F.E.A.R.

fear

fɪə/

noun

1. 1.

   an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm.

   "I cowered in fear as bullets whizzed past"

   "she sought help to overcome her fears"

verb

1. 1.

   be afraid of (someone or something) as likely to be dangerous, painful, or harmful.

   "I hated him but didn't fear him any more"

   have a phobia about, have a horror of, have a dread of, shudder at, take fright at "he fears heights and open spaces"

One of the most debilitating emotions of humankind

Erodes common sense

Faith

Belief

If You Let It!!!!

Please don't let fear ruin your peace, happiness and general well-being

Fear is having a field day with what is happening in the world

It is destroying peace of mind

It is causing people to turn against other people

2 Timothy 1:7 - For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

1 John 4:18 - There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love

My Monkey

This isn't a great photo but its one that Cameron's kindy took. It was from their mother's day makeover.

Us mothers were really pampered with hand, feet and scalp massages. Cameron throroughly enjoyed doing all these helpful things for his mummy. He put the lip gloss on me really great. The nail polish .... well let's see if I can find a photo of it hahahaha

I just love my little monkey to bits (and his ape brothers) lol

My Love Affair

Yes you read that right.

I'm having a love affair!

Who with you ask?

Not quite exactly a who but a what?

I am loving my new printer.

Its a PIXMA MX870!

Got it at an absolute steal.

So this time its a FAX, scan, copy, print one. The last one couldn't send a fax.

It has so many neat little tricks. A paper cartridege at the front, photo paper at the back and of course the fax goes in on top.

Again it has its own seperate print cartridges. What I love about the canons is if the print head goes bust you can just replace that and not the whole computer.

Photos print out amazingly clear.

Am now ready to use the fax function tomorrow :)

Yes, I do admit I love my new printer =D

40 Day Challenge

Have you heard about the Love Dare?

Friends in the U.S. have told me about the movie Fireproof and how fantastic it is.

Unconditional love is eagerly promised at weddings, but rarely practiced in real life. As a result, romantic hopes are often replaced with disappointment in the home. But it doesn't have to stay that way. The Love Dare, a New York Times #1 best seller and major plot device in the popular new movie FIREPROOF (from the makers of Facing the Giants), is a 40-day challenge for husbands and wives to understand and practice unconditional love. Whether your marriage is hanging by a thread or healthy and strong, The Love Dare is a journey you need to take. It's time to learn the keys to finding true intimacy and developing a dynamic marriage. Take the dare!

This sounds like a great challenge and I'm going to do it!

I think it would be really great if friends did it too and we could all discuss.


The Love Dare is $19.95 from Koorong.

Stress

Do you have much stress in your life?

If anyone asks me I usually say "no more than anyone else" but this last couple of weeks I have actually felt stressed.

Its made me irritable, grouchy, argumentative, sad, nauseous and filled with a bit of loathing. The thing is, I let myself get stressed when in reality the control of it was all mine. I let myself start to dread things. This made me start disliking things and soon everytime I thought of it, I felt sick to my stomach. Once I had that feeling, lookout people around me. Thankfully my loved ones, love me even when I'm cranky. I don't know what I would've done without Justin last week. When things starting getting too much for me, he would just pop up beside me, hug me and tell me "I love you mummy".

One day his usual had an extra tagged on the end. "I love you mummy" hugs "because you're beautiful and loveable" awwwwwww how the heart breaks.

But it was this, that I grabbed ahold of and it was this that helped me keep from crumbling under the pressure I allowed to build. Everytime Justin told me he loved me, I was the best mummy, I was so pretty, I wasn't fat - just a bit big (hahahahahahahaha) I was able to breathe easier.

I'm not yet ready to talk about the stressor. Maybe I never will be. But I do know that with the love of the people I love, it is easier to bear.

Love and Respect

Isn't this what we want most from people?

Well, I do! I want love and respect from my children, my family, my friends but mostly from my husband.

And you know what?

He wants it from me.

Yep!

He does!

I was only talking the other day to a person very close to me about how sometimes love is just not enough. Love is great, especially in the beginning of a relationship when passion is so fierce, but when the passion starts to cool and the love slowly changes, is there enough to sustain you?

For me, this is where respect comes in. I need to know that my husband doesn't just love me, but that he cherishes me. That he listens when I speak and understands that sometimes there are pearls in what he has heard. That he chooses to not just make a decision but will rather ask me how I feel about something. That's not taking any authority away from him, rather its making us a unit, a partnership.

But in saying this, I have discovered a great pearl of wisdom too. He needs this as much as me. Even more than my love, he needs my respect. Once given, he is happy.

Boy, how hard was this lesson. I can give my love easily by give my respect?

Huh!

Sure if you earn it.

But I don't think its supposed to be like that between us. Why was it written for wives to respect their husbands if it was supposed to be easy? It hasn't been easy for me. Just as I know it has been hard for him to "express" his love. He does, it just took me a long time to see how he shows it instead of how I want him to show it.

I've always been a very independent woman and I suppose I saw "respect your husband" as another word for "submission". Of course I respect my elders, friends, family etc but it was a battle to give that respect to hubby. But little by little I learned that in doing so not only helped him, it also helped me. I realised that all he needed was the confidence in knowing that I supported him. When he found that confidence I realised I felt cherished.

How?

He would start talking to me about things instead of saying nothing all the time. He tells me his plans for our home, our family, our money, other things that bore me but are important to him and he has started to say "no, you can tell me". This makes me feel important to him and I just bet it makes him feel important to me.

You don't have to agree with me, that's fine! Just wanted to share how I see it.

It would be a very boring world if everyone had the same opinion, don't you think?

The beauty of a child's love

I had to go out this morning so Cameron stayed home with his dad and helped doing yard work. He loves to get out there with his wheelbarrow, shovel, work boots and hat. He's a great little helper.

When I got home, Cam was so very excited. He went into his room and came out with a plastic cup with about an inch of water in it. He was using it as a vase to hold and bottle brush he picked for me. I think its called a champagne bb tree ????

Anyway, I was so touched that he had done that and it is really beautiful. Of course he added "I love you mum, you're the best mummy in the world".

Ohhhhh he knows how to touch his mother's heart.

Gifts of Love

Its always nice to receive gifts but to me, the best gifts are the ones that have thought behind them. Its so easy to quickly run into a store and buy the first thing you see but to actually "work" at it, think about the person you're buying for, turns a gift into a wonder.

I was given some really beautiful gifts at Christmas last year but the ones I will treasure most are the ones from my oldest son. He's only seven but he asked his nanny to take him shopping. They went to some garage sales and this is what he bought me. Now I know they cost him about 50c but I don't care. I think they are the most beautiful things that I now own.


For his dad, he painted a picture and his nanny framed it for him.