Something from the Weekend...

Some pictures from this weekend... and what a weekend!

Friday - Work then Noah's Birthday tea with presents and cake then a trip up town to visit the Fair
Saturday - Music rehearsal, wedding, reception, Kids home for tea and bed then back to the reception for a meal and music
Sunday - Church where I was leading worship then Noah's dedication then back home and some time spent on the computer getting Naomi's bags ready for sale online.

Phew, we are both very tired now and beginning to get crabby at each other. It's that familiar point at which normal communication breaks down and presumption and offence take over - not a happy place! Still all is good now. Kissed, made up, Kids in bed, wine in stomach/head! and Ray Mears soothes us both with tales of Canadian adventures of years ago.

Jo's wedding was lovely but exhausting. The best bit was the ceremony as usual. I sat filled with excitement and solemnity in equal measure as Jo and James embarked on their journey. At one point I took a deep breath and simply thought 'I hope they make it'. Not because I thought they wouldn't but because my naive view of marriage has been rocked in recent years by the break down of relationships that I presumed would always be.

Celebrating Noah's birthday was beautiful too. He has been so smiley, happy and full of life. Each child is different and special. Someone prayed this morning that we would have time for each of them. Amen! I'm also aware though, that in a big family they start to have time for each other. Yes having many kids is a stretch for my affections but they have each others too. A precious thing. As the Word puts it 'How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!'

Here's one I made earlier

So here's what I can make...

And here's what she can make...

You can see which of us is more talented and which is more... well fat!

After my plans for a productive weekend of garden DIY were scuppered by 60mph winds, I turned another job which could be accomplished from the safety of our dinning room. No not eating! Photographing and cataloguing Naomi's stock. Nyom has been bags of several sizes, little people, little houses and jewellery for ages now and so has tons of stock. We want to sell them on Etsy but obviously needed to have a few pics of each one and catalogue them so she knows what's on sale where and can track each item.

This was no mean feat especially with four boys (Jedi's!) rampaging around the house hitting each other with Light-Sabers and watching Star Wars films over and over. Anyway we got it pretty much done so they should be on sale soon.

We also popped over to Butts Meadow for brisk walk and a cup of tea. This almost ended up as a full-blown Sunday lunch but as we had not planned for this we resisted and cracked on with the bags.

Back to work tomorrow. It's been yet another tense weekend. As I get no jobs done during the week, weekend is very pressured. I constantly find myself torn between getting 'jobs' done that make our life easier and just surrendering myself into entertaining the boys. The latter I thoroughly enjoy of course but as I do not have evenings to spend the whole week seeing things that need doing and thinking 'I'll do that this weekend'. Perhaps the answer is to mix and match and hopefully minimise the compromise born by either.

Silly hair cut...

That's right the silly hair cut is back but she still loves me :-)... just making the most of a receding hair line!

So what's new?
Well my job ticks on. I still enjoy my work with young people and get huge satisfaction from it. I only wish my efforts were rewarded with a larger pay packet. Money, houses, providing for the little ones and all those things parents worry about have been keeping me up recently. It's amazing how the human brain has an unstoppable ability to make stuff up and worry about it. Why I don't recall the countless times I have found myself with exactly what I need, I'm not sure.

What else?
Well I have a new motorbike...

It's heavier, more expensive to run and harder and more uncomfortable to ride! Hey but it's faster and cooler. The jury is still out as to whether this was a good decision but I'll give it some more time.

and finally...
I'm currently trying to get some jobs done around the house and garden. They're not difficult jobs, they won't even take that long but things seem to move at a snails pace when it comes to jobs outside of the average days usual crazy schedule. I want to put a couple of coats of gloss on our old-school wooden windows, build a BBQ area with some old bricks I have, build a chicken run and erect to bike shelter. Not much really. The trouble is, as time passes with no progress on any of the current jobs, I keep thinking of new jobs. I plan to get some stuff done this weekend despite the predicted terrible weather.

Well if that's not a blogging cliff hanger I don't know what is! Tune in next time to find out what jobs Jonny got done!