Heart Reflections Live

And she BLEW those candles out!!

Here is Zara Hope with her flower cake. My husband asked her specifically what cake she would like for her4th birthday, and she said- a Flower... Must be the budding (pardon the pun) gardener in her!!

My husband and I made the cake together. I baked it and mixed the icing, and then my creative hubby got busy cutting the flower shape, mixing the colourings and completing the creation. She loved it!!

I can't believe little Zara is 4 already!!

Labels: being at home, family life, Zara

It's not the homemaker section at your local department store that makes your house a home. You know, the new season towels, sheets and kitchenware that make you feel like you're keeping up with the Joneses...

"Things" are important in the family home- otherwise we'd be eating off the floor!- but we need to move beyond superficiality to what really matters.

Are designer sheets that important? No, but memories past and preserved,and the living memories happening daily, are part of the culture of family and home that we must embrace.

The traditions we have as a Christian family become the mortar between the Living Stones that bind us together.

We have done , for a long time now, eaten our evening meal together as a family and recently we started to do the same with breakfast. My husband remembered with fond joy,as a child, enjoying a laden table with much to choose from, complete with a china butter dish and toast rack. Through our garage saleing and op-shopping, we recently purchased a china butter dish and a toast rack of our own- complete with little jam trays- and now these have become part and parcel of our family's traditions.

I set the table nicely, put out a selection of breakfast cereals, toppings for toast, make the cuppas, and sometimes an omelette for my husband if he requests one. We all pray together, as we do at our evening meal, and enjoy family time together. A quick bowl of cereal on my own, with a teabag dangling in a mug, doesn't compare anymore. I thought I was saving time, but our new method doesn't really take the time to prepare, that I thought it would.

Everything we have or do in our homes, becomes an important building block in our children's memories. The music we play, the books we read, Family devotions, the scents in the bathroom, the aromas in the kitchen, the sweetness of our temper- all add up.

We women need to embrace the culture of family, hearth and home: simple tasks undertaken in love, can be the difference between the beautiful and the prosaic.

It's easy to become a bit flat in our homemaking duties, where we start to do things the quickest or easiest way. When I'm tired or not well, that special effort tends to fly out the window with me and I need a kick in the pants or a fresh dose of inspiration to get me going again.

The Bible says, "But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing." I know when I'm feeling this way, I need to spend more time in God's Word-This is an investment in your time- it won't eat your time!and I take a bit of time out to flip through my old collection of "Victoria" magazines from the 1990's. They inspire me in the "art of living" once again, as I read of the simple, beautiful things that make such a difference to those we love.

Our homes are a place of refuge from the chaos of the world outside, not a pit-stop and a change room. We have to live in our homes anyway- why not live beautifully and do all of our tasks to the glory of God.

Labels: being at home, family life, homemaking

O give us homes built firm upon the Saviour,
Where Christ is Head, and Counsellor and Guide;
Where ev'ry child is taught His love and favour
And gives his heart to Christ, the crucified:
How sweet to know that tho his footsteps waver
His faithful Lord is walking by his side!

O give us homes with Godly Fathers, Mothers,
Who always place their hope and trust in Him;
Whose tender patience turmoil never bothers,
Whose calm and courage trouble cannot dim;
A home where each finds joy in serving others
And love still shines, tho days be dark and grim.
O give us homes where Christ is Lord and Master,
The Bible read, the precious hymns still sung;
Where prayer comes first in peace or in disaster,
And praise is natural speech to ev'ry tongue;
Where mountains move before a faith that's vaster,
And Christ sufficient is for old and young.

O Lord, Our God, our homes are Thine forever!
We trust to Thee their problems, toil, and care;
Their bonds of love no enemy can sever
If Thou art always Lord and Master there:
Be Thou the centre of our last endeavour
Be Thou thy Guest, our hearts and homes to share.

by Barbara B. Hart

Labels: being at home, Christ, Poetry

Labels: being at home, Talitha, Zara