Did she know?

Mary, did you know

That your baby boy will one day walk on water?

Did you know

That your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?

Did you know

That your baby boy has come to make you new?

This child that you've delivered

Will soon deliver you

Mary, did you know

That your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?

Did you know

That your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?

Did you know

That your baby boy has walked where angels trod?

And when you kiss your little boy

You've kissed the face of God

Mary, did you know?

The blind will see

The deaf will hear

And the dead will live again

The lame will leap

The dumb will speak

The praises of the Lamb

Mary, did you know

That your baby boy is Lord of all creation?

Did you know

That your baby boy will one day rule the nations?

Did you know

That your baby boy is heaven's perfect lamb?

This sleeping child you're holding

Is the Great I am

Mark Lowry

A little bit of Christmas Season at our place

Christmas W.I.P

I'm making Knitty's Grow With Me for my youngest niece for Christmas. To be honest, I'm not convinced her parents are totally into my hand-made efforts but this is fun to knit and she'll look cute in it. The only adjustment I've made to the pattern is to knit up to the bodice in the round to save that pesky seaming.

Better get clickity clacking!

Bellinis it is

(Excuse me today...I think my blog constipation has eased!)

So, my drink of choice over the next couple of weeks is the Bellini. I got my fixin's yesterday.


Perhaps a tipple of Haewai Festive Mead to finish off a meal too?

Good to go!

Craft 2.0 agin

I spent an enjoyable hour or so wandering around Craft 2.0 with M8 and her buddy, H10. It always provides quite the crafty inspiration and we've come home with a few more things to add to our "must-try's" next year.

The horse tote had to come home with us. Supposedly, M8 and I are going to share but I don't know that the poor kid will get a look in.

This time of year is filled with good intentions that come to naught. These gift tags are simple and cute and someone else made them for me.

Irresistible felt stocking...mine, all mine.

I'm down with the whole pincushion love and hope my plan to make myself one comes to fruition next year, but this one came home to M8's craft basket.

Love these dinky boxes! The nice lady also gave M8 & H10 a gift tag each, that matched their outfits...cute gesture. I'll pop wee sweeties in these.

Stationery

We are all about the stationery (e for envelope) at our place. OK, so the Mummy is all about the stationery, and bought this gorgeous Nature Notebook for M8 and now wants to keep it for herself. Perhaps I need to get back to Wanda Harland for the girl's journal for me! This one has been tucked into the cupboard for next year.

I also picked up this sweet simple recycled paper notebook for M8 at Craft 2.0. We'd been talking about making books next year then I read a great post on the book 'How to Make Books' over at Soulemama, and in a few places since. It couldn't be more perfect for what we want. It'll definitely be in our next book order. We're also going to set up a letter-writing box similar to Amanda's book box.

p.s Happy Birthday, Martha. Thanks for the wee chat in your lovely store. Enjoy your birthday dinner out.

World AIDS Day

1 December is World AIDS Day around the globe. For me, it always brings thoughts of poor communities, particularly those I've seen in Africa, hugely affected by this disease.

I've seen complete despair, holding a skeletally thin woman in a dark hut, in her last days with barely any last comforts available to her. I've met a 14 year old boy, parenting three younger siblings alone after his 16 year old sister had left to marry for a better life, his parent's graves just behind their bare hut. I've been buoyed by the hope of a group of HIV Positive women living a full existence, despite their lack of access to healthcare available to us.

(Excuse the photos of photos from Uganda and Malawi.)

Please be aware and check out the information at World Vision New Zealand, World Vision International and the video links at World Vision US.

Now what?

I bought this very cheaply off a friend's mother. Now what?

I felt it

I felt the felting love this weekend. I knitted A2 a pair of wee clogs. Now everyone else is wanting a pair...I need some knitting elves to sneak in at night for me! Here they are pre and post-felting.

I broke one of the needle heads on my Denise Interchangeables set so after I finished sulking I did this cotton hat from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts to cheer myself up. The cotton looks edible and my sister found it for only $1/ball. Just waiting to see who has a baby which will fit this.

I couldn't resist these cutesy Peter Rabbit buttons to gussy up a plain garter stitch premmie cardigan.

Water Matters Part One

We have been using the fantastic World Vision resource "Water Matters" with the kids for a couple of terms. Today was the perfect day to walk to the river to fetch water so buckets in hand we set off.

A2 loved his "jungle adventure".

Time for a brief cool-down before commencing work.

There was time for a bit of bug-spotting. We identified this guy as a Manuka Beetle, once home.

Back through the jungle.

Yes, it's heavy work - let's do it African-styles.

Even the smallest members contribute to the family economy.

Phew...back home!

And the results? It took the group 20 minutes to collect their water rations. It would take M8 58 similar trips to collect the amount of water she uses in a day - 19 hours of water collecting at the group pace! We hope this has sparked a new appreciation for all the blessings we enjoy in New Zealand.

Water Matters Part Two

Nothing like a late afternoon splash in the river to cool busy children down.

Undies

A2 is psyched for toilet training. We've started his undie stash - Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the Builder - and away we go. I'm not in the habit of displaying photos of our underwear so I hope Mr Two & a Half won't mind;-)

This signals we are coming to the very end of the Babyhood Chapter of his life. No more nappies (Hubby is psyched about this). I thought it would be a huge hairy deal for me as I was totally into the whole Cloth Nappy scene. But it feels like a natural progression through the seasons of my wee man's life and I'm ready to embrace the next phase.

Let's not get too ahead of ourselves. He ain't trained yet and I'm still not quite ready to sell the cot.