Category: 366 days of novice motherhood

Place: bed

Poison: water

Favourite things: lying down

Today I have washed and washed, so much so that our bedroom looks like a Chinese laundry.

The dryer has pounded all day, our little alcove outside is full and still I have at least five more loads to go.

Who said holidays were relaxing?

A holiday, a newborn, gym clothes, everyday clothes, lots of rain and a small apartment equals laundry overload!

However tonight i fell back into the soft embrace of freshly laundered linen on my bed and I sighed so loudly, our neighbors probably blushed.

What is it about fresh sheets?

They make you feel like anything is possible. They make your nights sleep feel so much more wholesome. They make you take notice.

I think it’s a fresh canvas. A fresh clean space. It envelopes you.

I think our thought life needs a dose of fresh laundry every so often.

I struggled at times today thinking thoughts that were just not helpful. Jealous thoughts, judgemental thoughts, if only thoughts…

My mind needed a good cleansing and a big hanging out to dry.

How’s your thought life lately?

Holding any unforgivingness?

Annoyed and jaded much?

Take time to wash and cleanse your mind in scripture, it’s one of the only proper washing powders available for your mind.

Laundromat your thinking. Mine definitely needs a good dose.

A

Place: the car

Poison: water

Favourite things: wooly scarfs

Sometimes I close my eyes and I see dark shadows.

Those shadows are places that scare me. Anxieties of death, disappointment and fear.

Those shadows became more pronounced when I became a mother. The shadows are magnified by the news, the stories of loss, worry and humanity.

I wonder about what if, I am concerned about accidents, I think about possibilities.

What’s your shadow life like?

Do you close your eyes and see darkness?

What do you fear the most?

My shadow life shows me my need of a savior. My shadow life calls me to pray and to reflect.

My shadow life scares me, but forces me to trust in something stronger and more powerful than man.

My shadows are dark, but I serve a higher power that functions in the realm of light.

As I reflect on His power, light shines into those dark places and dissipates the dark creatures that live there.

Everyone has a shadow life.

Shine some truth on it, by acknowledging it’s presence and then find ways to clean it out…

A

Place: in bed

Poison: water

Favourite things: playing cards (and winning)

We are getting ready to go back to Perth tomorrow and I am excited to be back to normal.

A new normal.

Not that the holiday has been bad, it’s been perfect in fact, but I like my normal.

My normal is routine and I like it.

I miss it.

Do you like your normal?

Do you like your nothing sort of days?

If not, maybe you need to change it…

Just a thought.

Normal is not bad. It’s just normal. We all need nothing days to make the special ones stand out. Those nothing days should be enjoyable even if they are the white space between the colorful highs.

Love your normal.

It’s your everyday.

A

Place: dunsborough

Poison: Margaret river chocolate

Favourite things: tangled the movie

Tonight we introduced our inlaws to the movie Tangled.

One of the delightful characters is a horse, one with much character and pizazz and his name is Maximus.

So four grown adults and no child in sight watched a Disney movie together, boys with beers in hand, girls with crochet. What a funny evening we had!

One scene in the movie got me thinking…

It was the scene where repunzel sings and delights a pub full of scoundrel men to dream. She implores them to dream again. Asking ‘Whats your dream?’

As I listened to the song, I reflected and thought…what’s my dream? Truly what am I dreaming about.

As I sat with my husband and his parents, with baby Maximus fast asleep, on a holiday I realized I have stopped dreaming.

The reason I have stopped dreaming is because as cliche as it sounds, my dream has come true.

I dreamed about being married.

I dreamed about being a mum.

I dreamed about working in ministry full time at a church.

I dreamed about writing a book.

All of those dreams at one point in time seemed so unattainable.

Honestly I went through seasons thinking they would never happen.

Yet here I am, all those dreams that kept me awake at night have been realized.

And honestly it feels quite strange.

I love it, but living in a place of plenty not a place of lack is just as uncomfortable.

It’s uncomfortable because so easily you settle in. You stop dreaming, so you stop stretching, because all that you have longed for has arrived.

Tonight in the midst of a disney cartoon I realized something very profound.

I need to find a new dream.

I don’t want to loose the love and delight of this season, but I also need to find a place of lack, a place of desire, a place of stretch and find a new dream.

I need to seek. Seek the one who is the author of our dreams and listen.

To ponder, to journal, to draw, to paint, to write.

I need to find space to delight upon the potential. To write goals, to think beyond, to promise myself and others to keep believing.

I need to find a new dream.

I need to allow myself to wander in the land of promise, delighting in the dalliance.

I need to dream again.

How about you?

A

Place: dunsborough

Poison: Pepsi max

Favorite things: rain dripping slowly

All through the night the rain drum played, making everyone a little sleepy, everyone a little tired. All through the morning the rain drum beats, making everyone a little snuffly, making everyone need a little more sleep.

There is something that rain brings about emotions that often can’t be explained. A little crazy, a little less motivated, a little grey.

Whatever shade of grey the rain makes you feel, it’s a great opportunity to stay inside and play.

Find ways to experiment indoors. From
Reading, to cooking, to games or long bottomless coffees. Mostly allow the emotions the day uncovers to arise.

Today we are not staying in and are attempting to tour some wineries. This might be a big flop, but we are exploring despite the rain. Mixed emotions…

Allow the rhythm of the rain to allow your thoughts and feelings to emerge. Don’t deny them. Embrace them.

Repressing our thoughts and emotions only encourage them to come back another time with more force.

Unaddressed emotions have a way of resurfacing and causing havoc.

Hope the rain brings you some relief today.

A