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

The Ant and the Contact Lens

The Ant and the Contact Lens

A True Story by Josh and Karen Zarandona

Brenda was a young woman who was invited to go rock climbing. Although she was very scared, she went with her group to a tremendous granite cliff. In spite of her fear, she put on the gear, took hold of the rope, and started up the face of that rock.

Well, she got to a ledge where she could take a breather. As she was hanging on there, the safety rope snapped against Brenda's eye and knocked out her contact lens.

Well, here she is, on a rock ledge, with hundreds of feet below her and hundreds of feet above her. Of course, she looked and looked and looked, hoping it had landed on the ledge, but it just wasn't there.

Here she was, far from home, her sight now blurry. She was desperate and began to get upset, so she prayed to the Lord to help her to find it.

When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but there was no contact lens to be found. She sat down, despondent, with the rest of the party, waiting for the rest of them to make it up the face of the cliff.

She looked out across range after range of mountains, thinking of that verse that says, "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth." She thought, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me."Finally, they walked down the trail to the bottom. At the bottom there was a new party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?"Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across the face of the rock, carrying it on it's back.

Brenda told me that her father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a picture of an ant lugging that contact lens with the words, "Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You."

When Christ Dwells Within

"When Christ dwells in the heart, the soul will be so filled with His love,

with the joy of communion with Him, that it will cleave to Him; and in the contemplation of Him, self will be forgotten.

Love to Christ will be the spring of action.

Those who feel the constraining love of God, do not ask how little may be given to meet the requirements of God; they do not ask for the lowest standard, but aim at perfect conformity to the will of their Redeemer.

With earnest desire they yield all and manifest an interest proportionate to the value of the object which they seek.

A profession of Christ without this deep love is mere talk, dry formality, and heavy drudgery."

"Take me, O Lord, as wholly Thine. I lay all my plans at Thy feet. Use me today in Thy service. Abide
with me, and let all my work be wrought in Thee."

Ellen White "Steps to Christ"

Angelus

A small prayer for Christmas

My child's tears can be dried with kisses.

My child's pain can be soothed with a song.

My child's sleep is found between warm blankets.

My child's saddness is softened with a smile,

My child does not know of a hunger that can hurt.

My child does not know of walking barefoot in the dirt,

When my child is afraid, I put a light on in the dark.

When my child falls, I open out my arms.

By the grace of God there goes my child.

Lord,

Awaken my spirit, to suffering I so often choose to close my eyes to.

Lord, Open my heart to give beyond what is easy for me to give.

Christmas belongs to you Jesus.

You live within the poor, the needy, the homeless, the hungry, the oppressed and the persecuted.

For you are all who are broken and alone in the world.

And every child belongs to you.

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gOD bLESS THE LITTLE BOY AND HIS SISTER IN THE PICTURE

aND ALL THE OTHER CHILDREN IN THE WORLD