Quick 7.

-1-

We have had quite a week here. I won't go into everything that has been going on but I have felt rather stressed and over burdened. We are all over it all though and hopefully the weekend will be relaxing and rejuvenating.

-2-

Today Daniel left Australia for WYD. It is in Spain this year. Before they go to Spain, they are heading to the Holy Land. I am sure it is going to be an experience of a lifetime for him. There are 5 pilgrims going from our parish including our parish priest. I will update with news as they travel.

-3-

Steve has been taking singing lessons. He bought a program online and has been listening to them and doing all the exercises in time to the scales. He is doing them so much, I am hearing them in my sleep.

-4-

Do you know who Stanley Clark is? He is the person that invented blood glucose meters. He died recently. RIP Stan and thanks so much for making it easier to look after my two boys.

Go here to read Stan's obituary.

-5-

This weekend is the Warfest in Port Augusta. Our younger children are all very excited about it. There will be rides, games and lots of yummy food. Once the girls have finished netball, we will probably head straight over.

-6-

Today Tom got an invite to Diabetes camp SA. It will be on the weekend of the 22nd of October till the 24th October. He is very excited about going. This will be the first time he will have been away from family so I am also a bit nervous for him. I am sure he will be well looked after and have a great time. I hope he makes some really good friends too.

-7-

I have been thinking about doing some fundraising on here for Dr. Faustman's research for a cure. I have seen some blogs do some fundraising but don't really have many ideas about what to do. If anyone out there, has some idea's it would be great to hear them.

Dr. Faustman's link is over in the sidebar. To read about her research, click on the photo of her in the sidebar.

Remember to visit Jen from Conversion Diary for other people's quick 7.

Wordless Wednesday: Joseph feeds himself

Smart Martha Monday.

From last week:

Completed:

Made our bed everyday.

Read to the children every day.

Went and registered Joseph for his physio. I will get sent an appointment when the referral arrives from the Paediatrician.

I didn't make the butter.

I need a jar with a screw top so that when the children are shaking it, it is kept secure.

So on my list this week:

I want to write to South Australian MP's again. The euthanasia bill has passed the second reading. I am very concerned about this bill because it isn't just for terminally ill people, it is also for those with chronic illness. Having two children with a chronic illness, makes the bill all the more scary for me. I really hope it won't be passed so I am writing to all the MP's again and asking them to vote against it.

Oops.

Last night I was standing in the bathroom filling the bath for Joseph. I was also looking at my game of words with friends with Daniel. I got a bit distracted and filled the bath up really high. When I turned the taps off, he objected a bit. He quite liked the water running in and really enjoyed his deep deep bath.

Laundry.

I hate laundry. I think I have probably written that many times on my blog. It would have to be the job I hate the most. It is just never ending and huge with all my children.

I think it has been more of a pain for 18 months now because we have had my washing machine set up in an old bathroom.

We changed the old laundry into the children's bathroom and since then, we have had the washing machine up on an old door over our bath in our old bathroom.

It is the next job we are doing in our renovations and we finally have the money to do it.

So I am looking for ideas.

Here is a picture of the idea I have for our laundry.

Our laundry space is much smaller than this one but I like the set up of the washing machine, trough and cupboards. We could do it along the wall that the bath is in at the moment. I think I want some softer colours for the paint but love the wood colour for the cupboards. Steve was a plumber before he was a teacher so he knows how to do all the plumbing and put the hose from the washing machine to the trough.

I will show colours and progress as we do all the work.

Tasty Tuesday: Pumpkin soup.

Last Thursday, a few commenter's asked for my pumpkin soup recipe so I decided to post it.

My pumpkin soup is very similar to my broccoli soup recipe so you get a bonus recipe too. Two recipes, one post.

Pumpkin Soup:

Ingredients:

500 grms pumpkin diced.

500 grms potatoes diced.

1 litre vegetable stock.

300 mls sour cream.

chives.

salt and pepper to taste.

put pumpkin, potatoes and vegetable stock into a large saucepan.

Bring to the boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

When potato and pumpkin are soft, put in food processor with vegetable stock. Once soup is mixed, place back in saucepan and add sour cream, salt, pepper and chives. Heat through and serve.

I usually double this recipe for our family and it will have enough left over for me to have for lunch the next day.

Broccoli soup:

Ingredients.

500 grms broccoli.

125 grms spinach.

500 grms potato.

1 litre vegetable stock.

300 mls cream.

Place broccoli and potatoes into vegetable stock and bring to the boil. (I cut my potato up pretty small for this so that it cooks just as quickly as the broccoli does).

Simmer for 5-10 minutes so that the potatoes and broccoli are all cooked.

Add spinach and watch till it wilts.

place in food processor and mix. Put back in saucepan and add cream. Serve when heated through.

This recipe is usually doubled too.

I hope you all enjoy these wonderful winter soups.

Smart Martha Monday

I only had take the children to see Cars 2 on my to do list last week and since this was something I wanted to do, I did it.

This week we are back to school. Since Brigette was home today, we didn't do any home school either. I also took Joseph to see our Paediatrician. He has a weakness on his left side that he will need some physiotherapy for. We have noticed him walking with a limp and he certainly favours his right hand when most children his age are still very ambidextrous. I have also noticed that when he claps, he brings his right hand over to his left hand rather than moving them both.

The paediatrician said that it is most likely this will have disappeared by the time he is 5 so I hope he is right on this.

So on my list this week:

Make Joseph's appointment for some physio.

Read with the children every day.

Make our bed every day.

Make some butter with the children.

Hope you all have a good week.

Therese.

Weekend wrap up

We have had a busy but fun weekend here this weekend.

- Brigette had a job interview today for a job at Hungry Jacks. Yesterday I took her to Target to get a new outfit for it. This will be one of the last outfits I will buy her since she was offered a job at the interview. She starts work this Thursday. Brigette is our 4th child to start her working life at Hungry Jacks. Daniel, Sam and Madeline all started work here so we are keeping a family tradition going still. One of the things I love about having our older children all close together is they have become a little more independent of us close together too. I still cannot believe we have 4 children that have a little bit of financial independence.

- Last night we got to Mass a bit earlier so that I could go to reconciliation before mass. Reconciliation is a chance for a new beginning and to turn my life around. A good way to start the new term. I have a renewed vigour for all that I need to do this term.

- The temps here have been wonderful for the last week. Every day we have had lots of sun. Yesterday since the sun was shining, Steve and I walked Joseph into town for our food shopping. We had a small list so most of it fitted in the basket under Joseph for the walk home. It made a big difference though to the weight of the pusher and I am sure I used some muscles that I didn't know I had.

- Today we went back to Gladstone Square park. This time, Tom was with us. He didn't want to come on Wednesday. The children all had lots of fun again. I am sure we are going to be taking the children to this park quite often especially once the weather warms up.

I hope you have all had a great weekend.

Therese.

In the book “Can Man Live Without God?” Ravi Zacharis writes:

If I am merely the product of matter and at the mercy of material determinism,why should I subject myself to anyone else’s moral convictions? If, on the otherhand, I am fashioned by God for his purpose, then I need to know him and know that purpose for which I have been made, for out of that purpose is born my sense of right and wrong. There are two worlds represented by these options.

The atheist lives in tension. He says one thing and knows in his heart of hearts that another is true. The atheist ethics professor teaches ethical relativism, mocks Christianity with its moral absolutes, and explains to his class that right and wrong, as objective moral standards, do not exist. But then he absolutely demands that you not cheat on his test on ethical relativism. If you do cheat, he immediately forgets that he’s an atheist and begins speaking like a Christian, insisting that cheating is wrong and that you should know that.

We cannot teach people that they are nothing but material things that have evolved out of the slime and then try to also teach them that there is moral law they need to abide by. They are too smart to not see the implications of the atheism they’re taught. So they reason this world is a struggle for existence, and if cheating on a few tests will help me to get ahead and get the good job and earn the good money, then why not?

There is no foundation for morality apart from God. If naturalists really begin to live in a manner consistent with their worldview, their moral lives would implode.

Taken from “The Godless Delusion” by Patrick Madrid and Kenneth Hensley.

7 quick takes: The holiday edition.

Thanks so much to Jen at conversion diary for hosting 7 quick takes each week.

-1-

The holidays are just about over. We have Saturday and Sunday left and on Monday it will be back to school for us all. Well, except Brigette. Her school doesn't start till Tuesday.

-2-

I have had a very relaxing week this week which was needed. I still need to finish of my planning for term three but feel pretty prepared. I should finish it of tomorrow.

-3-

I read the book I'll walk alone by Mary Higgins Clark this week. Mary HC is one of my favourite writers. I really like her style of writing. If you want to see what the book is like, the link has the first two chapters for you to hook you in.

-4-

Joseph will be seeing our Paediatrician on Monday. He had xrays on his hips and legs a while ago and there was no abnormality. He is definitely walking with a limp though so we will just go and see the paediatrician and see what they think could be causing it.

-5-

Annie the musical is coming to Australia next year. I have already told Steve I want to go to Melbourne and see it.

-6-

Tom and Christopher have been playing a lot of diddy kong racing these holidays. I love the game too and have helped Christopher win a few races.

-7-

I have decided I am following too many blogs. I really have to cut back the amount of time I spend on the internet. In the holidays, I do have the time to keep up with them but once school is back, I just cannot.

I am going to keep the same blogs in my reader but will cut the list that I am following. I really wish I could follow them all but my priority needs to be my family and home.

Small Successes and Thankful Thursday.

Thanks so much to Sherri from Chocolate for your brain for hosting Small Successes each week.

I have a few this week.

First, we went on Tuesday to see Cars two. It was a great movie.

Second, Steve and I have been to mass everyday.

Third, we took Madeline and Brigette to YCS camp on Monday. We also kept up with all the house work while they were gone.

fourth, we walked to mass on Tuesday with our younger 4 children. Joseph went in the pusher and all the others said they wished they were small still and could have a ride in it.

As well as these successes, I am thankful this week for:

The school holidays and spending time together as a family.

Going to see Cars two with the children.

A big pot of pumpkin soup sitting on our stove top.

A freezer that will take the excess for another meal, another night.

Wordless Wednesday: Gladstone Square

Christopher and Joseph.

Amelia, Joseph and Christopher

Amelia.

This is the new playground the council has built at Gladstone square.

Pay It forward.

Holly from A Life Size Catholic Blog is the hostess for Pay it Forward.
It is a chance to highlight another blogger, blog post or blog.
I found out about it two weeks ago when Laura O shared my blog.
I decided right then, there were lots of blogs that I want to share with people in the blogsphere.
Today I am sharing a blog that is new.
Meet Sue from Not enough Butter.
Sue is another Australian Blogger with 7 children. Her youngest baby, Braith is just 1 year younger than Joseph.
Sue is going to start home schooling soon too.
One of her posts that I has been inspiring for me was her post this week on Organising Clothes storage.
She posts cute photos regularly and I am always uplifted whenever I go and visit her blog. I always know that I will find a post that will make me smile.
Go over and say hello to Sue. Tell her that I sent you.
Don't forget to pay a visit to Holly too from A life Size Catholic Blog.

Smart Martha Monday

I only had one thing to do last week and I didn't do it at all. My thing to do was make our bed as soon as I get out of it each morning.

I didn't even do it once. (blush blush blush)

I think the trip to Adelaide may have stopped this to a degree. But also I am on holidays and I really don't want to think about what I should do.

My aim for this week is going to be to take Tom, Amelia and Christopher to the cinema. I think we will go and see cars two.

Some atheists argue that we don’t need to believe in God in order to have morality. We can determine what is right and wrong by using reason alone.

Atheist Kai Nielsen argues that it doesn’t take God’s existence for us to figure out what is just and fair in a given situation. Do we really need God in order to know that we ought to keep our promises, or tell the truth, or pay our debts, or allow an elderly woman to take our seat on the bus? If we want to be treated with respect and dignity, isn’t it only reasonable that we should treat others with respect and dignity? It doesn’t take the existence of God for us to figure out how we ought to conduct ourselves morally.

Both Kai Nielsen and Immanuel Kant are right when they suggest that we can come to know what is right and what is wrong by the use of reason alone. After all, the moral law exists and is reasonable and God has written his moral law on our hearts and given us reason so that we might understand the world he has created. But if there is no God, no moral law, and if nothing exists but material substances as atheists like Nielsen suggest, why should a notion like ‘reason’ bond us to any particular type of conduct? If there is no moral truth to be discovered and if I have to simply choose the moral point of view because that type of life is what I find worthwhile for myself, then the decision is arbitrary, rationally speaking. The moral difference between Mother Teresa and Hitler is roughly the same as the difference between whether I want to be a trumpet player of a baseball player.

Because the naturalist worldview cannot support the real existence of right and wrong, any standard of morality the atheist comes up with is going to be arbitrary. It will simply be his idea of a good way to have some resemblance of morality in an immoral, impersonal, meaningless universe. Often it will also be inconsistent and even contradictory to the naturalist worldview. To see this, all one has to do is ask the question: How exactly does this ethical standard arise naturally from an infinite sea of ever changing material substances?

Taken from "The Godless Delusion" by Patrick Madrid and Kenneth Hensley.

Lesson learnt.

Most of the time, I am pretty picky about what I let my children see. If a new movie is out and our children want to see it, I generally look at Decent Films to read the review. Sometimes I have disagreed with the review but still, I think it is better to be cautious with movies that I haven't seen myself. Generally speaking, if there is any movie that doesn't get a big thumbs up from Decent Films, I will watch it before I let my children watch it.

Last night, Brigette, Amelia and I had a girls night. I let Brigette choose the movie and she chose Life as we know it.

If I had seen it before, I would have said, no that is not suitable for Amelia. As it was, if it was a movie that if Brigette really wanted to watch it, I would say okay but we will watch it together and look at it critically.

I think the thing that I disliked about the movie was the story line. The story line is about a couple that are married with a new baby. The couple dies and leave two friends as guardians of their baby. They do this in spite of the two friends disliking each other. They also do it without asking their friends if they are willing to do it.

I see several problems with this. Firstly, the job of choosing a guardian should never be taken lightly. Steve and I spent several days discussing it when Daniel was a baby and have since discussed if the person we have asked is still the right person for the job should Steve and I die. It is something we put a lot of thought and prayer into.

I also would never put someone down to take care of our children without their permission. How do I even know they are willing to take on such a huge responsibility without speaking to them about it?

There were several lines in the script that were just tacky and many of the interactions between the cast were just totally unrealistic. There were a lot of stereo types as well. I am going to have to talk with both Brigette and Amelia about the movie and many of the things that were implied and presented as truth.

After this experience, I have decided I am not going to watch a movie with the girls that I haven't seen myself before or that doesn't get a thumbs up from Decent Films.

Friday movie night.

This afternoon, Steve, Tom and Christopher have gone fishing. Daniel was going with a mate and invited them along.
Brigette, Amelia and I are having a girls night and watching Life as we know it and eating barnacle bills for tea.

Small Successes and Thankful Thursday.

Thanks so much to Sherry from Chocolate for your brain for hosting Small Success each week.

We have had a great week here with the start of the school holidays. Here are a few of the small successes I have had.

-1-

We went to Adelaide for a few days. We only saw family this time because we were only there for a couple of days. My mother is having a month in respite care at Southern Cross Homes in Klemzig. We spent a fair bit of time helping her pack up some things in her house. She will probably have to move soon into assisted living soon because she has so much trouble moving around.

-2-

Today we got back to Port Augusta by 1.00 so after unpacking the car and having some lunch, Steve and I walked to the bakery in town to get bread for the rest of the week. I think it was probably about 7 km round trip.

-3-

Changes have happened with the bedrooms at our house this afternoon too.

Up to today, the little boys room has been for Tom and Christopher. Now it is for Tom, Christopher and Joseph. I have moved the baby out of our room. He sleeps pretty well all night. I think being in the boys room will mean we will take longer to wake us if he wakes so maybe he will start sleeping right through till 7.00 when the other boys do. Well I can dream about this happening.

This week I am thankful for:

Our family holiday and the chance to catch up with family.

Joseph growing up.

Steve's sister having us stay while we were in Adelaide.

Going out for tea with Steve's sister.

Wordless Wednesday: Out with family.

We had a lovely night out for tea with Steve's sister and her family.

Tasty Tuesday: Self saucing Chocolate pudding.

Today I want to share with you all, a recipe that Vicky from Creating with Wisdom posted on her blog. I haven't tried this pudding yet, but will sometime this week.

Go here to get the recipe.

As I said to Vicky, Chocolate pudding is one of the good things about winter.

Smart Martha Monday

My list from last week is just about complete. I haven't quite finished the children's literacy curriculum for term three but I have a lot written down and 90% of the ideas complete.

This week, since it is holidays, I am going to make an effort to make our bed every morning when we get up. Steve is just about always up before me so this should be simple. I remember hearing that it takes 22 days to make something a habit so I might try making our bed first thing when we get up for the next three weeks and hopefully after that, I will just do it without even thinking about it.

weekend wrap up.

Saturday was our usual busy day. We had mass and adoration followed by netball and food shopping.

We took the children to video esy since it is holidays.

Saturday night we went to mass.

This morning we got up and did all the house work. We then drove to Whyalla for a family day. We meet Daniel and Michael at bowling and then went to Hungry Jacks for lunch. After lunch we went back to Daniel's place. The video above was shot there. It was a fun day and a great way to start of our holidays.

Atheists will argue that there does not need to be a God given moral law, but that we can choose to do anything so long as we are not hurting someone.

For example, as long as sexual activity is between consenting adults, you should be free to do whatever you like, with whomever you like, in whatever combinations you like, and in whatever circumstances you like in or out of marriage as long as no one is hurt by it. ‘Hurt’ is usually narrowly defined in terms of sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy.

If human beings are nothing but highly evolved animals, as atheists claim, then it could be argued that no harm is done when people behave like animals. A hedonistic lifestyle may adequately provide for what you want out of life. Do whatever your desires and appetites and addictions and fetishes compel you to do.

If God exists, and he designed human sexuality to be expressed and find its meaning and fulfillment in the loving commitment of marriage, then unbridled sexual activity would be a destructive activity that attacks human dignity and eventually inflicts profound and lasting emotional, spiritual and physical wounds.

Everyone is hurt by the ‘do no harm’ ethic. Those involved in sexual promiscuity, or in other immoral activities that might be considered entirely private, are hurt because God made them for something so much higher and better. They degrade themselves when they fail to pursue their higher calling. Those who follow their example are hurt, especially the children who assume that this must be a good way to live. Parents who would never have wanted this for their sons or daughters are hurt. Even society itself is hurt as its moral tenor is diminished by such behavior even though its proponents claim they’re not hurting anyone else.

A problem for the naturalist who subscribes to the ‘do no harm’ ethical standard is that it is actually inconsistent with the naturalist worldview. Do naturalists see the ‘do no harm’ standard existing in nature? Is this something the natural world teaches us? Didn’t Darwin claim that, in nature, the strong prey upon the weak and only the fittest survive? Isn’t his how things should be in this strictly material world?

If human beings are merely highly evolved animals, why is it universally understood to be wrong for one human being to steal from, injure, or murder another human being? What is the rational basis to insert the notion of ‘right and wrong’ into an atheist worldview?

The consistent atheist is forced to admit that the ‘do no harm’ standard contradicts the naturalist worldview that embraces Darwin’s evolutionary principle of ‘survival of the fittest’. Natural selection is guaranteed not be being nice to competitors but by overpowering weaker competitors.

From “The Godless Delusion” by Patrick Madrid and Kenneth Hensley.

7 quick takes: The holiday edition.

7 things to do during the holidays.

-1-

Sew my Jacket.

-2-

A family day in Whyalla. We are going to go bowling and out for lunch.

-3-

Visit family and friends.

-4-

Sew some jeans for Tom and Christopher.

-5-

Sew Joseph some overalls.

-6-

Finish planning term 3's curriculum.

-7-

sleep in often.

As always, visit Jen at Conversion diary for other people's quick 7.

Small Successes

-1-

Took the children out for a walk today and went and visited the staff and children at Christopher's old kindy. This was huge for Christopher. He has been asking to go for a visit for a while now.

-2-

Got up early on Monday morning and went walking with friends.

-3-

Started planning term 3 literacy and maths program.

-4-

Have been to mass everyday this week except Wednesday. We couldn't go on Wednesday because Joseph had croup. Today he seems much better. He still has a nasty cough but is back to his happy cheerful self mostly.

-5-

Wrote up a list of things that I want to get done in the holidays.

Pop over to Sherry's Chocolate for your brain to read other people's small successes.

Some prayers.

Tom has recently memorised the act of contrition prayer. Up until this term, I haven't really spent much time teaching the children to memorise prayers. I can see that doing simple memory work with them has helped them in all areas of learning.

This is the act of contrition he has learnt.

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you, and I detest all my sins, because of Your just punishments, but most of all because they offend You, my God, who are all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin.

Some other prayers I want them to learn are:

A morning offering:

O Jesus,
through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
I offer You my prayers, works,
joys and sufferings
of this day for all the intentions
of Your Sacred Heart,
in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
throughout the world,
in reparation for my sins,
for the intentions of all my relatives and friends,
and in particular
for the intentions of the Holy Father.

Amen.

Guardian Angel Prayer:

Angel of God, my guardian dear,

to whom God's love commits thee here,

forever this day be at my side,

to light and guard, to rule and guide.

Amen.

Tasty Tuesday: Chicken Vegetable soup

Since it is the middle of winter here, we are enjoying lots of soups. I made up a chicken vegetable soup last Sunday that was delicious.

Here is the recipe I used but I changed a few things around with the vegetables we already had. I also used a whole chicken rather than chicken legs and made my own stock with the chicken.

Ingredients.

1 tbspn oil.

2 leeks.

1 medium onion.

1 garlic clove.

3 carrots.

3 zucchini.

3 celery sticks

8 cups chicken stock.

1 whole chicken.

1.5 cups split peas or soup mix.

1 turnip diced.

Start making chicken stock by putting the chicken in water. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 3-4 hours, skimming often.

heat oil in frying pan and add onion, leeks and garlic. Cook until leeks and onions are transparent.

When stock is cooked, remove chicken from stock and take meat off bones.

place chicken, vegetables, split peas and stock into saucepan together. Bring to the boil then reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with bread rolls.

Smart Martha Monday

Because of all the illness last week, I didn't do my morning routine or check all the children's jobs each day. I am really hoping that this week we can just have no illness or anything that throws my day into total chaos.

So my aim this week:

- do morning routine each day.

- check children's jobs each day and dish out consequences for not doing them.

- Plan our new literacy program for term two.

Joseph in the cupboard.

Joseph keeps climbing in our draws. I decided to take a photo to share.

Here is a video of him getting out.

Weekend wrap up

On Friday night, Sam had his year 12 formal. I took him down the street on Friday afternoon and bought him a suit. The shop keeper told me he will get married in this suit. Maybe one day. We will see. I may be a bit bias but I think he looks pretty good in this suit.

Amelia had no netball this weekend so Steve, Joseph and I went off to mass and adoration on Saturday morning. We stayed talking after mass with two Seminarians from Sydney that are visiting our parish. Steve and Michael are the Seminarians that are visiting. In the afternoon, Steve came over for lunch and he and Steve went through music for the new translation of the mass. Steve has been listening ever since to all the different sung parts of the mass.

On Saturday night, we jumped into our Volkswagon to go to Mass only to find that the battery was low. We decided to go to mass in the Carolla which meant we needed two trips to get everyone there.

Today Steve charged up the battery and the Volkswagon is running perfectly again.

This morning I took Tom, Amelia and Christopher to the Kids club service at the Uniting Church. Every Friday night they go to kids club and once a term they have a service which the children all take part in.

In the afternoon, we went to my friends Ellie's house for a Tupperware party. It was a fun afternoon and I cannot wait to get my tupperware.

This week is the last week of term so we are all looking forward to finishing off and having a holiday. I cannot believe we are half way through the year.

Some atheists will argue that there does not have to be an objective moral law rooted in and reflecting the character of God

They claim that we can figure out for ourselves how to make wise, good and ethical decisions. One suggestion would be to ask ourselves the simple question: what will bring the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people? What choice will result in the greatest total amount of happiness?

The major problem with this alternative ethical standard is that there is no way of measuring the greatest total amount of happiness. An atheist will define ‘happiness’ in terms of his naturalist worldview and the values that flow from it. A Christian will define happiness in terms of his theistic worldview and the values that flow from it. For example, an atheist might argue for smaller families on the grounds that each child will have better clothing and toys therefore more happiness. A Catholic might argue for a large family on the grounds that each child will have more love, more sharing and more memories, and therefore more happiness since happiness does not come from having lots of material possessions.

Our worldview determines our values and our ideas of where happiness is to be found. Happiness is not some measurable commodity that can be weighed objectively as a basis for making ethical decisions.

Another serious problem with the ‘happiness’ method of doing ethics is that once the happiness of the individual is subordinate to the happiness of the group, nearly anything can be justified. If what is important in moral reasoning is the ‘total amount of happiness’ then the happiness of the individual becomes secondary. The individual is no longer an end in himself but has become a means to the happiness of the group. Virtually any behavior can be justified on the grounds that it will result in the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people.

Another problem for the naturalist who subscribes to the ‘happiness’ method of doing ethics is that it is actually inconsistent with the naturalist worldview. If there is no God as the naturalist asserts, no moral law and if humans are mere products of natural processes, accidents of chance and time; then why should we care about what results in the greatest total amount of happiness? Why should we choose to allow this arbitrary standard to bind us in our freedom? Why shouldn’t we do what we want? Why shouldn’t we pick our own arbitrary standard, such as “right will be whatever makes me happy”?

From “The Godless Delusion” by Patrick Madrid and Kenneth Hensley.

The front fell off.

A blast from the past. Yesterday, I was reading my blogs that I follow in google reader and Lola had a video explaining the Worlds financial collapse. It reminded me of this one that I have in my archives. The front fell off is one of my favourite videos. I hope you enjoy it too.

Thankful Thursday.

Yet another Thursday that I need to remember the things that are good in our life.

-1-

All the children and Steve ended up getting the gastro that was going through the house. I am the only one that hasn't got it and I am very thankful for that.

-2-

I am thankful for the doctors that look after Tom and that we have the technology to get him well quickly.

-3-

I am thankful for all the people that read about Tom and prayed for us.

-4-

I am thankful that we just have one day and one week left of term 2. Next week will be a bit of a quieter week and I will start planning for term 3.

-5-

I am thankful for the new spelling program that we have for Tom and Amelia. I have always struggled with the best way to teach them spelling and it was certainly their weakest subject. The new program I have seems to really work for them. The program I am using is called The Phonetic Zoo.

Therese.

Wordless Wednesday

Last night at the hospital. today he is much better thank goodness.

Gastro.

Don't come to our house. We have 4 children sick today.

At 10.30 this morning, just as I was serving up our morning tea, Christopher threw up all over my kitchen floor. Not long after, Joseph did too. Then in the afternoon, Tom and Amelia were both sick too. So far the rest of us are okay. We have disinfected the whole house and hopefully this bug will pass quickly.

If you could all please pray for this bug to pass quickly and that Tom and Christopher can keep their diabetes under control while we are battling this. They can get pretty sick pretty quickly when they have gastro.

Thanks

Therese.

Smart Martha Monday

From last week, I have prayed every morning. Some mornings were a bit more rushed than others and I didn't spend as much time as I would have liked on Thursday and Friday but I did get it done.

I did check the boys bsl each morning and they all got breakfast but I didn't get our bed made every morning. I think Tuesday was the only morning that we got it done.

On Wednesday I was sick and stayed in bed so I didn't do any of the morning routine.

My aim for this week is to do the morning routine again.

I also want to keep a good eye on the children's jobs. We have just changed around the jobs that each child does.

Sam will be cleaning bathrooms and toilets.

Madeline will be cleaning up our lounge room and folding washing.

Brigette will be mopping main living area floors.

Tom and Amelia are going to alternate between helping with dishes in the kitchen and hanging washing.

Christopher will help with the dishes in the kitchen too.

I am going to check the children's jobs every night and make sure they are done. If they are not done.

I hope everyone's week goes well.

Therese.

Weekend Wrap Up.

Well after my rough week last week, I have had a wonderful relaxing weekend and feel ready to cope with whatever is thrown at us this week.

I think a part of the feeling down was the lack of sleep that I had last week. Whenever the boys sugars are too high or too low, I need to do checks at 12.30 and 3.30 every night. If they are too high for too long, the boys can get ketones and dehydrate very quickly. If they are too low for too long, it can be deadly so we need to get sugar into them.

Our Saturdays are always busy now. Steve and I usually try to get to mass and adoration every Saturday morning and then we have netball. I also do our food shopping on Saturdays. In the evening we usually go to the Vigil Mass.

Because it is so busy, I try to plan very little on Sundays and today we had a wonderful day out in the garden. The sun was shining so we sat out there for most of the day. The children got out and played on the trampoline, in the sand pit and on the swings. Steve and I had a couple of cups of coffee, talked and just enjoyed the sun. It was great and just what I needed.

In the afternoon, we had a hour of prayer at the church for the feast of Corpus Christi. It is great to have my batteries recharged. We only have two weeks left of this term and then I will have a lot of time to really recharge. So looking forward to it.

Fire!!!!!!

Last night our fire alarm went off and when we looked around, Joseph had dropped one of our carb counting books into the heater. It had caught on fire and given him quite scare. It had started a small fire. We got the book out, turned off the heater and put the fire out. thank goodness we were all close by and it wasn't too serious.

YUM!!!!!!!!!!!

Tonight Red Rock chips were on sale at Coles so Brigette said, get these sea salt and balsamic vinegar ones. I bought them and boy they are great. I think I might be buying these from now on for our chips snacks but hiding them for Steve and I to share when everyone else is in bed. Oh I forgot, our teenagers stay up later than us now. Oh well, I will have to hide them in my room and sneak off for a snack.

Thankful Thursday.

This week has been a tough week. I have had a lot of trouble with Tom's blood sugar levels. Whenever things get tough, I really start to hate this insidious disease. I start to wonder why me and wish that both my boys didn't have to deal with it.

This was topped off by waking yesterday with a pretty bad headache. I felt so bad that I asked Steve to take a family leave day to help out with home schooling and all the other things I need to do for the day.

My natural reaction to all these negatives in my life is to sit and mope about it and how hard it really is. I mope around and feel sorry for myself. This is very self destructive though. To get over it, I really need to sit back and be thankful for all the good things in my life. That is why I decided to write another Thankful Thursday post tonight.

So today I am thankful for the research that could lead to an artificial pancreas and would help both my boys lead a more normal life:

I am thankful that we have the means to check our boys blood sugar level and treat with insulin.

I am thankful for the boys team of doctors and diabetes educators that can support and help me look after the boys.

I am thankful for carelink. I can upload the boys pumps onto the internet and the endocrinologist and diabetes educators can look at all the data. This has been a great help to the boys management.

I am thankful for the online diabetes community. I have a couple of support groups on facebook and yahoo groups. They have been there whenever I have felt down or wanted advise about what to do to look after the boys.

I am also thankful for all you that read and follow my blog. It is always good to know that if anything goes really wrong with either of my boys, I can type up a prayer request and will have people praying for me and my boys. Thanks for all those that have supported me spiritually and given words of encouragement.

Hug a Diabetic day.

Today is hug a diabetic day. Since we have two boys with this in our house, I wanted to take some time to educate and let people know what type one diabetes is and how it is different to type two and gestational diabetes.

Here is a great video by an online friend of mine that tells you all about type one diabetes:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Here is a fact sheet about type one diabetes that tells you all about it too.

There is also a series of posts that I wrote back in 2009 about type one diabetes.

Here is:

Part one.

Part two

Part three

Part four.

The Problem of Evil

In the last post I mentioned a common argument put forward by atheists. If an all good and all powerful God exists, then he would not allow evil to exist. Evil does exist, and so an all good and all powerful God must not exist.

The fact that this is an unsound deductive argument is not the only problem it has. It is only on the basis of a theistic worldview, in which God exists and provides an objective moral standard, that we can call anything objectively evil.

As I have pointed out in previous posts, atheists can’t really speak about good and evil if they are to be consistent. For if there is no supreme standard of ‘good’ which would be God, then nothing can be rightly called ‘good’ or ‘evil.’ Everything just is and therefore any given human act such as murdering an old woman for the money in her purse or starving mentally ill people to death because they are inconvenient to have around cannot really be classified as ‘evil.’ You may not like their actions but if God does not exist you have no basis higher than your own private preferences for labeling them as ‘evil.’

In a naturalist universe, nothing exists but particular material things simply doing what they naturally do. The problem of evil can only be a problem with a theistic worldview. Within a theistic worldview one might ask the question: Since God is all good and all powerful, I wonder why he allows evil to exist as he does?

Atheists must assume the existence of God and of moral absolutes in order to even pose the problem of evil. How then can the problem of evil be used as an argument against God’s existence?

From “The Godless Delusion” by Patrick Madrid and Kenneth Hensley.

Smart Martha Monday

I haven't done a smart Martha Monday for ages. I decided it was a good way to keep me focused on what I need to do and keep our house running smoothly.

My plan for this week is to get a fly lady morning routine happening again and to do it every morning.

This is what my morning routine will be:

1) get up and pray.

2) have coffee and read email.

3) get children up.

4) Check boys bsl, get breakfast ready and feed baby.

5) make our bed.

6) take Brigette to school.

On Wednesday and Fridays, I go walking with a couple of friends so pray and email is not possible.

I have to get the children up by 7.30 to get everything done and get Brigette to school on time. That means that the longer I stay in bed, the less time I have to read emails and check blogs.

I will let you all know next week, how I went with it.

Therese.

The Twister

The sun came out for 5 minutes today so we decided to take the children down to the foreshore to go on some rides and play a game.

Here are Tom, Amelia and Christopher on the twister.

Quick 7.

-1-

Netball.

Tomorrow morning the girls have games first thing in the morning. Amelia plays at 9.00 and Brigette at 10.00. At least it will be over early and we should get a lot of other things done.

-2-

Sewing.

I have traced most of the pattern that I was frightened to sew. Looking at the pattern, it doesn't seem as frightening and the instructions make more sense. I am hoping to finish tracing the pattern tonight and get it cut out tomorrow morning. (If I can get up early enough).

-3-

Musical Theatre.

This year, Madeline, Brigette, Tom, Amelia and Christopher are all in musical theatre. It takes up a lot of our time but they all enjoy it a lot. On Sunday, there is going to be a sewing bee for it so I am going along to help sew some of the costumes.

-4-

Pumps.

Christopher is having a lot of trouble with his pump breaking at the end of the tubing. I think he is just too rough with it. I think he will need to have the pump put in a backpack where he cannot touch it. I am the one that operates the pump all the time anyway so there is no need for him to have any access to it. I hope I can work out a pattern for a backpack fairly easily. Tom had one before but they were way over priced so I am going to have a go of making one before I buy one.

-5-

Joseph.

Joseph is walking with one of his feet turning out. We are noticing it more now that he has been walking for a few weeks. He pulls it around in an odd way too. Next Tuesday we are seeing the doctor and seeing if he thinks we need a referral on for it. Prayers for him would be appreciated.

-6-

Second Term.

Second term only has another three weeks to go. We will have two weeks holidays and then term three will start. I cannot believe we are already half way through the term.

-7-

St Ann.

I have a picture of St. Ann on my sewing table now. Steve is going to put it on the wall in there this weekend. Honey found out that St. Ann is the patron saint for sewers. I am going to be asking for her intercession a lot when I do my coat I think.

Have a great weekend everyone. Don't forget to drop over to Jen from Conversion Diary for other people's quick 7.

Does the existence of evil prove the non-existence of a good God?

If an all good and all powerful God exists, then he would not allow evil to exist. Evil does exist, and so an all good and all powerful God must not exist.

This assertion is an unsound deductive argument. It’s unsound because it assumes the truth of a premise that cannot be known. It takes for granted that an all good and all powerful God could not or would not allow evil to exist even for a limited time. Since evil does exist, the God Christians and other believe in cannot exist. If it is true that an all good and all powerful God could not or would not allow evil to exist even for a limited period of time then of course the argument works.

How does the atheist know that an all good and all powerful God could have no possible reason for allowing evil to exist for a time? The atheist cannot know this. In fact, a good, loving, and all powerful God might conceivably have a number of reasons for allowing evil to exist for a time and apparently he does.

It may be hard for us to understand why God allows evil, but the existence of evil does not prove the non-existence of God.

From “The Godless Delusion” by Patrick Madrid and Kenneth Hensley.

Wordless Wednesday: Sturt Desert Peas

Steve has grown these again in our garden. The flowers are so pretty and colourful.

Tasty Tuesday: French Onion Soup

Ingredients:

45 grams unsalted butter

1 small red onion

400 g (123?4 oz) white onions, finely sliced.

1 clove garlic, finely chopped.

25g plan flour

200 ml (6.5 fl oz) white wine.

1.5 litre brown stock (see recipe)

Bouquet garni (see recipe)

1 tblspn sherry

Brown stock:

roast 1.5 kg (3 lb) beef or veal bones, one onion quartered, 1 chopped leek, and 1 chopped celery stick at very hot 230 c. (450 f) for 40 minutes

Transfer to a clean pan. Add 4 litres water, 2 tblspns tomato paste, bouquet garni and 6 peppercorns. Simmer for 4 - 4 hours, skimming often.

Ladle the stock in batches into a fine sieve over a bowl. Gently press the solids with the ladle to extract all the liquid and place in the fridge to cool. Lift off any fat. Makes 1.5 - 2 litres.

Bouquet Garni.

wrap the green part of a leek loosely around a bay leaf, a sprig of thyme, some celery leaves and a few stalks of parsley. Tie with string. Leave a long tail to the string for easy removal.

French Onion Soup:

Melt the butter in a large heavy based pan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for 20 minutes stirring often until caramelised and dark golden brown.

Stir in the garlic and flour and cook, stirring continuously for 1-2 minutes.

Add the white wine and stir the mixture until the flour has blended in smoothly. Bring to the boil and slowly stirring continuously. Whisk or briskly stir the the stock. Add bouquet garniand season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Simmer gently for about 30 minutes then skim the surface of excess fat if necessary. Add the sherry to the soup and adjust the seasoning to taste.

Sewing a new jacket

This is a jacket pattern I bought a couple of years ago. I opened it and read the instructions and frightened myself. I love the style and think it would look great but the pockets are welt pockets. I haven't ever sewn welt pockets and the instructions looked quite complicated. So instead of having a failure, I put the pattern away and haven't attempted to sew it since.

This weekend I was going through my patterns and decided to get this one out. I read the instructions again and thought (quite dubiously), well maybe I can do it. I looked at the review for it at Pattern Review. One review said it was a great pattern for someone to learn some new techniques like the welt pockets. I am encouraged. I am going to have a go at it. I will trace the pattern tonight and hopefully get it cut out during the week. If I have a chance this weekend, I will start. The welt pockets are one of the first things to be done so I will know fairly early in sewing it if they are too hard or not. Once I have completed the welt pockets, I am fairly confident that I won't have any problems with the rest.

Maybe I need a patron saint for sewers.

Happy Birthday to the Church.

Today is the churches birthday. Over 2000 years ago, the church was born at Pentecost. We had an ecumenical service with the Anglicans in our church tonight followed by cake and drinks.

Happy Birthday to the church.

A long weekend.

This weekend is a long weekend in Australia. We have Monday of to celebrate the Queens birthday. It will be great to have an extra day off.

Joseph seems to have picked up a cold and spent a lot of time yesterday sleeping in my arms. Today he seemed a bit better but still has rosey red checks.

Hopefully he will improve because I am hoping to do some sewing over the next couple of days. Today he was pretty happy playing with the other children while I did some cooking so I hope he will be tomorrow too.

I hope all the other Australians have a great long weekend.

What do Joseph Stalin, Mao Tse-Tung, Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot have in common? They were all atheists.

Atheists have used their amoral principles to wreak unthinkable violence against their fellow human beings around the world.

Joseph Stalin was a man committed to the dream of a civilization of power set free from the constraints of belief in God. Early in his life he had been a student preparing for ministry in the Russian Orthodox Church. He eventually came to reject God and all religion as the mere invention of man. Later in life he went on to build one of the first officially atheistic states in the world.

Stalin was probably personally responsible for the deaths of more innocent people than anyone who has ever lived. In the forced famines of 1932 he engineered to bring about the collectivization of Russian farming. It has been estimated the he purposely starved to death some seven million land owning farmers. Millions more were executed or taken to the gulags.

Mao Tse-Tung, the infamous Communist Chinese dictator, was a committed atheist – so committed, in fact, that he exerted the considerable might of the Chinese army and political apparatus to force, as far as he possibly could, all Chinese citizens under his regime into atheism.

Mao Tse-Tung, who for decades held absolute power over the lives of a quarter of the world’s population, was responsible for well over 70 million deaths in peacetime.

In Cambodia, under the dictator Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime, more than two million human beings were executed or worked to death by their atheist guards acting under orders from their atheist boss.

It would be dishonest to suggest that these dictators had no connection with their materialistic worldviews. Atheism as a worldview teaches us that right and wrong are a matter of subjective personal opinion – entirely relative and thus, gives us reason to treat others as a means to our ends. In essence, the naturalist worldview doesn’t teach us to be good.

How were Stalin, Mao, Hitler and Pol Pot able to commit such horrible crimes? Because they viewed these human beings as the mere product of evolution. How can anything be wrong if God does not exist? We may not like what some have done. But how can it be objectively wrong?

From “The Godless Delusion” by Patrick Madrid and Kenneth Hensley.

Small Successes.

Sherri from Chocolate for your brain now hosts the Small Successes. This is my first time participating since Sherri has taken over hosting. I suppose that could be a small success all on its own but I am not going to post it as one.

So these are my small successes for this week:

(1) We found 5 of the 8 missing library books. One of the three that is missing was broken by Joseph so we will have to pay to replace that one anyway. Hopefully we will find the other two this weekend. I have a few more cupboards to go through.

(2) been up the last two nights at 12.30 and 3.00 for Tom since he has been having high sugar levels. It is much easier to get up to him now that Joseph sleeps mostly through the night. It was pretty cold though and I really didn't want to get out of my nice warm bed.

(3) Joseph now sits quietly through our family prayer time. He was becoming a big distraction to everyone walking around and being cute so we decided it was time for him to sit on my lap for prayer. The first couple of nights, it was a fight to keep him there and we had a great screaming match with him. He sat quietly tonight for the whole time so I think we have a break through. Our next step will be to get him sitting quietly through mass.

Wordless Wednesday: At the Arid Lands

One of my favourite pictures of Steve and Christopher.

16 months.

Today Joseph turns 16 months. He is just so cute. I love a baby between 12 months and two years.

Things he likes:

- bottles of milk,
- bath time.
- going for a walk in the pusher.
- riding his bike.
- playing with the other children.


He can clap his hands and give a high 5 when we ask him too.

When we say lets go, he heads straight for the door and knows that we are going out.
He also knows that if mum grabs her handbag, we are probably going out too.

If we say to him, do you want a bath, he heads straight into the bath.

Words we have heard him say so far:

mum. hot. Jett (Brigette). Nam (Sam).

Here he is tonight when I asked him if he wanted a bath.

Our weekend.

I have been feeling a bit off this weekend. I woke up yesterday with a headache and today I woke up with a sore throat. I have taken it easy today especially and think I should be okay for this weeks school.

Yesterday was pretty nice. We took the children down to the foreshore for a play. They like going to the playground there.

Here is a video of Joseph on the swing.

Adolf Hitler was clearly committed to a vision of the world that was essentially Darwinian, Nietzschean and atheistic.

Freidrick Nietzche, the father of modern atheism believed that man was an animal evolving from beast to what he referred to as the “Superman” A race of supermen unchained from the shackles of religion, belief in God and morality, who would use their intelligence and will to create their own world.

Adolf Hitler was clearly committed to a vision of the world that was essentially Darwinian and Nietzschean. Hitler had his own twisted version of Nietzsche’s “superman” – the infamous Aryan master race. He admired Nietzsche, read his work and visited the archives in Berlin where a photo was taken of him gazing up at the philosopher.

Hitler despised as did his atheist mentor, the core moral values of Christianity – goodness, mercy, love and forgiveness. Instead, he worshiped the gods of power and lived by a morality that was akin to Nietzache’s new ethic for a new age. He saw himself as implementing a Darwinian law of nature that would result in the elimination of the unfit and bring about a civilization fit for a master race.

In the atheist world view of nature, it is good for the strong to devour the weak, because that is how the evolution of species progresses. If human beings are nothing but accidents of chance and time, material substances and nothing more, why shouldn’t Hitler eliminate those he perceives to be inferior and weak?

If we present man with a concept of man which is not true, we may well corrupt him. The gas chambers of Auschwitz are the ultimate consequence of the theory that man is nothing but the product of heredity and environment. The gas chambers were not prepared by some ministry in Berlin but rather at the desks and in the lecture halls of nihilistic scientists and philosophers.

Although atheism need not necessarily result in immorality and violence, it certainly leads some adherents in that direction. It removed from consideration the existence of a good and loving God – and with him, any objective standard by which the actions or moral choices of another can be judged.

From “The Godless Delusion” by Patrick Madrid and Kenneth Hensley.

Quick 7.

-1-

Another driver in our house.

Today Madeline got her Learners permit. She did the test a couple of months ago and passed but life has just got in the way of her going and getting the permit. Today we took her down and finally had enough id that she was able to get her permit.

-2-

Netball.

This weekend, Amelia plays at 10.00 and Brigette at 11.00. Fingers crossed they will both win.

-3-

Pumpkin cooking!

We have been cooking plenty of pumpkin treats. I have made 4 pumpkin loaves and 2 of Tania's pumpkin tea cake. I am going to do a few more this weekend and get them in the freezer.

-4-

New Computer.

We have another computer. I have Steve's old one and he has the new one. He has been telling me all the components that his new one has and I keep on saying, I don't care. Tell me how to work xyz on this one.

-5-

Sewing.

Joseph needs some new overalls. I am going to cut them out this weekend and hopefully I will be able to start sewing them.

-6-

Joseph.

Here he is falling asleep in his chair after tea one night.

-7-

Missing.

We have misplaced a couple of books that we borrowed from the library. I am going to be having a good look through our book bins this weekend for them and asking St. Anthony for help in finding them. If you could also pray that they all show up, I would appreciate it very much.

Don't forget to visit Jen from Conversion Diary for other people's quick 7 posts.

“God is Dead” says Freidrich Nietzche, the father of modern atheism.

In the previous post I pointed out that if atheistic naturalism is true, ethics must therefore be personal and relative, that men and women, families and nations must simply choose for themselves what they will consider ‘right for them’ and ‘wrong for them’.

This thought seems harmless at first, but as you read through “The Godless Delusion” this harmless thought becomes very problematic.

Freidrich Nietzche, the son of a Lutheran minister, has been spoken of as the father of modern atheism. He came to reject Christianity and saw that atheism implied not only moral relativism but also the death of morality.

According to Nietzche, man is an animal evolving from beast to what he reffered to as the “Superman” A race of supermen unchained from the shackles of religion, belief in God and morality, who would use their intelligence and will to create their own world.

In the meantime, whatever stands in the way of this evolution must be obliterated. More than anything else, Christianity stands in the way, especially with its teachings about humility and compassion, ideals that Nietzsche detested. He asked the question, how can man erect a civilization of power on pathetic ideals about love, peace, and kindness? Christianity must be ruthlessly destroyed in order to make way for the race of supermen who would rise above Christian superstition about the God who isn’t there.

Once Nietzche’s ideas began seeping into European intellectual circles, things started heading downhill rapidly. These ideas coupled with Darwinism and other naturalist sources were instrumental in propelling Europe towards the worst era of violence it had ever experienced.

From “The Godless Delusion” by Patrick Madrid and Kenneth Hensley.

Wordless Wednesday: at the foreshore

An evening with Kathy Evans.

Last night, I mentioned in my post that we were going to listen to a talk by Kathy Evans. Kathy was the second person to be healed through the intercession of St. Mary of the Cross.

Kathy spoke about how she found out she had lung cancer and later got secondary cancer in her brain. She was given a couple of weeks to live.

At the time that she started asking Mary Mackillop to pray for her, she didn't ask for healing, she asked for the strength to get through the trial and keep her faith.

When Kathy was diagnosed, she got very sick very quickly. The doctors told her she only had a couple of months to live. Once they started the novena she started to pick up and feel better. She didn't realise at this stage that she had been healed though.

Months later when she went to see her local doctor, he asked her how she was. She said well. She was sent for tests and there was no sign of cancer anywhere. Kathy had been completely healed.

This wasn't the only miracle that happened though.

She spoke also about a retreat that she went on while she was sick. One of the priests there, referred to the saints as the little fishes. He thought it was best to go straight to the top and told everyone, don't worry about the little fishes, just pray straight to God. That night, the priest prayed over Kathy and he felt Mary Mackillop praying with him over her. He had a conversion in his heart and knew that the intercession of the saints is a very powerful tool used by God.

We all had a great night. if you have the chance to hear Kathy talk, I urge you all to go. She has a wonderful story to tell.

Tania's pumpkin Tea Cake.

Today I made a pumpkin tea cake. Tania gave me the recipe in my last post.

This cake looks delicious. I would tell you how it tastes but I am taking it to share for supper tonight. Our parish is having Kathy Evans talk about her healing from brain and lung cancer through the intercession of St. Mary MacKillop.

Here is the recipe:

Pumpkin Tea Cake:

25ogms butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
2 eggs
1/2 cup mashed pumpkin
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
2 cups self raising flour
3/4 cup milk

Icing:

60gms butter
1 cup icing sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Mixture:
Beat butter and sugar together. Add grated orange. Add eggs 1 at a time. Add mashed pumpkin and coconut. Stir in sifted flour alternately with milk. Grease a deep 20cm round cake tin, use greased paper on bottom of tin. Pour mixture into cake tin and cook in a moderate oven (180 -200C) for 1 1/4 hours.

Icing:

Mix all the ingredients together in saucepan in stove. Ice cake and sprinkle with coconut.