Reflection

I have the pleasure of owning several books called " The Friendship Book" by Francis Gay. I am presently reading the 1995 edition. Its a book with a daily thought, tale, bible verse. I mark the ones that touch me and want to journal. Here's several that have stuck with me so far.

Monday - January 2
... Our life is a book of chapters three,
The past, the present, and the yet to be.
The past is gone, it is stowed away,
The present we live with every day.
The future is not for us to see,
It is locked away and God holds the key.

Wednesday - January 4
...Trust the past to the mercy of God,
The present to His love,
And the future to His providence.

One that hit me in regards to others at this time of year who have lost loved ones or are lonely...

Thursday - January 12

SNOWDROPS

The snowdrops bloom - and yet I know,

that born of wind and rain,

These flowers - so like the driven snow-

Are part of joy and pain.

For joy and pain have each a part,

Within our lives to play,

And smiles and tears come to the heart,

Most every passing day.

And, if perchance the pain should be

Almost too much to bear,

May some sad heart, within my life,

Find Snowdrops growing there.

Margaret Dixon.

One more entry that has struck me as a beautiful tradition...

Wednesday - January 18

During the annual week for Christian Unity in January, our local churches get together for a Christingle service. Everyone, youn and old, carries an orange with a candle inserted in it symbolising Jesus Christ The Light of the world, while round the orange is a decoration of sweets and nuts representing the fruits of the earth. With our lighted candles we form an unbroken circle inside the church.

At the beginning of the service we receive a Peace Candle as a gift from another Chruch. The story behind it is that in 1986 a party of Christians from America visited the Soviet Union. On their departure an old lady from the Russian Orthodox Church gave the minister three roubles, and asked him to buy a candle and take it back to his church in Pennsylvania as a gesture of goodwill.

The idea spread amongst other churches in the USA, and somehow or other a candle arrived in the UK at a church in Sutton Coldfield. From there the practice of giving candles spread between churches here.

So one more Peace Candle was lit, the symbol of our hope for the peace and unity of the whole world, for as it was said, there is not so much darkness that one small candle cannot overcome it: "I shall light a candle of understanding in thine heart, which shall not be put out."

Esdras II: The Apocrypha.

Just some of the entries. Oh I forgot to say that I don't do the daily reading, I just read entries here and there.

two sleeps to go.

Family traditions... most families have them. We as a family have made our own traditions and am adding to them each year. One of ours is that we put our tree up on the 1st Dec. Another one that we are just starting this year is that we are going to open our gifts with our three girls on Christmas eve. In years past we have attended church in the morning, gone home and done gifts then either had family over or gone out to family for lunch. Its all rushed and we always get antsy with each other, mainly Terry & I. One year when we just had Em & SJ, the girls ended up crying and not wanting to open any more presents!! Unheard of usually eh! Well we are hoping this year we will have a more relaxed season.
After all we should have our focus on Jesus and his miraculous birth, as we say 'Jesus is the reason for the season.'
I pray you all have a merry Christmas and a happy and safe holiday.

Christmas Peace???

I am sitting here at 9pm with only half my brain working. For the last couple of weeks I have not slept well at all. Mostly because of the continuous merry go round of my thoughts and making mental lists that I know I'll forget by morning!!
So last night I had pen and paper next to the bed and as a thought came up I wrote it down. I had to turn on the lamp a few times, which by the loud sighs from Terry I gather that that was annoying him, so I went in to the loo to write down further thoughts. And then I took a half sleep pill and went to sleep! Yay!!!
Well I will carry on that lovely task of organising christmas 'stuff'.

Blessings to all

Sleep!

Its very late and I've been busy all day. Yet I don't feel ready to settle down. Unfortunately I know I am tired. I haven't been sleeping well lately. I think the stress of moving. I long for a really good uninterrupted sleep. I know for a fact that I am not the only mother who suffers this way. How do we keep going? I heard once that they use sleep deprivation as a torture method. It would never work on a mother, but a man. Yeah, I can see how that would be a torture for them.
My pal Jo is in Auckland for the U2 concert. I would say that she is feeling quite on a high at the moment and won't be able to sleep for awhile. Hope Beks is happy enough to let you sleep in Jo.
The Spiritual Journalling course I am attending was quite challenging on Thurs. Trying to work out our lifes 'hinges'. The time period where there is an event, person, or other influence that changes the path you are on. One hinge of mine was when we moved back to NZ after living in Australia for 6yrs. I was nearly 11yrs when we returned. I remember feeling very awkward at that age. With the onset of puberty, it was a very confusing time. I was no longer a child but not a woman either. I had to change my life path and embrace the next phase of my life. I didn't adapt to that change well and found myself struggling to be 'acceptable' to my peers. Even when attending High School I wasn't accepted. I was too different. Too nice almost. Being from a christian home and trying to fit in at school and be 'cool' wasn't a good combination.
Its very interesting but also scary to look back at my life and really look into why I chose the path I went down. But that's another story. I'd better settle down now seen as though its 12:30am.
Goodnight to all. I think I shall sleep now.

The House

We have shifted!!!
Goodbye our dear home,
The home we loved.

White wood, high roof
Old and quaint
Character

The space we will miss,
The roses too.
And dear sweet Maggie,
Under a tree.

We loved that house,
Our first house.
Goodbye to you, goodbye.

A Trying Time

Well the pressure is really on now. We are on the countdown of 5 nights before we are staying in our new house! I am finding it surprisingly harder to pack and leave our home. This is our first house and even though we've only lived in it for 3 1/2 yrs, its the longest we've lived in one place in our 10yrs of married life! Those that know me (us) know that we are gypsy's, always moving. In fact when I look at the girls baby photos i look at the carpet to know which baby it is as we lived in a different house each baby!
I have been to the first night of the "Spiritual Journalling" course I am doing. Jo told our coffee group about it and as I am right into journalling I said YES!! It was really neat as we do the course in a cafe, which is really cool as we get to have coffee and cake and journal!! We had the usual intro's of names etc. There's about 16 of us. Then Steve introduced told us a bit about the course and introduced us to the first 'journalling method'. We were to ask ourselves "In what period of my life am I now living". He (Steve), took us through a quick relaxation excersise, then got us to journal any images, words, phrases etc that answered the question. I will share that my present period is a 'bubble' for me. A bubble that is hovering between past and future. The past being a seriously bad depressive episode and the future of us jetsetting off to America for a year or two!! Quite a difference really eh! Any way I shall keep you updated with how the course goes. If you are interested in finding out about the course then visit www.joonajourney.blogspot.com then go to her links and click on emergentkiwi (i think that's it).
Just to waffle on a bit more, I had a very successful tupperware party today that my sis-in-law was the demonstrator. Well done Sue!! And thanks to all who made it here. I have to say that Tupperware has changed and is so much more modern now. And some really neat stuff. Got to love that sifter!! I better go and catch up on some other stuff.

The battle of the wills

Today started off being a really good day, mind you, I think that had to do with girls at school and Aimee at preschool! But when Aimee got home at lunch, a non-stop grizzle session. Right up to collecting the school girls, I naively thought she would be distracted. NOT!! I am fast losing patience as I am tired. I know I should think up a creative activity that's both stimulating and fun. With tiredness hanging over me, I just can't achieve that one. Not today. I shall continue telling myself that she had sufficient stimulatation and education at preschool. I shall have to think up another justification on the days that are non-preschool days if I am tired on those days.
I love my girls, just not the stubborness and strong wills. (I'm sure they don't get that from me! :-) ).

welcome to my life journey

There is too much that has already happened in my life to type up on this site. Let's just say I have been there, done that, and gave away my t-shirts! Seriously though, when I look back on my life, there are so, so many things I would love to change. But then I know that I would not be the person I am today without those experiences. So I will start this journal from today, occasionally I will refer back to a previous experience, but I also endeavor to look forward with hope, faith and confidence that my Heavenly Father will guide my future steps.