My white rose

My second pregnancy ended in miscarriage. We were devastated. Especially as the hospital treated our tiny 10 week baby as 'clinical waste', although they did claim that the ashes were scattered on a garden of remembrance. Why can hospitals not understand that a woman going through miscarriage firstly ought not be on the maternity ward with all the happy flower bearing congratulations going on around and secondly that her baby is not 'clinical waste'.

Ugh, I could cry right now, even though it was over 7 years ago. I was too numb at the time to complain. I couldn't get my head around what had happened. I felt in a dream. I wept with a nurse whose only words to me were, "You're getting blood on me."

Our Pastor was wonderful, he came round to our house afterwards and after prayers we planted a white rose bush in our garden. Every year it had flowered until early this year when it died. It seem to just rot away.

Imagine my joy when in Spring shoots started to appear! Here it is now. My beautiful white rose.


Call me silly, but I'm convinced my baby was a girl - we could never know because it was too early. Perhaps because my other two children are girls. I don't know. But she's in heaven now, my little one.

Is it going to rain?

flickr

My Mum regaled me with tales of very heavy rain heading our way today. So with great trepidation I've hung my washing out.

I live an exciting life of danger and intrigue.

;)

Books

I know, no blog posts for ages and then four come at once.

So I've just finished reading the delectable The Heart of the Family by Elizabeth Goudge sent to me by the lovely Dulce Domum. I was so excited but then disappointed that it wasn't as compelling as the wonderful Herb of Grace (or Pilgrims' Inn for my American pals). I put the book down for a week or two whilst I read In His Steps by Charles Sheldon (wonderful) and Suprised by the Power of the Spirit by Dr Jack Deere (wonderful, except I got a bit bored towards the end). Anyway, I re-picked up The Heart of the Family for my recent holiday and absolutely loved it. Elizabeth Goudge has a beautiful peaceful quality to her work and I love the way she gently explores the spiritual aspect of suffering and struggles. Home and family are wonderfully portrayed. The novels aren't fast-paced or dramatic but rather poetic and descriptive. If you enjoy that style of writing then I fully recommend these books.

My next Elizabeth Goudge book is The Scent of Water also sent by Dulce Domum.

I'm currently reading The Shack by William Paul Young, a very interesting book. A friend from church raved about the book, she claimed that everyone must read it. Another friend said, "Hmmmm". Our Pastor said that there was good aspects and dubious aspects to the book. So I had to read! :) It's certainly very different, the first few chapters are very engrossing. When Mack, the central character, finally meets God it isn't the most theologically sound description, but very lovely. I don't know I've not finished yet, so one must reserve judgement. So far I'd hazard to say don't base your doctrine on it, but approached for what it is - fiction from the imagination - it is a warm fuzzy read so far. Somehow a bit too warm and fuzzy. If you read the reviews on Amazon the book is quite controversial. I'll write more when I've finished the book. Watch this space...

Onto my eldest's books. Despite the fact I moaned about Enid Blyton in a previous post, I must say we really enjoyed The Island of Adventure and The Castle of Adventure. I think they were abridged, you know took out all the old fashioned non-p.c. language. We are now reading Five God Adventuring Again in an old 1950s hard back. It's quite simply delicious! The characters are so jolly hockey sticks and 'I say!'



It has fantastic pictures in too. Hubs complained about the old fashioned language. "Why do they keep saying, 'rather!' about everything?" I'm hooked. I want to buy all my books in their wonderful unabridged version.

So what for my youngest. Nothing new except What About Heaven? Which is a lovely book written in poetry. It has lots of scripturally based answers to questions children might ask about Heaven. At the end of book it covers the scriptures on which the poem is based. I enjoy reading it with her.

*Sigh* the girls go back to school tomorrow and I go back to work (only 2 hours a day, but still *sigh*). Don't know when I'll post again.

Pip, pip.

Eagle Owl

Thanks for all your lovely comments on yesterday's post, it's so nice to know that people are still reading despite my lengthy absence.

The picture of the bird I posted was an Eagle Owl. We visited Lakeland Bird of Prey Centre which is situated in a walled garden in the grounds of Lowther Castle. We didn't visit the castle, as you can see from the website it's being renovated at the moment (take time to look at the photos and the progress being made, it's wonderful).

Both hubs, my mum and my youngest had an opportunity to hold the Eagle owl and to watch it fly. It really was wonderful to enjoy the ancient art of falconry, they behave almost like a dog with its master.









Such a beautiful creature.

She's BACK!

Hello there. Is there anyone still out there? Lol.

We've just returned from a beautiful holiday here.

Here are a few pics from the holiday (I'll perhaps share some more when I have time):







Hope you are all well and happy.

Internet break

Rather than just disappear and you worry if I'm OK this is just a quick post to say I'm taking an internet break for a while.

See you soon!

I'm a total basket case

Hubs has been off work for the past week. So here's some of what we've been up to.

I love baskets. So, having some birthday money to spend (I'm now the grand old age of 37) I spent it on baskets. Aren't they pretty? *sigh* Oh, on the left you can just see the flowers hubs bought me on my birthday.


We are starting to build a dolls house. Here's what we did so far.

The girls chose a pattern from the internet, this one is pink hearts, and we printed off and glued to cardboard to fit into the bottom of a box.

I cut up some suede effect fabric for a carpet and we've cut out a window. We're planning many levels, some stairs, curtains, pictures, etc.


We also visited a local bird sanctuary. I particularly loved the cranes, but the girls loved the flamingos.

This crane (above) was so friendly

Here's a fancy looking crane (above).

We had a trip to the cinema too and watched Toy Story 3, it was hilarious, particularly Spanish Buzz.

We hired some videos: Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, Alvin and the Chipmunks - the Squeakquel, and Sherlock. Nanny McPhee was favourite with the girls and hubs and I loved Sherlock.

So how was your week?