Feather your Nest Friday, 31st December. 2021. The last day of the year!

It is New Years Eve.   Things in Australia currently mean NYE attire is so hard to choose,  ie what dressing gown to wear?  I have to admit the news is not good to listen to.  But I am perfectly happy.  I have a new planner and writing on the first page of a brand new planner for a brand new year is exciting to me! 

The first thing I do is try and get a little bit of quiet time and think over the year.  Kind of "Feather your Nest Friday" on an annual scale.  This takes a little while.  Going through the years photos is a good reminder... a visual diary.  (Because of a busy Christmas week and trying to this I want to thank you for all the Christmas wishes.  I usually reply to comments but last week I didn't but thank you so much.  I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.) 

In the front of my new diary I write down the significant things of the year that has been.  This exercise does me so much good.  Seeing things written down clarifies them for me.  So I am amazed.  The year was not a good year for the world.  But I was blessed so much and we made progress on the farm, the gardens, we gained animals and a brand new tractor!   My Mum is well and busy,  I have beautiful Grandchildren... even the Red Tailed Black Cookatoos are back.   The year was wet and the paddocks are full of feed.   My Dad would be so happy with our year here.  I consider what he would advise everyday and see him in my mind beaming and looking things over as he always did when he came by for his cup of tea.

So as 2021 is closing I am very grateful.  I am happy.  Being content and happy are great gain as Scripture says.   There are people with everything who never know either and there are people with nothing who are both content and happy.  This seems mysterious but it really is not...

A very good friend of ours, who is the nicest person you would ever find, has a relative that is abusive to him.   This just perplexed me like WHY?   I am a fan of Jordan Peterson and also Dr. Phil's psychology videos (and books.).  So I was dabbling into why on earth would a family member be so utterly awful to our friend.  I found something so astonishingly accurate I sent it to him saying "look at this! Look at this!!" 

So it turns out I needed educating and had a crash course in Narcissistic Personality Disorder.   Well, this was enlightening and rang a few bells.   It helped my friend that I could talk to him and he thought I cared enough to do some research.  But it helped me because it hit home there are people who that it would not matter how blessed they were they would not be happy.   That are so unhappy it is actually important to them that other people aren't happy either since that annoys them terribly.   To try and feel good they put people down.  You come away from these people feeling off... wondering why exactly you suddenly feel bad?  They are the wet blankets, the suck the life out of you,  people.    They have a gift for misery!  And they are super spreaders! 

Well, contentment and happiness are beautiful and valuable things.   "Godliness with contentment is great gain."  We have had a year here,  going along week by week,  being happy and content with such pursuits as feeding our families, building up our pantry,  growing our gardens,  making, baking and more!  

I had many times in life where I felt as though I needed to want fancier things in order to be happy.   I certainly felt I didn't fit in as I really don't like crowds,  not keen on parties,  hate hotels...   I would rather die than go on a cruise...   things like that.    I on the other hand LOVE making jam, picking fruit, op shopping,  having my garden grow, being silly with Grandkids,  being silly with dogs and goats and bird watching. 

One day I felt so strongly about not fitting in I delved into my Bible and found the simple answer!!  Oh my gosh it was wonderful!!  (For reference this was only in the last couple of years.)  I found the answer and I felt "off the hook!"  It was like getting a note from your parents so you don't have to attend something horrible at school. 

Here was my answer:

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."  Romans 12.2

The relief.  Knowing I never have to attend a Melbourne Cup luncheon again.   It is ok.   I can hang out with my chickens and discern what God wants me to do.  I can be perfectly happy and content and not feel guilty about it.  

Whats more,  we have advice that even when dealing with the above mentioned narcissistic types,  to not let the enemy steal our joy.  Nope!  We are called to be light in a dark world! 

With that,  I can report some of the things I did to build up our home and that made me very happy this week! 

I was given a box of apricots.  They were very soft and I had to move fast!   

I got 16 jars of jam and also filled two trays in the dehydrator.  We also ate a heap fresh.   So happy!

I have been looking for an additional freezer.   They are harder to get due to the semi conductor shortage.  But I found one!  

She's a beauty! 

Every day I am picking tomatoes.   They are delicious and when I get over run I am going to dehydrate some.

I did some crochet in the evenings.  Somewhere I heard about Scrubbie yarn.  I decided I wanted to try it.  Oh my goodness it is great.  

I started on make up wipes which are very soft pure cotton on one side and cotton and scrubbie on the other.  They are so thick and squishy!   This was honestly so much fun to try.

Also I made sets of three makeup pads and then added a facial cleansing bar to make a gift.

With lots of fresh eggs, left over cream,  cherry tomatoes and left over ham the obvious thing to make was a giant Quiche...

Andy gave me a planter for Christmas.   I love it!  I got it planted up with seedlings. 

Lucy gave me three big bunches of roses to dry.

I stewed up apples and juiced lemons.

In the store I bought beautiful Christmas wrap for next year at 50c a roll.   

Also in the store they were giving away free flowers that would have been grown out otherwise.  This gave me more roses to dry.

We had a beautiful Christmas meal at my daughters and a Christmas brunch here with Mum.   It was a beautiful day.

I hope you had a good Christmas and can look back over 2021 and see growth and good things.  How did you manage to build up your home this week?

I will see you tomorrow for the first day of the new year!  We are going to have some changes!   xxx