Zach's 1st birthday

First. Updates:

• It's the 'peakest' of my year end peak season at work now. Worked thru the weekends so that means two weeks of continuous work. It's taking a toll on me..
• We've been miraculously blessed by a recent job offer for Kevin that literally fell from the heavens (most definitely spilt from God's cup and off His lap!) and that's helped us make one big step toward my being SAHM
  
• Zachary decided today that he's pretty much done with crawling and decided walking is THE mode of transport - that's kept K and I pretty much on our toes and feet the whole day as you can imagine
  
• Mum and Dad will be in Darwin, Melbourne and Tasmania over the next three weeks - miss them. Plus it stirs my wanderlust!
• We (seriously) prayed for Baby No.2 to come our way next year
  

And now an excerpt from Zach's birthday pic collection:


We did a collage of his pics from birth. I love this!


Our li't charmer. We love his smile :-D


He was obviously awed by the sight of sooo many adults smiling and singing to him :-)


Just before his test drive...

His birthday meal at Globetrotters, United Sq.

Zachary was having such fun in their playroom


















(pics below) Testing his agility...

The Fulfilled Family

We'll have topical study sessions after service two Sundays from now. We'll use this book by John F MacArthur. I'm glad we're starting this study as I hope it'll give room for deeper discussion and sharing of thoughts on SAHMs and roles in the family. Topics we'll cover in the coming weeks:

• Divine Pattern for Marriage - The Necessary Foundation
• The role of the wife/husband and her/his priorities
• Divine Pattern for the Family - Understanding the Issues
• The role of the child/parents

Will share more as we go along....

Faith vs Common Sense

Continuing the topic of SAHM. I asked my pastor this question during a wedding on Saturday "Where do we draw the line between faith and common sense?" It's an honest question that I'm debating within myself, not a prelude to an intellectual debate on Faith vs Reason. It's a reality check of will there be enough if we live on one income when common sense tells me it probably takes two to get things going.

Someone once said: Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to.

But the Bible says: Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

I have my reservations about the first statement. What's your view?

Back to the question. My pastor's reply (in context of SAHM) was this: You will know the answer when you know what your role is. In short, God is a God of order and he has ordained specific roles and responsibilities for both husbands/fathers and wives/mothers. And if we choose to align ourselves with God's design, then there won't be confusion. At the end of the day, it's a personal choice. God has given each of us a measure of faith.

To me, the operative word is 'choose'.

The Scriptures describe wives as keepers of the household (Proverbs 31) -- IMHO, not to be interpreted as merely 'housewives' -- but guardians of the heart of the home. Their role is to nurture, and the husband's role is to provide, and as wives we can ask God to provide for us through our husbands.

I suppose for one's who's been earning her own keep for the last 10 years, that's quite a dreadful thought. Will there be enough to go around?

You are always on my mind

It was an extraordinarily long day at work today. In a literal sense too cos I knocked off past 10pm. That only made me feel worse than I already do about juggling family and work. Kinda relates to some of the topics that've been weighing my mind down.

How does one measure 'success'?

Someone once said, "Success is measured by significance, not importance. "

What makes me a "successful mummy"?
And what makes me "successful" at work?

I can probably measure the latter. I can read it off my boss's face, my payslip, my namecard, and my bonus!

And I probably measure my success at motherhood in likened terms. I read it off my two bosses' faces (with whom I share life and dreams), my count of Zachary's smiles, a proud name called "mummy", and bonus moments watching Zachary move from one milestone to another.

Always on my mind #1: Zachary
Always on my mind #2: Have I been a good enough mummy?

When is 'good enough' enough? Is there an end? We all know the answer and a living reply would be our own mums.

The tussle between wanting to be a SAHM to nurture and a working-mum to provide. Can these two reconcile? For most times, I think not. Most interested to hear your views on this.

Random Thoughts

Been thinking about a couple of things over the last month or so. Hadn't had time to flesh them out on the blog. But here they are so I can revisit them:

1. Sacrifices vs Work
2. The Lord's Provision
3. Am I a good enough mummy?
4. SAHMs
5. Maturing in the Lord
6. Kids with disabilities and social stigma
7. Yellow Ribbon Project
8. Marriage and weddings
9. Are we ready for no.2?

Share your thoughts if you've been pondering on these too?