"No reading at the breakfast table"

I’ve been asked a few times recently about whether or not I’m still writing a blog.  Well, yes.  I am.  Sort of.  I’m just sneaking in one last post for 2014. To end my year of less is more!  Partly I haven’t written because I've had a busy few months at work. But it’s also because I suspect I got a bit weary from oversharing. I feel so grateful for all the support and encouragement that I received from folks while we were struggling through our daughter’sillness .  But then I suddenly I didn’t want to talk about it anymore.  Not just online.  It just started to sound repetitive.  As things do with chronic illness.  We found a strategy to help her recover with her post-viral fatigue at the end of July.  It felt like some of the crisis/uncertainty lifted at this time.  But then the hard slog of just getting on with it kicked in.  She’s done well.  But we didn’t end the year with a great success...

Today I feel war weary.  Weary from the war of medical visits and doctor's opinions and rearranging our life to make it happen.  I feel weary from talking about it.  I feel weary from the anxiety and helplessness and the sense of failure.  I feel weary because hey, life is just tiring anyway isn't it? The good news is that I had two weeks off from that weary feeling.  It's definitely an environmental, circumstantial weariness.  Two weeks away at the beach, with good friends, lovely food that we mostly didn't cook, long bike rides, bush walks, sits on the beach, knitting, reading, sleeping, laughing with our kids. All the good stuff, the refreshing stuff of life.  J was happy to be out of the house, distracted by the other kids, even managed a few short walks. But as the time came closer to come home we could feel all the anxiety returning, the tensions, the stress, the uncertainty about what lies before us in the second half of our year of less. ...

I've been enjoying pottering my way through Peter Walsh's decluttering book, It's all too much.   One of the questions he asks early on in the book is 'What is your vision for your home?' I've been mulling over that question for a few days.  While Walsh's book is referring to decluttering your physical possessions, it got me reflecting on my earlier decision this year to declutter our kid's extra curricular schedule .  In hindsight, thinking about our vision for our family life was what got me thinking about the need for change. Time to enjoy a dance on the front porch at sunset When I look back on why we decided to have a baby all those years ago I think it was a desire for there to be more than just the two of us.  I think I just thought it would be fun to have more people in our life who would share in our particular life experience. There wasn't a particularly clear vision or plan (not my forte).  But having a few kids and being privilege...

Hey, you're still with me!  Well done. We drove to Hobart on Christmas Eve, driving along the east coast.  There were so many 'Wow, look at that' moments, that I insisted the kids raise their heads from their iPods (sanity saving for a trip like this I have to confess - although the endless charging issues - grrr) and 'LOOK AT THE NATURE'.  Yeah, ok, they didn't love me for it! We celebrated Christmas in Hobart with Rowan's sister and her family.  We had a quiet week in Hobart.  Hung out with the cousins, tried out three different churches, caught up with a few people we know in Hobart, went swimming in the Derwent, did some steep walks with my sister-in-law (I didn't realise how crazily steep Hobart is), watched the Sydney-Hobart yacht race boats coming in from the front lounge room.  We had planned to do more, but we ran out of puff and it was a restful week. After leaving Hobart we drove three hours north-west up to Sheffield.  Sheffi...

OK so this is a bit belated, since we left Tassie over two weeks ago, but I thought I'd give you a quick rundown of our time in Tasmania in case you're interested in visiting yourself one day.  It's in two parts, and feel free to skip it because sometimes people's holiday tales are like, yawn.  But here goes -  someone might read on! I have to say that our kids were a good age for this holiday.  They sleep well at night, travel without asking for food every five seconds, no nappies/prams/cots are required and it was especially good they are old enough to walk - a lot.  The main point of having a bit of a look around Tasmania is it's natural beauty and that involved quite a lot of bush walks. And driving.  Which was hard for our 13 year old who gets terribly car sick.  I think we would have easily fitted in a few more day trips if she had coped better, but it felt a bit mean after she'd suffered patiently through a couple of long days in the car...

Not mine During the school holidays I read a little book by one of my favourite authors Elizabeth Berg.  Called, 'Escaping into the open:  the art of writing true', this book is partly autobiographical (about how she became a writer) and partly an instruction manual (tips/exercise to help improve your writing).  It was quite interesting and one day I might do some of her exercises.  It's always easier to read than to actually DO anything! One of her tips was that you need to create a writing space for yourself.  A space that is unique and conducive to creative thinking and writing.  At this point I did have a little laugh. I don't have a study or a desk or a space of my own of any kind.  When I was studying I'd get everything out and pack it up for dinner - same with sewing.  And our computer is in the middle of the kitchen (deliberately). In the school holidays I'd occasionally discover that the computer was free (they must have been ei...

This is my best friend in the school holidays because it deals many times a time with an astounding pile of washing up that accumulates.

The power of an extra person staying over who is not related is quite extraordinary. The fighting has been significantly reduced ( not, of course, that my children would ever  fight! )

This has been a common refrain from my younger two over the school holidays.  Their biggest fear in life seems to be being left out or not being able to keep up.  I have two very determined little people fighting for their spot in our family.  Fighting with each other and fighting with their siblings to find their place. A bit wearing ... and a few  too many to count tears have been shed. Are kids who are homeschooled nice to each other?  I guess they must get used to each other.  But for a few days this week at my house, school has felt like a wonderful place simply because they will not be with each other for 6 hours of the day. I remember talking to a school dad who had two kids, five years apart.  He was shocked when I told him my kids fight all the time.  I don't what kind of shop he thought I was running, but it certainly isn't one of endless love and harmony. Hoping for excellent skills of relating and conflict resolution (or p...

Have had a nice weekend enjoying Florence despite feeling a bit fluey (feverish and achy). Since my bed is in the lounge room, I haven't had the luxury of swanning around resting, so pressing on has worked pretty well. This year I've had quite a few recurring, niggley health things, so I think I've got used to keeping going while not feeling 100%. Yesterday morning we went to a middle school open day and I got a tour of the school, entirely in Italian! Sadly, the library was not included in the tour (not a big thing here). I still have not got a CLUE what is going on except that I now know what 'Five children' sounds like, because my friend keeps telling her friends that piece of information!! I have a huge appreciation for what my friends have been through moving to another country, learning the language, and not just functioning, but also having relationships in the local community that are meaningful. It was great to see them in action, connecting with th...

Well, after a long trip I safely made it to Florence. I had a little hiccup at Rome station which I think was partly related to the fact that my brain wasn't functioning after 28 hours of travelling and not much sleep. But I'm finding that being mum to 5 has proven to make me a much better and braver traveller than I was in a pre child life. I was most certainly not an intrepid traveller so for me to do this trip on my own is quite a feat.   However, I just don't feel so worried about looking silly (been there done that with many a tantruming toddler at the shops) and keener to just get on with things. Even had a man at the station ask me for help in very fast Italian! Made me laugh.   Staying with my friends who have 4 kids pretty similar ages to my own kids is fun and they are thrilled to have an available adult for chats, games and just attention in general. And it's nice to have the time to do that. Helped out with some babysitting last night when parent teac...

Hoping to pull together in the next week some reading lists for you and your kids.  Especially as you face those long shopping lists in the lead up to Christmas!  And hopefully after you've done all your shopping you can sit down and read a book or two for yourself (while the children are suitably occupied).  I always like to buy my kids who can read, long books in the hope that I will be left in peace for at least a couple of days after Christmas.  For the not-quite-fluent readers I like to buy large boxes of lego that keep them busy.  And if I had smaller children it would definitely be a long DVD that they want to watch lots of times! So ... reading lists in the pipeline.

My friend & I are planning a couple of child free days to visit Venice (and it's flooded ...) Been a bit quiet here recently as I'm madly trying to get both organised for my trip overseas and have everything done for Christmas before I leave. I'm going to Florence, Italy to visit some dear friends of mine who are missionaries, working with university students.  They've lived there for 10 years with their four children and I've always wanted to go and visit but many years of small children and limited income have meant that wasn't possible. So when my friend suggested that I should now come and I thought about it, and thought why not?  All a bit spur of the moment, but I felt that there would always be reasons why I couldn't do it, so I decided to just go for it. It's meant creating a long list of things to do, like get a passport, decent luggage, some thermals - I don't know why but the list seems long!  I really always believed it was...

On the weekend I was thankful for the ordinary .  And then it kind of evaporated! Monday I pottered off to work like normal and by lunchtime I was on the train home to pick up my 10 year old from school who had vomited in her classroom.  Poor teacher.  Three kids threw up in her class on the one day.  When we got home she continued to vomit on and off for hours.  Since then she's been half asleep on the lounge.  Poor chook. I stayed at home on Tuesday and awoke to my very own special set of cold sores.  Not one.  But two.  On my top lip.  By the way, a very helpful discussion on Facebook resulted in me trying a vitamin supplement with Lysine in it.  Wonderful stuff. My body does not like me doing too much (as I did on the weekend - going away with 50 women on a conference for women who have husbands doing Christian work among uni students from across Australia - we talked a lot).  It packs it in, despite my mind being wil...

Can you guess where I'm going?  Have a look at this photo taken when I was pregnant with our No. 1 child.

Part of the reason I changed jobs was so that I could work in a school and get school holidays.  What a great blessing they are, because having two weeks in a row away with our family was lovely.  I actually feel rested and not stressed for the first time in ages.  Spent time with our friends in Melbourne (had a bit of a reality TV tragic fan day seeing a contestant from Masterchef filming in a patisserie and the winners of the show 'The Block' leaving their newly renovated house- haven't laughed so hard in ages). We then drove back up to the south coast of NSW and had a lovely week with friends near the beach.  Sunny days, long walks on the beach, bike rides, lots of reading.  Watching the Brady Bunch together (how come they have six children and a full-time housekeeper?  I have one less child ... mmm.  Oh, and that's right, I don't want a cleaner ).  Enjoying Masterchef, Le Tour.   It was the first holiday when we didn't have o...

When my kids were little I read a fantastic book by Kent and Barbara Hughes called 'Disciplines of a Godly family'. I do recommend it and if you haven't read it, it's a great read. But I realized over the last school holidays that there was something in particular about that book that had stuck in my mind. They suggest in the book that you make your house the fun house to hang out at. The fun house for your children's friends to spend time at - a house in the community where everyone knows they can go if they want to see friends. They suggest that getting a pool is great when you have teenagers. Since we're renting and aren't going to be building a house anytime soon (well, really, in my lifetime), I never envisaged that the pool would be a part of the deal. But I did always imagine that my house might be that fun place to be.  Especially with lots of kids. And yet it's not. I like having kids over, but I'm not initiating great gatherings...

On Monday we were in Canberra visiting friends over the Easter weekend.  We went on a bike ride around Lake Burley Griffin.   It was great fun - 4 adults, 9 children.  We were quite a pack. It was a beautiful day.  Great to have kids that are old enough to ride bikes together (finally). We all loved it - well, we almost all  loved it.  One child (who shall remain nameless, but is in my family, say, about the middle) sobbed her way around half of the ride.  She didn't start off well.  Before we'd even left she'd half fallen off the bike, so her leg was sore.  But the amount of crying was not representational of the amount of suffering (I felt, anyway - my scale is a bit tough I will admit).  I tried to be compassionate, but my patience ran out when we're riding along, it's beautiful and all I hear behind me is, ' sob, sob, hiccup, sob, deeeep breath, sob, sob'.   She did perk up after some food and the promise of an ice c...

Just returned from a great week at a missions conference in the mountains.  Very busy (I was helping with the baby creche) but encouraging and so, so challenging. Here are some random thoughts from the week: 1.  I know lots of people at this conference.  I've been going since I was a little girl, so this is no surprise.  And I don't say it to brag.  I take great encouragement from attending year after year and seeing people who were my friends at 17 who are now off serving Jesus in Spain or older people who are now seriously old still attending and trusting Jesus. 2.  Gee, don't people ask some insensitive questions of the missionaries in public contexts?   "So, I'm not quite sure on why you decided to leave country X.  I'm not quite clear.  Perhaps you could spell it out a bit for me in front of 300 people?"  Nice work people. 3.  I worked with the best team ever in creche - and I've been on A LOT of teams.  T...