Random Acts of Kindness

A drive down our street would tell you that Christmas is just around the corner. Lights are on every night and decorations are all over the houses, and I must say that it is a beautiful sight. Christmas brings back fond memories for me, and the one which stands out most is when Dad and us girls would go walking out in the bush to find the perfect pine tree to place in our lounge room for the festive season. It is memories like these that I want my children to have; memories that will last a life time.

December can get very busy for a lot of people and we tend to forget that 'Jesus is the reason for the season'.

So along with our family I encourage you to print out some RACKed cards here and start preparing with your family whose face you can bring a smile to.

Random acts of Kindness can be done to:

• The postman (he delivers your personal mail all year long; hail or shine)
• The Garbage collector (takes away your smelly rubbish every week)
• Firemen
• Police
• Cleaners in the shopping centre
• Checkout lady/man at the supermarket
• Neighbour
• Elderly
• Family who is struggling financially or emotionally
• The list goes on.......

 We can't wait to get started - I look forward to letting you know how it all went.

Let's make the end of 2012 incredible for all.

Blessings from our family to yours.

30 Day Family Challenge - Week 1

Our children are LOVING family time!! They do not forget, and are always reminding us who is next to choose. So here are a few things we have been doing.

Playing 'Jenga' has been so funny and at the same time teaching the boys fine motor skills.

 We found an awesome Badminton and Volleyball set at Aldi and have had such fun with it. We just can't stop laughing at our mistakes.

 The park has been very popular too. Raphael even had his first swing there with me!

We found a bike training park which the boys just thought was great! Two way lanes with roundabouts, traffic lights, traffic signs - the whole lot!

Running in the park with Baba - they just love him.

Start the challenge and see the difference!

30 Day Challenge for FAMILY TIME

Time is slipping away and I feel as though we are not spending enough time together having FUN. So I announced yesterday that we were going to start 'Family Time' again and the boys were soooooo excited, especially Danny as he has fond memories from times before.

Speaking to other families, we have noticed across the board that the families that are close knit and enjoy each others company are the ones who have taken the effort to implement 'Family Time' each day.

So we have decided that November will be the month that we will instill the new habit of Family Time. There are all different ways of having this time together, but there are a few general guidelines that we stick to:

• Set time of day for Family Time - It is 5pm for us
• Length of Time - half an hour to an hour for us
• Rotation of each family member having a turn to choose
• Have lots of FUN and SMILE even if you don't want to :o)

 Marco (our 4 year old) chose our activity for today and he quickly ran to pull out the Lego box. We built emergency vehicles, a shop, a toilet block, a pyramid, etc.. we all had a great time.

So what have you done so far for 'Family Time'? Let us know below in the comment section.

Blessings from our home to yours.

Care in Handling Property

Have you ever gone to look for something and you cannot find it in the place where you left it? Then a couple of days later you find it in your childs bedroom or stashed away in some bizarre place. Well we have had that experience a few times with our boys and it is often with Imads tools, so we thought that it was time to explain the importance of not touching other peoples 'property' without permission. So it has become a household rule for all to not touch or use someone elses 'property' unless you have asked and they have given you permission. In 'Child Guidance' it states that a child will not be happier if allowed to touch what they like, but will in actual fact grow up unlovely and with destructive traits of character. How important is it for us to teach these simple lessons.

Putting things away where they belong after use is also very important. It is one thing that can really bother me when things are left lying around and not put away. Mandy, who is a close friend of mine sent me this fantastic idea. You can print the 'Uh Oh' paper here. Some of her children ended up in the box too :o)

Have a blessed week!

Study Guide Update

As you know we have a beautiful baby boy 'Raphael' who is now 6 weeks old and such a joy to have in the home. With the blessing of an extra child comes extra work, and to be honest I have been BUSY adjusting to the new routine and trying to accomplish what has to be done each day.

I have decided to run things a little different with the blog and studies, only due to the fact that I just don't have the extra time at the moment. You will now find at the top of the 'Home Page' on the blog another tab titled 'Child Guidance Studies'. Once you click on the tab for the studies a new page will open with all the current studies available. From there you may download the study needed. I will still be putting up posts relating to the studies, but not one for each chapter due to the time constraints at present.

Please remember to continue putting in your comments - they are VERY helpful.

The exciting news is that we will be expanding the blog VERY soon. We will be looking at topics such as:

• Homeschooling
• Marriage
• Family
• Cooking
• Hospitality, etc

So subscribe to the blog by putting your email address in the 'Follow by Email' box on the right hand side of the home page. This way you will always be up to date with what is happening.

Blessings from our family to yours.

The Key to Happiness and Success - Chapter 10

 

"Unfaithfulness in that which is least will soon, if uncorrected, lead to transgression in that which is great"     Child Guidance Pg 80

 

How true is the above statement. I have at times with my boys overlooked 'small' issues and then over time they have become HUGE issues which have caused me and the rest of the family great pain. How true is the saying 'Nip it in the bud'.

 

Some people may think it untrue that a child would be much happier when they obey, but it is true, I have seen it from experience in our family. When our boys choose to obey, the end result is happiness all around. This obedience we must strive to have continually and promptly, and this issue has been a current one in our home. For example, yesterday afternoon I asked my eldest boy to come help me pick all the snowpeas off the vines before pulling out the plants, he promptly came and was very excited to do the job. When we got to the backyard his attention was drawn to the chooks and off he ran to them. I called him back and he answered that he was coming, but, he never came. I called again, and again he said that he was coming, but again, he never came. After having a talk to him and the making sure that he helped me with the gardening, I prayed about how I could teach him the lesson of promptness. So this morning I tried something a little different, while the boys were tidying their rooms I prepared breakfast for my husband and I, we prayed and started eating without them (something that we have never done before). The boys came out after tidying their room and asked where their breakfast was. I calmly stated that I would get it soon, but then kept on eating. They asked me a few more times and I answered with the same "I will, I will get up now and prepare it" but I never followed through. They then looked at me straight in the eyes and said "Why are you saying that you will get breakfast but you then don't go and get it for us?" Aha - my chance had finally come! After an explanation of how promptness and obedience is important and giving a few examples of when they have not followed through we shared a few laughs and enjoyed breakfast together. I hope the lesson worked!

 

Satan will try to convince us that Gods standard is to strict but do not listen to that. We know that strict obedience to Gods holy law will bring happiness to us, and in turn strict obedience of the children to us will bring happiness into the home. Remember, make it easy for your children to obey, wear a smile on your face and encourage them to do right.

 

May it be your prayer this week to keep your children true to the Lord.

 

May the Lord bless you.

 

Please find next weeks study here



A Call for Self-Improvement - Chapter 9

You may be wondering while there has been no activity on the blog the last few weeks. Well our family has grown from 4 members to now 5! On July the 29th our beautiful son Raphael Imad Awde was born. So as you can imagine we have been VERY busy adjusting - so please forgive me for the lateness of these next few posts.

This chapter has been a real blessing for me personally. Now with 3 small children I really feel inadequate in my mothering. I really need God to work through me, because I just can't do it by myself. It is so true that we need to be continually advancing in our own life to that we can lead our children to higher attainments. We need to improve our "mind and...heart" (CG 72) and this only can be done when we spend time with our Saviour on a daily basis, this is why our own personal devotion time is SO important. Yes I know that it can be a struggle for us busy mothers to find the time and energy for personal devotion time but we MUST do our work with "wholeheartedness" and we need to bring the "gospel into the home life". At the moment I would really struggle through my day if I was to stay awake after an early morning feed for Raphael and have my quiet time, so instead, whenever I feed during the day (which is every 2.5 - 3hrs), I spend that time reading. This has proved to be a REAL blessing. With about 5-6 feeds during the day and each lasting about 40 minutes, I get about 3-4 hours of reading time a day!! The Lord is good - He provides a way in all situations to spend time with us.


We also need to make sure that we are spending time with our husbands and children. When it comes to spending time with our family, it isn't quantity but QUALITY. A couple of years ago, Imad and I got to a point where we were keeping ourselves so bogged down in work that we rarely spent quality time together. We decided to start 'Date Night' each Wednesday evening and this is how it worked. Imad would leave work at a set time, find some beautiful flowers for me (mostly from the bush; once it was an Australian native flower which was on a thick stalk and stood taller then Imad, I could hardly lift the thing!). In the time it took Imad to drive home I would wash, feed the boys and get them ready for bed. When Imad got home he would tuck the boys into bed and then we would have a 'special' candle-lit dinner. The rest of evening was spent talking and catching up, it was a highlight to our week. Even though life is even more busy at the moment, we find the time to sit together and enjoy each others company. We have truly become close friends, and this hasn't happened by chance but by a decided effort on both parts. So if you have let the flame in your marriage dwindle away, relight it by spending some quality time together. Think of the things you use to do together when you were getting to know each other and try to start doing them again. Make yourself a necessity to your husband. if you hear your husband mention how he needs to complete a certain job around the home, or he feels like eating a specific meal, do your best to help him and make the food that he desires. He will truly cherish you and see you as a necessity in his life.

A couple of years ago we were attending a family camp and the topic of discussion one afternoon was on 'Family Time'. When we arrived back home we decided to start our own 'Family Time' each afternoon. We asked Danny (our eldest boy, then 5) what he would like us to do together as a family. He chose to go bike riding, so off we started down the road. Before we were even 5 minutes from home, we saw Danny peddling as fast as he could in front of us and then he started to wobble, and before we knew it he was flying over the handlebars and skidding across the bitumen - ouch! After we cleaned up the tears and blood we were sure that Danny would not be so excited about 'Family Time' again. To our surprise, the next day both boys couldn't wait to have family time! We have continued this tradition in our home and the boys REALLY cherish this time. Yes there have been times where we have allowed work and worries overtake us and have neglected our 'Family Time', but it is our desire to continue it as we have seen rich blessings in our home when we have made the effort to make time. I would like to add an extra 2 words to a saying you may well know: "Families who pray and play together, stay together."

At the end of chapter 9 we read that it is important to meet together for counsel in regards to child-training. When I read this I  was very much encouraged as that is what we are doing at Toowoomba Central Church, and there may be other groups who are following along with us. What a blessing to be able to meet and share our experiences and to encourage each other with Gods Word and inspired writings. I would encourage you all to continue with the studies and to put in your feedback at the bottom of each post so that we may gain encouragement from each other.

May God bless you in your calling of being a Mother.

Please find the next study guide here