3 picture summary of my life.

I've been very lonely sometimes because it's school holidays, people are away. But I still have Percy.

All that time on my own was well spent, I drew this commission for a friend to give as a gift. I'm happy with it apart from one area. 

E suggested I take Friday off to cheer up, so I finished work early and went for a jog with C, then swam with Dad at the bathes. Which was so nice I made mum come with me again on Saturday. This is a photo of a guy taking a photo of a woman for social media which makes me go heh.

Found selfie.

Women's retreat.

Here are some cupcakes made for my birthday at home group.

Last week I had Thursday afternoon off, I played piano at a funeral, and then went to the cafe near my house to read. I'm on a roll with reading now. The book I read and also finished now is Time for Every Thing by Matt Fuller. It's really good.

An order of iris from a colleague's iris farm came in the mail. I planted them. The pea planting happened and I have a few sprouts but not enough so I planted more today.

Friday night till Sunday was church women's weekend away. There were almost 70 women and we were at Toukley. We had a few easy get to know you games on Friday night, 2 talks on Colossians Saturday morning, heard a few testimonies and book reviews, free time all afternoon. I was on sound which was difficult and gave me a headache although by the end of the first session I solved one issue (I got control of the volumes!) and the other issue I couldn't fix so just let it go (mics randomly stopping working). So after lunch I took panadol and stayed inside doing easy things like foot spa, nail painting, colouring in, reading my book.

This is a bible verse design I drew.

The thing I'm finding about camps as an introvert is when it's free time, and there's heaps of people, I know I'm supposed to be there with the people, but I often can't latch into something, so I'm stuck between going off to my room for an introvert recharge with nobody at all, or hanging around with the people but not even talking to anyone. So I ended up staying in the main area, but doing nails and stuff isn't hard, and it was a good afternoon. It was better than other camps.

There was a panel on foundational topics (e.g. prayer) on Saturday night, and one talk on Sunday morning.

I have Monday off just because I have the hours accrued and have had a lot of weekends away so I've got the tiredness accrued. Seemed like a recovery day after a weekend away would be good. This morning I had brunch with JK and then dropped in at R's for Jillian. Then managed to shop at Coles and collapsed when I got home. I had a muffin for lunch, and shortly I will start making a soup or do cello or something productive.

I got to have a think today about how to use my leave this year, and I think I've got two good plans, subject to actually arranging them. Visit my sister in Brisbane and visit friends in Mudgee.

I wonder if I'm "friending down" a fair bit, e.g. befriending new women, being one of the older single women (not old-older, but older than the girls in their 20s) and I have a couple of equal friends, but am not "friending up" at all, like any women older than me or people in families. I'm pondering who and how.

Prayer 5.

Your word created the universe and your breath gave us life. You sustain the earth day after day, year after year, from the biggest storms to the smallest cells. We can’t even think about your power, or imagine how glorious you are. We actually choose to ignore you as if you don’t matter, use your name to swear, and do what we think is right regardless of how it dishonours you or ourselves or other people. We know that we have said, done, and thought things that are evil, and our evil leads to death. Sin is incompatible with life.

But, you gave of yourself your only son to die in our place. Every evil thing is dealt with and cancelled on the cross. We have a new life, a new song, a new relationship with God as our father. A family of believers. We think of our friends who do not know you and we bring them before you now, asking for opportunities and courage to share the gospel with them……..

Thankyou for our church, and for the fellowship of churches around Australia. We pray that each church will stand firm in the gospel, in unity and love.  Thank you for the school that lets us meet here and east maitland public that lets us run Fusion and Maitland Alive. Thank you for this weekend that women were able to go away and hear from Jenny Salt and learn together.

Thank you for the children and youth of our church, and may they learn how to follow Jesus with their whole lives. We pray for all the young people at this church and involved in various ways from the community. We pray for Fusion, Disciplemakers, the vine, JOLT, and ask that young people hear about Jesus and commit to following him as the only king, the only wisdom, the only satisfaction in the world. Thank you for all the leaders who are making it a priority to share their time with young people over the bible. We pray for the provision of a youth worker on our staff team, someone with skills, wisdom, and a passion to see youth living for Jesus. We also thank you for the opportunities to teach SRE in schools and for the Christians in our community preparing for term 2 SRE classes. Please soften the hearts of the children to hear and respond to the gospel.

We pray for our pastors taking leave during the school holidays that they have refreshing times with their family and rest in you.

We pray for the Katherine Christian Convention in a few weeks time, for the people from distant indigenous communities who travel there from all over the top end to learn from your word, and for the team from our church traveling up there to support them logistically and fellowship with them. We pray that it’s a blessing and encouragement to the indigenous church of this country, and we thank you that we can be a part of it.

We forget how blessed we are to live here, so we pray for the global church, for Christians who live as persecuted minorities, or in areas of conflict. The church in Pakistan mourning after the recent violent attacks. We beg you to keep them strong in their faith and strengthen them to love their enemies.

We pray for our governments, federal and state, and members of the oppositions, and our local councils, that they use their authority justly and to bring about your good purposes in complicated situations. We pray for wisdom, humility and generosity, and that you protect our governments from the corruption of power.

Help us to love without hypocrisy. To hate evil; and to cling to what is good. To care for each other with brotherly love. To act with honour in all situations. To be diligent; to be fervent in spirit; to serve the Lord. To Rejoice in hope; to be patient in affliction; to be persistent in prayer. To Share with others in their needs; to be hospitable. To Bless those who persecute us. To Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. To Be in agreement with one another. To not be proud; but, associate with the humble. To not think we are wiser than everyone else. To not repay anyone evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable and If possible, live at peace with everyone. Rom 12

Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement allow us to live in harmony with one another, according to the command of Christ Jesus, so that we may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with a united mind and voice. Rom 15

Autumn, Easter, family weekend.

Last week I was hovering on the edge of a cold. The long-awaited change of the seasons has come, and maybe it's too much of a shock! But I'm happy for Autumn anyway, I sleep better under blankets.

Speaking of sleeping better, my back is pretty much not complaining in the mornings anymore. I have adjusted to the new mattress, done some experimenting with pillows, various things. It's still a tiny bit crook maybe 1 or 2 days a week.

Despite all this wonderful sleep, and cold weather, I was feeling tired and almost sick. I think just the busy weekends have caught up with me. I thought every second weekend away alternating weekends at home was a good balance, and it did work really well for a while. I have squeezed so much joy out of life! And invested in important relationships. And avoided boring things like grocery shopping. 

Here is the good stuff going on.

My garden! I made ready and planted autumn seeds. I am glad my garden is small, as I am happy with the amount of work it requires, and I can keep it nice easily, but this is when I want more space because if I had more space I would plant so many sweet peas.

My birthday! Well, it's depressing to get older and all that, the 30s are going to be birthdays of sadness as my window for motherhood starts to close. I'm considering removing it from facebook and sort of denying the existance of birthdays all together so that nobody is sure how old I am (...about 30? mid-30s?... as I say about some of my friends!). But I have had joy from friends buying me an overnight bag. 1) it was on sale, = frugal, 2) they went halves, = frugal, 3) I got to track the shipping and collect it from the post office, 4) I can use it right away on the weekend!

Here are the struggles. 

There's a few new couples around, so I'm reminded of my solo status. I'm making an effort in particular with my housemate to be happy for people and not rain cynicism all over the joy of a new relationship. It's silly, I know all these people don't have perfect easy lives, but especially with young people it's like they don't know how lucky they are. That's self-pity.

I'm kind of bored of food. I have been for weeks. I'm bored of shopping, cooking, and eating what I cook. So in the spirit of not wasting energy on this area, I've cut down on shopping and cooking. I figure it's a good opportunity to eat through the contents of the fridge and pantry right to the back. Defrosting frozen meals, eating carrots, opening expired packets of biscuits. And then one day I'll do a Big Shop and restock all my staples. The meal that is suffering most from this approach is lunch. The best meals are breakfast and dessert. I've always got cereal and connoisseur ice cream!

And here are the photos.

My parents decided to get us all together for a weekend in a holiday house. It will now be an annual thing, probably close to a different persons birthday each year, which is a lovely tradition to start. This year the available weekend was Easter and it was my birthday. J brought the little boy she has been fostering for 3 weeks (and until he finds a forever home). He was good most of the time except for one bedtime. The rest of the time cute but demanding.

We stayed at Eaglereach at a house called Valley View run by Destiny Haven. It was very comfortable, also it was 45 minutes from home which is quiet easy, and also there were bush walks and kangaroo feeding and a spa and table tennis and different things to do at the site so that people could easily wander off and do something outdoors. But we also slept, read, and watched Castle season 1. I am PROUD to say I finished the Cross of Christ by John Stott. Not having a lot of phone signal was sad because I would have liked to put a lot of these photos on instagram, but really I'm trying to check on Facebook less so it was probably good overall. I could often receive and send texts.

Tamworth: Farmer Jess.

Congratulations mum and dad for being still healthily married after 35 years.

A girl at church invited me up with her to her parents farm at Tamworth. I had an AMAZING time. The drive up on Friday was heart to heart with macdonalds and driving music.

On Saturday I helped her dad and her and her sister with drafting and marking 60 lambs. I really wish I had video of me catching a lamb because it is a new skill, you’ve got to grab them by the leg and really commit when they struggle. I enjoyed riding a quad bike and a motorbike and sitting on the tray of a ute, all dangerous things with no helmet or anything.

The inside dog was a very cute Cavoodle.

2 hours of sheep work was exhausting, so after morning tea and lunch with some interesting visitors we had a 2 hour nap. Then we did some more hooning for fun.

Then we had an amazing home cooked meal. We also visited her gran who is unwell, and I played the piano a bit, and we sang together and our voices matched perfectly, she's got a better voice than me but I blended into it well.

Words can't really describe what a good weekend it was. Relationships, food, experiences, all enriching.

I've got a weekend at home, and I've spent a bit of time after work this week tidying up the garden to make ready for Autumn planting. Cut things back, mowed. I found a couple of baby rockmelons!

I will have to swap the layers on the worm farm to put the castings in the veggie garden, buy some very tall stakes, and get ready to plant peas.

Pause. Catch-up. It's Autumn at last!

Mixed feelings about it now being Autumn. It still feels like the year has only just started, but it's March so we are well into it and I'm about to get older. I'm super tired of hot weather and really really want some cool nights so that I can sleep properly, but on the other hand the days are getting shorter and I love daylight savings. So I guess it's good that things come around and keep changing. I had a very foggy drive to work one day this week, I do love fog.

Whenever I dump photos off my phone to my computer I realise how long its been since I blogged! Here are photos from Maitland Show, which I went to with R. It was really fabulous. I think because of LED lights.

As we drove away we realised there were fireworks, so we stopped on the road by a field and watched them, and Beethoven's 5th was on the radio, one of those perfectly soundtracked moments.

Last weekend I had a long-anticipated visit to Sydney. I had a couple of days of a work workshop which was very last minute as well. It was interesting, about how to entrepreneur, and we were at the Dawes Point area. It's so beautiful.

I made the most of it, Liz and I caught the bus into the city on Thursday night to eat on Dixon Street which we most enjoyable, and we went to muji because I am compelled to spend money there at every opportunity because I love fine pointed pens and japanese stationary, and we checked out Sephora but bought nothing.

Back to the reason I planned to visit Sydney: friends! I thought I would visit friends in the southern suburbs, mainly because there were new babies, and if you're in the area make the most of it is my philosophy. I got value for visit! I also went to the dentist. But mainly: Ann Marie, Anna, Caroline and Matt and Kimberly, Tricia, Julia and Luke, Bec and Rachel, and Denise.

When I visited J's church on Saturday night I randomly met some women whose dad lives in Maitland, so we arranged for me to take him to church on Sunday. That was a really lovely outcome. He's quite old and recently widowed and appreciated it a lot. Would never have met him or anything, if not for being at Kirrawee and being overheard saying I was from Maitland. Classic God.

And finally, Percy went for an explore the night I went to Sydney. Put himself in a tree. I tried to rescue him with a broom and he ended up flying back to me. Phew.

As a result of the Sydney trip, and not having any rest last weekend, I was in a tired slump. Very unenthusiastic about work. Thankful for freezer meals. Did no Jillian, but had lots of nice things to do after work - went for a walk with R instead of Jillian, had salad and painted nails with girls from homegroup, and had dinner with parents who are back from an amazing trip to NZ. On Wednesday I had arranged to spend time with blonde sister because she has been working locally, so we went to newcastle after dinner for a swim in the babies pool, and another friend met us there, which was so nice.

I think that's all. I'm having a Saturday where I don't leave the house or check my phone (well I have replied to some things, but not checking twitter etc). I did some Jillian, made a nice sandwich for lunch, ate my last Connoisseur paddle pop, watched a lot of TV and Netflix, mopped the floor, and found my camera. Much needed rest, although for a while I thought I was going to depress myself with thoughts. Better thoughts: what is the cheapest way to get comfortable seating for large groups? And how should I rearrange the furniture to fit large groups in? Or should we continue to use the garage and just put fairy lights up?

Thoughts: prayer.

Wildflowers on my walk.

For all of my life until last year I didn't want to lead congregational prayer. And then suddenly I enjoy it.

• I give myself a lot of time to write it well ahead of when it's rostered, so that I don't feel pressured. Then I can properly enjoy thinking and writing.
• I noticed in the Valley of Vision prayers that repetition sounds poetic, and when I do that prayers feel better to read than they used to, less abrupt. Very easy trick.
• Instead of quoting large bits of scripture eg psalms, I weave scripture in as phrases all through.
• Bible Gateway and Valley of Vision are my prayer-shaping tools, giving me patterns and phrases to use or imitate.

I now see prayer as the chance to do a lot of things other than pray for upcoming events from the announcements, so I'm never short of content.

• Tell the gospel. Just in case it's not spelled out at other points in the meeting like a song or in the sermon. Just in case it's implied and referred to but not actually explicitly proclaimed. We always have visitors and the lost among us.
• Confess our sins. Related to the above. I think we forget that we don't have to carry them. Or we forget the practicalities of sin and it's an abstract word, so it's good to make it personal.
• Remember the persecuted church. That's my hobby horse, but we should pray globally in some way and not just focus on ourselves. 
• Acknowledge people who are struggling, to make space at church for people who aren't feeling happy.

I find the ACTS structure easy to use. I like to go praise, gospel, confession, thanks, requests, give glory.

It actually hasn't rained as much recently and I find the hay-making quite peaceful, all the browned off grass being rolled up into bales. Not growing.

I've started my next prayer today which isn't rostered until April. Partly because it was already on my mental to-do list so starting it is a relief. And the opportunity was that I'm trying to finish The Cross of Christ by easter and I read a related passage Romans 12-13 and there was some good material to pray! So I pasted it into a doc and started.

Also I'm home alone and a bit bored, and not letting myself watch all the TV, so yay, it's good to fill time with book and prayer and things. I used my willpower to drive to the bathes for some ocean laps, then I washed the car and some clothes, then it's really a matter of doing things that allow for sitting in front of the fan. I am so keen for autumn, except for the loss of swimming and daylight savings. Man I hate short days. But autumn, sweet cool autumn with crisp air, cardigans and unsweaty sleep.

January over. The Year is Happening.

It's 11 Feb and I haven't blogged things from January! Can't find the cable to get photos off phone.

Australia Day I spent at Nelson Bay with JK. I don't think I've been there as an adult, it was completely new to explore. Swam twice in one day so that's a success!

And now it's that time of year where everything has started, and life has that pushing pushing pushing feel. Until Thursday night, because then I've got through all the nights with Jillian, home group and cello, so I can freewheel for the next few days, and plus my 2 favourite shows are on (other than Poirot and Marple which are repeats) New Girl and Crazy Ex Girlfriend.

Last year, one of the things I struggled with was, not having a 10 year plan. Because what is there to plan? 10 year plan worked for the 10 years when I was saving my deposit and living in Sydney which I knew would be temporary. That always felt like a life stage in which to plan the next stage. Moving here, this life, doesn't feel like a stage anymore, it feels like this could be it. I could actually be here for the rest of my life. Work and then death. I decided I could assess leaving my job in 5 years, which was a relief. And also, God is a God of surprises. Good and bad things happen unexpectedly, which shows you that planning or worrying only gets you so far. Planning is a good activity to do sometimes but not a good religion. I don't know in 2016 if I'll meet someone to marry or become a paraplegic in a car crash or lose my job or get transferred or someone will die or someone will let me name their baby. Right now, things are pretty good, so I will enjoy it as long as it lasts.

And I'm trying something this year, trying to not worry about life. I want to still be intentional about it, I'm not wafting, I want to be a good friend and conscientious and trustworthy. I'm just trying not to look ahead at commitments and worry. Just take opportunities. And be a lovelier person because I'm not so wrapped up in myself and I can pay more attention to others. Character-wise, I want to be a lovely person. The sort of person when you talk about them you're like "they're so lovely" because they have a cheerful smile and listen to you and don't bitch or complain. It's attractive, it's godliness. I touch base with the Lovely Person concept regularly, like a WWLPD? thing. Keep mouth shut? Gentle rebuke? Apologise? Spend time with?

A recent highlight is my new mattress. It has really helped my back in the mornings after my twisty sleeping positions. Still doing something wrong but at least it's not exacerbated by the old soft mattress. Down to slight discomfort when getting out of bed, instead of pain when stepping into pants.

Another highlight is a new skirt. Skirts are my shoes/handbags/scarves/lipsticks, the thing that I would love to buy every pretty skirt I see. I have some lovely skirts. I wear skirts often. I bought too many so at one point I decided not to buy any more, and the only exceptions have been op shop purchases THE WREN IS BACK! FAIRY WRENS IN MY GARDEN!!!! I really need to plant more plants! Anyway, I've bought 2 op shop skirts in like 5 years, all my skirts are old. Three date from Bowral. One is from 10 years ago when I worked at Tocal out of uni. I love them and they spark joy, so I haven't really felt the need to buy new ones anyway. Except the two Colorado skirts with pockets I wear to work a lot are unfortunately starting to look shabby, and so I have my eye on a sensible black skirt with pockets from Sportcraft when there is a sale. Anyway, prelude to an impulse buy. When I saw a gorgeous skirt at the Olive Tree Markets on Saturday, for $110, I overcame my habitual ban. I tried it on. I realised, I have gone a very long time without buying a skirt; I'm not poor; It's a unique, beautiful piece of hand-made hand-printed clothing. I have hung it on the wall and I plan to wear it on Saturday night to the Galentine's dinner.

An anticipation! A new friend at church has invited me to visit her parents farm at Tamworth when she next goes up, to do "sheep work". It sounds delightful and scary.

Prayer 1b.

Prayer Feb 2016. Rehashed prayer from a year ago. Note for next time, Maddie suggested I smile at people when up the front :)

Ps 67 says,

May God be gracious to us and bless us
    and make his face shine on us—
so that your ways may be known on earth,
    your salvation among all nations.

May the peoples praise you, God;
    may all the peoples praise you.
May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
    for you rule the peoples with equity
    and guide the nations of the earth.
May the peoples praise you, God;
    may all the peoples praise you.

The land yields its harvest;
    God, our God, blesses us.
May God bless us still,
    so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.

We have come here tonight to praise you, read your word, remember your goodness and love. Your power, your faithfulness, your plan for the world and each one of us.

Because of your love, not our good works, while we were still sinners, Jesus died for us. The death of your only son brings us from darkness to life, from death and eternal separation, to life for eternity. 

Please help us to remember Christs death, remember that we are forgiven through it, and remember that we are not slaves to sin anymore. Help us to trust in Jesus, obey him, give our whole lives to him, and love him. Help us also to love others. Help us to put others first, to be generous, to be forgiving, and to love like Jesus loved us.

We pray for the church in the world. Please help all Christians to know your word the Bible and submit to it. We pray for Christians who are persecuted for following Jesus, whether it is in the form of bullying at school or work, the real threat to life that many Christians in other countries face. Give our brothers and sisters courage to persevere. Protect them from harm and grow their faith through these trials. 

We also pray for people in the conflicts of this world. We know they will end one day, when Jesus returns and all wars will cease, and every knee will bow before him. Bring on the day, we pray.

Father thankyou that we live in a peaceful and secure country. We thankyou for the resources that feed us and make us rich. We pray that our politicians will be wise and generous, and remember that the blessings we enjoy are given by God and are not ours to hoard selfishly.

Now we pray for our church. Thankyou for those who teach us your word here at church and in our home groups during the week. Thankyou for the many ways people serve you and each other in both public and hidden ways. Protect this church from Satans attacks, from false teachers, and from the temptations of this world. Keep us standing firm in the gospel, in unity and in love.

We pray for our partners in ministry in other parts of the world. We pray for the X in Darwin. As X returns to work full time at the prison, we give you thanks that the family had a restful holiday over the break. We pray for all who come into the prison to conduct church services and help at the prison that they would be faithful to God’s word, and we ask for some younger people to get involved in that ministry. We pray for X in France, and her time of intensive language learning so that she can build relationships and feel at home in France wherever she ends up working with the local church. Please keep her spirits up if she feels tired or discouraged and misses her family and friends, after 6 months away from Australia. We pray that you will prompt us to consider what we can do to serve you in the wider world and take the news about Jesus to gospel-poor people groups, and get behind our partners in those places.

We pray for your Holy Spirit to work in us for your purposes. Change our hearts by the power of your word so that our lives are changed and we shine like stars in this dark world. Give us also the strength to persevere when our lives feel repetitive, mundane, small and un-valuable, or when we face suffering or struggles. Help us to get to know each other over supper so that we can encourage each other. Be in every word that we speak, to bring you glory.

In Jesus name we pray all these things, amen.

Prayer 4.

Prayer January 2019

In Revelation, they lay their crowns before the throne and say:

“You are worthy, our Lord and God,

    to receive glory and honor and power,

for you created all things,

    and by your will they were created

    and have their being.” Rev 4

Almighty Father, creator of the universe, sustainer of life, keeper of truth, faithful to your promises and powerful to do everything according to your will, hear our prayers tonight. Whether we are calm or stressed, contented or sad, or distracted, or tired, help us to focus our minds on you.

We all rely on you for every breath, every day. You are the helper of the humble and the King over all kings. All people, rich or poor, near or far, can come to you in prayer through your son Jesus and in your Holy Spirit. And you listen to our prayers. You never turn us away.

Father, we confess our sins. We confess our indifference to you. Our thirst for worldly satisfaction instead of being satisfied in you. We see in our hearts, and in the human race, the results of rejecting you. We are full of envy, greed, deceit, malice, depravity. We gossip and slander. We are arrogant and boastful. We hate each other and we hate you. Rom 1.

And yet, you love us. While we were your enemies, you chose us and showed your love by rescuing us and adopting us. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Our sins are punished in Christ, our death is dead in Christ, our lives are ransomed in Christ, and we ask that you transform us day by day to be like Jesus. In obedience, in faith, and in love. Make us be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. And may we never turn back to the way of selfishness, hate and death.

Father, thank you for blessing us more than we deserve. We take so much for granted. Thank you that we live in a peaceful and secure country. We thankyou for the resources that feed us and make us rich. We pray that we will be wise and generous, and remember that the blessings we enjoy are given by God and are not ours to hoard selfishly.

Father, thank you that we have freedom to worship Jesus in this country. There are many places where our brothers and sisters in Christ suffer for his name, they must meet in secret, or be forbidden to own bibles, or they are caught up in religious conflict, and you have told us to remember them, so we pray for them tonight. We pray for some of the most dangerous places, North Korea, Somalia, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, North and South Sudan, Iran, Pakistan, Eritrea, and Nigeria. Please help your children to be brave, and to show love to those who persecute them. Where there is hatred, may Christians respond with love and continue to share the gospel of Jesus. May the church everywhere be filled with your power, to bring you glory. 

As we settle into another year, we ask that you sustain us as we serve the church here in Maitland. Thankyou for those who serve in so many ways on Sundays and during the week, within the church and the wider community. Thanks for our Kids Church teachers, Youth leaders, and those who share the gospel in our schools. Thanks for our bible study leaders. Thanks for our pastors and their wives and kids. Thanks for the admin committee who work and plan behind the scenes. Thanks for those who serve you in secret, by caring for others, praying faithfully, giving generously. Thank you for another year to meet as your church and learn from your word.

Keep us faithful in prayer and help us to meet regularly with each other to encourage each other. Give us opportunities to talk about Jesus with those who don’t know him. Make us care for the lost as much as you do, so that energy and money are given freely to the spread of the gospel in the whole world. We pray for your Holy Spirit to work in us for your purposes. Change our hearts by the power of your word so that our lives are changed and we shine like stars in this dark world as we hold firmly to the word of life until Jesus returns. Phil 2

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to Jesus be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. Rev 1

And onwards, 2016!

No big plans this year. No New Year's Resolution to read the whole bible, no interesting possibilities to speak of, no big goal I'm working towards like building the garden or drawing for Facebook. I am living short-term at the moment. Whatever happens happens. I'm OK with that, and I'll monitor the small things I accomplish with the Gratitude Diary and similar. Oh, I am sometimes using the Map My Walk app to motivate me to walk regularly, and my aim is to do minimum 10km per week average. It's not a big goal, but its enough incentive to fit 1 or 2km in here and there.

Life has been about getting back into routine. Planning meals, doing exercise, going to bed at 10pm and setting my alarm for work. Routine feels like a bit of a tyrant sometimes, when I'm just endlessly plodding from task to task, but it helps get the basic essentials done and therefore I function. It's not good to ignore those boring things like sleep, vegetables, exercise, by staying up late, eating fruit toast for dinner and watching DVDs, because then will likely end up tired, constipated and lethargic. 

One thing that helped was to tweet 3 small goals for tomorrow. Usually, Pray is one of them. The other two might be go for a walk or tidy something up. Being patient at work was one once, because I had IT problems and nobody to fix them for 2 weeks, so I decided to practice calm and patience. In my experience frustration is ineffective. 3 goals a day is not overwhelming, it's nice to have a narrow focus for each day. Finished with that practice now, though I shall probably use it again in the future!

It was Maitland Alive mission last week. I wasn't directly involved as I didn't taken any time off work. But I did do supportive things and I enjoyed having team members over in the evenings to shower and hang out and play with Percy. I've been washing and ironing for a week afterwards.

There was some reinforcement work on the garden.

Friends out the front of home group.

I've had a run of nice social things! Bec popped in for dinner on her way back to Sydney, and I have hosted my Californian friend from work who is just moved back here, she stayed 2 nights.

Saturday included buying a mattress (because of my sore back) and going to housemate's bro's 18th for a bit and some board games with girls.

Sunday morning swim with family, surf so high it was all around the pool ankle-deep. No sunbathing here. Lovely temperature.

JK and I made bonnets for friend babies. I baked for the first time this year, wholemeal bread with garlic and herbs. Happy food times.