repost-but still a beauty

“By your words I can see where I'm going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path. I've committed myself and I'll never turn back from living by your righteous order. Everything's falling apart on me, God; put me together again with your Word. Festoon me with your finest sayings, God; teach me your holy rules. My life is as close as my own hands, but I don't forget what you have revealed. The wicked do their best to throw me off track, but I don't swerve an inch from your course. I inherited your book on living; it's mine forever— what a gift! And how happy it makes me! I concentrate on doing exactly what you say— I always have and always will.” Psalm 119:105 MSG

A Beautiful Exchange

"Every time we think of you, we thank God for you. Day and night you're in our prayers as we call to mind your work of faith, your labor of love, and your patience of hope in following our Master, Jesus Christ, before God our Father. It is clear to us, friends, that God not only loves you very much but also has put his hand on you for something special. When the Message we preached came to you, it wasn't just words. Something happened in you. The Holy Spirit put steel in your convictions." 1 Thess 1:2-5

More sharing:

Nov 8

Who ever lived here before me, blessed me heartily.
Loving these roses in my garden x

Nov 9

My son. Always up for a photo shoot,
though not always with Mama

Nov 10

I like the texture...

Welcome to November

2011 is coming to a close! I am so excited about Christmas! 

My family are all coming to spend it with us!

Yay! Yay! Yay!

Anyway - I had every intention of posting a photo every day for the month of November!

I am a few days behind...

Nov 1

Marine Parade Fountain, Napier
New Saeson, New Day, Fresh Anointing/Favour/Dreams
Flowing my way!

Nov 2

Ah yes, a good suggestion and a great way to step into summer
"If you're going to do it, do it properly."

Nov 3

"The Green Patch" in Waipukurau has what looks like a Phoenix to me!
I LOVE IT! Speaks to me of hope, renewing, uprising....
Can't be bad for a Church here to win a region! LET'S DO IT!

Nov 4

Beautiful garden surprise, we have a 'waterfall' of pink roses.
Gorgeous!

Nov 5

Church Bonfire - Guy Fawkes
(I didn't take this actually TBF did)

Nov 6

Pastor Helen Monk!
Phenomenal Woman!

Nov 7

So today is my husband birthday (The Big Fella)

I was going to take a pic of him eating cake forgetting that he is away for the next few days.

Instead, I took this.

This is a speaker in my car
Not overly interesting BUT I love music and I have THE BADDEST
stereo in my car - thanks to my awesome husband.
to coin a phrase #iamthankful

Phew! Up to date.

I loved this idea! The Uniform Project raising money to pay schooling for kids who can't afford it!

So In Love

I love this song. I think it will be my summer anthem x

It's been so long since a 'feel good jam' was released, this song is a breath of fresh air to me.

Quick gym update - I have been going for about 3 months I think and it just keeps getting better and while I have actually only lost about 5kgs in weight, I lost six centimetres from my butt (OMgee!) and more from my waist and thighs (but the six of my butt alone was pretty shocking) I was upset at first saying "Oh no! I still wanna be bootylicious..." she glanced back and said to me "Oh, you're still bootylicious." Praise the Lord! Hahaha. So I do Step, Pump and Kick Boxing - it rocks!

I love the Lord. I gotta say.

Psalm 20:4, 5, 7

May he grant your heart’s desires and make all your plans succeed. 

May we shout for joy when we hear of your victory 

and raise a victory banner in the name of our God. 

May the Lord answer all your prayers.

Some nations boast of their chariots and horses, 

but we boast in the name of the Lord our God.

Just a collage of beautiful Aotearoa skies - I love where I live.

I Want You Back

It's been forever!

I got a call from a girlfriend saying "You haven't blogged in a while..." so here I am.

I killed both laptops via someone else's disease ridden external hard drive :( they stopped scanning my husbands laptop at 8500 odd viruses found. Needless to say, I will not be doing that again.

I've had wonderful weekends with some of my beautiful nieces. My Dad recently travelled down for our Men's Conference and he and Ma brought three of the girls down - it was the best weekend!! (in spite of the lost hours of sleep)


They're so full of life!! I loved the squealing, (but not the screaming) they were so cute with the whoppee cushion. And the dog. Emptied a brand new bag of dog food, right in front of his run (I don't know how they got it out there!) and then proceeded to throw them at him handfuls at a time.

This beauty needs at least a day to warm up to me. The Big Fella too. She adores her Koro and her favourite word is "no" 

She loves her cousin like crazy so being his Mama plants me on pretty good standing, but doesn't give  me the Golden Ticket Access to kisses and cuddles as I like! 

And we got to celebrate this little cherubs third birthday! Nothing spectacular - she wanted to go to Church for her birthday! We wanted to take them to Maccas for lunch but Ma and Pa got lost (I know - there's like ONE main street here, but anyway) so we had hot chips, cake and milo at home. 

She went home singing "You Are Good" by Planetshakers! Neither of her parents are Christian, but now want a copy for her to listen to! Praise God!

She looks super bored! Haha!

This one's better!

 

I can't believe how fast the year has gone. You may already know The Big Fella was ordained in February, it has been all go ever since. 


I feel like I have more time and yet I don't, I'm not even sure how that makes any sense :) but I am loving the change. The journey is fun. God is so SO good.


Autumn has come and gone. My favourite season. 

Love the richness of colour and that it seems to linger even as Winter takes over. 


Bed seems snugglier and the couch seems comfier. The sun seems to set more radiantly. Lots for me to photograph anyway - loving the iPhone gifted to me!

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A musical interlude, my new favourites: The Civil Wars

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Psalm 103
  ¹¹ For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
      is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
 ¹² He has removed our sins as far from us
      as the east is from the west.
 ¹³ The Lord is like a father to his children,
      tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
 ¹⁴ For he knows how weak we are;
      he remembers we are only dust.
 ¹⁵ Our days on earth are like grass;
      like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
 ¹⁶ The wind blows, and we are gone—
      as though we had never been here.
 ¹⁷ But the love of the Lord remains forever
      with those who fear him.
   His salvation extends to the children’s children
 ¹⁸ of those who are faithful to his covenant,
      of those who obey his commandments!


Still praying God's wisdom will be my wisdom. Praying that my legacy will be beyond my years. Praying that God will take hold of this region. Praying for Partnership. Praying that "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."


Thanks for reading x

Let it all out!

I'm doing a lot of blabbing on Facebook, but in all truth I am speechless about the weekend I have just had at SHOUT 2011.

No seriously.

"Jesus didn't come to make bad people good... He came to make dead people live" Bruce Monk

I'm fizzing. Fizzing.

Gold

I love this song. I love Ben Harper actually. (enough not to notice how ugg those jamas are that he has on)

Anyway, this post is not about Ben.

I have joined the gym.
At the moment it feels like the biggest mistake of my life!
I am in pain! I have had to be coached after every session, by The Big Fella: "It'll get better. Your muscles won't be so sore." All sounds like blah, blah, blah at the moment.
On top of that I have already had the Instructor say to me:
"HOW BAD DO YOU WANT THIS?!"
"Pretty bad"
"ENOUGH TO GET UP AT 5.30 IN THE MORNING!!?"
"No."
"WELL NOT ENOUGH THEN!!"

Egad - if only she knew how hard it was for me to turn up at all let alone turning up again.

So I am torturing myself for the greater good.

As a Christian you hear the word "fruit" a lot and I have decided: If all you do is walk into Church and see me, then being fat maintaining my current unhealthy weight is a "No Fruit" scenario.

So. I'm doing something about it.
I have committed to a 6-month Get-fit Program.
I must attend a minimum of three classes a week (Pump, Step and Kick boxing)
I have a Food Diary
Attend their Nutrition Program.
I get measured and weighed once a month for my own information.

I'll keep you posted!

No Monday-i-tis for me!

Psalm 121:1-2 "I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth." 

Psalm 8:9 "LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!"

This could quite possibly be my Wordless Wednesday equivalent seeing as 

Monday is my day off!

I always forget about Wordless Wednesday and miss it.

Anyway today I did "nothing much"

I lay in bed till mid morning.

Had pikelets for breakfast (YUM) 

And watched a movie.

Then goofed with The Boys:

(Hmmm, young fella doesn't look sick does he... I think it was a father-son scam...)

Haha - he just loves the camera! 

Behind it, in front of it - he doesn't care as long as he's got it.

(I, on the other hand, prefer to be behind it)

Oops - clearly I missed the wordless part of Wednesday posts!

Ah - I'll try it next time!

It's a new season

I'm not a fan of Summer.

I don't like to be HOT.

I have survived balmy nights and scorching days thanks to a generous friend with an 'open gate' policy and her lovely salt water pool! I bless the Lord for Raewyn! She didn't even mind my midnight dips! (AND while beach swimming usually dreads my hair her pool jhuzed my curls - LOVING my hair this summer!) 

While I was on a Cruise to Noumea with my sisters; my husband (what a Legend!) moved our entire home! The need to move arose suddenly and we moved only twenty minutes away but My Big Fella packed and moved the WHOLE house!

I came back from holiday, voila, all done. Incredibly blessed! We haven't unpacked entirely yet but we have space for all our knick knacks and there is still room to breath!
We can sleep people marae style in our lounge! Yay!


My sweet, sweet nieces.
You know it's love when they are teething and it's 3am and you haven't gone to bed yet for pacing the lounge with them, you are due to be somewhere at 8am, but it's OK. No worries!

 

They stayed for the weekend. I cried when they left.

(What a sook, right. I think my husband enjoyed the novelty of a sobbing wife. 

I didn't mind the vulnerability)

Four of six! My two younger brothers are missing from this photo, occasions where we are all together and looking presentable are SO rare! Love that God moved me away so that I could love, appreciate and know my family better. I always thought we were close but moving showed me we were not. 

Every minute together is treasured now. Thank you God.

(Do you love that all three of us girls wear glasses the same style - maybe cos we all have round faces)

Praying Salvation for my brothers. Knowing Gods will "that none would perish" I thank Him for the day!

Television became a distant memory this Summer.

(though Facebook could do with a kick in the pants!)

I am loving board games! And parks. Snoozing under trees on warm sunny days.

Bonfires. (Oh bonfires!) Toasted marshmallows. Walking the dog.

SAUSAGES AND BREAD! Fresh fruits!

(I didn't pick strawberries this summer but BOY did I eat them)

Sharing: Life. Fully.

Getting a glimpse of Gods bigger picture.

My husband was ordained (I am a Pastors wife - eek) along with two others!

My son started at Intermediate (aaah!)

My Boss gave me an iPhone!

My sisters shouted me on a Cruise.

God is good. All the time.

All the time. God is good.

*************************

Psalm 119:30-35

I have chosen the way of faithfulness; 

   I have set my heart on your laws. 

I hold fast to your statutes, LORD; 

   do not let me be put to shame. 

I run in the path of your commands, 

   for you have broadened my understanding.

 Teach me, LORD, the way of your decrees, 

   that I may follow it to the end.

Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law 

   and obey it with all my heart. 

Direct me in the path of your commands, 

   for there I find delight

Happy New Year!

Psalm 23

The Lord Is My Shepherd

That's Relationship!  

I Shall Not Want 

That's Supply!

He Maketh Me To Lie Down In Green Pastures 

That's Rest!

He Leadeth Me Beside The Still Waters 

That's Refreshment!

He Restoreth My Soul 

That's Healing!

He Leadeth Me In The Paths Of Righteousness 

That's Guidance!

For His Name Sake 

That's Purpose!

Yea, Though I Walk Through The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death 

That's Testing!

I Will Fear No Evil 

That's Protection!  

For Thou Art With Me 

That's Faithfulness!  

Thy Rod And Thy Staff They Comfort Me 

That's Discipline!
 
Thou Preparest A Table Before Me In The Presence Of Mine Enemies  

That's Provision!  

Thou Anointest My Head With Oil 

That's Consecration!

My Cup Runneth Over 

That's Abundance!  

Surely Goodness And Mercy Shall Follow Me All The Days Of My Life 

That's Blessing!  

And I Will Dwell In The House Of The Lord  

That's Security!

Forever 

That's Eternity!

I did not right this and make no claims to it.

It declares, the care, grace and wonder of God and I had to share it.

A year-ish a go I started blogging and have had highs and lows on display for all to see (sheesh!) but always, always, always God has held me. Encouraged me. Lifted me.

I'm forever grateful to You.