It has been a full week so far! Last Saturday we decided to start our day with a little bushwalking - 3 hours later we emerged! :) We explored a part of Karawatha Forest we hadn't yet done (the south-west corner) and found 4 geocaches along the way. Both girls walked a substantial part of the way with some turn-taking in the pram and a brief sleep on my back in the sling for Sarah. We're both glad that the girls love 'going bush'.
Sunday was taken up by church, some shopping, and a visit from Uncle Jono. The men went out in the afternoon for a round of Pitch and Putt golf while us girls rested. Abigail (or was it Uncle Jono?) provided us with some mirth at dinner time when Uncle Jono decided to try our extra hot chilli sauce on his sausage roll. It was much hotter than he anticipated (a little of that stuff goes a LONG way); Abigail's comment: "That wasn't very clever."
Monday found us doing lots of washing (from the weekend, plus sheets and sheepskins), the shopping (supermarket, butcher, fruit and veg, and misc!) and putting all the shopping away, the usual cleaning and tidying (dishes, vacuuming, etc), folding and putting all the clean laundry away, and cooking two dinners (I'm on a vindaloo run at present - far too spicy for the girls so I made a separate curry for them)! "It's been a busy morning" commented Abigail at lunchtime (an insightful little girl!). It was a busy day.
(Abigail is becoming a very good helper - she now clears the dishrack of all cutlery, cups and plates by herself (Sarah has started to climb up and help too - so far, nothing broken!). There are always dishes to be done in our house, what with all the cooking and baking I do (I make most of our food from scratch, particularly my gluten free stuff), so this is a big help to me. She also helps with various other housework too. I have been mindful of including both girls in my work more and more - good life training for them. As the verse says, "train up a child in the way he should go"!)
Tuesday wasn't so productive. I've been struggling with bouts of depression this winter - be it the weather (we've had a lot of cold grey days, and our house is cold!), the pregnancy, the sickness in our home (I'm well again - yay! - but the girls continue to endure colds), or simply the busy-ness and therefore tiredness from the day before, I don't know, but I was a a bit blue and most unmotivated that morning. Jonathan suggested sitting out in the sun, so we went out and I gardened and things looked up again. That morning I read Psalm 20. Verses 1&2 "May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion". At the time reading that made me feel hopeless - the help and support, where was it? Further in the chapter, vv7-8 say, "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm." I know God is teaching me to rely on Him, especially in those difficult times - that He alone can meet all our needs. But I am struggling with feeling the reality of that truth in those times, especially when I am wishing for family or support. I want to know the reality of His help and support in those times of struggle. I would appreciate your prayers for this.
Yesterday (Wednesday) was busy getting more things done around the house (I even cleared our desk and servery!), plus a good amount of playing with the girls. And this morning was spent at Jonathan's work helping with a big mail-out. The girls and I stuck address stickers on envelopes and packed magazines for 3 1/2 hours. I was very proud of how helpful Abigail and Sarah were (for the first couple of hours, anyway!) - they gathered the rubbish (peel and seal envelopes were used, so the 'peel' part), helped me seal envelopes, and fetched more magazines from the piles for me (then they climbed the stacks of chairs, had a couple of tumbles, built block towers and looked at books). Both are now having a well-earned sleep (we'd only planned to be there 1-2 hours). I thoroughly enjoyed helping - the repetitive nature appeals, the company of the other volunteers, and being of use to an important ministry!
So that is some of our week so far. In the evenings, while Jonathan washes the dishes, I am working on my (huge) cross-stitch. I started it a year ago, finally finished the border last month, and am now filling it in. The plan is to have it finished by our anniversary at the end of the year, and with my current rate of progress, it just might happen!
This weekend is lined up to be full - stay tuned!
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