Let Down

I'm feeling really flat this morning. I'm not entirely sure why but for some reason I feel overwhelmed and close to tears. Like it's not going to take much to send me over the edge.

Stephanie's facebook status this morning is gleefully telling the world that it's 48 days until she moves to Adelaide. I'm thinking that could have something to do with it.

I'm also feeling the downside of having a daughter who shares everything with you. There are some things I just don't really want to know. She has been talking to a new boy (guess I should call him a man, they are all adults now...SIGH...) I could tell she really liked him by the way that she talked about him and how MUCH she talked about him. I think it was fair to assume the feeling was mutual since he rang her every day twice a day. They live 200km apart so up until yesterday they had only really spoken via text and phone. She has met him but as a friend of a friend.

She spent the day with him yesterday and came away feeling a bit dissappointed. She gets the feeling that he isn't over his ex girlfriend and isn't sure she wants to get involved for fear of getting hurt. But I can tell she really likes him. So now she is waiting for the phone to ring. And not really sure what she should do or what he wants to do.

Now if I had a NORMAL teenager I would be blissfully unaware that any of this is happening! Because on the surface she is business as usual. And to be honest I'm really not sure why it's affected me this way. Steph has had breakups and disappointments before but it's never got me down too much. Perhaps it's that coupled with the knowledge that she is leaving, and next year I will be unaware of what she is thinking and feeling because she won't physically be here.

I don't know. All I can say is that I'm not feeling particularly Merry this Christmas eve....

Lord, please watch over Stephanie. Guide her thoughts and her actions. Guide this young man also, encourage him to do the right thing and not leave her hanging and let her know where she stands. Please watch over her when she leaves home. Give her the strength and the confidence and the commitment she needs to fulfill her dreams and help her to be everthything you made her to be.

Harvest Frustrations

Harvest is fast becoming an exercise in frustration for the Bates (and many other families) family this year. Usually by this time of year the harvest is well under way, some people are even near finishing.

Not this year.

This year we have been blessed with a wetter than usual winter and spring. And after several years of drought this has been a huge blessing indeed.

But it has continued to be wet. Note the ominous clouds in the picture above. In the past three weeks we have been able to harvest for three days. It's become so wet now that our beautiful crops are in danger or re shooting, rotting, or just simply falling over. Barley in particular is notorious for breaking and ending up on the ground where it can't be retrieved.

We have had two dry days so far this week, and the weather forecast is for dry weather to continue for the next few days. We haven't been able to resume harvest as yet as the grain has to dry out to be below 12% moisture before it can be sold.

So here's hoping for a dry few weeks!!


Lord, thank you so much for the amazing crops we have been blessed with this year. I pray now that the weather will hold to enable the harvest to continue. Amen.

I'm worried.

I'm worried that I haven't done enough.

As far as my children's Christian upbringing goes I'm a bit of a single parent. And I'm pretty sure I haven't done enough.

I'm not even sure that I've done my best.

Stephanie goes out into the world on her own next year and I'm really concerned that her walk with Jesus will end there. She will be living right next door to a church, but that doesn't mean she will cross it's thresh hold.

At the moment she is relishing her new found grown upness. But I can see that she isn't really that grown up at all. She is still that little girl looking for acceptance. I just pray that she grows to understand that the only one who will really accept her completely and unconditionally is her Lord and Saviour.

Lord, please speak to Stephanie's heart. Let her know that you are there. Guide her decisions and her life. Help her to grow into the young woman you made her to be. Amen.

Graduation and other woes

This group of wonderful young people from our church have now graduated high school and are about to head off into the big wide world. Yesterday we held a special service for them to dedicate them and their future to the Lord and to wish them well. We made it very clear to them that we were by no means saying goodbye...we expect many visits!!

On the left we have Amber who will go to Adelaide to study childcare, then Tom who is moving away to start an apprenticeship, next is Fabian who has an apprenticeship lined up in Adelaide, and Sophie who will study journalism at Uni and Steph who will study acupuncture.

I was a bit worried about how I would cope during the service. I'm SO not ready to face the prospect of my little girl leaving home. I was doing ok until our worship leader asked the children and youth to sing the first verse of one of my favourite worship songs "Here Iam to Worship". Standing next to Stephanie, listening to her sing a beautiful song in her beautiful, sweet, clear voice was my undoing. I couldn't join in with the song when we were supposed to. Our pianist looked up and saw Steph singing with all her heart, and me being a dribbling mess and she almost lost it as well, which just made me worse!!

But all in all the service was lovely, and positive and a wonderful tribute to these amazing young people. A special moment was when their grandparents stood behind them and said a special prayer just for them (and they all had their grandparents there - how cool is that?).

My hope for this gorgeous young woman now is that she will remember the Lord when I'm not there to remind her. That she will look to her bible when she needs advice, and that she will always remember that our home will always be hers.

Lord, please help Stephanie remember that she is your princess. Encourage her to always look to your word for advice and to live her life for your glory. Amen.