Kitchen Shelf

I have painted all day and the shelf is finished and the kitchen has been rearranged.

It will probably get changed around a bit can't decide if I like it standing or on its side with the kettle in the self.

I also finished the picture frame but can't decide which photo to put in it.  Will add a picture of that in my next post.

You are valuable because you exist. Not because of what you do or what you have done, but simply because you are.--Max Lucado

Home Living

Yesterday I read a lovely post from Linda at home living.  The title of the blog was A Home Making Class.  Oh how I wish there was something like this when I was growing up, well even now for that matter.  Growing up my mother was sick a lot so my home skills are largely self taught or I learnt from my father, we lived along way away from my extended family and my grandmother who started to teach me how to knit and sew on her holidays wit us passed away when I was 11.  You see my mother did not know how to cook or do anything when she married my dad, as she had a lot of challengers as a child and her parents were told she would never move out of home if she lived past her childhood years.  So she was never really taught home skills, my father is an amazing cook and he taught my mum who now is  a great cook.  But having a mother who was ill a lot while growing up, meant that I had to learn how to keep house and cook at a young age.  By the age of eight I could cook most meals including roast, lasagna, bake bread, cakes, milk the cow and goats, could do washing, ironing, most cleaning jobs. 

I think it is so important that we teach our children cooking and home skills, even if they do have a disability, you never know what will happen in the future.  As in my mums example by the grace of God she achieved things in life that people and her doctors never expected her to.  Not only did she get married she also had a child, was a pastors wife and a great writer.  

I am trying to teach my children things while still letting them be a child.  This is something I have really struggled with, I do not want to rob them of their childhood, but I also want them prepared for life when they leave home.    

A class like this would have been so great, for both teens and us married ones, the older generation have so much wisdom and knowledge to share.   Rhonda has a great blog called down to earth she shares lots of great ideas on home making, baking, gardening, craft and much more.   It is great to find an Aussie blog like this.  Laurie from Tip Junky, also has lots of great ideas.

In Australia our high schools provide a subject called home economics, this is compulsory for year eight and then is an elective for years 9 to 12.  It focuses on cooking and sewing/craft.   I did home economics from years 8 to 12 but only really learnt the basics.

Yesterday I went op shopping with my children we were looking for curtains or something that I could make into curtains for the kitchen but instead we found...... A brunch coat for me, a near new school dress for my eldest for $6 which is amazing as she goes to a Christian school and it is unusual to come across any of the uniforms in op shops.  And a shelf.

 Yes a brown old used shelf.  But with a coat of white paint a little sanding here and there and some pretty things it will turn into a kitchen self for my kitchen bench.

Some ideas of what I might do with it once it is painted.

And while I was looking for the paint in my very messy craft/junk room I came across this picture frame I have been meaning to paint.

So two more jobs to add to my list.

What to do.

Don't you just love school holidays :) no morning rush.  This morning my daughter wanted pancakes, we made the pancake mixture, I went off to be sick again (at the moment this is a common occurrence in our household) the my husband came home from work and cooked them for me:)

What a great way to start the day :) (I mean the pancakes, not being sick)

So what do you do when you have had 14 and a half weeks of the worst morning (all day) sickness, no social interaction other than school pick up.  You teach yourself to crochet, make a list of projects you would like to finish.  Well actually I only have done that in the last week.  To be totally honest, the last 14 weeks have been very challenging, lonely and frustrating for me, but also a time where the Lord had to teach me a few things. 

For those of you who do not know me, I am not one to sit down and do nothing I am always on the go, doing this and that.  I actually find it very hard to just sit and watch tv or blob.  I feel that I must be doing something that I am being lazy if I just sit.  (This is something I am working on and having a very lade back husband has helped me allot)  So you can imagine how hard it has been for me not to be able to do anything, had trouble cooking, cleaning, just getting through the day was a challenge.  I was nauseous all the time, had head spins, sooo tired and the smell or though of food made me ill.  Even the smell toast or peanut butter had me running.  The Lord showed me 2 things the first was am I a Mary or Martha.  Here is the little article I wrote for our church ladies newsletter.  (Now when I wrote this I did not know I was pregnant I had actually been suffering from morning sickness)

Luke 10 : 38 - 42

Mary Or Martha 

This past week I have been sick with the flu and then twisted my ankle. I had so many plans for the first week of the school holidays, outings, cleaning, you name it, it was on my list. Then I got sick and hurt myself and all my plans went out the window.

I was reading the bible and read the story of Mary and Martha. The story stirred something in me and made me evaluate and think about my life, (especially the last few years since being married and a mum) my priorities. I pondered on the Western life in general.

I am very Martha like, and I saw myself in a new light. Running to and fro, taking care of everything, doing and cleaning and always on the go, when the most important thing is to just be still and listen to His voice and have a worshipful spirit.

Then I came across this quote on a friend’s facebook page.

“ Slow us down, dear Lord. We’ve been like Martha, worried and distracted, instead of Mary, who spent time at Your feet, enjoying and adoring You. Please change our hearts..”

Learning to spend time at the Lord’s feet like Mary is a hard thing to do. It is easy to get distracted by life, the children, the fly on the wall, that ball of fluff on the floor.

Many times I am so busy doing things that I miss out on what he has for me and miss out on a relationship with him. Our culture is one that is on the go all the time and it is hard to find the time.

Don't get me wrong we need Martha but sometimes Martha can get lost with the doing, coming and going. My prayer for all of us is that we learn to fit a bit of Mary's nature into our lives everyday.

Quote:

It's exciting to live in complete oneness with the will of God. It is never dull or static because it is not a one-time, once-for-all commitment. It is something we have to work at constantly, moment by moment.--Evelyn Christenson

So that was the first lesson then after about 10 weeks of being sick and having had prayer for the morning sickness I was asking God why, why, why.  By this point was was totally frustrated, then he showed me that he had allowed me to this sick, he did not heal me as it was the only way he could get me to sit and listen.  (I must not have learnt the lesson that he showed me about Mary and Martha).  It was during this time that I was shown what he wanted me to do, just sit in his presence and pray and intercede for member and situations in my family.  I was being called to pray.  It was a time that I really needed to pray about a situation and the outcome was better than I could have imagined.

The last few weeks the morning sickness is not as bad and I have a few hours during the day when I am okay.  So I decided to learn how to crochet, something I have always wanted to learn.  I started with "The art of crochet" subscription every 2 weeks I will learn a new stitch and at the end of it I will have made a lovely throw. 

Other projects I am planning to do as I get better are:

 I painted all our furniture in our room white but I still have not found the right knobs for the draws. 

 This desk I got for my eldest from ebay for $15 needs some tlc, a new coat of paint and some new draw knobs.

 Thinking of painting this tallboy white to go with the girls room.  Needs new knobs and am thinking of removing the panels in the cupboard and replacing them with mesh or over them in some pretty material, or paint a picture on them.

 Oh my what was I thinking 9 years ago when I painted this change table yellow.  In my defence I though it was a lighter colour.  This need a new coat of paint and some tlc.

And my lovely table I picked up over a year ago.  I started sanding it needs to be totally sanded and repainted.  There are 3 coats of paint on it and it was finished with this terrible poo brown colour :(

And get my sewing machine fixed.

So that should keep me out of trouble for a few weeks.  Will post as I finish each project.

New Blog New Start

Well I have had quiet a break from blogging, life has been very busy, challenging and lonely we have been sent many curve balls that have kept our family on our toes.I went to update my old blog but could not sign in as I had forgotten my password so I decided to start a new blog. This blog will be slightly different to my last blog.

This blog will be my ramblings of my journey as a stay at home mum  and finding my way in a world that tells us that being a stay at home mum (or a mum) is not highly valued in our society. My greatest desire is to encourage mums both stay at home and working to find how God wants us to raise our children and run our houses. This have been on my heart for a few years here is a link to a post I wrote in 2008

Next year I was planning on going back to work part time, I had made all these plans signed up to sell Australian made gourmet food and was looking at doing some admin work, even considered updating my teaching registration and do some relief teaching. But God had other plans, we are looking forward to the arrival a new member into our family due in March. After I found out we were expecting I spent a bit of time with the Lord, and was reminded that I once again had made plans for my life without consulting the Lord, and it seems he had other plans for us. One funny thing is that about a mth before we fell pregnant I felt that I was to start a group for mums next year with newborns up to one year. I thought yeah great that would be fun. I could do that been there done that but it seems that I am ment to be part of the group. We are experiencing a baby boom at our church at them moment with over 8 babies due early next year.

Some of the topics I will be posting on in the near future is being pregnant when you have other children to take care of, morning sickness, crafts and cooking, making a house a home.........