A Descent Into Hell.

As I look back over the past 5 months, I can see where God went ahead of us.
And where He carried my poor broken body.
And comforted my poor broken heart.


I can't see where He is taking us, but I know He holds the future, and I am unafraid.

  My story probably isn't all that bad in the scale of horrible things that can go wrong in someone's life, but if you have travelled this path, or are just embarking on it, I hope my words will bring you comfort and peace.

  God's timing was perfect when it came to the sale of our other property in November. The new owners were keen to settle earlier than was planned for and we were happy to oblige. It felt wonderful to be free of mortgages and other debts and have money in the bank again.

  I had booked an appointment to see my GP as I'd been bleeding for weeks and I thought perhaps something wasn't right after we lost the baby at the end of October. About a week before the appointment, I noticed some signs that made me suspicious, so I did a home pregnancy test.

  It instantly showed up positive, bright right from the second the pee touched the stick! I was surprised, thrilled, nervous and worried. I knew all that bleeding couldn't be good for a baby and that the outcome was likely not going to be good.

  When I saw the good doctor, he wanted me to get an ultrasound as soon as possible, and a blood test to check the levels. He wanted to see me the following week for a follow up blood test and discuss what to do from there. What a fuss it was to get the receptionist to book another appointment in a week's time! You would have thought I was trying to see The Queen! Eventually, she talked to the doctor and he said he would give up some of his lunchtime for me. He's a top bloke!

  Rob went with me to have the ultrasound the next day. I am so glad he did, I think I went into shock at some point during that scan. The technician wasn't saying very much and then she left the room to get another tech to have a look. Neither of them spoke much, just agreed with each other and measured bits and pieces. After the other tech left, she did an internal one and did loads more measuring. I was sent of to redress and as I walked past the screen, I could see "7 weeks 4 days" printed on it. That disturbed me, she hadn't mentioned anything about a baby at all. I didn't know whether to be hopeful or worried. I decided that worry was winning.

  When I came back, Rob was talking with her, trying to get some info out of her. She said you need to see your doctor tomorrow. I laughed. She replied, ANY DOCTOR! Rob asked what she thought was wrong and then I heard the words I never wanted to hear in my whole life: MOLAR PREGNANCY.

  Rob had no idea what that was, so was kind of relieved there was a name for it and I think he figured it would all be ok after we saw the doctor. Walking back through the corridor, I told him that this was not good. I was just so stunned by then, I couldn't even really explain what it was to him.

  The next day, we saw a different doctor and he was just wonderful too. He gave me my blood test results and said that the ultrasound and the blood test did indeed confirm a molar pregnancy, probably a partial and I would need to see my Ob/Gyn as early as possible. My blood count was 135,000. He rang my Ob and he said he would see me next week sometime. Both the GP and I thought that was rather odd, but I said I would call and make an appointment later that morning. By the time we got home, we had missed a call from the Ob's receptionist. She booked me in that afternoon.

  I felt terrible walking into that office. It's always been for good things like having a baby, not something dreadful like this. He told me that I needed a D&C urgently and he was booking it in for the following Monday. It was Friday and I protested as it was also going to be the first day of school! He wouldn't budge and so that was that.

  I had googled molar pregnancy, so I knew what to expect. What I didn't expect was the massive haemorrhage that happened when my parents came to visit on Saturday! Fortunately, I made it to the toilet in our room, but I have never seen so much blood! It looked like a slaughter house in the loo and the bathroom! I stripped off my ruined clothes and showered. The water ran red for ages and I desperately tried to clean up the blood from the walls and the floor and the vanity. I was really scared by now and knew that it was time to go to the hospital. Rob had been trying to get me to go for days as the bleeding was quite awful all week.

  We tossed my parents out and informed the kids we were off to hospital. I had only told them that morning what was going on. I asked one of the girls to get rid of the bloody clothing and clean up any blood that I"d missed, which she did, thankfully.

  We went straight through emergency. The triage nurse had no clue what was wrong but she could see it was serious and didn't stuff around. I was blood - typed and they ordered blood to be put on hold for me. I could tell the flow was less now, but I still got it all over the bed. The doctor I saw was brutal when he checked my cervix. It was horribly painful! However, he said it was old blood and was settling down, so it was my choice if I wanted to go home on complete  bed rest or be admitted until my surgery on Monday.

  I chose to go home so I could get the kids things labelled and covered for school. I needed to take up hems on new trousers as well. I knew I could do all that in bed and we only live 5 mins away from the hospital.
The rest of the weekend passed by uneventfully. Thankfully.

To be continued..........

Hellllllllllllllooooooooooooo!

Well the school hols came and went and I STILL didn't write any more in here! Sigh!

I have been back in "survival mode" since last December and keep just moving on until the next deadline comes up. Christmas, New Year, our birthdays, the start of school, setting up home schooling for Dart and Colt, an operation, another looming next week, my first cruise and trip overseas, Mother's Day, school special days.....the list goes on and I feel like I'm just running through and not taking time to smell the roses!

And I LOVE roses! :)

I have decided to make an effort to blog at least once a week. After all, that doesn't seem too hard.

I will start at the beginning.

Long time, no see!

Wow, I haven't been on here in ages!

I will return soon, I have lots to share. A lot of growing and new directions. Doors closing and windows opening.

Now that we have school holidays, for some of my children, I shall have more time to write.

God is good!

A Weary Faith Revived!

A couple of ideas of inexpensive gifts for teachers or children.

Hot chocolate mix with mini marshmallows and cndy canes on the side.

Teddies in sleighs for teens was a big hit amongst my rellies!

We received some wonderful hampers which made me cry, lol! After having a big stretch of time with fridges and freezers turned off because we didn't have enough food, suddenly we were overflowing with food and drinks that we have been able to share with lots of others over this season of festivities.

God is so good!

I purchased a Christmas pudding from a friend in Melbourne who makes them to sell. I am still flabbergasted that the postie managed to shove it into our letterbox without damaging it! It was (and still is) absolutely delicious!

I know this next picture has nothing to do with Christmas, but I have included it because it keeps coming up at times when I need to just let go, and let God take the reins. 

I was trying to keep an attitude of "build it, and they will come" towards Christmas. I know that putting Christmas Day together takes lots of preparation, lots of planning and lots of patience to make it turn out nicely. There is no escaping the hard yards. So I kept planning towards making the day special and hoped that God would provide a miracle. 

And He did!

Just at the right time too! God is soooooooooooooooo good!

I made new Stockings for the kids to hang up on Christmas Eve. One of them worked out that Santa would be leaving less presents this year and he wanted to put out his Santa sack instead. 

These are the new stockings, imagine them x 9!

Anyway, the gifts I'd planned for friends and family were fairly cheap and easily made or ordered, so they were done in plenty of time. I had ordered some books from Koorong earlier in the year, so they were wrapped and ready to go into the stockings, but that was the extent of what I could do.
The builder we work for changed the pay dates and we were left without the extra we always counted on to make it through Christmas and into January. Fortunately, God knew that would happen and we unexpectedly received a private job that gave us just what we needed to get through!

So 2 days before Christmas, we start the Herculerian task of taking the kids in small batches to buy gifts for each other, and also to buy gifts for them! In the past, I have sworn to NEVER do it all at the last minute again, but this time I was just so grateful!

I didn't get to bed until 6am on Christmas Day, but it was worth it! They kindly let me sleep until 7.30am before they excitedly hopped into their Stockings. Each child was thrilled with what they received and we all felt like we had the best Christmas EVER!


I learned some big lessons for all the struggles we went through in 2012.

1. God is ALWAYS in control and He cares for us always.
2. Sometimes we need to let others minister to us.
3. A little goes a long way.
4. Contentment in all situations is awesome.
5. We can still help others, even in tough times.
6. There is so much more to learn!!!
7. When Plan A doesn't work, don't give up, just look for Plan B, C, D....
8. There were moments of joy that I will always treasure. ie: going to Melbourne; being pregnant for 8 weeks; a little holiday in Busselton.
9. Pulling together and trying new ways to make our money stretch, and learning new skills.
and
10. Someone else is doing it harder than us.


Doing it tough has actually turned out to be a treasure!

May God bless all who read this with good health, contentment, love and peace in 2013!

And yet, MORE Elf pics!

Here's the rest. :)

Hiding outside on the bike shelf with a game of pairs for Karys.

The Elf was being a little bit silly wearing a nappy on his head!
Luckily, he had Ethan's favourite cool drink right beside him.

Taking a time out for good behaviour and resting in the toybox with a lovely puzzle book for Pipa!

Time to get stuck into some Christmas sewing!
Dart really enjoyed sharing his Hello Panda Sticks with the others too.

Hiding out in the tv cupboard and munching on a packet of Freckles. The kids were only too happy to help him eat them, so he wouldn't get a tummy ache so close to Christmas!
Taffy loved her packet of Mermaid stickers and promptly shared them as many pieces
of furniture as she could.....

Taking a ride on the musical zebra and left Gretel some pretty bangles.

The morning of Christmas Eve, what a clever Elf! The children were totally delighted with the gingerbread men!

On Christmas Day, the kids were disappointed to discover that the Elf had retired until next December. They have really enjoyed getting up in the morning to see what silliness or kindness he has got up to. They all know that I am the one setting it up, but it hasn't spoiled the magic one bit!

I too, am looking forward to December 1st, 2013, to see what adventures our new little friend will get up to!

More Elf Pics

I seem to have missed a few days and I can't recall what I'd set up to even recreate them. But here's what I do have. Might put this into 2 posts. :)

Trying to fit into Santa's hat on top of the fridge.

Watching as the kids planted gold cachous in a bowl of sugar.....

.........this is what sprouted by morning!

It seemed appropriate to hide behind the fire extinguisher,
 the morning after we had helped fight a bush fire near our home.

Marking the 12 days of Christmas with  gift for each child.
Today is Jacquie's turn, some pretty, new face cloths. 

Dreaming of going for a ride in the car......
Colt's gift is a magnifying glass.

Finally, a Tree to show that Christmas is not far away!
Ashton scores some Sakata crackers.

Today, he was hanging with the musical bunny on the bookshelf and he had a Christmas DVD for the kids to enjoy!

I hope you enjoy these pictures, I certainly have enjoyed planning his daily adventures.

1st week of Elf on the Shelf pics

 I splurged and bought an elf, well, he's a pixie really, but near enough! :) It was a little more than I really wanted to pay, but he's flexible and much better looking than the one everyone else uses. So here's what he's been up to since he arrived at our place.......

First night on the job and he's being mischievious! Poor mama
elephant is being tormented dreadfully!

Sorting out the Christmas decorations for us.

Day 3, he thought the kids needed an extra choccy

The kids thought this was hilarious!

He looks quite happy with his handiwork!

Missing the North Pole, so a little igloo building is in order

Snuggling up with a beautiful doll on the front porch. 

Taking a bubble bath. The kids really enjoyed the mini marshmallow
"bubbles"

It has been loads of fun setting up and I'm really enjoying watching the kids expressions of delight. They've already asked if he'll be back next Christmas and I told them he will be here, every Christmas from now on. 

Off to go think of something new for our little elf to do. Might have to go back and check on Pinterest...... :)