Words to Ella

Things I've given to Ella since she was born last year . . .

I haven't said it every day, but sometimes when I hold her and she's calmly laying on my shoulder I say,

Your Mama loves you,
Your Daddy loves you,
And God loves you,
No matter what.
And no matter what happens in your life,
We'll always love you
And we'll always tell you the truth
And you can always tell us the truth
No matter what.

Most days we sing to Ella. I'll share the words to my favorite, which is sung in a minor key:

Create in me
A clean heart, O God,
Let me be like you
In all my ways.
Give me your strength;
Teach me your song;
Shelter me in the shadow of your wing,
For we are your
Righteousness
If we die to ourselves
And live through your death
We shall be born--
Again to be blessed
In your love.

I'm not trying to show off how good we are to our daughter. I'm sure plenty of people love on their children in various ways and even sing to them.

I want to make a point, though. Someone once said, "Every parent sacrifices their children to their values." I believe it's true, which is why I'm not afraid to tell my daughter that I believe God, though I can't see him, and that God lives in her and loves her and loves the world.

Another reason I sing these songs and say these things while I hold her is for my own sake. I believe I desperately need God. He's given me life, but if I don't take the time to say thanks in a song once in a while I start acting like I think God and the whole world owe me something. I want to be accountable to God, too, concerning my care for Ella. I've known a few people who don't believe in God, yet live in integrity. I've also known Christians who simply used God to justify their unrighteous and unjust living. I believe my integrity is my responsibility, yet in need of reform that only God can handle.

The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is compelling enough to me that I appreciate the Christian faith that flowed from his story. I not only want to share that story with my daughter whether she one day believes it or not, but I want to live in integrity with that story no matter what.

Free Stuff for the Garden

Lately, I've been collecting free things for our garden.

I picked up hessian bags behind the local fish'n'chips shop today. They go on top of compost heaps or worm farms to keep the soil moist and living
Also today at Greenhouse Park after volunteering I picked up three huge bags of really nice mulch
Yesterday I picked up free cardboard boxes (already flattened)
I've been collecting things to grow seedlings in, including egg cartons, toilet rolls, etc.
I collected seeds from a tomato and a pumpkin to dry and plant myself
I also use our green garden waste bin to collect rain water
I'm also making a homemade pesticide by recycling a dried pepper and a tablespoon of garlic.

Sometime I'll do a thing of how many things I've bought and estimate the cost.

My goal is to spend very little money to support a low-maintenance garden the produces food and provides habitat.

My Own Lemon Tree

I wrote this post back in August when I hacked up the lemon tree.

Tuesday before last, when I came home from volunteering at Greenhouse Park, I cut some diseased branches off the lemon tree in the backyard. Ants filled most of these dead branches and I guess they were harvesting some kind of food (aphids) in there (reminds me of the Matrix movie where the machines were harvesting humans like batteries).

Did you know why pruning a plant is good for it? When branches are cut from any plant, the plant will aggressively put down more roots and deeper. This helps the plant to flourish in health and beauty.

When some neighbor or power monger “cuts” me, I certainly feel pain by it. But I can then put down deeper roots to drink Living Water. I can remember to breathe and bask in the sunshine. New fruit grows better than before and any neighbors whether cutters or healers, may receive blessing from me.

Often times the life I experience and the religion I already practice is described best after reading Christian Scripture. When I wrote the above, I was recalling bits from 1 Thessalonians and James about suffering, the Gospel of John about living water, and Galatians 6 about the fruit of the Spirit. I’m pretty sure the Hebrew or Greek words for “spirit” are the same for “breath”.

By the way, it's not really my lemon tree, but as renters I think we're sort of in charge of it.

Caught Up with Greg

Greg pictured talking with my good Texan friend, Corey:

Sunday, before lunch and communion, we had card games and conversation:


What a celebration to be caught back up with Greg. Greg is ten years my senior. Back when he was my age, I lived in Campbelltown and he lived in Minto. We used to play guitar some, eat chips w/ gravy on bread rolls. He'd take me and sometimes others fishing off coastline around Wollongong. Snorkeling, bushwalks, etc.

A few years ago, Greg found Nicole and I online through our blog. We caught up over e-mail. Then, we visited the Gong and Greg had us and our teammates over for a grand barbecue with he and his friend, Deon.

We'd lost touch after that. But after living in the Gong now since Australia Day early this year, we finally found each other! Greg's son, Ben, found me on Facebook last Friday. So, . . . it's been good to get caught back up, not only with Greg, but Ben and Mark as well. They came over for dinner Tuesday. I'll put those pics up later, I promise.