A Modern Day Essene

We have had some beautiful, Spring like weather, the past few weeks. The garden has beckoned me outside! Over Winter I did a lot of pruning (Many a problem can be buried whilst digging in the garden~) so I had a few empty spots that I wanted to fill.
On Saturday morning I was sitting down having my quiet time (Whilst all the children were still asleep, just me and a cup of tea!) and I started thinking about garden centres and plants. I knew that the average price of a plant was about $10-$15 so filling up my garden was going to be a costly affair. I remembered my Dad's good friend, Ruth. She is an avid gardener and is always collecting cuttings and potting plants. I rang dad and by sheer coincidence (Is anything a coincidence with God?) Ruth was selling lots of plants this very day at her church's jumble sale! Dad picked me up and I was so excited to see the large array of plants for sale. The dearest plant was $4! I bought about six geraniums, lots of nasturtiams, and four beautiful yet very unusual plants called Queens Tears or Bilbergia nutans.
I spent the afternoon planting. It was such a beautiful way to spend the day. The flowers of the Queens Tears just make me smile! they are so intriquetly beautiful in every way. The outline colour is a deep deep purple, almost black, it is stunning.
I can't wait for Spring to see my garden burst into flour. I wonder if my Avocado tree will stop "sulking" this year and bare some fruit?

I was reading a Bible Story to the children this week, it was the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. The angels told Lot and his wife not to look back at the city as they left. Whilst fire and Brimstone fell on the fallen cities Lot's wife could not resist, she turned her head in curiosity, pain, anguish........who knows what emotions she was feeling as she walked away from her home and four children who had been left behind. She was instantly turned into a pillar of salt.
How many of us are guilty of looking back, remembering the past with rose coloured glasses? I was reminded of this during the week as I reflected on my life. Something was said, it wasn't intended to hurt me but I couldn't stop thinking about the words spoken in casualness that were affecting me so deeply. The more I pondered on these words the more negative I felt about my situation. I wanted to give in, stop doing what I have been doing and run to the greener grass! I was disillusioned and felt that the present wasn't worth while...........I wanted to jump to the future!
As I tossed and turned in bed one night I was thinking about some words that another friend had written on her facebook. "When did you last encounter the awesome presence of God?" and It struck me just how negative I had become and what those thoughts had done to disrupt my week. I woke the next morning with a new perspective. Nothing had changed in the natural except the way that I was looking at the situation! Instead of seeing the negative I started focusing on the positive. Suddenly the passion and joy returned! It was amazing.
God doesn't want us to live in the past, he doesn't even want us to live in the future! He wants us to live one moment at a time, to enjoy every moment that he gives us and to live it out to the full. We become restless when we look back, or when we try to rush forward because we are disillusioned with the present.
Ecclesiastes talks about there being a time and a season for everything. Let us rest in the season that we are in!

I have really molded quite nicely into the lifestyle of unschooling. I didn't realize it until today when, whilst taking on other major household tasks such as cleaning the pantry, I suddenly remembered that Ben had done no "formal" work for two or three days. I had a momentary shudder but then I heard his voice and on peaking into the family room I saw him sitting with his five year old brother reading aloud a section on "How television works" from an Usborne book. His brother was mesmerized and once Ben had finished reading he went on to explain in his own words the workings of a television!
I find myself becoming more aware of learning that happens outside a text book. I am listening to my children during their playtime and finding that their imaginations are so full of life it is amazing! They will happily play "Narnia" in the back garden for hours, Dear Son five is always "Lucy" (don't ask me why but that is his hero!) and they just get so absorbed in the story it makes me smile from ear to ear. My son, 14, who has never been a reader has suddenly found an intense love of reading, basically because he has been given the freedom to choose what he wants to do and that has become one of his most popular choices! In the last three weeks he has completed three novels, "Number The Stars", "When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit" and "Chronicles Of The Kings, The first in the series". His openness to discuss the books has convinced me that he has absorbed heaps from each book. Rachel, 16, has also loved reading and spent the day yesterday completing a written narration on "Number The Stars" and then turning it into a book format using our trusty Spiral Binding machine!
This is a season of life that is right for us just now. I need some space, some time for me to heal and the children are thriving in this lifestyle. I am in no rush for this season to end........

I can't tell you how much I am enjoying the Barry Stebbing book, 'Art and the Bible for Children". It is a beautiful, colourful hardback book filled with artwork from children. The Bible stories have been adapted for young children by a homeschooler, Joshua Olds 15 from America. The stories are so well written and my children simply adore sitting by my side as I read aloud to them. The artwork is basic, nothing too complicated, but that is good! because there are examples from other children of all different ages I have found that my children are not discouraged by their own attempts. In lots of art curriculum the work seems above them and quite often they are unmotivated to attempt the exercises, not so with this book!
I have found that doing Bible has become a pure joy each day and my children eagerly await their lessons. Really this is a two in one curriculum! I can't recommend it highly enough.

I love to have an excuse to entertain. I just adore setting the table up nicely, decorating the house and preparing food for a special occasion. That is probably why I am so drawn to the Jewish Holidays and their feast. They celebrate a lot! On a weekly basis they celebrate the sabbath (Shabbat) but throughout the year there are a number of Jewish Holidays such as Passover, Tabernacles, First Fruits, Unleavened Bread and Hanukkah.
As a family we have celebrated a couple of Sabbaths with special attention to detail. I don't think I could ever be a Jew though because it was such a momentous occasion that the thought of doing it the next week and then the next was all too much for me. I guess that Jews are brought up with that as part of their life and yet for me it was exhausting! So you can understand me a little when I tell you that I am preparing for Hanukkah NOW! It isn't until the end of the year (Usually November or December) but it last for eight days. Eight days of feast and celebration is going to take a lot of planning........it is bigger than Christmas!
Hanukkah is the celebration of the Jewish defeat against the Greek invaders. After their victory they had to re-build the temple in Jerusalem because it had been defiled by the Greeks who used it as a place of worship to the Greek Gods and had sacrificed unclean animals on the alter. They had to light a candle in the temple but there was only enough "clean" oil to burn for one day. It would take 8 days to produce more oil. Miraculously the oil in the candle burnt for a whole eight days! just long enough for the new oil to be produced. Hannukah is referred to as the festival of light. Scholars believe that Jesus was conceived during the period of Hannukah and the connection between him being called "Jesus.......the light of the world" has spiritual connections to that timing. Interestingly enough, that would take the birth time of Jesus to September which would coincide with the Jewish celebration of The Day Of Atonement.
Anyway, I have been looking on line for a Menorah, The Jewish candle with nine placements. Eight candles are lit for the eight days that the candle in the temple miraculously burned and the ninth...........well, I haven't found that out yet! I was so surprised to find the amount of Menorah sets that are available. Some of them are just beautiful.
The other thing that I am on the lookout for is a dreidel. The dreidel is a spinning top and is used to play a Hannukah game where lollies, money, peanuts...........anything you want! is placed in the middle of the table and the Dreidel is spun. Depending on what letter it lands on dictates what happens. If it lands on one letter the person has to place a coin, lolly etc etc in the middle and then the next person takes a turn, another letter means that the person can take half the lot from the table and yet another letter means they get to take the lot. The winner is the one with the most at the end!
I am looking forward to planning our Hanukkah celebration this year. Has anyone else any plans? do you celebrate the Jewish holidays?

This morning DD 16 asked if she could prepare an afternoon tea, similar to the type told about in her Anne Of Green Gables book. I thought it was a great idea so took an early morning jog to the supermarket to purchase some grocery items.
We decided on Mini Quiche, Pizza, Cucumber Sandwiches, Egg Sandwiches and Cheese biscuits. I am proud of the children as they all worked together to produce the food without my help. They set the table up complete with tablecloth and freshly cut Lavender from the garden. The teapot, sugar bowl and milk jug were all filled and set on the table. The only thing left was to enjoy our feast!
It was just lovely to see all the children gathered around the table sipping tea out of their "proper" tea cups and politely asking each other if they wanted milk and sugar. DD16 cut all the sandwiches into tiny triangle slices and they were just scrumptious! It is funny how nice a sandwich can taste when it is presented on a pretty plate and cut so daintily. Even DS 18 mths had a cup of tea (in his beaker) and thought the afternoon entertainment was great fun. DD 16 and DD4 then sang a rendition of "Old Pa Tucker" a song from The Little House On The Prairie......not quite the Anne Of Green Gables style but the same era!

Thanks To Anne for the recipe for chocolate mud cake. I have pasted it here so that I can attempt to cook it today!
WHITE CHOCOLATE CAKE





I made a double recipe of icing for this cake.

A big Thank You to
http://serenadesandsolace.blogspot.com/ for the recipe of Orange and Chocolate Muffins. I have never tasted anything so delicious before! They worked out perfectly and the family really enjoyed them. I had mine with a cup of Lemon and Ginger herbal tea and it went down a treat.

I told you that I was going a bit GAH GAH over animals! well, meet my latest addition..........Lofty the Giraffe! He is a seven foot tall wooden Giraffe that I picked up in the Salvo's this afternoon. I must have looked mighty strange walking back to the car with Lofty in my arms. I told the shop assistant that my husband would have a few choice words to say about my new pet..............and he did! But none the less, Lofty has pride of place in my lounge room and I think he looks lovely.

I have found an illustrator with the most amazingly beautiful works of art! Her name is Rie Nakajima, a Japanese artist.
The picture on the right hand column is one of hers as are the pictures posted here. I just admire her work so much!

You may have noticed my new look blog. I spent most of the weekend fiddling around, looking for a new layout. It wasn't that I disliked the old one, it is just that I love change! especially in the area of decoration.
I must admit that it caused me a whole lot of stress. I am not really very computer literate and a lot of templates that I tried would not work on the blog. I'm sure others could have made them work but it all went over my head!
Well, I think I am cured for a while. My eyes are sore from eyestrain! I also have received a few comments from people who have not been able to write comments. Gosh, I don't know why and I am not about to fix it yet so please accept my apologies if you can't respond. I am sure that after a week of receiving no comments I will get round to finding out the cure! I can't stand talking to myself............x

If you ever think you are too old and life has passed you by, then please take five minutes out of your day to watch the utube video of Susan Boyle, 47, singing on the 2009 episode of Britains Got Talent. I, like many other, watched with awkward embarrassment when I saw her step on stage.............the she started to sing!

A few years ago I purchased a very expensive language programme , Rosetta Stone! I chose Hebrew and that was the only mistake I made! The programme itself was fantastic but the language of choice was very very difficult. It wasn't only the alphabet that was completly different from ours but also the accent. Sometimes even I could not understand what the speaker was saying! Anyway, it was an expensive lesson but because we were going nowhere we decided to sell it.
Since then we have not covered the subject of a second language. I tried vaguely to introduce German because of my experience with it at school but the lessons were clumsy and unorganized. I desperatly wanted to purchase Rosetta Stone again but the funds were not available. You can imagine my pure joy when I saw an add for a second hand copy of Rosetta Stone on the Aussie Homeschool website. It was Italian and although I had doubts at first, now that we are using it I am absolutely thrilled~ There really is no better way to learn a second language than with Rosetta Stone~It is simple, fun, quick............all the things that are important for me.