The Gallery - Love - is it possible to keep finding room in your heart for more love?

This week on Sticky Fingers Blog the theme is "love."  It's a toughy  because so many pictures encapsulate love because we really do experience it in so many situations.

Imperfect Pages and Sticky Fingers have photographed sibling love.  Mumra posted a great picture showing the love she shares with her girlfriends through thick and thin. And Mummy Mishaps and Alexander Residence with their extra sensory perception both went for the love of their baby's favourite toys!

Here are my closest loves.

Love is patient

This is my Mum with my beautiful big sister.  She is eleven months older than me and lives with my parents still.  She has cerebral palsy and requires round the clock care, which my parents have patiently given her for thirty six years.  I went into social work so that I can be the best that I can be for her when it is time for her to move out and me to take over from my parents.  She is unable to talk, so she has never told me that she loves me.  But I know that she does.

Love is kind 


My three beautiful children - so special each one of them - of curse I am thoroughly biased!

It does not envy

This my best friend and I, she will not appreciate me posting this picture.  But I love it. I  love her too and we have been best friends for eighteen years now, through thick and thin, through all our ups and downs and she is always there for me when I need her.

It does not boast

Here are just a few of my many beautiful cousins with my children and I taken in 2003.  They live on the island of Borneo on the edge of the rainforest.  When I am with them, I feel a real sense of love and belonging. There are a few language barriers, but we still manage to communicate perfectly!  I do not love this picture.  I was the 27 year old boy in the St George's cross top!

It is not proud

Here we have brotherly love.  I was so worried about having more children.  My little boy would become the "middle" child and coupled with his Asperger's and his lack of ability to get on with other children,  I was worried that all the change would be a bit much or worse, that there wouldn't be a bond between them.  But I couldn't have been more wrong, Aspie Boy adores his little brother and Dizzy adores him back.  Between them is a real love.

It is not rude, it is not self seeking

Here is a moment of love between my eldest two and our dog Caleb when he was just a puppy.  He is huge now and very muscly, so we all keep our distance.

It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs

Here is out beautiful ginger tom Mr Schneebly.  He is a greedy self centred little cat, but we all love him none the less, even Caleb the dog loves him.  It's all about the cuteness.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

This is my little girl.  My first baby, she really is special, so thoughtful, full of love and wisdom.  When she was born I couldn't imagine the possibility of loving anyone more than I loved her.  But when her little brother came along, my heart grew bigger like the womb that nurtured them and made way for endless love for them both in equal measures.  When baby number three began to grow, I knew that nature would work it's magic and create room in my heart and mind for all three of them. 

It always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres.

Parents, grandparents, an aunty, sisters, brother,  and grandchildren.  The many roles in which love is fulfilled.

This hangs on my loo wall!

Love never fails.

The Gallery White

The theme for this week's Gallery courtesy of the wonderful Sticky Fingers Blog is white.  Here is my youngest looking a bit of all white when he was a few hours old. I was desperate for a home birth and went to all the home birth classes.  But my instinct told me to have him at hospital after Aspie Boy was born lifeless and in need of revival ten years earlier after only an hour's labour.  Dizzy finally came out thirty six hours after my waters broke and with three midwives yanking my feet up behind my ears to avoid shoulder dysctocia.  At 9lb 3, he was a big boy, too big for five foot nothing me.  He had an infection due to labour taking so long and we spent a further seven days at hospital so he could receive antibiotics through an IV in his little hand.  None of the clothes I had brought with me fitted him, so he spent the night in a vest and wrapped in towels and blankets like little baby Cheeses.

It couldn't have all been further from the homebirth I wanted, but the whiteness of those towels highlights the purity and freshness of a newborn life making a much anticipated arrival into the world.    

The Gallery, via Sticky Fingers, week 37 - Celebration

This is my first entry into The gallery. I have been admiring everyone else's photos for months now. And I have finally plucked up the courage to join the party. If you are not sure what it's all about, then follow the link above and take a look at the brilliant Sticky Fingers blog.

My friend Nix tying me up and my beautiful Mum on her 60th birthday!

Today's theme for The gallery is "Celebration".  I have chosen this picture taken on my wedding day 1st May 2008 as I really like the photo and it covers two celebrations.  One being my wedding obviously and the second being my mother's 60th birthday.  Can you believe it?  She looked fabulous as you can see and nowhere near sixty years old!