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 […]
Yay! Advent is my favourite season in the church calendar, and it’s almost here! Actually, Lent was pretty cool this year, too, with our superduper Lent with Kids series, but the inspiration for that came from all the fun and surprisingly helpful things we did at home during Advent. So here we are! I […]
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 thanĀ blessed for making it clear that much of the goodness sprinkled through my days is thoroughly undeserved, nothing I can take credit […]
This is part of a series aiming to help us all go easier on ourselves and make our parenting lives more enjoyable and satisfying. The whole series list is hereĀ and more links are at the bottom of the post. [Update: 2.5 years later I’ve revised this and added some stuff in. Feel free to suggest […]
On New Year’s Eve, 2013, my little family made a pilgrimage to Cape Reinga, Te Rerenga Wairua, the northern tip of New Zealand, where the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea ‘say hello’ as SBJ will tell you, with a dramatic clap of his hands. They clash with a set of white-topped breakers out in […]
‘It’s always easier to write someone else’s sermon’ is the motto of my preaching group. On a Friday morning, all five of us might be squeezing one word at a time out onto the pages of our own sermons, but when an email comes through asking for a movie clip showing non-conformist children, a song […]
A warm welcome and heartfelt thanks to Stephanie, a Dunedin mother, lawyer and regular commenter here, who is generously telling some of her story of baby loss today. She is available to talk further in the comments, so do feel free to ask questions and share your experiences. I always feel uncomfortable when a stranger […]
Many thanks to Dr Tim Bulkeley who today wraps up his series based on his book,Ā Not Only A Father, looking at gendered language for God. For more on Timās background, seeĀ the first post. Theology is only real when we live it. So chapter 6 of Not Only a Father tries to suggest ways we can […]
A warm welcome back to Dr Tim Bulkeley who is posting this series based on his book,Ā Not Only A Father, looking at gendered language for God. For more on Timās background, seeĀ the first post. Speaking the unspeakable: mother-language before the reformation People I talk with about using motherly language and pictures to talk about God […]
What do people need to know about postnatal depression? I have been asked to speak at a Mothers’ Day service at North Porirua Baptist Church. They are inviting parents from their community and want me to speak about PND. I’m going to tell some of my story, perhaps structured around some key headings: PND Surprises […]