Beyond the Edge of Adventure

Wow, haven't posted anything in over a month!! So, I'm starting again with a bang on two big topics: Santa and Jesus. And I'd like to be sorry for the forthright nature with which I write, but in this age of namby-pamby political correctness, I just can't. So I'm sorry about that!! :) So here it is, my deliberately politically uncorrect and completely truthful, forthright post. Enjoy! The Santa thing is an interesting phenomenon, isn’t it? His origins lie in tales of jolly ol’ St Nicholas, leaving presents under trees for poor children……but sadly, also in Coca Cola wanting to boost sales, so portraying him in the world-famous red-and-white suit. As a child, I never even questioned the whole Jesus v Santa thing. Yeah, OK, I was extremely easy-going, quiet…and yes, gullible! I found out Santa wasn’t real when I was six. We were standing there in a group and one little girl said, “No, Santa’s not real!”. And being the innocent, gullible little person I was, ...

....a spiritual war, that is..... For a while now, I've been reading a very interesting and inspiring blog. It's written by Bill Muehlenberg, an American who's now living in Australia. Bill has an amazing mind and stands up to the ridiculous political correctness and the hypocrisy of what he calls 'The Party of Death' (The Greens, pro-death and pro-euthanasia). He writes a variety of stuff which is incredibly fascinating. Bill is helping to spread the word that our society is changing - not necessarily for the better - and we need to be aware and be educated about it. If you are a christian, then you need to read it. If you aren't a christian, you need to read it. I'd be very interested to hear your feedback on Bill's writings...... http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/

I'm posting a link here from Robyn at Slightly more depth than a teaspoon - it's on the wonderful concept of intolerance, which isn't used or liked much by folk these days......and make sure you check out the other articles on Robyn's blog - they're very honest and very funny! Enjoy...... J :) Slightly more depth than a teaspoon: Be intolerant, because some things are just plain ... : This post may be a little full-on for some. I hope it doesn't offend. But I can't help it. I have to write it. The fact is I am intolerant...

I shouted out this question in my head the other day. And no, I don't shout out loud most of the time, but I shout lots in my head when I'm frustrated or upset......it's a sort-of prayer - venting at God, then stepping back to look at myself and hear myself.....and laughing at my ridiculous self-pity, whinging or completely untrue babbling. Prayer is so good for being objective! Anyway, so this week has been a little more full-on than the rest. I had medical tests on Tuesday (they're all normal normal normal, there's no need to worry, etc etc....), J-man has had temperatures for two days and has now come down with a chunky cough, Miss D has a yucko cough which started last night AND on top of all that, my husband had appendicitis and was in surgery last night to have it taken out. He's home now and thanks to my prayer warriors and the great team at Toowoomba Base Hospital, he's doing really well. In the midst of all this, I have, like I do every week, tr...

My friend, Grace, is an artist and one of the best things about her is that while being incredibly talented, she's also very cool with giving little tutorials on her blog. I'd recommend a visit to her gorgeous blog http://www.arthousemum.blogspot.com/ for inspiration in art, photography and motherhood. An awesome read. Waaay back in September Grace posted a tutorial on real life sketching. And me, being a big-picture person, usually has no patience or time to pick up a pencil and make little marks on a piece of paper with it. Normally, I hate details! But for some reason, Grace's post just grabbed me and I knew I had to give it a go. To focus on something that would take my mind of the exhausting whirlwind of my big picture thoughts. So, first I had to find a suitable object. Not easy - I went through heaps of objects before I was sitting with Matthew this morning supervising his homework (and being a very attentive, focussed mother of course) and noticed our salt shak...

In twelve days' time, it'll be ten years since I was married. We've had a rough time the past few years with family stuff, but it's made us work harder at being a team and relying on each other for support. I've now come to a point, after many ups and downs where I'm starting to work out who Julie Lawson really is. That's a story for another day. But tonight, I would just like to share about how God brought Ben and I together, despite the wrong choices and sloppy mistakes along the way. If you'd asked me during the years from 1998-2000 while I was at uni what I wanted to achieve during my life, I would have said, "I'm going to be a teacher and travel!" I mean, I wanted to get married, but much later. It was on the back burner! And I knew I'd have children.....eventually. I knew I wanted four, but...y'know, whatever. Life was going to come first. Then I met an exciting, talented and gentle young man called Ben. We were both 19 w...

I'm a bit shocked that my last entry here was a whole month ago! Wow! But so much has happened since then .....so you'll need to excuse me :). We are FINALLY, after 16 months of planning, in our new home! It's SO delightful. I'll tell the story behind it in another post one day, but it's a story of God's complete and unstinting faithfulness to our family. Anyway. We moved house. Again.....but for the last time! And now I'm sitting in bed (yes, BEDDDDD!!) at 11:30 on a Wednesday morning because I'm sick. My body has completely packed up from all the packing, lifting, cleaning, etc I've been doing since October 12th! I've learned from six years of mothering to recognise that getting sick means TAKE A REST, GIRL! So, I am. Master J is down for an early nap and Miss N is asleep in the car (it's no longer my policy to wake babies up when they're asleep in the car if I can help it...it's taken me four babies to realise this. Oh well.)...