....really to waffle about. "Wow" said the wife. "You always have something to wax lyrical about". I thought that was a bit cheeky. Is she indicating I am a wind bag? Don't, p[ease do not answer that question. I may not like your answer.
What can I waffle about? Lots really. I saw this box of flowers yesterday. There was Asian Lilly's, tulips and some other flowers which looked quite nice along with a green foliage background. Lots of different textures and so on. I though "Stephanie". So I bought them "coz". Why "Coz"? Coz I can. And she is lovely and she is my wife. And I love her. No I didn't want anything in return. I just wanted to buy them for her.
Also my lovely darling wife got her hair cut yesterday morning. She is now a stunning beauty. She was before, but even more so now. The colours she had put in a while ago now really show. Make her look very young and very stylish. In a very stately sort of way.
Whilst Steph was getting her hair cut the two girls and I flew around looking for this and that. Actually I am in the market for a new ham radio and I thought maybe I could get it whilst I was there.
That brings me to my next pet peeve. Mr Dick Smith Electronics, who started out specialising in amateur radio equipment now doesn't even stock amateur gear. Mind you Dick no longer has any say in the business. He sold out years ago. But all the same I am annoyed. In the afternoon, Stephanie had a lady's only do to go to. So she took Catherine to that. Whilst she was at that, Michele and myself flew down to the main shopping precinct of Franks ton to another store I had been told that stocked amateur gear. They also now no longer do. What a pain.
Enough of my bellyaching. Michele and I had a great time roaming around. I think some though it was a bit weird this old man running around with this 3 year old acting like he was 3 but too bad. It's a good thing they don't see me too often in action with Cathy. It is great fun. Anyway back to the main rambling. Michele and I gave up on amateur gear for the time being and headed for home to get the evening meal ready. Actually Michele does help a bit. She tries to peel potatoes and carrots and so on. She isn't all that good at it but I give her a go. How else will she learn. She certainly is improving. But most of all she likes the taste testing bit. She loves raw veggies so she taste tests each veggie. Lots of fun and some very weird faces. Which makes me laugh. And all the while she is learning. Learning should be fun.
OK what our St Luke's Bible reading for this weekend? Psalm 73. It is about the seeming success of those who don't follow Christ as opposed to those who don't. And for me, verse 28 says it all. And what does verse 28 say?
28 But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.
Go hear for the whole chapter: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2073;&version=50;
It is a good read and very encouraging. I can imagine Job writing this Psalm at the end of his testings. And speaking of Job. God answered his what with who. Ponder that one for a while and see what you come up with. Comments are permitted.
Sunday, 22 July 2007
Tuesday, 17 July 2007
Teusday 17th July 2007 Needle.
Aren't they wonderful things. Don't you just love them. Cathy had her 4 month needles today. Now she is cranky, poor little thing. And apart from painkillers there is not a thing we can really do for her. She will be right in a day or two. For now she is back to mass grunting which tells us she is not a happy camper. But she did enjoy a shower with her dad tonight. Three of us in the shower together. yes, we do things differently round 'ere. We shower together and sleep together and we hold our babies at meal times and we talk lots to our kids round 'ere. OK, so now you want to know why we hold our kids. Well, in the first instance I got the idea from the tomato patch. The lady who is boss cocky in there does it with her babies when they are babies to teach them not to grab stuff. Considering all the nightmares we had with a certain young lady who just had to touch everything she came across I thought it was a sterling idea and adopted it. Then my good lady wife, the one and only Mrs Proverbs 31 heard all about Baby Lead Weaning. What is Baby Lead Weaning, do I hear you say? Look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby-led_weaning. This is the short version. Basically, one places food in finger portions in front of the baby starting at about 6 months and then let the kid try for itself. No more puree or other disgusting mushy stuff. That's the short version. The other option is to let the kid sit on your lap at meal time and let the kid help him/herself of your plate. They wont make a grab for the tucker until they are ready for it. I have had Cathy on my lap for the best part of two weeks for the evening meal. So far she hasn't made a grab for my plate or anything on it.
Now that brings me to another theory I have. I believe that when God created men and women He wired them differently. Men are not wired to know what is wrong when babies cry. We know they are crying and hence upset and something is wrong but we wont know what is wrong. Whereas mother will walk into the room and tell said husband off for not fixing what ever is wrong with baby. Meanwhile he has no idea until mum walks in what is wrong. He is still going through the diagnostics stage.
And this. I believe that God has wired as to have the knowledge that we require at the stage we need that knowledge and not before. A baby will know how to suck, but not chew. But later on it will, at the time it requires that knowledge, know how to chew. But not before. A baby will know when it is ready to start on solid food, and this theory has been proven correct, and will not readily start before. Of course we can force the baby to start earlier.
That's my theories out of the way.
Now I want you to try this. Go find a long towel. Tie it in such a manner that it will prevent you from seeing where you are going. Now go to your kitchen and make a cup of coffee. Then come back and read on.
You did that? How many bruises do you have? Any burns? By now you think I have lost the plot. OK, try the following.
Now go make an audio recording of some instructions on how to get from the front door of your house to your kitchen. Now blind fold your yourself and listen and follow your instructions. And come back and read on.
How did you fair? And bruises? How much furniture did you damage? By now, if you are still reading, you will think I have definitely lost the plot.
I haven't. My wife, the ever loving and oh so tolerant Mrs Proverbs 31 is blind. That's her world. Her world is a list of verbal instructions. And until those who make instructions try those instructions out with a blind fold on, her world will be limited by those of us who can help her with next best to useless instruction.
OK, now, why did I write that? Go have a look at web sites which provide videos of instruction for a range of products like for example, baby wearing equipment or baby wearing wraps. You will see what I mean. Blind fold yourself when you watch/listen to the video.
That's my lot. Love you all, bye!
Now that brings me to another theory I have. I believe that when God created men and women He wired them differently. Men are not wired to know what is wrong when babies cry. We know they are crying and hence upset and something is wrong but we wont know what is wrong. Whereas mother will walk into the room and tell said husband off for not fixing what ever is wrong with baby. Meanwhile he has no idea until mum walks in what is wrong. He is still going through the diagnostics stage.
And this. I believe that God has wired as to have the knowledge that we require at the stage we need that knowledge and not before. A baby will know how to suck, but not chew. But later on it will, at the time it requires that knowledge, know how to chew. But not before. A baby will know when it is ready to start on solid food, and this theory has been proven correct, and will not readily start before. Of course we can force the baby to start earlier.
That's my theories out of the way.
Now I want you to try this. Go find a long towel. Tie it in such a manner that it will prevent you from seeing where you are going. Now go to your kitchen and make a cup of coffee. Then come back and read on.
You did that? How many bruises do you have? Any burns? By now you think I have lost the plot. OK, try the following.
Now go make an audio recording of some instructions on how to get from the front door of your house to your kitchen. Now blind fold your yourself and listen and follow your instructions. And come back and read on.
How did you fair? And bruises? How much furniture did you damage? By now, if you are still reading, you will think I have definitely lost the plot.
I haven't. My wife, the ever loving and oh so tolerant Mrs Proverbs 31 is blind. That's her world. Her world is a list of verbal instructions. And until those who make instructions try those instructions out with a blind fold on, her world will be limited by those of us who can help her with next best to useless instruction.
OK, now, why did I write that? Go have a look at web sites which provide videos of instruction for a range of products like for example, baby wearing equipment or baby wearing wraps. You will see what I mean. Blind fold yourself when you watch/listen to the video.
That's my lot. Love you all, bye!
Saturday, 14 July 2007
Saturday 14th July 2007 Heart attack.
We did. We decided some time ago that we need a new stereo. Our old one is now getting on a bit. It cost me an arm and a leg a very long time ago. In fact, I got ripped off (what else is new?) but found that out later. Today we decided to finally go look. We got ourselves a new freezer and a new microwave. Our old microwave still works but it's all guess work as the display hasn't worked for ages. So, whilst on a roll we decided it was time to look at stereos.
Must not be complicated. Have you seen all the buttons they have these days? My, I had to get a dictionary out to see what those words meant and to make sure they weren't swearing at me. And they all have "touch pads" theses days. Fine if you have eyes and can seen the thing. Try being a blind person. No, not "sight impaired", blind it is and call it what it is, thank you! Well it was interesting I can tell you. The first shop we looked at had a few small things that looked like they could make a lot of noise if a push came to a shove. Then came the second shop. They should hang a sign out the front that says "People with weak hearts should not enter". Inside the shop looked like a factory. We were directed to the rear of the shop. That's where we would find "home sound systems" we were told. Well, I think I found the right spot. And there were lots of big speakers. I think they are sound boxes. I do know some of them made an awful racket. Then from one of the "boxes" a voice proceeded to tell me what to do if I was having problems with certain aspects of my love life. I will leave the rest to your imagination. We were assured that some one would be right along to "help" us with our purchase. It all looked so complicated and since it was so dark at that end of the shop I had trouble seeing we both decided it was time to leave and come again another day. So, we still have our old stereo. We operate some of it by remote and other by the buttons on the stereo and other bits, well there is the old fashioned "give it a thump" trick.
Just on to another subject. I had a look at a friend's blog tonight. He is an unashamed capitalist of the capital "C" variety. I agree with what he said in his blog 100%. We have with the Melbourne train network a perfect example of government jumping into bed with a private operator and franchising out what should be government service in the first place. Now I am not sure where my friend stands on this issue. We haven't discussed it. But I think certain services should be in the hands of the government. Public transport is one of them. Public transport always runs at a loss. Britain tried our system before we did. They couldn't make it work and ours doesn't either. Why? Because "private" enterprise is interested in one thing only. And that is the bottom line, or profit , if you will. They couldn't care less about service. It's all about money. Our health system is the same. Heart bypass operations, in the hospital, have the surgery and out the door in 14 days flat. No service. Just do the job, get the money from the "victim" and get him/her out the door and get the next one in. Electricity and phone is the same. Who owns the multi-nationals we are letting ourselves be made to depend on anyway? Will some day our country be held to ransom? I say again, some services need to be kept in the hands and ownership of the government.
Must not be complicated. Have you seen all the buttons they have these days? My, I had to get a dictionary out to see what those words meant and to make sure they weren't swearing at me. And they all have "touch pads" theses days. Fine if you have eyes and can seen the thing. Try being a blind person. No, not "sight impaired", blind it is and call it what it is, thank you! Well it was interesting I can tell you. The first shop we looked at had a few small things that looked like they could make a lot of noise if a push came to a shove. Then came the second shop. They should hang a sign out the front that says "People with weak hearts should not enter". Inside the shop looked like a factory. We were directed to the rear of the shop. That's where we would find "home sound systems" we were told. Well, I think I found the right spot. And there were lots of big speakers. I think they are sound boxes. I do know some of them made an awful racket. Then from one of the "boxes" a voice proceeded to tell me what to do if I was having problems with certain aspects of my love life. I will leave the rest to your imagination. We were assured that some one would be right along to "help" us with our purchase. It all looked so complicated and since it was so dark at that end of the shop I had trouble seeing we both decided it was time to leave and come again another day. So, we still have our old stereo. We operate some of it by remote and other by the buttons on the stereo and other bits, well there is the old fashioned "give it a thump" trick.
Just on to another subject. I had a look at a friend's blog tonight. He is an unashamed capitalist of the capital "C" variety. I agree with what he said in his blog 100%. We have with the Melbourne train network a perfect example of government jumping into bed with a private operator and franchising out what should be government service in the first place. Now I am not sure where my friend stands on this issue. We haven't discussed it. But I think certain services should be in the hands of the government. Public transport is one of them. Public transport always runs at a loss. Britain tried our system before we did. They couldn't make it work and ours doesn't either. Why? Because "private" enterprise is interested in one thing only. And that is the bottom line, or profit , if you will. They couldn't care less about service. It's all about money. Our health system is the same. Heart bypass operations, in the hospital, have the surgery and out the door in 14 days flat. No service. Just do the job, get the money from the "victim" and get him/her out the door and get the next one in. Electricity and phone is the same. Who owns the multi-nationals we are letting ourselves be made to depend on anyway? Will some day our country be held to ransom? I say again, some services need to be kept in the hands and ownership of the government.
Friday, 13 July 2007
Friday 13th July 2007 What is revival?
Revival = God's finger pointing at me.
As I type this Michele is in her bed talking to herself. She is supposed to be sleeping. She will. Cathy is asleep in her pram. It is the only time the pram gets used. Don't know why we have one. If we take it up town it gets used as a shopping trolley. Mind you it makes a better shopping trolley than those feral things that pass as shopping trolleys these days. About the only thing they do is give you pulled muscles.
Back to DD number 1. She is talking to herself about William. Who is William? William is one of the boys at her preschool. He is a good little boy and for some reason Michele has taken a shine to him. They are opposites. He is very quiet and reserved where as Michele is noisy and outgoing. She use to like Ruby. But not any more. Ruby is like Michele, a bit bossy when she puts her mind to it.
It's been fun and games in our house this last week. Cathy discovered early in the week that she could roll from her back to her tummy. She no sooner found out how to do it then promptly forgot. So now the frustration blues have set in again. Hopefully over the weekend she will discover it all over again. Her training is coming along fine. Mind you I did learn all about preconceived ideas and the absolute necessity of telling Mrs Proverbs 31 exactly what I was on about. Oh, yes, Stephanie will be henceforth in this blog be known as Mrs Proverbs 31. Why? Go read Proverbs 31 and you will see why.
Now what has all that got to do with Revival? Glad you asked. Nothing. Not a thing. More on revival later. Maybe.
Did I share about our nightly family prayer life before? I can't remember. Well here it is. We have prayed with Michele for ages as she goes to bed. Either myself or Mrs Proverbs 31 would pray whilst Michele and Cathy sat on our laps. Well about 2 weeks ago decided to up the standard a bit. We would all pray corporately. We divide the nightly prayer up into sections. Pigeon holes if you like. We then take it in turns in each section. Usually myself or Mrs Proverb 31 will open then each of us brings a praise point. Something we each want to thank Christ for. It doesn't have to be anything mind blowing or of earth shattering importance. Next comes confession and repentance. We put these 2 together. You can't have one without the other. Well, you can but it will be in vain. Next comes petition. Then either Mrs Proverbs 31 or myself will close.
Back to revival. Now revival presupposes there is life or at the very least once was. Revival is to revive. Revive is made up of two words. Re, in other words to do again, and Viv which means life. So, that which was alive is now dead and needs to be bought back to life. Now I am going to put a question to you that was put to me just this week. Who needs revival? Well that's easy, or is it. Now name someone who needs reviving. Look at your fingers. See a couple of things were made really clear to me this week. We really do need to get our terms and definitions clear.
Revival is for the church. It is not for Mr Joe Blog on the street. He doesn't need reviving, he is dead. No life then you can't revive it can you?
What he needs is an awakening. He needs to see his need of Christ in the first place. What that happens that is an awakening.
Evangelism is for Mr and Mrs J Blog in the street. What is evangelism? It is when a bunch of saved folks gets together with Mr and Mrs J Blog and tells them about Christ, they in turn get an awakening and are spiritually born, then when they gets spiritually dead they are revived.
See I was like a lot of folks I get my terms and definitions mixed up. What I needed to do was to get my terms and definitions unmixed up. How is that? Clear as mud? Good. Now you know as much as I do.
Just one more little thingy before IO get off here. It was suggested to me this last week that the great Welsh Revival was in fact an awakening, not a revival. Unsaved folks is awakened. Saved folks is revived. In the Welsh Revival unsaved and un-churched people began for no explainable reason see their need of Christ and came together en mass and did so. The established church apparently came in later. Hows that for a bit of trivia. Now if you want to know more then go here: http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/viewcat.php?cid=519 And listen to the down loads.
What other pearls of wisdom have I got? None. I really have enjoyed what Christ has been showing me this last week and look forward to more of the same next week.
As I type this Michele is in her bed talking to herself. She is supposed to be sleeping. She will. Cathy is asleep in her pram. It is the only time the pram gets used. Don't know why we have one. If we take it up town it gets used as a shopping trolley. Mind you it makes a better shopping trolley than those feral things that pass as shopping trolleys these days. About the only thing they do is give you pulled muscles.
Back to DD number 1. She is talking to herself about William. Who is William? William is one of the boys at her preschool. He is a good little boy and for some reason Michele has taken a shine to him. They are opposites. He is very quiet and reserved where as Michele is noisy and outgoing. She use to like Ruby. But not any more. Ruby is like Michele, a bit bossy when she puts her mind to it.
It's been fun and games in our house this last week. Cathy discovered early in the week that she could roll from her back to her tummy. She no sooner found out how to do it then promptly forgot. So now the frustration blues have set in again. Hopefully over the weekend she will discover it all over again. Her training is coming along fine. Mind you I did learn all about preconceived ideas and the absolute necessity of telling Mrs Proverbs 31 exactly what I was on about. Oh, yes, Stephanie will be henceforth in this blog be known as Mrs Proverbs 31. Why? Go read Proverbs 31 and you will see why.
Now what has all that got to do with Revival? Glad you asked. Nothing. Not a thing. More on revival later. Maybe.
Did I share about our nightly family prayer life before? I can't remember. Well here it is. We have prayed with Michele for ages as she goes to bed. Either myself or Mrs Proverbs 31 would pray whilst Michele and Cathy sat on our laps. Well about 2 weeks ago decided to up the standard a bit. We would all pray corporately. We divide the nightly prayer up into sections. Pigeon holes if you like. We then take it in turns in each section. Usually myself or Mrs Proverb 31 will open then each of us brings a praise point. Something we each want to thank Christ for. It doesn't have to be anything mind blowing or of earth shattering importance. Next comes confession and repentance. We put these 2 together. You can't have one without the other. Well, you can but it will be in vain. Next comes petition. Then either Mrs Proverbs 31 or myself will close.
Back to revival. Now revival presupposes there is life or at the very least once was. Revival is to revive. Revive is made up of two words. Re, in other words to do again, and Viv which means life. So, that which was alive is now dead and needs to be bought back to life. Now I am going to put a question to you that was put to me just this week. Who needs revival? Well that's easy, or is it. Now name someone who needs reviving. Look at your fingers. See a couple of things were made really clear to me this week. We really do need to get our terms and definitions clear.
Revival is for the church. It is not for Mr Joe Blog on the street. He doesn't need reviving, he is dead. No life then you can't revive it can you?
What he needs is an awakening. He needs to see his need of Christ in the first place. What that happens that is an awakening.
Evangelism is for Mr and Mrs J Blog in the street. What is evangelism? It is when a bunch of saved folks gets together with Mr and Mrs J Blog and tells them about Christ, they in turn get an awakening and are spiritually born, then when they gets spiritually dead they are revived.
See I was like a lot of folks I get my terms and definitions mixed up. What I needed to do was to get my terms and definitions unmixed up. How is that? Clear as mud? Good. Now you know as much as I do.
Just one more little thingy before IO get off here. It was suggested to me this last week that the great Welsh Revival was in fact an awakening, not a revival. Unsaved folks is awakened. Saved folks is revived. In the Welsh Revival unsaved and un-churched people began for no explainable reason see their need of Christ and came together en mass and did so. The established church apparently came in later. Hows that for a bit of trivia. Now if you want to know more then go here: http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/viewcat.php?cid=519 And listen to the down loads.
What other pearls of wisdom have I got? None. I really have enjoyed what Christ has been showing me this last week and look forward to more of the same next week.
Sunday, 8 July 2007
Sunday 8th July 2007 The day that was.
Would you believe I can't think of a subject title? It's me age.
We went to church twice today. No, we're not after a browny points. We were at the 1100 service, which is a contemporary style service complete with "crash bang wallop" music to match. Then at 1700 we were at the Even Song service complete with choir. I am not sure which was best. Probably if pushed I would say both but for different reasons. The 1100 service is moderately unstructured and very family friendly with young folks and family folks. Today there was a dramatised Bible reading, a baby was baptised, and a boy of about 10 was welcomed into the church as a full member. I am not sure how I feel about the last two items. I can't reconcile myself to baptising a baby. In fact I am still working out where I stand as to where a child goes when they die. But that's another story which one day when I am feeling controversial I will wax lyrical on. For the moment I will keep my egotistical opinions to myself. As to the 10 year old who was welcomed into membership, I don't know the youngster personally so I am not sure. If he has accepted Christ as his Lord and is born again then I have no problem with it. In another church I saw a young boy of 7 get baptised and I had no trouble. He was really asked a lot of probing questions by the pastor who baptised him and he was able to answer the questions with humility and an attitude that left most of us in awe of what Christ can do.
And how did our 2 girls go? I mean lets face it when your 4 months or 3.5 years old church can be boring with a capital B. They both did well. I mean they done good. I have never seen Michele do so well. All the hard work is really paying of. There was a time when we would spend a whole church service just managing to keep Michele half way to being reasonable quiet. Not so now. We have, with Christ's enabling, really worked on training her to play quietly. She has lots to do and we provide her with drinks and a snack. I also try to get her as involved in the singing and to take a bit of notice in what is being prayed about. Hopefully, in time, she will accept Christ as her saviour. But for the moment, we will keep her going to church and make is as happy a time as we can with the limitations imposed. She is good as it is now. As to Cathy, she slept through most of the services and was quiet the rest of the time. I could brag about both of them but I wont. Stephanie has also worked hard with the training at home. We don't look at other kids to compare notes. We have enough to concentrate on with our own. Neither will we get proud. We are one service away from a horror story that other parents have. We are just as dependant upon Christ as the next person and have no room really to brag. All praise and honour to Christ the king.
Now, should you wish to look at us, go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53780407/
And, yes you can be jealous of our good looks! I am the good looking one taking the photo's.
We went to church twice today. No, we're not after a browny points. We were at the 1100 service, which is a contemporary style service complete with "crash bang wallop" music to match. Then at 1700 we were at the Even Song service complete with choir. I am not sure which was best. Probably if pushed I would say both but for different reasons. The 1100 service is moderately unstructured and very family friendly with young folks and family folks. Today there was a dramatised Bible reading, a baby was baptised, and a boy of about 10 was welcomed into the church as a full member. I am not sure how I feel about the last two items. I can't reconcile myself to baptising a baby. In fact I am still working out where I stand as to where a child goes when they die. But that's another story which one day when I am feeling controversial I will wax lyrical on. For the moment I will keep my egotistical opinions to myself. As to the 10 year old who was welcomed into membership, I don't know the youngster personally so I am not sure. If he has accepted Christ as his Lord and is born again then I have no problem with it. In another church I saw a young boy of 7 get baptised and I had no trouble. He was really asked a lot of probing questions by the pastor who baptised him and he was able to answer the questions with humility and an attitude that left most of us in awe of what Christ can do.
And how did our 2 girls go? I mean lets face it when your 4 months or 3.5 years old church can be boring with a capital B. They both did well. I mean they done good. I have never seen Michele do so well. All the hard work is really paying of. There was a time when we would spend a whole church service just managing to keep Michele half way to being reasonable quiet. Not so now. We have, with Christ's enabling, really worked on training her to play quietly. She has lots to do and we provide her with drinks and a snack. I also try to get her as involved in the singing and to take a bit of notice in what is being prayed about. Hopefully, in time, she will accept Christ as her saviour. But for the moment, we will keep her going to church and make is as happy a time as we can with the limitations imposed. She is good as it is now. As to Cathy, she slept through most of the services and was quiet the rest of the time. I could brag about both of them but I wont. Stephanie has also worked hard with the training at home. We don't look at other kids to compare notes. We have enough to concentrate on with our own. Neither will we get proud. We are one service away from a horror story that other parents have. We are just as dependant upon Christ as the next person and have no room really to brag. All praise and honour to Christ the king.
Now, should you wish to look at us, go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53780407/
And, yes you can be jealous of our good looks! I am the good looking one taking the photo's.
Friday, 6 July 2007
Friday 6 July 2007 It does pay off.
training that is.
All the training does pay off. Today we were out all day. We spent the day time at the Melbourne Markets. That is a food and clothing market here in Melbourne. We carried Cathy in a baby pouch, ours is a Baby Bjorn. She slept most of the day. Michele walked with us all day. Poor kid, she's only 3.5 but she did well. Not a hint of trouble all day. She stood whilst mum and dad looked at this and that. Not a hint of grumble at all. Made no effort to touch anything but showed interest in everything. It has taken us 3 long years of training and correction to get her to this point. She is polite to strangers and talks to us like a well trained child should. At times we despaired we would ever get to this point. But we are slowly getting there. There is still a lot of hard work to go. What has been the secret? I wish I could say correction but that is not so. Discipline has been a large part but not the main part. It is training that has been the most part. Modeling how we want her to behave. Getting her attention then getting her to copy the behaviour. Train train and train again. Correct, yes, but mostly train. I want to add this. After all that time at the market, we then had to go to the bank. That took the best part of an hour in the bank. Did she grumble? No. She had every right too, but not a hint and it is boring for a 3.5 year old in a bank.They always say you learn from your mistakes you make with the first child. We did. We originally had too much discipline. How can we expect a child to behave if we don't train.How early? 12 months before their first birthday. We started to train Cathy about 8 weeks ago, she is now about 18 weeks old, to put her legs down when we change her diaper. And she does it. When asked, she will put her legs down and keep them down when we change her diaper. Today Stephanie was asked by a total stranger how we got a baby so young to do this. It's called training. Not correction, she is to young to understand that. Take the leg and gently but firmly place it down whilst saying "Leg down" and eventually it happens. It took about 2 weeks for Cathy to catch on. It has been a time of consistency. Each and every diaper change we go through the same routine. It is now almost a formality. Some times she will do it even before we ask and a lot of the time when we ask. I well remember the nightmare of changing Michele's diapers. I wont go there again.At the same time I will say correction is useless without training. Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. The diaper is just one area we are working on. Cathy has a very loud screech when she puts her mind to it. But we are working on that as well.I give thanks to Christ for getting us to where we are now and pray His guidance as we keep on keeping on.
All the training does pay off. Today we were out all day. We spent the day time at the Melbourne Markets. That is a food and clothing market here in Melbourne. We carried Cathy in a baby pouch, ours is a Baby Bjorn. She slept most of the day. Michele walked with us all day. Poor kid, she's only 3.5 but she did well. Not a hint of trouble all day. She stood whilst mum and dad looked at this and that. Not a hint of grumble at all. Made no effort to touch anything but showed interest in everything. It has taken us 3 long years of training and correction to get her to this point. She is polite to strangers and talks to us like a well trained child should. At times we despaired we would ever get to this point. But we are slowly getting there. There is still a lot of hard work to go. What has been the secret? I wish I could say correction but that is not so. Discipline has been a large part but not the main part. It is training that has been the most part. Modeling how we want her to behave. Getting her attention then getting her to copy the behaviour. Train train and train again. Correct, yes, but mostly train. I want to add this. After all that time at the market, we then had to go to the bank. That took the best part of an hour in the bank. Did she grumble? No. She had every right too, but not a hint and it is boring for a 3.5 year old in a bank.They always say you learn from your mistakes you make with the first child. We did. We originally had too much discipline. How can we expect a child to behave if we don't train.How early? 12 months before their first birthday. We started to train Cathy about 8 weeks ago, she is now about 18 weeks old, to put her legs down when we change her diaper. And she does it. When asked, she will put her legs down and keep them down when we change her diaper. Today Stephanie was asked by a total stranger how we got a baby so young to do this. It's called training. Not correction, she is to young to understand that. Take the leg and gently but firmly place it down whilst saying "Leg down" and eventually it happens. It took about 2 weeks for Cathy to catch on. It has been a time of consistency. Each and every diaper change we go through the same routine. It is now almost a formality. Some times she will do it even before we ask and a lot of the time when we ask. I well remember the nightmare of changing Michele's diapers. I wont go there again.At the same time I will say correction is useless without training. Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. The diaper is just one area we are working on. Cathy has a very loud screech when she puts her mind to it. But we are working on that as well.I give thanks to Christ for getting us to where we are now and pray His guidance as we keep on keeping on.
Wednesday, 4 July 2007
Wednesday 4th July 2007 Amos chapter 1 and 2
From St Luke's Daily Bible reading plan.
My notes:
I find Amos to be very plain speaking and quite easy to understand. I also find his message very sobering. What might Amos say if he were to visit Australia in 2007? That is a sobering thought. I remember reading an article entitled "Amos Visits America". It was true. I then later saw a drama entitled "Amos Visits Australia". That also was true. Some may not agree with me but we in the western world have much to repent of. Repentance is not a popular word today. However it is relevant and required. May God forgive us as we repent.
That's as much as I put in the St Luke's forum. I did not include the link below. It contains the text of Amos Visits America.
http://www.ecapc.org/articles/EdigerP_AmosVisits.asp
It could have been written for Australia and Brittan and I believe for any of the nations involved in the Coalition Of The Willing. Yes, I will nail my colours on the mast. I was/am totally against the invasion of Iraq. There was/is no justification for it and we have much to fear the wrath of God over this issue. In fact I will go so far as to say that the recent drought and now flood in Australia is God calling this nation to repentance and confession. Yes, skeptics call it coincidence if you will. But I ask you to have a look at what the cost of this war has been. The only gain is that one evil man has died. The cost to the Iraqi people has been enormous and the cost goes on. The cost to the USA is also huge and that isn't going to reduce anytime soon. All because one man hated another. Yes, you heard me correct. Oh, how I wish I had recorded the words spoken. But the guts of the words were "I hate that man and will not rest until he is dead". Don't believe me? Then go to ABC Australia and try to obtain a transcript of their news recordings prior to and during the lead up to the invasion.
We need to repent of our domination of smaller and more vulnerable nations and peoples of this world. We need to see the evil we are inflicting on nations and peoples. People who are unable to defend themselves. It is dreadful and we ought to repent and sack cloth and ashes and ask forgiveness from a Holy God for what we have done and continue to do.
My notes:
I find Amos to be very plain speaking and quite easy to understand. I also find his message very sobering. What might Amos say if he were to visit Australia in 2007? That is a sobering thought. I remember reading an article entitled "Amos Visits America". It was true. I then later saw a drama entitled "Amos Visits Australia". That also was true. Some may not agree with me but we in the western world have much to repent of. Repentance is not a popular word today. However it is relevant and required. May God forgive us as we repent.
That's as much as I put in the St Luke's forum. I did not include the link below. It contains the text of Amos Visits America.
http://www.ecapc.org/articles/EdigerP_AmosVisits.asp
It could have been written for Australia and Brittan and I believe for any of the nations involved in the Coalition Of The Willing. Yes, I will nail my colours on the mast. I was/am totally against the invasion of Iraq. There was/is no justification for it and we have much to fear the wrath of God over this issue. In fact I will go so far as to say that the recent drought and now flood in Australia is God calling this nation to repentance and confession. Yes, skeptics call it coincidence if you will. But I ask you to have a look at what the cost of this war has been. The only gain is that one evil man has died. The cost to the Iraqi people has been enormous and the cost goes on. The cost to the USA is also huge and that isn't going to reduce anytime soon. All because one man hated another. Yes, you heard me correct. Oh, how I wish I had recorded the words spoken. But the guts of the words were "I hate that man and will not rest until he is dead". Don't believe me? Then go to ABC Australia and try to obtain a transcript of their news recordings prior to and during the lead up to the invasion.
We need to repent of our domination of smaller and more vulnerable nations and peoples of this world. We need to see the evil we are inflicting on nations and peoples. People who are unable to defend themselves. It is dreadful and we ought to repent and sack cloth and ashes and ask forgiveness from a Holy God for what we have done and continue to do.
Sunday, 1 July 2007
Sunday 1st July 2007 Mile stones.
It occurs to me that our children change rapidly and we don't record the changes. For example, when did Michele first smile? At about 10 weeks, whereas Cathy was exactly 5 days. At what age did Michele roll over for the first time? I remember it as clear as yesterday but I couldn't tell you at what age. Cathy is trying, and has been, for some time. But she can't quite get the hang of it. We had Cathy at the health nurse the other day. The only thing she said was that Cathy should be lifting her chest off the floor when placed on her tummy. I can't remember what age Michele did this at. I have a picture of it in our kitchen. At what age did Michele roll over from her back to her tummy? I think at about 5.5 months. When did Michele start crawling? At about 7 months. I know it wasn't long after she learned to roll over. She found she could get places by rolling and then drag/crawl the last bit. Cathy is a while away from that yet. Michele crawled before she sat up. I remember this well, as I was concerned that she wasn't sitting. When did Michele cut her first teeth? At 6 months. When did she walk, at age 10 months. She showed signs of walking when we were over at my sister's place in Geraldton. She was then 9 months old. I can't remember when she said said her first word. Mrs Manager thinks she was about 14 months. the word? "Gone". Everything was "gone". We only had 2 bad times with Michele at teething. The first was when she cut her first teeth, 2 of them, bottom gum at the front. She cried and cried and cried. We had no idea what was wrong. We called a lady from our church and she came around and told us what the problem was. The second time was when she was 9 months old. We were at my brother's place at Merredin, W.A. Michele cried and cried and ran a temperature so hot you could roast a bullock on her head. We were scared. And I mean we were really frightened. I remember we got a friend to take us to the emergency room at the hospital. The doctor had a look and said she was cutting her first molars. Two molars at the one time. And that is the only time we ever knew she was cutting teeth. The rest of the time the first thing we knew was when a new tooth appeared. Michele is a really fantastic healthy kid. She is usually co-operative and just loves being involved in what we are doing. She is also a very social child. Her preschool teachers love her caring nature. When one of the kids doesn't show up Michele gets very concerned. Michele learned the whole alphabet at age 2.5 in the space of 6 weeks. At about the same age she learnt to count from 1 to 20. We have lots of DVD's and she loves the learning DVD's the best. But best of all she loves to do what we are doing no matter what it is.
Cathy's miles stones. Smiled for the first time at 5 days. And it was a genuine smile not a "wind" smile. She still smiles. We did things different with Cathy. For starters she is breast fed, Michele was formula fed. Cathy sleeps with us in our bed , whereas Michele has always had her own space. There was a reason for that. First she was a kicker. She could turn side way in the bed, head butt one person and kick the crap out of the other. Second, we were told one shouldn't co-sleep with a baby. We ignore that with Cathy. Mind you there are some people we "forget" to tell. Cathy stays where you put her in the bed and we have never come close to rolling on her. It is also convenient when she needs to be fed in the night. One just flops it out and Cathy does the rest. We never tried to train Michele at anything until she was almost 12 months old. We sort of had a go at this and that, but in reality we weren't serious about what we did. And mostly it was reactionary training. Then we got "trained" in the art of "training". We are starting early with Cathy. Already she will most times put her leg down when I tell her to. Now we are working on screeching. That is stopping her from doing it. It is really quite easy. The main requirement is patience on our part.
My 2 favourite parenting books are "The Continuum Concept" By Jean Leidloff and "To Train Up A Child" By Micheal Pearl. The later has acquired a bad name. But we have learned more about training from Micheal than from any other person or book. Micheal made us look at what we are doing and how we do it. There are other good parenting book out there but very few look at how the parent does what the parent does.
Enough for one day.
Cathy's miles stones. Smiled for the first time at 5 days. And it was a genuine smile not a "wind" smile. She still smiles. We did things different with Cathy. For starters she is breast fed, Michele was formula fed. Cathy sleeps with us in our bed , whereas Michele has always had her own space. There was a reason for that. First she was a kicker. She could turn side way in the bed, head butt one person and kick the crap out of the other. Second, we were told one shouldn't co-sleep with a baby. We ignore that with Cathy. Mind you there are some people we "forget" to tell. Cathy stays where you put her in the bed and we have never come close to rolling on her. It is also convenient when she needs to be fed in the night. One just flops it out and Cathy does the rest. We never tried to train Michele at anything until she was almost 12 months old. We sort of had a go at this and that, but in reality we weren't serious about what we did. And mostly it was reactionary training. Then we got "trained" in the art of "training". We are starting early with Cathy. Already she will most times put her leg down when I tell her to. Now we are working on screeching. That is stopping her from doing it. It is really quite easy. The main requirement is patience on our part.
My 2 favourite parenting books are "The Continuum Concept" By Jean Leidloff and "To Train Up A Child" By Micheal Pearl. The later has acquired a bad name. But we have learned more about training from Micheal than from any other person or book. Micheal made us look at what we are doing and how we do it. There are other good parenting book out there but very few look at how the parent does what the parent does.
Enough for one day.
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