Morning Lord!  Feeling incredibly perky this morning – although having said that, there is something about spending time in the great outdoors that makes me feel very sleepy.  Too much fresh air, I suspect.  I slept like the dead last night.

I haven’t got a whole heap to say this morning, except to thank you once again for the blessing of having a holiday.  While we are not staying in the world’s most glamorous accommodation, it is still a real privilege to be able to get away and experience new things as well as spend some concentrated time together as a family.  There are millions of people around the world that never get any sort of break from their miserable lives and I just wanted to say – for what it’s worth – that I appreciate all the many blessings you do bestow upon us, and although I do moan and go on a bit, I am grateful for this life you have given me.

We’re off for a train ride today, about an hour’s drive north of here that winds through bush up some sort of hill where the views are supposed to be amazing.  Nathan is out of his skin with excitement and I suspect Andrew is too – I’m not sure what it is with men and machines but it sure runs deep.

Anyway, bless our day together, Lord, and be with us as we hit the road again.  I continue to ask for your hand to be on those at home…even (or especially) the cat…Amen

Well, here I am – up early of course – when I’m on holiday and have nothing to do and all day to do it in!  Anyway, that does mean there’s no excuse for not at least having a quick catch up with you, Lord, before I start in one on of the three novels I’ve brought with me in a great burst of enthusiasm.  I know full well that I’ll end up with one full of sand and almost finished and take the other two home untouched, but a person can live in hope, can’t they?

Firstly, thank you that we made it here in one piece and that our journey was reasonably painless (apart from the kids getting ratty when we were on that twisty stretch of road) and that when we arrived, miracle of miracles, the house we booked was not only here, but is actually very sweet.  Of course it’s not quite as big as it looked on the photos – definitely some very favourable camera angles at work – and the oven does look as though Mrs. Noah probably used it first on the Ark, but apart from that all is well.  The house is, as claimed, just one street back from the beach and we’ve already tested that out when we arrived yesterday – the kids wanted to hit the waves before they even saw their rooms!

Today we will probably have breakfast, do nothing, have lunch, do a bit more nothing at the beach, come back for afternoon tea and a bit more nothing, then have barbecue dinner….and more nothing.  It sounds absolutely glorious.  Thank you for the blessing of being away as a family and without further ado I will end here and simply pray that you would have your hand on us and on our family and friends back home…Amen

Well, here I am, Lord, nearly midnight and we are all packed and ready to set off on our little adventure tomorrow.  It’s been a very busy few days to get everything sorted and I’ve found myself writing copious small notes to Linley along the way – things like how to use the washing machine (as she’s just ‘thrown’ her washing in with ours since she moved in), strict instructions on how and when to feed the cat and with what (otherwise we’ll either come home to find her skeletal or obese), where to find spare light bulbs, string, cellotape, scissors.  Of course the one thing she’ll really need or want I won’t have mentioned but these days, with mobile phones, she can just send me a txt.  I just don’t want to be disturbed ten times a day for queries like “Hw do u opn fridg dr?” or “Whre is cn opnr?” or “Hw dos mcrwve wrk?”

I must say that I am feeling quite excited about departing tomorrow!  It will be great to get away from it all and have a change of scene and a change of pace.  Hopefully I won’t worry too much about everyone and everything while we’re away.  I must say that now Caroline’s parents are in the know and on the scene I do feel much better about leaving town.

Anyway, Lord, since I know that things will most probably be a bit chaotic tomorrow morning as we try and get out of here at a decent hour, I commit our trip into your hands.  I pray you would be with us as we make final preparations to leave and that we wouldn’t forget to take anything important.  I pray you would grant us travelling mercies as we head south, that the children would be good on the four hour trip (hopefully our day out to Price Bay will make this trip seem like a picnic) and that the place we have booked does actually exist and is as nice as it looks.

I pray for your hand to be on all our family and friends while we are away, and I pray for an extra hand of protection to be on our house (and Linley) while we are gone.  If there’s one txt I don’t want, it’s the one that says, “Hse brnt dwn.  Srry abt tht.”  I’m going to pack my prayer journal now so will see you on the other side…Amen

Well, a small miracle has occurred, Lord, as for the first time since the holidays started I am actually home alone!  I’m not sure how you managed to pull off this wondrous miracle but I do thank you for it nonetheless.  First up, after Linley being out all day yesterday (to no avail) I felt sure she would hang around and lick her wounds today, but no, she was off at the crack of ten to see some personnel consultant who she’s heard about.  Then Brittany’s mother called to see if Emily could come and play for the day, which of course she was dying to do.  And then Dad called to see if he could spend some time with both of the kids and was round like a shot when I said that only Nathan was available and had him out of the door in no time on one of their adventures.

So, it’s temporarily back to me, the cat, the washing machine, and you.  Happy days!  Of course we are going away on Saturday so in fact what this time does mean is a chance to get a bit more organised.  Even with leaving Linley to guard the castle in our absence there still seems to be mountains to do in order to be ready to go.  Why is it that whenever we go away it always takes longer to prepare and then resettle than the time we are actually away for?

Anyway, thank you for the blissful sound of silence and I pray that I might have a productive time while the going is good – and maybe even a nice little nanna nap as well…Amen

Sorry about the lack of prayer yesterday, Lord, but here I am again today.  As you know we madly decided to take a trip up the coast yesterday to Price Bay for a picnic and swim – just an hour and a half’s trip up north – completely forgetting that, for many people, the end of their Christmas break was yesterday.  In consequence the roads were diabolical, and what should have been a five hour excursion turned into an eight hour one, with all that extra time spent stuck in a colossal traffic jam.  Of course three extra hours crammed in the back of the car with Linley made the kids especially grumpy, but that was nothing compared to the amount of moaning Linley did.  At one point I thought Andrew was going to make her get out of the car and walk home.

Anyway, by the time we got home I was so angry, uncomfortable, grimy and tired that I didn’t feel in the mood to spend time with anyone, and while taking myself off to bed at six o’clock may not have been the most adult thing I’ve ever done it did stop me saying things to Linley that are better off left unsaid.  It was quite funny in the end, though, because one by one my little family joined me in bed and we ended up getting the giggles.  I truly think laughter is one of the most precious and undervalued gifts you have given us, Lord, because after that I felt a whole lot better.

Andrew has gone back to work today, and Linley was off early saying that she had better get back in the saddle of job-hunting again.  Although she didn’t say so, I think she seemed a little contrite for her appalling behaviour yesterday.

Anyway, I pray you would be with Andrew at work, Lord, and have your hand on Linley as she looks for a new job (please, please, let her find something soon!) and be with me and the kids as we spend the day together…Amen

No church today, Lord, since, as usual, there’s no programme for the kids.  Besides, it’s another beautiful day and we’ve decided to go on a little bush walk – nothing too strenuous since Nathan’s legs usually give out if we venture too far and one of us ends up carrying him.  We’re going on a track that leads to a waterfall that just seems to come out of nowhere, and I must say I am really looking forward to it.  I love being in the cool bush on a hot summer’s day, to walk beneath majestic trees and hear the birds singing and the cicadas chirping.

It makes me feel closer to you to be out in your creation, Lord.  Suburban living might be nice for day-to-day living, but it doesn’t help us connect with you through the wonder of your creation.  It’s good to get out and remind ourselves of you through the beauty of your natural world.

Linley isn’t coming.  She sniffed at the idea of getting away from it all which is a shame because a dose of fresh air would probably do her wonders.  On the flip side, that does give us some more family time together and I pray you would bless this time and that our jaunt out would be dominated by laughter and fun rather than kids bickering in the back seat, spilt ice creams and itchy mosquito bites.

I commit our family to you…in your name…Amen

A brief prayer time this morning, Lord, just to connect with you.  I’m not sure what the day will hold today since we have no plans at this stage, but I pray we might be able to get some family time together today without Linley as I can see that her constant presence is wearing us all down.  Things might be a bit better were it not for the fact that she is a bit insensitive at times and doesn’t realise how her judgemental comments are getting on our nerves – especially Andrew’s.  I’m not sure how much longer we will be able to have her here to stay without irreparable harm being done to our relationship to be honest.  And having our whole garage filled with her stuff is really starting to drive Andrew up the wall.

Thankfully we are off on our holiday in one week’s time!  Then Linley can have the place to herself and we can have some solid family time together.  I only pray she forgets herself long enough to remember to feed our poor cat!

Meanwhile, I continue to bring Caroline before you and pray for you to uplift and sustain her while this whole mess gets sorted out.  Hopefully the events of yesterday will help since while Linley and I were there Caroline’s parents showed up – I think they had gotten wind of the fact that something wasn’t quite right since Caroline has been avoiding them as she grapples to come to terms with what has happened.  Maybe she figured Logan would be back within a day or two and she wouldn’t have to tell them at all.

Anyway, the truth quickly came out, but for the better, I think, since Caroline now has two extra pairs of hands to help.  I think Caroline was surprised by how calmly they took the news, how they needed no explanations nor uttered any recriminations against either Caroline or Logan.  However what yesterday did make me realise was that, under these circumstances, I’m really conflicted about what a good outcome would be.  If Logan had not deserted Caroline for another woman (well, girl, really) then it would be easy to pray that he come to his senses and return.  But, where infidelity is involved, I wonder what it would take for me to agree to have my straying husband back if I was in the same boat?  Would I even want him back at all, this hypothetical adulterous husband?  But, on the flip side, there are the children to think about, and by the looks of them they are all doing pretty badly, and not just Christian.

So, all I can do once again is to hand the whole situation over to you and pray you would bring about the perfect solution for this very imperfect set of circumstances.  In Jesus’ name I pray…Amen