What I've learned in the past decade

30yrs ago. So young...who gave us a baby?!

Looking back over my last decade, I can’t believe all that has happened really. It feels so slow and so fast all at the same time. I guess that is the journey of life right?

Ten years ago, I had one child. We lived on a half-acre ‘we’ll grow into it’ property. I’d just gone through my first (of three) miscarriages, and I was freelancing between event stuff and private clients. I was part of the craze of dessert tables in Australia,  and blogging all about that was still massive and thriving. Also, there was no Instagram. It was early 2010.

I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M ALMOST FORTY

When I look at my life right now thick in parenting three children, I can sometimes feel that things are just mundane, lacking excitement. And then I look back…I look back at the last ten years and realise, it’s actually been pretty full of adventure!  

In the past 10 years: 

• We have two extra children to add into the mix. 
  
  
• I’ve worked for myself and for others and have learnt so much about both. 
  
  
• I feel way more confident as a graphic designer and business owner than I did ten years ago. 
  
  
• I have learnt so much about the way I think and what I can bring to the table in the creative space and discussions.
  
  
• I love God and his Church more now than ever before. 
  
  
• We lived in Canada for two of those ten years; meeting amazing people and experiencing such a different way of life in freezing Edmonton. 
  
  
• I’ve walked through the deep heartbreak and disappointment of a dream gone sour and life savings gone south. 
  
  
• We did an international move back to Australia with two children. We set up life from scratch again in our mid-thirties, but were so thankful to be back home.
  
  
• We welcomed our third babe into the world, super fast and thankful for the miracle of life (and ambulances/paramedics).
  
  
• I walked through a pitch-black season of grief with my family after losing a sister to suicide. 
  
  
• I started Honey & Gold as a way to make some sense of this grief. Wanting to encourage others to have God’s word in their hearts, so when tragedies arise, women have God’s love and truth to fall on. 
  
  
• We went through a few years that felt like treading water when we returned to Australia; questioning God’s voice and that we heard right. 
  
  
• I started and ran a homewares store with one of my sisters. Such a blast.  
  
  
• We were finally able to buy a home of our own again. This weirdly brought so much peace and stability to life.  
  
  
• We found out definitively that our youngest daughter wasn’t hitting milestones, and ‘normal’ is great until your life doesn’t fit that mould. 
  
  
• I’ve learnt that disappointments come in all shapes and sizes. 
  
  
• I am learning that the dreams God gives you don’t ever die. They simply grow into the spaces we give them in our lives. 

2020. Three kids later and hopefully a whole lot wiser. 

WEDDING SONGS MATTER

At our wedding 15 years ago, (yes it's a big year of milestones this year!) I remember singing that Tim Hughes song ‘Blessed be the Name of the Lord’. I had no idea this would be the theme of our life! ‘You give and take away, you give and take away. But my heart will choose to say, blessed be your name’. This has been so true in my life. There has been the heartbreak of ‘taking away’ but also the giving of such great gifts. And through it all. I still hold on to my faith. I still trust Jesus, God's sovereignty and love.  

I am approaching this new decade a little wiser, with much more perspective on what matters (sorry fancy matching dessert tables...you'll always be beautiful, but happy to pass the baton over). I'm starting this decade a little more tired than 30 years ago (!!), joining a new church family, working out a new career path, and living with five of my favourite people. 

BITTERSWEET YEARS

Looking at the future, I’m hoping it’s as people wish and is in fact ‘the best one to come’, but aware it will most likely be another decade of this ‘bittersweetness’ of life. Beautiful moments smooshed together with heartbreak and disappointments. Walking the journey with the richness of family & friends and a faith that is the rock underpinning it all. 

This is life. This is forty.