Heart Reflections Live

Labels: Books, Christmas, Faith, family

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I've been wanting to share some pictures with you all, but we've mislaid our computer cable to do so. So for now, word pictures must suffice!!

Our little family is keeping me very busy these days, what with homeschooling, housekeeping, and caring for hubby,girls and twins. Our boys are growing sooo big sooo quickly- only 18months old and already in size 2s!!! They are going to be so tall. We'll be getting them measured soon at our next doctors visit.

The girls are learning so much with homeschool. They are already becoming self-motivated learners. Like their Mama and Daddy, their noses are rarely out of a book, and like me their book piles are accumulating!!

I still love to read- mainly Christian books and classics, but my piles shrink at a much slower rate than in times gone by. Besides my Bible, I'm currently reading Spurgeon's Morning by Morning; Edith Schaeffer's The Art of Living; The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer and John Calvin, His Life ,Teaching and Influence- I find books on The Reformation fascinating. I've recently finished Abide In Christ by Andrew Murray-LOVED IT, The God of All Comfort by Hannah Whitall Smith, and For The Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay. It may sound like a lot, but believe me they took a long time to read!

We recently took the girls on a family excursion to a working dairy farm, and they got to help wash the cows' teats and to have a go at hand milking- they were so excited! I had the boys in the pram, so I couldn't get as close. Max got some great pics. The Jersey cows were absolutely beautiful,big brown eyes, and of course we got to take home some REAL unadulterated milk-there is nothing like it in my opinion-YUM!!!

Our thrifting expeditions have borne wonderful fruit lately- God has truly blessed us in needs and wants. We'd been wanting to upgrade our dining table for some time from a six seater to an eight, even though the boys are still in highchairs at the moment. We got a new to us pine colonial setting for an unbelievable price-lovely heavy table and very comfortable chairs. My husband also found a vintage/antique/very heavy oil lamp to grace it at a Collectorama. We're big Little House on the Prairie fans here, and it looks pretty close to the one the Ingalls family had in the TV series.

Oh! and for the grand sum of twenty dollars, my bargain hunting hubby also picked up a bowed front 1950's china cabinet. I love antiques, but have a soft spot for mid-20th century vintage too! :-)

We went to a garage sale that was on behalf of an elderly couple just moved into a nursing home. What was left needed to be sold quickly, so they could secure a rental income, so we were invited to :Take what you like for $20! I did. I had to show restraint and keep in mind the amount of-no lack of- space we have at home, but we came out with a beautiful 8 piece dinner service, a 1950s hairdryer complete with book, a vintage cannister, some hardly used 70s tupperware,some peach FireKing for my collection, and some framed sketches. We've also done really well lately building our library- more vintage books for our children, including Christian ones, and other books and material to use in the future for homeschool. I'm starting to wonder why people would want to buy ANYTHING new-except maybe underwear and shoes!!! LOL

On a more serious note, Max needed another cardio-inversion early Monday morning, but God brought him through again. He's now had a total of 38! Does anyone out there in Blogland know of anyone else who has had a lot of these? I'm very curious...

Must go I've rambled on long enough about our very ordinary, but very blessed lives.

Labels: Books, family, homeschooling, vintage

Labels: family, photos

Labels: family, photos

Labels: family, photos

Labels: family, photos

I couldn't resist posting this one! My parents have recently given me a whole disc of photos that they have taken since Christmas last year, so I'll be sharing some more as time allows.

Here is our" little Mama", Talitha tending our dear little twinnies on our bed on Christmas Day. They've grown a LOT since then! I'm hoping to use this disc to give you all an update on our precious growing family!

So stay tuned...

Labels: family, photos

Labels: family, Poetry

Labels: family, Milestones

Well I'm about 14 or 15 weeks along now, and while I'm only about a third of the way along, I look about two thirds along- I'm going to be enormous!!

We've just started a two week holiday break from homeschool, which I badly need; as I've fallen behind with housework, not just with schooling, but the extreme tiredness and "Morning" sickness that comes with carrying twins at 40. I'm usually not too bad in the mornings, though I've had some days when I've had to homeschool with a bucket handy- BLECH!. Once school is over though I'm often exhausted. Some days I've accomplished little more after school than doing the laundry, washing the dishes and cooking dinner. So I'll be playing catch up in the mornings now instead of teaching school.

Four year old Zara is such a blessing though. On one very sick day recently, she gave up most of her homeschool lunch hour to help me of her own accord to get the clothes off the line, hang more up, and later on she wiped the dishes for me!! Other days she has vaccuumed for me and done a sterling job!

I've also been blessed with the services of a top doctor at our local hospital. We go through the public system, and trust the Lord to get us the best doctor to suit our situations. When we went for my initial appointment with a midwife to review my birth history (including the extensive surgery I had on my uterus), the midwife went white, immediately went to talk to one of the top doctors of the department, and came back and said that one remembered me from previous and volunteered to personally look after me for the duration of the pregnancy! I have my first appointment on the 10th July. I'll also be offerred several more ultrasounds to check progress as I go.

I was hoping to put up a photo of the twins ultrasound, but I think it still must be in hubby's phone! Never mind, another day!

Labels: family, pregnancy, twins

What life-altering news we received today! I had my very first ultra-sound for my current pregnancy today, fully expecting that because of my size, our baby would be coming in November instead of December. My earlier blood test indictated higher levels than normal, and the doctor said that usually meant an earlier due date. She was wrong.

The lady working the ultrasound, said "You're due around the 27th December, the reason you're so big is because there's 2 in there!"

I started laughing almost in disbelief. WE ARE HAVING TWINS!!!!!!- Probably a bit earlier, as I'll need a ceaserean.

God is so amazing!! My Prince Charming didn't come along till I was into my 30's, and we always said we'd like 4 children. To cut a long story short, I didn't know when I conceived Talitha my first child, that my uterus was riddled with giant fibroids, neither did I know that they can make conception very difficult. Unfortunately, my fibroids were the rare kind that could grow along with the baby and also degenerate during pregnancy causing severe pain, and frequent hospitalization over 9 months for pain relief. Talitha ended up stuck in a breech surrounded by these lumps, and was ceasered at 38 weeks- she was perfect.

After much prayer, my hubby and I decided to take the risk of having them cut out a year later (I had 10) , so we could have more children without any complications. I fell pregnant immediately (another miracle), and had Zara less than a year later. Unfortunately, she didn't wait for the surgery date, and was born via a very rapid totally dry birth(mind you, the labour was easy!), leaving me with terrible birth injuries and about 50 stitches inside and out. I nearly died from massive blood loss, but the good news was that my uterus scars remained intact. Unfortunately, it meant that any future births would have to be ceasers. Many people thought I wouldn't try again, but I felt that God wasn't finished with our family, and while I didn't want to wait 4 years, I had to wait for the dizzy spells to stop, which were a result of the haemmorrage leaving me with very low blood pressure.

Eventually without medication, my blood pressure started to come up again, and it is now just below normal.

I am now 40 and expecting twins- another miracle- I've never been on IVF and my surgical history deems this close to an impossibility. My husband decided that this pregnancy would be my last, as our hospitals over here don't like to perform any more than 3 cuts. (Of course if God intervened and I fell pregnant again, then we would refuse a termination, and accept the risk of another cut.) I thought I would only be having 3 children- now God is granting us the 4 we desired.

I just want to encourage you, if you've had to take the surgical route, or if you've had problems with your uterus- don't underestimate God, who knows the desires of your heart, and can still work miracles today.

Glory to His Name!!!!!

Labels: Faith, family

What beautiful Autumn weather, and what blessed days we've had the last couple of weeks. Even with last week's emergency, God's blessings are everywhere and are richly savoured by the Roberts family.

We are currently enjoying a two week break from homeschooling, and what a delightful refreshing time it's been. Amazingly Talitha is now enjoying homeschool so much, she was reluctant to take a break! However my ironing pile had grown over the term and was whispering my name every time I walked past it. Homeschooling is such a lovely relaxing lifestyle, but I've had to reorganize some of my household jobs. Ironing has pretty much been the only area that's suffered. But I guess that's part of our lifestyle choice too- choosing to wear clothes that need ironing. I'm just not a jeans and T-shirt type girl.

Talitha has made wonderful progress in her first term of homeschool. She has gone from, "That's not how they do it at MY school!!!" To now proudly telling people she is homeschooled and that she is reading. Using a simple phonics reader from the internet I had her reading simple books-old fashioned ones from the 70's over her first 3 weeks. Now she is working her way through fascimile copies of my Mother's schoolbooks from the 40s and 50's (from Queensland State schools). Her manners and behaviour have improved a lot over the past few weeks, and she is slowly losing that wordly kind of attitude, she picked up in the Christian school, from the majority of non-Christian students. She is becoming a very compassionate little girl.

Next term Zara will be joining us at the kitchen table. She is very independant and keen to learn. Zara is sooo independant that if she sneezes she says BLESS ME before any else has a chance to get a word in! It will be challenging but fun to have the sisters learning together. Zara joins in a bit anyway, with our devotional and chapter book time, and I'll download some age appropriate stuff for English and Maths. She is used to me reading aloud, and a lot of our history, some science and social studies is done through what we consider to be living books. It was a delight to find the girls playing homeschool and working together, when I came back from my sewing lesson last Saturday.

They'll also be learning French with a family friend. I've found a free online Christian French curriculum for children. There is so much good free stuff online!!!- Even out of print books can be read or even printed if you so desire.

God has also blessed us out of the blue with clothing this week! My husband was given a couple of pairs of jeans for the garden, and the girls were blessed with 6 to 8 dresses between them- all brand names like Osh Kosh, Marks and Spencer and Pumpkin Patch. I'm not a brand snob, but I do like the quality stitching and fabric.

It was a week for enjoying God's creation too, with hubby back in the garden, a couple of days after his hospital trip. The garden was severely neglected for over 10 years, when we moved in here, and he is trying to restore it bit by bit as he is able. Max loves gardening, and it's good exercise for him. The girls have also been enjoying running around in the cooler weather, playing in their snow tree cubby and acting out Bible stories. Baby Moses is still a firm favourite, but they switched to Samson and Delilah the other day, inspired by a piece of wood they said "Was the Jaw bone of an ass!"- Bless their hearts!

I've also finished reading "Stepping Heavenward" by E. Prentiss and found it a great blessing to read of the transformation of a worldly 16 year old to an older Mother at peace near death. It is true that the more we trust in the Sovereignty of our loving Heavenly Father, the greater the peace we will have in this world. It really challenged me not to seek ways out of difficult situations, but to find God's peace through letting him work changes in me through them. I highly recommend this book!

What have you been reading or doing lately?

Labels: family, family life

Labels: Faith, family, food for thought

Little Zara, aged 3, had gone outside to play and since she was being especially quiet, I thought I had better check on her.

I opened our front door, saw her shoes and socks on the steps, and there was Zara sitting very quietly, barefoot, knees to chest, peacefully gazing around.

"What are you doing, Dear-one?," I asked.

• Zara replied, "I'm looking at the ants, flowers, clouds, birds and all the beautiful things God made. And I am having my quiet time."

I left her gazing reverently around, my heart full and thankful.

For those who know us personally, doesn't this sweet print look so much like our Zara Hope.

Labels: everyday life lessons, Faith, family, Zara

In July, we began, with the Lord's leading, a small Church in the town where we live. (And God is blessing us mightily!).

The week after we began, our little girls built.... A CATHEDRAL!!!

Out of Duplo! And they played "Church" with it for a couple of weeks.

It is my earnest prayer, that our family's Faith in Christ would truly enlarge and deepen with every generation...

Labels: church, Faith, family, family fun, family life, generations, Talitha, Zara

Labels: family, Talitha, testing times, Zara

Little Miss 5 and I were recently having a disagreement and she was desparate to turn Mama's "No" into a "Yes".

"No, Darling."

"But you have to say Yes- God told me to!"

"Oh, really. That's very interesting... He didn't tell me."

"That's because you were listening to God the Son. I was listening to God the Father!"

Before you start questioning our theological leanings, don't worry, we are Trinitarians and Miss 5 and Miss 3 are both well schooled in how God is 3 in 1. But don't let that innocent smile fool you! It's now on record that our clever little girl will even try to missuse Scripture to get her own way!

Here is our little Talitha dressed as "Mary Had a Little Lamb", at a Nursery Rhyme dress-up day at school earlier this year.

Labels: family, family life, motherhood, Talitha

Labels: family, feminism, home, politics, staying home

Labels: family, generations, godly living, heritage, Teaching children

Let's go on a journey together...Back through time, to a little country town...Look!There is the Library, the Town Hall, the village school, and the Church in the middle... The centre of all that happens there-the joys of New Life, love and marriage, the goodbyes as our loved ones go on to glory & the many Lord's Days, as families fellowship together, worship Jesus Christ & rest from the week's toil and labour. Sundays were quiet days, restful days- none of the shops were open...

Keep imagining with me...Let's walk home with an imaginary family-Mum & Dad, 3 little girls & a baby boy... Home is an easy stroll with baby in the pram... It's wonderful living so close to Church & CHALLENGING too...Living in such close proximity to everyone in town, requires everyone to keep short accounts with God & Man. Many learn the wisdom of not taking offence in the first place.

The family arrives home, relaxing on the front porch, while Mum sets the table & finishes preparing Sunday lunch. The front porch is a wonderful, cool place to relax. The family waves at their neighbours as they pass by. The children refrain from quarrelling- after all they have been taught the Fear of the Lord, & who wants to be seen quarrelling on the front porch anyway...

Mum calls us in for Sunday lunch... We give thanks to the Lord for His gracious provision, enjoy the meal & each other...Then Dad gets out the family Bible ( the one they received on their Wedding Day), reads the Word, & leads family devotions...

My reason for visiting times past, is to illustrate that in olden times, the centre of town was the Church, & the centre of the home was the Word of God & family life.

Modern techno living has succeeded in many cases, to sweep this away. The centre of many communities is now the shopping mall- with its call to "Buy Now- Pay Later!"- materialism & hedonism. They are even open Sundays now, tempting people even more away from going to church.

In many homes now, individualism reigns. Children have access to their own TVs, DVDs, computers & techno-games. They don't even have to share anymore. Having all these gadgets at their fingertips, means they can indulge their flesh ant time they like; setting the scene for lack of self-control in adolescence & adulthood.

People may be spending more money on their homes, but spending less time there together, relating as a family...

Here is the challenge I want to present: Technology can be both a blessing & a curse. Time is short. Eternity is long. If these things in our modern world, are separating us as families, or not growing us Spiritually, we need to consider pulling the plug!Sometimes they may be beneficial, sometimes not...

Read Deut 6:6-7 "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, & shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down & when thou risest up."

If both parents are working full-time, how can this happen? If everyone's wrapped up in their own piece of technology, how can this happen? If the family is constantly going in different directions, how can this happen?

My plea is to learn from our forebears... Jer. 6:16 "Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, & see, & ask for the old paths, where is the good way, & walk therein, & ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein."

Find ways to spend time together... Establish the Family Meal Table... Spend time in the Word of God TOGETHER... We may need to sacrifice some material enjoyments to do this, but then sometimes less can be more...Strong families build strong churches & strong communities.

What's central to YOUR life? I pray you'll find it's the Word of God, your family, & the fellowship of your local church.

Labels: Church History, community, family, times past, Word of God