Advent06|the beginning...

I love Christmas, especially since having three extra special children to share the joy of it with... Ever since they were old enough to understand, and probably before that too ;), I have tried instilling in them the true meaning and value of the season. I have tried many different advent activities to do this, but I think I have discovered a winner this year. Kudos to Kiddley.com, a blog devoted to children, because that is where I found the idea.

I covered 24 matchboxes with paper and numbered them, then filled them with idea's for family activities we can do this month. I also placed bible verses for one of us to read to bring us closer to God at this time. To me, Christmas = family & God! And what a great way to share that with my three girls.

I am hoping to post most day's of December, until Christmas Day, with pictures of what we did on that day. Maybe it will enthuse other people to do fun activities with their children in the lead up to Christmas too!

and she posts...

:) Well, it's been a while since I last posted. Can I blame the lack of posts on November busyness? Please... let me blame it on something, anything!

Well, I have been busy - we have kept our babysitter's busy with evening's out for Jonathan & I. Marriage course on Friday nights, Cell every second Thursday, and lots of end of year dinner's (still more of those to come in December...). It's scary how busy we have been, especially since it's not in my nature to do this sort of thing.

I like the slow life - you know, the kind of life that you can "think" in. Where you can enjoy the little things - like toast on the conveyor machine (who knows what they're really called - but I love them!) I love watching it move around and watching the way the steam changes and distorts your view of what is behind the toaster. It's a nice feeling. :) And I know right now I sound nuts! Oh, well...

The other thing that happened was my tooth (very back molar) decided that after 2 years of being broken that it would bother me enough so I would have to get it extracted. Because I had waited so long, don't do that, and because I am terrified of the dentist - it HURT and was not an easy extraction - it took just under an hour to remove and I was in AGONY most of the time. It reminded of me of the time Briahna had to have the wax removed from her ear with a suction machine, and she was in such pain that I had to hold her down and whisper that it would be over soon to her. I was saying that to myself the entire time - "It will be over soon", "It will be over soon", "It will be over soon", "It will be over soon", "It will be over soon", etc. Unfortunately the pain is not over yet - I had the tooth removed on Wednesday and today is Friday and I still feel incapacitated with pain - I am living on Nurofen, isn't it great stuff?!? Still, I have a life that needs to be gotten on with... and who wants to lie around all day doing nothing?

So, enough with the tooth already!

Last weekend, I went on another mothers retreat weekend. It was a good time of relaxation (thanks, especially to my friend Jenny, who put on a Nutrimetics spa for us!). I really needed to go this time - I was feeling very wound up, but by Sunday I was feeling very "spacey", dreamy even - and apart from my tooth-ache (yes, it started on Sunday), it was a very nice space to be in. I felt my breathing slow down, and even my speech became less frenetic. I noticed others around me spoke very fast - it was almost as if someone had put me on slow-speed and everyone else on fast-forward. Weird.

The marriage course I am doing now, is excellent - both challenging and neat for us to actually see how close we are to each other. Jonathan would have to be my best ever friend, at times he is almost so much a part of me that he becomes me, moulded together into one.

Now, if any of that made any sense or didn't or whatever - forgive me - either way, I need to go lie down now. Pray for me if you believe in God - I need that right now, and I know he cares that I am in pain.

My true colour:BLUE

I am compassionate. I am always encouraging and supporting. I am a peacemaker, sensitive to the needs of others. I am a natural romantic.

I like to do things that require caring, counseling, nurturing, and harmonizing. I have a strong desire to contribute and to help others lead more significant lives. I am poetic and often enjoy the arts.

I value integrity and unity in relationships. I am enthusiastic, idealistic, communicative, and sympathetic. I express my feelings easily.

Click on the picture to be taken to a website to figure out your own colour...

You've got to be carefully taught!

You've got to be taught to hate and fear.
You've got to be taught from year to year,
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught!

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made
And people whose skin is a different shade
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate
You've got to be carefully taught!

Love is quite different.
It grows by itself.
It will grow like a weed
On a mountain of stones;
You don't have to feed
Or put fat on its bones;
It can live on a smile
Or a note of a song;
It may starve for a while,
But it stumbles along,
Stumbles along with its banner unfurled,
The joy and the beauty, the hope of the world.

Oscar Hammerstein II

May God Bless You With Discomfort

This poem is a Franciscan Benediction found in Phillip Yancey's book Prayer. I think it's a pretty cool and moving prayer...

by Sam Harvey

May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression and exploitation of people
So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them
And turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

photos|cuddles

cuddles the kitten|cuddles the gorgeous|cuddles the curious|cuddles the protector|cuddles the mum

Cuddles

The other hard thing that happened this week was that my cat Cuddles died, after a week of to'ing and fro'ing and not being sure if she would or wouldn't make it. We think that she was hit by a car, although there was no "outer" damage, it is obvious now, that it was all internal. :( I haven't really cried - I feel numb about it all, especially when the kid's - namely Hope, whose cat she was - all need me to be strong for them.

I will upload a few photographs of Cuddles when I can get photoshop & firefox installed on my computer, because try as I might blogger just doesn’t like safari. :(

What a week...

dead mac

So, my mac died on Tuesday - losing everything I had worked on for a year. Yeah, yeah, I know I should back-up. Well, it didn't exactly die, as such... but, I had to run a factory restore and lost all the files. This is not the first time this has happened to me with a computer. Was I relying to heavily on the fact that Mac's are more reliable than that PC that died last year? I am terrible at remembering to backup too, so this is partially my FAULT.

Anyway, I just had an idea that this was like, a biblical principle. You know when the author of hebrews talks about life being a race and looking forward to the end, rather than looking back. Kinda like how I live my life - cept, I live more in the moment than looking towards the finish line. I will not think about what is lost, but look ahead at what is in store... does that even make sense???

Hebrews 12:1-3 (from the Message)
Discipline in a Long-Distance Race
Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!