Taking time to smell the roses

I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck. ~Emma Goldman

Teacup pigs

I have just been reading about a new breed of pig that is growing in popularity as a household pet-they only grow up to 35 Cm's and are easily toilet trained and quiet. They seem to be the ideal pet and are just so cute. I don't know about the smell but how could anything that cute smell bad ;)

I asked my husband if we could think about getting one but he quickly replied with a firm 'no!', Ozcan comes from a family where if the animal isn't useful in some way then there is no place for it. So to compensate today we are going to a very large petting zoo set over acres of native forest. I can get my exercise and cuteness quota in just one day. At the moment Aviva and I are making a picnic so we can stop by the river on the way and have lunch there and possibly have a swim. It's been a beautiful summer,next week when we 'officially' start homeschooling again next week I think I will take our book work outside.

Roughing it part two

Above you can see some of the pictures I took at camp, although I was hesitant at first about sleeping in tents we had a fantastic time!!

On our first night there none of us slept well, the girls stayed up chatting, ducks tried to wander into our tent and we had our ministers three year old daughter sleeping with us in our air bed so it wasn't exactly roomy. However the next day the weather was just beautiful and as we left the first session we met a couple who were missionaries in Turkey for seven years and could speak fluent Turkish-what a blessing for my husband!! I don't think people often realize how much it means to have others pray with you in your first language if they are never deprived of it. As it stands there appears to be not one other Turkish christian in this country. And they are just the loveliest couple, truly we feel so blessed to have met them and hope to keep in further contact with them.

The speakers were wonderful, the worship annointed-how beautiful and amazing to fill the hall to the rafters with voices singing God's praises. I cannot put into words the feeling of awe I experienced as I was filled with praises for God. Sometimes it is so easy to get so busy trying to be the ideal wife and mother that God gets left out. And although our usual day is filled with learning,singing and talking about God as well as praying sometimes I guess I am guilty of not keeping it real with God as we all do at some point.I have to say to have the time to just sit there and say 'Here I am lord' was really I think just what I needed

Anyway other exciting news is that while we were there my husband was baptised! Ozcan was brought up as a muslim and when we first met and became friends is when he started exploring christianity. He had been waiting for some time (as our church only performs them about once a year when they have enough people) I have to say that to see my husband make a full commitment to turn his life to Jesus was the best day of my life.

Isn't that brainwashing?

Yesterday I went for dinner at a friends house and that friend had other friends there as well, Somehow the discussion got onto families with large amounts of children and when I started talking about how this was the desire of my heart I had one women remark to me that I would need lots of bedrooms.I told her that many of my friends with large amounts of children have only three or four bedrooms and she was shocked at what would happen when they were teenagers. I told her that many home schooled teenagers from large families don't have huge issues over personal space and many of the girls I know prefer to spend their time at home acquiring homemaking skills and helping with the smaller children. She then told me "that's obvious brainwashing" as some of the others nodded their heads in agreement.

Brainwashing? was she serious? indeed she was. She didn't think the fact that many young girls who dressed just like they do on MTV was brainwashing nor was the fact the promiscuous behaviour is actually encouraged amongst pre teens. After all that's normal behaviour isn't it? For a male isn't being horribly drunk to the point of unconsciousness just a rite of passage for a sixteenth birthday? As long as they have enough space and privacy to do what they want behind closed doors then they will be just fine.

The culture of young girls in this country makes me want to cry. I see week after week teenage girls turning up to church in tight jeans and singlets, in their spare time they read 'Dolly' and 'Girlfriend' magazine all included with helpful articles on contraception and how to 'snag a boyfriend' the pages are filled with girls in tiny bikinis in the arms of a muscular youth, another favourite of these girls is YouTube where they can watch secular music videos where women dressed just like prostitutes sing about needing a man to fulfill their sexual desires. But again this isn't brainwashing.It's all normal, healthy behaviour for a teenager. It's what we should just expect.

She ended her little spiel with "as long as they're happy that's all that matters".

Roughing it

Tomorrow we leave for five days of exciting christian fellowship and teaching. Our family has been looking forward to this for a year now and it is finally here! The downside of it is that we are staying in tents. For many women this would not be a problem but I am most certainly not those women.

I like being able to plug in my hair dryer and turn on the light in the middle of the night. I love that I can talk with my husband when the lights go out and not have half the campsite hear what I'm saying. Most of all I love being able to have a shower in privacy and not sneak quietly along the wet grass at the crack of dawn to the showers so that I don't run into someone seeing me in my pyjamas and dressing gown (as modest as they may be). Nope I am just not the outdoors type.

This fact is often obvious to friends and family when in the past they have made the mistake of suggesting to my shock and horror a bush walk! I love the idea in theory-beautiful native trees, the singing of birds and the absolute beauty of the world that our God has created. But in theory wearing track pants, getting sweaty and slipping in the mud is just not my idea of a good time. However show me a library or a museum and I am one happy girl.

I'm probably not as bad as I make out after all this afternoon I'm going blueberry picking with a friend. However knowing that my car (and the prospect of home) are mere minutes away sure does make the difference for me.

However my darling husband and I have had very different childhoods because for three months every year his family would stay on a mountain for three months (with bears and wolves and all sorts of things that can eat you!) tenting with his family. This makes me so, so grateful that I live in a country that harbours no poisonous (or people eating) creatures. So this trip is just a walk in the park for him.

I have decided to try to be excited for the children's sake and I have always been a strong believer that something is usually what you make of it and so I am going to make this a positive, exciting adventure that the girls will hopefully remember fondly for years to come! I am just going to be grateful that I don't have to cook over a gas BBQ or use an outdoor toilet!

p.s sorry if there are multiple grammar and spelling problems, the spellcheck has decided not to work today.

Planning a garden

After spending hours wondering just where to fit all our vegetables and herbs I have decided to dig up a part of our front garden. Now this area is just filled with agapanthus which are just horrible plants and nearly impossible to get rid of, unless you are as determined as I am. I know it will take weeks of digging but it will be worth it. I plan to grow all kinds of herbs, flowers and various types of lettuce. I think this really is going to be an ongoing project but one I am very excited about.

I ordered the seeds today for our winter garden and I am hoping that it will more successful than last year. The winter garden last year was not exactly fruitful! The broccoli died, the silver beet and cabbage bolted almost straight away and I at times almost wanted to give up. I know though over the last year I have greatly improved the soil condition so I'm hoping that will help considerably.

I cannot believe the prices people pay at the supermarket for produce, Last year when lettuces were five dollars I was shocked at how many people gladly paid that!. I worked out that from our garden alone we save about a minimum of $1,300 every year. Over a ten year span that's 13,000! I get very excited when I read about community gardening plots especially when they are developed in low socioeconomic communities, many preventable diseases like cellulitis occur because the body is lacking in vitamins and minerals and for these children who are prone to them just a few serves of fruit or vegetables per day can change that. I often think people are more likely to eat something if they have put the work to grow it themselves. Which also reminds me about a documentary a friend told me of the other day in which children in the UK didn't know that a chip came from a potato! I could do a whole other post on how much that shocks me.

It is another beautiful balmy day here. The washing blows gently on the line, Aviva lies under the Macracapa tree reading her bible and I plan to start sewing an apron for a very dear friend of mine. I love these summer days that roll slowly on.

Quiet days at home

I Love this time of year in New-Zealand, the summer days seem to last forever and people seem to slow down so much more. I don't know if it's because of the weather or because people are still in holiday mode but I love it.

Today we visited friends of mine and literally picked our lunch from the garden. Liz has an extensive knowledge of the medicinal properties of herbs so we brewed a huge pot of herbal tea with herbs from her garden and it was so lovely. When we left her house I took with me a big bunch of parsley so I can make Tabbouleh for dinner and some rhubarb which I plan to stew and serve with yogurt.

There are many things I should be doing this month before school resumes but so far I have been enjoying just taking things slowly. Spending an hour in the garden reading a book with Aviva, making batches of crumpets in the afternoon, knitting in the sun. It has been such a joy to just take things as they come and enjoy the time off. Today we went to the Thrift shop and found some wonderful books such as Black beauty and the Wind in the willows and various other classics. I also found Good Wives by Louisa M. Alcott which is the follow on from Little Women, what a beautiful book! It truly is from other time when wives held their husbands in such high reverence and respect and understood the true benefits and joy from living as truly submissive to their husbands.

This afternoon I plan to make some zucchini Relish in a way to deal with the never ending glut of them, I found a beautiful recipe and thought I would share it here.

Zucchini Relish

INGREDIENTS
2 pounds small zucchini
1 tart apple, peeled and cored
1 medium onion
1 green pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup vinegar
1 (2 ounce) jar chopped pimientos, drained
1 tablespoon fresh ginger root
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS
Peel zucchini and discard any large seeds; chop into small pieces (about 5 cups). Finely chop apple, onion and green pepper; place in a Dutch oven along with zucchini and remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce hat and simmer, uncovered, over medium heat until thick, about 45-55 minutes, stirring often. Cool. Ladle into jars; cover and refrigerate.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Zucchini-Chutney/Detail.aspx

I don't have a dutch oven and I will adjust some of the spices but It looks like a beautiful and fail proof recipe.

New years resolutions

It's that time of year when many of us evaluate our lives and wonder what we could do differently and better than we have in previous years. My goals this year are somewhat broader than losing weight and learning a new language (although those would be great as well). A couple of years ago I read a book by Elizabeth George who recommended putting goals into categories including finance, family, physical self etc.Whilst I am not going to be so specific here I thought I would share a few of my own.

1.) Wasting less- This includes food, in the past there has been multitudes of times that I have been guilty of throwing out food that has expired or started to rot in the fridge. This year I am going to carefully menu plan so I do not buy too much food that ends up going in the bin. Any excess fruit or veges will be made into stock, coulis or added to muffins and breads.I will also apply this to clothes and other household items.

2.) Paying off debt- My husband and I both agreed that this year we want to get rid of all our debt which means cutting down drastically in other areas.

3.) Focusing more on academics and less on socialisation- This may sound slightly radical, but last year we realized that although Aviva has hordes of friends now she is somewhat lacking in some academic areas. Also when I add up the hours that we spend driving to this and that I realize that the time could be much better spent on other things.

4.) Developing my role as a wife and help meet to my husband. This includes setting an alarm to go off an hour before he is due home to make sure the house is tidy and dinner is ready, making sure his needs are met before my own and making sure I have a cheerful heart in whatever I do!!