. Or all over her face and through her hair. Meat, something that has become increasingly rarer in our house (quite unnoticed by Jonathan until I asked if he had noticed) is also something which she loves - or at least it disappears off her tray quickly without being later found in her chair or on the floor!

This is Abigail's 'cheese' face :) The drink is an avacado smoothie - something we've enjoyed lots lately (10 avacado disappeared in one week! I had gotten them on clearance very cheap). (Recipe at the end of this post.) Abigail continues to expand her vocabulary and chatters away a lot. Sometimes too much. Sometimes much too loudly. But we are very proud of her. It is really incredible watching the mind-mouth connections as she finds new words and seeing her work out how to say what she wants to say.

Something Abigail has enjoyed lately is getting her own little "cup tea". I was sent some delicious herbal tea from my friend Joanna in England, and Abigail has decided she likes it (after finding some cold leftovers in my cup). It has been very cute watching her sipping on her (lukewarm) 'organic fennel, chicory, & cardamon' tea - very ladylike. Tea parties might not be very far away!

And as most of you know (and probably watched), the World Cup Quarter Final game between Australia and South Africa was on this afternoon. (As I type this, there are about 9 minutes of play left). If you didn't watch it, you'll just have to ask my girls afterwards who won :)


Now, here's that milkshake recipe:

1/2 avacado
1 1/2 cups chosen milk (can do half/half with water, or all water)
1 t vanilla
1 dst honey
ice (optional)

Blend. Can also add cocoa (1 T), cinnamon (1/2-1tsp), or other chosen flavouring. The avacado makes it thick and creamy. Delish!

A fresh month, a fresh week, a fresh day...

Today is a new day, the start of a new week, the beginning of a new month. I have decided I love Mondays - they represent a fresh start (banish the Monday-itis attitude, and proclaim aloud: "this IS the day that the Lord has made. I WILL rejoice and be glad in it"!). Some days don't seem to go well - motivation and patience greatly lacking. So I am thankful that each day has it's end and that I am given a fresh start the next. Lamentations 2:22,23 comes to mind: "Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

I have felt a lack in purpose of late - the day to day of being a mum isn't all that exciting at times. Keep everything tidy, fed, and happy! :) Yet there is so much more, in that and to that. To try and give myself a bigger perspective, I was encouraged to write a mission statement (see Inspired to Action: http://inspiredtoaction.com/resources/purposeful-motherhood-mission-statements-for-moms/). A mission statement sounds rather grand, but in essence it was about naming my main roles and then writing a goal for each of those roles to aim for in the day to day.

Here's what mine looks like:

Believer: To pray more. Particularly for my husband and children, and with my husband and children.
Wife: To actively and visibly love my husband - words, acts, touch.
Mother: To respond to my children with love and patience at all times and to radiate joy for them to see.
Homemaker: To set in place routines and schedules (and follow them!) so my home is orderly, and therefore peaceful and inviting. Plan my week at the end of the previous week (to do's, chores, meal plan etc).
Fitness enthusiast :) : To keep fit and healthy through exercise and healthy eating so I reap the feel-good benefits and so I can face all that is before me with strength and health.

I have printed it off a couple of times and so have it in my kitchen and on my planner so I can regularly read it and therefore hopefully do the things on it! Being a mum to my kids is a huge task in the light of eternity, and it is important for me to be ever mindful of that - especially when I'm tired or cranky!

Anyone else have a mission statement (or similar)?