Scrillions of things to be thankful for …..

Found this draft while having a rummage through the blog - not sure if it's already published ha! Whoops, so many years later!! Must have been what I am grateful for .......

Bubble gum – remember first trying to blow a bubble? There is pink stuff running down the girls faces and I’m struggling with my own thesaurus of words, to explain how to make a piece of gum into a bubble. Such fun especially when L tries to talk with gum in her mouth. Soft juicy cheeks rolling around trying to make bubbles. Thanks Cazzie for the entertainment and joy you provide for us!

Look at these loot bags from a delicious party the girls were at. I love your creativity Rach, you clever mumby. The girls adored these. I am in love, continually, with womens creativity. I have such clever friends.

I did steal (with the girls permission) the blackballs from those very loot bats, to make a wee kiwi-ana presentation on my table. My cook book group are looking at making gifts for others for Christmas, this month. What a simple treat – a jar, some boiled loll-lolls and a pair of servers. Cute, esp with the ribbon to finish off. (If I do say so myself!!).

We were on a journey, a 2 hour journey and one of the little ones in our family came up with this idea: Hey mum, let’s play the ‘glad’ game!

What?

The glad game, from Polyanna.

Oh yeah (thinking – “sounds lame but maybe it could work”, and then, “why didn’t I think of this?”)

So we played this glad game – being glad for things. They were glad that I was getting better (with my swineflu/pnemonia episode) and all sorts of other beautiful things. It was a truly delicious game, surprisingly.

This year I met this amazingly lovely couple at school. They have invited us into their worlds and made us feel so welcome and part of their lives. I got a new camera recently and was slowly making my way through the instruction manual. Hubby of the lovely couple, asks if I need help as he’s trained on this camera. Manual is dropped immediately. What a gem. He helped, I learnt. Wifey of lovely couple joined in and then they took me out for coffee. They are so cool. I want to be like them! Their prayer most days is that people who come to their home (which they describe as a ‘mad-house’ because there are so many who pass through), will be better or feel better when they leave. Very encouraging.

It’s raining again. Can’t believe it. Not really thankful about that.

Girls came home after a weekend at d-boys. It was a hard one as they learnt about going away for Christmas. But it was a great one too. K just kept saying, in such cheery and genuine happiness, that she was so glad to be home. That’s right baby. This is home. Wherever you and I are and L, is home. We talked about that this is our home and not to call it ‘mummys house’. It’s not a biggie, but to bring stability I wanted to remind them that wherever we are, it’s OUR Home. We are a family. Daddy chose to leave so it is called ‘daddy’s house’ and that’s OK. But let’s call this ‘our home’. Others may think differently about that, but it was something that I had felt to do. To add again, to their unstable world. A simple thing that hopefully bought some simplicity to complicated.

stop should'n on yourself .......

Just been reminded of some pretty important truths.  been having a 'downy' time (trying to be mum of the year and failing miserably, feeling overwhelmed by all that parenting alone seems to bring). Needed some 'upppy' reminders, not in the form of pills bought in a back street.


Here are some uppers that encouraged me: 
Stop should-in on yourself - love that. Stop saying I should  .........  Stop doing stuff out of obligation in other words.  Such a big difference in doing stuff cause you feel you should as opposed to doing stuff because you want to or because it gives you life .....


Some of my favo guy friends spent time encouraging me this week - J talked about how we are called Human beings, not Human doings.  J and his family and other randoms call me 'super Sarah'. He told me he calls me that because he thinks I do a good job as being the  'parents' on my own. I was so encouraged as i listened, tears glistening the face (or maybe mascara running down my cheek!).  Mark reminded me that it was actually OK to be feeling what i was feeling.  So good.  
I'm thinking that something really shifted for me when i had a moment with these pals.  Lack of the husband, the help-mate in times like this, having reminders or encouragement from him, has been hugely noted as a missing ingredient in the recipe of me doing LIFE.  Maybe it is being quicker to ask for advice or opening myself up - "do you think I'm doing too much?" or "do you think my expectations are a bit ridiculous?" 


I had wanted to text my precious Christchurch friend for some prayers that same day.  Alas another earthquake happened and i felt not to pressure her.  Anywho ....... she rang that night and we had a good chat and she so wasn't pressured to pray with me.  Something shifted for me.  This beautiful Chch friend spoke some words of life to me, ever so softly. 


Silly Sarah - this is like the third time ish this has happened this year.  My passion/vibe for life gets squashed in the crazy-haze of life-alone.   Burn-out happens-ish.  
Soooooooo being aware and open to not do as much, to evaluate what i'm doing and what gives me life is the next step towards a life that's not should-in on myself.  BUT i'm also aware that things have been established in my mind for eons so this will take some process, some time, some help even.  And Yes, that is OK. 


Funny note to end - always got to have something to laugh about.
My precious younger babe asked me if i ever didn't wear a bra.  After commenting she suggested that tomorrow be 'bra-free' day.  Love her and her sense of humour!