Merry Christmas!

Yes it's that time of year again when the festivities of this season take hold and the kids are so excited as Santa arrives tonight. Too all my buddies wherever you are at this time of year, I wish you a very Merry Christmas and I hope that you are celebrating this season with family and friends. We also celebrated Grace's 15th birthday yesterday and Happy Birthday Grace with loads and loads of love from your family. It seemed to be a fairly busy day yesterday as we had the car break down on us the night before and had to leave it and go back yesterday morning to deal with it. Thankfully we managed to get it home although it broke down again. With all this rain and flash flooding we have had over the past few days water got into part of the engine and after cleaning it up and doing what one does to get things back to normal we seem to have it running back to normal now. So yesterday we dealt with that, I also wanted to take Grace out for brekky first up so Tim could set up her brand new computer we had built for her and she had no idea she was getting so managed that as my sister came to the rescue to get us to and fro and boy was she surprised with her b'day pressie she had no idea she was getting. Of course all my kids on their b'day get to choose the kinda takeaway tucker they want and the kinda cake to go with it so pizza and Boston Mudcake was on the agenda and scrumptious plus.

Today we have cleaned and done those last minute shopping things at the local supermarket mainly cleaning items.......lol, in readiness for tomorrow...Christmas Day. Pressies all wrapped last night and tonight we will go check out the Christmas lights that are on show all over Bendigo.

I will be the first to admit that I am looking forward to putting 2007 behind us as it has been an incredibly difficult year for us with so many different situations we had to endure and so with that I also wish to say thankyou to everyone who kept us in your hearts, in your prayers and in your thoughts as we dealt with Lance and the difficulty we had with his health and the even more frustrating part not knowing ("still") what is wrong with him. But there is one thing I do know and that is God is a miracle working God and I know that he has helped our family through this year. Not only dealing with Lance but for those of you who may know.....my hubby Tim is visually impaired and I am his full time carer. Along with him both Stephanie and Maddison are also visually impaired and they all have a genetic eye disease, no cure and nothing can be done for it. They have Best's Vitelliform Dystrophy. All you need to do is google it and you could also google Macular Degeneration, that should give you some understanding of it. Recently, about a month ago, both Maddi and Steps had another appointment with their eye doctor and Maddi's right eye has weakened. Not easy to deal with as he approaches high school next year and all that goes with settling and establishing himself there but with a disability and so many people NOT understanding what these kids go through it will be an eventful year for him to say the least. But we manage and thank God for helping us through even if so many times I feel I am just not coping and managing too well because I will for the first time say that I do have alot on my plate and it is far from easy!

For all of those out there in particular 3 families I know who are going to struggle this year due to the loss of loved ones in their family I wish you peace. I know it will be a struggle and very difficult for you but I know that you will also be surrounded by loved ones.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

It's not always.......

......... easy to blog new entries on a daily basis or even once a week. Life gets busy, things get in the way, there is often those things such as housework, feeding your tribe and running errands that often stop us from doing things that we really do wish we had a little more time for...........such as blogging and making it a little more regular! But I guess we just do the best we can. :)

The countdown finally begins as we near that special time when Santa slides down our chimneys and delivers those wonderful and precious gifts under our tree. When the children still believe, when Christmas is still magical, when the festivity celebrations are underway and when it is time to sit back, ponder and really think about the true meaning of Christmas, yes the birth of Jesus Christ and what that meant to the world and all those in it. A time to celebrate this miracle in all it's glory, a time to truly appreciate what Christmas is all about.

So as I sit here trying to blog a few words here and there my mind is elsewhere, thinking of a song that has been in my heart and on my lips for the past few weeks and although many others sing this song including Kenny Rogers and Wynonna Rudd, this would have too be one of the most truly beautiful songs ever written and is now renowned as a Christmas Song. Mary Did You Know words written by Mark Lowry and music by Buddy Greene. This song is full of power, passion and emotion. I have watched the video clips and cried and I have sung along with the song but mostly I have listened and I have imagined what the song is saying, the story of a mother and her child and emotion this song brings with it. It takes me to a different place, one of compassion, filled with emotion and power, filled with grief as only a mother can feel and above all, a place that I can draw close to God. I hope you listen to it and enjoy.

Scrapping.......yes I have done a little scrapping. The LO below is my latest PBP CT LO and the last one for the year as we now have a break to do those things that we need to do being Christmas and all. The photo was taken a couple of years ago and is of my youngest son Maddison.

Credits

The CT LO below is the latest for Tara Dunstan Designs. Photo has been scrapped before (who could resist) and I just love my girl Grace with a little 'tude!

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I am working on 2 other LO's although neither of them are CT LO's and just popping the finishing touches on them before I pop them on here and in the galleries. I have just finished creating some bookmarks (as Christmas gifts) and need to print them off and I have also done some very simple Christmas Cards that I need to take photos of and plonk in here as well. So a little busy before the man in the big red suit arrives.

Well I am going to leave you with my latest LO's for now as my eyes are hanging out my head and I need to pop myself to bed. Till next time...stay safe and stay calm with all the festivity celebrations happening.

Hugs

Chris xoxox

Well what can I say..............

I'm a bad blogger but you already knew that.......lol. I try so hard to update my blog but it just does not seem to work and I try so hard to do a little blog hopping, ready with some loving but that too I'm afraid just doesn't happen. Well it's that time of the year where we all seem to be flat out with the "festive season" and all the challenges it throws at us. Have you done your Christmas shopping? Oh I hope you have all at least started. I know I have and have everything organised........well I hope so anyway. Today I pick up one more present for Grace but as her birthday is 2 days before Christmas Day Tim and I decided we would give this pressie to her for her birthday instead of Christmas. About 2 weeks ago the poor kid had her mobile phone, her wallet and her Ipod stolen and too make matters worse a friend of hers had asked Grace if she could pop her mobile phone and wallet in her bag as well and yep they were knocked off too. The worse thing about the phone is Grace worked so hard after school by picking up garbage for half an hour as often as possible and being paid $5 for it. She saved like mad to buy this pretty darn expensive phone only for someone else to come along and say they'd prefer it instead.....grrrrrrr. Anyway the phone was useless to them as after we reported the theft we also rang Telstra and they put a full block on the phone. By doing that they could not turn it on and nor could they put another sim card in it.......so for all their efforts they got nothing.

So Tim and I decided that her main pressie would be given to her for her birthday instead and I can't say what it is because she might just pop in and read my blog but I can tell you that it is not a new phone or a new Ipod........nope nope nope better than either of those.......lol

Ok onto other stuff. Yes I have been scrapping here and there and of course that's what you all come to visit me for right????....ROFL to check out my LO's, well I hope so anyway and to catch up with all other news. So the first 2 are the latest CT LO's created for PBP and the designers there.

Credits

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And the LO below is a CT LO for Tara Dunstan Designs.

Credits

I am finishing off my latest CT LO for Tara and will post that as well when I feel it is worthy to adorn the galleries and my blog.....rofl!

So what else is news....school is coming to a close. Lance finished his exams about 2 weeks ago now and seems to have past.....we are still waiting for the results. But with that he has finished school now as well and we have just finished the orientation/transition program into Yr 11. For those that are nor aware here in Bendigo we have I guess junior and senior high and we also call them Secondary Colleges not highschools. Yes we are pretty much the only area in Australia that does it like this but it works so well. So the 4 main secondary colleges go from yr 7-10 and unless you are in a private school than that will go through to yr 12. Then off to BSSC Bendigo Senior Secondary College for yrs 11 and 12. Without seeming to brag and we only found this out last night at orientation for parents and child that BSSC is pretty much the only school in Australia that caters so well and so much for the kids in Yr 11 and 12. It is nationally recognised as one of the best schools in Australia and they get kids coming here from all round just to do their education in those years. Their success rate is something like 95% and some of the well known people that have come out of that school and made names for themselves world wide are amazing and here I was thinking it was JUST the next stage in Lance's life......hmmmmm a little more than that.

So not only has Lance been going through the transition stage there but Maddison our youngest has also been going through his as he is off to secondary college next year. He had another orientation day Tuesday and seemed to settle in nicely. Ahhhhh my babies are all growing up.

On another "Lance" moment he is 16 of course and now has decided he wants to go for his L's. So we will be booking him in asap and getting another looney driver out onto the roads.

The girls are doing well. Grace finished her exams she had last week and we are just waiting on the results of those but she did top the geography exam and came in with the highest result for that in her class.....and she told me she didn't think she was going to get very far.....lol yeh right girl! So that was a very proud moment for her as they acknowledged it and paraded her about the place....well just in her class anyway where they applauded her, she had to do a speech and then she got to be in the teachers possie for awhile and dished out a geography test that all the other kids had to do. WTG Grace!

Stephanie didn't have to do exams as she is only in Yr7 but she has been just as active and just as busy with school and she is doing very well.

So the year is almost at a close and it's a very busy time with Christmas and all that goes with that. Don't get too stressed out at this time of year and if nothing else just take it in your stride and enjoy it. Till next blogging take care and stay safe.

Hugs Chris xxoo