Self~Control Challenge

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!

Praise You, Almighty Father

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah 6:8

Our heavenly Father, I do thank you and give You the praise, for:~

• Providing us with Home Help to help with the mopping and vacuuming while we so desperately need it.
• My husband – he has spent much time recently cutting firewood so that we won’t go cold this winter. The temperature today means that winter is on its way, and it won’t be long before we have to light the combustion fire.
• Our children, who have been a tremendous help in and around the home and our farm, helping with chores that my husband would normally do, not expecting anything in return, just happy to help.
• Friends - blogging friends and IRL friends in particular, who have taken up the mantle of prayer for us recently, and we have been hearing the answers to those prayers. Firstly, my back was finally diagnosed with having four disc bulges (one anterior and three posterior), and the physio is now working on repairing them. Then, we have been struggling with completing the housework each week, but now we have received an answer to that prayer in the way of Home Help – praise God!
• Farm-fresh goats’ milk – our goats are continuing to supply us with goats’ milk, enough for our cooking and for drinking, too.
• Our church, whose building is going ahead. We saw the plans yesterday, and it is very functional and beautiful.
• Balmy autumn weather – I know that it has to come to an end, soon, but I am relishing the time while the days are warm, sunny and the leaves are beginning to fall.
• Sending Your Son to die in our place, a substitutionary sacrifice, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Through Him our relationship with You is restored, we have access through Him to You and He lives in my heart.

Jennifer, from My Chocolate ♥ hosts Praise each week, and for this I am extremely thankful – care to join, pop on over.

Housework ~ Did I Say Housework?

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!

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 ♥!

Praise for this Week

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also:
knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
And hope maketh not ashamed;
because the love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost
which is given unto us. Romans 5: 3-5

Praise You, Almighty Father:~

• That my blog page is up and functioning once again. I don’t remember praying for patience recently, but it has been well and truly tested during the last few days. Praise God that Stephen was able to fix it, and a big thank you, also to PSD2CSS for migrating the files across properly. I also praise God that there are good friends, such as Susan, who are willing to offer their help in fixing the problems.

• For friends, who make this world a much better place to live in, friends who build us up and encourage us to look inward at ourselves, to see what God sees.

• For my husband’s relatively pain-free knee – he has been able to cut many loads of firewood recently, so that we don’t go cold this winter.

• For our children – in particular, my son, who rode three kilometres to bring my husband home with the car, and the nebuliser during a severe asthma attack. I praise Him also for my daughter’s help in cutting and collecting firewood, for she shifts all of the loose sticks so that my husband doesn’t trip over.

• For our home, which is safe, warm and comfortable and is a refuge in the times of trial.

Psalm 62:8 tells us that we need to trust in God at all times,

that we need to pour out our heart before Him,

and that God is a refuge for us.

• For warm, autumn weather, enabling us to prepare for the cold winter ahead of us.

• For farm-fresh goats’ milk, which enables each one of us to have a regular intake of calcium ( I wonder why it’s not called goatcium, when it’s goats’ milk???), and enables us to make delicious home-made goats’ milk ice-cream.

• That we have homeschooling freedoms within Australia that many countries don’t. For instance, did you know that homeschooling is illegal in Germany and Brazil, and that Sweden seeks to introduce a law stating that the only way that you can homeschool there is under “exceptional circumstances“? Please continue praying for Dominic Johannson and the swift reuniting with his parents, Annie and Christer.

The HSLDA are currently looking for families to host persecuted homeschoolers, and while we have the room, we don’t have a vehicle capable of transporting extra people, and living out here, they would need a reliable vehicle. Does anyone want to take on this important role in helping the persecuted homeschoolers? If you do, please contact the HSLDA here.