advent 2011: day 20

the presents are wrapped
husband has finished work
and we're almost ready
for our holiday!

JT: Josiah

2 Kings 23:1-3 - King Josiah called together the older leaders of Judah and Jerusalem. Then he went to the LORD's temple, together with the people of Judah and Jerusalem, the priests, and the prophets. Finally, when everybody was there, he read aloud The Book of God's Law that had been found in the temple. After Josiah had finished reading, he stood by one of the columns. He asked the people to promise in the LORD's name to faithfully obey the LORD and to follow his commands. The people agreed to do everything written in the book.

advent 2011: day 19

from our playgroup christmas break-up:
our gingerbread trees were but one part
of a sugary feast
which left big sister completely disinterested in lunch!

JT: Hezekiah

2 Kings 18:1-6 - Hezekiah son of Ahaz became king of Judah in the third year of Hoshea's rule in Israel. Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he ruled twenty-nine years from Jerusalem. His mother Abi was the daughter of Zechariah. Hezekiah obeyed the LORD, just as his ancestor David had done. He destroyed the local shrines, then tore down the images of foreign gods and cut down the sacred pole for worshiping the goddess Asherah. He also smashed the bronze snake Moses had made. The people had named it Nehushtan and had been offering sacrifices to it. Hezekiah trusted the LORD God of Israel. No other king of Judah was like Hezekiah, either before or after him. He was completely faithful to the LORD and obeyed the laws the LORD had given to Moses for the people.

advent 2011: days 17 + 18

we woke all together on saturday morning
"shall we open it up?" exclaimed big sister
upon discovering the piles of presents.
necklaces and handmade clothes quickly worn
books quickly read
and my new nativity scene quickly displayed,
though the play kitchen sat forlorn until after breakfast!
fructose-free pancakes were delicious
(drizzled with maple syrup...!?!)
i sent husband and the girls away
to read the paper over coffee and a babycino
so i could prepare lunch in peace.
we lunched with close friends,
little sister's godparents,
under my hand-made chandelier.
bonbons contained crayons, cartoons,
and the gospel of luke's account of jesus' birth -
a blessing to hear read in sections around the table.

later we had dinner with more good friends,
and big sister loved splashing in the pool
with their little guy.

after church on sunday morning,
a quick visit from my brother-in-law
on his way home from darwin,
and some playgroup baking,
we dined again with close friends,
whose honest love we value greatly,
and whose daughters our daughters especially treasure.

JT: David

1 Samuel 16:17-18 - "All right," Saul answered. "Find me someone who is good at playing the harp and bring him here." "A man named Jesse who lives in Bethlehem has a son who can play the harp," one official said. "He's a brave warrior, he's good-looking, he can speak well, and the LORD is with him."

JT: Solomon

1 Kings 5:2-5 - Solomon sent a message back to Hiram: Remember how my father David wanted to build a temple where the LORD his God could be worshiped? But enemies kept attacking my father's kingdom, and he never had the chance. Now, thanks to the LORD God, there is peace in my kingdom and no trouble or threat of war anywhere. The LORD God promised my father that when his son became king, he would build a temple for worshiping the LORD. So I've decided to do that.

advent 2011: day 16

on the eve of her seven month birthday,
little sister has embraced finger food with gusto
(so i have embraced my dishcloth...)

while i continued to enable big sister's babycino addiction
when we visited the vic market
to get supplies for tomorrow's lunch

and then we made christmas presents
for the girls to give to one another and to me
on saturday morning
when we have our little family christmas celebration

JT: Jesse

Isaiah 11:1 - Like a branch that sprouts from a stump, someone from David's family (Jesse's family) will someday be king.

advent 2011: day 15

a day about gifts
placing some under the kmart wishing tree
and making some spicy nuts for husband
(a very toddler-friendly recipe,
unlike peppermint creams...)

we picked our wishing tree gift
from the zoo shop on tuesday
and though big sister would have loved to keep it
she seemed to understand that it was good
to give a present instead to someone else
who doesn't have a big family of people
ready to give them presents like she does.

JT: Ruth

Ruth 2:1-9 - One day, Ruth said to Naomi, "Let me see if I can find someone who will let me pick up the grain left in the fields by the harvest workers." Naomi answered, "Go ahead, my daughter." So right away, Ruth went out to pick up grain in a field owned by Boaz. He was a relative of Naomi's husband Elimelech, as well as a rich and important man. When Boaz left Bethlehem and went out to his field, he said to the harvest workers, "The LORD bless you!" They replied, "And may the LORD bless you!" Then Boaz asked the man in charge of the harvest workers, "Who is that young woman?"The man answered, "She is the one who came back from Moab with Naomi. ⁷She asked if she could pick up grain left by the harvest workers, and she has been working all morning without a moment's rest." Boaz went over to Ruth and said, "I think it would be best for you not to pick up grain in anyone else's field. Stay here with the women and follow along behind them, as they gather up what the men have cut. I have warned the men not to bother you, and whenever you are thirsty, you can drink from the water jars they have filled."

advent 2011: day 14

some painting in the sunshine today
for more interestingly-patterned gift paper

and little sister frolicked in the dirt again

but now the play kitchen is almost complete
and ready to be unveiled this weekend

JT: Samuel

1 Samuel 3:1-3 - Samuel served the LORD by helping Eli the priest, who was by that time almost blind. In those days, the LORD hardly ever spoke directly to people, and he did not appear to them in dreams very often. But one night, Eli was asleep in his room, and Samuel was sleeping on a mat near the sacred chest in the LORD's house. They had not been asleep very long.

advent 2011: day 13

last night big sister and husband
went door to door delivering
these packages to our neighbours,
filled with mummy-made peppermint creams
(which sadly needed to be made without
any help from my trusty assistant.)

big sister seemed to enjoy leaving
little parcels on the doorsteps of others,
even though she came home empty-handed.

JT: Deborah

Judges 4:4-5 - Deborah the wife of Lappidoth was a prophet and a leader of Israel during those days. She would sit under Deborah's Palm Tree between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, where Israelites would come and ask her to settle their legal cases.

advent 2011: day 12

little sister wasn't really interested
in going to sleep
at a reasonable hour last night.
and as i tried every ploy i could think of
to convince her to fall asleep,
i pondered the absurdity
of God himself
entering our world
as a baby.

why would he do that?
why would the God who created everything,
who knows everything,
who sustains everything,
who is above everything,
choose to join us in our humanity
in the form of a baby?

a baby who is born
with puffy ears and a squashed nose
from his journey
through the birth canal?
a baby who is captivated
by lights and shadows?
a baby who can't speak
and is reliant on others
for everything?

why not just flit in and out of history
as a grown man,
staying only for his three years
of public ministry?

because that wouldn't be enough.
because our God isn't a God
just for the good times
or the powerful and persuasive times of life.
because our God wanted,
needed,
to join us fully in our humanity,
and to live an entire life of obedience to God.
because our God doesn't live off in a distant place,
but dwells amongst his people on earth.

there are many other reasons,
i am sure,
but i am not a theologian.
i'm just a person, marvelling,
at the ridiculous, lavish love of God,
shown in baby Jesus.

JT: Miriam

exodus 15:20-21 - Miriam the sister of Aaron was a prophet. So she took her tambourine and led the other women out to play their tambourines and to dance. Then she sang to them: "Sing praises to the LORD for his great victory! He has thrown the horses and their riders into the sea."

advent 2011: days 9, 10 and 11

decorating gift bags
with party-bag paints

playing peekaboo
with the increasingly-robust little sister

JT: Rachel

Genesis 29:9-12 - While Jacob was still talking with the men, his cousin Rachel came up with her father's sheep. When Jacob saw her and his uncle's sheep, he rolled the rock away and watered the sheep. He then kissed Rachel and started crying because he was so happy. He told her that he was the son of her aunt Rebekah, and she ran and told her father about him.

JT: Joseph

Genesis 37:3 - Jacob loved Joseph more than he did any of his other sons, because Joseph was born after Jacob was very old. Jacob had given Joseph a fancy coat.

JT: Moses

Exodus 3:1-6 - One day, Moses was taking care of the sheep and goats of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and Moses decided to lead them across the desert to Sinai, the holy mountain. There an angel of the LORD appeared to him from a burning bush. Moses saw that the bush was on fire, but it was not burning up. "This is strange!" he said to himself. " I'll go over and see why the bush isn't burning up." When the LORD saw Moses coming near the bush, he called him by name, and Moses answered, " Here I am."God replied, " Don't come any closer. Take off your sandals--the ground where you are standing is holy. I am the God who was worshiped by your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Moses was afraid to look at God, and so he hid his face.

advent 2011: day 8

a quieter day
posting some of our cards
hanging our pasta garland
decorating some gift bags
and listening to a friend recall
the joy of childhood sinterklaas celebrations

and i've been wondering
what to do with these:
cuttings of wax paper
coloured along with our pasta.
perhaps a christmas message in our window?

JT: Jacob

Genesis 28:10-17 - Jacob left the town of Beersheba and started out for Haran. At sunset he stopped for the night and went to sleep, resting his head on a large rock. In a dream he saw a ladder that reached from earth to heaven, and God's angels were going up and down on it. The LORD was standing beside the ladder and said: I am the LORD God who was worshiped by Abraham and Isaac. I will give to you and your family the land on which you are now sleeping. Your descendants will spread over the earth in all directions and will become as numerous as the specks of dust. Your family will be a blessing to all people. Wherever you go, I will watch over you, then later I will bring you back to this land. I won't leave you--I will do all I have promised. Jacob woke up suddenly and thought, "The LORD is in this place, and I didn't even know it." Then Jacob became frightened and said, "This is a fearsome place! It must be the house of God and the ladder to heaven."

advent 2011: day 7

though i'd originally planned
a lantern-making session for today
with my increasing understanding
of what would actually be
fun and achievable for a toddler
we decided to make instead:
coloured pasta garlands

to make coloured pasta:
take 2 cups of pasta
(penne or rigatoni are best for threading)
2 teaspoons of food-dye
and 3 teaspoons of rubbing alcohol
(called isocol - found in medical aisle at coles.)

put the ingredients in a ziplock bag
and mix gently until pasta is coloured.
spread pasta on lined baking trays
and leave to dry overnight.

to make the garlands
tie a wool needle on a piece of string
and let your little one
thread til their heart's content!
(which will probably take about 5 minutes...)

JT: Rebekah

Genesis 24:63-67 - One evening he was walking out in the fields, when suddenly he saw a group of people approaching on camels. So he started toward them. Rebekah saw him coming; she got down from her camel, and asked, "Who is that man?" "He is my master Isaac," the servant answered. Then Rebekah covered her face with her veil. The servant told Isaac everything that had happened. Isaac took Rebekah into the tent where his mother had lived before she died, and Rebekah became his wife. He loved her and was comforted over the loss of his mother.

advent 2011: day 6

more painting
with a new technique:
corks on skewers = toddler-friendly!

while i painted

the second coat on the play kitchen
little sister kept herself busy
munching dirt

yesterday i finally received
the advent reflections
i'd ordered in october -
they are amazing

p.s. husband got 83 for his uni subject - woot!

JT: Isaac

Genesis 22:13-14 - Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in the bushes. So he took the ram and sacrificed it in place of his son. Abraham named that place "The LORD Will Provide." And even now people say, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."

advent 2011: day 5

a day of painting
of christmas cards and play kitchens
and realising my expectations
were a little lofty
on both counts.

but big sister had fun
stamping and swirling with potatoes,
(who knew you could swirl? how unimaginative i am!)
and now i have a new plan
for completing the cards and the kitchen.

simple reminders of the glory of jesus
and the eternal life we'll enjoy with him
where there will be no mistakes or futility!

JT: Sarah

genesis 18:9-14 - and they asked, "Where is your wife Sarah?" "She is right there in the tent," Abraham answered.One of the guests was the LORD, and he said, "I'll come back about this time next year, and when I do, Sarah will already have a son." Sarah was behind Abraham, listening at the entrance to the tent. Abraham and Sarah were very old, and Sarah was well past the age for having children. So she laughed and said to herself, "Now that I am worn out and my husband is old, will I really know such happiness?" The LORD asked Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh? Does she doubt that she can have a child in her old age? I am the LORD! There is nothing too difficult for me. I'll come back next year at the time I promised, and Sarah will already have a son."

advent 2011: day 4

handmade bon-bons today
for our christmas lunch on the 17th
with glueing by big sister
the rest (and fretting!) by me
(this is a good exercise
in learning the capabilities of a two-year-old!)

JT: Abraham

genesis 18:1 - One hot summer afternoon Abraham was sitting by the entrance to his tent near the sacred trees of Mamre, when the LORD appeared to him.

and a gratuitous pic
of my melon-munching lovelies

advent 2011: day 3

It was apt that on the day we read about Noah
with the animals in the ark
that we went to visit the zoo
for a friend's birthday party.

We saw:
peacocks parading
tigers prowling
kangaroos lazing
giraffes reaching
an elephant getting a bath
and big sister took a ride on the carosel!

JT: Noah

Genesis 9:11-17 - I promise every living creature that the earth and those living on it will never again be destroyed by a flood. The rainbow that I have put in the sky will be my sign to you and to every living creature on earth. It will remind you that I will keep this promise forever. When I send clouds over the earth, and a rainbow appears in the sky, I will remember my promise to you and to all other living creatures. Never again will I let floodwaters destroy all life. When I see the rainbow in the sky, I will always remember the promise that I have made to every living creature. The rainbow will be the sign of that solemn promise.

advent 2011: day 2

christmas baking:
an allergy-free christmas cake
(free from dairy, eggs and gluten,
but very full of fructose!)

JT day 2: eve

genesis 2:21-23 - So the LORD God made him fall into a deep sleep, and he took out one of the man's ribs. Then after closing the man's side, the LORD made a woman out of the rib. The LORD God brought her to the man, and the man exclaimed: "Here is someone like me! She is part of my body, my own flesh and bones. She came from me, a man. So I will name her Woman!"

advent 2011: day 1

a wreath of hands
mummy hands and big sister hands
now hangs on our front door
(which is quite exposed to the weather
so i'm praying it will last through december!)

JT day 1: adam

genesis 2:7 - The LORD God took a handful of soil and made a man. God breathed life into the man, and the man started breathing. (CEV)

ready for advent

the jesse tree stands bare
while the advent calendar hangs bulging
ready for december 1

works in progress

while big sister lay in bed last evening
shouting "baa baa black sheep" like a punk rocker,
and little sister remarkably slept on,
i sewed christmas clothes for the girls.
almost done - just a few straps, some hemming and a waist band to go!

for little sister: shirred tops and matching nappy covers

for big sister: pyjama shorts and cord skirts

advent 3: prop construction

the things you can do when both girls are asleep

(and so you can't use the vacuum cleaner.)
i would love to work in prop construction on playschool!
this stable is in preparation for our advent story-telling
set to begin on thursday

breaking through

jig-sawing a window in the play-oven door

self-sewn pumpkins shooting in our garden


two little bottom teeth, finally emerged

a wee bit insane?

we're normal. what are you talking about?

i think that some people, namely my mum and my brother, suspect that i am going a wee bit insane following my recent posts on giving sugar and santa the flick. (well, living in a little house and doing things repetitively like rocking the pram could possibly be sending me a little barmy. and having been wanting to move to the country all year but having no control over when we're able to go and so living in limbo land has also turned me into a major control freak over the little things, and especially over stuff to do with christmas. sigh.) i am also really just trying very hard to be a thoughtful mother, while i have the opportunity to do some thinking and am not living by the seat of my pants.

i've had some supremely useful conversations this weekend, and have come to a more moderate and satisfying (for me) position on the big fat red guy. my decision is to, for the most part, leave the initiating of santa-talk to the girls, and i'll answer their questions as they come. we will celebrate sinterklaas in 2012, and i will explain to the girls about who saint nicholas was and what he was on about, so when they do ask about santa, i will explain him in relation to saint nicholas. i will continue, however, to maintain my no-red and white-christmas decoration policy.

it was pointed out that perhaps i have been over-estimating the impact of the whole santa issue, and underestimating the impact of all the other jesus-focused elements of celebrating christmas. touche. i needed to hear that. i guess in my fear of my girls turning into entitled, greedy brats who don't value the things that they have (which is the lifestyle i associate with santa), i forgot that God is powerful, wise, merciful and kind, that he answers prayers, that Jesus has already claimed victory over sin, and that God is at work in the world all the time. so i needn't worry so much.

i have also had ample opportunity this weekend to put my convictions about sugar to the test in big sister's life, as our saturday consisted of a christmas party, a birthday party and a thanksgiving dinner, all with sugar-laden goodies to be had. though i didn't say this in my previous post, the fifth "rule" of david gillespie's diet is that "party food is for parties," which means that it's okay to indulge in some sugary delights when celebrating something worth celebrating - it's just not okay to indulge in them as part of your normal eating pattern. (and if you're a sugar addict, which is what he contends most people are, you'll most likely regret indulging in the sugar because you'll have to detox all over again. anyway...)

so big sister got to eat lollies, iced-biscuits, cake, chocolate, juice and ice-cream - the last three of which she had never really even had before. (she didn't really like the juice, so i am secretly pleased about that.) i actually felt okay about her eating these things in celebration, but i am still convinced that i don't want them in our house and that it's not really okay for playgroup morning tea to consist of sugary treats. the gillespie book contains recipes for party foods (and other normal foods) that are made fructose-free by using alternate ingredients (such as dextrose and glucose syrup, which each contain the glucose part of sugar but not the evil fructose part), so it is allegedly possible to make these celebratory foods in a low-fructose version. will be testing these recipes out soon.

what to tell the girls about the big fat red guy

image from here.

i've been going around in circles lately, thinking about how to approach the whole santa-thing with my girls. i feel like i've got another year to figure things out before big sister starts asking questions (or knows anyone else who would tell her about santa), so i'm glad for the extra time to sort things through. in an ideal world, i would not tell the girls about santa at all, and to us he wouldn't exist or have any part in our celebration of christmas. sadly, our world is not this way!

my second preference is to tell the girls that santa is a story or a game, which other families tell and play at christmas time. but i don't really want big sister to be the one to tell other children that santa isn't real, when their parents still want them to believe that he is. a reaction i have to this train of thought, though, is that i'm sure there are many parents who would be prepared to tell their children that the story of jesus is just a story, and wouldn't mind if their children told my girls that jesus isn't real. it doesn't bother me if other kids tell my girls that jesus isn't real, because we know that he is and i am happy to talk with the girls about how we know that jesus is more than just a story. anyway...

my third idea is for our family to observe sinterklaas, which is a dutch christmas tradition, rather than following the australian tradition of having santa claus visit on christmas eve. i need to read a bit more about sinterklaas, but i like the fact that it is celebrated earlier in december (so that christmas day can be exciting simply because it is the day we celebrate jesus' birth) and that the gifts given by santa are extremely modest. i think it would also be a great way to cherish our family's dutch heritage (if you didn't know, husband's family came to australia from the netherlands when he was 8, and so the girls are half dutch.) the problems i can see with this approach are still how to explain about santa (whether to say that it's a game or to pretend for a while that it is real, which i don't want to do) and then how the girls would explain to their friends that santa visits them early just because they are half dutch.

so i'm still confused. i like the story of saint nicholas, who gave gifts to people in genuine need in his village, and would be happy to observe something that celebrates his compassion and generosity. but i don't know how to do that without buying into the extremely-bastardised version we know today as santa claus. any thoughts?

big sister's rain dance

from last friday evening, during a thunderstorm...

bye bye sugar

image from here.

two nights ago, we ran out of milo and i'm not going to buy anymore. we've also run out of dried fruit, sweet chilli sauce, orange juice and sweetened yoghurt, and i'm not going to buy anymore of those either. and when we run out of cordial, honey, golden syrup, icing sugar, etc, they won't be making their way onto my shopping list again.

i recently read 'the sweet poison quit plan: how to kick the sugar habit and lose weight,' by david gillespie. i'd read a couple of blog posts about it and since it was available at our local library, i decided to borrow it and see for myself what it had to say. i found it to be extremely compelling, relevant and able to pull together the fragmented understandings and wonderings about the role of sugar in our diet that i'd had floating in my mind already - in much the same way that hearing the gospel of Jesus explained clearly brought my worldview together into a sensible whole - which was quite a surprising experience!

gillespie asserts that fructose (which is basically the non-glucose half of sugar) causes the serious health problems we're seeing in our society, because we're consuming it at much greater levels than nature intended and in a non-natural way (i.e. without the associated fibre that helps our bodies to deal with the fructose in a healthy way - so consuming fructose in an orange is okay, but consuming fructose in orange juice is not okay because the fibre of the fruit is missing.) apparently fructose causes bad things to happen in our bodies when it is broken down, in a way that glucose does not. so not all sugar is bad - glucose is what fuels our brain, among other important things - only fructose is to be avoided.

i'll leave you to read the book for yourselves, but the thing that really spoke to me from this book/dietary theory was the assertion that fructose is responsible for messing with our brain's ability to tell our stomach that we've had enough to eat when we've consumed an appropriate amount of calories. this disconnect is what causes us to desire food when we know we don't actually need it, and to walk around in a perpetual state of non-satisfiable hunger. omg. that is me.

well, it was me about 3 weeks ago. since then, i have limited the amount of fructose i consume, and i'm already feeling much more in control of my desire for food. husband has read the book as well and also found it compelling, so we're planning to attempt to cut fructose out completely as a family after the christmas holidays. i don't think it will really be that hard - our current breakfasts, lunches and dinners are already very low in fructose, and don't really need much tweaking. our snacking is where the challenge will lie, but we've already switched to more savoury snack options (nuts, crackers with cheese or dip, corn chips, popcorn, toast with vegemite or avocado, etc) and life is good.

i've noticed that big sister's mood has been much more stable in the past 3 weeks - i haven't really needed to try out anything i've been reading about in the child wrangling department - and i put this down to reduced levels of sugar. i remember now the first few times she had sweetened yogurt as a baby/toddler - boy, did she cry whenever the tub was finished. and for several months this year i'd been using muffin bars to convince her to get into the pram when she didn't want to, and it always made her crazy. i'm glad she's only ever drunk water or milk up til now, because her snacks are really the only change we've needed to make, and she seems quite happy. her new favourite thing is homemade yogurt icy-poles - just natural yogurt with a bit of vanilla essence for flavour, frozen in icy-pole moulds. easy.

the book's title refers to weight loss, but i'm the only one in this house with any weight to lose, so we'll see what happens in that department. it's not particularly a motivator for us, though i do have a bag of lovely pre-motherhood clothes that i would quite like to wear again some day soon.

and if anyone who doesn't know me in real life is reading this blog, i most certainly didn't get paid for this post - i don't get paid to do anything! (except have babies, raise them and get them immunised, it seems...)

the life and times of little sister

sitting unassisted (with soft places to fall)
babbling while eating (very little is swallowed)
trashing the bottom toy shelf with her feet
shrieking to get attention
eating grass whenever the chance arises
rolling far and wide - no picnic blanket is big enough
the life and times of little sister

advent 2: craft activities

when i sat down to plan our advent, i tried to use the idea of "in" (to ourselves), "out" (to others/the community) and "up" (to God) to provide some kind of balance. and i wasn't too sure where craft activities fitted in to this model, but i knew i wanted to do some with big sister. i decided they would count as "in," because the joy in making would be ours. but our minister preached yesterday about the spiritual discipline of celebration, and i'm now convinced that our craft activities (which will produce christmas decorations) also count as "out" and perhaps even a little as "up," as they will encourage us and those who enter our home to celebrate more fully and more joyfully the meaning of christmas. below are a couple of the activities we plan to do:

paper lanterns will be the centre piece above our table when little sister's godparents and their beloved come for lunch in december. good thing we've got that jolly jumper hook in the ceiling already! from here

big sister is obsessed with having me trace around her hand and my hand whenever the textas are out, so i thought she'd enjoy making this wreath. from here

:: some updates: so toilet training has been a bit of a false start. no clue of knowing in advance that she needs to go = mummy frequently asking big sister if she wants to use the potty = annoyed and defiant big sister. will try again in january. and i've already made the felt ball garland - after an evening of shirring frustration and much wasted elastic, the instant gratification desiring, generation y part of me was desperate to finish a project, so those little felt balls are now on their string, waiting for december 1. ::