It is absolutely beautiful outside and I do believe it is going to be very warm which is about time I hasten to add.  We don't appear to have had much of a summer so far and it is almost the end of July.

I am feeling good today & especially after ministry that both my DH & I had yesterday evening.  This was ministry and prayer that was much needed after the sadness we suffered during our honeymoon. It was a very emotional evening last night for both of us. There were lots of tears (and sobbing from me at one point), but more importantly we were able to hand over our situation to Jesus.  Andrew was brilliant here too and I don't think he has opened up emotionally or cried before with others being around - so this was a bit of a breakthrough for him too. 

I am believing & praying that the Lord is softening & opening up Andrew's heart and will continue to do so.

I have also been looking for some part-time work whilst waiting to get my own business working from home up and running.  I saw an add in the local paper yesterday for a telephonist/dispatcher for a local taxi firm.  This vacancy involves working from home and it is part-time. I telephoned one of the partners of the company and I have an interview at her home on Friday in the morning.  I am praying that I will get this job as in a lot of ways it would be perfect whilst I get my own business up and running (which is going to take a little while).  The only thing that I don't like is that it involves working for a couple of hours on a Sunday morning 7 - 9am as I don't agree with working on Sundays - two hours is fine though & I can just get up earlier, get ready for church, work and then go.  Please pray that I do get this job.  This will also involve a couple of training sessions at this lady's home (who part-owns the Company) but this job would get me started.  I also need at least 16 hours as I would then qualify for Working Tax Credit which would help our finances especially as Andrew's job is no longer secure especially after working for the same Company for 28 years!

Well, I need to go and do some cleaning before heading off into town to run a couple of errands.  Have a wonderful blessed Tuesday

My personal view on this movie!

DH & I went to see Mamma Mia when this first came out which was 10 days ago at 00.01am.  it was a very late night and the film finished around 02.10am so we arrived home just before 3am and as you can imagine went straight to  sleep. 

Ok, the film, as well as being a musical,  is also a romantic comedy, very funny in places and on quite a few occasions the few of us that were in the cinema were laughing quite a bit during some of the scenes.

On the other hand, I felt it was a shame that some "crude" language had to be added especially in the first hour of the film plus, there were two scenes again, verging on the point of crudeness. - To be honest this kind of spoilt it for me in some ways. 

The storyline was very good and with a slightly added twist towards the end . The singing from Merly Streep, Pierce Brosnan (excuse spelling here), Colin Firth and Julie Waters was good even though they are not singers as such!

Would I recommend the film?
Yes I would but please take note of comments I made above.  Considering this film is PG, I dont think this is suitable for children or teenagers - if the language and sex references were taken out, then the film would be fine.

I am not sure if I would go and see it again but the music was great. I guess being an avid ABBA fan anyways I could listen to their music anywhere.

When the film comes out where you are and you do go & see it, please let us know what you think.

First of all I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who have left some awesome comments regarding our wedding photos  

I had to share this photo of this beautiful gift that I received from my family - isn't this gorgeous. It is a patio rose called Lovely Bride 

The next three photos were taken at my sister's home the day after our wedding. We stopped by before making our way to the beautiful little fishing village of Beer in Devon.

This photo is of our rings plus a close up photo of my rings as it is difficult to see the detail in the photo below!

I will be sharing more photos next week but these are (a) of a very beautiful village called Branscombe that we visited in Devon and (b) of a store/canteen of a well known television chef based in Axminster, Devon.  These will be scenic photos and especially the ones of  Branscombe will be well worth the wait as this truly is a very beautiful and picturesque village.

Have a wonderful and very blessed weekend

I am starting to read this book again from cover to cover this time as I really do need to.  There are a lot of different views over this book but most I have to say are positive ones.  My friend who so kindly gave this book to me purchased the book and started reading it but was just about ready to throw the book out the window as she did not agree or like the book at all.  I asked if I could have it so she very kindly sent this to me as a gift. 

I know there are different view points on this book and I can to be honest see both sides but I do have a lot of time not only for this book but for Michael & Debi Pearl and what they stand for.  I have discovered that in Northern Ireland there is a small distribution business who are independent distributors of No Greater Joy, I have received a couple of  the NJG magazines as a gift when I ordered another book that I wanted by The Pearls.  The books plus postage was next to nothing.  I will no doubt order some more books in the future.

Going back to "Created to be his helpmeet", this is a brilliant book, why?

v      Because this is based soundly on the Word of God

v      There are so many examples of how the Lord has changed not only marriages but hearts of women and led them back to the simple truth which is the Word of God

v      There is so much in the way of help and advice for both older and younger women

v      The chapters of this book are backed up by the bible - going back to the first point here

v      The chapters in the book are set out very well and very thought provoking

v      At the end of each chapter there both "times to consider & times of reflection"

v      testimonies and questions and answers - again very thought provoking

v      I would say various parts of this book are based on both Proverbs 31 and Titus 2

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone without question.

There are definite thought provoking statements throughout the book, for example:

v     Live with thanksgiving, forgiveness, and joy, and enjoy all your moments as if they were your last

v     Do you have enough fear of God not to question His Word?

v     A wise woman is always learning. She is open to change. She is ready to hear. She pursues knowledge.

v     A wise woman learns to adapt to her husband

v     From the beginning, God meant for us to be a comfort, a blessing, a reward, a friend, an encouragement, and a right-hand wo-man

v     Man was created to subdue; woman was created to assist

v     A wise woman understands that her husband’s need to be honoured is not based on his performance, but on his nature and his God-ordained position. She learns quickly to defer to his ideas or plans with enthusiasm. She looks for ways to reverence him. She knows this is God’s will for her life.

Yesterday I made some tuna fishcakes but made with rice instead of potatoes.  This was a recipe that Crystal (Quiverfull) posted on her blog yesterday.  The tuna cakes turned out fine and later on today I will post a recipe plus a photo. 

And finally............on the wedding side I will also post a picture of our wedding rings

Ok on to today:

More later on - have a blessed day :)

********THIS SET NEEDS TO BE SEEN LAST OF ALL********

If you haven't seen the first set of photos, please see the post below this one

There are three sets of wedding photos as I was not able to fit all the photos into one slide show. 

I will send the remaining two sets either this evening or tomorrow.

Here are the photos from our wedding rehearsal. The photos include Andrew and myself (which would help :lol), my sister and her husband, My sisters daughter and her daughter Chloe who was one of my bridesmaids.  My other bridesmaids were also there, Jayne (Chief Bridesmaid) and Naomi.my "spiritual mom" Juliet, Andrew's best man and Naomi's father, Ron a good friend and one of our usher's and finally Haydon the Reverand who conducted our blessing service (he is the one in long shorts and prominent throughout).

Well no photos as yet but we had a beautiful wedding on Saturday 28th June and the weather was just glorious - in fact the whole day was fabulous.  We are hoping to receive wedding photos next week and then I will share some of them on here.

I do have a couple of photos that I can share and will try and get these online by the end of this week. 

Sadly, our honeymoon has been tinged with sadness as we have had a bereavement and without going into details both Andrew and I are suffering big time.  This has been a hard 10 days and we are still on honeymoon and trying our best to make the most of the last few days by trying to get out and doing things together.

Please would you mind praying that both Andrew and I can move on through what has happened (sorry to be so vague) but we do need to start communicating with each other and I do know that The Lord is our healer and so is time.  This is not something we expected to go through especially on our honeymoon but it has.....................

I will post again when I can later on this week.

Just a very quick hello for now as my computer is playing up but can anyone help me with advice on how to save a microsoft publisher file as a pdf file or to transfer documents to word format so I can email across - thank you :)

This dear family need your prayers right now and in the following days and weeks ahead.  Their youngest daughter Maria who was just five years old was killed so tragically yesterday evening. She was hit by a car in the driveway of the family home. The couples teenage son was driving the car and didn't see Maria - tragically Maria died in hospital.  This is absolutely devastating for her family and for their son who was driving the vehicle that hit Maria.  He has to live with this for the rest of his life and words can't be expressed what this dear family are going through right now.

Please pray for God's grace, peace and love to be poured on this family even more abundantly through this very very difficult and tragic time.

There is a special page "In Memory of Maria" that has been set up for those who wish to share their condolences - here

What gorgeous weather we are having at the moment, it has been a glorious day and a brilliant one for gardening too.  Andrew has been busy creating some borders in the garden and in one of the borders I have now started a herb garden.  At the moment, I have planted Rosemary, Basil (though this is not doing too well), Tarragon, Thyme, Sage, Oregano and Parsley.  I also have some garden mint and black peppermint growing in a tub near by.

As well as the herb garden, we have planted Tomato plants, Runner Beans, Dwarf Beans, Squash, Courgettes (Zucchini), Sweetcorn (Including baby sweetcorn) and peppers. We also have various types of salad leaves and lettuce growing both in tubs and soil. 

I have yet to plant carrots, Salad leaves, Beetroot (Beets) and I brussel sprouts.  And we have planted an eatting apple tree, plum tree, Raspberry canes and strawberries.  My sister is taking us to a brilliant garden centre near to where she resides next week where she is going to be us another fruit tree as our wedding gift.

Wow, I have just heard a cuckoo in the garden and this is the first one I have heard so far this year. Ok, where was I, Andrews garden, this is really coming on very nicely and I cant wait to do some more planting and to do more on the borders.  Andrew has a 140 - 150 ft garden so it is very long :)

We are planning at some stage to get plant some more raspberry canes and possibly some other fruits too - all in all it is exciting being able to plan, plant and watch what is happening.  It is amazing to think that out of a few seeds, these grow and produce wonderful vegetables and fruits - God is just so amazing

We have also planted some sunflower seeds and various wild flowers and poppies (these by the way of one of my favourite flowers) - Poppies are just so beautiful and very rich and vibrant in colour.  I don't particularly care for sunflowers by the way so I did let Andrew but said that he has to put them at the top of the garden - of course he knew I was only joking he he.

I will try and post some photos over the weekend of the garden.

On other notes, wedding plans are going very nicely and we have a lot of things organised now so it is mainly tidying up that we need to do and a few last minute things.  We have been so blessed so far it is great.

I also have a friend who is organising a Bridal Shower for me at her home on Saturday 14th June and bless her, she is opening up her home. This same friend and her husband will be organising the worship for our wedding/blessing service.

We were also blessed today in the fact we were sent a pre-wedding gift of a Marriage Preparation Course on both CD and in booklet form.  What an awesome blessing.  Andrew and I will be setting time apart to study the Marriage Preparation Course over the next couple of weeks or so.

Well, that is it for now - and only five weeks on Saturday and time is going by so very quickly now - wow

Menu Planner

4^th – 10^th May

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
S U N		These Will Vary Between Soups, Salads, Fruit/Nuts Or Sandwiches/ Crackers	Ham Egg & Chips
M O N			Andrew Cooking “Page” Dinner
T U E S			Page’s Birthday Meal
W E D			Fish Pie W/Vegetables
T H U R			Vegetarian Bake With Rice
F R I			Chicken Fajitas
S A T			Going to friends For Dinner

Oh my time is flying now - in eight weeks time I will be Mrs Andrew Hartley - woo hoo . I just do not know where the last couple of months have gone but it is not very long now.

We are getting there slowly with wedding plans and everything is coming together but I still have a lot to do which is ok but it would be so great if everything can be organised by the end of this month.

I will post a picture of the wedding invitation that we made and talking of pictures, I have some others to share too.

At the weekend, we are going shopping to purchase Andrews suit and if we have time I need to purchase his wedding ring too.  Also next week I am going shopping with a friend to buy the accessories needed to go with my wedding dress and then that will be me almost done.

The main thing I need to concentrate on now is putting together the "Order of Service" and I have a lot of work to do here but this will be fun so I have about three weeks to put this together before sending a preview to the Pastor so that he can go through it and make sure that there is nothing that has been missed.  I am sure that changes will need to be made a couple of times before this is actually ready to be printed.

We have a set of Unity Candles which are lovely and we will be lighting the candle as part of our service.  Unity candles are not as popular over here but thankfully my local Christian Bookstore was able to find a supplier.  These took less than a week to come through.

So basically everything is coming together quite nicely.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a different note, health wise I am still not brilliant but I have an appointment to see the Gynaecologist next week so hopefully he will have a better idea of what is going on.  I do hope so as I can't continue on with the problems I have been having and this has (a) been getting me down and (b) caused a lot of friction between Andrew and myself due to "hormonal issues". I am also fed up of feeling so exhausted most of the time but hey ho.

Well I need to get back to sleep as it is 4.15am - on this note, have a blessed night

I am having great difficulty looking for worship/contemporary Christian songs for our wedding. I am not getting very far on the internet either. 

If anyone has any suggestions please please help - as I am completely stuck

Thank you so much

Welcome to the 44^th edition of the Homestead Carnival, wow doesn’t time fly and I don’t know about you but I just love the Homestead Carnival as I am sure you all do too.

This edition is not going to be in any particular order for a change but you will have tons of fun anyways I can assure you of that.

We have some great recipes just to kick start this week’s carnival. What better way to start your day off than with delicious wholesome Oatmeal Pancakes.  These you can find over at The Funny Farm

If you are after a healthy pancake recipe – then this one by Flossie is a must to try.  So Oatmeal pancakes here we come over at The Funny Farm for this delicious and wholesome recipe.

Then hopping over to Meredith at Humble Beginnings, there is a delicious recipe for Cream of Mushroom Soup – this is one of two canning recipes on this weeks Homestead Carnival .

Our second recipe is for a delicious canning recipe for Tomatoes. As Grandma Rosie sums it up in her own words “Summer wont last forever but the taste of summer can carry us through another winter” So come on over as we are shown what to do with the glutton of tomatoes we get this spring.

Next, how about Dying wool with Kool Aid with your children &ndash