Tag: memories

Categories
momentous events

It’s fast running out…

My middle child graduates from Primary School in a few weeks. I’m not ready for this to happen.

She’s ten. Young for her grade; she was bright enough to be accelerated a couple of years ago, and she’s been blossoming ever since. And I’m immensely proud of her for that.

But I’m also aware of the potential problems. She’s small (and cute! Mummy bias here) and possibly more naive than her peers. And yet, mature, for all that. She continually surprises me, with her reactions to events and the considered approach she takes to life. She’s an amazing kid.

And she’s graduating Primary School. Entering the big bad world of High School. Although not really. She’s entering the Middle School which I’m Head of, so it’s not too bad. And it never will be, as long as I have something to do with it! I’m looking forward to having her in my school, even though it means I personally will have more offspring in secondary than I’ll have in primary school, and I’m not particularly comfortable with what that says about my age! But I’ll need to suck it up, I guess. Cos I can’t stop it, no matter what I do.

Sigh. Carry on, one day at a time. Realise that there’s a milestone here to be celebrated… one that’ll never happen again.

Enjoy, and remember. Be like Mary, the mother of Jesus, who “treasured these things in her heart”.

Amen, LORD.

And have a memorable week yourself, dear Reader!

— KRidwyn

Categories
family anecdotes Life momentous events Random thoughts

A little apprehensive…

What feels like aeons ago now, but was only decades (ha!) I played violin in an orchestra. The South-West Regional Youth Orchestra, as a matter of fact, which changed its name during my time there to the Brisbane Regional Youth Orchestra. I was a member for the majority of my teenage life, and made friends there who not only came to my wedding but with whom I’ve kept in contact for the many years since.

Which brings me up to recent days – in which I received an invitation. To join their massed orchestra, with all their other alumni, for their 35th anniversary celebration concert.

Aiieeeee!

I’d love to go, to play… but I haven’t played (truly ‘played’, as in, played well, with technical proficiency) for well over a decade now… and I’ve never been to a reunion in my life!

Hence the apprehension.

It’s this Sunday.

By my next blog post, it’ll be all over.

Wish me luck!

– KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune Blogging challenges Christianity

#blogJune 2018 wrap-up

Wow – what a month it’s been! I knew, starting the #blogJune challenge this year would be difficult… I just didn’t realise exactly how challenging it was going to be!

So the month started by introducing the whole #blogJune challenge, and my theme (blessings) for the rest of the posts. Then I followed this with:

#1 Getting an incredible (impossible!) car park

#2 Finding the hiding engagement ring

#3 Knowing a fellow driver would be safe

#4 Dancing smoke

#5 Lightning flash when I needed it

#6 my Hubby’s surprise

#7 purchasing (and collecting) a mobile phone storage box in an impossibly short time frame

#8 free family entertainment – and awesome entertainment too!!!

#9 My new gym 🙂

#10 Hubby being awake before me…

#11 Family, friends, and youz guyz sending me birthday wishes 🙂

#12 Gilmore Girls

#13 My #WritingRace friends – youz guyz ROCK!!!

#14 Colleagues who go the second mile 🙂

#15 My Mum – the reason Hubby and I could get a night away together!

#16 New sunglasses

#17 Miss10’s laundry skills

#18 Being able to see 🙂

#19 Heat – natural and electrical – both are great!

#20 The incomparable Mr Stephen Dittman – thank you, my friend 🙂

#21 A different perspective on vomit…

#22 Raindrop, splatting on my head

#23 Strawberries!

#24 Nurofen Zavance…

#25 Dr. Matthew Smith

#26 My Knight (well, Lady) in shining armour 🙂

#27 Additions to the #TBR pile

#28 My schoolkids and the absolute delights that they are!

And that was it for the month! Twenty-eight blessings which I thank my God for, not even a scratch on the surface of the myriad of blessings he pours out on me day-after-day-after-day-after-day and you get the idea.

He is just SO incredibly awesome. And I’d encourage you, dear Reader, if you’ve never sought Him before, to do so. To trust Him, because He is truly the one and only One worth trusting!

And even should you choose to not, then maybe just try the whole ‘count what the good things are in your life’ because the change in attitude which develops is also pretty cool 🙂

Anyway, I’ll get off my soapbox now. Have a Blessed rest-of-the-week, dear Reader! And I’ll catch you all on Monday 🙂

— KRidwyn

 

Categories
#blogjune Blogging challenges

Sipping from the saucer #5

I work at a Christian school. The pastor of the church which established our school has a saying: “The LORD has blessed me so much, my cup is overflowing (taken from Psalm 23) and I’m sipping from the saucer.”

I like the visual, so I’m using it here, in this month-long blogging challenge focusing on the blessings God has poured out on me.

Today, blessing #5.

Decades ago, I remember Hubby and I listening to a tape (yes, tape – I *did* just say ‘decades ago!’) by Christian speaker Chuck Missler, on the Old Testament passage where the Israelites were in a battle against their enemies, and God was fighting alongside them with hailstones. And more were killed by hailstones than by the Israelites. Chuck Missler made the point that God must have a pretty amazing aim! To be able to set into motion the hail – in exactly the right places so that only Israel’s enemies were killed, and not the Israelites themselves! (Whoever heard of hail discriminating before?)

Anyway, knowing about that story makes mine own tale of blessing seem like child’s play. And yet to me, it was miraculous. You see, it was just about to start POURING down as I was leaving a late-night church meeting, and the car park was pitch black and not covered. So I ran towards the driver’s door, thinking ‘how on earth am I going to be able to see the lock to open the door, and get inside before the rain starts?’

I arrived at my door, key at the ready, about to start fumbling when ‘flash’  the sky lit up, the instant I had my key near where I thought the lock would be. Lightning had streaked across the sky, making the car door as distinct as if it had been broad daylight. The key went straight in, and I was able to slide into the driver’s seat, close the door and even turn the engine on before the thunder rumbled.

How cool was THAT?!!!

God is truly an awesome God, don’t you think?

Anyway, that’s my ‘blessing’ for today. Have a great one, dear Reader – and I’ll see you tomorrow for blessing #6!

KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune Blogging challenges Christianity

Sipping from the saucer #3

I work at a Christian school. The pastor of the church which established our school has a saying: “The LORD has blessed me so much, my cup is overflowing (taken from Psalm 23) and I’m sipping from the saucer.”

I like the visual, so I’m using it here, in this month-long blogging challenge focusing on the blessings God has poured out on me.

Today, blessing #3.

As some of you know, I’m one of those crazy people who drives to the gym for an early-morning session before the rest of the world gets up.

Well, I was driving home after my session recently when I noticed a car behind me was driving with no lights on. We were in an 80-kilometre-an-hour section of road, heading quickly toward the 110-kilometre-an-hour section, and when I say the car had no lights on, that’s what I meant. Zero lights – and the stretch of road wasn’t the safest. And it was super-dark, so I was worried for the driver’s safety. Very worried.

My first thought was, ‘How can I get the driver’s attention, to let him know?’ But there was no way I could, of course. So I turned to prayer.

“Please Lord, please let the driver of the car know that they haven’t yet turned on their lights…” and then I watched, anxiously.

Maybe five seconds passed. Literally – only five. Then their lights turned on.

How awesome is God, huh?

I mean yes, that *could* have been co-incidence… but then again, how much of ‘God-incidences- are explained away by such a ‘reason’. Me? I prefer to believe that God is involved.

Have a great day, dear Reader!-

– KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune Blogging challenges Christianity

Sipping from the saucer #2

I work at a Christian school. The pastor of the church which established our school has a saying: “The LORD has blessed me so much, my cup is overflowing (taken from Psalm 23) and I’m sipping from the saucer.”

I like the visual, so I’m using it here, in this month-long blogging challenge focusing on the blessings God has poured out on me.

Today, blessing #2.

I’m not big on jewelry. Apart from my earrings, which I never change, I wear a watch, three rings (engagement, wedding ring and Hubby’s wedding ring) and a bracelet. And I only ever put on my watch, rings and bracelet when I leave for work, and often take them off on the return trip.

Cue my clumsiness. I was sliding my rings onto my watch band, as I always do, when something happened and I dropped my engagement ring onto the floor of the car.

Well, I was driving. Not particularly conducive to an immediate search.

So I looked when I got home. Kids out of the car; my seat goes back, and I’m there with my head between my knees, cursing the fact that the space between drivers seat and console in a Toyota Aurion, is so incredibly tiny.

It’s pretty clean down there, but I do manage to retrieve the odd receipt  and some fluff. There a blue hairband wedged down there too – but no sign of the engagement ring.

I sigh.

The other rings are safe, with the bracelet, on the watch band. And – as per usual – I’m on a deadline, because it’s a school evening and there’s homework to get done and dinner to prepare, cook, eat and clean up after, prior to teaching again later that night.

The thought darts across through my mind. ‘Wouldn’t it be awesome if the ring was hiding under the hairband.’ I ignore it and pick up the hairband, preparing to excavate the depths of the cavity between drivers seat and console.

But no need. There’s the escapee – hiding under the blue hairband, waiting to be retrieved.

Less than a second’s worth of looking! And life was back on track, and the kids’ homework and dinner could happen on time 🙂

God is awesome. It was definitely a ‘sipping from the saucer’ moment.

Have a great day, dear Reader!
– KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune Blogging challenges Christianity family anecdotes

Sipping from the saucer #1

I work at a Christian school. The pastor of the church which established our school has a saying: “The LORD has blessed me so much, my cup is overflowing (taken from Psalm 23) and I’m sipping from the saucer.”

I like the visual, so I’m using it here, in this month-long blogging challenge focusing on the blessings God has poured out on me.

Today, blessing #1.

I’m claustrophobic – so much so, that I never drive other people’s cars, and driving through roadworks, and parking in crowded car parks, unnerves me.

Well, I was having one of those days when you visit several different places in the space of just a couple of hours, with different things to do in each location, and with different children each time. The final place I wanted to get to was a shop on a main road, which offered only reverse parking, and it was 4.45pm (and the place was due to close at 5pm).

Did I mention it was school holidays? So not only was it the main road, but it was busier than normal. And I was in a rush. And this road is well known for the fact that every car park fills up within seconds of being vacated.

Miss12, sitting in the front seat, was asking me where we were going next and why I was stressing. I told her that I was going to need two car parks, one in front of the other, just to park. A statistical improbability – however, God knew what I needed.

I drove along the road. It was now 4.48pm. No sign of crowds diminishing. Then I saw it. Right out the front of the shop I was heading to: not one, but two car park spaces, one behind the other, so no reversing required.

Praise God!

Suffice to say, I had shopped and was walking out of the shop by 5pm.

Because God’s awesome like that.

Have a great day, dear Reader – and see you tomorrow!

— KRidwyn

 

Categories
family anecdotes Random thoughts

Turn around twice…

The other evening I looked across my dining table at my Miss10 and noticed her elbows were resting as wide apart as my own. It startled me; the revelation that she wasn’t a ‘little kid’ anymore.

I shook my head, and said, “Do you know, it wasn’t that long ago when you [Miss10] were on a booster seat; you [Master9] were in a high chair; and you [Miss VERY MUCH 13, JUDGING BY THE ATTITUDE] were seated on a normal chair, with your chin just past the height of the table.”

The cherubs looked at me quizzically. “What’s a booster seat?” asked Miss10.

I sighed. Those memories, all seemingly so recent in my own mind, I had assumed were all-pervasive in my children’s too, but no. I shook my head again, then answered.

But in the back of my mind, the realisation that they were growing up, far more quickly than I had given them credit for, petrified me. My own Dad has always said, “Turn around twice and they’ll be grown” and I’d laughed and nodded indulgently. But suddenly I understood.

You get busy, life happens, and then suddenly, when you stop and notice, they’re grown and their elbows on the dining table are the same distance apart as your own. And you were so busy ‘doing’ the journey that you didn’t realise that the journey WAS happening! And yes, by ‘you’ I definitely mean ‘me’.

So I’ve decided that, like I tell my students all the time, to ‘wake up to yourself’ – I need to do this. I need to ‘wake up’ and take notice that, while all this life is happening, it REALLY IS HAPPENING and I would do well to pay attention and enjoy it while I have the opportunity!

How about you, dear Reader? Had any startling revelations lately?

And have a great week!
–KRidwyn

Categories
family anecdotes

Uniquely Australian

I’m fortunate enough to live on a fairly large block of land, away from suburbia. Pockets of natural bushland dot the region – one of which is right at my front gate.

There was a small area of bushland near the house of my childhood too – and favourite memories include the multiple times I looked for, and sometimes even spotted, the koala among the high foliage of a eucalypt tree.

You always knew they were there because of their distinct smell, uniquely eucalypt and mammal.

Since moving to our current home in July 2006, there have been only two occasions where a koala has taken up residence in one of the eucalyptus trees near our front gate. From memory, they stayed for a few weeks, and then disappeared again – I didn’t much notice.

But a few days ago, leaving for the gym early in the morning, when the wind was still and the pre-dawn around me heightened my senses, I smelled koala again. It wasn’t an overpowering fragrance, but enough to know one was there.

Such instantaneous joy! And wonder, that a smell can evoke such delight! I smiled for hours.

I love that a koala has taken up residence in one of the eucalypt trees outside my front gate.

Now to just catch a glimpse of him (or her) resting up in the branches during the warmth of the day!

Wish me luck 🙂

– KRidwyn

Categories
More about me Random thoughts Technology

‘What path are you on right now?’

That’s the text on my phone’s Lock Screen. (I said I’d write about this, a couple of weeks ago…)

It’s probably weird, I know.

But I leave that saying there as a reminder to me of the path I choose to walk, every minute of my life. The decisions I choose to make, which in return make me into the person I am choosing to be.

I feel as though I’m not explaining myself too well. Sorry. I’ll start again.

Hi. My name’s Ceridwyn, and I’m an addict.

Wha? Huh? What kind of a blog *is* this??!

Okay, so the word ‘addict’ has some pretty negative connotations, I know. I’m not addicted to drugs, if that’s what you were thinking.

But I have struggled with addictions in the past. Gambling was my worst, but as the years pass, the pull to play BlackJack diminishes. It probably helps that I don’t live anywhere near a casino, and that I’m just so gosh-darn-busy 99% of the time 🙂

But having that kind of addictive personality has meant that I’m aware of addictions when they pop up. Recently I noticed my over-partiality to playing the 2048 app on my phone; I was playing it to the detriment of doing other things; things I *should* have been doing. Solution: delete the app. Now it’s only on my iPad, which I use less regularly. Addiction circumvented. The path I realised I was heading down, was one I didn’t want to be on. So I changed my path, and was happier for being able to exercise some self-control.

The way I see things, there’s always a couple of paths before me, and my choice to take one or the other of these paths, will eventuate in either a ‘better’ version of me, the person I’d like to become, or a ‘worse’ version of me – one I’d prefer not to be.

So when I pick up my phone, I ask myself, ‘what’s the reason?’ “What path am I on right now? Am I about to go and do something needed on this phone, or am I really just bored and wanting to distract myself with Facebook or twitter? Is there a better choice I could be making – to go and play with my kids, do some of that housework I hate doing, or that job I’ve been putting off for simply ages?”

The ‘paths’ image also makes me think of the pathways in my brain. Dendrites firing, making pathways stronger. The more I’m on Facebook instead of drafting my latest manuscript, the stronger the ‘Facebook’ pathway and the weaker the ‘writing’ pathway becomes.

Am I stronger than that? Am I the master of my habits, or are my habits the master of me?

Just a few thoughts to leave you with today…

I hope it’s a fantastic one for you!

— KRidwyn