Christmas Spectacular

Our family enjoyed the Hillsong Christmas spectacular this year. This is one part that was beautiful.



The children enjoyed it all especially the ticker tape.

Baby bunnies

These are some of the baby bunnies feeding from their Mum. We have to hold the Mother rabbit down while the babies suckle. She has not been very maternal in the past, as she eats her babies alive, so we removed them from her and have cared for them ourselves.

Oh Christmas Tree. Oh Christmas Tree. How faithful are your branches

We had fun decorating our tree.

A Zoo Trip

We went to the zoo with teen group.

Jefferson and a stunning view

An owl in flight at the fantastic Bird Show

I thought the cockatoo wings looked great near the Opera House

Jefferson loves meerkats

Monet. Tres magnifique!

Yesterday we enjoyed the Monet exhibition at the art gallery with our friends. On Tuesday we have French class and we had an excursion to see the works of the French artist Monet. He was criticized, for his technique, when he was younger. He rose above this to create the beautiful impressionist paintings that we admired. We were fascinated by his amazing use of colour, texture and tone. We purchased a print of the painting below and a water lillies print.

Later our friends climbed a beautiful Morton Bay Fig and they took this lovely photo. Unfortunately Jefferson slipped from the branch but he hung on tightly until he was rescued. He only had a few scratches. It was terrific to see everyone enjoying the beauty of God's creation and experiencing it up close. We had a wonderful time.

Erin Loves Animals

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIN!

Erin turned 13 a while back in August but we were away skiing and so we have only just celebrated her birthday with a Pet party. The young people enjoyed playing games and making biscuits for their pet cat or dog. They watched a movie called Far from Home - The Adventures of Yellow Dog. Some friends were able to sleep over and the in the morning, after pancakes with strawberries, cream and chocolate, we made our way to an animal shelter to entertain the puppies and donate food and treats. Erin was in puppy heaven. These puppies have been rescued from death row or abuse. The shelter provides care until they are adopted out. 

Too much too soon.

Yesterday was an exciting day as Erin danced in a beautiful ballet. It was also a day that was extremely disturbing. Our family does live a fairly sheltered life in some ways and so when we were exposed to what we saw at the eisteddfod yesterday we were really shocked. The combination of immodest costuming, sexually orientated music, suggestive and sexy movements gave me feelings of sadness for the girls, anger at those parents and teachers who permit and encourage this and embarrassment. One dance school's costumes were so low that one girl's top came down and her ample breasts were entirely exposed as she did not wear a bodystocking or bra. When she finally pulled her costume back up over her breasts she did not seem at all embarrassed. When this same group of girls,who looked as though they were aged between 14 to 18, came offstage they proceeded to change in the hall in front of everyone. This was the worst group but there were others who were also obviously used to moving and displaying their bodies in this way. What are these parents preparing their girls for and what damage is it doing to their ideas of body image, self esteem and how will it flow over into their relationships particularly with the opposite sex and marriage? 

Fortunately my youngest girl was outside and not present when these dancers were on and Geoff and Jefferson did not go. 

The American Psychological Association (APA) (2007) concluded that the sexualization of girls is a broad and increasing problem and is harmful to girls' self-image and healthy development.
The APA Task Force Report states that sexualization has negative effects in a variety of domains:
Cognitive and emotional health: Sexualization and objectification undermine a person's confidence in and comfort with her own body, leading to emotional and self-image problems, such as shame and anxiety.
Mental and physical health: Research links sexualization with three of the most common mental health problems diagnosed in girls and women—eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression or depressed mood.
Sexual development: Research suggests that the sexualization of girls has negative consequences on girls' ability to develop a healthy sexual self-image.

Olivia and I discussed what we had seen and compared this to the beautiful, dignified, female characters we have read about and observed. I think this quote from Little Women is wonderful when Marmee says "I'd rather see you poor men's wives, if you were happy, beloved, contented, than queens on thrones, without self-respect and peace." Although she is talking about money it can also be appropriate in other contexts.

Ballet eisteddfod

Erin and her friends being ballerinas in boots

Barre work to warm up

This is a sight never seen before. Erin has been able to dodge having makeup put on for the last four years of eisteddfods, concerts and Christmas spectaculars.

The girls with their beautiful ballet teacher.

Ballerinas

This Weekend

On Friday night Olivia went to San Remo, for the weekend, with other teens from Youth Group. They went to the beach, played Buzz and Midnight Madness on Playstation. She learned and played new card games, sang Singstar and generally had a great time. Of course I missed her a lot. On Saturday night Erin went to Zoey's 13 th Birthday Party. Jefferson was left with just Geoff and I so we said he could choose a DVD and any fast food he would like and we spent a lovely evening together watching 'The Spiderwick Chronicles'. It is an exciting movie with amazing special effects. Quite scary and thrilling. 

We picked Olivia up on Sunday and spent the afternoon at Budgewoi. It was great to swim, boogie board, build sandcastles and walk.

We watched a beautiful sunset and ate fish and chips for dinner. Lovely

Photos by Chris, Olivia and Jefferson

So close now!

It is so close now to the end of the Great War 11/11 1918. I know this doesn't make much sense but over the past year I have come to know a soldier named Harry Lamin and followed his blog. Private Harry Lamin's letters, to his home, are being posted as an online diary, with each despatch published 90 years to the day after it was written. Recently Harry went home on leave but has now returned to the Italian front. On the day he returned from leave his fellow troops had just come from the front trenches. With less than a month until the war is over I hope he survives. He has endured major battles and incredible hardships. To be so close to the end and not make it through alive would be doubly sad though Harry doesn't know the end of the war is so close.

Lisa's Report Card ..for Deliberate Family Living

Want to participate? Just visit Lisa's blog for details. Your family may have different goals. Just adapt the topic to suit your family! You don't have to have a blog to participate! You can also leave your family's Report Card in the Comments!

Shaw Report Card (Ungraded. This assesment is in narrative form)

Family Prayers:
Regular prayer is happening which is terrific. Olivia (my eldest) is particularly encouraging us to pray together. I can observe that we all draw comfort and strength from our prayers.
Area of improvement: To encourage the individual children to assume the responsibility of leading the family prayer time.  

Family Time:
The children and I have worked on all sorts of things together this week which was terrific and gave our family a sense of achievement. Jefferson (my youngest) suggested we play board games as a family after dinner and we had some really good games together including Cluedo, Spoons, Billionaire (a particularly noisy favourite) and Evil Lady.

Area of improvement:  Continue to spend more time playing games or sharing things after dinner instead of going our own separate ways on the computer or watching TV.

Household Routines:
Needs improvement.  

Area of improvement: I need to get my act together to be a better example to the entire family.

Meal Preparation:
Pretty good. I cooked a number of healthy meals and froze them. Two meals have yet to be eaten so I am ahead.

Area of improvement: Clean out the freezer to get rid of frozen leftovers and unhealthy food to make room for healthy food

Other:
Overall a good week. Lots of things happening such as ballet everyday for Erin because she has her exam next week, getting together with friends and achieving a lot of tasks on the home front. 

Birthday Fun

We shared Rhys' 18th birthday celebration last week. He is terrific and really knows how to have a good time. We felt very honored to spend this special occassion with him. He enjoyed the Star Wars gift we gave him. It is good to see guys this age who know how to enjoy life.

Beyond

Attitude is so important. If we decide to be positive, smile and see the blessings our attitude can make the difference between a day that is fantastic or horrible. I liked the following thoughts and wanted to share them with you.

Today it's windy, dark and raining.

I wake up every morning by saying it's a beautiful day no matter
how the day looks or what's in store for me.

It does not matter.

It's a beautiful day.

Today, as I woke up and looked outside at the sky,
the trees were moving to the rhythm of the wind
and the rain was coming down fast.

I had a MountainWings moment.

There are many times in our lives that we feel we are in the
dark.

We are in chaos.

We are in a whirlwind

We feel completely helpless and we feel blown away by the winds
and forces in our lives.

But the truth remains that beyond all the dark clouds,
the heavy rain and
the wind,
the sun is still shining,
but we can not see it.

The sun, the blue sky, is always there.

We just have to look beyond the clouds to see it
and to also know that they will eventually clear.

That this too will pass.

Life is beautiful

Everyday is beautiful

We just have to look beyond.


~A MountainWings Original by Farangiss, Great Neck, NY~

Rock on.

That is rock "climbing" on. Bronte, my beautiful niece, spent the day with us shopping at Smiggle, visiting the block (and getting a tick), rock climbing and swimming at Grandma and Grandad's. All of the children touched the roof when rock climbing. I didn't hit the roof once. lol