Christmas is Happening!

My sister and her friends every year create an online advent calendar containing all things creative and wonderful to share their love of Jesus at Christmas time. This year, I had the opportunity of doing a piece of artwork for it - and today, the 21st December, it features!

Click on the link below and then number 21 and have a peek:
christmasishappening.com

Have a listen to today's song too!

Much love and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Sarah
x

Caitlin

Caitlin's a gymnast. Pretty cool huh?

I asked Cait to do a 'messy handstand'... this was her attempt. After we had stopped laughing at this we tried again...

Take 2

My fave picture of the day!

My family and I went to the beach. We spent most of the time laughing, eating fish and chips and pushing each other into the waves but my sister and I slipped off for five minutes to take some photos! Isn't she beautiful?

Love, Megan x

First glimpse of the morning

So I'm not usually one for getting up any time before ten in the morning in the holidays but around Easter time my Dad told me about a once-in-a-lifetime, spectacular, must-see event happening at 4 AM: the transit of Venus. So my family and a few others walked out onto the levels looking slightly bleary-eyed and consuming vast quantities of tea. Thankfully, it was all worth it: the transit was 

beautiful, the company kept me laughing and the sunrise was indescribably breathtaking.

I love how God blesses me through the world he has created.

Penultimate exams and Lovely sisters

You have probably guessed from the last few posts that we are in the midst of big exams at the moment. Yesterday, I had my Spanish exam, which was my penultimate one (yahoo!) When I came home, I absent-mindedly told my family how the exam was - it was fine - and went off and read for a while to relax. My sister popped her head round the door, and said, "nearly cheesecake time, come in the kitchen when Dad does." She'd been telling me for months how she wanted to make this amazing cheesecake she'd heard about and today was the day she'd done it! So I carried on reading, completely unsuspicious.

Then when Dad came through, I heard my sister's voice calling out in an unusually urgent tone ... "Sarah......Come......NOW!!!" So I came through and there she was, trying to stop the candles from blowing out on top of the most incredible and beautiful cheesecake I have ever seen! 

Oh, I love surprises. This one caught me totally unaware. She'd made the cheesecake for me to celebrate nearly having exams over with! What a kind, kind, kind sister I have. 

Here are some photographs that I managed to capture. It was white chocolate and strawberry flavour, thoroughly unhealthy but totally scrumptious! I hope I don't make you too hungry..... :-)

YUM!

If any of you are going through exams, keep pulling through!

What are your favourite ways to celebrate?

Sarah

The smell of the lavender bush in my garden mingled with my mother's perfume.
The cool summer breeze, dancing on my skin.
Gentle hands working through my tangled hair.
Being carried by strong arms after falling asleep on a long journey. 
The sound of out of an out of tune violin played by an 8 year old.
The hours spent snuggled up to my sister watching old films.
Pillow fights that lasted until all that was left was feathers and depleted pillow cases. 
The sound of laughter ringing through the house, filling each crevice.
Squeals at 6AM, because it's Christmas day and it's allowed.
The fractured feel of branches and the instability of my balance as I climb trees and wonder how I will get down.
My Dad's smile travelling to his eyes and resting there for a while. 
Being tucked into bed every night, with a kiss and a whispered 'I love you.'

The days of making dens, running, falling, laughing, seeking. 
The days in which I met my saviour, grew to love him and to know him.

And now I am sitting, looking into his eyes as he takes my hand and leads me on.

Never forget that

In a few weeks' time everything I know will simply be a memory. The place that I've called 'home' and  the people that I've called 'family' are going to violently ripped away from me. Put slightly less dramatically, School will be finishing... Forever. And ever. And. Ever. (I lied about the 'less dramatic' part!)

I don't know about you guys, but I love my school. I love the 'quintessential' grounds, the teachers who feel like friends, the atmosphere that just screams 'God is present', but most of all the people who I have gradually come to know as a part of me.

I can't walk around school without remembering a thousand different memories.

This is the library where we decided to smuggle in a picnic one day and where have got to a stage of having 'our' seats. This is the classroom that holds so many memories of GCSE English and too many laughs to count. These are the toilets where we locked all the doors and I fell in the toilet after breaking the lid that I was standing on. This is the dining room where we have sat for hours eating, laughing, praying, foot stomping, shouting, and frequently getting told off for doing so. This is the stage where I met a person I shouldn't have, as well as having an oodle of laughs with the 'Hot Box girls'. This is the art block where 'under pressure' was sung in the last 5 minutes of an exam, we have been a bit 'in the dark', we never get a computer, we didn't get a cookie, but we have done some pretty ridiculous stuff for our grades. This is the Hockey block where we were threatened with a 'sitting plan' every week and crawled on the floor doing gun drills (for CCF, I hasten to add!). This is the bridge we hid under during a 'latin treasure hunt'. These are our 'preferred' toilets which we daily frequent, even when half of us are actually only keeping the other half 'company', which sertinly amuses some people. This is the room where I'm never lonely, we stay up until the wee hours of the morning, we watch endless movies, we strum guitars, we write songs, we occasionally do some work, and we get to share each other's company. This is the house that always has an open door, always warms our hearts, lights our smiles, calms our troubled minds, provides props for our photography, quenches our thirst with endless cups of tea, and can be called none other than 'The Tea House'.

For anyone who thinks several of those memories were ridiculously weird, then you would be excused for thinking so, but I think we've all got to a stage now where we can embrace our insanity. It stems from being in the company of good friends, and my friends are simply wonderful.

As we come to the end of our time together, I want us to remember the laughs, but also the tears. We have all faced troubles in one way or another but with amazingly comforting friends and a glorious God, these times have shaped us to become the (Dare I say?) 'women' of God that we are today.

The constant in our relationships has always been God and although the rest of our lives look utterly terrifying, as long as we have Him, then we will always hold a tiny piece of each other.

Right now, I want to look at these few short weeks ahead and cherish the present. It truly is a gift.

Whatever the future brings I want you all to know that in this moment, I love you. Please never forget that.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline ~ 2 Timothy 1:7

Jesus Christ is alive (and a story about throwing eggs down a hill)

Mona Lisa

Smurf

Mr Potato Head

The whole motley crew :)

And the throwing commences...

An explanation: It's a tradition that my family has that on the night before Easter, we hard boil eggs and decorate them however we like. The next day, we hike up a hill and roll them down. The winner is the person whose egg survives the longest. Sound random? It is. But we have a lot of fun doing it! This year, we asked some of our friends to join in the festivities, so there was a whole group of us.

I love traditions like this, and I love that I can have a laugh with my family!

aaand... a half pyramid!

My sister's a gymnast... I think that's pretty cool :)

Don't ask!

Despite the fun that we had, the highlight of Easter Sunday for me was my brother's baptism. It was so amazing that his baptism coincided with the day on which Jesus rose! He gave an incredible (and very funny!) testimony in which he celebrated the impact that the truth of Jesus Christ has had on his life. I'm proud to have a brother like him! 

Dead to self...

Alive in Christ! :)

There was also this adorable 6 year old girl who was baptized in the same service. Instead of giving a testimony, her youth leader asked her a few questions:

Youth leader: So, L, why do you want to get baptized?

L: Because Jesus told me to.


Youth Leader: How do you know that he told you to?

L: Because I prayed and asked him.

Youth Leader: So what does it mean to you to be baptized?

L: I'm fulfilling what Jesus told me to do.

How amazing that she is so sure of her relationship with Jesus at her young age, and that she knows when he is speaking to her. Bearing in mind that she said all this with a lisp and a little smile on her face, it was incredibly cute!

Love,

Megan

P.S. What are your family traditions?