Each and every moment

I wish I knew this years ago, I have discovered that I can’t act upon how I feel all the time, when I say I mean how I physically and mentally feel day to day. Everyday can get so mundane which often brings me to a point where I feel I deserve so much more.

Do I deserve so much more?

No, God has blessed me with more than I need. I am in no place to even complain or argue about where God has placed me in this life. The blessings that have come my way are way to many to count. If anything, I am doing too little in my life and I question my obedience to Christ.

I have told Martin that he is lucky we don’t live in America because if I was in America I would adopt, home school and be nothing that I am now. I am truly encouraged by this mum Adeye who is following God’s calling and be a blessing to the children she has adopted and her passion for Jesus Christ. Her blog can be found here … http://www.nogreaterjoymom.com/search/label/Adoption.

So I have not blogged recently I guess because my heart is heavy. Would you join me in praying for these children? I’ll finish here because I need to go and do all those mundane things that is such a blessing to me.

Today,  my body is not functioning where my head and throat hurts. On days like this I just want to sleep and rest and feel better again. It’s so easy to get down in the dumps about everything but I know I gotta plough on.

Marty and I went on a date last week (I know my blogging is lagging). We don’t go on many dates and the last date the month before we did our usual pig out at a Japanese restaurant. These are always nice but this time we got to go to ….. the

Footy …. State of Origin 3

Thanks to my Belinda and Mario who babysat and Dad and Cath for the tickets. You guys make a world of difference to us.

So dinner was Mcdonalds. Ok, I have promised myself I will never ever get Mcdonalds when it is your night out it feels to unspecial (if that is a word).

But hello, the Chai Latte I had ……. made it all better

The minute Iwalked through the doors of the stadium the lights and the atmosphere just really got me excited. I really enjoyed being so close to the footy. I have never been to one of these games and with each pass and each goal and each cheer or boo it was great. It was just such a great game shame about the outcome.

Before we had kids it started with just us, Marty and I. It was nice to have a little of that again where I could just  hold his hand, joke about stuff and just be together.

Answer: you get them to do the dishes for you.

Isabelle – wash … then Lachlan – rinse …. then Dylan- dry …..then Ethan- put the dishes away. Dad helped with the high stuff.

Dylan swept and dad wiped down the table and chairs.

In the past, I used to get frustrated that I had to do it all on my own. So now, I simply ask. Especially when I am tired. They did it all quite happily actually which was good.

So what did I do? – I mopped. Kitchen’s clean tonight.

We went on a day trip to the South Coast on Sunday. We intended to leave early so that we could make a few stops on the way.

We ended up leaving around 8.30 and loaded the kids in the car Pj’s and all. I’d packed our breakfast and packed their day clothes.

They have fixed so many of the roads and have made new bridges, it made for a lovely drive (for the adults) but for the kids the drive was accompanied by “Are we there yet” “why is it taking so long” “I am hungry, when are we having breakfast” “I’m bored”. Dylan wanted to bring his DS but this time I did not allow for anything else but themselves. There is so much of God’s nature to see.

Martin spent some of his younger years living in the south coast so he is very familiar with the area. I have a appreciation for the area and the lush greenery that surrounds. I love how there are animals everywhere. Paddocks filled with cows and horses. Country cottage on it’s own with acres of land surrounding it. We even spotted a few rabbits jumping around on our way home at night. The beaches are so beautiful in Australia, we decided to take the scenic route there so we got to see all the beautiful beaches.

We all had cereal and French Toast, thanks to our handy portable gas stove and my hunky husband who does the cooking when we go on these trip :-). The toothbrushes is just one of the things I have been taking photo’s of to remind me of the joys “4” has brought me. It is kind of cute to me for some weird reason. Moving on…

We stopped at Kiama to see the blow hole but there was not much action today as the waves were pretty calm. But when the tides a high this is what happens click here.

The boys fell asleep from the trip between breakfast and Kiama so it was just the girls. We love girl time!

Then the boys woke up!

We hopped in the car and headed straight to Shoalhaven heads to visit our friends Pepper and Brad.

We met them as they were leaving to get some lunch at the local take away shop. So we grabbed a bag of $7 chips which would have been enough to feed us all for lunch. So it was really value for money. But I had brought some left over roast and bread from home. So we had that with the chips.

Our friends babies are so cute. Blue eyes with cute curly blonde hair. Hello … so cute .. meet Trinity

and Jet…

and Dylan … oh that one is mine he is no blonde but he is a cutie too !

and these 2 put together spells out trouble. Ethan would follow her and hit her on the head. He is so mean. I guess he saw the opportunity. No one smaller than him at home.

The kids did lots of this ….

We intended only to visit for a few hours and then leave but they invited us to stay longer and even for dinner. So we were more than happy to accept their offer. We have not seen them for so like 6 months!.

The boys (brad and Marty) went shopping then went for a surf. This was the the first surf marty has had in ages and he enjoyed it so much. Pep and I played scrabble whilst trying to get babies to stop stealing our letters and knock the board and throw letters flying everyone so we had to remember what word was where. We then sat with the kids watching Nanny Mcphee and whilst I read some of the recipe books Pep has on her bookshelf.

Pepper and I are on the same wave length when it comes to a love of food. She is so cool when it comes to food we chat about places we have eaten and where we should go when we meet up again. Talking about food she was so lovely and cooked us up 3 curries with all the sides. Not to mention she whipped us up a quick and easy apple pie dessert with custard in like 10 minutes.

We got home around 10.30 and was exhausted. But what a wonderful day.

Isabelle and Dylan went to Narwee Kids Holiday Club everyday this week for 3 hours in the morning. The theme was “Survivor Outback” and I tell you they had a ball. I am grateful to the dedicated volunteers who took time out for these kids. 252 kids were booked in with around 100 volunteers.

Here is my handsome country boy ….. aint he good lookin’… sorry gals he is still mine!!.

Every morning they sang christian songs and there was a skit.

All the kids were divided into different teams and different stations with different activities set up. The activity stations included craft, boot scooting lessons, games and there was “The Mine” where a magician performed his tricks.

On Tuesday they had a jumping castle and on Friday a mobile farm came.

On Friday night the families were invited to come and see what the kids had done through the week and to collect their show bags with goodies and all the craft they had made through the week. Ryley, Krystal and Penny (the cousins) had arrived Friday so they were able  to join us so the kids were very excited about that.

Friday Night ……  the church was packed with kids and here is ryley and dylan in the photo below. Dylan and Isabelle have been so excited to have their cousins over. Everyday they counted down and everyday they mentioned how exciting Friday was going to be because they will get to see their cousins. Their cousins live in Sawtell (up north) so they only get to see each other in  the holidays.

Isabelle has asked me already whether this kids club was on next holidays. But I had to give her disappointing news and let her know it will only be once a year. But they definitely will be going next year!.

Praise the Lord for dedicated leaders and helpers who have been given this opportunity to spread the gospel to these children. So much work and preparation has been put into this week long event. I am very grateful for them and so are my kids.

I was nervous… very nervous about how I was going to be these holidays and the anticipation of the holidays was overwhelming. The last holidays were still vivid in my mind, the pile of clothes, the messy home, bored kids and the mum who was frazzled with no break to be had. We have 3 weeks of holidays this time, 1 more than public schools. Weeks prior I was searching for things for my kids to do and of course this week there are no holiday activities available to school children so I knew it was going to be a interesting week.

I can’t believe I am saying it but it has been nice this week. On Monday we went to the usual playgroup the younger one’s go to and I took all 4 at toe. I knew the carers wouldn’t mind, other kids from sscs were there too.

Martin works a 5 day fortnight and the other days he works from home. He was home this week on Monday and Tuesday. So when we arrived home on Monday for lunch he asked me what was happening and I looked at him and said we were having lunch. He looks at me again and asked “what’s happening after that?”. I look at him and shrug my shoulders. “I guess kids club this afternoon?” I said.

OK, so he gets his textas and wipers and does a schedule. An outline of what we all would be doing each day.

This has been fantastic. We have always had a schedule but it was a morning and afternoon schedule, obviously cause the kids were at school. So we all knew what was happening and always referred back to the schedule. Everyday at 2 there was a rest period, all the kids would lie in their bed and read or sleep.

The rest period was only an hour but total silence for that hour really helps me get through the second half of the day.

I try and do as much as I can in the day. Play with them outside, sit with them and do craft and interact with them. I have had to ignore some things such as the mess (I am too embarrassed to show the rest of the house). We do clean up but it get’s messy quite quickly.

I would clean during their rest period but mainly in the evening. A big thanks to my SIL Sandi who knows me well and filled some of my mornings and evenings with get togethers :-).

So I have been cooking!. Batch cooking and lots of it. The last 2 nights I have been in the kitchen cooking away.

Spaghetti, Chicken curry, beef stir fry, pumpkin soup, pizza’s, Green curry. I won’t have to cook the next few days, so this should take the pressure away from the evenings and allow me to do other things.

Did you know? Dylan follows after his dad. His a computer (nerd). I tell him what to do once and he remembers how to navigate the mouse. Computer time is limited as well because he likes to go on it for a long time.

Isabelle does not follow after her mum. I love to cook but she loves to do craft. We have been painting flower photo holders and sand art with dolphins. I can see a difference in her when she has craft to do.

My hour is up and rest period is almost over. I’m going to post some video’s of the baby. Ethan I mean. He is my baby and I understand the whole "last baby" thing now. How much of it (the baby) can I hold on too!.