Super mum

I have always loved playing with my boys.

When they were small most of my day was caught up with duplo, crafts, train tracks and visiting the park.

As they have gotten older and their interests somewhat more adventurous I have found it more and more difficult to be anything other than a cheer learder on the sidelines of their activities.

Yesterday I was watching Luke run and jump onto the trampoline, commenting on how clever he was (of course!). Luke was energetically explaining to me just how easy it was to do this particular jump as long as you had a run up, and invited me to give it a go. I had declined his enthusiastic offer, as I always do, but he was quite sure that it was achievable even for an old lady like mum, if I just followed his instructions.

So, to his surprise, I relented and said I would give it ago. I wasnt really sure I could do it but thought it was probably one of those few things that I could join him in that has a relatively small risk of injury.

So I made my run-up, and as I approached the trampoline I leaped, just as he had instructed, right leg out in front, so my foot (having landed on the mat) would help to pull the rest of me up. Well for a second their I thought I was going to make it. I was just starting to feeling smug in my abilities when my toes hit the edge of the bar. The impetus of my run up threw my body up on to the trampoline despite of my flailing arms and wobbling body. Following on behind came my left leg, slamming into the bar and then scraping along the springs for extra effect.

I grabbed my knee and rolled around on the trampoline - my pride well and truly bruised, almost as much as my knee! Luke ran up saying, "I cant believe you did that. I was sure you would pike out at the last minute!!" "Oh great!" I thought, "all that badgering and he didnt even expect me to do it!!"

I hopped down, regaining my composure and dusted off my battered ego, while Luke ran to get the mini trampoline, so that I could "try again" with a spring board this time.

Well I suppose if I were a 12 year old I would try it again, but I am coming up for fourty in a few years, so i declined his enthusiastic offer.

The next 24 hours were spent with two jubilant teens encouraging me to "give it another shot, mum!". I never imagined the can of worms I was opening when I said yes to this little adventure but obviously they are quite proud of their mum dispite my failed impersonation of superman... So, after much badgering I have conceded to give it another shot once my wounds have healed - this time with the mini-tramp. I'll keep you posted.

A faith based on works

As some of you know I grew up in the Baptist church and served in the ministry for some time, even studying Theology for 3 years.

Since that time my life has moved on and I have come to question a lot of things that I previously believed.

Recently I got in touch with some old church friends and it got me thinking again about my "faith" - what I actually believe and where I now stand.

During the last few days I have been chatting with another "ex-christian" friend of mine about the things we miss about Christian life and our current theological outlooks. It is interesting just how diverse "ex-christians" are. My girlfriend holds onto tennents that dont make any sense to me and in our discussions it was clear that some to the ways I see the world and "the scripture" (in many forms not just the bible), are foreign to her.

It has been a mind blowing time of dialogue. I was chatting to my sister about it (whom works for a Christian mission!), and she was saying that one of the differences that the Christians have to other faiths is that they believe in salvation through faith not works. And this got me thinking; do i really interpret the bible in that way? Is that what I believe about Christianity or other faiths???

Afterall isnt faith without works dead?? And is the spirit of Buddism or Taoism, animism etc really about works. Isnt the path to enlightenment more about Love... and "works" are just an outpouring of that love - as is the case in Christianity.

So I started looking at the web for what others are saying that have travelled a similar journey.

What I am finding is that ultimately it is just a bunch of people with varying opinions. Nobody seems to agree. I can see why it is just easier to accept a laid out faith. Researching the in's and out's has provided quite a headache for me.

One thing that has been highlighted for me however is that Christians dont really understand the true tennents of other faiths. They look at the stucture and make assumptions of what lies beneath. The more I look into Buddism and Tantra the more I realise is that it isnt really about working your way to some paradise in the future. It is more about peacefulness in the now. About fully understanding, appreciating and practicing unconditional love - and that is a long journey, because we have shallow understandings of this concept.

Anyway I found this really interesting little snippet on a blog - about salvation through faith/works. Very thought provoking - I thought I would share it.

Matthew 7:23 is referring to a works based salvation. There is no way around it. With such comments as -> "but he that doeth the will of my Father" and "have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?"

Going "fresh"

Recently I had the misfortune of being very ill for several days, after eating some icecream. I am not very tolerant of sugar, or dairy or wheat - so icecream is not a good choice for me... but when the rest of the family were hoeing into it... and it looked so yummy, it was hard to resist.

Well I ended up in bed for 4 days. I was completely miserable and I promised myself that when I got well, I would be more careful with my health and what I consume.

The crazy thing about my body is that sometimes I can eat contrabaned foods and be fine and then at other times I have an outrageous reaction, like the one mentioned above. Maybe it has to do with the moon, maybe it has to do with too many pollutants in the air on any given day, who knows?!!

What I have committed to however is that from now on I am going to be dairy free and almost sugar and wheat free. I am still allowing myself a plain biscuit in the evenings with a cup of tea - my final vice. Ive started feeling really good.

I have found that just by virtue of how much those products have permiated almost all precessed foods in our society, that my diet has been mostly restricted to fresh produce. So I decided to take the next step in the challenge . I have a couple of friends that have a complete raw diet, but this is far to extreme for me. So while I am still allowed to cook stuff, most of my diet is now fresh products.

It is amazing how easy the diet has been. I thought going sugar free would be difficult, but when most of my food is fresh, I find that I dont crave those other things. In fact I am eating a lot less, just because the variety is much smaller and so when I go to eat something out of habit I tend to look at the food and think "do I really want MORE of that?" I usually only say yes if Im actually hungry

One other thing that has been a surprise is that I am drinking more. Drinking smoothies, soy milk, juices and home made broths. And water, lots of water. When I go to the cupboard and feel like a little something and nothing takes my fancy, I grab a glass of water and that works a treat. Im realising that, in the past, I used to eat when I was actually just thirsty.

It is exciting to be in this place. When I looked at a raw food diet several months ago I thought "I could never do that" ... I didnt realise that I could take up an adapted option that would work so well for me. Yippeee.

But it is early days. So we will just have to see how things go.

Beachy daze

We have been squeezing every last ounce of value out of the summer months, here in Adelaide. Autumn has just arrived but we have had 2 weeks of 35+ degree days. Being beach lovers we have been enjoying the water everyday.

I have come to realise that I'm actually a bit addicted to that floating feeling fo the sea. With the gentle waves of SA coast (the boys calle them mico-waves because they are almost non-existent), it is a pleasure to just lay back and enjoy the rocking motion.

Each day we go for a short swim and then fool around for a while before heading home again. Living so close to the beach, we dont have to stay all day. We just pop down and laze around until it starts getting too cold. Sometimes we go down twice during the day to cool off.

Yesterday a dolphin came right up to the shore and was swimming along about 4 metres out. A heard of children came running down the beach crying out about the dolphin. Luke ran ahead and then swam out into the path of the dolphin. When the creature surfaced again, it was within arms reach of Luke. It was all so exciting. Lukes comment was "I wish I could rewind my memories and play them like a video so i could watch them over and over". He couldnt believe how close it was to him.

Even being on the shore, it was a thrill to see the dolphin, skimming the surface and submerging again.

A few weeks agon we also saw a seal off the edge of the reef at Noarlunga. Jordan swam out to it and stool on the reef watching it catch fish and then stick its head out of the water and clean its wiskers with its front fins. Soon a small crowd had gathered. The seal wasnt the least bit perturbed. There was a small group of snorklers in the water and they hadnt seen the seal, until it swam right up to them. They just about wet their pants. It was hilarious to watch.

The other creature that has been seen quite a bit at our local beach is a sting ray. Im not sure it is the same one each time, but it is very unnerving when you are just floating along and this large figure comes out from the sand and swims off. I wish he would swim somewhere else.

Atleast it isnt a shark! LOL.

I feel to blessed to be surrounded by such beauty and wonder!! I love our new home near the sea and our summer lifestyle. What else could we ask for.