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.

and so it begins!

"Mummy, I want a cheese twist!"

"No, darling you've just had a weetabix and toast"

"But I do want one!"

"I know you do, but the answer is no"

"But Mummy the best book to read is the Bible"

*Pauses and thinks*...where is this going?

"Yes. The best book to read is the Bible but you're still not having a cheese twist"

"Oh but I do want one!

*Toddler Pauses*

"Mummy can I have more Peter Rabbit?"

"No you've just watched two episodes of Sarah and Duck!"

"But Mummy I do want Peter Rabbit!"

*sigh*

"I know you do, but the answer is no"

And so today's conversational pattern takes on a strangely cyclical feel...

Wish me luck!

1,2,3 clean along with me!

 

Wow.

 

For the past two days little lady no1. and little lady no2. have had naps which coincide...

 

a blast from the past it's like a glimpse into my life before I had children!

 

Dare I say I felt rather useful and a lady of leisure all at the same time! I spent half an hour reading (which was wonderful as it also meant half an hour of sitting down...an absolute luxury these days...)and half an hour cleaning! It's amazing how much tidying gets done without two tiny people pulling toys out of boxes as you put them away or putting sticky fingers on everything they think you've just polished...

 

 

 

I won't go as far as to say I love cleaning, I mean who loves cleaning!? But I do love the way it makes me feel.  It makes me feel ordered and in control, I feel extra-super satisfied with my day if I have cleaned, tidied, sorted or washed something.  I genuinely feel a little bit of a failure if I haven't managed to clean, tidy, sort or wash anything.  Honestly. I am not kidding.

 

Last week a friend said to me that she found herself making a special effort with her appearance on days when she's struggling.  For me those days are fraught with cleaning.  I kind of always knew that's what I did but now I'm feeling really aware of how much of my daily satisfaction is derived by maintaining as shipshape a home as  possible.

 

Deep down a big part of me that really believes that I'll be a better, happier, lovelier person (especially wife and mother and Christian) if I have a tidy house (I'm not talking weird voyeuristic Chanel 4 documentary tidy more of a Cath Kidston wholesome kind of tidy).  Today during the ever so rare, truly precious "I can't believe this is happening two days in a row" double nap time, you guessed it... I tidied. I stood on chairs to reach shelves that I nor anyone else can see to polish, I moved furniture, got out the feather duster, cleaned the windows. 

 

Jesus said:

 

 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean." Matthew 23:25-26

 

I'm a bit like the Pharisees; so concerned with the state of my house that I often forget to address the state of my heart.  Not everything is in the right place in my heart.  I lose my temper. I am slow to listen and quick to speak. I tell little lady no1. off for putting herself first and not thinking about others when I am guilty of the same thing often in the same moment! I say "wait a minute!" far too many times a day I say "yes darling?" when really I mean "what do you want now!?".

 

My tidying is full of greed and self-indulgence: "So and so, might think I've got life a little bit more sorted and sussed out if my house looks in vague order" which is really greed for other's good opinion of me. And then: "I can say I've done well, not only have I looked after the children but I've maintained a reasonable state at home" by which I really mean that I don't feel my time has been worth anything at all unless I have some small spotless area testifying to what I did with my day (which in reverse is evidence that I perhaps don't really think that clean, fed and usually happy children counts as an achievement-alas another post in itself dear reader!).

 

I have been battling with many issues lately concerning my home life, my role as wife and mother and although I cannot express everything here as I don't yet know how to express it I can tell you it is manifesting itself in cleaning.

 

So.  Much.  Cleaning.

 

But I am happy with small victories, at least I know this is what I do and usually that means God's about to challenge me and give me more grace and strength to become more like Jesus; concerned with the state of the hearts of those in my home, not the state they leave it in.

 

 

Breakfast shenanigans!

"Can I have sweet corn for breakfast, please Daddy"

"We don't have sweet corn for breakfast, it would be a bit weird, how about a weetabix?"

"No, please I have crunchy sweet corn?"

"Do you mean cornflakes!?"

"Yes"

Hahaha...

A few minutes later...

"Would you like some toast now?"

"Yes please, with my-mite please"

Half way through toasting

"I don't want toast!"

"I just asked you if you wanted toast and you said yes. Unfortunately you will be having toast"

After a two minute meltdown...

*places toast in front of exasperated toddler*

""Ooo...! Dear God, thank you for my toast, Amen"

Smile...I'm singing again!

I went to the Christmas party for my favourite toddler group yesterday and I was somewhat disappointed to find that any form of Jesus had been written out of the scene.  We were learning "all about Christmas" and yet there was no mention of a wise man or a star...even what I would call angels were described as Christmas fairies!  All nursery rhymes had been re-written for us to sing including santa, reindeer, snowmen and presents.  Don't get me wrong I love a good present but surely (and I apologise for this in advance) JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!

So I have taken it upon myself to re-write some of the classics with a nativity theme so you can sing them to your little ones (or yourself!) and learn all about the real, the very first, the one and only Christmas:

Smile...they're singing again dear!

Twinkle, twinkle little star,
how I wonder what you are,
up above the world so high,
to tell of Jesus birth nearby,
twinkle, twinkle little star,
how I wonder what you are!



To the tune of here we go round the mulberry bush:

Here we go down to Bethlehem, Bethlehem, Bethlehem
here we go down to Bethlehem, on a cold and dusty morning

the wise-men went to...

the shepherds went to...

Jesus was born in...

To the tune of three little men in a flying saucer:

3 wise-men riding on their camels,
went through the desert one day,
one looked left to right but he didn't like the sight
so he followed the star away,

2 wise-men...

1 wise man...

To the tune of Old McDonald:

Baby Jesus born in a Barn E,i,e,i,o,
and in that barn there was a....

donkey, cow, sheep etc

To the tune of Head, shoulders, knees and toes:
Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh, cense and Myrrh!
Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh, cense and Myrrh!
Gifts to give the new born king!
Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh, cense and Myrrh!

Please let me know if you can think of any more, five isn't many but my creativity has peaked today at that and banana muffins :)

Potty training and rock collecting!

So the lovely little lady is waking from her nap and I have found time to blog hooray! I have found that the lady is very much like me and wants to take her own sweet time when it comes to getting up from a nap. Yes I nap at the moment as it's T minus 6 weeks until D Day.  I open her curtains and blind and allow her to come to her senses which usually take around 15 minutes any other attempts by me will arouse a chorus of her new favourite phrase "no muma!" although at least at nap time she doesn't wag her finger at me.

here are a few other bumblings of the little lady of late I thought I'd catch you all up on:

1. Potty Training.  Which, after 3 days at home with nothing on but her t-shirt, the little lady is making leaps and bounds at home with Muma.  She applauds herself after doing a nice big "wawee" and is still allowed the occasional chocolate button as reward after a successful poop! She has however realised that Muma will get her out of the car or out of the high chair if she says she needs a wee and then off she trots to her own devices...cheeky monkey.  One has wised up slightly now and the little lady has learnt the word for "wait!" which she says and signs in an accurate Mr. Tumble voice.

2. Rock collecting.  If you are not, dear reader, immersed in the world of In the Night Garden and you have a toddler- where have you been?  We went for a lovely albeit stony walk on Saturday during which the little lady wanted to do nothing but pick up stones and pebbles and give them to Makka Pakka.  She's very much taking the role seriously at home as we are in the final stages of renovating our garden and every evening Muma or Dadaaaa and certainly "Meeeee" go "out-out side" to collect in a yellow bucket the inordinate amount of stones on our soon to be lawn. "For Pakpak", "yes they're for Makka Pakka..." and onto the rubble pile they go when she's not looking!

3. Testing Muma's patience.  "No Muma" with the wagging finger was cute...at first.  But after the 37th time today it's wearing thin.  Sometimes I don't have to say anything! I looked at her the other day in a way which she clearly didn't not approve of and she shut her bedroom door on me and from behind it I heard "No Muma". I was about to explode when I realised it was an all to real picture of how I am guilty of treating God sometimes and so thinking upon God's character I decided to be kind and patient and just knock gently until she let me in.

4. Co-Co turn.  This is how she says her name.  EVERYTHING is Co-co's turn even when it's really not and this is how so many pairs of knickers end up with two legs in one hole, milk ends up on the kitchen floor and I end up with back brushed hair because it's Co-co's turn!  Somethings I'm just saying no to and risking a good scolding no.3 style!

Short and sweet people just a snap shot into our recent days.

365 no more...but the 176 challenge!

It finally happened people. . .

I finally missed out a photo. . .

I didn't even realise I'd done it. . .

Several weeks after the missed date I was happily scrolling back through my pictures and looking at the dates and I realised!  I'd finally had a day where I'd forgotten to take a photo and after closer inspection at least four days!

And I mean completely forgotten!  There have been some nights when I've been in bed for half an hour maybe even an hour and then I've remembered I haven't taken a photo to document my day and gotten out of bed, trudged downstairs and grabbed the camera desperately searching for something to photograph.

But not on January 9th apparently (the first of the missing pictures). Whatever happened that day my mind had no concern for taking a photo...at first I suspected that the Little Lady had got a bit too handsie!  She adores the camera; looking at pictures of Daddy and pictures of herself . . . although I don't think she realises it's her...I think she thinks "what's that other baby doing in my house and playing with all my toys...when did that happen Muma?"

But since realising it's actually been a real relief.  I haven't missed the pressure taking a photo every day caused, constantly thinking 'where's the camera, what can I take a picture of, is this a complete waste of time?'  I will also not miss having to upload them and label them all because it took AGES. . . mind you that's probably because I meant to upload every week not every eight weeks. . .

I am glad though because there are definitely some boring things that I've done, that I would have completely forgotten about had I not have taken a photo:

i.e the time the laundry monster came to stay

or when the Tesco bomb exploded in our Kitchen...once again

And there are some really great things that I'm pleased to have taken a picture of:

i.e the Little Lady with aging Great-Grandad

the one time my lounge didn't look like a rampant toddler lived there

It's lovely to see how much the Little Lady has grown over the last few months, her hair is longer for definite and if I compare the photo I took on her first birthday to the last one on January 8th I can't believe she used to sit like that...so little baby!

Even though I didn't make it all the way through I still enjoyed what I managed and who knows. . .I might find reason enough to try again in July. . .

I found a £20 note today!

Hooray! I found a £20 note today.  Don't you just love it when you find money...I found £10 in my front garden once too it was so exciting.

But this £20 already belonged to me.  

I went to a spa for the day on Saturday (I know, just thought I'd drop that one in) and so as to curtail any further expenditure I just shoved £20 in my bag and left my purse at home.  By the time I'd got to the spa...which was traumatic and included a twenty minute frustrating albeit scenic detour...no sign of the money! I was gutted and all I could think was that it had fallen out of my pocket and onto the pavement awaiting some stranger to snap it up without further thought to, me- the victim.

I searched my bag at least three times, my pockets at least five, hoping that on the final time it would have magically reappeared.  In the car park I got down on my hands and knees and looked under the car and I even had a poke around the shrubbery.  When I got home it was dark so looking around the drive was going to be futile.  I checked everywhere at home, under the shoe rack, in piles of paper work where it couldn't possibly have been, in the recycling just in case baby brain was really beginning to kick in...

Then this morning I pushed back the passenger seat in my car and ta-da! There was my £20 note.  I jumped up and down and waved my hands in the air which amused the little lady no end and several passers by too. Immediately I thought of the parable of the lost coin.  And felt a little guilty..."I don't do this song and dance about the gospel every day" I thought, "I'm never this excited when I'm reminded of how much I've been saved".  But then it occurred to me to read the parable.  Here it is:

"Suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn't she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together and says 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' In the same way I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents" Luke 15: 8-10

and I was relieved to realise that God reminded me of this parable in my almost identical situation to show me that the joy I experienced over finding my money is just a mere shadow of the joy that God had when he found me!

Not to make me feel guilty about how little I sometimes rejoice over him.  Although there's probably reason for a little guilt most days....

Despite that I went to work please that I'd found my money but even more pleased that God had graciously used the whole fiasco to remind me of how precious I am to him and how much joy my repentance has brought to him and his angels.

What a privilege.    

And then there were...four!

So it’s been very busy and I haven’t had a chance to catch up with you all recently.  We of the rabbit variety are very very busy over the festive period.  It is a little known fact that we are key elements of the STPT (Santa’s Toy Preparation Team) and work closely with his elves…well what did you think we did for the rest of the year!?  Easter only takes up about six weeks!  Any who, I've taken some time to recuperate only to find that my sister and I are no longer the “Little Lady’s favourite toy”.

This is an outrage.

We have been usurped by two other, and need I say, inferior toys. 

This is Jelly Cat:

And this is the aptly named Smedward (short for smelly Edward):

These two have usurped mine and Josie #2’s place in the sucking order.  We are the last ones needed for comfort and a good old night time chew.  We are devastated.  We have spent the last two weeks moping around, buried at the bottom of the toy box despite Mummy’s best efforts to get the Little Lady to play with us.  But then came a moment we had lost all hope of:

I must admit it felt like a beautiful moment of reconciliation and also a moment when I could see beyond mine and Josie #2's bright pink fur and look at the bigger picture.  We all must be friends, a team, a family willing to look after the Little Lady when she needs us.  It also means I don’t have to spend too much time lost under a pile of dirty washing or be hung up to dry by my ears…which is much more painful than you humans can appreciate.

Then we all received some wonderful news and we’re really looking forward to the opportunities and challenges it will present for our little furry family of four…

The Little Lady is expecting a baby brother or sister!!!!

So really it’s a good thing as our furry family has expanded because our human family is expanding and I’m sure our furry comforting skills will be needed more than ever by July 31st!

Pizza Thief!

So like many people over Christmas I over-indulged and so since then I have been on a mission to be a bit more careful with what I eat.  My new year’s resolution was not to add salt to my food either in cooking or as seasoning afterwards (apart from on chips because, let’s face it, they’re chips), so far so good.  I've also been trying to watch how much sugar I eat which, considering how many boxes of chocolates I got for my birthday and Christmas, hasn't been easy…

…plus I’m not helping my own cause as I baked flapjacks today. They are basically heart disease and tooth decay in cake form.  455 Calories per slice! But boy are they GOOOD.   They are still sitting on the cooling rack waiting, begging me to eat them…but I will resist as I have already had four jaffa cakes today and a hot chocolate, and yesterday I ate a whole packet of strawberry laces and hid the evidence down the side of the sofa.

I've also been in the habit of eating half a pizza. Well the hubby and I share a whole pizza it seems silly to leave a random slice especially as the husband doesn't like cold pizza and I’m forgetful and would inevitably find the slice buried at the back of my fridge weeks later so furry I’d have to consider naming it.

But I thought I’d be good tonight, so I saved my third slice with every intention of taking it for lunch tomorrow. I left it unattended in the kitchen and thought “there is no need to tell hubby not to eat it because he doesn't like cold pizza”.  Wrong. I return half an hour later to find a giant bite mark in my good intentioned work pizza.  How infuriating.  So I ate the rest in anger.

And I've just been and eaten a flapjack in anger too.

Considering the small insignificant pizza eating crime that had been committed against me I was dis-proportionally angry…it’s no surprise that the bible talks a lot about anger, especially when we are all prone, myself included, to become angry very quickly over the slightest of issues.  The bible describes God as slow to anger and I am so grateful that he is!  Mine and my husband’s transgressions against him are so much more significant than pizza stealing or angry flapjack eating and yet God is so patient with us.  I may not be a pizza stealer today but every day I am a glory stealer.  In my actions, thoughts and words more often than not I am seeking to rob God of the glory he deserves as my Lord and King and give it all to myself.  And yet every day God is waiting for me to see the folly in my actions and remember his mercy, steadfast love and faithfulness towards wretched pizza stealers and angry flapjack eaters let alone a glory stealer like me.

All that… from pizza…!? Sorry.

Proverbs 14:29

Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.

Psalm 86:15

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious; slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness

Wait a minute Mr. Postman!

So the little lady is in the bath eating the plug cord and sinking her toy boat when there's a knock at the door...hmmm...  I consider not answering it but the car's in the drive and all the lights are on and so of course it may appear rude not to when I am clearly at home.  I open the door hearing a multitude of splashes plop themselves onto the bathroom floor to find my next door neighbour standing there with a package he's clearly been given because we were not at home when the postman came. 

I thank Colin for kindly taking the package in and shut the door returning to the bathroom to find the lady waving my razor around without the safety guard on. The content of the package is expected, I have ordered a birthday banner for the lady because Vistaprint tempted me with their too good to be true freebies where you only have to pay for postage but have to spend hours figuring out what you're actually entitled to...anywho, what is baffling me is why on earth the postman left my package next door when I have a lovely shiny new sticker saying:

Our lovely Royal Mail have now decided as a matter of course to automatically leave undelivered post and packages with neighbours...you can however opt out.  Which I did indeed do for three reasons.

1. the neighbours to our left are a bit weird if I'm honest, they send their children round to borrow paracetamol and occasionally old newspapers and one time an electrical pump for blowing up inflatables (which we did in fact have but that's another story) I'm not sure I want them left in charge of my post.  Not feeling too worried about what they'd do with birthday banners but with other slightly more valuable things we on occasion order.  On occassion.

2.  I don't want our elderly neighbour to the right being bothered with our packages and having to bring them round, mostly because I'm embarrassed by our unseemly untidy front garden and its permanent rubble feature...

3.  I don't want anyone else to know how much stuff I buy (and how many "freebies" I've recently been buying off Vistaprint...), whom I have to see on a regular basis! 

so a few weeks ago I went online to the Royal Mail website ordered my sticker, of which you only get one by the way, to say "please return undelivered mail to sorting office".  It clearly instructs you to stick it in a place visible to the postman so I thought "I know.  Where's more visible than on the letter slot in my door?" But no.  Apparently this is too subtle.  The postman would have knocked on the door and stood there for a good minute until deciding we weren't at home, clearly he did not look at the sticker   He then probably  lifted the flap with the sticker on to see if the package would fit.  He then would have decided to leave it with Colin...

...What is the world coming to!

Having contemplated this frustrating incident  I realise that the lady is chewing on the shampoo bottle after being repeatedly asked not to.  

It appears that no-one listens to me!

Mummy's little pumpkin!

I have a confession to make.

I love Halloween!

I have always loved Halloween.  When I was little my mum surprised me one year with a trip to the American Airbase near our home.  She’d bought a plain black witches hat and decorated it herself with “Witch” written in gold glitter glue and a plethora of stars.  It was the best night and it’s one of my fondest childhood memories.  People stood at their doors with bowls full of ‘candy’ and we could just walk right up and take handfuls!  Houses were dressed to the nines with spiders webs, gravestones and skeletons which turned out to be people in costumes waiting to scare trick or treaters. 

When I became a Christian I was automatically lead to assume that Christians don’t celebrate Halloween.  Several Christians I knew would basically turn all the lights out and pray for the morning!  When I was a student we went on prayer walks praying against Halloween and I remember telling my non-christian friends that I wouldn't celebrate Halloween because it was a celebration of evil. 

But I always felt a little bit sad and what’s worse is that I always felt a bit guilty for feeling sad that I couldn't celebrate it.

Then last year after 6 years of not celebrating Halloween I read an article called “Why God loves Halloween”.  It blew my mind and I was so excited because I felt free and easy for the first time about celebrating Halloween.  I have since become even more convinced that Halloween is not a celebration of evil (although I guess some make it into that) but at its roots is a Christian Festival and a great opportunity to celebrate the ultimate and eternal victory Jesus has over evil by his life, death and resurrection.

Please follow this link to read the article for yourself, as I could never explain it so well.

http://peterdray.wordpress.com/2011/10/28/why-god-loves-halloween-part-1/

After reading it I concluded that the little lady and I are free to have fun and dress up, poking fun at evil and demonstrating in our boldness our firm belief that the devil and evil have no power anymore because of Christ!

So here we are:

Look what I did...

I'm more interested in eating the crayons quite frankly

Can I have some Mum?

Two sparkly witches...that's my original hat by the way
it's now  16 years old!

Hurry up I can't wait all night

Of course some Christians choose not to celebrate it and that's fine, we are all free in Christ and Romans 14 tells us that we must each make up our own minds according to our conscience.  But as for me and my family we're gonna dec the halls with pumpkins literally till kingdom come!  This year we gave out balloons and sweets and little leaflets all about how Jesus is King over darkness and the victor over evil.  I'm glad I chose to open the door because I gave out 35 leaflets, 48 balloons and many many sweets to around 75 trick or treaters.  All I've got to do now is pray that the leaflets get read...

...oh and try to to eat all the left overs!

Simon says...sort of!

Recently the little lady has taken to copying Mummy.  She likes to brush her hair and hold the hair drier just like Mummy, she likes to drink tea out of Mummy’s cup (yes of course my child had to be an early tea lover whether she wanted to or not!), she likes to sit on the grown up toilet, wipe with a piece of toilet tissue  and press the flush, she tries to put on Mummy’s watch…admittedly around her neck but I think she gets the general idea.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS PICTURE...WHAT AN EPIC FIND!

A couple of mornings ago she saw me cleansing and toning my face with nivea cream and cotton wool and she would not be placated until she had her own piece of cotton wool, with which she proceeded to scrub her face!  All of a sudden I really comprehended the overwhelming responsibility to be genuinely Christ-like around her.  Of course, I am called to be like Christ all the time, but I've never had another person so excited about copying my every move!

The baby lady is going to learn behavioral patterns, values and world views from me…and she’s going to imitate them, consciously and not so consciously…all the more reason to strive to be like Jesus and to live a life full of grace!  Not only does my faith affect me and my relationship with God but it’s going to have a massive impact on what the lady thinks about God and how she chooses to respond to him.

Ephesians 5:1 Says “be imitators of Christ”.  I’m now beginning to feel that my quiet times are ever more important!  How can I be like Christ and show him to the lady if I don’t get to know him or spend time with him? I know I need to be reading my bible and deepening my relationship with him through prayer and worship more than ever.  Put VERY simply being a good imitator of Jesus is like playing Simon says with God…God says “love your neighbour”, God says “pray for your enemies” etc! I must listen very carefully and show the lady what to do and how to do it. (there are several pit falls in the illustration but you have to admit it’s quite humorous)

I have been thinking over the word “burden” in my head as I've been writing this.  I know that being Christ-like and being a good witness and example to the little lady should not be a burden…I think I feel that way because being me (which always means being sinful) is just easier...

… I've literally just looked up the word ‘burden’ in Mr. Thesaurus and the word ‘yoke’ has come up as a synonym…which brought to mind this verse:

“my yoke is easy and my burden is light” Matthew 11:30

Why should being an imitator of Christ be easy compared to the alternative of just being me?

Because following Jesus offers me ultimate and eternal rest (vs 28- eternal rest was also the topic of our sermon on Sunday…hmmmm). Hard work now, yeah, maybe, but I can rest later…right now I need to work hard and focus on being the best imitator of Jesus, for his name’s sake, for my sake and for the lady’s.

Being me and being sinful is easier but it will never lead me or the lady into that eternal rest.  

My sister's in the post!

When the Lady was 6 months old (before I came into the family) she just suddenly stopped sucking on her dummy and started to chew on a soft toy for comfort. She went around victimizing a furry foot or hand or in my case, an ear!  Toys that were once beautiful fluffy and pink are now matted and browned forever but they are at least loved…there is nothing that toys fear most than being unloved.  

And that was my fear…as I made my way from the factory I wondered who would own me and give me hugs and take me on outings.  I had no idea that although I would spend 99% of my life feeling a bit soggy and smelling a bit sweet I would be loved beyond a shadow of a doubt.  That I would be taken on day trips to the beach, to dinner at Wagamamas and to picnics in the park.  I had no idea that I would meet so many members of my extended family: Grannies, Uncles and Cousins once removed!

My first picnic in the park

My first trip to the beach

My first hug with Nana

My first wedding and hugs with my Grandpa and Uncle

Mummy and Daddy have worked very hard to ensure that the Lady doesn’t have an all time favourite toy that she cannot live without but they have failed!  And I’m pleased to boast that I’m the favourite! 

In fact they’ve failed so much so that Mummy and Daddy have asked the factory to send one of my many identical sisters to come and help me look after the Lady. Hooray!  I can't wait to meet her.

Although we may have to give her a new name....

A little book review or two!

So I grew up in a non-christian family.  Up until I was 17 I had been in a Church about five times, once for a family funeral, once for Remembrance Day as a Girl Guide and three times during my short lived career as a choir girl!  I could have told you the general gist of what happen to Jesus and I could have told you a “Christian” point of view on abortion or euthanasia as taught to me in Religious Studies.  But I had no idea of the wealth of stories that lies within the pages of the Bible.  Last week I felt really prompted to read the book of Esther.  I’ve read it before but this time I really read it…and I couldn’t put it down, it’s like an olden day Eastenders! There are parties where everyone gets drunk, there’s sex and affairs, people going around telling lies behind each others’ backs, murder and betrayal, to name just a few of the exciting storylines that so beautifully adorn our TV screens these days and the book of Esther!  

Anyway my point is this: If only I had known earlier in life that the Bible wasn’t boring!  It’s full of everyday heroes, heroines and villains, successes and failures, life and death…but not in a Robin Hood or a Batman kind of way.  As a Christian I grieve for my non-christian up-bringing! I could have hidden under my duvet and had adventures with Jonah in the belly of the Whale, I could have put on my mum’s clothes and makeup and paraded around as Queen Esther and I would have loved to gather two of every soft toy and make an ark under the dining table!  But childhood games aside what I really missed out on was learning from all these people and their real life stories that Jesus is Lord of everything.

So what this blog is really about is recommending a couple of children’s books.  There are two in particular which I think have hit the theological nail on the head and retell the stories of the Bible not only in an adventurous manner to capture our little one’s imaginations but also pull out the strands of God that  run through every story.

The first is “The Jesus Story Book Bible” not only is it beautifully illustrated but I can honestly say that I learnt a lot from reading it. It has brought me to tears because the author allows God’s face to shine so brightly in every story and it has made me so thankful to have a living relationship with Jesus that my jaw aches through smiling so much.  It is a book that I know will faithfully teach my baby girl time and again that  God and Jesus work in all kinds of situations and that they promise to work in ours.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Jesus-Storybook-Bible-Whispers/dp/0310708257/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1334867901&sr=8-2

The second is “Stories Jesus Told”.  This book is great because it demonstrates that Jesus’ stories aren’t designed to teach us to follow the rules in order to get into heaven but to trust in God’s gracious provision of Jesus himself as the only way.  Each story ends by telling us a truth about God and about ourselves found in the story and leaves it open for us to respond to God’s grace.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stories-Jesus-Told-Favorite-Bible/dp/1859855881/ref=pd_sim_b_2

Both books are unique in that they do more than regular children’s bible story books.  They begin by assuming that a child can understand that they are a sinner in need of rescue. Both books set out to take children on a journey which can help them to respond to God who offers forgiveness and freedom from sin and its guilt and shame.  They are refreshing and imaginative and dare to go beyond the face of the story and delve into its everyday application for children.

To feel guilty or not...that is the question!

The past week has been interesting.  It was my first week back at work!  A part of me would like to say that I wandered the corridors moping for my baby girl, that I spent every minute of my working day thinking about what she was doing and every half hour I had to sneak into the locker room to draw strength from the pile of photos of her I had stashed away in my hand bag...however... I did none of those things and I will admit that I actually forgot about the little lady for several hours at a time. Shock, horror! 

 

I guess my main worry as I have anticipate my return to work is that I would feel uber guilty, that I would feel less of a mum for not being with my baby every day, that I would in fact become a part time mum!  

But what I have found in my few days back at work is that I feel like a more rounded person.  I am more than the title “mother” allows me, don’t get me wrong it gives me  great joy to be a mother and I know how privileged I am to be one, but when I am at work I find I am just Holly.  I am me in the singular! And I can be myself without constant regard for the little lady and I must confess that I find it re-energising...I come home physically tired but mentally re-energised, ready for playing and reading stories, making dinners, doing laundry and breaking up baby vs cat round 5 with new enthusiasm.   

For a few hours each week I get to put my mind to other tasks and be with other people and make an impact in other people's lives outside of those in my immediate family.  For me personally I have realised this is essential and even though I cried for many a night before returning to work I realise now it was because I wasn’t prepared to deal with NOT feeling guilty! I was crying because I was feeling guilty about the possibility that I might not feel guilty for returning to work... I hope you're still following my logic.

So far I have looked forward to my days at work almost as equally as I have looked forward to those spent at home with my baby girly...

...almost.