Brilliant, 'Must-Get' Devotional Book

Douglas and I are enjoying this stimulating devotional together. It is out of print and we bought the last copy in Australia as far as we can figure out .... so as I have just joined Amazon, click on it and I can get commission ( if you buy it) which will go towards an orphanage in South Africa. It is definitely worth the effort of ordering from overseas, and we plan to get a few more copies as gifts! Make sure that they do international shipping as with an out of print book they have individual bookshops selling via Amazon, and some don't sell overseas. A really must get book for sure! It covers basic theology in a very interesting way - makes you really think, although very simple!

Flies on the wall and flies in the ointment:

As most of you have gathered we have been involved with the start up of a brand new church...Emmanuel Bible Church, QLD. And how immensely blessed we have been as we have participated in this new work...the fellowship has been sweet (how good to talk comfortably and excitedly about God and our service to Him each time we are together!), the prayer has been humbling and challenging as we stand in awe of who God is and pray for our own little church and the wider church. And what a blessing good preaching is!

I have a funny feeling sometimes that our church elders must be a flies on our wall each week and that they are preaching to us exactly as we have need to hear God challenge us as a family! (or perhaps one of the kids phones up and tells them what our problems have been each week! Giggle!)

Seriously though, the Lord does know our needs and the Lord is gracious to keep us challenged. The Lord is good to bless us with excellent teaching each week, and wow isn't consistent good preaching through the word of God a blessing as we allow the Holy Spirit to challenge us. We are going through Philippians at present and I am never left unchallenged! It is so good to 'be still' before God and to be well saturated by going in depth into this word together as a congregation, to sing rich words of praise together (ever noticed how good hymns can be a mini sermon?), to read his word often and pray savouring God's character. How blessed we are indeed!

This morning I woke up feeling as if I was giving, giving and giving and getting nothing back in return and said as much with many grumbles to Douglas... and then exhausted and discouraged we had preaching from the following passage. How could I be left unchallenged or unfed? How greatly revived I felt to be blessed in this way...

Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

14 Do all things without grumbling or questioning, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labour in vain. 17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.

Sometimes parents see children as 'a fly in the ointment' in church, particularly when children are discouraged from sitting through a service so that their parents can 'concentrate on a sermon'!

Another aspect of good preaching I have enjoyed is to see my little children learn to sit through church again and get something out of good preaching. I never cease to be amazed at how much a little child can take in. We have come from a church which had many children's programs going on and my children had been used to an element of excitement and entertainment....sitting through a good sermon has none of that, they learn again to be satisfied with 'just' the word of God. I am not anti teaching children at their level, but it is beautiful to worship as a family and learn about God together again.

Do not worry:

Matthew 6 (ESV)

Do Not Be Anxious

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Quotes from some people with Aspergers

“There is only so much that I have to say and only so much that I want to listen to from someone else. Once that’s gone, it’s time to leave”
“If my environment is structured then I am more stable and less emotional”
“I have done such a great job at pretending to be normal that nobody really believes I have Asperger’s”
“Children’s parties were something I would dread because of balloons and shouting children. I never liked parties, most of all because they are noisy”
“My emotional range is quite extreme and somewhat rudimentary. However, when I engage in my special interest on my own, I can access a greater emotional realm and landscape that is wonderful and safe for me, in that context”

Happy bir'day 'Nannyhouse'

Last week we also celebrated my Mother's birthday. My Mom is a good friend to me and a fantastic Granny, who goes out of her way to serve and bless us, without any request for reward. We love having her around the corner, and miss her when we have not seen her in 24 hours. We are very spoilt indeed! Happy Birthday, Granny!



What's the 'Nannyhouse' all about you may be asking? 'Nannyhouse' is the affectionate name Jarryn gives to his Granny, my Mom. It all started when we were carting Jessica backwards and forwards to TAFE at the beginning of the year ( she now goes by bus) And very time we neared our home on the way back Jarryn would yell, "Nanny's house!" This meant, "I don't want to go home I want to go to Granny/Nanny's house." We pleased him all too often. And eventually Granny became 'Nannyhouse' all the time! He can say Gran, Granny or Nanny with the greatest of ease, but most most often reverts back to his affectionate 'Nannyhouse'. Here is Jarryn waiting for Granny to come and have her cake! He is patiently singing Happy Birthday.




And here at last is cake time!

It was wonderful for Ruth to be with us for some of Mom's birthday but sad that we had to say goodbye to her too. So some of Mom's Birthday photographs were taken at the airport...

Happy Birthday Tim

Tim has just turned 6 over the long weekend past. We nickname him 'Tim Tam', as he is as sweet as Tim Tam chockie biscuits. His two year old brother calls him, Minty! And he is as sweet as a minty lolly too. Jarryn faithfully considers Tim his best friend whatever the weather! We always open presents early in the morning but Tim was not interested in opening presents until he had had breakfast (our kids always chose their own special breakfast for their birthdays) and had played on the computer (another boy birthday treat!) Eventually he enjoyed opening presents!




As Tim's birthday fell on a Saturday we had a party for him on the day. As with Emma we took a bunch of wonderful kids across the road, had a treasure hunt, and party games like pass the parcel, and then did races and had a feast. On your marks get set......go

The boys had glorious moments of 'wildness' which is still a bit beyond my understanding as I only have a sister. We came home and had leftovers, sausages and the men and big boys went to get us some hot chips for dinner. The kids all did their own face painting....pirates and spider men etc gruesome and bleeding they emerged to shock us. The girls seemed to enjoy it as much as the boys, I must say!

Note the soccer ball candles; Tim got a soccer ball and a bike for his birthday from us.


Tim embraces life with exuberance... He loves to read and his favourite books are Tin Tin and Asterix! (A typical Murray boy! They have all loved these books as soon as they first start reading and still do! ) Outdoors he jumps and jumps on the trampoline, plays soccer and of course rides his bike as fast as possible- watch out, here he comes! He loves to be with his friends, eat good food, and enjoys swimming and running. Red and orange are his favorite colours. He is a talented young lad, his greatest difficulties are to not pout when things go wrong and to stay humble and kind and generous, but even that he is getting pretty good at!What a wonderful gift our Tim is to us, what a blessing! We are so proud of him and love him so much. He delights us and amuses us, he charms us and challenges us, he makes life interesting and fun...how much we love him!

Be warned the face painting photographs below are quite shocking, you may want to skip them!

The pimply pirateThe boy whose brother fought with him
And believe it or not this is the hearty and gruesomely injured pirate, Emma the artist, who just could not resist as much face paint as possible! Ha, ha, ha ,ha!

Athletic's Day

Last week we had athletics day with our distance school.  More than showing who had stamina and skill and sporting  ability, it showed up personalities and graces or lack of them! Jarryn, 2, lacked the most graces as he was bored and grumpy most of the day, afterwards I came down with a tummy bug and realised he probably had tummy cramps contributing to the misery of his day. But he did a 100m race and came second....there were only two running! But his brothers and sisters were so proud of him. All the kids got some placements. And I was so proud of them, but I pointed out a little girl who came last every single time, but had the most joyous smile ever, every single time.....I recon, she was the champion of the day! All had stamina and determination that surprised me...Emma ran 800 metres, which for a petite 8 year old was amazing to me! Jo did every single running race except the relays as we left early and just as well too- it took us 3 hours to get home due to traffic, being the beginning of a long weekend. Jonathan and Erica, we discovered run short distance well, Josh is our long distance champ. Jo and Erica are good all rounders trying out most of the following...discus and shot put, long jump, basket ball shots, football kicks etc. Tim as a typical 5 year old kept looking at his competitors, how they all run forward with their faces looking sideways or behind, I do not know!

I thought I had left my camera behind, only to discover I had been lugging it around all day in my handbag/nappy/etc bag . Of course I only discovered it right at the bottom of my bag when searching for a peppermint/bribe as we were packing the car to leave....so no photographs, as I sadly do not have a clue how to put them onto the computer with my phone having no blue tooth?? I think I can send them to Doug and he can download them. In the meanwhile you can see Erica on our friend's blog!

http://greshamadventures.blogspot.com/2010/06/big-race.html

And of course any running races are a reminder that our lives are like a running race....1 Corinthians 9: 24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,