Another Christmas Down

While I want our family to enjoy the Christmas season, I want to see how much fun we can have not doing things for ourselves, "but by seeing how much greater the joy is when we focus on trying to celebrate Jesus and everything He means."
This is a quote from my blog posted on the 19th of November, when I was looking forward to Christmas. I thought it would be good to reflect back on how we went with that particular goal. The children went busking twice and raised around $220 all up, which they donated to charity. I was really proud of their willingness to do this. They also made gingerbread houses - the younger two ate theirs but Hannah made hers for our neighbours. Unfortunately, I didn't get around to taking it over so it went to grandma's instead, to be enjoyed by the extended family. They performed at a nursing home on two seperate occasions and Hannah also went carol singing to some elderly folk from our church on Christmas Eve. The other special thing they did was to make little felt christmas stockings for the majority of the kids in our church. They were all hand sewn with blanket stitch and filled with candy canes, a little christmas cracker and other lollies. Each had the recipiants initial stuck on the front and a little card also saying who it was to and that it was from Stephen, Michelle and Hannah. Here is a picture of the finished stockings.

Overall I am pleased with how Christ filled this Christmas was - there is always room for improvement but it was certainly a start. We never got past day five in the Jesse tree . Neither did we finish the Christmas book called Jotham's Story which was supposed to be read a chapter a day. I had to make a concious effort to not be upset or frustrated at the things that I did not accomplish - instead I reminded myself of what I said at the end of that "Taking Christmas Back" post "It is as much about the process as it is about the finished product."
I think I will always struggle with what I want to happen (the dream in my head) and the actual reality of what does happen. When all is said and done though, I do believe that we had a very blessed Christmas, one where God enabled us to keep our spirits gentle, our house peaceful and our hearts filled with His love.

Pay it Forward!

I stumbled across this blog this afternoon. I am not really into tags as such but I thought this was pretty special. Here is what you have to do...

Pay It Forward Exchange is based on the concept of the movie “Pay It Forward”.

I will send a hand made gift to the first three people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join the PIF exchange.

All the gifts will be made and posted out ’sometime within the next year’. How exciting to not know when your surprise package will arrive!

What you need to do in return, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. This Exchange is only open to those with active websites or blogs.

Would you like to join in the fun? Other comments are welcome, but only the first three will be my Pay It Forward recipients. So, leave your comment now!

And, if you don't have your own blog, this is the perfect opportunity to start one!

Make sure that you leave your blog and/or email address so that I have a way of contacting you!

Go on, make a difference in some one's life today!

Christmas Newsletter 2008

I have been trying (unsuccessfully) to get my Christmas 2008 family newsletter to publish here. If anyone knows how (I wrote it using Publisher) could they let me know how it is done! Instead I will just re-type it - it won't look quite as fancy but you will get the gist of what we have been up to! Here goes!

Melville-Smith Family News

One of the problems with the children doing their own newsletter every few months is that they have all the fun designing them - I'm not sure that they would call it fun writing the articles! The other problem (if you can call it that) is that the articles are written from their perspective and quite naturally about themselves. So while you have caught up with a lot of what we have been doing this year, there is a lot more to our lives than just what the children write about. I will endeavour to update you a little on what life in the Melville-Smith household looks like from the parent's perspective!

The highlight for us as a family this year has been our involvement at Tea Tree Gully Anglican Church. The time that we have spent away from the structured church environment over the last couple of years has allowed us to focus on Christ and His Word, rather than on how we fit into the organisation called the church. It has been a time of significant growth and has been a real blessing. We felt however that it was time to integrate ourselves back into a body of local believers and we have not been disappointed. We all love attending church on Sunday morning, the younger two are involved in Kid's Club once a fortnight where Hannah is also a junior leader and the girls go to Youth Group on alternate Friday nights. It is a family church where we have all made some solid friendships, a place where we not only feel encouraged but are able to have input into other people's lives also.

In October we celebrated our third anniversary of homeschooling. While I had seen many benefits from the start, this year I have begun to feel much more relaxed and happy about what we are doing. Homeschooling allows us to educate the children based on our lifestyle. We desire to disciple the children and train them in godly character using the everyday learning opportunities that surround us. Our lifestyle provides the experiences that will give them a rich education. Book learning does take place but you might be surprised at how little! And I might add that the children are not the only ones being trained in godly character. I think homeschooling is as much about educating the parents as it is about educating the children!

Another encouragement to us has been our increasing involvement with other homeschooling families. Our pastor and his wife home school their five children. We have established a good relationship with their whole family (and others) which has provided significant interaction between adults and children. It has been great seeing the children's growing respect for adults outside the home - some of whom have become real mentors (not all of these adults home school their children). We are very aware that we cannot provide everything that the children need to become well rounded adults so appreciate all the support and learning opportunities that others have offered. As an added bonus, I have enjoyed some great conversations and much encouragement over many cups of coffee.

Music has always been a focus but this year it has become somewhat of a passion. All three continues with their piano (and flute for Michelle) lessons but now Stephen and Hannah have added clarinet and trombone respectively into the mix. They have all joined a concert band program this last half of the year which has involved weekly band practices and quite a few performances. What we have loved seeing is the way that music has encouraged them to interact with each other and how willing they are to use their music, even though they are not necessarily all that proficient yet. We are treated to mini concerts almost every day as they practice. There are many opportunities within the church to play an instrument and this has led to further interaction with adults and children alike.

Hannah gained her provisional driving licence back in October. She wasn't the only one to gain some freedom - her parents have too! Fortunately Hannah enjoys being out and about so hasn't yet balked at the task of taking her siblings to many of the places that I once had to. I will have to get her a sign for the car saing "Hannah's Taxi"!

It has been an interesting year for me health wise! I don't know that I would call it the five star holiday resort that Stephen did, but if you had to be in hospital, the Wakefield wasn't a bad place to be. It can't have been too bad since I had three visits there in the space of three months! I have on-gong auto immune issues which seem to be slowing settling down. This time of enforced rest has not always been easy but I have seen God at work even in this situation. When things are going well it is all too easy to be thankful to God but not necessarily rely on Him. When we are forced out of our comfort zone, we are often forced into the arms of our loving God yet find Him to be all that we ever needed anyway!

About mid year due to poor health I resigned my job at the Children's Hospital. After doing my initial training there, it is also the hospital that I have worked in for most of my nursing career. I have found that not working, even though it was only part-time, has been a blessing in itself as I have been able to take on a stronger role in 'educating' the children. This in turn has played a part in the new found peace that I mentioned earlier. I have given myself permission to enjoy Christmas with my family and so will begin looking for work early in the New Year. It will definitely only be part-time and may be down a completely different path to what I have previously done. I am actually quite excited about where God might be leading me!

Warren continues part-time/casual work putting up plasterboard ceiling and walls. The real bonus for him is that not only does he work with his good friend Ken, they also travel to and from jobs together, enabling them to listen to and discuss sermons! He will be enjoying several weeks holiday over the Christmas break.

We wish you and your family a very blessed Christmas, one where God enables you to keep your spirit gentle, your house peaceful and your heart filled with His love.
Looking forward to hearing from your family,

love Sheena and Warren

Go to http://sheena-thingsabove.blogspot.com / if you want to read more about our family from my point of view.

Cherish the Moment

Cherish the moment - what does that mean?
It is a recurring theme in so many of the blogs that I 'frequent'. The women who write these blogs have suffered indescribable loss, the loss of their newborn infants. Many of them chose to carry their unborn baby to term even though they were not promised one minute with them alive. These mothers showed true love to their babies while they carried them in their womb, learning to cherish each and every moment with them. Once born, some of these precious babies lived only moments, minutes or hours but during their incredibly short life time, their family cherished each and every minute with them, knowing that their time was short.
Other babies lived a little longer - a matter of days and some weeks. These families knew the end was coming and made a point of cherishing the moments that they did have with their baby instead of focusing on what was sure to come. They knew that each minute spent with them was a blessing, something that they were never promised so they spent their days making memories.
Still others are living with a chronically ill child, never knowing when they will be again separated from family back in the hospital. They too, cherish each and every moment that they are able to spend together in their own home, with their family.
Marie is one such lady who has known great loss through the death of her son Elijah. She shared recently about how it is because of Elijah's passing that she tries to cherish each moment with her other children. It was a timely reminder for me. I have never known loss of the magnitude that she has and I must say that I struggle to cherish the moment. It is too easy to get caught up in 'everyday life', taking care of the family and the house, educating the children at home and all that this entails! Many times I just can't be bothered. Marie (and many others through their blogs) has reminded me how important my children (and husband) are and the importance of cherishing each and every moment with them.
No one ever said on their deathbed, "I wish I had spent more time at work. They always wish they had spent more time with their family."
As a home schooling mum I actually spend a lot of time with my children but I know that I am not always 'with them', my mind is so often elsewhere. I pray that God will help me to cherish the moments that I do have with my family, starting now!

It's Beginning to Sound a lot like Christmas!

I mentioned a few posts ago that it was beginning to look like Christmas and now it is also sounding like it.
One of our friends from church (who also happens to be Hannah's trombone teacher) plays in the Police Band. He managed to snag us free tickets to their Christmas Concert held in the City Town Hall. David's full time job is to play the trombone for this band. The concert was amazing and during intermission, David took us all back stage and then onto the stage! One of the musicians dressed in his nightshirt and night cap and narrated The Night Before Christmas while the band played certain parts. Santa and his band of elves even paid a visit. It was a very good evening - something which we don't experience very often. Thanks David!

Today the children and their cousins again headed into the city, this time so that they could busk in Rundle Mall. None of them had done anything like this before so it was a real experience for them. We had Hannah on the trombone, Jenna on the violin and percussion, Luke on the French Horn, Kira and Michelle on the flute and Stephen on the clarinet. Hannah applied for a permit at the cost of $2.50 and one of the rules was that you had to move on every half hour so that you didn't annoy the shopkeepers. They played a mixture of Australian songs from band and Christmas Carols, some of which Hannah had arranged. The children wanted to play just for the fun of it but had said that any money they managed to make they would give to charity. We were all very surprised when we added up the total of "small change" that people had placed in the pot - the grand total of $63.65! Not bad for one hours work! They will use the money to buy groceries that will be given to needy families through Anglicare.
The children had a lot of fun and are already planning to do it again! Here are some photos.

Oh what fun it is to.....

Yesterday I hosted a gingerbread house making day. We had three adults and nine children ranging in age from 3 to 17. When we were planning the event, we didn't think the older boys would be interested - silly us - why wouldn't they be since it involved lollies? I had made the house pieces the day before and one of my girlfriends made all the icing. The other girlfriend brought her expresso coffee machine - we needed it and the 2.7 meter, laminated dining room table!
We had a great day - I will let the photos speak for themselves.