The changing scenes of life

Many years ago, my husband and I chose Through all the changing scenes of life as one of our wedding hymns. A strange choice but one that we have never regretted. 
This hymn  is Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady's versification of Psalm 34.
It seems also to be suitable for New Year, especially in these uncertain times. Uncertain to us but certain to God.

Through all the changing scenes of life

In trouble or in joy,

The praises of my God shall still
My heart and tongue employ.

Of His deliverance I will boast,

Till all that are distressed

From mine example comfort take

And charm their griefs to rest.

O magnify the Lord with me,

With me exalt His name;

When in distress to Him I called,

He to my rescue came.

The hosts of God encamp around

The dwellings of the just;

Deliverance He affords to all

Who make His name their trust.

O make but trial of His love,

Experience will decide

How blest are they, and only they,

Who in His truth confide.

Fear Him, ye saints, and you will then

Have nothing else to fear;

Make but His service your delight;

Your wants shall be His care.

Slime

I was planning to post something useful about time and caring. However, having spent much of this afternoon on two fruitless missions  related to caring, and having managed to spend time hauling a wheelchair in and out the car and taking an elderly person out in the greyness of a wet December late afternoon, I'm not sure that now is the time to post on this. May be in a few days, I will feel up to posting on what not to do.

Anyway, little people need activities. Yesterday, I mentioned Miss Belle's new book, the Big book of science things to make and do. We're doing more activities from this.
There was the layered liquid jar: coloured water, oil and golden syrup-introducing density.

and today, slime. The children had expressed interested in the slime page and then yesterday, Anna at the Imagination Tree posted a link to her marbled oobleck. So we really had to have a go.

Cornflour, water and, thanks to Mr Exuberance, lots of food colouring. We used some red, blue,green and black and it looked like, well, slime.

 Miss Belle was not impressed-she wanted hers to look beautiful like the marbled oobleck on the Imagination Tree. Mr Exuberance was very, very happy-he made "waterfalls" with his hands, dripped the slime onto paper,

and announced that his very coloured hands were "alien hands".

 He would have spent ages playing if it hadn't been necessary to feed the rest of the family. We need to try this again for Miss Belle, using less extravagant amounts of food colouring.

It interests me how the activities for children about solids/liquids and gases generally use unusual or atypical materials but this was a fascinating in a rather slimy way.

This is shared on the Linky party at Living Intentionally and Fun stuff Fridays.

Rocket thank you cards

After a rather unsuccessful attempt at thank you cards yesterday, I was looking at the Usborne  Big book of Science things to make and do and realised that there was an idea for a space picture and another for rocket tessellations which could be tweaked to make cards.

So I cut out simple rocket shapes from coloured card and Mr Exuberance, 35 months, glued these onto card. He then sprinkled glitter onto glue to make fire.

 Rockets need doors and extra flames-I cut out and Mr Exuberance glued. There was a fair amount of glitter around!

We were both quite pleased with the results and had to find Roaring Rockets to finish the rocket theme.

This is linked to Works for me Wednesday where there are many, many more idea, the linky party at Living life intentionally and It's playtime.

Sense and Sensibility Patterns Sale

Sense and Sensibility Patterns is run by a friend, Jennie Chancey.

Jennie has designed patterns reflecting historical clothing but which can be made and worn today. The patterns are clear and I've managed to make them which, if you know me, is quite an achievement.

Jennie is a home educating mother and despite a recent move to Kenya is still hoping to bring out new patterns in the Spring. For now, though, she has an end of year sale with 15% off patterns. There are e-patterns which is idea for those of us not in the US.

Please note that I am an affiliate and will earn a small amount from purchases through this site. The opinions in this post are my own.

Being a three generational family at Christmas

Over Christmas, many "conventional" families morph into three generational families. For some that means that healthy Grandma cooks the dinner with adult children to help with the veg and the little ones play or perhaps that is just wishful thinking.

Many families will find out that Granny isn't quite as well or that her memory isn't as good as before.

So how to survive a three generational get-together.

• Don't presume that the older generation can or will help but the children need training so they can help.
• Think in advance whether an older person can manage the stairs, where they will sleep, whether they will need a commode (can be hired from the Red Cross).
• Have the phone numbers of the GP walk in centre and work out where the 24hour emergency pharmacy is and how to get there. This might sound silly but we've certainly had to talk to the out of hours service and visit the emergency pharmacy over Christmas and the New Year.
• Getting to church takes longer. A two year old can be carried if you are late, Granny can't.
• Work out access problems in advance.
• Think about church and sensory problems. Will a large print Bible/hymn book be needed? Is there an induction loop? If not, where will be the best place to sit-it might not be at the back with the babies. Will the family need to sit in two halves?
• Older people love watching the present unwrapping-make sure it is done when they are there.
• Find some occupations suitable for everyone. This isn't always easy but board games and old photographs are a possibility.
• Make sure that the children have instructions about how to talk to the hard of hearing.
• It isn't unkind to take the children off for a walk and let older people rest.
• Confusion will be worse out of context but undiagnosed confusion needs sorting out.
• There may be sorting out to do after Christmas-that confusion or weight loss need investigating. Someone may need to encourage/ensure that an appointment is made, provide transport and be an extra informant.
• Finally, it is very easy to feel sorry for yourself-I know, been there. It isn't worth it. God's grace is sufficient. Look up and remember what we are celebrating

Christmas thoughts

This week was when I wanted to catch up but it hasn't worked quite like that. Plenty to do and then, being a carer, unexpected illness can and does intervene. I've spent my first Sunday morning in a supermarket, collecting a prescription, and have made acquaintance again with the time waiting to get a simple answer about equipment from Social Services. The thought of filling in a multi-page carers' questionnaire made my heart sink and stuff it back in the envelope.

Anyway, it has been good to have other food for thought.

One of my favourite bloggers produced a lovely piece about their simple family giving, Se7en +1 stockings to fill. There are links at the end of the post to posts about the handmade gifts that her children make for one another. So good to keep Christmas in perspective.

Another piece for perspective comes from The Wanderer;  looking at Christ or Christmas whether our first aim should be to celebrate Christmas or the Lord's Day. It will be good to have the solid joys of Reformed worship after some of the froth of the season or is my name Scrooge?

Not about Christmas but refreshing and good for mulling over is this post from HSBA- 30 truths about Home Schooling. Lots of sense and nuggets of wisdom:

 No one ever said homeschooling was easy.


You will doubt yourself. That shows that you’re human, not a failure.


It doesn't say that home education is bad for the housework but it is! Probably because training and teaching the children is so much more interesting than housework perhaps a cleaning slot after English, next term.

When God made the world

When I heard about When God made the world by Daniel and Naomi Sayers, published by Gospel Standard Publications, I rushed to order it. Better still, I wasn't disappointed.

Finding quality young children's picture books about the Bible isn't always easy.

This book is simple, Biblically based, attractive with pictures on each page. Each page has a photo or photos, simple text and a Bible verse, from the Authorised Version.

It is booklet format and so cheap-£1.95. I ordered from Ossett Christian bookshop.

I'm hoping the authors produce more of this type of book.