Laine's Letters. Christmas Blessings.

The weekend saw my daughter and her husband move into their new house! Saturday we all chipped in and helped and it was a great day. What a nice thing to be in their new home for Christmas! I am very grateful for this. Now they have a nursery to set up and Lucy can build up her new nest!

I feel almost organised and a few things only left to do before Christmas Day. At this time of the year I start thinking a little bit about the end of the year nearing. One thing is thinking of getting a new planner/diary. Last week I found one! This is exciting to me! I am going to post about how much a planner helps me get things done. But not only that but appreciate life! A planner helps you achieve your goals, make changes, stay on track and it saves you money! That can come next week though we are not there yet!

Before I ever start a new diary I do a lot of thinking about the year that has just been. Boy it was a really big year! Of all the things that were wonderful I wanted to show you something my friend Helen made for me. This was a highlight of my year. You know of course in the world it has not been a great year. There were times I felt so upset. But we need to stop and appreciate what we have to be grateful for and make new plans and dreams.

If you have followed along you might know I read a blog called Laine's Letters for most of the time my children were young. Laine was so wonderful. She was like a friend writing you a letter. So much encouragement and so many practical tips. I just loved them. But as well it was like a Bible study to read those letters. A Bible Study brought to life in the most lovely way.
I really was profoundly influenced by Laine.

Long after Laine no longer blogged you could still read her letters on line and I would pop back there every now and then until one day they were gone! The reason I had been looking for them again was to read from a new perspective. She used to talk of the role of the older women, and of grandchildren and that is where I am up to now!

My friend Helen, it turned out, had also read and adored Laines Letters. When we knew this about each other it was like finding your sister! Then next I found this out about my friend Kaye as well! We had all sat quietly reading Laines letters, here in different parts of Australia and she built up all of our lives and homes and no doubt influenced how we brought up our children and ran our households. Well, at last I had friends who knew what I was talking about!

Once these letters disappeared I was so sorry I never copied them all to keep. What a loss! I posted on face book did anyone know where I could find these letters or what had happened to them? And someone replied to me to try The Wayback Machine which is a web archive. And there they were! Thanks to Kaye and Helen copies were made! And next thing the letters couldn't be accessed there either.

I have blogged about Laine several times and this story. Laine is listed as a label (index) here on my blog for anyone also a follower.

Next thing I had an email from a lady who said she was Laines friend and that Laine had lost her letters and could we provide a copy? You know I thought sure! I couln't believe this could be true! But sure enough an email arrived in my inbox from Laine. I rang Helen and said could she please pray about this because I really found it too hard to believe that Laine would write to me! I forwarded this letter to Helen. She rings me saying "its Laine its Laine!"  You should have heard us that day! Now I feel silly!
Laine had really lost her letters as her website had been hacked and that is why is had disappeared. Laine had stopped writing because of health reasons.

Helen went ahead and printed all of Laines Letters into books for us all to have. First came "In my Home" Letters. These are about as thick as a magazine. Helen made them look so lovely.

Next came "Laines Letters". These are so thick! They are like phone books! This is a vast volume of work! There is Volume one and volume two.

This was the most beautiful gift.

And then Helen made a set and sent them all to Laine in the US and returned all her works to her! 

To me this was amazing. After us all loving Laine so much we ended up with the letters and were able to give them all back to her. Laine even loved the covers Helen had chosen and the colours.

We could not have imagined this. I am still amazed. Amazed that I would ever hear from Laine or that we could ever do something for her. It is just a miracle.

And now I am in a new stage of life with Lucy having a baby and wanting to read what Laine says.  Laines daughter is also having a baby. I was reading her letters when Lucy was little and her daughter was little and now they are both married and having babies. Amazing.

This is one of the really special things that happened this yeat that blessed me so much.

And I am using these books all through next year as my Bible study. I need to be doing a good bible study and these are just right. So they are my project for 2015.

As I open and begin to read the words bring memories flooding back of little children at my feet and the warmth of Laines words that encouraged me.

Laine is starting a new blog next year. And if you would like to read her letters they are available again on The Wayback Machine here. 

Many good things happened this year. As I look back over the year it's hard not to have a tear in my eye over the beautiful wedding, my Fathers speech that day, the glorious photos that captured it,

a baby on the way, a blog that grew from nothing, a new kitchen in our home that my husband built me!

Have a beautiful Christmas. Build lovely memories and warm moments. Appreciate our blessings and help someone that needs it.

I will be back when we return from the farm and hopefully with lots of photos and left over food! 

Then it is my very favourite time... the last minutes of the year before a brand new year!

Thank you all so much for your kind comments and friendship and encouragement. xxx