2012 - the year of 'BIG'

Here we are on the cusps of 2013 and I just need to say “What a year it has been!”  I think for me/us it has been one of the biggest, with the biggest changes, the biggest challenges, the biggest growth and a year of the biggest blessings (in more ways than one).

Of course our biggest blessing would have to be the birth of our sixth child, Jesse. Born at home on the 5th December 2012, in the midst of family and some of the people that will love him the most.  Biggest being ‘our gift from God’ and our biggest being a rather impressive 9lb 15oz!  He was also a surprise breech which makes his birth all the more amazing.

Father and Son meeting each other for the first time!

   He is so adorable and he is VERY well loved by all his siblings who fight over who is going to hold him first, who got the longest cuddle and who is going next! 

 I am so in love with this little man and I can only wish I realised the short amount of time they remain so small and dependant when I had my first and second.  Being number six he is getting so loved on and I recognise in myself that I am so much more relaxed, I know how I want to and should  parent and  pretty much no one tells me to do it any differently.  This is me. And if I am going to cuddle him all night long then I am going to do it.  “You’ll be making a rod for your own back if you do that” has been tossed into conversations with me in the past.  And now my response would be (even if it would be in my own head)  “My rod, my back - now leave me alone!!”



Every year our traditions on Christmas Eve is to give the kids one present to open just before bed and its always brand new PJ's (all washed and ready to wear).  The older ones of course know what the present is but never say anything to the younger ones for whom it is still a surprise.  The photo below is the first photo we took of all six kids together.  Aren’ t they a good looking bunch?



Do you know how hard it is to get EVERYONE looking at the camera all at the same time AND smiling!  Near impossible!

 Our biggest change and the biggest challenge this year would be Jamie been at home for a whole entire year.  I am not going to call it being ‘out of work’ anymore because that isn’t where we are anymore.  For the first half of the year we were trying to make sense of all that happen and grieving for the loss of job (and income) and were busy looking and trying to replace what we had loss with the exact same thing. The money, the car, the position and the responsibility.  We prayed hard for a new job for him, believing that we couldn’t survive much longer but GUESS WHAT we have!  I feel quite triumphant about that but also very humbled by it.  There is no way that we could of survive and survived well without the blessings and provisions from God.  Yes we have had to make some changes, big changes.  What we buy, where we go and what we do has all been effected. But our vege garden has NEVER looked better! 



 

 

 

I am not saying that it has been easy because it hasn’t.  At times we have been discouraged and down about not being able to have or do the things that we think we need and want to have and do.  But we used to have those moments when Jamie was working.  By the second half of the year we both really felt Jamie is to attend Ministry Training next year and once we decided that we felt there was a great weight lifted off our shoulders and the last six months of the year has been a time of preparation and rest.  I know that the coming year is going to be a huge adjustment for us all, a huge shift in thinking and it will more than likely be filled with its own kind of hurdles and bumps in the road to overcome.  But we will just take one day at a time, put one foot in front of the other and keep on walking.

2012 has been a year for growth for me personally as I have had to put all my trust for everything in our Saviour.  I have gone deeper in not only in the Word but in also in some of my relationships with people.  Growth is inevitable when you open yourself up and have a determination to learn from whatever struggles and challenges come your way.  I now know more about myself than ever before.  My friendships have grown deeper and stronger because that’s what happens when you are in need of the strength and encouragement of others.    
 

 

 

So as we close the Chapter that has been this year I can say that I will look back on it with fondness and gratitude. I will cherish the year forever.   I am also ready to receive 2013 with open arms, an open mind and an open heart - as scary as that maybe.

 

Photo by Kaysha Leigh Budd

 

 



"I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which comes to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which comes to me as blossom, goes on as fruit". - Dawna Markova

Happy New Year!

Tears for Time

For those who know me, you know that there are a number of things that can reduce me to tears.  Sad stories, Happy stories, Christmas parades (parades of any sort actually) Bag pipes, Medal Ceremonies, New Zealand Post Ads, Happy endings, other peoples tears....my list could go on and on!  Some are rather embarrassing and I would rather not mention them.  Some tears are on public display but some are private and only share with a few.  And at the moment tears come easily, especially when you are an over-reflector/thinker like me.  Oh I am so an over-thinker.  Normal people, think, feel and then move on. But not me. I think, think, reflect, analyse, analyse some more, feel, feel and them FEEL some more. Sometimes I write this process down, sometimes I pray and sometimes I just need to talk.  Thank you to the person that listens.

Time is really getting to me.  We don't have much and it goes far too quickly.  I mean my little man is TEN days already!! Where did the time go?  Casey is 11 now and I know that it is such a cliche but where has the time gone?  I may have only 7 years left of him being at home.  SEVEN short years - that's not long enough!

Time is relative to whats going on in ones life.  Time in the past has gone quickly. But if you are a kid, this time of year will be going at a snails pace.  The end of pregnancy can go slowly. A deadline can loom up at an impressive speed.

We all have the exact amount of time in the day and some people can pack a lot into their day, others plod through it.

The speed of which time is going, makes me very aware of how I spend it. Am I doing the things that really matter, things that are of lasting value?  Or am I just going through the motions just doing the things that steal moments or memory-making opportunities.  I am really trying hard to be better organised. I wouldn't say I was dis-organised I just feel I could be better at it.  Being disorganised is a time stealer.  I am making an effort to fold my washing AND put it away on the same day ( this is such a biggy because I REALLY hate folding washing).  In the past washing would pile up for a few days until I would reluctantly fold it!!  I am getting better.  So if you come to my house and fold some washing - I'll love you forever!



 

I am making an effort to have my bench clear by the end of the evening - I don't know why but my bench is a dumping ground for poor homeless objects! I am determine to win the war on bench-dumping practice!

I want to soak up the moments and time spent with my husband, my children, my family and friends!  Time with good friends is absolutely  priceless and I can't get enough of it.  It leaves me refreshed and uplifted.

 

Birthday picnicing in park with special friends!

 



 At the moment I am basking in the precious moments I have with Jesse, nourishing and nurturing him.  Especially at night where I can have him all to myself (during the day I have to share him with 6 other people - and just sometimes I don't want to share).  He oozes snuggly-ness and by golly I love it when I can lie in bed at night and envelope him into me and he suckles away and then drifts back off to sleep making all those delicious noises that only wee babies make.  Only God himself can make moments like that so delightfully precious!

 

 

 



Very VERY proud big sisters!

(although I have heard Kaitlyn pray on a number of occasions for a baby girl!)

 

 We have a poor wee sick Sophie at the moment who hasn't left the couch since yesterday morning.

As sick as she is, she loved having her toes painted bright pink!

 

 

 



We can only make a conscious effort to spend our time wisely, on people we love and things that matter!  To live intentionally!  To do away with time and moment stealers.  To be more organised!

Now I am off to get the washing in and FOLD it! 

 

But I might just have a cuddle with this wee little man first!

Isn't he delicious!

I'd like you to meet....

 

 

Jesse Ryan Budd

 

9lb 15oz (4500g)

Born at 1031pm

on

5 December 2012

at home.

Welcomed into this world by people that love him!

 

We are so pleased to finally meet you!

 

"Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him"

Psalm 127:3

 

 



Anticipating....

This may well be the last time I sit here as a mother of five.  I am sitting in anticipation, waiting....collecting my thoughts and feelings, in reflection and wonder.  Birth is very much a mental and emotional journey,  maybe even on par with the physical event.  Ones head space is ever so important.   I think I am there....I must be....as I sit and let my fingers write my thoughts...my body is doing wondrous things.

 

A tightening here, an ache there, a twinge here and a movement there!  My thoughts are never far away from this little one and our journey ahead.  I am looking forward to it. Not just for the end of a pregnancy and the discomfort that end-of-pregnancy brings but for the journey itself, for finally seeing face to face this little one that I have been getting to know over the past nine months and seeing the pride and wonder in my husbands face and the joy and excitement in my children's faces. I can't wait!  This journey has not only been mine but our family's also.

 

Photo by Maria Dorssers

 

I am now on the journey towards meeting this little one and it is good.  Birth is something that we women have been doing since time began. We know.   Its all about knowing and trusting.  Knowing who we are, who we have been created to be and trusting in God our creator, for he made us in his image. For me birth is enveloped in sacredness, in love and in tradition.  This is the sixth time I have been down this road yet it is not any less special or precious or exciting.  I have the people in place and the things that will help me along in this journey.  It may read that this is a serious only time but I tell you there has been some hilarious times too.  Laughter is good. Laughter is essential.   

 

Everything is in order now. Although I am sure I could find more things to clean, sort, throw out and fold but all the essential things are done and organised.  I am pretty sure this baby isn't going to care if the pot draw is in disarray or if the hallway needs just one more vacuum!

 

The birthday cake has been made by biggest brother Casey and awaits the start of our journey where it can be taken out of the freezer, defrosted and iced.

The Bubbles (grape juice) are being chilled.

Baby clothes have carefully been chosen, washed, folded and refolded.

 

We are all waiting......

 

I am ever so thankful that I don't have to go anywhere to have this baby, that I can just be here in my home and bask in the present of those who love me.

 

So this is us for now....(well minus 2 years)

 

we will look a bit different next time we visit together!

 

See you soon!!

xxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nesting

I am nesting (and I am lucky enough to have my husband helping me)  Phew! At this moment I have this intense need for my bedroom to be a peaceful sanctuary of cleanliness and freshness. I imagine fresh white chiffon curtains billowing and the sweet calming scent of lavendar wafting through out.  I close my eyes and I can almost feel the crisp, line-dried-in-the-sun cotton sheets on the bed. Perhaps something like this...

But alas my bedroom is FAR from this!  In all honestly I could never do white, off white, near white or cream in my bedroom because it wouldn't be that way for very long.  Not when you have five kids that use your bed as a tackling arena, sneak in your bed in the middle of the night and are expecting a newborn who will probably spend most of its time in there.  sigh  Oneday maybe but probably not, then there will be grandkiddies

Two-ish or so weeks, maybe more maybe less to go until we meet this sweet and precious blessing.  We wonder what he or she will look like, how he or she will fit into this precious, crazy, noisy, totally awesome family we have.  Sometimes I can't imagine our family being any better than it already is but I KNOW that this wee bundle can only enhance what we have.  For this I am excited and thankful.  No one can ever tell me that babies/children aren't a gift from our Lord, they are true treasures. It makes me sad that not everyone sees them like that but more of a hinderance, costly (in more ways than one) or even a mistake.  So sad!

I am definately not one to want, expect or try to go into labour early.  God has ordained an appointed time for this blessing to be born, my job is to be prepared.  If I am completely honest with you these last few weeks have been hmmmmmm long, tiring, emotional (I am finding it hard to put my feelings into words)  As I said above my NEED for peace and tranquility has sky-rocketed and as you can imagine that is not entirely easy to get when ones entire family is home all day.  Now don't get me wrong I would not have that any other way and I am ever so thankful that Jamie is home with us.  I laugh as I called this post 'Nesting' when in all actual fact I have a list (you know the one - where all the things on it NEED to be done BEFORE you have a baby because you couldn't possible have a baby until everything on it is complete)  So I was saying, I have the list and Jamie has been ticking jobs off it for me.  So in effect he has been nesting for me. Bless him!!

So I am working on getting in to the right head space for this momentous occasion before us, not entirely sure how one does that BUT I am sure I will get into the zone!!  The kids are VERY excited and we all have taken a guess at when this baby will be born and put it on the calendar.  So far the dates range from the 15th Nov and the 28th Nov. (actual due date is 23rd)  Winner may get a cake of chocolate or the like!

So anyway lets take a look at what we have been up to these past few weeks...

 

Have I introduced you to our second latest member of our family,

'Thor'

I really wanted to call him Carlos but was severely out-voted!

 

My mid-morning treat, a cup of De-Caf Coffee with

a splash of cream!

 

Check out this wee Diva! 

 Yes, she is wearing her swimsuit OVER a long sleeve top!

 

And then there was this face,

the 'you-caught-me-playing-with-make up-face' !

 

Creativeness with food.  Not entirely sure what prompted these creations but

I thought they looked cool and kept them entertained for a long while...

 

Co-parenting at its most basic.

Seems as though this chicken decided to keep this 'mama duck' company and help with the

incubation of a dozen or so eggs.

A week tomorrow we should have some ducklings!

 

 

Operation Baby!

Kaitlyn giving her Dad a hand with one of those tasks on MY list!

 

My boys have been looking for ways and means to make money....

here is one, they had picked the last remaining oranges off the tree and tried juicing them...in the kitchen whizz.  Through much trial and error, twas decided it wasn't going to make the cut!

 

Taste - testers!!

 

A pretty 'new' dress was cause for a spot of tea (or milk in this case)



 

Another one of the boys business ventures...

Painted Rocks!

Good for door stops and looking great in the garden!

...and painted blocks of wood!

I have to admit I was highly embarassed that they were doing this but was quickly told by Jamie that they were fine.   Through out their time of business, a number of people stopped by and I think they made a total of $9 !!

Thank you to all the obiliging people!

 



 

and finally the latest member of our family,

'Stella'

A three week old orphan kitten that was found on the side of the road and brought to us.

Three hourly feeding through an eye dropper plus other motherly duties!

Fortunately we have her sleeping through the night now,  thank goodness for that!

 

Oh....someone needs to hide the face paints!

I thought Kaitlyn did a particularly good job of her tiger face, don't you?

 

Sophie...um yeah well...she said she was a wild dog.

Yeah I can see the resemblance!

 

Enjoy your week!!

And I will keep you updated...promise!

 

Books of Substance

One of my pet peeves, is the lack of good quality children's books.  I mean books with substance and depth!  And they are getting really hard to find!   If I am going to read my kids a story be it at bed-time or at any other time during the day then I want it to be engaging and encourage imagination.  I have almost given up taking the kids to the library because if I am not careful I end up bringing home a bag full of books that are mostly rubbish stories, they look at them once (if I am lucky) and that's the end of that and they sit there for 3 weeks until I have to return them. I have found that I need to go by myself and where I can take my time looking at and reading each book and then carefully making my choice before they can come home with me.

I do not like books based on TV characters, as the reader has already been told among other things, what to think of the character.  I know I know you are probably thinking "Gee man lighten up, they are just books"  but I believe that they are more than that.  We all have been told that reading to your children is very beneficial and encourages a life long love of books and learning.   But not only that it has numerous other benefits including better communication skills and mastery of language. It also increases their ability to grasp abstract concepts, think logically, and learn about cause and effect. It helps them to learn empathy and insight and utilize good judgment.   All these can not be learnt by watching TV/DVDs nor by reading poorly written and illustrated children's books.

My apologies for my ramblings, but I did say it was one of my 'pet peeves'! And don't even get me started on books for eight year olds and older!!

Quality books that are available to buy in your local bookshops can be over-priced and make them out of reach for the average parent/grandparent to buy.  So in order to help me over-haul the children's bookshelf I have been turning to the online book stores. Their books are usually cheaper and sometimes you can get free postage.

Our latest purchase was an oldie but a goodie.  Does anyone remember this one?

 

My girls looooove this story and its already been read over and over again, even though the illustration is all in black and white!

 

 

and much to the excitement of them, look what we found in the paddock next door to our house yesterday?

 

  Our very own

"Ferdinand"

 

Isn't he awesome!

 

That morning we saw a similar sight out our bedroom window but very far away and Sophie asked me if it was a 'cork' tree that he was sitting under!

I had to tell her that even though I didn't know what tree it was, I certainly knew it wasn't a 'cork' tree!

 

That book cost me $5.00 postage included.

You can't really go wrong with that, can you?

 

Also this week...

As we enter just the second month of Spring, my children have taken it upon themselves to 'officially' start the swimming season now that our pool is finally clean and full.

 

 But judging by the look on Kaitlyns face it is still flippin cold!

 

This isn't the best photo but Kaitlyn and her friend Rico had climbed this tree and had been decorating the high-rise home of a spider.  I am not entirely sure that 'Miss Spider' wanted or needed her home decorated with buttercups and daisies BUT it looked really cool.

 

Can you see the yellow buttercups that look to be floating in mid-air?

 

Thomas and Sophie had been begging me to make play-doh.

Purple for Sophie and Orange for Thomas.

  Here is some of their creations!

Thomas got these play-doh toys for a birthday years ago. I just love them!  They create their own unique characters all the time.   Kaitlyn is at the stage where she has to mother everything and anything.  The bottom left was a creation of hers and it became a personality and he went everything with her for the next few hours, even out to the trampoline for a bounce.

 

 

Our chickens are really friendly around here. 

 You just need to walk up to them and they sit down for a pat!

 

 

Dressing up is STILL a big thing in our house.  

 You never know who might turn up in the kitchen!

If you hadn't noticed I love taking photos of what goes on in our daily living.  Looking for photo opportunities forces me to look for beauty and uniqueness all the time.  It makes me cherish the precious moments that happen every day. It reminds me that days and moments are but fleeting and that they are indeed a gift.



We indeed are very blessed to have 'Ferdinand' bulls next door, chickens to pat, trees to climb, water to have fun with, time and space to create and play.

Very very blessed indeed!