Voices of the True Woman Movement Winner

I was expecting a few more entries in my giveaway, but I am grateful to be able to give this book to the only entrant - Jess, you are the winner! Please email me (sherrindrewATgmail.com) with your address, and I will send the book to you as soon as possible. This book has been a blessing to me, and I trust you will also be encouraged as you read of God's plan for women in many different stages of life.

Read more...

The last broccolini for this year

Read more...

Giveaway: Voices of the True Woman Movement

I was blessed with a free copy of Voices of the True Woman Movement to review. Now I would like to pass on my copy to a reader of The Drew Patch. The book is marked for the purposes of remembering key points (underlining, a few notes), but in good condition. Please leave a comment below by September 30 if you would like to win this book! The giveaway is limited to readers in the Southern Hemisphere (NZ, Australia, South Africa, etc). I am sure there are heaps more of these books in circulation in the USA and Canada than there are down south, and I'd like to keep mine at this end of the world!

Read more...

Two eggs today!

We feel like we are on the way to being self-sufficient in the area of eggs after finding two in our coop this morning! Now we are just waiting on one hen beginning to lay and we can hope for three eggs per day, plenty for three people. We will see what the next weeks bring! We are praising God for our happy, healthy-looking hens. I have retracted my prior statements about their stupidity after they got accidentally locked out one night and the laying hen still went back to the coop the next morning to lay her egg! That is one smart chook, I say! Our one concern is their flying ability . . . maybe we should have clipped their wings? As this photo shows, they could certainly get over the fence if they wanted to explore the neighbourhood. We think it will be OK, as apparently they are not inclined to stray away from a known area.

Read more...

Se7en Ways to Be Salt and Light as a Homeschooling Family

Today I have the privilege of sharing a guest post from the author of se7en: the life and times of a homeschooling mom of se7en + 1. Mrs Hood writes an encouraging and inspiring homeschooling blog that I especially enjoy because of its South African angle. On a previous homeschooling guest post I received a comment asking about being salt and light as a homeschooling family. Every family will have a different answer to this, and I wanted to get others' perspectives. What a blessing it is to receive some insights from the Hood family that may help us as we form our own family goals and practices. I hope you are blessed as well!

I was asked to write a guest post on "How to be Salt and Light as a Homeschool Family" and I just need to step back and consider where the whole salt and light idea comes from. In Matthew 5:13-16 Jesus tells us that we are salt and light in the world:
Matthew 5:13-16 (New International Version)
13"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. 14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.



Now, not everyone is called to stand up and announce the Gospel to perfect strangers. Not everyone is comfortable with passing out Bible tracts - and that is okay because God made all sorts of people with all sorts of strengths and weaknesses. I do think that whatever your calling as a Christian family you should stand out in a crowd as a living witness.There are many ways for us to be salt and light in a non-Christian world and I am all for living our life, failings and all, for everyone to see!!!

I began by thinking about Se7en Ways that we meet and interact with people on a daily, or weekly basis. And it turns out that these are the opportunities for us to be salt and light in the world:

1. Haven: We like to be a haven for Christian friends and missionaries visiting Cape Town. A place where they can come, talk about their ministry, walk on the beach and have a feast and a rest away from the demands of their work. My kids all write to missionaries around the world and hopefully these missionaries are encouraged by the fact that they are being prayed for regularly - even if their prayer partner is really short!!!

2. Home from home: We like to open our home to students in our church and at a local college. They may not have grown up in a Christian home but want to see a living working Christian family. Just a place where they can come and hang out and mess around with my kids - often they have left their families and siblings far, far away and they just need some company and a meal that looks like something they would have eaten at home!!!

3. Helpful: In a country that is full of a wide variety and a lot of really poor people right on our doorstep, we have been blessed with plenty. I am big on decluttering, and those things that we don't need anymore we donate... books, toys, clothes whatever. My kids have always had clothes to wear and they have always had toys to play with, the amazing thing is that the more stuff we give away the more stuff we have to give away!!!

4. Humble: My kids bump into a wide variety of people on our day to day erranding... the post office guy, the laundry lady, the guy at the gas station. I don't expect them to talk about God with everyone they interact with but I do expect them to be polite, respectful and friendly.

5. Honorable: When my kids play with each other and interact at home or when they are out I expect them to behave in an honorable way. I am not quite crazy, my kids are regular kids, who behave like regular kids, but they know what I expect from them!!!

6. Hidden: Memorizing Bible verses and finding fun ways to teach our kids the Bible is a way to hide the word of God in our hearts. It is important that we all have the Bible written on our hearts

7. Habit: We make a big deal about keeping the Sabbath Holy. Church is a priority for our family and we may or may not visit friends... but generally our Sundays are Church, rest, and a bit more church for the older kids in the evening. Often times we have been asked why don't we have a break and take a Sunday off or why don't we attend birthday parties on a Sunday morning. We have been able to share quite often that for us attending Church is a privilege and certainly not something we need a break from.
And the Se7en + 1th Thing:
8. Hopeful: That our life and times will indeed reflect the saltiness of God's Word, and that our family will be a light shining in a dark world.

Getting back to the point of this post: Often we have been asked how do we as a homeschool family intend to be salt and light in the world, surely our kids could be making more of a difference if they were in school. I think our list speaks for itself, by teaching our children our ways and living according with what we believe in we can make a difference. I have a feeling when folk ask this question that they have this idea that homeschool children are "stuck at home" and not out in the world interacting. It all boils down to that same old question of "Will your home schooled child be socialized?" and in this instance: "Will they be socialized enough to make a difference?" I may be a bit biased, but as a homeschool mum I think my kids get ample opportunity to live their lives and meet new people and interact with new folk and friends. In fact, homeschool affords us the time necessary to open our home and be hospitable, time which we just wouldn't necessarily have if our kids were in school.

Read more...

Our first egg!

Our hens have grown gradually happier over the past few weeks, and they are now truly free range. When we first let them out after three or four weeks in their coop they were very hesitant and rushed back in when we came near. Now they are confident and even come up to the back door!

You can see them here amongst the broccoli and brussell sprouts. They like to peck at the leaves, which suits us as we don't eat that part. They have gradually realised that the small person in residence is not really a threat!

While the chooks have been looking entirely happy and content, we were still waiting for that elusive first egg! This morning Dave and Natey discovered the precious oval and we ate it for breakfast. The yoke was bright yellow and healthy-looking. We look forward to the time (God willing) when we will no longer need to purchase eggs. We close the coop door at night to make sure the hens continue to identify that as their home and the place to lay eggs.

Read more...

Hobart Above Rubies Camp 2010

Above Rubies is a ministry devoted to encouraging wives and mothers, with a free magazine that is always exciting to receive! I was happy to be able to go to the camp here in Hobart last weekend. I met lots of interesting and encouraging people, including the ladies pictured above. There was great diversity amongst both organisers and attenders, they certainly didn't fit any stereotypes that people may have of the magazine! This is testament to the fact that women from many walks of life want and need encouragement in their roles of wives and mothers. We may not all agree on education, day care, birth control, the gifts of the Spirit, or countless other issues, but we all want to grow as women of God. I felt that there was a spirit of freedom and love at the camp, and we were all encouraged to take away one thing we could put into action.

Nancy Campbell (pictured left) is the founder of Above Rubies. Originally from New Zealand, Nancy now lives in the USA. She had not visited Tasmania for 20 years prior to this camp. Nancy is pictured with Val Stares (Australian director) and Heather (NZ director). Nancy spoke about our vital building project - building our families. She explained many of the things that Satan can use to hinder us, including discouragement, "help" that undermines the family, self pity, fear, accusations, doubts, and false counsel. I am vulnerable in each of these areas and found the reminders helpful.

When I was seven months pregnant with Elnathan in March last year I was a bridesmaid and wore this dress. The dinner was a fun opportunity to wear it again . . . 7 months pregnant again! We were asked to come dressed to represent one of the seasons. I sat at the Spring table. There were tables for the other seasons as well, and they were all stunning. I was impressed with the work that had been put into the night. It was a treat to go away and be served! We also all received numerous gifts over the weekend, which were donated.

One of my favourite aspects of the camp was talking with other ladies and hearing/seeing what God was doing in their lives. I was affirmed in many of our convictions, and have a renewed sense of the importance of bearing and raising children. I am so grateful for my wonderful husband who cares about building the church, Christian education, welcoming children, having family devotions, etc. God is good! I came away desiring to grow in building our marriage, to look to God's word as our light, and to love being a mother.

Read more...

Strategies for a toddler and baby

Back in July I shared the first part of an interview with Lisa, preparing an older sibling for the new baby. Since then my blogging thoughts have been taken up with completing the True Woman review by September 1! Now I would like to share the second part of the interview. I was encouraged and convicted as I considered Lisa's thoughts, and I hope you will also be blessed. Please feel free to add any advice you have in relation to these questions! (The cute picture is from Wikimedia Commons).

What strategies did you put in place for the early days of having a second child at home?

We were blessed to be able to have Nathaniel take off time following Abigail’s birth. This helped a lot! In addition, we tried to make things simple…no fancy meals, paper dishes, low expectations for chores, etc. I had made a couple of make-ahead meals and we were blessed by our family and church with a few other meals. Having realistic expectations of what is NOT going to get done was helpful for me and allowed me to rest a bit more.

How did you ensure that the older child was content and happy during feeding times for the new baby?

Because my husband was home for the first week, this was an issue that we were able to ease into. Daddy helped teach Abraham some techniques for keeping Abigail awake during feeding time such as tickling toes and happy songs. Once Nathaniel was back to work, I would have Abraham help me with Abigail as he and Daddy had done the week before. I also told Abraham stories, instructed him, and interacted with him from my spot about toys and ideas for his playing. Lastly, we ensured that, to the level he needed, the house was safe for him to be in with less supervision than prior to new baby coming.

This is another area where I had to make sure that I had realistic expectations. Abraham was the only child before and was now one of two. I had to make sure that I helped him adjust with a lot of patience.

Do you have any tips for remaining in harmony with your husband and ensuring he remains a number 1 priority?

Communicating and planning allowed my husband and me to remain connected throughout our adjustment to having more than one child. Even now, we find that if communication or planning slip, it is far easier to tag-team parent/divide and conquer, which we do employ occasionally, but try to avoid. We eat dinner together each evening. We are teaching the children that there are times when Daddy and Mommy are talking that they may not interrupt. We make a point to spend time together after the children go to bed. We pray together each night, for our family, for each other, and for others. And we try to make the most of spontaneous moments of affection and enjoy each other’s company.

How did you continue to draw strength from God and his word during those busy early days?

Prayer was the primary element I used to draw on the Lord’s strength that I could not have done without. I found that this was easier than reading my Bible as I was able to do it with the lights out or pray out loud for the kids while I nursed and Abraham played. I asked for wisdom about how to pray and I would pray for God to bring memorized Scripture to mind. God is faithful when we cry to him and oh so gracious in providing strength for the tasks that he has called us to when we rely on him as the source of that energy.

Without really planning it, we ended up singing one specific hymn over and over during the early days of both Abraham and Abigail’s life (‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus and My Jesus I Love Thee, respectively). I believe that this was from the Lord, but I also plan to repeat it for any future babies. I love the rich words of hymns and the snippets of Scripture throughout the songs.

I also tried to take advantage of short moments of time in the Word. It was very difficult and still is today to use my time wisely and to make that choice to read the Word rather than to do something domestic with a short block of time, but I would ask God to help me prioritize it and use the few lines in my day to make me more like Him—even if it didn’t meet my expectation for what “time in the Word” should or had previously looked like.

In hindsight after going through the stage of having a toddler and a new baby, is there anything you would do differently or wish you had done?

I wish that I had just rested and enjoyed our family in all its newness. I put too much pressure on myself to have this “new” become “normal” too quickly. Huge changes are allowed to take a little bit of time. I didn’t need to show off to anyone how quickly I was able to resume my prior activity level, but I had a bit of that in my motivation.

Thankfully, the Lord’s mercies are new every morning. I’m still learning how to be the mother to two children and I think I’ll always be learning as a parent—it’s hard not to when things change so quickly. I’m learning a lot about being content in what God has called me to in being a mother and I’m grateful that He doesn’t leave me to my own devices, but provides support, encouragement, and strength to me in my precious role as Mommy to Abraham and Abigail.

Read more...

A call to die

The call to the counter-revolution is essentially a call to die. Nancy Leigh DeMoss reminds us that if we are to fulfill God's purposes in the world we must die "to ourselves, to our own plans, to our own desires".

"Our generation has an unprecedented opportunity and responsibility to invest our lives into God's kingdom. The question is, are we willing to go against the flow, to lay down our personal convenience and dreams and take up the cross of Christ."

This "call to the counter-revolution" explained in the ninth chapter of Voices of the True Woman Movement is the opposite of the feminist call to self-fulfillment. I have found that it is necessary to "die" even to our own ideas of how we want to serve God. There have been many times when I have wanted to do something good that God did not allow me to do. It is easy, at these times, to hold onto my own plans and resent the intrusion of the circumstances God has appointed!

One example is our desire to adopt children. Yes, even though we have one baby and one-on-the-way our desire is also to adopt orphaned or abandoned children! Yet for the next couple of years at least our location and life circumstances make this impossible. We continue to pray that we will have an opportunity to adopt, but given the great difficulties involved we know it will be an act of God. My desire has often been to plan out a way to do it, and there have been several times where laying these down has been both necessary and painful.

Another example is hospitality. I'd love to get to know everyone in our small church, and have each family or individual over for a meal. However, many people are simply too busy to come! I have had to die to my desire to tick off everyone in the church directory. I've faced the ugliness of my own heart as I've reacted badly when hospitality is just plain hard. God is in control. If many of the people in our church remain "strangers" in our knowledge of their hearts and lives, despite our best efforts, I need to accept that and be content with the opportunities we do have.

It has been surprising to me to discover that God expects us to "die" not only to sinful desires, but also to our own plans for serving Him. There are countless opportunities to serve God before each one of us - but they are sometimes not those we dream of and plan towards. I have found greater peace and freedom as I've sought to embrace the opportunities we do have to build God's kingdom, while praying and trusting God for other opportunities in future. What about you? Have you had to die to some of your plans for serving God?

Read more...