You know you haven't had enough sleep when...

... you take paracetamol before you go to bed, and when you wake up in the morning you think "I'd better take another lot of those tablets..... wait, I'm not actually due for my next (4 hrly) dose for another HOUR!!!!" Oh.

How not to spend Christmas Eve....

I'm sure some people spent today frantically buying last minute gifts, cooking food to share with their loved ones or taking a few quiet moments to meditate on the miracle of Jesus' birth. Not me though. Oh no. I had a far better idea. I decided to sew through my finger with my sewing machine and then pull my finger away with enough force to break the needle off in my fingertip. The staff at the hospital were lovely and helpful, but it's not what I'd recommend for a fun day out.

The Milkybars are on me!

Big Kev's splashing money around in a vain attempt to prop up our ailing economy, and some of it's coming my way! I'm so buying myself a new 8 ft plasma TV. I totally deserve it.

On a not-quite-related note, has anybody else (apart from my Dad who pointed it out to me) noticed how much our esteemed prime minister looks like the Milkybar kid? Well obviously someone has because I came across this hilarious You Tube video - you can check it out and see the uncanny similarity for yourself!

Questions #1

I've been thinking about the balance (or lack thereof) that I manage to achieve in my life. Last week I wrote about some of the things I do and don't do, and since then I've been thinking about how I should be deciding what I use my time for. Alot of my decisions have been made without alot of thought and I thought it might be helpful for me to think a bit more clearly about what I'm doing, especially with a new year looming.

I've been thinking about how I can know whether or not I'm doing "enough" for my family... what things should I be looking for to let me know I've got the balance right (or wrong?).

I'm realising that the Bible itself isn't terribly prescriptive about exactly what a person in my situation should be acheiving. Actually it isn't very "acheivement" focussed, as far as I can tell. Maybe it will help if I think about the different things I'm resposnsible for on the home front and look at what I should be doing according to the Bible, and think about how I'll know if that's happening.

I'm just going to think about my responsibilities to my kids tonight because I'm so tired and I can't get blogger to save a draft!


I'll jot down my thoughts.... feel free to disagree or add your own ideas :)

I need to teach them about God (eg Deuteronomy 6:7), love them (Titus 2:4, if I need a reason!) and teach them to be obedient (Ephesians 6:1). It's interesting to me that the Bible doesn't say my job is to make them happy or confident which seems to be what alot of people want for their kids (not that I don't want it, YKWIM).

So the questions I should probably be asking myself are
* Do I have time to teach my kids about God?
* Do I have time and energy to make learning about God interesting?
* Do I have the mental energy and time to answer their questions, or am I too busy thinking about other things to engage with them properly?
* Am I loving my children, or am I so busy that their needs irritate me?
* Do my kids feel loved? Do I have time and energy to do the things that matter to them (eg JoJo having her hair done in 4 plaits, which often feels like about 4 plaits too many to me!).
* Do my kids seem loved and cared for to other people? This feels important to me, but I'm not sure if it should be.
* Do I have the patience to discipline my kids without getting angry and frustrated? Am I making it hard for them to be obedient by taking them to too many "things" so that they are getting tired and cranky?


There's alot of other stuff I'd like to do with or for my kids, but I'm thinking the things listed above should be my highest priorities. I can see I've got some work to do! Better get to bed :)

More pics

And 3 more... Phil texting madly at the park, JoJo and Grandad, the boys escaping at the zoo!

Fun!

Some more pics from Melbourne... JoJo having her nails painted (possibly the highlight of the trip for her!), Xander braving a crocodile at the Melb zoo, the 3 cousins together and X and J having fun at the park.

Dolls!

Check out this cute little lady! A couple from church are heading back to the Democratic Republic of Congo early next year to work in a hospital there, and they are trying to get a whole lot of dolls together to take with them for the kids there. There are children there who are either orphaned or are there because their mums have been raped and have come to the hospital for treatment. There are no toys for them to play with, so I'm very happy to have signed up to make some dolls.... although I think I might have said I'd make 20.... what was I thinking?!!

If I can track down a scanner somewhere I'm hoping to get the pattern for this doll up on my free patterns page (which currently only has one pattern - I should say my free pattern page!). It's fast to make and uses only small scraps of fabric.