Roots for the Journey... and Giveaway!!!

I have been so excited about writing this post!

A few weeks ago, I was approached by american children's artist Yancy to help her promote her latest album in the UK. A few days ago, her album arrived on our doorstep and we opened it with great excitement...

Yancy has a heart for teaching big truths to small children. She had the idea to write some lullabies for her son that taught truths straight from scripture. The songs touch on themes like God as creator, God as Ruler, God as our Refuge, Jesus as Saviour, joy, sin and our need for mercy and much more...

The songs are all chilled and quite acoustic in style, "stripped back" and unplugged. Ava sat and listened mesmerised to them while she ate her lunch and danced along with some of them too. Many of the lyrics are straight from the Bible, so they're good for Scripture memorization (something I am terrible at!)

One of THE most exciting things about Yancy's album though, is the app she has produced alongside it. With some experienced children's workers to help her, the app takes each song and provides a bible reading, short and child friendly devotional with questions to discuss, an activity to do and a prayer. While my girls are still a little too young to appreciate this, it is definitely something we will try probably when Ava turns 2. Alongside the devotionals, are some really helpful, and practical, articles on christian parenting (very timely in the light of last Sunday!)

What is great, is that this is an album and an app for the whole family. Heidi is already listening to the music... never too young to soak in Gospel truth!!! And I too have found real value in letting the words soak in as I go about my day at home. The CD can be bought through Yancy's website here and the app is free to download (and also has all the music on it) if you search it on any tablet or phone.

Now for the exciting bit for you guys, Yancy has kindly offered one free copy of her CD to give away to one of you, my lovely readers! How exciting! Perhaps you are a family who would really benefit from some great Gospel-centred devotional material, perhaps you have a grandchild, nephew, niece, godchild or family friend who you could give it to... all you need to do is comment in the comments section below and I will randomly pick one lucky winner next Friday! The giveaway closes next Thursday at midnight!

So why not check out Yancy's website and, in the meantime, don't forget to download the free app "Roots for the Journey"... why not go have a look-see?!

Disclosure: I have not been paid to write this review. All opinions are my own. We did, however, receive "Roots for the Journey" CD free of charge.

Introducing Get Good Summer 2013

The time has come... it's the launch of "Get Good Summer 2013" All will be revealed in this post as we head towards the summer months...

I don't know about you, but I find the summer can be a bit of a no-mans land. I often look back and think "what have I actually done this summer??" Too often it is filled with lazy days where absolutely nothing is achieved. Don't get me wrong, relaxation is vital but do we have any purpose to the way we often use those golden summer days? Get Good Summer is all about changing that.. it was started two years by two friends of ours, Matt and Bruno, who decided that Summer 2011 was going to have a bit more significance for them...

Last year, I was lucky enough to have "Get Good Summer" introduced to us by the man behind the idea!

Matt, what is Get Good Summer?
Get Good Summer is an attempt to overcome mediocrity by living a more focussed life. The concept is very simple - create a list of five goals that you want to achieve by 1st September 2013, and go about achieving them with the help of other GGS members. 

So what's the idea behind it?
There are things we want to do in life, but which we sometimes lack the discipline and self-control to make happen... Get Good Summer is merely an attempt to remove some of the distractions and focus on achieving them!

Why should readers get involved?
Because you want to. It doesn't work otherwise!

OK, I'm convinced!! I want to make sure this summer I'm productive and achieve some goals! What do I need to do?
Write down a list of specific, but varied, goals... aspirations in fields as diverse as physical conditioning, cuisine, memorisation, sporting prowess, cultural awareness, financial management, retail aspirations and music are just some of the ways people want to get good this summer!

So here's the challenge... I'm going for five goals this summer and I'm going to announce them on Monday. The aim is to achieve each of these goals by September 1st (oh help!!!)... why don't you join in the action? We're launching this Monday, and the idea is you share your 5 goals in the linky party and then we can help each other have a productive summer this year! I'd love to know what goals you are setting yourself!

So get your thinking caps on this weekend... what would you like to achieve? The possibilities are endless! Plant a herb garden? Learn a language? Have a go at a new Sport? Make something? Reach a goal weight? Read a particular book? Become a bit more adventurous with your cooking? (One friend of ours vowed to try a new meal from a different culture very week!), get outdoors every day? Earn some money? The list could go on and on... On Monday, you'll have the opportunity to share your 5 goals in the linky, or in the comments section, and we can stop back every week to see how we're getting on!

You can check out my last year's goals here...

However, my plans went to pot when this happened...

So this year, I'm more determined than ever!

Let's Get Good this summer!

Strawberry picking!

We have had a lovely week with Bestemor... on Monday we headed, with some friends, to our local pick-your-own farm and picked some strawberries.

Armed with their little punnets, the children merrily stuffed their faces while we filled the punnets for them, the strawberries disappearing into their mouths almost as quickly as they were being picked!

Emilie provided a warm up session before the picking began...

And then it was down to business...

lots of strawberries were consumed...

Some looked on... and some slept...

While some enjoyed cuddles with Mama...

The occasional strop was thrown part way through...

But all in all, fun was had by all.

A lovely way to spend the morning; the great outdoors, good friends, a cup of tea. and slice of cake, fresh air and juicy, red strawberries.

YUM.

Pop back tomorrow to find out more about this...



and today, I'm hooking up with

Heidi's Dedication...

This day was always going to be special. Only 6 weeks ago, our gorgeous girly was attacked by the horrendous Kawasaki disease. The ordeal that ensued was horrific... 2 weeks of the unknown - no diagnosis, followed by treatment for Kawasaki, followed by the awful discovery on that Wednesday. Our baby girl's heart, more specifically her coronary arteries, which were once smooth and free flowing, are now covered in aneurysms. At present, they are, in some places, just over twice the size they should be.

It has been a heart-wrenching journey; a rollercoaster ride - moments of elation at good news quickly curbed by disappointments and more bad news. I would not wish this on my worst enemy. Still now, when I look down at our baby girl, there is a distant ache and that small voice which whispers "Why her...?"

And yet, through it all, our God has been so faithful. He has comforted us in the deepest pits, has drawn near in the moments of heartache. He knows what it is to lose a child. He's been there.

And we haven't lost her.

She's a little fighter, and in his goodness and mercy, God has spared our little girl's life and protected her when she was in the gravest danger a couple of weeks ago. We are so grateful.

And so, Sunday was twofold in purpose. We wanted to thank God for the gift of Heidi... that gift of life made all the more poignant by the near loss a few weeks ago... (but oh! It feels like a lifetime ago!) She is so very precious to us, and I can honestly say I cherish every day more as a result of this trial. I can rest assured that God is good and holds us in his almighty hands.

As well as being thankful, we wanted to commit ourselves to godly parenting. We made some promises... promises to do all we could to model Christ to her, to make the gospel attractive, to bring her up in a way that brings glory and honour to God. As I said here, the decision to become a christian is hers to make. It is not anything we can, or would, force upon her.

It was a beautiful day, and we had a great turnout... friends from our schooldays, colleagues, the NCT gang, church friends, family and people who have cared for us, loved us and supported us through this whole experience. We had a indoor picnic afterwards, and it was wonderful to have our amazing network of family and friends gathered around us...

Everyone brought a picnic, and we provided hot drinks and ice-cold cloudy lemonade...

and these little girls had a whale of a time...!

 We headed back, afterwards, to my parents for Spag Bol with the family, before my lovely mother-in-law babysat for the girls in the evening so we could go to the evening service together.

God is good and faithful. And you, our friends and family, are truly wonderful.

Thank you for loving us so well.

We are truly blessed.

Schoolboy error...

It's official.

I am a muppet.

I have just sat down to write this lovely post about our wonderful dedication day and show you all the beautiful pictures of what we got up to. It is nearly midnight as I write this (don't ask!) and I've just plugged my camera in to upload all my photos to discover an SD card full of pictures of Alaska.

I've brought the wrong camera home.

Grrr...

My camera, with all the lovely photos of today, is sitting nicely perched at my parents house, while my Dad's camera is uploading all these very lovely, but really rather irrelevant, pictures of Alaska to my laptop.

Schoolboy error.

I have sat here and considered my options...
1) I simply don't post about the dedication at all
2) I drive round to my parents (who are probably in bed), sneak in their front door (I have a key) and switch the cameras. Good idea. But I may find myself knocked over the head by a cricket bat if they think they're being burgled...
3) Post a couple of  the pictures they took and give you the real deal tomorrow instead.

So I'm opting for option three, which means you'll just have to wait til tomorrow to get the lowdown on this fun...

A big weekend...

This weekend we are finally going to be able to do what we were meant to be doing 3 weeks ago. We will be dedicating ourselves to the task of parenting our little Heidi in a way which points her to Jesus.

We cannot make our little girl a christian. That is a decision only she can make when she is older. Her dedication is not us making her a christian or giving her any such label... we want Heidi to be able to make her mind up by herself, in her own time, because that's what she wants to do... not because of any pressure we've put her under, or her feeling its what is expected of her.

We want our little girl to love Jesus because she knows him for herself.

And so we undertake the great task of showing her Jesus. Of introducing her to the Saviour. Of teaching her the concepts of sin and grace and forgiveness and the joy and peace that only he can give.

This weekend, lots of our friends and family will gather together as we commit ourselves to that task... and they, too, will promise to support us. It's a big task; one that we know we will fail at.. countless times. And Heidi will know that better than anyone! But we know God is good, and gracious and forgiving and will give us the strength and grace we need to bring our little girl up in a way that brings glory to God and brings her good.

After the service, we're having a picnic... everyone gathered together to celebrate the arrival of our little girl, and God's faithfulness to us in protecting and keeping her this past month through her battle with Kawasaki disease and consequent heart condition. We can't wait to have all our friends and family gathered together. This little girl is so very loved.

If you want to understand more about what it is we are doing, I wrote a more detailed post when we had Ava dedicated last year which you can read here.

So many of you readers have gone through this horrendous journey with us - you've cared for us, loved us and supported us, and I wish we could have you all to celebrate with us; but I will be posting lots of pictures come Monday!

Right... I'm off to plan a picnic!

Sharing a room!

We took a big step last night.

Our two girls shared a room for the first time.

Eek!

I was preparing myself for disaster. Ava was already in bed when I put Heidi in her Moses basket. She was drowsy from her milk, and asleep within seconds... Not the fun and games sleepover her big sister had been planning.

Cries of "Wach auf, Heidi!" ensued (Wake up Heidi!), but baby sister did not comply. She slept soundly, and deeply, throughout big sisters desperate attempts to wake her up; shouting, singing and chattering, until eventually big sister gave up and fell asleep herself...

 

                                    

Good thing Heidi's inherited her Father's ability to sleep through ANYTHING!

Bestemor is here!

We will have a very excited one year old this morning... when she wakes up, she will discover her Bestemor is back from Norway. I imagine there'll be a fair bit of screeching and squealing... on both sides!

One of my FAVOURITE things that Magni has passed on to me is her Norwegian Apple Cake... (the other is the Norwegian waffles we made for Father's Day). Ava and I love to whip up an apple cake now and again... it is yum and it is SO easy. It's one of those recipes you can pretty much always throw together, even if you weren't planning on baking - there are no weird or wonderful ingredients!

In the nightmare of the last month, while we were in hospital with Heidi, we had a lovely surprise. It was a little glimmer of sunshine in the midst of some very dark days. House of Smith's, which is a huge US home decor blog, posted Magni's very own Norwegian Apple Cake recipe, after I had sent it in as part of a competition.

You can read the full post here, and if you fancy trying your hand at it... Cason and Shelley have posted the whole recipe and a step by step guide on how to make it (they used my instructions and recipe and had a go themselves)

In the meantime, here's some pics of my lovely big girl making it herself!

Mixing it up!

Ready for the oven!

Taste test!

YUM!!!

On the move...

We are all on the move today... my mother-in-law arrives from Norway tonight, so I am busy running round like a headless chicken getting everything ready!

And today, I am on the move too. I'm not blogging here! My lovely blogging friend Jess is away on holiday, and invited me to blog over at her place, so come on over and take a read...

CATCH A SINGLE THOUGHT GUEST POST

Happy Father's Day...

I'm so grateful for all the Dads in my life. My own Dad is wonderful. A voice of wisdom in our lives who we respect and love so much, and who is our very own "Mr Fix It". I genuinely believe he can do anything - he is ultra creative, a problem-solver and I have big plans for all the wonderful projects we can undertake together when he retires (which is, sadly for me, still quite a while away!) Dad is loyal and generous and wise. I'm so grateful to be able to call him my Dad.

My Father-in-law is another Dad in our lives. He has so much time for people and we love that about him. You are never a nuisance to him and he's always good for a cuppa and a chat! Robert... thank you for being who you are, we love you.

And finally, the third Dad in my life; the Father of my children.

These were the faces of my girlies on Wednesday night...

Yes, they were pondering what on earth to get Papa for Father's day. These two are big fans of their Papa... he has been an absolute star this past month... somehow being a solid, stable figure for Ava at home, while still coming in for lots of bonding time and cuddles with his little girly too. They adore him. And we wanted to say a BIG thank you that was meaningful, rather than just a gift for the sake of it...

Lol. Dave and I had a conversation earlier about love languages. He was laughing at the way I wrapped up his presents... this is the way I would like my presents wrapped. It's pretty and it looks nice and he couldn't care less. Ha! It made me chuckle!! I take such joy in wrapping it all up, only for it to be undone in seconds! And really, what guy wants drink cans wrapped up in flowery paper? But I wanted it to match and make a nice little display for this morning!

Little gifts from the girlies - a new CD for Papa and a notebook for him to write his sermon notes in. One happy man! Wrapped up in his paper shirt bag was a tonne of chocolate. Each bar with a little message...

He doesn't fudge it up... not really ever... he is just a fab Daddy to his little girls and I couldn't be more grateful for him.

We love you, Dave.

PS- this may look like a picture perfect Father's Day... it wasn't. The waffles got stuck in the waffle iron, and it was only on my third attempt that I got something semi-decent out of it. Poor Dave spent half the morning scraping waffle remnants from the iron and was left with a sore thumb. The thought was there! Oops!

How does your garden grow?

Our Scarecrow

Spring has been a little late in coming this year... I'm still not entirely sure it has arrived. I'm sort of hoping it will just decide to skip entirely now, and suddenly next week we'll be in summer. I've a nasty feeling summer might decide not to exist this year.

Still, this past week we at least saw a little bit of sunshine... even if only briefly, allowing us the luxury of some garden time...

A few weeks ago, I posted this post about all my ridiculously overexcited ideas for our garden... well, this is how far I've got with it so far (bearing in mind a month got written out of my life!) Our scarecrow was literally knocked together in about 5 minutes, and he is mine, and Ava's, favourite addition to the garden. Literally two bits of wood forming a cross, a nail banged into the centre, some little charity shop clothes and a bale of hay from the garden centre, and voila! Ava runs out into the garden every morning (weather-dependent) shouting "Guten Morrrrrrrrrgen!" at him!

Our other garden project, that we have been working on together, is our bug hotel. I started work on it at the end of April and we finally finished it last week. We are giving it a couple of weeks to gain some inhabitants, and then our explorations of all outdoor creepy crawlies will begin...

Beginning our bug hotel back in April

The finished product! I'll get some more slightly photogenic pictures of it with Ava another time!

Last year I had a lovely beautiful homemade herb garden that served us all summer long with yummy fresh herbs for the kitchen. This year, its looking a little worse for wear... I stocked up last week on some rocket, oregano and coriander and need to plant them in this week. The chives, rosemary and parsley are still serving us well, but they just need tidied up a bit! There is something lovely about fresh picked herbs... they just add a little something, and I find I'm far more adventurous about chucking some extra flavour in when it's just outside my kitchen window!

Anyway... the garden still has a long way to go... mostly because its planted with all these gorgeous colourful geraniums, busy lizzies and giant daisies, but the sun isn't shining enough for them to grow.

Grrr...

 All we need now is some sunshine, and then we can get out and enjoy it!!!

I've hooked up with

Gearing up for Father's Day...

This morning, Ava will head off with her Nanny to her beloved "Tots" group... Nearly two years of going twice a week, now, and she can't get enough of it...

Meanwhile, Heidi and I are hitting the town.

Our challenge? Father's Day presents.

Anyone else find guys particularly hard to buy for??

Well, I had a good ol' brainstorm last night, and I can't give too much away (my hub is a regular reader!) so you'll just have to watch this space...

Needless to day, he is in need of something a little bit special from his girlies this year. He has been an absolute rock, this past month, and I genuinely don't think I could have got through it without him.

So I'm happy to have a morning with my Heidichen. She is so bright and perky these days, so different from that sick little baby two weeks ago, and it is such a relief to have her back. Of course, looks can be deceptive, and I can't escape the fact that underneath the surface, her little heart is not as it should be, but it is wonderful to be able to return to some kind of normality again.

Any of you have any ideas and inspiration for Father's Day? Or done/bought/made anything in the past that has gone down a treat?

Please do share!

Two very concerned little girls pondering what they should get Papa for Father's Day...

One month since it all began...

One month ago, today, I sat out at the back of church trying to feed my baby girl. She kept crying and wouldn't stop...

"This is weird," I remarked to one of the other Mums, "she's normally so contented"

It was the start of a nightmare.

This past month has, without doubt, been the hardest month of my entire life. I don't think it would be exaggerating to say I've probably cried more tears this month than in the rest of my life put together. I've also prayed a lot more. And been a lot more grateful for the little things.

This blog has been so helpful for me in getting the jumble that has been in my head out. Thank you so much to all of you who have read your way through this journey with us... you cannot know how much every single comment has meant to us. It has been incredible to see how many people, from all over the world, have been praying for our little girl. More people than I could have dared imagine. Many of you have never met us, and yet have taken our little girl into your hearts. Thank you. Thank you for caring for us and ministering to us.

And so we continue on this long road. We don't know where it's heading, and at times it feels scary, having no map. I'd much rather follow the highway with its clear signs and streetlamps than this winding, untrodden road. But this is where God has called us. Our little family. And so we walk it, knowing that we never are, and never have been, alone.

THIS song has been the anthem of our souls this past month. Every single word rings true. He is faithful.

Good news at last!

Heidi in her little hospital cot

Today, we returned to the Brompton with a lot of trepidation and a lot of prayer. I wasn't going naively this time. I had packed Heidi and I some stuff just in case we had to stay in. I was prepared for the worst, knowing that they had said it would take 4-6 weeks for the extent of the damage done by the Kawasaki Disease to reveal itself. I knew there was a good chance her coronary arteries would have further dilated. I was desperate for her not to have to go onto a stronger drug...

We entered the Brompton, the emotions so different to last time. Last time we entered so naively... so hopeful - concerned, yes, but with NO concept of how bad things were. And then we had the shock and our world was turned upside down.

This time, I was determined to be prepared.

We went for the Echo first... the sonographer sat and looked at Heidi's heart for about 20 minutes. She was so good, lying there happily kicking her little legs, cooing and smiling. My heart was in my mouth for most of it, my eyes flitting between the screen of blurry images that meant nothing to me, and his face. Watching, desperately, for some hint of an expression that would give away what he was seeing. He gave us nothing. I preferred it that way. We left the Echo with no clue what they had found... somehow we were reassured by that.

Then onto the phlebotomist. Heidi was not feeling generous. After three disastrous attempts at getting blood out of her, a lot of needles in and out, and a lot of screaming, they gave up and went for the heel prick test. It was so distressing seeing her so upset - not even the sucrose worked for her this time. If I had had to endure this a few weeks ago, it would have killed me. Weeks in hospital of them draining more and more blood from my little girl has meant I now realise it goes with the territory. It doesn't make it any less distressing though.

Then, the wait. An ECG, a weigh-in, obs and sitting and waiting for the blood results... longing, hoping, praying that her platelet count would have come down so that she could move onto the low dose aspirin.

After a little while, one of the Doctors, who we have got to know fairly well, came to see us. She said she had glanced at the Echo report and it looked pretty similar... she would go and look at it properly now, but reassured us that no change was a good thing. I was so relieved. We had been praying things wouldn't get worse.

David nipped out to get some food, and while he was gone, the Doctor returned with Heidi's notes.

"I was wrong," she said. My heart sank. "Her coronary arteries are looking much better..."

Nearly halved in size.

Nearly halved in size?

I felt like dancing... I literally could not stop grinning... I called David and told him straight away...
"Her right artery has come down from 5mm to 3.3mmm and her left coronary circumflex has come down from 5.6mm to 3.5mm at its widest point"

First trip on the train!

We were in utter shock. So different from the shock of two weeks earlier. So much more welcome. I picked our baby girl up and gave her the biggest squeeze, praying my thanks to our heavenly Father who has heard every prayer we have prayed, in the dark times and in the joy-filled moments. He has heard them all. He has not answered them all in the way we expected or would have chosen. But we know he is faithful, and does all things for his glory and our good.

Heidi's arteries are still twice the size they should be, but they are heading in the right direction.

Praise God!

We travelled home with smiles on our faces, and not even a nightmare trip across London with delays and diversions could dampen our mood. Our baby girl still needs so many prayers. We return in 4 weeks for a meeting with the consultant and another Echo. We are trying to remain realistic. This could be as much "deflating" as her arteries are prepared to do... but we can hope, and pray, that perhaps, just perhaps God might continue to do a miracle in our baby girl's heart. He has already. He is so good.

We are so very grateful.

Returning to hospital...

Today we return to the hospital. I won't pretend to be strong. I don't feel it. I'm terrified. Terrified of what they'll find... terrified of what that will mean for us as a family... terrified for my little girl.

But there is a peace that surpasses all understanding when we give our prayers and petitions to God. He has promised us that. And so we go, in faith, knowing that he will give us that peace.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God, and the peace of God, that transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

- Philippians 4: 6-7 -