Hi all, welcome back to our Good Morning Mondays Link Up.  How has your week been, are you ready for Christmas and all the it entails???

I must admit that I am not as prepared as I like, but in the scheme of things it’s no big deal.

For a woman who only goes out to music lessons and church and is home the rest of the week, I haven’t been home one full day for a fortnight. But in saying that I have been so blessed to be able to be there and help my mother-in-law and encourage her in her physio each day.  She isn’t walking yet so there will be more physio in the new year to get her up and walking and caring for herself a bit more.

My mother-in-law is being moved to a nursing home on Monday afternoon so our hospital visits will cease now. We’ve built up a great rapport with the nurses and it’s always cheery and nice in the rehab unit.

I hope to still be able to visit my mother-in-law a couple of times a week.  She is going to a Nursing Home that has church services and bible studies, and our no 2 daughter is going on the church playing roster there once a month from February 2017 which will be a good opportunity for her and also for us to see Grandma.

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for my mother-in-law and our family, your prayers have been appreciated.

On Monday it was our no 2 son’s 9th birthday and we spent most of that at the hospital, but our No 1 son took us all to the beach for a swim and late tea after work.  It had been a warm day so it was nice to get away and get some fresh sea air. We enjoyed a BBQ and a rather whacky trip home which was just delightful.

Our aquaponics system has been producing heaps of broccoli at the moment and although the heads don’t actually form big, sort of side shoot stuff we have been enjoying it.

Our no 2 daughter added it to some noodles with pork and eggs and it was delicious.

On Saturday morning our no 1 son took me to Warrnambool for some Christmas shopping. I actually had most of mine organised, we do a fair bit of making ourselves, I’ve still got a couple things to finish though.

So he got most of his done and I got a couple extra things and we had a lovely time, and some very good talks too. He is such an amazing young man and I enjoy his company very much. He is kind and caring and deep thinking.

On the way home we picked up a couple of kittens that I found for free. We already have cats but these were so cute and I just wanted a ginger one, the other one is a grey tabby. They aren’t quite settled in yet but they will and hopefully they’ll get on with our other ones. This one’s name is “Garfield” – very original.
It was an interesting trip home because we didn’t have a box, and we laughed and laughed, it was definitely good medicine after the week we had.

My husband had a week off work when my mother-in-law first went into hospital but now he is mainly back working. It is hay and harvest season here so he is busy keeping tractors and balers together, and working a bit later when necessary.

The farm stuff is moving along nicely, the chooks are laying and the little chickens are growing quickly. The rabbits haven’t had babies but we may leave them now until after summer. It hasn’t been consistently warm yet but it may get very hot after Christmas.

We still have one more cow to calve, our Scottish Highland cow Mildred had a bull calf this past week and he is so cute. He’s a little flighty and hard to photograph.

We have sold most of our piglets, only a few left to go and we have a sow due to have more in a few weeks.

Okay, enough about me onto our link up… Not arguing aver the Word Of God by Finding Joy In The Every Day
On the Verge of Collapse by Journey Of The WordEnvironmentally-Friendly Gifts Can Be FUN by Taylor-Made Homestead

Thank you everyone for linking up and bringing such interesting topics for us to read about. There is so much we can learn from each other.

This will be the last link up for the year and I will be taking a break until the 21st January 2017. Our next Good Morning Mondays Link Up will be on the 22nd January 2017.

There will be no Wednesday Wisdom Link Up until the 15th February.

As I said we will be moving my mother-in-law to a nursing home on Monday afternoon and I think I will be home a bit more this week. I need to get some baking  and cleaning done before Christmas.

Our son-in-law, daughter and family will be spending Christmas day with his parents and will come to us on Boxing Day.

So on Christmas Day we will go to church at the nursing home with my in-laws and then come home and probably chill out for the afternoon. I was hoping to talk everyone into watching “It’s a Wonderful Life”.

After Christmas and New Year I would like to get on top of things around the house so I’m prepared for our new school year. Maybe some deeper cleaning and planning and there will be weeding to do as well.

Also don’t forget out monthly link up…This next months topic is…DEALING WITH DIFFICULT PEOPLE.

So if you get a chance pop over and share your posts or just a comment. I would love to hear from you.

So I will say a fond farewell for a few weeks and I pray that you all have a wonderful, safe and blessed Christmas.

May we all remember the real reason and not get caught up in all the hype that this season brings.  JESUS IS THE REASON.

May God lead you and guide you as you focus on the New Year, may your plans be His plans for you.

Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”

Blessings to you all my dear friends. xxxx

PS: I will leave this link up open until our new one on the 22nd January 2017.

 

You will find me linked up at some of these great blogs.

Hi there everyone, welcome back to Darling Downs Diaries and our Good Morning Mondays Link Up.

Is it a good Monday morning for you??? It’s actually Sunday night here but I’m hoping for a good Monday morning.

Really it’s up to us isn’t it, to how we deal with our mornings?? I’m not a morning person, I’m a night owl but I have worked on turning that around. I have gotten better but I really only kick in after 9 am and it takes a while for my eyes to focus properly and I guess if I’m honest with myself I need to focus my eyes on Jesus each morning to start the day fresh.

We have had a “way out there” week. As I mentioned last week, on Saturday morning my mother-in-law fell while in respite and broke here femur or thigh bone below her left hip. She was transferred by ambulance to another hospital on Saturday afternoon and underwent surgery on Sunday morning.

My father-in-law was away in another state with his brothers and sister at the time and didn’t make it home until Sunday night. Let’s just say it was a little stressful.

We had fantastic friends look after the children for us for a couple of days so that we could be with her as the hospital was about 50 mins away. She was transferred back to our local hospital on Tuesday night which has been much easier. I spent every day with her and the children have just been fantastic. Our no 2 daughter came with me and our no 2 son went with dad. Later in the week we were all at the hospital, talking to the necessary authorities about a nursing home and what that entails. My husband had already done some work on this but now it looks a definite.

My mother-in-law and I haven’t always had a good relationship and it has been really good for me to be able to help her.  Our whole past since we met has been a quagmire and really something I have wanted to write about – not to dishonour her – but to help others, so that’s why our next monthly link up will be on “dealing with difficult people”.

This won’t be a post on “she did” or “I didn’t” but I want to write about how we need to forgive even if we can’t always reconcile. I know that we have already talked about forgiveness but I think this is such an important topic.

So apart from my time at the hospital I have really only managed to cook and clean this past week. The children have made some Christmas cards and I am going to try and send them later this week, especially the further away ones.

Saturday we were able to stay home so the house got a clean and I almost caught up on the washing and my husband was able to tidy up the grass that is growing so bountifully since all our rain this past winter.

We visited my mother-in-law after church on Sunday and then we were able to come home and have a rest, which was nice.

I am busy knitting some Christmas presents and still have one more to make and a bit of shopping to do but I’ll hopefully accomplish all of it this week.

I don’t have any photos this week but here’s a great one of our 2nd granddaughter and my husband when we played mini golf a few weeks ago.

So that’s been our week… onto our link up…

Our top three posts this week were…
2017: Why Read through the Bible in a Year? + FREE Devotional by Donna at Soul SurvivalChristmas & the Christian by Hebrews12Endurance.comA Very Tozer Christmas by Michele at Living Our Days

Thank you everyone for stopping by and linking up, what a great variety of posts we have each week. You are all such a blessing.

This coming week will be busy, for a woman who never goes out, I’m getting my fill at the moment. We have a family meeting on Monday morning at the hospital with doctors and physios and occupational therapists etc. Then I think I may do some op-shopping after that for the children.

I won’t be at the hospital all day now probably only in the mornings so that I can catch up with doctors and see how physio is going. Then I will come home in the afternoons and do the usual, school and music and maybe even some Christmas baking.

Thank you for your prayers for my mother-in-law, they are appreciated and I ask that you could keep praying for her and us as it comes to mind.

We will have a music lesson because we cancelled our last one on Saturday so that will probably line up well with a hospital visit.

Also don’t forget our monthly link up which is due this coming Wednesday…

This next months topic is…

DEALING WITH DIFFICULT PEOPLE.

So if you get a chance pop over and share your posts or just a comment. I would love to hear from you.

May God be with you all this coming week and especially as we focus on Him this Christmas Season – remember Jesus is the reason.

I pray that you will have a blessed week my friends and may God lead and guide you in your everyday life.

Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”

 

You will find me linked up at some of these great blogs.

Hi there everyone, welcome back to our weekly link up, I hope you will be blessed by your visit

What’s been happening in your lives??

Christmas is fast approaching and it feels like it is almost upon us. There are so many projects I want  to complete that it’s a little overwhelming.  I just need to sit down and write a list and then prioritise them all.

This past week has been good, but once again nothing is really standing out concerning what I achieved.

It was my husband’s birthday this week and even though we all got together last weekend we still had a special tea for him.  He ordered pizza and trifle and I think he enjoyed it all. I’m still cooking as though everyone is here, so we had heaps of leftovers, so he enjoyed his birthday food for a couple of days.He’s a fantastic husband and father and I am so blessed to be going through our life’s journey together.

Our chickens are growing and are now 5 weeks old.  We also have 5 bigger roosters in the pen and it’s starting to get crowded.  We’ve been discussing options of what to do with them next and that’s something we’ll be working on this coming week. The veggie patch is going well and my husband has been inter-row weeding this week.  I still scratch around the tomato seedlings every couple of weeks to keep those weeds at bay, because they can get out of hand very quickly.

Sometimes it just amazes me how easy some things are. I usually make my feta and cheddar cheeses with rennet and starter culture but I ran out of rennet this week and made a farmers cheese with vinegar instead.  It worked really well and this may be another option, I actually prefer the taste because it’s milder but I need to add more seasoning next time.It’s so nice to be able to do this and I love giving it away and sharing the bounty from our land.  We are so excited with our orchard and veggie patch this year and look forward to what we can share from that.

And just because I can, here is a pic of our eldest granddaughter, she is such a happy little girl and it just warms my heart when she calls me grandma. Okay, enough, onto our link up.

Our top three posts this week were…

MYO Sweetened Condensed Milk by Taylor Made Homestead

A Week of Homestead Photos November 20th – 26th by The (mis) Adventures of a “Born Again Farm Girl”Follow Thou Me by Annie Johnson Flint from The Cotton Apron

Thank you for stopping by and sharing a part of your lives and thoughts with us here.

A prayer request please.  My mother in law fell on Saturday morning and has broken her hip badly and she is in a lot of pain, please pray that they can get her fixed up and get her moving again. Thank you my friends.

What happens this week will depend on how my mother in law is doing and maybe a bit of driving to take my father in law around a bit. He can  drive which is great but it will be hard for him, i guess more prayers are needed for him too, thank you.

I would like to get some weeding done and Christmas cards made and addressed. I’m working on hand made Christmas presents too so I will keep on with that, and of course school and piano practice. We only have one more lesson and that’s it for the year and it’s up to us to keep up our practice.

Also a reminder about our monthly link up…

This months topic is TAKING OUR THOUGHTS CAPTIVE.

Also remember you don’t have to link up, but I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section, so stop over if you get the time.

I pray that you will have a blessed week my friends and may God lead and guide you in your everyday life.

Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”