Weaving the Tapestry

Our Dexter Heifer

I can't remember why this has become so hard.
Perhaps life has created too many blocked ways for me to return here.
Perhaps my time for this blog has ended here but I can't let it go in my heart.

So many treasured events have been recorded here.
Certainly not all and certainly not for a long time.

But I still remember the children waiting for their birthday post and wanting to see what I would write  this year, and the cherished feast days and family celebrations. The everyday activities that mattered to us and that we had shared them together.
It all started with a desire to share our family life and to have a record of that life for myself and our family.

Gifts of love 

Then  I think it changed, without me even noticing -  I got sucked into the world of comparison and what would make my little world of cyber space more attractive to others and have them visit here.
I do think the world of blogging changed as well, the family type blogs had become a thing of the past and the more slick and fancy, information, how to type blogs became the way of the future and I felt inadequate in comparison. Blogging had changed- it wasn't personal anymore with visits back and forth leaving comments here and there, like a conversation. It was more just read and move on to another blog an,d move on again without that personal exchange, and I had not been able to keep up with those changes and so like my personality I turned inward and stopped enjoying and sharing what was close to my heart.

I still feel joy when I look at this blog and the memories shared, but I can't seem to think of anything to write. The joy and the desire are still here but the content seems to be lacking.

So in a bid to reopen dialogue  I would like to share some recent events that have happened in our lives.
Boring and everyday events but this is what make up the fabric of our live.  This is what weaves our family tapestry and it brings joy and contentment. It is what I cherish and that is what my blog was all about CHERISHED HEARTS AT HOME!!

Lenten Preparation

Its time for me to take a deep breath and remember my blog title and live it :)
So here a few of  our recent happenings in pictures-

Our first Jersey Cow- a long awaited dream come true

Making my soap for our Home business

Saxon has entered Vianney College as a Seminarian

Crazy brothers

St Patrick's display this year

Grand dumpling and one of the new puppies

More Grand Dumplings come for a visit at "Mama;s House"

First reader finished with real progress

Blessings to you and your homes, 

New Beginnings 💜

Well Hello there,
I'm not sure how it got to be so many moths since posting - again! Frankly I do as we have had so many things happening in our lives. I really do enjoy blogging but also have found that the style of blogs has changed over the years since I first started. The unique interesting family orientated blogs seem to be declining and the mega blog is more prevalent.

One of the most recent is the move we have made to a new property. No we have not sold our Tasmania house :)
We were given notice after 5 years of living at the one place that they were wanting to do major renovations and we had to vacate.
After  much stress and praying we finally were blessed to 'find' a new for us home
We have finally mostly moved in and are settling in to a new lifestyle
It certainly has been an interesting time for us as we have adjusted to a smaller home with very little to none storage space. On the plus side we have more acreage for our animals and some beautiful garden areas. However I still will not plant my many fruit and nut trees and berries until we reach our own place.

Our new place which we call 'The Storybook House' as it is just like one of the houses in an Enid Blyton book or other adventure English book. The house has interesting nooks and crannies and a beautiful gardens with lots of hidey holes for children to play in. The roses are simply magnificent and I have been picking them along with other flowers to dry and add to my herbal stores for medicines and edible delights.
Incredibly we have the most gigantic white mulberry tree and the mulberries are  ripening now. The children have been eating them off the tree and last night I made some white mulberry and rose sugar syrup to add to my pantry stores.

Our animals are settling in and we are about to start, very late in the season, a vegetable patch. These are the activities that bring me joy and fulfillment in my vocation.
We have numerous eggs as our chickens and ducks have settled in and we have hatched some Khaki Campbell chicks out. Our doe, Primrose kidded yesterday too as well as our Cocker Spaniel giving birth to her second litter of pups this year (hmmm we were not expecting her to have pups again so soon). Our sheep should be ready to lamb soon too and we are quite excited about that as well.
The bran cats have also had kittens and we are really hoping they will keep down the snakes that are around here.

Within days of being here we saw a koala that had traveled up the property to be safely picked up and placed in a tree on the opposite side of the road. Some of the younger children had not seen a koala in 'the wild' and so were very excited.

The opportunities for fishing and yabbying are endless as we have both a water channel as our property boundary and the river just behind in the local reserve We have had numerous walks in the NP and some paddling in the river.

As we come to the end of November we have two birthdays and are rapidly planning our Advent Study for this year, which the children are very excited about. We have also suffered great sadness and yet more tribulation. However these are the  days we are given and they again are moving quickly and we are living them to the best of our ability.

" Joy is what happens when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things are. Joy is not necessarily what happens when things unfold according to our plans."

Marianne Williamson

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

Anzac Day Plans

Each year we celebrate Anzac Day in our home.
Not all years are the same but we do have a few themes we try to do together regardless of what else is happening.
We nearly always attend the Anzac Day march in honour of the fallen who have given their  life for the ideals they held dear.

'Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.' John 15:13

I cannot think why anyone would not want to commemorate these brave soldiers and others who have gone to their death to defend the defenseless and protect us from evil.

Traditionally we make Anzac Cookies- really was there any doubt 😏 We have two recipes- this is our trusted and true long time recipe 

ANZAC COOKIES~

1 cup of rolled oats

1 cup plain four

3/4 cup of sugar

3/4 cup dessicated coconut

1 Tablespoon Golden Syrup

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 tsp of Bicarb Soda (Baking Soda for non Aussies)

2 Tablespoons of boiling water

1. Mix oats, sugar, coconut and flour together

2. Melt syrup and butter together

3. Mix soda with boiling water and add to melted butter and syrup

4. Add to dry ingredients

5. Place tablespoon of mixture on greased baking tray

6. Bake in slow oven 150-160 degrees C for 15 to 20 mins

This is a THM recipe 😊

We also make damper preferably in the camp oven if there is not fire ban.

The children have often dressed up  in their favourite military outfit and played games of tactics and spying for hours.

Naturally we have crossword puzzles, word search  and colouring pages to do while I read bits and pieces of information for them to learn.

We will probably also draw poppies using Art for Kids- which we love for the younger ones and perhaps from a real poppy for the older ones.

We hope also make a felt poppy for decorating the table

Copy work will also be done and this is a lovely piece to print out and have on the wall to memorise as well.

We have a few books to read that we own :

The Poppy – Andrew Plant

The Story of the First World War for Children -John Malam

Lest we Forget – Kerry Brown

Digger - Mike Dumbleton

We also like to watch a movie or two-

We tend to be a  little 'liberal' in our translation of what can be termed an Anzac movie (essentially a war movie as there really aren't any specific to Anzac Day) so for us we have-

War Horse

Five Children and it

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Sound of Music

A Little Princess

Bednobs and Broomsticks

Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang

The Railway Children

Battle of Britain

For older viewers-  (definitely parental review)

Breaker Morant

Gallipoli

The Lighthorseman

Here is a list of Australian war movies ( I have not previewed any yet but simply sharing)

Naturally we will need to have a game of Two up  ( be warned the video contains in my view a couple of swear words)  and this one with live action is good to see it in action

I have lots of other preparations in my notes for the school year but thought this would be a good thought provoking post for anyone interested in celebrating ANZAC Day.
To finish off here is  the -Ode and Last Post - We will remember them

Blessings to you and your homes,

 

Easter in our home 2018

Good Evening again, after a bit of a break 😊
I was planning on writing a lot about our lead up to Easter and especially Holy Week but frankly I think I have done this before and so it is a little like repeating it over and over.
We tend to have the same traditions each year and love to redo these again and again.
So here is a pictorial  of some of our Holy Week and Easter activities 💗 I hope you enjoy them.

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

Surprise- It's almost Holy Week

A very Good Evening to you,
Well we are almost in Holy Week and tonight I have written up with the older girls our traditional  'Holy Week Booklet.'
I like to have a booklet as we have so many activities we are completing and liturgical requirements that if I don't have it all written in one place day by day I know I will forget something important 😊

One thing that can be guaranteed in this busy life we have is the regular activities but also those little moments when you have a 'sweetness' moment.
This is Felix the Bunny. He is Arwen's special bunny gifted to her by her siblings on her birth. Felix was named after a book we are very fond of -Letters from Felix  and Arwen's bunny has certainly traveled around.
Since he has journeyed  far and wide he was in need of a little surgery. As I was getting things prepared i left the room and came back to discover that Felix was now all ready to face this gruesome deed. Arwen had placed some eye protection on him so he could see what was happening to him. Sweet little girl, how I love this gentleness in her.

 One of the activities that Trahaearn does everyday is to draw. He has a few particular types of drawings he does.
Viking ships were his very first drawings from his imagination  and he spends ages on them getting them perfect. Did I say perfect? Yes I did, because we have often had a little pile of paper on the floor as they did not meet his standard.
I particularly like this latest Viking ship as it has the ship behind as well as the one coming up at the rear. I think he did an excellent job on making the ship looking realistic with the flags and sails.

 I had a special day in town with Arwen last week. Well not really special but she came with me to run some errands, you know essentials like groceries. The really fun and exciting type of shopping.
Well we did pop into K-mart to check on Winter clothing and walked past the toy section- cause I'm a really nice Mama 😏 and because Arwen has a fascination with all things panda she could not resist this life size panda head.
Now me, I think she is kinda cute but that huge head still 'weirds' me out.

 Isn't he just adorable???
Our grandbaby dumpling came for the day and he has just really learnt to walk most of the time. That sweet - I'm just waddling look- that I love.
He also loves to be outside and runs to the door when it is open and squeals to go outside. He also loves the dogs and seeing all the animals. A very gentle and sweet  little guy he is so happy.

 We have been busy preserving all the stone fruit and this is our no sugar jam we made.
It really is a lovely jam, but I would probably call it a very thick stewed fruit.
I think it is certainly more versatile this way as it can still be used as a stewed fruit in pies or with cream but can also be use as jam on toast.
I'm pretty sure we will continue to do it this way. However it does take a much longer time to cook as you are reducing the liquid as you cook.

You probably also might have guessed by now that I love long hair and all our girls have long hair as well as myself.
Well, mine isn't as long as it used to be but we won't go there.
As I was giving Vellvin's a brush last week I saw this beautiful ringlet at the back and just had to take a photo. Is that strange? Maybe but I love ringlets.
The other interesting fact is that when Rogan saw this photo that he thought it was my hair 😍

Have I mentioned that the children are always offering to make me some sort of drink, mainly a coffee as that is my beverage of choice. Myffy had been offering me her special recipe drink for a few days and I had not really had the time to have it as she usually offered when I wasn't able to enjoy it.
As I was doing my own study she brought me her 'famous Myffy Chocolate drink' her special and secret recipe. Of course then I was able to enjoy the gift of love. Thank you Myff!

And it is here that I say goodnight to you all again. Thank you for catching up with us and I hope you all have a blessed Holy Week.

Blessings to you and your homes,