The Bowerbird's Weblog

Motherhood in the Trenches

The Bowerbird — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:49:31 +0000

This has been one of those weeks where I wonder why God has blessed us with so many little ones. ( I didn’t think three was “many” until I had to look after them.) I feel like I haven’t done this blessing justice in my mothering. Deep sigh. There are so many days where I climb into bed regretting something; some impatient response or unmet need, some harsh word or mean look. In fact when I think about it, that happens EVERY night. DANG IT! I can imagine God slapping his forehead thinking “What was I doing? She was impatient before she had children. Why on earth did I give her three?!” Thankfully these moments pass and I remember that God didn’t give us children because he thought I would be a brilliant mother, but because HE is a brilliant Father. God is a BIG and POWERFUL GOD. (BOOM!) Every day, even those days where there is vomit dripping from the top bunk to the bottom, He gives me the strength to be a mother. Not just to bear having children around but to actually MOTHER them. He helps me to love, love, love and love some more. To love in action even though my mind is whining about not having enough sleep or enough quiet, and when I am having to answer the same question for the 34th time because my 5 yr old won’t believe that I have actually said no and meant it. (It amazes me that she can even think of 34 different ways to ask the same question in the hope that it will get a different response.) Oh how I wish that I would lean on Him more often. I wish that I could remember how He loves me when I am trying to love my children: graciously, gently, wisely, unconditionally. When I am trying (and flailing/failing) to love them, it is inspiring to think about how much He loves me. When I remember that I am filled with gratitude. It is hard to be grumpy when you are filled with gratitude. Suddenly all that vomit, sleeplessness and noise becomes nothing compared to loving my children alongside Him. Thank God it is not all up to me! At least God knows what He is doing and I will trust that He will bless my children in the same way He lavishes his blessings on me.

P.S. Sorry about that gruesome vomit image, but it really did happen this week.

Meeting the Couch Man

The Bowerbird — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 04:20:30 +0000

Such a delightful catchup with all the New South Welsh Men and Women, but I am glad to be home! I love holidays, and I love the feeling of RETURNING too; coming back to our nest. I must say though, it is very strange nest at the moment. Dada has taken ALL the children on a roadtrip to Coles Bay. We decided when we came home it was a good time to change all our rooms around before heading off again. But when it was time for us to leave for Coles Bay there was still furniture all over the house and junk everywhere. Coming home to that would be more than we could handle so Dada took the adventurous route of travelling with three littlies while I stayed home to create order out of chaos. I think I have managed enough for everything to feel fresh when the children and Mick arrive. Oh my we have sooo much clutter. Does anyone else suffer from clutter? It has been wonderfully refreshing to let it go. I will have to get it all out of the house soon because even now, in this moment of freedom, there is a temptation to go back into those garbage bags and pull a few things out. What is it with stuff that holds us so? Deep sigh. I remember the days of traveling with just a backpack…. Come to think of it even my backpack was heavy with stuff! ugh. It’s everywhere.

Whilst in NSW, I went to the mountains and spent a momentary breath with my dear friend Amanda. (hello!) She is an amazing woman and everytime I see her I come home a few centimetres taller. Do you know anyone who does that for you? Just lovely. It’ s like I am stretched and encouraged and blessed and filled out with friendship. So now I am daydreaming about regular tea drinking and crafting sessions, and wondering if I lived near her if I would end up a giant? Most likely. Good friends are such a treat. For the moment we will have to suffice with virtual spaces to grow…

Whilst at Amanda’s house I met a new friend. I didn’t catch his name, so for the time being I shall call him the Couch Man. That is where I met him. He is one groovy and comfortable fellow. A very good listener, and warm. I should like to have warmth as one of my own characteristics, so I hung out with him for a while. He had a great deal of knowledge about stuff. He was full of it! He looked after little Finn; was good with the children. And after they all went to bed he shared a beer with Mick. That pretty soon put them to sleep and that was the end of that. What a funny fellow to have around.

Sharing a beer

Snoozing

Ah! Holidays. I love them.

The Bowerbird — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 06:00:45 +0000

We have finally arrived home after a lovely time away with our extended family. It is good to be home, but despite just arriving, Dada and the children decided it was a good time to head up to the shack and hang out with the Tasmanian cousins. I have taken the quietness of the weekend without them and turned it on its head! The whole house has been in chaos as I change rooms around, make a grunty attack on the mould and throw out much of the clutter. It is wonderfully refreshing and satifyingly tiring. I think I will have finished enough by this afternoon to warrant posting some photos and reflections on christmas, turning the big 36 and getting ready for the new year. Looking forward to catching up with you all!

Preparations

The Bowerbird — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:04:09 +0000

We are about to journey north to see our relatives for Christmas. I am so looking forward to it! Our house is busy with washing and packing, last minute sewing, wrapping, gardening, playing, singing, and roaring. It is hard to believe that another year is coming to a close and a new one is knocking at the door. Finnegan is ONE! Today I finally finished off his birthday book. (My thanks go out to Amanda Blake Soule for the idea!) I was impressed that Finn poured over it for quite some time, pointing at the pictures of us all. The girls also enjoyed reading it. It is not so often you see yourself in a book I suppose!

Recieved with glee!

Finns Birthday Book

From all the Family

Such pretty wings!

We spent some time painting angels to give away as cards and wrap presents in. The girls loved getting their hands dirty and feeling the paint – as did mama! Finn was sleeping so missed out on making all the mess. He did get into the vacuuming at clean up time though! It’s very hard to take housework seriously with such little helpers. The machine kept going on and off and on and off, and the floor is still pretty dirty! Best not to worry about that though!

Finnegan Helping Vacuum

Christmas Angels

We have also FINALLY finished Grandad’s birthday belt. Avalyn suggested sending a pair of shoes or a belt for his birthday. As much as I am up for a challenge, I thought shoes might be a bit beyond me, so a belt it was. If anyone were to suggest a smurf belt might not be well recieved they would get a very well thought out reply from the girls. (As ifGrandad wouldn’t like it!)

Grandads birthday belt - the girdle of love

All up, it’s been a lovely week. Despite a gruesome head cold and some sleepless nights, life is worth being joyful in!

Here is my list of things to be grateful for this week.

The anticipation of seeing wonderful friends and family again soon. Finishing off all the Christmas presents and wrapping them up in preparation for Christmas day. Watching my childrens joy in exclaiming that THEY MADE the presents as they give them to their friends. The promise of warm weather. Hankies. Secret hiding places for Dada’s presents. The smell of wet grass. Spontaneous visitors from Germany. Chilli Chocolate. AISOI concerts. Children, Children, Children!

Our Nativity Play

The Bowerbird — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 09:53:50 +0000

The Nativity - the center of our Christmas celebrations

The build up to celebrating Christs birth has begun! With all the family around on the weekend it was the perfect opportunity to get the children involved in telling the Christmas story. Each child was given two small felt bags, each containing a character from the nativity. As we read the story aloud, they listened for their character and placed it into the nativity play. It was so lovely to see them helping the little figures plod along the path from Nazareth to Bethlehem, be turned away from the Inn and settle into the stable. The girls were especially excited as they had built the stable with Dadda the week before on his day off from work. Jesus is such a special part of our lives and I love that this year the nativity is in the centre of our loungeroom, and is the centre of our play. Perhaps we should leave it up all year! I hope your Christmas celebrations have begun with such enthusiasm too!

Click to view slideshow.

Birthday Buttons

The Bowerbird — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:47:43 +0000

Personalised Buttons for a birthday treat!

We had a lovely day celebrating all the December birthdays on Saturday. (All except for Christ of course; He gets his own party!) I felt so incredibly organized the day before. I had done all the cooking, cleaned, vacuumed, and polished the silver…(cough). It wasn’t until quite late in the afternoon that I realised I had forgotten about the PRESENTS! Oh my! You can’t have a birthday without a little gift to celebrate the ones you love. So I hitched my skirts again and headed into the Craft Nook. (The hope is that if I give the room a real name, it will manifest itself into my desired studio space – a bit like Peter, “the rock”.) Hey Presto! I bought some of these little self covering button kits a while back thinking I would put them on some of my children’s clothes, but of course other ideas and plans buried them under the garden of my craft bed. It was the perfect time for them to sprout. They are SO easy to make and are SO effective. I planned to pick an appropriate piece of material and throw them together into a little posy of hair bands…BUT then I had the brilliant idea of embroidering them. I’m sure someone else has had this brilliant idea before, but it hadn’t occurred to me until just then. Because buttons are so small there is not much time involved in making a gorgeous personalised present for someone. The perfect gift for a busy mama to give to her precious nieces. I really hope they enjoy wearing them as much as I enjoyed making them. Happy Birthday Jaqui and Meg! (and Finn, and Greg, and….me!)

Ode to Flourbags

The Bowerbird — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:03:25 +0000

The humble flourbag reinvented

Oh the flourbag, the flourbag,

the humble faithful flourbag.

The dusty handprints on my dress

remind me of the daily mess

that comes with having bread and tea

made fresh and hot with littlies.

All because the flourbag,

the flourbag, the flourbag,

is overflowing with the soot

of stone ground wheat ready to cook.

And then the bag? What shall we do?

Lets make a pair of pants for you!

Who’d have thought the humble flourbag could be so useful? Todays flourbag feat was to turn into a pair of trousers for little Finn. We can add that to the list of flourbag wonders… potato printed placemats, party bags, napkins, library bags….and trousers. I was very impressed with how these ones came out. My crawly aroundy baby can now have organic stone ground wholemeal plain flour protected knees as he makes his way around the carpet. I love this pattern for baby bloomers (pg 49) from Making Children’s Clothes by Emma Hardy. It fits an enormous cloth nappy in, and looks just as good with a weeny disposable bot! ( I left out the leg elastic so they looked a little less girly for my son.

Sorry this photo is a bit blurry – it’s so exciting that Finn is getting FAST! Today he spent the morning zooming around the loungeroom while I pottered about sewing birthday presents for my nieces and a christmas present for the girls. Shhhh! Don’t tell them what it is. I have hidden it in a bag in the top of my cupboard. Don’t think that will stop them unwittingly finding it. It is amazing how inquisitive they are, and even though they haven’t got to the age where they actively go and seek the presents out, they still manage to somehow find them. The other day Yasmin came out of her rest time with a little suitcase packed with her dolls clothes. A little suitcase that I had hidden on the top shelf of my wardrobe and earmarked for a paint job and metamorphoses into a nurses kit… needless to say it was surreptitiously UNPACKED and put inside a pillowcase under the bed.

Tomorrow we are having all the family around. I am going to send the children out to find a christmas tree and then get them all to decorate it. I am looking forward to seeing all the decorations hanging down low! Perhaps Dada can get up high to put the star on the top! I love this time of year. The nativity scene on the table reminds me of our own small piece of peace. Thanks be to God.

Cookies for a homecoming

The Bowerbird — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 00:26:23 +0000

Dada had been away for the week and it has certainly had its ramifications. I am always amazed how the addition or removal of one dynamic in the family changes ALL the dynamics. We have all been a little topsy-turvy of late. No doubt when Dada comes home this evening there will be another period of transition as we adjust to him being around again. A transition period I welcome with open arms! To celebrate him homecoming I have baked chocolate coconut cookies. They are simple to make and very, very sweet. A bit like a coconut rough with some more sugar added. I wouldn’t recommend them unless you have great self-control, as they are quite moorish. I will endeavour not to cook them too often…. oooh but they are GOOD!

Thanks to Amanda S who passed on the recipe:

3 Cups Coconut, 1 Cup (or one tin) sweetened condensed milk, 2 Cups coarsely grated chocolate ( I use extra DARK), 1 teaspoon Baking powder.

Combine all ingredients, roll into balls ( this bit is STICKY!) place on lined tray. Bake at 150 c until slightly tinted. About 10 mins. Cool on tray.

Easy Peasy!

Look out, these are addictive!

The Bowerbird — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 03:29:10 +0000

The wee gardener

We are gardening full swing! It’s been a delightful mix of sunshine and rain here in Tasmania- perfect for new shoots. Even the seeds that I have kept in the cupboard for far too long have pushed their way up through the soil to take in the lovely weather. We marvel at their tenderness and strength and hope that we too will be strong enough to grow and produce fruit. The children are always so astonished to see the change from seed to leaf. It really is a miracle that happens there under the warm soil. How does this dormant shell know when to burst forth? There are some things in this world that science can explain, but will never really know.

New shoots are always so encouraging

These little shoots bring me hope. They remind me that sleeping things can wake and grow, and things that appear stagnant can change and bring new life. I hope the same can be said for me…

The new shoots have also tempted the wildlife to come to our garden. Big Wallaby has been visiting every morning and lying in the sun by the woodshed. She doesn’t seem phased when we all troop out the front door and load up the car beside her. I guess experience has told her we mean no harm despite our noise. Spindle the echidna tromps across the lawn in the twilight and sometimes first thing in the morning. Eat! We love that you tidy up the Jack Jumpers for us! And our friend the possum, (whom we grow all our vegetables for), had the hide to try and get in the loungeroom window last night. You’d think breaking into the vege patch would be enough of a thrill, but no! There is nothing like scraping crumbs off the drawing desks. Does anyone know how to teach sharing and manners to possums. I’d be happy to let him in the garden if he would leave some things for us. Click to view slideshow.

Praise God for goats!

The Bowerbird — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 01:59:39 +0000

Saponifying! What a groovy word.

We will be clean for a whole year at this rate. I have just finished my second batch of goats milk soap. Although poor Milky the goat has passed on, her legacy of lovely soap lingers. ( I am thankful for the freezer which has stored barrel loads of her milk til I could face the stinky soap making process!) One hundred and fifty-three bars later, we are elbow deep in moulds and can rest until it is ready to cut. Thankfully by the time the children come home from the pool the vapours will have blown away in the warm wind. Tomorrow I will cut and rack it ready for 6 weeks of drying before storing it (or giving it) all away.
Aside from the smell, it is quite a nice process. Slow and steady, rhythmical. Stirring and measuring, humming and pouring. I have tried adding a few different ingredients this time. A bit of lard from Graeme and Sheree’s pigs, a dash of oats, some delicious scents. I had a bit of trouble using the lye calculator on the net…(google soapcalc) It is very straight forward, but I don’t use water to mix the lye, just the milk, and I couldn’t see where to put that in the calculator. So I took an educated guess and erred on the side of caution. Anyway, no explosions occurred and everything looks smooth and creamy, so I can’t have faffed it too much! It seems to be such a delicate art in all the book recipes, but my own recipes are always a little bit haphazard and they still seem to work! Maybe the goats milk is the key. Any soap is a good soap with such a heavenly ingredient… Praise God for GOATS!