So, here it is.  A shiny new blog.  All clean, neat and tidy...



And here I am...



We can do 'clean and tidy' in the curate's house if you give us enough notice.  But real life, uncensored life, is, well, it's messy and complicated.

Today I had one child off sick from school, another off from pre-school and a baby who I have to keep counting how fast he is breathing because he is sailing seriously close to the wind of needing to be re-admitted to hospital.  I bathed those three children after they finally ate their breakfast at 9am when their healthy siblings had gone to school with the curate.  I eventually got dressed myself about 2pm and that was only because I was worried that I might set the curate's dressing gown on fire whilst cooking pancakes (the baby was sick on mine last night).  You see, life is messy and complicated.

Today is Shrove Tuesday.  The day when we traditionally eat pancakes because they used to represent decadence and luxury.  Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday - the start of Lent.  Lent is supposed to be a time of showing that we are sorry for what we should not do, stopping indulging ourselves, praying, reflecting, fasting and generally drawing close to God in preparation for Easter.  It's a sort of Spiritual spring clean that is meant to cut through the messy and complicated life.

I've done all sorts of things for Lent in the past.  I've given up chocolate (that didn't help with Spiritual cleansing), I've given up FaceBook (that helped me to stop wasting time), I've prayed during night feeds for specific prayer requests (that one was pretty awesome as I saw lots of prayers answered and received visions from God) and one year I even gave up excess (that was challenging and very thought provoking).

But, what should I do this year? Well, I've got a few plans and I shall be blogging about them over the course of Lent.  As a family, we are going to do a Lent course about showing love in our neighbourhood (brace yourself for toddler homebaking...).  I also have a daily bible reading and prayer journal to help with my Spiritual overhaul.  I am not giving up chocolate.  No way.  Never. Ever. Again.  As for FaceBook, well, I plan to remove the app from my phone and only pop on when I publish a new blog.  Why? I think I'll save that for another blog.  Oh, and I shall be experimenting with Christian meditation.  Watch out for blog posts on that one too (and possibly total failure...).

I think that Lent this year is going to be a journey without Sat Nav style guidance.  It could go very, very wrong.  But then again, I may find something unexpected off the beaten track.

So, let's buckle up and enjoy the ride...