Saturday, September 25, 2010

Jarryn's ice cream truimph

I took 5 kids to Ikea today. I won't tell you how grumpy I got when 3 (usually my 'good' children) went to the toilet and waited for me in the wrong place for two hours, while I panicked  and called them over Ikea's loud speaker. (Fortunately the big kid kept the littler ones distracted with games and stories, so they had fun, unlike Mum!) The big kid (I won't say who)  had left his/her ( it would be telling to say if it was a he/she;-) ) phone at home, grrr.) They heard the final loud speaker call, after I had been around Ikea 3 times - no mean feat - Ikea is horribly long to walk once! (To look at it positively I was hoping to start getting fit again.)

Our Ikea highlight was definitely when Jarryn got his self-serve soft serve ice cream by himself. He put his little cone into the holder, waited for the light to show that he could press the button. His eyes boggled when ice cream started coming out after he pressed the button! But them the most amazing thing happened- it did not stop at one serve or even at 2 serves, but kept going for at least 3 serves. By this stage we were all cackling with laughter and everyone was looking at us and 'wowing'. Jarryn would never have managed such a big ice cream so he 'shared' it with everyone. Some eager boys joined our queue and could not wait to get their giant serve - only to be bitterly disappointed with a minuscule serve. My deepest empathy to the soft serve ice cream machine, some days just do not go as planned! I just wish I had taken my camera!

Here is a recent photograph of Jarryn at the beach.

Friday, September 24, 2010

China: Some Statisics

Our friend's from NZ are tent making in China. They sent these statistics....

"The official abortion rate is China is around 13 million children per year. Coupled with the
number of morning after pills (the preferred method of contraception of nearly half of the
respondents of a recent survey - http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-
09/17/content_11315443.htm - and you can see the womb is not a particularly safe place
to be (annual births are around 19 million)
By 2050… there are likely to be almost 400 million people over the age of 60 in China, and
60 million people living in Beijing. If we’re still here we’ll be 85."

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Seasons of mists by John Keats

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the ground, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
  --John Keats http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Keats

Childish Corners

I try to instil in a child love, patience, and gratitude as a priority. And yet I find myself stumbling through 40 something years over these very same things....to the point that I harbour over-sensitivity in a childish corner; I lick the quiet wound of invisible anger; I stifle resentment and hide the tiny flecks of frustration....until I suddenly realise how debilitating they have all become and I drag myself through life with the hideous weight of the chains of my own 'tiny' sins...labouring to carry on with life in a normal sort of way. "What utter foolishness," I declare when I wake up from such a stupor...when all it requires is a change of heart, an awareness of sin, a steady prayerful repentance and a Saviour's everlasting love. And with that comes true freedom; life in all it's fullness, true happiness and joy unspeakable.