Why I won't let my children trick or treat

If you saw your son or daughter conjuring up demons and dead spirits or casting spells would you be ok with that?

I hope that the answer is no, yet millions of parents will allow their children to take part in the 'harmless fun' of Halloween while the devil sits back and laughs. He doesn't need to incite a curios in the dark arts within children because their parents unwittingly due it for him by making light of acting like a witch or wizard. The adaptation of JK Rowlings books have seen children across the world brandishing a wand like a weapon and chanting their very own spells wwhilst touring the neighbourhood as a spooky being. 

Magic is not fun, nor is it harmless. It is a slippery slope to the dark arts, the power that it offers the participant lures them deeper and deeper into a demonic world where Satan can really get a hold of you.

I myself as a young girl was transfixed my shows like Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Charmed and so on and I gained an interest in the occult but thank God Jesus claimed me for His own and saved me.

The Bible pulls no punches on this topic, warning very clearly in Deuteronomy 18:9-14

"...Do not let your people practice fortune telling or use sorcery, or interpret omens,  or engage in witchcraft, or cast spells or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead..."

Fortunately God has the ultimate power, and the one name that makes the devil tremble is Jesus Christ. The Bible says if we call upon His name we will be saved and once we give our hearts to Jesus He lives within us. When you have done that you can be confident that;

Greater is He (Jesus) that lives in me than he (the devil) that is in the world. (1 John 4:4)

God ia the ultimate heavenly Father and He loves you and wants to protect you just the same as you want to protect your family. My prayer is that this Halloween would not be a spiritual battle between good and evil for your soul or your children's souls, but would be the day you surrender to God and trust in His unfailing love and everlasting protection.

R

Who wouldn't want an extra hour?

Mamma! Mamma! My sons urgent cries pierced my slumber like a pin to a bubble.

The call from my 19 month old wasn't actually any different from any other morning, only it was at 5am not 6am. (I so envy parents who have to wake their children in the morning!) Not being a morning person, my attitude was not particularly cheerful as I reluctantly left my soft, warm bed, padded in to the boys bedroom and lay down in little man's bed in a desperate bid to get them both back to sleep. I grumpily wondered whose stupid idea it was to put the clocks back in the first place, I mean, we are all repeatedly told how we should look to the future, don't revisit the past etc, so what benefit do we get from turning back time and gaining an hour?

A terminally ill mother who give anything to have an extra hour, God whispered to me.

A father holding his precious daughter in his arms would give anything to go back an hour to when breath filled her lungs.

The motorist who was distracted by a text message and didn't see the motorbike coming around the corner would give anything to go back an hour and switch that phone to silent.

Time is precious. It is fleeting and it is fragile. It is our most valuable commodity and yet we fritter it away on a daily basis. Today I have been awake since 5am, but that means that I have enjoyed an hour more of cwtches and cbeebies with my children. I am blessed beyond all measure and my prayer today is that I never forget that nor today for granted.

"How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog, its here a little while then it is gone." James 4:13

So if you have been up since the wee hours this morning, go and pour yourself a strong coffee, give thanks for your life and enjoy this day, this hour, this minute for we are not promised tomorrow.

R

School Run Style: Why I don't want to be a slummy mummy

I am sure that when my husband walks in he must think that I have spent hours in a wrestling ring, and to an extent he is probably right.

My once carefully applied makeup has been kissed or rubbed off by small chubby hands, my hair has been pulled on as I have adopted the role of ride on entertainment for my two sons or I have been so thoroughly soaked during the school run itself or during bath time. By the time I have dressed and fed our boys, coerced them in to getting out of the house on time for the school run, frog marched them to the school gates in biting winds and horizontal rain, returned home to play cars/trains/drums as requested by my toddler, cooked lunch, marched back to school to collect the big boy before returning home for CC time (cookie and catch up about our day), re-enacted scenes from Cars/Toy Story/Spiderman, provided ride on entertainment and had several tickle fights, I am not surprised that I look a little windswept by the end of it.

I have such good intentions when I start the day, have a shower and attempt to control my naturally wavy hair using brute force and straightening irons before carefully selecting a comfortable and warm outfit, plus coordinating accessories. Granted some mornings the shower is skipped in favour of a wash and I admit defeat and scrunch my tresses into curls to save a bit of time, and yes a long waterproof coat does cover a hoodie and weetabix splattered jeans on a bad day. However looking good makes me feel good so I make a conscious effort to look my best each day, even if that simply means a slick of lip gloss, and a sweep of mascara.

I think my image consciousness comes from not only being interested in fashion and wanting to make the most of my figure/face in my thirties, but also from the fact that I don't 'go' to a place of work. As a working at home mom, I am privileged to fit my writing business in around my children, however not dressing for and travelling to an office can leave me feeling feel less motivated as I could work in my PJ's all day and am less likely to push myself to develop new skills and succeed. Having battle Post Natal Depression following the birth of my second son, I like to dress well so that I feel more 'put together' and ready to face the world and as my house is filled with boys I also enjoy dressing in a more feminine manner whenever possible, adopting dresses and skirts over leggings and tights if the weather permits.

Please understand that I have nothing against moms who wear hoodies and slouchy jeans for the school run (although I draw the line at pulling a three quarter length coat and ugg boots over the top of your PJ's unless you seriously overslept!) if anything I applaud them for being so comfortable in their own skin to wear practical, comfortable clothing.

For me, fashion and a sense of style is part of my identity as a woman and it also boost my confidence, making a concerted effort helps me to feel more confident in all areas of my personal and professional life, from meeting new moms in the playground to writing website content for a new client.

The beauty of fashion nowadays is that it needn't cost the earth, and some of my greatest finds have been in charity shops across the UK. As a parent to a boy who thinks flinging his food and drink around at every meal time, I have quickly realised that nothing is safe from mischievous sticky fingers, therefore buying preowned clothes that cost less than a brand new item in Primark is far more preferable to scrubbing stains out of a favourite blouse that cost my whole wage packet. Furthermore, I am doing my bit for the environment by reusing and recycling in the process, and what's better than bagging a bargain whilst saving the world one clothing item at a time?

R

Time to take out the trash

As a busy mom of two, it has never ceased to amaze me how quickly my bin gets full to the brim.

(Yes I realise this is probably a little gross, but bear with me on this, there is a valid point!)

With school runs, grocery shopping, laundry and a million other errands to fit in around keeping the house in a relative state of organised chaos and raising little children, it would seem that emptying my bin has become one of those tasks that I keep putting off. This largely because it is a grim job that involved handling stinky bin liners *gags* and almost always having to pick up a third of the contents that spills over the top or out of the split at the bottom of the overflowing bin liner in the process. I realise that if I just emptied it before it got quite so full then this chore would be far easier and dare I say more pleasant (if that is even possible), but when I get to the bin with two hands filled with dirty tissues, the contents of the breakfast bowl and empty wrappers I am far more inclined to simply squash the rubbish down to make room for more. Of course, its goes without saying that a bin that is not emptied often is usually fairly fragrant, and not in the welcoming cotton linen kind either.

Life can be a bit like a bin at time.... as women and mothers we take on other peoples troubles or 'trash' to help lighten their load and show that we care. This in itself is an admirable thing to do as we empathise with girlfriends and help them to work out their difficulties, but sometimes we take on so much and forget to empty our bin. If we don't take out the trash so to speak, then we are left fermenting over bad attitudes, negative thoughts and stinking thinking which will affect our day to day lives. Negativity is like a cold, it is super easy to spread and will jump from conversation to conversation, clinging to each person and affecting their day too.

The devil loves it when we gossip, moan and whine about each other/our spouse/our family/our house/our job*  (*delete as appropriate.) He can simply sit back and watch us spread discontent and anger across our circles of influence so we must watch what we say and how we say it to everyone, so that a) we will be consistent and b) we do not contaminate everyone else with our own insecurities and issues. That is not to say that we shouldn't share our thoughts and feelings, but there is a right place for us to take our trash so that we can be rid of our negativity without affecting others.

We can take any requests and petitions to God, no matter how big or small they seem, or whether they affect us directly or not. We can also carefully choose a trustworthy friend who can best advise and/or pray with us about our situation. When writing to the Thessalonian church, Paul states that we must never stop praying and praising God in all circumstances, therefore my advice is don't let the trash bring you down, give it to God and put it out for the dustbin men to collect, because when things are looking down it to time to start looking up.

R

Letter to my younger self....

Dear Rachel,

Congratulations! You have become a wife and a mother in the short space of 18 months.

Firstly I want to tell you to enjoy these precious few moments as a brand new family, you are in a great place emotionally, physically and spiritually following the move to your new church and you are starting to discover who you are and why God put you here on this earth.

Your role as a mother will not define who you are. You are more than a cook and bottle washer, more than a cleaner and laundry attendant. You are an independent woman who is strong, confident, accomplished and gifted, no matter how you may doubt and question yourself. Can I really do this? Can I ever be good enough? Am I qualified? The answer to all these questions in God is yes. If He has called you to it He will bring you through it.

Your girlfriends are your world right now, and that is OK. Fellow moms who are going through the same stages as you, attend the same church as you, attend the same toddler group, women that you have so much in common with. 

Don't take things to heart, you have a tendency to wear your heart on your sleeve a little too much so why not protect it and keep some things just between you and God. He knows your heart, He knows your desire to be loved, accepted and to belong which is why He sought you out to become a daughter of the King, part of the Kingdom of Heaven. This is also the reason He gave you a great marriage, a husband who knows you intimately and loves every part of you. A strong man who will uphold you and strengthen you in every area, a man who has got your back.

In the years to come you will face trials an tribulations but you will never be alone. God is with you, He is for you and He has gone ahead of you. You will overcome redundancies, health scares and depression. You will rise above doubts and dilemmas, bad decisions and bad behaviour. You will learn the difference between being a friend and being faithful and your personal faith will reach levels you never dreamed of.

Take courage and stand tall, the future is bright, you just need to believe it and grab it with both hands.

R

Rainy school days and waterproof washouts!

Aaron and I were somewhat excited about our first rainy school run.

It was an excuse to get out the waterproofs and boots and proudly display to the world how undeterred we were by the Great British weather. 

However I rather drastically underestimated the gale force winds and torrential down pour on the school run, and as I arrived at the school gates with my somewhat dishevelled and soggy children, I conceded that I really should have taken the car this morning.

The truth is, school is literally a 15 minute walk away and I had bravely told my husband that he should take the car instead of the motorbike, as we were all kitted out with wet weather gear, however our Trespass jackets proved no match for the horizontal rain, and I also forgot that jackets do not, I repeat do not cover the thighs (mommy fail) so despite our best efforts in wearing our boots the boy and I had very wet thighs by the end of the journey. The baby fared the best in his pushchair however even he had wet feet after sticking his toes out of the cover, will be wellington boots for him too this afternoon!

I have also come to realise that my cute fringe (bangs to my US friends) does not fare well in wet weather, and that perhaps straight styled hair for the school run will be a thing of the past.

So how exactly does a momma remain remotely fashion forward in the UK winter? I am desperately in need of a full length waterproof mac that won't make me look like a fisher man, and my trusty knee high boots have clearly seen better days....

Once home I had to have a complete outfit change but all is well now I am curled up with a cuppa and my little man. Lets hope the coats have dried off by this afternoon!

Love the little things....

Here is my first blog for Love The Little Things and I am super excited to share my week with you!

Read

I have such a huge stack of books on my shelves waiting to be read, but the current title on my bedside table is Dr John Andrews' book 2:52 about growing in leadership. I have also dipped in and out of Hello magazine this week to pour over the pages of the marriage of the worlds most eligible batchelor, Mr George Clooney and his bride Amal!

Watched

Friday night is date night in the Edwards household and we decided to watch reruns of Twilight Saga as Dave has yet to see the final instalment and we needed a refresh before watching Breaking Dawn Part 2!

Wore

Unlike the rest of the UK I am actually looking forward to autumn, and so I have been excitedly sporting my scarves again this week. As a complete self confessed scarf addict, I love nothing more than pulling on skinny jeans and boots or leggings and a knitted dress accompanied with some neck warming loveliness in the winter months. This is my newest addition, the swallows scarf from Ella Bella Scarves.

Heard

I love the distinctive voice of Rory James, his melodies are haunting yet uplifting, I highly recommend checking him out on YouTube!

Made

There has been a distinct lack of crafting and cooking this week, but I have made lots of mess with my 4 year old who has rediscovered his love of playdough!