I cannot believe how quickly time slips by...we are almost in March and it has been awhile since my last blog...tut tut!

Since my last post, a lot has happened for us! I mentioned how God was teaching us the importance of tithing and being obedient, and so last week we took the plunge and restarted our tithings. The second it was done, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders...God is so good!

Leading up to that day, one thing after the next had been going wrong. Money was tight, unexpected bills aka: speeding fines :( had been coming in, plans we had made werent working out...it just seemed everything was crashing down around us. I felt this was the last straw and God just pleading with us to hand it all over to Him...they arent our finances to control, so to speak.

We have managed to get a budget underway (praise GOD!) as budgeting has been something we have struggled with understanding in the past. It has finally made sense to us both now and we have some really good boundaries set in place!

Some of the things we cut out of our budget for the short-term (to get on top of things) were clothing and alcohol (eg. wine and beer)! A few days after we begun tithing again, we had a little surprise delivery from our next door neighbours...completely out of the blue. At our door in a bag they had left us 15 bottles of white wine, of all different sorts! They no longer wanted them as they drink beer instead of wine....so they thought we would appreciate them more! DO we ever!!! :)

I also went to visit 2 of my gorgeous friends on Saturday and 1 of them had a whole bag of clothes she was about to throw away. She asked me to go through them, if I wanted, to take anything that I might like! We are the same size and the clothes are lovely - and such a blessing!!

We have been blessed financially as well which will mean that with a bit of extra work we should be able to enjoy our trip to the UK in May!!

I just know that our God is looking out for us! It is amazing how much He cares for us and our interests...He simply calls us to be obedient to His word and trust in His perfect plan!

Matthew 6:33

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Flat out...

This phrase just doesn’t even do justice to my past few weeks!

Uni has kicked back in, as of Monday! Its exciting, but right now is a lot on my plate! I am doing 2 units again this Semester, whilst working full-time in the City! BIG load...but I know ill be ok :) Work has also been flat out lately...a lot is going on in our little team which has been calling for me to work through my lunch breaks! Craziness...when I am usually so light on work! But, it is nice to have the day zoom by quickly in the office for a change!

I haven't even had time to think about updating my blog, and it has been a mission to sit down and actually spend some quiet time with Him, but I have managed to keep on top of that, which I am thankful for! Satan has been throwing everything possible in my direction to try and knock me off my feet and get me distracted and overwhelmed by everything, but I wont let him get a foothold of me anymore! Yesterday morning, I was doing really well with my time management. I was up, dressed and ready, dogs had been fed, kitchen cleaned and plants watered. It was 7:10am, and I usually leave by 7:30am, which meant I had 20 mins quiet time and I was off to work. I was just putting finishing touches on my hair when I spotted a spider, near my neck, under my dress! I flipped out! To make matters worse, the dress I had on was a button-up number with a little belt around it, making it very difficult to rip it off me in a quick manner! I stripped right down and was flailing my arms and legs everywhere - and thrashing my hair to make sure if that spider was still on me, it would have a difficult time hanging on! After checking that the spider was no longer on me, and wringing my clothes in my hands to make sure if it was still in there, it would be squished - the time was about 7:30am! The first thing that came to mind was, "I am not letting you take away my quiet time, just because of a spider...if that’s the worst you can do, try me!" Ha!

This verse gave me some strength to continue pushing through when times are tough and when I am running late and out of time for my quiet time! He always rewards me when I sit down and listen to Him, so I wont let Satan get ahead of me on this one!

Phillipians 3:12-14
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Much love

Getting my attention...

Malachi 3

Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the LORD Almighty.“Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty.

Ever get the feeling God is trying to tell you something? Get something across to you...shouting out with a big sign saying "HELLO...OVER HERE!"

Yes, well...for me it has been about this. When God calls, we should obey and answer. I came across this verse in my quiet time last week, but it is not the first time a verse on tithing, or a word about tithing has come to me. We cut back on our tithing some time ago as we were struggling to keep on top of life's many bills that were getting thrown at us left, right and centre. We still are. I look back now and think it was silly of me to cut back on the one thing that is so important...giving back what was never mine in the first place. We can whine about how it will make our lives so much easier to not pay that 10%...but when a verse like this jumps out at you, how can you ignore the fact that God wants to bless you and we are robbing him by not being diligent with our tithes.

I know this can be a touchy subject for some, and that some may frown upon me for doing this, but I am just being honest and out there about a lesson I have learnt. I feel guilty for ignoring His voice, but I know that He is wanting to bless us, wanting to make things easier and 'open the floodgates' in our lives.

Have you ever had an experience like this? When you feel God is kind of tapping His foot at you, waiting for you to answer His call? What about tithing - have you been thoroughly blessed for being persistent in giving back what was always His?

Much love

Fight or Flight...

What do you do when you get a knock to your confidence? When you start doubting things you believe so strongly in?

Do you let those doubts take over your mind and start believing them? Or...do you work to fight back against them and stand strong for what you so strongly feel for?

Fight or flight....

Some days I feel like taking flight...just giving in and letting it all go. Returning to a "normal" life where the days just pass me by and I do nothing to better myself, and nothing for His glory...Sometimes, that is easier. But as I believe I have mentioned before.... I love a challenge!

I am choosing today to fight...to continue to pray and overcome, to continue to believe that I am on the right path and that my desires are His desires also.

1 Timothy 6:12

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Are you struggling with your thoughts lately? Is there something that you believe strongly about that is being challenged? What are you doing about it?

Much love

When our plan isn't His plan...

Life can be unfair sometimes. You can be so sure of yourself that you are doing the right thing, and that 'this' is where you are meant to be. All the dots can be joined up in your mind and you can say "yep, this feels right, it will all work out". But sometimes, God has other plans...

We have been learning this over the past few years and sometimes I think God must be sitting up there shaking His head saying..."when will they ever learn!!!" He is understanding, of course, and through it all, He is speaking to us. He gives us subtle hints of where He wants us and calls us forward, saying "Come to me...come on! Just a few more baby steps and then you're there!" But so often instead of keeping our eyes on Him and walking towards His plan, His purpose and His desire for our life, we can get sidetracked by things such as money, better prospects, and better offers which we can convince ourselves are what God wants for us.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

We have heard this verse many times before...it is a fantastic verse about trusting in God's plan for our lives...but sometimes, can be easier said than done. Where it says, "in all your ways submit to Him" I believe that means handing everything over to Him. Allowing Him to have control of your life, your dreams, your goals, your plans, your job, your finances...everything. He calls us to do this, and when we do, He will guide us and show us what He wants for us. It's almost as though He wants us to make Him the sole focus of our lives, instead of spending our time and effort and thoughts on planning out what we want for our life...and when we do focus on Him and delve into His word, it is then that He will reveal His good plan to us.

Some other verses I came upon are below which I think capture this issue really well and provide comfort to those that are going through a similar thing. If you are struggling with something, or if there is something you have been praying for, or trying to attain and it just hasn’t come to pass, perhaps take a step back and spend some quiet time with God. Really listen to what He has to say to you and ask for the ears to hear His voice...perhaps He is trying to show you the path you are meant to be on, but you don’t even realise it!

Proverbs 16:9

In their hearts humans plan their course,
but the LORD establishes their steps.

Psalm 32:8

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.

Psalm 37:4-5,7

Take delight in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him and he will do this:
Be still before the LORD
and wait patiently for him;

Much love

A productive weekend...

I don't actually know where the time went this weekend...it seemed to be over before I knew it! But..that's quite alright with me...we got alot done in our little house! :)

On Friday evening, I went with a friend from work to visit one of the secretaries in hospital who had just given birth to a baby girl! I was hanging out for a cuddle, but I dont like to ask...I just wait to see if the mother offers! This time, I got a hold! I felt so blessed...and as it turns out, this was the first newborn baby I have ever held! Was such a special experience...something I will never forget!

Saturday saw hubby off to work for the day, so I set out to clean the house! I got most of it done, just didnt get a chance to mop the floors!!! I did, however, get distracted on Gumtree and had a look around and to my surprise found a GORGEOUS tree...for FREE...and still available! :) I spoke to hubby and he was happy to go and get it with me, if it is something i really wanted! BOY OH BOY was it! :) I have been looking for a big tree for the back garden for quite some time, but never found one cheap enough...let alone FREE!

It was advertised as a 4 metre Chinese Elm Tree..little did we know, it was more like 6 metres! Unfortunately, we dont have a car with a towball, so we had to borrow a car from our good friends...in exchange for some mangoe beer and my expert advice on gumtree ;) We then had to hire a trailer and then we were on our way! We set off at about 6:30pm to pick this up...a 40 minute drive away!

When we arrived, we were kind of overtaken by the sheer size of this thing! Luckily, it had already been pulled out of the ground! That's one of the hard parts out the way! The next, was getting the massive thing into a 8x5 caged trailer! The owner of the tree and his son were LOVELY! They helped hubby the whole time, whilst I stood watching, helpless! The whole process took about an hour...and my goodness it was lengthy hour. I was getting some awesome glares from hubby saying "you owe me big time!!!". They tried every possible means to get the mega tree into the trailer! The final success was using a ratchet system, hacking off a HECK of alot of the branches [*tear*] and using alot of manly muscle! [I do wish i had photos of this whole process, but it was a very 'testing' time in our relationship and had i used a camera during this process, i would most likely have been walking home by myself, treeless!!!!] hehe

 The trailer full of branches chopped off :(

We then had to manoeuvre this monstrous tree in the trailer, down the backstreets all the way home [trying to avoid getting pulled over by cops at the same time]! We both shot up some quick prayers that the tree wouldnt (a) fall off the trailer, as there would be no way to get it back on with just the both of us, and (b) that it wouldnt attract unwanted attention from cops wanting to charge us for an oversized load!!!

When we made it home, we then had to figure out how to get the tree off the trailer, onto our lawn so we could return the trailer and car! This is another story in itself, involving car alarms being set off, roads being blocked and little nissan pulsars attempting to pull the tree up our hill! We did it though....just me and my man, returned the trailer and the car and made it to bed about midnight....utterly exhausted! We didnt even want to think about how we were going to get the tree out the back to plant it...for now, sleep was all we cared about! [It was also a freezing night so my lips ended up CHAPPED as and i was frozen to a crisp, still wearing my shorts and tank top from earlier in the day...]

Sunday saw us move the tree to the backgarden and plant it! We enlisted help from 2 of our WONDERFUL neighbours to get it to the back! Hubby dug the mega hole all by himself, whilst i did grocery shopping and then we both put the tree in together! I HEART IT VERY MUCH and look forward to decorating my pretty little tree with lights and lanterns soon....stay tuned! :)

I managed to bake my first ever banana bread this afternoon too...courtesy of Retromummy's recipe! It turned out divine!! My sister and her partner dropped in to say hello and we helped them find a stand for their new fish tank....on gumtree of course! :)

I baked a yummy chicken, asparagus pasta bake off a taste.com recipe which was delicious!! And then, i created this Bus Roll...after being inspired by many a blog out there!

This took no time at all to make...i HEART it and the little key there I found today too!

PHEW! I am ready for next weekend already...just to recover!
 
How did you all spend your weekends?

Much love

A special night...

We had the most wonderful 3rd Wedding Anniversary dinner last night...we got absolutely spoilt!

Our reception venue, 3 years ago, was the Boatshed restaurant, South Perth. A stunning venue that we chose after going to our first wedding (after only 1 week of dating) together, that was at the same venue! We fell in love with it straight away! The restaurant is located on the picturesque South Perth foreshore, overlooking the city. It has its own little jetty also, which we used for wedding photos on the day. The owner of the Restaurant, Graeme, was so lovely to deal with, and 4 of his 6 daughters also work at the restaurant. Each and every one of them treated us so beautifully 3 years ago, and still to this day do!

When we arrived, we were the only people in the restaurant, which was lovely! We were shown to our table, the best in the house, right on the waters edge. On our table, they had put out a photoframe with one of our wedding photos in it for us! HOW sweet! They also had put covers on the menus wishing us a Happy Anniversary! It made us feel really loved and special! Compliments of Claire, one of our waitresses from the wedding, we were given a glass of champagne each and compliments of the chef, we were given a taster of kangaroo and bush chutney on little crackers! I had never had Kangaroo before...but it was actually quite nice - and sweet that the chef did that too!

We spared no expense, as we figure its only once a year! So we ordered 'sparkling water' instead of 'still water', a plate of sourdough bread, olive oil and olives along with an entrée of Sizzling Western Australian King prawns with chorizo, spring onions and oil! Delicious! We got a bottle of wine to share, from a winery down in Pemberton called Fonty's Pool - it was divine! The waiter asked if I wanted to 'try' the wine first...i giggled and said that it wouldn’t make a difference as I was no wine connoseiur! :)

We were absolutely stuffed just after having the entrée but we persisted through for our next course! Matt ordered the corn fed pork cutlet with truffle macaroni, roast apple, thyme and red wine jelly and I ordered the Chef's Fish of the day which was a lovely pan-fried snapper on a bed of wilted spinach and garlic mash on the side. JUST beautiful! We were talking so much that by the time the waiter came back to ask us how our meals were, Matt hadnt even started eating his! :)

The dessert menu came out, and by this stage - I was popping out of my dress! But...i would never give up an opportunity for dessert here! They have the BEST sticky date pudding here, but we both decided to try something different! Matt ordered the turkish delight plate and I ordered the raspberry and white chocolate plate! We shared half and half of each others plates! My favourite was the raspberry sorbet...so tangy and fresh! Also, the white chocolate and raspberry dumplings with hot fudge sauce tastes just like donuts dipped in chocolate! TO die for!!

We wanted to stay and have a coffee after our meal but there was aboslutely no room for any more food or drink at all! So we called it a night and rolled ourselves out of there!!! We took a walk down to the jetty that we had our photos on, just outside of the restaurant before we went home...it was such a beautiful and still night out!

When we arrived home, we found that our wedding photographers, Peter and Tegwyn, had posted this beautiful slideshow video of our wedding to wish us a happy anniversary! SO sweet - we have been TOO blessed! You can watch the video here and visit their website here.

So, after it all...another year has passed! It has been a wonderful year, filled with laughs, tears and changes but we are both so excited at this next wedding year and what it will bring. New prospects on the horizon, hopefully being blessed with our own little family, seeking God's will for our life, home, finances and dreams. We have been trusting in Him to guide us and light our path, and so far, we have been extremely blessed and comforted with what He is showing and teaching us!

What do you all do to celebrate your wedding anniversarys? How many years are you at now? I would love to hear your love stories!!

Much love

On this day...

3 years ago today, on 2nd February 2008, I married the man of my dreams!

We kinda have a bit of a fairytale...well, i think so anyway ;) We met on Myspace, about 4 and half years ago. Matt had just signed up for the website, and was browsing around. They had a section called "new users" and my little photo popped up! He clicked on my profile and read a bit about me and decided...I'm going to email this girl and see how it goes! Little did he know, I had been inundated with quite a few "annoying" and "disguisting" emails from guys on the site, and thus was being ruthless when it came to receiving propositions from men! I would usually just delete them straight away! But...there was something intriguing about this guy...

Reading up on his profile, we had alot of similar interests, even though we were 4 years difference in age and lived at opposite ends of Perth! We got talking on Myspace for about a month, and had exchanged mobile numbers. Matt had tried numerous times to set up a date with me, but I was always too busy with dancing [that is the truth, i wasnt putting it off!] But Matt thought i was putting him off, so he said to himself he would try 1 more time to set up a date, and if i couldnt make it, he would leave things there as i obviously wasnt interested!!!

Our profile photos when we first "saw" each other on Myspace

Well, I was available on that day to meet up with him!!! *phew* We met down in Fremantle at 5pm on September 23rd 2006. I told Matt I was wearing a pink dress so to look out for me! He was standing out the front of the Esplanade Hotel and saw a blonde haired girl in a pink dress walking toward him....but with another man! Matt was thinking, "great, she has brought another guy with her to our date!" He phoned me to check where I was, just incase it was me with that man, and I told him to turn around as I was right behind him! That moment we met for the first time was magical! I kind of cant describe it better than, it was so relaxed and felt so "right". It felt as though we had been best friends for YEARS!

We took a walk down the boardwalk in Fremantle before dinner. I was wearing stockings with high heels and it was making it difficult to walk! I remember my heels getting stuck in the gaps of the boardwalk an awful lot, and whilst we were talking I had to subtly stop every few steps and do a sort of "wiggle" of my heel to get it loose again! Matt never even noticed me doing this!

After the walk, we stopped in at a little coffee shop. My stockings were frustrating me SO much at this point as it was making my shoes slip as i walked [didnt choose this outfit too well, did it!] So, the whole time we were chatting at the cafe, i was trying to rip little holes in my stockings so that my feet could grip to my shoes! haha! I was doing it very discreetly and lady like of course! ;) I finally excused myself to the ladies room and took them off altogether! Too much hassle! I also realised i had about 20 missed phone calls from my mum, who was beside herself as i hadnt called to tell her i was ok and that Matt wasnt a serial killer! ;)

We then made our way to the Salah Thai restaurant in Fremantle, which Matt had booked us into! We had a wonderful meal and it was my first ever "Thai food" experience...chillis and all....I was very brave to give it a go, but in the end i actually LOVED it and it is now one of our favourite foods to eat! Matt had bought a bottle of wine also, Brown Brothers Moscato, and it was the first wine we had really had. It became our favourite also!

After dinner, we went for another coffee for another long chat, and then stopped in at Timezone! We played a few games in there and just before we left, we had some of the photobooth photos taken! It is amazing, when you look at them, just how at ease and comfortable we look! You wouldnt have known it was the first time we had ever met each other!

We didnt want the date to end at this point, it was about 10pm! So, we jumped into Matts car and drove up to Kings Park! We had a walk around and a bit of a smooch at the lookout circle, over the city! It was absolutely magical...and freezing cold!! Time seemed to stop here, because by the time we got back to our cars, and were heading in opposite directions home, it was 1:52am!! We said our goodbyes and as we drove off, Matt phoned me! He pulled over to the side of the road to do it too, how cute! He said: "I kind of havent been in the dating scene for awhile, so i am not sure how this works, but i dont want to just know you, i want to be with you...will you go out with me???" It was the sweetest thing ever!! And i was SO happy! Couldnt wipe the smile off my face!

Our first wedding..a week after we met. We got married at the same spot we loved it so much!

All the ladies I worked with at ALH, and all the men Matt was with in the Navy will testify to just how happy we were, and still are!! We love to talk...alot....and evidently, all we would talk about was each other!!

5 months went past, and Matt was out at sea for 2 of those months. When he came back from sea, he took me down south to Margaret River. We stayed in a wonderful little chalet on the beach and on February 15th, at sunrise, he took me down to the beach and proposed! There were gorgeous rocks jutting out into the water, so we went and sat down on them and he said, "as its nearly our 6 month anniversary, I have some photos i wanted to show you that are special to me of our time together!". There was about 30 of these photos from all the dates we had been on together! He went through them one by one, and had a little "saying" to say about each one. As it got to the last photo, he said "and this photo is my favourite one as the look on your face is priceless". I couldnt find the photo he was looking for...so he said "hang on a minute, it must have fallen out in my bag..." As he went down to "get it out of his bag", he pulled out a beautiful box with the most stunning ring EVER in it and got on one knee to say: will you marry me?!?!

From that day forth....it has been a whirlwind! A year later we were married in the most BEAUTIFUL ceremony ever [6 months of that year of engagement, Matt was out at sea!]! It was a day that was so meaningful [and HOT] and i wouldnt have wanted it any other way!

So tonight, we are back off to where we had our reception for dinner! It has become our tradition to go there on the day of our anniversary for dinner. The owner and all the waitresses still remember us there, and save us the best seat in the house. They usually bring around a bottle of champagne and some chocolates also! They are just SO lovely to us!

As I reflect on the past 3 years of marriage, there has been many ups and downs, sad and happy times, trials and tribulations...but it is those times that have made us stronger, refined our relationship and brought us closer together. Through it all, God has been at the centre of the marriage and we work at keeping it that way. He is the one who brought us together, and we owe everything we have to Him for that.

So very excited for what this year of marriage has in store for us little love bugs! God is working wonders in our lives! I will keep you all posted on all the changes along the way!

Much love [and sorry for the loong post...couldnt help it!]

Photos: Peter Edwards Photography