BOOKS | three sisters

My bedside table book stash! I know it's a little bit ridiculous. But generally I read more than one book at a time.

My current reading list (from top to bottom):

1. Les Miserable Volume One. By Victor Hugo. Need I say more?

2. Pollyanna. By Eleanor H. Porter. My Childhood favourite.

3. What Your Child Needs from You. By Justin Coulson PhD. Short and succinct - a book that I   

    wanted to underline almost every line in. It's that good.

4. Heaven is Here. By Stephanie Nielson. An incredible story about finding hope and keeping faith 

    after tragedy!

5. Deliberate Motherhood. Published by The Power of Moms. It includes many of my favourite  

    bloggers and even a piece written by me :)

6. Half the Sky. HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD. By Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn. 

    Not a book for the faint hearted. But 'A call to arms against the most shocking and widespread  

    human-rights violation of our age'. It will break your heart and inspire you like nothing else as the  

    authors journey through Africa and Asia introducing its reader to 'amazing women who have 

    overcome unimaginable hurdles in order to change the world'. 

7.The Secret Keeper. By Kate Morton. Read it! Mysterious, historical and multi-generational. Not 

    unlike her other novels that I have read and loved!

8. 5 Spiritual Solutions. By Richard and Linda Eyre. My favourite parenting authors!

9. Think. By Lisa Bloom. A must for every woman. Really. If you haven't read this book, please do!

10. DETERMINATION - Helen Keller. By Ann Donegan Johnson. One of the amazing Value books 

     in a series of 30. We had them growing up and I'm hoping to get a set for my little ones soon! (In  

     the mean time, I just borrow my mums books, or my friend who happens to also have the set)!

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ABOUT three sisters.  We are 3 sisters who share a love of all things photography and documenting our families.  On the last day of each month we have started a blog circle, where we each post a photo with the same theme, then share our images! February's theme - Books!

Find Melissa and her beautiful photography blog HERE

and Fiona (of the amazing photography due Deep Grey) HERE

A new life

**If Life wasn't full of responsibility and we didn't have to rely on money to live, I would whisk my family off in a heartbeat to a third world country and bury us all in some kind of humanitarian service. Service that would help us forget our 'first world problems' and appreciate the 'first world privilege' that we experience every.single.day. This has been a dream of mine since I was a young teenager. That one day, I would provide my future children with this kind of opportunity, to open their hearts and hands to the people and places around our globe that desperately need, in all areas of life.**

This was a post I started writing back in October last year. 

Fast forward a couple of months to the day we moved into our new home here on the Gold Coast. The day Chad received a phone call from work. 

A phone call that we desperately wanted, but had no idea if or when it would come. A phone call that fufilled our '10 year plan'  and a phone call that had me screaming and both of us practically jumping up and down. And that was before he had even hung up the phone.

And with that little introduction, I give you our soon to be new home...

Yes that's right! You read the map correctly :)

In June this year we are whisking our family off on what I can only assume will be a crazy wild adventure! An adventure that fulfills the very desire of my heart.

I am under no illusion that we won't experience a bit of culture shock. It's one thing visiting a country and absorbing the culture for a few weeks and enjoying the challenge of communicating with the people you meet. But I'm sure it's another thing entirely when that 3 weeks becomes 2 years and the comforts we enjoy everyday in the land of Oz Aus are far from us.

But like I said. I am excited! We are all excited! For a long time now I have felt pulled towards this part of the world. And while this Country is almost the last place on earth I thought we would move to, I see so clearly Heavenly Father's hand guiding us every step of the way.

ps)  I realise that Vietnam is not technically a third world country but it is a developing country that will still offer the opportunities I am hoping for!

Blink

In an attempt to organise my life more fully, I have been doing the time consuming task of sorting photos from the last couple of years (there are a lot of them!) In doing so, I came across this photo that stopped me in my tracks (and melted my heart, just a little). 

When I look at this picture, I am so grateful that I have this brief snapshot of this moment shared with my girls. 

I look back and I yearn for that chubby baby lying so still in bed next to me. And it was only 2 years ago! Can you imagine how it must feel when it's been even longer? When there are no little people around?

I often hear older, more experienced mothers say, 'One day you will look back on this time and miss it. Desperately! Even the terrible twos. It's hard to remember what they're like when they're little'! When I hear remarks like this, I think, 'I won't forget these days'. How could I? And Chad has expressed similar sentiments!

But just last week we were watching family videos of Rylan and Zahn when they were young and I could hardly remember those little boys that filled my life with such joy! I wanted so desperately to reach into that screen in front of me and lift those precious babies out into my present world and hold onto them as tightly as I could! To kiss their faces and chase them up the hallway. Just one more time.

But that time is gone. 

And just like that nostalgic song says, "It happened in a blink".

How I am trying to savor and record the things that happen around me. The things that melt my heart and send my spirit souring as I raise these children of mine. Little ones that will spend the majority of their lives as adults. And here I am with the privilege of spending these few short years of their childhood with them.

“Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure that you are.”  Mary Jean Irion

Now If I can just figure out how to live presently all the time, It won't really matter if I don't remember every detail of every day. Because I will know that regardless of vivid memories or not. I was there. Really there. Living with my babies and showing them that above all else, they are what mattered to me. 

Heart day

Chad and I have never really been big celebrators of Valentines Day in a couple sense. Sure, we give a card here and there or a little note, and there's always love-heart chocolate or ferrero Rochers thrown in there somewhere. But we've never felt the need or pressure to buy into all the commercialisation that surrounds this one glorious day of love. I know it's cliche - but shouldn't we show love everyday?  And you are most welcome to bring me flowers (or a candle :) any day of the year, not just on Valentines day :)

But as our family has grown, so too has the idea of celebrating the love we share together. Not just as a couple, but as a family. And so 5 years ago our V day celebration was born (has it really been that long?)!

A 'fancy' dinner (oh I love that a wine glass, not even used for wine, and chocolates on the table make our dinner appear fancy to our littles :) followed by our favourite part of writing kind things about each other on love-hearts.

This year we added love heart pancakes for breakfast! They were an interesting yummy concoction of flour, milk, banana and frozen berries!

My little love!

Hang on. We can do better than that........

That's more like it :)

 

And then we stick our hearts all over the hub of our home. A gentle reminder of the things we love about each other that we leave up for the month of February. 

How I love these Valentines of mine!!!

Little ballerina x 2

In theory, having Jasmin and Lily do ballet together, is not only the cutest thing in the world, it is also completely practical!

 
1 class. 2 little girls.  9:30am. 1 hour.

I know I could choose to chat with other mums and socialise during that hour wait. But there's that book sitting in my bag and a wooden chair just outside the door...What better arrangement could there be?

Did you notice that the beginning of this post said; In theory :)

The reality of this little 1 hour dream on a thursday morning is this. 1 sweet 4 year old that runs into class who I don't see for an hour. 1 sweet little 2 year old that is not quite ready to stay in a 1 hour class. The last few weeks she has lasted 1/2 an hour but today, even that was a stretch.

As much as I want to keep taking her in the hope that she will stay in the class for the hour, I don't know if I will. I see other people getting frustrated at their little ones that also won't stay in the class. But that's not me. She's 2. Her professional ballet career can wait to begin untill she's at least 3. Or maybe even 4 :)

Instead, we might just dress up at home and dance around to music like this. It's fun, we get to do it together and it's free.

Jasmin on the other hand will keep going and I can swoon over her adorable attempts at 'moves' like Demi-plié and first position. 

900kms later

I originally called my blog 'bits and pieces' so I could alleviate any guilt associated with sporadic posting. Only posting once a month, that's OK - it's only meant to be bits and pieces of life not a full recount! But as the blogging has become more and more distant between each post, I have negated to include some pretty important bits and pieces from our lives.

Like the fact that we uprooted our family just before Christmas and moved from the city of Sydney that I LOVE with all my heart (I know, dramatic but true :) to Queensland!

Yes folks. It's official. We now live in the sunny state of QLD! 

 And unlike in Sydney where we almost never went to the beach, much of our holidays have looked something like this:

 picture taken by my sis Melissa! Thanks Mel. We love it!!

 
The reason for the move was for Chad's work. And without going into too much detail (really - does any husband want to have their every move recorded in their wifes perspective and out there for the world to read? :) Chad got a promotion that I am unbelievably proud of him for getting! I am amazed at how hard he works both at work and at home and how ridiculously capable he is. Infact, he might be the smartest person I know! I'm OK with the fact that the comment may be biased :) It's the prerogative of a wife to think highly of her husband!

Despite the fact that I miss my sister and wonderful friends back in Sydney, we are enjoying life here on the Gold Coast and it already feels like we've been here forever. But we won't be here for long.....

So much more to come :)
 

Simple pleasure

I am a bed maker. I know. Not that uncommon :) And I admit that I find it quite a delight walking into a room and seeing a bed made, with no bumps, the top turned down and pillows adorning it (I blame my mother completely :)!

But with this toddler around our house........

 
I really do have to question why I bother sometimes :)

 
Her current favourite place to hide; under my made bed covers or behind my pillows.

I guess she knows better than me and knows that a perfectly made bed, really holds no significance in
anything important.

She is good at teaching me this lesson. Since gracing our home with her toddler-hood, I have let many many things go. Some of them reluctantly, but eventually I realise, too, that some things just don't matter.

Classics

Late night reading with my oldest. 

Pollyanna. My childhood favourite!

I am determined to raise these babies of mine on the classics. Beautiful (sometimes quirky) books that have characters whose values and beliefs are outstanding! 

Our favourite part so far; When Pollyanna met 'The Man'. I of course accentuated how excited she was to talk to him, and how grumpy and rude he was in response. It had us both laughing out loud!

When we've finished the book, we'll borrow the 1960's movie from my mum and watch Hayley Mills in her glory.