• “The Gift of Jesus”- spoken word performance

    I have the incredible privilege of being on a MOPS team with the fabulous Eloise Allbury who has been such a huge source of encouragement and blessing in my life. At our final MOPS meeting for the year, Eloise performed a spoken word piece that she had written about what the gift of Jesus means to her. POWERFUL!! It had to be captured on video to share with others. I may not have the best camera or audio equipment but we recorded her performance. Listen to the words and may the truth of Jesus be ignited in your heart. Linking up with Inspire Me Monday and Literacy Musing Monday.

  • Thankful Thursday

    Another week has passed us by. What impression lingers in your mind and heart? Has the good stuck with you or are hard things overshadowing this week? My heart is heavy about a few things that I have been involved in this week which makes this list essential.  Advent has started and we got our Christmas decorations out. I have been so looking forward to this season. My daughter has caught that excitement too which is a joy to watch. She has embraced the Advent candles and Truth in the Tinsel activities. Getting to spend time with my brother, sister-in-law and adorable 2 year old nephew. Watching him and my…

  • Advent for me

    When you’ve been a Christian for a while, it can be all too easy to take who Jesus is and what He has done for granted. At least, it is for me. I find that the passion and real heart connection with the story of Jesus ebbs and flows. I have just finished a six week study on Mark through Hello Mornings. I found myself reconnecting with the foundation of the gospel message again, the person of Jesus. The last few days of looking afresh at His crucifixion and resurrection have particularly had an impact on me. Many tears have been shed. I had already determined to find an Advent…

  • Advent as a family

    The catalyst for me looking into celebrating Advent last year was my desire to instil the real meaning of Christmas in my daughter’s heart and try to drown out some of the commercialism and focus on Santa. I have come to love it for my own heart preparation and focus on Jesus in a busy season too. Last year I tried to pack so many ideas into how we celebrated Advent that it did become overwhelming and another to do at times (you can read about these plans in this post). This year, I am streamlining my plans. I wrestled a little with wanting to create traditions in our family…

  • Planning for Advent: including a free printable!

    How fast is this year going?! Advent is almost upon us. I loved being intentional with planning Advent activities to do with my daughter last year. I did go quite overboard though trying to include several different ideas all into one season. This year, I plan to pare back a bit and be more focused. I don’t want Advent to become a stressed, rushed time as that defeats the purpose of meditating on and preparing our hearts for the real message of Christmas.    To help me prepare for Advent so that I can reduce the stress during December, I created an Advent planner for myself. Before putting up more…

    Comments Off on Planning for Advent: including a free printable!
  • Advent Week 3: review and reflection on a mini-breakthrough day

    There are only THREE days left until Christmas. In fact, I would say two as we celebrate with my husband’s family on Christmas Eve. I know many people say it, but this time has come so quickly. I still feel like it has crept up on my even though I was organised for Advent and have been doing Advent activities. I definitely was not as organised with Christmas presents this year, which has had the potential to be very stressful. More on how my stress levels are going later in this post. If you have missed any of my Advent posts, you can find them linked below:Advent plansWeek 1Week 2…

    Comments Off on Advent Week 3: review and reflection on a mini-breakthrough day
  • Advent Week 3: review and reflection on a mini-breakthrough day

    There are only THREE days left until Christmas. In fact, I would say two as we celebrate with my husband’s family on Christmas Eve. I know many people say it, but this time has come so quickly. I still feel like it has crept up on my even though I was organised for Advent and have been doing Advent activities. I definitely was not as organised with Christmas presents this year, which has had the potential to be very stressful. More on how my stress levels are going later in this post. If you have missed any of my Advent posts, you can find them linked below:Advent plansWeek 1Week 2…

    Comments Off on Advent Week 3: review and reflection on a mini-breakthrough day
  • Advent week 2: Keeping my peace despite plans failing

    We’re over half way through the Advent period already. Last week, Week 2, was hectic with unplanned for meetings, play dates and shopping trips throwing out my Advent plans. I had two choices, be upset that my plans weren’t being followed or keep focused on the present and getting the most out of each day. I would love to say that I was peaceful and loving all week, with an angelic like nature. I would be lying! Overall though, it was a good week, which ended in an amazing night away with my hubby celebrating our 10 year anniversary and my favourite Christmas event- Heathridge Carols in the Park run…

    Comments Off on Advent week 2: Keeping my peace despite plans failing
  • Advent week 2: Keeping my peace despite plans failing

    We’re over half way through the Advent period already. Last week, Week 2, was hectic with unplanned for meetings, play dates and shopping trips throwing out my Advent plans. I had two choices, be upset that my plans weren’t being followed or keep focused on the present and getting the most out of each day. I would love to say that I was peaceful and loving all week, with an angelic like nature. I would be lying! Overall though, it was a good week, which ended in an amazing night away with my hubby celebrating our 10 year anniversary and my favourite Christmas event- Heathridge Carols in the Park run…

    Comments Off on Advent week 2: Keeping my peace despite plans failing
  • Advent Week 1: life happened but so did Advent!

    Advent is here and almost a quarter of the way through already! My plans for daily blogging or at least managing three times a week were foiled by life and technology. I seriously underestimated the craziness of this past week, with two Awards Nights for work, preparing for my final session with my students, my husband’s birthday and babysitting for a friend. The good news? I still stuck to my Advent plan and have Christ firmly at the centre of this season. This was especially important for me after an incident with a parent at our Awards Night on Monday that left me shaken emotionally and fighting to forgive and…

    Comments Off on Advent Week 1: life happened but so did Advent!