In a doorframe of my childhood home there are marks on the door where mum has drawn lines and added our names for how tall we had grown.

Every few months we would all line up to have our height marked on the doorframe. We would stand as straight and as tall as we could, stretching and then balancing on our toes to cheat and try and be the tallest. (With two older brothers, I was never the tallest)!

Our family would stand around and admire how each one of us had grown then argue about who cheated and who was really the tallest. Over the years the house was painted a few times but the tridition remained. Now the next generation of our family line up to have their heights measured.

There was such wonder in looking back at our physical growth. A reminder that we are now further ahead then what we once were. As children we notice this type of growth but do we notice our get any sense of wonder at our spiritual growth?

We should keep a journal, mark the places we get to in your relationship with God. I bet the things we struggled with 10 years ago or even 5 years ago we don’t struggle with now. We’ve grown and moved forward. We should stop and reflect, praise God for what he’s done in our life. And then get ready to grow some more!

1 Peter 2

1 So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech.2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment,3 now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.

For 10 days I am playing parent to my nieces and nephew while their parents are away for business/holiday. The kids are on school holidays so we have lots of fun things planned. I don’t have my own children (or husband…) yet so here’s what I have learned so far….

1. Kids will believe anything you tell them… (it’s better if you stick to the truth)

On sunday we happened to visit an Alpaca and Gerbera farm. While we were having lunch the kids asked “What are we doing tomorrow?” I answered and told them that seeing as we have seen animals that start with “A” that tomorrow we would visit animals that start with “B” and for each day of the holidays we would only be looking at animals in alphabetical order. Being such a lame and boring holiday activity I assumed they understood I was joking. We reffered the joke a few more times through the day,  still I thought nothing of it. That night I found a scibbled letter on my pillow “Do we HAVE to see animals starting with B tomorrow?” I couldn’t stop laughing… it was just too funny! Poor Neice #1 was so concerned that her school holidays would be taken up visiting animals and in alphabetical order… she would much rather go to movies, go shopping, watch DVD’s and play wii.

2. Kids ask SO MANY questions…

Constantly…”What’s for Lunch?” “Can I have some Gum?” “What time is it?” “Can I eat that bannana?” “Where are we going?” “how come you don’t know what we’re having for dinner?” So I’m now giving out more info than required to answer all the questions before they’re asked. Funniest question so far..”Does anyone have any money they don’t want?” (to which I answered “NO and I don’t want to hear you ask that question again”)

3. Life is SO MUCH MORE FUN in family!!

Being single and working ALOT I often eat alone and do all the mundane things alone. Life with 3 kids is so enjoyable..i love them to bits and they are so full of life and joy. Breakfast is full of laughs, grocery shopping is a treasure hunt and hairbrush singing abounds… Love it!! even with all the breaking up fights, putting everyone before yourself and not ever being alone, I love it, I love it all. Can’t wait to have a family of my own someday soon.

Ok…kids have paint brushes and paint..better not leave them unattended much longer!

Sorry about the lack of blogging latley… Here’s why…

www.kidsongworld.com and www.hillsongkidsbig.com and www.hillsongkids.com

I am all consumed with the above and LOVING IT!!! Many great blog posts on the back burner but I LOVE MY CHURCH and my first priority is to build it. So I’m doing a lot of “Dwelling in the House” right now!

If you are coming to Hillsong Conference you are in for the BEST week of your life ever! I’ll see you there!

In the meantime check out the heart for the house video on myhillsong.com – I can’t get it outta my head right now…INCREDIBLE!!

Dream Big…

K

You may have followed the drama of the LOST DOG over the weekend, here’s the rundown of what happened.

My friends were going away on Holidays for 5 weeks and when they return they are moving into my house, they asked me to look after their Dog “Jones” for the time they are away. They dropped him over to my house along with his kennel, food supply and toys. They stayed for a half hour, we chatted about the Dog and their holiday plans and when they left it was just Me & Jones… but not for long, soon it would be ME only.

Jones and I were great friends, he snuggled at my feet while we watched TV, things were going well. I put him outside for a while to check out the yard which I had secured and made puppy proof…or so I thought. He sniffed around, left his mark on a tree and settled in his kennel. Upstairs as I got ready to go to bed I heard a noise coming from outside, the gate was shaking and then suddenly it stopped. I ran downstairs and Jones was gone, the bricks and wood I had put under the gate had been shaken free and out he got.

I ran the streets of our neighbourhood in my Pyjamas and recruited people to help the search. After a few hours until nearly 2am we searched and couldn’t find the adventurous puppy anywhere. The next morning I was up at 530am posting 100 LOST DOG signs in the hope of people noticing them early on their Saturday morning. I called the local councils, the Vets and pet stores. Then all I could do was wait for the phone to ring.

Saturday night came…NO DOG

Sunday morning….NO DOG

Sunday Night…NO DOG

Monday Morning….Who knows what Jones the Dog has been doing all weekend, probbably had a wonderul time exploring, chasing butterfiles, sharing spaghetti Bolognaise with a nice lady dog behind the italian restraunt…aka Lady and the Tramp…

He found his way all the way to the Hawesbury Dog pound…20 mins away from where we live (a long way for a Dog to travel). The prodigal Dog has returned. I was fired from my job as Puppy Dog sitter and Jones is off to stay with his grandparents in their very safe yard.

Dave asked me…”what have I learnt from this”, I replied “Tie things up”. Jones the Dog will be moving into my house in 5 weeks time so I am spending that time filling in the hole under the gate. I am sure Jones and I can be friends again, he’s just a too little adventurous for me.

Anyone want to help me take down 100 posters tonight?? Anyone??

We are in another BIG season right now, and when I say BIG I mean BIG in size and our production process for the next Hillsong Kids BIG curriculum is in full swing.

This week we have been filming many of the scenes for the teaching DVD’s, it takes almost a whole day to film only a few mins of the teaching DVD segment so it is alot of hard work and also really alot of FUN! check out some funny stories from behind the scenes at www.thethursdayblog.com

I spent two days underneath the BIG HQ desk using my good ‘ol puppet skills. My arms are so sore I think they may actually drop off. There were spills on set, cupcakes galore, paper thrown, props a plenty, voices yelling “Cut” and the sweetest words we could have heard came last night when our director Ben yelled “And that’s a wrap”… we then pulled apart the set in record time with all the cast and team pitching in with hammers and drills to get the job done.

And just when we thought we could relax Dave and I get working on making sure we can get the DVD’s and teaching ready to use in Hillsong Kids programs for the month of June, and yes today is the 21st of May…it will take a MIRACLE to make it happen but I think we can do it!!

So life is BIG right now, I love it and I wouldn’t want it any other way!

Must run…some activity sheet plans need to be put on paper so the design and illustrations can begin.

Easter this year was delightful. (Yes I know it was ages ago!!)

I thought I would play Easter Bunny at our Kids programs so I arrived really early in the morning and decorated all the trees with little hanging easter eggs. Cute hey?! I loved watching the parents try and explain to the kids how easter eggs got into the trees!

So I haven’t posted anything since March 25….Where the heck have I been?? On twitter that’s where! Geesh!

Life is CRAZY busy right now so I’ve let the little blog sleep for a bit. I have come to realise that this is just the pace I do life. So, in keeping up with it all I need to stop each day and have a little lunch break and instead of have lunch alone, I shall write blog posts..to you.

So lunch today was with you…at 2.30 in the afternoon, I had some grilled fish with a little bit of rice….what did you have?

So, I have not posted anything for a little while. Not making excuses but…The launch of my new look blog and domain name is in the works! AND a new children’s ministry curriculum is in the works too, so I have had my head down working hard! No time for blog writing. Twitter however is easy to keep up to date of what’s going on in the world and easy to update too!

My twitter is kathrynjoy25 (hmmm the 25 has no meaning, kathrynjoy was taken so…yeah there you have it!)

Must get back to the project at hand… caio for now!