Will Dig Life

I've always had resolutions for New Years. That's because I like to be intentional - to have aims, things to focus on: in order to know what to do in the day, I need to know where I'm trying to go. This year is no different, although many things are ongoing rather than new ideas I've just come up with. It's not new that I want to minimise my phone use ( a constant battle I've been fighting since before my kids were born!) and be more present to my life, my family. To slow down (re-reading for the umpteenth time John Mark Comer's excellent Elimination of Hurry ). To fully enter into the life, walk with, accompany, and guide my children as they grow. This stuff is on my mind daily, and has been for years... but this year, I've put a few headlines together of things that might help in those larger, overarching aims. Quiet Hour I came across an idea recently that really inspired me, and after trying it for a few nights this winter break, we're definitel...

I have written before about my own  family history  but I had this epiphany the other day - it's not just my family, it's my in-laws too.  There are no happy marriages. Not one. Misery comes in many shapes and sizes, they are not all the same, but what all the marriages I know of in this family have in common is that not one of them was happy. My parents on their wedding day, August 1980. I was born in October 1980. Looking through, here's a brief summary of the marriages that led up to our family... My parents My father was married before my mother, his wife left him. I never met her. His version of events was (of course) that he was the completely innocent victim of a wicked woman, but I think she got out while she could - and good for her. My mother had known my father from their late teens, had seen his marriage end, and in the words of an old family friend, 'took pity on him'. He was drinking heavily, got her pregnant, and she refused to abort me; at that time,...

This is the third part (of many, I expect, but far apart and slowly accumulating) in my Home Ed Questions series - here's Part 1: What about socialisation ? and Part 2: How will they ever learn to read and write? N(then 9) reads to D(then 8) This entire blog is about thinking out loud, giving the reader a bit of an insight on what's going on in my mind. So this is going to be an open, vulnerable post as I think through my doubts and fears. Do I ever doubt my choices? You bet I do. Going against what the vast majority of people are doing, and are deeming necessary, is not easy and I'm not a Lone Ranger by nature. I have always craved community, people to walk alongside me. And luckily, there is a great community of home educators where I live - many of whom I have little in common with besides our choice of education, but because it's a large enough community, I do find there are a few that I can walk with closely. Of course there's online as well, the 'global vi...

Rest has been on my mind a lot lately - for several years now, I have been having occasional episodes of being simply unable to sleep; not to fall asleep initially, but I find myself waking up in the middle of the night and then unable to drop off again, for many hours. This has been occasional and manageable, but it feels like it's happening more often.  The cause for my waking isn't always internal - often it's the dog, or a noise, someone going to the toilet during the night - but once I'm awake on those occasions, I'm awake. I purposely don't look at my phone at those times, and I have a bedside clock with a red display (which is supposed to not interfere with the sleep hormones) so that's all I check, and I'll try to drop off again. I think, I pray, I try to empty my mind... but the dropping off just doesn't happen. I've looked into reasons for this, and what keeps coming up is chronic stress - cortisol. But the thing is, I'm not stresse...

Today marks nine years of this incredible boy... and as I do every year, it's time to sing his praises. Not hard to do. We celebrated him yesterday, Sunday, by having our by now traditional first BBQ of the year. The grandparents, some old friends and some newer friends from church as well as our friend Daniel (who's become their honorary uncle) came over to celebrate and D had the best time. Gifts are definitely one of his major love languages, and he felt very loved! Daniel put the cherry on the proverbial cake at the end of the celebrations by presenting him with the biggest birthday card ever, which featured not only D's face - which he couldn't stop laughing about for minutes! - but also a poem he'd written just for D. What a gift! Look carefully at the front of his huge card...! Just brilliant Gifts!! Today, we visited Legoland, which has also become a birthday tradition by now and much looked forward to.  So - let me talk about the boy. At this point, he is a...

This is the yearly roundup post - as I've done almost every year for 2023 ,  2022 ,  2021 ,  2020 ,  2019 ,  2018 ,  2017  (2016 seems to have been skipped as I got to grips with mothering two little ones), and  2015 . Family photo in Austria This year brought a few tweaks and changes, and growth of course, but it was a much more settled year than previous ones. A lot of travel though! Let's start with that... Travel We kicked the year off with our usual short sun-seeking week in Spain - Benalmadena for the third time, although I think we've had enough of that place now and may look elsewhere in future! Unfortunately, D(7) was ill some of that time (very rare for him, and impeccable timing!) so he missed out on some of the fun. The Butterfly Sanctuary Both in March and at the end of August, we visited Norway for my work with Churchear (posts: March and August ). I was involved with Churchear for several years quite intensely, putting together a ...