Heart Reflections Live
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Special Touches
The children got a great deal of pleasure helping add these special touches...
Labels: family fun, memory-making, Numbering our days
Making Holiday Memories
One of the things I love most about homeschooling, is the opportunity to make memories, as I have the priveledge of having our children with me daily, instead of being at school most of the day. (That's not to say our lives are perfect, and that every homeschooling day is a delight. I can assure you we have our Bad days. Our children have a sin-nature, whether born into a Christian family or not, and there are many times that I have to remind myself that homeschooling is a marathon and not a sprint, but nevertheless I feel very priveledged to have the opportunity to nuture 4 little souls daily.)
While thinking about memory-making and "numbering our days" recently, I came across Annie's Holiday Pages on the net http://annieshomepage.com/holiday.html . What a resource! Many links for heaps of different holidays and all from a Christian perspective. So, in February this year for the first time we celebrated Valentines Day as a FAMILY!
The girls and I baked some pink heart-shaped cookies for housegroup and Church that week, we did a children's bible study on love during homeschool and also learnt about Saint Valentine the Christian Martyr- Wow! and I thought Valentines Day was a pagan thing! On the big day itself, we had a Family Valentines Feast. The girls and I dressed the table up using things we had as a surprise for Daddy. They really enjoyed it!
Australians as a whole I believe don't really celebrate the holidays in a Christian manner. We are fiercely patriotic when it comes to Australia Day and ANZAC Day, but Australian Society is sadly very secularized, much more so, than the USA, though we hope and pray God will revive this land and change that. At the moment, there's nothing a typical Aussie loves more than a long weekend, and sadly that's all Easter has become to many. But for myself, I'm totally inspired by this website, and I'm sure it will help bring many more happy memories to the Roberts Household. By the way, Valentines Day already has a special significance to us, as it was on a Valentines Day 10 years ago now, that God showed my dear husband that I was "the one"- how time flies...
Here are some pictures of our Family Valentines feast!
Labels: family fun, family life, memory-making, Numbering our days
Friday, January 09, 2009
Our Miss 7
What could be a nicer way for a girl to celebrate her 7th birthday, than a special meal out at an Italian Restuarant with the most important man in her life- DADDY!!
Our little girl is growing up...
Labels: family life, Numbering our days
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
So Teach Us to Number our Days...
My little one, Zara, has developed a real appreciation lately for looking at family photos- especially those that relay her short 3 year history! She has asked quite a few times lately to view them with me & asks many things relating to her story- things like stories about the house we used to live in, the songs I used to sing her as a baby... things like that.We are big on photos in our house. I inherited my Grandmother's albums 5 years ago, & so we have pictures going back as far as my Grandmother's Grandmother if you can follow that! I'm not big on scrapbooking the creative way- we'd run out of room! I like acid-free slide in books with plenty of room for captions on the side. If I need to remove a photo to scan, I can access it easily. We also have a few very special photo albums with stuck in pictures, separated by tissue paper as well.
Psalm 90 vs 12 says, "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom" KJV
and Psalm 39 vs 4, "Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is;that I may know how frail I am."
Chronicling our lives through photos, scrapbooking & keepsakes from milestones & key events, all help us to number our days. That is why I'll continue to encourage both our girls in their love of the photo cupboard. Looking at my Grandmother's albums, I can see that life is but a breath. I see the picture of my Great Uncle, who was taken by a shark on the Eve of him leaving to fight in New Guinea in WW2. I see the joyous wedding picture of my Grandfather's sister, who sadly died, with her unborn child of peritonitis late in pregnancy, on the one weekend, their country doctor was out of town... but it was this same tragedy which resulted in my Grandfather relocating to support his grieving family & thus meeting & marrying my Grandmother... Many stories...happy, sad & courageous...I see the importance of church & family & a hearty faith in God & His Providence...This so inspires me to live for Him...
I look at our own family pictures, amazed at how quickly our little Princesses are growing. They are truly only lent to us by God. I stand rebuked when I remember grumpy, stressed out days & how much they cost us in joy & peace. It helps me to be more determined to yield to Christ in both the big & little things & walk in the fruit of the Spirit more often.
Every moment we live we are making a memory...Let's determine afresh to live each moment in joy for the glory of God.
Labels: family history, Numbering our days, photos
