Happy 7th Birthday Sedshed!

Who would have known that this blog would still be ticking along seven years on?

Over the past seven years, readers of this blog have joined me in starting a new relationship, getting engaged, getting married, moving from the city to the country, then to another farm, changing jobs several times, acquiring pets, and finally, becoming a parent.

Through sickness, rants, despair, confusion, doubt, sheer joy, excitement, and faith, you have witnessed it all!  What a great record of life blogging is.  I would have forgotten many of the little thoughts I've had over the years if it wasn't for this blog.

I have found this to be very true with blogging

This is why I moderate comments and don't allow anonymous comments on my blog

In keeping with tradition, I have given the blog a birthday makeover.  If you're using a reader, click through to see the Sedshed's new clothes.

Happy 7th Birthday to This is what Sed said.

2013: My Unlucky Year?

I'm not superstitious.

I've walked under ladders.  I own a black cat.

But I'm starting to wonder if there really is something unlucky about the number 13.

It was supposed to have been such a great year with Rory's arrival but, honestly, it just hasn't.  It's been awful.  I've spent six weeks of the year in hospital.  My auntie passed away.  Other things have been happening to those I care about which I can't go into on here.

After all the pre-season hype, the Eagles' season has been pretty darn average so far.  That's putting it kindly.

1996, the year I turned 13, was a cruddy year as well.  Am I seeing a pattern here?

I know bringing on 2014 won't make everything smooth sailing, but I've had enough of this year.  Enough! 

Please let the next six months be better than the first.  Please God, have I had my suffering quota for the year yet?

The Bubba: 3-4 Months

Rolling, screeching, squealing, increased motor skills...it's all happening in this house!  Unfortunately his sleeping is still erratic, but I've learnt to live with that.

He's just a beautiful chap.  I could eat him all up.  Nom! Nom! Nom!

Sleazy, drunken smile

Mother's Day

My first Mother's Day

With Nanna

With Daddy

With Pop

Look at those rolls!

Having a good chuckle on his 4 month birthday!

Catching up with Uncle Tim (and a bit freaked out by his new beard)

Reading with Nanna

Serious sleeping bubba

Wearing his lovely jumper that Grandma (Duncan's mum)
knitted for him

Battlefield of the Mind

After the year I've had, now is a good time to review a book I read a long time ago.

Before I read this book, I was sceptical about helpful it would be.  I thought it looked a bit too much like 'Christian pop psychology'.  A friend of mine told me she gets annoyed seeing Joyce Meyer's face on the cover of all her books.  It's true most authors don't have their mugshot on their book covers, but it really didn't bother me that much.

To be honest, this book really surprised me.  It explores the way Satan attacks the minds of Christians and how we need to use God's Word as a weapon to fight his lies.  Attacks on the mind include worry, doubt, confusion, anger and feelings of condemnation.  Meyer states that while God is on our side and working in us, we also have a role to play in controlling our thoughts.  I felt that some of the Bible verses were used a little out of context, but overall she does a good job of pointing distressed and discouraged Christians back to God's promises in His Word and the importance of meditating on Scripture. 

The chapters on unhelpful 'minds' are good to read through slowly.  They include the judgemental/critical/suspicious mind, the passive mind, the wandering/wondering mind and more.  Then she explores different 'wilderness mentalities' - unhelpful, negative statements we often say to ourselves or to others.

I found the phrase 'victorious life' quite annoying, probably because I hear it used among Christians who believe in 'name it and claim it' theology.  While I in no way want to be imprisoned by worry and doubt, we still need to keep in mind that healing and change is God's work and if He chooses not to heal someone, it doesn't necessarily mean they don't have faith.  Having said that, we do have a part to play in being proactive about wanting to change.

I feel I can relate a lot to Chapter 5 at the moment, which goes into dealing with a negative attitude.  Like Meyer, I have struggled with my life motto in recent months being, If you don't expect anything good to happen, then you won't be disappointed when it doesn't.  It was good be reminded of the hope I have in Christ.

Bible Verse of the Day

I'm still praising my God for the healing He has done in my life over the past couple of months.  These verses I read last week sum it up so perfectly:

O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me.  O LORD, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit.
Psalm 30:2-3

Look At My House Now!

It's a year today since the great storm which wreaked havoc on my house.

A year on, some of the damage has not been repaired.  We are still waiting for a new laundry ceiling, verandah ceiling, and for the old potbelly fireplace which collapsed to be taken away.  It looks like we're going to have to hire a handyman to get everything fixed that we want.

But, overall, the house is in a lot better shape than it was when we moved in.  Here's the transformation:

KITCHEN

 

 

 

LOUNGEROOM

  

 

 

MASTER BEDROOM

DINING ROOM

 

 

STUDY

 

 

GUEST ROOM

 

 

THE 'LONG ROOM' (AS WE CALL IT)

 

Friday Funny

PUNS FOR EDUCATED MINDS

1.  The fattest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference.  He acquired his size from too much pi.

2.  I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.

3.  She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

4.  A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption.

5.  No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.

6.  A dog gave birth to puppies near the side of the road and was cited for littering.

7.  A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

8.  Two silk worms had a race.  They ended up in a tie.

9.  A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall.  The police are looking into it.

10.  Time flies like an arrow.  Fruit flies like a banana.

11.  Atheism is a non-prophet organisation.

12.  Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway.  One hat said to the other, "You stay here; I'll go on a head."

13.  I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger.  Then it hit me.

14.  A sign on the lawn at the drug rehab centre said, "Keep off the grass."

15.  The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

16.  When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste for religion.

17.  If you jumped off a bridge in Paris, you'd be in Seine.