Heart Reflections Live

-"Yah!!! Mummy's got a baby in her tummy!" (This was shouted triumphantly at all our neighbours the day after we found out, by our darling girls.)

-Zara "When the baby comes out, I'll wipe your dishes, do your washing, change its nappies and give it a bottle" Bless her heart- she's 4!

-Congratulations!!!!

- You're not, are you?

- Was it an accident? (No, it wasn't. It was a much wanted gift from God.)

- Oh no- didn't she nearly die last time?? (Well yes, but God spared my life. Thankyou for your heartfelt concern, but we are believing in faith for a healthy Mum and baby. Please be a PRAYER WARRIOR instead of a worrier. Prayers are greatly appreciated. We are believing for a triumphant testimony.)

-Poor Max with his heart condition! How will he manage 3!!

- Praise the Lord! He has granted you new life!!! (I liked this last one!)

- I read on the net the other day that Michelle Dugger is expecting her 18th child at 41! We are just as excited with our 3rd, as they are with their 18th, and they are excited. Every conception is a gift from God, and a reason to rejoice!!

Labels: pregnancy

On Mother's Day, my hubby asked me to share at Church for a few minutes, prior to Communion, on communion from a Mother's point of view, using Jesus' mother, Mary as an example.

On this day, Mothers Day, a day on which we honour our Mothers who raised us, or who are raising us, I would like to present Holy Communion to you, through the eyes of a woman, perhaps the most reknowned Mother of all time, Mary the Mother of Jesus...

Mary was the chosen vessell of God to carry the Christ Child into this wicked world, but this doesn't mean she was perfect or sinless, or anything like that- she confessed her own sin-nature in her joyous outburst in Luke 1:47, when she said, "And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour" - if she was indeed sinless she wouldn't have declared her need for a saviour. She was like any one of us can be, when our hearts are totally submitted unto the Lord. How many of us could say, "Behold the Handmaid( or servant) of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy Word." How much joy and pain she was committing herself to in that one simple statement of faith and submission!

I remember when I saw "The Passion of the Christ"- I thought it one of the most beautiful films I ever saw. Yes it was very raw, real and gorey in parts, but I was totally mesmerized by the way they portrayed the relationship between Jesus and Mary, his mother.

My favourite scene in whole movie, was when Mary saw Jesus stumble under the weight of the cross. She immediately flashed back in her mind to him stumbling and falling as a boy at play, her Mother's heart longing to help him, ran to the cross,where Jesus smiled at her through the pain and said words to the effect of, "Do not fear, woman, I am fullfilling my destiny!" and suddenly it all seemed to make sense!-all the things she had stored up in her heart over the years,- the angels, the boy in the temple, A sword was indeed piercing her own heart as she not only faced the unfathomable pain of seeing her first-born suffer and die, but the realization, that He, the Lamb of God, was bearing her sins too.

Mary's story doesn't finish there. Jesus in his compassion and love passed her into the care of John, during some of his final moments on the cross, then there was the resurrection and joy again!, and then of course she was tarrying in the upper room when the Holy Spirit came. Mary the Mother of Jesus, became part of the first church!

I can't imagine the pain Mary went through in losing her first-born son- yet grief is the price we all pay for love, and in Jesus, and the hope of the resurrection, it can, like as it did for Mary, turn pain into unspeakable joy.

Labels: Christ Crucified, church

I received a wonderful gift for Mother's Day, this year- one that is eagerly anticipated and will bless the whole family- WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!!!

Yes, by the end of the year, I'll be a Mum of 3!

The bub is due at the end of December, but because I will need a ceasearen due to previous surgery on my uterus, he or she will probably make an appearance a couple of weeks earlier. That will make 3 birthdays in December for the Roberts Family- mine , Talitha's and the one to come.

God has planned this sooooo perfectly. The baby will be born over the school holidays, so I'll have time to recover somewhat before resuming homeschool (and if I'm not quite well enough, hubby will don the teacher's cap for a while.)
The other amazing thing is that so far at least, I'm not as ill this time round as in my previous pregnancies. Yes, I am nauseous, but I haven't lost any meals yet. Please pray this continues, as otherwise I'll be searching homeschool blogs for such articles as "How to Homeschool With your Head in a Bucket and Other Tips"!!

God is so good. If you are a seasoned Homeschool Mum though I wouldn't mind a few tips on homeschooling with a new baby and carrying on through seasons of reduced health. Any encouragement would be gratefully received. I'm living my dream, but it's all still very new to me.

Praise God for His gifts of new life!

PS If you've noticed articles are slowing down a bit here, it's only because I've started hitting the hay with the children some nights, instead of blogging after they're asleep. I'll have to reschedual my blogging time, as it's an important source of Christian Fellowship and encouragement for me.
Stay Tuned... more articles coming!

Labels: family life, homeschooling

"We are at a farmhouse; everything is plain but neat and nice. I asked Mrs Brown, our hostess, the other day if she did not envy me my four little pets; she smiled, said they were the best children she ever saw, and that it was well to have a family if you have means to start them in the world. For her part, she lived from hand to mouth, as it was, and was sure she could never stand the worry and care of a house full of young ones.

"But the worry and care is only half the story," I said. "The other half is pure joy and delight."

"Perhaps so to people that are well-to-do," she replied, "but to poor folks, driven to death as we are, it's another thing. I was telling my husband yesterday what a mercy it was there weren't any young ones round under my feet, and I could take city boarders and help work off the mortgage on the farm."

"And what did your husband say to that?"

"Well, he said we were young and hearty, and there was no such tearing hurry about the mortgage, and that he'd give his right hand to have a couple of boys like yours."

"Well?"

"Why, I said, supposing we had a couple of boys, they wouldn't be like yours, dressed to look genteel and to have genteel ways, but a pair of wild colts, into everything, tearing their clothes off their backs, and wasting faster than we could earn. He said 'twasn't the clothes, 'twas the flesh and blood he wanted, and 'twasn't no use to to argufy about it; a man that hadn't got any children wasn't mor'n half a man. 'Well,' says I, 'supposing you had a pack of 'em, what have you got to give'em? 'Jest exactly what my father and mother gave me,' says he; 'two hands to earn their bread with and a welcome you could have heard from Dan to Beersheba.'"

"I like to hear that!" I said. "And I hope many such welcomes will resound in this house. Suppose money does come in while little goes out; suppose you get possession of the whole farm; what then? Who will enjoy it with you? Who will you leave it to when you die? And in your old age, who will care for you?"

"You seem awful earnest," she said.

"Yes, I am in earnest. I want to see little children adorning every home as flowers adorn every meadow and every wayside. I want to see them welcomed into the homes they enter, to see their parents grow less and less selfish and more and more loving because they have come. I want to see God's precious gifts accepted, not frowned upon and refused."

From "Stepping Heavenward" by E. Prentiss.

Food for Thought:

The Bible calls children a blessing and debt a curse. Why in this modern age do so many reject the blessing and pursue the curse?

Labels: food for thought, Quote