Evita.....

the adorable duo.... i don't think there is anyway that I could actually describe how much I adore these two. They are just super precious!

We were at the lake for mum's birthday yesterday..... Tawhai has just started saying his name, and that he should do everything. Quite cute. Meanwhile Evita is running everywhere. She turns 1 next week, and is just starting to talk too. :) Fun times!

~

the nightingale.....

~

I've actually made some time to pick up a few books that I've had sitting around for ages - in fact, this one has been through at least 3 moves with me, and only now have I actually read any of it.

It's a collection of Oscar Wilde stories.

The first one that I flicked to was quite lovely.... a beautiful story of how we really can't take things at face value.

The Model Millionaire

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/ModMil.shtml

I managed  to get in a few others before stumbling into this one;
The Nightingale and the Rose.

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/NigRos.shtml

It's a story about love....

and while I was reading it I was reminded of something.  I tucked away the thoughts, as I'm sure I got busy. I picked the book up again tonight, thinking I might share it with someone. While I was reading it again that familiar feeling came over me once more.

It was the act of complete selflessness.

A life given up for a greater cause.

Sound familiar?

1 Corinthians 13
The Way of Love
1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. 3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

11When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

12We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

13But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

From The Message version.

I know I could do with a gentle nudge to remember what it is to truly love, and how it's not actually just the people that I find it easy to share that with - but more so with the people I find it difficult to love.

xx

emptying....

~

My head has been full of "stuff" lately. Buzzing away with thoughts.  (perhaps how I'd feel if I were to have a seagull sitting 
on my head all day?)

Sure, if I were to catagorize it I probably could quite easily.....

 ~ family
 ~ work
 ~ house
 ~ friends
 ~ wants
 ~ random what'cha ma callits

Simple, right?

Now, how do I declutter the thoughts so that I can better process them all?

hehehe

I guess the biggest thing at the moment would be the fact that I've been asked to be maid of honour for a friend who is getting married in April next year.

At the time I had just finished a conversation with a good friend of mine who was encouraging me to pray about the 'when' of me packing up and leaving. I'd said that I really wasn't sure if it was meant to happen this year. I got off the phone and turned on my computer to find the email asking me about the wedding. Answer straight away!

It was actually awesome  to have that kind of confirmation. Yeah, I'm kind of gutted, but not about to try and do this move in my own strength. I'm quite happy to wait for God to say when. In the mean time I've got more than enough to keep me busy.

Who knows if it will be straight after the wedding that I can run away, or if it will be at the end of next year now? Someone told me I was at an incubator stage in my life...... things 
were just being readied for me to break out and get busy 
with whatever it is I'm meant to do?

Bring it on.....

down the road

~

The journey has always been about laughing together, loving eachother, seeking adventure, believing in our dreams and making a difference..........

but sometimes we forget.

tip toe through the tulips.....

Well... spring sprung a while ago. I even welcomed it in with a poem on the radio. (Ah, yes. The things that I am convinced to do on air!)

I met a neighbour a few doors down the other day, when he came to ask if he could stick his sheep in my backyard. Yes, only in New Zealand! I now have a ewe with her twin lambs roaming around, hopefully cleaning up the long grass down the hill for me. I was going to get the nanny goats back, but after one of them escaped I was a little worried that they would go wandering into one of the neighbours places, and destroy the beautiful garden where the ewe has come from. This way I'm not responsible for any mishaps. :) And I don't need to find a way to mow the lawns.

Lazy?

The house hasn't had much done to it in the last couple of weeks. The last bit of wallpaper stripping that I did - when I finally got the spare room finished was when I had a wee accident.

Note to self - do not use any equipment when blurry eyed and unable to concentrate properly.

I somehow managed to lean over the steamer with my arm, and rested it right on top of the steam vent, letting the steam escape right onto my arm. In my stubborn state of mind, I didn't even stop what I was doing until the room was finished! 20 mins later, I was sore, although thrilled to see no more wallpaper in sight.

I finally checked out the burn and put it under the cold water. Very silly. It gets worse though.... I pretty much ignored it until the blister burst, and I had no choice but to go to the doctor a week later. Antibiotics are a great thing! As are South African nurses who are gentle at dressing such things. (though I will say that when she had to cut the skin off it hurt alot!)

2 weeks later, and a few more visits to have the burn dressed it feels so much better, and is looking ok too. It felt so good this morning, that I took off the bandage, and have left it to breathe today.

I now have my first war wound from the house adventure, I guess. The first and last, I hope!

That means that this weekend I might actually get to start the plastering.

I'll have to put up a pic before I start the next bit.
Fun times.

Be blessed.

ambling

Was reading a book review ages ago..... quite a different book - but I was interested in the quote that they used:

"The wrong hung wallpaper could upset him (Oscar Wilde) more than the death of a family member"
We often underestimate how much of our inner cheer hinges around the quality of our environment.
The Architecture of happiness - Aain DeBotton

I understand what they are trying to say, though it reminds me of how we are supposed to have a home which is peaceful and welcoming. I wonder what Oscar would have thought of my house? Would it be somewhere that he would have been happy to have been?

I had a friend call round last night, bringing dinner with them. SCORE!
After eating he sat and read and I sat and organised photos while some mellow music played. It was relaxing, and you know, it was just great to have that space to share with someone else. To see them relaxed in the atmosphere that you'd created. I hope that doesn't sound all arrogant, it's just something that I've always wanted to be able to provide for friends.

A simple goal of mine.

the other night

Looks like my blog is doing funny things....

Will have to try and play around with it later.

For now, these were caught the other night - alas, we didn't get such a clear sky the night of the eclipse - this was the night after. :)