Love you Sis!!

Here's a KISS just for my little sis in Holland!



Heehee.... Love love love you Shanny! Thankyou so so much for commenting on my blog, it means so much to me! Miss you so much and can't wait till you're back, though I'm sure you'll be a different woman hey!

Have you guys ever looked back though YOUR OWN archives? After reading that my sis had been looking through all my previous posts, I went and had a quick squizzy through them too. What a gem of an experience! So many things, thoughts, feelings we forget as the days pass, but to have them all written down, raw, real at that time, is so priceless. I too easily don't get to scrap all those moments I so want to at the time, but to have them all here on the web, for me to go through one at a time when I want to scrap, is so precious. I can just go back, cut and paste the journalling and the experience will be as real in my LOs as it was then. That is so special! Jow just to find the time to go back and scrap them all!

Have a super day all.
What do you have planned for the weekend?

N xx

My 5 things today:
1. My blog and being able to record things for future reference and reflection.
2. My beautiful sister over in Holland. I miss you terribly Shanny and really can't wait to have you back to us - only a few more months hey girl! (bum, I'm going to miss your 18th too)
3. My To-Do List and accountability on the SOF forum
4. A bueatiful sunshiney day!
5. Morning coffee

About time I know...

Gosh I've been so flat-out the last couple of weeks. Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines. Meetings, meetings, meetings. Pheeewwww... enough to make my head spin! But the last meeting was over today (for a little while anyway) and I have some time to update my blog *properly*.

Firstly, I now have a 4 month old baby! Can you believe it, the time has gone by so darn fast! I can't beleive he's 4 months old already. I took some shots of him the other day and oh.... so so sooooo cute..... I just want to eat him all up!! Check out this cheeky little monkey:






He's now trying to roll over! Cheeky monkey...



Doesn't time just FLY by wit ha little one. You've gotta watch every little moment or you'll miss something!

What else? I have got a new bookmark. Not just *any* bookmark, but my 5kgs achievement bookmark from Weight Watchers, meaning, yes, I've lost my first 5kgs! I'm really excited about that. WW is actually working for me! I can actually do this!

Our church has been participating in a short seminar taught by a man named Stuart Gramenz, on 'How to heal the sick through the power of Jesus Christ'. Awesome awesome powerful powerful stuff! Unfortunately I missed the first two meetings - and am kicking myself for it now, but I went along Sunday night, which was #3 of 4. He is actually equipping US as christians to use the healing power of Christ, not just watching big evangelists like Benny Hinn do it. It is a privilegdge of Christ that all christians have the authority to do - praise God! Week 4 is going to be a night of healing, puuting all we've learnt into practice (good thing I bought the CDs to go back over what I missed). It's going to be awesome, a night of true healing and seeing the signs and wonders of my mighty God! Can't wait! I'm really praying that my Mum will come along. I have asked her, and I guess have to leave it up to God to bring her now.

Well, not really much else to mention. Been so long since I updated, I'm sure more has happened... oh well, next time if I remember. Just wanted to really get those pics of my handsome little man up there!

Ciao!

Oh, my 5 things to be thankful for today are:
1. The healing power of Jesus Christ.
2. My pastors Craig and Robyn - such awesome people of God!!
3. Heidi Swapp chipboard alphas! I have a new stash and its just sooo yummy!!
4. All the SOF girls - love yas!
5. Greg is having holidays in a couple of weeks, yay!

Quick update

Praise God!! That last two nights, Elijah has slept through! Yes!! I know its only early days and could be a fluke, but I'm believing God for my sleep back! I feel really refreshed today as I got to sleep from 10-6. The bottle is working wonders!

And we're all going to church today. Gosh I need it after skipping twice.

And I have new clothes to wear - yeeha!

And we're having a church lunch as its one of the pastors kid's 18th!

Have a fantastic Sunday all!

Another week down...

... and yes I've been a lazy blogger. It comes for me in waves... some weeks I'll blog lots and others I just get caught up in something else or there's not much interesting happening.

This week I've been caught up in the Scrap of Faith forums. What a wonderful bunch of girls, all sharing our faith and the love of Jesus. Almost every post gives me the warm fuzzies. These girls are the best bunch and I love you all to bits!!

I did my first SOF class on Tuesday night. I'm glad it was an online class and the girls had instructions to follow rather than me as that night I was having a shocker with the baby and with time management!! Eli was whingy all through 'rush hour' and we finally got dinner on the table at about 7.20pm - needless to say I was still eating when I was saying hello in class at 7.30! But what an awesome forgiving bunch of girls - they gave me an extra 10 mins to fix myself up and it went off all good. The good thing about online classes hey - I even had baby on boob through some of it, and that still works!! Still haven't seen any of the layouts though girls - hope you get to finish them off this weekend!!

This week also marked a change in things with my little man. We decided finally, after a few weeks of fussing and waking for night feeds again, to complement with a bottle of formula at night for Elijah. It was really special for Greg too coz now he gets to feed the little man and have that special bonding time. Eli took to the bottle really well. At first he made a few funny looks, but then gulped it all down, and he's had almost a full 'small' bottle (150ml) on top of the boob each night. At the moment he's still waking at 4am, but I think it might be a 'body clock' problem, so I'm tring to let him cry himself back to sleep. So far it hasn't worked, but we've been letting him cry for a while - 10-20 mins, then I've bit the bullet and fed him. Had a mini breakthrough last night though and he woke at 5.45am instead for his feed. So maybe we'll just see slow progress towards sleeping through again! Praying for it!! I'd love a full night's sleep again!!

Hmm... what else... oh I did a class at my LSS on Thursday. It was great to scrap with some others and actually get something done coz I didn't have to think about it - classes are good in that way!! We made a cute little handbag-shaped accordion album. Mine is not finished yet, and I haven't decided what photos to use yet, but I'm going to give it to my Mum, so I did it in yummy white, lime green and blue tones as her lounge has a yummy lime green wall, and those colours will go wel with photos of my boys.... it will be a 'grandma's brag book'... I've been meaning to do something for her since she's been in hspital but never quite got around to it or had the perfect idea, so I'm really pleased with this one... I also want to make templates before I fut it all back together so I can reproduce it for myself!!

Had TWO chats with my girl Lusi yesterday/last night. Love you girl and love your chats. Always a humbling, blessed and inspiring experience chatting to you!!

Enjoying a lazy weekend - love em! Greg's got the weekend off and we don't really have a whole lot planned. Bacon and eggs for brekkie, a bit of scrapping, bit of a video maybe, Jaidyn is doing some *arrr* pirate crafts..... lovely day today!!

Have a great weekend!

My 5 things to be thankful for today are:
1. Rainy weekend
2. Hubby's weekend off and family time
3. Internet resources for kids!
4. Webcams so that our family can see our gorgeous little man
5. The SOF community and the love that Christ shows through all of us!

Fun Fun and sick little boys...

Well, I had a BALL yesterday at the Brissy Crop organised by Chris Millar. Thanks Chris for all your hard work!! It was great to see some girls I haven't in a while - Rozzy, Chris, Michelle, Ruthy and Diana, and to meet some new friends too - Karen, Sarah, Jo and Katrina ... and Sal, you're always a hoot girl!!



Sal and I - not crazy in the slightest...

The Scrap of Faith girls - Sal, Roz, Karen, Ruthy, myself and Diana

Karen and I
* not a good pic but I'm still fiddling with the camera and we left it til dark to take them all...






I hardly did ANY scrapping as usual... maybe I talk a *little* too much, hehe... and I was sitting next to Roz so I just drooled and drooled over her work and her yummy scrap tote! hehe... I did finish off a couple of pages on the sewing machine though. Tis a dark day here today so will have to photograph layouts later...

I even won two prizes yay! Won one round of 'heads and tails' and I think a lucky door prize too which was all the instructions to make Michelle Grant's yummy yummy doodling journal... excited to get a start on that... I even had a go at some of her doodles during the day and was surprised that they actually looked good! Yes, I can doodle too it seems!

My little man Elijah has been sick the last couple of days, but despite that was soooooo good yesterday at the crop. He had a few little whingly moments, but all in all, what an angel. Rozzy took some cute piccies of him too, so you'll have to email me them R!!

Actually both my boys are sick. However Eli is much easier to handle!! Jaidyn is having a right cranky little day today. Two sick cranky boys this morning and there was no way I was tackling getting out of the house again, so we skipped church again this week. I do hate missing it, but Eli really just needs to stay home and be able to sleep in his own bed today. And hopefully they'll both be well next week!

Ahh, can't remember what else I've done this week... so yeah! That will have to do today! Hope you're all having a nice Sunday... its raining here so I would like to get some scrapping done this arvo if the cranky sick boys will let me!

N xx

5 things I'm grateful for today:
1. My beautiful friends Roz, Sal and Karen
2. Meeting Sarah yesterday - you rock and we'll have to scrap again soon!
3. Rainy Sundays
4. Being blessed with such an angel baby - even when he's sick!
5. The love of Christ - for no particular reason other than how could I live without it!!

Random

Somehow the little bits and pieces of my life seem so frivilous compared to the amount of loss that others are going through right now. So I'll start with those.

* My heart goes out to Terry Irwin and the kids today. What a tragic loss it was when Steve died yesterday. Will have them in my prayers today. Life is so easily taken away isn't it - here one moment, and could be gone the next... I guess at least I know where I'm going when I die... RIP Crikey!

* My heart and prayers are also with Mel & John Miller and their family today for the funeral of their little princess Rani. Sometimes its hard to see where God's plan could be in the loss of such a tiny life, but we just gotta trust Him. I have seen already the immense strength this family has endured over the last year (although I have only been following for a month maybe), so I'm sure He's doing something there!

* And my good friends Karen and Michelle will also be at a funeral today. Their grandfather passed away last week, so they are in my prayers today also. Love you girls.

Now about me and my life:
* In a nutshell, had a rather social weekend, but also had both afternoons to chill out doing nothing. And for some reason I was incredibly tired all weekend - thin the waking for feeds again is catching up with me. We had our wonderful friends Ben and Michelle over for coffee Friday night. Its been far too long since we caught up with them alone - its always at church or cell. So that was really nice!

* Saturday morning we had our cell social breakfast. We were supposed to go rock climbing at Kangaroo Point cliffs in Bris, but the rain over the previous days caused them to be closed for access for the weekend... so everyone came here coz we have a BBQ! It was a yummy breakfast.

* Sunday we 'wagged' church. Just really wanted to do nothing! We played some card-games with Jaidyn, and I did some scrapping throughout the afternoon.

Then we decided to go out on a whim for dinner for Fathers Day. (mostly because we had no food).. so where did we pick? The ultra-healthy Sizzler of course! LOL. I didn't do *too* bad but still ate more than I should have :) Was good though.

So as you can imagine I was really dreading WW weigh-in yesterday. And after I left my headlights on and the battery went flat, I thought I'd got away . And after that week, I was VERY happy to see that the scales had not moved! Was really expecting a gain of some degree, so I'm really happy I only wasted a week and don't have to work to get any extra weight off. This week I'm planning, maybe even tracking, and exercising! Gotta have a good loss.

* Got a busy weekend coming up. My friend's Hens Party is on Friday night. We are having drink, nibblies and games at her house from 5pm so I'm going along to that. Then they are off to dinner and out for the night, so I'm going to ditch that as I'll have bubby with me, and we are very low on the funds till mid-month!

Then Saturday I have the Brissie Crop Day! Yay! Been waiting so long for this and finally its come! Guess I better organise some things to do hey - need to get me some photos printed this week. Can't wait to see Rozzy again, and lots of other girls, and even meet a few too. Should be a great day!

* Sal is coming over for a coffee this afternoon, yay!

* Mum and Dad are coming for dinner tonight, as its my sister's b'day tomorrow (22). So that means today is a FULL CLEAN-UP of the house as Mum hasn't been here since her operation over 3 months ago - and I don't want it to look like I haven't cleaned in that time, lol. So I've got a little bit of spring-cleaning to do - tackling our 'junk-pile' and then the regular stuff like bathrooms, bedrooms, washing, kitchen, floors and tidying away my scrapping stuff.. oh and the groceries! I'm in for a BIG DAY, so I'm doing the pc this morning, then won't get on again today (help me with that please God!)

My 5 things:
* Life - how quickly it can be taken.
* That I'm going to Heaven to be with My Father when I die.
* My new webcam - so I can show my sis o/s my little man.
* God's strength and guidance in my life.
* Coffee

Bugger - I've forgotten how to link again!! Ggrrr....

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 :)

WW and new scrapping community...

So I went to my first WW meeting today! Yay! About time. It was great. Motivating. I'm excited about embarking on this journey - and I'm going to ACHEIVE this time around. For life OK! As this is the first time I've done WW though, I need to have a real good look through my books to fully understand how it all works, and then I guess plan a week of eating according to the little info we have been given. I think we get the actualy points converter next week so I'm not sure how I'm meant to calculate it all, but I'm sure I'll get by. Being a breastfeeding mum I'm on 32 points, which I hear is heaps, and often hard to eat that many points. But I also know that its important to make sure I DO take in that many because if not, my body will hold onto my fat stores in order to make my milk instead of using the nutrients from food. So gotta eat my 32 points! Guess tonight I'll be spending a bit of time working out an eating plan. Seeing what I can and can't keep eating and so on. I hope I can get the hang of it enough to have a successful week. I'm looking forward to it though.

In other news, I have been introduced to a gorgeous girl, Sally who is starting a new blog-group. This sounds awesome, so go check it out at www.scrapoffaith.typepad.com (sorry I don't know how to link!). Yes, as the name suggests, it will be christian scrapping site. But that doesn't mean those of you who aren't christian shouldn't go check it out - why not just go have a look! Sally will be making up kits each month and donating 1/2 of proceeds to various organisations. So good on you Sally, and I look forward to being a part of the community.

Hope you all had a great weekend and start to the new week. We had a fairly non-eventful weekend really, so nothing to really report (I don't think). Lol, its Monday night now so I've already forgotten the weekend!

My 5 things today are:
1. A gracious God that is going to HELP me to lose weight!
2. Friends that are going to support me to lose weight - Carol and Jodi, love yas!
3. My beautiful friend Megan.
4. Lusi, who I had a great chat to on Saturday.
5. My dryer again, coz again I didn't get the washing on the line!

Nat xx

Fearless of Fearful?

While browsing blogs yesterday I came upon a gem on Cathy Zielske's blog (sorry don't know how to link, you probably all have the address anyway). A real thinker. A real change-your-life, or at least your day, experience. She asked us what WE have done in our lives that was FEARLESS??

We go through life harbouring so much fear for what *might* happen, what people *might* think, what *might* go wrong. How true that is!

Let's step out of our comfort zones and really LIVE!

So what have YOU done that has been fearless? Or what did you do anyway DESPITE being fear-FUL??

Took a while to think about this one.

The first thing that sprung to my mind was probably deciding to keep my baby and become a Mum at age 17. This was both a fearless and fearful experience really. There was no way I was terminating my pregnancy - that decision was a fearless one. But anticipating how my life would change, what I would be like as a mother, would I still get a degree/career etc, that was the fearFUL time. But I did it. I changed my life. And it was the best thing I've ever done. God had a plan for my life, and if I had aborted (get shivers at that word) I would most probably not be anywhere near where I am right now in life. Where I am HAPPY right now. I would also most probably not be with MY GOD, and how heart-breaking would that be!

On a day-to-day basis I DON'T do a lot of things that I should, or that God is calling me to do, because of fear. Fear of rejection? Fear of change? I don't know. Fear of stepping out of my comfort zone most probably.

But God calls me to a higher cause! He calls me to STEP OUT IN FAITH! He calls me to be a witness to my non-christian friends. He calls me to be a loving friend and sister to my christian friends. He calls me to serve. He calls me to love.

I just gotta step out.

And this week, I'm gonna try to obey him just that *bit* more, without *thinking* about it. Just do it!

So what have you done?

Nat

bits and pieces

My floor is clean - yes! Got the vacuuming done today (well the important part of the house anyway) which only took me like a week to find time for :)

Naughty naughty me. I have become a bit of a 'spendaholic' lately and its a bad habit I don't want to develop. Have been buying sooo much stuff lately, probably stuff I don't really need either. Gotta kick that quick smart coz won't have the money for it next month... NOT going to spend ANYthing else (except groceries etc) till next months pay - that's two more weeks!!

On the topic of buying, I am so happy that I found a nice dress to wear to a wedding we're going to next weekend. I was starting to get worried I would not find anything, but found a nice one and for 20% off too!

Oh, and I got a nice little parcel from Cass from Scrap Pile today. Some nice little embellishments and ribbons I soooo didn't really need but were so pretty I just had to order them! Naughty.... no more spending I promise!!

Bubby is starting to settle better on his tummy for his day sleeps. I'm a little paranoid about it and am continually checking to see he's breathing! But he's sleeping better for it.... I'm not ready to let him sleep that way through the night though....

He's sleeping through fairly consistently now... provided he has his dinner-feed not too early. He's going between 8-10 hours a night. How blessed are we!! Praise God!

Something seems to be wrong with Greg's car again. It was displaying multiple warning lights on his way home last night, so to be safe I took him to work this morning - nice and early at 6am! He's going to have a closer look at it tomorrow, hoping its nothing coz we only just bought a whole new motor a few months ago.

I went for a walk yesterday! Can you believe it!! Greg and I walked Jaidyn to school, which is about 20 mins each way. I hope to get into a routine of being able to walk him to or from school regularly - depending on when Eli feeds of course...

I'm going to join Weight Watchers on Monday. Am well and truly ready to lose this extra weight now, and sick of putting it off week after week. Losing time when I could be losing weight. Have 2 friends from church joining with me too, so hopefully that will help keep me accountable. And some girls to walk with too :) I have new walking clothes (coz my old stuff didn't fit!) so no more excuses - except its raining today! Ha!

Well better go get baby fed so I can go pick up hubby from work :)

My 5 things today:
1. Beautiful rain! Let's hope it makes enough difference to the dams now :)
2. Grocery day - we have food in the house again now, yay!
3. New scrap stuff
4. Some awesome blogs that have really made me think - eg Cathy Zielske's 'fearless' post from a few days/weeks ago
5. My beautiful little boys :)

EnJOYing life...

Eli's early morning feed timed perfectly with watching Joyce Meyer's 'Enjoying Everyday Life' this morning. I always hope that if he wakes during the night, its at 4am so I can get some good spiritual input too!

Anyway, today Joyce spoke on ENJOYING LIFE and having the JOY of God in our hearts, minds and spirits ALWAYS! Now generally I do think think of myself as a 'joyful' person (just ignore the last two posts then, when I'm having a whinge!) so this really rung true with me, and even though I do try to be joyful in all circumstances, its till good to hear the confirmation of the goodness of it from the Bible. I just wanted to share some of the points she made. It may or may not speak to you.

* We need to get rid of thinking that says "I'll be glad when......" Because just when you are over one hurdle, life will shortly give you another - its what life is about. We need to have thinking that says "I'll be glad NOW, no matter what life throws at me!"

* The joy of the Lord should be our normal mood, not something that comes and goes depending on our circumstance at the time.

* Romans 8:28 - And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

* The writer of Eclesiastes (sp?) tells us to be joyful about our work. And rightly so - be thankful you HAVE a job!

* Every day we have to 'put on christ' and choose to have a right mind.

* There is usually a reason for a 'bad mood'... what happened yesterday or this past week that is making us feel this way??

* John 10:10 - Jesus said 'the theif comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that you may HAVE LIFE, and have it TO THE FULL!'

*THE JOY OF THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH!!

And in other news, Mum is coming home for a few hours today (they are letting her do this a couple of times a week now I think - yay!), so Jaidyn is taking the day of school and we're going for lunch ans some special family time :) Really looking forward to seeing her in her own environment again.

5 things to be JOYFUL about today:
1. Spending time with Mum at her house.
2. I got some scrapping done last night, yay!
3. An email from my gorgeous friend Lusi.
4. Milk and bread in the house again!
5. Time with both my boys today.

Have a JOYFUL day all,
Nat xx

Short and sweet

Not much to say today.

Eli has been terribly unsettled most of the day. Right now he's kinda asleep lying across my lap on his belly, but it probably won't last long, and I can't really do much like this!

The house is a mess and I've done neither of the two things I really wanted to get done today.

Plus I'm really dying to scrap, but who knows when that will happen.

Not much of a productive day really. I just hope I can get a couple things done and the house looking kinda OK for when Greg gets home tonight.

Prayers for a solid afternoon sleep for Elijah please?? (but not too long coz I still want him to sleep tonigh!)

N xx

5 things I'm appreciating for today (and I gotta look to these when having a crappy day):

1. Christian authors who help you to see it how it really is (eg Joyce Meyer).
2. Dummies (of the pacifying variety)
3. Salad sandwiches and cheesecake
4. My dryer
5. That God is in control of my life!!

I hate rush hour

WHY do both children have to chuck tantrums at the same time? And why is it always 5pm?

Here's me trying to finish the dishes, take washing off the line and start tea with one screaming baby who is fighting not to sleep, and one 5-yr old who's chucking a tantrum coz he has to have a bath!

Enough already!

And then DH gets home and wonders why I look like a wreck! Its all in the hour between 5-6pm I tell you!

Enough already!

Bring it on!

Totally looking forward to this week. I have no real engagements! Time for me. Time for my baby. Time for scrapping. Time for the house. Time for God! I've been flat-out with going places a couple of times each day for the last 2 weeks, so I CAN'T WAIT to do NOTHING!! Funny how ou don't realise how much 'me time' means to you till you don't get any. And to all those Mums out there who work full-time, I don't know how you do it! Good on you!

Now, to get off this computer and make the most of this 'me time'.

5 things I'm grateful for today:
1. ME time
2. That I have an awesome husband that works long hours and gets us good money so I don't have to go straight back to work, and can be home with my beautiful baby.
3. A baby that is starting to SLEEP through the night. What a blessing!
4. God's strength
5. Junk mail - gotta love a good catalogue

Have a great week all.
Nat :)

Everyday Moments and Circle Journals

Have been reading all about the new Everyday Moments competition that is being run for the next 8 months by FK and Aussie Scrap Source. Looks good! I'm really interested in participating but most probably not entering the comp. The themes sound inspirational and topics that I *should* have in an album anyway. So I'm going to try to challenge myself to do the 3 layouts for each topic each month, but I'm just gong to use whatever p[roductd I have or want to. I'm just going to make it for me. I think I'll stick with the 8.5x11 format size as I'm really enjoying using it now, and definitely don't think I could go back to 12x12 - just too big... mind you, I'm totally LOVING how NIC does her pages (12x12 and 8.5x11) of late, with lots of white (or colour!) space around the focus of pics and elements in the centre. Looks great Nic - you're such an inspiration to me....

I have also been thinking lately that I'd like to be involved in another Circle Journal! I really loved doing CJs and its been a while since I've done one.... so does anyone want to join me? The beautiful Lusi is already interested, but we need some more girls! Let me know hey!

Anyway, that's about all today. Had another totally busy day as has been my whole last few weeks! Tomorrow I don't have to BE anywhere, so I'm going to have a GOOD day! Will plan to do stuff (bit of housework, bit of scrapping etc) but probably won't get anything done as usual!!

Have a good weekend all.
N xx

5 Things I'm grateful for today:
1. The Internet
2. Greg's day off
3. Awesome scrapping inspiration from girls like YOU!
4. Worship music
5. My pastor, Craig

Celebrating Life!

Been trying to think of a new title for my blog. Want to portray the gift that is life, and be positive. Not sure if this will stick, as its not too sassy lol, but until I think of something better, I will be CELEBRATING LIFE.

In order to do that, I'm going to steal a leaf from Lusi's blog and list some things I'm grateful for today.

1. Living in Australia where there is no war.
2. Family
3. A good cuppa in the morning.
4. A good income so I can bless others.
5. Life!

Enjoy your lives today all :)

Random thoughts

When you have only a few moments in the early hours of the morning, a random post seems to be the way to get some things down.

* My baby seems to be beginning to sleep through, yay! For the last two nights he's slept from about 9.30-5am. It would be better if it was 6am, but I do like getting up early - having some time to myself before Jai gets up. Yay to little Eli!

* Just watching the news... there is so much crap going on in our world these days. So much disaster. War in Lebanon, another tsunami, shootings, dog maulings... where are the feel-good stories these days huh? I guess that's why I like watching ACA and Today Tonight, coz they usually have some stuff that renews our faith in human nature. Makes me ponder just how close the end of this world (and the coming of my Lord!) may be?

* New life is such a miracle! Praise God! Just looking at my little man who has just fallen asleep in his rocker next to me, his dummy squashed up against his little face - so precious. Yes, there is definitely still much beauty in this world....

* I'm addicted to coffee. Not so good when I should be cutting down while breast-feeding, but I just seem to want more and more... and so not good for the colour of my teeth either.

* I participated in Kim's online class 'Hour of Power' yesterday... well, it was an hour of chaos for me. lol! Got about half of it done I think, but I MUST finish it, so it doesn't end up in my pile of UFOs that just gets bigger and bigger. Thanks though Kim! Your stuff is always beautiful.

* Will be catching up briefly with Dianna, Shazz, Ruthy and some other ladies on Friday. I have't met Shazz yet, so that will be good, and always good to see Ruthy's smiling happy face!

* The Biggest Loser is coming back! Yay! Gotta love that show. They really make AJ look so big on TV though. I have her book and thought she was much thinner... unless they MADE her get fatter... who would do that though when it was suc a struggle to get it off? Anyway, hopefully I'l be able to get all motivated and lose weight WITH them this time :)

* Gotta go see my Mummy today. Haven't ben for a week and a half ad I feel terrible that I have let life get so busy around me. I'm just DYING for a day off, to just sit at home and do nothing (but a bit of housework).. but it seems its not to be this week!

* Just wanna do a call-out to my beautiful friend Lusi! Love you girl and really trying to find some time to have a chat! Last night was just not working... lol... cell group tonight, but maybe tomorrow night huh? Hope you are feeling better today sweetie :) thinking of you and your gorgeous family.

Have a great day all,
N xxx

Swamped!

Goodness me, been SO swamped lately! Swamped with relatives staying, swamped with meetings to attend, swamped with just general things to do! Yikes! Actually today will be the first day in like 2 weeks or so that I don't really HAVE to go out. Well, apart from groceries after school and to duck down to print some photos... lol, my life never seems to be 'totally free' anymore...

I'm doing Kim Archer's Hour of Power class today, which I'm really looking forward to! I just hope this computer will work for long enough to be there for the class. Our internet connection is stuffed somehow (probably the cheap wireless Greg bought), so I'm using his brother's Apple today. Now, apple is rather different to PC and I'm pretty computer-illiterate, so I'll probably break something before 1pm today! Fingers crossed. Anyway, the class is 'what's in a name?' so I'm going to do Eli (and then may even mimic it to do Jaidyn's name too... but I think I'm going to use the actual meaning of his name rather than using the acronym (?) like Kim has, as Eli doesn't really have *much* of a defined personality just yet!

Caught up with Erica, Roz, Tash and some of the Boxx girls on Monday. Was a great lunch together, although seems ed to go too fast as I didn't get thre till 11.30am and had to leave again at 2pm to do school pick-up! Think I was almost driving for longer than I was socialising... was good to see the girls though, and I got to meet the gorgeous little mcKenna Glover. she's just such an adorable little bundle Eck! hope to see you girls again soon, this time for a scrap day hey!

We took the boys to the Sciencentre on Saturday while the in-laws were up. I don't think I've been there since I was a kid, so it was almost a new experience. Lots of fun and cool stuff there. Our favourite thing was the giant table and chairs... its not really that scientific or anything but they've made furniture 1.75 times larger than normal, so its like you are a 3-yr old when you get up there! An absolute hoot! We took lots of pics, but i'll have to show those later when Greg hooks this Mac to our PC. I was really tired that day for some reason (even though I had a fairly good night's sleep) so I found some of it a little more boring than if I had more energy... man I really need to start to get out exercising again to help boost that!

Anyway, got lots to do today. have a whole house of cleaning that needs some attention, darn it.

N xx

More piccies

Hi all,

Just thought I might include some more piccies of the boys. Been trying to snap some whenever I can with Jaidyn home this week, however its so hard to get any decent ones! This one would be so much better without that dummy, lol! But I guess that's what kept him quiet so its part of it huh!

You may also notice the change in template... that last one was so boring. And I'm so unskilled when it comes to making pretty banners and html, so I can't even do a nice one of me and my boys... anyone offering for me??? please?? So a nice bright pink will have to do for now.... except that when I changed I lost all my blog links - bum..... so I'll work on slowly getting them back up.... (Lus, can you please email me your blog link again, so that I can keep uo with what's going on in your life please..?)

Well it seems that's all the pics blogger will let me upload in this post, so I'll post some more later. Now, I better go get my butt scrappin. I'm doing a mini concertina album for my Nana's b'day - which is today! I have a couple of hours to finish it... nothing like leaving it to the last minute!

Nat xx

I'm back

I have missed my poor pc so much. You may not have noticed, but I haven't been around for a week. My poor computer had something wrong with it.... I don't know what, I don't know how to check or what to look for, so it sat there unloved for a week until Greg had a chance to look at it... and now it *seems* to be working again, yay!

So lots to catch up on! (So typical that when I can't blog I seem to have so much to blog about!)

Greg is now a store manager of Aldi. He has totally worked his butt off the last 2 weeks setting up and opening his store at Toombul in Brisbane (if you're in there have a look or say hello to my handsome man!). Poor thing did about 100 hours between breaks.... wow, 100 hours!!! That was over about 8-10 days I think. I tell you he was soooo buggered his last two days of work I didn't know if he'd make it! I'm being a wonderful wife and have booked him in for a surprise massage on Saturday afternoon - he so needs it and so deserves it!

Mum is doing really well. Its such a blessing to see her improving so much. She's still in hospital while they continue to clean and heal her stomach wound but she looks so well, she has no tubes, her mental state is pretty good too, and well its just good to have 'Mum' back again...
And, she has FINALLY met Eli! It was such a special occasion. She hasn't held him yet, but we will go see her today, so hopefully she will be able to today. I took some pics of their first meeting, five and a half weeks after he entered the world (not good pics, but they document a special time).













My baby boy is now 6 weeks old! Goodness me, I can't believe it! You'd think I'd be able to get a nice photo though huh. No such luck - newborns are such a pain to photograph! This is his favourite *pose*: (well blogger doesn't want to let me upload any more pics for now, so I'll have to try again later.... ggrrrrr...)

Having the pc AWOL actually gave me time to scrap and not just procrastinate and waste time at the pc like I normally do.... have found some girls from church to scrap with now so that's awesome. As usual though, I haven't done the journalling on my LOs yet, so can't share them - really must get a new good black pen and do that!! (or maybe I'll use the computer instead)...

Well, better get going upstairs and spend some time with hubby while he's home this morning - and there's groceries to do and housework, darn it... will update some more later when I have time to think and when blogger will let me put pics up :)

N xx

A great weekend

It's been a pretty awesome weekend here. Greg had both days off so that's always a plus! Friday night I did some scrapping - despite the printer chucking a hissy fit, I just decided to print photos out on plain paper which for some reason works fine, and use them instead - and while it will probably take me another week to finish the layout, it was some scrapping all the same! Jaidyn and I are planning to make Mum a little concertina album about him and Elijah over the school holidays so I've got lots more scrapping to do now - Mum's projects included. :)

Yesterday started slow. Greg had to go into work for 1/2 hour which ended up being 1/2 the day... so I just pottered around here, did bits and pieces of housework and just pottering in general. Then when Greg came home we went out as a family. Had lunch together (just foodcourt stuff) then Greg took Jaidyn to see 'Cars'. I couldn't really go with Eli, so I just walked around the shops. Also saved $13 on a movie (man, they're expensive these days!), so of course I spent it elsewhere.... managed to find a few tops in BigW so I had a successful day. Have been looking for some new tops for the last few days. Everywhere has been crap - Target, Kmart, Rockmans, Crossroads.... always happens that I seem to find stuff in cheap old BigW! Yay, which in turn means I can buy more than one... I got 4 tops - 3 for $15 and one for $10 - bargain! Still haven't found any jeans - mainly because I'm refusing to admit I'm a size bigger - but THAT'S a different story! So that was a great afternoon..

And last night I was going to scrap again, but had an email from my gorgeous new friend Lusi with her phone number so I called her and spend ages chatting about anything and everything! Lusi, you're amazing! Such an inspiration in every sense of the word - spiritually, creatively, and with my weight loss challenges too. God has truly blessed me by bringing you into my life right now. Doesn't He just have a wonderful way of bringing us people and situations and revelations at just the right time!! Soooo looking forward to many more chats with you girl.

This morning we had a great spirit at church. After last night's chat with Lusi, I just felt inspired, in awe of God and hungering His Holy Spirit more (thanks Lus!). So today was a great service.

Afterwards, we had a BBQ with our cell group at the local park. Great stuff! Just love love love my church friends, and always love having a get-together with them. The boys all played soccer (Greg got nicknamed Viduca, lol, for some reason, lol) and we played Mums... my friend Karen had her new baby boy there, and Michelle who's pregnant, and me! Fun all round. Love these guys! Love God for placing them in my life :)

And tonight we're going around to Karen and Mark's (same ppl as above) to play games and just chill out. I'm sure I'll be really tired tomorrow but I'll just have to sleep then huh!

Hope you're all having a great weekend too!
N xx

Oh, and I believe this is my 100th post - gosh, to think I have enough to say to fill 100 posts...

Frustrated....

Because I *finally* have some time, some motivation, and some new products to play with..... to do some scrapping....

... and for some reason the printer doesn't want to print properly.....!!!

Ggggggrrrrrrrrrr..............!!!!!!!!!

Too much to do!

Talk about SWAMPED! I have sooo much to do at the moment, and I don't seem to be making much of a dent in anything at all.... between housework, admin and making calls for church, more housework, scrapbooking and a little more housework, I can't seem to find time to do any of it! Oh yeah, and then there's having a new baby to attend to and keep occupied too! Aahhhh.... My scatter-brain doesn't help either. I start 10 things and then flit and float between them all all day and end up getting none of them finished! Yikes! Brain explosion...

Here's what I have to do: wonder if I can tick anything off today
Housework-
Vacuum
Wash dishes
Clean bathrooms
Clean up crap that's all over dining table
Folding

For church-
Call a few people
Do up newsletter for Sunday
Call a few more people
Battlefield of the Mind study
... oh, and then there's just regualr time with God...

Scrapbooking-
Clean scrap room so I can USE IT
Email and call Mum's friends to help make tin
Decorate tin and inserts

I've decided to alter Mum a smallish lunchbox-style tin. In it I am going to include a little tag-book on a ring that has a tag from each one of her friends and as many family as I can rustle together... so that's a LOT of running around - I just hope everyone co-operates and fast so it doesn't take months in the making... On each tag, I'm going to have a photo, name, and a note to Mum on the back, maybe also a favourite verse, quote or scripture if it fits... so I've got to find who all Mum's friends are and get email addresses/phone numbers to contact them all.... I know she'll love it when its done, I just hope it does get so.

I also went to Mum's craft group yesterday where many of her friends meet each week. In addition to the tin, we're making her a canvas with some small pics of friends and family on it, and the 'Footprints' poem in the centre. It won't be too fancy but it will go with the tin (which will come later)...

Well better go and try and make a dent in that list huh?? Have a great Thursday.

N xx

Thanks Shazz :)

Oooh, I received a beautiful gift for Elijah from Shazz and her family last week... and I keep forgetting to say thankyou (have lost your email address again sorry Shazz)...

... so THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU! It was totally unexpected and totally gorgeous and totally too much!! I love it, thanks so much :)


How cute!

Aaarrrrr.......

Heehee... isn't he cute! It was 'Pirate Day' at school today for Jaidyn and I just couldn't resist snapping a few piccies :) Don't ya just love my make-up job (and the parrot on his shoulder - hehe) :) :) Jaidyn just *loves* dressing up in costume! He'd dress up every day if he could!


And here's one with little Eli too :) My boys are TOO CUTE!

So I hope you all had a nice weekend. Mine was enjoyable but fairly busy still. On Saturday we had Jaidyn's school fete. Unfortunately Elijah was being temperamental with his feeding and sleeping times, so I had to send Jaidyn along early with his grandparents so he didn't miss out on the cool pirate showbag (costume above), and I finally got there for about an hour. Hence I didn't take the camera coz I wasn't there long - and I get a little anxious with it around so many people - they might steal my baby (the camera)....

Saturday night we went to the hospital to visit our friends Karen and Mark and their new baby Jacob, as well as popping up to see Mum too. Mum is doing better and better each time I see her now. Its great to see her more on the up and up rather than the up and down rollercoaster it had been in previous weeks. She was even feeling and looking good enough to have Jaidyn in to see her too, which was good for both of them :) We had to put on gloves and aprons which was somewhat entertaining for Jaidyn. But its good that she's going well :) She'll still probably be in there for a few weeks (or more - hopefully not too long) but she is definitely improving now.

Sunday we had church. I have recently taken the role of Head of Children's Ministry and had to conduct my first meeting yesterday. But I was organised, and it went well - yay. Maybe He'll make an organiser out of me yet! Ha!

Well, hope you have a great week all!

Its a Boy!

My friend Karen *finally* gave birth last night to a 7lb 13oz boy. They have called him Jacob Daniel. Congratulations to Mark, Karen and little Julie! Yay!! Apparently Kaz says he looks like Julie too... can't wait to go and see them - maybe today or tomorrow :)

So exciting! All this baby news!! I just LOVE it!!

{About a Boy}

I have decided to start a blog for my little man Elijah. There I will document all his little milestones, the things he enjoys, how I'm feeling etc. I want to make sure these things are documented, for use in scrapbooking and just to look back on later in life... if you'd like to check in from time to time the link is over on my sidebar unmistakenly named 'Eli's blog'...

Oh and SUPER EXCITING NEWS!! Our best friends Ben and Michelle told us last night that they are PREGNANT!! I'm sooooo excited! Bubs is due January 20. Terrible time to be pregnant I say, but Chelle is thin so I'm sure she'll handle the heat ok... They are just going to be the best parents ever! And we can all play babies together... Congratulations guys!!

Also, Michelle's sister Karen was due on Monday and I haven't heard from her in the last couple of days - surely here baby has to come today if it wasn't last night!! Her and her husband are our other really great friends! Its so cool that we're all having babies together!!

Definitely the season for it.

Update on Mum...

Another rollercoaster of a week.

One step forward, two steps back.

I really feel for my Dad. I guess I can go on with life a little easier as I'm not used to seeing tMum and Dad all the time, and its not *always* in my mind, but Dad's been up and down, up and down so much lately. I just hope he doesn't have a mental breakdown.

Mum has been in ward most of this week. A couple of trips back to ICU. It seems to be every couple of days something goes backwards again. Very frustrating. She is back in ICU now - her breathing hasn't been too good. It sucks. Poor Mum is so anxious, bored, frustrated and just wants to come home. I don't blame her. Its been a month today since she went in for her run-of-the-mill hysterectomy, expecting to be out in only 4 days. Its been 4 whole weeks! Gosh. It really sucks.

Dad has been up there 1-2 times every single day. Its really wearing him down. That, plus trying to still work a bit, plus coach his basketball teams, and keep family and friends informed. Poor guy needs a break! Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers too. Sometimes I think its even harder on him than Mum.

I just wish Mum could come home, but its going to be a while longer. Maybe a month or more even. I haven't been able to get up there as much as I'd like, as I can't take the boys, so I have to try to go when Greg's here or Dad's there to watch Eli and/or Jai for me. I went to see her Thursday. Hopefully again tomorrow if she's not in theatre or anything. She has a huge wound in her stomach they are dressing and draining and re-dressing every couple of days. This is why she's going to be there so long. It has to be clean before they can skin-graft it and send her home to recover. Sometimes I wonder which is worse - this ordeal or going through chemo?? (but Thank God she has been cleared of the cancer and doesn't have to have that treatment too!)

Mum's lucky to have some awesome awesome friends around her though. With her family living in Townsville though, she needs it. And so does Dad. Her friends are amazing! They have been in there a few times a week, taking a 'visiting hours' shift each day so that that Dad doesn't have to go up twice anymore. I feel so blessed that Mum has such wonderful women and families around her, and I thank God for them. How wonderful the gift of friendship is! Mum's best friend Chris is even going to come up with me so that she can mind Eli while I spend some time with Mum. What an awesome blessing that woman is! God has done amazing things with her. She also just decided that she'll make Greg and I some more dinners/goodies just because we have a new baby! Isn't she wonderful!

Anyway, I've organised with Chris to go to Mum's craft group (where they go together every week) and we're going to scrapbook something special for Mum. All the ladies can contribute something like a note or something on a card, maybe a photo too or a verse or scripture. I'm thinking I might alter one of those lunchpail tins to put them all in? Any other ideas?? Something that is easy to place on the table next to her. I think we'll also scrap a little frame with photos of family and friends and maybe a scripture or other uplifting verse in the middle... any other suggestions??

Well, that's about all. Please keep us in your prayers. Especially my Mum and my Dad. Love yas.

Update on the boy...

I haven't blogged in almost a week. Boy, the time catches up with you.

Not a great deal happening this week really, just usual life stuff. But I guess even that is pretty busy and hectic right now. I think I will blog my updates separately so if you don't want to read in detail how my Mum's doing you can skip the next one... but I just need to vent, get it out, so sorry that one will probably be long...

Anyway... Eli is growing fast. He is 3 weeks old today! Really, it seems longer. He's very almost out of his OOOO bonds wondersuits now, so not sure if I'll get the OOO or OO in them next... he's still not really into OOOO in Target or Kmart, but will probably be this week... it sux when there is so much difference between brands in sizing. I don't know what to get him now! But will have to update the wardrobe a bit this week... he's got hardly any clothes, been wearing the same 3-4 outfits for the last 2 weeks. Poor little chap.

He's feeding really well, as can be inferred by the fact he's growing fast! Sleeping is still a little haywire. Not really in a set routine just yet, but that's probably more about me and what I'm doing during the daytime. He's in a 3-4 hour cycle mostly. But I have noticed he's sleeping for shorter times now. Well, he has one or two long sleeps a day, then is a little more restless the other times. Nights were better the first week. He goes between one and two wakes a night, but again, this depends on his last feed time, so he's still being good I guess :) Sleeps for at least 3 hours at a time at night, usually a little more. Guess I can't whinge about that huh...

I was just thinking of having some nice piccies on this post to brighten it up a bit, but realised I ahven't really taken any of my man this week... what a slack excuse for a scrapbooking mum! Might try for the mini-shoot today then :)

N xx

Broadband!!

We have Broadband... YAY!

No more slow speed.
No more being cut off.
No more uploading posts or photos for 2 hours straight!

Yay!

Just had to share...

How CUTE is this little face!!

That's my gorgeous boy enjoying his bath the other day.

I just love him so much I could eat him!

Finally...

Some time to update my blog!

Goodness me its hard to find time with a newborn. It's all about being organised and doing everything in 2-3 hour slots. And it seems that everytime I've tried to get on here this past week, I've got caught up chatting to someone in MSN or Elijah wakes up or something else that a woman/wife/mother needs to do!

Boy, its been a busy few weeks. Lots of things going on in my life, and not just becoming a new mum. So I'll let you know in as short a form as I can, as I know you don't want to be reading all day long!

Firstly, Elijah:
Well, he's pretty much an angel. And I'm not just saying that as a biassed doting mother. I think I've lucked out in the 'good baby' stakes again, much to the disgrace of both mine and Greg's mothers - as we were quite 'horror' children (so 2 wrongs CAN make a right!)... he's sleeping well, feeding well, just being generally gorgeous. As most babies do, he gets a little unsettled around early evening, and I'm not sure if this could also be due to a lack of quality or quantity in my milkat this time of day, but I've been doing what I can - having a got shower before I feed him to stimulate the milk supply, as well as having feeds a little closer together at that time of day. He's doing well though.

We've established quite a good routine already. He has pretty naturally fallen into a 3 hour feeding routine - and often longer as he sleeps too long! lol... but I'm not worried really. He's also easily following the routine I had planned of feed, waketime, sleep... so I'm chuffed about that too! Who knows what could happen over the next few weeks though, but I hope he continues this well!

Bath-time is our favourite time of day. Eli just loves his bath! And he has the nicest wake-time afterwards. I love this time of day! He particulalry loves being on his tummy in the bath - it seems to really relax him!

Jaidyn and Eli are getting on really well. Jaidyn just loves being a big brother and loves just to watch Eli and talk to him and hold him when he can. Unfortunately with school during the day, and with a newborn eating and sleeping as much as they do, Jai doesn't get a *lot* of time to hold him, but I try to make sure he gets one in the morning and one in the afternoon at least. It's special bonding time for both of them.

Secondly, my Mum:
Boy, what a couple of weeks its been! As most of you know, my Mum went in for a procedural hysterectomy on the 15th May for cancer treatment. She was not looking so good all week after this and finally by Friday they realised something was wrong as her kidneys hadn't really regained function after the operation. Friday they took her to Intensive Care and performed an operation to try and see what the problem was. Due to the anaesthesia though, her heart rate dropped a heap so they had to sedate her further and had her stable but on a lot of machines and drugs to do so. Gosh, what a night that was. Greg and I went into the hospital to be with Dad coz he was a bit of a wreck. Mainly because we didn't know what the problem was. But the doctors had to find out, so with fairly high risks for her heart etc, they had to cut her open (so much for the key-hole hysterectomy) and see what the problem was. Finally they found it! (and we fully believe it was God, because we had soooo many people praying for direction for her doctors) During the procedure, they must have *nicked* her bowel and her wastes and such were spilling out and poisoning her body. So they fixed that. Then was the slow recovery in ICU. It seems though that the Friday night just mentioned, her body was starting to give up as we seemed to have problem on problem present itself in this last week. Firstly her kidneys took a while to recover. Then it was her lungs. They say one was partly collapsed, and they were afraid of a shadow that was on one too - had to make sure it wasn't pnemonia. She slowly got off the ventilator. Then there was a slight outbreak of some infection in ICU and the person next to her tested positive so they have had her in isolation also. My poor Mum and family have been through quite an ordeal this week!

Finally though, Mum got out of ICU after a week or so. She is in Ward now, and will probably be for another week. Her wound is slightly infected so they have to keep cleaning that and then she'll be out! Can't wait!

She hasn't even met little Elijah yet! That is the hardest part. I went through it all and am still without my Mum. Mum and I are pretty close, and she is so desparate to meet the little man, but the doctors have said not to take him in in case of infection or anything like that and you just can't risk that. So she's seen photos but that's all... can't wait until she's home and she can meet her new little grandson.

Thankyou so so so much to everyone who has been sending up prayers and vibes this way. We have never needed as much prayer and thoughts as we have this week or so. Thankyou.

Thirdly, Greg finally got his promotion!
He will be the Store Manager of the new ALDI store at Toombul starting in a few weeks. We are so happy about this and I'm so proud of him. It seems its been a long time in coming and it was great to finally hear those words of promotion from the big boss, rather than just hear-say that its been for a few weeks/months even. The store opens around the 29th June. We'll have to deal with Greg working long hours the two weeks prior to this, but hopefully we'll be settled enough to handle it.
So yay honey!

So yes, I won't bore you with any more, as I know this is well and truly enough for one post/day. If you made it to the end, well done.

Love yas, N xx