Tomorrow...

...my little girl is having surgery for a turned eye. It's only day surgery, not a major procedure, but general anaesthetic is needed, and it's never nice seeing one of your children wheeled away into an operating theatre. I have been in floods of tears before when I've seen this happening.

Since I can't bear to watch the operating theatre doors closing, I am sending my husband to Brisbane to be with her for the day surgery tomorrow, and the follow up at the doctor's rooms on Thursday. I get to stay home with the other three kids and keep things running here.

I am praying that all goes well and that the operation fixes the problem. We were told by our optometrist that cosmetically there will probably be good improvement but from a functional point of view only time will tell. Or maybe I have that the wrong way around....I'm feeling a bit scattered about it all at the moment. Like I could just start crying at any minute really. Hope that the feeling will pass and I will feel a bit more peaceful about it all.

When you don't feel like it...

....don't do it. That's what the world would have us believe, anyway.

And even as Christians, we fall for it all the time.  It's the old "I'll do that/go to that if I don't have anything better to do" trap. Don't feel like going to church? Fine then, don't go. Don't feel like turning up to Bible study this week? Of course it's fine to stay home then. Don't feel like cooking? Pretend you missed seeing that email about the meal roster for someone who's not well or just had a baby.

I have been guilty of all of the above. Sure, I might cover it up with some more acceptable sounding excuse, such as "well, I've been really busy this week and I'm feeling pretty tired right now, so I don't think I can get there/sign up to help with whatever it is." "The kids have been hard work and they were a bit sick earlier in the week, so it's probably better to not go." "The only possible time I could book this appointment was when Bible study is on." (Sometimes that last one might be true, but there are certainly times when it isn't).

But if I'm honest with myself, deep down I know that if the activity involved was something like going out for dinner with my husband, catching up with a group of friends to see a movie or have a coffee together, or doing some other kind of social or leisure pastime, then I would make the effort to do it and prioritise it above these things. Suddenly the sick kids and the tired body don't seem to be such big issues after all.

I think that as Christians, we need to think counter culturally to the idea of only doing things if we really feel like it, or only because of what we will get out of it. Sadly, it's taken me a while to come to this realisation and I still struggle sometimes to get my priorities right. Church and Bible study aren't just where I go when I don't have somewhere else to be that seems more exciting. Serving and encouraging others in my Christian family isn't an optional extra that I can get around to doing after all my own selfish needs have been met.

Of course, like the majority of my sins, I need to remind myself of this on a regular basis. Putting God first, and meeting together with and serving Christian brothers and sisters, IS important. It's not easy. Sometimes I really don't feel like it. But what I feel like isn't the most important thing.

This is what the Bible tells us in Hebrews 10:24-25...."let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

What better thing could there be to do than this?

And here's another yummy after dinner treat

Sugar and spice roasted almonds. Recipe here.

They are certainly very more-ish. And very very easy to make. They would be good for a Christmas-time treat, but let me tell you they're pretty yummy at this time of the year as well.

I halved the recipe quantities in the above recipe link (that meant they all fitted into one large baking dish) and that's easily made enough for us to eat here at home. I'm now thinking of making a few bags for the school fete next week.

Seriously awesome dessert

Weis have a couple of new dessert bar flavours out. They were on special at Coles last week.

The "pineapple and coconut with a hint of lime" one tastes unbelievably good. Chris and I had one each for dessert last night. He is at Bible study tonight and I have just eaten the third one in the box.

I hope I can be good and resist eating the last one. But they are just so yummy I might not be able to hold back....

Murphy's Law of semi functioning car air conditioning

It will only ever work on days when it isn't hot.

Our second car is old. The air conditioning works very intermittently. Maybe for about five minutes for every hour of driving time.

That five minutes never coincides with times when it is really really hot, and you actually want the air conditioning to be working.

It seems to take great delight in coming on when it's not needed. Like when I'm driving at night. Or in a cool southerly breeze.

Unfortunately, the engine in this car is still going strong (as the rest of the car disintegrates around it...) so it will be a while before we'll be able to justify replacing the car.

In the meantime I'll continue the routine of shivering for the five minutes that it's working in the cold weather, and dripping with perspiration when it refuses to come on in the heat.

Managed to find a couple of Tim Winton books that I liked

Our two nephews stayed with us for a few days over the school holiday break. One of them was reading Blueback by Tim Winton.

So I asked him if I could borrow it. And I loved it. I read it in an hour, and then I read it again. Magnificent descriptions of the sea and the big groper Blueback that the book is named for.

Just a beautifully simple story with no irritating characters, like some of the other Tim Winton books I've tried and failed at reading.

Then last week while we were away, I read Land's Edge. This is a non-fiction book/memoir based on Tim's memories of the coast as he was growing up. I enjoyed that one too.

I feel like I've made it. I've managed to enjoy some Tim Winton.

This week at Book Club, we're discussing Breath. I read it for the second time while we were away. Still didn't enjoy it, although at least with some Tim enjoyment coming into reading it, I could appreciate his descriptions of the surf and the waves a bit more. The plot still isn't working for me though.

Home again

Lovely to be back. I've missed you all. Hope at least a few people might still be looking in here occasionally.