Two days to go.

I'm working today and tomorrow and then that is IT. Well for about 10 days anyway.

We had a lovely Christmas. Quiet, but lovely. Ate too much. Of course.

Today I have much to do since I'm away from Thursday through til the following week.

And there is also a New Years party to organise, which we will have at the beach. We do it every year and I never know how many people are going to turn up, and it doesn't matter. Everything is just more laid back and casual when you are at the beach. Nothing much bothers me. Perhaps I should move there permanently!

I have spent four wonderful days at the beach and the effects are showing. I'm calm. Not stressed about the amount of work I need to get done because I know there is a reward! And just a little bit sunburnt. The weather has been perfect so Kym has done lots of fishing. He took Stephanie and Amber (her cousin, born a day apart) fishing and they caught lots. The photos with the big smiles are priceless. I will share when I'm home. Can't seem to upload photos from the work computer for some reason. The kids have worn themselves out skiing, wakeboarding and swimming and are sleeping very well each night.

I'm at work tomorrow so I might bring some photos and give uploading them another go.

Hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas!

Blessings
Sharon.

A Christmas Blessing

We sing this simple blessing as a benediction at church and I just love it. We have some fantastic voices in our congregation and when they go into harmonies it brings tears to the eyes.

May the feet of God walk with you,

and His hand hold you tight.

May the eye of God rest on you,

and His ear hear your cry.

May the smile of God be for you,

and His breath give you life.

May the Child of God grow in you,

and His love bring you home.

Says it all doesn't it.

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas filled with love and meaning. May the Lord be before you and behind you, above and below you. May His presence that you celebrate at Christmas stay with you through every day and night of the year.

Thank you to all my blogging friends for sharing your lives throughout the year. Thank you for all the advice, prayers, laughs and tears. I can't wait to see what next year holds.

Blessings,

Sharon.

Finding Christmas Cheer

I'm struggling with finding my Christmas cheer. This is very unusual for me... I adore this time of year and the mere thought of the month of December usually makes me smile. But it would seem not this year for some reason...

It's been a long year, and a tough one, and I'm looking forward to it being over. Also, Christmas will be different for us this year. We have always had lunch with my parents and dinner with Kym's. This year my parents live a long way away, and they have to work so it will be lunch and dinner with Kym's family. We had lunch yesterday with my parents and my brother and his family. It was nice, but it didn't feel right. Sigh. I don't really know what my problem is. I'm feeling a bit stressed out with trying to get work completed before Christmas, and I'm feeling really disorganised with my Christmas shopping which stresses me out. Usually I've finished Christmas shopping in November, and here we are with three days til Christmas and I'm not happy with the shopping I've done, and not really sure what to do about it.

The obvious answer is for me to focus on what's important at this time of year, and be thankful for what I have. So I shall endeavour to do that.

Lord, please help me to remember the true meaning of Christmas and be thankful for the many blessings I have. Help me to focus on the positives and not dwell on what I would like to be different. Please help me to hear your directions and obey.

School's Out!

Today was the last day of school for most South Australians....


And you know what that means! Summer holidays are here! Yay!


We have the added bonus of finishing harvest this week so Kym is also in holiday mode. I'm still working but not having to get up and pack lunches or find missing socks before I go to work almost feels like a holiday...almost!


On Christmas day we will move into the family "shack" at the beach. I only have to work two days between Christmas and New Year, and then after New Year I have a week off. The rest of the time I will travel to work from Port Neill, which can be a bit of a drag, but the view is one worth travelling for.

This is the view from the front door of our shack. The shack itself is nothing flash, but the location couldn't be better. In this photo you can see Kym (on the right) and his brother in law cleaning fish, while his niece and sister watch. The other spectators are waiting for some fish skeletons and are there everytime someone appears to be cleaning fish. This photo was taken a couple of years ago, there are more than 8 regular pelicans now. Beautiful aren't they.

Dear Lord, thank you that we have this opportunity for rest and relaxation with family and friends. This time of year is something we always look forward to, something about the beauty and the power of the sea makes me feel closer to you and I just love to be there. I pray that this year we can enjoy some wonderful moments and become closer as a family and closer to you.

Envy

The green eyed monster is something that I have struggled with a little (ok, a lot) over the past couple of months.

I sit in church every week, sometimes with one child, sometimes with the other, a lot of the time on my own, and never with my husband.

I struggle to control the feeling of envy as I observe all the "whole" families in the pews around me. I so badly want what they have got, it overwhelms me sometimes.

Of course this feeling of envy comes with feelings of inadequacy (what kind of parent/wife am I? Can't get my family to come to church with me, I'm such a failure), anger (if they cared about me they would do this for me, afterall I spend my WHOLE LIFE doing stuff for them), frustration (why hasn't God answered my prayers), impatience (WHEN will God answer my prayers?), and a kind of grief. It just makes me really sad when I think about all they are missing out on.

Lord, I know your ways are not mine, and I can't begin to comprehend the big picture. Please help me to have patience with myself and with my family. Help me to not take my frustrations out on them, and make them the enemy, because we all know who that enemy is. Help me to stay strong and intercede for my family, if there is something I can say then let me say it, but help me to discern when this is and what the right thing to say is.

Mostly Lord I pray for Kym, Stephanie and Scott to come to know you and love you. I pray that they will all give themselves wholeheartedly to you. Please watch over them and guide them and protect them.

The harsh reality of farm life

We have had a sad couple of days...

Yesterday morning Dolly (our pet sheep for those who don't know) gave birth to a healthy lamb. This isn't her first lamb, she has had several over the years. All looked to be progressing smoothly and Kym suspected there would be another on the way, so we left her to it. Dolly has successfuly given birth to and raised two sets of twin lambs so there was no cause for concern.

On checking on her yesterday afternoon Stephanie discovered that Dolly was in trouble. The second lamb had died and was stuck. But Dolly seemed strong and not in too much discomfort.

Being the brave farmers wife that I am I did the only logical thing and called Kym off the header. He came as soon as he could and helped Dolly deliver the dead lamb.

Dolly got up, had a bite to eat and a drink, fed the living lamb (who Stephanie has named Kibbles) and settled down on her bed of hay.

Kym checked on them both late last night and found that Dolly wasn't well. She couldn't get up unassisted, but was still feeding Kibbles and was still drinking and eating. Kym took her to the shearing shed were he shore her, hoping that shedding the excess weight of a full fleece would help her out.

This morning we discovered that Dolly had died.

Stephanie is quite upset, but comforted by the fact that we have a new (and very demanding) lamb to feed.

Normally a sheep in the paddock wouldn't get this much attention lavished upon it. But this was no ordinary sheep. She has been our pet for around 6 years, which is pretty old for a sheep.

So, the life cycle continues....

I've just fed Kibbles his lunch (I'm home to shower and change to go to a funeral, but that's a whole other post) and he is strong and hungry and feeding well. The couple of feeds that Dolly was able to give him have given him a good start.

Here he is...

He is one day old and quite strong so we are hoping that he will be ok. I was taking these photo's one handed while feeding him and couldn't quite get the angle right to show you him wriggling his tail as he suckles. I love the way lambs do that.

Of course he will be no replacement for the rose eating, toilet paper stealing Dolly. But we will remember her fondly as we raise him.

Tree Day!

Today, being the first day of December is tree day for us. Of course we cheated a little and put the tree up yesterday afternoon. Close enough!

I used to let the kids decorate the tree and then when they had gone to bed I would sneak out and rearrange it. I reprimanded myself many times but just couldn't walk past a lopsided tree where the decorations were all on the bottom....I tried to be a good parent but I just couldn't.

Well, the tables have turned. Stephanie is now chief tree decorator. And it had to be done HER way. I got to hand her the decorations. She let Scott put a few decorations up....and then moved them when he wasn't looking! I've created a monster!

And here she is with her tree. We weren't allowed to have tinsel because it's "tacky" and we weren't allowed to have lots of different colours because all gold is so much more "classy". Sigh. The oversized loveheart sunglasses are definately a "classy" touch!

The finished product complete with presents. Of course I got told off because I don't have all matching paper. Honestly, the child has turned into a bossy little perfectionist elf. I've no idea where she got that from!

Here is the tree with the lights on. I love Christmas lights, and Christmas decorations, and Christmas carols, and Christmas food....and just Christmas!

Dear Lord, thank you for this special time of family sharing. I pray that one day my whole family will celebrate Christmas with hearts full of wonder and joy at the miracle of Your birth.