Four Years – Part 3 – The Good Bits.

So, having shared that I’ve found life difficult since we’ve come here, and I have. (I’m really glad I’ve actually said it.) In more ways than I’ve actually shared, but I’m fine to leave it there now. Thank you so much to the ones who’ve contacted me and shared things with me, because I wrote that, it was wonderful to hear, thank you for caring enough and taking the time to do that.

I’m now going to share some of the good bits, of which there has been many. I like challenges and I actually like having stuff to do, so in many ways, when we first came here, amongst the occasional ‘oh what have we done!!!??’ thoughts, it was exciting and stimulated you to do more stuff because there was so much to do! Chris has worked his ass off since we’ve been here too, it has to be said!

So, without further ado, here are some of the good bits.

This will probably use up all the space on the wordpress site, but hey ho! 😀

I haven’t got many photographs at the moment of the first year or so, they need extracting off an old laptop, but there’s a lot coming up which I love.

What I also love about this place is that we were accepted so readily, the people are friendly and have really helped us in so many ways. I love the quietness, the dark at night, the stars, the way the moon is often what lights up your way if you’re outside. I love the freedom , walking outside and taking a deep breath and looking round. Looking for birds and listening for them. Growing our own flowers and veg and all that. Home educating, being with my kids here – with freedom and actually just loving being with them. That God is here, in this place, that at night you can go to bed, in the pitch black, and just lie there with Him, knowing He is there. There’s a lot more to come probably that we will love. The pubs seem to do really good food as well. In fact, the food here is pretty awesome.

Chris loves being here, he really likes the people and just being here, he makes friends easily. He’s practical and is able to mend and make a whole range of stuff! So he was made for this sort of life really in a lot of ways. I love going to church (and yes..I get about church being people and church buildings and all that, I just don’t do much in the way of church speak, not on purpose anyway), I actually love it. So does Chris and since J has started reading, he’s started reading the mass sheet with the readings on it and asking about it. Littlest is just really funny and at the moment, either decides he isn’t going in at all and I have to wait for him to calm down and then take him in, or comes in and plays with lego on the seat or just cuddles me. I’ve realised I don’t actually have to be too paranoid about noise or about walking down the aisle with him to take him out. There’s been a lot of kids there over the years, there’s a lot of big families here, I think it’s just good that there are kids there! (and I think they think that as well).

The photographs are just a selection from the last couple of years that make me happy. Sometimes it’s easy to just think badly of yourself and think you’ve spoilt it by being upset sometimes. But I don’t actually think that’s true. It has actually been an adventure, with more to come, wherever we are.

It’s funny, how we think, as Christians sometimes, that we’ve got it all in hand, that we know what God ‘should’ be doing and then when he doesn’t do that, we’re put out. But what I’ve found since we’ve been here is that it’s His timing, His ways, and that He is actually first and foremost working on you and how you are, and that is good.

I have been thinking over the past few days about what I’ve learnt about God over the past four years, and what I feel I have learnt is, firstly, you trust Him no matter what, secondly, He isn’t blind or deaf (or mute), He knows everything about you, including stuff you try to shove down and hide, so there’s no point in shoving it down or hiding it, and thirdly, it is not legalistic to want to live a life that honours Him and in which you obey Him. It is good to live a life that honours Christ. God’s ways are the best ways, always, even if it takes a while to see it, and if you slip and fall, He is there to catch you. Fifthly (haha) – I’ve just realised it should be ‘fourthly!’ – he is definitely real.

Anyway, enough of the talk, photo’s, they are a bit random and there’s lots of baking shots, I’ve done a lot of baking since we’ve been here and it’s really nice! (I’ve included the shark cake because it makes me smile), I might do a four years in Ireland cake 😀 I’m also really hoping the page can cope with all the photographs!