The Royal Wedding

So we have a new princess or Duchess. She looked stunning. I am so pleased for her.

Wasn't this a lovely dress?  At first I was disappointed but it grew on me.

I love that Will told her she looked beautiful straight away and that he joked with her father that he had expected just a small family affair.

Beautiful Service. The choir was lovely. I loved the song This is the Day. Very very much.

So it is over.  Or it is just beginning.  Charli and I snuggled up on the couch together and oohed and ahhed and groaned over the hats. Some were gorgeous and some were...... questionable.  Julia Gillard our PM looked lovely. I just hope that she didn't talk to anyone as her accent is atrocious. It was all so organised. The Royal Family know how to do things. 
I hope for Kate that she is treated well by The Firm.  That her and Will have a long happy marriage.  May they not turn out like Charles and Diana.

When I grow up.........................

Charli and I are so impressed with this that we are practising our own act. I will be standing on Charli's head. Please pray for Charli.

we are the reason (Avalon)

What an amazing woman.

Below is a story about an Amazing woman. I often marvel at these people and wonder if faced with the same conditions if I could do what they did. 

Irena Sendler 1910-2008
A 98 year-old German woman named Irena Sendler recently died. During WWII, Irena worked in the Warsaw Ghetto as a plumbing/sewer specialist. Irena smuggled Jewish children out; infants in the bottom of the tool box she carried and older children in a burlap sack she carried in the back of her truck. She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers wanted nothing to do with the dog, and the barking covered the kids’ and infants’ noises. Irena managed to smuggle out and save 2500 children. She eventually was caught, and the Nazis broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely. Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar buried under a tree in her backyard. After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived and reunited some of the families. Most had been killed. She helped those children get placement into foster family homes or adopted. Last year Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize. She was not selected. Al Gore won- for a slide show on Global Warming.

Family fun on my birthday

My family happened to be around when it was my birthday last year in December. I had to work so I didn't think I was going to have a lot of fun.  I was wrong.  There were 11 kids (under 18) in the house and 5 adults.  We had takeway. Cake. Drinks. And lots and lots of laughs. It was so much fun, seeing all my neices and nephews, being amazed at how much they had grown up and what great great people they are. We loved meeting Maggie, she fit right in. Lots of cuddles and kisses and photos. At times I felt like Princess Diana LOL. I am sure I instigated most of it. It was such a fun fun night.

Christmas Camping

Dear 14 year old Naomi

I just saw a prompt on a journaling group that said think back to when you were 14 years old.  What advice would you have for yourself knowing what you know now?

(You were really 21 here but thats ok you kind of get the idea of what you looked like)

Dear 14 year old Naomi,
Hello it is much older Naomi here.  I don't know that I have much wisdom to pass on to you. I can barely remember you but I have a haze of memory that seems to linger around you.  I know that you yearn for things. A perfect family. A boyfriend. A deeper faith in God.  You are imaginative and creative but way too sensitive. You need to toughen up and not take things so personally.  Think about others, the world doesn't revolve around you no matter how much you want it too.

Be kinder. Think more before you speak or act.  Consider others. Don't worry so much about what others think and just be you. You are NOT FAT. NOT UGLY. Believe me that is to come. For now you are gorgeous if only you knew it.  Raise your expectactions for yourself and lower them for others. Others will never be able to give you what you need - only God can fill that hole. I am still learning that now too. Push yourself harder at things. You coast along on natural talent when you could be really really great if you put your head to it.
Don't press your insecurities onto others. Allow others around you to make mistakes as well and forgive them when they do just as you want to be forgiven. Laugh, enjoy, be spontaneous, have fun. Don't worry about boys and all that stuff. You have the rest of your life to pay bills, and worry about things. Be carefree. Live for God. All the rest falls into place if you do this.  He has a plan for your life. It isn't the plan you have made in your head and that is OK.  His plan is the best one.  Enjoy the friends you have because believe it or not in  a decade you will know less than 10 percent of them and a decade after that you will know even less of them.  Extend yourself. Reach out to the ones that you naturally reject as not pretty enough, popular or funny.  Everyone has something to offer and your life experience will be richer for stepping out of your comfort zone.
Nothing in your life will be as you expect and thats ok because yes you are imaginative but God is amazing and he way exceeds your biggest dreams.
Love your older self.
Naomi