Two Thousand and WHAT?!

TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTEEN! What?! 2015 is almost here already!? This past year has just skipped by almost quicker than any other year I can remember! So these past few days my husband and I have taken the time to reflect back on 2014 and plan and look forward to 2015. It seems like 2014 has been full of adventure, big decisions, excitement and challenges some of which I was and others I wasn't prepared for. But it's so amazing to be able to look back on the year that has been and really see just how clearly God has carried me and us through so much. I can see so many of my own faults and where I have lacked in my trust with God and places where I have flourished and grown in boldness in Him. My God has brought me through so much in this year alone, I do not doubt that He will continue His great work in me through this new year!

A spontaneous possible trip to Ukraine along with our church's launch of public services scheduled for March are already kicking the new year off and proving to be a year full of excitement and challenges. With this last day of 2014 I have decided that 2015 shall be the year of taking steps of faith in God (shouldn't we all be doing that every year anyway?). To really not hold back and to just jump into church, marriage, life, dreams and adventure. I don't doubt that there will be times of fear and worry but I know that I can trust God with all of that as with everything else. I'm really excited for 2015 to begin and really take the plunge! What are you looking forward to in 2015? How will you be challenging yourself to really step out there and try something new or overcome a fear?  I say, bring it on 2015!

Nanna's Orchids

Through my efforts of trying to tame the raging jungle that is our garden I now have a whole new appreciation for those who enjoy gardening and actually manage to maintain it! While I never got to meet my Nanna, dad has always told me that she was a total green thumb and has heaps of memories of her with garden hose in hand. Dad himself has now inherited her green thumb and I would say he's definitely making her proud with maintaining her gorgeous orchids! He's doing so well that now he has around 10 flowering pots! And let me just say, Nanna's orchids are absolutely beautiful!

Pass on the love

I think it would be pretty safe to say that we all love receiving those "just because" gifts. Whether it's flowers from our man, a friend shouting us lunch, a special letter in the mail or an unexpected gift at our door. To know that someone is thinking of you for no particular reason other than that they love you, brings so much joy! Recently I was the thrilled recipient of such love! A dear friend who has recently moved 7 hours out of Sydney (I feel a road trip coming on!) and a kind friend from my childhood have both unexpectedly blessed my with their love! 

Stacey and I didn't get to see each other very often before she moved, but when we did we would always have a great chat accompanied by hot tea. Her letter was one of the very first pieces of mail I had received at our new address! I did just as you told me to do my friend! 

Thoughtful Susan in Ukraine completely surprised me with her parcel. She has created this gorgeous notepad and card herself! What a clever woman! Keep an eye out as I will be sharing some more of her work soon!

So rather than just being the recipient of such love that brought me so much joy, why not pass it on? It didn't take long for some lovely women to come to mind whom I wanted to pass this love on to! For me love and flowers go hand in hand so I thought this would be the perfect combo to pass on! 

These little flower cones are super easy to make, fun and colourful! I sure hope these will brighten the day of the recipients! Bless someone else today through your creativeness, a conversation, a hug, a prayer or even just a smile. If it's something you would want to receive then why not do it for someone else? Pass on the love people!

Bambii and Dott: Encourage Letter Exchange

Ok, ok, ok, put your hand up if you do not like receiving encouragement or something in the post? If you put your hand up, turn off your computer go and eat some chocolate, then come back with a new answer! Ahem, well, the two above words of 'encouragement and post' have been combined in the wonderful creation of my mighty fine friend Sarinah at Bambii and Dott's Encourage Letter Exchange! Now, this round is for wives of those involved in church ministry (church planting, pastoring...) but Sarinah has said that this will be opened up in the future, so stay tuned! 

As a ministry wife myself, I find this absolutely encouraging! Sarinah is using her heart and love of encouragement and creativity and using it to bless others like her involved in church ministry with their husbands. I'm excited!!! Jump on over here to get signed up and have a look at Sarinah's blog Bambii & Dott for some other gorgeous creativity and encouragement. Oh, and make sure you share this with others you know involved in ministry who are in need of some encouragement! Applications close on 22nd August so get crack-a-laking! 

Meet the Neighbours

We have now been living at our home for almost 2 months and we haven't met most of our neighbours yet. It's so easy for us these days to just go about our lives and not actually meet the people who share our streets or apartment buildings. So since moving here we have really been wanting to meet our neighbours and hopefully have the joy of some new friendships. So I thought, why not do the whole old-school-cookie-introductions thing? 

With our little bundles of sugary goodness we set out to meet the neighbours! Well, unfortunately only 2 out of 8 people were actually home! Gah!!! But hey, hopefully we'll get another opportunity! 

I would love to hear how you met your neighbours! What are your creative ideas on creating community in our street or apartment buildings. Maybe you have annual Christmas bbq's or street parties? Share away!

The joys of pressie wrapping!

How great is wrapping paper?! No, really! I just love people's creativeness when it comes to wrapping presents! I often enjoy the wrapping as much as the actual gift inside and will reuse the paper or ribbons. And I get even more excited when the piece of paper I am reusing is the perfect size and needs no cutting! Score!!!

There is a video hidden in some box somewhere of my fourth birthday (or at least I'm guessing it was my fourth). My older sister and I are sitting on the floor surrounded by my wrapped birthday presents. My ever so kind and caring sister looks at me and say, "Ok, Amy. You can open the cards and I'll open the presents!" Wwwhhhhaaaatttt?!?! Well, it's safe to say I was no fazed by this at all! I was just loving all the bits of paper and ribbon I didn't even notice she was ripping into the actual gifts! True story!

So, yes, wrapping presents! Such fun! This is a little idea I saw somewhere using scraps of paper so I've adapted it a little using scraps of material. Do not, and I repeat, do not throw out your scraps of material! There is still too much fun to be had with the left-over pieces after whatever project you originally used it for!

Cut your material into strips about 1cm wide and however long you can get them. Cut out some circles of varying sizes from cardboard, I've used an empty cereal box (waste nothing!). Use a glue stick to hold the material to the cardboard and just twist the material around the circle. 

Here's some I prepared earlier! ;) No, really, I have been using these as 'bunting' on some empty wall space until it was present wrapping time!

Assemble the troops!! 

How do you like to wrap up presents? I would love to hear your tips and creative ideas! Or if you give these little guys a go, share how they turned out! 

My Ukraine

Until recently Ukraine was a country mostly unheard of by Australians. And now it's on the news everyday, and not for good reasons. There has been great unrest in Ukraine from back at the end of 2013 and now it has all escalated to a barbaric invasion of Russia/pro-Russian support into Ukrainian territory escalating with the most recent tragedy and horrific shooting down of the passenger plane MH17 which makes absolutely no sense.

There is so much that I could say of my opinion on everything that is going on at the moment. But while I'm filled with total heartache, horror and confusion, I want to focus on Ukraine as the country I know. For me, Ukraine is my second home. I spent 12 years of my life there with my family as Christian missionaries living for 9 of those years in the capital, Kiev. I have walked the streets around Maidan spuare, had epic snowball fights every New Year's Eve, learnt the language fluently and spent countless hours with friends playing soccer or munching on sunflower seeds.  I have nothing but wonderful memories of life in Ukraine and even though I have now been living back in Australia for close to 8 years, I still have close friendships in Kiev.

In the midst of the current mess, let me share with you My Ukraine. Just over a year ago I was visiting Kiev for a friend's wedding and as always I was swept up in the beauty of the city and the joy of being reunited with precious friends.

Ukrainians love summer and with winter being so long and cold, once the warmer season comes around everyone is out enjoying day light as long as they can. Each weekend the main street in the centre of town is closed to all traffic and is the perfect place for a nice warm evening stroll passing beautiful statues and historic buildings. This never gets old and is one of my favourite things to do when I visit Kiev.

The Dnieper River runs through Kiev and is a very popular place for swimming in summer and fishing in winter (after cutting a deep hole through the ice of course). 

The funicular is much like a single carriage tram which runs up and down the Volodymyrska Hill connecting the more historic Uppertown and the more commercial lower neighbourhood of Podil. I absolutely love riding the funicular even though it lasts for a whole of 30seconds! Riding through the trees from near the Dnieper River up to the streets of cobblestones where you can find long souvenir lined streets. Everything about the funicular ride screams authentic Ukraine to me! The beautiful stained glass windows, the little booth to buy your ticket to ride, rickety sounds of the funicular and bright blue of the carriages! It never gets old!

Ukraine is going through massive turmoil which does not appear to be ending anytime soon. So while I'm over here in Australia, I feel helpless. Going from feelings of wanting to head right on over there and fight for the people and a country that I greatly love and miss to knowing and understanding that God is  in control of it all. And while saying "I am praying for you" seems so cliché, it is far from small. With the war feeling so close to home for me, I have come to understand that prayer is more powerful than we could ever assume! Prayer has the power to soften the hardest of hearts, bring peace in confusion and to shine salvation in completely dire situations and all because the one we are praying to is Lord of all. 

And now I think I'll go search for some salted sunflower seeds as I reminisce my beautiful Ukraine!

Morning specials

Mornings are, well, let's just say I'm not at my best in the mornings... I've always found it so hard to get out of bed when the alarm goes off and we all know it's even harder on a cold winter's morning! So, recently my husband and I have been going out and enjoying something special of a morning, to get out the door and to start the day right. We'll grab a coffee and go for a walk at the local park or share something sweet for our tummies while sharing and praying for each other's lives or pick up some special treats on our way to church. It's these lovely little things that have been making my mornings that little bit easier to wake up to.

And when it's a sunny day with a view like this, it makes it all the more worth while!

What are your incentives or little treats that you give yourself as a reward for getting out of bed? This was mine for today: Adriano Zumbo's Salted Butter Popcorn flavoured Zumbaron. Oh yes!!!

Wintery blooms

Well, as promised, the colourful flower crowns and wintery wreaths that Nia and I created last week. Who said flowers should only be enjoyed in spring/summer?! These beauties bring so much colour and beauty all year round and I've found that flowers actually last longer in a vase in colder weather. ;) 

Making flower crowns is really quite simple! Once you have made a circle out of thin wire to your desired size, secure the flowers and foliage in place by twisting florist tape around the stems. Continue until wire is covered and you have the desired look you are after and presto! Done! =) 

Then you need to find a nice friend who will be your model!

Get creative with beads and lace and just have fun! And the same basics apply for the wreaths too.

Once again, thank you to Nia for the photos! Hop over to Life & Co to have a look a Nia's post of this flowery day!

Flowers, foliage and a friend

 With the warm sun on our backs, tea in our bellies and flowers in our hands, my sweet friend Nia and I pretended to be florists for the day. Our flower crowns and wintery foliage wreath creations will all to be posted soon. In the mean time, let me share a little sneaky tip I heard the other day about poppies.

When we buy a bunch of poppies they usually come with quite a few closed buds which we have to wait to open. But! If you are impatient like me and want to see their beauty right away you can delicately open them up. Peel off the green outside of the bud and gently open the petals with your fingers. Lightly blow on the inside and voila! Now, you can enjoy their beauty as soon as you bring them home! Thank you to Nia for these lovely photos, you most definitely have a hidden talent in photography!

Now, let's just take a moment to admire this gorgeous new blog design! Oh my heart!!! Let's just say it's a complete step up in all ways! You can now actually comment on posts! Phew. Thanks for reading!

Flourless Chocolate Mini Cakes

Ok, so let's talk about chocolate. My husband says that I am 'addicted' but I prefer to think of it as a neccessity rather than an addiction... Nevertheless, I loooooove chocolate! Can I get an "amen sister" to that?! These yummy little cakes were served at a friends wedding and so I thought I should give them a go! We can all thank Donna Hay for this recipe. Oh Donna Hay, you are getting me so well acquainted with the kitchen! 

You will need:

180g (6 oz) butter, chopped

220g (7 1/2 oz) quality dark cooking chocolate, chopped

1 1/4 cups caster sugar

3/4 cup almond meal

1 cup cocoa powder, sifted

5 eggs

12 cup cake cases approx.

Get cooking:

Have the oven preheated to 140 degrees C (280 degrees F).

Place the butter, chocolate and sugar in a saucepan over low heat and keep stirring until melted and smooth.

Put the almond meal and cocoa in a dry mixing bowl and whisk in the chocolate mixture. Add the eggs gradually one at a time, whisking until well combined.

Evenly spoon in the mixture into the cup cake cases and bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Donna Hay suggests to serve with thick double cream or chocolate glaze and fresh berries, but i just sprinkled a little salt on top. Salt and chocoalte might sound crazy, but give it a go! Also, I couldn't wait for these babies to cool down before eating one, and I gotta say, they are definitely better when warm! Enjoy! 

Remembering Summer

Well hello! This is the first ever post for Village Birdy! It's been a little slow process but here we are, up and running. 

Well, it looks and feels like summer has officially decided to leave Sydney! Although that beautiful sun is still shining it is definitly winter time! Jackets out, beannies and scarves on and now to find that electric blanket amongst our still unpacked boxes... It wasn't all that long ago I was enjoying a lovely picnic with some near and dear ones in a local park to farewell summer. There is something just so special about being outside in the fresh air, enjoying some yummy treats and hearing updates in the lives of those we love. Shoes kicked off and tickling my niece's belly - aaaahhh bliss! It's moments like those that make me really look forward to summer's return! I say it's time to start planning those outdoor dinner parties, trips to the beach and barefoot soccer! Who's with me!?

Also, stay tuned for a recipe post of some yummy gluten free chocolate cupcakes which were enjoyed at our little picnic! Key word - CHOCOLATE!