Its a safe place

I began thinking about this post a few days ago...the letter H... ummm.
The one word that comes to my mind is

                 HOME

Others are humility, helpness, but every word I think of has the word home in it.
working at Home
Homebirth
Homeschooled
Home Mass

Why is home such a warm word for me. It my peace, its my private place, the real place where I can be me and my family can be just as they want to be. Warts and all.
Its where we learn, Its where we are safe, its where life begins.
I suppose this brings me to why our home is sacred.
We live in such a fallen world and there is a lot of destruction in the world. At home we as a family counter that. We are able to sooth each other and talk issues out.
There is a real sense of peace in our home. Even when tensions rise, its a nice cosy safe place to be.
Its where our Church begins.
Our Domestic Church.
Dermot & I have on many occasions opened our home  to church groups, to Lenten Groups, to talks from various Priests, to meals with Priests, marriage groups, to youth Groups, and Home Mass.
Its a beautiful think to do, to open our home to Community and live the lives of Jesus' disciples, by saying YES to his prompting.
I love the safeness of our home, and if it is violated I feel very uneasy and threatened. 
I like to keep the world out and allow us to be strength and growth for each other.

We have been Blessed enough to have birth 3 of our children at home. This is inself is special. Tiny babies born in our home, no bright lights, no busyness, just peace and working it out ourselves. Our children waking up to a new little life. Special times.
Our life is at home.
Dermot has always worked from home. Its his workplace. His safe place. He still goes into the world and shines his light at the workplaces of clients. He doesn't hide it under a bush.
None of us do, We are asked to be wirnesses to the world and its the safety and serenity of our home that gives us strength.

Tell me about your Home?

 

The Great game

My Dad and Dermot have a special little bomd. They both enjoy going to see the football team, The Knights..
They meet up at the Home stadium before the main game to watch the juniors and the reserve grade.
Its there thing, and I encourage it.
Dermot doesn't have any family here, so its kinda nice that my Dad and Dermot enjoy the Great game of rugby league together
When Dermot arrived in Australia, back in 1987 the Knights where just about to form there national team.
Dad asked Dermot, " What team will you support?"
The answer " I suppose I will support the local team".
So from then on .........
Dermot and Dad got memberships, jerseys and the like and sat together on the ground on in the grandstand to watch there team.
There was a wane in interest with my Dad after a few years, but Dermot would attend every game, some in the rain.
When the kids were little he would take them with him in there Knights gear to see the Game. It was an exciting day for all. They would sit on the hill and watch the game.
We even had a Footy tipping competition. That was fun. There was enough of us. Dermot would write out the draw on a sheet of paper and everyone would fill theres in and we would be given points for the teams we had marked down, that won each round. The Kids played for a book gift voucher. So every year we would hand out a winning book voucher to the winner of the comp...
A couple of years ago,  Dermot and Dad bought Grand stand season passes.
So now every game they get together at there seats and watch the beloved Knights play the opposing team My Dad takes a packed lunch, dinner  or afternoon tea for them both. Its a great way for them to spend a few hours.

Do you have a sport you follow. ?
      

Our little Star...

Its been a while since I wrote a post.
We have been so busy with end of year things, Ballet concerts rehearsals.
Our business has been keeping Dermot busy, so a lot of the house and yard work has fallen back onto me. Thats how marriage works.
Last weekend Brid danced in her end of year concert for her local Dance school.
We discussed the night before amongst ourselves, when we would have to leave, how long it would take for make up and hair to be done. It made for a smooth transition.
So after a nice sleep in, we got into action. We needed 1 hour to drive to the venue. 1 hour to do hair and makeup, so that we were not rushed.
So after showers and having Brids' costumes and assessories at the door, we went to work with putting her hair in a nice full bun, with the sides of her hair twisted back into the bun. We always part her hair on the side, so her hairline looks softer around her face. The twists just add something different and a little interest to her hairline.

our stage makeup

Then its stage makeup. We have learnt over the years to apply liquid andt hen powdered foundation in matt, not gloss. We also adapt our colours to Brids' skin type. She is rather fair, so there is no point putting red lipstick on her lips, or a harsh blush on her cheekline. It just looks terrible. I use a mixture of a pink and a brown, and it really sets her eyes off.

note the twist in her hair and the eyeliner under her eyes
 

This year we experimented with eye makeup. We used browns with white as the base and brown in the crease, smoothed over with a lighter brown. We use a liquid eyeliner on the eyelid and a pencil eyeliner about 1 mm underneath the eye. It makes her eyes stand out and there is no tears with applying eyeliners like in previous years.
We learnt a trick with mascara, Using a plastic teaspoon as a guide, you apply the mascara and the teaspoon is painted as instead of droping onto her face.
So that all done we were ready to grab drink bottles and food for backstage, her costumes and of we went.

Her classical Ballet costume
 

An hours drive took us to the venue and arrived in plenty of time for Brid to settle in and get her costumes ready.
She was beautiful and we couldn't have more proud of her.
Mum Dad Dermot And myself sat in the audience waiting for Brids dances. It was lovely. All those weeks of practice, all those classes at her new ballet school made all the difference. Brid you just Shone...like a star. Our star..