Another Giveaway.

The lovely Suzy from Scraps of Starlight is also having a giveaway.

The give away is for some beautiful prints from Suzy's Etsy Shop.

She has many beautiful prints and knitted products in her shop. Go and check it out.

Give away.

One of my favourite blogs to visit often is Shirley's blog Seeking Jesus

When I visited last night I saw she was giving away 5 copies of the book The Incredible Catholic Mass by Fr. Martin Von Cochem.

Go and read Shirley's post on My Journey continued, The Mass, and put a comment in the comment section. You may be one of the lucky winners of this great book.

Tagged.

I have been tagged by Kathy from A Bit of the Blarney and by Alexandra at Happy Hearts at Home for the Unspectacular quirk meme and Tag meme.

Since these two meme's have similar questions I thought I would give you all 6 quirks of mine and then an extra fact about me. I will tag 7 people too. You can do what I do or choose which ever tag you want to do.

My 6 quirks.

I cannot stand drivers not following road rules or going out exits that say no exit. I feel like pulling them over and telling them off.

I chew my bottom lip a lot.

I would be a very lonely person without DCF message board and the Catholic Blogging Community.

I hate cold weather with a passion.

I loved reading Trixie Belden when I was growing up and have read every book in the series.

I often sit with my hand over my mouth and blow on my hands to warm them up.

I hope to travel one day to all the Marian apparitions sites in Europe. I also want to travel to the USA and Canada and meet all my blogging friends.

I tag:

Angie

Kimberly

Amber

Catholic Convert

Kalona

JoAnn

and

Shirley

A note to myself.

Always always measure any child that you are sewing for the day before you cut out. Not a month before because they grow.

This weekend has been rather hectic in our house. I cut out Madeline's dress and jacket on Thursday night and started sewing Friday night. I got the jacket finished by lunchtime on Saturday. I started on the dress after lunch and had 90% of the dress done before I got Madeline to try it on. It didn't fit. This was at 10pm Saturday night. I couldn't do a mad rush to the shop and get her a new dress so after having a bit of a panic attack, I told her she would have to have a skirt and jacket since I could make a skirt pretty quickly. I made a skirt for her but then looked in my wardrobe and found the dress that I made for myself for my sisters wedding last year. I thought it would probably fit her. It did and she wanted to wear it. The dress looks better on her than it did on me so I have told her, it's hers.

We had the Mass at 10.30. Our parish priest confirmed 23 young people. It went really well. After Mass we went to the parish hall for a celebration cake and coffee. Then Madeline's sponsor came to our house for lunch. It was a lovely afternoon.

When Steve puts the video up on the computer I will upload it so that you can all see.

Steve, Madeline and Anne with Pope Benedict.

Friday Funny.

This is something to think about when negative people are doing their best to rain on your parade. So remember this story the next time someone who knows nothing, and cares less, tries to make your life miserable.
A woman was at her hairdresser's getting her hair styled for a trip to Rome with her husband.

She mentioned the trip to the hairdresser, who responded:
" Rome ? Why would anyone want to go there? It's crowded and dirty. You're crazy to go to Rome .
So, how are you getting there?"
"We're taking Continental," was the reply. "We got a great rate!"
"Continental?" exclaimed the hairdresser. " That's a terrible airline. Their planes are old, their flight attendants are ugly, and they're always late.
So, where are you staying in Rome ?"
"We'll be at this exclusive little place over on Rome's Tiber River called Teste."
"Don't go any further. I know that place. Everybody thinks its gonna
be something special and exclusive, but it's really a dump, the worst hotel in the city! The rooms are small, the service is surly, and they're overpriced.
So, whatcha' doing when you get there?"
"We're going to go to see the Vatican and we hope to see the Pope."
"That's rich," laughed the hairdresser. "You and a million other people trying to see him. He'll look the size of an ant.
Boy, good luck on this lousy trip of yours. You're going to need it."
A month later, the woman again came in for a hairdo. The hairdresser asked her about her trip to Rome
"It was wonderful," explained the woman, "not only were we on time in one of Continental's brand new planes, but it was overbooked, and they bumped us up to first class. The food and wine were wonderful, and I had a handsome 28-year-old steward who waited on me hand and foot.
And the hotel was great! They'd just finished a $5 million remodeling job, and now it's a jewel, the finest hotel in the city. They, too, were overbooked, so they apologized and gave us their owner's suite at no extra charge!"
"Well," muttered the hairdresser, "that's all well and good, but I know you didn't get to see the Pope."
"Actually, we were quite lucky, because as we toured the Vatican, a Swiss Guard tapped me on the shoulder, and explained that the Pope likes to meet some of the visitors, and if I'd be so kind as to step into his private room and wait, the Pope would personally greet me.
Sure enough, five minutes later, the Pope walked through the door and shook my hand! I knelt down and he spoke a few words to me."
"Oh, really! What'd he say ?"
He said: "Where'd you get the terrible Hairdo?"

Thanks to Abbey for emailing me this joke.

A lovely surprise.

Today in the post I received a Brown Scapular as a gift. The lovely Marilena from A traditional Catholic sent it to me.

Thank you Marilena. It was a wonderful surprise and I will have it blessed by our parish priest and wear it everyday.

Therese

This Sunday.

Madeline is going to be confirmed. She is taking Maria Goretti as her patron saint and a good friend of ours that is a Mercy Sister is going to be her sponsor. I have cut out a jacket and dress for her to wear and should finish sewing it of by Saturday. I think I have a tradition of finishing of First Communion Dresses the day before so think I should continue this with the Confirmation Dress.

Since we don't have a Bishop in our diocese at the moment, Fr. Paul (our Parish Priest) is confirming the children. Please pray for all the children that are preparing to receive the Sacrament this weekend.

Therese

Everything back to normal.

Today we started back with our usual routine.

Sam is doing home school for the rest of the year as well as Tom and Amelia. Steve went back to work and Daniel, Madeline and Brigette all went back to school too.

It is good to have a routine up and running again. It will also be good to have Sam at home with the younger children. He will be reading the History of the World to the younger children and reading some novels to them as well.

Steve is doing most of Sam's curriculum and I am still just concentrating on Amelia's and Tom's.

Eweewe.

The lovely Fr. John Speekman from Homilies and Reflections from Australia tagged me for a An Eweewe.

Now I can all hear you ask, what is an Eweewe? Well this is what Fr. John tells us about them.

A Eweewe is closely related to a Meme which gives you a chance to tell others about you. A Eweewe (pronounced you you and, according to an ancient tradition, sometimes written as Yuyu or even Uu) gives others a chance to tell you about you. Now that's simple enough, isn't it? And so worth doing!

Easy isn't it. (as long as the person doesn't get embarrassed and say boy I shouldn't have asked these people to do this).

So here are the things I am suppose to say about Fr. John.

1. In a few words explain why you find me so attractive as a human being.
2. Name two things you admire about me.
3. Name two more.
4. Place a tick if you agree:
I am dynamic
witty
fun to be with
cool
5. Say something nice about me.


Well, I could

1) be really nice and reply just like Adrienne. or

2) be cheeky and reply just like Gina did at Fr's blog, or

3) I could just say:

"Fr John, if you have a need for affirmation go talk to your mother, or someone."

I think I will go with number three so Fr. John, go and talk to your mother will you?

I want to add to that though, I really enjoy your blog and I really enjoyed meeting you back in January. I certainly hope that you will be up our way again and will call in for a meal, not just a cup of coke.

If you do call in, you will be very cool (if you sit under the air conditioner especially) and I am sure you will think of something witty to say to our children.

Now, I am going to tag

Jean,
Leah and
Esther

because I am sure these women can think of lots of nice things to say about me and I hope they tag some people and have lots of nice things said back to them.

One Hour to go.

It is early Tiesday morning and we have an hour until Steve and the children land at Adelaide airport. We are looking forward to seeing them all again and catching up.

Thanks for all the people that prayed for us on our trip. We have had a good trip and everything has gone well.

Therese

Everything is okay and we are on our way.

Thank you everyone for praying for us. The car battery is charged and everything looks okay.

Therese

Melissa Hackney. Gone to be with God.

Tonight I read on Kimberly's blog that Melissa Hackney has died.

Please keep Melissa's family in your prayers as they grieve her death.

It is with a heavy heart I pass this news on, but we must be glad that Melissa is not in any more pain now.

Our Family

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

This is so cool. I found this wiget at Kimberly's blog and wanted to add it. I cannot quite fit our whole family in the post but have the picture behind my title.

I really need lots of prayers.

Tomorrow I am suppose to be driving our car into Adelaide so that we can get our locking system fixed. Tonight I went out to put the Volkswagen out the front and the corolla away and found that the Volkswagen had a completely flat battery. Yesterday at some stage the children had got into it and pretended they were going on holiday. They turned the lights on, the hazard lights on and our indicator. This completely flattened the battery.

I rang Steve and he said we needed to charge the battery. I managed to get the charger onto the battery but the charger kept on jumping from 0 to 12 and back to 0. It is suppose to work its way up as the battery charges. We couldn't work out why the charger kept doing this but decided to leave it and see what happened. One of my neighbours came over and checked everything. He said that if the battery doesn't charge, he will be able to give me a jump start tomorrow morning.

Please pray that our battery charges. I know I will be able to start the car tomorrow with the jump start but I am concerned that we won't be able to start again if we stop at any places along the way. So prayers for a safe trip and for the battery to be okay after the charger charges it or we jump start it would be appreciated.

Thanks
Therese

one week.

Today it is a week since Steve and the children left. The younger children are starting to feel the strain of them all being away and not having as many people in the house.

Tom, Amelia and Christopher have all cried over small things today and the afternoon when we were going out Christopher jammed his fingers in the car door. It really hurt but I was starting to feel a bit impatient with all the tears we have had today and didn't really offer much sympathy to him.

He seems over it now so hopefully tomorrow will be a better day than today. I am planning on doing some craft activities with the children tomorrow morning so hopefully they will be a bit more occupied and won't whine as much as they did today. I think I was too busy doing my own thing today and that is why they were all crying and whining.

Plurk.

So I have been invited to plurk by Bob Catholic and it is great.

Plurk lets you create an account and you leave little comments though out the day about what you are doing. You can comment on other peoples plurks and other people comment on your plurks.

So if you want to visit My Plurk page click on the link and see what I have been up too.

God bless
Therese

This is just so sad.

I received an email today that asked me to vote in a poll.

In this poll 70% of Australians say that laws should change so that terminally ill patients can end their lives.

This just makes me feel sick.

A wyd report.

So last night was the opening mass for WYD and tonight I spoke with Steve and Madeline and had an update of what happened today.

This morning they went to the most reverent Mass Steve has been to in his life. They had chanting in Latin and he really liked it.

The catechism class they went to was Theology of the Body and they meet Jason Everett from Pure Love. Tonight they are going to hear Christopher West speak. Madeline said the talk was fantastic and Steve said Sam really enjoyed it too.

They plan to go to confession sometime this week and will be going to Mass everyday so I am really glad they are all there. I hope that some of the things they learn help them remain steadfast in the faith.

Here at home, we had a day with Bill and Linda It was a great day and we enjoyed catching up.

Hand painting.

Abbey emailed this picture to me with many others that have some spectacular paintings on them.

If you would like to see the rest of the pictures email me at aussiemum07 at gmail dot com and I will forward them too you.

Thanks Abbey for these great pictures.

Charlie and the Chocolate factory

Tonight the children and I watched the 2005 version of Charlie and the Chocolate factory. It is the first time I have seen it but the children have all seen it before.

Although many people I have spoken with about this movie didn't like it, I actually enjoyed it. I found the Oompa-Loompas very entertaining and actually prefered Johnny Depp as Willy to Gene Wilder.

A great family movie.

Therese

Sunday.

We started with Mass this morning and then had a quiet day at home. I did some cooking and the children watched a couple of videos and played computer.

In Sydney Steve, Daniel, Sam and Madeline went to the Aquarium and had a great time. I spoke with all of them on the phone this evening except Daniel who was probably in Mass when I rang. Since Daniel is one of the pilgrims he is staying at a different place to Steve and the other two. I will give him a call tomorrow evening and see how he is going.

A fun day out.

Last night Brigette, Tom, Amelia and Christopher all slept in our room. We all watched Chicken Little and then went to bed early.

We all got up early too. Since we were up so early I decided to take them all to Whyalla for a day of shopping. We went to toyworld and they all picked out a toy and then we went to Spotlight and bought a couple of sewing patterns and some fabric to make winter jeans.

We had lunch at McDonalds and then headed home.

This afternoon we spoke with Steve, Sam and Madeline on the phone and they had a great day too. They went to Sydney Opera House and Circular Quay. When I spoke with them, they were getting ready for Mass and planned to go out for tea after.

Tomorrow they will either go to Luna Park or The Aquarium. Both these places are huge tourist attractions.

So the first 24 hours apart has gone well. We will go to Mass tomorrow and then just hang out at home. I have some baking to do and will start tracing patterns for the childrens jeans.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Therese

Friday funny.

A blast from the past with candid camera.

Last day all together.

Tomorrow I will be saying farewell to Steve, Daniel, Sam and Madeline as they embark on their trip to WYD in Sydney.

I am so mixed in emotions for them all. I am excited that they will be able to spend time learning more about our faith and have the opportunity to see the Pope but I will miss them all like crazy.

Brigette, Tom, Amelia and Christopher and I have lots planned. I will go to Bolleroo and catch up with our friends Linda and Bill and get some more home school resources. We will have a video night and they all keep on talking about camping in our bedroom all together. I said I will camp in my bed.

On our video night we will have some take away for tea. I am hoping that the housework will be a bit more manageable with 4 less people in the house.

Brigettes musical theatre performance

How Catholic is your home?

Ebeth put this great quiz up for us all to see how Catholic our home is.

Are morning and night prayers a daily occurrence in your home?

We pray every evening as a family. I have morning prayer with the children that are home schooled.

Do you say grace before and thanks to God after meals?

Grace before, but no thanks after. Maybe a good thing to start.

Do you say a family Rosary every night?

Not every night, but Steve and I pray it together fairly often. Probably 4 out of the 7 nights. We probably pray it as a family once a fortnight or so.

Do you carry a Rosary at all times?

No but I always know where one is in the house or if I don't can count on my 10 fingers.

Do you wear a religious medal or a scapular?

No. I want to though so will look into getting one.

Do you read and discuss the Bible often?

No.

Is your home dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus?

Every night at prayer we dedicate ourselves to the Sacred Heart and Immaculate heart. I haven't ever heard of dedicating a home to it. Is this the same thing maybe?

Is there a crucifix hanging in a prominent place?

No. We really should look into doing this.

Do you ask God’s help in the solution of family problems?

Yes. All the time.

Do you have a sick-call set for Communion or Anointing of the Sick?

No.

Do you attend church as a family?

Yes.

Do you go to Confession regularly?

not as regularly as we should.

Do the children attend a Catholic school or Catholic religious instruction program?

Yes.


Do you have religious instruction at home?

Yes.

Are there Catholic periodicals in your home?

Yes.

Do you have a crib at Christmas?

Yes.

Do you send out cards that indicate Christmas is the birth of Christ?

I am very bad at sending cards but if I do, they will be Christian ones.

Does Christmas mean the coming of Christ or a chance to get gifts?

coming of Jesus.

Does Easter Sunday mean the resurrection of Christ or new clothes?

Resurrection

Do you ever invite lonesome or needy people into your home?

no.

Do you ever provide a basket of food to a needy family, not just at Thanksgiving and Christmas but during the rest of the year?

very rarely.

Thanks Ebeth for a great quiz.

My Day in Court.

I don't know if you all remember My post about being pulled over by the police for a random breath test and finding out that I was driving an unregistered vehicle.

well today was my day in court for my offense. I got my summons at the end of April and had to be in the court by 9.30 am this morning.

I was the first to be called. I went in and the judge read out that I was driving an unregistered vehicle on Highway one on the 31st of January 2008. I told the police officer before I walked in that I was pleading guilty. The Judge confirmed this and then a police officer got up and said that I was pulled over at 3pm and that I had no other convictions.

The judge then asked me if I had anything to add and I told him that three weeks prior to the registration being due I had taken our 7 year old diabetic son to Adelaide to start insulin pump therapy and that in the weeks that followed I was doing a lot of blood sugar testing and we simply forgot. The Judge asked me if we had received the registration note and I said I think it probably arrived the week I was in Adelaide with Tom and had been misplaced. The judge also asked me if I was working and when I told him I was a sahm he asked if Steve was working. He then asked me how many dependents we had and I told him 7.

The Judge set my fine at $150.00 which I was very glad of. I have heard of fines much more. We also have to pay court fees of $156.00 and I am will be making payments fortnightly. I thank God the Judge took into consideration that we are living on one income and that we have 7 children. I am also grateful that we are able to pay it off in installments.

The other penalty I received was no driving today or tomorrow. Loss of license for two days really isn't too bad. I am glad it is all over.

Therese

Train Park.

Today we walked to Mass. It was great to get a bit of exercise this morning.

We walked past the train park and decided to go back and have some ride in the afternoon. The children had two rides and really enjoyed them.

On the train we have Amelia, Christopher, Brigette and Tom.

Steve has worked out how to reduce videos so I decided to post this one. It has been reduced to 10 mb (from 100) and I am surprised that you really cannot see much difference.

I hope you all enjoy it.

Saturday.

Today has been a great day.

The first day of the holidays is a sleep in day in our house. Steve and I stayed in bed till 9am. It was great to get up and not be absolutely freezing. The day was a nice warm one for most of it. We did get some rain in the afternoon.

We had potato pancakes for lunch and then watched Death on The Nile with Peter Ustinov. Since I know the story line the movie didn't really impress me very much. It seemed to drag out a bit.

Tonight we had hot dogs for tea and watched Nanny McFee. I really enjoyed this movie.

Tomorrow we will go to Mass and I am hoping to spend some time sewing in the afternoon. Hopefully the weather will be nice enough for us to walk to church.

Happy 4th July to all my American Friends.

The fourth of July is a special day for us too this year. Today term two finishes so we have two weeks of holidays. I am really looking forward to having Steve and the children around for the next two weeks.

Steve, Daniel, Sam and Madeline will be going to World Youth day in a week and I will have ten days with our younger four.

Happy Independence day.

Therese

cold.

It has been very cold here today. Steve is in the process of installing a gas heater which hopefully will be in tomorrow evening. Tonight has seemed colder than usual so I hope it is in tomorrow.

At least we have an electric blanket on our bed to keep us warm.

Works for me Wednesday.

On the weekend Steve and I were talking about self control. I really don't have very much self control especially when it comes to the internet. I always have the intention of spending a limited amount of time on but never stick to my plan.

When Steve and I were talking about it, I said I think I need to have you take the modem cord to work so that I cannot connect at all. It is the only way I can spend a limited amount of time on here.

So today being Wednesday is the third day that we have had no internet from 8am to 4pm. Tuesday is a bit longer because Steve has a staff meeting.

It has been really good. For the first hour on Monday morning I actually felt quite sorry for myself but then said to myself, no you need to get other things done. The internet hasn't been cut of forever, it is only 8 hours each day that you cannot have it. It is my work time.

After three days I am seeing that this has been really good for us all. The children need me to be a bit more attentive to the school work they are doing. The housework was getting done mostly but it really wasn't fully completed. I am feeling better about the way the house looks. Hopefully I will be able to get all our curtains finished and sew some winter coats for the children because we are going internet free for those 8 hours.

Next week we will have school holidays. I am going to talk to the family about having no internet for the hours of 8 to 4 even though they are all home and in the second week when Steve and the older children are in Sydney for WYD I am going to try and continue it.

I have lots of plans for the holidays. I want to go through our linen and see what needs replacing, clean out the bookcase in the girls room and get some new curriculum for Tom and Amelia. Sam is going to be doing home school for the second half of this year too so we will be looking into curriculum for him. In an effort to help Sam with organisation I may even go into his room (aka the black hole) and see if I can do anything to help him with his organisation. Once all these things are done, we will sew bedroom curtains and winter coats for the children (that really should have been finished about a month ago but they will be able to use during July and August.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Great link:

Check out Totus Tuus Family blog for this great post:

Catholic rebuttals to Abortion

Four-four-four-four meme.

Thanks Jean for tagging me for this meme.


A) Four places that I go to over and over:
Church.
Coles.
School.
Big W.

B) Four people who e-mail me (regularly):
Abbey
Fr. John Speekman
Annelisa
Marco

C) My favorite 4 places to eat:
Hungry Jacks because the children go on the playground and leave us alone to talk.
King Po Restaurant.
Hannavile Hotel.
Old Willows brewery


D) Four places I would rather be right now:
USA. (Texas first)
London
Rome
Fiji


E) Four people I think will respond:
Lowdenclear since I mentioned her here.
Easter who responds all the time and I do appreciate it.
Laura the Crazy Mama (because she likes to talk so much)
Lilder since I mentioned Texas specifically for her.


F) Four TV shows I watch all the time:
I don't watch TV.

G) Four words that best describe you:
Catholic.
Mother.
Generous.
Caring.


H) Four favorite "old school" Hollywood Actors/Actressess:
Fred Astaire.
Judy Garland
Meryl Streep.
Jerry Lewis.

I)Four favorite "old school" television game shows:
It's academic.
Family Feud.
The price is right.
Wheel of fortune.

J)Four favorite "old school" television shows:
Gilligan's Island.
Gomer Pyle.
Bewitched.
Crackerjack.

K) List four things you liked best about Christmas when you were a child:
Family dinner.
presents.
Midnight Mass.
Swimming if the party was at my uncles house.

L) List four things you liked best about Halloween when you were a child:
No Halloween here.


M) List four things you did not like about growing up:
Puberty.
High school.
having to have more responsibility.
Being shy around guys especially.


N) List four events that impacted your life (can by anytime throughout your lifetime):
Meeting my dear husband.
Returning to the Catholic faith.
Reading St. Therese's autobiography.
The death of my older sister (aged three).

I am tagging the four people that email me regularly (in question B).

Therese