Dreams for the Future, when I win the Lottery Jackpot

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

{This is a collaborative post}

I have to admit it's been quite some years since I have actually played the lottery, but when it first launched here in the UK, I did play every week and I had a set of numbers that I always used. I won the odd £10 by matching three numbers and I think I even had four numbers once or twice but never more than that sadly. However, just because I don't play doesn't stop me dreaming of what I'd do with a really big win.

I don't think I'm alone there and I know I've played the 'what I'd do if I had a million pounds' game with friends before. I actually really enjoy spending an hour dreaming about what the future might hold if I have a whole load of money in my bank account. So here are the things I'd like to do if I win the lottery jackpot one day in the future.

Help Others

The first thing I know I want to do is help others. I know that sounds a bit cliche but as a Christian, it is important to me to serve and help others where I can. I'm not a saint, so it will need to be a project or business where I enjoy serving and working, rather than just selflessly giving, but it needs to be worthwhile. I've always had this dream that my husband and I would run a Christian conference centre somewhere in the UK, and he is sort of doing that now.

So I think my dream would now be slightly different. Still working with my husband and offering hospitality, but being more local community based. I could see myself investing in and managing a community centre that is really committed to helping its local people. I'd have a pastor and team on board to run the church side of things, but my husband and I could lead the outreach. We'd have a community cafe where locals can come for food, be that paid or gifted, people to chat and pray with them, a food bank, debt and job counselling, activities for the kids and youth and so much more.

I feel excited just thinking about this. Money is often the thing that holds these kinds of projects back and if I had my lottery win, there would be no need for it to feel limited by its resources. My background is in HR and training, so I'd really enjoy doing the practical parts of coaching people to help them get back into employment and leading training courses for parenting, assertiveness, time management. You name it, I want to give it a go!

Perfect Vision: Expectations versus Reality

Photo by Scott Van Daalen on Unsplash

{This is a collaborative post}

The seasons are changing quickly, and trying to see your way forward past the chaos of Covid-19 can feel like a never-ending derailment. 2020 vision is what all optometrists hope for their patients and what the year ahead had hoped to deliver: a more exact brighter future with the vision to see the road forward easily and without a million pitfalls.

However, rather than this beautiful ideal, it has been a year of chaotic upheaval and change. The key to our survival has been family, friends, and the relationships we have with other people. With eyes wide open, we have all watched as our world transforms into a new reality, which is all a little abstract and remote from the streams of our previous existence.

Faith and family are what help us to see past all of the uncertainty and change. For sure faith and hope have steered the direction of many people's lives during this pandemic and with our great British resolve we will get through this difficult time and come out the other side accepting a new normal.

As the days in lockdown or with restrictions have rolled by, we have embraced new ways to relax and keep a clear mind. Here, in this linked resource are a few techniques you can use to find direction and motivation, helping you explore the things you love. There doesn't have to be anything complex or sophisticated about the techniques you embrace, simple acts like taking a walk in nature and observing the changing season can help us to embrace the vision of our new reality.

Feeling Cheery for the Future #R2BC

Hello friends. Happy Thursday. How is it possibly April already?  I had a bit of a shock when I realised today I was hosting #R2BC for this month.  I think we say it every year but it does feel as if time is whizzing by!

I've titled this post feeling cheery for the future, as I'm focusing on what will come to pass and I'm feeling very happy about it. I had an amazing walk with this wonderful lady who I chat to about everything and anything last week, and I poured my heart out, tears and all. It was very freeing and cathartic. We meet again this Friday, which will be a great follow up too. She is an amazing coach and challenges my thinking.

Then on Saturday last week I attended the Premier Woman to Woman conference with my friend Annie and it was fabulous. We had four amazing speakers and a great worship leader and I came away feeling inspired to change, to grow and to be who God created me to be.

I've been reading a book recently called Dream Culture and it has been about unlocking all the dreams that reside within me, it's been a great step forward. I realised I had stopped dreaming and was just sitting waiting to see how God wants to use me. I now realise He has already planted the passion in me for what I'm supposed to do and I just have to unlock it, equip myself and be brave enough to walk into it.

One of the speakers (Terri Savelle Foy) at the conference spoke on fulfilling your dreams too and that felt very pertinent. I've just purchased her book "Make Your Dreams Bigger Than Your Memories: Don't Let Your Past Keep You From Your Future" and I'm looking forward to taking that on holiday with me Sunday.

My picture: His words

Not done one of these for a while, so it is about time!

As I prayed last week I really felt this scripture come to mind and it feels very apt as at the moment I'm at an 'in between' stage. I'm very much enjoying life and getting involved with lots of different things but there is no big plan or goals at the moment and that is a bit strange. My whole life so far has been working towards goals and now my goals are much more fluid and hard to measure. I'm focusing on parenting, growing closer to God and spending more purposeful time with him. Also on being able to relax and just be and to stop finding my worth in what I do and achieve.

Sometimes we have to cling onto those precious words from the bible and know that they are true.  He will always give us something good and I'm looking forward to when the next part of his plan will be revealed. At the moment my husband and I are embarking on a new journey, one which might be quite tough and will certainly have us jumping through some hoops for he next few months but we believe it will be right and that God is leading us down this path.

How are things with you at the moment? Do you have any prayer requests for me, I'll happily pray for you.  Have a blessed week, Mich x

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Giving children what they need not what they want

Parenting is probably the hardest job I’ve ever had to take on; it is full on and there is little respite available. I have such respect for those who have to parent alone, at least I can talk things through with my dh and walk away to cool down when I need to as he is there to tag team with.

Just recently I have been pondering quite a lot about how children desire things and it is our job as parents to act as the gatekeeper and to decide what is good for them and if they can have it. If the rules were left up to a child they would generally choose to eat ice cream all day, not go to school, stay up late and do as they please. We of course know this would make them fat, lazy and poorly educated as well as tired and irritable, but they do not have that wisdom that comes with age.

Rarely do they acknowledge that we know best and that we only want the very greatest things for them so the hard bit comes when our child retaliates and argues with us as the sensible options we are offering often seem boring or staid. However we know that boring can help them to develop into a kind and well-rounded young adult.

I really feel it is our job as parents to be disliked at times. When JJ wants to argue with me about when he will do his homework (I know I’m lucky that he is willing to do it at all) it is my job to lay down the law and insist he does it when I say. There are times we talk things through and I offer him choices or we compromise but there are also times when I feel it is very important to put my foot down and remind him I am the parent and he will do as he is told. I do end up laughing mostly though as afterwards he will tell me that he is so glad his homework is out the way or he loves it when his room is tidy! I suppose that is the joy of him being slightly older at 10 years, he is starting to learn that Mum does know best.

At age six I think the girls have not really comprehended yet that I know best and they just think that sometimes I am a spoil sport and I will stop them doing something fun for the sake of it. Miss M hurts herself constantly after doing something we have asked her to stop but does she learn? Oh no, she does not appear to absorb the lesson at all. I take heart that JJ was like her at her age and thus there is hope that she will grow out of this demanding and exhausting stage she is in right now.

I was reading a devotional book the other day and the writer shared a story about how her husband had gone for a job as a head teacher of a large and prestigious school, together they had prayed he would get the job. Then when the verdict came that he had been unsuccessful she was so cross at God as she just knew the job would be perfect for her husband and he would be able to do so much good there. Within a few months she fell seriously ill and her husband needed to be available to care for her and to work in a job that did not take every ounce of his energy. Of course God’s beautiful plan started to make sense when later she thought back to this time but at the time it just seemed so painful when something they really wanted did not come to fruition.

As always I think I have something to learn from my children as very often I‘m impatient and I know what I want for my family and I’ll be honest I’d go as far as to say I think I know best. But of course that is stupid and presumptuous, I have no idea what God has planned for my family and I know His plans are always far better than I could ever imagine. It is a lesson for me to do as my children do and to listen to my heavenly father rebuke me and teach me that sometimes I have to do things I don’t want to but they will be for the very best.

We all need guidance in life, we are growing and changing every day and when we rely on our parents (be them physical or spiritual) then we probably won’t go far wrong.

There have been so many occasions when I have been disappointed that something didn’t work out and then later I see the reason why, so when a door closes don’t give up hope, keep faith and all will be revealed in God’s good time.

Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT)
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

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If you like what you have read and want to stay up-to-date then subscribe by email for free and receive blog posts directly to your in-box - just click the link Subscribe to Mummy From The Heart... by Email or perhaps you like to keep all your blog reading in one place, if that is the case you can follow me on BlogLovin too!

#RealLifeRocks in 2013

I'm writing this on the evening on 27th December, so we have just four days left of 2012. I've looked back over the last three years on my blog and each year at this time, I say the same thing - that I won't set any resolutions and set myself up to fail. That does make sense but tonight I have been questioning whether I have not set any resolutions in recent years so that I do not have to actually keep to them. There are certain things that really do need to be tackled and I keep pussy footing and not grabbing the issue by the balls and dealing with it.

A couple of months ago I posted about my main focus for 2013, that being Operation #RealLifeRocks, I totally standby this and it is my overreaching aim of the year, to live in the now and to cherish what I have in front of me.

I do need some direction but I want to keep it positive and simple, so rather than a list of do-nots.  I'll share with you in pictures what I will be doing in 2013...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most of these I look at and think yes that is achievable I can do that but when it comes to my weight I have a brain block, so I'll leave you with this simple thought and I have to admit it made me cry when I read it -

 'If you believe it .... you can achieve it'. 

I need to start believing...

Books image credit

#R2BC - F is for..... The crowd sourced version!

Howdy all, I hope it is a cheery Thursday where you are!  I am feeling good here, pleased to report that last week’s blah feeling was gone in a flash.

This week I am starting all the things that make me cheerful or grateful with the letter F and I started to think about what that might include whilst the girls were at gymnastics yesterday afternoon.  I was not getting that far if I am honest.  My thoughts consisted of -

·        Future – and mine feels very rosy right now. I have some wonderful opportunities coming up and I feel positive on all fronts.  I am at last manning up and dealing with my weight with the help of God.

·        Family – mine rock!  Need I say more?

·        Faith – this keeps me going when times are tough and I am so proud to say I am a Christian.  Since finding faith my life has been transformed, all for the better.

I didn’t feel that my thinking was taking me too far, so I sent out a random tweet ‘Tell me Twitter, I say F if for…. You say?  Positive answers pls’ and I got loads of responses, which was a nice surprise. So I thought to myself why not make this week’s #R2BC a crowd sourced edition.

Here are some of my favourites that Twitter came up with (sadly I can’t add them all, as there were so many) –

@C-oreilly was straight in there with Friends. Doh of course, how did I forget that one?

@tattooed_mummy proved to be very useful and in quick fire succession she offered – family, friends, funky, festival, fun, fishfingers, fans, frogs, fruit, food, feet (especially babies) flowers and flapjacks!

@Natgourley made me smile with her input ‘Fish and Chips! Like the ones I just had at the beach. Feeling extremely positive after those! #yum’

@lesleyannp offered me ‘flatulence’ which was an interesting one and I liked her second effort much more ‘forgiveness’. Oh yes – so important!

My favourite offering had to be from @ktmoo and she said ‘f is for 'flutterings' (I'm pregnant and started feeling the little one recently)’

Lastly I give you @anonomum’s suggestions, which will have you humming or singing some cheesy melodies – Freedom and Final Countdown!

Now over to you, of course you do not have to use the letter F.  You probably know me by now, you can do what you fancy and as long as the post is a cheery, grateful or happy one. Link it up. It’s my Mum’s birthday this weekend and the Olympic torch is passing through our town Sunday so I expect to be busy and may well not get to every post this week to comment but I’ll make sure I stop by every blog of those who take the time to comment.

Wishing you all a blessed week, Mich x

Take the log hop code, paste it in your post and then people can travel blog to blog.  Link up now -

I'll tell you what I want...

...what I really, really want. I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, T wanna, I really, really, really wanna zigazig ha.

and if you have no idea what that is then you are too young to be reading this blog!  lol  Yes in the true spirit of the Spice Girls what I really want is some zigazig ha. I have no idea what the Spice Girls were actually referring to in that song - perhaps a bit of the other,  but for me what I want is some energy - some pizazz or I could call it some zigazig ha! I need to keep with those early nights as they are what make the world of difference to me - two ina  row now, this could be a roll...

Image Credit

Here are a few others things that I would absolutely love at the moment, things that would make my life so different, some of which are complete luxuries but it is OK to be a bit shallow sometimes, right? I know I am blessed and lucky but just sometimes you have little dreams about those things you would have if money were no object!

• A self cleaning car or perhaps a valet that you don't have to pay for. Anything that means I do not constantly have my bum hanging out the car while I pick bits of food, torn tissues and anything else that two 3 year olds deem 'good fun' to throw on the floor.
  
• Some time in the week when I have some time to myself to be able to do some exercise at the gym or pool. Roll forward to September and this little dream should come true when those little ladies are at school full time. It always amazes me that you have more energy when you do more strenuous things.
  
• Of course I would love to be slimmer (and thus more healthy), I would be a liar if I did not add this one.  This is one dream I know takes hard work and dreaming alone will do me no good!
• A trip to New Zealand with all my family. My best friend from Uni moved out about 9 years ago and she came back for my wedding in July 2002 and I have not seen her since. We both have kids now and it would be so amazing to go there and meet her children and see the life she is living.
• To have a spare bedroom so that we could foster a child, someone who really needs to know what it is like to live in a family where love and fun but also discipline are prevalent.
• A new front door!  It is becoming a pain to use the patio doors and the back entrance when the car is parked on the front drive. I know we will get the door but I hate the thought of spending £900 on just a boring old door!  Oh why did it have to break?
  
• A new kitchen. We moved into our house in 2002 and got quotes for a new kitchen back then, upon finding out I was pregnant in early 2003 we decided to be sensible and wait, we are still waiting.  The £6,000 odd this will cost just can not be justified.  I am pleased to have a sensible husband who does not just spend out but just sometimes I dream of a beautiful kitchen open into a dining room.
  
• Birthday parties sorted for all 3 kids, for some reason I do not enjoy planning their parties and get quite anxious about all the etiquette surrounding kids parties - who to invite, what to do, what time, how much it will cost, the list goes on....
  
• To live close to my parents.  I adore spending time with my family, as do my kids and it would be so amazing to be able to see them more regularly. Especially if we all lived by the seaside, which is my dream for tomorrow.
  
• To have an extra 2 or 3 hours in the day, so that I can feel as if I achieve more and have more time for socialising and blogging!
• To work for God, in whatever format that may take. I would love to leave the rat race of turning up for work each day, work that I just do to earn the money to live an acceptable life. If money were no object, I would be fostering or volunteering and doing something I feel is worthwhile and God's plan for me but as with everything it is in His time and not mine.
• More patience and less anger. I get cross and short-tempered far too much, luckily most of the time I can count to 10 and seethe inside but just sometimes I over boil.

and really this is just scratching the surface, I could go into all the longer term wants and dreams of my children being healthy, happy and fulfilled in whatever they do and dh and I enjoying finding ourselves as a couple again once the kids are older and we start to travel the world.

What about you, what would you really, really like at the moment?

Wow, Just Wow!

Have a watch, it may just blow you away! 1 minute 44 seconds, you have nothing to lose....



Come on, together we can reverse it!

Mich x

Ohh and did you know it is delurker week on Mummy From The Heart...?
If you are a frequent lurker or if this is your first time stopping by, do leave a comment and say hi (I have anon commenting allowed, so you do not have to log in even). If you have a blog I'd love to visit you and will commit to do so and if you don't have a blog then it would just be nice to get to know those who are reading! Thanks again. Mich x