Christmas feels ages ago. The best bits were Mikey not being too upset by the day, being at Church with all the members of Dave’s family and drinking hot chocolate into the evening with those same people. We also had the chance to visit my family after Christmas which was really special. I think it had been about two years since all of us had been together and we had the beautiful addition of Hannah and Felix’s new baby girl.

We were pleased to have managed to give the kids a couple of successful presents:

Dan got a camera which he has loved even more than we expected. He has taken tonnes of pictures and videos. The images are super low quality (as you can see below!) and don’t take up too much memory.

Mikey finds Christmas and presents very difficult and quite upsetting. So instead of giving presents we asked our parents and sisters and their husbands and children to make short videos. Dave edited it all really nicely with theme music for each section of our family. The video shows each member of the family waving at their front door, going inside, introducing themselves and being filmed doing something (like cooking, playing the guitar, washing up). Mikey loves it. So much so that we plan to do one each year. It’s such an amazing way to keep him up-to-date with family he doesn’t see often. He’s been signing along, trying to say everyone’s name. He’d watch it all day if he could.

Also, the boys got whoopee cushions in their stockings (you can see Mikey’s in the picture above). Oh gosh. 49p for weeks of hilarity. Plus it’s very good for Mikey’s oral motor skills as he tries to learn to blow it up!!

As usual though I’m quite happy to return to normal. It’s nice to have some moments when the house is almost quiet and I can recharge my introvert batteries. I’ve not made resolutions but I enjoy the chance a new year brings to take stock and re-focus. My thoughts for the year ahead are:

• to make sure I’m investing time in the things that matter to me (family, writing, reading, Jesus, etc…)
• to finish one craft project before starting a new one and to continue to hold back on beginning new hobbies
• to complete the Bible reading plan I began at the start of December
• to explore more of my questions and doubts about faith rather than fear them
• to learn to be a better present buyer/maker/giver

What are your resolutions or hopes or aims for the year ahead? Inspire me!

Christmas presents for teachers, the taxi driver and Mikey’s passenger assistant have been made and given. (Marshmallow recipe is here).

Dan was a guitar-playing angel in his nursery concert. A pretty perfect role for him.

Mikey looked so tiny as I watched him sit and join in with his schools’ festivities.

And we had snow – on the last day of term! Isn’t that what you longed for as a child?!

His are beautiful. He thinks mine are “…quite nice”. Message received.

It’s been fun to get some decorations up over the weekend and have some leisurely time to do some Christmassy activities with Dan. He helped us decorate the tree while Mikey had some respite at Barnardos yesterday.

I feel like I’m utterly missing the mark with Mikey though. I’m just not sure what to try to or how to engage him with the Christmas story.

Our Bible times are happening but they are a wreck! Jemima wails the whole way through shouting “meeeeeeee” and hurling herself to the ground because she wants to play with (lick) our nativity figures. Mikey wanders off and I follow him round trying to get his attention while I tell the story. Then Dan tries to hide the angel up the chimney and wants to move on to the next bit of the story now.

We’re obviously at a stage where each of our kids have very different needs and I’m not sure we’re really meeting any of them! If you have a suggestion, I would love to hear it!

I was deeply insecure and very self-conscious; convinced I was appallingly ugly. Every time I took a picture to the salon to ask for my hair to look “like that”, what I actually meant was that I wanted to be “like that”. But hairdressers can only change hair and that wasn’t enough for me.

My poor mum!

By some miracle things have changed a lot. I’m at ease with who I am and how I look. I’m not obsessed and have realised, of course, that no one else really cares how I look. So don’t feel sad for my self-involved seventeen year old self!

I no longer cry when I leave the hairdressers.

But I do quite often get the giggles after I’ve been to the hairdressers.

I’m not sure what happens when I walk in to the salon but I somehow become someone else. Someone who finds herself saying, “oh yes, I like tennis” (no, no I don’t) or who can’t really actually see what they’re doing to my hair until I get home, in spite of sitting in front of a mirror the whole time. So I leave saying “thanks so much!” and get home, look in the bathroom mirror and wonder if they’ve stopped laughing yet back at the hairdressers.

The picture on the sidebar on the top right is me after my favourite haircut ever. That smile is me saying “oh my gosh, I have had an entirely successful haircut yippeeeee”. Ever had one of them?

So naturally, last time I went to see my (very lovely) hairdresser, I said “I want it just like last time” and then came home and had that niggly feeling that it wasn’t quite the same and maybe my fringe was a bit long. But oh well, it’s just hair.

Yesterday I popped in to the salon to get a fringe trim because it’s still a few more weeks before my next appointment. As she was doing it I thought “oh brilliant, this is more like it – I can see!” and I even began getting excited again that my hair was how I wanted it.

Then I got home and life restarted. I didn’t look in the mirror until bedtime.

All afternoon I imagined my fringe was like this:

Beautiful.

In fact, it was like this:

Oh gosh. It’s sort of got steps all the way down.

But hey, I didn’t cry.

So, my real question is how do people achieve such lovely sweepy fringes?! Is there a secret beauty class other girls get sent to and learn how to style their hair?! And how on earth do I manage to explain what I want next time?

In the meantime I am armed with clips, hairspray and a bit of a scowl.

p.s. the lovely photo above is from my pinterest board where I imagine what it’d be like to have dreamy hair without steps.

Finally my good intentions have come to something! We’re beginning our Advent stories tomorrow – we have five weeks’ worth so they’ll last us beyond Christmas.

I’ve been looking through the Advent download and I’m pleased there’s stuff ready-made for me to do. I don’t have a lot of energy or brain power in me to think of anything new! I have a feeling that this year we won’t do the Advent calendar, but I’ll try to do more play this year.

The start of December is days away. If you would like some ideas of activities to do with your children, some interactive stories and some recipes and a fun Christmas song then have a look at the Nativity Play download on the resources page.

Because I can only upload files of a certain size on this site, I had to split the PDF up into quite a few sections. If you would like me to send you the PDF in one document, send me an email and I’ll get it to you.

I’ll keep you posted with how we get on and I’d love to hear what you’re doing and what your children are enjoying.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but at the top of this blog it says we’re a family getting to know Jesus.

Umm, well… I have a confession.

We’ve totally lost the plot when it comes to doing bible times with the kids. The last time we did it was in September.

I keep remembering about it in the evening when the kids are in bed and I think, “oh flip, I must get it sorted for tomorrow” and then tomorrow comes and forget about it again.

Or, I think “it’s Saturday, so I might as well wait until Monday to start again”.

I’m pretty similar with quiet times. At the moment I’m going through Max Lucado’s Live Loved and I’m really enjoying it. But I’m a famine or feast girl when it comes to reading the Bible and praying on my own. And if I’m honest it’s more often famine.

When I’m reading the bible regularly I am always amazed by how often what I’ve read in the morning ends up being useful for the day I find myself in. And yet, I so often don’t bother.

I’ve noticed that not doing Bible times with the kids has meant fewer chats about Jesus and not so many natural opportunities to show how loving Jesus affects life.

Advent is just round the corner and I’m grateful because it’s making us think again about how we share Jesus with our children. It’s handy how the calendar kicks you up the bum and forces you to stop putting off planning and preparing!

So this weekend I’m going through our advent stuff and getting ready to restart on Monday.

In the meantime I’m grateful for The Big Bible Storybook for giving us two minutes’ of Jesus each night. That bedtime routine has at least remained constant.

I’m also really grateful for grace. If my faith or my children’s salvation was dependent on how often we read the Bible, we’d be done for. God’s kind, he loves us and we love him. It’s easier than I sometimes try to make it! I’ve given up feeling guilty about failure in quiet times, because I just don’t think that’s the response God expects!

So how do you get back on track if you’ve got out of the routine of Bible time with your kids? Do you have any good recommendations for quiet time material? I’m always desperate for something non-boring!

Oh last week was brilliant! Thank you so much for praying for me.

It turned out to be a week of facing fear:

I was nervous about driving.

I had sort of hoped that praying for smooth journeys would mean I would have smooth journeys. But no. Every time I tried a new route I. GOT. LOST. Truly lost.

The first morning I gave myself an hour and a half to do the twenty minute journey so that I could get my bearings and practice my signs when I got there.

Oh gosh. I got so appallingly lost I couldn’t even find where I was on a map (or where I was going). I got stuck with the 4×4 Mummies on the school run. Eventually I found my way and made it by the skin of my teeth with about twenty seconds to go before they began.

It wasn’t what I’d prayed for but it turned out to be a massive confidence boost. I started assuming I would get lost, but also assuming I would end up finding my way in the end. I would pray, “I have no idea where I am, but you know the whole world-you’re not lost-so please help”. I’m now not such a completely terrified driver. Hurray! Thanks God.

I was nervous about spending time with people I didnt know.

It turned out to be fab. I loved finding out about everyone and it was a really great group of people. Thankfully everybody was kind and encouraging and it felt like a safe space to try things out. I learned a lot just from chatting to the other course members. Some truly inspiring women!
I was feeling sad about not seeing the kids and Dave.

Jean was amazing (in spite of feeling unwell) and all went really smoothly. Dave held the fort so well. The women on the course expected him to be ringing asking me lots of questions – I knew he wouldn’t need to!! I missed them, but didn’t weep and wail.

I was really unsure that I would manage the course.

It sounded intense and scary. I loved it. Absolutely loved it. I was already excited about signing but now I am just in love with it!!! There was loads of practical stuff and we did lots of presentations. We filled out a huge handbook and got helpful feedback throughout the week.

The best thing was that I ended the week feeling confident that I can train others to sign. I spent the week feeling I had found something I could do and do really well. That’s unusual for me to say! It was a tremendous encouragement at the end of the week to hear the course leader tell me that when I got up to do presentations it was like a breath of fresh air.

I just can’t wait to train other people now! I’m so excited. I can’t stop dreaming about signing and I’m praying that God will use this new skill to help lots more people have a voice.

I have a page dedicated to Signalong, so check it out if you want to find out more about the charity or about booking some training.

ps. I faced another fear. I am scared of birds. One morning I breathed a sigh of relief that I’d reached my destination without getting lost, opened the car door and nearly trod on this.

Oh my. Still makes me shudder.

To sign “adoption” you begin by holding out an open, empty hand, then as you speak, bring your hand towards your chest/stomach, closing it tightly as it reaches your body.

I’ll pause for a second while you give it a try…

It sums up the beauty of adoption for me. I take this child – as if into my womb – into my heart. He’s mine and my empty hands are full.

I’m still amazed he married me.

I’m still so glad he did!

This time last year my wedding dress was tucked away in a drawer under my bed. I hadn’t tried it on since that beautiful sunny day in 2003.

Now my dress is ready to go into the fabulous wedding boutique in Senegal. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, read this post. Go on, please do!

It’s really taking shape and Bethan is managing all the organisation incredibly well while looking after their little baby. She says this:

Three independent wedding shops in the UK are supporting us with old samples, posh tiaras etc. and think they should be donating each year! God’s hand is really on this project, it’s very exciting seeing God work like this. We are praying now that He will continue to bless the work with lots of customers when it opens! We hope to open the shop very soon – it’s nearly all ready and the container is arriving 2 months early which is bringing mannequins and lots of the dresses. Can’t wait!

It’s such an exciting time. If you’re interested In donating a dress, a bridesmaid dress, a suit or accessories like shoes, tiaras, veils, etc. Please send me an email.
Take a look at a couple of pics of the boutique being created:

I’ve been so excited to get emails from people around the world who are so willing and eager to donate their dresses. It has been a thrill and a challenge to me.

I guess when I think about my dress there are two things that are really important:

• The dress really helped make the day so special. I really hope other people now get that same feeling when they wear it.
• The dress matters much less than the eight years of marriage Dave and I have (mostly) enjoyed. It wasn’t much use to me sitting in that drawer.
• My dress now has an even better story. So when Jemima asks about mummy’s wedding dress I can show her the pictures and tell her all about the day and then I can tell her about the adventure the dress went on after that – all the way to Africa making other people’s day special too.

Please consider donating your dress. You’ll make my day.

Lovely and cheeky woman that she is, I received a gift bag in return!

She’s an incredibly talented woman. I’m particularly astounded by this:

How do you say thank you for something so completely beautiful?

It’s funny how when you have a child with a disability, you find yourself part of a new community, a new family. It’s a select group but full of gems. Lynne is one of the most beautiful and most precious.

Keep tabs on her etsy store here.

What or who has encouraged you this week?