Three amazing things have happened this week so far:
1. Rachel started walking properly. The joy flooding my heart is hard to summarise in words, my beaming smile and enthusiastic encouragement probably best encapsulates it! It is wonderful to see Rachel take steps, the last stage of her now being mobile for life. I pray she takes the even more important steps of seeing Jesus as her Saviour.
2. We listened to this sermon tonight (titled Rebuilding a City - Planting response) and were greatly moved to pray.
It occured to me today that I owe David Cooke huge thanks because a friend thanked me for recommending his blog and she is about to give birth any day. I started reading Cookie's Days when Rachel was a few weeks old and I discovered that having a baby means Sunday church becomes very fragmented and momentary in its nature, so to have a teacher sharing his thoughts and recommending preaches/books etc. on a daily basis more or less and pushing me in faith has been such a massive blessing and continues to be!
3. I spent a wonderful wonderful wonderful time with the lovely Becky Air and her troop of nippers on Wednesday. What a privelege to call Becky a friend. More on friendship tomorrow...... (or it might be Saturday by the time I hit "publish").... Friendship has been a theme of the week and it will more than likely feature as my response to the last paragraph of this post.
Off to the land of nod. Over and out. Peace Out.
xxx
Thursday 26 January 2012
Sunday 22 January 2012
5 sunday night thoughts
1. We are about to embark a week of prayer as a church and this snippet of truth encourages me to pray
2. This one knocks me to the core every time. Rev. David Wilkerson died last year on April 27 in a head-on collision, he was pronounced dead on the scene. Rev. Wilkerson's last blog post stated the following: "To those going through the valley and shadow of death, hear this word: Weeping will last through some dark, awful nights," he wrote, "and in that darkness you will soon hear the Father whisper, `I am with you. I cannot tell you why right now, but one day it will all make sense. You will see it was all part of my plan. It was no accident.
3. How adorable is this little face just before breakfast the other day? (a little shocked and just woken up!)
4. For Christmas, I gave Andy a 6 month deluxe coffee subscription from this lot and I am enjoying the benefits of giving it to him. It is delicious and wonderful to share a cup of hot coffee with my man!
5. I'm really thankful for such a great weekend of chilling out, getting to know new friends, finding a bargain highchair, taking Rachel to the swings and dodging all the manic dogs running free in Blaise Castle, bumping into 3 sets of friends at the park and watching Rachel and Andy play sleeping bunnies!!
I hope you have a good week and find out something new about yourself, God or a situation this week! I'll let you know what captures me afresh at the end of next week.
Love and thanks for reading xx
2. This one knocks me to the core every time. Rev. David Wilkerson died last year on April 27 in a head-on collision, he was pronounced dead on the scene. Rev. Wilkerson's last blog post stated the following: "To those going through the valley and shadow of death, hear this word: Weeping will last through some dark, awful nights," he wrote, "and in that darkness you will soon hear the Father whisper, `I am with you. I cannot tell you why right now, but one day it will all make sense. You will see it was all part of my plan. It was no accident.
3. How adorable is this little face just before breakfast the other day? (a little shocked and just woken up!)
4. For Christmas, I gave Andy a 6 month deluxe coffee subscription from this lot and I am enjoying the benefits of giving it to him. It is delicious and wonderful to share a cup of hot coffee with my man!
5. I'm really thankful for such a great weekend of chilling out, getting to know new friends, finding a bargain highchair, taking Rachel to the swings and dodging all the manic dogs running free in Blaise Castle, bumping into 3 sets of friends at the park and watching Rachel and Andy play sleeping bunnies!!
I hope you have a good week and find out something new about yourself, God or a situation this week! I'll let you know what captures me afresh at the end of next week.
Love and thanks for reading xx
Saturday 21 January 2012
i love a good scent
It's Saturday afternoon, the cutie is having some beauty sleep, the hubster is sorting through paperwork (believe me, this job needs to be done - tidy piles eventually have to stop and actually be sorted out!) and I'm about to create the weekly menu plan and combine a shopping list for said menu plan. It's a blustery day out there but a joy to see the sun shining, rather than the previous days of grey. And this afternoon, we're going for afternoon tea at a friend's house, which we're all looking forward to!
I have my oil burner going as I type with the scent of pepermint oil - hmm, it's a mixture of melting after eight mints and a spa experience! It would be fair to say I'm motivated by smell. If I smell good or am surrounded by wonderful fragrance, I feel like I can begin properly. I love smells - these are my favourites:
Good laundry detergent - fresh laundry.. (I'm always on the search for a product that keeps it's fresh smell for as long as possible, the best I can find so far are Persil Small and Mighty and Ariel)
the aroma of Christ (more on this in a minute)
Chance by Chanel
1 million, Paco Rabanne worn on Andy
Coco Mademoiselle by Chanel
Freshly baked bread
I have been known to ask random people what smell they are wearing or subtly start talking about laundry detergents if I can smell a good one to try and tease out of the person which they used! It's a desperate claim but I love to smell good!
God clearly likes things smelling good too - the word Aroma comes up 42 times in the Bible and each time its used in the Old Testament it is always followed by the aroma being pleasing to God. So, it's music to my ears to know that God loves smell but more importantly as we know Him and are tranformed by His loving grace, we become the aroma of Christ. Sometimes, when you meet a Christian, you can just smell Jesus on them, they permeate the fragrance of Him, I want to be like that! Here's what Paul has to say:
"Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God."
So, go forth on this Saturday smelling sweet and when we leave a room may the fragrance of Christ be left lingering in that place!
Here's a picture of some beautiful roses my mother in law kindly gave me last weekend, I have loved watching them open out completely this week and they have filled the kitchen with their splendid colour, rather than any scent they may or may not have!
I have my oil burner going as I type with the scent of pepermint oil - hmm, it's a mixture of melting after eight mints and a spa experience! It would be fair to say I'm motivated by smell. If I smell good or am surrounded by wonderful fragrance, I feel like I can begin properly. I love smells - these are my favourites:
Good laundry detergent - fresh laundry.. (I'm always on the search for a product that keeps it's fresh smell for as long as possible, the best I can find so far are Persil Small and Mighty and Ariel)
the aroma of Christ (more on this in a minute)
Chance by Chanel
1 million, Paco Rabanne worn on Andy
Coco Mademoiselle by Chanel
Freshly baked bread
I have been known to ask random people what smell they are wearing or subtly start talking about laundry detergents if I can smell a good one to try and tease out of the person which they used! It's a desperate claim but I love to smell good!
God clearly likes things smelling good too - the word Aroma comes up 42 times in the Bible and each time its used in the Old Testament it is always followed by the aroma being pleasing to God. So, it's music to my ears to know that God loves smell but more importantly as we know Him and are tranformed by His loving grace, we become the aroma of Christ. Sometimes, when you meet a Christian, you can just smell Jesus on them, they permeate the fragrance of Him, I want to be like that! Here's what Paul has to say:
"Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God."
So, go forth on this Saturday smelling sweet and when we leave a room may the fragrance of Christ be left lingering in that place!
Here's a picture of some beautiful roses my mother in law kindly gave me last weekend, I have loved watching them open out completely this week and they have filled the kitchen with their splendid colour, rather than any scent they may or may not have!
Thursday 19 January 2012
2012 resolutions
Is it a bit late to define clear new year resolutions? 19th January - nah, I reckon I can do it, anyhow deciding how you choose to live surely is a daily decision! Here's mine: (I'll return to this next year to write up a summary of how they turned out!)
Does anyone else struggle with the last one?
I listened to this song this morning as I was getting in a bit of a tizz about being late getting home in time for friends arriving as I had driven Andy to work, driven home and stopped to get teabags, but the shop tills weren't working so de-toured to another shop and then I was worrying about the state of the carpet (!) and house. So this song really helped me re-align myself from getting caught in the nitty gritty of where I was/am, what I need to do now, what is in MY way, I've run out of time, and to focus on the eternal truth and great news of Jesus. Notice how when it comes down to me/I, it never seems to go brilliantly and it all becomes a bit of a fluster, panic and melt-down and believe me they're never pretty!!
"Your light will shine when all else fades...
And You shall come again in glory
To judge the living and the dead
All eyes will look on Your glorious face
Shining like the sun
Who is like You, God? " Have a listen and be still.
- Compile all of 2010/2011 photo's to make a Rachel's first year book and get organised with photo's/camera in general to be prepared for Rachel's second year
- Do the recycling thing - the council are giving us a smaller bin as of July so I need to get on top of the plastic/food/tin/paper waste and get a good system up and running.
- Learn to lean more on God, trust His plans, know His peace, choose stillness more, more, more and more to combat my wanna-do-it-all-perfectly superwoman attitude. This arguably is a life long resolution! Leaning from this wise lady may help, ultimately Jesus will be the only one to conquer it!
Does anyone else struggle with the last one?
I listened to this song this morning as I was getting in a bit of a tizz about being late getting home in time for friends arriving as I had driven Andy to work, driven home and stopped to get teabags, but the shop tills weren't working so de-toured to another shop and then I was worrying about the state of the carpet (!) and house. So this song really helped me re-align myself from getting caught in the nitty gritty of where I was/am, what I need to do now, what is in MY way, I've run out of time, and to focus on the eternal truth and great news of Jesus. Notice how when it comes down to me/I, it never seems to go brilliantly and it all becomes a bit of a fluster, panic and melt-down and believe me they're never pretty!!
"Your light will shine when all else fades...
And You shall come again in glory
To judge the living and the dead
All eyes will look on Your glorious face
Shining like the sun
Who is like You, God? " Have a listen and be still.
Wednesday 18 January 2012
My First Blog Post.
So, here begins my blog, Life with Hannah.
It's been a journey getting to this point and I'll be honest I've not really wanted to have my own blog for a number of reasons, mainly Time (it deserves a capital letter as it's a precious thing!). But, after reading blogs of the great David Cooke, Hannah King and Jessi Connely for over a year now, I've captured the blog bug! I've been so inspired, touched, laughed and challenged by these people that I'd like to begin a collection of my own thoughts, my day-to-day, a catalogue of life's goings on to share with you (a note on you in a minute!), the ether but more than that to share one day with Rachel, our daughter and a way of keeping a diary.
Onto "you" - an interesting one here as I think the only "you" is probably Hannah King and the ether. So, I shall write from the heart and it probably won't all make sense or be gramatically super duper/Queen's English and all as I'm on a tight time frame with the gorgeous demands of baby Rachel and home-keeping.
Onto me - a few facts about me to ease you into this journey, should you join me - Life with Han. I'm first and foremost daughter of the Loving Father and King, Jesus Christ. I'm totally overwhelmed and daily dependent upon His grace, love and mercy. I'm wife to my best friend, partner in crime, the handsome and loving Andy and we are parents to Rachel who is coming up 15 months old.... hmm what else- it's a bit tricky to give a synopsis of me, I'd like to add more of who I am but I think that will flow as I write.
This picture is of me and Rachel on her first birthday, back in October. I love her full laugh in the photo, she's very cute! A quick note here about photo's. I wish I could say I'm a great photographer and like to capture things visually, but I'm not really... yet. I do take pretend photo's and call them "memory photo's" just point, snap and store in my brain. I never have a camera handy and without going into the boring complications of our camera situation, basically one is a bit broken and the other one is a bit rubbish. One lives under the stairs, the other lives on my coffee table in the deperate attempt that I'll one day join with it and take great pictures. We're not there yet but my hope with the blog is, that I will unite with the camera, fix the broken one and make a conscious effort to snap away to catalogue Life with Han.
Right - I best go as I've got tidying to do before the cutie beauty wakes up.
Hannah King - it says "Labels:" at the bottom of my screen. What does that do and mean? I need a lesson on blogging, please. Thanks x
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