for every bird a nest

Emily Dickinson ~ For Every Bird A Nest

For every Bird a Nest
Wherefore in timid quest
Some little Wren goes seeking round

Wherefore when boughs are free
Households in every tree
Pilgrim be found?

Perhaps a home too high
Ah Aristocracy!
The little Wren desires

Perhaps of twig so fine
Of twine e'en superfine,
Her pride aspires

The Lark is not ashamed
To build upon the ground
Her modest house

Yet who of all the throng
Dancing around the sun
Does so rejoice?

look what we found while walking home from the shop today! a birds nest lying on the ground.

it seemed like such a good find, we just had to bring it home so that Nicholas could show his da. so, in spite of what is obviously not blotches of white paint on one side, we carried it home on the top of the pram. Nicholas lifted it from the ground so carefully.

it is a special find~ twigs, straw and grass so intricately woven that it is a masterpiece.

"Look at the ravens. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds!" Luke 12:24

decadance

i feel decadent. Nicholas and Audrey are both asleep - i could bore myself to tears recounting each of their change of sleep patterns over the past four nights. enough to drive me to despair, so why would i want to relive it? David is at the restaurant where he used to do some work, preparing for the men's dinner on Saturday night. i think i have done my quota of housework for the day (a load of washing and cleaned the bathroom) and dinner dishes are done, so i am about to read a blog Mel has shown me. from the beginning. it was just what i needed to kick start the motivation to get some sewing done. and i can listen to the rain falling.

here is the fabric that will become Christmas presents for my nephews and niece. :)


and yes Mel - i LOVE this fabric!

why write?

i love stationery - paper, cards, pens, journals. when i first started this blog, it was for the novelty of being able to journal and add images. i didn’t know how far i would take this. i have always kept diaries of some sort. whether just jotting appointments and thoughts, or wish lists, or reflective journals (including the teenage angst diary). i found that once i had children, time to hand write in a journal was sparse, and although i was reluctant to move away from the handwritten i came to enjoy the immediacy of typing out an entry and posting a photograph or two.
i was talking about journaling with my mum last week and commented that when writing in a tangible journal, i would tend to focus more on what i thought wasn’t right with life, but now that i write on a blog, knowing that this has the potential to be more public, i tend to focus on the joys in life and the positive happenings in my life. although i still aim to be true to my feelings,
i still hesitate when i touch on things of personal conviction, or when venting on bad days at work or my frustrations with my children. by no means do i attempt to portray a life of continual sunshine and skipping through flowered meadows. but i think it is ok to focus on the good. I write about the books, movies or the craft that i enjoy. i write about the dreams that i have -which i know will never be a reality- stay at home mum in a semi-rural place that has a country fair and a delectable bakery. i also write about the mum that i aspire to be, and i despair when i fall so short.
one day i will print these blog entries and file them in a binder and it will be a written record of my life just like the journals stuffed away in drawers.

family fun

i am a bit of a hoarder and i like things complete. therefore a lot of magazines stuffed in cupboards. i like these posts about storing articles, pictures, ideas and other pages from magazines, and took the plunge and tore up a couple of piles of magazines, thereby freeing a whole shelf in my bedroom cupboard! magazines that aren't torn up, but kept as if they were an encyclopedia are various craft magazines and Australian Country Style.

i have lots of ideas for Christmas this year, but little motivation or time... fabric is sitting on our couch and today i'll set the sewing machine up so that i can get a couple of little things made bit by bit.

yesterday was a wonderful family day to celebrate Mitchell's 1st birthday. the youngest of the clan (to date).

post in 3 parts - these are the books i like to read

well, kind of. i have a few "piles" of books beside my bed.
there is the currently reading pile the books that provide some spiritual feasting
and the pile that frustrates me - books started and then not finished because i lost interest, or found something better. i never know whether it is best to persevere (i like to see things wrapped up) or whether i shouldn't worry about spending time reading something just to finish it, or whether i should just move on to something i enjoy...

on the way to the coast we listened to a mix i did of children's songs. one is called 'The books I Like to Read'. the lyrics are fun and i enjoyed listening to Nicholas trying to catch all the titles: where the wild things are (he hasn't read); Tales of Peter Rabbit, the Very Hungry Caterpillar etc etc.

post in 3 parts - motherhood + milestones

today Nicholas and i went to his preschool to collect his enrolment pack. he met his teacher and she took him to see his classroom. i am really excited about his starting preschool next year. i was especially excited to read "Library day is: Tuesday. Your child will need a cloth library bag."
i already know which fabric i will use to make it. (very fuzzy pic) his preschool is lovely - such a big yard with lots of equipment and trees. and his teacher was immediately welcoming and friendly. i wonder at which point i will cry. i know i will definately be a "first day at school crying parent..."
and today was momentous. Nicholas finally put his face in the water at his swimming lesson. lots of high 5's from his teachers. :)

post in 3 parts - weekend away

time for r & r

phew. the end of the working week (i changed the days i worked this week to accommodate an international delegation that was arriving). it dosn't sound like much, but the work involved in managing one of these study programs is huge.
last night was the official dinner. the delegation of 16 were there, plus the ambassador of the country... a representative from foreign affairs and half a dozen of our senior management. it was a long day/ night and i was home at 11pm. now i can relax.
on Tuesday David's mum had asked Nicholas if he wanted to sleep over because he and Audrey would be there the next day. and apparently he said no, "because he wanted to go home and see mama".
this morning he told me he didn't want me to work anymore. not any days. i said i wouldn't work lots anymore, but that i needed to work just a little bit so that we had money to buy food and clothes. he then said i didn't need to because i have lots of money - and proceeded to go and get the small box David and i put our loose change in. i'd be lucky to be able to buy a newspaper with what was in there.
today he was misbehaving SO much. i guess the change of our crazy routine has been hard on him too. it made me feel justified in declining an invitation to dine at the Ambassador's residence tonight... it probably wasn't appropriate, but it really has proved to me that i am happy in my little home, with my family. during the dinner last night i was reminded of a scene in one of my favourite movies Girl in the Cafe, where a woman finds herself invited to a dinner during a G8 summit. surrounded by dignitaries from all over the world, she challenges them regarding the number of people that are dying of starvation while they dine and talk... David always finds this scene painful to watch, and i always say "good on her". i smiled at dinner last night, because i tied to imagine myself in such a situation. i told David when i got home, "don't worry - i wouldn't have done it".
on tuesday night i did something unusual - went to dinner and a movie with two of my closest friends. i think they know me too well as they actually approached David and said "Michelle is coming out with us on Tuesday". he didn't have a problem with that - it is me who likes being at home, knowing everyone is in bed asleep - just where they should be. thankfully the movie was at a mum respectable hour -7pm. i really enjoyed it - i bought the novel in 2005 while we were on holiday in the Barossa (with the same friends) but had not got around to reading it. mum did though. Time Traveller' Wife. i really enjoyed it, although i cried at the end - i put it down to tiredness! :)


i think mum would like the movie too. she and dad are home from New Zealand on Sunday. Yay! welcome home mum - see you soon. :)
now i am in a dilemma. tonight i finished the novel i have been reading, Remarkable Creatures
should i read The Time Traveller's Wife, or the new novel i have bought - The Hollow Tree??

paper craft

as usual there is a lot of craft on my mind. nearing Christmas, i want to make a few things - for gifts and for home...
but i am particularly inspired to do some paper craft. i have not scrapped in SO long. i have a little bundle, just waiting for me to make Audrey's first 5 years record book... then i remember i am still yet to do her first year photo album. and, with Christmas 2009 looming, i am reminded that i have not yet caught up on my Christmas album.
i was also inspired by this photo frame in the latest Toast home catalogue. i thought i would attempt a collage of old family photographs. but first i need to decide which ones to use... i also want to display the arrowheads i collected from the United States while there in 1995. i contacted my old archaeology/anthropology lecturer to ask his advice on framing them. he sent an informative email and wants to catch up, so hopefully Dave and i will be visiting him at his property just outside of Canberra soon. just a few more things to add to the pile of paintings, certificates and photographs waiting to be framed. so much to do, so little time...

i picked the right week to resume part time hours at work. a public holiday today means i have three days at home. there is so much going on at work, and i seem to be taking more and more responsibility for staff and projects. the last three weeks have yet again proved how important my family are.
last week, in the midst of a really stressful situation at work, Nicholas would not go to sleep at his usual time. it was 10pm and i was still trying to get him to go to sleep. my body ached like i hadn't felt it before - i think it was because i was stressed as it hurt from the inside out - literally, my bones ached. i told Nicholas to please go to sleep as i was tired and had to go to work in the morning. he lay in his bed and started to cry. he said "but i don't want you to work this many days and this many days" pointing to his fingers and toes. "when will you stay home with me?" and that was all i needed to give my self a reality check and put my priorities where they needed to be. i'll always do my best at work, and i take pride in the projects i am responsible for, but work is not my life. my life begins when i leave that office at 5pm. i am not going to get caught up in the rat race - the ladder so many strive to climb. it does not satisfy me. i am looking forward to the days home with Nicholas and Audrey, to swimming and gardening. i can't wait until we have a weekend at the coast (only a weekend, but time away as a family). i can't wait until Christmas - Audrey will be an age to enjoy it this year. (i have a new book of Christmas craft). Nicholas loves exploring and looking for fossils. i want to be in their world a little more. this is what satisfies me.

on something else entirely, my parents bought me a book last year called Exiles by Micahel Frost. it is a book that encourages Christians to embrace a dynamic, life-affirming, robust Christian faith that can be lived confidently in a world that no longer values such faith. (book blurb...)
this part resonates with me. i am by no means a die hard environmentalist or a greenie, but to me, this makes sense.
many Christians are "deeply concerned about the state of the global environment and are ashamed of the fact that Christians around the world seem unable to speak with one voice about the looming ecological crisis confronting us. They wish there could be a form of Christian environmentalism that offers a witness to our world about the need to care for our planet. In the absence of such a thing, many turn to movements such as Greenpeace to express their environmental disquiet. If we are to develop a genuinely Christian expression of environmentalism, it should arise from an informed, thoughtful, and faithful consideration of environmental concerns from the perspective of the Christian faith. As is the case with any moral question, a Christian approach to those issues must include as its central source of insight the biblical witness. Thios is not to say that he biblical understandingof the world cannot be expanded by subsequent insights into the nature of things; it is to say that a genuinely Christian ethic is, and must be, compatible with the witness of the Christian Scriptures...
It was Jesus who taught us to pray, "Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven" (Matt 6:10). The idea that we ahve little or no responsabilty for the earth or its creatures because one day we'll be raptured into heaven is a misreading of Scripture. Regardless of one's view on the nature of Christ's second coming, it is imperative that we value what God values. God valued this planet and all its creatures by creating them and calling them good in the first place."