I Love Being a Taxi:-)

It's hard for even believe but I spent 3 hours in the car this avo/evening! In our little town I dropped in to the grocery store for 10 min, picked up 3 children from 2 different schools [ it was raining], dropped in at home so they could change and then took 2 of them to work. That little exercise took 1 1/2 hrs! After 3/4 hr I then dropped another one off to work [via the video shop], did one 10 min errand for me, then picked up one that had been dropped off earlier. That was another hour! Home to cook and eat dinner, tuck the little one into bed, chat with an older one. It was time then to pick up the other 2 [both finished same time -yah!]. another 30 min.....3 hours in total.......phew.....
In the midst of all the running round we managed some really good chats, subjects including: Faith, evolution, future prospects, school subjects, Baby Noah [lol], God's plans for their lives, work/play balance, car mechanics, marriage and that's just what I remember!
I am thinking that God and the transport department had a good idea with all this time in the car with your teenagers, it is a great opportunity for lots and lots of conversation with a captive audience!!!!lol

Till next time, enjoy every opportunity with your treasures,
Debbie

30 Day ban over!

Well, we came to the end of our technology ban last week and gathered the family for a review. We asked them what they liked/disliked about our experiment. They all liked that we talked more, some of them liked the peaceful house[me included!!!!], they all enjoyed playing games together, they all agreed that they had lots more time in their day!! Most said that they had missed watching movies. So we asked them how we could preserve some parts of that, but still enjoy some movies/games on technology? They came up with some guidelines: no movies during the week on school nights, two afternoons watching a series, school holidays: 1st week- free for all technology, 2nd week - only technology at nighttime! Wednesday night was board game night because it is Dad's day off work.
So overall, it went REALLY WELL, I'm so glad that we were brave enough to try it, it was a definite eyeopener to everyone in the family. Technology can so easily consume us and take over our lives and every waking moment, we need to rule it, not let it rule us!
Thanks for listening,
Debbie

Well, we are 3 weeks into our experiment and it has been intriguing and relieving to find that most of the family most of the time can amuse themselves without technology. It is so lovely to find stacks of games close by, puzzles half done, books lying around and lots of lots of conversation going on. I am really enjoying our peaceful home and I am finding so many more hours in my day and things are certainly running smoother now that Mum is not playing on her phone either...lol. Isaac[8] had a friend over last weekend for a sleepover and I was wondering how there time would go with no technology. His little friend pulled out his Gameboy and I explained that at our house we were having no technology for one month. He looked so confused....lol. I am sure it will work if you plug it in",he said..lol

I think my favorite time so far has been one night when we all sat around for nearly 2 hours talking and started reminiscing about funny family stories, we laughed so much that we could hardly breathe! 

Now we're talking!

Well, we are up to Day 6, a bit hard this avo' as it was the end of the school week. Some of the kids were a bit upset that they had agreed to this experiment.......I had invited a friend [and her kids] over for afternoon tea, so that helped a bit. It was raining, but they eventually settled down into some games and we had a good visit. My good friend even had some good positive points to convince one of my teenagers that it was a good idea. It was good to hear it from someone else's lips...lol.
The last few days I have noticed that the children one by one are coming to us and we have had some really good chats, we have always been pretty close, so the chats have been quite significant.
Our house is so peaceful and its nice to hear lots of Christian music....
I have noticed that i have a lot more time in my day now I am not playing on my phone too! Bonus! And I am getting more sleep, double bonus!
Bracing ourselves for the weekend....bfn.

Listen......Can you hear that???

Day 3.
Well things are certainly a lot more peaceful round here. Everyone really does seem a lot calmer!!! There is lots more chatting, even tho' it is a normal busy day, it doesn't feel as rushed. So far, so good!

So, we have survived 2 days and 1 night so far!
I had to go out for a couple of hours on the first day, so off I went with one daughter and left Dad in charge. When I pulled the car into the garage I heard shouting!!! Oh no, but it was OK, they were playing Monopoly...ha ha. After church we would normally relax in front of a DVD, someone suggested Risk, so 4 of us played, it was so nice { tho' a bit tense at times if you know the game}lol
So far, so good.....

bye for now,
Deb

30 day Technology Ban!

We have always been a pretty close family, we have chosen to have a big family, home-schooled our kids when they were little, we don't watch TV { we have collected a lot of DVDs}, we have a big collection of games, we have always limited extra-curricular activities. We have lived most of our married life in regional or country areas. It has been great! But lately Brett and I have noticed that our family didn't seem to be as close. Often when we sit down to dinner, one or more family members is missing due to work or ministry. We wondered how we could cultivate some more family time. Movie time used to be a family event, Saturday night or Sunday afternoon, but now the ages are so vast that it was hard to please everyone. Family members tended to watch movies in their own rooms or play on their phone or computer instead. We wondered if it was happening too much, we has started to notice changes, so we wondered if having a month ban on movies and technology games might be a good idea.
We introduced the idea slowly and planned a breakfast together to decide, we talked about alternate ways to amuse ourselves, talked about doing more together. Some were more keen than others, but all agreed to give it a trial!!!!
The Rules: No movies, TV at home {except State of Origin} {at a friends house is OK, and cinema OK}
No games on Phone, Play station, WII or computer.

So here we go!!!

Love, Debbie