A NEW MOTHERS THOUGHTS

I wrote this on the 1st of Jan... and, of course, was meaning to post it sooner. Better late then never :-)

A NEW MOTHERS THOUGHTS

I think this is the longest stretch of time where I haven't really posted all that much .. I'm not going to start rattling off excuses, I just wanted to give you a look into my thoughts at this moment in time, well at least the main once that are bouncing around.
Life is all about learning, changing, evolving, but sometimes those things aren't so easy, particularly when it comes to major things in your life, like becoming a Mother. Don't get me wrong, I would never trade Jolie and the big part she plays in my life for anything - but it is still a massive adjustment.
You see, even though I am the oldest girl of ten children I have never had much... well I guess you could say patience and the like, to care for them. So much so that when ever my mom needed help with the kidos she would always first ask my two older brothers, and send me out with my Dad.
Thats what I loved. I loved getting out, I just loved being on the move seeing new places experiencing new things. I loved witnessing. I remember when I was 10 we stayed on a campground in Ireland for a month and by the time we had left I knew all the kids and parents on the camp ground and and prayed with most of the kids to receive Jesus. No one told me to do it... it was just the natural thing to do.
When I was 17 I went to India, and it was there that I decided that being a missionary is what I wanted to do with my life. Not necessarily because of the country, but because of the things I went through while there. So I went all out. Right after that I joined up with a road trip team, traveling to all different countries in Europe & Africa. Now that was a time to remember! Since our team was all a bunch of young people we were able to fully focus on getting out there witnessing, we had nothing really to hold us back or get in our way of doing that. Not even a house to get comfortable or lazy in, ha (well, to clarify, we had houses but just different ones for short periods of time in different parts of the world).
3 and a half years into that whirl wind of action and movement, I found out I was pregnant, the best thing that could of happened to me. Why? Well, there are the obvious reasons of how gorgeous Jolie is, and the beautiful experience that one has to experience for them self's of the love between a mother & a child, but I think the main one is that the Lord just has a whole different set of lessons for me to learn. Ones of patience, of self sacrifice, of giving when you don't feel like you have anything left to give, of doing what he did for us, giving our life to the little ones he gives us. Adjusting and changing ones habits and life to accommodate and care for another. And on a practical level, just getting the hang of how to keep your little one happy and challenged.
It's one thing doing what you have the knack for and have done practically all your life, but something completely different trying to master how to do the things that you have never had much talent in, or were even interested in doing. But I am SO thankful for it! Like I said it is the best thing that could of happened to me, its made me so much less confident in my self and so much more depend on the Lord for his strength and answers. Of course, I have my moments of discouragement at times, wondering if I am ever going to get the hang of being a good mum that I so want to be for Jolie and others that will come along, but I talked to a friend the other day, she has two kido's now and she really encouraged me by saying that it always takes up to a year or so for new mums to get 'in the groove' so to speak. And I have only had 9 months of this so far, ha.
Besides all that, life is all about learning new things, and what I am learning right now is definitely new for me! So I think I just need to let go of the past and what I did before and through my self into what the Lord is asking me to become for today. Sounds easier said then done but, as well all know, "I can do all things through Christ which strengthen me". And who knows, once I get the hang of motherhood and all it requires (well I don't think I'll ever fully master everything, but at least get into the flow of it) who knows what the Lord will do then?!
And one more thing to end on, for all of you who didn't know I wanted to make an official announcement that I am pregnant again with no 2! I'd say I am between 10-12 weeks, but i'll only know for sure when I go get a check up. So that would make it either a Leo or a Virgo.
Believe me when I say I am SO happy about it! :-D

Wedding Photos!

Sorry it has taken me so long to post! Anyway.. to make up for lost time here is a link with LOADS of photos from our wedding. Libby was one of the photographers at our wedding, so the link go's straight to her flickr account... would of been to much of a hassle to load them all up on the blog. I also nicked the mix of pictures she put together, I thought it was beautiful so I wanted YOU to enjoy it to! :)
I'll put up a few more later on when I get them!

This is the link.. enjoy!

PS. Just in case you don't know there is a little icon on the top right of the photo that gives you options for photo sizes.

News from Down Under

We've been here in Australia now for almost a couple of weeks, so there should be something new posted... I couldn't agree with myself more! So below are a few recent photos of some of Steve's family over here, I'll post more when I take more, but for the past week I haven't been able to take any pictures as Steve took the camera with him on the road to Brisbane. Yup Steve & Nicko have been on the road for the past week (well tomorrow a week), they should be back this evening. And tomorrow Steve & I and Rob, with Jolie of course, will be going on the road down to Melbourne.
Its going to be really fun as we are getting a camper van down. They do this thing called "Relocatable Campers" where you get a camper van for free,petrol allowance puss a few days of course, to move the Camper from one city to another. So it gives us enough time to go slow, enjoy the ride and witness along the way!

Trip to Oz

So here they are, a few photos of our trip to Oz. We did a bit of an extended trip and went a bit early so that we could stay with my brother, Steve, in London for a day. The last time he saw Jolie was when she was about 2 weeks old. So we took the ferry & train to london, my younger brother, David, came along to visit Steve & help us carry our stuff. We stayed a night & day there and in the evening went to Heathrow where we caught our first 12 hr flight to Shanghai, where we waited 4 hrs to take the next 10 hr flight to Oz.
It was a long trip, but quite a good one, no dramas to speak of thank God!

Sorry... :-D

Sorry.... it was not my intension to not post for the past 20 days , same old excuse - to busy! Well I do have some news for you all, we arrived safe and sound in Australia on the 26th, 10 am. We had a 26 hr journey, Jolie took it well so that was nice for us. Rob & David (Stevo's brothers) were there to pick us up. And the best part about everything is that we got to surprise Paul & Joy (Steves mum & dad) as they thought we were coming on the 7th of December...
Anyway, I'm going to upload the photos from our trip to the computer soon so I'll post a few as soon as I do that... bare with me!
Catch ya later..

Stevo!!!!

Don't have much time to write much, but I thought it would be fun to post some of my favorite photos of Stevo. These are just a few that came to mind on the spur of the moment, I didn't have very long to sort through them all, but I like these ones!

Please Pray...

Hi All,

Just wanted to put something up quickly, please keep the little girly in your prayers as she is not feeling so well. Thank the Lord her fever broke last night, so she is getting better, but she still has quite a bad cold which makes her all congested and miserable :( so please pray that it heals up quickly and is not one of those long drawn out colds. Thank you so much!!
Have a great day!