Christmas, family and pregnancy is a lethal combination for doing nothing but just that. I have no energy to do anything else like write, read or even watch tv.
Today was spent sleeping and eating...that's all I had energy for, oh plus looking after caleb every now and then, thanks to my Mum taking responsibility for him today. Myles has had another bout of the cold. Christmas starts on Christmas Eve for me. We got home at 4amish from my cousins house.
Spent Christmas Day recovering and having lunch with my household and myles bro.
Oh well, I just have to go at what pace my body sets. I'm just grateful my Mum is around to do so much during this busy period.
My son had a great christmas. Hanging with his cousins, being spoilt. I am grateful the LORD has surrounded him with family who actually beam at the sight of him and whisk him out of my arms to spend time with him.
Even my 2 year old niece who usually makes way too much noise was telling grown-ups to 'ssshhhh' because caleb was having a nap. They are going to be best of friends. Thanks LORD.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
catching up
I have been trying to catch up on reading other blogs that I enjoy (Faith and Lill, and one of Faith's church leader ones). I feel like I've been gone for months because there is so much to catch up on. I keep going back because I think I've missed posts. I know it's partly because of the cold and being overtired from my many late nights with family.
I realise that everyone has such busy lives. This is the busy season. Christmas around the corner. For me, I have yet to organise Caleb's birthday party and haven't started Christmas shopping yet. But I love Christmas because I love buying pressies for my huge family.
This year we are trying something new - they call it Kris Kringle...where you put everyone's names in a hat and pick one. So you buy a great present for one person instead of lots of little pressies for everyone. We tried this a few years back, but we ended up buying other presents for everyone so it didn't work.
My Christmas starts on Christmas Eve. We get together as a family...in my case that's my brothers, sister-in-law, 5 nieces and nephews, cousin and her husband, plus 4 adult children and their partners, plus my two men, and my Mum. We have a bbq together and hang out most of the afternoon till Christmas arrives at midnight. We normally have a little thanksgiving service just before Midnight then when it arrives we pop party poppers and give out pressies.
Have a few treats and then we start departing....about 3amish. Yip, we are a family of night owls. And we train our kids from an early age :-). Actually some of the younger ones have a nap and wake up when the service happens.
Then we all sleep in Christmas morning...but some of us are too excited and still get up early. We have a family lunch and my brother-in-law normally joins us Christmas day.
Right now Myles and I are trying to decide what kind of tree we're going to get. We normally get a christmas tree in a pot with the aim of taking care of it and using it every year...so far I've killed 3 trees...I think...i leave it full of decorations for too long so they start life water deprived....and no matter how much i water them it's too late :-(
So not wanting to kill any more beautiful trees, I'm thinking of a plastic tree...but i hate plastic trees...so have to go tree hunting for an alternative until Caleb is older and we can go try a real tree again....maybe with age I will have learnt the error of my ways and will actually remember to look after the tree past Christmas Day!
I realise that everyone has such busy lives. This is the busy season. Christmas around the corner. For me, I have yet to organise Caleb's birthday party and haven't started Christmas shopping yet. But I love Christmas because I love buying pressies for my huge family.
This year we are trying something new - they call it Kris Kringle...where you put everyone's names in a hat and pick one. So you buy a great present for one person instead of lots of little pressies for everyone. We tried this a few years back, but we ended up buying other presents for everyone so it didn't work.
My Christmas starts on Christmas Eve. We get together as a family...in my case that's my brothers, sister-in-law, 5 nieces and nephews, cousin and her husband, plus 4 adult children and their partners, plus my two men, and my Mum. We have a bbq together and hang out most of the afternoon till Christmas arrives at midnight. We normally have a little thanksgiving service just before Midnight then when it arrives we pop party poppers and give out pressies.
Have a few treats and then we start departing....about 3amish. Yip, we are a family of night owls. And we train our kids from an early age :-). Actually some of the younger ones have a nap and wake up when the service happens.
Then we all sleep in Christmas morning...but some of us are too excited and still get up early. We have a family lunch and my brother-in-law normally joins us Christmas day.
Right now Myles and I are trying to decide what kind of tree we're going to get. We normally get a christmas tree in a pot with the aim of taking care of it and using it every year...so far I've killed 3 trees...I think...i leave it full of decorations for too long so they start life water deprived....and no matter how much i water them it's too late :-(
So not wanting to kill any more beautiful trees, I'm thinking of a plastic tree...but i hate plastic trees...so have to go tree hunting for an alternative until Caleb is older and we can go try a real tree again....maybe with age I will have learnt the error of my ways and will actually remember to look after the tree past Christmas Day!
Monday, December 03, 2007
missing in action
it's been a long time. I have been busy with our family wedding and lots of family gatherings. When we have family gatherings we stay up all night laughing and talking. So when I get home I just crash. I think we all run on adrenalin and if neighbours hear us they would think we were having a party and drinking too much alcohol. But we're all just happy to be with each other, eat lots of food and drink coffee and tea.
The last visitors left on the weekend. But then I caught a cold end of last week, which i still have but even worse I have passed it on to my little son. His first sickness since he was born almost 12 mths ago. We're off to the doctors soon to make sure it's nothing more than just a cold...being 1st time parents.
Plus Caleb has been teething during the whole wedding etc so he's had it rough lately. But you would never guess it looking at him happily playing every day. He's getting his molars so his gums are a bit swollen.
My mum of course arrived like the tornado she is. Within the 1st day I already had a list of things I should and shouldn't do with Caleb :-)
She is returning from Adelaide tomorrow after spending a week with her eldest sister who has alzheimers. Myles will be glad to see her so she can take care of us. He took the day off today from work.
My Mum is the best cook I know. She's a perfectionist and wouldn't think twice about spending hours and hours in the kitchen cooking and baking. She's already decided Caleb is having a blue teddy bear cake for his 1st bday party.
I've been so busy it's now creeped up on us and the hardest thing we have to decide is who to invite. 1st birthdays are meant to be huge, but they really end up being about all the guests and not the child. So I've been trying to think of ways to make it about Caleb, celebrating with him. Not that he will remember it - but i will have video footage!
So it's a pool party for the kids and bbq for everyone....that's the plan so far. Will wait and see tomorrow what my Mum has planned in her head....i can see the guest list getting bigger :-)
The last visitors left on the weekend. But then I caught a cold end of last week, which i still have but even worse I have passed it on to my little son. His first sickness since he was born almost 12 mths ago. We're off to the doctors soon to make sure it's nothing more than just a cold...being 1st time parents.
Plus Caleb has been teething during the whole wedding etc so he's had it rough lately. But you would never guess it looking at him happily playing every day. He's getting his molars so his gums are a bit swollen.
My mum of course arrived like the tornado she is. Within the 1st day I already had a list of things I should and shouldn't do with Caleb :-)
She is returning from Adelaide tomorrow after spending a week with her eldest sister who has alzheimers. Myles will be glad to see her so she can take care of us. He took the day off today from work.
My Mum is the best cook I know. She's a perfectionist and wouldn't think twice about spending hours and hours in the kitchen cooking and baking. She's already decided Caleb is having a blue teddy bear cake for his 1st bday party.
I've been so busy it's now creeped up on us and the hardest thing we have to decide is who to invite. 1st birthdays are meant to be huge, but they really end up being about all the guests and not the child. So I've been trying to think of ways to make it about Caleb, celebrating with him. Not that he will remember it - but i will have video footage!
So it's a pool party for the kids and bbq for everyone....that's the plan so far. Will wait and see tomorrow what my Mum has planned in her head....i can see the guest list getting bigger :-)
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
1st steps
my son walked today!!! He took his 1st 5-6 steps towards me. He was at the time busy trying to hold on to my legs while i was in the kitchen. so I took his hands off me and tried to let him stand on his own. But as I moved away he moved towards me.
Of course, I scooped him up and screamed in celebration which kind of scared him. It was such an awesome moment and he didn't even realise he'd done it!!! He was just trying to get a hold of his mummy.
Only last nite myles was looking at an old photo of caleb when he was much smaller. He was reminiscing about how he was so small and couldn't do anything but lie there. We had to do everything for him...and now he can walk!!!!!
How amazing is the LORD!!! How he formed us in our mother's womb, and made life so that we would learn so much in such a small period of time. What a Master Creator. He deserves all the glory!
Of course, I scooped him up and screamed in celebration which kind of scared him. It was such an awesome moment and he didn't even realise he'd done it!!! He was just trying to get a hold of his mummy.
Only last nite myles was looking at an old photo of caleb when he was much smaller. He was reminiscing about how he was so small and couldn't do anything but lie there. We had to do everything for him...and now he can walk!!!!!
How amazing is the LORD!!! How he formed us in our mother's womb, and made life so that we would learn so much in such a small period of time. What a Master Creator. He deserves all the glory!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
churches
Christians search for that perfect church one where they can belong to as part of God's body. But churches are never perfect. And why should they be? If there is one thing i know about my LORD is he loves imperfect. He loves us. And churches are made up of very imperfect christians. Humans are imperfect. Even in the world there are no perfect organisations.
And churches are very different from each other. To be expected because we are different and have different needs and passions. I have belonged to awesome churches and not so good ones, even ones that were great and became very bad.
I wonder what makes a good church? For me, the most important criteria is illustrated by that church that went wrong. It's going to seem obvious when i say it and people take it for granted that all churches are led this way...but...anyway...they must be God led - God's vision for that church no matter how big or small, helps that church fit into the Lord's body, everyone fulfilling their God given purpose...a primary vision or purpose.
If it's not led by the LORD and he walks out the door waiting to be invited back...nothing will come of that church. Even if it does good works - it's not the good works the LORD planned in advance for that church. They can wander around in the desert for as long as it takes.
Two other keys for me are RELEVANCE and UNITY. These two words illustrate that we are IN the world but not OF the world.
A united church shows the world a different example - the example of Father, Son and Holy Spirit...united as ONE but each fulfiling a different role. A family. For me this starts with the leadership team. They are the examples we aspire to and try to follow...if they say one thing and do another, if they don't know how to be a team...if they are not God led and blow with the wind...then how is that different from the world's example? In fact some in the world do unity better, do family better :(
A relevant church reaches out and touches worldly lives. It's not stuck in a century long gone, but adapts to the community around them. Jesus is timeless. One of the things I love about him is his ability to meet the need of whoever he was talking to - he knew them, their greatest trouble, their worse fears and deepest need and he gave them a different option.
He was the Son of God so of course he's the author of discernment. But if we want to be like him, then we need to get to know our local community, not just the bigger picture...save the world...but who ever is in front of our eyes...our neighbours.
And then we need to offer them a different option - that works....yip it has to work...and it can't just be window dressing...otherwise people will leave disillusioned. Our Lord was always sincere and never offered something he couldn't deliver - false hope belongs to Satan, not to believers of the One true God.
Like us churches are works in progress. Like us, they develop a relationship with the LORD over the years. And this relationship like any other has ups and downs. Do I belong to a church that fits these 3 things that are important to me?
We are only a couple of years old so it's very early days for us...i think we are trying to be God led, relevant and united. We are trying to build a family that functions well together. It's a beginning. We have made mistakes but like I said, churches, like people, are not perfect.
And churches are very different from each other. To be expected because we are different and have different needs and passions. I have belonged to awesome churches and not so good ones, even ones that were great and became very bad.
I wonder what makes a good church? For me, the most important criteria is illustrated by that church that went wrong. It's going to seem obvious when i say it and people take it for granted that all churches are led this way...but...anyway...they must be God led - God's vision for that church no matter how big or small, helps that church fit into the Lord's body, everyone fulfilling their God given purpose...a primary vision or purpose.
If it's not led by the LORD and he walks out the door waiting to be invited back...nothing will come of that church. Even if it does good works - it's not the good works the LORD planned in advance for that church. They can wander around in the desert for as long as it takes.
Two other keys for me are RELEVANCE and UNITY. These two words illustrate that we are IN the world but not OF the world.
A united church shows the world a different example - the example of Father, Son and Holy Spirit...united as ONE but each fulfiling a different role. A family. For me this starts with the leadership team. They are the examples we aspire to and try to follow...if they say one thing and do another, if they don't know how to be a team...if they are not God led and blow with the wind...then how is that different from the world's example? In fact some in the world do unity better, do family better :(
A relevant church reaches out and touches worldly lives. It's not stuck in a century long gone, but adapts to the community around them. Jesus is timeless. One of the things I love about him is his ability to meet the need of whoever he was talking to - he knew them, their greatest trouble, their worse fears and deepest need and he gave them a different option.
He was the Son of God so of course he's the author of discernment. But if we want to be like him, then we need to get to know our local community, not just the bigger picture...save the world...but who ever is in front of our eyes...our neighbours.
And then we need to offer them a different option - that works....yip it has to work...and it can't just be window dressing...otherwise people will leave disillusioned. Our Lord was always sincere and never offered something he couldn't deliver - false hope belongs to Satan, not to believers of the One true God.
Like us churches are works in progress. Like us, they develop a relationship with the LORD over the years. And this relationship like any other has ups and downs. Do I belong to a church that fits these 3 things that are important to me?
We are only a couple of years old so it's very early days for us...i think we are trying to be God led, relevant and united. We are trying to build a family that functions well together. It's a beginning. We have made mistakes but like I said, churches, like people, are not perfect.
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