Jumping into the pool

Yesterday the girls were having a fabulous time jumping in the pool. What amazed me is that when I'd put Lucy up on the side of the pool and tell her she needed to wait while Sarah had her turn, she did. Then after Sarah had her turn and I put her back up on the side of the pool and asked her to wait she did. Then Lucy would wait till she knew I was ready to catch her, and then she'd jump - she trusted me completely to catch her. As did Sarah.

Oh to have the faith of a child again!

On that note, time to focus on my uni work - my paperwork arrived yesterday and I need to get organised. Kind of excited, but kind of scared at the same time.

Painting

The girls asked to do some painting this morning. Lucy's very determined and strong-willed. I gave them both a blank sheet of paper, but Lucy insisted on getting an old painting and painting over what she'd already done. I thought it would end up looking terrible with so much paint - but it's actually quite pretty, even prettier than when she first painted it a few weeks ago on 16 January. Now she's turned it over to start a new painting on the other side.

Sarah started her painting from scratch and it looks great, but Lucy's is quite unique. I wouldn't have ever thought to re-paint an old painting. I'm glad she did though.

I could sing of Your love forever

Lucy's usually up when the sun rises, and she loves to lie on the lounge drinking a bottle of milk, watching a DVD. This morning I pulled out one of her favourite DVDs, "Praises and Smiles" and asked if she'd like to watch that and she said yes. Often she doesn't want the first DVD I suggest, she usually says, "Not that curry", so I was surprised she was happy to watch it. I have no idea where the word curry came from but it's a word she uses interchangeably for lots of things. It's cute.

Anyway, back to the DVD. The first song to play was "I could sing of Your love forever", then "Open the eyes of my heart, Lord" and now, "Shout to the Lord"...

"All of my days I want to praise the wonders of Your mighty love. Power and majesty, praise to the King!! Mountains bow down and the seas will roar at the sounds of Your name, I sing for joy at the work of Your hands, forever I'll love You, forever I'll stand. NOTHING compares to the promise I have in You."

Praise God for the morning!! He is soooooo good!

And the song playing now...

"His Spirit turns our night to day. Hallelujah, God is love!"

For all the Mums out there

Yep, it's a demanding, full-on job being a Mum. There are times I've felt so overwhelmed. Even now my youngest is sitting on my lap having just wee-d all over the bedroom floor trying to 'help' me on the computer. Then comes the tantrum for some unknown reason. She also wee-d all over her sheets, rug and pillow this morning too - the joys of toilet-training.

I've been listening to this CD by Steven Curtis-Chapman in my car this week, and every time I hear this particular song, I think all Mums should hear it. So here it is. Steven shares how he came to write the song before singing it, I found it really encouraging.

Hope it encourages you too - hang in there Mums, you are changing the world one heartbeat at a time.

One Heartbeat at a Time

You're up all night with a screaming baby
You run all day at the speed of life
And every day you feel a little bit less
Like the beautiful woman you are

So you fall into bed when you run out of hours
And you wonder if anything worth doing got done
Oh, maybe you just don't know
Or maybe you've forgotten

You, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time
Making history with every touch and every smile
Oh, you, you may not see it now
But I believe that time will tell
How you, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time

With every "I know you can do it"
Every tear that you kiss away
So many little things that seem to go unnoticed
They're just like the drops of rain over time
They become a river

And you, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time
Making history with every touch and every smile
Oh, you, you may not see it now
But I believe that time will tell
How you, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time

You're beautiful
You're beautiful
How you're changing the world
You're changing the world

You, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time
Making history with every touch and every smile
Oh, you, you may not see it now
But I believe that time will tell
How you, you are changing the world
Oh, I believe that you
You are changing the world
One little heartbeat
At a time

And you're changing the world

Sarah's day

This afternoon Sarah was chatting to me about her day at school - it's fun listening to her stories and hearing what she's been up to.

Sarah talked about Lucy coming to play (she joined Sarah and her friends for a few hours as part of her orientation moving from the toddlers room to the big kids room) and said, "I cried when she went to the baby room cause I wanted my friend Lucy back." I didn't realise just how close they've become - though in the beginning it was full-on (and still is at times), I'm really thankful to God that there isn't much of an age gap between them, they are such good friends (though they do have good fights too!).

Later on I went to get Sarah another drink, and then thought I'd clean up a bit, but Sarah said to me, "Mummy, come on the lounge and I will tell you something else." How special - sitting beside my little girl and hearing her share about her day. I love being a Mum. It's challenging too, but also incredibly rewarding.

A New Little Life

Tonight Mum and I visited my cousin who had just delivered her first baby, a little boy, early this morning.

As we walked through the hospital, the smells brought back a few memories of giving birth to Sarah and Lucy, but particularly Sarah - it took me back to the week I was in hospital waiting for Sarah to arrive, not knowing how long I would be in there, and being scared for her safety. It also took me back to the moment I sang while I had my shower after giving birth to little Sarah, "I have known the Father's care for me, He's been good, He's been good, through it all He's always there for me, God's been good to me. Through the storm, through the night, come what may, everything will be alright. I have known the Father's care for me, yes, God's been good to me."

My cousin looked really relaxed, and not completely exhausted, which surprised me considering she'd given birth not that long ago! Her little boy was very cute with lots of hair - I had a little hold and was reminded just how precious each little life is, and what a creative God we have. I've already forgotten how tiny Sarah and Lucy were when they were born - Sarah was probably a little over half the size of the little bub I was holding.

I wondered what it must be like to have your newborn with you after giving birth to them, how wonderful it would be to be able to pick them up when they cry and to comfort them. I remembered the agony of leaving your newborn in a humidi crib and not being able to hold or touch her, of not being with her. And my babies weren't even as premature as many other babies are. But I also remember God reminding me that He was with my little girl, just as He was with me.

Today, another little life entered the world, a little life that is so special to God. He's a gorgeous little boy who God made unique and special. I'm really excited for my cousin and her husband - lots of special memories to be had.

Focusing on the Vine

The girls were both given a book from the Lost Sheep series by Andrew McDonough for Christmas. They're excellent books - I really love them as do the girls. Sarah's favourite is Basil the Branch, which we read this morning after reading a few stories from her Toddler Bible - she'd asked me if we could read "that book about Jesus".

Throughout the story, Basil so desperately tries to produce a bunch of grapes all by himself, but his efforts are futile. After many attempts he's ready to give up, then he hears a voice: the vine! "I am the vine", said the vine, "and you are the branch. You can't produce grapes on your own. Stop straining and just stick with me." Of course, when summer came, a beautiful bunch of grapes appeared.

The story's based on John 15:1, 5 (CEV) of course. "Jesus said to his disciples: 'I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. But you can't do anything without me."

How often I try to do things in my own strength, instead of relying on Jesus.

Parties & Ikea

I'm excited about the next week or so now, though it'll no doubt be tough in some ways. Sarah's at the age where she's really looking forward to her birthday, which will be on Monday. We took a cake to her school this week and we're having a party tomorrow which is also a house-warming, and we'll have another party next week with her little friends for her birthday, Lucy's and a little friend's, and Christmas... wow, we'll soon be partied out!

Normally I'm not that fussed about parties, but this year I think it'll be fun because Sarah's so excited. We made her birthday cake today - she iced it with three different colours and put three of each kind of lolly we'd bought. Even though there was a huge mess to clean up afterwards, it was fun to watch her enjoying it so much, and being creative - she did a better job than I would have done myself, I'm not good at creative stuff, I'm too slap-dash.

Yesterday we made some ice-cream cakes for the girls' birthdays and Christmas. Lucy can't have dairy so we had to make a soy one too. They absolutely loved making them - I've never made them before so am hoping they'll turn out OK on the day. Even if they don't, the girls thought it was great... especially Lucy who was completely covered in ice-cream and lollies by the end of it!

Then last night Mum and I went to Ikea to get a cheap dining set for the girls and I, without realising just how painful Ikea flat-packs are! The chairs looked like they'd just fold out and wouldn't require assembly... but of course not, they were from Ikea!! I stupidly thought I'd see if I could do a chair myself... as if! I don't even have a screw-driver which of course I soon discovered you need. So then we asked Dad for a screw-driver, which then meant he had to continue helping... which ultimately meant that he ended up assembling it himself. He's a very good Dad. I watched and felt pretty useless. All I could do to help was bring him a glass of water (after all it was around 35 degrees), make a few jokes about the "Herman" chairs, and take the plastic wrapping off and put it in the bin. By 11.30pm it was fully assembled and we were happy with it. What would I do without Dad?!

Thanks Ikea. I'm sure many people would like to thank you for the opportunities they've had to improve their stress management skills because of your flat-packs.

Boundaries & Character Development

Scenario: Lucy doesn't want to go to bed. She wants to lie on the lounge and drink her milk while she watches her music DVD. I try to carry her into her bed (sometimes this works), and as we start walking to her room she screams and insists on staying on the lounge. So I cave and let her stay on the lounge - occasionally I'm strong and just let her scream, but usually I fold because I can't be bothered "fighting" her will. I know longer term this is not a helpful thing to do, but sometimes it's about survival!

I've started reading Boundaries with Kids again - I started after Sarah was born but didn't get very far. Just recently I decided I needed to work on my ability to set appropriate boundaries for the girls (as proven in the scenario above). I'm not very good at doing this - I think it's the heart ruling the head thing, that I feel bad being too firm, and I want her to be happy (not screaming!).

I've been pondering about one of the statements in the book for a few days now (p15):

"When you are a parent, you help create a child's future. The patterns children establish early in life (their character) they will live out later. And character is always formed in relationship. We can't underestimate your role in developing this character."

Apart from the statement being scary (what a huge responsibility!), I'd never really thought about character being linked to patterns established early in children's lives, and something I play a part in developing in the girls. I don't know where I thought character was developed. Maybe I thought it was similar to personality in that it's something you're born with (characteristics?), but saying that we do talk about God developing our character, so it must be something we need to work on.

Thought I'd look at what the dictionary defines character as: "The set of qualities that make somebody or something distinctive, especially somebody's qualities of mind and feeling". This could suggest it's something we're born with? So perhaps it's a bit of both?

If one aspect of being a parent is about helping your children develop their character, which I'm beginning to think it is, then I need to be thinking about the impact of the seemingly little things on their character development. What message am I sending to Lucy when I just let her get her way and lie on the lounge instead of going to bed? Maybe this isn't a significant issue at this age, but the patterns we're getting into now will be harder to break as time goes on.

OK. That's enough pondering for tonight. This is a huge topic and I'm feeling tired.