Capture life 365–week 52 a.k.a I’ve finally made it!

Christmas morning love – sibling hugs and gifts!Christmas day spent with both sides of our family – what a treat to have my mum & brother, Petes mum, stepdad, sister and niece to celebrate with!Happy mum, happy son!Looking at Grans new toy and working out how to do selfies.

Enjoying the kiwi summer – picnic dinners and swims at the beach with family and friendsBFF’s reunited!Serenaded by the sounds of a band playing on the back of a boat in the harbour while enjoying fish and chips at the beach.

Bush walks and eeling in the reserve next to where we were staying.

Making up for lost time at the library. Nerdy or not, we don’t care. We MISS the library!

It feels kinda weird to be at the end of my Capture Life 365 project.  An anti-climax of sorts, like there should at least be some fantastic, super meaningful picture to end with, but instead it’s my kids and their library books.

I started it with the goal of capturing small glimpses of the here and now. Intentionally recording the messy, hard, joyous, mundane, impossible and downright beautiful chaos that is my life. Everyday. In 365 pictures over 365 days, I wanted to try to capture what this season in my life looks like. I wanted to find the joy in the mess, the good in the hard and the beauty in the mundane.

If I had a grand finale photo it might almost seem like there is nothing more worth capturing, but instead, even as I soon face a new season of children leaving home, whether I continue to capture it or not, the ‘here and now’ continues, and I will choose to be fully present in it always looking for the joy, the good and the beauty. To see God at work in the mess, the hard and the mundane. Living life, 365.

Christmas this year

ok, after way too many months of not blogging, I'm just jumping right back in with no explaination! Christmas seemed like a good time to sneak back on board! So with no further ado -here's what we've been getting up to this Christmas season!

Christmas twenty eleven

I know most super organised bloggers have already posted their Christmas pictures. Not me. Nope, I thought I’d wait a whole week to post them – extend the Christmas joy. So here goes, welcome to our Christmas!

One of the bonuses about living in Africa is we’re not going to get strange looks driving with an overloaded vehicle – so two fam’s of eight (minus the Dads) piled in the van to go make Christmas decorations at a friends place!

Was so good to be doing something like we would’ve done back home. Good for the soul, good for the sometimes homesick heart. And we came home having made gorgeous decorations for our tree and new friends!

What a privilege to be part of putting together and giving out around 600 Christmas hampers of food and laundry items to families often times struggling just to live from day to day, the opportunity to pray with each family and share a message of hope. Three that I know of coming to know Jesus that day – the true bread of life.  To those that gave to make this possible – on behalf of those you gave to – thank you doesn’t say enough...

Our kids decided they wanted to put on a Christmas meal for those that live on the street, the boys and girls we see begging everyday, the so-called 'madman' that lives on the side of the road just down from us, those that search the gutters for food. So saving up to buy supplies and enlisting the help of a Ugandan friend to make sure we got the food just right - they prepared, cooked, dished, and packed in containers with a Christmas message of Gods love and hope in Lugandan, then went and gave.

Christmas Eve - a special breakfast of chapatis and beans at Jordan House, then an exclusive performance of the Nativity that would be performed at church on Christmas day, followed by the giving of gifts sent from Hong Kong - a new pair of pyjamas for each child in the home. 

Our first Christmas Day in Uganda - different yet familiar. Missing those we usually spend it with, yet thankful we have new friends to celebrate with. A tasty Christmas breakfast with our international team, and man it tasted sooo good! Then a lunch of nibbles and a BBQ dinner with good friends who are soon to move up North. Time spent talking, playing, giving, eating and just enjoying. 

Thankful for Gods gift of love.

Christmas presence

Christmas has always been one of my favourite times of the year! The preparations, decorations, special baking (the eating of more than the making of!), the holiday feel, gathering of gifts, Christmas music, lights on the tree, Christmas movies, doing the lights trail, opening new pyjamas on Christmas eve, stockings hanging, time with family and friends, the day itself. As much as I enjoy them, I know that these things are all just the trimmings surrounding the celebration of that very first Christmas when love came down, and 2000 plus years on we can still get so caught up in them that our trimmings and traditions can unknowingly become the object of our celebration – as nice as all these extras are!

I’m a trimmings girl – I like pretty things, traditions and all things Christmas! As much as I hate to admit it, I’m guilty of making a bigger deal of the trimmings than of imparting into my kids what Christmas should really be about – God’s gift of love. His love wasn’t just words – it looked like something, his gift of love couldn’t be bought. He gave of himself, he sacrificed. Jesus was ‘Emmanuel, God with us’ – he gave us the gift of his presence. Over the years I’ve used lots of ‘words’ telling my kids about the greatest gift ever to grace the earth, but is that enough? How can I simply tell them about it and then carry on with the Christmas season without those words turning into an action that makes Christmas in our home reflect what we believe?

I’ve learned when we don’t have working Christmas lights – it’s still Christmas, when the powers off (so the lights wouldn’t work even if they did work) and the only Christmas music that fills the house is my 'perfect' rendition of the only two lines I know of ‘O Holy Night’ and getting the kids to sing 'Joy to the World' into my imaginary microphone (I know they deep down just love doing that!) – Christmas will still come on December 25. If we end up having to eat Christmas dinner by candlelight, our tummies will still be filled - and it will be just a bit romantic too! When our tree is decorated not with expensive store bought decorations but lovingly made paper and twig decorations and coordinated red and green water bombs I think I prefer it, especially the time spent together enjoying the company of each other and new friends while making them. We still bake together – even if available ingredients limit the selection and we've eaten all the shortbread well ahead of Christmas (and that was the only baking we did!). Presents will be simple – something to wear, something to read or listen to (thanks christianbook.com, just hoping it arrives before Christmas!) and something to play with. While we’ll be keeping a few family traditions from our home country, we’ll be letting go of others and embracing some new ones from our host country. Christmas day won’t be the same as it has for the last 13 years or so, but it will still be special. Our surroundings and trimmings may have changed, but thankfully the one we're celebrating hasn’t.

Our end of year parties and concerts this year consist of good music, laughs and getting covered in maize flour as we pack a few hundred food hampers with our Jordan House team to give out to bless families in the community we serve in, and our kids cooking up a Ugandan Christmas feast to give out to those that live on the street and other people we know that could do with a bit of Christmas cheer.

This year - working towards a Christmas less about us and more about Him. A Christmas less about presents, and more about presence.

The busyness of silence!

As far as blogging goes, blog silence doesn’t mean life is dead boring with nothing happening, it usually means we’ve been so busy doing life – I haven’t had time to write about it!


So here’s a summary of the last month of life with the Gordys!

Two things have grabbed most of our attention over the last little while – looking after our special needs foster boy (we’re up to about week 7 of a 3-4 week placement!), and getting the house ready for selling – which will see us one step closer to Uganda!! Getting to know a special needs child at the same time as doing lots of painting has proven to be an interesting combination!

We got away for a fun weekend camping with about 9 other families from my chicks group. We had a great time river tubing, mountain biking, kayaking, sitting round the campfire and just hanging out!

Charlotte and Riana had their end of year ballet recital ‘Let’s Dance’. We lived and breathed dancing for about 10 days (10 wonderful days, Charlotte would say) then it was all over. The girls did us proud, and loved it. When putting six year old Charlottes makeup on, she commented that the make-up made her look so much older – “I think I look nearly seven Mum, or maybe 100!”

Lily dressed up to go to the ballet - I had to burst her bubble just before we went and tell her she wouldn't get to dance on stage! She still loved it tho!

Lily & cousin Olivia backstage with the ballerinas at halftime

      Rianas dance "don't stop the music"

Charlotte in Winnie the Pooh and some bees
To wind up our school year, our homeschool group put on a fantastic Christmas concert at a local retirement village. The kids all made decorations and gifts to give to all the residents, as well as a very festive afternoon tea! The next day we had our end of year prizegiving at the beach – swim, picnic dinner and certificates for the years achievements and growth in character.


Christmas gift making and buying was squeezed in and somehow come Christmas day it was all finished, wrapped, cooked and cleaned in time for friends and family to arrive!

Oh yeah - and somewhere in there Lily got married to her childhood sweetheart of all of her 3 & 3/4 years!

Lily and Riley

a moment to reflect

First Corinthians 13 Christmas Version

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows,
strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls,
but do not show love to my family,
I'm just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen,
baking dozens of Christmas cookies,
preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime:
I'm just another cook.

If I work at a soup kitchen,
carol in the nursing home,
and give all that I have to charity;
but do not show love to my family,
it profits me nothing.

If I trim the tree with shimmering angels
and crocheted snowflakes,
attend a myriad of holiday parties
and sing in the choir's cantata
but do not focus on Christ,
I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.
Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the spouse.
Love is kind, though harried and tired.
Love does not envy another's homethat has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love does not yell at the kids to get out of the way,
but is thankful they are there to be in the way.
Love does not give only to those who are able to give in return;
but rejoices in giving to those who cannot.

Love bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
and endures all things.
Love never fails.

Video games will break,
pearl necklaces will be lost,
golf clubs will rust,
but giving the gift of love will endure.

--Author Unknown