http://aholyexperience.com/2008/10/draw-god.html

Imitate the imitator - read in Ann’s blog of the boy copying the artist with the easel set up in front of a famous painting in a museum.

… “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” (Paul in 1 Cor. 11:1). …

Our children imitate those they spend time with, are attached to, be it peers, parents, teachers, coaches, faith communities. …

I wonder what my children are copying from the life modelled in the daily gallery of my heart, this home? …

Draw God. Incarnate Jesus. Imitate His Spirit. …

God encourages us “to be holy even as I am holy”.

Suggestions for new parents

After Baby is Born

1.    After 4-6 weeks the answerphone message went: “Thank you for calling Mark and Johanna. We’re probably attending to Grace right now. Please ring back in 10 minutes or leave a message after the beep.”

2.    Keep all ‘proof of purchase’ barcodes. You never know when a free or cheap ‘something’ might be offered in baby books like “little Treasures” or in promotional material.

3.    Here is one way to set up baby’s clothing drawers:
Top Drawer 1. Nappies and liners.
2. Current age group or sized clothing eg. 0-3 months.
3. –6 mths.               
4. Woollies.
5. -12 mths.              
Bottom drawer 6. 18+ months.
Leave the woollies drawer at #4. When most of the 0-3 mth clothing is too small, put that drawer to the bottom and bring the other drawers up to the next space.

4.    Write the sizings of the clothing on the top lip of the drawer.
0-3      / 000     / 62 cm          / 6 kg
3-6      / 00     / 68 cm          / 8 kg
6-12     / 0     / 80 cm          / 10 kg

5.    Don’t rely on the stated sizing of clothing. Measure against your baby and against other brands. Then put in the appropriate drawer.

6.    Another [smaller] set of drawers may be set up like:
Top 1. Booties, sox, mittens.     
2. Off-season current-sized clothing.
3. Sheets, wraps.                           
4. Cloths, bibs.
5. Hats, beanies, bonnets.          
Bottom 6. Clothes too small, not wanted.

 (c) Johanna Whittaker, May 1998, six months after my first child was born.

Chocolate Mug Cake

- submitted by Michelle, MOPS graduate (MPL)

1 Coffee Mug (or 1 cup pyrex jug)
4 tablespoons flour (that’s plain flour, not self-rising)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
Nuts (optional)
Small splash of vanilla

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well.
Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 2.5-3 minutes on high.

The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don’t be alarmed!
Allow to cool a couple of minutes, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

EAT! (this can serve 4 if you want to share!)

And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world?
Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

–

My G10 made this - yum! Her first chocolate cake she’s baked. Both the chn got excited about it. Took some pics.

This cake is just the ticket for making when unexpected visitors turn up!! 
~ johanna

Suggestions for new parents

When Baby is Born – first four weeks

1.    Have a soft cloth beanie for straight after delivery.

2.    Don’t push your darling little bundle of delight on to anyone else. Grandmas seem to be the exception, but older men and singles especially – ask first and invite them if they’d like to hold your baby.

3.    Most baby gifts come in the month after baby is born.

4.    Have a blackboard that you put outside the main entrance for those first 3-6 weeks – “Mother and baby are sleeping. Please leave a note or come back in an hour. Thanks.”

5.    Do NOT be afraid or too polite to ask any of your visitors to leave or to help you with a job, like hanging up the washing or tidying a room.

6.    Especially in the first 6-8 weeks, have a list of little chores to do for visitors who come for more than half an hour. [We’re serious!]

7.    Invest in an answerphone, so you can hear the messages left. This saves you having to rush to the phone when bathing, dressing, feeding baby or when sleeping or too knackered!.

8.    Our answerphone message in the first month went: “We have a baby girl called G…., born on Saturday 13 December. Please leave your name and number after the beep and we’ll get back to you. Bye.”

9.    Sticky tape greetings cards onto baby’s room door.

10.  Nappy liners [1-3] make useful reuseable washcloths.

11.  A basket on top of baby’s clothes drawers holds together: creams, lotions, scissors or snips [to cut clothing labels], Pamol [paracetamol], Infacol [for colic], pen, gift record book, hair brush, talc, cotton buds.

12.  Extras for your baby’s room may include: musical cube or mobile [if you like Brahms’ Lullaby]; black, white, and red shapes or toys for newborns; draped string to hang cards on.

13.  Tick ‘yes’ for all free samples of products.

(c) Johanna Whittaker, May 1998, six months after my first child was born.

…more on mothers…

Suggestions for new parents

Before Baby is Born

1.     Don’t rush out and buy baby clothes or equipment before baby is born, especially if it’s your first child.

2.     Essential baby clothing items are envelope necked singlets [un/-domed, long- / short-sleeved], disposable nappies [even if using cloth nappies], soft wash cloths, and 2-3 [brushed] cotton wrap.

3.     Have a car seat [maybe hired] organised about 3-4 weeks before due date. Practice getting it in before baby is born! Who wants half an hour fiddling by the kerbside on release from hospital?

4.     Essential baby’s room items are drawer set, spare bed or table, changing pad, cot, rubbish tin.

5.     Be familiar before baby is born with the cost of essential items and put money aside in a “Child’s Capital Account” for any purchases needed after the gifts have come in.

(c) Johanna Whittaker, May 1998, six months after my first child was born. …more on mothers…

Suggestions from new parents

Clothes

1.     The best type of booties are woollen, square-topped ones with a good length up the leg.

Comments

2.     Our baby is an unique individual with her own emerging personality – please don’t tell the parents who the baby looks like.

3.     Consider how the mother feels when she hears “Oh, baby’s like her father” all day every day.

Visits

4.     The best kind of visitors in the first 6-8 weeks are ones that appear with muffins or meals and visit for less than half an hour, unless helping to fold or iron the washing or clean the bathroom.

5.     Don’t jiggle my baby or pat her on the back. An occasional gentle rub on the back [careful of her developing spine] or pats on the bottom are ok.

6.     Please ask permission to pick up my baby before you pick her up. I might want her to rest or sleep without being handled.

(c) Johanna Whittaker, May 1998, six months after my first child was born

…more on mothers…

Suggestions from new parents

Gifts

1.     Please don’t give my baby girl all pink things – if for no other reason than we [the parents] get bored dressing her in pink all the time. [Nor boy blue things]

2.     Really useful gifts are bibs, socks [not booties], and facecloths.

3.     A good idea for a gift is to give six month or one year old clothing for the next season. Besides one of my babies had a long back and needed bigger than newborn clothing.

4.     Other baby gift ideas could be books for all stages – cloth, plastic, thick cardboard, big clear pictures, storybooks, colours, shapes, letters or words.5.     One of my favourite gifts for baby was a generous-sized pair of multi-coloured knitted ‘boots’ that stayed on my baby’s active 3-6+ month old feet.

Let me tell you a bit about my family:

Scissor Trails is my 10.5 yo girl and Screwdriver Puddles in my 8.5 yo boy. I don’t call them by these names usually.

Scissor Trails (T) is not a “tidy kiwi” and leaves evidence of her Being all around the house - clothes, books, papers, tissues. This is not helped by regular cutting, trimming, cardmaking, and lapbooking - all over the house. One down-side of being a one house schoolroom!

Screwdriver Puddles (P) loves making electrical circuits with Brainbox (3 sets of it) plus the DSE electrical experiment kit from last Christmas. He pulls old gadgets apart. Screws, wires etc accumulate in a circle around where he happened to sit at the time of the latest ‘experience’ (his 4yo word for experiment). Must also mention his love for playing with water too.

Now, the following doesn’t really have anything to do with the above!

A few days ago I was chatting with (P) about names for babies.
“What names did you want for me?”
“I wanted to call you Aiden.
“How come I’m not called Aiden?”
“Cos your Dad didn’t want the name for you.”
Pause.
“I think you can call me Aiden.”

In a slow part of the Sunday church service the next day he started writing his name. I wrote Aiden in brackets. He beamed a smile at me, then continued to write his full name with Aiden put in as the second name.

What’s in a name? More than we think.

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