10 years!

I shouldn't be blogging. There are so many things I should be doing right now. Our life is about to change and I need to get ready. I really am not a great fan of change. I like to feel the security of what I know.

This morning however, I realise that it is 10 years since we first made another big decision - the decision to have a baby. We felt settled, and secure and ready for our family to grow.

This morning I wondered, if I could speak to myself 10 years ago, what would I tell myself? Here is it......

Dear my(24yearold)self,

You are very blessed! You have a wonderful family, you have an amazing husband who loves you more than you realise! He will be with your strength and comfort through times that only the two of you will share. You have made it through 2 years of marriage, and have worked through a few differences of opinions - there will be more to come, but perhaps these have been the main ones!

Everything is going great. Apart from teaching the most difficult class you will have, things are nice and easy. You enjoy time away on weekends, and you're even planning an overseas holiday!

You have just made a big decision - to have a baby. I know since you were little you have dreamt of this. You sat with your mums baby books and wrote out lists of what you would need when you had your own baby. You love the smell of baby talcum powder and imagine how happy Jonathan will be to have a son or daughter. This is it!

Let me tell you, things don't always go to plan. When life gets hard - and it will get so very difficult - you will make it through. When you think there are no more tears to cry, there will be more but laughter will come again. When you despise yourself and everything you are not, you will eventually find peace. You will get up and you will face another day - and another, and another until finally you don't have to think about it.

You have a God - a God who loves you and who knows what is best for you. A God who will never turn His back from you, but will turn all things to good. You may question Him at times, but hold on to His Word - it is truth and life. It will keep you from falling.

Stay strong, and never give up on HOPE.

Happy Birthday Charlie Bear!

My Dearest Lucas,

Your name means 'light has come'. You are definitely a ray of sunshine! You light up our lives, and that of many others. It amazes me how many people stop in the streets and talk to you!

You bought light to my life - God works in amazing ways. After a very dark time, a year later almost to the day - you arrived! My little light.

You are cheeky, and I have a feeling will get up to a lot of mischief in the future. You love cuddles, and are becoming more and more of a daddy's boy. You adore your brother and are copying him more and more. You have just started walking, but prefer to hold on to a finger just for a bit of extra support. You have four teeth, and are nowhere near interested in graduating from breast to a bottle ;) You only say dada and mama and ta, but definitely know how to get your message across.

We love you little one, and are so blessed to have had this past year with you.

All my love,

Mummy

An Early Celebration

The Ministry of Motherhood

A while ago I bought this book (I love my model!):

I read about half of it and then (like most books I read), it found its way onto my bookshelf to be finished later on. A few months ago I noticed that there was going to be a book club on 'The Ministry of Motherhood'. I loved the book, and really wanted to finish it - so thought that doing the book club would make me do that! Although I didn't really keep up with the book club readings, I enjoyed reading the blog and listening to the clips from Sally Clarkson, and it did help me to actually finish the book! It really is a fabulous book. Here are some things that spoke to me .......

The book talks about motherhood being a calling, and that there are 'gifts' we give our children. G = Gift of Grace. I = Gift of Inspiration. F=Gift of Faith. T=Gift of Training. S=Gift of Service.

Gift of Grace.

The grace of time together, the grace of encouraging words, the grace of forgiveness in action. This first chapter reminded me that just as I receive God's amazing grace when I so often fall short.....my children need to know that they will receive grace (from myself as well as God!) when they fall short of what they should do.

''Giving our chidlren this gift of forgiving grace can transform their lives by helping them understand that a relationship with God is not something that can be earned by good behaviour but a free gift to be accepted with gratitude and repentance. This gift of frace will be with them forever in their lives. What a legacy of freedom, peace, and love to extend to out children - a legacy that will accompany them even into eternity."

Gift of Inspiration.

Inspiring a sense of purpose, Inspiring a sense of God's powerful presence, Inspiring a new kind of love.

While reading this section of the book, I was reminded of when Lachlan was only about 2. One day we were driving somewhere just as the sun was starting to set. He excitedly pointed at the sky and exclaimed 'Mummy, who mixed up all the orange, pink and blue in the sky?!' Of course I told Him Jesus made it beautiful like that. The very next day he was just as excited to find a teddy bear int he clouds as we were driving along. These are little opportunities to 'expose our chidlren to the glory of God'.

"When we tell them about our answered prayers and those amazing coincidences that confirm God's presence in our lives, we help them realise that God is close and caring and active in

our daily circumstances. When we explain the things we have been able to do in the Holy Spirit's power that we couldn't accomplish alone, we help them understand how GOd works and what he can accomlish through us. As well tell them 'look' and 'observe', we isntill the hope that a supernatural Being more powerful than we can understand intervenes in time and space to help us and to interact with our lives."pg 85.

One funny thing Lachlan did was when driving into a near-empty car park and pulling into the car park spot, he whispered 'Thank you Jesus!"

Gift of Faith.

Faith in a living God, faith in God's living Word, faith in the Spirits power

I know that my children will experience difficulties in life, and as much as I hate to think about it they will go through dark times in their lives. I do also know that a gift I can give them is that of faith.

"As we look to the role of faith in the lives of the disciples, we see that Jesus constantly instructed them about it. He told them they could do the impossible, even move mountains, with one a tiny bit of faith. He pointed out the power of faith int he lives of others - the Roman centurion, a father names Jairus, a sick woman, blind Bartimaeus, a sinful woman and so many more. He also chastised the disciples occasionally for their lack of faith, such as when their boat was caught in a storm. He told sotries aobut faith and asked 'When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?' The issue of faith was constantly on his lips and in hiw instruction to help the disciples realise that knowing him and having a relationship with him and seeing answers to prayer were directly related to their faith in him, The same is true for us of course, which is why it is so essential for us parents to instill faith in our children. They are bound to experience many obstacles and difficutlies in their lives. We cannot take away those circumstances, but we can offer our children the gift of faith so they will have the strength to live through them and a relationship with God that gives meaning to it all." pg 112.

The Gift of Training.

Training children to think, training children to pray effectively, training chidlren for tribulation

more to come.........

Maybe Tomorrow I'll Get To Write Something!

The Story Teller

Lachlan has a great imagination. His games are usually huge stories involving cars, animals and dinosaurs. The other day, after a play time I went into Lachlan's room to find this:





The poor horse only has 3 1/2 legs, probably from a little too much galloping. The tigers found the weakest animal!


Lachlan loves stories. He would listen to as many as I wanted to read him!

I started reading him a little book of fairy tales. There is a cd with it, which Lachlan listens to sometimes. I love hearing him quoting the story!

This was Sleeping Beauty. He is such a little story teller.....

Then there was The Emperors New Clothes. I love the little accent of the boy ;)

And then there is this 10 month old baby......






Who has been mistaken for a girl a little too many times lately ;)







Perhaps it is these few teeth that has meant not much sleep around here lately! I do love our little Charlie Bear!!!!

Fuzzy picture, but true......

Too Much Inspiration = Procrastination

That's a quote from my sister.

That is exactly the place I am at.

I have finally created my pinterest account. I thought that by trying to organise/arrange what I want to do and beautiful things I see, it would get me into the frame of mind to actually do some of those things. Unfortunately it has made me find more and more beautiful things to look at and put on my list of things to do.

I do love it though, pinterest that is ;)

PDF Tutorials ;)

So, I am definitely no expert when it comes to cake decorating. I have had some fun with Lachlan's birthday cakes, and recently my sisters birthday cake - but really I see this as just playing with playdough! I do really want to know how to cover a cake nicely with no bumps.

I have plans for Lachlan's 4th birthday cake - Andy's bed (from Toy Story). And Lucas's 1st birthday cake will be simple.

BUT there is a great cake decorating website - cakejournal.com, and they are offering free pdf tutorials on cake decorating.

Lachlan's 3rd brithday cake

My sisters birthday cake ;)

Lachlan's 2nd birthday cake (my sister did the animals :))

A real novice.....Lachlan's 1st birthday cake!

Blessed!

This past month has been 'crazy busy'! As I was copying photos from my camera I thought I would put a few different ones from the past month or so here......

This is what I came home to after one of our Ladies Teaching nights.

A very proud Lachlan in his new Woody costume - made by a very talented friend whose son has outgrown it!

The amazing Lisa Ceely Photography!

Lisa did an autumn photo shoot with the boys - and got so many brilliant photos. The only problem is I don't have enough walls at home to display them all.

Out for dinner for my birthday!

The boys outside playing while it is still warm enough.

Me and my little bubby.

Lachlan's first toffee apple at the Apple Festival.

Kari Jobe: You Are For Me

Thankful.

This very moment I am so very thankful.

I don't know why, but I guess when you have stared at the possibility of never having dreams fulfilled maybe, just maybe it might make you a bit more aware of the need to be thankful.

Maybe it's the baby dedication of my neice this weekend....and the lovely song I just heard! Maybe it's because my baby turned 7 months yesterday.

I am so very thankful for this precious moment.....

Happy Birthday!!!

to a sister who lets me watch her birthday present even before I give it to her ;)

I hope you have a wonderful day.

I love that I get big cuddles when this little one wakes up in the morning!

I love that he 'coughs' to get my attention and to be picked up! He even has a fake 'poor me' look on his face ..... I wonder if this is the beginning of the 'man cold/flu'.

I do not like the fact that he will be getting his 6 month needles today :(

Sinking in His Ocean of Grace!

I am.
God's grace - undeserved, unconditional, everlasting. I have lsitened to this song over and over this morning. IT's on repeat on Lachlan's little cd player and I have tears in my eyes.





I realise just how beautiful you are and how great your affections are for me. Oh how He loves us so!
We are His portion and He is our prize, drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes. If His grace is an ocean, we're all sinking.

I need His grace so very much. I don't deserve it, but He gives it to me! Daily I lean on His grace, daily I need it.

Thank you sweet Jesus.

Amazing what 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep followed by 2 more and 2 more can do. I even happily got up at 4:30am to be with Jonathan as he left for the airport!!!! Lucas has been waking almost hourly for a while now - I have been thinking he is coming down with something/teething/ready for solids/ or maybe just doing what babies do. He has been a little unwell this week, but last night was bliss!

When Jonathan left I went back to bed with Lucas wrapped up snuggly beside me on one side and Lachlan with his arm around me on the other. Lachlan came out just after Jonathan left because he had a bad dream - 'the toilet water was getting bigger and bigger and went up to his neck and he couldn't move his arms' - oh dear!

Perhaps I slept so well because my 'very pregnant sister-in-law' dropped by yesterday with one particularly inspiring book - Simplify! THANK YOU!!!! I went to bed *early* last night and read about jelly rolls, layer cakes, honey buns and turn overs.

It is amazing how popular sewing and all things hand made are now. I read an articule a while back about this resurgance of hand made - it was interesting and funny! 'Craft' is not the word to use now :) Things have come a long way since potpourri and lace!

My mum sewed a bit when I was little - I remember her mending my school uniforms, a tiered skirt she made with some very 80s fabric that had lots of little coloured squares on it. She made me a doll that is in my cupboard now, costumes for school plays, and I remember her other 'doll making' phase. She did classes with ladies from church and ended up with lots of orders for all types of dolls - I remember a wedding one she made.

Mum gave me her sewing machine (or was it permanently borrowed?) which I used for everything I made - curtains, quilts, clothes, until my generous dad bought me a new machine last year - I love it! I have wanted to get the machine out this week but things have been constant and being so so so so tired hasn't helped.

All that rambling on just to say that I am looking forward to creating things this year :) I will endeavour over the next few days to be more organised in what I want to complete/start this year and make a list!

And just because I need a photo or two here......

Lucas on his floor mat - made by his clever aunty!

Can't you just smell that beautiful freshly bathed, lathered in cream baby skin! I really could eat him up ;)

Me and my boys!

From my devotion today:

In one of Christ's grandest invitations, He offered rest to the weary: "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest" (Matt 11:28). 'In returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength,' God told the Istraelites in Isaiah 30:15. If we focus on God we can find rest, finding that He will satisfy our heart and its deepest longings, meet and supply our every need, and compass us around with blessings.

There is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God's rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. Hebrews 4:9-10

A Reminder....

Yesterday at the supermarket I was rushing through on the way home to pick up a few things. The lady at the checkout was someone I once worked with. I don't even know her name, but always say hello and the usual polite how are you going/see you next time kind of talk. After being served, she came around the counter to have a look at Lucas. She told me was beautiful and how lucky I am to have two lovely boys {that, I don't need to be reminded of :)}. As I was walking off, she stopped me and said 'If I had a baby that beautiful I wouldn't clean, or sweep or do any washing or ironing, I would just spend time with him'.
A perfect reminder. I know all to well how quickly time goes - Lucas is rolling, holding his arms out to me, and even had a teaspoon of rice cereal today - but I needed reminding......
just spend time with him!

My Little Sack Of Sugar