What can you do…

Today we helped women on the other side of the world
We connected to other mum’s who have had long labours, who have endured mastitis and swollen breasts.
Mums who have had sleepless nights with teething babies and kissed dirty knees to make it all better.
A mum, who is just like me, who worries about her kids and wants them to be healthy and happy.
The difference is that when my son needs an ultrasound to check on why he has 3 creases in one chubby leg and not the other, I don’t blink an eye at the $204 Dr’s bill while for the other mother, that is nearly what her family earns in a year!

Just spending a few hours organising a facebook event and inviting all of our friends along to it, a few flyers (although….we probably could have done with a whole heap more of these!), some afternoon tea and then setting up, the lovely Esme and I were able to spend the afternoon with old friends and new friends, kid free (well almost – Caden follows me everywhere still), drink coffee, eat brownies and cake, get some new clothes (I actually have jeans that fit now!) and raise $280 for Compassion’s Child Survival program in Rwanda.

Even for us, $280 isn’t money to be sneezed at. It would pay the water, electricity and gas bill that all came last week. It would buy the Ikea kitchen that I have my eye on for Nevaeh’s birthday and some Lego for Adley’s birthday. It would pay for that ultrasound that the Dr’s said Caden had to have to find out if there was something wrong with his hips or if he was just chubbier in one leg (turns out he is just chubbier on one side…)
There are lots of ways I could think of to spend this money…but in Rwanda it could mean that 46 mothers receive medical attention during the birth of their babies instead of being left to birth alone or with no trained attendant. That is 46 women! Cleaning a few clothes out of my closet (and getting new ones….) means 46 women now have a much higher chance of living through the birth of their child, and their child surviving then they did at the start of the day.

The community in Rwanda where the Child Survival Program is running is very poor. The Child Survival Program is brand new! Meaning, and let this not be wasted, that mums in this community can now have HOPE for their children. The same hope that we have for our kids to grow, to crawl, to walk, to speak, to discover Jesus, to make friends to believe they can be a fireman when they grow up…
When I wonder why I put effort into an event that everyday I get a facebook message that says such and such has declined your invitation (it can get a little depressing after a while…) I try and put myself in this mother’s shoes. The mother who tonight is sitting in her one roomed home, with her newborn baby that isn’t crying because she is just too weak too. Or the mum who’s 3 year old has had diarrhea for the last 3 days and the herbs she is mixing up aren’t helping him. Or the mum who’s husband has left and she doesn’t know how she is going to feed her 3 little children tomorrow. That is the mum that needs hope. If I were her, I would pray that someone who had the means would make the effort.

Watch this movie and be inspired – I believe it shouldn’t end at the beginning

Thanks to those who came along today, today you gave Hope to a mum who needs it.

An inspiring life?

I’ve been thinking…I tend to write something and publish it, then mull it over in my head for a little while.
Maybe I should do the ‘mulling’ before I hit publish, but I am far to impatient for such things!

I read this blog, Momastry, and I am always inspired by what ‘G’ has to say and what she and her ‘monkees‘ are doing. Part of what inspires me is knowing that G has pulled herself up from depression and addiction to be a Christ follower who is living out Jesus’ call to love God with all your heart and to love others like yourself. You know how you hear those stories of people who ‘once lived like this’ but now they are changing the world someone. I tend to hear them and go ‘man my story is no where near as exciting and dramatic as that, how can I change the world?’ I am SO grateful that I have not had to learn life lessons with such pain and suffering that others have had to go through, and I really wouldn’t want their stories to be mine. Their stories are such a testament of God’s faithfulness and their courage, and that is truly wonderful. But…I am coming to realise that my story is no less important.

I have said before that I tend to have a bit of a Saviour complex. I want to save everyone. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I have experienced such a stable life and others should be able to too. My parents sacrificed for me, but as a child I didn’t see this. I was always fed and clean, I always had someone pick me up at school at the end of the day (albiet sometimes 45 minutes late!). I have a wonderful relationship with my mum and dad now, I have loved and lost people along the way but I have been blessed through these friendships. I have more then what I need now and the most cherished treasures in my 3 little ones and a wonderful husband. I am full. My cup is full and spilling out. This, I think is where my desire to make a difference in others lives comes from. I do not need a jaw dropping life story to help others, I just need a full cup, or as one friend calls it full love tank! You can not build into others lives until you build into your own life. I hope you didn’t read my last post to be about ‘how I have so much to give and I can do all this great stuff’….this isn’t my heart. I am nothing without God. It is my heavenly Father who has given me a blessed life. I do all that I do because of Jesus’ sacrifice, because of the knowledge that God loves me and because I pray that God’s kingdom will come to earth, as it is in heaven. Those who have been given much, much is expected of them. Maybe that is where someone like G’s life and mine are similar. We have both been given a life full of experiences (although totally different, that isn’t the similar part) that have led us to a healthy, happy family and through that, God can use us to reach others.

So what makes you full? Where do you need to build yourself up?

I am going to try something new this week. At CCC we were encouraged to do our RPM’S, each day, and I must confess….I don’t think I ever did them
RPM’S are where you each morning (or week as it will probably be in my case) you rate yourself from 1-10 on four things.

Relational – this typically includes the people with whom we interact with on a regular basis: our immediate family, friends, small groups, co workers. You can ask yourself these questions.
• How are my relationships at home?
• What about my marriage, dating, or family life is going well? What’s not going so well?
• What would I like to change?
• Who do I consider my closest friend? How is God using that relationship to grow me?
• What are my relationships at work like?
• Which of my relationships give me energy and life? Which are the most challenging or draining?

Physical – Diet, excercise, sleep and rest. Ask yourself these questions
• Am I getting enough rest?
• How is my current energy level?
• What am I doing to maintain good health? Is there anything about my physical health that I’d like to change?

Mental – In order to stay sharp and be life long learners we need to develop our minds. Some questions are
• What have I been learning lately?How am I applying what I am learning?
• What magazines, books, or websites do I read or access?
• What thoughts have been dominating my mind? Are they drawing me closer to God? Are they pulling me away from him?

Spiritual – Discovering and acting on what helps us grow deeper in our relationship with Jesus.
• How would I describe my relationship with Christ right now?
• What does it look like when I am feeling closely connected to God?
• Which spiritual disciplines seem to help me draw closer to Jesus? Prayer? Journaling? Worship? Solitude?
• Who is holding me accountable to practicing these disciplines?
• What has God been saying to me lately through his Word? The Holy Spirit? Other Christ followers? Prayer?

(Thanks Dave Ferguson for the above!)

I figure by taking care of myself, I will be better able to take care of my family and my time, energy, passions, words and finances can spill out to others.
How do you make sure your love tank if full and that you have enough energy and desire to build into your family and others?

So G and her Monkee tribe (that is what she calls them), are making an impact around America taking care of families who are doing it tough in one way or another. They are looking at starting Monkee tribes around the world and I am thinking we can be one of them? I don’t know…feels like an unknown area and probably will take a lot of time and computing skill (which I don’t have) but I think this is doable. Read about what they do on her blog here and let me know what you think. Changing the world is going to take a lot of time, but changing someone’s world just takes a moment

Becoming the best mum I can be

I remember rearranging my parents lounge room with the girl next door to create a ‘house’ for us and our ‘babies’ when I was about 8 years old. That was what I wanted to be…a mum. When Rick and I …

Are you richer or poorer today?

Have you checked out if you will be richer or poorer after today’s budget announcement in Australia?
From the little bit I have seen, looks like we will have a tiny bit more in our pockets! Unfortunetely, the same can not be said for Foreign Aid and Development.
The government had promised to increase the amount to foreign aid in the National Budget from 0.3% to 0.5%. Today, they have chosen instead to delay this promise another year.
It had been reported that the government would cut aid, or delay it for 5 years, so today’s news isn’t as bad as it could have been.
BUT…. for 290 000 people, this inaction is as good as a death sentence!

Micah Challenge, Get Up, the Oaktree foundation and others are urging Australians to stand up and to not allow 290 000 people to die in devastating poverty.
All you have to do is copy and paste this email to Julie Bishop, the shadow foreign minister. Here is her email address Julie.Bishop.MP@aph.gov.au

Please…just take a moment.

I was hungry. And you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty. And you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger. And you invited me in. 36 I needed clothes. And you gave them to me. I was sick. And you took care of me. I was in prison. And you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the people who have done what is right will answer him. ‘Lord,’ they will ask, ‘when did we see you hungry and feed you? When did we see you thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you as a stranger and invite you in? When did we see you needing clothes and give them to you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘What I’m about to tell you is true. Anything you did for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
Matthew 25

Dear Julie

I urge you to take a stand and to not follow the government’s lead to dip into the foreign Aid Budget.
290 000 lives will be affected, many of these people will now die because of the breaking of a promise to increase foreign aid.
Don’t allow Australia to balance the budget on the back of the world’s poor.

Please hold firm on your commitment to put aside just 0.5% of our national budget to help the world’s poorest people, including our closest neighbours. It is a commitment to save hundreds of thousands of lives, educate millions of girls and boys, and spread democracy and safety in our region. It is a commitment worth keeping.

With hope,

Kids ministry…I’m not begging…I promise!

I have been working in Kids’ Ministry for a number of years and I still have SOOOOO much to learn. My biased (but correct!) opinion is that children’s ministry should be the most important ministry within the church (probably alongside …

See Saw up and down…

See saw, up and down, in the sky and on the ground!
I don’t think I have ever been a big see saw fan. Adley loves slides, Nevaeh will spend hours on swings…thankfully neither of them have been keen on see saws either (Just need to keep Caden away from them!)

You know how sometimes people describe life as a rollercoaster…and sure, sometimes it is. But for me, at least right now, I feel like I am on a never ending see saw. Somedays, I think I know exactly what I want to do and how I want to do it. Then the next day, I am totally the opposite! (Sometimes I only need an hour to go up and down)
A real high, to a real low. I’m not talking emotionally here…at least not extreme emotions, just more about thoughts.
We are talking about what God has in store for us, are we really made for such as this?
Do we take some great risks but with potentially great rewards? (or we could just fall on our faces!)
Up and down, up and down….All the thoughts and conversations are starting to make me feel a little light headed!
Thankfully, I was reminded of this verse today…
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take”
It may be a see saw ride, but glad I get to do it with my hubby sitting at the other end!

Such a time as this

Change? I am all about change! Change is fresh, exciting and new! But….
Decisions….not so keen about. Decisions are hard, daunting, unnerving.
And to make matters worse…I am an emotional decision maker.

Can you tell the Pekan’s are spending lots of time thinking??
Feel like God has got something big for us….just gotta decide (and wait, watch and listen) as to what that might be!
Ever get that feeling that you are here for ‘such a time as this?’

Anyone else could, but no one else will.

It is Sunday, and like many Sundays I headed off to church this morning, but unlike most Sunday’s, I sat through the service on my own, with no baby or child to fuss over and distract me from the message. I sat through the whole message for the first time in months. Luckily….it was a good one
There were many parts that I have taken away but what struck me the most was a story about Moody, a 19th century Evangelist. (At least I think he was 19th century…)
The story goes that Moody was the headline speaker at a big conference in London and just before he was due to speak, no one could find him. He was lost. Upon discovering him in an old decrepit apartment building looking after a sick woman and a sick baby the conference committee asked him what on earth he was doing. I can just imagine them, all flustered, ties loose, wind swept hair, furrowed brows, wondering what on earth the thousands of people who are waiting are going to say when they discover the person they have come to hear is lost. One of them says to Moody, “Anyone can help this woman, why are you?” And Moody says, “Yes, anyone could help this woman but no one else will.”

Last night I spent a couple of hours with a very mature 16 year old and somewhere along the line I said something and her response led me to believe what I had said had something of wisdom to it. We were talking about how there are so many causes out in the world, heck there are enough causes just in our community that are vying for our attention. If you look at just a few of them it can be hard not to feel totally desolate. Depressed at all that needs to be done. I have said before that I have a bit of a Saviour complex. I want to make everything better for everyone. I want to change the world! Make it a better place then how I found it. But this is impossible. We have lives to live and washing to do and kids to raise and our attention can not go to 10 different, yet very worthy projects!
It can also be easy to think that this is not our problem. Someone else could help. Someone else should help. But as Moody said. “Anyone else could help, but no one else will.”
My gem of wisdom is to choose something. What are you passionate about? What does your heart bleed for. What gets you so angry you want to punch someone out about?
Choose something, one thing that you are going to stick your neck out for and put your time and effort into it. Do something to make it better. If that is advocating for women’s choices, or speaking out for justice or being a voice for those who can’t speak for themselves, whatever it is, choose one thing and be that difference.

Next week we will celebrate Easter, when “Jesus came alive again” as my kids dutifully recite! On Good Friday we will remember back to Jesus on the cross dying for our sins and on Sunday we will eat too much chocolate and hot cross buns as we join together and joyfully think about the life we have with Jesus now. Yet….Jesus lived a life before Easter. He came with one agenda. To show this world a never ending, never giving up, always and forever love. He did this in many different ways and he asked his disciples to do the same. We can’t fix the whole world by ourselves but if each of us takes up our cross, whatever it is that we are willing to die for (figuratively I hope!) we can make someone’s life better and show that never ending, never giving up, always and forever love.

I want to be that mum…

I want to be that mum who has each of her babies baby books filled in completely…
I want to be that mum who remembers that funny things her kids say (or at least remembers to write them down!)
I want to be that mum who gets creative with her kids…who has scrapbooks of her children’s art.
I want to be that mum who is patient with her kids and always has a wise way of dealing with a frustrating situation.
I want to be that mum who makes organic homemade food all the time. Who understands about additives and how much protein, carbs and dairy her child consumes.
I want to be that mum who grows her own veggies!
I want to be that mum who can homeschool while having a baby, heck I want to be that mum who could homeschool at all!

I want to be that mum who’s house is clean, clothes are ironed and all with natural, chemical free products!
The mum who is respected by her kids, stays in contact with her friends and makes time for her husband.

I want to be that mum who brushes her hair and puts on makeup before she leaves the house.

So much pressure on myself…and it is all from myself!
I don’t know where it comes from or when it started but being ‘That mum’ just isn’t possible!

I think I do a pretty good job of being mum. My husband says I am great
I know I do a lot and sometimes it can be hard for me to not judge others to my standards. Maybe this is where it starts…us mums trying to keep up with each other!
This digital, sharing world that we live in with constant updates from others not only of what they are doing, but tweets of the action to advocate for something else or pinning of awesome creative crafts ideas and birthday cakes….while I LOVE it, and can totally get swept up in the cuteness of little butterfly cupcakes or latest fair trade action plan…it is also exhausting.

I also want to be that mum who can stay away from the computer for a day…or a week…

It’s ok that I’m not that mum. And it’s ok that you’re not that mum!
What I need to be is a mum who is interested and available to my kids. Someone they feel safe with. Someone who is going to spend the hard years with them and put in the hard yards to see them become self sufficient, community minded people, God loving people.
I guess I should stop trying to be ‘That’ mum and be the best Adley’s mum, Nevaeh’s Mum and Caden’s Mum that I can be. Cause no one else is going to do it.

….and I would just kill the veggies anyway

Future mummy

A conversation with Nevaeh during the week went something like this…
Nevaeh – “mummy, there is still babies in my tummy.”
Me – “Really Nevaeh?”
Nevaeh – “yeah, they are going to come out soon”
Me – “Where are you going to have your babies?”
Nevaeh – “In front of the fire at home”
Me – “Who is going to help you?”
Nevaeh – “No one. I am going to squeeze them out myself.”
Me – “Are you going to have a midwife?”
Nevaeh – “No”
Me – “Are you going to have a doula?”
Nevaeh – “Yeah…Sara.”

I love that my little girl is going to grow up not being afraid of birth. There is so much fear in birthing today. Fear of pain and of complications, and often because of the stories women share with each other. There are most definitely times when birth doesn’t go to plan and when that happens we are fortunate and blessed to be somewhere that Dr’s can step in and ensure the health and safety of mother and baby. But otherwise…I hope Nevaeh takes the initiative to understand her body and birth and her options as she gets older and enters the world of mummyhood (when she is much older Sara might not be her doula, but Grace would make a great 2nd generation doula!