Farewell!

I believe dear reader that it is time to say good bye.

For the time that I was occasionally able to write to y'all it was a blessing and lots of fun.

But we are heading towards a year since my last post and I think this says something about my commitment to it and my priorities for this new season of my life.

So I shall keep it short and say thank you for reading. Thank you for praying and being involved in my blogging life!  I hope there have been moments when you have enjoyed what you have read and I hope I may have even been inspiring or humorous...but on the off chance that I might have been neither I shall end it here!

Chow x

Keep calm it's almost bedtime

Keep calm and carry on. Keep calm and drink tea (a personal favourite) but at the moment it's:

Keep calm and remember it's almost bedtime!

And I'm almost as excited for it to be my bedtime as I am for it to be the girls'.

And just as I'm catching up on many months of broken sleep Little Lady no2. is averaging 11 hours a night undisturbed (except for occasional loss of comfort bunny) we've decided to do it all over again. Back to square one...!

Yes that's right folks, there's another bun in the oven and I will briefly experience the 3 kids under the age of 4 scenario.


But I hear that more than one is just "more than one".

Although someone said I was a glutton for punishment which I think is also probably true but as someone who has always wanted a big family with lots of squabbling, fun, memories and mess I'm happy to grow another tiny person inside me and add to the flock.

Since I've had a loooong summer hiatus from blogging I just thought I'd let you all know where the little ladies +1 are at.

Little Lady no1:

• Is at preschool; she has teachers and everything! Although can I find a pair of plimsolls that fit her...? I've already had to take two pairs back and now she's one of the odds ones in slippers.
• Is cheeky and chatty beyond belief (really need to blog on convos with my 2....oh, now 3 year old).  "Mummy where do ducks sleep? Mummy do horses cover up their poo?" Let your imagination run wild, she certainly does!
• Sounds worryingly like me.
• Can use the tablet almost as competently as me, almost...
• Loves stories and singing and wiggling her bum to songs on the radio.
• Is fully engaged in a home preshcool curriculum with me.  Every day we do something related to the letter of the week which is related to a bible story and I have to say we're both really enjoying it and growing together in our Bible knowledge and enthusiasm for God's word. We found the syllabus here: God's Little Explorers
• And just to let you all know that we're a nice normal family Little Lady no1, has started every morning this week on the naughty step for a. refusing to come downstairs, b. refusing to take her nappy off, c. refusing to say please, d. throwing a hissy fit about being asked to do any and all of the above!

as for Little Lady no2:

• She eats like a horse....a  petite, delicate, starving horse....her portions are almost as big as her sister's, she finishes before her sister, is less fussy, more grumpy if you don't feed her fast enough, and is finished and ready to play again quicker than her sister who also spends regular time on the naughty step at meal times too....
• Is pointing at everyone and everything...and I'm a little bored of saying single words over and over again to myself and having people look at me like I'm a crazy person: "tree", "house", "tree", "man", "tree" etc etc etc...
• Is nearly ready for shoes! The best thing about girls is being able to buy so many shoes. The down side is tiny shoes are so expensive...oh and also girls mess with your mind....sort of hoping for a boy this time at least they only mess with the house...although their shoes are equally expensive.
• Has begun signing hoorah! Dog and swimming are current favourites and they're even in context.
• Likes to stand at the window sill, climb into the toy box and generally put herself in peril.

Little addition no3:

• Has been kicking for a couple of weeks....despite those who don't believe me I simply don't suffer that badly with wind.....and by baby no3. I know what it feels like ok!?
• Is the size of a lemon according to baby centre's "Poppy seed to pumpkin: how big is your baby?" page!
• Is coming with me on my journey into a low sugar diet. Apart from the two small slices of homemade apple pie...because, of course, it would have been a crime against all apple pies everywhere to not eat some and check that it was ok for everyone else to eat.

Wow no wonder I'm tired.

Off to bed now, oh wait.

I have to put the littles to bed and then go food shopping and then catch up on last nights Bake Off!

I love dressing up!

The little lady no1. is much like her Mummy. She loves dressing up!  We have a box full of dressing up clothes and I'm always eager to add to the selection which currently includes, among others, a doctor's scrubs, a ladybird dress and a ballerina's tutu. I would love to find a pirate and perhaps a cowboy outfit but I'll have to wait until the next Kwon sale!

I love dressing up so much I basically took a degree in it. Although I only did few productions getting decked out as a different person, to live a different life was always thrilling.  That moment before I would step on the stage knowing my lines off by heart, muttering my lines under my breath, waiting for other characters to respond, feeling the eye of the audience upon me still remains one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life. 

As the little lady no1. was dressed up as a half witch, half ballerina, half doctor today...too many halves mmm...it got me thinking about how, as a Christian, I am called to a life of dressing up. Go with me.

I get to traipse around my house, Tesco, Wollaton Park, the library et al dressed to the nines in "garments of salvation...robes of righteousness" Isaiah 61:10. 

But the problem is I often feel like a total fraud.  I feel like a character playing the part of the good christian, I know my lines and am careful to get it right under the eye of my friends, family and church -my audience.

Elyse Fitzpatrick in Comforts from the Cross writes:

Jesus has taken on the responsibility to dress you beautifully...it's his delight to dress you in garments that befit your calling as the bride of the Lord of lords. When he looks at you he smiles with deep affection and contentment. He has cleansed you completely so that you are radiant, without any stain or shadow of guilt or impurity.  We're not playing dressing up.  This is who we really are.

I forget that I AM the good christian! Not because I am but because Jesus was for me. I am 100% certified righteous because I believe the good news that Jesus lived, died and rose again.  I'm not playing the part. This is who I really am. Thank you Jesus for smiling at me.

I hope to teach both my ladies the joys that come with dressing up, be it on stage or when getting ready to go to a party.  But I want them above all to know the solid joy that comes when we unashamedly dress up as who we really are in Christ not frauds but beloved brides who are totally: cleansed, sanctified, loved before the dawn of time, friends of God, redeemed.

a blog by any other name

So? What's in a name?

As you may have noticed I have changed the name of my blog.  Which hasn't really been a blog, more of a stagnant diary over the past couple of months as we have battled various rounds of extreme business and illness (during which even the husband took some time off work...yes you heard me right!) thankfully followed by a sneaky four days away on holiday. 

When I started my blog, "confessions of a christian mum" seemed a good name with varying amounts of appeal according to who you are and what you consider worthy of being called a confession!  But in the last couple of months I feel I have been finding my blogging  bugbear niche. And I think that it is my thought life. I most frequently blog about the deeper goings on in my noggin as I grapple with being a wife and a mother from a Christian world view. Which I generously interspersed with the odd blog about cheese twists and soft toys for a comic element!

I have been pondering what to rename the blog for a while and just this week at church we have been looking at 1 Thessalonians and Paul writes about presenting the baby church there as his crown and joy on the day of the Lord's return.   As a Christian stay-at-home (although rarely actually at home) mum I view my family like a really mini church. They are the group of people God has given me to love and serve and I can think of no greater goal for my time as a wife and mother than to strive to see my husband and my children cross the finish line and stand by my side when Jesus returns. I want them to be my crown and joy.

The title crown and joy has been on my mind for a while now. Doesn't God have wonderful ways of prompting and encouraging? Although it may not immediately reflect my perceptions that my blog is about my thought life, I hope it will help guide my future posts as I have an overarching theme, if you will, to blog about.

Yes of course I will still confess to you my crazy lady thoughts, my funny and occasionally not so holy convos with my two year old, I will also share my walk with Jesus as I aim to be a better Christian, Wife and Mummy hoping to encourage and inspire....well mostly myself! I only have a few faithful followers (you know who you are) but blogging allows me some all important self-reflection, but more than that it helps me to preach the gospel to myself because the Lord knows...I'm rather forgetful.

brownie points if you can tell me why a rose is a significant picture for this post!