Coffee & Cupcakes

As we raised our traditional glasses of Asti to celebrate a new year, I like most of you had little awareness of what the twelve months before me held. For some of you faithful readers (it actually has been a long time since I wrote) you will know that Josh and I, prayerfully choose a word for each year on New Year's Eve. I am not into resolutions or claiming for a new me to begin on January 1st. Rather we take a word and allow that to shape our story over the coming twelve months. On January 2021, as we sat with our yearly planner, baked camembert, awaiting fireworks - we wrote 'JOY' over the chapter of 2021.  We had not taken many steps into 2021, before the wonderful experience of homeschooling, that so many of us found ourselves in, began - that joy was seeming a little less of a frequent visitor in our home. As the year went on, honestly, I felt loss, grief or even bizarre, would have better described the year than joy, or any other word for that matter. There were mom...

As I dived into the back seat of the hire car, recieving a handful of sick from my daughter as an arrival gift, I couldn't but question the madness of what we were doing. This thought came and left rapidly as Kezzia continued to be sick and I in a desperate attempt to keep the hire car clean was trying to direct the "deposit" anywhere other than on the car. A quick stop, disposal of some clothes, car seat covers and almost a packet of baby wipes later - I still question how the world survived without wipes - we were back on route and my question cropped up again... Had Josh and I lost all sense and reason? There we were heading for Holyhead, all our belongings following behind in a van - and what exactly were we heading toward? That was the scary part, in reality we didn't really know! We knew Ireland, Sligo was right but in essence that was it! We were leaving behind family, wonderful family, friends, the most incredible friends, a church that we loved and Worth...

I have been meaning to write this post for some time but other things have been getting in the way, but tonight at this unearthly hour, when I should be asleep, my brain is wide awake so here I am. I dedicate this blog to 6 amazing women, who have over the past 3 years become an intricate part of my world. Let's travel back in time, I arrived with my eldest child, just 6 weeks old, to my local Children & Family centre. I was still slightly in shock at the new role I had just taken on, completely sleep deprived and ridiculous nervous, with no idea was I was actually attending... What exactly is an "early parenting course"... I walked into a room where a number of other mums were sitting, chatting laughing and quietly made my way over to the corner, very grateful that 2 other mums had made this their first week. After getting over the "Kezzia, what an unusual name" phrase, I allowed myself to relax a little. What I wasn't prepared for was that some of...