Just for fun: Guess what story sack I am working on!

Lots of ideas but have only got this bit done so far!!

More elements to follow - hopefully soon!

40Acts : Day 19 Still going strong!

For me to be sticking with a lent series 19 days in is a real achievement, I've tried to follow programmes before and have good intentions but somehow they all go by the wayside.
For me I think the practical side of the 40 Acts reflections helps, I enjoy the challenges and that they are grounded in reality, and when it comes down to it blessing people is fun!
Some of the challenges are easier than others, I failed completely on Day 14, anonymous giving - I did make some gifts but at least two of the three guessed who they were from!!
Today's challenge involved using our words to bless, to write and encourage someone today.
“Kind words are like honey - sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.” - Proverbs 16:24
I think we were meant to leave a note for a stranger, but I decided that today I would (hopefully! ) bless my husband with a note - not sure he has found it yet!
I am already planning for Easter! and looking forward to where the challenges will take me over the next few weeks.

http://www.40acts.org.uk/

A year with the National Trust

We have visited National Trust properties in the past and toyed with the idea of membership so were really pleased when we were given a family membership as a leaving gift when we moved just before Christmas.
This series of blogs will follow our adventures and give just a flavour of some of the great properties out there.
I love the national trust shops - full of lovely things I would like to buy and absolutely don't need! But I need to go in - no harm in looking! So whilst browsing we discovered this passport and thought it would be fun for the girls to collect the stamps on our adventures and record where we have been.

So I am already 3 behind! But posts to follow soon!

40Acts: People love cake!

I love cake, let's be honest I love eating cake! But I love making cakes for people even more, so todays challenge was right up my street!
Make cake then give it away!
Cake making was already scheduled in for today - on Thursday Annie had given me a 'love' card promising to make me a cake and so we had planned to do this while daddy ran this morning.

We were just starting our challenge cakes when Keith got home so he was able to help supervise the baking!

The challenge for us was how to give them away.

Our first batch were posted on a local 'items for sale' Facebook page - 8 cakes - for free!

Keith and the girls then took cakes to our neighbours which was great as we have only been here for three months so it gave them an opportunity to say hello.
It was fun and hopefully made a few people smile today, and as for the promise cake?

She did good!

Annie did the piping and I was seriously impressed !
We had a busy day - and we even managed to complete the first week of our go local challenge!

40Acts: Standup

We have supported various causes in the past but the one that has been the most consistent for us has been shoeboxes sent by Operation Christmas Child.

In the past we have not only donated but help to run a processing centre,

I feel duty bound at this point to issue the following.....
Public health warning:
Shoe boxing is addictive!
You know when someone is addicted when they go home an hour after saying " just one more box!"
I love the simplicity of the giving, I love the fact that it recognises the need to play, to feel special, to know someone cares and I love that my kids get it! It's something we can all do as a familyThe boxes are collected in November but many people collect stuff all year so they can make lots of boxes, so why not collect those bargains now and make a shoebox, or if you have time spare in November why not volunteer to process boxes.

Sometimes you are in the right place at just the right time - so in Tescos when they take 75% of a whole heap of toys and stationary!
Hopefully this collection will bring smiles to some faces come December.

40Acts : Going local

Last year our washing machine broke, and though we intended getting it fixed weeks became months, and before we knew it over half a year had passed. Months of visiting the launderette, sometime twice a week, it was hard work and not a cheap option but it was great!

Great because I got to know the gentleman who worked in the launderette - by the time we left he would see me coming and come and fetch the bags, we didn't talk much but spending time waiting for washing I got to know him. But it didn't end there, I would often pop up to the greasy spoon to have a coffee. Not having a washing machine gave me opportunity to get to know people working in our local area.

In our new house we have a washing machine for which I am greatful! But I would like opportunity to get to know the people working in the village, so I found the reflection by Emily Bowerman really encouraging because it was real, it understood that sometimes local is just too expensive. The challenge and the encouragement was to choose one shop and frequent it often even if it is only to buy a pint of milk. So it's achievable, it's affordable, so here's the plan... we are going to buy a paper. Each Saturday we will go to the corner shop and buy a newspaper as simple as that, brilliant.

The girl school is in the next village next to a brilliant collection of beautiful small independent shops, so on days when the girls finish at different time we head next door to a lovely little cafe. Seeing this as positive and as an engagement with the local community is liberating, it's not a luxury it's an investment!

The cafe next to the school - and now I don't need to feel guilty about our weekly visit while the little ones are at choir.

40Acts: Moving ... Slowly

So I haven't given up but the last few days reflections are taking some time to think through and put into action and that's ok!
Some like listening, well they are skills I need to practice constantly, the problem is I talk too much! So the challenge for me is to be still and to really listen, not for just one day but every day.
Then we were challenged to share a talent, I am still thinking the best way to do this one - I love teaching, the question is how and what? So perhaps you can help? I can teach cake decorating, sugar paste flowers, crochet, felting, paper crafts or scrapbooking, so if you live in the Cambridge area and would like to learn a new skill leave a comment with your preference and contact details - preferably e-mail!
Yesterday's challenge was all sorted -doing something green! I had a plan and everything was in my favour. I was going to abandon the car, scoot the girls to the leisure centre for Sophie's gymn class then scoot back - fun, fitness and definatly a green option even the sun was shining.
Then I picked them up from school and Annie is not feeling well, so I cuddle Annie and Keith rearranges his day and drives Sophie to gymn! Doh! But this challenge like listening is not about one day, so once the spud is better I will walk to gymn and look for other opportunities to ditch the car.

Which brings us up to date and the encouragement to remember to be childlike and accept people as they are without assumption and preconceptions. This isn't the sort of challenge that fits in a neat sentence or photo, it takes place in snippits of conversation on the playground, at the corner shop and it's ongoing.
These challenges are simple in themselves but they require a change of attitude and they are things that need practice, I will still kick myself when I forget, they key is to not give up, to keep going until it becomes second nature.

Just for fun : Sometimes plan b is the better option.

On Thursday Sophie needed to wear a green accessory for Brownies to celebrate St Patricks day. Plan a was to tie ribbons into their hair, simple, quick and easy - until you discover you don't actually have any green ribbons! So plan b ....

Made using green felt and a hair elastic. Let me know if you're interested and I will try a tutorial!
She loved it and it looked great.

Life from the back : Birthday Tea

Sophie chose cheese on toast for her birthday tea - with strawberries and cream for pudding, such a strange child!
And birthdays mean cake!

I experimented with gluten free flour this time - it was nice but a little gritty in texture, (it may have just been the brand of flour? ) and I made use of the rest of the hearts Sophie had made for her cup cakes.

So now just a pony cake to do for her surprise family day on Saturday.

40Acts : Day Eight going over the top!

Yesterday Steve Legg shared the challenge of honouring others above ourselves :
"Jesus was extravagant. He didn’t just feed five thousand he had food left over; he went the extra mile. It says in Romans 12:10 that we should honour others above ourselves. That means we should go out of our way for them. "
So the challenge was to go over the stop, to step beyond the comfortable and do something generous.
I had lots of wildly unpractical and unaffordable ideas, and ideas were still buzzing round my head on the school run. Today should have been a rubbish day, Rebecca was unwell, and I needed to go to Tesco's to get the stuff they hadn't included in my delivery, and the reality is that it should have been a pain. But as I arrived it struck me, there were people here, people who I could bless, who I could make smile.
So now those ideas began to settle into some realistic plans.

The first would be to purchase two big tins of sweets and then give them back! So I found the store manger and explained that I wished to give the sweets to his staff. He explained how I could do this but was interested to know why, so I simply explained that I wanted to give something back, to be generous!
I paid for the sweets and gave them to the checkout supervisor - she was a little surprised!
I decided that there were some people in the village that could also be blessed, so I purchased 10 pots of daffodils for a £1 each, and spent the rest of the day looking after a poorly Rebecca ! Hence they were still in the car on the school run.
So when I called into the corner shop I took one to the lady working there, a customer started chatting to me, so much to her embarrassment I gave her one too by which time there were two more customers, so another trip to the car and more smiling people, I told them I bought them to make people smile! The first customers response was "I didn't know there were people like you around"
So from there I called in at the hairdressers it's amazing how a few flowers can brighten someone's day, so now I am back with the sick one! Two pots of flowers left to give away later!
I really enjoyed this challenge, it felt good, and made a few people smile today.

40Acts: Day Six - Reach

Yesterday we were challenged to write out our spheres of influence and to see the places where we can be an influence for good. The reflection by Shaun King left me with some questions - what is influence? Who am I influenced by and who do I influence? Some big questions, I guess the problem I had was the criteria he used to define the people we have influence on which I didn't particularly agree with.
Saying that I found it helpful to draw a pictorial representation of the areas of my life that can be a means of influence ( hopefully for good!) I tried to make it representative so the size reflecting either the number of people or the amount of influence but as I was making it up as I went along it is not a totally accurate picture but a rough approximation. I reflected on how this picture mighthave looked a year ago, or perhaps ten years ago.

We were also encouraged to share a positive story of love, kindness or generosity with one of these spheres.

Sometimes it is the simple things that encourage me and speak to me and when I picked up two of my craft letters that Annie had sneaked up stairs they inspired me to create a collection of encouraging statements based on being not doing. I am not sure it totally meets the brief but of all the things I might share these two letters have come back again and again. So please join in and leave a positive and encouraging word to complete the statement.

Life from the back of the pack: Sophie is seven!

One of the features of the girls new school is that you take cupcakes in for your birthday. So last week with Sophie's birthday approaching I thought I would find out what she wanted.

She presented me with her design! Footballs for the boys and hearts for the girls.
So today she helped me make the cakes to her design!

She even made the chocolate hearts herself! We had a lovely time together, and I was reminded again how important it is to spend individual time with each of the girls even if it is challenging!
Ok now just to finish her birthday cake for tomorrow and pony cake for her surprise dinner on Saturday.

40Acts: Day Five - reconnect!

Sometimes the simplest things are the most difficult, and though it sounds simple today's challenge is perhaps the hardest so far.

"And the second commandment…you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these."

Cris Rogers reflected on how as a society we have become isolated from those around us. He encouraged us to look around and to begin reconnecting with those around us, a smile or a greeting can begin that process.

I wonder if we are drawn to programmes such as "Call the midwife" because they feature a lifestyle and a sense of community that we have lost. Having moved just before Christmas we were keen to get to know our neighbours, and so we delivered Christmas cards, it was fun and gave us a chance to get to know those living round us. But in the two months since then we have hardly seen them. We have noticed in the past that winter is isolating, it's cold and wet and people tend to stay in or jump in their cars, and so there is little opportunity to meet.

Our hope is that with the onset of spring we will find opportunities. In the village itself we have made a point of visiting the local shop, butchers and pub as well as the Tuesday village cafe, and over time hope to get to know our wider neighbours.

As for the challenge I was able to chat briefly with a neighbour Friday and Sunday but not Saturday! But this challenge never was for just one day, and I look forward to getting to know my neighbours in the months ahead.

Life from the back of the pack: Treasure hunt

It is great fun to explore new places, and having just moved we have loads to explore, to make discovering Cambridge ( rumour has it there is more to visit than the fudge shop and old fashioned sweet shop!!) more fun for the girls we purchased a treasure map from

http://www.treasuretrails.co.uk/cambridgeshire/things-to-do.html

It was £6.99 for the download but gave some structure and information to help us discover more about Cambridge.

Our plan was to do it over lots of visits, so the girls didn't get bored and little legs didn't get too tired!

So we found four clues, with lots of fun on the way round.

We missed the clue on this road, and were too taken with this clock to go back - so this will be our starting point next time.

 

40Acts: Day Three - Using your gifts

Baroness Cox used this verse as the basis for her reflection today:
Certainly you made my mind and heart; you wove me together in my mother’s womb.”
Psalm 139:13
She encouraged us to make a list if our tools, that is the skills and abilities that God has given us, and to consider how we might use them during this project, today's challenge was to choose one of these tools and use it to bless someone.
It is a good challenge and writting the skills list was fine but I have struggled with this today for two reasons,
a) I like time to plan, think ahead so receiving the challenge on the day was unsettling
b) I was out all day!
However I knew who I wanted to bless so I did have a starting point at least!

So I took some time out after school to make a card and write to some friends who are going through a tough time, it is posted with love and prayer and the hope that it may bring some encouragement.

40Acts: Day Two - planning ahead

Today's reflection by Andy Frost encourages us to live lives to the full, and recognise the ways in which we have been blessed and from this position look to be a blessing to others.
I want to be both more thankful for what I have and more generous with what I have.
So today's challenge us to start a generosity jar. I like this idea, the principle of setting a little money aside regularly so that when an opportunity arises to be generous and bless someone there is a pot to draw from.

At the moment it just has loose change, so we have to decide if we are going to set aside a set amount or just collect the shrapnel! But either way, I'm looking forward to seeing how we can use it in a few weeks time.

40Acts: Day One - Today I am thankful for...

So were off! Today's challenge was to start a journal.

We were encouraged to list the things that we are thankful for today and to list some of the people that we would like to bless over these 40 days.

The reflection was from Mike O'Neill with the encouragement to record the past in order to better understand the present.

It was good to stop and ask that question, because the truth is I often forget just how much I have to be thankful for.

40Acts

Lent isn't something that has figured highly in any of the church traditions I have been part of. But I like the idea, the concept of spending time preparing for Easter. Things that are practical and hands on also appeal to me so I was drawn to the idea of this lent series so I've registered for the challenge :

http://www.40acts.org.uk Not totally sure what it involves but it will be fun finding out, and it will be a challenge but hopefully one we can embrace as a family.

Life from the back of the pack: Bird feeder update!

So the starlings have gone, for now, but this wasn't quite the little bird I had in mind!

 

Life from the back of the pack: Bird Feeders

During our visit to Wimpole Hall the girls had the opportunity to make pine cone bird feeders.

Still smiling , so just before she discovered that she did not like the smell of the lard!

Mixing seed into the lard

Filling the pine cone with the mixture

All ready to hang in the garden for the birds. Trying to catch the birds without spooking them with three excited girls jumping around was a challenge! And to be honest the pictures aren't great but hey you get the idea!

So that's the starlings fed the challenge is to spot some other little birds!

 

 

Life from the back of the pack: Half term part two

Winpole Hall

This is another national trust property not far from home, we have previously explored the park, so this time we took a tractor down to home farm.

Playing on haybales in the barn

 

Milking - a bucket!

Something missing Keith? ...that would be two heavy buckets of milk.

Still not getting a horse!

Finally managed to extract Annie from the tree, lots still to explore so we will be back - holidays are just too short!