God moment!

Had a total God moment this morning!!

Well for starters, I actually went walking! Yes!! Decided that I was not going to try to find excuse to not go (and very almost did - baby needed a feed) and walked Jaidyn to school. Then I decided I was feeling so good walking that I would go the other way home and see what other streets I can find to walk down...

Well as I was nearing home (and could see my house way up on top of the hill) there was a lady jogging with her pram towards me. This was so cool! She actually stopped and said hello and introduced herselfand we talked about babies for a bit. She asked where I live and I pointed to my house up on the hill. She said where she lived and said to pop around sometime if I like!

LIKE WOW!!

HOW AWESOME IS THAT!!

The cool thing is... that I have really been struggling to find the motivation to walk... well God gave me a motivation today...

So maybe she'll become a walking buddy... would certainly be very cool! (her little girl is 5-months old) I don't think I'll go over there *just yet* (or what do you think??) but her street is now on my walking route and I'm going to get walking more so hopefully I can bump into her again and strike up a friendship...

Don't you just love how God works!!

So, my 5 things I'm grateful for today:
1. God's impeccable timing and very creative ways of doing things (never gets dull!)
2. Macaroni Beef - yummy leftovers from last night - one of our favourite family meals...
3. Lusi - love you girl and praying for you today :)
4. Scrap of Faith website - www.scrapoffaith.com
5. my hair straightener coz otherwise my fringe would be a curly moppy mess!

New Do!!

... and some pics of myself *Elsie style* (not that I needed Elsie for inspiration - I was a little known for my number of self-portraits...)







*excuse the red eyebrow area - got my eybrows freshly waxed and tweezed too!

Gotta LOVE a new haircut hey!! Mine was getting so long and so thick and soooo unstyled, it was at least a month overdue! Love love love it! Next time I may even go shorter.... might also try to straighten it all one of thse days to see how it looks like that.... love a change.... have also got a colour to go in it... and think I'll get myself one of those cute 'alice' headbands and another head scarf to wear in it!

Well that's all for now, gotta go get the boy from school... but I had a 0.4kg loss yesterday at WW. Am happy with that as I was sooo expectinga gain! Yay all round!!

Nat xx

I love my Mummy!!

Mum's been home for a week and a half now, and I haven't seen her since then... we're off to have lunch there today (well me and the boys - Greg always seems to be working when we've been there lately - unfortunately he's not seen Mum since she was very sick looking in ICU!)... and I'm sure she's going to look 10 times better than she did even a week and a half ago...

Am just chatting to my little sis on MSN (she's in Holland on exchange) and showing her the piccies I took of Mum and the boys a few weeks ago... and I just got all this love rise up for my family!! (crying now!) So I just wanted to share these very precious pics. I hope to get some more today - hopefully outside in some better lighting!





Give your Mums (and Dads.. and the rest of the family for that matter!) a big hug if you can girls!!

N xx

5 things I'm thankful for today:
1. My Mum and the healing power of God!
2. My Dad coz he's so loving and supportive and awesome!
3. Sunday - God's day!!
4. MSN - so I can keep in contact with my sis even tho she's on the other side of the world!
5. That I got the kids sheet done for church today - and it looks good!

Yes, she DOES actually scrap!!

Well, I guess its about time I shared some LOs hey?? Its literally been months and months since I've taken the time to photograph and edit pics to put any LOs up on the net. So some of you (Lusi!) have never really even seen my layouts... lol...

Well these are the ones I've done in the last couple of months... not a lot huh... but yeah, there you go!
This is my favourite. Probably the most simple, but I just love these cute photos!


Isn't he adorable!! One of my fave pics :)


This one is kinda cased from one of Nic's designs... one of the photos we took with 'Nan and Pa', Greg's parents when they visited in July.

I don't really like this one, but anyways...








I also wanted to upload the one I did in Kim's class a few weeks ago, but blogger is being a big poo now... ggrrr... will have to be later.


** Oh and I just got a text from Tam too :) She and Rog welcomed a beautiful baby boy into the world at 12.39pm today. They have named him Diesel and he weighs 8lb 12oz, measuring 51cm long. CONGRATULATIONS to Tam and Rog! Rog says she and bubs are doing well. I can't WAIT to see some piccies!!! What a wonderful day!

My boy is 3 months old today too - gosh the time flies. Better write him another letter for this month...

N xx

Happy Dance!!

Just got home from WW, and VERY HAPPY to report a 1.3kg loss this week! Woohoo! I didn't know what to expect... was feeling a little lighter in myself but I know I made a few bad decisions and not enough exercise this week, so was half expecting a gain too! But a loss of 1.3 is awesome!! I'm super excited with that!! Takes my total loss to 2.7kgs! Wow!! So maybe I won't make the 5kg mark in 5 weeks, but I'm so much closer to that now with a loss like that - so maybe in another 3-4 weeks I'll be there, or who knows, maybe sooner. I'm really starting to think about what I'm putting into my mouth, my portions (a little) and I'm actually enjoying making healthy alternatives and having some more variety now... its a good thing! Very glad I made the choice to beat this weight problem with WW, and not keep trying (in vain) on my own... have a long way to go of course - still have to get into the whole exercise thing, I'm so sporadic and unmotivated for it now, and also need to limit my sugar intake, but I'm on that path to freedom!

Had a great class with the SoF girls on Sat night. Of course I didn't really get much done - and this was further not helped by a baby waking for a feed - but it was great to chat and get to know some of my new friends a little more. Its funny (and totally awesome!) how God brings different people into your life at certain times in your life... I have just found a whole heap of new Christian friends that I can scrap with too. Scrapping has really been on the way-side for me for some time, but I really feel that God has given me permission to make it important again, but this time with some godly influences and people to keep me on His path too. There are heaps of things I struggled with, with my scrapping in the past - like time management and comparing myself to others, and scrapping about my faith, but I just feel better supported to handle these things now. So thanks so much Sal - your SoF community has really brought so much into my life, not to mention how super excited I am about designing for you. I have been working really hard on my first class for Spet. I totally love the LO, I totally enjoyed making it and I just hope that everyone else enjoys it too. I really feel that God has blessed me with some creativity once again. Can't wait to show you all, and hopefully teach you too :).

Have finally got back into reading my 'Battlefiend of the Mind' book and study. I've been so super busy - and quite honestly fillingmy spare time with the wrong things sometimes - the last few weeks that I've not even had time for this study. But Eli fed early this morning so it was a great time to get back into it and spend a little time with God and His wisdom. I learnt a lot and remember how awesome this book is now, so hopefully I can continue to get into it and stop putting it off.

Had a really great weekend too. I just LOVE Saturday and Sunday lazy afternoons. Yesterday we decided to watch a movie together - RV which was a nice family flick. Saturday and the rest of Sunday afternoon we were doing our own things - myself scrapping, Jaidyn drawing or playing Lego Star Wars on the xbox and Greg playing WOW on the computer, but we were all in the same room and it was just perfect! Gentle breeze blowing too made it all that more better. Yes, we need to try to spend a little MORE time all together, but we still enjoyed ourselves just being in company.

Anyway, off to make a scrummy stuffed potato for lunch and maybe have some down-time with Dr Phil and Oprah.... love being a SAHM!!

Hope you're all having a blessed day!

5 things to be thankful for today:
1. The gentle and loving discipline of God.
2. The pleasures of scrapbooking.
3. That God is working with me to beat my addiction to food!
4. Saturday and Sunday afternoons
5. Quality time that I had with my boys over the weekend, watching a movie.

How gorgeous...

ARE THESE!??!











These are some of the pics that Deb took last week. I am soooo impressed, so she said I can show them on my blog too... I absolutely love love love them, thanks Deb :) I can't WAIT to see more. These are going to take pride of place on my walls. Thankyou thankyou thankyou!

(Photos by Deb Fabbri. Check out her photography business at www.fabpix.net or her blog here)

Doing the Random

This is so much easier - I can say what I want, where I want and it will make sense!

* Met the gorgeous Sal yesterday (OMGosh I just did a link - did it work??) for a coffee and an informal Scrap of Faith meeting... isn't she just lovely (to those of you who have met her... the kids had a ball at the Everton Park Hotel playground and we enjoyed a coffee, some cake (I even bypassed the cheesecake and went for a more point-friendly muffin!) and a squizzie through eachother's things... oh gosh, this girls' stuff is gorgoeus! And a lot of it was very time-consuming too... Wow, I was feeling a little intimidated and nervous that she'd put me on as DT member for SoF... my stuff lately has been far more simple, but I'm going to be putting more time into it and I'm still waiting for my mojo to kick in properly... I just wish it would find me sometime, so I can find my own style and really start enjoying scrapping again. Anyway, it was great to meet you in person Sal! I'm sure we'll have many more conversations over coffee :)

* What is with men, facial hair and a white bathroom sink... I currently have two men living with me so its double disgusting!! Gross.... needless to say, its white again now, but just wait till tomorrow...

* Speaking of yuck, gotta go to polls for good old Peter Beatie... and its on the same day as the Brissie Crop that Chris M is organising... grr which will mean I'll have to go before the crop. I hate elections... in fact I don't even think my enrolment is current - better send in those new address forms huh...

* Murder anyone?? Was chatting to my SIL on MSN this morning and she was showing me pics from a Murder Mystery Party she went to - she's also hosted one and said it isn't that hard as everything comes together in the kit... so I'm going to have one!! Have wanted to be in one for ages, I love a good dress up and love to entertain, so it should be a ball!! Now just to find a good (and relatively cheap) one on the net, and then start planning!! Has anyone ever been to or hosted one??

* My baby boy is so cute... but we already knew that! This week he has discovered that he can kick his little spider toy that hangs on his playgym.. its so cute to watch him watching his feet and responding when the toy moves - one of the first signs of intelligence - so precious :)

* Babies babies everywhere! Yay to Evana and family on the arrival of baby Jeol. And an old school friend whom I've only reconnected with in the last couple of months, had a baby girl on the 4th... they have called her Skyla (not sure of spelling tho)... hopefully we'll be showing off our babies to eachother next weekend.

* Ooh, I lost another 0.6kg this week. Not a great deal I know, but I'm really happy with that because I didn't really track this week - I know, week two and I'm already not tracking! lol... and now I've misplaced my points counter so I'm guessing a lot.. will have to buy the calculator next meeting... so far 1.4kgs down. I NEED to get out walking this week!!

* Mmm... chai latte.... have just discovered them, yummm... not as point-friendly as coffee or tea, with 2 points a cup, but a nice tasty and good-smelling treat!

Oh and finally, my 5 things that I'm grateful for today:
1. The beautiful Sal and her awesome site that I'm so excited about!
2. Cheap Tuesday at the video store
3. Chai Latte (again)
4. A beautiful bunch of flowers that Greg gave me for our anniversary yesterday.
5. That my Mum is HOME TODAY! Yay!!

Seeya, have a blessed day,
Nat xx

P.S.

Forgot to say:

A BIG CONGRATULATIONS to Evana and her family. Yes, she FINALLY had that baby. A healthy baby boy - now what have you named him? I hope he'll bring you much joy and hopefully you'll get lots of rest too E.

Truth

Had a great sermon in church today. Craig is doing a series over the next few weeks on Christian Foundations, so all the basics like salvation, baptisn, communion etc. Today was the first week of salvation. There was a lot about sin and a lot about repentence. I had some 'aha' moments too... one in particular - there was a definition up of what 'sin' is and it said 'sin is doing something that God says not to do.... or.... NOT doing what God says... WOW!! NOT DOING WHAT GOD SAYS! That means not doing what he's called me to do... and all too many times I diregard the little things he calls me to do whether its telling a friend something about Jesus, whether its reaching out and inviting a cell member over for a meal, or whether its standing up for God when I know I should. WOW.... I'm SINNING!! Goodness me. I never thought of it like that... I guess really its disobeying isn't it.... some things, like my call to ministry, like my leading the Kids Ministry... and struggling with following through with leadership responsibilities... I've never really thought of it as sinning if I'm falling short there... but I guess he's placed me in that calling and I need to step up! True insight!

So many of us Christians find it hard to express our love for God and Jesus. To show others what it means to be TRULY LOVED UNCONDITIONALLY and to be a Christian, and to share His gospel and truth with others. So many times 'we don't want to offend' or 'its not the right time in their lives' (coming straight from my mouth and reasonings those two!) but darnit, who cares. Many other people might write about sex, astrology, be bitchy etc without a thought of who it might offend (esp christians!) so why can't we do the same?? why not offend.... for the sake of My King! To me offense is a stirring of something in their soul.... so I'll go and offend and I'll do it for God!! (in saying that, offense on my part will probably only be on this site, as in person I'm a lot more reserved, inhibited and bashful).

So yes I'm rambling, yes I'll probably lose some viewers and readers for good, but darnit, I want to declare the truth!
I want to tell you all what having Jesus as my saviour and best friend does in my life!
I want to tell you that I AM FREE!
That I will sin, yes, but that I will be forgiven when I come to my Father with it. I want to tell you that I am comforted beyond all need in the arms of my God.
I want to tell you that YOU TOO can find freedom, and love, and acceptance in the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
There is NOTHING that He cannot do, that He cannot bring you through, that He cannot forgive or that He cannot heal.
Are you searching for something that you aren't finding in what you live right now??

Nat xx

For your viewing pleasure...

Isn't he just good enough to eat??



Well I've finally got the hard-drive connected and blogger is semi-cooperating... so here's just a couple pics to share, just random ones really:

Photography and phonecalls..

Been fairly busy again this week. But then again I tend to waste a LOT of time on this computer too - especially now as its in the loungeroom while BIL is living here..

So its Friday already. Time flies huh. What have I been up to?

Had a wonderful long phonecall to the beautiful Lusi last night. Love your chats girl, even if you do like to talk, lol... nice change from me talking all the time... oh yeah, how good would it be to come in November, lol..

Had a good old MSN chat to Sal on Wednesday night too - yay for new friends hey - I'm totally blessed. Been talking with Sal lots and lots about her new site - Scrap of Faith (see link over there -->). Have some exciting news too - she has asked me to be on the DT and help with classes and ideas etc. I'm so honoured and can't wait to start! Thanks so much Sal! Hopefully it will really help me develop my scrapping and also I'm looking forward to creating an album about my Christian walk too.

Today my friend Deb came over to photograph Elijah and I for her photography course assignment. It was fun and Eli was *fairly* well behaved - about as much as you can really expect from a baby! I couldn't see the pics yet tho as its all on film, so she's going to show me when she prints some out - can't wait to see them and hope there's not a bad case of double-chin too prevalent! Was great to catch up with you Deb xx

Had our first scrapping day at church yesterday. For me it was highly UN productive, I just sat and chatted, lol but that's what I normally do. It was just the three of us this week but hopefully we'll have 6 or more next week :)

Saw Mum on Wed. She's looking so great and gosh has gorgeous skinny ankles and legs... loss of muscle tone and all that.... we told her it wasn't really the 'right' way to go about weightloss though, its good to be able to laugh about things still. Taking both boys to see her again tomorrow as Greg's at work and we have nothing else to do. And then she'll be out Tuesday! I'm thinking we'll go over on the Wed tho as Jai has that day as Ekka holiday.

Tonight I'm off to a house-warming party for my school friend Erinna who has recently bought a house with her fiancee. Will be good to see the girls and probably some others from school that I only saw at their engagement party a year and a half ago (but scary coz I hate looking fat in front of old school friends who saw me skinnier - at least I've just had a bub huh?). Some of 'the girls' havent even seen Eli yet either will be good to show him off. Will definitely take the camera I think... Am leaving Greg and Jaidyn at home tho as Greg starts work early in the morning..

Well thats about all for now... N xx

Weekend catch-up...

Ok, the baby is asleep, the washing is in the machine (now to just get it on the line today!) and I have uploaded teh photos onto the computer. So have a bit of time to share about my weekend now...

On Saturday we went to my old friend Sam's wedding. It was really lovely, and of course she looked just soooo beautiful. She didn't stop smiling all day! This is her second marriage - the first guy was a bit of a 'dick' to say it semi-politely, so its so great to see her happy and with a guy who treats her like a princess. Unfortunately blogger (or my computer that has a temperamental hard-drive) won't let me upload any piccies, darn!

Anyway, then we got home and went straight out again - oh goodness I was so beat already. We went for a friendly poker night with chips and such with a group of good friends from church... Karen, bless her heart, was thinking of me and we made home-made pizzas on lebanese breads so it was a *lot* more healthy than the Pizza Hut variety - and more yummy too I reckon... I did blow the points just a *little* though with a few extra squares of chocolate and a handful of lollies... oh well, its a process isn't it?? And I didn't eat anywhere near as I would have *previously*...

After only 6 hours sleep (I need 8!) we had a HUGE day at church Sunday. Had our 'Sundae Arvo' kids event straight after church, which I co-ordinate... so after a sermon that went a bit too long, we rushed around setting everything up for a BBQ lunch and activities for the kids of the church and community. God has truly blessed this ministry! How awesome He is!! Everything pretty much went off without a hitch - everyone did their jobs, and I was free to just wander, feed baby and generally supervise and watch the afternoon unfold. The kids had a great time and were fairly well behaved which is a bonus :) I was particuarly blessed by my beautiful friend Megan (my soul sister). She is just 16 and she organised the worship team as well as most of the input/story time with the kids. God was sooo working through her and is growing her to be an awesome woman of God and of leadership. SO TRULY blessed to have her in this ministry and someone I can call a friend :) Love you Megs!!

In other news, my Mum is due to come home FOR GOOD in a little over a week!! WOW!! How awesome is that!! So blessed! God has so looked after her :) She is expected to come home on the 15th August - will be exactly 3 months since she went in for her op.. wow time flies by too.... I still remember it all fairly clearly. Which reminds me I should scrap some thoughts on it before I lose them. So yeah, keep praying for her though - that she WILL be out then and will only just keep getting better then :)

Well, I *was* going to put up some piccies of my cute little man, but as I said previously, its not letting me... gggrrrr, always seems to be the way. So another boring text only post from me today.

I'm having a great day today so far. Have done washing, have run a couple of errands already, and hope to do some scrapping after lunch. Then a big long walk this arvo, and good old census tonight.

Have a good one, Nat xx

5 things I'm thankful for today are:
1. The healing power of Jesus Christ! Amen!
2. Fitting (ok, squeezing) into some pre-pregnancy pants on Sunday :)
3. Megan - love you girl xx
4. My church family
5. A baby that is soooo well-behaved even tho he's been dragged all over the place the last few days!

Weigh-in

Well, today was D-day with WW. Had my first weigh-in and am (fairly) pleased with the result. I had a loss of 0.8kg. I *was* hoping for a little more, but considering the weekend I had and a *few* unwise choices too, thats pretty good! I'm planning to have a bigger loss this week!

Just that quick little update for now. I have written a longer post about my weekend, but wanted to include some piccies, so hopefully I'll get to do that tomorrow.

Night, N xx

My 5 things today are:
1. A LOSS at weight watchers
2. Paradise Lite bickies, now in mini-packs - 10 little bickies for 1.5 points - noice!
3. That I finally got my ALDI groceries done today
4. A comfy bed
5. Sunshine

Tagged

Its been a while since I've done one of these - thanks for tagging me Megan :)

1. How old are you? 24
2. How many kids do you have if any? 2 wonderful boys - Jaidyn who's 5.5 and Elijah who's 10 weeks. I guess you can add my husband Greg to that 'kids' description too, lol.
3. Are you married, single, divorced, widow? Married - celebrating our 2 year anniversary in a week and a half.
4. What is your occupation? I am a trained early childhood taecher, but right now I'm enjoying being a SAHM.
5. What are your passions? God, my family, my church, my friends, scrapbooking.
6. Are you a dreamer or a dream seeker? I think probably more of a dreamer, as I have a problem with actually following through with things (something God's challenging me with now though!)
7. Are you happy with the way you life has turned out? Absolutely. God works in awesome ways. He gives us trials and even persecutions, but He's got it in His hands and he has truly blessed me lately. I don't really think there's any part of my life I'm not happy with right now.
8. Are you a scrapper and if so how many hours a week do you scrap? I probably get to scrap for a few hours a week.
9. What do you want to do before you die? See my family saved, have more kids (hopefully a daughter!), watch my kids grow up, get thin and healthy.
10. What is your favorite food? cheesecake, chocolate, warm chunky beef stew (drooolll...), seafood, coffee.
11. What is the food you hate the most? Can't think of anything I HATE with a passion, I like most things.
12. What is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you? have probably blocked it from my memory!
13. What is the happiest day of your life thus far? When my boys were born, when I got married, when I was saved.
14. Are you a neat freak? Or a dirty house cleaner? I would really LIKE to be neat, but I don't much like housework and my house is most of the time untidy - its not dirty to a disgusting extend, but usually somewhat untidy - and I always have to clean when people come over - like I'll be doing today :)

OK, that one ends kinda abruptly... but anyway, I'm going to tag LUSI, SALLY and KATHIE.

Onto some real stuff now... my WW is going along really well. I'm excited about weighing in on Monday and most probably (bloody better!) seeing a loss. Haven't seen a loss on scales for about a year, so it will be welcomed and a great motivation. Now let's just hope I do lose! I think I will tough coz I'm feeling much better in myself - have more energy and am enjoying my food. Even so, I am definitely noticing how much more HUNGRY I am lately. I guess before I was stuffing my face with bits and pieces throughout the day that were high in carbs so I stayed full longer.. but now I'm actually eating fruit and vegie sticks and youghurt and balancing it out much better. I get hungry a lot sooner, but I feel better.. and I'm giving the 'distractions' from food a bit of a work-out - like coming on the computer, reading my WW books again, sticking on some worship music, playing with the baby or watching some TV...

AND I've walked twice this week - yay. Walked Jai from school on Tuesday and have walked him to school this morning. I also have to pick him up too, as Greg took my car to work today. My legs kill with all the hills around here (hence the suburb being called Ferny HILLS!) but it feels darn good!

Got a wedding to go to Saturday. I am taking my dress back to the store though as the zip won't stay up (and its not because my back is too fat either!)... I saw some new dresses in the same shop (as they'll probably only give me a credit voucher for the store) so fingers crossed one of them will fit and look nice on me :) Otherwise I'll just have to throw some things together of my previously owned, maternity-style wardrobe.... plus I'm raiding my friend's jewellery stash coz between her and her mum they have heaps!! yummm... love jewellery :)

Just having a day of housework and other house stuff today. Got cell group here tonight so the house HAS to be done today! Ok, have a great day all, I think I'll go do the bathroom first.

Nat :)