Raging rivers

Elizabeth and I standing next to the Bremer river which runs through Ipswich. It is in full flood and many local business's including a scrapbooking friend have been totally flooded! She lost 9000 photos which were on her computer - so back up your files and photos everyone!

Our local picnic spot, completely under water.

This is the Brisbane river, close to where we live at College's Crossing, Ivan usually drives across this road to get to work, but now it is under 1.5m of water.

The dogs were having great fun in the water, it was running so fast though, that any sort of swimming would be unbelievable dangerous.

Summer storm season

Three days of storms and 200mm of rain.

We are the lucky ones. Thousands of people have extensive damage to their properties from the most recent series of storms to hit us in S.E. Qld.

Last night was the hardest for us. It started with Matthew's presentation night, which went ahead despite the storm warnings and less than 20 minutes into the programme had to be abandoned due to heavy, heavy rain. We were wading through ankle deep water to get back to the car, all of which had fallen in just 5 minutes. Our drive toward home was interesting, as it was completely dry in our suburb. This was really good, as it gave us a chance to get home, dry off and get settled.

Around 10pm the storm hit us and the rain started, it never let up until after 3.25am and it sure rained. Our front garden is not well designed or drained, so this morning we were ankle deep in water, thank goodness, none of it caused any damage!

I had around 2 hours sleep and was up at 5am sweeping out the garage, Dad's workshop and the patio. Needless to say am feeling a little punch drunk this afternoon.

More photos and blogs to follow.

Tuesday - Simply Pay it forward

Today is the magic day of the week, when we pay forward the joy in our lives. Michelle and I, of 'Simply Angels' send out a card or maybe even two to share the Joy that we experience in our lives and so share the joy.

I must admit this morning, I woke feeling tired and 'not-so-Joyful'. It is raining and I am having my carpets cleaned, of course they won't dry properly. I have to get up and make lunches for school. Ivan can't take the children to school as he has an early meeting. The house is all a mess as we have cleared the carpets, I have ironing to do....... Can you see the pattern?

I did not see how I could even begin to send out a card with Joy. Yet, as I have read Michelle's JoyExpress, her lovely morning email and the beautiful inspirational letter that Matthew wrote to Sarah last night, the Joy began to seep back into my soul.

So Tuesday, is Share the Joy and Pay it Forward, so I am sending you all thoughts of Joy. If you would like to receive some Joy in the form of a card from me, drop me an email with your name and address and I will add you to my list. Email address is baadair@bigpond.net.au or maybe you want to share the joy in your life with people that you know need a little. Let me know and I will email you some details of how to be part of 'Simply Angels - Pay it forward.'

We can all make a difference.

Have a Joyful Day

Beverly

Birthdays

Tomorrow is my Darling Husband's 49th birthday and then on Monday my Mom, Dorothy celebrates her 65th birthday.

I always delight in the 2 months between November 16th and January 24th (my birthday) as I can say that I am 5 years younger than Ivan. Although in reality I am really only just 4 years younger, the math of 49-44= 5, delights me and annoys Ivan. (Hmm small things annoy small minds).

As always we seem to have a celebration on Ivan's birthday for them both, but this year it is okay as Mom and Dad are having a few days away, leaving early Monday morning. So I am planning a roast lamb lunch, with some nice red and white wine and a few laughs.

I like birthdays, it is special to make a day really special for someone. As we get older they often lose the magic of childhood, I think this is because we forget that it is a day to celebrate, not to mourn another year passing.

Birthdays for children are magical, the morning presents, often a party to look forward to and a day when we can do no wrong. So tomorrow and Monday, two special people in my life will celebrate their birthdays and I am going to make them special days, filled with happiness and magic.

2008 Young Leaders conference

Matthew was invited to attend the 2008 Young Leaders conference at the Brisbane convention centre with 9 classmates from his school. There was a total of 1400 young people in attendance and 5 amazing guest speakers.

I had to have him in the city at 8.30am this morning and had planned the day for myself, to wander around the city and do some shopping. His teacher invited me and another parent to join the conference instead and although I had to pay my own way, I jumped at the opportunity.

It was wonderful to be re-inspired by some amazing speakers and to realise just how relevant this information was to me as I shift my focus in life. I am at a crossroads, like many of the young people attending. I am deciding on my journey forward and want to give to the world in a positive and powerful way. So I learnt some amazing and inspirational things today.

I loved a couple of special comments:

The first was: " A dream is an idea abut the future that differs from the current reality."

A quote from Joseph Campbell, "Follow your bliss" find what makes you happy and follow it. Along this line don't pursue your goal so hard that you destroy the joy, work at it and pursue it, but enjoy the journey.

"Flow is when you love something so much that time disappears!" Then you know you are following your bliss.

Natalie Cook the Gold medal Australian Volleyball player was an amazing speaker. She talked about the 3 'ships' of a great leader. 1 - Leadership; Followship; and Relationship. All three are essential for success. You cannot have one without the other two.

She also said that good leaders find a win/win situation, look at other people's viewpoint and that it is essential to write down your goals.
Walk around obstacles in life, don't give up or turn back, just change direction and move around them..

Finally choose and then commit 100%!

There was also the message of "Life is made up not of 'what if' but 'what is'? Real champions don't make excuses they make choices. We choose to follow a path and then need to do the hard work.

So today as a 44 year old Mother, I have walked away from a conference for the young leaders of our future and looked at my own life, believing that I am on the path that I choose, am going to commit 100%. I am going 'Risk big to win big!' rather than risk nothing and win nothing! I am grateful for this amazing day.

Very Early morning

It is a wet, early (very early) morning in Brisbane, just 4.45am. I have been up since 4.10am as my dearly beloved has an early flight to Tasmania this morning. Another gripe about not having daylight saving, is that we are now an hour behind the rest of the Eastern States, so have to get up really early to catch interstate flights.

The garden is green and wet after lovely soaking rains last night and the birds are just beginning their early morning calls. The funniest is that I let Abby (our dog) out and fed her, after her morning patrol of the borders of the property and a little doggy business, she appeared back at the door, came in and rushed straight back to her basket in the laundry. Even Abby reckons it is too early to be up.

Last night the children kept telling Ivan to please wake them to say goodbye, he was so reluctant to do so, rather wanting them to sleep. I had to talk to him, to make him realise that they would go straight back to sleep and even if they didn't it was far more important to them to say Goodbye to their Daddy than have a few hours extra snooze time.

Yesterday, I had a busy day writing my annual Christmas letter, 6 pages! Every year I write to people I have not communicated with for ages and send them an annual update of our lives. We have been really busy again. I am also including a CD of photos this year, modern technology is wonderful.

So now at 4.54am, I have reset the alarm for 6.15am and I am going to sneak back to bed for a lovely hours snooze. The best type of all. Then it is on with the daily routine of life. A little housework and hopefully some scrapbooking or writing. Elizabeth and I had originally planned a day out, but have postponed it due to the rainy weather. We have 3 months home together, so will get lots of time for fun days out.

Early morning

Wednesday morning 6.00am.

Queensland does not have daylight saving and we should! The sun rises well before 5.00am now and the birds start really early. To wake up in the cool mornings and start the day earlier would be so much better, then we could enjoy longer evenings.

However, the bonus is being one of the few people that are up and about at this time of the day. Ivan has been getting up at 5.00am and doing a few chores, bringing me orange juice in bed and then heading out by 6.00am. As he goes into the shower, I get up and make his lunch for him and now just after 6.00am, I have the computer to myself for about 30 minutes to check emails and write on my blog. What a lovely way to wake up!

Yesterday I had a lovely crafty/creative day. I decided this year to make 2 Christmas gifts. I spent the morning sewing and enjoyed myself so (sew) much! It is years since I last sat and made something special by hand, what a forgotten pleasure.

I also realised that I have not shared this wonderful skill with my children. At their ages, I could sew on buttons, repair rips in clothes and even make my own clothes. With our changing lives, if something is now ripped or torn, we just throw it away and don't attempt to fix it. Clothes are cheap and so sewing is no longer cost effective, but the pleasure of making something yourself cannot be bought from a shop.

I also had the pleasure of my eldest daughter's company yesterday. She is finished her first year University and although she is working part-time, I am going to have lots of time with her over the next few months. We have plans to sew together, to bake and scrapbook. What a pleasure to share my life with this wonderful adult woman. I am truly blessed.

Today I am focusing on my writing again. Everyday I am trying to write. At least a few lines, an outline, a thought or maybe if successful a full poem.

P.S. Chore list is working fantastically - by last night after just 2 days 31 chores had been achieved and the house is looking fantastic. It has also caused me to lift my game, as the task is no longer daunting. I only have to achieve 5 chores a day. Even Ivan is into the full swing of it, complaining this morning that two of his chores were not on the list, so it needs amending.

Give it a go in your house, 5 goals a day. You can achieve miracles.