CEF Camp

Camp is over, Yay! This camp was hard. It's not to say I hated it, it's just that it was one of the more difficult camps I've done. Actually this camp went really well. It was full on, went really fast and completely wore everyone out, but it was fantastic.
On Sunday all the leaders arrived and we had leader training and games and stuff. I met the girl who was going to be my co-leader for the week, and we got along well, which was great! We also realized we live just down the road from each other - how cool is that!? She even baby sits my next door neighbours children :).
Monday morning all the children arrive- I'm not sure how many this camp, but probably 65-70. 6 little girls ages 8-10 in my team. Getting the hang of all their names was hard. They had such weird names!
For the next few days we did heaps of games and activities - got covered in mud, got majorly sunburnt, and we even got to light our own little team camp fires and cook sausages and marshmallows.
The reason this camp was hard was because the girls I had were not the most well behaved girls that ever walked the planet. They got very tiring very fast, which was not a very good thing. They almost constantly fought with each other, or wouldn’t do what they were told. At times it was hard to keep my cool. There was a couple times when I felt like dragging those little darlings to where they were supposed to go - not a very good feeling, but it was all worth it in the end. There is something amazing about knowing that all those children heard the gospel, and that even if most didn't get saved, they have in their hearts and minds the Truth. We can only pray that someday, perhaps when they are older, they will remember the bible stories and memory verses they learned and it will somehow bring them on their knees before their Maker. And that is a thrilling thought. To give hope to children in a desperate world. Where their families are in pieces and many have "issues", behavioural, emotional; etc, and then they come to camp and find that Someone truly cares. When I think of it like that, it makes all that stress and tiredness and plain hard work all worth it. And I can't wait for next camp :)

Here is a poem I wrote, which says a little about CEF camps :)

The Camp week

Day 1 is so scary

Where icebreakers abound

Old friends are still there

And new ones are found

Day 2 is the day
That camp really starts

70 children arrive

With wide open hearts

Day 3 the children

Are all settling in

We remember their names

Now let the fun begin

Day 4 it’s getting tiring

Late nights and early mornings

The children know us better now

And that should give us warnings

Day 5 is the long haul

And you very soon find

That patience is a virtue

 Everyone should mind

Day 6 camp is almost over

Hugs and lots of goodbyes

The last songs we sing together

As we leave to our separate lives

And though it has been hard

And went in such a whirl

The gospel has been told

To every boy and girl

That makes it all worth it

It’s why we put up with the slack

And the next time camp is on

We leaders will be back

~Rachel

Big Families and Birthdays

Our "birthday month" this year has begun! When you have a large family, and a lot of the children are born about 2 years apart, you often get a cluster of birthdays all at once...Hence, Birthday Month!

We started of with a roar - little Jacob had his 4th birthday on the 1st, yesterday. He was spoiled with presents and had a great time. You should have seen his grin! Jacob has such a cute smile, it just lights up his whole face into one huge sunbeam :)

My sister and I also went birthday shopping together yesterday. I was quite impressed with how much we got done. Presents for 7 people in just a few hours! We went home with sore feet and depleted purses, haha! But I had a great time and got to give my sister's baby, my nephew, heaps of cuddles too. He's just the cutest :) I'm trying to be his favourite aunty =D

Anyway, this year, instead of having a party for each child, we thought we would try having a massive Birthday Bash in the middle of the month to celebrate them all together. So, giant party planning has begun!

To give you an idea of how it goes, this month Jacob turns 4, Leah 6, Timothy 8, Isaiah 13, Jonathan 15, my older sister 20, and Mum - well yeah, she turns a year older too :p. Also Dad and Mums wedding anniversary is this month, along with Grandma and Granddads! No, that's not all of us, the rest of us have our birthdays elsewhere in the year :)


In other happenings... tomorrow I'm going on a CEF camp. It's lots of fun, challenging and can put you way out of your comfort zone (especially if you're shy like me!) Pray for me if you have time, cos I need it, and for the girls that will be in my team too :)

Hope y'all have a great week, and I’ll try to tell how camp went in my next post :)



~Rachel

Trust

I wrote this a while ago...

If trusting means letting go

I’m not sure I wanna know.

If letting go means walking away

Well, I’d really rather stay

I know it’s wrong to delay

Isn’t there another way?

I’d rather You used another plan

Why can’t he really be “The Man”?

 

I told You once in You I’d trust

Now I wonder if I really must.

But of course I do,

When I think it through

How to could I think I know best?

Only You know all the rest

I can’t see the future, only the past

I know many things don’t really last

So help me God, to trust in You

Even when it’s so hard to do

I will let go of the old me

And then I know I’ll really see

 

If trusting means letting go

I wanna show I love You so

So I’d much rather walk away

And have You to light my every day.

~Rachel :)

My life isn't very long
I know it really won’t last
So make what I do stay strong
To remain when life’s past

One day the memory of me
Will be a name on a list
So make what I do count
Before I am missed


I don’t need to be wealthy
Nor do I need great fame
But what I really want
Is to stay true to Your name

I don’t want to be luke-warm
That is my greatest fear
So teach me to be faithful
And please be always near

Though my life may seem long
Teach me to number my days
That to You I’ll ever be strong
And of Your love count the ways

For Young Women Only

No, it's ok to read this if you're a guy, For Young Women Only is just the title of a book I've been reading =D, although this post is more addressed to girls.

The book title is rather intriguing though, isn't it? I had seen it in a bookstore and it got me rather curious too. An excerpt from the back cover asks "Why are guys so weird?"
Well that's a good question isn't it?! I mean, do you ever feel like guys are so strange and sometimes they get really mad at things that aren't really worth getting mad at? Well the other day I went to my friends’ house and found this book she had left out because she thought I might want to read it! I was so thrilled! So I started reading...and it was actually quite interesting. The authors (Shaunti Feildham and Lisa A. Rice) have conducted surveys for guys to take to find out how they really thought and felt about different things. And it’s so fascinating! I learned tons of things about guys that I had no idea about. For example, did you know that most guys would rather be unloved and alone than feel disrespected and inadequate? I knew that y’know; women should respect their husbands, but actually all guys have a huge need to be respected by girls. Respect to them is more important than love! (BTW, this survey polled American guys ages 15 – 20 and said 63% of guys would rather feel alone and unloved, while only 37% would rather feel inadequate and disrespected) Wow!
I kept reading… It talked about how we tease guys. We love to tease don’t we? I know I can tease my brothers quite awfully. But according to FYWO, or the surveys they took, teasing guys can be torture to them! Are you scared yet? I was! I mean, how many times have I “harmlessly” teased my brothers (i.e. about their haircuts, skills, who they liked etc)? One guy said for the survey “Girls don’t realize how easily they can embarrass us. And when you’re embarrassed, you don’t want to say anything. Honestly, I get mad; I just don’t show it. But as soon as we’re in private, I say, “Why did you do that? Couldn’t you wait until another time?” And it’s worse if it’s in front of her friends because they’ll all talk about it later. It’s terrible. I’m thinking, Do other girls that don’t even know me also think that?”

It covers a lot more things too but you’ll have to read the book to find out =) Anyway, I highly recommend it! All girls should read it. It will change what you think of guys, challenge you, and give you more understanding of how they think.



~Rachel

Health, Gardening, and Pride

I know. I haven't posted in about 2 1/2 weeks. I don't think this blog was a good idea now. I can't think of what to write! Oh well. Life updates are always good, right!? :)

We all did gardening work yesterday, and now the front garden looks lovely. The boys did a good job of putting bricked edges around part of the flower garden, and Dad planted some grasses. It looks way better! The littlies got in the way helped out with picking out stones from the garden, etc. I made this bricked area thingy around the fishpond... it's hard to explain :) I'm so sore today, though! Must be so unfit!

On Saturday I'm volunteer working for a couple that do foster caring on their farm (see www.eleazer.org.nz). What they do is so awesome! I'm looking forward tro seeing how they do it all and hopefully pick up some hints :p (see "about me").

What I've been learning... a lot lately actually. We went to a seminar about nutrition (see www.betterbods.co.nz), and it was quite eye opening and yeah, well, Mum and I have been cleaning out the cupboards of bad food (much to Dad's horror!) Hopefully we'll convert the whole family into eating more healthily sometime... some people may take some convincing though ;p The woman who taught it, Rachel Thompkinson (I know, cool name right! :D) has a young daughter who had severe eczema at just a few months old. Rachel did a lot a research, then put her daughter old a rather extreme (by today’s standards anyway!) diet cutting out all foods with MSG etc in them. Its way more complicated actually, but after a wee while of doing that Rachel's daughter got completely well. Anyway, Rachel is way more convincing and explains everything, so I'll just say it was great :)

For more deep and meaningful things...God has been teaching me a lot about pride lately. Pride is a horrid word and we all hate to hear it associated with ourselves. Unfortunately most of us have some sort of pride. On top of that, it's really complicated and it’s hard to learn how to be humble instead. I watched a talk on it by John Regier and it showed me how prideful I really am. Did you know there are two types of pride? There is obvious pride and hidden pride. I have hidden pride, which is not immediately obvious but it shows in the way I think of myself and others. So I’m asking God to help me change. Mr. Regier gave 5 Biblical ways that we can learn to change, and I can’t remember them all but it was something like: thinking of others as more important than you, never draw attention to your own achievements and abilities and a few other things but you get the basic idea. There also lots of verses in the Bible about pride and how bad it is.



So there’s a little bit about what’s up... I’ve also been reading a really good book, but I might tell you about that next time :)

What's new around here...

Absolutely nothing :p


Life seems to have slowed down a little. A while ago it was a high speed train going so fast I hardly have time to take it all in, but now it’s just chugging slowly along. I guess I enjoy it better like this anyway. For now :)

In family news: The youngest little member of the family seems to have reached that "terrible two" stage a little early (17 months). I detest the term actually, because people often dismiss Behavioural Issues with a "Oh, Jonny's just going through his terrible two stage. He'll get over it". Which, if left ignored, quickly develops into the spoiled brats that Dad has to look after at work (day-care centres), haha! Anyway, I shall stop ranting about that now... So yes, usually in our family the youngest member gets rather spoiled, and it’s hard not to give them their own way all the time when there's so many of you around to spoil them. But after a while, the sweet little darlings turn into little red faced monsters whenever they don't get given what they want, when they want it and how they want it. Then everyone starts telling Mum "the baby’s turning into a spoilt little brat! You need to do something!" The poor little tykes don't even know what's coming :)

So today we had a little guy SREAMING the house down... so bad we could hardly do our school (don't worry, he wasn't hurt, he just wanted to get picked up but wouldn't ask - he can speak very well for his age, and well all knew he could say it). Like a little monster! We eventually put him in another room so we could get stuff done, and in the end it was Dad that made him calm down and asked to be picked up (he says "hop up" it's so cute!) I guess we've got a few more of those days coming up. He'll just have to learn that he can't always get his way. Then he'll be back to his cute little self again- hopefully :)


Not much else is new around here... I got the little ones to race against teach other doing their school this morning, with lollipops when they were done. Now they're going to ask for more tomorrow I bet. Silly me. But hey, it worked! :)

On Sat night I watched a really scary movie called "The Village". Lydia and I were so terrified! And I even saw younger brother blocking his ears! Yes! I love teasing the boys :) What a mean sister I am haha. Anyway, I thought the movie was so scary I never wanted to watch anything like it again. And Dad told me it's not even a real horror! Oh well. I guess I'll stick to Pride and Prejudice and the like after that :)





~Rachel

Remember Them...

“It’s not easy being a Christian!”

We sigh from our big soft chair

“Why, today I was reading my Bible

And my co-worker gave me a glare!

While down in a cell

A brother’s life is hell

Shackles on his legs

In pain he sits and begs

“It’s not easy being a Christian

It’s really just not cool

While I have trials at work

The kids get bullied at school!”

While in another country

Too far away for us to care

A woman cries in agony

For her child is no longer here

Why do they weep?

Well, we don’t know

And if we care

It sure doesn’t show!

There is family out there

That we’ve never met

And it’s just so easy

Their pain to forget!

They are the ones who really know

How hard it is to be a Christian

And while we sit and complain

They are suffering in Jesus’ name

We try to remember them

And pray for them too

But our lives are so busy

And there’s so much to do!

So while we sit in complacency

Can we at least spare a prayer?

Cause if it was you or me

We’d want our family to care

Hebrews 13:3 - Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. NIV




~Rachel

Look Up

When confusion abounds

And fighting surrounds

When there are tears in the night

Let Jesus hold you tight

When you can’t face another day

When your whole life turns to clay

Look up, there is another way

You don’t have to be alone today

When your life is all just one big fight

You’re struggling to see any light

Ask God to show you the way

And He will light up your day

If you ask, He will give

So stop trying just to live

Cause there’s more to life

Than all of this strife

Please stop trying on your own

He said He won’t leave you alone

So let Him walk beside you

To lead and always guide you

~Rachel

About Children and Writing :)

It’s become very clear to me in the last few days since I started this blog that I really can't write. I guess I already knew that, but now it's obvious not just to me, but to anyone else who reads this blog also.

Some people really have a talent for writing. I came across another blog a few days ago and the author; well I can't even describe how well he writes. I read a story he wrote about some young boys he had met. It was like being in another world. It took me to where he was (Israel) and it felt like I was standing there watching the story unfold.

Anyway, enough about that. (See how I ramble!)

Last night I went along to Woodend Christian Camp to visit my little Bible in schools kiddies who were on a school camp there. Boy those kids are cute! When we (Lydia B and I) got through the door the girls swarmed us with hugs and excitedly showed us their cabin. While we all had tea they were quite happy to chat away. It was really neat getting to know some of them as friends, not just being "Miss Rachel". After tea we played board games. One little boy, L____ wanted to play a game with "just you and me". He is ADHD or something and is a handful but he thrives on one on one attention. I also found out he's a bit (ok, majorly) a cheat :p.

After games we had a story about Tarore, a Maori girl. The kids enjoyed it and got right into trying to pronounce Maori names and places. It was fun! I reckon our kids are really cool :) Then we had a quiz to see how much they learnt, and they did really well.

So there's a bit about my evening :) A completely random post I know, but I couldn't think of what else to say.


~Rachel

Teaching Troubles

"Write 'sat' while I'm gone."

"But we don't know how!"

They sound worried. Too bad. They should know how to write way more than that by now anyway.


5 minutes later when I get back - "have you finished writing yet?" They show me what they've done.

"But that's not what I told you to write!"

They've copied off "the", "and", "at" & "to" from a piece of paper.

"But we don't know what you told us to write!"


Argh. I did tell them what to write didn't I? I'm sure I made it clear.


"Write Sat!"

Leah: "zat!"

Not wanting to give away how it's spelt, I repeat carefully: "sssssat"

Leah: "zzzzat"

Whatever.

After a bit I look over to see if she's done. She has, and correctly too! Curious to see how she pronounces it, "So what does it say?"

Leah: "z-a-t"

Me: "s-a-t"

Leah: "z-a-t"

Me, "no, S-a-t"

Leah: "That's what I said!

*sigh* Must. have. patience. It's going to be a long morning.


I was right.
Tears over maths. How hard can 3+4 be?! You can even count it on your fingers!
I'm not cut out to be a teacher. How are the poor kids I hope to have one day going to cope being homeschooled? I have no idea.




-Rachel

A poem

I don't know what to write, so I thought I'd just put on a poem I wrote a little while ago...

A Clean Heart

“Create in me a clean heart”

The psalm, that is how it reads.

But what about my own heart?

Only You know how it bleeds.

For from You my heart, it strayed far away,

Re- pounding the nails again yesterday.

My audacity, my shame,

I can only look with pain.

You died for me, I mocked You.

I’m all sin, my whole heart through.

How I could cause You so much pain?

I know not how I can explain.

But there is something more

I’ll never understand

How ever You could ask me

To come back into Your hand.

I know You’re all-forgiving,

That much I have been told.

But I never really knew how much,

Till the day I re-entered Your fold.

Father, I know You’re able

To keep my feet from slipping.

So make my way pure and stable,

‘Till Your glory I am seeing

“Create in me a clean heart”

Yes that is my hearts prayer

`Cos I’m on a new start

A walk where You are there

~Rachel~

Help!

I can't seem to work out how to get comments :( Actually, it’s a perfect example of my computer illiteracy (is that how you say it? :p) for you haha. So, if you can help me, and save me from my distress could ya please email (razberi92@hotmail.com) me? Thanks :)

My first post...

...And I have no idea if many people will even read it!


I thought I'd say a bit more about me - rather selfish isn't it?! :) I am the 2nd in a family of 10 children, 7 boys and 3 girls...yeah, we want more girls.

We live on a 24 acre farmlet type thing - not really big enough to be a "real" farm, but we like to think it is:) Among the animals on our little farm are cattle, sheep, goats, a dog, chickens, and ducks.



Anyway, about me... I recently found out I could write poetry - quite by mistake! I decided I would try to write a poem to announce some news to family and friends, and when it turned out ok, people encouraged me to write more. So if I put any on here, feel free to critic them, but please don’t use them without asking me first.

I quite like sewing, although I haven't done much lately. Among my creations is a few Victorian dresses a handbag, tons of pyjama pants for my lil brothers :), and a few skirts etc. I also so play a little piano (although "very ill indeed"!).



So, what I hope to put on here: what God is teaching me, family life things, what I'm up to, poetry maybe... anything really. I'm very new to the whole blog thing so please bear with me if I make any mistakes.



In Messiah Yeshua

- Rachel