Birthday Boy

Izaiah (zai) turned three...

The older they get the older we feel.
I believe children are much more intelligent today and much more grown up.

So it is up to us as parents and grandparent to preserve their childhood.
And to encourage outdoor fun activities.
They had a wonderful time playing in the back yard.
Climbing the Mango tree, playing chasing's with Mille in hot pursuit and swinging.

And you are never too old to play and take pic's.

My poinsettia bush is blooming.

Finally a memory photo with Mummy and Papa.

Two parents together, add to a child's security.

Look how those little hands hold on to both.

God Says.....
"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

I will counsel you with my loving eye on you."
Psalm 32:8
 
My blessing to my grandson:
 
May the Lord Bless Thee and Keep thee....
May His light and Glory shine in thee...
May good health, a generous spirit and the gift of discernment be yours.
And may you always, acknowledge Him who created you. Amen.
 
 
 

Queensland Christian Photographer

My daughter Femia.... remember, my first baby in the black and white photo with me below.....
Is a Photographer.

This is my favoured photo of her and her husband David, taken by her a few years ago.
They have been married twenty five years.

                                Her work:

They look much better on her page than on mine.

http://eufemiahopephotographyanddesign.blogspot.com/

* click on the photo on side panel to be directed. 

 

This is grandson Izaiah used as one of her models

                                                       

Granddaughter Shiarn used as another model.

Bride and groom on a bike.

                 BUT...as her mum, I love these two from when she first began to work in this field.

                             Daughter Daniella with Elyshah and Antonio (being naughty)

Daniella with Shiarn as a baby.

Ray and I by Femia, 6 yrs ago.

Femia uses the scripture from

                                                                      Isaiah 49:16                        
                       BEHOLD, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands.

Blogger and U.S.A. Tornado Problems

Please leave a comment if you are having problems leaving comments on other sites??
I have written loooong ones to Joey and Geoff and no matter how many times I try to post, I kept being asked to sign in....and it never works???
My comments will not go through?
Very frustrating..

A good excuse to add this famous painting. "The scream."

I love my Blogger friends..
As Gorges Smythe once commented, they become like family.
(And if you love wonderful yarns, Gorges tells them well.)
http://gorges-smythe.blogspot.com/

Beautiful Starry Dawn...please don't think I am neglecting you.
Or, anyone else for that matter.

As I can get through...I certainly shall, (as our Queen would say.)
Until then, I'm off for a cuppa......
And to read my wonderful word of God.
I wonder what He will tell me today??

My daughter Daniella tells you one thing as she writes it on our beach wall.

I am going to open at random...

Just love doing that, He never ceases to amaze me with His great wisdom.

I am going to share with you, what I received.

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Watchfulness


 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning,
 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.
It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes.
Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.
It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak.
But understand this:
If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into."

Luke 12:34-39

Well! This certainly spoke to me today.
I wonder, given all the events unfolding, how many of you got a message....
Let's all remember our neighbours in times of trouble.

Central U.S.A. hit by Tornado's ....
Devastating effects for all concerned!
Our Prayers are with you.
From The Body of Christ in Australia..

"May the Lord Bless and Keep you Safe..."

  

Casting Crowns - Who Am I

I had to add this wonderful song....
It goes completely with what I have written below..
For....I/We are nothing, without Jesus! God's Only Son!!! <><

Who Am I ?

Do you ever wonder this?
Have you ever felt lost and think, what does my life mean?
If you knew the story of your life in advance, would you
 rush ahead or give up before you began?

Think about this, just for a moment.....

"For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord,
Plans to prosper,
Not to harm you,
Plans to give you a hope and a future. "
Jeremiah 29:11

Now that's encouraging...
And yet, you may say while reading this, I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel.... its all just too hard..

Me at 3.

We were not a rich family, my father returned from the war, shell shocked.  I was born the second youngest of five children. My father became incapacitated when I was eight, my grandfather died not long after....
My mother went to work, and we learned from a young age, that life was tough.  The best part of all our hardships was belonging to a church family. The old tin Lizzie, driven by our minister, came regularly to pick up my younger brother and I each week for Sunday School.... 
What a joy that was. Riding down those dusty country roads singing chorus's at the top of our lungs, and learning the accepting love of Jesus Christ. 
I met and married my first husband when I was very young.
My mother was against it. We were unevenly yoken, she said...
And through much hurt and pain, I learnt she was right.

Pictured with my first child, daughter Femia.

When you are young you think you know it all.

I was no different.

I married into a different culture and to a man who I loved dearly, yet one who denied the Lord.

When I walked away over thirty years later, I was a broken mess.

Yet today in wisdom, I thank the Lord.

I know if my marriage had been different God would never have come first.

And in time, I was to come to realise how...

"He turned my mourning into dancing,

and my sorrow into joy."  Psalm 30:11

My younger daughter Daniella, with five of my grandchildren when small.

From left, Antonio, Luke, Kirra, Elyshah and Joel. 

 Today, Joel, Luke and Elyshah at Nanna's.

Because of what I have come through, and what I have come from,

I know first hand that God's promise above is true.

Today all of my children have a faith in God, and all of my grandchildren have grown up in Him.

My eldest granddaughter has married a Christian man.

They are both at Uni studying teaching and plan to be Missionaries.

My youngest granddaughter Shiarn.

My youngest grandson Izaiah with cousin Shiarn.

Their road to travel has just begun.

There will be good times and not so good. 

But if they acknowledge the Lord in all they do, the blessings will flow.

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart,

And lean not on thine own understanding.

But in all thy ways acknowledge me.

And I will make straight, thy paths."

Proverbs 3: 5-6

                                                 SO TRUE !!!








 

Beyond Imagination

As a teenager I had four passions.

ART
         BALLET
                
                        SINGING

                                        HISTORY
                         

I was a very shy young girl and spent my time after a day at high school, in the local library..

Books can take you into another world. In fact, the great part is, they take you away to places you only dream of.

I love the Old Masters, Rembrandt, Rubens, Da Vinci and Constable.
I can gaze at these works of art for hours.
They hold so many hidden treasures.
Their talent is beyond my understanding.

I try to paint, but I am no real artist, only a novice.
One lady Blogger on here I admire, is Clint's beautiful wife Cindy.
Her site is: http://cindyellison.blogspot.com/
You can even join her on Facebook where you'll see more of her work.

While looking through a book on French Art, BACK THEN.....
I turned the page to get the shock of my life..

                                    http://www.1st-art-gallery.com/

There I was!!

The hair colour was darker, and the style different, yet otherwise it was me!

This painting was of a famous woman named Madame Juliet Recamier`
(and not a very desirable type) dated 1800.
The artist, Jacques Louis David.

My ancestry is French on my mothers side, and if there is one place in the world I would like to visit, it is Versailles.... (dream on...!)

Isn't it magnificent?? I believe the art work inside is out of this world.
I'd have to leave Ray at home.. he takes a quick look and runs on to the next adventure.
Maybe Cindy and Sandie would like to go with me...??
(I'm still dreaming..)

I wonder??
Have you ever seen your double?
If so, tell us all about it?

 "And God saw every thing that he had made,
and, behold,
It was very good."

Genesis 1:31

Mille and Monty

Little Mille runs circles around Monty.....

"Who me?  I am innocent Mum."

"I am a picture of perfection."

"Why that old stuff shirt Monty doesn't know how to have fun?"

"Its not fair, that kid comes in and takes over.

A man gets no peace"

"Hey Monty, I just want to play."

                       "Listen Mille, only if you promise to play fair."

"Young Whippersnapper, I said fair, respect your elders"

"Your going too far...."

"Aw Monty, I love you. Lets kiss and make-up."

Love is Patient

Love is Kind.

1 Corinthians 13

                            

Water/ Ocean Therapy For Stress.

Wandering down peaceful paths.

What is this??

Well, if you look closely you will sight a tiny hole in about the middle...

The hermit crab is responsible..

It burrows down and begins to work by throwing out these tiny sand balls.

The work is long and tedious, and the end result, is patterns of many different sizes and shapes all over the beach.

Who is the hermit crab? and what does he look like?

He is a tiny sea creature. He is pictured here in his conch.

I have been staying with my son in far north Queensland.

He has been suffering from sleep deprivation and stress.

So I took time out and went to keep him company and take the soothing love of Jesus.

We walked down a sandy pathway and out onto the peace of the ocean.

Just watching the waves flowing in and out.

                                Hearing the sea gulls, and smelling the sea air,
                                brings a feeling of wellness...
                                And rightly so..as you are breath in an extra atom of oxygen.

Getting away from the bunker, where life can be isolating.

Fish and chips down at the Marina..... with visiting relatives.

Streets of MacKay and Outback Jacks.

A town situated on the ocean to transport coal out of Australia and around the world.

I don't know how much my presence helped??

Yet I will contiue to pray for his well being..

Picured here he looks well.

Yet isn't always so.

Please pray for him to find that peace.

"Some went out on the sea in ships;
they were merchants on the mighty waters.


They saw the works of the LORD,


his wonderful deeds in the deep.


For he spoke and stirred up a tempest


that lifted high the waves.


They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths;


in their peril their courage melted away.


They reeled and staggered like drunkards;


they were at their wits’ end.


Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,


and he brought them out of their distress.


He stilled the storm to a whisper;


the waves of the sea were hushed.


They were glad when it grew calm,


and he guided them to their desired haven.


Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love


and his wonderful deeds for mankind. "
 Psalm 107:23-32

                        JESUS IS OUR LIGHT,  IN THE STORMS OF LIFE.

                                                             

Mothers Day ~ Two ways

"The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands.

The foolish one tears hers down."
Proverbs 14:1

The above verse is my choice for Mothers Day.
There is much to being a mother, it's not just a word, neither is it giving birth.
It is the nurturing of your off spring.
It is the guiding by example,  to maturity, and beyond. 

 My own four grown children. Femia (rear), Peter (front left) ,
                                                 Daniella (front right) and Lee-Joel (rear).

Today I am still way away from home.

I am with one of my children who is going through a hard time.

It makes you think....

And in those thoughts I have reasoned that Mothers Day is a two way commitment.

So I returned all of my good wishes sent from my absent children with a blessing, that they also have, a treasured day.

On Mothers Day we think of our mother.

We send greetings and a gift if unable to be with them.

Or we have a family gathering, with mothers being shown appreciation if we are able to visit.

Yet as a Mother, this day can also be one where we rejoice in the fact that God blessed us with a child/children.  

We can reach out and share and give to our children as well as them reaching out in love to us.

How many parents are estranged from children?

Today is the day, when there can be a reconciliation.

Parent can contact child.

Swollowing pride may bring healing?

It may not???  yet regardless...love is shown.

To phone them and say, 'Happy Mothers Day'  from me to you..

I am proud to be your mother and wanted to tell you so..

I Love You...

Can mend many wounds.

Reflecting

I am currently away from my home and not on the computer as often.
So much has been happening, trials which have had me pressing strongly into Gods Word.

I love the book of Isaiah. Opening my bible this morning I read the following.

The spirit of the Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me

To bring the Good News to the poor.......

He will give beauty for ashes,

A joyous blessing instead of mourning.

Festive praise instead of despair.

Chap:61:1
(Such encouragement)

I had just dreamed a distressing dream.
And jumped out of bed wanting to cry out!
But I recognise... Satan is at it again, trying to upset the day.

So instead I wish to share some happy times with you from my memory of the U.S.A.

When I first went to live in Rogersville Tennessee, I thought I was in Heaven.
People were so kind.
I walked into Wal Mart wanting to purchase underwear.
The sizes were different to back in Oz, and in my confusion I stood and stared.
A sweet sales lady by the name of Cathy came beaming kindness, asking if she could help?
Well, she looked at me and picked out my size. All was resolved.
Months later, the tables turned as I nursed Cathy's mother, and helped Cathy with her care.
Both of us were given, Beauty for Ashes.

These may be small incidences, yet when we are open to see Gods love and kindness,
we will find much to be thankful for.

Our home was situated on the side of a hill, in the woods...

Each day I had the joy of watching the squirrels and birds.
Ray had numerous bird feeders to entice cardinals and gold finch..
And those cheeky squirrels helped themselves also...
I had a special prayer room where I could sit and watch the antics.

There is so much good in our lives, yet sometimes we allow the clouds to get in the way.
We allow the storms of life to take over.
Yes, we allow...we choose to let....
Bad, hurtful, or past memories to take away the gift of the day.

I adore a song I learned as a child.
COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS
NAME THEM ONE BY ONE
AND IT WILL SURPRISE YOU.

WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE.

So if something in your life is hurting and taking away your joy.
Sit down with a piece of paper and begin to list all the good things.
Someones kind word to you.
A smile from a stranger.
The sunshine peeking through your window.
Having the eyes, to read these words..

What a joy life is, just open your eyes and see.

 

My amazed grandson Izaiah, looking at Jesus with Peter the fisherman. 

BE AS A LITTLE CHILD.