Naming our baby girl

Mercy - We chose this name because of the great mercy God has shown us. God has not only provided a way of salvation through Jesus Christ, he has also mercifully given us two children even though we had such little faith in Him for this at times. We hope that our little girl will grow to love God's mercy, and to show mercy to those who are poor, orphaned, or in need of the gospel.

Joy - Dave wanted a short second name that flowed on from the first name. We often call her Mercy Joy, although we chose not to hyphenate it. God has given us such joy through the gift of this child! From the moment I thought I might be pregnant, God gave me joy. Dave was also joyful when I told him the news. May our baby girl bring joy to many throughout her life.

Lorraine - God brought my mother Lorraine into relationship with Him in young adulthood. Most of Mum's family are not Christians. God has preserved Mum's faith through many trials and changes. Her faith has been the means through which God has revealed His mercy to me. I had often thought of calling our baby Lorraine, but we were not keen on three names. Then about a month before she was due I felt like God was speaking to my heart that adding this name would provide her with a reminder of what God has done for our family. I prayed that if this was from God, Dave would immediately agree. He did!

We hope that God will continue the work he has started in bringing Mum to faith in Him, through extending His mercy to many generations. We remember Exodus 20: 5 - 6 For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.


A few days ago I realised how applicable Psalm 90: 14 is to our the name of our baby girl:

Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy,
That we may rejoice and be glad all our
days!

This has become my prayer for Mercy Joy.

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Advent

It has been fun to begin our Advent celebrations. We have taken out our decorations and started our Jesse tree devotions. I have printed out all the Bible passages for these, after compiling them in full in a word document. This makes it easier for our family to do them, as we don't have to look up each passage in a different part of the Bible each evening. If anyone would like this document for the purposes of your own devotions, please email me (sherrindrewATgmail.com).

Elnathan was mainly interested in removing decorations from the tree, rather than putting them onto it.

The tree is now safely on our dining table. We love to decorate it with stars and angels, and some meaningful ornaments such as a handpainted wedding momento given to us by the hostess at the bed and breakfast where we spent our wedding night. We look forward to adding Jesse tree decorations as well, which will remind us of what God has done for us through many Biblical events.

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Homecoming and introductions

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Mercy Joy Lorraine

God blessed us with the natural birth of our second child, Mercy Joy Lorraine, on Sunday November 21st. Mercy was born at 1.34am, weighing 3.725kg (about eight pounds). She is 52.5cm long. We came home at midday the same day.

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10 things that help me to feel good as a Mum

A friend once asked me what makes me feel good as a Mum. Here are 10 of the things on my personal list.

1. Meditating on God's word and learning to rest in His favour, promises, and guidance. I am refreshed and uplifted as I focus on what God says. This evening as I meditated on Ps. 46 God spoke to my heart about the upcoming birth and early days of parenting two children. My heart was encouraged as I believed that "we will not fear" because God is with us! At the moment I tend to meditate on small segments of Scripture rather than following a plan and reading large chunks. 

2. Being thankful for the abundance God has provided, and for the people in my life. The Revive Our Hearts ministry has a wonderful 30 day challenge that helped me grow in this area. I also recommend the husband encouragement challenge that made me enormously thankful for my husband! You can find these challenges here.

3. Making time to sit down and do something other than housework. I stop housework during Elnathan's morning room time and afternoon nap, and at 8pm in the evening. As we all know, housework never ends! I need time boundaries that make sure it does not take over every waking moment. This is a physical need in my case, due to chronic pain, but it also gives me special times to look forward to each day.

4. Pursuing peace in relationships. It is easy to become involved in pointless conflicts that sap our emotional energy and our time, distracting us from building God's kingdom. Minding our own business is one way we have found to avoid this. This is as important online as in "real life". There are many blogs that focus on conflicts or faults in particular people. I avoid these, particularly writers with razor keyboards.

5. Learning, particularly about topics that are not directly related to the day-to-day running of the household. Learning about diverse subjects will be of benefit to our family as we plan to home school. This year I have loved making progress with learning Zulu and teaching some words to our son. I set aside 10 - 15 minutes a day, and have been surprised at how much it is possible to learn with this small time commitment.

6. Having projects that can be completed. Reading books and completing quilts, scrapbook pages and educational aids all fit into this category.

7. Maintaining our home as a place of order, beauty , education and ministry. I am here most of the time, and it is important for my sense of well being that my home reflects God's beauty. Having pictures on the wall and places for most things is a wonderful help. I love knowing that my home is not just a physical place, it is also a place God can use to build His kingdom and reflect the things that are dear to His heart.

8. Feeding my family. This is a lot of work but it is also satisfying when I can put a yummy and nutritious meal or snack on the table. Lately I have loved giving Natey green smoothies. The process of growing food also gives me joy. There is nothing like being outside in the sun with your hands in the soil.

9. Discovering ministry opportunities that are within my capabilities and are appropriate for my season of life. I have written about some of these here. It is especially encouraging when I can include Elnathan in ministry opportunities.

10. Being content with what I am capable of doing in a day. Much of my frustration comes when I try to complete tasks that God has not given me the time or energy to complete! Often I have to be content with completing the most basic things, and the cobwebs have to wait. My days are happier when I choose contentment. Right now (5 days overdue and very sore) I am unable to do much except sit or lie down, and getting upset about that is of no use!

What about you? I'd love to hear from others about what lifts your spirits and helps you to live joyfully!

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39 weeks and waiting

We only have two days to go until the due date and have reached the waiting stage, with the continual question "will baby come today" on our minds. Everything is as ready as it can be with . . .

* pretty pink Bumgenius nappies on the change table
* lots of pink clothes in the cupboards and case
* a little scrapbook of prayers and scriptures compiled to read during feeds
* the garden almost completely planted out with corn, pumpkins, spinach, carrots, lettuce, beans, and much more
* 20 meals in the freezer
* presents for Nate wrapped in the cupboard
* just about every job I wanted to do completed, including sorting folders, organising bookcases, and baking banana cakes!

We can never be fully "ready" for the changes a baby brings to your life, but we can certainly prepare as much as possible in the nine months God gives. I felt like baby would come early, but it looks like I will be proved wrong! My pregnancy has been easy for the most part, except for back pain that I may have had anyway. The the last week has been more challenging. Right now walking causes a lot of pain, but we are learning to trust God with each day as it comes. Dave has been a great help. We are hoping for a natural birth again, in hospital this time, and that we will be able to draw near to God in the midst of it. I am hoping that second time around will be easier. We know that we cannot take this for granted, as smooth births are a gift from God.

Here is the first Drew munchkin . . . 

He reminds us of the great blessings we can hope for with the gift of our new child.

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Pumpkin and spinach risotto

After making the spinach pie, we still had some silverbeet to eat. We often enjoy pumpkin and spinach risotto, so I used it to make this. I recommend this dish as a simple and easy dinner. We make many different risottos, sometimes just using whatever we have on hand. I will give you the basic risotto recipe and then the specific additions you would use to make pumpkin and spinach risotto.

Basic risotto ingredients: 
1 brown onion, chopped
2 tbs olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 and 1/2 to 2 cups of alborio (short grained) rice, depending on how many people you want to feed!
3 1/2 cups simmering vegetable or chicken stock
1/2 cup white wine (optional, add more stock if you don't want to use wine)
1/4 - 1/3 cup of parmesan cheese
2 tbs fresh herbs

1. Fry onion and garlic in the olive oil.

2. Add rice and stir to coat it with oil. Continue stirring until rice becomes transparent.

3. Pour in wine (or 1/2 cup of stock) and allow it to bubble, stirring. When absorbed, add 1/4 of stock. Stir until absorbed. Gradually add the rest of the stock, a ladle full at a time. Stir and wait for it to absorb before adding more.

4. Once rice is al dente (tender but firm) add parmesan and herbs. Cover pan and stand for 5 minutes before serving. If you let it stand for longer, that is also fine.


Additions for pumpkin and spinach risotto:

3 cups chopped pumpkin - you can add this, chopped finely, with the rice at step two or (like we do) steam it and add it towards the end when you have a few ladlefulls of stock to go.

10 or so spinach or silverbeet leaves (you can use more or less to taste, but remember that it does cook down so what looks like a lot will look like much less in the finished risotto). Add silverbeet when you have a few ladlefulls of stock to go, or spinach with the last of the stock. Silverbeet takes a little longer to cook.

1/2 cup cashews (optional)

Oregano is a great fresh herb to use for this dish

Risotto can sound complicated when you read about it, but once you have made a few they are easy and you won't even need a recipe. Enjoy!!

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Spring at The Drew Patch

We have some beautiful spring flowers here at The Drew Patch! Mrs Green Thumb Jean hosts an opportunity to share these "Blooming Tuesday", which I am participating in today. I am a little late, but it is still Tuesday in the USA! At our home we are thrilled with the progress the jasmine is making in covering our shed. The daffodils in the border are also coming along well after a slow start.

Out the front we loved the blossoms on our ornamental cherry.

I pruned back our azaleas and they are rewarding us with a lovelier show than ever before. We are also thrilled that our tiny apple tree (to the left) is producing masses of blossoms and tiny fruit.

There are lots of blossoms at our patch, the hope of fruit to come. The two espaliered apples we planted in July have blossoms and fruit! This is an unexpected blessing and we are looking forward to seeing what comes of it.

In the vegetable garden I planted sweet peas to grow up a tee-pee, and they look just as lovely I imagined (a rare outcome for me)! 

The beauty of spring gives us so much to praise God for, and I'm learning to point out the beauties of God's creation to Elnathan. Visit the Blooming Tuesday post to view other gardens!

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