Guess who's back?

Ok, so I'm well aware that this was a much longer break from blogging than I ever intended.

There are things happening in my non-blog life that have drawn me away from the screen for a while and I'm ok with that. Life is to be lived, and not merely observed, so if a break is needed, so be it.

Me and My Great Aunt - she's doing awesome for early 90's!

Recently I have talked to a number of people in real life who actually read this blog (hello out there!) and they have noticed my absence. Which is nice of them really. So I thought maybe it was a good time to reward their persistent loyalty with an update of sorts.

I wrote out my Personal Mission Statement at the beginning of the year and once a month or so I look over it. I am still working on every aspect of the goals I set, at varying pace, but I am pleased that I have been able to help others more with meals and practical help than I have in past years. I think this is due to a number of organisational steps I will explore in a later post.

Quiet time with God: I am still using this system to work through scripture, prayer and reflection on God's grace. It's a good system and it does work well, when I stick to it. My goal this year was not to get frustrated when I missed days (or weeks) of quiet time, but to just get back into it the next day. I have been keeping a record using stickers in a diary, of when I have quiet times. January was definitely the best month. But I am starting to get back on track now.

Food: I am still trying to work out how to balance my *love* of food with my need to eat well and treat my PCOS body kindly. Sadly I have put on even more weight this year, mainly due to inactivity and anxiety. But some recent health scares in my extended family have made me reevaluate my priorities, and I am trying harder to get back on track with food.

Decluttering: I undertook some big declutter missions since my last post on the subject. Our bathroom, laundry and kitchen are all flowing well and I don't have piles of stuff with no place to put it. My wardrobe has had one of its twice-yearly clean outs, and I hosted a clothes swap with some friends to help repurpose some items of clothing - it was actually a lot of fun! I can put all my clothes away in seconds and I now really only have the clothes I actually wear regularly and really need. I have to thank The Minimalist Mom and Small Notebook for their inspiration here, as I am naturally a bit of a hoarder!

One thing I have abandoned is my 366 days photo project. I found that I constantly forgot to take a camera with me most days and remembering to take a photo was another thing all together. I'm proud that I managed to blog a month of photos. Maybe I'll do a December round and we can see how the year started and ended...

Awesome and I are walking well together. Well, we call God our 'bungee cord' in that he holds us together when we try to pull away in frustration! We have been praying together most nights, which is not quite a bible study together, but its a start for us! We have been trying to make an effort to have regular date nights, but as we are out a lot, some times its easier to stay home and just be around each other.

Overall, even though things have been a little nuts this year - and its not the year of stillness I was craving, it is still a year of being intentional in many ways, and I'm thanking God for that!

Embrace the camera: last week...

So my embrace the camera shot is from last week. Forgive me? Granny does :)

These moments...

These are the moments that make a marriage... 

Lemonade, pizza, snooker and bookshops.


What makes your love? 

Embrace the Camera 11th August 2011

Lunch Date in the Park :)

Embrace the camera - go to Emily's Blog for more :)

Embrace the Camera 4th August 2011

Holiday beard and winter scarf. So. Much. Love :) 

Catching Up on Life

Well we are nearing the end of the year and it has been too long between posts. Nov/Dec is always a tricky time for me work-wise, with many extra hours, as well as lots of training. Blogging became something difficult to focus on. 


Christmas Prep:  I am starting to move towards a Buy Nothing Christmas.  At the moment, my effort is token at best due to office Kris Kringles etc. But I am working on it. I will post about our Christmas gift giving this year later in the week, but food for thought - I would love to move towards this kind of Christmas...  
I am working through this free Jesse Tree devotional each day during advent. 


Fitness:  I have completed the 12 week program and have made a total loss of 4.5 kg from my heaviest weight. I still have a bit to go, and will be continuing to train 3-4 mornings a week.  I just need to go to bed earlier to compensate!!


Married Life:  Mr. Awesome and I are still enjoying the wonderful change that his current job affords us. We live just a two minute walk from his work and enjoy shorter hours, more time together and the financial benefit of only one car. We are looking forward to a little time off early in 2011 for our 2nd wedding anniversary. 


Church Life: Mr. Awesome and I have let a few other ministries go this year to focus on music ministry within our service. God has answered our prayers for more musicians and singers in the last few weeks and we are now able to step back a little in our time spent. Its a great thing! We are looking forward to what GOd plans for us next year. 

Book Review: Home Court Advantage

Home Court Advantage by Dr Kevin Leman

This is one of the books I have recently finished from my 30 Excellent Books in 2010 List. 

I tripped across it recently in a Christian Book Store for a bargain price ($3!) and thought it would be good to put in the parent library at work. 

I decided to read it first...and perhaps not put it in the library after all! 

Dr. Leman is a psychologist and a Christian and I have read a couple of his other books this year which have been great. 

This one just wasn't what I expected. 

Dr. Leman's view point is that children are given the very best to prepare for life when they spend the majority of time in a stable and warm family home environment. So far, so good. He gives many reasons for this and many I agree with no problem. 

As an Early Childhood Educator, I struggled with many aspects of this book. I agree that families really need to question whether both parents working full time is in the best interests of the children, but Dr. Leman goes further and suggests that Early Childhood settings are unhealthy and even damaging for some families... 

I'm being careful here, a lot of what he said rang true for me, but by the same token I am seeing the coin from both sides, and its a hard thing to do. 

I have often wondered whether I would be able to return to work in EC if I had young children. Its something we haven't really fleshed out in detail as yet. I think one thing is certain however... if I was a hairdresser, a builder or an office worker - anything but an early childhood teacher - I would probably find it a tiny (very tiny) bit easier to return to work.  This is purely because right now, my current job would have me being paid to look after other people's young children while paying someone else to look after my own... It's sort of too hard for me to get my head around.

And I don't think its a bad thing as such - its just a bit weird. I know lots of people who do it - some like it some don't. I'm not judging. I'm just not sure what I would do. 

I don't think there is a right answer as such - every family has to make their own choices and for their own best interests. It just made me think. 

I don't think everyone would agree with everything Dr. Leman has to say, and thats ok. It's just good to start the discussion. As far as the book goes, it was worth the read as it made me think and question some things, and I think good books should challenge you, whether you agree with them or not!

Any thoughts? 

Completing Him Challenge Week 7

I am really enjoying this series on Completing Him from Women Living Well. It has helped me to take intentional time each week to focus on the little things that help improve our marriage and has reminded me to spend more time focused on discovering what God wants for me as a wife and a woman!


Here's this week's challenge:Support his vision. Discuss his vision for your family. Where does he see your family in 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years. Share with us how you let your husband lead.


We had a quiet conversation about this during the week.  It surprised me how quickly and easily Awesome was able to articulate his vision for us. Some of the things that he mentioned included:


- Taking time each week to be intentional in hanging out together
- Save money so as to be able to pay off a large chunk of our mortgage when our fixed period is over
- Spend time now becoming healthy and waiting on God's plan for our family
- Use the jobs and time we have now to help us prepare for whatever God has next, be it Bible college, mission work, studying in our current fields or continuing in our current jobs


It's nice to know that even when I get busy or worried about what the future has in store for us, that God has chosen this man to lead me, who has such confidence that God will keep things together. 

Thanksgiving Tuesday-January 2010 List

154. Flies!
155. Common ties of blood
156. Meaningful time together with family
157. Relaxing by the quiet river
158. The inspiration of a friend
159. Christian accountability
160. Challenging marriage message through film
161. Time by myself to unwind
162. Brothers spending time together
163. Technological marvels... mobiles!
164. Setting goals for 2010
165. Memorising the Word
166. Being strong in conviction
167. Friends who share the faith
168. The passion of fledgling faith
169. Well loved resources lent to friend
170. Loving, devoted family
171. Your Word changing my family
172. Writing old fashioned letters by hand
173. Love letters
174. 10 minute oven cookies
175. % off after Christmas sales
180. Husband's unwavering love
181. Getting to know church family
182. The challenge and joy of serving
183. Email reminders from thoughtful friends
184. Music ministry

Completing Him Challenge Week 5

The Completing Him Challenge this week is: Make a list of 5 things you currently do and ask your husband to prioritize them for you of what is important to him. For example - a clean home, home cooked dinner, coupon clipping, service at church, having friends over for dinner, watching/doing sports with him, etc.


Last night I made a list of all the things I could think of that would be things that enter into Mr. Awesome's world. I gave him the list and asked him to prioritise the items. There were 11 things on my original list, and he added one more.  Here are his top five:


5. Keep the social calendar organised
4. Plan and prepare meals 
3. Invite people over to visit
2. Ensure bills are paid and mail is sorted/answered
1. Keep time for me


As we both work full time and I work varying shifts, Awesome is often home before me, so almost everything else on the list (including cleaning, washing, ironing, shopping) we share very evenly. At this point in our lives it works really well, so most of those things scored further down the list as shared items. The things above are those that Awesome prefers me to take care of. The item he added was #1 Keep time for me!  As I am often busy with work and church commitments during the week, it has always been extremely important for me to be at home as much as possible. Every now and then I jam my calendar full with too many out of house activities and by the end of the week things can get a bit wobbly round here! Thankfully we have recognised this pattern and I try very hard to keep it under control as much as possible. 


This was a really encouraging discussion for us to have and I was really touched when Awesome offered me the chance to make a list for him. It was great to just sit and discuss things together. Here (with his permission) is my list:


5. Garbage/recycling duty (that sounds very petty but we are on the third floor!)
4. Washing and ironing
3. Keep an eye on house maintenance
2. Initiate date nights
1. Plan time for us to read the Bible together


A couple of hours later, he asked me which nights this week I was free to read the Bible and go on a date night! We have planned these into the week's schedule! 


How did your top five go? 

Thanksgiving Tuesday - December 2009 List

121. Inquiring minds focused on God's plan
122. Faith that God works through all things to His glory
123. Sweet Christmas foods
124. Thoughtful encouragement from a Pastor
125. A reliable car
126. Cooling summer rain
127.Wonderful friends at church
128. Satisfaction in knowing God is at work
128. Bosciola chips!
129. Nacho pizza
130. Date night with my boy
131. Wise decisions from my husband
132. Prayers committed to faith in God's plan
133. Sleepless nights
134. Early nights
135. Wisdom of older women
136. Soft spikiness of his cheek
137. Firm touch of his hand
138. Dinner date night
139. Chilled out music
140. Moisturiser for dry hands
141. The will to study the Word
142. Made-up bed
143. Wonderful moments to treasure
144. Lifetime friends who know
145. Thousands crowding for carols
146. Candle light in the night air
147. Bat silhouettes
148. Clothes that still fit
149. Deep kisses
150. That last deep breath before their tears stop
151. Time to explain
152. Family loudness
153. Quiet fishing

Admiring Mr. Awesome!

This week's Completing Him Challenge is to admire your husband. It is so easy for me to focus on all the things that didn't go my way, or to pick apart the tiniest of flaws.  Today I'm going to be counter-cultural and tell you some things I admire about my husband. 


Things I think are Awesome about Mr. Awesome!


His maniacal laugh, his faith, his gentleness, his serving nature, the way he just gets on and gets the job done, his jokes, the way he would do anything to see me smile, his independent spirit, the way that he supports me in anything I choose to do, his BBQ skills!, his patience, his sense of humour, his hugs, the sense of deep loyalty he has for those around him, the way her perseveres when things get tough, his sense of determination and the strength with which he undertakes hard tasks, the warmth he has in his eyes when he sees me, his amazing intelligence, his practicality, the way he grins... 


Mr. Awesome... I love you!

Demonstrating how to be a red STOP light man. 

Photos on a Friday: The Potter's Hand

  Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.
       We are the clay, you are the potter;
       we are all the work of your hand.

Isaiah 64:8 (New International Version)

Family Long Weekend Activity at a Pottery Studio in Berrima