fUNNY gIRLS :0)

Here's a picture of my favourite comedy duo of all time.

They are a real double act.

Partners in crime. They work as a team to sneak snacks from the treat cupboard whenever Mummy isn't looking :0)

Don't you think they look a little Laurel and Hardy here heehee!

Here's a little gem from this evening :0)..."Oh Mummy can I have "Cheeky Massala" for dinner tonight." Piped up one little Bujana Grace. (aka girlie no.2)

She meant Tikka Masala of course :0)She's so funny!

Mummy Interrupted )

Sometimes it's good to be interrupted...

Yes it's easy to get frustrated when things don't go to plan, or time wriggles out of your control.

Yet time, graciously, cannot be micro managed with 3 little ones under four and a nearly ten year old however hard you try, so I have given up. Completely.

Okay the baby just woke up... Perfect timing;0P

...Okay all is quiet once more so I'm back...

Though right before that the other baby woke up too. The big baby. She'll be two in February and still likes her Mummies arms to rock her back to sleep after she wakes.

And so it is.

My days are not mine, my hours, my minutes.

My moments of peace. My joy, sorrow, frustration, impatience, fear, wonder and grace. They are not my own, I don't own them, they do not belong to me. And I am glad.

The way things are with a young family as a Mother surely makes this realisation evident. And while I struggled against this fact with babies number one and two, three and four most definitely called for a complete resignation of control. There was no other way!

My time was not my own even BB (before babies or before bedlam) insert that which applies best:0) I just didn't grasp the concept in practice so clearly before:0)

As I rocked my little/ big baby in my arms trying not to disturb her elder sister who sleeps beside her, a soft, quiet joy, pure and blissful , undetectably seemed to find its way into my heart. My thoughts must have stilled and cleared a space for it to pass.

As I became more aware, a gentle wave of calm washed through my tired arms, and refreshed my eyes, which had been aching for sleep.

When my eldest girl awoke, (it was bound to happen) she began to sing in a quiet voice; "Hush little baby, Hush don't you cry, the angels are watching and I am here close by."

The song from her nativity play barely weeks before. The peace that nothing else mattered but this moment left me suspended.

Yet the feeling of my little ones body, heavy with sleep in my arms, couldn't be captured or held down like an image imprinted on paper or a static photograph placed in a frame.

The most beautiful things in life can't else they lose all their meaning.

Like a poem, brief and essential, one breath of truth. Over too soon.

So my focus found the details that mattered in the dark, letting everything else fade away into the background.

The words I had began to write, the book I was reading, the laundry still tangled in a untidy pile downstairs, the cups on the draining board, the toys on the floor, the early night I had promised myself faded away while the details of the moment grew more vivid and defined.

My little girls soft hair, smooth and shiny, the soft down of babyhood almost grown out completely. The way her small hand clings as I rock her, head nuzzled under my chin, the sweet scent of milk still warm on her breath.

Before long she'll be grown. Full of self conscious words and long limbs just like her eldest sister.

But now, for this moment, time pauses in the darkness of this room. I'm glad I paid attention.

I'm glad these seconds were stalled for me tonight.

I'm glad I was interrupted:0)

New Year Promise

http://holyexperience.blogspot.com/2008/01/2008-set-to-soar.html

This is such a beautiful piece of writing from Ann @ Holy Experience about the promise of a New Year.

I encourage you to click on the link above to read it, I'm sure you will find as much beauty in it as I did:0)

Much love and peace

Suzy

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Introducing...

I thought it was about time I introduced my long suffering husband.

Here he is... taken on Christmas day, my dearest, darling, husband Tani!!!

And here is the beautiful present he gave me. A rosary made in the holyland. The beads are made of crushed rose petals and carry the most beautiful aroma.

And if you happen to be visiting

Thanks again hon

An Advent Meditation

There is a deep longing within all people. We are born with it.

Like a distant memory of something precious that has been lost. The longing whispers in the ear like a long forgotten lullaby. Like a child in it's mother's arms the song consoles us even when we are to small to understand the words she sings.

This longing manifests itself as an ache within the heart, a swell of tears behind the eyes, and as a lethargy through the body.

All are traces of a memory. The memory of playing in a beautiful garden as a child. Carefree and joyful.

And the memory is real. It is the memory of our original place in God's kingdom, the place we left through sin and the place we long to return to.

We are all homesick little children in search of our Father. Only wishing for his arms to embrace us once again.

And that longing deep inside is his calling to us, his voice in the core of our souls. And the tears that flow from our eyes weep at the reflection of ourselves in the ocean of his love. We long to become as droplets dissolved into the ebb and flow of that distant blue shore. Our eyes stinging in the tierd awakening of the dawn light.

Advent brings this longing and expectancy we hold within us and bears it into the world with the birth of Jesus.

Mary, his mother , and ours, represents the child of the garden, free from sin and stain, Joyful in her abandonment to God's grace.

Jesus, the child of God is the flower that emerges from the dark soil of the earth and reminds us of a new Springtime.

His birth was a birth that gives life to all.

And that deep longing within us is led back to the garden once more by the little Christ Child.

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

My daughter is in the school choir so she is a busy little bee at this time of year.

Last weekend she got to sing at a very lovely venue. A local castle near our home town!

It was a really memorable day with different traditional musicians in each room and a few Christmas treats in the old kitchen:0)

I had to share:)

Hope everyone is enjoying their last minute Christmas preparations

A Link for Lisa :0)

http://searchingbycandleight.blogspot.com/

LITTLE LAMB OF JESUS

Little lamb of Jesus,

Laid in the soft hay of a stable.

Beneath the warmth of a star,

And the kisses of Angels.

The Garment of His Love

The Fruit of Prayer
The fruit of silence is prayer

the fruit of prayer is faith

the fruit of faith is love

the fruit of love is service

the fruit of service is peace.
Mother Teresa

*

When we allow ourselves to see God in the smallest detail, he opens out the whole of creation to us.

*

When we come to him as a little child, a leaf blowing in the wind, naked as a winter tree.

He embraces us in the gravity of his love and clothes us in the garment of his PEACE.

A New Direction

I shall post here only very occasionally from now on.

This blog is quite personal and only a open to those on my blogroll. Mainly because there are pictures of my children and personal things about my family.

I just worry about my kids being exposed.

My new blog is @ http://searchingbycandleight.blogspot.com and is co-authored by a dear friend of mine. This way there will be time for more posts!

The aim of this new blog is to post extracts from spiritual works, poetry, prayers, quotations and the lives of the saints.

God Blessxx

Suzy

A Bloggy Sabbatical

Well I am going to be taking a break from blogging for a while. I don't know if I'll be posting anymore, we'll see:0)
I'm focusing on learning as much as I can at the moment. I have learnt so much from you all. I feel privileged to have been able to find so many special and inspiring people through this little blog of mine. THANKYOU ALL for your lovely heart warming comments, I have appreciated every single one of them:0)

God Bless,


Peace



This little boats gone sailing again...


Suzyxxx

Childhood

There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colors are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again. ~Elizabeth Lawrence

Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows. ~John Betjeman, Summoned by Bells

I'd give all wealth that years have piled,The slow result of Life's decay,To be once more a little childFor one bright summer day.~Lewis Carroll, "Solitude"

Funny Girl

My one year old loves to snuggle. As she snuggles down ready for sleep she has a routine of pointing at different things around the room. I am then to name the objects she is pointing at. This gives her no end of satisfaction. I don't know why:0)

If I say the wrong word for something she giggles and giggles :0)

She's so funny:0)

My little Mouse

" Mummy can I have some cheese please?"

Piped up my three year old little girl, her nose already buried in the fridge.

"No sweetie. It's bedtime now." I replied.

" But Mummy I neeeeed cheese." continued my persistent little three year old.

"Why do you neeeeeed cheese?" I ask thinking it a reasonable enough question.

"Because I'm a mouse ."

Ahh , of course :0).

The Naughty Corner

My husband and I were talking about how different only children are from later arrivals in the family.
I remember how quiet and placid my eldest daughter was. She was our world for 5 years before our second daughter came along and since then we've had two more in quick succession. The more children there are, and the closer in age they are, the feistier they become that is for sure!
My one year old has started to show the feisty side of her character more recently!
She is such a sweetheart, a real butterball. Chubby, cute and cuddly as a teddy bear but boy do we know it when things aren't ( how to put it) going her way shall we say :0).
Last week she paid her first visit to the " naughty corner". This has always worked very well in our house. My kids love to be a part of everything that's going on and being taken away from the action is just about the end for them!
Well little girl number three always seems to want the exact toy her sister is playing with even in a roomful of toys a nursery would be proud of! So off she went to the "naughty corner" head held low, face blotched and smudged with tears.
Her way of showing she's sorry is so cute. She lowers her head says's ahhh and gives kisses on the cheek. So anyway, after she had contemplated her behaviour for a little while and said her sorry she came back to play "nicely" :0) with her sister . Of course it wasn't long before their was another "toy dispute".
"Here" I saw her older sister say as she offered her a small piece of Lego in exchange for the coveted toy she wanted for herself.
Needless to say, once the trade was made and she realised she had been duped she was not happy at all and tried to find a way of retrieving her toy.
However she remembered it was wrong to grab because as soon as she went for it she looked straight at me with a look that could not be described as anything but complete resignation to her fate.
She gave a big sigh, pouted a little, gave the toy right back to her sister and toddled over to sit herself down in the "naughty corner".
I couldn't believe it!
I didn't know whether to be cross she was naughty again or pleased she was being so self disciplined already:0)!

Precious Moments

"Life is not measured by the breaths we take,

but by the moments that take our breath."

May every moment inhale life deeply.

Take the time to stop and stare and watch clouds fray the edges of the horizon.

Over spill with the wonder

and beauty of each single, stilled, second.

Silenced by the fragile, bare branches of winter trees engraving, the distant evening sky.

Painting patterns over the tidy white spaces,

Turning the prose of life into poetry.

Hearing a song in the silence.

Dancing beneath the falling leaves.

The way my little ones hair curls around her ear.

The imperfect stitches of a homemade gift.

The warmth of a coat on a cold winter day.

Bubblebath footprints whispering sofly on the carpet.

A child to small to speak holding her hands in prayer.

The curled pages of a well loved book.

A baby smiling in her sleep :0)

Let me remember to unwrap every moment like the precious gift it is