Camping

We went camping in the Great Australian Bush with a young family from church and friends of friends of friends who realised they'd met at some other place once before.
It was fabulous to be outside, to let the kids get dirty, to challenge ourselves with climbing a mountain (we didn't quite make it to the top, despite the stories of the little red engine), to get to know people, to share food and recipes.
I think it's good for our kids to live with other people, even if just for a few days. They dragged others into games of cricket, helped people light fires, dragged people off to see the island in the stream and it's secret entrance, and continued on with their less-than-perfect behaviour that makes them kids, and us the parent's whose job it is to teach them.
I think it takes a certain amount of letting go on our part to just let the kids work out for themselves how to relate to people, how to behave, how to solve conflicts and ask for help. Camping is a great time for this. As parents we're busy talking to people and preparing food, and the kids are free in a wide open space where they can feel they're off by themselves doing whatever they want, like back in the good ole days when kids had to be back home by dinner time.

On Sunday morning we made damper. We built the fire in that quiet time of morning before people are really awake, made the mixture while the kids hovered around watching, and others woke up and had pancakes for breakfast. The kids ground the coffee beans we'd roasted for hours the night before.

We set up the icons in a quiet corner of the camp ground, right at the bottom of the slope of the mountain. We planned our little service as the damper cooked in the coals of the fire and everybody else quietly glanced over every now and then. Our poor old priest (that's just a saying btw) was sick and unable to serve at a liturgy. So we chanted some hymns, and read from Ascending the Heights. Then we asked God to bless our food and shared the damper we had made.

It was a great time to get away from it all, to live simply if just for a weekend. We'd love to do it at the start of every lent and maybe advent too. It was a fabulous way to share with our friends.

Off to school to change the world

School has started and my attached-to-my-arms baby has gone off to school for the first time with a quick kiss and a hug. She's loving it. And so am I.

My mum still remembers the first day all her children went off to school. She came home to do all her morning jobs. All finished, she thought it must be time for lunch. It was only 10am!

I'm finding I can do all those little extra things that I always left before because I knew my kids were getting tired, or hungry or had been at the baby sitters long enough. There's no real free time when you have young kids at home. You always have to be aware of their every need. Even when babysitting can be arranged that time has to be used so carefully.

Speaking to a much older friend, he warned that this is a dangerous time in my life. His theory is, I've been mothering for years, waiting for when I would be free to do all the things I used to do. Now I discover that I'm a totally different person to what I used to be, while my husband has stayed the same.

Only, I've never believed my life was on hold while I raised children. Life continues with children. Children are part of life too. I've had to change my direction, or not the direction, but certainly take a different path, and my husband has come along too.

I guess I'm lucky in that I've always believed that wherever I am, I bring the kingdom of God with me. There's always people to love, and to journey with, justice to be done, or simply jobs to be done for the glory of God. Another older friend said it took her years to learn that, and until she did, she was always unsatisfied and looking for the really big thing she could do for God.

I want my children to learn that they can make a difference in the world. I want them to learn that every person is important, every person an icon of Jesus. I want them to learn there's a whole community that needs their input, to make the world a better place. I want them to learn about the world and life. So I've taken them along for the ride.

They've seen us help at church, organise a playgroup, chat to people in the park, pick up rubbish on the street. Helped to make casseroles for people, visited nursing homes, been to funerals, stopped to help people at the side of the road, helped build a community frog bog, pulled out weeds in the bush. Actions speak so much louder than words. But words, when they come at the right time are important too. When the kids ask, "why are we picking up rubbish?" I tell them.

Of course life comes in waves or stages. Sometimes it takes all your energy just to feed everyone and try to sleep. Providing for your child's basic needs will teach them how to love too. If you can do just this for the first two years of your babies life, you will be giving a little person the resources they need to be able to love and trust, and you will make the world a better place.

The best explanation for school I've ever heard came from Tony Campolo. Paraphrased by me, he said, "If you want to change the world, then you need to learn all about it. You've got to know what you're talking about when you start presenting solutions. " I'll keep doing the real life stuff, but now I guess my little one takes a small step onto the path of learning how to find things out for herself.

Trying on wedding dresses

Emergent Kiwi tells about the grandkids trying on Granma's wedding dress and wonders if this is part of their formation, and exploration of how the importance of marriage.