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my muse

beanie twoWhen people say I am obsessed with crochet, it cracks me up.

Yes I am an addict, but for a very different reason than what you would expect.

It is my muse.

I don’t walk into a room with crocheted things and swoon. For me, crochet is a form of meditation. One could say it is my creative thinking, melting, stirring pot.

My solo brainstorming session.

The team of creatives in my head get together and have a meeting, whilst my fingers twist.

I dream.

I think.

I forgive.

I let go.

I design.

I innovate.

It is a mindless activity that recreates possibility and inspires me onwards.

What is a mindless activity that helps you create?

We all need a muse. Mine is all about homemade goodness.

I love all things homemade. I am not fierce about it. Where I shame others into partaking in my pleasures.

But all things home made make me feel homey.

This is what I have been playing around with creatively this week:

A new beanie for Max: the pattern is found here

maxi moo

A new hoodie for max as well, with the chunkiest wool I could find: pattern here.

looking upsee sawhelicopters

I learnt a new stitch whilst making the beanie above, so I have started a rug for a friend that I promised over a year ago and also I have been making my own cream cheese from scratch: find the recipe here.

homemade cream cheese

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we all need words

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This morning I found a little note tucked inside my bible from one of my best friends. She lives in New Zealand and the last little season has been a big one for all of us.

This note said this;

‘I get a sense of a yacht on the open water, sails trimmed, voyage ready = a fresh wind rising to carry you on your way. As your friend I pray that in the midst of all you do for others you would continue to nurture and value yourself. You are very precious and very much loved.’

The letter goes on with words that are deep nourishment for my soul.

We all need words.

Especially in times of stretch and seasons of doubt.

I found my years as a single woman, overwhelming, fearful, exciting, brilliant, purposed and so much more. If I knew what I do know now though, I would have been profoundly impacted and lived with more emancipation. What if I could have read a letter that was written in retrospect? Would that have helped me break the shackles and live beyond today.

To dream.

To live emancipated beyond all the doubts?

I am looking for 14 more people to write a letter to themselves before they were married.

We all learn lessons with retrospect that as a young adult we wish that we had have overcome.

A simple letter, that encourages, that speaks life, that shares the lessons learnt. The only framework, at some point write your age now and your age when you got married.

Here is one of my favourites that has come in so far.

Dear single self,

You are a child of wonder and untapped creativity, adventure and strength.

Do not be in such a hurry to grow up and become someone’s wife. Find out who you are, explore the world, explore people, taste from a wide range of cups.

Travel – please get on a plane and go somewhere!!!

Let go – stop trying to control every aspect of your life and just let some things happen and GO WITH IT.

Stop trying to always do the right thing. Sometimes there is no such thing as the right thing, the right time or Mr Right…. There could be a Mr Right-Now – who you will miss because you are so busy looking for Mr Right.

Find out about you – there is so much to you – you don’t need another half, you are whole on your own.

Learn a language, read books, take cooking classes.

Learn to paint, Spend more time at the ocean, it feeds your soul.

Spend money on shoes.  Enjoy the wide variety of people on this planet. Find out who makes you excited, who makes you laugh, who makes you think, who makes you feel beautiful. Enjoy all the experiences presented to you without worrying about the future. Enjoy yourself with a wide range of different people. They will bring out different things in you – many of which you may not have known you had. Let yourself be loved by others, and love others. Maybe have your heart broken and rebuilt. It will give you strength.

Cherish yourself. Love yourself, enjoy you. Feel whole. Feel complete. Life does not begin when you are married. Life is now. Enjoy every minute.

Being married is only one path and to take that path you give up many others. Once you are married and then a mother, you limit many things and experiences. You love being both, but your world reduces, so enjoy the wide open spaces of being single. Live life to the fullest, capture each day and find out what an amazing, beautiful, strong, creative and intelligent woman you are.

Realise that the man you marry is very, very lucky to have you.

I love you.

S

I’d love to have your cherished words as a part of this journey.

All my love

Amanda

Starting from today, I have a new framework for my blog.

Let’s see where this journey takes us.

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Look up

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We have spent most of this weekend at the beach. Playing, flying kites, visiting with friends and just being.

I love this photo of Maximus. He is holding his dad’s hand and also looking up to the kite he is holding.

This photo reminds me, that we all need selah (to pause and calmly reflect on things), as well as just look up.

Are you searching for peace?

Let the weary come and be made whole.

Let those who need rest, find it in the midst of any circumstance.

Let those who are burdened lay it down.

Look up.

Need to go wash the sand off my feet.

Speak tomorrow

Amanda

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Taking comfort in truth

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Tonight is our connect group. We meet together with friends, we have a meal and we have a time where we talk about a topic.

Some people in this group have been in it together with me for close on a decade.

Hanging out with this crew, is funny, deep, crazy, shallow and always beneficial.

The reason why my husband and I prioritize this time on a Friday night, over a date night, over pjs and Icecream and an early night is because it forces us to focus on truth together. In community, in the mess of people’s lives.

It forces us to have normal healthy conversation.

It forces us to lay down our phones and stop Instant messaging, fake conversations and sit in the company of people who care.

We take comfort in focusing on truth.

Our connect group is not intense, it’s actually super casual and this year we are focussing on the topic ‘Freedom’.

We all need freedom.

We all need to find where we are bound.

We all need truth.

It is my priority.

All week I have been getting increasingly annoyed with online communication.

To the point where I have been close to turning it off for a while.

Then I watched this video.

#truth

 

Let’s wage a war against loneliness and the lies that our culture throws at us.

Creatively you need to have proper conversations, you need to make real connection a priority, (even when it has gone pear shaped in the past).

Put down your phone.

Make an effort and go and hang with people you love.

Take comfort in truth.

Find truth in the company of deep spirited friendships.

Speak tomorrow.

Amanda

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taking comfort in the simple things

herbs simple

fresh eggs

cushionsYesterday I revelled in that which is simple in my world.

I bought two new table cloths from Spotlight that were discounted upon discount for $3.50 each.

One cloth ended up on my family table and the other was turned into two new cushions for our lounge, fresh new cushions for $3.50.

My mum gave us fresh eggs from her chicken yard and I went to our local nursery and bought some new herbs for my kitchen shelf.

The simple things.

If you are feeling overwhelmed and over stretched, what is simple in your world that you can take comfort in.

We are tricked into believing that happiness is found in a new car, a new house, the perfect school for our children but material things will never comfort our soul.

In fact they will only stress and stretch our souls as we look at the credit card rising to please people we don’t even know or like.

What is simple for you?

What is comforting?

A pot of tea?

A ream of Scripture?

Fresh eggs?

A newly baked cake from scratch?

A roast in the oven?

Changing the sheets and spraying essential oil around your room?

Inspiration arises when we take time to appreciate that which is background in a very foreground focused world.

Gratitude for our home.

Solitude in the midst of the tide of emotions.

A friend who is always there.

The simple things.

Speak tomorrow

Amanda