Posts Tagged ‘Life’

• My Blog

  Date: 2010.08.12 | Category: Blogroll, Life | Response: 0

  I am enjoying having a theme that I like. I just need to get into the meta and update my blogroll and other windows on the side. I don’t think I’ve read any of those blogs in a long time. Since discovering RSS feeds I do my reading through them. Let me list a few of my more recent blogs that I read.

  Dave.Quinn.Online

  down—to—earth

  Sparkling Adventures

  :mnmlist

  miss minimalist

  MY ZERO WASTE

  bensrib

  Beyond Church Walls

  Pure Christianity

  Suburban Jubilee

  Secret Hippie

  Lifestream Blog

  Our Daily Bread

  I hope you enjoy some of my daily readings, some of these are like good friends, especially the ones who blog almost daily.  I guess this is a kind of snapshot of where I’m at at the moment.  Exploring minimalism (without the spiritual side of it) to the degree of right-sizing our possessions not down to a certain number or anything extreme.  Starting being more aware of what needs to be recycled in the household, helped by information of just where our rubbish ends up.  Enjoying simple living and simple faith in Christ.

• With Hope

  Date: 2010.08.02 | Category: Christian, Family Journal, God, Inspiration, Life | Response: 0

  Recently I bought the CD “Speechless” by Steven Curtis Chapman.  Last night I was listening to it, probably for the first time all the way through, while doing the dishes.  When the song “With Hope” came on, it explains one of the reasons why I became a Christian.  It made me think of my brothers.  I have two you see, one on earth and the other passed before I could met him.  He was only young and severely disabled, so I know one day I will meet him.  That will be the second most important meeting for me after standing face to face with my Saviour.  Here are the words.

  This is not at all how
  We thought it was supposed to be
  We had so many plans for you
  We had so many dreams
  And now you’ve gone away
  And left us with the memories of your smile
  And nothing we can say
  And nothing we can do
  Can take away the pain
  The pain of losing you, but…

  We can cry with hope
  We can say goodbye with hope
  ‘Cause we know our goodbye is not the end, oh no
  And we can grieve with hope
  ‘Cause we believe with hope
  (There’s a place by God’s grace)
  There’s a place where we’ll see your face again
  We’ll see your face again

  And never have I known
  Anything so hard to understand
  And never have I questioned more
  The wisdom of God’s plan
  But through the cloud of tears
  I see the Father’s smile and say well done
  And I imagine you
  Where you wanted most to be
  Seeing all your dreams come true
  ‘Cause now you’re home
  And now you’re free, and…

  We can cry with hope
  We can say goodbye with hope
  ‘Cause we know our goodbye is not the end, oh no
  And we can grieve with hope
  ‘Cause we believe with hope
  (There’s a place by God’s grace)
  There’s a place where we’ll see your face again
  We’ll see your face again
  

  We have this hope as an anchor
  ‘Cause we believe that everything
  God promised us is true, so…

  We can cry with hope
  We can say goodbye with hope
  ‘Cause we know our goodbye is not the end, oh no
  And we can grieve with hope
  ‘Cause we believe with hope
  (There’s a place by God’s grace)
  There’s a place where we’ll see your face again
  We’ll see your face again

  We wait with hope
  And we ache with hope
  We hold on with hope
  We let go with hope

  
  

• Love.

  Date: 2010.07.18 | Category: Christian, Encouragement, God, Life, Prayer, Scripture | Response: 0

  Today I got an email, you know the ones, full of optimistic positivity focussing on love of self and disregarding all else.  Here is a portion of it.

  Life is too short to wake up with regrets.
  Love the people who treat you right.
  Forget about the ones who don’t.
  Believe everything happens for a reason.
  If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands.
  If it changes your life, let it.
  Nobody said life would be easy.
  They just promised it would be worth it.

  Most of it is very wrong thinking (does not line up with God’s Word) but what struck me the most was the phrase -
  “Love the people who treat you right. Forget about the ones who don’t.”

  My thoughts immediately was, who will love the unlovable ones.You know the ones who don’t treat anyone right. The ones who everyone has abandoned.

  The very next line in this flawed poem says “if you get a second chance grab it with both hands”. What about offering a second (or third or 490th) chance to someone who oh-so-doesn’t deserve it?

  Because you don’t either. We are all human.

  We all breathe the same air, bleed the same colour and return to the dust when we die.

  We are all sinners and no one deserves a second chance. That’s where God’s grace comes swooping in.  He saves us from our flaws and sins and unlovableness.  He loves us unconditionally, expecting NOTHING in return.

  He  commanded us to love one another, not only those who treat us right.  He died for all, not just those who have ticked the right boxes of some weird popularity contest.

  We need to love each other, even the unlovable.

  Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 1Corinthians 13:4-5
  

  I pray that God lets those who listen, hear and those who look, see.

• Simple Woman’s Daybook

  Date: 2010.07.17 | Category: Family Journal, Life, Simple Womans Daybook, craft | Response: 0

  FOR TODAY
  Outside my window… Cloudy skies, bare Moreton Bay Fig branches and Quongdong tree leaves swaying in the  cold southerly wind blowing.
  I am thinking… Of half of my family down in Perth (Hubby and oldest daughter)
  I am thankful for…God’s mercy.  It covers so much.
  From the learning rooms… School will start back Monday (from our 2 week holidays).  We may start Tues if Dave and Liv come back Sunday.
  From the kitchen…I will be warming up the coffee machine for “morning tea” and having a home-made cuppacino/latte.
  Lunch will be banana toasties (too many bananas and not enough people – a favourite meal for me!)
  Dinner will be Vegie Delight Sausages, Mashed Potato, Peas, Corn on the cob and broad beans
  I am wearing…Pj’s still!  It is holidays.
  I am creating…A dark green knitted vest for Dave.  My f’irst attempt at knitting a piece of clothing. (I always have a crochet blanket on the go, it wouldn’t be right otherwise!)
  I am going…to take youngest daughter to the bakery today to remedy the uneveness of donuts (Dave and Liv had some yesterday!)
  I am reading…another Di Morrissey book but her style is so samey so I may jump over to the new Left Behind prequels I recently purchased.
  I am hoping…Dave and Liv have a good time down in Perth and a safe drive home today/Sunday
  I am hearing…Some inane tv show on foxtel that Tash is watching and the happy twittering of  little birds outside (after the nice rain the otherday)
  Around the house…I’m planning on vacuuming today and maybe sneaking into Liv’s room while she’s away and tidying up a little. I need to tidy the house up in general and also want to get to the pile of craft stuff in my bedroom that needs a new home (probably back out in the caravan).
  One of my favorite things…Quiet, which I had for a while this morning (until Oscar started meowing after breakfast).
  A few plans for the rest of the week: I will be sorting through the girls books to see if any are nearly finished and warrants an order. Planning on finishing my tension square and starting the vest.
  Need to go to the vet for Billy’s special bits.
  Buy some more firewood.

  http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

  I appologise for the lack of pics in this post – I can’t seem to upload at the moment…

  
  

  
  

• New Look

  Date: 2010.07.08 | Category: Family Journal, Life | Response: 0

  I have been content with my simple blog but began to think it was too simple once I started seeing all these beautiful and groovy themes other people seemed to be finding! My wonderful husband came across this theme and instantly thought it suited me. When I saw it I loved it and he imported it for me straight away (what a great hubby!).

  I really really like it and have even added some extra pages. These pages incorporate the elements of my website. Soon I will bring the Articles across and then my blog will be the main page. I may even add in some other pages in future to bring in some other things that I enjoy and want to share.

  I hope you enjoy the new look as much as I do.

• Comments and other things.

  Date: 2010.05.31 | Category: Encouragement, Family Journal, God, Life, Scripture | Response: 2

  Today I realised I have to turn my comments back on.  So I will be doing that.  I hate prefacing things, but please don’t attack my views.  If you are an “Internet Warrior” (one of those people who have too much time on their hands and go around picking what is wrong with everyones belief systems and persuasions) please don’t even bother to comment as it won’t be approved.  I’m not into conflict, debating or showing all sides of things all the time.  If this offends you, look up what it says about offence in the Bible.

  Now onto other things.  It’s been beautiful weather here, cold winds and warm sunshine.  Winter is definately on its way as we even had some dew, almost a frost the other morning.  Last night as I was microwaving Thumpers warm pad I stood outside and I could feel the damp cold rolling in, sooo glad we have houses around us and fences.  It would have been cold out of town on the farms and paddocks.

  We have a stray cat living in our backyard.  We’ve called him Tabby for obvious reason (he is a grey/brown tabby. I’ll get a photo.).   He’s so timid though, just slinks away into the shed when we approach.  I just want to pick him up, give him a huge warm hug and bring him inside.  Kind of reminds me of us with the Father.  Some people come to God every so often to be fed then when He approaches they slink away to hide in the dark again.  All He wants to do is pick us up, give us a warm hug and bring us inside.

  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:28-29

• My thoughts on facebook

  Date: 2010.05.18 | Category: Life | Response: 1

  Yesterday my family (individually) decided to reduce their use of and withdraw completely from facebook. (for those who don’t know, facebook is a social networking site aparently similar to my space etc).

  I used to like the site for connecting with family that live away from us and to play games. Quickly it turned into something I had to go to regularly to “check my crops” or “revive my people” on a game.

  My thoughts on facebook is that it is just a time-vacuum and real relationships are substituted for fake ones. I don’t think “social networking” sites are healthy if they replace real relationships. I used it to contact real people I know as another way to communicate, however people don’t really communicate on them or they don’t communicate who they really are on there. It is very “me” oriented and some people use it to announce things. I once heard of someone announcing the birth of their baby on facebook BEFORE RINGING FAMILY to let them know???!!! Also if your feed is very long and laborious, you could easily miss a status update and not know what they’ve said anyway! I only had about 20 people as “friends” and I still missed some things – how do people who have 100 or 200 or 300+ possibly keep up??? You would have to spend literally hours on it to see what is “happening” in an unreal world. That isn’t real relationships. Some even throw the number of friends around like it’s a badge in a popularity contest! How silly is that?!

  I have email, I have a phone and I live in a smallish town. Friends and family can email or ring me if they want to contact me. I can run into others I know on “the street” or at church or at community activities.

  I do like to relax and have fun by playing games on my computer. (I also like to read, crochet, listen to music and spend time with my family and animals.) Instead of logging in to facebook and using downloads I can play the games I already have on my computer.

  I think having control over your computer time instead of feeling controlled by it is much healthier. I chose not to stop playing, but after reviewing bigger things (like life) now I am choosing to stop going to facebook.

  I am still online for email and researching things for school and I am still blogging and reading blogs I am not against the internet or anything like that but I’m using it for productive use of time instead of wasting it on fake games and fake relationships.

  My last status update was this:
  “Are life’s ‘good’ options distracting you from what your primary priorities should be?”

  Ask this in all situations, not just with “social networking” sites.

• I’m Back!

  Date: 2010.05.15 | Category: Life | Response: 0

  It’s been a long long time since I’ve blogged. I couldn’t log in and now I’m back. Lots has happened including a current problem with WIN not broadcasting and the Eagles game has just started…not happy Jan!

  It was a long hot summer and now it’s an early cold winter. It got down to 2.6c over night and was 14.c yesterday – in MAY! This is July weather.

  I’ve been crocheting alot of things. Made several blankets and made some wrist warmers for Tash. Her wrists have been sore for a while now (bout 9 months) and this seems to help. We’re going to see the specialist next week to see if he can do anything for her.

  The girls have been going well with their books from Australian Homeschooling Supplies. We had our annual moderator visit yesterday and he seemed hapy with everything.

  We have lost a couple of chooks since christmas but have gained a stray cat in our shed. The chooks still aren’t laying, but once we separate them from the ducks, they might.

  I can’t think of anything else at the moment. I’m glad I’m back.

• Miracle Modem

  Date: 2009.10.26 | Category: Encouragement, God, Important News, Life | Response: 0

  Recently our household has been experiencing difficulty connecting and staying connected to the internet to download email and surf the web.  Dave and I have also both been having disturbed sleep because of unseasonably warm overnight temperatures.

  Yesterday hubby rang our internet provider to see if there were any problems with the lines, they ran a diagnostic check which came up fine.  So last night Dave decided to unplug the modem all night then try again in the morning.  We both had very good sleeps, no waking up in the middle of the night.

  This morning Dave turned on his computer and went to plug in the modem, BUT IT WAS ALREADY PLUGGED IN.  He logged in to see if it would work and everything has run smoother that it has in weeks.

  Now we have a sleepwalker in the house, but there is no way known that she would know how to do what happened and has never fiddled with electrical things while sleepwalking.

  This is completely unexplained, and has to be a miracle.  Thank you God for fixing our modem and saving us a lot of money.

• Newly Discovered Crafting Site

  Date: 2009.10.02 | Category: Fun and Trivia, Home Tips, Life, craft | Response: 0

  Today I discovered a craft site which I would like to share with you.  It is an american site so the terms are american.

  Lots to look at and lots to create.

  http://www.favecrafts.com/