Valentines day is one of those days that really bug me. People declaring their love, buying gifts, treating their loved ones to nice meals.

Why ???I want to scream.

Not why the declarations of love?

Not why the nice gifts?

Not why the meals ?

Why only on one day of the year.?

I love my hubby 365 days of the year. I hope that on each of those days he knows that.

I love treating my family to little gifts at unexpected moments when the surprise adds to the gift.

As for meals out, no fancy restaurant compares to a family meal.

I could get all high and mighty about the commercialism of the day. The way flowers double in price, I won’t.

The thing I worry about is why people wait. You love someone tell them now. I’ve learned the hard way that memories wait for no one. Grab the moments with both hands, never be in the position of saying ” I wish I had told them how much I love them, how much I care”.

Whatever the date, wherever you are. Live , love and laugh.

Last week I had the honour of being a speaker in a conference which had been sponsored by the fostering company I work for Progress Care Solutions and BAAF.

The title of the conference was “Facing up to facebook”, yet the reality was it was a lot more than discussing social networking sites.

The impact of the internet to the world has been intense yet for me no more so than in the way it has affected my children.

Gone are the days of face to face conversations we can keep in touch via, email, texting, chat sites, instant messages and of course social networks and probably loads more that I have yet to understand.

The world we interact with has increased a hundred fold. I remember when I was a child the only way I could talk to my friends in another country was either by expensive phone call or by post.

Now my daughter can chat to an old school friend in Australia in seconds.

I believe the world we interact with has increased but reality our world has become smaller due to electronic communication.

So is this advance in communications a good thing? Well regardless of personal opinions the reality is that it’s not going away. Networking sites like facebook, twitter etc are here to stay.

I personally believe that they can be great things, but as a parent and foster carer I am filled with horror at the way our children are leaving themselves exposed.

One of the main concerns I have is that there is a need for honesty in the whole business. We have to trust that whatever someone has written on their profile is the truth. Unfortunately like in all aspects of life there are people who lie and will abuse this. We have already heard the horror stories of girls going to meet 14 year old boys only to find themselves face to face with 45 year old predators.

What I took from the conference was that along with the internet, social networking sites the predators are here to stay.

So what can we do? Some may suggest completely banning the children from being online, but we know kids the more we ban something the more exciting and interesting it becomes. I also believe that we have to realise that our children are going to grow up. We have to accept this and help and support them by teaching those skills that will enable them to keep themselves safe.

One of the other speakers at the conference was a lady from CEOP the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre. While what she spoke about was frightening, she had a lot of incredible advice.

Check out the CEOP website for more information it really is worth a visit.

It is no surprise to you all how much I love social networking, what surprised me was how naive I was.

Two statics stayed with me from this day.

15% of girls think its ok to send or post nude pictures of themselves.

45% of girls think it is ok to post topless pictures of themselves.

I was nearly in tears hearing these numbers. Society has really changed and as parents we have more responsibilities than ever.

While I do believe the internet is a fantastic tool for my children to use, I will be beefing up my security settings, but mostly I will be educating my girls the best way I can., by being open, honest and understanding.

Being naive is not acceptable in this advancing world!

What a truly terrible day. I received phone call off my sister. My mom had been walking her two dogs, Tip a Jack Russell and Noodles a miniature Jack Russell.

Well whilst walking along the canal my mom took a tumble and in falling lost hold of the dogs leads. The dogs sensing their chance for freedom bolted with terrible results.

Tip was hit by a car and died on the way to the vets. Noodles is still missing.

As you can imagine my family are devastated. The dogs are members of our family. Mom is wrecked by Tip’s death as she always saw Tip as Livvy’s pal. They would cuddle together on mom’s sofa, cherished memories.

We have contacted local kennels, dog warden and everywhere else we could possibly think of searching for Noodles. Can I ask for prayers that she comes home soon?

One of the places we contacted was Birmingham Dog’s home and for a while we were hopeful as they had received two Jack Russell’s in today.

So off we went with hope in our hearts. My mom stayed in the car, I am so glad she did. Besides the disappointment of Noodles not being there, she would have been heartbroken at the amount of abandoned dogs that filled the kennels. Alan and I counted twelve that had been brought in today.

So besides asking for prayers for my family and the safe return of Noodles, I ask for prayers for the fantastic staff at the rescue centre and for new families for the dogs.

Also if you are considering a new family pet please check out your local rescue centre. I saw many adorable dogs waiting for new homes today.

My daughter asked me today “was I sad because I don’t have a best friend”.

Let’s me honest when you are nine best friends are a daily occurrence, they also change as often as your socks. But I do wonder how many of us go into adulthood with a bff.

Now I’m not after sympathy I know I do have many good friends. Yet I can see why my daughter was concerned.

Do I do girly chatty phone calls. NO.

Shopping trips NO.

Lunches. NO

Girly weekends. NO

I have spent the rest of the day thinking on this. I could blame a lot of things, raising children with special needs, working full-time with my husband.

These are just excuses though no real reason.

Maybe I am just isolated by choice from the world of BFF’s.

As the day has worn on I’ve realised that I do need to work harder on friendships. I actually would like a best friend(now that reads sad right!).

So guys how do I go about it? BFF applications on request. Maybe not.

I think I need to look closer at the invites I receive. The texts I forget to reply to.

I do hope It’s not to late for me.

Stepping out

I sometimes wonder where I am going in life.

At times I make plans then something comes along and they all change. They become out of my control, out of my reach.

I confess at times my life has felt out of my control.

How often have we come to points where we think we know best then find out we didn’t. What at first seemed like a disaster turns into a great achievement.

I’m quite a cautious person, I like to have a Plan A, Plan B and at times even a Plan C. I get into a right panic when my plans get changed.

Yet I wonder how life would have been if others hadn’t stepped out in faith.

If Mary had said “no thank you God not me, I can’t be pregnant.” If the disciples had said “sorry Jesus I’m just going to stay being a fisherman, I can’t come with you.”

I have to learn how to step out in faith!

 To be perfectly honest I don’t think God is too impressed with my plan B’s. God wants us to journey in faith; he wants us to trust in him and the unknown.

I need to mature in faith.