Home.

I'm feeling a little homesick.

This usually happens whenever I talk to anyone in my family.

I spoke to my sister a few days ago, on Skype.

We only spoke for an hour, which for some people may be long enough but not for us.

Normally we talk for around 3 or 4 hours.

Seriously.

We can talk.

I am excited because our conversation was mainly centred on my trip home at Christmas.

I will be going home for a month.

I cannot wait.

My sister will be home.

My brother will be home.

My heart will be happy.

Here are some of the things that I am looking forward to.

(in no particular order)

1. My sister picking me up at the airport. I haven't seen her since September 20th, 2011. There will be tears.

2. Seeing my family. It is going to be wonderful.

3. Going on a little trip with just my brother and sister.

4.Snow.

5. Watching Christmas movies by the fire. So wonderful.

6. Christmas baking with mum.

7. Last minute Christmas shopping with my brother because he won't have any gifts yet.

8. Christmas Eve church service.

9. Wrapping presents.

10. Decorating the Christmas tree.

11. Eastenders Christmas special.

12. Coronation Street Christmas special.

13. The Queen's speech.

14. Watching Love Actually, The Holiday, Home Alone, Family Stone, White Christmas, Miracle on 34th street, Santa Claus, Elf...and every other Christmas movie!

15.Spending time with my two sisters.

16. Going for long walks around our favourite places.

17. Making soup.

18. Dancing and singing with my sister in the kitchen while our brother disowns us.

19. Giving gifts.

20. Making new memories.

I am excited.

December will be here before we know it.



My big sis.

My darling big sister is in Australia just now.

Last time I saw her was 20th September 2011 when she was saying good-bye to me as I headed off to California.

There were some tears.

She is the best sister a girl could ask for.

I am missing her lots just now.

Thankfully we get to Skype it up.

Today she climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge, while I had a Disney duvet day.

Both I think are equally awesome, well maybe her day topped mine a little bit.

But Tarzan, Aladdin and Hercules were pretty good company for this girl too.

Anyway. Sister, I wish that I could watch Pocahontas with you and sing along to it and laugh uncontrollably at how hilarious we are!

But we could watch any movie and I would be happy.

There is nothing quite like time with you.

I miss you more than you know and can't wait til the day that I see you again.

It is going to be one special day.

I love you, and I am so thankful for our friendship.

This photo was taken a year ago at our baby brother's passing out parade.

We had been sitting outside for about an hour, it was so so cold.

It cracks me up everytime I look at it.

I treasure it.

Linking with Emily today. You should too! Go grab someone you love and take a precious photo with them.



Distance.

The baby brother called tonight.

It was so so good to talk with him.

He is off at ship just now and only has half an hour each week to call.

So we don't hear from him often.

And the big sister came up and had dinner with us.
Perfect evening.

Here are a few snaps from the last weekend he was home, at the beginning of July.

 Precious - my brother, sister and I.

Love this photo because we just look so similar. Both squinty in the sun.

Look at that blue sky! We sure do love him.

Fin let me have a go on his motorbike. Yes, the front wheel is off the ground. If you look really closely at the photo you can see that Fin has a pretty shocked expression on his face. I was very proud of myself - and also feared for our lives.

On the train having a starring contest. So funny. Not sure when we started holding our eyes open. Please note big sister laughing hysterically. Really, we all were. We are a little bit silly.

It was so good to chat with him, but I sure miss times like these.

I am so thankful for my brother and sister.

I am thankful that we get along so well.

My prayer is that no matter where we are we will stay close.

We went out for dinner when Fin was home, just the three of us.

It was lovely and we were talking about the future and our families.

We were saying how crazy it is that we don't speak to all our cousins more often.

Then we got thinking about our kids.

We couldn't imagine them not being the best of friends.

I pray that we are able to keep stay this close to each other, wherever we are in the world.

I love them both so much.



Happy Day.

Today my sweet friend, Nikki, is graduatating.

I am so happy and excited for her.

She has worked so hard.

I don't know anyone that deserves this more.

I remember going to look round the college with her in 2006.

I can't believe she is done now!

I am so proud of her.

I am very sad that I am not there celebrating with her and her family.

I have not been able to think of anything else all day.

A couple of days ago I was even looking up flights!

Oh my goodness!!

I just so want to be there with my friend for her special day.

I was hoping that the Lord would have me over there already, but that was in my plan and not His. (more on that soon)

Nikki, I am so blessed to call you friend.

You know that you are like a sister to me.

You are such a caring, loving girl who is full of energy and love for the Lord.

I have learnt so much from you over the years.

I'm sorry that I am not there with you today.

But I am looking forward to all the memories we are going to make together in the years to come.

I know that there will be many more.

I miss you, every day.

I love you.

Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Sisters.

My sister in on holiday this week.

She is spending a week in Barcelona.

I am sitting inside watching the rain from my window.

Yes, I am a little bit jealous.

But I will get over it.

Until I she comes back and will have a beautiful tan.

I am a little (6ft tall) pale thing, and she has olive skin and tans so easily.

Annnnywho..today I am going to share some fun pictures of my with my sister/best friend.

These were taken a few months ago but I never got round to posting them.

So here you go.

Everyone always tells us how alike we look.

I have to agree.

My sister was approached by a man that she didn't know last week.

She said he was staring at her for a while before he came over to her.

Yeah, she was freaked out!

He said to her "are you Harriet's sister?"

It was a dear friend of mine that I used to work with, who she had never met before.

It made me smile.

So funny.

I don't mind looking like my big sister.

She is pretty wonderful.

When she gets home I am going to grab my camera and get some new photos with my lovely sister - and her tan!

Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God

Philippians 1:3

I am linking up with  Emily today - actually today it is Amy!

Go and grab someone you love and get your picture taken with them.

You can never have enough photos with your loves.

And while you are at it, say a little (or BIG) prayer for the lovely Emily.

Praying that this sickness will pass soon.

Spring Cleaning.

I have had a very productive day off. I have been doing laundry and ironing, I cleaned the kitchen and tidied rooms. And I did the thing that I haaate the most - I cleaned out the fridge. I know this is disgusting but it was so gross...I have been putting it off for weeks. That's gross. I am gross. But all is well now and I have some happy little vegetables in my fridge now. This makes me happy and I feel very proud of myself.

I did it again. I ordered food online again. This time it was a little better because I got to speak to the driver. So it was kinda like speaking to the person that checks through all your items, right? Well that is how I took it. And with all that lovely food that came, I made a lovely dinner. Roast Chicken...my faaaavourite! I made some sauteed potatoes and cauliflower cheese, add some broccoli and carrots and that is our dinner! Yum, yum, yummmm. I am just about to make a delicious, easy dessert too. You should try it.

500g frozen fruit

500g natural yogurt

2 tablespoons honey

Mix it all together and you get yourself a yummy, ice-cream-like, dessert! DO IT.

I have also been Spring-cleaning my mind...does that make sense? hmm. Let me try and explain myself. I have been reading different bibles passages and reading 2 books. One that I am reading is called Promises From God for Single Ladies - this has been just the encouragement that I have needed! The other one is called Simple Prayer - I have only just started reading this but I am hoping I can learnt a lot from this. So far it has been pretty good (all those 3 pages that I have read...I will keep you posted!) I am trying to keep my time filled with good things. There are soooo many things all around that scream at us to do the wrong thing that it makes it hard to do the right thing. Let me tell you this, I have never been happier than whe I am fully relying on the Lord and trusting in Him, losing myself in His word and doing what is right in His eyes. Of course sometimes I mess up, but the Lord continues to love me.

I have been really encouraged by this blog and I know you will be too. Especially just now. Go and check it out and find out who sweet Elsa is, and then praise the Lord! He is soooo good. 

I'm leaving you with this lovely photo of me and one of my best friends, my sister. Miss Lucy. So this was a few years ago now. But it is adorable. We were adorable. We liked to play in the dirt. I'm not sure if we would do this today still..? Who am I kidding, of course we would.

Happy Tuesday!

O Holy Night.

Merry Christmas (a little late!) I hope that everyone had a wonderful time, ate too much and smiled all day!

My day was just lovely. Every year on Christmas Eve we attend a Church Carol service at our local Church. I have to admit that it has hardly changed since I was little but it is still a joy to go to it! When we were younger, my sister, brother and I would usually be taking part in the service in some way. There are different readings and performances inbetween the different carols. It is lovely to see the different kids that participate now and see how the little kiddies that I used to watch in Sunday School have grown! It was beautiful. I always get emotional during the service because I always reflect on why we are here, and why we are celebrating.

After this my brother and I came back with our mum and spent the evening with her. Lucy came later on, she went out for a few drinks with her friend. I have to say here that it has been a joy having Fin home for Christmas. I love that boy and I love seeing how he is growing up and changing. He is a blessing. We were all sick on Christmas Eve, with colds. It was not nice. I was up late wrapping presents, making yummy truffles and cheesecake for Christmas day. So I was exhausted. I slept SO good. Could of slept all day. I woke up at 8:45am and all was still quiet in the house. I don't remember a Christmas when I have been able to sleep that late. Usually I have a sister or brother in my room whispering to see if I am awake, or doing what they need to wake me up! So I just lay there for a while enjoying the moment where I could wake up on my own. It didn't last long. Soon someone was in the bathroom, I heard the toilet flush and it was like this was an alarm telling everyone it was time to get up. I heard one door open, then another and Christmas greetings being passed around! I knew that I would be next. I didn't do a very good job of being my cheery self. I had a horrible head-ache and stuffy nose.

I finally made it to the living room where everyone was VERY excited to see what gifts they had received. I wrapped myself in a blanket and was ready to fall asleep again. But that's what little brothers are for, to wake you up even when you are not ready to! So he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. Great. Just what I was wanting to happen. And just so you know, I am about 6ft tall and my brother is 6ft 4or5 so you imagine how ridiculous this looked. I do find it very impressive when he manages to pick me up but doesn't mean I appreicate it!

I love watching everyone open the gifts I bought for them months ago and hoped that they would love! It was successful. I will share more about my gifts in another post.

We had a yummy breakfast of cinammon scrolls! They are a favourite for all of us! Suddenly we didn't really have a lot of time and we were all running around getting ready and deciding what to wear, well that was more me...I had no idea what I was going to wear! I got there in the end though. I blame this on feeling really ill and not wanting to get out of bed in the first place!

We then headed down to my Dad's house. It was crazy to be going from one place to another, and leaving mum behind...but that is something new that I am still getting used to. Lucy and I were cooking Christmas dinner. It was delicious. Seriously. We had a fun day. Our Granny and Aunty joined us and that was precious. I love spending time with them but don't do it often enough.

Right. Onto why I'm not sharing photos in this post. My laptop is doing something funky. I have this horrible green tinge on my screen and it is driving me nuts! When I look at photos there is like this green tinge throughout the photo. Best way to describe it is that it looks like someone has gone over my screen with a green pencil and rendered it in! So when I am editing photos I really can't tell what they look like and don't want to bore you with terrible photos. I have lots of photos to share from Christmas day from the people and prezzies to the meal. I will try and post these soon. I will probably just use my mum's laptop.

I am going to leave you with a Carol that I have been listening lots this CHRISTmas time. The version I have been listening to it by Natalie Grant. She has a really beautiful Christmas album. I should of directed you to it before Christmas. Sorry. The song is a Medley of Silver Bells, Saviour Came for Me and O Holy Night. I really touches me.

Truly He taught us to love one another,

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.

And in his name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

With all our hearts we praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,

His power and glory ever more proclaim!

His power and glory ever more proclaim!

Smile.

I love my sister and brother! When we are together we are either laughing, arguing, smiling, annoying each other, crying or dancing. This photo below makes me smile. They are such a blessing to me. I love you, Sassy and Fin!

♥

Happy Birthday, Sister!

A couple of days ago my sister turned 23! I didn't get to spend the day with her but I did get to spend time with her tonight. I LOVE giving gifts to people so I love to take time to make sure I get something that they will use. My sister and I went to see Julie and Julia when it came out and we just thought it was adorable. So I got her that DVD and it came with some of the recipes from the famous cook book. I am looking forward to watching it with her. I also got her a shirt and necklace, and she changed into it as soon as she opened it. I think that's a good sign!

So here is a photo of my beautiful sister with her birthday cake and wearing her new gifts! She is also wearing another little necklace that mum gave her. It has a heart on one side, and the word "love" on the other. She hasn't taken this off since she got it! Here she is! Isn't she a beauty? I love her!

Sisters.

So, yet again it has been forever since I have blogged. I am going to try and find time this week to update my blog on the past month.

Thought I would leave you with a recent photo of my sister and I after a girly dinner we had a couple of weeks ago. We both have different hair styles just now. I LOVE my sister's new hair, I think she looks great! It makes me want to get my hair cut short again but I am determined to grow it longer. I think that this photo shows how similar me and my sister look, but also how completely different we look. I am so pale and she has a lovely tan. I have lighter hair, and she has much darker. But we do have the same blue eyes