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June 9- Today I am grateful for a warm house on a rainy day. Fire, yummy food, a nap, a smiley girl and family.

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June 8- Today I am grateful for an afternoon coffee with Haley and Jack. A great way to clear the head!

VERY grateful too for a sleepy Matilda last night. Down at 8:30 with only a few get ups before morning. She slept in her cot until 4am! Usually she's in our room for the night but when I put her in the cot around 9, expecting her to wake again, she didn't! :) woo hoo!

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June 7- Today I am grateful for time spent with Carolyn, Nickie, Bron and Sienna today. It was very special to see everyone together again so soon after the wedding and to watch Sienna and Tilly interact so sweetly together. It makes me wonder if they'll be friends too like their mums when they get older. Just wish that we lived closer together! :(
Last night Tilly slept from 9pm! There were quite a number or up and downs until 8am but I much prefer 9pm to closer to (or past) midnight. Keep it up Tilly Bear!

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June 6- Today I am grateful for this face. She is so smiley in the mornings which is a good thing! :) She turns 5 months old today. More on that in the week to come.

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June 5- Today I am grateful for brisk winter walks with Tilly and catch ups with Bec and Emily. 

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June 4- Today I am grateful for lunch with our lovely neighbours and dinner with Toby's mum.

Matilda's Dedication

The Sunday before last we had the privilege of dedicating Tilly at our church. 

We have always seen Tilly as a gift from God to us. We believe that it is our job to love her and to raise her as best as we can, trusting Him to help and guide us. She will choose the way that she will go as she gets older but we pray that she will choose to have a relationship with Jesus. For us, having her baptised at this age does not reflect her choice but we still wanted to mark the occasion and publicly thank God for her.

So we stood before our church family and a friend, Andrew, shared pretty much the above. 

I had the chance to speak for us. I shared that Tilly was a real answer to prayer.  I shared that we weren't sure how long it would take us to conceive since I have experienced hormonal issues for over 10 years and was told at one stage that I my never be able to have children. My parents also had great difficulty falling pregnant. Despite that, I have always had a strong confidence that I would be a mother.

Toby and I prayed together that when the time came for us to 'start trying' that it would happen relatively quickly. In fact we prayed, very specifically, that it would be kind of cool if it happened the month before we started trying. That is exactly what happened.  Of course, we shouldn't have been surprised and in a way we weren't, but I was (and remain) so grateful to God for answering our prayers and hearts desire so specifically. I am so aware that falling pregnant and carrying a child is nothing to take for granted. Perhaps the fact that I thought it would be difficult for us makes having Tilly all the more sweet.   

After that, Andrew invited those close to us to come forward and join us as he prayed.  It was special to have our family, small group and a few close friends- old and new, standing with us.

Tilly looked so sweet in the smocked dress that mum bought before she was born! She wore a cardigan that my grandma knitted me before the service too.

Afterwards that group of special people followed us back to our place for morning tea where we ate LOTS of yummy goodies! 

We are very happy to be Tilly's parents and we are so grateful to God for trusting her to us.

Truth

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June 3- Today I am grateful for a weekend of good Tilly sleeps. It was also fun to celebrate dad's birthday with a family dinner tonight.