We all know it takes more muscles to frown than smile (although if you’ve ever been a bride you would know that those smile muscles can get pretty sore by the end of your wedding day!). But did you know there are health benefits to putting a smile on your dial?!

Research has proven that smiling:

• lowers heart rate and blood pressure;
• increases levels of Serotonin, which elevates your mood;
• releases endorphins, our body’s natural pain killers;
• boosts the immune system;
• and helps us to relax, both physically and mentally!

And there is also evidence that restaurant workers who serve customers with a smile receive larger tips! (Tidd & Lockard, 1978)

If that’s not enough to make you flash your pearly-whites more often – Did you know the Bible even tells us to SMILE?!  Can I hear someone say “Cheese!” instead of “Amen?!”

Ephesians 6:5-8 (The Message): Servants, respectfully obey your earthly masters but always with an eye to obeying the real master, Christ. Don’t just do what you have to do to get by, but work heartily, as Christ’s servants doing what God wants you to do. And work with a smile on your face, always keeping in mind that no matter who happens to be giving the orders, you’re really serving God.

Romans 12:5-8 (The Message): If you preach, just preach God’s Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don’t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate; if you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

We’ve all met Christians who soberly announce, “I’m filled with the joy of the Lord” yet you would never be able to guess it from their face and mannerisms! God wants His people to SMILE! Smiling makes us much more attractive and approachable … so that people will ask us WHY we are always smiling … and then you can tell them the Good News, that there is a God who loves them!

Peter 3:15 (NIV): But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect …

It seems that Footprints now has a mascot – introducing Sophie de la Snuggles (pronounced Snoo- gals). She’s one snuggly puppy!

There is a bit of a story behind how Sophie joined my family. My husband was studying part-time a few years ago in addition to working fulltime, so I often went to bed while he hit the books. It was a trying time – both of us resented being separated by his studies. So he bought me this beautiful toy puppy for me to cuddle in bed when I was missing him … and somehow she has become a part of the family, with a real personality and her own trademark sayings.

Sophie loves sitting on people’s heads and pretending that she is a hat (as you can see in the photo). I can often be found at the computer with her peering at the screen from her favourite perch, or else she sits on the desk to keep me company while I type.

I’ve brought Sophie with me to Footprints Team retreats so that I don’t miss out on cuddles in bed (no boys allowed!), so most of the Team have met her and are very familiar with Sophie-isms. Somehow Sophie has won all their hearts, and now it seems her charm is extending to our readers -  so it seems only natural to make her our mascot! 

Sometimes I think I’ve missed my calling, I’m so good at doing voices and creating characters for the kids’ stuffed toys (when they were younger) and now Sophie – maybe I should have become a puppeteer! Nah, I think I’ll stick with Footprints …

1. That my darling husband and I had the day off together. It was like our second honeymoon back in May (for our 20th wedding annivesary) – we just enjoyed each other’s company all day and ignored the washing, the cleaning, the hundreds of other little things that demand our time and energy. We watched a good DVD together and went to Sizzler for lunch – the day just flew by. Our love tanks are full now!

2. Went shopping with Miss 13 last Saturday, as she desperately needed new jeans. We had a credit note for $30 (after returning THAT dress) – the exact price of the jeans we picked. We also found 4 tops from the “2 for $20″ rack. By anyone’s calculations, that means after handing over the credit note, I needed to pay $40. NOPE! The assistant must have done something wrong when she keyed it into the register, because “the computer” said I only had to pay $8! Even though I spoke up and tried to do the right thing, handing over a $50 note, the two girls behind the counter insisted on giving me $42 change. I left my phone number in case they got in trouble or they couldn’t balance at the end of the day – but never heard anything further. Thank you God for bargains! (Jesus saves!!! The story of a divine discount!!!)

3. Footprints was the subject of a feature interview on Girl with a Satchel’s blog. Yeah!

4. Noticing that Mr 16 needs to shave. He is growing up so fast but still loves to give him mum cuddles (especially if nobody else is around LOL).

5. Fun times at work hanging out with my friend Mel. Sadly she finishes up next week but I thank God for the good times we have had together over the past twelve months, and how she has rediscovered the Lord!

How about you? Care to share your “5 for Friday” – things that made you smile?

Lawrence and I have been concerned lately about the amount of time our two teenagers spend on computers, social media, PS3  … the list goes on. It’s a battle we seem to come back to again and again *sigh*.

We’ve tried lots of things over the years including limiting or even banning the use of electronic games/media/what have you, but sooner or later the kids get back into the habit and we end up right back where we started. 

(An aside: when I mentioned our concerns to an older friend, she reminisced about how in her day, her parents were upset about the amount of time she spent listening to that dreadful rock music on the radio and especially Elvis Presley! When I was young, the complaint was that youngsters watched far too much TV … now it’s social and electronic media … I can’t help but wonder what it will be for the next generation?)

Our strategy (this time!) is distraction – we are trying to find other things to get the kids involved in to get them away from the PCs.

As I was praying and mulling things over, I was reminded of how I was expected to help my mother each night with dinner preparation from the age of twelve or thirteen. (People who know me well will know my upbringing was anything but a picnic, but for all that was wrong I do actually have some good memories, and this is one of them). Hmmm. Was God trying to show me something?

So our latest strategy is to ensure that no matter which parent is cooking dinner, the kids will take it in turns to be the kitchen helper. Now I know this may seem basic and obvious and something we should have done a long time ago, but until recently we lived in a tiny house with an even tinier kitchen and there just wasn’t room for more than one cook!

But now … we put the plan in motion this week. Miss 13 (who is getting A’s for Practical Cookery at school, and loves baking and cooking anyway) was just fine with the new routine.

Mr-16-next-month however was less than impressed! On his first night as kitchen helper, I made shepherd’s pie and gave him the task of peeling the potatoes. My goodness! You have never seen such a production! He moaned, he complained, he tried to wiggle out of it, he pleaded, he argued, and used every excuse under the sun before finally giving in with bad grace and major attitude.

I’m still not sure if it was the attitude or if he really didn’t know how to peel potatoes, but by the time he’d FINALLY finished I had already cooked the mince component and had it in the pie dish! So despite having a kitchen helper it took a bit longer than normal to make dinner …

I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so happy to go and do his homework as when I finally released him from his kitchen duties that night!

His whole carry-on however only served to cement our determination to stick to this new strategy – it only proved how much it is needed!

So what do we hope to gain out of the Kitchen Helper Experiment?

• Well for a start, both the kids will gain practical living skills like learning how to peel potatoes! (And not a moment too soon, as Mr-16-next-month will finish high school at the end of next year and who knows what the future holds after that …);
• Our teens will have a fresh appreciation for the meals that appear on the table each night;
• It will be an opportunity for parent and teen to share  some quality time (I’ve noticed before that many a good chat takes place when working together on something – even something as mundane as cooking dinner);
• And of course our ultimate goal: to get our teens away from the computers etc.

It was exhausting dealing with such opposition, but I’m pleased to report that tonight there was barely a murmur when I called Mr-16-next-month for kitchen duties. Maybe it was because burritos were on the menu, and no peeling of potatoes was involved … LOL

I’ll keep you posted on how the Kitchen Helper Experiment progresses!

We live in a transient society – moving house every few years, changing jobs and even careers numerous times in our lives, divorcing and remarrying become commonplace. And it seems the church is not immune. Once upon a time you were baptised, married and farewelled at the same church and attended every Christmas and Easter, if not every Sunday, in between. There wasn’t the huge variety of denominations and churches that you find today. There was usually one church of your brand in your area. There were no choices! (And maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing!)

It saddens me every time another family or friend disappears from our midst. As I’ve mentioned already, I can’t judge as I’ve done it too. But if only I could impart the hard-won wisdom that has come from my experiences; I would beg my friends to reconsider their decision to leave their church. The grass isn’t greener elsewhere. Reminds me of a saying I once read: “If the grass is greener on the other side, water your own grass!“

Do I have any regrets about leaving our church for a season? You bet I do! The main one is our children. I think our spell away bruised their confidence and has made it harder for them to fit in and feel a part of the church family, particularly the youth group. They’ve lost that ease and naturalness that they used to have at church and with church folk.

Still it was good to see what else was out there, meeting new people and finding out what God is doing in other churches. However the main thing I gained from our time in the “wilderness” is that it makes me appreciate our “home” church all the more!

People leave churches for many reasons. Offense; becoming stale; a change in minister, or the church’s vision or direction; disagreement with decisions that have been made; feeling left out (sadly); or to find something more suitable for their children or family’s needs. Any of these can cause a Christian to rethink the church they call home.

One of the hardest things about leaving, was then visiting new churches as we tried to find a “home”. Even as Christians, we found it very confronting and nerve-wracking walking into a church for the first time. Imagine how much harder it must be for the un-churched!

Leaving our church – regrets, yes. Difficult? Definitely. Lessons learned – absolutely!

I guess my advice is, if you HAVE to do it, leave on good terms. You never know if you will be coming back … we did!

Me & Mel from the Footprints Team, at our 10 year high school reunion.

Have you ever been to a high school reunion? Loved it? Hated it? Wouldn’t be caught dead at one?!

I’ve had mixed experiences. At my 10 year reunion, it felt a bit cliquey and I didn’t enjoy it that much. The best part was being able to “show off” that I was 6 months pregnant with our first child – somebody loved me enough to marry me and have a baby with me! Plus, there’s nothing like a baby (or in this case, a baby bump!) to break the ice.

At my 20 year reunion on the other hand, I had a blast! Why? Because by that stage we’d all grown up, and it didn’t matter anymore who was popular and who wasn’t. I didn’t want to waste a minute and caught up with so many people … I didn’t worry if we’d been in the same crowd or not at school. Only one girl snobbed me off and looked at me like I’d crawled out from under a rock, but I figure that’s her problem not mine (especially as she was propping up the bar with some of the blokes – says a lot I think!).

There was a bit of a catch-up last year rather than a full scale reunion, as it was 26 years after we graduated, but this time I didn’t feel like going (plus it was an hour’s drive away) … so I didn’t. Maybe next time.

I’m just glad I have good memories of the last one, especially when I hear about those who have already passed away. Makes me realise how precious this gift of life is!

But you know which reunion I’m REALLY looking forward to? That will be the FAMILY REUNION in heaven … being with my Father God … and all my Christian brothers and sisters in perfect harmony … not to mention finding out just who I have been able to influence into the Kingdom of God!

(Thanks to Do I really Wanna Blog?: A Letter To My Old School Classmates which inspired this post!)

 

Footprints Team 2010

One of the highlights on the Footprints’ Team calendar is our annual retreat. In years gone by we have stayed at Coochiemudlo Island, as well as Alexandra Headlands and Coolum on the Sunshine Coast … this weekend just past we stayed in a penthouse suite on beautiful Bribie Island north of Brisbane. (Next year I think we need to go to the Gold Coast for something different!). It’s amazing how affordable it is when you get a group together – I highly recommend getting a bunch of friends together for a girlie weekend!

From our arrival at 6pm Friday until Sunday lunchtime, we enjoyed some great chats, participated in team building workshops, relaxed in the spa, took in the ocean views, went for a beach walk, browsed in some quaint stores, and shared some wonderful meals (thanks to Mel, the Footprints resident chef!).

But perhaps the most important event of the weekend was the very special meeting which we held to vote on becoming an INCORPORATED ASSOCIATION. It’s been on my heart for some time to sort out our financial and legal affairs, and the Team agreed. So we voted, and now just have to lodge the forms to complete our incorporation!

The management committee of our newly incorporated association consists of myself (Janet Camilleri) as President (does this mean I can add “el presidente” to my other illustrious title of “the great and glorious leader”?!); Nicola Saad as our Secretary; and Jenny Kalinowski as Treasurer.

Some may wonder, why incorporate? Apart from the financial and legal reasons already mentioned, we felt that this move would help us to become more accountable; allow for future expansion; and enable us to apply for grants to continue serving God and His girls here in Australia. 

It is truly amazing to look back over the past 12 years and see the way God has brought all this to pass, and we are so very thankful!

Next year our Footprints retreat will be even bigger and better … we are planning and hoping that Kathie (our web editor) from Melbourne, and Narelle (our WA rep) from Perth will also be able to join us.

By the way, if you would like to see the photos from our wonderful weekend, you can view them here (even if you’re not on Facebook). And don’t forget to sign up to became a fan of Footprints while you are there!

I have mixed feelings about Christmas these days. My main problem, and I know I’m not alone, is the blatant commercialism and excessive pressure to “spend, spend, spend”. The temptation to prove my love with gifts is overwhelming!

Does anybody else feel like it is just spending for the sake of spending?! Let’s face it, we live in the Lucky Country (even with a global financial crisis), and many of us are blessed to be able to buy whatever we need or even want. It seems such a waste to give and receive presents that will only end up collecting dust, or in a landfill …

My children have never had to go without, unlike my own childhood. But many is the time I have caved into that Christmas pressure and bought them toys and gifts which I *know* they don’t need, and which will be forgotten within days or even hours!

There are so many people in the world who don’t even have access to clean water or food, that it seems greedy and wasteful!

I can’t help feeling that I would rather buy a gift for my loved ones and friends for no particular reason, except that I have seen something that I know they will really enjoy. That to me seems a much better idea than struggling to come up with the “perfect” present on 25 December.

But would I?!

Hope to be posting again here real soon!

Love Janet xxx
Footprints Editor