Prayer Warrior

Last week Jonty was really missing his big cousin Peter. Actually it was more than that, he was missing his buddies, his guy friends from South Africa. He was driving Nick a bit mad with his endless requests to wrestle ....

So we prayed with Jonty. Jonty told God how sad he was feeling and how much he was missing Peter. He prayed that God would let Peter visit him after Emily's birthday (September). From that moment he started talking about Peter's visit as if it were a reality. I tried to help him understand that its expensive, a visit was highly unlikely, and that - never mind - he would see Peter again in July 2009, but Jonty still carried on about the visit after Emily's birthday.

I had sent Debbie an e-mail telling her about Jonty's prayer. Not to hint, just because it touched me. The love between those 2 boys, despite the 4 year age gap, is so special. Anyway, a couple of days later I got an e-mail back from her "We're coming!". She had discussed it with her husband and agreed that she and Peter would come during the school break ... at the end of September!

When I told Jonty, it was like "well, what did you expect? I prayed. I knew he was going to come. What's all the fuss about?" I was certainly not telling him anything that he did not know already. But that's not to say that he was not as pleased as a 4 year old could possibly be!

But Jonty had prayed another prayer too - he'd prayed that he'd be able to make new friends. The day after we prayed, we met a guy, Ben, who lives two roads up from us. Ben is lonely and looking for a friend. He is an older boy - just what Jonty needs, and a really cool kid who is happy to take Jonty off for long bike rides. And the next day we had a crowd of kids in our home for Kids Club, and the day after that "Arm" (5 years old), whose mother works nearby, invited himself to play ALL DAY LONG. I had to shoo him home at half past 4!

So many answers to prayer. Well, what did I expect?! Jonty prayed.

This evening he was playing computer games - AGAIN. He'd found a new one and asked me to explain how to do it. I could not figure out this silly game... too confusing. Jonty simply says - "Shall we pray?"

Emily's Bedtime Tricks

Every night, about 3 minutes after the kids have been put to bed, Emily comes out the room with some or other excuse....she's thirsty, needs the loo, she's cold (yeah right!), etc.

So we deal with all the things - give her a glass of water, take her to the bathroom, put the blanket over her toes, etc - BEFORE we leave the room.

Tonight she comes out, peeking that adorable head of curls around the door, looking for me.

"Emily what is it???" I ask, totally exasperated....

"Mommy, I am NOT thirsty and I'm NOT cold" she whispers and goes back to bed!!!

Whre does the day go?

There are 24 hours in a day. I sleep from about 10pm to 6am. That leaves me with 16 hours.

I spend at least an hour a day carting kids back and forth to school. That leaves me with 15 hours to do everything else.

I spend up to 3 hours cooking and feeding myself and the various members of the family... down to 12 hours. Half an hour Quiet Time with the Lord. Then about an hour and a half on my Thai studies - well, on good day. Down to 10 hours...

I try to spend at least one dedicated hour with Nina. But admittedly there is the time spent sending and receiving e-mails, working on newsletters, Facebook, blogging, and of course scrabble (!!!) ... oooh, down to about 7 hours.

Time spent changing nappies: 30 minutes
Time spent picking up toys, cleaning up spilled water/milk/juice/cereal, etc : 30 minutes - 1 hour
Time spent getting books and bags ready for school: 10 minutes
Time spent watching TV: 1 hour max
Time spent chatting to neighbours and others in the community: 1 - 2 hours
Aerobics: 1 hour (if its not raining)
Time spent bathing kids, cleaning their teeth, brushing and tying up hair, etc: 1 hour
Time spent looking for things that Nick can't find: 15 minutes
Time spent looking for things that Jonty, Emily and Nina can't find: 30 minutes
Time spent buying essentials: 2 hours, a week though, not a day
Time spent reading books to Jonty and Emily: 30 mins to 1 hour
Time spent doing Jonty's speech therapy: 1 hour (but only every second day)
Dishes: 0 hours, usuallly - the househelper does it, but weekends, about 2 hours
Time spent answering impossible questions posed by Jonty: 30 minutes
And Emily: 5 minutes
Time spent riding bikes: 30 minutes... except when its raining or the kids are sick...

I was never particulary good at maths, but I know that if you add it all up you will see that I do more with my 24 hours in a day than is physically possible. That makes me - officially - SUPERWOMAN!