It's my birthday...and other general chit chat

I'm 42 today.  I'm like WELL old...as Chatterbox would say.  Although, yesterday whilst I was cleaning at my Grandma's flat (she lives in sheltered housing) one of her very elderly neighbours came out to see why one of her windows was wide open (Grandma never opens her windows for fear of wasps and burglars), I was distressed to see this little old lady wearing exactly the same jacket as me!  A jacket that I thought was very hip and young looking! Perhaps I need to update my wardrobe? LOL

Hubby bought me a lovely bottle of single malt whiskey.  I am slightly suspicious that really he's bought himself a little present there!  But he did take the time to find an oak aged one, which I love.

The girls are having a sleepover at their nana's tonight and me and hubby are going out for a meal. Should be lovely. Yay!

Mum and Dad are coming around later for cake and coffee - two of my most favourite things - mmm cake and coffee.... The cake must be large and the coffee must be strong and black.

Well, I'm not sure I've ever shared a tour of pictures of our new (ish) house.  We moved here in November, so perhaps I'll take some time to take some photos later.

I mentioned in one of my other posts that I've been ill recently.  We think it was e coli and one of the places I could possibly have picked it up is cleaning out the cat litter tray.  So I'm slightly very paranoid about getting sick again because I was really, really poorly.  Hubby took a sneaky photo.

Hahaha, lookin' goooood! :D

Have a lovely day. xxx

Moving Forward and Staying the Same

"Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious... and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."
- Walt Disney

I'd been thinking about the direction of this blog and what to do with it and what I wanted out of blogging when Sandra (one of my most favourite bloggers) wrote this post: Do Yourself a Favor, which is a brilliant post, just pop over for a read.

She writes:

"So I'm making a conscious effort to maintain what my blog is about, to never change it, whether its look or the content of the posts, it doesn't matter. I want my readers who have been here from the very beginning in 2006 to feel like this is home, familiar, not like a completely different blog they stumbled upon."

This is why I love Sandra's blog.  She is not ashamed of who she is, she writes beautifully and her love of her family and home are just so evident in her writing and photographs.

But for me, blogging has been a bit up and down over the years.  Since I started blogging in 2005, I've had numerous blogs, off the top of my head they have been: Seeking His Glory, Faith, Hope and Love, A Bend in the Road, Another Bend in the Road, Verity Grace, Like Sunshine in the Home and this one now. I've been known as Mrs. Blythe (named after my favourite book character), Verity Grace and now my real name Sarah H. Sadly I've lost everything prior to September 2009 because of changing blogs so much, but I did import things from my last three blogs to this one.

Looking back I wondered why I changed blogs so much really.  I think it's because I wanted to 'find myself' - perhaps thinking that the blog is always greener on the other side haha :D.  Perhaps because I belonged to a crazy church that tried to mold me into what the leadership wanted me to be I was almost a split personality and couldn't settle on who I wanted to 'be' online because the church wanted me to be a perfect clone.

The funny thing is, every time I've changed my blog they've all morphed back into being very similar.  A mix of devotional, day-to-day family life, homemaking, and occasional angst about something...oh and funny pictures of cats and my obsession with words and etymology.

I set up this blog in reaction to leaving that crazy cultish church.  I think subconsciously I wanted to be like those spiritual abuse bloggers who help others in similar situations to escape the clutches of controlling and damaging churches.  Perhaps I saw myself with a huge group of adoring followers and a book deal. Hahahaha.  But of course this blog has done what all my other blogs have done, morphed back to type...and I have very few followers. LOL.

Symphony of Love, Flickr

I'm glad in a way.  Of course I will still share my experiences and rants about struggling with church stuff, but I'm glad it's not just about that.  I don't want to dwell in perpetual victimhood.  It's all about moving forward in my life and enjoying it!  I've lectured about spiritual abuse at our local bible college and people have been helped by it, so I can use my experiences to help others.  I don't want to name and shame, that's not what my blog's about, instead I want to document how I personally am moving forward.  And, of course, continue to share my day-to-day life and thoughts about this, that and the other.

I've learned that It's OK to Fail and it's OK just to be me.  Not perfect.  Not a clone.

I'm moving forward, but I'm still being me.

I started this post with a Walt Disney quote which is quoted in the film Meet the Robinsons.  Here's another from this film:

- You failed!
- And it was awesome!
- Exceptional!
- Outstanding!
- I've seen better.
- From failing, you learn.
- From success, not so much.

Four lessons I've learned:

• You do learn from your mistakes.  
• God does use messy people.  
• You only find out who you are by moving away from who you're not.  
• You can enjoy life while you're doing all this.

Let's hope that I stick with this blog from now on...but I can't guarantee it ;) hahaha

Big hugs and happy blogging!

Hahaha

Chatterbox this morning *breathlessly*:

"Mummy! Oh my gosh, I just had the WORST dream. I was making my breakfast and I went to the fridge and it was like SKIMMED MILK! Awful."

Hahaha, they really make me laugh.

Long time no see..

...for want of a witty post-title.

Wow, is it really April since I last posted?

What have I been up to?

Well, I've lectured at our local Bible college on spiritual abuse, I've preached at our church about 'Oaks of Righteousness', I've been looking after Grandma more often because my mum's been poorly, hubby after he had his gallbladder operation, and then he was looking after me when I caught what was most likely an E Coli bug that I am still recovering from.

The girls have both finished school now for the summer holidays. Yay!  Squidge has finished primary school for good, she's 11 now and will be starting high school in September.  She was so emotional leaving primary school as all her friends are going to a different high school.  I must say I got a little emotional too, my baby is growing up far too fast.

So some rest is in order.  I need to get healthy after this bug and to just get right and enjoy my time with my girls.

Resting, B Higham

Then I have numerous jobs around the house that needs doing.  Sort out the garden. Reorganise our filing.  Sort out some drawers that are just full of stuff.  Tidy out a cupboard that is full of boxes that I haven't gone through properly since we moved house.

I'm hoping to do some blogging too.

:)

Crafty

I was blessed with a number of plants this Christmas.  The Poinsettias came in regular brown pots and I didn't have anything to put them in, so I've decorated them all Christmassy.

This one was in a basket, but I thought it needed jazzing up a bit.

The next two came in rather nice pots, so I didn't need to change anything.  Does anyone know what the white flowers are in these two?  The flowers in the second pot are much bigger but seem to be of the same variety.

Chatterbox is upstairs with the flu, poor thing she was so feverish last night, I was a little worried.  She is still hot this morning but not as bad and is a little more cheerful.

Squidge has been busy in the meantime.

She is teaching herself to knit here.  It involves a great deal of getting very cross and frustrated and I'm not allowed to help! :)

I'll get my latest two Advent posts up later on today.  I must get on we have a dentist appointment.

Happy Homemaker Monday/Daybook Online Journal - 22nd December

Just a little change from my Jesse Tree series of devotions for Advent that I've been posting...are you impressed though that - apart from being late with a couple - I've managed to keep up with it!? *pleased with self*

I came across this at a blog called The Littlest Way and thought I'd join in with her Daybook Online Journal along with Sandra's Happy Homemaker Monday because some of the prompts are very similar. :)

The weather outside is...

Windy, damp and fairly mild for this time of the year.  It's about 10°C (50°F)

On the breakfast plate this morning...

Raisin loaf with cinnamon spread with butter and golden syrup...mmmmm.

As I look outside my window...

I am distressed by the garden...we moved here in November and it's just been too rainy to do anything about it.  It's rather overgrown and the grass is 90% moss, but I've got a summer house! Yay!

Right now I am...

Writing this post...getting frustrated with my camera because my pictures keep coming out blurred even though I have the vibration adjust wobby-hand thing set.

Listening to…

The ticking of the clock in the kitchen.  Chatterbox humming upstairs.

Currently Reading…

1000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp and Exodus in the Bible.  It's my second time of reading 1000 Gifts and I'll do a review after Christmas.

In the Kitchen/On the Menu This Week/New Recipe…

No fires...hopefully...which, with my cooking, is always a bonus.  Probably will do pasta bake tonight for tea (NB: for the uninitiated when I say 'tea' in reference to a meal it refers to the evening meal, this is an expression used by people from the North of England who are generally of working class descent).
When I say 'tea' as in a drink I mean...well...tea.

As I Look Around the House…

I see lots of things that need changing...like the awful curtains and light fittings we were blessed with when we moved into this house.  We're going out later to get a curtain pole for the living room to put up some nicer curtains.  But I love my new house.  Here's a pic of the living room/dining room which is all one room (I'll do the rest of the house when I have time), and some pics of the countryside just up the street.

Blogging station and Boots - she still hasn't settled in this house, very nervous.

On Today's To Do List...

Buy curtain rail.
Buy bathroom sealant (I'm convinced the shower is leaking).
Buy slats for Squidge's bed which she's managed to break.
Laundry.
Ironing.
Run the vacuum around.
Get the girls to clean out the guinea pigs.


On the TV Today...

Just watched Cinderella Story with the girls.
Want to watch Expendables 3 (I'm a sucker for cheesy action-man films).

The Week Ahead…

Christmas!!  Never move house just before Christmas...just sayin...

Captured/Favourite Photo from the Camera…

Boot's toes

Praying for…

Sick family and friends, there's so much going around at the moment.  We've had our fair-share too.

Pondering…

The things that need doing around the house.

In Our Domestic Church…

Our Jesse Tree daily (ahem read 'usually' daily) devotions.

So there we are Happy Monday!

I want to know him. Day 13 Advent.

Now I've caught up on the Jesse Tree series...huzzah...see also It's OK to Fail because He never does and Drawn Close to God for the other two.

Scripture:

4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, ‘You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.’

6 But when they said, ‘Give us a king to lead us,’ this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord told him: ‘Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king'.- 1 Samuel 8

Name of Jesus: King
Symbol: Crown

Devotional: 

‘Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king'

This is prophetic. Hear what the people said to Pilate about Jesus

But they shouted, ‘Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!’
‘Shall I crucify your king?’ Pilate asked.
‘We have no king but Caesar,’ the chief priests answered. - John 19:5

These people didn't know Christ was King...if they had truly known Him they wouldn't have rejected Him.  The chief priests were threatened by Him, they wanted to be in control and so they bowed their heads to the one who allowed them control over their religious realm - Caesar.  I believe the people rejected Christ as King because He didn't look like what they expected a king to be and He certainly didn't overthrow the Romans like they hoped.  And so, those voices that sang Hosanna as He rode into Jerusalem were soon crying out, "Crucify him!"  They were disappointed because they expected the Messiah to be a warrior.

But Christ is a warrior.  But He is also a Lamb.  The Lion and the Lamb.  He is conqueror, but He is also the rejected King.

I wonder if any of those who shouted, "Crucify him!" were amongst those 500 who saw Him after the resurrection?  I wonder what they did?

But the issue here for me is knowing Him.  The more I know Him, the more I trust Him as King over my life and the less likely I am to reject His ways or bow down to the modern Caesars.  We only freely follow someone we trust.

Oh Lord, may the eyes of my heart be fully opened that I may know You.  To know You deep in my heart.  That I may trust You implicitly.

Until that day Lord, strengthen me each moment in You.  You are my strength and my Redeemer.

Come Lord Jesus!

Happy Advent!