Keep Britain Breastfeeding - My Involvement

24th-30th June 2012 is National Breastfeeding Week.
Last year, the government funding for the National Breastfeeding Week was cut. Despite all the evidence of the benefits of breastfeeding, especially its ability to cut the risk of obesity and diabetes, the government decided that encouraging women to breastfeed, providing support and advice, and normalising breastfeeding was not as important as, say, spending extra money on the Olympics, or aircraft carriers that won't carry anything, or giving every school a copy of the Bible in a difficult to understand translation! (It's not the Bible I disapprove of, but the antiquated language.)
So, various groups and individuals took the initiative to run the week themselves, organising activities and fundraisers around the country to ensure the importance of breastfeeding was highlighted.
This year, one event is the Keep Britain Breastfeeding Scavenger Hunt. I will be involved in this, blogging once a week through June on different aspects of breastfeeding. There will be lots of blogs to read, and opportunities to win goodies.
If you want to join the hunt, or just want to find out more, click the pic:

Bible in a Year - Day 25

Oh dear. Poorly baby, busy weekend and hubby away on business have all kept me from blogging. Life and people are much more important though, and I am glad of it. I am up to date on my reading. On Friday I finished Genesis, and Saturday brought the beginning of Exodus.

The readings:
Day 18 - Genesis 42 & 43; Matthew 13:33-58
Continuing the story of Joseph. God's love for Joseph is apparent here, as his dreams come true when his brothers bow down before him. And His love for Jacob and his sons who, despite their wrongdoings, are still His people and will be provided for.

Day 19 - Genesis 44 & 45; Matthew 14:1-21
But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives. (Genesis 45:5)
God plans ahead for us. He loves us even when it seems He has forgotten us.

Keep Britain Breastfeeding

Just a link to find out more about the Keep Britain Breastfeeding Scavenger Hunt:
http://boobiemilk.blogspot.co.uk/p/keep-britain-breastfeeding-scavenger.html

Bible in a Year - Day 17

Good grief  - it's 5 days since I last posted about my Bible in a Year challenge, but I can assure you I have been keeping up with the reading.

In a bid to keep this from being the longest post ever written, I shall give the readings and the verses that I feel most show God's love.

Day 13 - Genesis 31 & 32; Matthew 10:24-42
...yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me. 
(Genesis 31:7)

If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you. 
(Genesis 31:42)

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.  
(Matthew 10:29-31)

And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is known to be my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly be rewarded. 
(Matthew 10:42)

Wholesome Talk

This weekend I had the misfortune to be referred to as militant when it comes to breastfeeding. Not to my face.

I'm not militant, or, at least, I have tried my hardest not to be. I am passionate and interested, and I know how difficult breastfeeding can be and how little support there is. So, if I come across an article or blogpost that I find interesting or busts a myth or could help someone, I pop it on Facebook. If this comes across as militantly forcing my opinions, then this is because of people's lack of understanding when it comes to social networking. I have never sat anyone down and forced them at gunpoint to read anything I put on Facebook or Twitter. Nor have I ever been unkind to someone who has chosen to feed or parent their child in a different way to me. If my friends aren't interested, they don't have to read what I post. They have a choice - social networking sites provide the option of not seeing things if you wish not to. I've made use of this. I no longer have to view offensive comments about my faith, dull comments on the weather or attention seeking statuses.

Bible in a Year - Day 12

A busy few baby days, so the following is a round up, rather than a deep look at each day's readings.

Day 9 - Genesis 23 & 24; Matthew 8
Today's verses of note show: 

- God's faithfulness and His approval of those who believe:
Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. (Genesis 24:1)
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.”(Genesis 24:27)

- And Jesus' love for those who needed Him: 
When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. (Matthew 8:16)

Day 10 - Genesis 25 & 26; Matthew 9:1-17

God is faithful and trustworthy in His love for us. He loved Isaac because He loved Abraham:

Bible in a Year - Day 8

Genesis 20, 21 & 22; Matthew 7

Today we see God's faithfulness. His faithfulness in keeping promises, His faithfulness to provide and His faithfulness when we fail Him.

In Genesis 20 we once again see Abraham failing to trust God to protect him. Despite God's repeated promise to give him a son by Sarah, Abraham worries that she will be taken from him and that he will be killed. He falls back on his old trick of lying about her being his wife. This isn't surprising. The truly amazing part is that God remains faithful to him. God intends to keep His promise - so much so that he prevents Abimelek from being able to perform sexually, thus preventing any doubt over whose child Sarah will carry. He continues to acknowledge Abraham when his behaviour is so embarrassing. What a poor witness Abraham is, what a faithless man. Abimelek - the pagan - is more upright, honest and God-fearing than Abraham at this point. And yet, God still calls Abraham a prophet, still protects him and still listens to his prayers. Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelek, his wife and his female slaves so they could have children again. (Genesis 20:17)

What we learn here is that it is God's faithfulness that saves us, not our own. We see God's grace at work in Abraham's life. This believer stumbles, but he is secure in God's promise. Our failures do not cause God to desert us.
This is the eternal security of the believer. Once saved, we are saved for good, even when our behaviour doesn't live up to that. This is Grace.

Bible in a Year - Day 7

Day 5 - Genesis 12, 13 & 14; Matthew 5:1-26

In Genesis 12 God speaks to Abram. He tells him to move, to leave everything he knows and head for a new land. In return He makes this promise to Abram:

“I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.  

I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.”

(Genesis 12:2-3)

Wouldn't it be wonderful if God would do that for us every time He asks us to do something or go somewhere; if He would give us a clear promise of what we will accomplish or receive or learn through our obedience? But look a bit further on. Abram was 75. Sarai, his wife was 65. They had no children. God's promise was that this aged, childless couple would be the beginnings of a great nation, that all peoples would be blessed through them. It wasn't exactly a clear, easily believable promise, was it.

Bible in a Year - Day 4

Genesis 9, 10 & 11; Matthew 4

How apt that I should read God's Covenant with Noah while outside it is grey and bleak and pouring down with rain. It was sunny yesterday, after what has felt like weeks of rain, but it's raining again today. Isn't it funny how just one day of rain can wash away all memory of the sunny days? There's something deep in that somewhere, isn't there. And perhaps it's just because I'm English, but when the sun comes, we make the absolute most of it because we fully expect rain to be just around the corner. Trouble will always come again.