TooManyFlowers

I am so thrilled after my living and loving in Baseco Manila, and discovering the plight of women who birth in the slums I “GAVE BIRTH” to a new vision Birthing Better Babies.….

I am organising in association with John 14:12 sponsoring women from the beginning to the end of their pregnancy, supporting them financially/ emotionally and spiritually. Baseco women predominantly birth at home in the slum, some with no electricity by candle light and no running water even with limited and dirty shelter,  because they have literally no money to spend on a hospital birth. They birth with or without a traditional birth attendant who are untrained and have questionable practices….

So we sponsor them providing a Hospital Birth, transport to and from hospital for a monthly checkup, pregnancy vitamins, injections for tetanus and Hepatitis, the baby’s immunisations and newborn screening.  It is a package deal!!!

So check out my new website and pass the message on….

We can make a difference…….

ONE BIRTH AT A TIME!!

BIRTHING BETTER BABIES

Gorgeous Prince!

It has been a struggle I must admit coming back to our sunburnt country…

As much as I love living here

As much as I am proud and honoured to be an Aussie

My heart has been changed and my focus has been tweaked!

Baseco has filled my eyes and heart with a new perspective and outlook

I will NEVER be the same again!

I have been encouraged to write out a recent comment I shared with Susan, on my own blog so here it is…….but it will not make sense unless you hear her quote that she blogged about by JC Ryle…….so thanks Susan for inspiration!

http://kerugma.net/blog

Begin reading your Bible this very day. The way to do a thing is to do it, and the way to read the Bible is actually to read it. It is not meaning, or wishing, or resolving, or intending, or thinking about it; that will not advance you one step. You must positively read. There is no royal road in this matter, any more than in the matter of prayer. If you cannot read yourself, you must persuade somebody else to read to you. But one way or another, through eyes or ears, the words of Scripture must actually pass before your mind.”

~ J.C. Ryle

This was my response and testimony

Years ago (when I was about 30 years old) when I had 3 or 4 children I had this insatiable urge to have read EVERY word in the Bible…….

I remember being in a meeting and seeing a preacher’s bible so marked/ noted/ underlined and USED……I was convicted but challenged……

I wanted to literally touch every page and write on it……I wanted a DIRTY (like well read) lively Bible, like a friend I write letters to, jotting thoughts ideas and even sermons……it sparked a challenge in my life

TO READ THE WHOLE BIBLE IN A YEAR, EVERY YEAR OVER AND OVER AND OVER……

I even wrote the date I started on the first page of the Old and New Testament each time….I became accountable to myself

I refuse to be legalistic and pedantic, but I really LOVE my challenge…….I am aware we serve a graceful God…….but there is something EMPOWERING when you can say you have read His Word numerous times cover to cover……….

I bought a wide margin bible so I could write my notes next to the verses. I also write sermon notes with the dates and name of the preacher in my margins……..so amazing to look back on…….

Do not get me wrong I have “failed” over the years (especially when a new baby was born-huh reading was hard through bleary eyes)- but I refused to give up nor come under condemnation….God knew my circumstances, but I was still burning to be a woman of the word…..so I plodded on……

12 years later I can look back and see how many times I have read my God’s love letter to me…….and realise I HAVE GROWN and with some satisfaction I HAVE DONE IT…Ryle was right you JUST GOTTA DO IT……….The Nike Revelation…heee heee………JUST DO IT!!!

There is power and life in the word, even when it is dry bickkies there are pockets of life and amazing insight ESPECIALLY when you see the BIG picture of the WHOLE bible, even bible geography and timelines marriages, generational problems begin to make sense…….

Please note dear ones I am telling you this not to brag or boast but to urge you to read, praying for hours was not an option for me not with kids hanging off me 24/7, I became the queen of the arrow prayers……….but I could read….. here is my reading plan

Each Day
3 of the Old
2 of the New
You’ll read the Bible the whole way through
(A Marilyn Hickey saying and oldy but a goody)

In 12 years I have read the Old Testament 7 times and the New Testament 8 times, this does not include extra study and reading a chapter each day to my children, ………..so I have aimed for the stars and hit the mountain top…BUT I JUST DID IT……

I did it whilst Homeschooling, I did it with 3-6 children, I did it whilst being a wife, I did it in pregnancy, breastfeeding and beyond, I did it in hard times, I did it in good times………

Now looking back it was the BEST decision I ever made, I am who I am today because I JUST acted

You can “use” or “be used” by this busy time around babies kids and wifehood…….time will just fly by you especially while you are in the baby bearing season…so use this time to sow the Word into your life, there is lots we cannot do in the baby bearing season, but there are some things we can do.  I pray we see the season and USE it wisely!

If you can read the Word during these days it will be like a seed……….. and this tiny seed  the will burst into life 10 years down the track…….I am seeing this now in reality, and of course it helps your daily transformation too!!!!

So come on let’s get some Nike Revelation people……

JUST DO IT!!

What a year 2009 has been………

I look back and can say with a peace that “It is well with my soul”

I look back and remember my goals and aspirations and say that I am closer to them than I have ever been.

I look at my kids and say that they have grown, even in size………my 16 year old is now 6ft1in!!!

But they have grown in stature and in character……

My older two children preached their first gospel sermon this year

I saw my other children praying worshiping and touched by God in intercession and simple passion for God

I saw them struggle and deal with their flesh and change!

I saw our whole family grow and enlarge as we launched out as a family to Manila….we will never be the same…..NEVER

I saw my 10 year old achieve and earn his first trophy in Highland Dancing

I saw my 12 year old in uniform with South Australian Pipes and Drums  and perform in various exclusive marches over the state

My 16 year old is ranked first in the state for side drumming

I saw my husband happy preaching and loving in Manila

I saw a resurrection of my Child Birth Education skills…not only in Manila but here in the Barossa where we fellowship

I see myself now enjoying the PARENTING and MENTORING side of my life emerging now

I saw a dear friend go to Jesus after a long struggle with a heart breaking disease

I experienced my first serious car accident

My 4 year old had her life turned upside down and my other kids learnt how to deal with it!

I saw babies live and I saw babies die

I felt useful and needed

I realised how much I love to Homeschool

I appreciated the freedom and diversity that my education choice gave me and my family and rejoiced in it!

I saw God

I learnt more about His love, His people and His calling

I saw the Body of Christ in action, every joint supplying

I learnt how to love my husband more and minister to his needs

I had moments of flesh despair and sometimes depression

I struggled to let Jesus be big when I wanted to let my flesh manifest

I felt sad and chastened at times

But exhilerated, excited and happy the others

This year was BIG,

This year was CHALLENGING,

This year was LIFE CHANGING

This year was a BENCH MARK

The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.

Malcolm X
US black nationalist leader (1925 – 1965)

I NOW NEED TO BE CATAPAULTED IN 2010 WITH THE SAME PASSION AND ZEAL, THE SAME VISION AND CHALLENGE…

I WANT TO TAKE WHAT I HAVE AND APPLY TO THIS YEAR

GOD WILLING IT WILL HAPPEN

The past is a source of knowledge, and the future is a source of hope. Love of the past implies faith in the future.

Stephen Ambrose, in Fast Company
American historian and author (1936 – 2002)

If all we knew was our own reality, our own life, our own struggle……would we as humans be any better than an animal?

That may be the only distinction between us and say a monkey? A monkey can see past it’s own reality but can it do anything about it?

I do not think so? It is powerless

In the west however we have power, we have choice, we have money if it comes down to it!

It just depends on what we do when we see other’s reality and extend ourselves to DO something about it……

Truly that I think is our defining line.

The things that “we did and didn’t do” when we became aware of the reality……………….

God help me!

We are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found amoung us.  In its stead are programs, methods, organizations,  and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention  but can never satisfy the longing of the heart.

AW Tozer

I found this quote on my friend’s site by Tozer, it in part articulates some of my feelings since leaving Baseco……….over there everything was so simple, you just did God stuff all the time, no constraints no timetable no committees……….

I am bent out of shape