Emotional rollercoaster

Emotions...sometimes it seems that I don't have a lot of them and when I do I find it hard to understand them. Thankfully I am married to someone who is much more outwardly emotional than me and understands emotions much better than me. So after 4.5 years of marriage I am learning that I don't need to be ashamed or embarrassed of my emotions and the cause and effect of my emotions!

I think it is very important to understand emotions and I know all too well how difficult they are to understand. So, I can't even begin to imagine how difficult it must be for a young child. We put so much importance on learning numbers, letters, good behaviour, sharing etc but how much time do we spent talking to and helping our little ones understand the feelings that bubble up in them.

Reading 'Rhythm of the home' I came across the article on Colour my emotion and have been inspired to try out the activity suggested. We only got three of the emotions painted today before MJ lost concentration but that's okay, we will try some more tomorrow. He did tell me that he felt scared when he saw 'big scary monsters on TV'!





Totally unrelated but I wanted to add it. MJ decided that he wanted to photograph his toys. He got them all out of his toy box, put me in position beside them and snapped. He was so excited to see his photo and I like it too.

In between Christmas and New Year

I enjoy the few days between Christmas and New Year. For me it is a time to reflect on the year almost ended and the opportunity of a New Year beginning.

January- Home

February- Allotment

March- Iceland

April- London

May- Preparing for the arrival

June- She arrived!

July- Back garden

August

September- Fruit leather

October- 'Our whole family in a boat!'

November- Hatfield Forest

December- Christmas with family

2010 has been a real mix. What stands in the front of my mind is the happiness of Ljs birth, the sadness of two family deaths and the frustration of potty training!

As I plan for the year ahead I'm making exercise, meal and bible study schedules. If I can make a daily habit of these three things then I believe I will feel balanced and have the strength to face whatever comes my way in 2011.

Happy New Year.

Since I last posted.

What has been going on in our world since I last posted-

:: I celebrated my birthday.



:: Lots of walking in the woods.



:: My family has been to stay.



:: I found MJ knitting with a piece of string and a lego fishing rod. Look at the concentration on his face...priceless.



:: MJ contracted chicken pox, so lots of Calamine being applied and not much sleep being had!

:: I've been employed to do some freelance CAD work.

:: Two pairs of slipper socks are finished, one pair on the needles and last years attempt at knitting long gloves are almost finished too.

:: Lilyjean is still smiling.

I wonder if the next two weeks will be as diverse.

Knitting and listening.

This week I have been enjoying knitting slippers while listening to all sorts of podcasts and radio programmes.



My new past time when the kids are tucked up safely in bed is to grab my knitting bag. Two weeks on and I am still enjoying knitting, I can't believe it. I finished a pair of slippers for myself and am almost finished a pair for my mum, a surprise for when she arrives on Tuesday for a short visit. My husband and his friend have also ordered a pair so I need to source some manly wool! While knitting I can multi task and listen to something on the radio or a podcast which I am loving. I'm especially into Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill Church. Tonight I am listening to him speak about Women and homemaking! What he says is a bit controversial but encouraging to me as a stay at home mum.

Our day.

We had little planned for today so LJ was able to catch up on some sleep in her cot, while MJ was busy creating his own fun. He has a fascination with boats at present. It is ever since M took him on a boat trip for his 3rd birthday.



Pink watering can aka boat, mud bath aka river with waterfall. He played for an hour in this until the ground got so muddy that his feet kept sinking and I had to be called to pull him out twice.



This is his chalk drawing of a boat. The green circles are portholes. In each porthole is a person. Mum, Dad, MJ, LJ, Granddad and Nana. There are a few dots as eyes and a few sad looking mouths but he assures me we are all happy! The zig zag line at the bottom is water. I was so impressed I wished he had drawn it on paper so I could frame it. His imagination is really working overtime at the moment.



Being inspired by the women at Craft and Coffee yesterday I started knitting again. I am not a patient person, therefore I am not a knitter but I really want to knit beautiful things. So I'm trying again. This time I am knitting some cute slippers out of wool I got in Iceland at the beginning of year. The pattern was recommended and can be found at Drops design.

Now the kids are sleeping and M is still at work so I think I will pick up the needles and keep knitting while the enthusiasm is still there.

I'm glad we had a quiet day today!

Tragedy, Fear and Hope

This past week has been one of tragedy, fear and hope.

I will explain.

Tragedy::

On Thursday 29^th September my 36 year old cousin died giving birth to her third child. A husband is left to care for and raise a 4 year old girl, 1 year old boy and new born baby. How is he to understand this sudden tragedy which had filled his world?

Fear::

Last night we watched the film, ‘the girl with the dragon tattoo’. It was originally a book written by Stieg Larsson. Although it was a well made film I would not recommend anyone to watch it. I don’t believe it is profitable to fill our minds and thoughts with such evil ideas and imagery. It left me feeling fearful for my own children. What if they grow up to be influenced by the evil in this world and therefore walk an evil path? What if they are the victim of evil? How would I ever cope if anyone hurt one by my babies?

Hope::

Thankfully this morning as I was sitting alone, talking to God about some things on my mind and reading the Bible (Gods words to us) I came across this verse.

‘Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes, for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.’ Proverbs ch 3 v 25,26.

These words jumped out of the page at me. It summerized just what I was feeling and filled me with calm for the future of me and my family. If tragedy or evil should come to us I hope that I will trust these words and know a confidence that only God can give. What else can we hold onto in this life?

Our very own, home grown pumpkin.

We came back home on Wednesday evening to find a large pumpkin on the table. M is so proud of his first ever home grown pumpkin. He had to take the car to the allotment to transport it home. I think we will be growing a pumpkin every year from now on.





Trying to give you an idea of the size of our pumpkin...a little bigger than mjs head!!!



Mjs painted version of our pumpkin.