WONDER

Lord purge our eyes to see

Within the seed a tree,

Within the glowing egg a bird,

Within the shroud a butterfly,

Till, taught by such we see

Beyond all creatures thee

And harken to thy tender word

And hear its 'Fear not; it is I'

~ Christina Rossetti (1830 - 94) ~

Hello friends, I just wanted to share something wonderful with you. 

On Christmas morning, my husband led me by the hand and said "Come with me I want to show you something". There just outside our bedroom window, was a birds nest, so beautifully crafted nestled amongst the branches of our old Wisteria vine. And wonder of wonders, mother bird sitting their so valiantly on her eggs. I don't know in my whole life that I have ever seen a bird on her nest so close up before.

I didn't take a photo as the glass on our old windows has a funny warp to it, and the image would be blurry, plus those particular windows need a clean. But just again this morning I took a peek, and she is still sitting there doing what she's designed to do. This brings me joy. Always whether it be things growing in the garden, or anything to do with nature, I am drawn ever closer to the heart of God. His word tells us that He reveals himself to us through creation and I have witnessed this time and time again. I feel so close to Him in these moments. I need more of these moments ! 

Oh God, enlarge within us the sense of fellowship

with all living things, our brothers the animals

to whom thou gavest the earth as their home in

common with us.

~ Basil the Great (c.330 - 70 ) ~

For the beauty of the earth,

For the beauty of the skies,

For the Love from which our birth

Over and around us lies;

Christ, our God, to Thee we raise

This our Sacrifice of Praise.

(Folliot S. Pierpoint 1835 - 1917)

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As this year is about to bow out, I pray blessings and peace over 

anyone who stops by my little corner of the world wide web. 

I pray you will draw near to God and see His face in and through His creation. 

I pray that you too like I, will strive to tread carefully

 on this earth designed and created for us,

That we'll be conscious of others that walk it with us, 

be they small & furry or two legged. 

I pray for a greater awareness of what is consumed and discarded, 

knowing we are caretakers on this earth.

And lastly I pray we'll make every effort to be kind, in our words, 

thoughts and deeds, serving one another in love ~ through the strength of our Lord.

Amen  ~ Linda

Merry Christmas one and all

~The reason for the season ~

~ Christmas Lillies from our garden scenting our home ~ oh joy ~

~ It wouldn't really be Christmas without homemade Shortbread

and a rich fruity Christmas Cake :) ~

Merry Christmas friends :)
Sorry I've been absent from my blog the last couple of months. Running a small indie business where I make everything, package, stocktake, run a website etc etc is a lot of work and it takes it's toll. Normally by late December I am feeling pretty worn out..and it's the same this year. I still wanted to pop by though and post a couple of pictures and write about the last couple of months.
My husband went through a time of being unwell, a stress related pain situation where he was off work for a couple of weeks. At the time we were unsure what was wrong and had a very stressful time with a lot of doctors/hospital visits etc. It was a time of much prayer for us both. Because of all this, I got behind with my business. However my first priority is to my husband and family, so other things must take a back seat. Once my husband was well, I knuckled down and worked night and day to build up stock levels and fulfill orders. I am so thankful to the Lord that we still did well and He blessed us despite the time I was away from everything. He is so faithful :) !!!
At the start of 2018 I purposed in my heart to spend more time with my dear Mum, so every now and then I like to treat her in some way. This week I took  her out for morning tea and also included one of my grandies little 'Kora'. We had a lovely time.

   Mum ordered an old fashioned chocolate milkshake in a tall glass - so vintage :)

 

  ~ My sweet mum with Kora and Poppy ~ 

I've also been trying to spend more time in the garden, so I purchased a few new plants and planned to tidy up the front garden. Lo and behold we had a crisis. First, a pipe burst out by the front garden (would you believe it)..sigh, and we had to get the plumber in. The cheapest option was to connect up a new piece of pipe and do away with the front tap, which I connect the hose too. Thankfully we have another outside tap, which I can connect another hose too, run it under the house and use that out the front. We get very dry weather normally in the summer months, and often have water restrictions, due to drought. Our area is farming country and water for livestock and farms is a priority..even though I think my fruit trees and garden need their fair share too !! :) So we got the plumbing problem fixed, cleaned up the huge mess and prepared to plant those waiting plants. Then we had at least two weeks of non stop rain and high humidity !!! would you believe it??? So the poor plants waited and waited and waited. This week after about 3-4 weeks I was finally able to get it done, but a few of them really suffered, got eaten by snails, and faded. Anyway I am grateful just to have it all planted.

A couple of weeks ago I had a fun morning at my daughters making spiced salt dough Christmas ornaments, it was so much fun !!! (from Rocky Hegde Farm blog recipe) and those girls did good. Lots of creativity was flowing :) They made a couple of them into necklaces and wore them..funny !

~ Lily and Kora ~

~Baked for two hours and threaded with bakers twine. I modge podged 

mine to make them last a little longer ~

~ Little Bear ornament ~

Well that's about all for now. I pray everyone is well and having a joyful Christmas season. Thank you for all the joy your bogs/writing and friendship has brought to me. I look ahead to 2019 and am hoping to have more opportunities to write and get to know some of you better. Blessings and peace through our precious Lord  over you all ~ Linda 2018

xoxoxo