For the Life of us

It's amazing how in the frantic, chaotic state that is your life when you're moving, that somehow you can find such order and satisfaction in your life strategically packed into plastic and cardboard boxes, all sorted and categorised. Pens and stationery that once sprawled out in every useless place of the house, now found and lying orderly in a plastic container. Old things thrown out, the ultimate Spring clean! Moving is always such a bitter-sweet experience for me. I am highly sentimental and I have such vivid memories attached to everything, that make leaving any home hard. On the other hand, I love the excitement and fresh start of new places. Growing up for no particular reason, we would move often. Every 2 years or so we would buy a new house. It seems to be the pattern with our family now too although I'm believing soon and very soon we will settle in a home that will last a little longer than 2 years... About 3 weeks ago I put in our notice at the place we've...

It's Mother's Day tomorrow! This means that all over the country, mothers and mother figures are going to be thanked, remembered and praised for the incredible role they play in the lives of their children. I would like to reflect this Mother's Day on the life-changing journey motherhood actually is.   I am convinced being a parent is the hardest, most wonderful, most inspiring, most tiring, most miraculous, most rewarding job in the whole world, a job it is impossible to take it on without it having a profound impact on who you are as a person. I don't believe there is another vocation or calling quite as unique that really reveals who we are at the core of ourselves; our strengths, weaknesses, our unconquered giants and our victories. Motherhood is a gift given to many but one only fully embraced by some. The weight of the responsibility of being given a human being to bring into the world, to teach, raise, help, shape and set-up for a life of success is overwhelming ...

I often drive past a sign near my house, it advertises Messy Church. Splattered with paint and and decorated with paintbrushes, it is obviously advertising an arty kind of session at this particular church, for kids. I like that name. Messy church. At some point in time, for some reason, we accept the that church is a place where you only really have a place if your life fits the picture-perfect ideal we all strive to have. It's a place where marriages are strong, kids grow up and follow in the way they SHOULD go and don't stray from it, it's a place where no matter what goes on in our world, we have it all together. Because we have God. The problem with this underlying belief is that when trials and testing come, when the marriage isn't working, when the kids play up, when the devil throws hell and it's army at us, so many feel the pressure is too great to stand in church and worship, to stand in church and believe for our family or o...

Happy Easter!  Lately God has been taking me on a journey where some of my previous blog posts have come back to haunt me...I mean 'remind' me of what I've learnt along the way. One's about being a victim...I've been reminded how with God and His processes (that involve what life throws at us, the decisions we make and also the decisions others make that we have no control over). I think the devil must delight most in self pity, in those times when we feel so sorry for ourselves that we do his job for him and lock ourselves out of ever seeing breakthrough because we're so busy wallowing in the situation we find our lovely selves in. Bottom line, there are no victims in the Kingdom. No one is at the mercy of a natural situation. Everyone has the DNA of an overcomer inside of us to rise above. What if every trial, every situation, every crisis, every storm, was viewed with an internal motivation to suck that experience dry of any learning and self dis...

Well hello, March! Wow, where exactly did the first 2 months of 2018 go to? Does anyone else  feel like you've blinked and now you're suddenly grabbing that cardi for going out at night and dressing the kiddies in longer PJ's at bedtime?? I hate to say it but I think Autumn is definitely upon us! Don't get me wrong, I actually love Autumn! It's so perfect with usually great weather and just chilly-enough mornings and evenings that it's comfortable and cozy. But, this lovely season is followed closely by Winter and that is not one of my favourite seasons... I'd skip it altogether if I could! And here I sit...in the dark...I may or may not be hiding from one or more of my children as they put up a fight going to bed. It's a bit later than the usual bedtime (we had our lovely Japanese homestay's farewell party tonight) which somehow means they will put up more of a fight and procrastinate more because they're MORE tired - go figure. One of them ...

Please excuse the slightly enthusiastic title but I'm just a little bit excited!! I just got the txt I was waiting for ALL day. In less than 2 months, Gavin and I will be off to Mexico, living it up at a 5 star resort for 5 days - at absolutely no charge to us, whatsoever... God.Is.GOOD! I'll back up a bit and explain from the beginning because I've been waiting to share this testimony for a whole year as we've watched this answer to prayer unfold. Really it's been year upon year of answered prayers in this department...maybe I'll write a book about that too? Or at least a very loooong Blog post to tell the full story. So this year began in February with our Church's leadership weekend when a very inspiring speaker spoke about sowing in faith and believing for prayers to be answered. Not paying for miracles and not even sowing into that speakers ministry specifically (before I open a can of worms with people who totally misinterpret this situation). No...

It is the night of the 25th of January and that means that tomorrow is our wedding anniversary! Yay us! A whole 9 years  of being married! (cue applause) That means that 9 years ago we were setting up our wedding venue and getting ready to say 'I do'. It was a Sunday night after the evening service at our church and as people left to go home, faithful family and friends stayed behind to help hang fairy lights and decorate with ivy my mum had scavenged from the neighbours while they had slept the night before. The cafe was soon turned into a ceremony venue and that venue, where we had met, sat drinking coffee before services while we dated and where we would soon tie the knot, became the place we would hold our daughters first birthday family celebration and gather to celebrate dedications of our babies and other special events. It was a relaxed, beautiful, special day filled with love-filled touches from family and loved-ones who did things like making the bridesmaids dresses t...