Blessings and changes

It's been a very busy couple of weeks around here - a time of wonderful blessings and new things in the Mardon household, and we are praising our God for His awesome provision. Looking back, it seems He has always given us new things in multiples. Makes it a little harder to adjust to all at once, but He knows our hearts, and I beleive that He is rewarding us for our faith in Him and His provisions in our life.

Firstly, I started my new job on Monday! I am working Mon/Tues as a group leader for a brand new Christian childcare centre. I feel very blessed to be able to work in such a wonderful, spiritaul and encouraging workplace, and just knowing that we are all sisters of the Kingdom of God makes it all a little easier. We started with small numbers (of kids) - I had 2 on Monday, but 8 on Tuesday - but this is good as it allows us all to find our feet, get to know each other, and for myself and my teaching partner, who have both not been in this role before, to get our head around it too! Its a change for me working full days too, so I'll have to get used to that aspect too! Had a great first week though, and am excited to get into planning for next week.

My home-based business, Patooties has had a real blessing this week, with a new influx of orders (praise God), keeping me very busy. I just thought I would get on top of the orders, and I've had more come in, putting me back to a longer wait time than I would like, but who am I to complain about God's blessings for me and my family? Its still super exciting to get each new order too, and thankfully I still love doing this, even if it does take up a lot (if not all) of my 'me' time...

So life for me right now is about finding the perfect balance between it all - work & programming, making nappies, time with my husband, time with my kids, house-work, and time with God - which I really need to work on a bit more... my life is about as full as it can be I think!

In other super exciting news in our house, Greg has got a new job!! We are so over the moon about it too, and thanking God for His Awesome provision and answer to our prayers. He knows the desires of our heart, and has a plan for us.
Work in Toys R Us has been really difficult for him lately. He's been continually denied a promotion that he deserves, the hours are long, and he's just not been happy as a result. We have long-term plans for him to do an electrical apprenticeship, but the companies are not really hiring at the moment, so we looked for something else for now. He has found a job working with the Brisbane City Council, in their call-centre. Mon-Fri, 38 hours/week, a rostered day every f/n, and only $1k less than he was earning for being a manager (responsibility) and working up to 53 hours a week! A 'sacrifice', that with my new employment subsidising the loss, we are willing to take!! I am very much looking forward to having him home on Saturdays!! (esp as I'm now working Mon which is his current day off, so we can't even have it together anymore)... And as an added bonus, Greg's best mate Mark also landed the same job... I swear those two are the same person sometimes... they worked together in Aldi a couple of years ago, and now will be working together again! It's all good here!! He starts on the 28th of this month. We will be counting down the days.

Greg's actually been home this week, and we're thoroughly enjoying it. Yesterday we ventured into the city and went to see Kung Fu Panda all together. We had written off the movies as a family activity for a while, with the 2 babes at ages that wouldn't work with movies, but we decided to see how it went again, and I think its definitely do-able!! Lani slept through most of the movie, and Eli only got a bit restless towards the end, when he wanted to walk up and down the aisles... it was a cute movie though, and we were all practicing our Kung Fu afterwards. We had a little walk around SouthBank and then headed to Maccas for lunch... it was so nice to have a day out together, as its something that we hardly ever get to do - with church things on Sundays, and Jai at school on Mondays (Greg's other day off currently)... so you can imagine how much we look forward to having Saturdays for 'family stuff' again!!

So that's life in the Mardon household right now. Very busy and full, but all good! Our God is a good God.

Just want to also send my love to Jac and family - a terrible accident happened to little Miss Emily this week. My thoughts and prayers are with you all Jac, as you take this journey to healing for Miss Em.

Hope you are all having a wonderful week.
Nat xx

5 things I'm thankful for today (its easy to make this list today):
1. God's awesome provision in every little way for our family!
2. Greg's new job!!
3. My new job, and the wonderful working environment I have, and the friendships I'm going to make with the girls there.
4. New orders for Patooties (even if I can't keep up with them!)
5. A wonderful day together as a family yesterday