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| Baldry Apricots! |
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| picking apricots from our fruit trees |
Today I started by pulling out our new calenders we received at Christmas. I was given two good ones - one has great tips for getting super organised....and I am already taking the suggestions on board to help grow the organisational capacity of my personhood. One of my greatest challenges in life is improving my ability to organise myself n my family at the same time.
As a mum, its expected to come with the territory and as each child emerges and the family grows, I am challenged to make my capacity grow and my ability to manage the family and the household, strengthen. Honestly though, I have been quite patchy in areas and my organisational skills need a lot of work. These areas will be challenged even more so as I head back to work for the first time since Lily was born, adding another ball into the never ending juggling act. This need for greater organisation comes hand in hand with a greater level of consistency and stick ability (something Ive always struggled with). To make it work, these extra characteristics in my personhood, also need to grow a lot. Arghhhh!!!!! the pain.... the sorrow.... the stretching!!!! But I know I can do it. Ive seen others do it successfully, and Im sure I'll be able to do the same, God willing. I just have to try, and try and try. I think I can, I think I can!
As a mum, its expected to come with the territory and as each child emerges and the family grows, I am challenged to make my capacity grow and my ability to manage the family and the household, strengthen. Honestly though, I have been quite patchy in areas and my organisational skills need a lot of work. These areas will be challenged even more so as I head back to work for the first time since Lily was born, adding another ball into the never ending juggling act. This need for greater organisation comes hand in hand with a greater level of consistency and stick ability (something Ive always struggled with). To make it work, these extra characteristics in my personhood, also need to grow a lot. Arghhhh!!!!! the pain.... the sorrow.... the stretching!!!! But I know I can do it. Ive seen others do it successfully, and Im sure I'll be able to do the same, God willing. I just have to try, and try and try. I think I can, I think I can!
At Christmas time my lovely husband heard my request for a present I could use, and blessed me with what I really wanted (even though he felt embarrassed he couldnt boast about it to his mates), so I cant wait to use my "nurse stuff " lol ...a neonatal stethoscope and pocket of forceps, scissors, fob watch, neuro light, pen and card holder. I am keen to get back into midwifery, nursing and education. Returning to work has come around so quickly, but at the same time, Ive been longing for it for ages. There's something very fulfilling about helping others through the experience of pregnancy, birth and the early days of parenthood.
More exciting preparations occurred this week as we went shopping for a family's worth of shoes. We also bought new lunchboxes and fortunately the girls uniforms still fit for this year. Now they are set for school and we can spend the rest of the holidays enjoying them as they should be. i.e. hitting the beach and playground and having a lot of fun family time together, picking fruit, playing softball, riding bikes, playing boogle and board games, and of course, tidying up! etc.
Hooray for new starts and new things....
Its lovely to start afresh together as a family.
Finally I want to continue to grow my spirit, my understanding of who God is and what he requires of me. In church today they read out Job (38 -40), where God describes himself by challenging Job's understanding of who he thinks God is....
I too want to get a better glimpse of this awesome God.
The Lord Challenges Job
1 Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:
2 “Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
or shown the dawn its place,
13 that it might take the earth by the edges
and shake the wicked out of it?
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
its features stand out like those of a garment.
15 The wicked are denied their light,
and their upraised arm is broken.
16 “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been shown to you?
Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
Tell me, if you know all this.
19 “What is the way to the abode of light?
And where does darkness reside?
20 Can you take them to their places?
Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
21 Surely you know, for you were already born!
You have lived so many years!
22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow
or seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I reserve for times of trouble,
for days of war and battle?
24 What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,
or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?
25 Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain,
and a path for the thunderstorm,
26 to water a land where no one lives,
an uninhabited desert,
27 to satisfy a desolate wasteland
and make it sprout with grass?
28 Does the rain have a father?
Who fathers the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb comes the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
30 when the waters become hard as stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen?
34 “Can you raise your voice to the clouds
and cover yourself with a flood of water?
35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 Who gives the ibis wisdom[f]
or gives the rooster understanding?[g]
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
38 when the dust becomes hard
and the clods of earth stick together?
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels[a] shouted for joy?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels[a] shouted for joy?
8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?
12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning, when it burst forth from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?
or shown the dawn its place,
13 that it might take the earth by the edges
and shake the wicked out of it?
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
its features stand out like those of a garment.
15 The wicked are denied their light,
and their upraised arm is broken.
16 “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been shown to you?
Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
Tell me, if you know all this.
19 “What is the way to the abode of light?
And where does darkness reside?
20 Can you take them to their places?
Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
21 Surely you know, for you were already born!
You have lived so many years!
22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow
or seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I reserve for times of trouble,
for days of war and battle?
24 What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,
or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?
25 Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain,
and a path for the thunderstorm,
26 to water a land where no one lives,
an uninhabited desert,
27 to satisfy a desolate wasteland
and make it sprout with grass?
28 Does the rain have a father?
Who fathers the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb comes the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
30 when the waters become hard as stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen?
31 “Can you bind the chains[b] of the Pleiades?
Can you loosen Orion’s belt?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons[c]
or lead out the Bear[d] with its cubs?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens?
Can you set up God’s[e] dominion over the earth?
Can you loosen Orion’s belt?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons[c]
or lead out the Bear[d] with its cubs?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens?
Can you set up God’s[e] dominion over the earth?
34 “Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water?
35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 Who gives the ibis wisdom[f]
or gives the rooster understanding?[g]
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
38 when the dust becomes hard
and the clods of earth stick together?
39 “Do you hunt the prey for the lioness
and satisfy the hunger of the lions
40 when they crouch in their dens
or lie in wait in a thicket?
41 Who provides food for the raven
when its young cry out to God
and wander about for lack of food?
and satisfy the hunger of the lions
40 when they crouch in their dens
or lie in wait in a thicket?
41 Who provides food for the raven
when its young cry out to God
and wander about for lack of food?
What an awesome, scary, amazing, creative, challenging, powerful, distinctive, personable God!
What does 2011 hold for you?
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