A catch up post

I have been meaning to post for about 2 weeks and there has been so many athings to post about but just not enough time, so now i am going to play catch up and post a little from/about each thing.

Life has been very blessed in the Conradt household lately. Dont get me wrong, not all roses or anything, Gods grace has just been all over everything, you know?

Grace has been loving her ballet lessons, and even though she wont show us what she is learning i have caught glimpses of her walking with toes pointed forward, and practicing controlled breathing. Oh and i find it highly amusing trying to put her whole like 8 strands of hair in a little bun :)

We have been SOOOOOO blessed by the course we are doing- Growing Kids Gods Way. It is the same as the books babywise/childwise that I read and doing the course and the group support has been so positive in reinforcing my commitment to doing the best I can for our kids. I am so loving the boundaries and the respect and honour that it instills in the kids.The structure in our dayand limits to her social freedoms have all but cured J's little (more like chronic) biting habit, just have a peak at how well te girls are getting along now...

Don't be fooled though, they still try and push it. Jaeda's new battleground is holding out on saying 'ta'. She has missed out on dinner once, and now it only takes me reaching to take which ever non-appreciated item it is from her and she will say 'TA' or sign 'please' like crazy. I wonder how long before she quits trying it...Ah the joys of discovering we have a will.



We have just started a star chart which Grace gets for leaving 'blanky' on her bed. Once blanky is making absolutly no day time appearences we will start with night times. It is time for the blanky and by default the thumb sucking to go. I feel a bit sad for my big girl though, she really loves that thing. I mean she hugs it and says bye when she leaves the house and hugs it when she gets home... I know! my kid is a little cuckoo but what 3 year old isn't in some way? I would let her keep it until she was 40 accept it triggers the thumb sucking and i said 3 was where i would draw the line on that... I have even gone past that because i feel so sad taking her lovey away but she is going to ruin her teeth! Good thing Jaeda's fingers are getting too big to be comfortable to suck so i am hoping her little habit will resolve itself.

I have to say the behavior has actually been very good when you consider the copious amounts of chocolate that have been in abundance in our house lately, mostly thanks to easter but also thanks to Carly... you so didn't have to share, but thanks a heap anyway, saved me eating my kids easter chocolate :)

One thing i was going to post on was Good Friday. A lovely lady from our church (known to my kids as Mrs Kho, as titles are one of the respect for elders principles we have been talking about in growing kids but more on that later) invited some children from church to her house for a morning tea. With help from her eldest daughter, the kids participated in a 'surprise' easter story where they each choose a couloured egg from the carton which contained a symbol such as bread, a rock, coins, a cross etc which represented elements of the easter story, they talked about it all, then went on a clue hunt to find bits to make a craft which turned out to be an easter memory verse on a 'scroll' and then did a egg hunt. t was such a beatiful morning and all the kids ages 3- 13 were involved and had a great time. I wish i had taken photos but i was so absorbed in watching the kids learning and have so much fun i forgot.
Grace didnt forget she had stashed an egg from the hunt in her bag and silently got into on the car trip home, at the end of which i found her like this...



And lastly, a little testimony of God at work in little ways...
On Tueday last week I was lying awake considering(as i often do) all the things God has spoken to me about- through prayer, prophetic words from people and his word. One thing, at least at one point, i was sure was one of the things i was called to was preaching the word. When i first moved to my husbands church just before getting married I was asked to speak a few times and did the main message once, and then nothing- like from god or church. When i would get asked to speak previously usually God had been stirring up a word in me for a few days so i often new it was coming... but nothing for a while, until tuesday, i was thinking, Lord is that something that was for then (as then myself and my husband were running our youth group virtually single (couple?) handledly so i had to preach at least every second week. So Wednesday, I get the call, can you speak on communion on Sunday... sure- the bible says to be prepared in season and out of season so I will never say no. Lord i will take it that it is not something you want me to let go of entirely just yet. So anyway i pray and get this scripture and work my whole message from the scripture. Sunday comes i give the message and totally forget to give the scripture- reading or reference, don't even realise. i sit down and Ps pete starts his message which ties in beautifully with the worship songs and the communion message and roughly halfway though, ps pete quotes this scripture his word just reminded him of but cant remember the reference- so i read it from the top of my communion message notes. The exact "forgotten" scripture, Col 1:15. GOD is Good, not that it was super important that the scripture was shared because the heart of it was already, but God in all His greatness and wonder, cared enough to show me that He was still going to use me to share His message by confirming to me that i was hearing from Him.