Transformations

Sometimes the best thing we can do is look back and see how far we’ve come. Especially when the road ahead seems long and winding. It’s so easy to forget just what you have achieved. Take some time today to reflect on where you are at in life, and give yourself a pat on the back. You are doing great!!

These photos are from 2006 when we purchased our block of land. There were 2 project homes on the block, and the owner’s horses roamed the backyard eating the fruit off the apple trees and trashing the grass.

Because of the size of our family, we couldn’t fit into either the 2-bedroom house, or the 3-bedroom one, so we made one of the houses the sleeping quarters (one of the kids rooms was the kitchen!) and the other house became our kitchen, living and showering area.

The driveway was so overgrown that the removalist van couldn’t fit under the tree branches the day we moved in, so hubby got out the chainsaw and began gardening before we had even set foot in the place!

We would run to one house to go to sleep, then in the morning run to the other house to eat breakfast! There were many cold, rain-soaked winter nights we endured and most of us had colds that wouldn’t go away.

We had no money to begin building a house, so the garden came first. It was only sweat equity and a few dollars in plants to get it into shape.

Then we began building our garage, which has housed us now for 2 and 1/2 years. It’s cosy but dark, as there are no windows to let the northern sun in. We all live in one big room downstairs and dorm style sleeping quarters upstairs.

We’ve had a couple of horrendous floods giving us a bit of a scare, and evacuating to drier ground.

But it will be all worth it in the end!

So as the process continues I am reminded, that good things come to those who wait! And while they are waiting, they are working their tails off to make a way!!

I’ve had many people say, “You are so lucky, to be living in this dream house.”  My reply (never spoken, just thought)…

“Yep, the harder I work, the luckier I get!”

 

an ode to WHITE…

 

 

 

The painters have begun spraying the exterior of the house, priming it for its final coats of colour.

But I have to say, as much as our Council would never allow it, I love the white!

The simplicity and purity of it speaks to me. You can see the clear lines, the detail of the timberwork without losing focus by a cacophony of colour.

White is a colour – noone will ever be able to convince me otherwise! It is one of  those colours that humbly steps back so other colours around it are highlighted and drawn forward. The garden is greener, the roses are tinged with a rosier hue, the sky is bluer when white stands by.

It speaks truth in workmanship, and draws us to its clean, crisp freshness like a new day.

TRUTH – the innermost pull of it draws me. Honesty and integrity in one pot of paint…

 

Only in the early morning light of day, and of life,

can we see the world without its shadows.

 Truth requires new beginnings.

 {Jeb Dickerson}

KINDRED SOULS

My kindred soul

it seems

parts of a whole

Higher things foreknown

than friends

Uncommon works

Eternal ends

Unworthy guests

Worthy goals

May we walk worthy

Kindred soul

Partners in

the higher things

Til captives hear

And freedom rings!

{Beth Moore}

Tonight we begin a “Making Marriage Better” course…not because we are at odds and need to work stuff out, but because we want to enhance and expand on the last 22 years, to move forward in marriage stronger and more intimately than ever.

 

Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. 

Ecclesiastes 4:12

House Update #5

I love a weekend where we get to do many different things.

Friday night I got to do a bit of sewing. While the family were watching our local footy team beat the pants off the competition, I finished my ruffled tableskirt.

Saturday, we laid 250 square metres of turf around the side of the house, and on Saturday afternoon, after checking out a couple of houses for our son and daughter who are looking to buy, moved 13 tonne of cracker dust around the shell of the pool, ready for the coping to be concreted.

My husband taking a much deserved break (I joined him after this photo!!)

 

 

I AM NO BOZO

Remember this toy? The perpetual smile on that clown’s face just wanted to make you knock it off!! No matter what came against it, Bozo just kept popping back up for another go.

 

It seems everywhere I turn at the moment, people are being knocked for six.

Newborns in intensive care fighting for their lives, marriages crumbling, young women suffering serious health attacks, financial crises as fathers lose jobs or work is not forthcoming, families torn apart…it just seems to go on and on.

Thank God we know there is more to this life than Bozo the clown eh?!

No matter what is happening in your world right now, look up.

I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.

{Psalm 121:1-3}

BUILDING FOR ETERNITY

I’m so grateful that it has taken time to build our home. During the long process of waiting on finances, God has been working in us a new dream. One that has far more eternal impact than bricks and mortar.

While I still love the forever home that we are in the process of constructing, it doesn’t hold me in its grip. It will always be a place for our family and friends to flourish, to gather and celebrate, to live life to the full, but it won’t consume me.

This is a huge shift as my whole life has been about interiors, design and ‘stuff’.

I am more excited about the charity we have established and the not for profit store we are going to be opening in our city!

When I realised that a teacher in Uganda lives on $2.60 a day, a street child in Cambodia relies on sifting through rubbish on the city dump to find food, and that there are 147 million orphans worldwide as I type this, it changes the type of ‘stuff’ I want to put my effort into.

I was searching online yesterday for some exterior lights for the verandahs of our home. I saw some fantastic, exactly what I had been looking for lights and sent off an email to the company.

That rusty look just gets me every time!…Until I got the reply email, where each light is over $600 trade!!

How can I think about buying 10 x $600 lights for a house, when little children’s ‘lights’ go out every day for lack of food?

So far, the build has been pretty economical – what we have spent to date is far less than most people, because as a builder the man hours are $0, and materials can be bought cheaper.

My spirit will always be nourished by beautiful things, it’s how we were created. But beauty needn’t be expensive…

“When you have only two pennies left in the world,

buy a loaf of bread with one,

and a lily with the other.”

{Chinese Proverb}

 

 

crochet for christmas

I’ve been working on some pretty crochet hair clips for our open house this Christmas season.

They are great for a beginner crocheter like me.  I love that we have youtube to teach us how to do things when we don’t have a nanna around to show us!! But nothing ever compares to sitting down with a grandma and learning homemaker skills.

I vividly remember watching my nana cable knit sweaters for my dad. Watching her long gnarled fingers working the needles, the lavender smell of her skin wafting across the air enveloping me in its cocoon of safety, her husky laugh as we visited away the afternoon sharing funny stories, the afternoon sun turning to gold the mustardy velvet lounge chair she sat in with feet up on her ‘pouffe.’

Her pickle relish was simmering on the stove, and a pile of books sat beside the chair, ready for late-night reading.

Nana lived in a granny flat at the back of our house, and she welcomed me home each day. A former hairdresser, she always looked so elegant, (even on the days she had curlers tucked under a pretty head scarf).

I think that’s why I love hand craft so much….it is a link to women who have gone before us, a practical way to slow down and savour simplicity.

The clips will be selling for $5.00 each. Great stocking fillers!!

LIVE YOUR DREAM, NOT SOMEONE ELSE’S

It’s so easy to lose focus when you start looking around at what everyone else is doing. Begin to suffer from doubt and fear, wondering if you’re even up to the challenge of stepping out in faith.  Second-guess yourself, did I really hear from God on this?

But where’s the adventure in staying in the boat?!

 

Playing safe is boring.

 

A friend recently sent me a random card, on it she wrote “If you’re going to go, GO BIG!” Her English isn’t all together fantastic, but I GOT IT!!! She was telling me to DREAM BIG and then JUMP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is it time for YOU to do some water-walking? {Matthew 14}

“you take care of this baby”

Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the

kingdom of God like a little child will

never enter it

{Mark 10:15 NIV}.

{I recently read the story of a young family who went out to eat at a local restaurant. They were the only family with children in the restaurant. The mom sat their little boy, Erik, in a high chair and noticed everyone was quietly sitting and talking. Suddenly, Erik squealed with glee and said, “Hi.” He pounded his fat baby hands on the high chair tray. His eyes were crinkled in laughter and his mouth was bared in a toothless grin as he wriggled and giggled with joy.

The mother looked around and saw the source of his merriment. It was a man wearing baggy pants and shoes so worn that his toes poked out. His shirt was dirty and his hair was uncombed and unwashed. His whiskers were too short to be called a beard and his nose was so varicose it looked like a road map. The man sat far away but the mother was sure he smelled bad. His hands waved and flapped on loose wrists in an effort to make Erik laugh.

“Hi there, baby. Hi there, big boy. I see ya, buster,” the man said to Erik. Erik’s mom and dad exchanged looks and asked, “What do we do?” Erik continued to laugh and answer, “Hi.” Everyone in the restaurant noticed the man who was creating a nuisance with the beautiful baby. Their meal came and the man began shouting from across the room, “Do ya patty cake? Do you know peek-a-boo? Hey, look, he knows peek- a-boo.” Nobody thought the old man was cute. He was obviously drunk.

Erik’s parents were embarrassed and ate in silence. Not Erik. He was running through his repertoire for the admiring skid row bum, who in turn, reciprocated with his cute comments. The parents finally got through the meal and headed for the door. The husband went to pay the check and told his wife to meet him in the parking lot. The old man sat poised between the mother and the door. “Lord, just let me out of here before he speaks to me or Erik,” she prayed. As she drew closer to the man, she turned her back trying to sidestep him and avoid any air he might be breathing. As she did, Erik leaned over her arm, reaching with both arms in a baby’s “pick-me-up” position. Before the mom could stop him, Erik had propelled himself from her arms to the man’s.

Suddenly a very old smelly man and a very young baby consummated their love and kinship. Erik in an act of total trust, love, and submission laid his tiny head on the man’s ragged shoulder. The man’s eyes closed, and tears hovered beneath his lashes. His aged hands full of grime, pain, and hard labor, cradled the baby and gently stroked his back.

No two beings have ever loved so deeply for so short a time. The mother and every other person in the restaurant were awestruck. The old man rocked and cradled Erik in his arms and his eyes opened and in a firm and even commanding voice said, “You take care of this baby.” Somehow the mother managed, “I will” from a throat choked with emotion.

He pried Erik from his chest, lovingly and longingly, as though he were in pain. The mom took her baby and the man said, “God bless you, ma’am, you’ve given me my Christmas gift.” With Erik in her arms, the mom ran for the car. Her husband was wondering why his wife was crying and holding Erik so tightly saying, “My God, my God, forgive me.” Everyone had just witnessed Christ’s love shown through the innocence of a tiny child who saw no sin, who made no judgment; a child who saw a soul, and a mother who saw a suit of clothes. The mother was a Christian who was blind, holding a child who was not. }*

 

Re-posted from “Girlfriends in God” – Crosswalk.com

House Update #4

Rain has been pouring down over 75% of NSW for the last few weeks, which is really making things difficult on the building sites, our own included.

The timberwork we have installed on the verandahs has to be protected with plastic because it hasn’t been primed yet and will decay if we don’t get a coat on there soon. Hard to do when the timber is so wet!!

The exterior cladding is about 3/4 complete andmost of the windows are in.

Unfortunately the window manufacturers have put the cathedral glass in the top casing inside out – with the ‘bubble’ effect on the inside! They will have to come and turn it around before we add the aluminium pieces that will divide the glass into ‘leadlight look’ panels.

I’m still madly in love with my fretwork choice. It’s so romantic and country which is just what I love!. You can see I have already claimed a spot for a cuppa on the verandah. It’s the first time in 4 years I have an undercover area to sit outside and enjoy the rain!

The kitchen door has louvres either side for ventilation. This leads out to our deck, where I reckon we will eat about 80% of the year!

One thing I have had to develop during the last 5 years is patience! Being married to a builder, I have lived in so many different homes, most of which were built or renovated to sell….so I am enjoying the process on our dream home. If it takes another few years, so be it! (can you tell I am trying to be upbeat here!!!?)

Rain rain go away, I want to live in my house one day…