hormones and crafting

Why did God have to give women raging hormones? Not to be sexist but men don't know the half of how hard it can be being a woman. This is my pre menstrual week and my mood has been kind of flat since Sunday. I hate feeling this way. I try to be positive, pray about it, and fight it but it is so all consuming. I become jaded, cynical, sloth like and unmotivated. I do know that it will pass thankfully!

Thank you Lord for great friends who understand! In the words of Tammy Wynette, " Sometimes it's hard to be a woman"!.

Thankfully we have a God who understands mood swings and depression. There are so many characters in the Bible who had a hard time in their lives. Way harder than mine is ever going to be. Job springs to mind. Abraham's Sarah longed for a child for many, many long years. Paul and his thorn. There are many more. I should be more grateful that my feelings of lowness will pass with my change in hormones again. It is not a persistent state of affairs and I am glad of that.

I have decided to include my quilting efforts on this blog. I think you guys are so wise and have offered me good advice. To set up another blog would be too much work right now and why not just use this blog more! So I am hoping that I can do a post tomorrow with the some photos of my recent quilting endeavours. They are total beginner quilts so be warned!

I then hope to begin a new quilt project and display the process step by step as I complete each part of the project. I will photograph each step and share it with you all. I am going to be tackling my first pinwheel quilt and am quite excited about it!

Take care and have a lovely day everyone!

Change is good

Lately I have been thinking about change. There are things I want to change about myself and my blog. I am thinking of changing the look of this blog and starting up a craft blog.

I am in love with quilting just now and really want to focus on the craft a little more and share what I am doing. So I am going between setting up a separate crafty blog or incorporating the craft element into this existing blog? What's a girl to do ?

What do my fellow bloggers think? I am leaning more towards the idea of inclusion rather than a separate blog. I am open to ideas though!

Today I am pretty tired. Emma decided it would be nice to wake up at 4.15am this morning bright and breezy. I have managed to get her to go for a nap just now otherwise she wouldn't have lasted the day. I am hoping that by getting her off to bed a little later tonight that she will sleep later in the morning!

I am just thankful that God always seems to give me just enough strength to get through the hard days when sleep is lacking.

Thankful Thursday

Hi everyone and welcome to another Thankful Thursday. I am happy to be joining Sonya at Truth 4 the Journey and listing 5 things which I am thankful to God for over this last week. So here goes!

• Answered prayers. Emma has settled into nursery really well. Much better than I could have expected. I am thankful to God for this one. He heard my anxious prayers about how she would do and knew better than me!

• My mum is beginning to feel a little better. She has been so ill since around November. Unable to get out of the house, little energy, breathless. Since getting the Doctor out this week she has received some more medication and is turning another little corner.

• The snow and ice has gone! I am thankful for this as walking to school was treacherous. It was like ice skating and the kids and I are not ice skaters. The walk to school is at a much quicker pace thankfully!

• God is patient with us and forgiving. Lately I just haven't had my Bible out much at all. Life has become quite busy with Emma starting nursery. We get caught up in the hustle and bustle of daily life and don't give the Lord his rightful place. I long for the day when I get to rise before the kids (they are up with the larks so I couldn't do that just now) and spend some time with my Bible.

• This is quite personal and hard to share but I have to because it is all down to God. Before Christmas I began reducing my dose of anti depressants. I have been on these since having post natal depression after Jacob's birth. I am now down to one a week! I was on the lowest dose anyway so over the next fortnight I plan to stop this one and then I will be done! I am so thankful to God for getting me through the days where I have felt a bit down. I feel great and am grateful to be at this point.

A change of pace.

One thing I have learned from blogging is that life is full of seasons. The reason I started blogging was to keep an online journal of my daily walk with God and my life as a mother, wife and woman. My recent season has been a drought!

Life has changed again though. We are now in a new season. Colin used to work back shift but has now changed to days. This means I no longer have the car for transporting Jacob to and from school. Not a bad thing at all as I need the exercise. I am in the middle of applying for a place on the school bus for bringing Jacob home from school.

The other big change is that Emma has started nursery for 2 and a half hours a day. Today will be her third day. Emma is a very clingy girl so I have been very apprehensive about how she would do. The first day she let me leave her for the last 45 mins and the second day for the last 2 hours. There were tears but I was assured after them she was fine.

So today we have another afternoon at nursery. I don't know how she will be after the weekend. I am praying that she will be settled after a short while.

So that is the latest! Life has become hectic but I am trying to find God in the wee moments of peacefulness. Walking with Jacob to school was lovely this morning as we spotted birds and he said he loved the sounds of nature!! We walk by a main road so I am surprised he heard them!

I will post on how Emma gets on in the next few days!

Thankful Thursday

Well it has been too long since I have taken part in Thankful Thursday!!! I am thrilled to be able to do this again today. If you wish to be involved then please join us and Sonya at Truth 4 the Journey.

• Firstly I am thankful for Hope. As a Christian I have a great hope for the future. That death is not the end and in some ways is only the beginning of an eternal life with Jesus.

• God is moving in my Church and community and I am thankful for this. There have been several Baptisms over the last year, professions of faith over the last few months, and the return of people to the Church who have been away for a long time.

• Isn't the Bible something to be truly thankful for? I am grateful that I am able to turn to my Bible or an online one if I need words of encouragement, hope, comfort, discipline or just need to read something good.

• I love that God has placed me in a Church within which I feel very much part of the family and totally at home. I am so thankful for my Church family and the support we receive and give each other.

• Finally I am thankful that God loves me. A sinner such as me. I will never fathom why at times. I am so imperfect and fail daily.

So what do you have to be thankful to God for today?

Loss

¹⁷For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;
he will lead them to springs of living water.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." Revelation 7:17 NIV.

Our Church is grieving for the loss of a dear, precious brother in Christ. This song was sung by two young people who loved their Uncle George dearly. George loved to preach from the book of Revelation. I will miss his preaching, his passion for the Bible and Jesus, his smile, friendship, and his Godly example of how to be a Christian and live for Jesus - 'Well done, good and faithful servant! ' Matthew 25;21 NIV.

Thank God for hope and His faithfulness to us.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 NIV.

May we all cling to this verse and others like it that remind us of the amazing hope we have in Jesus.

Hi again

Hello again everyone! A Happy New Year to all as well. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year.

We had a cold, white Christmas and still are experiencing a big freeze here! I have posted some pics of the scenery.

So much has happened over the last few weeks I just don't know where to begin. One of our dear, dear brothers in Christ was called home unexpectedly on Sunday night. George was one of our Church elders and had been ill for several months. He wasn't an old man and up until this point had been full of life and joy. So right now his family and Church family are hurting.

I am finding it hard to understand as are many others. I take comfort in knowing that he is now with our Saviour.

" ⁴He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

Revelation 21 NIV.

So could those of you who pray please remember our Church in prayer and George's family. He was a dear friend and we loved him and love his family so much.