Well tomorrow will be a sad day as well as an exciting one.
Tomorrow we get our new car but first we have to say good buy to our old one.
Our car we have had for 5 years, it was the first car Warwick and I brought as a couple, it was the car that we went on our honeymoon in, it was the car we took our daughter home from the hospital in when she was born.
I know I am sentimental but the car has a lot of memories and it has been good to us.
There are only 3 occasions that it hasn't worked, all of course were the times we really needed it to work.

1: Before I was married and saving for the wedding I had a job that took me round the south island. One morning as I was about to go to Hokitika for two weeks and had 3 people to pick up and take with me, the car decided it would be a good time for the battery to die. I was living at my mums house at the time and she has a very narrow drive way (there is about 2 inches either side of the wing mirrors from the fence and the house). The car was up the top of the driveway and the battery was so dead we didn't even have power steering. It was winter so the windows fogged up and there was no way to wind them down and you could open the door as it was being pushed down the driveway. So as you can imagine it was very hard to see. Eventually we got it on to the road and got it jump started, but we were half an hour late for our shift in Hokitika.

2: Was when I was in labour with Alyssa. Our car is very low and I couldn't get out of the car so my mum came over to take me to the hospital. I got in mums car and we were about to leave and Warwick came flying down the driveway waving his arms asking us to stop. Mum got out and asked him what was wrong (the battery was flat again) Mum had to push Warwick down the drive way while I was having contractions in mums car. You can imagine the panic but they got the car started and I got to the hospital safely.

3: Was when Alyssa was five weeks old at Christmas we went to see the lights out at kaiapoi. We hopped in the car ready to leave and it wouldn't start. We had to push it again but I couldn't cos I had just had a c-section 5 weeks before hand, so again my poor mum had to push the car, a few guys standing on the side of the road decided to help, when the car started Warwick took of down the road (full speed) and my mother ended up flat on her face in the middle of the road and all I could do was laugh.

Other than those 3 times we never had any problems with it. I love that car but we as a family have out grown it and I will be sad to see it go.

I am excited about our new car and all the memories we can make, Praise God for finding the perfect car for us and praise God for mum who put up with so much and offered to buy us a new battery cos she was sick off pushing our car.

Praise God

Well yesterday we went into the bank trusting God and hoping all things will turn out for the better, and did they what. Yesterday we were co owners of part of our house and now we are the sole of owners of our property in Aranui. Our personal banker said we have never let a payment slip so was glad to refinance our mortgage and pay off the smaller one and also give us a lone for the car we need because he trusts us to pay even on a limited income.
So yeah we are off to look at cars this morning with a thankful heart to God for all he has done for us. PRAISE GOD

If anyone has sat in the back seat of our car you will understand why we need a new one because to fit a rear facing car seat in the back is just not a practical thing. God has given us the means to get a bigger car which never thought would be possible until I was back at work.
Again I say all things are possible with Christ Jesus who strengthens us.

Praise God for the family member who put a rocket up our bottoms and forced us to rely on God.

Gods comfort

Well with 2 weeks left of my pregnancy everything seems to be falling into place. The babies room is completed except for the wardrobe, my husband 30th is over and done with now all there is to do is wait. Well that would be the easy way to look at things. We have been put in a rather uncomfortable position by a member of our family, this position effects our mortgage and relies on having a good stable financial position, which with one of us due to give birth in the next two weeks and the other on a student allowance doesn't look promising. So other than just about making me go into labour with all the stress I slept on the information and woke up this morning and God directed me to read 2 Corinthians 1:3-11
which in a nut shell says that God is with us and comforts us when we are suffering also suffering brings us closer to God because we learn to rely on him more. Jesus endured the ultimate in suffering so that he could comfort us when we need it and after we have been comforted we can go on and comfort others the same way as Christ comforts us.
I then felt to read 2 Corinthians 2:5-11 which says we must forgive the person who caused the distress and to show them love.
I admit this will be hard to do but in Christ we can do anything
If anyone reads this today I would realy appreciate your prayers as we go and speak to the bank today and try and sort this mess out, and pray the stress doesn't send me into hospital to have the baby too early.

Lost

Lately I have been feeling really distant from God. In that I have been struggling with low moods and just not coping with anything coming my way. I find that most days my husband is at work and I am left without a car, I seem to break down and feel trapped. The street we live in is nice but the streets surrounding it are not and I feel very uncomfortable walking in the area. There is miles to walk to the nearest bus stop, so I feel trapped in my house when I don't have the car.
When you are stuck at home with an energetic 3 year old it can drive even the calmest people mental. When Alyssa gets bored everything get pulled out and thrown on the floor, which adds to the house work.
I have made myself a roster to fully tidy just one room a day and what a lot of pressure that takes off. For me getting up in the morning and seeing the state of the house and thinking I have the whole house to clean strips me of all my motivation because the job is to big so nothing gets done. With doing one room a day that room gets a thorough clean (rather than just a tidy up) and I have all day to do it.

I don't really know why I feel so distant from God when He is still so obviously working in my life. I don't know if its because of where I'm at being so down a lot of the time or am I down a lot of the time because I am distant from God? Or is it that I haven't had a chance to use my gifts and talents in such a long time that I'm losing them and that is creating a barrier between us?

My mother is not a Christian and some of the things she says about and over Alyssa seem to have a lasting effect. I hadn't broken any word of curses off Alyssa for a while and she was becoming a real handful for anyone to look after, then it occurred to me to pray for her and since then she has been wonderful (yeah she still has her moments but what child doesn't) She has been a lot easier to look after and has even been a bit helpful at putting her toys away after she has finished playing with them.
See God is still working in my life in almost every aspect I just don't feel it like I used to I suppose.