And in the morning, rising up a great while before day,
he went out, and departed into a solitary place,
and there prayed. Mark 1:35

Jenna from Feminine Farmgirl has put up a challenge for April ~ that of  Self-Control ~ diligence in spending our quiet time with the Lord each morning. Sometimes it is so easy to forgo that quiet time with the King of Kings, especially if we are I am running late, and it is not something that I am proud of.

It is that time when the tone for the day is set, and I carry His message through the day with me. This last month there have been very few days when I have not spent quiet and productive time with our Heavenly Father, as I have needed to call on His strength, guidance and wisdom in all things pertaining to our home and family. Perhaps it is good that He puts us through the difficult and trying times, for it is in those times that we are drawn closer to Him.

This last week has been particularly trying for me, as I have had stitches in my foot, due to dropping a bowl of cat dry food and the bowl smashing. My foot required stitching, and then developed an infection in it, but my friend, Gwenda prayed, claiming God’s promises and His mighty healing power. Guess what ~ the infection is gone!

My husband has been a tower of strength, as he has supervised the children while I have spent my quiet time with God, and this time is just so special. It is truly quiet time with our children studying, and I gain so much more out of the time spent with God, when there are no interruptions. I praise God that I have a husband who helps me to keep my appointment with God each morning and helps to make it special, and I praise Jesus for restoring our fellowship with God, so that we can spend time with Him, hearing His voice, praising Him and spending time in prayer with Him.

Why do we spend time in prayer and meditation with God? Because Jesus set us an example, that’s why!

On Mother’s Day, we arrived home from our picnic at Spring Gully, and I brought the cat’s water and dry food back from the hallway, when the unthinkable happened – I dropped the dry food bowl, and it shattered on the hearth, cutting my foot. I pressed down on the cut; the bleeding slowed, and my husband disinfected the cut and taped it up for me. I went to bed and didn’t think much more about it until morning. My daughter cleaned up the hearth and the lounge room. Our lounge room is 6 metres by 4 metres, and the Whiskettes covered over half of it. They went absolutely everywhere – under the chairs, under the coffee table and were in every conceivable place that you could think of, and probably then some.

The next morning (Monday morning), I went out to water the strawberries, and the first step that I took was absolute agony. You see, inside we don’t wear shoes, but when I placed the shoe against the cut, I nearly went through the roof, quite literally. I watered the strawberries and the parsley, then asked my husband to take a look at my foot. He untaped it, and I screamed from the pain – the cotton wool had stuck to the wound, and it was nearly 50mm x 8mm. When I screamed, Moonlight, my daughter’s cat (in theory) came running and jumped onto my daughter’s lap and then onto mine – he stood there staring at me, and I suppose he was wondering what was wrong. He settled down onto my lap, and since then, he hasn’t been too far from me.

My husband made an appointment with the doctor, and he placed four stitches in it. During the procedure, while the doctor was placing the anaesthetic into my foot, my foot jumped, and the doctor ended up with an anaesthetised eye. He stitched my foot up, and we left the doctor’s surgery, but I wouldn’t have realised how difficult it is to walk with stitches in your foot. This wasn’t the worst part – I have been house-bound for the last five days, as I couldn’t even get a shoe onto my foot. Imagine walking around the goat yard with no shoes – I can’t even bear to think about it!

During the first few days, I developed an infection in my foot, with the wound site being extremely red, sore and hot,  so I have been on antibiotics to help clear that up. On Tuesday night my husband lit the fire, and it smelled like there was something cooking, but he didn’t take any notice. By bed time, however, it was starting to smell pretty good, so he found the torch and started searching. Apparently when the dry food bowl shattered and the dry food went everywhere, some of it managed to find its way onto the top of the firebox through a 10mm gap where the fan blows the heat out. There were about 10 pieces there, and they were very well toasted, so much so that the cats couldn’t even chew them up!

A friend of mine phoned, and offered to pray for my foot, as the antibiotics weren’t really working – this was on the Tuesday night, and by Wednesday morning the infection had settled, and my foot was feeling very much better. I praise God for healing and I thank my friend, Gwenda, for praying for health and healing for my foot. Our God is a God of miracles, but all too often we think of Him as a last resort, when we should be thinking of Him first!

My foot is starting to settle down now, but by night time, I really do know that I have a left foot. I have the stitches out on Thursday, and I will breather such a sigh of relief. This last week has been rather a struggle, so I hope that you’ll forgive my lack of visiting.

Image from here.

I’m taking a break from blogging for a little while to spend some more time with our children before they’re all grown. I hope that you’ll be here when I get back, and that you’ll understand, but at the moment, I feel that it’s more important that I spend the time having Teddy Bear Picnics, playing dolls’ house and board games with our children.

Tomorrow my daughter and I are having a Teddy Bear’s Picnic on the side lawn ~ we did debate on having it down in the paddock with the goats, but thought that they might be a little boisterous! After that, we’re having some more fun!

Praise God for families, but especially for children!

Housework ~ did I say housework? Now, I truly did hear sighs and groans from some of you! Washing your mouth out with chocolate sounds like a wonderful excuse to indulge one’s chocolate addiction without feeling guilty, now doesn’t it?

These last few weeks have been incredibly difficult for us, but not just because of the pain aspect – it is more the frustration of knowing what needs to be done, but not being able to do it. Housework  (there’s that word again!), especially mopping and vacuuming make Thursdays a very long day, with my husband struggling through the vacuuming and my son mopping all of the floors and verandahs – then having to do his school work, as well. He is currently studying toward his year 12 certificate, so school work is not a walk in the park, either.

People from our church have asked whether they could help with the housework, but the sheer distance makes that unfeasible, as it is about 80 kilometres from church to our home! I really wouldn’t expect anybody to travel that sort of distance to do our mopping and vacuuming. However, we have taken them up on their offer to help with meals when my husband goes into hospital, for they will be very full days! In the meantime, we have been struggling along, and knowing that God would work things out.

When I visited the physio, he asked if we would benefit from home help, as I had spoken to him about the difficulties that we were facing on a week to week basis, and he said that he would approach the appropriate authorities in the local health service. We had our interview this morning, and they have said that we definitely qualify for a cleaner to come in to vacuum and mop the floors in the main living areas. With homeschooling, the main living areas include pretty much all of our home, except for my son’s sunroom and the guest bedroom. Praise God, for He truly does work all things out for our good!

While I am here, I would really like to thank everybody who have taken the time out of their busy lives to pray for us ~ your prayers are very much appreciated, and God will truly bless you for honouring Him.

…my friends!

Image from here

Curiouser and curiouser – today I went to the physio, and he told me that I have not one disc bulge, but four – ahem, I had thought that this was going to be easy to remedy the disc bulge, but four of them are going to be a trifle more difficult. The posterior (bulging backward) disc bulges that I have are L2, L3 and L5, while the anterior (bulging forward) disc bulge is L4.

At the moment, the physio has given me one exercise – lying face down with three pillows under my tummy. Treatment consists of ultrasound once a week, with hot wheat packs in between to ease the inflammation. On my visit today he said that we will continue on the road that we are on until the muscle pain settles, and then we are going to have to go the opposite way to try and heal the posterior disc bulges.

It seems that when I fell down the cellar steps, I really did a ‘good’ job of hurting my back. Little things, such as putting the nebuliser into the boot of the car bring on intense pain;  it’s not until you I do something, and it causes intense pain that I realise how much damage I have done.

One thing that I do know, and that is that God allows certain illnesses to happen for His glory.

And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. John 9: 1-3

I need to have a voice of thanksgiving, but this is not easy unless I draw on God’s strength, and then, and only then will He give order and meaning to my life. I need to draw on God’s strength, and know that His grace is sufficient for me. We are told to glory in our infirmities, and that God will use the weaker vessel for His glory – that’s me!

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. 2 Corinthians 12: 9, 10

Lord, I am willing to be used for Your purpose – take me, use me, mould me, shape me to achieve your purposes here on earth! I need to remember that God works all things together for our good, and I need to give Him my thanks, no matter what happens, even if I don’t understand the “why” right now. Trusting God means that I am not drawing on my own understanding, for it is not for me to understand – God is our omniscient (all-knowing) Creator God, and I lay my life in His hands.

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. Proverbs 3:5

Did I just hear you utter up a sigh or perhaps a groan? Well, ironing is one of those things that, in our home, needs to be done and done to the glory of God. After all, God loves you, and He considers you worthy of the very best. If we didn’t iron, that would signify that we think ourselves not worthy of the time spent ironing our clothes. I love putting on fresh, clean, wrinkle-free clothes every morning.

The task of ironing our clothes is extremely easy in our home, as we hang all hanging up clothing on clothes racks, which dry in our sunroom during the summer and in the loungeroom, in front of the fire, during winter. We live very close to a dirt road, and our clothing was forever being covered in dust, and besides, it is more practical – the coloureds don’t fade nearly as much, either.

My daughter does the majority of the ironing in our home, as my son HATES ironing, and would rather pay his sister to iron his clothes. I think that he figures he can earn more by designing web pages, and his sister doesn’t mind, as she gets paid to iron his clothes, but he has been taught to iron, too. Just recently we have had discussions on why we iron our clothes and why they need to be wrinkle-free, and these Bible verses sprang immediately to mind. We need to instill a good work ethic into our children so that they can teach it their children and their children’s children.

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31

She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Proverbs 31:27

She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. Proverbs 31:13

She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. Proverbs 31:24

That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Titus 2: 4-5

Perhaps you could pray for the person whose clothing you are ironing, or even pray for missionaries while you are standing there. This would be making good use of the time with which God entrusts us – redeeming the time, so to speak. In Bible times, linen was worn, and if you have ever worn linen, you would know that it is extremely prone to creasing. To iron linen would have taken a very long time, and is very hard work. The advantages of linen are that it is moth-resistant, repels dirt well and keeps perspiration away from the skin.

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5: 15- 16

It is important to teach our children how to care for their own clothes, so that they will always look their best. If they were applying for a job, they would be judged on their appearance firstly and foremostly.

Who does the ironing in your place? Perhaps you buy clothes that are crease-resistant – do you iron at all? Do you consider yourself worthy of the time spent ironing?

Then, when they arrive home my husband puts the long lengths of wood through the sawbench, which sure saves a lot of stress on the chainsaw. It is so much quicker putting the wood through the sawbench, too. Our woodshed is starting to look as if we might have enough wood for winter, now. In this area the temperature plummets to minus eight celsius in winter, but in summer it soars to a mighty forty-seven degrees celsius.

I praise God for the beautiful, warm and sunny autumn days so that we can replenish our wood supply. In the Old Testament times, the only wood that was allowed to be cut down were trees not bearing fruit. We don’t cut down any trees – we just clean up the wood that has fallen in the farmer’s paddocks. Today was 26C, and it was an absolutely splendid day, although our old stone home is already starting to feel the effects of the weather cooling down. I praise God that He knows what we have need of before we even ask, and that He provides all that we need!

Today’s Tuesday Treasures are true treasures – they are my dad’s National Service Medals issued by the National Mint posthumously. My dad worked as a Police Officer for twenty five years in the South Australian Police Force, from 21st August 1961 until he died on the 23rd November, 1986; and he loved his job.  To him it wasn’t just a job, but he lived for his work, and was a straight down the line policeman. To him, everything was either black or white – there were no greys. Hmmm – I wonder where I inherited that trait from!?? He was only 54 years of age and died of a massive heart attack.

To my dad, there was no time off – if he saw something happening that was wrong, he was a police officer and he simply did his duty. Dad was a very special person, and I know that these medals are only possessions, but they remind me of the very special character traits that he had – the tenacity to get the job done, honesty, forthrightness, responsibility, punctuality, reliability, kindness, gentleness and a person who was utterly devoted to his family and his career.

We also have Dad’s Certificate of Service hanging on the loungeroom wall – he was a man of integrity and we do miss him so. He never met his grandchildren, as he died five months after we were married, but I’m sure that he would have doted on them with the same loving kindness that he showed us.

Dad showed me how to budget well and it is only through him and his words of wisdom that we own our home and cope so well financially. There were so many things that I wish I’d said to Dad – thanked him for helping me to understand finances and for his love and that he was always there for me. I wish I’d said I loved him more often than I did. He didn’t often show his love outwardly, but more by the things that he did, such as fixing my old bomb of a car so that I wouldn’t get it defected.

During his last week of life, he came out to see us, and as he was leaving, he said, “I love you” – I think he knew that he didn’t have much longer on this earth, for he wasn’t one for mushy sentiment. I treasure those words more than any possessions, but how do his grandchildren remember him with only the words that were spoken to me? The few possessions that we have of his are all that will remain of a true gentleman one day, but I hope that our children know what a true treasure their grandfather was and is.

During his last few years on this earth, he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Saviour, and I do so long to meet up with him again one day, but in the meantime, I shall rest in the knowledge that he’s with Jesus, safe in the everlasting arms.

Thank you, Mary for hosting Tuesday Treasures, for today’s treasures were a very special trip down memory lane -  a few tears, but more for the happy times than out of sadness, and the missing of a very special person,

my
Dad!

The first photos that I have of her are when I was two weeks old, and I cherish these photos for they bring back such wonderful memories.

When I was eighteen months old, we moved from Broken Hill to Adelaide by car, and I was carsick all over my grandfather, so Nanna nursed me in the front of the car – I still get carsick even to this day in the back of the car, or if I try and read in the car. It makes for interesting conversations when I am asked to read a street directory, such as,“Tell me where we’re going.”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, you’re the one with the street directory.”
“Not anymore.” (throws street directory at husband) These days I drive and my husband reads the street directory – much easier!

My mum went out to work, as my dad joined the South Australian Police Force after working in the North Mine in Broken Hill. The first memories I have are of my nanna taking me shopping with her in Adelaide, eating out at a cafeteria and riding the rooftop rides. I remember climbing the wall on King Willliam Street where the bus stopped. Oh, such happy days they were!

I remember that once my brother and I spent the day clambering through storm drains, and I slipped and fell. We went home, scared to tell anyone what had happened, but Nanna was staying with us; when I lay down in the afternoon, she stroked my head, and I jumped. She knew that something was wrong, and it turned out that I had concussion. Nanna was the one who knew me inside out – probably better than I knew myself.

When I went to school, I spent much of my life in hospital due to asthma, but my nanna was always there, brightening up my days. Then in grade five I was admitted to hospital, but I didn’t go home when I was released from hospital. Instead I went to the Red Cross Home, where I spent much of grade five.

I remember visiting my nanna during the last part of grade five, and my mum being there – she took me on a long walk around the back of Blanchetown trying to drill my social studies into me, especially dates of important events in history and hitting me if I gave her wrong answers. I remember saying that I wanted to go back to Nanna’s, and that my mother was mean, but I wasn’t allowed to go back to Nanna’s until I answered every question correctly! However, I scored 95% in the final exams, so I guess that it was all worth it. It proved to me that I could do it, if I put my heart and mind to it.

I remember putting hydrogen peroxide through my hair, then going to the hairdressers to have a darker colour put into it, and finally being sent up to Blanchetown to stay with Nanna until my hair colour lightened. I remember Nanna washing it gently every day with Velvet soap, sometimes several times through the day, and gradually it lightened. Yet, not once did she admonish me! Her love for me was unboundless.

When I gained my driver’s licence it was wonderful to visit Nanna, and I have fond memories of driving her back to Blanchetown in my rattly old Datsun Bluebird. It was a very old car and it vibrated very much, but Nanna never complained – in fact, I don’t think I ever heard her complain about anything. Sadly, she had breast cancer, and during radiotherapy I remember her being afraid that she would smell of body odour if she didn’t use deodorant, – she was always thinking of others first. She died of a massive heart attack when she was 70.

Nanna was the mainstay in my life, and I have such happy memories of her – I miss her so much and…

…Nanna was like my Mum, and I love her with all my ♥!

This morning, when I awoke my son, daughter and husband had already completed most of the housework, so we had breakfast, a very late breakfast I might add, and then the children washed and dried the breakfast dishes.

When they had finished the breakfast dishes, my daughter went off with her dad to collect firewood from one of the local farms, as a HUGE tree has come down in the paddock that they will be sowing very shortly. My son stayed home with me so that he could finish the vacuuming and mop the verandahs. He was still completing the dishes when I noticed fur bunnies along the skirting boards and the carpet near the skirting boards – aargh – this is why my asthma has been so severe, lately,  so I took hold of the vacuum cleaner, thinking that I could actually help with the housework. Silly me!

No such luck – I had nearly finished along the edges of the skirting boards in the loungeroom, and was vacumming one of the corners that didn’t look as if it had been vacuumed for a very long while, when it started. I coughed and coughed, my breathing became more difficult and then the wheezing started. My son was up in his bedroom, and I thought that he was never going to come down, but eventually he did, and I gasped, “Nebuliser,” at him. Of course, where was it? In the car. Where was the car? Not here! Darn it! Usually we are all together as a family, but the wood needed to be cut and the housework finished, and we couldn’t be in two places at once.

He wanted to call an ambulance, but living out here, the calls all go to Adelaide for ambulance, and by the time he had explained where we were, it would have been too late. He jumped on his bicycle and rode the  three kilometres to where my husband and daughter were cutting wood, and found them just arriving there after going to see about buying some oats. He threw the bike into the trailer, and they drove home and set up the nebuliser. I was so hot and unable to breathe, but somehow God sustained me through it all.

There were two lessons learned from this -

• Lesson one is that the nebuliser needs to be with me at all times, which was the reason that we left it in the car in the first place.
• Lesson two is that I need to explain to our children exactly how things need to be done.

Yes, it’s easier to do things ourselves – well, sometimes! It takes time and effort to show our children how we want things done, but how will they learn unless we teach them?

The things of God are learned in the same way -
It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. John 6:45

My son is learning well, and this afternoon he has used the crevice tool to clean along the edges, and even went as  far as to shift the piano, which hasn’t been shifted for a very long time. Now all that we need to be able to do is to shift it back…  It weighs a ton! My husband and son managed to shift it back, and my son commented, “Now I have gorilla arms – they have stretched that far!” Now, I wonder, how often should we shift the piano???

I praise God that He strengthens us through times of trials, and He gives us His Peace – the verse that I remembered today was:~

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace,

whose mind is stayed on thee:

because he trusteth in thee. Isaiah 26:3

and He did ~ He kept me in perfect peace!