Come on brain, Get in Gear!

If you don't use it, you lose it.

I have found that to be a very true statement. As I sit, trying to remember how to edit movie footage, I find it to be even more true!!!

My brain knows this information, but I am struggling to drag it from the deep recesses of my mind, in order to get some footage ready for our church Harvest supper on Saturday.

It takes me back to when I was at college, getting my projects ready, fighting through hrs of images and video clips to put to my music compositions. I love it, and I loved learning how to create something that others could enjoy. 

This is how I see singing and songwriting. It has taken a long time for me to be able to say that, as I have always worried and felt that songwriting is too personal to share with anyone else. 

I have been songwriting since college, but since meeting the Lord, He has been giving me lyrics, and so many of my songs are borne out of my worship, about what I want to say to my Savior! 

I have been very lucky really, when we consider my opening statement, that my voice stays in pretty good condition, even when I haven't used it properly in a while. That doesn't mean, though, that I have the right to get lax with it, and of late, I have a little. 

I feel prompted, with the difficulties I have had editing, to get my brain and my butt in gear, and start vocal training on a regular basis again.

Next door neighbors, I'm sorry in advance.......

Time flies

I finally sit down to share my month with you!!!

Well, it's been eventful! 

A family wedding, a family engagement, home schooling, a new prayer triplet,and to top it all off, DH has been diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes and High cholesterol!!!

We are not too worried about this, as we have made some big changes to our diet over the last year, but DH drinks nothing but Cola, and snacks very badly, so changes still need to be made.

I also had the pleasure of sharing a Word with our church this past weekend, and although i haven't done it in a while, and although the enemy tried his hardest to distract with a car crash outside the church (!!!) I felt my Abba with me and was able to share how God's grace is His strength to do what he asks us to do. 

I have also been reading more Francine Rivers and have been very touched by it. I was lent Leota's Garden and found, for the first time, the joy others find in creating and nurturing a flower garden. It always seemed like a lot of work for not much reward to me, but as I saw it through Leota and Annie's eyes, I began to see God in every action, in every job. 

I have yet to tell my DH, but I would like to learn how to tend a garden and enjoy it's beauty. My mum is a great gardener, and works on her garden every year. 

I may just have to pick her brains.....

I believe, help Thou my unbelief

Have you ever been through a tough time with God?

Just been through one myself and it is horrid. 

Situations can be gotten through, circumstances can be work through with God, but what if you feel let down by GOD?

I'm so glad we serve a gracious, patient God, because I need time to go through my feelings. 

I find that something that I am SURE the Lord told me would take place, hasn't happened. 

I don't understand. I am unsure of my ability to hear from God, I am disappointed, as I wanted the thing to come to pass. I feel let down, I feel angry, I feel foolish, I feel, I feel, I feel.

But what I feel doesn't count. What do I KNOW?

I KNOW that God is good.
I KNOW that God is faithful.
I KNOW that with God, ALL things are possible.
I KNOW that God loves me.
I KNOW that what He promised, will come to pass.

I cling to the scriptures with Job, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust him" Job 13:15

What I know must always trump what I feel, because feelings change. Truth, God's Truth never does.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Who said the Christian life was boring???!

Life gets so busy sometimes.

Now that we have officially adopted Little Bud, he has begun his homeschooling adventure with the big kids at The School in the Back Room!!

He has taken to it so well. He loves it and asks to start if I take "too long" in my quiet time in a morning!!!

We have had his celebration hearing at the courthouse, where he shook the hands of all the attendees like he was an grown man!! (He's 7 next week!) 

We also baptized our eldest son, our second born, Haribo this past weekend!! He was radiant as he came out of the water and was richly blessed with cards and words of encouragement.

It made both Hubby and I think back on our own journey with Jesus. we would never have pictured then, 6 and 5 years ago respectively, when we were baptized, just how far the Lord would take us, and the adventure it would be. 

I am so thankful that I have Jesus in my life, making the difference. 

May I always ask "what can I do for You today Abba?"

We will NEVER forget...

As I sit here with Haribo, catching up on our programs while daddy is at work, as we settle in to watch the 9/11 documentaries that we taped, I am humbled.

I am humbled by the stories from so many who risked their own lives, who lost their loved ones and continued to search for other survivors, who saved lives.

I thank God for those willing to help. 

I thank God for the Brave.

The survivors will never forget.

Neither will we.

It's ALIVE!!!!!!

I'm very impressed!!

I've been making a Ginger bug for my fermented Ginger Beer and I think it's now ready!!!

I found the recipe Here and have been trying it out, having never tried fermenting before.

It looked like slush for days, but the recipe says that it is ready when it starts to bubble as you stir it.

It's BUBBLY!!!! 

I'm really looking forward to making this, as it is a healthy, probiotic soda, and I do have to say, I get a little bored of drinking just water.....

So another week of fermenting in the bottles, and we will be ready to taste.

I will let you know how it all goes....

True Worship

I am so glad that Jesus takes us through seasons and doesn't dump everything on you at once....

He has been taking me back to what worship is about. I have sung since i was 13 yrs old, and spent a long time working in the pubs and clubs in Northern England, notoriously some of the hardest crowds in the world. When I met Christ, I thought this would just translate to my calling in Him. 

Not so!!!!!

I love to sing, and I do believe I am called to lead God's church in worship, but my heart has had to be made right first. 

My biggest problem is pride. As a performer, I have always defined myself by my voice and my ability to sing. Everyone around me has always done the same. This doesn't wash with God. 

I am not accepted by him because of what I do, I'm accepted by Him because he loves me. Because he chose me before the foundation of time. 

I have had to be stripped of everything that I got my strength from, so that my strength comes from the Lord. I have had to learn AGAIN what true worship is, that it is not a performance on a stage, it is not to be done Just on a Sunday morning, but should be WHO WE ARE!!!! we should have an attitude of Worship, thanking the Lord at all times, working as unto the Lord, whether it is in church, or doing the dishes, or putting the 13 load of laundry on that day, or driving to work, or helping your neighbour with their groceries. 

All things done to the Lord are tiny acts of worship. It tells Him and the world that Jesus is Lord and THE Lord of your life. 

THAT is true worship, my friends, not singing a few songs on Sunday morning..... 

Thank you for that lesson again, Abba...

Weekend Links

Ahhhhh. I am finally sat down!! 

My lovely dogs decided it would be funny to destroy a 15kg bag of flour while we were at church today! Needless to say, I spent a while cleaning it up, and cleaning them up!

I had to laugh, or I would have cried. 

I chose to see it as an incentive to mop my floor, which has been on my to do list all week.

So this week, I have not had much time to peruse the blogosphere, but came up with these crackers:

The Boy tricks me down a rabbit hole @The Common Room - made me giggle, it's all in the tone....

Squash Comparison @ Domestic Serenity - Very VERY true! 

and 

A day in the life @ KOTH - I love this series, but this one especially spoke to me, as we have been waiting on God for our adoption of Little Bud!

Only a few, but worth the read.

My week got better

So I have been home schooling all 4 children for 1 full week and they are still alive and breathing!!!!! (you laugh, it was a close one!)

Actually, despite the stresses and strains of settling back into the school routine, the loss of our local weekly Home Ed group, and teaching a very particular boy the ropes, we have had a good week.

Learning how to teach a new child is hard. All my babies learn differently, and obviously have different needs, and Little bud in particular has very specific strengths and weaknesses, so it has been an eye-opening week. 

I know we can do this, despite my near atomic breakdown yesterday, sobbing to Jesus that I can't do it, that I'm not patient enough, and  all the 'not enough's' I could come up with. The scripture that got me off my sopping wet pillow was "i can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me" Phil. 4:13 

When Abba asked me to home school our children, He gave me the scripture 2 Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness" 

It is this that I cling to now, when I feel overwhelmed. My Father told me to do this, and he would strengthen me. I trust in Him and Him alone. I have to, or every day would be spent sobbing on my pillow!!

I am a new creation, and my Abba loves me, and believes in me. 

That's all I need. 

And some coffee......

How hard can it be....?

Famous last words, eh! 

Why do I do it to myself???

If you have seen my weekend recommendations this week, you will have seen that I have been finding out about the effects of sugar on the body. 

You see, I have very soft teeth, bones and nails. I was reading a lot on the KOTH website about why soaking your grains is so important, and found that it can leech calcium and other essential nutrients from your body. 

This got me wondering......

Could this be my problem? I got to reading, through other sites, about sugar. Sugar doesn't rot ones teeth in the way we think it does. The way the body deals with too much sugar is to do very much the same thing as the un-soaked grains do. It leeches nutrients out of the bones and teeth.

Now anyone who knows me, knows that I have the BIGGEST sweet tooth EVER!!!! 

Not only has this lead to weight problems my entire life, but I am now starting to think this may be some of the reason my teeth break so very easily, despite my best oral hygiene efforts.

So....... I have tried to cut out sugar from my diet.

Yes, you heard me right, I am cutting out sugar. I had managed no sugar for 1 full week until I succumbed to a chocolate biscuit on Sunday at church, and after a very stressful day today, I have caved again and had a lolly after dinner, but I feel that is not too bad, considering I usually have something sugary sweet at every meal!!!

I have suffered a few headaches, but overall, I feel fine.

I have included fruit in my non sugar diet, as the natural sugars are dealt with slightly differently than commercial sugars, and I need the vitamins from the fruit too.

Today, as I said though, has been particularly stressful in a couple of ways, and tonight, even though I know it will only be a false high, and I will crash later, I have indulged. 
And I already feel a little ill. 

Habits are so hard to change. Anyone else struggled with sugar cravings?

Recommendations from this week...

Ahhhhh, a weekend's rest!

Saturday has always been the day that I try to do very little, as Sunday is a busy day for us, but recently, Hubby has been working extra shifts and our boys go to Kickboxing lessons on a Saturday afternoon.

As we have been without a car for a while now, this means a bus trip and a two hr class for us to sit in on. 

Daddy usually takes the boys, but with his shifts, it's been Mama's turn. So no day off.

However, a cancelled lesson means a day to relax, so here are a few of the websites and blogs I have been interested in this week.

Links

Is your vision of your personality too narrow? @youngwife'sguide (this is me!!)

10 Things you didn't know about sugar post on thehuffingtonpost.com  (currently on day 3 without sugar, feeling a little off, but I'm the girl who passes up on dinner to eat pudding, so I shouldn't expect any less really!)

Week 15 of 52 ways for more Serenity in life and home @Domesticserenity

Ferments @realfoodlover (trying the ginger beer ferment as we speak)

Enjoy!

Balance: the whys and wherefores

It never takes much for me to get out of balance.

I am an extremely faddy person. I get fixated on things and they become all i think about. then I want to try things myself, and praise God I have an accommodating husband!

I go mad and then..... 3 weeks later I'm done. 

This happened with simple, green, clean living. 

I saw some blogs, read some research and that was it, I was away. 

I wanted to change everything at once, because when you know this stuff, you cant un-know it, can you!?

Well, you guessed it, a lot of my "simple living" ideas went out the window very quickly. 

Then I felt guilt for not doing it! 

The things we put ourselves through, eh! 

So I've been praying, and I feel we have come to a place where I need to start taking a more relaxed approach. 
A great tip I saw on another blog was work out what matters to YOU, not what you have seen others do. 

It is important to us to homeschool our children. It is important to us to eat nourishing real food, but sometimes we like to eat takeout, and once in a while, that's fine too. It's important to us to limit the amount of chemicals in our house, and I want to reduce my sugar intake. but most of all, it's important to us to model a life with Jesus to our children, by living a life with Jesus in front of our children, mistakes and all. 

So, I share with my kids what God is doing in my life, they see the changes that are taking place in me and DH, and we encourage them in their own walks.

THAT'S important to me.

NOT all the other stuff. Praise You God, for showing this stubborn woman a different way.

Parenting dilemas

So how do we deal with consistent disobedience?

I am struggling with my beautiful, willful daughter at the moment. 

We have been battling over internet usage, but we always come to the same place. We give a little, trying to build trust, and she gets caught sneaking. 

We have tried taking all privileges away, we have pin-protected all devices that don't belong to her, we have tried allowing some access with parental monitoring, nothing works, she always seems to find a way around it.

I understand that this is a heart issue. 

She is challenging our authority, and is deceived into thinking that she is pulling the wool over our eyes. 

I must admit, as I write this, that I have been praying for the wrong things. I have been praying that I will parent her right, and that she will step into Jesus' plan for her life, when I should have been praying for Jesus to open her heart to His ways and that the Holy Spirit will reveal to her that her heart attitude to this is wrong. (she is born again and baptized)

Godly parenting is such a joy and a privilege, but it is also one of the most challenging, eye opening roles one can have, beaten only by Godly marriage, i think! 

Prayers would be appreciated right now!!

Awesome, in the true sense of the word..

I was watching part of the Hillsong conference on TV this morning and a speaker called Louie Giglio was on there, taking about how great our God is. 

The guy has a great dvd about the stars and solar systems and how they all sing to the Lord as part of creation's song.

I've seen this dvd before and was amazed, so when I saw him speaking, I was intrigued as to what he was talking about this time.

He began talking about our cry, how our words and our worship are so important, and that battles are won with the new song that Jesus gives us. 

I love this, as a worship leader, as so many Christians miss how important praise and worship is. It is NOT just a warm up to the preacher, NOR is it to make you feel sweet and nice! 

It is to remind us, and everyone else, how amazing God, the creator of the universe, is!! This is so powerful, because the enemy does not know what to do with someone who will praise God in every season.

Louie went on to talk about the stars again, and the sounds that they make. He played sound bites of 2 different stars and played them together and they made MUSIC!! 

Seriously, they made music. 

Not altered, not synthesized, they honest to goodness made music when played together. 

I was in tears. The creation does indeed worship the creator.

And God wants our voice to join that symphony. He wants it so much, that He sent Jesus to pay our debt so we could. 

God is AMAZING!!!!!

Different.......but not

The first day as Little Bud Gee........ and he has been a little toe-rag!!!!

You know how it is, right? Temper, tiredness, and rules! Not always a good mix.

Anyway....

We were visiting with some friends today and on the way there (a very long walk) we got to talking. My 11 yr old, Smudge, was saying how much his feet were hurting. This turned into a full blown conversation on how amazing our bodies are and how God made us.

I love that we get to bring God into our every day life, and it made me realize that even though I sometimes doubt, I am making a difference. I am making a difference right where I am, to 4 future grown ups, who will go on to influence their worlds. 

Being a mama is the best job in the world. 

Please Jesus, help me get it right......

It's Official!!!!!

It's finally happened!! 

Little Bud is legally ours. 

This morning, the judge granted the adoption order to make the child of my heart into a legal member of our family. 

3.5 long years in the making, to say we are pleased is a GIANT understatement!! 

We have full parental rights, and he is ours as if he was born to us.

Life can be planned and lived properly for the first time in years. 

Praise my Abba in heaven for blessing us and entrusting us with this little boy.

We take very seriously our responsibility to train this child in the way of the Lord. 

Thank you Jesus!!!

He's ours!!!!!

:-)

D day (or A day to be exact)

Tomorrow is the big day. 

Tomorrow is the day our family of 5 officially grows to 6. 

The Judge will approve tomorrow what we have known in our hearts for 3 1/2 years; that Little Bud belongs to us. 

It has been a long drawn out process, with many twists and turns, with many frustrations and setbacks, but we are finally there. 

When we first realized that we wanted to keep this little broken foster child that we had waited and waited for, we thought that it would only be a short time, as God had given him to us, right?! 

WRONG!! 

This has been one of our biggest blessings, but it has also been one of our biggest challenges in waiting. In believing. In persisting. In growing. In waiting, again. 

But every bit of it is worth it, as we wait one more day to receive what Abba Father gave us 3 yrs ago. 

The honor of being this amazingly resilient little boy's family.

Breathe through it....

I knew it would end like this!

I have been fighting with my sewing machine for a good 2 hrs today!

I agreed to alter a skirt for a friend, and I haven't used a sewing machine for years, but I thought it's like riding a bike, you never forget....

Cue 2 hrs of repeatedly trying to get the needle to pick up thread!! 

I have been working with the Lord recently about having and keeping my peace in all situations. So, of course, I need to go through some situations where I have cause to lose my peace!

I'm keeping calm with the children for the most part, so today, it's the sewing machine. 

Actually, I prayed through the whole thing, and when I knew I was about to get cross, I walked away and decided to do it by hand.

It took a little longer, but it saved my patio door, and my peace.

Looks like Abba is helping me in more ways than one at the moment!

Summer reading

I am an avid reader, and that is mainly due to my mama's influence. I can devour a book in a day, if I get the chance, and have often got into trouble by staying up all night to get a brilliant book finished, just because I couldn't put it down. 

So I thought I would share what I have been reading over the lazy days of summer.

I have been reading a lot of Francine Rivers' books lately and still my favorite has to be Redeeming Love, a fictional story based on the book of Hosea. I have read this book at least 5 times and will always go back to it. I love the way Rivers deals with tough subjects without glorifying them, or using titillating language. I have always found her so easy to read and well paced, giving good description, but not laboring the point.
I also love her 'The Mark of the Lion' series, a trilogy about a Roman family in the first century AD and the effect of a small Jewish slave girl on their lives. This literally slays me every time, I find myself asking the same questions as the heroine, "Am I doing enough?"

I've also been re-reading 'The Shack' by Wm. Paul Young. 
Now this book has been the focus of some very heated debate, but I have got SO much out of this book and would urge everyone to at least give it a chance. Dealing with the age old question, "can God be good and allow evil?", this book is thought provoking and always speaks straight to my spirit.

So those are the books that have drawn, changed, entertained and spoken deeply to me this summer. How about you?

School time approaches...

School thoughts are now creeping in to summer.....

Ordering supplies, organizing curriculum, cleaning the room/chairs/table down.

Boo is asking me every day why on earth we are starting to think about school with 3 weeks left before we start back! I keep telling her, this is what mamas have to do! They have to think ahead and get organized. Otherwise the curriculum wouldn't be here on time. There would be no pencils when you reach for one. 

The other thing she doesn't realize is that I am the sort of mama who, if I don't do it now, as I think about it, I will forget and it won't get done at all!

I am a list mama. I need to write it down and have a plan. I absolutely don't always get everything done, but at least it's on the list. 

We have a family calendar with 6 columns on and I always, ALWAYS tell the children and my dear husband that if it's not on the calendar, we are not doing it. If you make an appointment, it goes on the calendar, even if it's just a coffee. DH's work shifts are all on there for the year, all birthdays, all kids activities, everything. 

I need it writing down, to make sure it doesn't get forgotten. That way, I don't get double booked and have to let people down, (which I hate) and I am not late (which I hate more!) 

That's how I have figured I work best (after years of frustration and trial and error) and like I said, that doesn't mean mistakes don't happen, or everything gets done (my kitchen floor is being ignored at the moment) but those are few and far between now. 

How do you manage your house? Are you a list-er, or are you a little more carefree?
Leave a comment below, I'd love to hear from you.