You Are Not Alone

Dear Mama,
Your kids have been at each other all day; fighting and wrestling 'till someone cries and another wants to retaliate.
You are not alone.

Your house was clean not that long ago, well at least it feels like that, but today things are strewn from one end of the house to the other. It feels like it will take forever to clean it.
You are not alone.

You ask your children to do simple tasks. They backchat you, disobey and disrespect you.
You are not alone.

You feel overwhelmed by yet another dinner to cook, then another night of cleaning the kitchen along with tidying up the house. You ask yourself when the last time was that you remembered to clean the toilet bowl properly.
You are not alone.

You feel mama-guilt for putting on another dvd just so you can have 5 minutes peace without someone (or many) wanting you all at once. It's not that you don't love them because you do! This is your daily life and you give to them all the time. But sometimes you just want a little quiet.
You are not alone.

You are physically tired; aching feet and back from rocking and carrying little ones all day. You are drained creatively; there are only so many times you can sing twinkle twinkle little star with a happy face....really. You feel like a referee, a taxi, an advocate, a cheerleader, a team captain, a friend and a chef all at once. And all you'd really love to do is to curl up with a good book in a warm bath. Heck, you'd even be satisfied with a half hour of good quality adult conversation and a little sweet treat ;)
You are not alone.

(To those with autistic children) Your child has a massive meltdown in a very quiet place. You can't just up and leave. It is hard AGAIN. People look at you. You see their glares and feel the unspoken judgement. You've had people audibly utter things in the past about 'controlling the child' which makes you feel even more uncomfortable in this moment. You want to explain to each of them that this will pass. My child is ok but right now she's having a really tough time. You want to explain your journey but of course, they wouldn't hear you over the screaming anyway. Sigh.
You are not alone.

Mama, you are not alone. Today, I feel all those things too. Remember that when you are next breaking up a fight, preparing yet another healthy meal, trying your best to live out the ideals you hold closely to your heart. YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

Millions of other mums around the world experience days and moments like this. It's not to say it lasts forever. Joy will come in the morning! But when it is hard, gee it's good to know you are not alone.

Today has been a very tough day. It has had good moments for sure. My kids are awesome; full of life and energy. Full of love and compassion. Full of hope and faith. I love them with all my heart. But sometimes, raising kids is just plain hard.

I really am not alone. I have amazing and supportive friends with whom I know I can speak freely and they can empathise with our struggles and joyous victories (Donna!!!!). I have a wonderful and caring husband who is constantly willing to work on being the best man he can be, even when he stuffs up royally. I have an Amazing Messiah, Yeshua, with whom I can talk things over with (just as he talked on the road with the two disciples as they walked to the village of Emmaus after he rose again). I am blessed. And I know it.

I just want to remember that some days are harder than others.
And if you are having one of those days too, please know you are not alone.

I send my love,
Lus x

Some Encouraging and Inspiring Home-Birthing Stories...

I thought I might share here some of the encouraging and very inspiring home-birth stories I've read this year.

Here are links to them:

MORIYAH'S BIRTH STORY

BOAZ'S BIRTH STORY
ISHIYAH'S BIRTH STORY
NOAH'S BIRTH STORY

ZEPHANIAH'S BIRTH STORY PART ONE
ZEPHANIAH'S BIRTH STORY PART TWO
ZEPHANIAH'S BIRTH STORY PART THREE

ADONIJAH'S BIRTH STORY

Thank you to all these women who have shared their stories. I was moved by your faith and trust, by your journey and by the power of the living El (God) to sustain and deliver you through it all.

More to come soon.

Love,

My Pre-Birth Celebration; a time of Preparation, Prayer and Praise!

On Sunday I had a lovely gathering of close friends and family who have been very encouraging and supportive during this pregnancy. Some couldn't make it for a variety of reasons (like my friend DONNA who WAS GIVING BIRTH TO HER FIRST SON ZEPHANIAH SIMCHA! How awesome!!! Congrats to Donna and Keiran and the girls and welcome to the world litte man! Praise Yah for a safe and much quicker labour).
He now shares a birthday with my twin sisters
(who turned 30 this weekend!!! Happy birthday my twinnies!!!)
He also shares a birthday with my friend Mon - a big shout out to you and hope your day was special too!
-----------------------------------------------------

It was such a lovely encouraging time to share and I felt truly blessed!

I've had baby blessings in the past which are less of a baby shower and more of a time to reflect and rejoice prayerfully and scripturally.

This time round, the theme was

'Preparation, Prayer and Praise!'

I began preparing the night before by putting up my birthing banner (dodgy pic but you get the idea!)...



...and baking and then began bright and early baking on Sunday too!

Scones in the oven...

All the kiddos tried their best to help!
Zippi rolling out some of the scone mix...

Stass was so helpful making slices and icing and just being great (she was gracious even when I was grumpy and had to aplogise for being a cranky pants! It is such a blessing to live and learn how to walk in His ways. We are so far from perfect and yet our children can still be gracious towards us; another great life + spiritual lesson!)...

Ethi was master orange-juice squeezer...

and Liji helped by washing celery and peeling carrots...

By the time everyone had arrived, the table looked like this:

I prepared almost everything myself.

On the Menu:

* Homemade hommus

* Homemade Sweet Chilli cream cheese dip (cream cheese made the night before by extracting the whey from yoghurt - thanks Sumi for the suggestion re sweet chilli sauce!!!)

* Celery + Carrot sticks

* Rice Crackers

* 2 batches of Easy Chocolate Coconut Crunch (made by Stass)

* 1 batch of Homemade Plain Scones with cream (which I couldn't whip properly! lol and jam)

* 1 batch of Homemade Craisin Scones

*  Cashews

* Homemade Pear Butter Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

* 2 batches of Homemade Macaroons (gluten free)

* 1 packet of gluten free crips (store bought)

* Brie cheese

* Gluten free brownies (we had someone who was coeliac so important to have gluten free stuff!)

* Pam kindly brought along some cupcakes which one of her daughters had made

* Drinks were water, tea + coffee (Brett bought a great big urn which was helpful so everyone could serve themselves!)

* Freshly squeezed orange juice and

* Punch which I made using pear juice, low chemical lemonade (ie without 211), fresh mint and craisins

We committed the time to Yah in prayer and we began fellowshipping and eating and chatting together around the table...

My lovely midwife Hazel was there even though she had been up since 1am and had not slept after delivering Donna's precious little one.

Thanks for coming Hazel!

Brett had taken the boyos and Zipster out for the afternoon so I could just have some 'big girl' time.
I really wanted Stass to stay and invited others with daughters around that same age to come too.
One of the reasons for this is that I think we don't do a great job in our western culture of passing on a postivie attitude towards birth to our next generation. I think alot of young girls grow up not having had any experience with birth apart from what they have seen in the movies which really isn't a great thing! I want my daughters to grow up to know that it is a truly special time in a woman's life. That it is a time of joy and that even the Scriptures talk about it being a temporarily painful state but that it will pass and give way to a time of rejoicing and new life. Stass was present at the pre-birth celebration I had for Zippi also. I want Stass (and Zippi as she grows) to hear other women encouraging me and sharing scriptures. I want her to hear other women praying for me and our bubba in the lead up to birth.
These are little gifts of preparation I feel privilleged to be able to share with the next generation.

I am so blessed that Stass not only wanted to stay but she wanted to help and really enjoyed our 'big girl' time together!



I quickly whipped up THIS LITTLE FIND A WORD for the children to do if they wanted to (and adults! lol!) which they seemed to enjoy... 

Then we went around the table and shared verses that Yah had given to different people as an encouragement to my heart...
 My beautiful Lori who reminded me what our baby's name means.
She then read from Psalm 127:3-5 and Ezekiel 3:9
Such strengthening words!

and precious Naomi read from Psalm 62:5-8 and had the word 'sign' come to her as we prayed later...

I also wanted to share and read some of the verses aloud that Yah had been using to strengthen, encourage and prepare my heart with during this pregnancy...

 

My lovely SIL Dannii came (and my MIL) which was very special for both me and Stass...

The gorgeous Jas made this beautiful hanging to go near baby E's change table area.
Inside each sock is a scroll with a verse of scripture or a letter for either our family, for me or for baby E.
I was very touched by what Jas shared.

She gave me a beautiful scripture from Malachi 2:15
"Has not the one God made you? You belong to Him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring".

She also gave the following verses for our family:
Psalm 128:1-4 (which was our marriage psalm!)
Psalm 127:3
Psalm 103:17

These for Baby E:
Proverbs 6:20-23
Isaiah 66:13
Psalm 22:10
Isaiah 64:8
Isaiah 43:1-3 (which is one Yah had given me for labour)

And these for me:
Proverbs 31:10-12,25-30
John 16:21
Deuteronomy 28:2,4
Exodus 1:19

The letters she included were especially touching.
Thanks also to Katie who sent a lovely card but couldn't make it. You were missed! Hope you are well now mate :)

My lovely Hazel shared from Psalm 71 which contains this very moving verse,

"For you have been my hope, Soverign LORD
my confidence since my youth.
From birth I have relied on you;
you brought me forth from my mother's womb,
I will ever praise you..."

Elisa shared several scriptures from Isaiah, Proverbs and Ezekiel.

The one that stands out to me most was about how Yah is our Shepherd and we are the sheep of His flock. Later on (photos below) we sang some songs together and one of them had these words in the chorus, "For He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His Hand..." and then "The LORD is my Shepherd"! Here He is speaking to me through the verses and the songs that He is my beautiful Shepherd who takes such good care of His little lambs.

Neen also shared some beautiful scriptures from Psalm 145 (which has so much meaning to me!), and Proverbs 16:4. She also reminded me that Yah has made this little one first and foremost for Him! Such a good and humbling reminder isn't it?

We enjoyed a time of prayer together...

and then Stass, Lori and I introduced the song "Everlasting Arms" which I wrote during this pregnancy. It was very special to have them both singing along with me.

Others joined in too which was so lovely!

We also sang "Come Let Us Worship and Bow Down" and...

..."Psalm 23" the Michael Olson version (which is the version of the woman 'Temple' who sings during her labour. You can watch her singing it HERE. We have purchased her and her bubby singing it on iTunes.)

Cute candid snaps Stass and Miss Annabelle took together!

My beautiful friends Amanda and Pam...

Me and Loz...

the arvo winding up with more heart chats...

and cuddles (a special thanks to Neen and Annabelle for taking the 2 hour each way drive to make it!)

and me with the lovely Elisa...

Some also felt to contribute towards us being able to buy THE NEW 'CABOO' CARRIER WHICH WAS PREVIOUSLY CALLED THE 'CLOSE' CARRIER. Thank you all so much - it was a real blessing to us!!!
We were able to put in our pre-order yesterday at FRANGIPANI BABY.COM.AU WHICH IS OWNED AND OPERATED BY THE LOVELY MEREDITH. If you need a sling or pouch, Ergo, Mei Tai, Hugabub or any other kind of baby carrier, do youself a favour and check out her website!!!

Thank you to those who couldn't make it but who said they would be thinking of us or praying for us.
It was a casual affair but it was one that was filled with Yah's presence and I really delighted in the company of these women and young girls for the afternoon.
It's a special time that will remain in my heart always.

More to come another time,

My Book of Encouraging Verses for this Pregnancy

During my last couple of pregnancies, I have been mindful of special verses of Scripture that have stood out to me and mean something a little extra special during that 9 month set-apart period of time.

These verses are the ones that I generally meditate on during labour.

They seem to go round and round in my head and really help me to focus on the Word and amazing character of Yah rather than on the pain in front of me.

It really helps to encourage my heart and so I write them down in a special book that I make which later then becomes a kind of a keepsake from that pregnancy.

The one I made this time will hang up near baby 'E's changetable on a special hook so I made it in similar colours.

Stassi and Brett will (hopefully) read some of these verses aloud to me during my labour - I'm really looking forward to them being able to do this, hearing these verses proclaimed in our home as we journey this together!



Here is the front cover.

The verse is:

"May the Master of peace Himself, give you peace at all times and in every way"
which is from 2 Thessalonians 3:16



Then it's Deuteronomy 33:26-29.

This is one of the chunks that I have put to song and will have playing as I worship my Creator during this birth.

"There is no one like the God of Jeshurun
who rides on the heavens to help you
and on the clouds in His majesty.
The Eternal God is your refuge
and underneath are the Everlasting Arms.
Blessed are you, O Israel, who is like you?
A people saved by Yehovah,
He is your Shield and Helper"

And on the opposite page is Psalm 143:6-12

I have also put music to these verses and will have this play during birthing too
(thanks to Heiko and Lori who recorded these for me!)

"I spread out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.
Answer me quickly oh Yah, my spirit fails.
Do not hide your face from me,
or I will be like one who goes down to the pit.
Let the morning bring me Word
of your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go for to you I lift up my soul"...

On the left hand side of the page below, this psalm continues on the tags...

"...rescue me from my enemies
Oh Yay I hide myself in you.
Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God
May your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
For your name's sake,
Oh Yah preserve my life;
In your righteousness bring me out of trouble".

On the right hand side there are two more passages of Scripture.
The first is from Romans 15:5 & 6

"May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a
spirit of unity among yourselves
as you follow Yeshua Mashiach (Jesus Christ)
so that with one heart and mouth
you may glorify the God and Father of our Master Yeshua".

And the second is from Romans 15:13

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace
as you trust in Him
so that you may overflow with
hope by the power of the Holy Spirit".

A little close up from this page...

The next page contains the entirety of Psalm 84 which has been very special to me the whole way through this pregnancy. It just keeps coming up in different ways and I keep being reminded of it.

I really love GREG SILVERMAN'S version of this song which he calls 'How Lovely'. This is one of the special songs I will (hopefully) have playing during the birth (I say 'hopefully' alot in regards to my plans for birthing because even though I have desires for it to go a certain way, only Yah knows what will happen! So that's why I don't say 'this is what I am having'. I rest in the knowledge that He is in control!)

Anyway, this is Psalm 84:

"How lovely is your dwelling place, Oh El Shaddai!

My soul years, even faints for the courts of Yah,

my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Even the sparrow has found a home and the swallow a nest for herself

where she may have her young -

a place near your altar Oh El Sahddai My King, and my God.

Blessed are those who dewell in your house, they are ever praising you.

Blessed are those whose strength is in you,

who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.

As they pass through the valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs;

the Autumn rains also cover it with pools.

They go from strength to strength, 'till each appears before Yah in Zion.

Hear my prayer, oh El Shaddai, listen to me Oh God of Jacob!

Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

For Yah is a sun and shield,

He bestows favour and honour,

no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

Oh Yah Almighty blessed is the man who trusts in you".

The other side of the page has two more passages:

Joshua 23:14

"You know with all your heart and soul that

not one of all the good promises Yehovah your Elohim

(the LORD your God) have you has ever failed.

Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed".

What a mighty reminder and declaration that one is!!!

And the other on the right hand side of this double page is from

Psalm 89:1

"I will sing of Yah's great love forever;
with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations".

This is a real reflection of what I want my whole life to be about...a reminder of my life's mission statement in a sense!

And the last two pages have:

Psalm 128
(which was our wedding Psalm and continues to have great meaning and soul-strengthening-encouragement to me!)

"Blessed are all those who fear Yehovah, who walk in His ways.
You will eat the fruit of your labour,
blessings and prosperity will be yours.
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine planted within your home;
your sons like wild olive shoots around your table.
Thus is the man blessed who fears Yah.
May Yah bless you from Zion all the days of your life;
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
and may you live to see your children's children.
Peace be upon Israel".

And finally Isaiah 43:1-3

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name,
you are ine.
When you pass through the waters I will be with you
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am Yehovah your Elohim,
the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour".

And one last close up to finish up!

Well more to come another time.
With love,

The week that was + Sabbath...

We had some wild weather this week!
We found the trampoline like this one morning after some wild winds which had ripped the pegs right out of the ground that normally hold this big baby down!

It got quite bent out of shape so it's out of action at the mo...

Later in the day we got our first (and possibly only) snowfall for the year!
The kids thought it rocked and made the most of it by quickly rugging up, trying to catch flakes on their tongues and dancing in it on the front lawn. It didn't settle but they didn't care!
Mega fun!



This week we baked the EASY CHOCOLATE CRUNCH THAT THE LOVELY MEL GOODSELL SHARED ON HER BLOG RECENTLY. And when I say 'we' I mean 'we'! Zippi LOVED making this with the kiddos..

Stass wrote out the recipe into her own recipe book - she has such a great collection of recipes in there at the moment. I think they are going to be a priceless treasure for her to look back on when she is grown - seeing these lovely recipes she made as a child written in her own hand...

Her recipe book and the finished slice (YUMMO Mel - thanks for sharing!)

This is me at 31 weeks pregnant :)



My back has the same; on and off with pain but Yah is so faithful in getting us through!
I had my monthly checkup with MY LOVELY MIDWIFE HAZEL this week.
We talked about some post-birth herbs, about the birthing pool and of course heard bubba's strong heartbeat...yay!
I got my copy of 'BIRTHINGS' MAGAZINE WHICH IS PUT OUT BY H.A.S and it was so lovely to see a dear friend of mine in there. We had lost touch after many years but have been able to connect this week which was SO lovely - Hi M! :)
* I completed my birthing banner this week
* I also made a removeable changetable cover for the changemat out of a sheet I bought from the op shop for $3! Bargain! Feels great to be sewing again. Am hoping I might have some time to make a couple of MCN covers before bubba arrives...we'll see! 

This week I took all the kids to our local ABA (AUSTRALIAN BREASTFEEDING ASSOCIATION) MEETING and it was so great because there were some kids their age there who were also homeschoolers. They had a great time playing together and also caring for the little ones there too. Was a lovely time :) I'm really enjoying connecting with like-minded mums again.
Oh and praise Yah - on the way to the meeting I fell down an unmarked step and landed straight on my knees. I ripped my jeans open and my knee too :( I was carrying Zippi in my arms at the time and so
a) praise Yah that Zippi was unhurt
b) praise Him that I did NOT land on my stomach since I landed forward - this was miraculous!
c) that my knee is healing well now!

After the ABA meeting, I took the kids to a local park for a nice run around in the sun (fully taking advantage of this warmer winter weather knowing that it can change at any time up here without notice!!!)
We played there for a little bit and I realised it was lunch time.
So we all hopped back in the car and headed down the road to our local chip shop and got a big serving of hot chips!
We went back to the same park and sat under this huge tree and had a 'tree party' together!!!
It was so sweet :)
My precious munchkins -so lovely to just be together and enjoy each other's company :)
I feel so blessed!
We sat and ate chips on the blanket and brainstormed ideas about what they want to do if they are present for the birth.
Each child came up with lots of different ideas that they want to do and be a part of. I am planning on photographing these ideas, printing of the photos and popping them into their own little album that each child can grab during the labour in the event that they are here (some want to be here and others are not so sure! we may or may not have people around to take them and so we want them to be as prepared and as comfortable as possible if they are present for the birth).
Anyway, here's a small collage (from my iphone) of our tree-party!
I'll never forget that time.
Felt very precious to me and is one very special pregnancy memory so far...



We continued reading Story of the World this week and we learnt a little about Ancient Africa.
We looked at some petroglyphs online and then had a go at making something like one using some crayons and drawing on sandpaper. They really liked this activity :)

I made my own version of Ratatouille this week served on sliced homemade garlic breads with a simple vinegarette. Was delish!

Other learning opportunities the kids had this week in our life were:

* The kids learning how use the self-serve check out at Coles

* Selecting and Printing off their own CALVARY CHAPEL WORKSHEETS and completing SO many of the colouring sheets and the find-a-words while singing songs from the 'Sound of Music' and 'Fiddler on the Roof' together!

* The older 3 went grocery shopping with Brett this week and helped out with that

* They enjoyed playing many games of 'Ball Tip' on the front and back lawns with Brett

* We have an upcoming rental inspection and so everyone got in to help with some extra cleaning jobs around the house

* We've really noticed that Ethi is having less emotional outburts which is so great! He's been super helpful this week (ex: reading to Zippi) and earned a coupon which he redeemed for 30 mins of group WII time. Liji earnt one too this week and included Stass in his coupon reward and Stass chose a family movie night for hers. (More on the coupon charts another time)

* Liji reading signs everywhere we go now!

* Stass learnt how to make vegie stock from scratch and wrote this out in her recipe book

* Stass asking a store clerk for help to find a particular DVD at the rental store

* We FINALLY finished our family read aloud of 'Famer Boy' from the Little House on the Prairie series. It feels like I've been reading that book for a life time now! lol They were so happy when we finished it and kept talking about it the next day!

Today for Shabbat, I got to sleep in till almost 10am! I was awake before that but lying in bed reading was very relaxing!!!

The kids played outside in the sunshine with Brett.

I continued my reading in the book of Joshua.

We had a yummy picnic lunch out the back under the clothesline with some homemade coleslaw and turkey rolls.

Then we headed out to visit with our lovely friends DONNA AND KEIRAN AND THEIR GIRLS.

On the way out there, Brett read to the kids from 2 Kings about how Elijah parted the Jordan waters and how Elisha wanted to stay with him and not leave his side. The kids shared what they thought it might all mean then got back to working on their Elijah and Elisha wordsearch sheets that Brett had printed off for them.

We got to spend some lovely time hanging out together sharing our hearts and lives and letting the kids just play together in the park...

Zippi said to Auri, "I'll catch you Auri!" lol!!!!

The big girls got to spend some lovely time chatting. Stass really enjoyed this time with Lil...

The little girls in the 'mouse house'.

Our big kids are STILL talking about 'how cool' this thing is!!!

Brett and Zip hanging out, literally, on the flying fox!

Our beautiful big girls together...

I had my camera with me and so asked Donna if she would like some pregnancy shots taken. She's 38 weeks now! I'm no professional photographer by any standard but I really liked some of the shots - here's my fave...

The park itself was really lovely and of course Donna looks as gorgeous as ever!

She took a photo of my baby tum too today...

Well that's about it for this post.

Shabbat Shalom to you all :)

I'll leave you with the verse that has been circling around in my head all day...

"Stand at the crossroads and look

Ask for the Ancient Path

Ask where the good way is

And walk in it

And YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOUL" - Jeremiah 6:16

More to come another time,

Love