Just in case you are under the impression that I, the Self-Appointed Patron Saint of Lent Resources for Kids, am currently utterly absorbed in meaningful, transformative Lenten practices with my small children… think again. I’ve managed a few things, but good golly, not a very large percentage of all my wonderful ideas for households. As […]
An earlier version of this article appeared in my column at Kiwi Families. What are mealtimes like at your place? Do you have family ways of serving, eating or talking together? Would you like some fresh ideas to make the most of the gift of family meals? Here are some ideas for giving thanks at […]
If you want to sleep as well as this panda (though perhaps on a comfier pillow), read on. Good ‘sleep hygiene‘ includes having a bedtime routine that helps get your body and mind ready to sleep. As part of the rhythm of the day, Christians have traditionally prayed before bed. Maybe your Grandma taught you […]
In 2023, Lent begins Wednesday, 22 February We’re spoilt by the church calendar at this time of year! We’ve just had four weeks of candle-lighting at Advent, culminating, in our household, with this delightful moment on Christmas Day: Now we’re coming to the end of the two-week Christmas season, and then it’s only a month […]
This is excellent, peeps! The wise and hard-working women at New Zealand Baptist Children and Family Ministries have produced a fantastic Advent resource for families to use through December at home. It’s called Christmas @ Home and I warmly recommend it. It isn’t a do-one-every-day kind of Advent journey. Rather, it’s a vibrant collection of ideas to […]
Wow. I asked around to see what people are planning for Advent this year, and look what I got! Lego! Candles! Chocolate coins in shoes! I have spent the evening wrangling a non-sleeping baby (very smiley and cheeky, playing with toys on the bed beside me and blowing raspberries non-stop for half an hour) and […]
Happy Advent, everyone! A warm welcome to this year’s Advent in Art series, where we join thousands of others in contemplating artistic works while we wait, wait, wait for Christmas. Advent in Art 2014: Featuring artist He Qi He Qi is one of my favourite artists, so I’m particularly excited that this year’s Advent in […]
Welcome! This is a reworking of an earlier post, from March 2013 (just so I’m not soliciting undue sympathy: I’m fine now!). Being a woman equals being in community. The same might feel true for men (I hope it does), but I can’t write that blog post, being in possession, as I am, of two […]
I like the word lucky. Not just because it has a pleasant combination of consonants and rhymes with ducky and plucky, which are also awesome words. For me it does a better job than blessed for making it clear that much of the goodness sprinkled through my days is thoroughly undeserved, nothing I can take credit […]
We don’t know for sure that Mary was a breastfeeding mother, but it seems a reasonable inference. In a time before formula and modern medical care, she would have had few other options, and if she or someone else hadn’t breastfed Jesus he would almost certainly have died in infancy, from malnourishment or water-borne disease, […]