LOVE BOMB #2 - Madonna

Madonna is a mother of a toddler who has spent her whole life living in hospital. We really wanted to treat her Mum (Madonna) and also provide for one of their public requests - donations to their daughters treatment required overseas. 

Together we gave Madonna $100 towards her daughters surgery fund,  $45 wagamama voucher, Wot Wots activity book, mojo coffee, chocolate blocks, chocolate almonds, chain frame, soap, keep calm coaster, kawaii book and pen, assorted chocolates and latte, aveeno sampler, handmade bracelet and earrings, lavendar creme and file, Kleenex tissues, torrent ebook, reversible hand made bag. 

This was all sent free of charge thanks to Post Haste and was made possible because of each of you who gave something small to create something big. Thank you! x

READ MORE:View more completed LOVEBOMBs in this round

LOVE BOMB #2 - Beyonce

Beyonce is a brand new mother, and like all mothers, theres plenty that we can do to support her and her family.

With your help we sent Beyonce a food hamper with 5 meals and soups (not pictured), sisterhood poem, two hand made cards, $45 gift voucher to Wagamama, $50 countdown voucher, Assorted grocery items (not pictured), handmade reversible hand bag, Kleenex tissues, torrent ebook, chocolate, rescue sleep remedy, baby toys (glow worm, wooden telephone, fabric blocks) recipes magazine, cook book, body lotion and soap, candy, 2 dribble bibs, gourmet soap, Huggies nappies.

This was all sent free of charge thanks to Post Haste and was made possible because of each of you who gave something small to create something big. Thank you! x

READ MORE:
View more completed LOVEBOMBs in this round

LOVE BOMB #2 - Little Sweetie

Little Sweetie is our youngest recipient at just 3 years old. We were approached by someone in her community to see if we could send her vegan foods to help out, she recently lost her parents and was being raised on a vegan diet due to allergies.

With the money you donated we bought Little sweetie 2x No Egg replacement product, 3x So Good soy milk, apple juice, chickpeas and lentils along with an allergy cooking book and Wot Wots activity book.

Please continue to pray for Little Sweetie and her family.

This was all sent free of charge thanks to Post Haste and was made possible because of each of you who gave something small to create something big. Thank you! x


READ MORE:

View more completed LOVEBOMBs in this round

LOVEBOMB #2 - Gweneth

Gweneth is a wife, mother to preschoolers and does a fantastic job at being an active member in her community. She is a great friend, always generous and always helping out others. We were told she's of the crafty breed so wanted to send her some goodies she could enjoy, along with something for her and the family to do together!

With your help we sent Gweneth a sisterhood poem, two hand made cards, a $45 Wagamama voucher, Kohu Road icecream and drink voucher for the whole family, 2 family admissions to Wild Water Mt Albert, family and friends organizer, Mousehouse craft suitcase, , Kawaii notebook and pen, crochet flower brooch, Torrent ebook by Cat Connor, OPI mini nail polish set, whittakers chocolate, eco store soap, bunting purse, Kleenex tissues, 2 wot wots poster sets, Aveeno sampler, assorted chocolate.

This was all sent free of charge thanks to Post Haste and was made possible because of each of you who gave something small to create something big. Thank you! x

READ MORE:View more completed LOVEBOMBs in this round

"Deliver those parcels Post Haste!"

Its official ladies, 22 minutes after our Courier was booked, there he was, in all of his silver and black glory, loading up our precious LOVE BOMBs to take away and deliver by hand to their destinations.

Delivery is overnight, so as early as tomorrow morning LOVE BOMBs will be exploding with goodness infront of their owners, boxes fill with chocolates, beauty products, grocery and facial vouchers, childrens toys, crafty gifts, magazines and books, and everything else you sent to put a smile on someone elses face!

A big thank you to Post Haste for being so into what we're doing and being so eager to respond. Every staff member I've spoken to - the head guy up north, our account manager, our courier, all such lovely and supportive people.

Preparing To Send The LOVE BOMBs

Assembling the LOVE BOMBs

Once again we are preparing to send out another round of LOVEBOMBs. What started out as 10 deserving, hardworking, loving ladies turned into creating 15 LOVEBOMBs! Once again, your generosity surprised and amazed me. 

We weren't able to get a postal address for "Minnie" so she was taken off the original list and 6 more ladies were added to our Bomb campaign.

I try and tailor the bombs to the ladies, each nominator has given me a few clues as to what they might like, appreciate or need. Therefore, all of the bombs are different and cater to different ladies. 

I hope you will understand that while they might look different sizes, hopefully each will be exactly what that lady needs!

In fact, as I was making them up, I discovered we were in excess of a lot of products. I decided to keep them to a reasonable size (a large shoe box) and save the left overs for our future bombs (so as to avoid giving each lady a whole lot of double ups just for the sake of it).

For full transparency, this is what is left over from this round of bombs (along with $24 in the bank)(we spent $195 on facial and grocery vouchers and extra specific items (like size 8 slippers) and donated $100 to one of our nominees surgery fund) 

If you can see your donation here: THANK YOU. Thank you so much for sending these ladies something. I can assure you, your gift will definitely be sent to our next round of nominations.

Each of our original 9 LOVE BOMB ladies were sent two handmade cards - the owl one has a sweet message inside and the owl pops out and can be used as a book mark - genius!

The yellow card contains an encouraging prayer or prophetic message that one of our Sisters wrote for each specific lady without knowing their circumstances.

Over the next week I will be posting each LOVE BOMB on my blog and linking it to our Facebook page, I hope you will take the time to stop and look and have a little read and marvel at what can be achieved when a whole lot of people join together something little to create something large!!

For the 50+ people who sent something to contribute (double our last bomb!) THANKYOU.

I am continually amazed that a stranger would go out of their way to love another stranger. That's you. You are those people. 

Thank you for making this world a better place.

Love you all,

Sophie

p.s - I can't wait for you to see what we've done!!

Prayer Monday

Right now I have 13 brown papered boxes taking up my dinning table. Brown though they are they are filled with excitement and joy. They are waiting. Not quite yet ready to send. They are missing something.

Tonight, God told me what that was.

Don't stop reading there. If you are here from The Sisterhood, you see, I don't really know what you believe. I might be treading on toes here. I might put some people out.

But you need to understand: This is Gods thing. Not mine, not yours. Late that night in January as I sat on my bed crying, I was talking to God. "Why!? Why is it like this?" and he gave me the idea. He planted that seed. He told me to love other people, the most powerful thing I could ever do with my life.

So I began to love others. Not just emotionally, but physically as well. I learnt to express my love through an action, and somehow other people liked this idea.

This is why you're here. Some how you found out about The Sisterhood and you thought "thats a good idea". Lots of you have emailed me saying how wonderful I am. Every time I hear that I thank God. "Thank you for using me" I say. Because this isn't my thing, its His, and He is using me.

If you don't believe in God or anything like that, you might be sitting there getting angry. "But Sophie, I sent you 10 blocks of chocolate, how dare you thank god for that!?"

I do thank you, I thank you a lot. Thank you for hearing of this idea and responding. Responding takes a whole lot of courage and belief. For that I thank you. Thank you for being so courageous!

As to the success of The Sisterhood, its motivation, its heart, its inspiration, I thank God for that.

(Let me make myself really clear. You don't need to believe in God to be part of The Sisterhood (or to receive anything from us), but you need to know that -I- do. If you're cool with that, keep reading!)

So tonight, as I was in Church, worshipping, which I have not done in so long. Not really. I've been in church a lot. Every weekend. But its very hard to connect when you have a baby at your feet, or when you're looking after 4 babies in a different room. Tonight we had a baby sitter and I was able to go to church alone with hubby. I reached out my hands and released everything.

Amongst it all I heard God tell me "Hold off sending those gifts. You need to pray for my daughters first"


Gurgle gurgle. Okay God. If you say so! (Of course we need to. How could I forget!?)

I am now declaring the day of Monday our LOVEBOMB prayer day. 


If you are of the praying type (or if you'd like to give it a go), please spend time on Monday praying for these amazing, strong, daughters of God: Our Sisters.

Print off this post - stick it on your computer at work, your fridge at home, on the front of your folder. Take it with you, invest, love, speak.

• Oprah, pray for her little son who has received multiple surgeries and is only a new born. Pray for his care, the health of his parents and the love they have together. Pray for joy.

• Pray for Madonna and her family, for finances for their little girls surgeries, pray her and hubby could continue to love, and pray that God would give them strength amongst these tiring years.

• Pray for Gweneth. I hear laughter and love coming from her home. Please pray that God would lift her up, he would carry her amongst her daily life. I feel that Gweneth is a real rock for those around her. Thank God for that.

• Pray for Angelina, her children and her little angels. Finances, love, provision, and safety. Pray that she and her spirit could be 'safe' in herself. Allow for truth in her life and a complete dose of Gods love for his children, big and small ones.

• Pray for Elle for to receive the support she needs. Thank God for who she is, a strong single mother who loves her community. Give her resources to love more and opportunities to be loved on.

• Pray for Audrey. An amazing mother who loves and loves and gives and gives. We received multiple nominations for Audrey. Pray that she would know she is loved and noticed. Pray that God would provide for her and her family physically, emotionally and spiritually.

• Pray for Suri. Peace, understanding, acceptance, joy, love. Anything and everything. Just pray for Suri and her whole family.

• Pray for Adele and her husband. Pray for their joy, their love and their hearts. Ask God to protect them and keep them. 

• Pray for Beyonce. Pray for an abundance of patience, energy, strength and love. Pray that God would show her how precious she is, just like her little girl, Pray that she would see Gods love in those little eyes.

• Pray for Jennifer*, that she would feel love from the most unlikely places, help her to experience joy in her daily moments and for strength to last the days

• Pray for Lisa's* health and happiness, pray she would know God and receive healing for her sickness, 

• Pray for Cynthia* and her family, thank God for her and ask that He would reveal His great love of her to her. In the day to day pray that she would know of His presence. 

• Pray for Little Sweetie* A life time of love, understanding and acceptance. Comfort for her and her family in these times and safety for her mind. Pray that the right people would be around her family and the right provisions and opportunities would be in place to keep the family together. 

* New additions to our LOVE BOMB

Also, pray that all of these ladies would find a blessing in our LOVE BOMB, pray that it would come at a great time for them, a perfect moment to show Gods love to them. Allow them to believe that someone out there, a 'stranger' could love them. 

Lets do it. Will you join me? Leave a comment to let me know you're in! (It would be lovely to know I'm not alone)

Thank you for getting this far, you courageous woman you.

READ MORE:

Our Love Bomb
Meet the ladies of this Love Bomb

We'll be sending the LOVE BOMBs on Tuesday, after our day of prayer.

For Monday, I will be praying too. No organising, no blogging, no opening late parcels or ordering freight. Just loving our ladies 

Loving Family Vacations

Last weekend the Moo2s travelled a little while to a small thermal town in South Island, New Zealand.

We packed the portacot and our togs and were on our way! The whole weekend was great and I loved doing something different with our family! We had lunch out, dinner in and soaked in the hot pools amongst the darkness and steam. It was amazing.

We also went geocaching with my brother and Milla while we were there. I love geocaching and it was nice to do it with Milla, it takes us to places we've never been and probably would never go (Mr. Moo does not walk anywhere), off the beaten track there is so much beauty and life! 

Two caches took us adventuring into a forest I've heard about so many times but have never bothered to go see. We were a few kilometers in and it started pouring with rain, Milla was crying and as we were walking out her head made contact with a hard elbow. Poor little baby. Screams! I pulled up my top and was able to breastfeed her as we made our way out. 

Looks like a horror movie waiting to happen does it? heehee

Along with the good is was also very tiring, lets be honest. Travelling with a baby is hard work. For whatever reason she wouldn't sleep in her portacot and woke up every hour crying. On saturday night she spent 3 hours sitting on our bed (at 2am) clapping whenever the shadows from the trees moved *sigh*

Along with that we were also travelling with my large family, they were full on and Milla is not. She spent most of the weekend shaking with fear and crying whenever I wasn't holding her! 

We came home exhausted but happy and had big afternoon naps to catch up :)

READ MORE:

Linking with Thing I'm Lovin

Last time we went to Hanmer

Chocolate Bomb!

[Nominations now closed!]

I have 10x blocks of chocolate and a lovely encouraging letter to send to deserving ladies around New Zealand.

If you think your friend deserves a little surprise in the mail here's how you nominate them:

• Email sophieslim@moo2.co.nz
• Include their full name, postal address and a little bit about why it would be nice to surprise them with chocolate!

First in first served, only 10 available! x

Dr. Seuss Birthday Pillow

I promised you more first birthday pillows would be created this year! This one is a Dr. Seuss pillow!

This is for a little dude who turned ONE last weekend! Its been the fastest year I have ever known, remembering the day he was born quite well. I remember visiting his parents in hospital later that night, their room was sweltering hot and the Mama was glowing and his Dad was bursting with pride. He was so excited, telling us all about his little boy as though he had known him his whole life... 

This birthday cushion was hand embroidered with his nickname, something that is just for him. I loved the Dr. Seuss fabric when I saw it at the Sew Pretty store and knew I had to use it on his pillow! 

Pillows are so easy to create and so satisfying, if you want to make a personalised gift for someone I can definitely recommend a special cushion, especially for a child! 

Do you have any other special gift ideas you regularly use? Leave a comment and let me know!

READ MORE:

More 1st birthday cushions

The Birthday boys birth - day

Joining in with Creative Spaces

More of my creative spaces here

Love Bomb Round Up

Home Lovin - Dining and Photo Area

We've changed around our lounge once again to accommodate our dining table which had been in storage for over a year. More and more I was yearning for a family sit down meal, to have my cooking appreciated by being enjoyed for a little while longer than a few mouthfuls, and to enjoy face to face conversation while we ate. 

It means our living area is very small but that's the price we have paid to have our dining table functioning again. #firstworldproblems

I picked up these new place mats from The Warehouse in an uber-sale. I think 8 place mats and 8 coasters totaled $10. 

The table has been accessorised with beautiful flowers that were delivered to my home by an anonymous Sister. Don't they look Divine? Ahhh, they fill my heart with happiness. 

I have also started a photo wall in our bedroom where previously the walls stood bare. I love these Christmas photos of our little family in 2012. I hope to add to the photos as our years progress and as the frames are standard cheapies I think I should always be able to buy them (but I have been wrong before)

I hope to get more photographs in our home to really show who we are and make it our space.

I am loving turning our rental into a home and somewhere we can be proud of and want to be. It only takes a few small touches to achieve so much more.

Are you in a rental? Have you been? How did you personalise it to make it 'your' home? Leave a comment and let me know!

READ MORE:

How I am turning our rental into a home
Like Sophie Slim on Facebook

Birthday #LOVEBOMB

Last week The Sisterhood sent a birthday surprise to a lovely Mama doing it solo in a new city. Our main aim was to brighten up her day and give her something to celebrate with because we think she's worth celebrating! We knew a tiny bit about her from her friend who nominated her so know that the gifts we sent are hopefully somethings she will enjoy.

Thanks to our recent publicity we had a lot of new generous Sisters who were ready and willing to give! Gifts poured in even though we only had a week to do it all in!

We wrapped them all up and shipped them off in time for her birthday.

With your help we were able to send our Birthday Sister:
Handmade quilt, cook book, Mollie Makes magazine, two romantic novels, Chicken Soup book, I Dont Know How She Does It DVD, 250gm delicious wool, handmade bag and hair accessories, $40 Spotlight voucher, fat quarters of fabric, book mark, soap, Clinique lipstick, chocolate, hand made crochet brooch and tea leaves.

Thank you to the 11 ladies who gave specifically to this Love Bomb, its because of you this could happen.

This was all couriered free of charge thanks to Post Haste

READ MORE:
Read the recipients response here
Learn more about The Sisterhood
Join The Sisterhood facebook page

I have since been in contact with the recipient of this love bomb who found us online. She is an amazing woman who so deserved this. She has since joint the sisterhood and has begun to 'pay it forward' to other Sisters in our love bombs. Isn't that incredible?! I am learning so much about generosity through all of you. Thank you! 

100 Celebration!

Sophie Slims first banner, circa 2009

My friends! We are quietly celebrating around here! This weekend while I was away enjoying a much needed little break Sophie Slim hit 100 google connect followers!

I did plan to have a little blog party when I hit the tripple figures but it happened much too quickly and I have been caught very busy and very unprepared.

When I started this blog it was to encourage the young teenage girls that were in our youth group. I wanted to create a positive space on the internet that they could visit and feel built up in. Over time that transitioned as we moved on from our youth pastor roles and grew our family, however I still believe those roots are still there. I still like to think that this is a place where you can come and be built up and take a little break every now and again.

This website continues to be a source of joy for me and everyday I enjoy recording our lives amongst its virtual pages.

I have met many wonderful people through the sweet comments you leave and subsequent follow up emails, as well as real life bloggy get togethers with the ladies here in Christchurch. They really are as wonderful as you think they are :)

So here's my THANK YOU. Thank you for reading, even though you don't have to. I am always blown away that anyone would turn up here to read and comment on what I have to say :) 


To my first "follower", thank you for joining in, it was never about you, but I quickly learnt to love you. To my email subscribers, you're included to: Thank you. 


On my mind this week:

• I have just come back from a lovely weekend in Hanmer Springs with the whanau
• This week is looking busy with Plunket dates, meetings and Toddlerock starting back up again! Yahoo! More babies to see!!
• Our Love Bomb is finishing this week. As always it is a bitter sweet feeling, nice that it will all be over soon, but incredibly thrilling and heart warming that I dont want it to stop. I've had a few helpers this time round which has made my life much easier!
• Mr Moo and I are still working on some sort of weekly 'date'. We have been trying to cook together each Thursday but that has been a complete fail. Next we're going to try and secure a weekly babysitter so we can go out and have a drink and play pool together. Hopefully that might conjure up some more bonding time
• Starting to think about little Millas 1st birthday. I know, its already that time! WhahaaahathahwhwWHAT! 
• Milla started "talking" this weekend: Mumumum and Dadadad and Bububub - She's normally a very quiet little girl, no babbling to speak of, so it has been an absolute delight to hear her "talking" away. Melts. My. Heart.
• I'm guest posting today for Leonie at Kiwi At Heart. Exciting! 
• I'm not not looking forward to anything this week so I'm going to try and ride the wave and enjoy it all :)

Love to you all, thanks for reading x

Do you have any plans this week? Looking forward to anything? Leave a comment and let me know!

READ MORE:
More things On My Mind 
You're a blogger and want to follow?
Want to follow along too (but dont know how?)? Join the Sophie Slim facebook page

Midwinter Dinner 2012

I loved our Midwinter Dinner this year. Afterwards my heart was very happy.

11 friends around a long table with their bellies full of a delicious roast, candles flickering, laughter, encouragement, prayer.

I am thankful for the opportunity to get together like we did. Thankful that we have a home that can be opened to our friends where we can serve them.

Do you ever have dinner parties with friends, just because? Any traditions out there that you do year to year?

I'm celebrating with other grateful people

READ MORE:

Our 2011 midwinter dinner
Our connect groups Christmas Party

Granny Circle Blanket Update

Progress is going well on my circles for my new granny blanket. Infact, I am just over half way through my circles. I have now calculated that I will need 180 circles, and am aiming to do them all different.

I now have a process to do these as I was finding my self getting very confused over what I had done so far.

Now I am working on multiple circles at a time, usually 5 or 8, which I can comfortably do during a night on the couch infront of a few good programmes. I am making all of the centers the same colour, then doing a different colour for the second colour round, and then a different one again.

I will then move on to doing a different center colour and repeating. I am getting a good random mix of colours and not doubling up or doing too many of one colour this way. I found originally I kept favouring the greens and pinks, so this way I am getting all of the colours in.

I have also gone out and bought a few new colours to add - a light blue, a dark purple and a dark navy. I think this breaks up the colours nicely.

I am using 9 different colours so need 20 centers of each. Easy peasy!

Colour, colour, colour, there is so much of it!

The next update I give you on the blanket will hopefully be involving me starting the white :)


READ MORE:
The beginning of my granny circle blanket
My completed granny stripe blanket
The inspiration for my granny circle blanket

Milla the Traveller

Last night we had 11 people around an extended dinner tables to celebrate the middle of winter. Winter in New Zealand is so darn boring - no special holidays or celebrations, just cold and miserable weather and sad people. Yes, I'm a winter hater. But I LOVE celebrating with friends, so midwinter dinner works out pretty perfectly.

Actually our church commissioned about 10 dinners to happen around our city this week, and every member of our church was personally invited to one of them. I love being a part of a church that sees the value in hospitality! 

More on our dinner later. For now I wanted to show you the after math. 

We have a teeny apartment, our dining area and lounge are crammed into a small space so to accomodate 11 people we move out all of our furniture for the night and just have our table set up in the middle of the room. It creates a lot more work but it means we can all fit and its quite nice having just the table in the room.

Because of this we rolled our coffee table down to the end of the hallway to sleep for the night.

This morning while I was doing a spot of sewing I noticed a trail of toilet paper and a lot of happy laughter, I came to find little Milla sitting on top of the coffee table having fun with all of our bits and pieces that had been thrown down there at the last minute! Hilariously cute. 

I love it that Milla was an early mover. She has been crawling and pulling herself up since her 6th month. It actually makes life easier, I know she can move from thing to thing as she pleases, and I love that she has the freedom to explore our home. 

What strange places have you found your babes in? What do you celebrate in the winter? Leave a comment and let me know! 

READ MORE:

Our 2011 midwinter dinner
Our connect groups Christmas Party

Meet the Ladies of LOVEBOMB #2

These are the ladies that are part of our most recent LOVE BOMB. With your help we are aiming to send these ladies packages of LOVE, filled with treats just for them! Chocolates, coffee, novels, beauty products and one or two specific items that we think they will enjoy. If you would like to be a part of something amazing email sophieslim@moo2.co.nz to find out how you can contribute.

Oprah
Oprah has a brand new baby who was born with some serious complications. Since his birth her and her husband have been spending all of their time in Auckland while their newborn son has undergone 3 serious operations.


The couple are from a small town in the south island and are obviously not used to big city living.
We would love to shout Oprah and her husband a dinner out for the chance to reconnect and reflect on their journey together, along with our usual love bomb goodies.


Madonna
Madonna has a sweet 3 year old toddler whose bowel was on the outside of her body when she was born, she lives in starship hospital and eats through a tube. Her parents are raising money for her to receive a life altering transplant that will change all of their lives. This will be done in England and the family will need to stay there for 2 years to be monitored during recovery. 


Their story is a rare and sad one and we want to do all we can to be a physical and emotional support to them. We want to hand over what we can while saying "we know, we care, you aren't alone". To do this, please head to the facebook page the family have set up to raise money for their girls operation. If you feel compelled, give directly to them too. 


Gweneth
Gweneth is a Mum of 3 preschoolers. Life is busy. Life is busy for any Mum. I love Mums that turn up to their job everyday and do the best that they can. Thats Gwen. She's a star. For the next month her husband is over seas so while he's away and she's busy giving everything she has to her little munchkins we want to send her a whole lot of treats to remind her to spend some time enjoying her own company and to thank her for the work she does.


We'd also love to send Gweneth's family out for a little fun to enjoy some time together.

Angelia

Angelia has a new entrant child and a toddler, she is trying to continue her family but is experiencing multiple miscarriages. Her friend who nominated her has also been through a similar experience and really wanted to treat her, just like we do.

We are hoping to give Angelia's family the opportunity to have some fun together, as well as our usual treats to bring about some smiles and love in Angelia's day. 

Elle

Elle is our first nomination from a man! Gasp! Yes, some men are giving to our love bombs (isn't that amazing!?)  He noticed that while she cares for her little toddler solo, she is also very involved in her local community in a small town in the south island. Elle gives and gives and we would love to give something back to her!

Elle loves novels, chocolates, womens magazines and cooking - hopefully we can give her something of each to help brighten her day!

Audrey

Audrey is a single mum of 3 high needs children. Being a single mum is a tough enough job, but she also has to navigate cerebal palsy, autism, down syndrome and heart conditions in her day to day life. She gives. and gives. and gives. And the lady who nominated tells me she is the most caring, sacrificial person she has ever met.

Audrey is completely inspiring! We are hoping to send Audrey some 'time'. A facial, free coffees and dinner out are on the cards for her. 

Suri

Suri was nominated by her daughter who calls her "my hero". Two years ago Suri began treatments for her breast cancer, which eventually spread to her lungs and liver. Recently she was told there was nothing more her treatments could do for her and she has been given a few more months to live.

This story is heartbreaking, a mother being pulled from her family before she is ready. Her daughter told me that her mum believes in quality of life, not quantity, so we would love to brighten up a day in her last few months. 

We would love to send her family vouchers for a meal out to spend some time together, along with some pampering items so she can feel like the beauty that she is.

Adele

Adele and her husband lost their eldest daughter to cancer at the beginning of this year. Their daughter was five years old and after a long battle it finally came to an end. The family celebrated their daughters life by holding a memorial in a "secret garden", which is what their daughter wanted. Completely beautiful.

I'm sure Adele and her husband have been working through a lot this year and they come to grips with their life and this harsh reality. We would love to send them the opportunity to have dinner out on us so they can enjoy some time together and take a little break and help them in their healing process. 

Minnie

Minnies community are gathering around her and giving her meals and gifts has she only has months left to live as a result of an agressive cancer. She has young children in primary school and I am very pleased to tell you that other families in the school are looking after them. Amazing.

We would love to contribute too. Magazines, chocolates, treats, any thing that will help Minnie take a little moment in the chaos to enjoy, love and reflect.

Beyonce

Beyonce is a brand new Mama. Enough said, right?

She is also learning to cook, so along with our usuals we are also hoping to send her some easy-peasy cook books, so she doesn't have to continue making lasanga like she has for the last two weeks. Heehee

5 Year Together-Versary

Circa 2007

This weekend Mr Moo and I celebrated our 5 year together-versary! We became official on the 7th of the 7th 07 - the day of Mr Moo's 21st birthday party!

I think we're both a little better looking these days, have a little more sense in fashion and are learning even more how to treat each other like we want to be treated. I love my husband :) 

To celebrate we had dinner together! At a restaurant! Nana was in town so she babysat for us. It was so nice to go out together. Most of the time when we take advantage of a baby sitter its because we have friendships to uphold so go and see other people. It was really nice to sit with Mr Moo all by myself!

 On My Mind This Week:

• I am still completely stoked on The Sisterhood, I really can't believe that people actually like my crazy little idea that I thought up in the middle of the night when I should have been sleeping. Hopefully things will settle down soon, its starting to feel like a full time job!
• We are celebrating this week with a midwinter dinner! Our little lounge will be packed. Can't wait to show you more. Lots and lots of organising to do in the next two days
• My borrowed phone is seriously dying, the screen likes to turn off mid text and the whole phone likes to switch off at the beginning of phone calls. Awkward much? Hopefully I'll be getting a new phone soon. It looks like Mr Moo will be upgrading his iPhone when they come out at the end of the year and I'll be getting his. A little bummed that I'm not getting a new phone, but still exciting. I will be able to take pictures! Amazing.
• Its really nice to have my Mum come and visit every now and again
• We're going on a little family trip with my B.I.G family soon. Also excited.

So much excitement going on around here! No wonder I feel like I constantly need a nap! Much love for the beginning of the week! (thank God its Monday!)

xx

Whats happening at your place this week? Leave a comment and let me know!

READ MORE:
Other things on my mind

Our last midwinter dinner

5 Ways to Dress Up - New Mama Styles

Last week I went out for a glass of wine and delicious desert, during night time hours, sans baby. It was wonderful to enjoy the company to some other beautiful ladies and dress up a little bit.

If you're a new Mama like me, perhaps you have realised that your standards of dressing up might have changed for now? While that used to include a dress, heels, full make up, hair do, the works, these days it includes a few easier things and I thought I would share them with you.

And you know, I felt like a million bucks


1) Apply some make up, and something different. 
If you don't usually wear mascara, put some on, or eyeshadow, same with blusher, or in my case lip stick. That little difference will make you aware of yourself and how you look and you'll feel like you've made an 'extra effort'. I had some new make up to put on for when we went out (just replacements of the old stuff) but putting on something new and different was exciting. Small minds, huh?

2) Accessorise.
As a new mum with a little inquisitive baby on my hip I can't wear any extra jewellery. I'll end up with my ear lopes ripped off or my necklace yanked off my neck (don't underestimate the death grip of a baby!). When I went out I had my new Pretty Birds earrings on. They were an absolute treat to wear and not something I wear often. Again, because its irregular you'll notice it and it will feel good. Maybe wear that necklace you have touched since your pregnancy, earrings or bangle, the world is your oyster!

3) Change your bag up. If you have a few hand-bags at home go for something other than your nappy bag. Only take the essentials and make sure there are NO nappies in there. The weightlessness of your bag will make you feel like you're walking on air!

4) Do something spesh with your hair.
If you're a hair person do something different with it. Sadly, I'm hopeless with my hair so it just gets knotted on top so its out of my way.

5) Keep your phone inside your bag.
Lastly, when you're leaving home, tell your baby sitter or partner to call if they need you (NOT text. Otherwise you'll be checking your phone all night) and preferably only in an emergency - if they are on the way to the hospital ;)

Close that door, hold your shoulders back and breathe in that freedom.

You're beautiful!

READ MORE:
The importance of having Mama support around you
Like my Sophie Slim Facebook page for more updates

Laying My Burdens Down

Flowers from a Sneaky Sister - Thank you!

My heart stopped again.

Ten ladies. Ten ladies who I have never met. Whose stories and lives have touched my soul. Their stories and lives have reached out to me and changed me for the better.

For me its so easy to forget what goes on in other peoples lives. I'm a self focussed kind of person, I naturally assume other peoples lives are just like mine.

The Sisterhood reminds me that we are all completely different. Different lives, backgrounds, hopes and dreams. Everyone is going through something different.

When I hit that publish button on the post that is going to tell you that we are raising love bombs for these ten ladies, I hope that you will see it too: See the real people behind those fake names. I hope you will see that we have an opportunity to create some smiles, bring some joy and share some love.


And after I hit that publish button, for a moment my life falls down. I think I have over committed and there is no way I can pull this off and I hear my Father say to me "I have this" and I see my Sisters say "We want to help" and I know that what we are doing here is something incredible.

Over these last few days I have been letting go of the pressure that I feel to perform. I am practising leaving results in the hands of God while I do the best that I can and use what he has taught me so far.

Also, I have also been letting the stories go to him.

My inbox has been full of tragic stories this week. Ones that would make me go "Where were you God?!" Instead I have been saying "Here you go God". Handing over peoples lives to Him, their anguish and pain, their disappointment, has been a huge relief to me. Their burdens are not ones that I can carry but I can point them in the direction of Him. I am thankful that He listens.

I'm so glad I am doing it with Him. I couldn't imagine it any other way.

This may all be a bit waffley - There is a lot of my mind right now (in a good way)


READ MORE:
My thoughts after I hit publish on the last LOVE BOMB
This round of LOVE BOMBs

The Next LOVE BOMB

Sisters, we couldn't put this off any longer. We have had a few weeks break and now we are back into it. The truth is these stories in my inbox make my heart hurt. They ache. They are heavy. I read them and I think "How could we not do anything??"

At the same time they are also a happy burden. Knowing that we are actually doing something to eleviate some stress, bring about a few smiles, provide a date night for a burnt out couple. That brings me the greatest joy. You too?

Lets read this poem together, written by Cass Henderson...

That is why we are doing this. Our Sisters need us right now, and no is the time for giving if you are able. If you are in that season of life, even if its just an extra chocolate block in this weeks groceries, please help a Sister out.

Below are the details for the ladies in our next LOVE BOMB. Last time we started with 5 and extended it to 6. This time we are starting with 10. If we receive donations above and beyond that I have the details of more ladies who could use a blessing. I know we can do it! (p.s, a lot of these ladies are in the north island, thats just the way the nominations worked out.)

Here I introduce to you strong, beautiful, courageous women:

**Like their names? ;)

The Details:

• My email address is sophieslim@moo2.co.nz
• Please email me if you would like to give to any of these ladies
• Once emailed I can supply you with either my postal address or bank details
• All postage to get your gifts to me is at your own cost
• All money donated goes 100% to the recipient in either vouchers or put towards something big we think they might like
• If you are stuck for ideas of gifts to send I can always give you a few hints.
• You have TWO WEEKS from today to get anything to me. That's the 18th of July.
• Head over to The Sisterhood Facebook Page - there I'll be sharing photos and updates as things arrive.

READ MORE:
Meet the Ladies of this LOVE BOMB

Mama Support

Plunket Pepe group - Circa January 2012

Pre baby I had all of these misconceptions about what it would look like to be a mother, one thing I got wrong was how much I would need mother to mother support. Initially I thought it was a bit weird that we would exchange phone numbers at antenatal - what do I have in common with these people? I thought.

Then along came baby.

During an interview I had last week I was asked why I thought it was important that The Sisterhood was for ladies. I thought about it, and came to the conclusion that in the last year I have realised and now understand how absolutely vital it is to have peer support. A year ago I didn't understand that. Now I do. Now I need it. 

Together our Plunket group went through the Pepe course. I explained what happened there (parenting skills, taking care of a new born, chit chat, life) to my own Mother, she thought it was brilliant, they certainly didn't have anything like that in her day.

To cut a long story short most of us have managed to stay in touch. We have a fortnightly play date together for the ones who haven't gone back to work, and last week we went out for dessert and a glass of wine. While it was dark. Alone. I was 'dressed up'. No one was sitting in my lap. It was fab.u.lous.

So last week while we sipped wine we shared a few more birth stories, laughed a little and just enjoyed each others company I thanked them for being in my life.

Each of these ladies is unique with different backgrounds, birth stories, parenting styles, hopes and dreams. But each of them is a friend that I have shared this big part of my life with. 

If you are heading into a pregnancy please hear these words: Don't underestimate this support.

Seek to make new (with baby) friends, people who will know what you mean when you say you didn't get any sleep last night (its not that you tossed and turned for half an hour. Its that you didn't. get. any.). Make an effort to meet with your antenatal group, your Plunket group, your local playgroup. Go dancing with your baby: If only for that hot cuppa and a chat to another parent afterwards.

Who did you have around you when you had a little baby? What made them so amazing? Leave a comment and let me know!

READ MORE:

Here's how you can support another Mama

Some of our new Mama friends

How To Create Tabs in Blogger

Pages are really beneficial for blogs, in them you can have 'about me' details, contact details and any extra things you want to convey but they don't really have a 'home' on your side bar (or would make it really cluttered!). It's really easy to do!

Heres How You Create Pages / Tabs:

On your Blogger dashboard find your 'pages' option

In your Pages choose "New Page" from here you have two options: 

Blank Page:

This is where you have a blank field, exactly like a new blog post, that you can customise with links, photos and text. This is great for your "About Me" page.

Web Address Page:

This will open a new window where you can enter the name of your page and send the reader to a new web address. For example, if you had an online shop you could call you page 'Shop' and have it link to your felt store.

The down side with this (having a web address page) is that obviously your readers are going to a different web address that isn't your blog. We call these "Exit Links" and you want to minimalise them so your readers stay in your blog land as long as possible.

Once you create your new page and save it it will be added to the bottom of your list.

Re-Order Your Pages:
You can re-oder your tabs by clicking on the blue filled in side of the box and dragging it into the right order. You'll see when you do this they all jump around to adjust.

Extras For Experts:
Every now and again you might find the need for a web address but you might not want to publish it on your blog. It might be to share information with a group of people, photos, codes, anything really.

Create a page for this information like above, save it, then drag and drop the box into the "hidden posts"  section. (You'll see published, drafts and hidden options available). That way, when you view it the web address still exists but it doesn't show up in your tabs (but it will show up in google searches - beaware that it isn't private!)


Hit "save arrangement" in the top right hand corner and you have a new set of tabs! HOORAH!

Brilliant huh?

Read More:

Introduction and easy side bar tips

How to find out the size of your blog header

How to create an easy header

How to create your own blog buttons
How To Link Your Email Address To Your Comments (so bloggers can easily reply directly to you!)
How to let Google know about your blog so you turn up in searches!

Do you have tabs on your page? Are you going to make some now? Leave a comment and let me know!