The Soul Of My Feet

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I had a sad taste of the true state of humanity today, whilst taking my little boy to school I slipped while crossing the road in full view of other mothers taking their kids into school, my 3 mth year old baby almost hit his head on the road.. and not one came to see if I was okay. I think I was more devastated over that then my bruised knees. I truly felt like the man that had been beaten in Luke’s Gospel, the one everyone crossed the road to avoid helping, except for the Samaritan. It made me realise that we are a self-centred sinful lot that truly need someone to save us!

 Have been reflecting while feeding Cam lately and it dawned on me that he relies on me for life! I am his supply line, which is quite amazing yet daunting at the same time. Raising kids is such a huge responsibility. Their lives are in our hands…in the same way our lives are in God’s hands. I was recently reminded whilst reading the Book of Psalms “I lie down and sleep, I wake again because the Lord sustains me” (Psalm 3:5).  We seem to forget that and sometimes believe that we are in control of our lives, that we somehow determine whether we live or die. I pray that I will be thankful for each breath of life I have here on Earth and hope that I can use each moment living for Him.

I found myself getting upset the other night when the boys weren’t taking our nightly prayer time seriously. There were lots of giggles and silly jokes and in the end we gave up praying ! It reminded me though that yes our children are still trying to work out the relationship between them and God and how exactly they can talk to him…We often do the same…we often pray for our own agendas and dreams, we don’t make enough time for prayer and we wonder why God doesn’t seem to be answering them. Us big Kids just don’t seem to take it seriously either…so this year I’m going to try and pray for God’s will, not my own and I’m going to seek his help in  making time for our relationship and our daily conversations…

Yes I know I have been a slack blogger lately but it has been an exhausting couple of months having just given birth to our third son Cameron, he is simply lovely but I have even less time now for doing anything other than managing the life of our family! But I have been recently inspired to write again and give you an update on Appleby life!

There has been more developments on the book, we now have all the photography done! So now it’s time to research the whole self-publishing thing which is a little daunting but I’m sure God will provide lots of wisdom as I work on the next step…

Liam is off to school this year which is exciting yet emotional too, he is such a beautiful kid, I’m very thankful for the way his personality is blossoming!

Mikey is learning how to be the middle child, and he’s adjusting pretty good however he keeps stealing Cameron’s dummy. I think he misses his babyhood a little!

Rob is doing an amazing job looking after us all and the emotions of all five of us, he is doing so wonderfully at the Fatherhood thing!

Hoping to release new motherhood moments on the air in a few months, things will take a little longer now with 3 little ones to look after but we will get there!

In the last few months I have been really trying to walk for at least 20 mins every day, not so much for the physical benefits but more so for the mental benefits. I just find I’m in such a better mood and I’m able to achieve so much more. Recenty my five year old son has been coming with me and it has been such a blessing to spend some one on one time just walking and talking together. I asked him at dinner one night what his favourite part of the day was and he said the time he gets to spend with mummy going for a walk. Wow, it blew me away how important that time is that we spend together, we discover so much more about each other and come back feeling refreshed. Our own Father wants us to walk with him also on a daily basis so we can discover, unload and learn more about the path we’re travelling on…

If you’re feeling a little unmotivated with the housework today, simply tell your five year old you’re going to have a short nap and that he is free to find something to do…when you wake you’ll find all your cupboards have been cleaned out ready for you to organise!

In my efforts to discipline my 5 year old recently I experienced for the first time being hurt verbally by him. Whilst I held firm and continued on, when he wasn’t looking I let out an almighty cry to my Father in heaven. Motherhood can be so painful sometimes and I’m positive that without Jesus walking me through every step of it I would be a bundle of nerves. It certainly made me reflect on how I’d hurt my own parents as a child and ultimately how I treat my heavenly Father when I don’t get my own way. Though it was painful for me and my son training him in how to live and behave, which each hurdle we both grow more and learn how we can love each other and ultimately how we can please God in what we do. If you’re struggling today, take heart, He is with you every step of the way you just need to call on him to help…

I never thought I would be old enough to have a child at school, but it’s coming next year and to be honest I’m not sure that I am ready… my five year old can’t wait and I’m pretty sure there are not going to be any separation issues.

I think my biggest fear is that I will lose a little bit of control over his behaviour and I guess I’m a little worried that he might pick up some not so nice habits from the bigger kids. I can only pray that God will be there to keep an eye on him for me as I know I’ll have to let go a little bit in order for him to grow. We are heading into a new season which I’m hoping will be filled with new friendships, new experiences and more opportunities to speak Gods grace into others lives.

I’m always amazed at how toys just seem to never last long in our house before they’re missing a piece, broken or just simply have gone missing. In fact it’s incredibly frustrating that I sometimes feel like boycotting the toy buying process.

I’m guessing the kids may not like the idea but seriously… didn’t things seem to last longer when we were kids? I guess I’m a little guilty of sucking up stray lego or accidently losing the odd noisy toy but with each birthday and Christmas I let out a little sigh when I think where that toy might end up in a few months. I’m just hoping my kids will learn how to look after their things better as they grow and I’m hoping that I can do a good job as a mum to model how we should be managing the resources God has provided and how we can best serve Him with them…