I have this tradition that when I am turning another year older, I write about my last day of being _______________ (what my age is).

It is something that I have done over a number of years.

I love looking back and seeing how my year has been.

I love reflecting on my year.

I take the time to write in my journal, this is so important for me.

I am so grateful that I have another year to experience life.

Another year to make a difference.

I love writing and journaling, I love being creative.

I really do.

Tomorrow is my birthday and I am looking forward to celebrating it.

Yes, I will be going to work and I am grateful that I have a job to go to.

I am grateful to spend it with amazing people.

How do you celebrate your birthday?

I would love to hear from you.

Today is my last day for school holidays, tomorrow I am back at work and I am so looking forward to seeing everyone.

I really am.

I love holidays, I used to have a job where I didn’t take holidays and now in my role as a primary school Chaplain, I have holidays.

I am required to take holidays.

I love holidays, it is really important to take breaks and rest.

I am reflecting on these holidays and although they were not how I planned to spend them, I enjoyed them.

If you have been reading my blog, you would know that I hurt my foot and was required to rest.

I love how when I went to the Doctors, I said to him my foot is just bruised, he looked at me and said it is very badly bruised.

I really couldn’t do a lot of the things on my list, that I had planned.

That is okay, I can still do them over the next few weeks and weekends. There is still time.

Sometimes you just need to embrace the moment and listen to your body.

There are time when you need to listen to the professionals.

I have had time to just be and to sit and relax, I have had time to pray and believe.

I have had time to be creative, to blog, to write and to watch Netflix.

I have had time to be grateful.

Would I like these holidays to be different?

Maybe.

I am hopeful.

Will share more soon.

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I love random acts of kindness; I love giving to others.

I really do.

I have a lovely neighbour where I live that will leave on my doorstep a lovely bowl of salad, every now and then.

She left me one a few weeks ago, which was such a blessing.

You see she didn’t know what my day had involved.

She didn’t know what such a blessing seeing a lovely bowl of salad on my doorstep meant to me at that time.

I was so grateful, I really was.

Last week I had my youngest niece stay with me and I told her about my lovely neighbour who had left me a bowl of salad.

I said to my niece I want to give something to my neighbour that left me some salad.

I love being with my niece and showing her about kindness and how we can encourage others.

I had ordered online some clothing and I had ordered an extra hat.

I said to my niece lets write a note, let’s leave the hat and the bowl.

My niece wrote a note to my neighbour encouraging her.

We then went to my neighbour’s house with the bowl, hat and the note and placed it at her front door.

We snuck up ever so quietly.

I did not realise that my niece had knocked on the door.

We had placed the items near the front door and then ran.

I love random acts of kindness.

My niece said shall we see if she has found it?

We snuck out and had a look and the items were still there.

The next day when my niece woke up, she said let’s go and check?

We snuck out and looked around at my neighbour’s front door and the items where gone.

The look on my niece’s face was priceless, she was so excited.

I want to be a role model for niece and show her how to help others.

I want her to know that she can make a difference.

What is a random act of kindness that you can do today?

I would love to hear from you.

This week I have been reflecting on rediscovering me, I have had time to reflect.

This holiday is not how I would have planned it, I have about 18 things to do on my to do list.

I have achieved about 8 things on my list which is surprising.

Things you can do while in a moonboot.

My role is a primary school Chaplain and I love what I get to do, I really do.

I work with amazing teams and I am grateful for this.

My days are very full and I love what I get to do, I really do.

I am so grateful for a job where I can make a difference.

I wanted to achieve so much this holiday but I have been forced to rest, I have been forced to take life a bit more slowly.

I have been forced to spend time at home.

What is a girl to do, when she is supposed to be resting her foot?

Well.

I have been able to pray and seek God during this time, I have been able to listen to amazing women and men of God speak into my life.

I have been able to write more, who knew.

I have been able to take the time to be creative.

I have been embracing this time and, in a way, I am grateful for it.

Today is day six in my moon boot, I have been thinking about what I am grateful for.

We can always have a pity party of one and focus on all the things that we can’t do. Yes, I have been guilty of this a few times.

I can wallow in the negative moments and park there for a while.

I have even camped out in my pity party for a few days (sometimes months).

Yes, I am being vulnerable here.

What if we turned it around, what if we focused on what we are grateful for?

What would that feel like, what would it look like?

Today I am grateful for-

• Pray
• On-line prayer
• On-line church
• School holidays
• Taking time to rest
• My moonboot
• Great health care
• Being able to have the time to rest
• Friends
• Having the time to write
• Having the time to be creative
• Discovering creative ideas
• Family
• Reading
• A home to recover in
• A car
• That it is my left foot and I can still drive my car

What is something that you are grateful for today?

Let’s encourage one another.

Let’s cheer each other on.

Will talk soon.

When You Are Forced to Rest

Today I am forced to rest, I am on school holidays.

I don’t know about you but I find it difficult to rest to just sit in the moment.

I find it difficult to just relax.

I really do.

It has taken me a long time to realise that it is okay to just sit and be in the moment.

I have had to learn this on purpose.

I have always been an on-the-go women.

Today I find myself day 3 in a moon boot, I have bruised my foot and needed to rest.

I am required to rest.

The Doctor has recommended me to rest.

Now I am a person who is on the go, who lives life to the full and pushes herself to be all she can.

Today I am required to take it easy, I am required to just rest, I am required to allow myself to heal.

Why do we find it so difficult to rest?

Why is it that we need permission to rest?

Why do we feel guilty when we just sit and rest?

Resting and looking after ourselves is self-care.

Self-care is really important and we need to invest in it, we really do.

Today I am challenged to remind myself that I am an important woman and that I deserve to rest.

What are you reminding yourself about today?

What do you need to do for yourself today?

I would love to hear from you.

You are worthy, valued and loved.

You really are.

Let’s be kind to ourselves.

We have got this.

The situation needed a breakthrough, the situation needed a God intervention, the situation needed healing and the situation needed hope.

I sat waiting in the Urgent Care wondering if I had broken a bone in my left foot.

You see a few nights ago I awkwardly fell back onto my left foot, I iced it at the time and just thought it would be okay.

I had my youngest niece staying with me for a few days and I really did want to worry her about it.

I wanted to enjoy the time that I had with her.

Today I decided I really needed to go and see what I had done to my foot.

So, I went to Urgent Care and waited in the waiting room, I was ushed to a cubicle where I waited for the Doctor.

I decided that I would write on my phone about what was going on for me at that time.

My Thoughts at that moment

I wrote on my notes in my phone- the situation needed a miracle Lord.

I am praying for no broken bones-30 September 2021.

I wrote I am praying for healing bones mended, everything back into place.

I want to be walking and running in the freedom of Jesus.

No weapon formed against me shall prosper.

I am the daughter of the King.

I am praying that the answer is-healing no broken bones. Praise God.

The Doctor

The Doctor asked what had happened I explained and I said it is just bruised.

The Doctor said it is very bruised.

The Doctor send me to have an x-ray and then I went back to the cubicle to wait.

I felt like it took ages, it wasn’t really.

I prayed, I decreed.

The Doctor came back and said there is nothing broken, it is just soft tissue damage.

Praise God.

The Doctor said that I would need to wear a moon boot for the next 6 to 10 days or until the swelling subsides.

Grateful Moments

My Grateful moments are-

• It is not broken
• It is my left foot and I can still drive
• It is school holidays so I can rest
• Urgent Care was such a blessing
• I have a moon boot
• I have access to medical care
• A God who hears and cares
• Prayer

Today I am just going to rest and relax.

We have had such an amazing amount of rain in Perth the last few days.

Which is so good for our environment, it really is.

This week we have school holidays here in Perth, Western Australia.

I have had my youngest niece staying with me for the past few days.

Yesterday I said to her let’s go down to the creek and see what is happening there.

We walked to the creek and the creek was overflowing.

It was so lovely to see.

We decided to have a stick race.

We chose our sticks and launched them of the bridge.

We watched them flow down the creek.

My niece was like I think that are sinking.

We had so much fun following them.

I ended up falling over on my knees slipping on the mud.

We just laughed so much.

We then got two more sticks and launched them off the bridge again.

We ran and followed them to see who would win.

It was so much fun.

We decided to visit my sister who lives near me.

On the way my niece decided to jump in puddles.

Oh, my goodness how much fun is it to jump in puddles.

She had so much fun.

Yes, her shoes were wet they really were.

The joy on her face was priceless.

This is about creating memories.

We, did have so much fun.

I love creating memories.

I really do.

When was the last time you experience childhood wonder?

When was the last time that you let go of the what if?

When was the last time you jumped in puddles?

Embrace fun.

You Deserve Nice Things

When I was going my eating disorder, I would not buy things for myself.

I just couldn’t.

I felt that I didn’t deserve it.

I felt that I should save my money for something.

I had an amazing Psychiatrist who saw me as a woman, not as someone with an eating disorder.

He challenged me; he really did.

He was an answer to prayer, he really was.

I had been discharged from hospital from another Psychiatrist.

I went to my GP and she said to me whoever calls back you will just have to go with them.

I remember walking over to the local shopping centre and praying for this Doctor.

When I came back my doctor said that Dr___________ had called and I had an appointment the next day at 9.00 am.

Now I need to let you know that this Doctor was not taking over any new patients and his books where closed.

I had an appointment with him the next day at 9.00 am.

What I liked about him was that he saw me as me, not a woman with an eating disorder.

He valued me and invested in me.

One of the things that he said to me was-

I wanted to buy some shoes and I didn’t, he said to me you need to buy the shoes this is your prescription.

Wow!

How amazing was he and his words?

He gave me the permission that I couldn’t give myself.

He invested in me and challenged me.

I am so grateful for this Doctor who made such a difference in my life.

He was such an important person in my recovery.

Beautiful one you deserve nice thing, you really do.

What are you going to buy for yourself this week?

I would love to hear from you.

Let’s encourage one another.

Recovery Journal

Today I found one of my journals that I had written about my journey with an eating disorder.

The journal was the time that I spent in Melbourne with the Bronte Foundation.

There is something about keeping a journal and realising how far you have come and what you have achieved.

It is rare and it is honest.

It captures the moment

It is difficult to read and it brings up so much emotion, it takes me back to that time and what was going on for me.

I am encouraged by it though, I really am.

I know that nothing in our lives our wasted.

Nothing that we go through is ever wasted.

I am so grateful for the amazing staff at the Bronte Foundation, I really am.

There were so caring, kind and supportive.

They were so important in my recovery.

I love how I had sessions with the counsellor, the dietician and with doing worldly challenges.

I am so grateful how they invested in my journey and where so real.

It was also lovely to meet Bronte.

I was also so blessed to receive free accommodation from someone that said to Jan, if someone needs a place to stay, they are welcomed here.

The place was lovely, it had heated floors (which is really important in Melbourne) and Foxtel.  

It was so nice to know that I didn’t have to worry about paying for accommodation while I was receiving treatment.

Sometimes you need to step outside of your comfort zone to see who is there to support you and encourage you.

I am so grateful for the staff at Bronte Foundation you have impacted me and blessed me.

I am forever grateful for all that you have done.

Thank you