I guess I am essential too!

In Australia, we've just had that debate about what's essential. With this Corona Virus, we are at stage 3 which means we must stay home unless it's essential work and if we meet in groups of more than 2 people, we will be fined $1600 on the spot. 

Weddings with no more than 5 people: bride, groom, celebrant and two witnesses. No more than 10 at a funeral. And one is the deceased! 

It got me thinking about what is really essential. You know, in jobs and in relationships as well. I think for me, keeping a grateful heart for what we have, not focussing on what we've lost is essential.

For me, loving Chris, loving my home and loving God is essential. Living in the present is essential to mental health as well. So to me, hugging and loving our family at home is essential now.

Keeping in touch with family during this time of isolation is also essential to alleviate anxiety and missing them. Likewise, keeping up with prayer and Bible reading is essential always, but more so in a time of trouble. We need to keep the faith and remember the promises of God.

Home has never truly meant more than now with us needing to isolate ourselves and it is up to us wives and mothers to keep the homefires burning. 

Essentially keeping the home a welcoming and cosy place to come aside and allow this pestilence to pass is no small thing. I am taking this very seriously. 

We won't hear it in the media, but housewives are essential in keeping up morale in families.

Therefore, I guess I am essential too!

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

The flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Habakkuk 3:17b-18

Hunker down in cosy nests

So there are many changes to our lifestyle since the Corona Virus. They are extremely important if we are to stop its' spread. 

Currently we are in isolation with only essential services allowed to stay open. Even the doctors no longer want to see us unless it's of an urgent nature. 

Chris and I went to our doctor today for repeat prescriptions. He gave them to us and told us that last night the Australian government have implemented a Telemed system whereby you can ring the clinic and the doctor will fax your script to your chemist.

So now we are hunkering down, shopping online and worshiping online. Woolworths asked some details from us to prove we were either aged or disabled. They will only be doing online shops for us. Last week they emailed me to say I was approved. I am happy about that. 

For me, staying at home is not really a problem. I have plenty of opportunity to rest as my fibromyalgia flares, in fact I have been sleeping a good deal.

I have also been doing some decluttering and cooking soups for freezing. There are also some projects we are doing like finally putting pretty pictures up in the bedrooms and putting my electric blanket back on for the coming winter. 

I have been playing worship music and listening to the Psalms on You Tube. Last Sunday I took communion at home after a time of personal worship.  

It is important to remember that God is with us and is not surprised by this virus. If we do as we are told, and with His help, we will overcome.

Refuse to give way to fear- feel it, then bring it into the captivity of Christ. Fill yourself with songs of praise, pray and keep the faith. 

Keep your nest clean and comfortable and full of Spirit filled words and music. Make sure your pantry and fridge have sufficient food. Enjoy some peace from the rat race world. There is no better place than home to come apart from the world and let the pestilence dissipate.

So clean your nest, fill it with good things, keep cooking nice meals, and renew your marriage and family life and your faith as you hunker down in your cosy nest.

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

Come, my people, enter your chambers, And shut your doors behind you; Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, Until the indignation is past. Isaiah 26:20

Memories of Mum's housekeeping

My mother was a good homemaker. Some of my earliest memories were of her hanging out washing on her long line held up by props.  She used to boil up the copper and honestly, she had the whitest washing ever.  She used Rinso to wash the clothes and Lux Flakes for delicates.

When I was really young, we didn't have hot water on tap, so Mum would boil up the kettle, fill the sink- a single sink- and she used a metal cage thing with slivers of Velvet soap in it to soap up the water. Steel wool was the go for saucepans and the plates were washed with a foam rubber sponge.

Whilst she was washing the dishes, she would have the kettle on again to rinse them. Then we children would dry them for her. We had metered gas by way of a machine with a coin slot in it in the laundry. When the gas got low, Mum would put sixpence or a shilling in it...

We all bathed daily and our hot water was heated by way of a chip heater over the bath. I can still remember fighting over who was the child who was to be seated under it. It was scary to a kid's mind. In fact, I sometimes still dream of it- making sure the water tap was on before lighting the pilot light.

Pride of place in our living room was the clothes horse aka clothes airer. Mum was very careful to air all our clothes and she spent quite a lot of time arranging clothes on it daily.

Mum had it tough too because we four children were bed wetters. She worked very hard to keep up with it all. 

With all her neighbours finishing their chores by 9am, poor Mum was still washing the sheets. In fact, when they called on her for a cuppa, she would be flustered because she was inundated with work.

Mondays Mum "did through".  She vacuumed, dusted, cleaned the bath and toilet and ironed. She also polished the linoleum in the kitchen with her Hoover polisher. It was quite a chore, with applying polish, buffing it with the machine then redoing it with the lambswool pads.  Her Monday routine was as regular as the sun coming up in the morning. 

Everyday, she would also make the beds, do her washing, think about what was for tea that night, clean her kitchen and sweep the carpets with a carpet sweeper. Routines were written in stone.

Mum didn't have a car, in fact Dad didn't even have one. She would catch the bus into town and shop for groceries which were delivered to our house. No plastic bags: the bags were brown paper...

I remembered how hard she worked the day I held her gnarled hand as she passed. She certainly loved her home and family... 

I am so glad that God honours the hardworking woman. In writing her eulogy, I included that well-known and loved verse from Proverbs 31 and when it was read, everyone of us nodded our heads in agreement and acknowledgement. She was blessed.

Memories of a well kept house we were never ashamed to call home will always be dear, along with the memories of a tired but diligent homemaker and her wonderful serving of our family, and then her  second husband's.

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.  Proverbs 31:28

Scarce as hen's teeth

It is quite cold here today: 8C! By midday we should be hitting 24C which is quite pleasant. I have the reverse cycle air con set on 22C which is quite comfortable.  Xena our little white cat got up, used her tray, had some kibbles and went back to bed. Before I came out to the study, she was seen nestled next to Chris under the doona. So when she does that, you know it's cold!

My plans for today are

1. Catch up on last night's dishes
2. Do some washing
3. Go to the doctor and chemist
4. Do some grocery shopping
5. Cook sausages, veg and mashed sweet potato and potato

Fibromyalgia has me aching everywhere but there's no time to go to bed.  Today we are going to see a new doctor here. We only know his name but haven't seen him yet. Our little township has a drought on doctors with the average wait a week.  With all of our many illnesses, we are praying that this guy knows his stuff. But even so, beggars can't be choosers: doctors in the country are scarce as hens' teeth!

A joyful day!

Today has started out to be most joyful. I have been watching the birdlife in our back garden and you can see some of the birds enjoying the bread I have just thrown out to them.

Another happy event was the heavy rain just stopping at the taking of the video. With many bushfires around us still burning-(they can burn slowly for months with all the undergrowth), it is good to know the rain will be helping put some of them out. 

Weather is strangely cold for the hottest month of the year. We are sitting on 17C with temperatures set in the middle to high 20's next week. 

My fibromyalgia is still flaring with weather changes making for great muscle pain and fatigue. So today I will be following the Monday List

On today's to do list includes:

1. Folding up some of the washing that I didn't get round to on Saturday
2. Making a Shepherd's Pie with vegetables for dinner
3. Sorting my pills out for next week and recording prescriptions repeats needed

All in all, I will be resting as well as working, pacing myself as I go. And you can be sure I will be looking out at the flowers lifting up their heads to the rain as the birds fly into my garden.

And so this was Christmas

So, I am sitting here the day after Christmas. I have absolutely no energy and the paracetamol tablets have done nothing to alleviate my pain from my fibromyalgia flare, my back ache and my sore arthritic feet.

My fibromyalgia has been flaring for the past five months since we started life in the fifth wheeler: well, actually it was flaring before that as we sold or gave away all our extraneous stuff and packed the van and closed up our rented house.

Prior to that we had the search for the fiver and a tow vehicle, then finding someone to put in the hitch and then the long tow back from Ballarat to Pakenham. A long round about trip. 

Three months into the trip, I tore my meniscus in the left knee again, and that put paid to being able to manage the seven steps up into the fiver. I became housebound and gained quite a bit of extra weight. We had to find a new rented home with no steps. 

We have just moved into a renovated farm house in a small country township in East Gippsland. We picked up the keys Monday 23rd December and of course the next day was Christmas Eve. We had made plans to see our little granddaughter open her presents and that meant staying overnight. We honestly felt so tired that we wished we could just cancel Christmas...

Christmas Day I helped my daughter cook and we had Christmas lunch there and then made the long trip home. I was so tired that I fell asleep on the drive home and nearly garrotted  myself on the seat belt. Chris said I was snoring sonorously. I believe him.

As it is our summer here in Australia, the weather was hot and this gave me trouble with my heart and caused my feet to swell alarmingly. I was so glad to get home and ditch my shoes and lay by the air conditioner for a bit.

This morning I took my sugars and was shocked by the high reading. I think I should not have had the choc ripple cake but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Although we still  have stuff to unpack from the fiver and put in place here, the house is basically functional and very cosy already. 

I did pause frequently to reflect on the reason for the season: the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ. The best part is spreading love and spending time with family if possible. If they will allow it.

I cannot say how Christmas became so commercial and such a rush, but this year no one seemed very full of the festive spirit. In fact, most seemed flushed and rushed and to be honest, those we visited were bickering and fighting and that made me anxious.

As I pour myself the last of our egg nog and head to bed for a nana nap, I have purposed to stay at home next Christmas. It is time to accept that all the hype of what should be a holy and peaceful time, is playing havoc with my ageing body. 

The beauty of the Saviour's birth will not be lost on me, but I will lose the expectation of sweet family gatherings and realise that my family is dysfunctional. 

As I make my way to my room,  I bow my head in thanks for God's wonderful gift of His Son. And I pray for peace for my family and others like it. I hope you all had a better Christmas than we did.... and so, this was Christmas! 

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD. Psalm 31:24

Confessions of a sick housewife

As you probably know, I am trying to cope with heart problems, arthritis, fibromyalgia and back problems. That should be enough to cope with, but added to that, we are moving house tomorrow to become grey nomads and travel round Australia.  But right now,  I am totally exhausted!

Furthermore, as I packed stuff and cleaned the house, I was appalled at how dirty our home had become! In fact, I cried! I would be totally ashamed to sit at my kitchen table to share a cuppa with you with the state it has gotten in. As I scrubbed my stove top and cleaned my oven, it occurred to me that I had no right writing posts about homemaking when my home was so dirty! This realisation coupled with fatigue sent me in a downward spiral which the Evil One was only too happy to escort me to.

Seeking to refresh my lagging spirits, I listened to the Word on CD as I cleaned and I cried out to the LORD. Literally cried. Although I felt no physical refreshment, the Word ministered to my spirit. I felt amazingly and unconditionally loved and I can't say I heard the LORD, but I did receive a definite feeling of understanding and compassion in my spirit. This came as 'self-talk' but it was not from my self. You just know when God has spoken to your spirit. He always encourages you even when chastising, and even in chastisement, there is always a way out and a hope! This never comes from the Evil One!

I felt that I was being too hard on myself, given the circumstances of my ill health. I questioned if what I write is true, and it is. It is something that I aspire to, try to achieve and totally believe. The fact that I cannot achieve this at the moment is irrelevant. My heart and spirit are in the exhortations that I write. Therefore, I am not a hypocrite. You have got to believe me when I say that this ministered to me so much, that I felt the weight of false guilt just roll off my shoulders.

I am battling so many things right now. Including fear of the future, death, worsening health issues and pain.  I do so desire you to uphold me in your prayers and not to think too badly of me as I confess these shortcomings to you.....

I am sorry that I have disappointed some of you with this confession..... sometimes things get on top of me! Thank you to those of you who are praying for me. Perhaps it was these prayers that have led me back from The Pit.

© Glenys Robyn Hicks


But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Hebrews 12:8

Experts don't always know best

When I was born there was a philosophy of child raising influenced by a whole network of Maternal Welfare Centres in Australia under the umbrella of Dr Truby King. In this teaching, the newborn was "trained" to be fed every 4 hours on the dot, allowed to cry inconsolably when hungry yet allowed to run wild in the developing years. One did not want to hurt their little psyches by spanking or scolding.

My mother remembers only too well her niece who was sucking on her fingers and screaming for a feed but whose mother would let her scream until the clock said it was time for the next feed! She was a strict follower of the Truby King regime. By the time the baby was offered the breast (which was swollen with milk that would gush down the child's throat), she was usually too exhausted to suckle well and if she did, would be full of colic from all the crying.

My cousin grew up a chronic thumb sucker and a lonely and unhappy child. But a child who was allowed complete freedom- even to tap dancing on the top of her mother's white Queen Ann dressing table! At a time when a newborn should be taught to trust in a big world, and then how to love and form a deep abiding bond with its mother or carer, it was deprived of not only food but comfort! It learnt to be anxious and distrustful and unloving!

But at an age where the personality was developing and training could commence, the child was allowed full vent to emotion and desires and was allowed to run wild. These poor children were taught that instant gratification, disrespect of authority, people and their possessions and ultimate selfishness were their right. There were no boundaries and the child was unhappy and isolated. Parents of children being trained in the niceties and values of normal living rightfully didn't want their own children associating with them.

Ultimately, Truby King bred a generation of unhappy adults who knew nothing but self indulgence and that anarchy does indeed rule. How sad! How very contrary to God's way of raising children! I do not know what became of Dr Truby King perhaps he has passed on- but the legacy he has passed on to countless adults brought up under his spartan regime is appalling. How different these teachings are to the gentle rearing of our children under the admonition of the scriptures!

How my heart yearns to be able to go back in time and comfort and feed the many infants starving for hours and fretting and to direct and gently guide the little children brought up under the teaching of these people! Yet many sincere and genuinely loving parents thought they were doing what was best for their children- unfortunately, they followed after the foolishness of man and against the knowledge of the Most High God.

I was fortunate to have a sensible mother, but thousands weren't. It makes you wonder how each turned out as an adult doesn't it?

© Glenys Robyn Hicks



"Lo, children [are] an heritage of the LORD: [and] the fruit of the womb [is his] reward. " Psalm 127:3

A new chapter

Chris and I have always wanted to travel around Australia. Now in our late sixties, our children are all grown, our grandchildren also are older and we now have no aged parents to care for. The stage is set. It is our time.

As you may recall, my mother lost her battle with dementia last December and in the fullness of time, her money from her house sale cleared. She graciously left me enough money to buy our rig and truck and now the time has come to leave for sunny shores. Or in our case, coastline.

So, we have almost finished closing up our rented house. We have either sold or given away most of our stuff and we are almost ready.

I am a little anxious but looking forward to this nomadic lifestyle. I have never done this before. Chris tells me that our life won't change too dramatically. I will still be writing. I will miss going to church, but will take steps to have church at home.

I know God is in this with us, and He remains our Saviour and Friend. We will be carrying Him in our hearts and minds to whomever He places in our path. 

Whatever changes there are, I am still looking forward to this new chapter in our lives. 

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: forthe Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. Joshua 1:9

In the round file

As you know, yesterday I turned 66 and as one often does on a birthday, it reminded me of a former birthday when I was working outside the home...

Still engaged to Chris, I was needing to work to save for our wedding and for a deposit on our home. I had previously worked in office administration, school offices and employment agencies. I ended up in a Human Resources office in customer service for those looking for employment. It was a plum job in our capital city, Melbourne.

The day my eyes were opened to the fact that employment agencies don't care if you find a job or not was in fact my 45th birthday and it was my job description to short list the many resumes that came to our office. Those who were deemed appropriate for a certain position were put in the short list for an interview with one of our human resources personnel and others were placed in the "round file" aka the bin for later shredding.

I had prepared a short list of highly skilled and suitable applicants for jobs and I truly believed they would have been worthy of an interview. To my shock, they were dumped back on my desk and I was given strict instructions to cull them further from now on and put any applicants who were 45 years old or over in the round file. I was so angry!

Protesting, I said that many were people with school aged children just trying to put bread and butter on the table and pay off a mortgage or rent. Further, I stated that they were in the middle of their child raising years and needed a job. I also pointed out that "today" was my own 45th birthday, and here I was, chucking them into the round file! 

Their only response was "do as you are told" and later on, as was the custom on a birthday,  I brought in a cake to share with them at lunch, their response was to boycott both myself and my cake. 

Finally, I was made to take note of the poor applicants who were put in the round file for shredding and tell them that unfortunately they were unsuccessful at this time. In response to their questions and protests, I had a script I read from... "I am sorry, but there were so many applicants for this position and unfortunately you weren't as highly qualified as them... yada yada"  they couldn't even be honest to their clients.

I was saddened and angry with these girls who really had tickets on themselves and who, in spite of doing professional courses and having degrees in Human Resources, had no people skills or compassion. It really was the pits to be forced to lie to these applicants just trying to make ends meet and provide for their family.  With Chris's permission, I quit working there and went on to work in office administration until we were married.

Why do I tell you this? you ask. Because I don't want you visiting the Pit of Despair and thinking you are of little value to the workforce. It isn't you. It's them. And the only choice you have is to know that not all Employment Agencies are like them and you have to keep trying.

Keep your head up, and your confidence intact. And pray for an agency that values the older worker. It was something I did for every application I had to place in the round file and for everyone I had to contact as unsuccessful. Prayer changes things, so remember that with God, we are never placed in the round file and lied to.

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

So teach [us] to number our days, that we may apply [our] hearts unto wisdom. Psalm 90:12

Lest we forget

Today is Anzac Day,

A day when we stop to remember

The brave souls who gave their all

For This Lucky Country,

Australia.


We are a proud young country,

Which many of various culture

Are now pleased to call their own,

Forever free and welcoming,

Australia.


For all we have and are to be

As time passes since that day,

We bow our heads and lift our hearts

To diggers who made her so,

Australia.



LEST WE FORGET

A.N.Z.A.C.

Australian New Zealand Army Corps

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage. Isaiah 41:6