Looking Forward to December 2022

After spending quite some time in the last week reflecting on how things have changed in 2021 and how I have grown and matured, it’s now time to look forward. In one of my many recent emails, I was asked the questions –

Where do I want to be in December 2022?

What would I like to have achieved?

So, that got me thinking and of course, praying, about what my future might hold and I figured it’s no bad thing to visualise how things might look for me in a year's time. After 2021 being such a great year of spiritual growth I don’t want to rest on my laurels. I need to keep pressing on and making myself available to deepen my relationship with God and do His will. The first few things I come up with are –

• Be working in a job that fulfills me and makes a difference to others
• Have made my health a priority and lost some weight so I can move better and hurt less
• JJ settled at University and happy in his studies
• My girls feeling prepared to undertake their GCSE exams

This first part above I started to write in the first week of January and now it is 22nd January and I am already some way towards achieving the first one as I got a new job last week. I’m going to be the Food Bank Project Manager in the town where I go to church and it needs a complete overhaul, so this will be an exciting (and slightly scary) challenge, but I feel equipped to do it as I know it is God who placed it in front of me.

Other items that I’d add to my visualisation of how I’d like December 2022 to look, include –

• Adam being in a job that challenges and fulfills him, one where he doesn’t feel exasperated most days
• Us all being settled in our home, feeling safe and comfortable
• The whole family continues to be a part of our church family, fully involved in many aspects of serving
• My girls having great friends, that they can rely on and trust. Ones who are good influences on them
• Family life at home being more collaborative, with everyone helping with the chores and cooking as I’ll be working more
• All of my family is well in both physical and mental health

And that’s it really. I don’t know if I’m just a simple woman or if I have low expectations but I am content with what I have in the main and I think that is a very precious gift. Thank you Jesus for all you give me and the way you are a constant in my life. I am so glad I have you to go through this life journey with. I honestly don’t know where I’d be if I didn’t have you to turn to and rely on every single day. Amen

2021 – What a Year! Thank you, Jesus

Most years I write a round-up blog post of what’s gone on that year and I might look at my goals, achievements or all the fun experiences I’ve had, but this year, my end-of-year post feels quite different. It is about sharing all the growth that has happened in me during the year and as it’s a very personal post, I have decided to place it on here and resurrect this, my faith-based blog.

As a Christian, I’m not supposed to stand still and end the year the same Michelle as I was at the start of it. I’m supposed to change, grow and become more Christlike as I age and mature. Each of the last nineteen years since I gave my life to Christ I have changed and grown but some years it has been more evident than others. I think the last year has seen the most change and growth since 2013/14 and it feels amazing to know I am becoming more secure in my identity as a beloved child of God.

From Head to Heart

You often hear Christians talk of head knowledge and heart knowledge and by this they mean, that you may have learnt what the bible says and your head understands it as the truth; it’s a very logical and cognitive process, but the heart knowledge is about the relationship with Jesus. It is about the deep and personal knowledge that what the Bible says isn’t just for everyone else, but it is for you. It is intimate when it says

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16 (ESV)  

It really means that God allowed Jesus to go to the cross and die for me. I mean that much to God. And I’ve known this for years, but I admit it, it has been head knowledge. However, this year, I have come to truly believe, with all my heart, that despite my fat, my unforgiveness, my being judgmental at times that He is here for me and meeting me exactly where I am at and that even if I change for the better and stop all my sin, He will love me and accept me no more than He does right now, right this very moment. I am enough.

I want to jump for joy! I have needed this learning for such a long time and it has only come about as I have allowed God to heal me, for the Holy Spirit to work in me and I have submitted to Him. A verse that has been really ministering to me the last few months is “May your unfailing love be my comfort” (Psalm 119:76) and it has been really special to finally understand that others can never give me what I need. I have to go to the source, to God and He will provide all I need.

I want to share in this post everything that has happened this year, but in truth, I can’t actually remember all of it, as there has been so much. I do know that I need to thank Caroline, Krisha and Sheila for the help they have given me to process my hurt, anger and grief about so many things that have happened in my life. These three spiritual women have each challenged and supported me and I’ll be forever grateful.

At the end of last year, I had the picture of a pineapple and I felt called to become sweeter. I took this to mean that I needed to let go of my bitterness and to be more accepting and tolerant of others. I bought a few cheap pineapple items and put them in my home and a keyring in my bag and they have acted as a subliminal reminder. Also, in February I read a book called Sensible Shoes by Sharon Garlough Brown and took an online course about hearing God more clearly, put together by my blogger friend Joanna May Chee.follow These both really fed into the start of a year of pressing into God and wanting to know Him more, on a personal and deep level.

For months and months, I spent time with God most days to just wait on Him and to see if He could help me be set free from some of the blockages I had. I hadn’t cried for a few years and I knew there was something stopping me, but I wasn’t sure what and despite asking the Holy Spirit to guide me and show me, I wasn’t getting any revelation. When I hit a massive blip in my life at the end of September with troubles with one of my daughters and my husband went off for his sabbatical from work, I wasn’t sure what to do. It was as if I had disconnected myself from the situation and could tell the story as if it had happened to someone else. I knew it was a very sad and distressing situation but I couldn’t feel it.

Kingdom Healing Retreat

Fortunately, I saw an advert on Facebook for a healing retreat at the end of November and despite it being a few hundred quid and meaning I had to disappear from family life for five days I just knew it was important that I did. And I’m so glad. The Kingdom Healing Retreat at the Greenhouse Christian Centrenofollow in Poole was led by Dr Angela Walker of THEO ministriesnofollow and I kid you not when I say it was life-changing for me.

I feel like a new person. I lived and learnt so much in those five days I was away. I bawled my eyes out like a baby and proper ugly cried and it felt so good to be set free of the demons that I didn’t even know still possessed me. Who knew that my teachers’ hurtful words when I was around 8 years old, were still torturing me forty years later? And the wonderful thing now, is that I forgive Mrs Muckle, she didn’t know what she was doing. She didn’t intend to harm me, she probably thought she might motivate me to try harder and learn more, but words hurt.

I’ve just got my (very full) notebook out from that retreat and looked at the expectations I wrote for the course and I am pleased to see every one of them was fulfilled. At the end of the course, I wanted to feel again, to be able to cry, to process my past hurts, to know how blessed I am and to know that God loves me without limits. These things are all true. I am a very lucky Michelle.

One of the things I wrote right at the beginning of the course in very big letters was ‘I invite you in Jesus’ and I think I had forgotten that fundamental principle, that God is a gentleman and He will never push Himself upon you, He wants you to invite Him in – be it to your life, the situation, the hurt or whatever.

I learnt lots of new techniques on this course and definitely went deeper into my relationship with God. The first afternoon we had free time and I headed off on my own to spend the afternoon with God crafting. I had a wonderful time being held and adored by my Heavenly Father as I created the cross collage you can see below and I felt all these positive words spoken over me. I am free. I am loved. I am enough. I have a purpose.

As I read back over my notebook there is an overriding message of dumping the fear and living in faith. It’s that old cliché, the Truth will set me free and that’s God’s truth. His word, the bible that communicates to me His overriding love for me. He commands me to keep a short account and to forgive often and keep my spiritual dwelling pure and clean. He wants me to invite His Holy Spirit into my life, and all my daily tasks and problems. This is not a weakness; this is what He has ordained as right. I have learnt I can accept comfort and I can accept help as I am worthy of it.

Knowing I’m More Precious than Rubies

It is good for me to be vulnerable and to take risks. It does not matter if I perceive that others reject me as God never will. I felt a strong sense during one of the sessions that I am ‘beloved, beautiful, His bestie and I belong’. This was very affirming as I looked at the four words and realised, they all started with Be and this reminded me of the lesson I learned back in 2006, that I am a human being and not a human doing. That what God expects from me, is to just be, just as he created me. I don’t have to do anything to earn His love.

During one of the ministry sessions, I felt these verses strongly

“She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.” Proverbs 31:25 (NLT) and “She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.” Proverbs 3.:15 (NIV).

I then had a sense I was supposed to buy myself a new ring, maybe a ruby one, so that each time I looked at it I could be reminded of the Father’s love for me. We talked in the course about a ring signifying belonging and so this felt right. I have now bought myself a ring and it has a dual purpose. I went for a diamond ring, as I am more precious than rubies and the stone that is more precious is a diamond. I also got an eternity ring as this year I’ll celebrate twenty years of marriage to Adam and God has ordained us to be together for eternity, so this is the symbolism of my commitment to my marriage, however tough it may feel.

In this same session, I came to the realisation, with gentle prompting from the Holy Spirit that I had rejected myself. I had ostracised myself and made me the bad guy. Being overweight equalled not worthy. But it is a lie. I know this now. I was believing the Devils lies and allowing him to dictate my path. No more. I belong to God only and I welcome back my rejected self. I am whole again.

Prophetic writing was a skill I practiced whilst on the course and it is something I want to continue in the future as I found it an amazing way to freely hear what God was saying to me. He dictated a beautiful love letter to me, as well as instructing and encouraging me. He was also able to guide me to see pictures of my family and view them just as He sees them. That was a very special gift.

I left Poole with a stronger sense of worth. I now believe that God has a purpose for me and that He wants me to live a full life. Not limiting myself by saying no to things as I am scared I’ll fail or be too fat and make a fool of myself. He says I am beautiful and worthy and He has given me a spirit of Yes. On New Year’s Eve I was reflecting on what my word for the year ahead might be and all that kept coming to mind was ‘yes’ and I wasn’t too sure, but reading back over my notes from this retreat, numerous times I wrote that God had given me a spirit of yes and that this means bravery.

So yes God. I am here and I’m saying yes to all of it. Take me on this crazy journey of life that you have planned for me and I’ll participate and play my part. YES!

 

Reasons to be Cheerful - New Years Eve Edition

Hey friends. It's New Year's Eve and about 8.30pm as I start to craft this post, and this will be the extent of my celebration tonight. Watching TV, crafting blog posts and reflecting back on my year whilst enjoying an espresso martini, that I hope will be OK with the ibuprofen I took earlier as I have a poorly knee. 

I really don't mind that I'm not out partying as it has been the strangest of Christmas times. Covid ripped through the community where I live and by Boxing Day we had around 40 people either positive or isolating. Thank goodness we were closed for business and have around 150 bedrooms, so everyone could safely isolate. It did mean that not many of us were left to hold the fort and to ensure that around 60 people were fed and taken care of.  As always, I'm so proud of each member of my family, who stepped up and did what they could to ensure that even one person's day was a bit brighter than it could have been. 

We're now coming out the other side and the General Directors are back on-site to manage the situation and people are reaching the end of their isolation and testing negative so they can come back to regular life. I have been so astounded and grateful that no one in our family has tested positive, neither by regular LFTs nor by PCR test. I think I can safely say God's hand of protection has been upon us. 

We haven't completely escaped ill health though as my hubby has a nasty cold and I've done something to my knee, which means I have pain, tenderness and numbness in my knee and leg. I think God is telling me to rest up, which is a shame as I really fancied heading to Birling Gap tomorrow, just like I did last New Years Day. Oh well, there is always another day!

Before Covid struck it had been a very nice December and I wanted to share a few photos for future memories and give thanks to the Lord for some great times. Despite my parents/ brother not being able to come for Christmas and our Christmas and New Year plans getting cancelled I have had one of the best December ever and that is a testament to the work Christ has been doing in me this last year. 

2019 - What a Great Year!

I've really enjoyed spending the last few days looking over 2019 and reflecting and praying on what has happened this year. In all, it has been a really good year as I have learnt that my immediate future is based at home - working from here, being available to my children, supporting my husband, volunteering and making sure that I take time to spend with God. Also finding a balance between focusing on getting myself healthier by eating better and exercising, and making sure that my outlook is on other people, so I don't become too self-absorbed. 

It's funny as I never pictured myself as a stay-at-home-mum, or even a work-at-home-mum. My future was always firmly mapped out as a very successful career woman. I knew I'd do well, earn a lot of money, have a big detached house and drive a Mercedes. They were all aspirations before I became a Christian and had my whole life turned upside down. Now I earn very little, live in a house that comes with my husbands job, drive a practical car, I share with my husband and I am more fulfilled than I ever dreamt I could be. Life can surprise you!

2009 - 2019 A decade in Photos

I kept seeing people doing the #10yearchallenge on social media, sharing a picture of themself and their immediate family in 2009 and then again for the end of the decade in 2019, and I really liked the idea of looking back and seeing what has happened in this decade. How have we aged?

I realised quite quickly though, that for me, most of my life-changing moments happened before 2009. By then I was already married (7 years), had owned three houses (since 1997) and was mum to a 6-year-old and 2-year-old twins. I was happily working part-time at the University of Herts in HR and had been there for around 5/6 years, and had completed my Masters in HR two year prior.

2009 proved to be an allusive year for a photo of the five of us, and I couldn't find any, so I'll start the photos in 2010, this one was taken in June, so it is just before the girls 3rd birthday and we were at a family wedding. It's not the best quality but you can see how young and fresh-faced dh and I look, and I love the joy on JJ's face. So funny to see him missing some teeth when he is now such a giant!

Marching into 2019 with Hope and Love

It's that time of year when so many people are thinking about what lies ahead for them in the next year. I really like this time, when it feels like you have a blank canvas ahead of you and whatever you do feels exciting and new. However for me, it is the keeping it going beyond the first couple of weeks, or even the whole of January (if I'm lucky) that is the tricky bit.

Years back I used to make resolutions, and then always felt bad when they went to pot, so I put that to bed and in December 2013 I published a list of expectations for the year ahead and looking back now, I like that. It was full of positivity and to be honest if I re-published the same list for 2019, I wouldn't go far wrong.

2014's list of expectations

2015 was supposed to be the year that I got #FitandFree, I used that hashtag for a while and the aim was to get fit and lose weight. Guess what?  It didn't happen.

At the beginning of 2016 I wrote about the goals I'd like to achieve that year, and with the exception of the big one that has been evading me forever (the weight loss) I did well.

It appears that I didn't write an end of year, or start of year post for 2017 but I remember this was the year I changed to having a guiding word. My choice of word was Trust and this was about trusting God and trusting myself. Then for 2018, I did the same and chose a word, this time it was Believe - I had to believe I could do it. What was the it?  Lose weight of course.

As I read over these old posts, it is very sad to see that my main goal at the end of every year is to be healthier and fitter, by losing weight and exercising more. It would be so easy to throw the towel in and say that I'm never going to do this, that experience shows I give up easily.

But I refuse to give up. 

In last years post, I said by the end of the year I would be far more healthier and lighter than I was starting the year. If I just look at that, then it would be a fail, but I've always maintained that you don't fail, you win or you learn in life and if I look into that post further, I see that I published a list of what I would believe in. It is when you read these that I know I won last year, I made great progress, yes my outside body still looks fat and my physical health isn't great but my spiritual health is so much better. I do believe I am worth it, I believe I'm loved and that I make a difference and I end the year already a gym member who is actually using her membership each week and knowing that in 2019 I will lose weight. I start slimming world on New Years Day.

Here is the list I published this time last year -

• I need to believe I am significant and worthy of good outcomes
• I need to believe I can make the right choices with food
• I need to believe that exercising is necessary and can be enjoyable
• I need to believe I will lose weight
• I need to believe I am loved
• I need to believe my actions make a difference
• I need to believe the best of others
• I need to believe I have the time to spend with God each day

Today a spent a good couple of hours in the prayer centre as I was trying to focus on what my mantra should be for 2019. Now I know some Christians don't like the word mantra, but I'm not getting hung up on this. A lady I follow on Instagram - Ysette Guevara has been talking about mantras recently, and her first one was 'to rest in the palm of God' and this spoke so loudly to me. So I've been asking God where my focus should be and how do I tune into Him more and keep moving forward.

The first mantra, or phrase that came to me was

"rest in Me child"

and I was feeling very positive with that and ready to move forward with it, as it spoke to me about getting rest, having quiet time with God, sleeping well, giving God the control and acknowledging I am a child who needs to be guided and is loved.

Then tonight I went to a couple of short workshops and the one on being free from fear really grabbed me and I came away, after doing the session in the dark with just the odd candle, believing that I have to step into the light, or live in the light, and then the words of the well-known song came to me

"marching in the light of love"

and this feels right for me too, as marching is doing and I need to be actively putting in to my exercise and weight loss journey, the light is God and I must rely on Him and He is love, so feeling supported and appreciated as I take these steps that have proved so difficult for over three decades!

So here I am right now, with two mantras and I don't know if that will work or naturally over the next few days as I pray and wait on God if one will make itself clear as my guide for the next year ahead. Whichever, it doesn't matter as I'm feeling positive and I know there is hope....

Why not pin this post for later?

There’s Positive Changes Afoot in 2018 with #BootsLittleBoosts

We are now well in to February and my year has started off well. January was all about having my operation for menorrhagia and then healing from that and now I feel like life can really take-off. I no longer have a lack of energy, nor am I anaemic. 2018 is a year that I plan to believe more in myself and in God’s great plans for me, I wrote about it at the beginning of the year and posted my first update last week. The area of my life that I really need to get a grip on is my health and specifically my weight, which sadly, is affecting my health and not in a good way.

However, I am feeling very positive and I am going to take lots of little steps that all add up and will make a difference. If I’m honest many of these steps (or changes) are things I have committed to before and then they’ve not happened or I’ve let them slip but I’m not going to let that stop me. I have to believe that mentally I am now in the right place and that since I have been freed from my terrible (and constant) bleeding that things in my life can change for the better.

The fear of failure must no longer stop me. I’ve been reading a book recently (yet another one) called ‘The Year of Saying Yes’ by Helen Doyle and it is just a fiction book. A great story about a woman called Isobel who changes her life by saying yes to a series of monthly dares and it has been so helpful to me. I have come to realise that often I say no or I am passive in my actions because I am scared it won’t all work out. What the book has made me realise is that it is better to try, better to take one step, better to do it imperfectly, than not at all.

It felt like a God-moment when Boots recently got in touch and asked if I’d like to take part in their #BootsLittleBoosts campaign as this is all about how I am boosting my health and wellness routine for this New Year. They want to know how I’m going to shake off the excess of the winter festivities and to embrace the year ahead with new vigour. It fits in perfectly with my new ‘Believe’ philosophy.

So here goes, I know that Little Steps = Big Changes if I’m consistent and I’m going to set my focus in four key areas -

Happy 2017 - Reasons to be Cheerful #R2BC

Happy New Year friends, how are you? Has 2017 started with a boom or just a little fizz? All is well here and here are just a few of the things making me super cheerful and grateful this week -

1.  Catch up time

My kids went back to school on Tuesday and Wednesday so I am now sat here alone and enjoying being able to catch up on some blog work, there is tons to do and it could easily overwhelm me if I let it, but I won't. Balance and perspective are the order of the day for blogging nowadays.

2.  My house is in order

I really don't function well in a house full of mess and with things out of place. So slowly whilst the kids were still off I started to gut some of the rooms and then yesterday I did the last of it whilst they were at school and now I feel as if I have cleanliness and order back in my house once again, hurrah!

Will You Be Watching the New Years Fireworks in London?

Photo Credit: Novotel

This year my husband and I will be doing separate things on New Years Eve. He'll be taking a group of our volunteers to Night Church in Hastings to ensure that anyone there on the streets has somewhere safe to drop in for a cuppa and a listening ear throughout the night and I'll be with our children at a community party.

We'll all have the day together, maybe taking a trip to one of our favourite National Trust sites for a frosty walk and then sharing an international dinner with around 80 other people in our community. Then once my husband has left it is party time (not because he has left you understand, just because that will be the start) with mocktails, games, dancing and lots of fun. I'm not sure if all the kids will stay up for the clock to chime twelve, we will see but whatever way it goes I know we will have fun.

I do miss our old tradition for New Years Eve though. When we lived in Hertfordshire my husband would work most New Years and we would all go up to London together and stay over in a central hotel. He'd then go to work late in the evening and watch the fireworks at midnight from the top of his building in Euston and the kids would fall off to sleep in the hotel room and I'd watch the magnificent London fireworks out of the hotel window with a glass of wine and some choice snacks.

Little Steps, Big Changes

It’s that time of year again, when we all reflect on our lives and the year gone by and many of us decide to make some changes and set some goals. I’m not a big fan of making resolutions as they feel like pressure I do not need and I’m tempted to break them very quickly, so I struck resolutions off my to-do list quite some years ago now.

I am however passionate about change; things do not stay the same and that is a good thing. As a Christian, I’m learning and growing every day, just like Jesus did and even though on the outside it might look like my life is pretty much the same as this time last year it is the inner me I know that has changed for the better.

There are still plenty of changes that need to be made and the biggest one of all is losing some weight and becoming healthier. In the last year I have been diagnosed with cough variant asthma and early onset arthritis in my knees and that can’t be right for someone who is just 42 years of age. Losing weight has been a goal of mine for near on thirty years so this isn’t going to be an easy one to achieve but then the best things in life are never easy.

I’ve had a bit of a revelation in the last few weeks though and it is encouraging. I’ve been asking myself why I think I can have a different result (i.e. weight loss) when I keep doing the same things? I’m in a terrible pattern of trying to diet or ‘be good’ as I call it at least once a year and for two or three months I am motivated and I can manage to drop a few stone. Then it gets boring and my true love of food rears its head again and off I go in that same spiral of eating and dieting.

My revelation this year has been that I need to make small incremental changes and introduce new habits into my life. Habits for life in fact. The current NHS programme to help educate our nation is called ‘change for life’ and that is exactly what I need to do. Not diet, not ‘be good’, not anything for a short period of time but make long lasting changes.

It’s been fairly easy to identify that I lose all will power and determination as soon as I’m tired so the first change I’ve been making in January has been my bedtime. In bed with the light off by 11pm has been my rule, there has been the odd time later but massive improvements have been made in general. If I want to read my book I go up at 10pm so there is time before the 11pm lights off, not just tag it on the end and find myself still awake at gone midnight as had become the norm.

Hand in hand with this earlier bedtime has been an earlier wake-up time. I like the morning and thus it seems sensible to make the most of it before the house awakens, so at 6.30am I’ve been creeping into the lounge and reading my bible, writing my journal and praying. It’s been a very blessed time.

I now need to ensure that these patterns continue for the foreseeable future. Researchers seem to say that the minimum time it takes to form a habit is 21 days of continuous activity, but the more complex and difficult it is for you to personally adopt that habit the longer it will take. There is no strict formula but UCL suggest a good estimate is 66 days, that’s just over two months, yikes!

I’ve also had a health assessment in January and found out I am 47% fat and that feels like a scary figure but it is just that, a figure. A place I’m starting a journey from, it does not have to define me. There is no more ‘hello I’m Michelle and I’m fat’, it is now ‘hello, I’m Michelle, a child of God’, that is what defines me. It will be incredibly satisfying to watch this fat figure decrease, in more ways than one!

There will be more for me to update you on in coming weeks, but that’s it for now.

First two small steps, early to bed and early to rise. You know what they say about that? I’d be content with healthy, wealthy and wise!

What about you, have you got changes planned this year?

A year on Instagram - 2014

At the end of each year since I've been blogging (ekk 6 years now) I've tended to write a post that sums up my year and pulls together all the things my family has done and the trials I have battled. 2014 has been a wonderful year and it has certainly been the year that I've enjoyed taking photos, so for this years round-up I'm just sharing my favourite Instagram photos.  Nice and simple, one a month.

Wishing you all a very happy new year, thanks for stopping by and visiting. Mich x

May 2014 be a blessed New Year

Happy New Year friends, it has been a pleasure to journey 2013 with you.

I am sure this next year will be an eventful one and I have high hopes of what God will be up to in my life and yours.

I'm not big on resolutions as I just find they are made to be broken but I do like looking forward and vision, so here are my expectations for 2014 -

What are yours?

BTW - have you seen the new canvas colour function in Picmonkey, it allows you to create your own little graphics like mine above. I love it!

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Reasons to be Cheerful - first one of 2013

Happy New Year readers, how are you all?  Did you survive the chaos that is Christmas and the mania that are the school holidays?

I'm back at work today as you read this but I'm OK with that.  I need to get myself caught up and ready to plough into all the projects I have for the new year. Tomorrow we are going to my parents to stay and I love spending time with them.  I'm hoping we can go swimming, have a meal out, visit my Nan and enjoy some chilled time together.

This week I am grateful for blank canvases, that is what this new year feels like. I want to get my eating habits sorted out, get back to exercise and enjoy each day as it comes. Operation #ReallifeRocks is where it is at!

New Years Eve I stayed in a hotel with the kids whilst dh worked the evening and despite them driving me bonkers with their constant laughing, silliness and bickering we had fun but my favourite part of the evening was this -

Do you fancy joining up this week?

Write a post about what is making you smile right now, grab the blog hop code and add it to your post, then link up here and go and visit people and share some comment love. Tweet with #R2BC if you fancy but really there are no rues here. Just do what feels nice and pay it forward.

Have a great week, Mich x

A Short 'n' Tweet Trip to London for New Years

Dh had to work New Year Eve and very luckily his work give him a room to stay over as he does not finish until the early hours. Stroke of luck he could only get a room for a 2 day minimum so off we go as a family for a trip to London for 2 nights and with no cost for the accommodation!  Can't be bad...  Check out our stay in London by my imaginary Twitter updates.

Friday 30th December

2.00pm Leaving home, Maccy D’s for lunch – We know how to live!

3.15pm Premier Inn Euston, divine! Room so big, I'm over the moon

4.00pm Bus to Oxford Street, kids so excited. Let’s go see the lights!

4.20pm ohh have you seen Debenhams on Oxford Street. It’s a rainbow shouts Miss E!

5.30pm Hamleys is so busy & hot. Even my phone has misted up! Get me out of here…

7.30pm Carpet picnic for late tea, the kids think this is ace. How I love the simple pleasures in life.

10pm yap, yap, yap will those 4 year olds ever go to sleep. 1 room and 5 people is not a match made in heaven.

Saturday 31st December 2011

8am Woo hoo, how did it get to 8am without any of the kids waking yet! Read for 1/2 hr I reckon.

9.30am Oh JJ how much inclusive breakfast can you eat boy?  You are like a waste disposal unit!

11am NYE is the day for the Science Museum - never seen it so empty - result!

1.45pm Should have worn my other boots, ouch. Are we nearly there yet?

2.45pm Lunch over & quick trip to Westfield. Surely the kids do not need more Build-A-Bears?

4.30pm Apparently they do, £78 later & time to go back to the hotel.

5.30pm Carpet picnic take 2 and all ready and in bed by 6.30pm - divine.  I am in heaven! Dh and JJ head off to his work.

8pm £5 for 1 hours wifi, ahh I am not paying that but I will get twiter & blog withdrawal surely??

8.30pm Little Ladies finally asleep. Alan Carr for company, luckily he is making me laugh.

Sunday 1st January 2012

12.20am My boy arrives home, what kind of time is this?  He is 8 years old!  but had an amazing time apparently.

4am Will the police sirens please bloody stop!  ENOUGH

9am Breakfast part me, the girls and I!  Behaved like little angels, thank you Lord!

10.45am Breakfast part 2, the dirty stop-out boys.  Dh had got back in at 2.30am apparently.

12noon Piccadilly is chocka, go home peps, we want to actually see the parade, thanks.

2pm Hello, it's Britain - welcome rain and not just any rain but a mega downpour. 5 drowned rat look alikes off home

4.30pm I'm home and I'm happy.  Washing on and now to eat something, been good all day. Welcome 2012 and the new me.

Happy New Year one and all.  I wish you love, luck and happiness in 2012.  Be blessed.  Mich x

2011 - What Does The Year Hold For Us?

Image Credit

Ella at Notes From Home has prompted me to think about my resolutions for the new year and I have to be honest, I do not normally bother!

I started to ponder why this was?  Is it because I am a cynic and just think there is no point as then you break them within a few days/ weeks?  or could it be because I do not really give myself enough quiet time and space to actually think about what might be important and what I need to focus on in the new year.  I have a sneaking feeling it is that latter option.  So I am taking some time now to ponder on 2011 and to wonder what the year might hold for my family and me.

I won't be making a big list of all the things that I must not do as that for me would just be depressing and dis motivating. Instead I will make a list of positive things that I intend to do, things that are good for my family and me and things that we enjoy but sadly can get pushed to the side with life's more boring and mundane tasks.  Last month I blogged about my priorities, I had a moment of clarity when I knew for sure I was supposed to be spending more time with my family and that is where my resolutions will start..

1. I will take time every single week to have quality alone time with each of my children.  Be it playing a game, snuggling and watching TV or going out together.  Just something for the two of us.
2. I will re-start date night for dh and I.  Sunday nights used to be full of romance and longing - I aim to bring that back again.
3. I will go to bed by 11pm at least 6 nights per week and I will not stay up blogging or on the PC for too long.  Life is more important that my blog!
4. I will look after myself and stop stuffing my face full of needless food each time I feel any kind of emotion. I need to reconnect with my recovery program and gain abstinence.  Reaching out to others in recovery on a regular basis
5. That is it, I will stay realistic in 2011 and know that if I can do all those things I will be a very happy lady!

It is a shame really that I was not making that big list of 'do nots', as I read the following resolution at a new blog I found today and it was just perfect for me, it was as if Helen was inside my own mind when she wrote this one -

• I resolve to take a deep breath and count to 10 BEFORE screaming/yelling like a banshee at my children. No matter what the provocation. Even if they have written over the walls / peed on the new sofa / sneaked a lemon drizzle cake into the teepee in their bedroom and scoffed half of it / flooded the bathroom floor (again).

OMG, she is me.  I often feel like a banshee.  I pray that we both find the strength to have more patience with our kids this year, however much they test us!

So that is me.  What about you? Do you do the whole resolution thing?

Wishing you a very Happy 2011.  I hope you will continue to read Mummy From The Heart... and please do pop over and see my new blog Honest Mummy Reviews & Recommendations... I appreciate each and every one of you. Mich xx

In 2010 I will......

* Fall in love with my husband all over again

* Spend lots of fun and frivolous time with my kids

* Worry less about cleaning the house

* Continue my journey of recovery from the disease of compulsive overeating

* Live one day at a time and try to enjoy every moment

* Hand my problems over to God, they are his to deal with - I just need faith!

All this thinking back to 2009 also got me thinking forward and I received a good email from one of my friends with the moral being 'Know where you're going in life...
you may already be there'. Money really does not buy everything you want, I have to remember that!