Monday 30 April 2012

Resolution 16: Gossip...

16. Resolved, never to speak evil of anyone, so that it shall tend to his dishonour, more or less, upon no account except for some real good.

Our culture hails gossip. We have countless magazines devoted to it, television programmes that revolve around it, and even an american sitcom "Gossip girl" which takes its title from it. And let's be honest... we all love a bit of gossip, don't we? We love to be in on the secrets, we love to be the first to know, we love the sense of power it gives us; knowing something that no-one else does. We love the feeling of superiority it gives us, reveling in someone else's failure, because it makes us feel better about ourselves. If we're honest, its ugly. And it reveals the ugliest sides of our character...

I know I succumb to it on countless occasions... in the staff room, when out for coffee with friends, in the comfort of my own home and even, dare I admit it, in the "prayer requests" we so often share... 

"Can I ask you to pray for... ? They are really struggling in this way at the moment..." 

Am I genuinely seeking prayer for that person? Or sometimes, is there an ugly little voice inside me that wants to show off my knowledge, and make me feel better about myself?! How sick is that?!

I know my own heart is capable of so much evil. That even, at times, when I'm strong enough (with Christ's help) to refrain from entering in to 'that conversation', I secretly delight in hearing the gossip and hoarding it away to boost my own pride. Horrible, horrible, horrible...

What scares me now, as a mother, is knowing that my little girl is growing up in a culture that celebrates gossip. She will, I am sure, at some point succumb to the urge to gossip, and likewise, I have no doubt that she will also be the subject of gossip at some point in her little life. I hate that thought. Everything within me wants to shout out "Don't talk about my little girl like that!"

Like probably every other parent on the planet, I want so much for my little girl to be different. I want her to be kind, and thoughtful, I want her to be strong and secure in herself. Ultimately, though, I know these are things I can try and teach her, but I will fail. Lovely as my daughter is, she is a sinner and won't be able to overcome these temptations and pressures in her own strength. She will need the Holy Spirit to help her.

I pray daily for my little girl, that she will come to faith in Christ while she is young. And I pray she'll be like him, that those around her "will be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say" about her (Titus 2:8)

I think, though, that sometimes we can use the prayer card to shirk our responsibilities as parents. I can't change my daughter's heart, only God can do that, but I have been given a God-given responsibility to raise her in a way that brings glory to him. I think back on my childhood, and do you know what? I can't think of a time I ever heard my parents bad-mouthing someone in front of me. That's not to say they didn't (they are sinners and I'm sure would admit they do at times!) but I never heard it. They were careful with their words in front of us as children, and so it wasn't something they did, but rather something they didn't do that impacted us in such a huge way. 

As a Mama, I know I need to commit this area of gossip to the Lord for my own heart, but also for my daughter's and do everything in my power to teach her to say "only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen" (Ephesians 4:29)

Will you join me in attempting to be counter-cultural???

Friday 27 April 2012

Pin of the week...

Bank holiday next weekend, which I imagine means a few of us will be doing some visiting... family... friends... so I thought I'd gather together some homemade gift ideas that are quick, easy and will be muchly appreciated by your host or hostess!

I'm posting them this week so we have a whole week to get crafting! All you have to do is click on the link below the pic for the how-to...




Homemade notebooks



Happy crafting!
x-x-x

Thursday 26 April 2012

Because of Your love...

Loving this song at the moment. I've been reflecting a lot on the words over the last few days and it's such a great reminder of the fact that we bring nothing to our salvation. Jesus has done it all - because of his love!


I pray it will be as much of a blessing to you as it has been to me.

Cx

Wednesday 25 April 2012

Our little explorer...

One of the things I'm really loving at the moment, is watching Ava play. Everything is so exciting... who knew that labels, zips and plastic cups could keep a child amused for so long? I love watching her little hands exploring everything, taking in every edge, every texture, every scent. And of course EVERYTHING goes in the mouth!

I find it fascinating to see her taking it all in, and often I wonder... what is going through that little head of hers? I can't remember the first time I saw bubbles, or heard a dog bark, or watched the washing machine go round... She's fascinated by faces, and will reach up to grab ears, noses, mouths (a habit we're trying to UN-teach her at the moment!) The world is so interesting, intriguing, exciting and she is loving every minute of exploring it!

So here's some pics of our little explorer this past week...





Tuesday 24 April 2012

Learning from the little ones...

I will never forget an experience I had when I was living in Austria six years ago. I was working in a Kindergarten, and I used to sit in the "cosy corner" with the children and read them stories. Five or six of them would pile in for storytime and we'd work our way through book after book after book. One day, one of the little girls, who was 6 at the time, picked the Easter story. I think it had been on display because it was that time of year...

I opened up the familiar story and began to read. I only stopped when I got to the part about Jesus dying and I heard a little gasp beside me. I looked down, and Raphaela had tears in her eyes. She was all welled up and in broken english said "but that happens not! Jesus die not!" For her little mind, the main character in a story always wins... is always OK in the end. Good always overcomes evil. I looked down at Raphaela and realised, with a sinking heart, that what had caused such a reaction in a child had become over-familar and inneffective in my own heart. But the best was yet to come. I turned the page and read about Jesus rising from the dead. I'm not joking when I say the joy on her little face is a picture I will not forget for as long as I live...

Every day, when we read Ava her Bible, she has a little look of excitement on her face. She is too young to realise that this book is special... and yet she reacts to it totally differently to any other book we read her. With all other books, she will reach for them and put them straight into her mouth, and if you won't let her, she'll get frustrated and throw a hissy fit... but not the Bible... when we read her her Bible, she just gets so excited! It's lovely to watch. I just pray that excitement and wonder will continue as she grows...



Jesus says; "whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:4, The Bible)

I think we have a lot to learn from these little ones...



Monday 23 April 2012

Resolution 15: Anger...

15. Resolved, never to suffer the least motions of anger towards irrational beings

We all get angry at the irrational at times... the kerb you kick because you just tripped over it, the phone you throw down because its talking too long to load something, that necklace that lies in a tangled mess on your bedside table, the clouds that seem to be gathering outside and scuppering your plans.

But we don't just get angry at inanimate objects, but other irrational beings too... the dog who follows its natural instinct for food and heads straight for the dishwasher every time you pack it (!!), the foxes who head for your bins. We get so frustrated and angry with them, yet all they are really doing is following nature's instinct. They are irrational.

Grady Davidson puts it like this...

I believe the thought that has captured Edwards' imagination is that God would never be angry with (for example) a stray hound, for behaving with the begging instincts of a stray hound. The mutt may be a nuisance to Man, but there is nothing immoral or ungodly in the dog's behavior as he struggles with the rest of nature to survive. Only mankind, created in the Image of God in knowledge, righteousness and holiness, has the capacity to trample upon God's holiness through sin -- and to rightly draw God's wrath. Whenever Man's anger is directed toward irrational beings, Man is no longer behaving as a Godly image-bearer (and is no longer behaving as God's noble Vice-Regent over the created order). 

These reflections guide us quite naturally to the Cross, where God's wrath and God's love are poured out infinitely--his wrath upon Sin, received by the Sin-Bearer, Jesus Christ; and his infinite love for sinners whom Jesus came to save.

This week, if we're going to be angry, let us be angry over something that matters--namely, sin and rebellion against our Loving and Holy God. And may our awareness of sin drive us each personally back to our knees--the only fitting position for sinful grace-beggars in the presence of a God who is angry with sin.

So let's not take our anger out today on things, or animals, or rain-clouds that can't help it, but instead only anger at what counts - our rebellion against our maker.

Friday 20 April 2012

Mama's little helper...

Yesterday morning we had a "round the house" morning... y'know, the cleaning bathroom/loads of washing kind of morning! When I've had a busy week, I love a day at home with my girly, just doing the everyday mundane stuff. While I was doing it all, I was listening to Kevin DeYoung's talk from the recent T4G conference in the USA (Together for the Gospel) called "Spirit-powered, Gospel-driven, faith-fueled effort"... really good stuff and well worth a listen.

I had an eager little helper too!




OK... yes I had clean washing all over the floor afterwards (at least it was hoovered yesterday!) but that little cute face feeling so proud of herself was worth it!!!

Happy weekend everyone!
xxx

Thursday 19 April 2012

Bathroom Reveal Part Two...

After much to-ing and fro-ing to B and Q/Matalan/Homebase, the bathroom is now completed! Woohoo! So pleased with the final product! And all the more enjoyable when you know you've got some bargains along the way!

Looking in!

Two cheeky monkeys! 
Loving my Matalan mirror! 
New toilet seat - finally rid of that horrible orange thing... and look - no
cleaning products in sight...
... they are all hidden away in here - away from little hands!

Pretty things

If only...

The other side
It's a bit of a momentous occasion actually... the bathroom was the only room that remained untouched when we moved in two years ago. OK, its not been properly re-done, but it looks a whole lot better than it did!

Next project... the dining room chairs... yuck! Might give myself a couple of weeks before I tackle that one. Think I'm going to have a bit of a break... got a bit of housework to catch up on!!


Wednesday 18 April 2012

Beauty in the monotonous...

Ruth is a friend of mine who blogs over at One Little Drop. She wrote this this week and I think its beautiful, and so very true... sometimes life as a housewife seems mundane, monotonous, repetative... but then I stop, and see the beauty in it... Ruth has captured that, so I wanted to share it with you all...

http://onelittledrop.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/on-housewives-birds-and-life.html

Enjoy



Tuesday 17 April 2012

Bathroom Reveal Part One...

So, the moment of truth... the bathroom has had a complete makeover and looks A BILLION times better! I was bargain hunting left, right and centre and had a lot of fun trying to make a small amount of money stretch a looooooong way. Mission accomplished... although I did go £10 over budget! Oops. Still... it was well worth every penny!!!

Before:
Seriously scabby bath panel 
After...

I am the HUGEST fan of tongue and groove... it's just SO pretty... and the new flooring is 100x better! The
bath panel was our most expensive buy by a long way at £47. I don't regret a single penny of it though!

Before:

Useless shower holder that was designed for small children... we didn't fit under
it (and I'm not exactly tall!) 

After:
I knew I wanted to get a shower rail that we could slide up
and down... good old B and Q purchase again at £16.99... and we finally have a blind!


Before:
Blindless...
After:

So chuffed with the blind... I think it was my fave buy! It cost me the grand total of £5... BARGAIN!
Tomorrow I'll show you the other side... The only thing still unfinished is the toilet seat... the beautiful orange one still remains! But I have a new one to pick up at the weekend! Then it will all be complete...

I am SO pleased :D

Monday 16 April 2012

Resolution 14: Revenge...

14: Resolved, never to do anything out of revenge.

Revenge. Its a word I associate with Shakespeare and thriller movies and shocking newspaper stories... not one I tend to think of as something I come across in my own life. We think of revenge on the BIG scale... the horror court cases, the gang crime...

But revenge on the small scale is just as poisonous... that bad word that was said about you... the person that put you down... the individual who hurt you in some way. Our instinct is revenge... its subtle. It's looking for the opportunity to make that other person look small, or the opportunity to try and make them jealous, or outdo them in some way. It may not seem a big deal, but it is revenge, and the big stuff that we see on the News surely started with the subtle little stuff we do daily in our own thought processes...

The Bible teaches that "vengeance", or revenge, is down to God. Only he can act to repay evil and injustice in a pure and just way. Our motivations are always tainted and flawed - his are not. He will call the injustice done in this world to account... the big stuff and the small. I am to seek justice for those around me, but I am to trust my heavenly Father when it comes to revenge...

Instead, we are to take Jesus as our example... he didn't seek revenge from those who took his life... who nailed him to that cross. Instead he offered them his free gift of life in all its fulness.

Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

Friday 13 April 2012

Budget Bathroom Makeover: Laying the flooring

On Wednesday night I tackled the next phase of my Budget Bathroom Makeover! Putting new flooring down can TOTALLY change the feel of the room. Lino/Vinyl is ideal for bathrooms - its hard-wearing, easy to clean and waterproof AND, even better, you can get it on the roll pretty cheap and its easy to lay. I picked up a roll straight off the shelf from B&Q for less than £35... not bad, eh?

My plan was to get the BIG stuff done before Dave returned from Berlin and surprise him, so I wanted the flooring down and the new bath panel up by then. Mission accomplished! Dave returned late last night and was amazed by how much BIGGER the room feels with the new additions. I'll blog updated photos with bath panel and the final reveal next week.

Anyway... back to our flooring adventure! My bro came round to help me out and we tackled the whole thing with a roll of vinyl, a pair of scissors, a stanley knife and some double-sided vinyl tape. 2 and a half hours of solid labour, interrupted only by the arrival of my mammoth Tesco shop (which I had COMPLETELY forgotten about!) and the bathroom looked like a new room! I'm SO SO chuffed with it! Our bathroom is opposite Ava's bedroom... so the whole operation was conducted in whispers and behind closed doors which just made the whole project more interesting!

I thought you'd appreciate a picture of my brother toilet-hugging! (This was the fun stage... carefully cutting round the sink and toilet, pipes and all!)


 And then the moment of glory; "Mission accomplished"!



Phew!
Have a great weekend everyone!

Thursday 12 April 2012

Budget Bathroom Makeover: Demolition phase!

"Really not convinced by this new look, Mama..." 

"And that bath is disGUSTing!"


Although the tiles are pretty funky!

Revamped bathroom reveal to follow...!

Wednesday 11 April 2012

A productive evening...

I am feeling a bit like Kevin McAllister at the moment... I'm home alone (well, not entirely alone as Ava's here too!) but Dave has hit Berlin for a stag do, so I'm trying to be super-efficient while he's away so we can spend lots of time with him upon his return!!! I set myself a BIG to-do list last night. Almost unachievable, but I just about managed to get everything done before rolling into bed at midnight! I had actually achieved everything by 11.30pm, but then I stopped and looked around and realised that my husband wasn't here... the place was a tip! It reminded me again how much he literally walks around clearing up my mess... oops...

Project Bathroom Makeover begins today with a vengeance!
I measured everything up last night and scoured the internet for the best deals!

Did a load of washing

Did my Tesco shop online... I shop for a month at a time
so it dents the old bank account at the start of the month! 
I had to have a movie on in the background... I love this film... Frank is my fave -
don't you just LOVE him?! I was chuckling away to myself at his "woddeeng kek". Genius.
So that was my thrilling and exciting evening. I'll update you on my success/failure (hopefully the former!) with Project Bathroom Makeover tomorrow!
Cx

Tuesday 10 April 2012

Homemade Easter Baskets...

Well, here's the promised tutorial on the Easter baskets. I actually nicked the template from a craft we did at the mother and toddler group I go to, but it was very easy to put together.


You need:
* Nice card
* Scissors
* Pretty Paper
* Double sided sticky tape/glue
* Lace


I took a nice piece of A4 card and managed to get two boxes out of each piece of card. I laid the card down landscape and cut an inch strip from along the bottom to make the basket handles. I then cut the remaining large piece of card (still landscape) in half. The drawing opposite shows the template I drew onto one of the halves of the larger piece of card.

One my templates were drawn, I cut down the blue lines to create the basket net, and, using my scissors to score the card, folded along the sides before glueing the flaps to the inside of the basket (As shown below).

I actually used double sided sticky tape rather than glue because
a) it's less messy
b) it sticks better and isn't likely to fall apart once I fill my basket!

I then used the long strip I'd cut off at the start and cut it in half to make 2 handles. I double-sided sticky-taped them to the inside of the basket as well, and then put one long strip of sticky tape from the side of the basket, over the handle to the other side, as shown below...


I then peeled off the protective paper and stuck a cute bit of lace ribbon on to make them look pretty.
I also cut a rabbit shape out of complimenting paper and stuck that on the side, just so it was clear they were Easter baskets!


I then filled them up with goodies!
I did buy Cadbury's cream eggs, but they didn't really match my colour scheme, so I wrapped 'em in plain aluminium foil and put some pretty stickers on the front...


Voila... of course, these could be used for anything really... wedding favours, party bags, birthday gifts. Just customise the decorations to match the purpose!

Happy crafting!