Things I'm loving right now

SPRING!
Spring is sprung the grass is ris, I wonder where the birdies is.
They say the bird is on the wing.
That's absurd, the wing is on the bird!

That is little saying my Dad has said for every Spring since I can remember.  It's a bit strange, but I keep up the tradition, though usually only in my head.

I love spring!  I love cherry blossoms and birds songs and early morning sunshine and weather in it's mid 20s and blue skies.  And linked in with spring.

MY SANDAL THONGS

These are the same shape if not the same pattern as mine (mine are even nicer).  I suspect it wasn't actually Gisele Bundchen who invented her range of sandal/thongs but whoever did, I want to make them a mango smoothie.  They are comfy enough to walk decent distances in, and they are casual but they look lovely.  And in the end of summer sales at Myer they cost only $20.  Loving having them on again.

KNITTING!
I am loving knitting so much.  Seriously, what a great way to somehow legitimise all the time I spend in front of the TV.  I have knitted before but struggled with how long it takes, but now I've worked out the secret to knitting fast.

Using really big needles.

I've just made a woolen shrug which I absolutely love although I did leave my run to late and haven't been about to wear it in this gorgeous weather.  I've also been knitting for a family member's baby and it turns out when the person you are knitting for is 10 times smaller than you, it takes a tenth of the time to make.  And it turns out alot cuter too!

PRAYING with Friends
I just joined my 2nd Prayer triplet yesterday.  They have different focuses and different people in them, and I love both of them.  So great to be able to pray with others, particularly as it's been something I've been struggling a bit with on my own.

MY TEENAGE BIBLE STUDY
On Sunday one of the teens pouted and said "Why do you leave us, just when we learnt to love you?" I always loved them, but I've been really appreciating them all, as they have been appreciating Tim and I, because I know we have only a term left together.  Some of the girls are getting Baptised in October, and I've been loving our weekly coffees/baptism classes :)  So great to see those little year seven's we started with beginning to take their faith really seriously.  So encouraging.  Not to mention they are tonnes of fun!

I don't write this post about things I love because I'm going wonderfully or because there are only good things going on.  That is not the case.  It's been a hard month, and hard year.

But there are things that bring me joy, and I want to dwell on and celebrate them.
God is giving me good things every day.
Love B

Enevitable Change Funk

I've been in a funk of late.

Easily loosing it emotionally.  Snappy and less sensitive with Tim.  Less motivated with house chores/everything.

It was only today it hit me.

The change factor.

When I was about 3 months out of getting married, I fell apart.  Tim was actually really worried, who was this crazy emotional women who had taken over from the lovely lady he proposed to!  I still remember on a Sunday morning  at that time, getting ready to clean the unit I was sharing with a friend.   Mum came over.  I burst into tears, she ripped the vacuum out of my hands, sat me on the couch, and did the vacuuming for me.  What a Mum!

But the most valuable thing was that she commented that of course I was loosing it.  I was about to go through a change.  I always struggle in the lead up to a change.  "Been like this since you were 4 years old" said Mum.

For her it was an "Of course" moment, but for me it was a huge break-through.

Change totally freaks me out emotionally and I need to be aware of that and be prepared for it.

Tim has taken this news on board, and done a fabulous job of talking me through and encouraging me through change.    And today he gave me another breakthrough moment when he commented that of course I was emotional, I was getting ready for change.

As far as change goes- moving cities, church planting, and leaving one job to an unknown future is pretty high up there on the change-odometer.

One comment Tim often makes to comfort me through change is that I am actually a great hand at dealing with it.  I've been through tonnes of changes in the last 7 years, and most of the changes have actually been good/positive ones, which I've dealt with well.  Almost as if I put all the angst into the lead up and then cope fine at the change itself.

I've actually started to think maybe I am not such a change hater after all.

But this month, that same little 4 year old peaks out her ugly head and throws her usual change tantrum.

Please pray that I will cope okay over the next few months, and that the changes will be good.
Love B

Novel Spelling

Oh Dear...

After several weeks off I started back onto my novel.  While working away, suddenly Microsoft Word gave me a pop-up box I had never seen before.  It informed me that there were so many grammatical and spelling errors in my document that it could no longer show them all, but if I wanted to check my spelling or grammar I would from now on have to run my own manual check.

!!!!!!!

Has this ever happened to anyone else in the history of Microsoft word before!

I like to think it's because I've been so wonderful in actually writing 65,394 words, and that of course when a document gets big these things happen.

I like to think it's because I'm writing Fantasy so Microsoft doesn't recognise all the cool people and place names that I've brilliantly invented..

I'm hoping it's because I can't spell, and I've never been able to spell.  I think spelling is a completely over-rated talent in this new world of wonderful spell correcting technology- and bad spelling doesn't make someone a bad writer.

But bad grammar does.  I'm hoping it's not because I'm a really bad writer.

But it did make me laugh.
Love B