SA 32 - NZ 29

Wow. What a finish. I was at the deciding Tr-Nations rugby game last night - and finally got to see the Springboks win a game! The previous times I've watched the Boks live have been in Brisbane, where they play decidedly hopelessly for some unknown reason.
Anyway, the Bok lineout was good as usual, the scrum was very good (except for the first couple) and Frans Steyn kicking penalties from around 60m was simply stunning. The All Blacks didn't sit down and give up though - they kept on coming back. And the crowd was right into it at the finish - very very noisy indeed. A big contrast to the rather boring Aussie rugby crowds!

Ministry while being a full-time mum

It's a topic that I've been thinking about recently. What can I do, how can I do it, who with, where to find time to do it etc. Last week I read the series on Nicole's blog about 'Missional Motherhood' and on Sunday the sermon at church also touched on the subject (it was on Isaiah 58).

Through these and my general thinking, I've realised that what I need to be doing is making a bigger effort with the people I have contact with already on a day to day basis. In particular the children that Ben has made friends with (at Playgroup and Kindy) and their families - both getting to know them better and making them a part of my everyday life. I don't need to organise particularly special activities/events, just try to include them in everyday events such as going down to the local park or coming over for a morning coffee.

I've also been challenged by a chapter in Kent and Barbara Hughes book Disciplines of a Godly Family about family ministry - (although I own the book, I haven't got around to reading it yet, so I'm working from Nicole's summary). In particular about 'keeping an open house', making our house a place where our children like to be and feel comfortable inviting friends over (and who also will feel comfortable being here), so I can get to know their friends more and therefore we can do ministry together as a family. I haven't had much experience of seeing this modeled when I was a child - I don't remember going over to friends houses much or having friends at my house much - so it doesn't tend to come instinctively to me.

To put these thoughts into practice, I'm going to attempt to invite some of the kids and mothers that Ben has made friends with at Playgroup and Kindy over to our house during the coming school holidays (as I'm back in Oz for the next fortnight and therefore school holidays start when we get back). And obviously hopefully continue from there into the next term - although the birth of number 3 will put a bit of a speed bump in there somewhere.

Clean car...

Washed the car for the first time in at least 4 months today. It's just too cold to do it over winter, plus it rains so much during that time that you don't really need to. But today was a really nice warm day (it got to 17 or 18C without any real breeze) - I got out in shorts and shirt to do it! - and the car looked grotty as we haven't really had much rain for a little while. The kids enjoyed helping - anything that involves playing with water is exciting.

Story time...

One of our local cafes/winebars 'Zinc cafe' has recently started running a kids story time once a month. I took the kids for the first time today, I think today was a bit crazier than normal as they had the author Diana Neild come (organised by the Poppies bookstore - a couple of doors down) and read her two children's books 'Piggety-Wiggety Jiggity Jig' and 'Piggety-Wiggety Jiggity Jig - Goes to Dad's cafe'. Ben and Joanna enjoyed it - there was balloons, opportunity to dress-up with pigs ears, plus the cafe had specially made pig cookies instead of gingerbread men to sell today.

Art work...

I haven't put up any of the kids craft or art work for a while, so here is a couple:

This first one Ben did at kindy using old cotton reels dipped in paint...


This next one is one Joanna did at kindy...

The new 5th Wiggle!

Recently Ben has got into doing the actions to the Wiggles songs. He's been studying them for so long, he doesn't need a DVD playing to copy them, just the CD with the music and off he goes!

Woohoo!

I got my cast off my arm today. I went to the doctor to see if it would be OK to get it off a bit earlier than it was supposed to, and he said it should be OK. So it got taken off and I had it X-rayed again to make sure it was healed. The X-rays looked good, so I'm now cast-free! My elbow is pretty stiff and a little sore, as is my wrist. Hopefully that will ease over the next week or two - I'll go and see a physio soon to make sure I know what to do.

Mother Duck went out one day...

I'm getting to that stage of pregnancy that I'm starting to notice myself waddling instead of walking. Especially today - my back is pretty sore this afternoon and the only way to stop it hurting quite so much was to walk with a very pronounced waddle!

Squeeky clean...

I have employed a cleaner - one of the girls from church who helped out the other week for the inspection. I'm just getting her to vacuum the whole house and clean the bathroom once a fortnight. These are the things I struggle to get done, especially at the moment (ie. being pregnant) as doing it makes my back sore (if it isn't already from doing something else) and Peter can't do any of it with his broken arm.

I also find getting somebody in to do those 2 areas, motivates me too, to:
a) tidy the house - as the floor needs to be free of toys and stuff so that she can vacuum it.
b) clean other parts of the house - as my list of areas to clean is smaller and also they look dirtier/messier when the other parts are nice and clean.

One year anniversary

It's now been exactly a year since we moved from Brisbane to Hamilton. So, we thought it might be worth reflecting on how the year's been. What have we done in the year?
The Good

• Work's been pretty good - I've learned a lot and feel like I'm making a useful contribution to the company.
• We've seen lots of stuff: Bridal Veil Falls, Huka Falls, Hawke's Bay (Napier, Hastings etc), the Coromandel Peninsula, Auckland, the Kaimais, Mt Pirongia, Seddon Park, Mt Maunganui, Rotorua and Mt Ruapehu, among others. Looking at that list makes me tired thinking about how much we've managed to pack in.
• Ben's started and is really enjoying Kindy. (And it costs nothing.)
  

The Bad

• Breaking an arm isn't the best experience. But hey, it could have been far worse.
• Moving to a new city and country means missing friends and family. We miss you guys.