grace, mercy, love.....

~
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:9,10

It's been a hard day. I wish I had read this before I tried to stumble through the day in a bit of a blur, and in mostly a grump.
I don't like being grumpy with people - and normally I can't stay mad at anyone for more than 5 mins, but my boss really managed to push all my buttons yesterday.

I felt so unappreciated, belittled and silly.

Unfortunately I carried that around with me for much of the day. It wasn't helped by the fact that I've felt like an elephant has been sitting on my chest all day, and so just breathing has been a struggle.

The coughing fit that woke me at 2:45am and carried on until after 5am probably didn't help the mode. The drinking of too much cough mixture in absolute desperation, which turns out to be a laxative also didn't help. (But now makes me giggle... what a trade off!!)

Through it all, I sit back now and read those words in 2 Corinthians.

Hi grace is enough for me.... and He's more powerful, more able, more mighty in my weakness, I just need to hand it over, and allow Him to move in all my circumstances. ALL OF THEM!

Not get all picky and only hand him some of the things I'm dealing with.... He knows them all anyway - but being a gracious, loving Father, He sits back and patiently waits for us to ask. For me to humble myself and place my problems at the foot of the cross trusting that He cares enough to pick them up.

And if I believe that He does know the number of hairs on my head, that he knew me and knitted me in my mothers womb, that He sent His one and only Son to die for me....

After all that - how could I not believe that He cares about the little details of my day?

How?

a day, a week, a year.....

~
Kind of reminds me of the theme song from Rent.......

If you knew it was coming to an end - what would you do?
How would your priorities change? Would they? Or are you living the life that you want to be living at this very moment?

My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer on Wednesday.
She's 10 years younger than my grandmother was when she was diagnosed. Granny died just over a year later.

I did freak out when I found out, and the memories have not been particularly sweet.

Now though..... we're incredibly relieved that it was breast cancer and not her melanoma spreading - which would have meant that it could have spread everywhere and there would be little they could do.

She will hopefully have her surgery this week, recover from that and go through 6 weeks of Radiation therapy.
Prognosis is good, and mum is doing awesomely well.

Between here and there, a whole lot of praying and a whole lot of walking in Faith.

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen...."


So.... my question really is.... are you living the life you want to live?
Are you being all you are meant to be?
What is God telling you to do right now?

I'd have to answer yes and no.

I'm still here, and I'm glad that I have the answers now for why the doors have been repeatedly slammed this year every time I've made moves to leave.

I have a long way to go....

lead me to the cross....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdq9Q8wJdjc&feature=related

One of Brookes great songs..... thought some of you might enjoy it.

Savior I come
Quiet my soul remember
Redemptions hill
Where Your blood was spilled
For my ransom
Everything I once held dear
I count it all as lost

Lead me to the cross
Where Your love poured out
Bring me to my knees
Lord I lay me down
Rid me of myself
I belong to You
Lead me, lead me to the cross

You were as I
Tempted and trialled
You are
The word became flesh
Bore my sin and death
Now you're risen

To your heart
To your heart
Lead me to your heart
Lead me to your heart

at last!

~

Soooooo... here some of the photos from the big day which was over two months ago.

Danica and Neil came up for Fieldays and brought with them lots of photos for me to check out. Unfortunately I didn't get any on the disc that they left me with just photos of them, and I didn't get any on my camera. I'll have to ask very nicely for some more of the photos. There were some very cute ones of them together without the hangers on. :)

It was lovely to sit back and relive the day...... some of the photos were hilarious - all of us just in hysterics.

It really was a beautiful and fun day!

before

girls with neil

me...

group on beach

flowers on beach

girls on the beach

the bridal party

Before..... with flowers

mid week

The stunning scene on my way to Coromandel a few weeks ago.

I really have been having the most amazing trips lately - stunning days. Alas, I've also been leaving my camera behind which is a little silly.

On Tuesday I drove home following the sunset the whole way.... over the hills, through the bush, the light dancing before me. I just love the way every sunset is different, and how it is constantly changing. Just when you think nothing could be more beautiful, the light changes and you get something just as incredible.

How can people refuse to believe in God when we are constantly being showered with such beauty.

puzzling......
~

yikes!!!

It's June......

Not only is it June, but it's the 6th of June.

Where did the rest of May go, and how did we get here to Friday the 6th?

It will soon be only 6 months till Christmas. I am constantly miffed at the speed with which time travels. It blows my sox off.

It's been a bit of a crazy few weeks - which I guess would help to explain how time has flown. We had Queen's Birthday weekend last weekend - which meant a lovely Monday off. I spent Saturday with my Dad playing in the garden getting it all tidied and things ready for a bonfire that night.

We had a huge fire blazing down the hill, and now I can say that I have quite a large backyard, which has oodles of scope for great things to be done. A bunch of friends came round for a pot luck dinner, and we munched on loads of marshmallows. It was great!

Tawhai and Evita came too, and were in awe of the flames, though thankfully figured out the keep at a distance thing pretty quickly. I had some sparklers for them to hold onto, which did much to keep them entertained. I wish I'd managed to get a photo of them - but was just too busy enjoying them.

I did get some photos of the fire - so hopefully I'll find a moment to get them up on here over the weekend.

There are also photos of a bunch of us caving. We had an absolute blast out there in the dark, crawling through cramped stoney streams. FUN!

Hope that everyone is well. I'm sorry I haven't been around to say HI, and thanks for the notes.
I appreciate them!!!

Have a most blessed, and peaceful weekend.

Tons of Aroha.

evita mary

~
Now..... I need to state here that I am firmly and utterly in love with Tawhai..... he'll always be my number one man! :)

However.... I may be a little besotted with Evita.

She's now speaking French. They have a good friend who spent 6 months over in France and speaks French very well who talks to Evita in French. She's just a super sponge right now, soaking up everything she hears. Anything you say to her, she repeats..... it's amazing to be around.

So.... she and I have mini conversations in French now. She even has this super cute accent. For a one and a half year old I'm floored, but also in the throws of getting together cd's of french and want to do some Maori too. Got to make the most of this sponge!

Yours, the nutty aunt.

cutey!

Evita and her new friend.

GG is so proud of her grand daughter, and the fact that she seems to absolutely love horses already, making all the right noises and becoming excited whenever she sees one.

I went and picked the two monkey's up to take them to see GG and Poppa at a foal show on Saturday. This one is our oldest foal and for his first outing he was so very well behaved - walking straight onto the horse float, and not minding any of the show goings on. There were even donkeys there braying away and he didn't batter an eyelid.

Evita walked straight up to him and gave him kisses. Alas, I kept missing the exact moment. My camera seems to have a few issues right now, which I've got to get sorted quick smart.





I love the way she was so trusting....

they just stood there watching the other horses in the ring for ages.

the story to go with the pictures....

~

Tessa and I decided to have a girls only day. We left the cheeky monkeys behind and headed off into the hills.

My aunt and uncle who live out in the middle of nowhere - check out their website
www.nikaucave.co.nz
have just built and opened a cafe on their farm.

They had originally thought of building it for one of my cousins weddings.... this particular cousin just celebrated their 3 year anniversary when the cafe opened.

Yes, it's been a rather long and drawn out process - but it's been worth the wait!

Another one of my cousins and her husband are now running the cafe and doing a FANTASTIC job!!

I'd tried to call before we left - but had no joy, which made our arrival a wonderful surprise. The look on Nicola's face was priceless. Nothing like getting such an excited welcome.

The afternoon was then lazed away. We ate and talked and soaked up the sunbeams.

There was an American couple who were staying in the "white house" for their wedding anniversary. Nicola and Richard were all excited because they had found some new friends. Kindred Spirits. The couple were about the same age, and had come over for a year to work and play. They were Christians and just super lovely to sit and talk to.

I've been invited to go and learn to climb at the climbing wall where they work - something I've always wanted to do, but never actually felt comfortable doing with all my incredibly sporty friends who climb.

It was the kind of day that left me feeling incredibly blessed to have such a great family - especially Tessa, who I'm quite sure I would go insane without!

It also left me rather thoughtful about what next.....


"You cannot always have happiness, but you can always give happiness"

Inside - all cosey

Cafe

outside - with view