Wordless Wednesday- Christmas Eve

I have been waiting patiently to put this one up. Beer for Santa.

ALMA MATER

I purchased this Cd for my Mum for Christmas. We listened to it over and over on St Stephens's day. I love it.
Here is the link. here

The photos of the swings

The construction of the swings commenced in August, after we moved in. It was just an idea. My Dad takes ideas seriously- as well as he is Semi- retired and loves a challenge. He put the plan together, constructed it on paper and purchased the materials. The day arrived. Lots of discussions and lots of digging. A VERY hot day. Lots of Water was needed for our workmen.

The frame was up and time for the seats and the ropes. I am still not fussed with the rope, but in time, it will be changed after negotiations between Grandad and Granddaughter.

Here she is swinging and loving it. We have all had a swing with her. Its a great Swing, very long. And a throw at the very high netball hoop. It is just out of picture on the right hand side. So thanks Dad, great effort. Better than a bought one!!! Made with Love by Grandad and Daddy.

Our Holy Fathers' Homily

We have just read Our Holy Fathers 'Homily, It was very touching.
This is the link

I really liked the last paragraph. ...................Lord Jesus, born in Bethlehem, Come to us. Enter within me. Transform me. Renew me. Change me, change us all from stone and wood into living people, in whom your love is made present and the world is transformed. Amen.

Have a Blessed and Holy Christmas time.

Its all done and Our 1st Saint soon!

We have been very busy this weekend. Actually we are exhausted.
The majority of our pergola is up. Just a small area to erect.
Its been all cleaned and useable. A few hours of elbow grease to clean away cobwebs and remove all the leaves and dirt from the area. and boy! does it give some shade. It stops the sun coming in the glass windows, so the air conditioner isn't working as hard. We feel very Blessed to have it.
The swing set is finished and We- umm! Brid And myself are using it. Its very tall and will be useable for adults for years to come. Thanks Dad.
This weekend I have baked more Shortbread and our Christmas Cake. It took me a while this year, as we have had a difficult situation to sort out. Mum, Dad and myself are the only ones who like Christmas cake, but it adds a gorgeous aroma to this season. Its not the same without it.
Now its time to shop for our favoutite foods for Christmas Day.

And now we have the wonderful news about Blessed Mary McKillop!. She was an amazing women, and one we have studied and enjoyed getting to know over the last few years with resources from the St Josephs Centre and of course the Library. I am thinking a Pilgrimage to North Sydney is definitely on the agenda for us. As my Daughter said Go Mary Mckillop- Bless you.

Our backyard

When we moved we left behind a pool, a pergola and ducted air conditioning.
We wanted to put all these in our new home. The air con was put in 3 weeks after we moved. And boy have we needed with this hot summer.
We have added 2 more wants. A swing and a vege patch.
Yes I know wants, do we really need them no, but it will cut down the mowing!!!!-
So the pool starts next year.
The pergola is the full extent of the house, so lots of outdoor living. We live outside like most Aussies most of the year. I can't wait to eat our meals outside under our pergola! Brid and I do our schooling outside most days, except in the cold weather.
The swing, my Dad and Dermot are putting together. Its made of koppers logs, so it will be strong and able to take a couple of grown up kids on the swings at a time.
So the pergola is still at the construction stage, with the sheets of aluminium going up today. They have been on the job most of the week.
Lots of noise and banging. We have a local friend helping out. Actually, everyone on the 'job' are friends of ours, so its rather a nice friendly environment for us all to be in.
They have consented to a couple of photos, so they will go up on the blog soon.
The vege patch, it will be next cab off the rank, once the swing and pergola are in place.
The pool is a long project, it takes 16 weeks for it to be finished, as we have chosen a concrete pool. Our last one was as well, but there are a couple of variations we needed to address as its a different council area and its 8 years on, and legislation has changed on construction and water tanks.
So this is all happening the week before Christmas. But it truly is not a bother, to have workmen here, but I can't wait to have it too ourselves!!!!!!

Advent Ramblings

Two posts in one day!!
Its been a huge year this year and we are all very weary, but excited by the coming of Our Lord soon.
We have had huge changes this year, and none more than a new Parish.
It could have been hard to get to know everyone at St Christophers', but we have met some lovely couples who have helped us step into ministry fairly quickly.
We also had a very good friend who introduced us to the Parish Priest, so it couldn't have been easier. We did have to actually step outside our comfort zone though, and introduce ourselves.
We now have one of our daughters home for as long as she needs to be here for, so thats huge change again.
So are we ready for Christmas. Yes we are, but..... I have not bought my Presents for my children or family.
Have we made Christmas food. No, but we will.
OUr home is decorated and the Jesse Tree and Nativity has been set up a while.

This is our official last week of school, so thats exciting for Brid and myself.
We have celebrated The advent feast days and have our novenas in place.
Brid and I are reading Advent books, and of course Holy Heroes is a hit.!!!!

So here we are just beginning to think Christmas Presents and cooking.

Happy Advent. Please keep us in your prayers.

Patron Saint for our Family

I was reading Gaes' blog and was inspired to ask for a Patron Saint for 2010, for our family, as she had done.

This morning we received our Patron Saint. It is St Tarcisius. We have been asked to pray for the increased Devotion to the Eucharist.
I was, like Gae, surprised because I was not expecting this one- what was I expecting??

Anyway I shared this with the family, and we decided to research this Saint.

It turned out Brid knew a little bit about him.

She knew he was mobbed and attacked as he took the Blessed Sacrament to the Prisoners in his town. He was killed and his body taken to the safety of the catacombs where Mass was said in secret.

He lived in the 3rd or 4th Century in the time of the Christian Persecutions.

He was an acolyte to the Pope at the time.

Tarcisius is a Saint whose life is an example of courage and devotion.

His story is told again and again as one that may encourage others to continue to have Faith through persecution and suffering for there faith.
We always take our Saint at Summer School in January, but this seemed to be a good way as well.
So St Tarcisius will be our Patron Saint for 2010

How will we prepare for the Light of the World

You ladie are wonderful. All my favourite family traditions have been posted about. Thanks

We have added different traditions over the years to help us prepare our hearts.

The Jesse tree has been a favourite. Brid has been a very hard working girl, creating felt symbols for our Jesse Tree, which I have sewn together. We got the symbols from here.

It is up on the wall and has each symbol tucked away in a pocket until the day it is revealed and is positioned on the outside pocket.

We have commenced our St Andrews Novena. I love it and it is so easy. Have a look here.

Our Advent wreath is in use and the Advent chain, we found this idea here.

Brid had a very old cardboard Jesse Tree which she really wanted to reuse, so we have that up as well.

Here is our latest creation

Happy Advent.

Holy Heroes Advent Adventures

We have been using the Holy Heroes Adventures, as some would know from previous posts.
We have just received the latest Advent adventures. We have enjoyed the previous Adventures.
I was looking for something new to do for Advent And Christmas Preparation. Funny how thinks work, isn't it.

Change in the Air -II

In my last post I alluded to changing in styles.
Every Advent, we try to make it a joyous time, and try to be less focused on too much bookwork.
As I said Brid has a great activity she is putting her seal on. I think it may work.
We have in the past years worked on Grammar, not intensely but steadyily. We use Seton Grammar. It can be dry, but it has been a great resource. It is also a good filler, when I have other 'things', going on, as I can leave Brid to do that Lesson or two, and know she'll be 'Ok'.
So now we will be using all these skills to work more on writing of various kinds. It has been an issue for a while now as Brid has not enjoyed writing. Mainly due to her spelling,not being as good as she wants. This has changed with skill, perserverence and love. It is now time to change how English is learnt in our home.
So next Term- yes I have it developed already. We always study Australia. We will go on an Aussie road trip. My dear friend , has put a lovely adventure together, and using this we will notebook , and hopefully create rabbit trails and go on a Scenic tour. This will end with a real Adventure...... We have friends coming over next April, so We will travel with them to a famous Aussie icon.
So in all we take yet another turn and a change in the air, in our homeschooling Adventure.
Thank you Lord for being so Good to us.

A change in the air

Well its 5 weeks into term. We are one week from finishing our Maths for the year. We will have had a huge week, as usual, with our teens, but this week Brid & I had a chat. She wanted to do much more craft. Hey, how do I fit it in??? Easy, make room.
Therefore, Brid has begun a project for Advent. She is doing a mix between a Jesse Tree and an Advent calendar.
Today, we purchased the material, and have figured out how to put all the figures onto the frame.
She has been very inspired as I navigate her around a couple of my favourite creative bloggers. Thank you Ladies.
We are winding down our bookwork, and finishing off topics.
I love Term 4, But I like it more as Brid takes a little more control of her school day.
She has sat with me and we decided on what our course of action, would be over the next month.

But my friends, I will fill you in after the weekend. Brid has her first Piano school Recital. Wow!
We are excited as she has put in lots of hard work.
Good luck, my Princess.

what a Week!

Well I don't know about everyone else, but we never have the same week, or day two days in a row.
Apart from trying to focus and make posters and prayer spaces for the month of November, we have focused on Maths and Grammar this week. We are at a very exciting time with Maths- I loved fractions and manipulating numbers, and I have tried to enthuse Brid of the same. So far, so good.
Brid had a writing assignment last week, and this week she was asked to publish it. brid likes to correct as she goes, unlike me, who corrects at the end. I just need to hold my tongue.

All was going well, then a dear daughter asked, "Can I come and stay for a few days". Of course we said 'yes' and began to prepare her room, and realised Brid would be distracted with her big sis. here, but that family hey!
There was so much that they could do together, so it fired Brid along to complete her assigned work earlier than later
Brid has finished her bookwork early today, so they are sitting watching a movie.

Yesterday while we were in town, we dropped Brid at her piano lesson, and picked up her copy of 'Halts Peril'- the new Rangers Apprentice book. She has been waiting like Gaes' children for this, 'its seems likes ages'. Thanks Erin, for suggesting these books. It has broadened her reading base.
We gave it to her at dinner, Which my dear daughter and I cooked together. We always cook together, when she is at home, and I love how we just flow together.
We always give our children there present or surprise at dinner, as we are usually all together. it is a family tradition. It is also the time we would ask a child to present there project or composition to the family.
So thats how our week has been, Brid and I are travelling nicely along the 'scenic route', of Rome.
we have dressed up in Togas, sampled roman food, looked at there family life, and reckon, its nice to visit, but lets just visit. She knew a lot more than I had expected, just from reading library books and other living books.

The Mint

While I was being inspired by Diana Waring, Brid & Dermot went off to explore Canberra.
One place they visited was the Mint. Brid had our camera, so she really made the Mint come alive for herself. she clicked on everything she was interested in.

The 2000 Olympiad Games medals

Brids' pressed Coin. Our older children all have one which they pressed when they visited Canberra many years ago. They are in a plastic sleeve untouched. Now they all have one.

Coin for Bl Mary McKillop. Pray it won't be long before she becomes a Saint.

Brid promised her sister, she would take heaps of photos, so she could 'be' there, so when we returned Brid relived her trip with her sister photo by photo. she lived up to her promise.

Sisterly love.

A snapshot into our weekend

Last week I blogged about our school week, and what lessons we did when.

Well late last week, we travelled to Canberra to catch Diana Warings last Living, Laughing, Learning conference here in Australia.

We were to meet up with two other homeschool families, so we were excited and couldn't wait to get there. I was keen to hear the talk about 'Got Teens', and we arrived with lots of time to spare. Great.

I could relax and listen. Dermot & Brid took off after saying hi, to unpack.

I enjoyed listening and interacting with Diana, and it was obvious she is well used to doing this.

There was lots of vendors to purchase curriculum from, I was pretty right, so I wasn't to compelled to purchase anything, just looking was enough.

The 3 three girls has plenty of time to share together, especially at breakfast. We all stayed in the same place, so a shared breakfast was a great way to start the day. Anything you wanted.

Brid was introduced to babychinos- thanks for that! They had some magic moments in the parks and out at night, that were hard to describe, without photos.

We enjoyed everyones company, but Dermot got into some great discussions. Late night chats his speciality.

We had arranged to go to Mass at the local church St Brigids'. Very apt, as we are parishioners of this church in our own dioceses. Anyway, we were meant to meet everyone for a take away dinner in the park. We knew Mass would make us late for dinner, but we still arrived and the kids hung out together. They collected these opened light pods and had a little fun with those.

After the last breakfast with the whole crew, including our international guest, we went sightseeing. First up was The walk alongside Lake Burley Griffin. We did some explaining, about when and whys, saw Aspin Island- a big bell tower, saw Blundell cottage, last cottage left in the area which was operational as a farm, It was preserved in the '70's- it was going to be demolished. Very cute.

We went to a glass blowing and making factory. We hoped Brid could do some hands on, but she was too young. so We just had to make do with looking, at the various people doing there work.

We decided to go to Cockington Green. Well I'd been there before, and we knew Brid would love it. She was tickled pink, and enjoyed hearing all about the cottages and buildings. We had a little history lesson, and a world geography lesson as well, at the International section of the green.

It was a very full day, and we eventually went home exhausted to have a nice coffee and rest. phew!

Dermot spoilt us, and took us to Black Tower moutain for dinner. WOW!!.It had been raining,so I thought it would be too cloudy, but hey! it cleared as we were eating and laughing. The Restuarant revolved. That was fun and was a talking point to start with. 85 minutes to revolve once. Awesome view, and we got there early enough to see the view in daylight as well.

It was a very nice evening and we certainly had to make sure Brid had her best manners in hand. It was like Diana Waring descibes as a 'chalet suzanne' experience. Best manners please.

I will conclude our adventure soon.

My Photo of the Day

This a great shot, and one I'd like to share with you all.

Brid and her two friends, sharing a special moment together.

Last post til next week

I Love this photo and its where we will be again this weekend.

So have a look at the previous ones..................

Manicured

One of the things Brid & I did in the holidays was Manicure, and paint her nails.

It was a really lovely time spent together.

So we set it all out and above are some great photos of those hours spent together.

SCIENCE

Last term we went to Questacon, in Canberra. Its a big Science Expo. Great place for kids. Heaps of levels, I think from memory around 7. Brid played for hours, and at the end we decided we would get a c uple of experimental type games.
This is an area I lack in schooling.
I can teach, cook, sew, garden, read, craft, but I really struggle with experiments, so we bought a microscope and an Electronics circuit.
Brilliant, this will be great.
Guess what, they sat in our lounge room for weeks, until the holidays.
We had sewed, quilted, cooked etc, etc, saw family & friends, but again we were not getting to these items.
I felt what a waste of money. And then the guilts starts, such waste when others cannot afford these things.
Anyway last week, I suggested we get the microscope out. She had forgotten about it, after all this time out of sight.
So finally we have looked at leaves, saliva, hair, algae, food etc etc under the scope with delighted squeals from an excited Brid. Any item could find, she would put under the scope. Even a snail trail.
Then I said, "Let's look at the circuit?"

Well that is Dermots' domain being an Electronics Engineer.
He had the time of his life explaining things, and doing experiments with Brid.
Now that's Science, on a whim, and heaps of fun doing it.
So today after all our lessons, Brid asked to go on kidshealth. She was on this sight for ages, doing all the quizzes playing the games. So would we be learning naturally, do you think?
I sorta think so.

A new day -Tuesday

Today got off to a great start . Brid was up on time, Dermot was ready for work and out the door early, I have had a morning coffee and Thanked Our Lord for helping me get a very good sleep.

We had welcomed Our Lord into our day.

Already Brid has completed, her Faith reader, English subjects, and is working on Maths, and its only 0950hrs. I use a timer for maths. I break the lesson into 10 min timeslots, including a 20 min morning tea break. It helps her concentration.

We finished all our book work by 11.30am.

So during break, she has been beating her own record and trying to get from the bottom of our 'close'- street, up our driveway in record time, today she succeeded.

So in came a very happy girl ready to complete her maths lesson for the day.

We will revise the eye with a quiz today, and then history will take up the rest of our schooling day.

We plan to start a new reader this term. Anne of Green Gables- it is used in Serendipity for young Ladies. We will start the book, but leave the Study until next year.

There is a great site called kidshealth.org. It has cool experiments, quizzes and info. I use there worksheets. The Human body has been a fun unit of study this last 2 terms.

Now its down time, nearly 12md, Brid is perusing a human body book, called How the Incredible Human Body works- its a DK book. Very easy fun read and laughing and saying 'guess what Mum'.
History took us all of 10 mins, so after looking at Julius Caesar we decided to look at the play. luckily I knew exactly where to look. Mater Ambalis has Shakespeare notes. So we will look at those now, while we have a drink of tea and juice.
Oh we nearly forgot The Angelus.
We read shakespeare notes, but it wasn't very successful.
so its 1pm and we have had a very smooth day, lots of interjections and healthy questioning. Anne Of Green Gables certainly posed some interesting thoughts.
Our schooling day is now complete.
Now relax. oh hang on ...... there is..... yes housework to do.

What did we achieve today

It was Day 1 of Term 4, and after getting up a little tired from tooo many sleep ins- but hey thats what holidays are for- we started at 9am. on time, good start.
We welcomed God into our school day.
Brid read her Saint reader, St Claire & St Francis, she managed her dictation and Language arts by 10am.
We went through her Maths Lesson, and she worked on the allocated questions I set her each day.
Brid had a break at 10.30. Brid played on her bike and had morning tea. I was doing the Business Statement. It needed to done by the end of the week, so Today was the day. So I worked through her breaktime.
Maths continued for a little while after Break. Cuppa for me as I finish my work off.
Next comes History links- Julius Caesar. We read and talked about him, and as Brids favourite Latin saying is 'veni vidi vici'- I came I saw I conquered, We had a bit of fun with that and played around with what we knew about him.
The dishwasher man arrived to fix the machine at 11.45am. Another distraction, her first was being distracted by her extended morning tea break. Anyway Distraction 2 out of the way, We had lunch, all together,
Then we had blood and guts, we are doing the eye at the moment- well that was fun. The book had lots of cool games and experiments to do, so we spent far too long laughing at each other, and being distracted.
Our last lesson was Latin. Its always fun, because we talk to each other in Latin, and Brid is getting very good. She beats me hands down. We are only on Prima Latina, but its been rather successful. We have 6 lessons left for the year, and as we try to do 1 a week, it shoud be completed this year. At the moment, we have Latin words up all over the family room walls.
I squeezed in the last 3 pages of St Patricks' Summer. Thats Brids' favourite time, cuddling on the lounge and reading. It was an excellent book, with a lovely story line and a surprising ending.
So thats our school day today. It isn't always so full, but today is 'stay at home day', so I make the most of it.

Tomorrow will be another matter. It will hold its own challenges, and Friday will not exist, as we are off to Canberra.

St Teresa of Avila

Today is the Feast day of my Patron Saint- St Teresa of Avila. A women I truly admire.

St Teresa was the foundress of the Carmelite order. A Doctor of our church. She was a great writer and a mystic.

She was born in Avila, Spain- she is also its patroness.

By a life of constant prayer she brought many souls to Jesus. Her writings show her great love of God.

Teresa wrote these beautiful words:

"Let nothing trouble you, let nothing make you afraid. All things pass away. God never changes.

Patience obtains everything. God alone is enough".

As St Teresa was especially prayerful for our priests Spiritual Motherhood of Priest says many more words about this, than I can. Pop over and see this wonderful Blog,

I have included just a small part of todays' post

"Christ has no body now, but yours.
No hands, no feet on earth, but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which
Christ looks compassion into the world.
Yours are the feet
with which Christ walks to do good.
Yours are the hands
with which Christ blesses the world."
~ St Teresa of Avila

Pray for us, St Teresa of Avila.

Jesus all about Life and Bathurst

It had been a tradition in my family upbringing to watch battle of the race drivers and cars, at Mt Panorama, Bathurst, NSW. It was a real family day.
I didn't follow it so much as our family was smaller, but the last few years, its been a day event.
It is such a changable race.
I figure Dermot has football all footie season, and every other sporting event, so I get my one and only racing day.
Its been fun explaining the history and the whys' to Dermot, who didn't grow up in this country, so the culture is different.
Anyway, we noticed this morning that 'Jesus all about life', has a car in the race. We were delighted to see this.
I figured all they needed to do was stay in the race for as long as possible, to get the name Jesus out there as often as the commentators announces the orders of the cars in the race.
Unfortunately, the team didn't last as long as wewould have liked, oh well.
BUT it was great to see God come first, with prayer, at the beginning of the race, before our national anthem. That was a real win.
So what is Jesus all about life and why in a car race?
it is Eucumenical. All churches working together.
In NSW we have a campaign at the moment, to place the name Jesus all about Life on every church building and Church associated school in NSW, everywhere we can, so everyday people get to see the word Jesus and ask who is he? Its sad in a way.
It was meant to be a local campaign, but it got bigger.
There are TV and radio campaigns as well, placed on at high viewing TV times. Its not meant for conversion, just for awareness and bring Jesus into every home. Our local church keeps getting its banner defaced, or removed. So intimidated by this campaign are some people.
So many of our children who are educated in state or government school do not know the name Jesus. He is so far from peoples' minds in this fast lifestyle we lead as a society these days.
I heard recently that Europe is fast becoming an Islamic culture. Why is this ? They all attend church and pray.!! alarming that, that we as a whole are choosing not to do either. I for one intend to bring all my family to heaven, but in this climate of me me me, want want want it is hard to keep there minds and thoughts on the ultimate reward- heaven. This is particularly true for our older teens caught up in this untruth and the culture of death. Another reason why Homeschooling is a winner.
This is why Jesus all about Life being involved in this worldwide event is so important.

thank you, I will now get down from my soapbox.

It was a great homeschool camp

Last week Brid and I drove to Fitzroy Falls for the September camp. It was a great week, filled with many blessings.
To begin with we celebrated some wonderful Feast days. The Archangels, Our Guardian Angels, St Therese of Liseux, to name just a few.
back to the beginning- We didn't think we would make it on time, as Brid was on a go slow, and wasn't ready when we planned to go--is she in homeschool mode-yes!
We were given a caravan for the week, but quickly changed to a room, attached to the 2nd Auditorium. Meaning, a hot shower and facilities without going out in the cold. YES. And the second night, we had a sleep over at a friends' room- thanks Kathleen.
The weather-
It was cold, but it warmed up, and at least it was dry.
Mass started the camp. We had Fr Bernard Murphy as our spiritual director, and he was great. He really enjoyed his role.
Every day we had Mass at 7.30am, and Holy hour at 3.30pm, consisting of Benediction and the Rosary. It was very peaceful hour.
We had young boy make his First holy Communion- he was very excited, but very reverent. It was a very special day.
The parents were asked to keep there children with them for Chapel times, which was a very wise idea. It really made it a much more reverent time for us all.
So our Souls were fed, now the meals. they were healthy and nutritiously made. There was so much food, I have been on a diet all week. We were constantly being fed.
Next the Theme of the week was Little House on the prairie and The Bush boys.
The girls made cushions or dolls depending on there age. the 7-9 year olds had a Tea party, which the older girls really wanted to join in on. They were adorable sitting politely and drinking and eating correctly. gorgeous.
Brid was in the older girls group, so she made quilt cushions and rag mats.
The boys learnt bush skills and to top it all off, they slept out on the oval. It really kept the boys occupied all week.
The teens visited a local nursing home, learnt Shakespeare and performed it, and had wonderful talks. Scott gave them a talk on Pro-life Australia and they learnt some home truths on the Internet, ipods and mobile phones.Very encouraging talks.
The adults also had wonderful spiritual talks and practical help on different areas of homeschooling.
Brid loved her daily spiritual talk on the Saints. They were explained the process to Sainthood.
And......
Of course there was the necessary bookshop. Very hard to resist it, it certainly was very successful this time around.
All round we had a great week, tiring, but enjoyable.
We didn't hear the news all week. We were in a bubble.
But the best part of the week was coming home to find Dermot waiting for us, to share a cuppa and talk about our weeks apart.
Dermot surprised me on the first night of camp, by giving me a pillow he asked Brid to give to me. It was a heart shaped pillow basically saying how much his life was empty unless I was in it. So needless to say, I had tears in my eyes that night as we were settling off to sleep.

A breath of fresh air

Over the past few years I have searched for a history program that will best suit our needs. I have been toying with several ways to teach history for some time, but it needed to fill the criteria of being Catholic.

We had already completed up until Rome, but I needed a break from trying to get all the work to line up together.

I was at a friends house looking at the Diana Waring curriculum, and it dawned on me that, that is what would really suit us. I discerned about this and decided to contact several friends and the authors to get there takes.

I prayed about it and knew God would lead me to the right one. So just before we moved homes, I ordered History Links.

We are delighted with this because it covers nearly every subject, and at different levels, so as it says in the blurb, it covers all grades. In looking at the content of the 1st series on Rome, I knew we had covered much of it, so we skimmed over, doing the important and fun things.

I like the fact, it is broken into different sections and that I know exactly where we are heading.

I have Brid using the computer much more for headings and researching, copying pasting and she is really dlivering some great work.

Her spirits have increased, her confidence has increased and she looks forward to history and all the material it encompasses.

Brid wants to go back and fill in some other units we have missed.

Her favourite time in history is Egypt, so in the future we will rediscover this ancient civilisation.

A surprise

I wrote just recently about our 22nd Wedding Anniversary. Brid cooked us a beautiful meal, with a little help from me.

She was very proud of her efforts and presented all 3 courses to us with delight.

We had fruit skewers for entree', chicken terikayi, potatoes and salad for our main course and chocolate dipped strawberries for dessert. Very nice and very filling.

A Cd of various romantic music was played and a concert was performed as well. It was quite a wonderful afternoon. All chosen by Brid.

Just enough time was allowed to be at Mass on time. We had mentioned we would like a blessing before or after Mass to our new parish priest, so when he called us up close to the end of Mass we were surprised and delighted all at the same time.

We were asked to walk down the aisle together for a blessing.

We were asked to re- commit ourselves in front of a whole congregation we are yet to get to know. It was a lovely way to celebrate our Anniversary. We were congratulated bt many of the congregation afterwards- what a way to meet others.

We came home to cuddle up and watch a movie together. Brid made herself scarce-bless her.

We also acknowledged it was the feast day of Mother Theresa and we have asked many times for her intercession for our marriage.

She was a wonderful women and one I look up to for her humility and commitment to the poorest of poor.

So We hope next year will be as wonderful as this. Thank You brid for making us feel very loved and Special. We Love you.

where has the time gone

Tomorrow marks a beautiful celebration for Dermot & myself.
We have been married 22 years. We met in the UK, fell in love and Dermot immigrated to Australia with me in 1987. We married 90 days later on 5th September 1987.
We are blessed with 4 gorgeous children.
We share The richness and blessings that come from being Disciples of Our Lord.
We would like to go out for dinner, but little Brid has other plans. She plans on making us a 3 course meal and as much as I would love to Book a table somewhere for a meal, I think this is a much better offer.
So I will need to update you on our 3 course meal served by our gorgeous daughter Brid

Moved by Faith

Several months ago, we decided we needed to move out of our current home. This was a very hard decision for us, as we built the home we were in 17 years ago, to remain in it until we were 'old and ready for a nursing home'.
This decision was taken away from us though. We have been abused and mistreated by a neighbour. We tried to turn the other cheek, ignore, but it got to much for us. In fact, it was escalating.
So.... we began the arduious task of looking for a family home. where?? what do we want in a family home?
We always watched our spending and didn't like to over spend, so we took time to decide what our needs were. We prayed for guidance and direction. I asked St Joseph for his help, and prayed a novena.
We began internet searching, looking at some homes, still not knowing where or even if we should move.
A funny thing kept on happening, I would look at an area on the 'net', and the area we have moved to would come up in the middle of a search. This happened quite a lot. Was God telling us something!!
So we took a drive up this way, and on sharing we both realised that this could be the place for our new family home.
We continued to be open to where The Lord wanted us.
We looked at several homes, and thought we had found the perfect home but....
In the mean time, we needed to sell our existing home. We prepared it for sale, and had a lot of fun doing so. My Dad helped a lot, and he enjoyed being involved.
So our home went on the market May 20th. We sold it 5 days later- although this was not an easy time for us, as a building inspector reporting on our current home was rather dodgy.
So when we exchanged, it was rather a weight off our shoulders.
Throughout all of this time, God had his hand firmly on us as a family. We found a lovely home, on a 1/2 acre. Kristie says its enough for a soccer field. It is exactly what we were looking for. God directed us here, It has even the carpet we were looking for, our bedroom size is exactly what we dreamed of. We moved 11 weeks later.
The house we thought was perfect for us was sold when we enquired, but on looking at it during a walk the other day, we realised, it was just not for us.
My Mum took my statues of The Sacred Heart of Jesus and The Miraculous Mary when we were moving and once they rejoined us, we now feel like its home.
Our children love this home, we love it, and we know we will spend many happy days here.
To make it really special for my emotion charged darlings on the day of moving we all moved together.
We closed the door on one home and 2 hours later opened the door on our new home Together.
It was a really good thing to do, particularly for the older ones.
We know God directed us here, for what purpose we shall yet to know, but he didn't bring us here for nothing.
His will will be done.
God knew what we needed, we just needed to move by Faith and trust in him entirely.

Holy Heroes

Holy Heroes has its Summer Adventure programme out at the moment. It has just begun. We really enjoyed the Lenten journey.
I thought I would post the link, if someone is interested in joining up.
Its an email a day, and its a lovely Adventure. It has games, cooking craft and faith stories
http://www.holyheroes.com/?Click=1068
hope you all enjoy it.

Midwifery, choices and Homebirths

I was reading through my blog list yesterday and was alerted to the post, at Signs and wonders.
I am a midwife and also have had 3 homebirths of my own.
I was appalled to think that this government can take things this far and ban homebirths.
What are they thinking, it will only promote the people wanting homebirths to 'go underground', and unregistered and unsafe practice. This is the exact reason why it should be a choice, for parents considering birth choices.
I am a firm believer in choice for birth, as it makes for a happy mother and a better outcome for birth.
Here in the Hunter Valley where I live, we had 11 midwifes several years ago,at different stages of certification for independent practice. It is also the area where the pilot study of midwifery teams was conducted. And what was there conclusion- that one on one care can reduce the need for intervention with 'high risk' cases- . this then sends the message, a women pregnant and in labour is not sick, just having a natural event in her life. So why take the choice away!!!!!
bureaucracy gone mad is my opinion. Many years ago the government passed a bill to allow trained nurses, not midwifes to work in labour wards- this was the bill of April 11, 1992. I remember because I lobbyed against it. Just like we should all do now.
This is something that will affect us all. Another choice being taken away from us!!!!
I wouldn't hesitate to have another homebirth.
There is a time and place for intervention, and yes there are women and babies in utero, who require this, but why take away a choice, overload our already overloaded delivery suites, with natural births, when majority of homebirths are 'low risk'. Midwifes are trained to be alerted to problems, and all the ones I know have a sense of inpending complications and will 'bail out', if any issues arise.
I won't go on, but please sign the petition on lyns blog. Its on the sidebar- signs and wonders. http://lynnmcb.typepad.com/signs_and_wonders/
Bless you Lyn.

Bits and Bobs

Its school holidays finally. Its been a big term. VERY Very busy for us as a family.
We came back from holidays earlier in the term knowing we would be in top speed.
I even procrastinated about turning my mobile on, for fear of the amount of txts and voice mals we would receive- where we stayed as you may remember has NO mobile coverage for our network.
Our homeschool community is very active, and we meet at least weekly, and often more.
Its great for us parents as well as the children, of course.
Anyway were was I up to, oh yes, -top speed. Our Lord had plans for me. STOP.
I hurt my knee bending down to clean the shower- how awkward- no painful would be a better word.
This kept me ned bound and then house bound for a good few weeks. Having the desired effect- stopping me in my tracks.
I had so much to do, So I ended up teaching Brid from bed. All my plans for outdoor activities out the window.
We had been busy spending time cleaning and restoring our home to the way it was before our life fell apart last year.
We succeeded, it looked great.
We cleaned, painted, washed, repaired constructed a new fence, and looked at our home with delight.
We had not been able to do this before, so it was rather empoering to get these jobs done.
Brid cleaned with us and painted- and then painted little faces on the wall next to whereshewas painting -looks cute.
so why did we do all this?????

Anyway, the children have kept us busy, Louise with her car repairs and Kristie with just life issues. My beautiful grown up girls.
One day we will be all together. In the mean time, God has given me my girls to spend time with.
Brid delights in it all. She has an amazing resiliance, and an amazing love of Our Lord. Blows me away some times.
In the middle of all of this, Dermot has been overwhelmingly busy with our business, -end of financial year in australia 30th June. The work was always pouring in. Thank you Lord for your great providence in our lifes.

We are embarking on a new part of our lives and we will all do it differently. I now my girls will all choose different paths, but that a given. It exciting, its change and its Gods plan.

Dermot & I -- we are looking forward to meeting others at the National Marriage Day- in Canberra next month.
All I know I am blessed to have been taken on this journey, and blessed to be a daughter of God.

so school holidays- here we come, with all its excitement and bumps and laughs along the way.

our weekend

Every year we join a few families from Sydney and we meet at Huntington House- on the central coast. Last weekend was that gathering. These are a few photos and scenery shots of the weekend. The property is beachfront and has the best fireplace.

I'm a little surpised

Lately we have been teaching Brid new skills; such as cooking, sewing and ironing. She has adapted to them very well- apart from having a careful fear of the heat of the iron.
Our homeschool community is going to Tocal Homestead, for an old fashioned day. The girls have decided to dress up for the occasion, so today we had friends over so the girls could make little bonnets under our supervision.
The girls cut and pinned there fabric and then one at a time sewed on the machine, whilst the boys just played, and we loosely kept an ear and eye on there project.
I was rather delighted to watch the items come together. The girls were taught some finer points of sewing, and also some that we just made up as we went along.
We got the bonnets nearly finished before heading off to our weekly homeschool event.
This evening Brid continued her project. She has made another apron to go with the whole colonial theme. She has made it from scratch, with very little assistance from me.
All I could hear tonight was the sewing machine going rather fast. it rather surprised me.
I was delighted with her efforts.
Can't wait to see them all dressed for the occasion next week.

The Year of Priests

I have just been reading Our Holy Fathers homily from last Sunday at San Giovanni Rotanda. It was a very beautiful Homily, and one I could invisage him delivering.


I was touched by his homily, and particularly by his last paragraph. "........Even in the storms that can suddenly rise up, you can experience the breath of the holy spirit that is stronger than any contrary wind and which pushes the boat of the Church and each of us. That is why we must live in serenity and cultivate joy in our hearts, giving thanks to the Lord. "his love is forever" ............


The dioceses that I live in, has been greatly affected by many Priests being charged with abuse. This has rocked many parishioners and has slandered the Church.

We as a family have decided to take up the prayers for our Priests. We have decided to pray for certain areas of the priesthood on certain days, as Our Holy Father has asked us to do.

Monday- all Priests

Tuesday - Priests of our Dioceses

Wednesday -Priests being tempted

Thursday -vocation

Friday - deceased Priests and those that have been martyred

Saturday - A different country per week

Sunday- Vocation

This may not be in a correct order, and I am sure some would put them in different places, but as Brid made the list up, I will stick with her ideas.

What they do when I am not around

I was away a couple of weekends ago....this is what they got up too.

Brids' favourite game has always been dress ups- that dress her Dad up, and cubbies.

Looked like fun.

Very compliant Dad!!!!

Dinner served

Lately we have changed our routine. We changed it so Brid could help with the family meal. I am responsible for teaching Brid how to cook, sew etc., so as a family we decided Brid would be available to help prepare our meals.

She is very diligent, and as I have had issues getting around because of my knee, Brid wanted to really get hands on.

Brid washed her hands, and under my instruction: chose the ingredients from the fridge and pantry, got out all the equipment necessary, started to chop the vegetables, cook the chicken, just like she had done it a million times- which I can assure you she hadn't.

Daddy helped make rice- another first, and I sat looking on from the lounge giving instructions as needed. I was learning more patience. I so wanted to be up there and help---umm take over.

Brid was very proud of herself, and as she says, I now know there is much more to making a meal. She really 'worked' the kitchen very well.

As she was very proud of her efforts- she made Teriyaki Chicken', I said yes she could serve out.

As we said our prayer before our meal, I trult could say 'Bless the hands that have made this meal'- as it wasn't me, it was my sweet dear little 11 year old.

Brid recently became a Girl Guide- she took months to organise her 'Promise ceremony'- because we wanted her to want to become a Guide. Now her cooking efforts can go toward her cooking badge. And sewing efforts.......This has excited Brid.

Brid is wearing the apron she made last year, and she has a new fashion accessory- glasses. She is very proud of them. They really suit her face. Brid proudly displayed them to the Mums at Gymnastics yesterday- a kind friend took her -thank you.

Humble

Two weeks ago I injured my knee by kneeling on it. I cannot explain it any better than that, but it has really slowed me down. So what am I to learn from this. I wonder. I remember when I was pregnant with Brid spending many months on bedrest due to placenta praevia. I learnt to stop controlling situations.
I believe this time is to teach me to slow down and be humble. I have needed to be dependant on many people to run our household. My parents, children, Dermot, and friends.
Last weekend a couple of sisters in Christ and myself were booked in to go to 'Sisterhood'- the inaugural conference for women by women.
I wasn't even sure if I would be able to go, even up until the last hour an a half I was still unsure due to the severity of my knee injury. I decided why not.
My friend picked me up in her car, I made myself comfortable in the back seat, picked up another friend- hi Tricia, and we were off. To Sydney.
We got there in one piece, we found our allocated rooms. I was told we would be together, but apparently there computer system lost the updated list, and they were working on an old room list. So we three shared with 2 other ladies. All our worst fears rolled in to one. I looked at one friend and I could see, we all had reservations. So I hadn't thought my df would have to bring my stuff to the room from the car, as I was on crutches, with limited movement, and guess what It was raining. Great.
We unpacked and made our way up to the conference area to see what we were in for.
I saw so mant people I know. Many from WYD05, other organisations. It was so cool to see them all again. And we could chat-wow.
It was a powerful weekend of a wonderful message of Sisterhood, celebration of Women, Talks ranged from The feminine genius, the wounds of our Souls, marriage, Bernie Black gave her testimony of her life as a very young Mum- and her determination to Not have an Abortion under any circumstances- beautiful heart wrenching testimony.
We had Adoration and the chance for Confession, an awesome night of praise and worship- if only I could have stood up-( I was made very comfortable all the weekend by a longe chair and pillows for my knee. ) So I couldn't praise how I wanted to, I couldn't kneel when Blessed Sacrament was exposed, but I learnt to do this in a different way.
I recommitted my life, like many other women to Our Lord, publicly. This was very moving. I make this commitment every year at Summer School, But to do this amongst Women was very emotional.
The next day, a Beautiful Mass was said By Fr Ken Barker the founder of the MGL's -Missionary of God's Love order- coming under the umbrella of the Disciples Of Jesus.
It was lovely weekend, very stirring, although I wished I could have been more mobile. But with out Louise & Tricia helping me I would never have been able to go. To be at the mercy of friends and other people who don't know you, and for them to come up to help you is very humbling.
So humility is my lesson, and possibly patience.

Brid and Dermot had the best weekend, while I was away. They saw Asterix- in French- needed to read the subtitles. Dermot is a big Asterix fan, so It is only fitting that he took Brid along.
when we were on our way home I rang to see what was happening. Brid said Dermot was ironing. I thought thank you.
Dermot said he would like to take Brid away for a father/ daughter camp. Brid spends many hours with me, so this was a wonderful opportunity to be together.
So in all, I would like to invite all Australian Catholic Women to this conference next year. Come along and be totally embraced by the love of other women and Our Lord.

Today I am feeling better, I was able to cook dinner. That is a story I will post in a couple of days. Because it is quite a story.

And there is more

At our little cottage, actually it wasn't all that small. It was 3 bedrooms, a little sunroom, opening living area, dining room and big laundry and 2 bathrooms, plus a huge verandah, with 3 sets offrench opening doors. Upstairs was a a great attic that Brid enjoyed playing, reading and sitting in. The photo of the kitchen area was taken from there in my last post. It was the best place to dry clothes, and as heat rises, the warmest as well.

We met some very full cows ready to be milked on our way into town one day. They surrounded the car. Brid could not resist taking some photos.

This holiday was full of no schedules at all. If we wanted to go out, go to town or go on a bushwalking we did.

Nothing was planned, except meals.

Dermot read, I embroidered and Brid just played and we played several board games together.

Brid & Dermot wanted to go to the falls closer to Dorrigo, called Dangar falls, so of they went. I was happy doing my own thing.

The only thing that was important was to chill out,oh and have long morning and afternoon coffees.-that was important.

It was Beautiful

Early this week, I put a post up of the cottage we stayed in for our relaxing, non technology holiday.

This is the first holiday we have had together for 12 months, and boy did we need some down time.

After our 5 hour drive to get to our holiday cottage, in the outskirs of the Dorrigo National Park, we just looked at the view. WOW!!

We unpacked and Dermot put Brid in charge of the fire and we cooked pizzas.

Next day we chose to do a 2-3 hour walk- called Coachwood walk and a detour to Cedar Falls. I did the Cedar Falls walk 20 + years ago as a teenager, and as we wprked our way down the steep descent it came to mind why I was never doing it again- and here I was doing it again with Dermot and Brid. It was gorgeous when we got down there, but honestly if we had a helicopter to get us out I would have said 'yes please'. For people who know me, that is unlike me.

We had our mandatory Leach stops. Dermot won- he had 4.

We got home very tired, but as we were so far away from a take away and I had planned our whole weeks food, I needed to cook dinner, we all helped so it was fun.

Next day My legs were very very very sore so we decided to have a home day. This is what we did.

says it all

The TENDERNESS of our Ways

As we are aware this is the month of Our Lady. So how fitting was it this celebration of mothering. A MUMS Day Out.

We are blessed in our dioceses to have Sisters of St Joseph involved in many areas of church. I have posted about them before in my old Blog page.

Today was held a very special day, just for Mums', at the

convent at Lochinvar-45 minute drive from my home.

What do I do with Brid??? Dermot has been really busy at work lately, so I was reluctant to remind him of this day, and place him under pressure, as he said originally, "I will do Brids' work with her". So when Dermot said, just go, I will take her with me to work, if need be. I was relieved and excited.

So our favourite Sr. Sr Lynette journeyed us through a most beautiful day of reflection about who we are as mothers and the God given Grace we receive. We reflected upon special moments- like the moment when we found out we were pregnant for the first time, the first kicks, special things our grown children say to us. The Tenderness of our ways. The word Tender- what does it bring to the for front of your mind. It was a word mulled over.

This day was not just for young Mums, but for mothers of all ages. There were Grandmas, and new Mums.

When we first walked into the room, there draped over each chair was a blanket to snuggle in to keep warm.

We were spoiled all day, with lovely company, great brewed coffee, beautiful setting, candles and reflection powerpoints. We were fed a wonderful baked lunch, served as well.

We were each given a gift of a beautifully ribbon wrapped candle and chocolates. What a day to reflect relax and enjoy being spoilt by such special people.

It was hard to pack up and go our seperate ways, but carrying the memories and reflections in our hearts we left to tend our families.

My photo of the Week

No need to say anything further.