Handy Home-made Toys - bottles, shakers, books, shapes

Terrific Tips

Children and Chores - teaching responsibility. Start as you intend to carry on.

The MOPS Story - where it started

off the website: “What MOPS has provided for me… is a welcome break; a chance to make new friends; the opportunity to know I’m not the only mom who goes through the struggles and joys of raising young children…”

“If I had 30 minutes to do anything I liked, I’d …” - aah! Scroll down for more responses to different situations.

Resources for mothers provided by MOPS.

When stressed, women “Tend and Befriend” whereas men “Fight or Flight” - is there life after MOPS?

Is there a MOPS group near you?
Visit www.mops.org and search for a group in LHS box.
In New Zealand, check out : www.mops.org.nz/groups/.  

Fear is not overcome by dealing with the fear; it is overcome by DOING the fearful thing. You overcome fear by facing the tiger with your fear and discovering that you can walk away alive. In time you laugh at the tiger, for it was only paper. But if your child flees from the tiger, and you call it fear and then offer sympathy or protection, you legitimise the child’s fear and the paper tiger gets bigger and more threatening every day. If you treat the paper tiger with indifference, the child will feel the same. Wild animals learn what to be afraid of and what to tolerate by watching their parents. What do you want, a pitiful, weak child, cowering for comfort, or a tiger tamer? You will make the child into the image of your own responses.

Breaking the Bondage of Shyness and Fear by M.Pearl, January February 2001
~

“Some degree of fear is natural in parents. We love our kids so much that the thought of anything bad happening to them sends us into a panic. Yet, if we’re not careful, this caution can become oppressive. When we let fear dominate our parenting, we can actually shield our kids from the very things they need to be dealing with.”

• Surrender Your Children to God
• Live with Hope
• Foster Responsibility
• Pray, Pray, Pray

Sheila Wray Gregoire is a freelance writer in Belleville, Ontario.
Christian Parenting Today, July/August 2000, Vol. 12, No. 6, Page 51
~

Teaching point one: We don’t parent alone.

We commit our children to our heavenly Father, who always watches us. God is always available. Create extended families to provide more of a sense of community. Pray in local ‘grandparents’ or ‘aunties’ to care for your children. Scripture tells us he longs to hear from us. Read James 1:5. All we have to do when we are unsure about a decision is to call on the Father. He will readily disperse the wisdom we so desperately need. It’s there for the asking.

Teaching point two: God enables us to do what he requires.

At some points in our lives we can feel overwhelmed, like there is no way out and we are going under. Read 1 Samuel 17:37. When David was about to fight Goliath, he remembered how God had given him the strength he needed before, and trusted him in his current time of need.  All of us face our own Goliaths; they just look different.The most frightening things can happen to our children; no matter what we do to protect them, it is sometimes not enough. Only God is the ultimate protector. Read Isaiah 41:10.

Teaching point three: Pray without ceasing.

1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray continually.” We pray without ceasing to the God who never ceases to hear us.

* Read 1 Peter 5:7. God cares about what we care about: these children he has entrusted to us. Listening to our every call, God grants us wisdom to be the responsible parents he made us to be, and he tells us to call on him anytime we need him. Lovingly he meets our needs. Read Matthew 7:11. God is waiting to give to us and to bless us.

* Read Proverbs 22:6. God instructs us to train our children. He assures us that if we do, that training will somehow stay with our children. What a comfort it is to know that if we obey God, even if our children stray from the right path we have shown them, they can come back to it. We see this illustrated with the prodigal son. What a perfect picture of how God is with us. Even when we blow it, we are welcomed back into his arms. How wonderful that God our Father can show us how to parent. Even the things that were never modeled for us, God can teach us.

Anne Peterson, a regular contributor to Christian Bible Studies. www.ChristianBibleStudies.com
~

When we face the fears of the unknown, we turn to what we know. To what is true. Because that Truth sets us free from the burdens of fear.

Here is truth:
God knows everything.
He is still in control.
He is good.
He is all powerful.
He has a plan for our lives – to give us a future and a hope.
He loves us.
He will never leave us.

And this truth sets us free from our fears, no matter what circumstances we face. This truth not only comforts us; when we pass this truth on, it comforts others.

Carol Kuykendal, MOMSense Radio, March 2004. www.mops.org
~

The miracle of love takes away our fear.

Shalom,
Johanna

Layouts
- only need one link! layouts galore, for free

** http://www.stickersnfun.com/nl183.html - can sign up for newsletter (see RHS), Aussie based

http://www.stickersnfun.com/sketches.asp - scroll down a bit. Make sure you have a layout folder on your computer. I open the sketch page from this site, block just the title and sketches, then ’print’ ’selection’ as pdf.
A quick and easy way to save to your computer for future inspiration for cardmaking or scrapmaking.

Other interesting sites:

http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/
http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/sitemap/

http://scrapbook.com/resources.html

http://www.stumbleupon.com/tag/scrapbooking/ (I think you need to be signed up to www.stumbleupon.com but there’s so many interesting sites!)
http://www.stumbleupon.com/tag/scrapbook/

There’s plenty out there and I can’t find the cool site I visited recently - och! another time …

Also google ‘digital scrapbooking’ or ‘digi scrapbook’.

http://www.freedigitalscrapbooking.com/index.html

Spiced Apple Muffins

-        Foodtown Magazine, 2000 

1 ¼ c SR flour                                                75g butter

1 c rolled oats                                                 1 egg

¾ c brown sugar                                          ¾ c milk

2 tsp each: mixed spice, cinnamon       1 c grated apple [or mashed banana]

½ t baking soda    

Preheat oven 190 deg C.

Grease 12 cup muffin tray
[2x deep red silicone trays plus big blue one]

Mix dry ingredients together in large bowl.

Melt butter, then add egg and milk, beating with a fork.

Add fruit and pour into dry ingredients, stirring until just moistened.

Spoon mixture into muffin cups, until almost full (1-2T]

Bake for 17-20 minutes. [No fan after first five minutes]

Makes 12-16.

At 8+10 years old, my children still like object lessons.

Object lessons are Bible stories and deeper concepts taught by something real they can see. Jesus used parables or stories with several layers of meanings. And so realia, or real tangible objects, help to express ideas and character qualities to everyone - not just the younger set.

Here’s some links I’ve wandered across lately:

http://mssscrafts.com/objectlessons/

http://www.kidology.org/zones/zone.asp?zone_id=8

http://www.sermons4kids.com/ - check out sermon index - OT, NZ, powerpoint, etc

http://www.sermons4kids.com/powerpoint_presentations.htm (ppt)

I’ll add more as I stumble across them …

Blessings,

Coconut Fudge Bar
(microwave recipe)

-  passed to me by friend, Gayle B, 2002

1 cup flour                                        ½ c sugar
1 T cocoa                                          125 g butter
1 c coconut [1 c total of coconut, choc dots, cake fruit]
½ t vanilla or rum essence

Mix dry ingredients
Add melted butter and essence
Put into buttered flat dish

Microwave [750 watt m/w], elevated,
high for 4.44 minutes + 22 seconds [keep eye on it] 

Ice [if at all]

a.     chocolate icing and sprinkle with coconut while wet   
or (my usual)
b.     sprinkle with choc dots over just-cooked cake, microwave 20 seconds. Spread melted choc with ball of soup spoon.

My children, 8+10, can make this. Freezes well.
A favourite - and a quickie to make, decorate, and cool.

Ten Hallmarks of Well-Being

1. My life has meaning & direction.

2.  I have experienced one or more important transitions in my adult years, and I have handled these transitions in an unusual, personal, or creative way.

3.  I rarely feel cheated or disappointed by life.

4.  I have already attained several of the long-term goals that are important to me.

5.  I am pleased with my personal growth and development.

6.  I am in love; my partner and I love mutually.

7.  I have many friends.

8.  I am a cheerful person.

9.  I am not thin-skinned or sensitive to criticism.

10. I have no major fears.

–

So, how well is your Being, wife, mother, woman?

c 1981 Gail Sheehy, Pathfinders

Last Saturday I became the 3rd president for MOPS (NZ) Inc. (Mothers of Preschoolers).

Check out this useful ever-changing mother website: www.mops.org

and our local NZ information: www.mops.org.nz 

MOPS in NZ has 19 groups with a number more lining up to sign up.

So, it’s off to the office this morning … my home educated children are getting used to packing a workday bag! (though they got distracted by the pool table last time - off the list for today)

Better Mums Make A Better World!

Old English Gingerbread

p.33, “Sugar and Spice” with Jo Seagar, 2000 (adapted, 2 T ginger)

Sift together

500g (4c) SR flour

1 t salt

1-2 T ground ginger

1 T BP

In a saucepan, warm

1 soft brown sugar

175 g butter

6 T treacle

6 T Chelsea golden syrup (from NZ, like a light treacle sugar syrup)

In a separate pan, warm

300 ml milk

and beat in

2 eggs

Combine with flour and syrup mixtures and mix thoroughly.

Mix

1 T warm milk to mix

1 t bicarb soda

then add to mixture.

Put into 25cm square, well-greased baking-paper-lined cake tin.

Mix

1 t cinnamon

2 T raw sugar

and sprinkle on top.

Bake for 1 to 1 ½ hours (or until firm) at 180 deg C.

Cuts at least 20 slices.