What do you Think of…

Ironing?

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?

God’s Provision

The last week my husband and son have been cutting and stacking firewood, as one of the local farmers said that we could have all of the wood in one of his paddocks. What a blessing! My husband cuts the wood with the chainsaw, and my son loads it into the trailer.

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!

True Tuesday Treasures

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!

My Nanna was like my Mum

My nanna was one of the most genuine people that I have had the pleasure of knowing, and she brought me up for many of my childhood years. She was the one constant in my life, and I knew that if I had done anything wrong (not that I ever did anything wrong – not much – cough, gasp, splutter!) she would be the first person there in my defence.

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 ♥!

Of Fur Bunnies and Pianos

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!