I'm the proud mother of ...

three stunningly handsome boys ... even if I must say so myself!!

My firstborn ... my life of the party boy!!

He is so outgoing. He just loves to be around people. There ain't nuthin' shy about this boy.

My sweet, shy boy. He's my deep thinker ... the one that asks the impossible questions long after the sermon at church is over and the pews are cold.

My cheeky little extrovert!!! He loves a good joke .... that is, he loves to play a good joke on anyone who even looks like they would be a good victim!!!

As much as I love my boys, my prayer is that they love and serve God with every particle of their beings.

That, much more then anything that this world has to offer, is the thing I yearn for the most. I do not see it as a reflection of the success of my parenting skills, but rather as the grace, mercy and love of a wonderful Saviour, who died for all and reaches out to everyone who would love Him.

For the promise is unto me and unto my children and unto all them that are afar off!!!

'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus

I so love this old hymn. It has been rattling around in my poor old head ever since Amy Levine sang it. The words are incredibly poignant.'

Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus

Just to take Him at His word;

Just to rest upon His promise

Just to know, "Thus saith the Lord."

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him;

How I've proved Him o'er and o'er;

Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!

O for grace to trust Him more.

O how sweet to trust in Jesus,

Just to trust His cleansing blood;

Just in simple faith to plunge me

'Neath the healing cleansing flood.

Yes, 'tis sweet to trust in Jesus,

Just from sin and self to cease;

Just from Jesus simply taking

Life, and rest, and joy, and peace.

I'm so glad I learned to trust Thee,

Precious Jesus, Saviour, Friend;

And I know that Thou art with me,

Wilt be with me to the end.

Blessed

I just love my family ....

and friends are so important!!!

Ten more things for which I am thankful:

1. Benjy has settled into preschool beautifully and is making new friends.
2. Joel is loving High School and is mainly keeping up with his homework.
3. Matthew was offered a place in the school band and he's accepted the position. He's playing the trumpet!!
4. Rob has a great job and a great boss and a great place to work.
5. I love the rain.
6. Jesus loves me.
7. God is faithful ... oh, soooo faithful!!
8. I am thankful for my church and my church family.
9. I have great in-laws!!
10. I have a wonderful family.

Yep ... I feel blessed.

Friendship

Friendship. The comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts, nor measure words, but pouring them out, just as they are - chaff and grain together - certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping and with the breath of kindness blow away the rest.

Catching up

Two months have elapsed since I wrote my last post and sooooo much has happened in that space of time.

I have seen my "baby" boy graduate primary school:

My littlest boy turned five:

Here's my attempt at decorating birthday cakes (it's OK ... I really don't mind if you laugh!!!):

At the end of the holidays, Joel started High School and, one week later, Benjy started preschool:

In between all these events, we had Christmas, a fantastic conference, and visitors. It seemed like the holidays had only just began when they were already finished.

I finished reading Jeremiah and I received sooo much from it. Especially from chapter 29. The children of Israel had been in captivity and, I imagine, bemoaning the fact that they were oppressed by their captors. As often happens, I imagine they had forgotten the reason for their captivity ... i.e., they had been disobedient and errant and God wanted to bring them back to Himself. In chapter 29, God tells them to get on with life - marry, have their children marry, tend to their gardens - and then later on He tells them that He knows the plans He has for them. Even though they might have been feeling bad, God's plans for them were plans of peace and not of evil.

I love the thought that, even when I feel trapped or bound up by circumstances, God is in control ... He knows what He's doing.

Lastly, the devastating fires in Victoria have captured my attention and my heart. I feel helpless to do anything to help, yet in the very depths of my heart is a desire to reach out. If my desire is from God, I know He will open the doors and make a way for me to fulfill that desire. In the meantime, I can pray for the victims, that in this time of enormous distress, they will turn to God for comfort and peace.

I am excited about what God is going to do this year and I pray it will be blessed for everyone.

Matthew ...

A picture speaks a thousand words ...

There is absolutely nothing like the feeling when one of your children has made the decision to live for Jesus. It was a very proud and exciting moment for all of us. He's such a special boy and we know that God's plans for him are perfect!

His Poppa baptised him, which made what was already a very special and important moment, even more significant.

This week has been kind of 'nuts' ... I'm not really sure why, but it seems that the last several weeks have passed by me in a whirlwind and whilst I try to grab onto something to put the brakes on and slow things down, anything substantial to hold onto in order to achieve that end, alludes me!

All my children are growing up so quickly ... I just want things to slow down so that I can enjoy them at home longer!! Although Matthew has assured me time and time again that he's never leaving home and he's never getting married!!! We'll see how he feels in 10 or 12 years time!!

I'm thankful for Matthew because, at the moment, while Joel and Benjy are entering new phases, Matthew is constant and happy in the phase that he's in. Actually, I'm not sure he really wants to leave this stage of his life, he seems really quite content. However, the inevitable will happen and he, too, will move on.

When my children were little, and even when they first started school, it seemed that I would have them home forever and they would stay little forever. Alas, this is not to be. The ways of God have ordained that my children must grow up and move on!!!

In the last few weeks, I have picked up a preschool information pack for Benjy, bought shirts in readiness for Joel to start High School next year, picked a language for Joel to study next year and submitted it to the High School, submitted book packs for Matthew and Joel to their respective schools ... and the list seems endless. Not to mention the end-of-year excursions ... Joel is off to Big Splash next week with the year 6 group and Matthew is off to the Phillip pool and ice skating!! Joel has his year 6 graduation assembly next Thursday and graduation dinner next Thursday night!

2008 is coming to an end and there is preparation for 2009 to be done. So we leave one year behind us and look forward to new beginnings, new developments. Some things are uncertain, such as the global financial crises, the situation in Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan, the war on terrorism etc. But we can be sure that our God is faithful and He will NEVER leave us nor will He forsake us!! He is my Peace, my Joy, my Rock, my Shelter, my Strong Tower ... He is everything I could ever want Him to be and sooooo much more.

He is faithful!!!!

And He is Almighty God and worth getting to know, love and serve!!!

Jeremiah

Lately, I have been reading the book of Jeremiah, and I must confess that I did not really expect to find much encouragement from the book of the weeping prophet. I must say that I have been so pleasantly surprised. Whilst God is grieved and angry over the way His people have forsaken His ways, even to the point of denying that He exists, God illustrates His magnificent character and His awesome ways. I love the way these particular scriptures just jump out at me while I am reading this wonderful book of the Bible.

For example, there is a scripture in chapter 5 and verse 22 which demonstrates the power of God when He asks "Fear ye not me? ... will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?" He goes on to say that even while He has the power to control the elements, He cannot control His people.

Another scripture in chaper 6 and verse 16 says "... Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls ..." That is not the complete verse but it is a promise of God that if we walk in His ways, that even in troubled times ... as it must have been for anyone that wanted to live for God ... we can find rest.

There are sooo many good scriptures (I know - the whole Word of God is good!!) ... I will try and share them on a regular basis.

Actually, as I am reading through Jeremiah, I am reminded of the days that we are living in and the stubbornness of men's hearts. There is one scripture that talks about how men select the wood and the tools and make a statue and then worship it!! When I think of the global financial crisis and how men's dreams are coming down around their ears, I realise that they have placed their faith in the wrong thing. They have made the money, they have built their lives around it, they are worshipping it, but it's all coming to nothing. Sure, we need money to live, but we know Jehovah Jirah and His ear is not deaf, nor His arm short that He cannot save and deliver!!!

We live in a day of great anxiety for those whose trust is not in the Lord and in His ability to set us free from this world. He longs for us to come back into His presence and to experience the rest He so yearns to give us. And He is so faithful that if we come running back to Him, He will open His arms wide and embrace us. I am also reminded, while I am reading Jeremiah, of a father whose heart is broken. All He wants is for His children to repent and live righteously as He has shown them, then He will make everything good for them again. I guess the prodigal son would have known the loving forgiveness and mercy that was extended to him by his father when he realised how far he had fallen. We can know the same mercy and forgiveness by our Heavenly Father.

I am so often so tarnished by the dirt of the world ... I hear of the things happening around me and I begin to think about a plan of escape. And then I remember God has the perfect plan for me, all I need to do is trust Him. As Kylee said in her blog, He is in perfect control!!

He's such an awesome God!!!