Tithing update

Thanks to all those who commented on my last post. It was good to get a discussion going on this blog again!!

Now, I received a few concerned messages during the week, and I just wanted to say that the main point of my post may have been missed. Russ and I are fine (relatively) we are still eating, and still alive over here!! I was just wondering what people thought about tithing as it is a subject that almost everyone has a different view point on.

So, please don't panic...it's nice to know people care...we are fine. :) and we are eating :)

On another note, it has been great to discuss what people think about tithing and to re-evaluate (as a family) what we do in regards to tithing.

I hope the post challenged you and made you think about what you do with your money, and where your money goes!!

In these "tough times" does God really want us to tithe?

Firstly, a HUGE thankyou to those who commented and gave me advice on taking Eme on her first plane flight. She was a dream baby and went FANTASTICALLY! I will update on the trip soon...but for the moment I have something on my mind.

I am out of work. My maternity leave has officially ended, and since I am not returning to work full time, I am out of a job. I cannot commit more than 2 days a week to work and therefore, the majority of businesses out there don't want to know me.

This is an odd feeling for me. I have NEVER been knocked back for a position. EVERY interview I have ever gone for, I have gotten the job! So it came as a bit of a shock last week when I drove all the way up to Innaloo (from Kwinana) to go for a job interview that only lasted a maximum of 10mins to then be told I hadn't got the job. I was shell shocked!

Now, after a weekend away we have returned home to reality. A reality that we cannot live off Russell's chaplaincy wage and that if I don't find work THIS week, we may just not survive.

At the start of the year we decided that we really wanted to make sure that we tithed every week. We have tithed off and on since being married, and I really felt challenged by God this year to make an effort to always tithe. So, even though it has been scary to tithe, I've still been receiving a maternity leave pay and so it hasn't been too big a deal to tithe.

This week however, if we tithe, I don't think we will be able to afford groceries, let alone the electricity bill sitting on our fridge. But I still find in my heart that God is wanting us to tithe. I am of the opinion that God will still look after us and that he will pull through. However Russ is of the opinion that sometimes God wants us to use 'common sense' and save the tithing money and use it for our groceries, etc.

So which is it? Can it be both?

I am so confused right now and in amidst of all this unknowing and uncertainty I still feel a strange peace.

I so desperately want to be a stay at home mum. I want to focus all of my time and energies into being a mum and a wife and taking care of the family home, but I feel this huge pressure to go back to work so that our family can simply exist.

I don't feel God's leading in anything, other than to stay faithful to him and to tithe. But maybe I'm not hearing right...I don't know anymore.

I just simply don't know what to do.

How have your family's been going through these times? I find it hard to say that Australia is having a financial crisis, and that we are all doing it tough. We have had it so good for so long that I think this has been a much needed wake up call.

Have you and your family been tithing? Do you think God wants us to still tithe or do you think he wants us to have some 'common sense' and spend our money more wisely?

I need some Mummy Advice!!

On the Easter weekend we are flying over to Melbourne for a wedding.

Now, Emery is sleeping through the night - for roughly 12hrs and our flight is a 'red-eye' flight and we land in Melbourne roughly 2am (Fri morning). What do I do with her? Is this going to seriously mess up her routine? What if she cries the whole flight? Do I just try feed her to keep her quiet?

I know the weekend is going to mess her around a little, but I'm hoping it won't be too bad and that when we get home she will be ok, but I would really appreciate if any mum's out there have done this before?

Are there certain things I should pack? What should I take on board with me? What should we do when we get to Melb?

I'm planning on keeping her feeding times the same as WA time. We are only there for a short period of time so I don't see the need in trying to re-set her body clock.

Anyway...any advice or ideas would be FANTASTIC!! Thanks guys!

Soap Operas and Romantic Endings

By Rob Furlong
Challenge Newspaper Mar 09

I can honestly say that I have never watched a single episode of Neighbours or it’s mutant offspring Home and Away so I recently went online (in the name of research) to see what I had been missing. To say I was utterly bewildered by the end of my search would be an
understatement — I was totally confused!

I do have to admit though that I laughed loud and hard when I read the plot-line concerning a guy named Bob who lost his leg in a mountaineering accident only to be re-united with it when it (his leg) was discovered by a young couple on a romantic weekend camping trip. Can you imagine it? “Oh my, isn’t that Bob’s leg hanging from a tree? We must tell him quickly!”

Why are people so obsessed with soap operas? I think it is because many of us conclude our own lives are pretty boring and the “soaps” somehow fill a void for us by making life a little more exciting. But life is not like a soap opera! Life consists of a many things and these include the exciting as well as the mundane. Listen to the words of King Solomon:

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven...”

In other words, there is a set time for everything that happens to us during our lives as well as there being a specific period of time for each of them. Solomon describes many of these events in the words that follow: birth and death, weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing, loving and hating, war and peace.

None of these events, or others, always occur all the time — they each are given a set time. And none of them lasts forever — they have a period of duration that can sometimes be long or short, depending on the circumstances. Sometimes life is vibrant and exciting, but sometimes it can be plain boring! Can you relate to that? I most certainly can! This is the ebb and flow of life and it is grounded in reality, not some ridiculous soap opera.

I say this because many people manage their relationships as if they were living in a soap opera. We all love the romantic movie where the knight rides off into the sunset with his princess and they live happily ever after. We conclude that this is how marriage is ... but is it?

In our own marriages we discover that there are times of happiness but also conflict and in extreme cases, it seems to be only conflict. What happened to the romantic ending? For one thing, we don’t have the privilege of seeing how things worked out for the knight and the princess but I am pretty certain they will have had their tense moments as well. We have been duped into thinking that happiness in marriage is merely about finding this wonderful person and then everything will automatically flow from there — we have been “Hollywoodised” about love and marriage.

Every marriage, even the best ones, have their times and seasons: times of laughter and passion and yes, times of conflict and boredom. The solution is to try and make sense of these times. This is why Solomon also said, “God has made everything beautiful in its time...” It is God who brings meaning to every moment of our lives. We can only ultimately be completely fulfilled in Him, not through some soap opera or unrealistic view about love and relationships. And He is also able to bring meaning and fulfilment to our marriages.

A growing marriage begins its life when two people say I do to each other and to God.

Then they are truly free to grow into unselfish people who find meaning in the times and seasons of their relationship with each other and with God.

Would you sing this at church?

A friend played this song to me this week and we were wondering whether you would be able to sing it at church as an item or not?

There is nothing wrong with it theologically, but it is pretty confronting...

what would you do?

White ManWords and music by Michael Gungor and Lisa Gungor

God is not a man
God is not a white man
God is not a man sitting on a cloud
God cannot be bought
God will not be boxed in
God will not be owned by religion

But God is love, God is love, and He loves everyone
God is love, God is love, and He loves everyone

God is not a man
God is not an old man
God does not belong to Republicans
God is not a flag
Not even American
And God does not depend on a government

But God is good, God is good, and He loves everyone
God is good, God is good, and He loves everyone

Atheists and Charlatans and Communists and Lesbians
And even old Pat Robertson, oh God He loves us all
Catholic or Protestant, Terrorist or President
Everybody, everybody, love, love, love, love, loveOh, la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la

Yeah, I say God is love, God is love, and He loves everyone
La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la
Stop the hating, please just stop the hating now cause God is love
Oh, whoa, la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la

So? What do you think?

I just can't help myself!

Holding onto daddy's finger

Her tiny feet in my palm

Do we look alike?

Overloaded with toys

3 mths old with 'The teddy'

Super cool hoodie chick

Oh! And I got a new tattoo!!

Can anyone guess what the numbers mean?

Psalm 100

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God.

It is He who has made us, and we are his; we are his people,

the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;

give thanks to Him and praise his name.

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;

his faithfulness continues through all generations."

Emery's Dedication

On Sunday (22nd) we had Emery dedicated at church.

It is where Russ and I publicly vowed to raise Eme to know God and to give her every opportunity in her life to meet God and to 'hopefully' follow him also.

We had my dad do the dedication and I personally found it very emotional.

We picked Psalm 100 as our Scripture as we feel that it expresses the joy we have and the thankfulness we have to God for Eme's safe arrival, and for her in our lives.

v5 of Psalm 100 is:
"...his faithfulness continues through all generations."

Emery's (1st) middle name is Joy. My middle name is also Joy. We decided to carry the name through because of God's faithfulness.

My mum had 4 misscarriages, 3 before I was born. So when I finally came and mum & dad were finally starting the family they had been so desperate for, the gave me the name of Joy as thats how they felt!! Over-joyed!

When Emery was born I realised just how special she was. Mum probably thought that she was never going to be able to have kids, let alone Grandkids, and now, here, with Landon and Eme's birth, God was remaining faithful to her, and to me.

My parents have been blessed, and we have been blessed.

After dad prayed for her and was passing her back to Russ he said that we need to remember that Emery is a gift from God, on loan to the Ingrams, and that as stewards it is required that we be found faithful. This is what dad was told when mum & dad had me dedicated as a bub. (made me cry!)

Having a child is amazing. I can go on and on about the whole experience, and I guess thats why I haven't posted anything for a while...I don't want to bore you all with boring mummy, house-wifey details!!

But, I will indulge myself and update you on a few things.

I am still breastfeeding Eme and I find it one of the best things ever! It does get tiring and sometimes I wish I didn't have to do it, but I figure that she is only so little for such a short period, and in a few years or decades I will be missing having her so small that she fits in my arms. It is such a bonding experience and I love the fact that she watches me as I sing to her and smiles back mid-feed....except when she gets the milk everywhere!

And yes, she is smiling like crazy! She smiles back and even tries to talk. I swear I won't be able to get her to 'shutup' once she's older. She will be a talker, just like her dad.

She just turned 3mths old and is wearing 6mth old clothing. Sigh...

Today, she rolled over for the very first time! snif snif...my little baby is growing up! She went from her tummy to her back...she may have just over balanced herself, but I'm still holding it up as a small milestone!

I wish I could fully describe what its like to be a mum, but I can't. When people ask how its going, all I can say is "good". But that doesn't feel like it gives it enough credit. Motherhood makes me feel alive and I am just so thankful to God for this amazing miracle.

Thankyou for my little Eme-joy...she is the best thing that has ever happened to me (after Russ that is!!)

Emery - Who we named our daughter after

This is the band we named Eme after.

Try last through the first 30secs (I know it will be hard for some of you!) as the rest of the song is pretty good.

This is a really old song of theirs, but I LOVE it none the less :)

Eme's 1st Christmas...& some news...though it may not be news cos I can't remember if I've posted about it or not!!

Ok, so I know these are a little late, and I also realised that I just put these photos up out of order...but who cares?

These are just a couple of photos from Christmas Day. With new photos of Landon...the the poor boy is stuck in a Santa suit, and poor Eme has 'pant issues'.

Oh, and the big news is that my little Sister is PREGNANT!! She is due June 4th! And we are SOOOOO excited!

Another little playmate for Eme! I think she is having a girl, and I have already started collecting girl things. Maybe I should ask Sarah's "waters" what she thinks Kate is having!!

Anyway...sorry if that is old news, I really can't remember!

Eme with her Mummy

This has to be one of my favourite shots with her so far

Boxing day. It was a HOT day so Eme decided to wear a wet cloth

With Aunty Kate

Landon & Emery

Poor Landon had to suffer through wearing that suit and poor Eme had to suffer through her Mother pulling her shorts up to her armpits...just for a laugh

Uncle Russ with Landon the boofta

Dontchya reckon they look alike?