Life Changing News

Last week I received some life changing news. I am happy to tell you, the news is good news. :) In fact, the news is great news.

In a somewhat random and spontaneous 48 hours, I was told the executive producer and artistic director of the internationally renowned adult choir, The Australian Voices, were coming to my town to promote their current touring show, "Moon". After meeting with these amazing men to discuss the involvement of local singers in the opening number of the show, they informed me that they are also recruiting new members to join the choir. They asked if I would like to audition. I knew very little about them. I went home, logged on to their website, and did some research. I was inspired.

One of the main purposes of this choir is to commission Australian composers to write music for the choir, music about things which are iconic to our country. Then, they tour the country and the world singing this music. It's contemporary, it's unique, it's very complex at times, and very very beautiful. And it seems that while they do sing some more traditional, classical music, a lot of their contemporary pieces are very theatrical, incorporating elements of theatre such as lighting, projections, and costuming. Wow. I wanted to be part of it.

I spoke to Stuart. I spoke to my extended family. I had the full support of everyone. So, I went back to the theatre that afternoon, and I auditioned. It was gruelling. I had to sight sing a very difficult, chromatic passage the director had written on the whiteboard, having never heard the passage played. On my second attempt I sang it correctly! I also had to sing some difficult intervals, and in my best "choral voice" - no colour, no vibrato please - I was asked to sing our National Anthem. It was intense. I loved every minute. :)

They told me clearly that they still had a week of touring/promoting/auditioning to do, and very limited places to offer. I wouldn't hear anything for a week at least.

The very next morning I opened my email inbox and there was an email from the producer. The title of the email was "Welcome to The Australian Voices". I could barely breathe and I sat there for a full minute before opening the email! But it was true, my audition was successful and they were offering me a place in the choir!!! :-D I was (and am still) absolutely shocked!

I am so very very grateful for the incredible support my family and friends have shown me at this time. I have negotiated with the director of the choir regarding my availability for the remainder of 2011 (and negotiations will continue into 2012). He has been helpful and very flexible, understanding that I live 3 hours from the city (where the choir is based) and have very young children. My job now is to learn all my parts by myself, from home - no easy task I can assure you! The music is beautiful but a challenge to learn and to sing. I will be singing 2nd Soprano, which was my part when I sang in the Queensland Youth Choir for 7 years as a teenager. This whole process is bringing back fond memories of that time!

As for international travel, well I considered myself ineligible for that. However upon further investigation, and financial consideration, it seems I may actually be touring with the choir this year to Europe. Europe!!! And here I was thinking I wouldn't get overseas until I was in my 60's! Yes, they - sorry, we - are touring through Germany and France this November/December. The choir covers the cost of all travel and accommodation once in Europe. I will need to pay for my flights from and back to Australia, but if the tour is financially successful, the choir will reimburse members for flights also. The tour is for 3 weeks, but as my brother is getting married on December 10th I will only be going for the first 2 weeks. May I admit I'm grateful for that? 3 weeks away from my children would just be too long. In fact 2 weeks will be very very hard.

I'm going to have to fill my suitcase with photos of them! :( And already I'm planning to make a CD for them, with a spoken "letter" for them to listen to from me each day. And a half hour or so of me singing the sleepy songs I sing to them each night at bedtime. Hopefully this and a few other little things will help the time of separation which will be very different for us. My wonderful parents are going to help Stuart out with the care of the children - and thankfully, the 2nd week I'll be away is the first week of their summer holidays. Then I'll be home and we will be having a big family wedding and holiday time!

And I will have had my first experience of Europe. Singing. Music, travel, adventure.

God is so profoundly good, and surprising! Why he has considered me worthy and free to go and do this, I do not know. But I do know that before and after I auditioned I prayed over the decision - that it would be his alone. Honestly, this was not planned (at least not by me :)) so I didn't mind either way. He has allowed this. It feels like a beautiful gift and I'm blown away by the musical opportunities this choir will provide for me, whilst still allowing me live here in the country town where my children - and Stuart - are so settled and happy. To have all those big city opportunities without actually having to move truly is an answer to prayer.

Those of you who know me will understand that this is COMPLETELY out of my comfort zone! The very idea of leaving my family and friends and travelling to a foreign country with people I don't even know terrifies me! So maybe God is going to use this to teach me and grow me. I imagine it will only do good things for my confidence - an area I've always wanted to improve in.

Praise God for life changing surprises!

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Stay tuned for my next post - my 700th post! Please leave a comment here if you would like to contribute.

Visit Ann and Guatemala

If you haven't been following Ann's experience in Guatemala over the past week, I strongly encourage you to do so.

http://www.aholyexperience.com/

She is raw, and real, and it is a window into a world we can barely imagine. I thank her for her courage and for her story.

Clarity

God is so good. When we pray and listen and rest in Him, the answers simply come.

Some answers have come for our family this past 24 hours.

Change is on the horizon, and we are ready to embrace it, afraid as we may be.....

I am feeling much better; thank you all for your kind thoughts! The antibiotics are doing their thing, and the infection is clearing. I am slowly getting my voice (and my energy) back. The weekend is here, and aside from piano teaching for me, and book and toy library visiting for Stu and the children tomorrow morning, we have some free family time together. I am so looking forward to that. May your weekends be wonderful friends. :)

God is Awesome!!!

"Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

It's so easy to 'delight ourselves' and trust and rest in God's love when things are going well, isn't it?! To pray, to see the beauty in all things? It is just easier to believe that God has us covered when everything is running according to plan. Well, to our plans that is. Not necessarily His. And yet we know He has a plan for our lives - for every one of us. It's so hard to comprehend, but it's true!

"I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11-13)

As you know from my recent post, I have had a difficult few weeks. My emotions have been up and down, Stuart has been very absent through this end-of-term time, and in general I have just been out of sorts. Thankfully I am learning over the years that this is normal. Life is seasonal. I still struggle during the down times, but I don't give up! On myself or on God. The hard times are important too. They are character-building times. They are opportunities to learn. I have discovered that the down times are the most important times to lean on God, to trust Him, to release ourselves to Him. I still often struggle on my own for a few days over an issue before praying hard about it (why is that?!?)...... and this past couple of weeks was no exception. But. After many teary nights and moments of frustration with myself, I prayed fervently and handed my emotional mess over to God.

I asked Him to heal my heart. He has.

I asked Him for my motivation on the home front to return. It has.

I asked Him to help me find my joy in being with the children once again. He has.

I asked Him to forgive me, to keep believing in me, to help me get my spirit back on track again. He has.

Finally, I asked Him for some time out, some me time, some moments of rejuvenation. And oh boy, has He delivered!!

Seriously, God is awesome. First He sent my Mum up - not just for 2 nights as planned - but for a whole week! What wonderful help and company that was. He has sent friends to rally round me... through phone calls and meals and emails and hugs. There has been something almost every day, despite the fact that I have been 'hiding away' somewhat! We even received an amazing package from a friend this week, but more about that in a later post. :) I love feeling loved!

AND I have had more time out this week than ever before. Lots of time with friends, just me, has filled my cup to the brim again. I needed it. Not just wanted it, needed it. And God knew. And God cares! For me!! It's overwhelming. I am so thankful for a "yes" answer to my prayers. :) Last night I even had an unexpected trip out to the theatre to see QLD Ballet perform Swan Lake! A dear friend had a spare ticket and asked me to join her. It was a magical night, and I am still floating today it was so beautiful. I am so thankful to Stuart for gifting me this time out without complaint. He too knows I need it at the moment. :)

And here are my darlings tonight at their dress rehearsal for their dance concert which is on tomorrow night! Saraya is one of the many Tinkerbelles, and Elijah is the one and only Peter Pan. :)
As you can see, he is lacking confidence on the stage. :P

So, from down to up I go. I thank God for forgiveness and grace and love and yeses and free gifts such as these good things filling my cup. He is good.

Home Days

This morning it is early, and I am up before the sun. The colours in the sky outside are all pinks and pale blues and purples, and it is beautiful. I've already been up, when the full moon was still casting it's glow across our fields and I was trying not to look, trying to concentrate on getting Will's bottle and getting back to bed and back to sleep. He succeeded, but not I. I have been lying awake, the last of the moon's glow shining on my feet; the light slowly changing from moonlight to dawn light.

I have been chewing over thoughts.

Home Days.

"Mama, is today a home day?" asked a little one yesterday morning. "Yes," I replied. "Nowhere to go today my darling, just home". "Hooray!!" come the chorus of replies. "Did you hear?! It's a home day! A home day!!" Yes, truly. My children rejoice when they discover we have a long, full day ahead of us ....... at home.

This should not be too surprising. For I too love and adore these home days. And I am their mother, and they have my genetics and clearly spend a lot of time in my company. :)

There are days for outings, yes. The groceries need to be gathered for the week. Library books too. And there are friends to visit. And dance lessons to attend. Parks to explore.

But in our family, it is the home days which are treasured most of all. They are slower, more leisurely. There is no rushing. Activities can be brought out, and they can stay out for hours without being packed away. The children have their lessons to do, and I have my chores, but then there is always time. Time. How I love free time!! An excerpt from the book I finished last week:

"Perhaps we adults have lost the fine art of lollygagging but at least most of us mastered it as children. We knew what it was to be bored and to find something on our own to do; we knew what loneliness felt like; and we discovered that there was value in being alone sometimes. Left to our own amusements, we found resources that we didn't know we had. We learned, as Wordsworth wrote, to see through "that inward eye that is the bliss of solitude." These were valuable lessons - and I fear that our own busy, well-entertained children may not ever have the chance to learn them. Inventiveness and self-reliance are being scheduled right out of them." Mitten Strings for God, Katrina Kenison.

And that's it right there. It's what happens when the amount of time at home in our day exceeds our planned activities. Lollygagging. Creative exploration. Endless of hours of play.

There is time. For anything.

Time to listen for His voice, and time to stop and hear the answer.

Time to spend in the garden, weeding or planting or watering or picking off grubs, or just admiring.

Time to say "yes!" to the little ones asking for story after story to be read.

Time to bake cookies.

Time to lie on the grass with my big boy, just watching the sky and talking about God's splendor.

Time to read from the Word at lunch, dawdling over our porridge and chewing on His words for awhile. Time for the children to then ask "Can we get out our Bibles out too?" Forgive me Lord for not doing this more often. They need me to do this daily, and I will, at lunch. We all sit (well, all but Will :)), heads bowed over bibles, reading quietly and reading aloud before heading into rest time.

Time to teach my children a new hymn! Something I hope to start doing more and more. One a day with lunch until I run out of old hymns that I know! For yesterday it was "Open my eyes, Lord; help me to see your face............" To say they loved it would be an understatement. They sang it the rest of the day and my heart swelled with joy every time.

Time to put my feet up, to read, to make another cup of tea and sip it slowly.

Time for messy craft.

Time for baking bread.

Time for cuddles.

Time for music.

Time for longer-than-usual read alouds. Little Men, the huckleberrying chapter, had us all captivated and why stop? We were sprawled out on a rug on the hill under the gum trees, close, sharing this story together. There was time to keep reading. And read we did! We read until Elijah begged for Hide and Seek, and I finally relented.

Time to play Hide and Seek with a patient 4 year old who won't be 4 forever. Actually, he won't be 4 for much longer at all.

Time to play with Papa when he got home. Until Mama calls out "It's nearly dark, and dinner is about to go on the table! Into the bath everyone....." And they stream in, sweaty and grubby and oh so happy. Papa Time will always do that to them. :)

Can you see why we love our home days so much? There is time, to say yes to me and to them and to my God. Home days are precious and preserved in our family. Typically, we spend 3 or 4 days out of every 7 at home. And they have become, without doubt, our favourite days of the week.

Today is not a home day. This morning lessons will be rushed for we are off to do something special, then sell some eggs, then gather groceries, and a few little bits and pieces for Easter. And this afternoon is dance class for the children, so we will be back out again. But that is the wonderful thing. Home day refreshes us, strengthens us, grounds us. It gives us energy and courage and light to then spread forth, have adventures and see friends and do the necessaries in town - before coming home once more, and seeing the twilight and the moonlight and the early morning sunlight.

It is up now, the sun. Shining golden across the fields out the front of our home. The wood ducks are passing the house, chortling as they do, and the lorikeets are screeching as they fly past my window. The world is waking up. My husband and all the little ones are still sleeping in their beds ....... and I am going to sneek outside for a few moments with Jesus before heading into the day.

I am so thankful for this place, this journal of mine, this blogging world. The thoughts churning in my head for hours are now out! They are churned into print and I can process them. I can share them. They make sense now.

Yes, home days are wonderful and home days, for me, are essential.

A Special Sabbath

As I rose this morning there was a quiet expectancy in the air. For today is not only the sabbath, it is also Palm Sunday. Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The beginning of the Easter week. A Special Sabbath. :)

I cooked pancakes for breakfast, the children set the outdoor table, adding leaves and flowers and place cards, and Stuart read these words to us as we ate:

"As Jesus went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: 'Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!'

Some of the Pharisees from the multitude said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" He answered them, "I tell you that if these were silent, the stones would cry out". Luke 19

We talked about what it would have been like, Jesus arriving among the villagers who had heard all about Him ...... the miracles .......... the rumours of who He really was.......... the excitement they would have felt .......... their voices wafting in the air, the children, the grown-ups, all straining to see Him........

I love these talks with the children. Their imaginings, their ideas, are all so valuable to me.

After breakfast and clean-ups, Elijah asked for the paints, so everyone got into some creative work at the table. Even Will insists on joining in with these artistic pursuits these days!

Chubby hands at work. Love it. :)

We lunched on the verandah. Homemade tomato soup (made it's debut last night, will now be a family favourite! will post the recipe if anyone's interested....) and yesterday's bread....

Will prefers his tomatoes fresh. He is downing cherry tomatoes at last! Just as they ripen on the plants in the garden. Wonderful.

And passionfruits for dessert.

I caught this moment as Stuart read William his favourite book - Peepo - yet again. My precious man and one of my precious boys.

Then I heard the giggles and had to run back for another photo! This boy has the best laugh.

The children all took off after lunch, into a game of sorts down in what we affectionately call our "jungle" - a double hedge of bushy Australian natives, perfect for exploration and adventure. :)

I walked with my coffee in the orchard. The bees were busy and the sunflowers spectacular. Tomatoes in flower. Oregano spreading. Capsicums overloading their small bush. Passionfruits hanging from the vine.

There was beauty everywhere in this small little area I call my orchard.

I marveled at the new growth on the apple trees I planted in the summer.

And I marveled at this week stretching ahead of all of us, full of opportunities to reflect and talk to Him and thank Him for the immeasurable gift offered to us on the cross. I intend to take time to be quiet this week. I have activities planned for the children, and we'll have our classes and trips to town and house chores to do ............ but I yearn for the quiet. I always do during this Easter week, every year is the same.

Quiet. Solitude. His Word. Prayer. Thanksgiving. Thankfulness. In everything.

Psalm 66

"Come and listen, all you who fear God;

let me tell you what he has done for me.

I cried out to him with my mouth;

his praise was on my tongue.

If I had cherished sin in my heart,

the Lord would not have listened;

but God has surely heard my voice in prayer.

Praise be to God,

who has

not rejected

my prayer

or withheld

his love from me!"

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During my quiet time early this morning God really spoke to me with this verse.

How great has His grace been over my life. I have sinned. I know there have been times when I have really chosen sin. His forgiveness and love and mercy and offering of new-beginnings is more than I can comprehend. I am beyond blessed and so undeserving. My cup is overflowing. Feeling overwhelmed and really Praising Him today. :)

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Photos: Time spent taking photos in the garden this morning. Lots blooming in the veggie patch. We all enjoyed watching the chooks. And I enjoyed listening to the laughter of my children as they enjoyed a surprise visit from a lovely young lady we know, who has befriended Saraya. :)

It's Christmas Eve!!!

It's Christmas Eve. What a day of festivities we've had!

After lunch we each opened a couple of presents. This was a special time! My little girl has been saving money all year. We don't give the children pocket money, so every bit she has saved has been given by grandparents or has been earned by doing a special job for me. She had $20.65. She had been saving for a dolly but made a decision last week to spend her money on gifts for us. We made sure she was certain, and she definitely was! Stuart took her shopping for mine and the boys' gifts, and I took her this morning to find a photo frame for Stuart - inside which we put a special photo of her and Stu, for his work desk. All Saraya's own ideas, and boy she has discovered something throughout this process..........

Giving is even better than receiving!!

The delight buzzing between these two as William's favourite character "Makka-Pakka" was opened brought a tear to my eye! Such joy.

This afternoon, as tradition stands in our house, we cut our Christmas Cake. I had a helper.

A very smiley helper!!!

We sung happy birthday to Jesus. :)

Tonight we went to church and it was nice seeing the children joining in with all the carols they have got to know so well this season.

Here's Will all ready to go!

After getting home and changing into pj's, watching a little of the carols on TV and reading a special Christmas Eve story.... and hanging their stockings......

..... the children collapsed exhausted into bed. I'm hoping that means they won't be up before the sun tomorrow!

The stockings are now filled and the final presents wrapped.

I love this night. I love the promises tomorrow holds. I love that when I wake up I will make a special breakfast for my family and we will eat and share gifts and give thanks to the One who gave us Jesus.

Merry Christmas friends, thank you for blessing me and I wish you a very joyous day tomorrow!

Verses On My Heart

"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." Proverbs 4:23

"When I am afraid, I will trust in you." Psalm 56:3

"In every thing give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

1 Thessalonians 5:18

"Show me your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths." Psalm 25:4

"And I will be a Father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters" saith the Lord." 2 Corinthians 6:18

"For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23

"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Luke 12:34