Prayer Tree

Out of the Victorian bushfire devastation new growth is coming. This is happening to some trees faster than others. It is odd to see such a phenomenon in a scorched landscape. The new life gives us all hope.

For our all age church service just past, we reflected on this new life with a prayer tree. Instead of prayers spoken from the front, everybody was given a paper leaf to write their prayers on (or draw if they were too young to write) and when done to carry the leaf to the dead tree on stage. There were plenty of activity and plenty little blu-tac blobs to stick the leaves on and soon our prayer tree had come to life. It was a helpful alternative, our church family writing prayer notes to God, walking up to the front with them and creating a collective life-giving story of nature about us.

The leaves had to be cut. But the shape of the gum leaf allows an easy flowing cut so the job was completed faster than first thought.

Playing Joseph

Our church as recently had an all age service. The whole Children's Church team was involved in leading the service. This blog will only speak about the Godly Play message that Peter was responsible for. The picture above shows Peter and the children and Jacob and his camera. Without that camera's picture on the big screen the rest of the church would not have been able to appreciate what was happening.

The Godly Play method of teaching more often requires three dimensional models as story props. Even after a story is shared, children are then encouraged to "play" their own 'remembering' of the story with the same props. Thus much effort was given to construct what was needed for the wonderful story of Joseph from Genesis 37 to 50.

This required many dolly pegs on stands to represent the many people in the story. Even in the commencing scene there was needed a Jacob and his twelve sons. Egyptians had to be added to this number, and later, wives and children. The following were also needed: two carts, ten donkeys with saddlebags, one horse with its chariot, and cardboard pyramids and tents... a mini stage production.

The dressing up of the dolls required a variety of coloured felts and a hot glue gun to hurry things along. Peter admits that it was fun seeing it all come together. The following are just some of the "practice scenes" taken before the day.

Here we have Jacob, with the white beard, beside Joseph wearing his special coat, and his brothers there jealously watching.

In this scene, all eleven brothers are bowing before the governor of Egypt. They don't realise that the person lording it over them is their brother who they sold into slavery.

This was one of the concluding scenes, when almost the whole cast was on the story sheet. The brothers returned with donkeys laden with food and gifts, along with wagons to help the family move to Egypt, so that they can all survive the famine under Joseph's care. It is one of the best constructed stories in all the Bible and we of Children's Church presented it for the first time in the Godly Play manner.

Birthday Horse Ride

This was a late birthday present for Piper. It was arranged at the beginning of the chestnut harvest before many people came. A friend brought her horse along and gave all the children present rides, nut just Piper. The group picture shows five happy children, posing not riding. The rides held two children at a time and they loved it, and waited for their next turn with someone.

Piper and Jasper shared a number of turns. Piper wore her beanie (tuk) that her Grand-Nan had knitted.

When Piper was not riding she was walking beside 'Magic' the horse. She was so excited and interested in everything that had to do with a horse that she just had to trail along beside its owner when she was not on its back. Afterward, Piper told us that this was the nicest birthday gift she has ever had. She was so chuffed, so pleased.

Gord had to prise Jasper off Magic at the end of his rides. He would have stayed on longer. Gord had to console him till his turn came again. It certainly was a super gift idea on the part of Bec and Gord. Well done!

Harvest Picnic

The annual Gembrook Retreat chestnut harvest happened again and all who came enjoyed themselves. We were all invited to make our way some time into the chestnut orchard and fill the empty baskets provided... and take some home too. There will be a later blog on how to prepare chestnuts for eating so this is just a bit on the picnic round the fire.

Bec and Gord were there and their three little ones, of course. There was plenty of pumpkin soup to supplement the sample pot of chestnut soup. Both soups were scrummy.

Bec had the pleasure of reacquainting with an old primary school friend Hannah who is now a teacher along with many other community focused pursuits. Jasper met Hannah for the first time and saw the world upside down for the photo... otherwise no face at all.

Chestnut Knowhow

Abigail and Joy came to the chestnut harvest and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The were so many chestnuts waiting to be picked that they only had to move between three trees and their bag and basket were full.

Now we will give a layman's perspective on chestnut harvesting from instructions given on the day and many experiments. So firstly, you walk into the huge orchard. The chestnut trees produce prolifically and each tree is laden with its fruit.

The chestnuts themselves are protected within a spiky outer casing and the spikes can pierce the skin. Before the fruit falls, this casing has even started to open, but there is no need to ever pick from the tree itself. Ripe chestnuts are ready to harvest from the floor of the orchard under the green canopy. It is a rich experience in the cool of the leafy shade.

It is not unusual to see clusters of ripe chestnuts as closely packed together on the ground as the picture shows. You can stay under the one tree for a very long time and fill a while basket on what has fallen during the preceding days.

Because the outer casing is so spiky and still only partly open, you can use your shoe sole to properly split them. Fingers can then pick out the fruit. Gardening gloves can help if you get sick of being 'spiked'.

As we have already said, a load of chestnuts can be found from a reasonably small ground area. But it does not pay to take loads of them if you are not going to consume them regularly over the next few months. After that, the chestnuts can start to age and they won't cook well, nothing like they do when they are fresh. The internal flesh is very moist so they have a shorter shelf life.

Before baking a chestnut, make sure you score the 'flatter' surface. Sometimes you can't tell so it won't matter. We have found at a serrated knife is good for this. We have to hold the chestnuts tightly and cut with the knife firmly, but at the same time being careful not to cut the inner flesh too deeply. It is better that the internal flesh stays in one piece and will be easier to peel later. We turn the oven up to 200 degrees C at the start of the scoring so that the oven might have built up to that heat at the time we put them in.

We score twice, making a 'cross' over the flatter surface. This scoring allows the flesh to expand in the heat and force the stiff outer skin to open.

These are the same chestnuts after the baking. We kept the temperature at 200 degrees C for the whole baking time of 15 minutes. After we take them out, we let them cool down only a few minutes till we could just handle them with our fingers. Then we start peeling them. We don't like to bake too many chestnuts at one time because they are hard to peel once they have lost their heat.

What you want to achieve is having the flesh of the chestnut totally free of the 'woody' tasting inner skin. The chestnut that was scored before baking has an easy-to-remove brittle layer and a not-so-easy-to-remove thin skin. The hot chestnut flesh will usually allow this inner layer to be prised off without much trouble. When this skin clings determinedly you need some patience and helpful fingernails. If some of this light brown layer remains it is still nice enough to eat. Our experience is that if at least two-thirds is removed there is enough woody taste gone to appreciate the flesh which is something akin to that of a sweet potato. It is a lot of fuss but very nice.

Easter Visit

Jethro Archer continues to grow. He copes with loads of cuddles from family and many visitors too. He has been made into be a good breast-feeder through Bec's confidence in the experience of two past successes.
We visited the Funks at Easter and look loads of snaps. We came with "Grand-Nan" who has joined us for a few weeks. It has been great having her down.

Grand-Nan has five great-grandchildren, Jethro being the fifth. There is another child on the way in Brisbane to make it six.

Lunch. And Piper would move from lap to lap to lap up the attention. We really don't mind most of the time.

Bec is a sensational mum. Jethro does not seem to be much extra trouble. Parents must just rise to the prevailing occasion and it must work out for the best while one aims to do their best. We are glad for Bec and Gord that baby number three feels good.

Gord's new office is taking shape. The spare bedroom now has the potential to be Bec's craft room when guests are not using it.

Piper with lipstick is allowed on special occasions like going to special birthday parties. This snap shows Piper looking very much like Bec used to look. Oh yes. Mother's daughter for sure.

Jasper is so sunny natured. He likes to be involved in everything, especially all the physical things. Even though that is his interest, his vocabulary continues to grow with persistent tuition from big sister Piper.

Even though there is over three years between them they are able to share some pretty special play times. We are glad of that sometimes.

Stations of the Cross

We had a special time watching our Children's Church children contributing to our coming Good Friday church service. They were formed into eight teams and each team was given a particular part of the Passion Story to draw on A2 Cartridge paper supplied. Afterward, each team was commended for a wonderful effort. The composition and elements of the eight 'Stations of the Cross' were briefly discussed and then they were left to their own devices. The outcomes were very encouraging. As children from Christian families and undoubtedly having heard the story of the Crucifixion of Jesus numerous times, they were up to the task. Each team was represented by three or four children and it was interesting, for us adults, to see the particular perspective coming through on each image.

These Stations of the Cross images, the children have drawn, will be placed on the walls of the main church on Good Friday, and the church family will focus on them in a reflective procession past each one, as a way of following Christ our Redeemer and King to the cross and beyond.

Children Playing the Part

This was a remarkable show. The Alphington Grammar School (here their junior school) successfully presented an ambitious children's concert called Cinderella Kids at the Darebin Arts & Entertainment Centre, Preston. A junior school concert is an annual event and is highly popular, especially for the parents of the large cast, all from prep to grade two (plus just one teacher as fairy godmother).

Peter took Abigail to see the production because her mum was ill. It was an eye-opener for him, and thoroughly entertaining. Abigail noted that Cinderella had glasses just like she had. That made Cinderella special for her. They were all children her age and she watched the show intently. The Cinderella character was a class act. She even played 'stage director' at times. Even the 'blups' on stage were taken in her stride as her controled herself and others with stoic resolve. The costumes were of the highest quality. So creative. And could they all sing. There was nothing faint hearted about this concert.

A String of Memories

Barb's sister Donna (Madonna) came for a visit. The main reason for coming was to attend her daughter Kelli's graduation.

Hal was also able to attend.

A few days later we took Donna to Dan's restaurant in Greensborough for a memorable meal. By doing that, we were able to see a bit more of our chef son.

Then we made the trip to Gembrook to visit the Funks and for Donna to meet the new member Jethro.

We were able to spend quality time with them, doing anything from harvesting tomatoes to baking a roast. It was a memorable collection of days.

We stayed at the Hut over night for two nights to be close by. On the last morning, Donna and Peter went about with their cameras catching the spectacular.

The Hut offers a space away and to indulge in plenty of cups of tea.

And before we knew it, the day arrived for Donna to return to Tazzy. Now the days are just a string of memories. Thanks Don for sharing a fabulous time.