Beyond the Edge of Adventure

We had a church retreat the other day. When the pastor mentioned it, I think all of us put the word 'conference' in the place of 'retreat'. A lot of us turned up with the expectation that we'd take notes, be inspired and leave feeling exhausted but motivated. Well. It appears that the pastor actually meant what he said! Instead of being inspired and motivated, we were invited to relax. We took some deep breaths, prayed and the facilitators even spoke slowly and purposefully. As a mum of busy children and a sufferer of anxiety and depression, I found sitting there in silence waiting......and waiting very difficult. I found I had to do something - take a few notes, click my pen, bob my foot on crossed legs, make faces at the baby in the bouncer at my feet, look around the room, pop some magnesium tablets I use for anxiety....... It took me about an hour to calm down enough to wind down. And man, I was I tired when I did! I had a difficult time staying awake!...

I wasn't quite sure what to make of evolution vs creation there for a while. During my public (and perfectly satisfactory apart from the evolution and complete lack of moral education) school education, we were taught that the earth was millions of years old. It wasn't until the past few years that I started to consider the possibility of literal, six-day creation. The other day on Facebook, I saw an advertisement for a 'Homeschoolers Day' at Jurassic Ark , a place I had never heard of but very quickly grew interested in! We travelled up and stayed the night before our visit to Jurassic Ark in a caravan at Goomeri. After much silly playing around with the pronounciation of the town's name, we discovered that it's pronounced "guh'MERee". Very sweet little place, just 45 minutes drive west of Jurassic Ark. As we rocked up, John Mackay ('The Creation Guy', himself a Christian) was speaking with the students and explaining about the fir...

In the past we've done the whole bit: purchased gifts, cards and had a swanky date night.....but that was then and this is now. Seven children, one a newborn combined with shift work makes things very interesting! I'm not really into the commercialization and materialism of Valentine's Day. But I am into blessing one's spouse as much as possible - so am always interested in things to do to celebrate the ill-fated St Valentine's legacy. Sometimes we've been overwhelmed and haven't done much at all - maybe just a cuppa on the couch after kiddy lights out! But this time, despite the issues surrounding the logistics of having a chandelier-swinging rumpy-pumpy, I'd like to do something nice for my husband on the big V-day on Tuesday. My frazzled mama brain can't think around all the hurdles all the moment, so I'm asking you for ideas. Here's the criteria: 1. Budget - it has to be cheap. We have approximately $2.76 spare. Bonus points for a...

Last night and early this morning, I watched 'Minimalism ' - a documentary on being minimalist, funnily enough. It was recommended by a sweet mummy-friend of mine and since I'm awake with baby, husband was at work and as I happen to be sympathetic to the minimalist movement, I decided to give it a spin. Here followeth my opinion: I liked it. The two men who wrote the book 'Minimalism' are genuine, scarred and real. I loved that. It was nice to hear from men who are sincere and passionate! As I got into the documentary, I found myself comparing the minimalist movement with Christianity. It's a habit - probably a good one - that most Christians should adopt, I think! I found myself listening to neuroscientists, professors of sociology, authors, dads, expectant mothers and small-house movement proponents talk about their views on minimalism, materialism, consumerism, the death and fatness of the western world whilst thinking, "Yep, I do that/agree with...

So the biggest news in our family last year is that we have a new family member. Born on December 7th, our baby is now just over two months old and doing well! Baby Eden - December 2016 Since our last child was born on the side of the road, we decided to go for a home birth this time. This was met with some gentle trepidation from some, but given that we've had six 'textbook' straight-forward labours before and the midwife we booked is very highly recommended by a variety of friends who had booked her themselves, we figured there was very little that could go wrong. So, home birth. It inspires many different visions in the heads of people. Some think of powerful and confident post-birth cuddles in a birthing-pool, a mother surrounded by her husband and children, prayer flags hung around the living room where birth has taken place. For some, it inspires memories of trauma or of joy. Others find the prospect akin to jumping out of a plane without a parachute! I h...