Sunday 11 March 2012

Signs of life!

Another week full of contrasts, with my Gran's funeral which was a sad event, but it was good to be together as a family.  Later in the week Josh received his exam results and we had a high point, he achieved Bs in his three papers, so we are all very proud of him and the work he put in to getting these by himself.

Craft this week used last week's Bible verse and inspiration from another blog (the girl creative.com) who had crafted a word of the month from an on line etsy shop called " well good". As this lady does not ship to the UK, I set about making my own word of the month.

Word of the month for March
It is currently just paper mounted on card (hence the strip at the bottom) but Andy has decided it will look better if the letters are cut out of balsa wood and the paper mounted on the front.  It was fairly quick to make and the hardest part was choosing the font to print the letters out in to cut round, but once I had made that decision I cut the letters out from my scrap book paper stash. 

The Bible verse last week reminded my that as spring starts to make an appeaance, we were given life to live to its fullest.  We have been able to spend some time out in the garden this weekend and noticed the first signs of life returning; leaves budding, flowers poking up through the ground and an abundance of bug life.


How many ladybirds can you spot?
We had friends round for lunch today and it was so nice to be able to sit out in the sun before and after lunch.  We even got to use both lawns as the adults (and Josh) sat on one and the younger children played down by the vegetable patch (which is still just a piece earth waiting to warm up and be planted).

In my thinking for starting my blog I wanted to share some of the things we cook as a family and for my birthday my parents bought me Heston Blumenthal's new cook book.  So armed with the new book and assisted by Josh (who apparently has a reputation in science for wanting to blow things up!) we made chocloate puddings with gooey middles.  This receipe however was by Heston so rather than just cooking gooey chocolate cake, we made a ganache, which we froze, then cut into discs and placed in the ramekins before adding the cake mix and refreezing.  This meant that when we cooked the cake mixture the frozen middle defrosted so that they had a runny centre.  Very nice!

Andy spent some time with Jacob passing on DIY skills as he taught Jacob how to paint a window frame.  Jacob took on the task by himself after instructions were given and here is the window waiting to be rubbed down:


Not the biggest window in the world!
I'll post a picture of the finished article next week as we didn't go back with the camera!

This brings us to this week's Bible verse, which comes from Psalms:

Whom have I in heaven but you?
   And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
Pslams 73 verse 25

Psalms 73 is a lovely Psalm for those times when we find ourselves struggling with faith and is also a reminder that at the end of this life we are to be "taken into glory" or to use the words from my Gran's funeral (and the Salvation Army) "Promoted to Glory".  I don't think I could have chosen a better Psalm for us a family if I had gone looking for this week's Bible verse myself.  Sometimes you just have to wonder at the plan God has for our lives and appreciate that he can even use an internet search engine sometimes to point us in his direction!

Our prayer this week is that as the world around us springs back into life, that we may appreciate all that God has given and do what we can to take care of it.  We may be only a few but a few good steps taken together can make the world a better place (Amen).

With God's blessings from my family to yours,

Jo x

P.s Did you manage to spot all 5 of the ladybirds?  No have another look, there is one hiding behind a leaf, between the two at the top!

1 comment:

Nashes of Chennai said...

Love the picture of the ladybirds!
Well done to Josh on his exam success (although they don't seem to give them any rest these days so I'm sure he's already focussing on the next lot!)plus his promotion to the adult clique in get-togethers (you have to watch what you say now!)
It's good to hear Jacob has started his Dad Apprenticeship - looking forward to the finished image!
lots of love
p.s. save me a gooey chocolate pudding!
x