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Wallmonkeys Peel and Stick Wall Graphic - Can We Fix It? Yes We Can! - 60"H x 40"W

WallMonkeys wall graphics are printed on the highest quality re-positionable, self-adhesive fabric paper. Each order is printed in-house and on-demand. WallMonkeys uses premium materials & state-of-the-art production technologies. Our white fabric material is superior to vinyl decals. You can literally see and feel the difference. Our wall graphics apply in minutes and won't damage your paint or leave any mess. PLEASE double check the size of the image you are ordering prior to clicking the 'ADD TO CART' button. Our graphics are offered in a variety of sizes and prices.
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When I first became an expectant mother, my number one biggest fear was that, somehow, I was going to lose my focus on God---maybe even, that I would lose God. This fear, for me, outweighed all the other major anxieties (and even phobias) I had surrounding pregnancy, childbirth and the medical treatments inherent to both. If only I had God--loved God--knew God--the rest would seem doable.

Why was I so beset with this fear? Well, I'm still a 'young' convert, and in formation. At the time of first realising I was pregnant, it had only been just over a year since I myself had been 'born,' and given new life in Christ. I wondered whether I was secure enough in that life to be able to transmit it to someone else.

But one of the biggest problems was my observation of other women. Perhaps it's a sign of the times, but I just didn't like the examples of motherhood I was often confronted by. Mothers seemed either to neglect their children for selfish reasons, or to let their children become the ultimate vehicle for selfishness---mothers who lost sight of the world outside their own family, of the contribution they still had to make as an individual human being and not just as a mother, mothers who treated their children as the be-all-and-end-all meaning of life, mothers for whom having children had become an end in itself---basically, mothers who had made idols of their children. I thought maybe this was some kind of unavoidable biological effect that I would inevitably succumb to: losing my God and my individuality in an idol that I would count on to be my only meaning and fulfillment.

You know what? There really are mothers like that out there, but you don't have to become one of them. My fears were pretty unfounded. In fact, it's just like everything else in life. Don't pay attention to other people. Listen to God. He is speaking in your heart and in your conscience. Don't compare yourself to other people...and if you're a mother, don't compare yourself to other mothers. The only mother whose example you should really be paying attention to is the Mother of God. Go with your instinct and trust yourself, and believe in your ability to do the right thing. If before pregnancy, your objective in life was to seek truth and follow it, that basic objective is not going to change.

Well, this may seem pretty obvious to you, the reader. But it wasn't to me. In anxiety, I sought counsel from my spiritual director, Fr. Tony Nye SJ at Farm Street Church, in London. I confessed my fears to him, and togther, my husband and I asked him how we could find God, respond to God, and transmit God in this new phase of life?

His answers were simple and succinct...some practical advice on good examples of Catholic parenting, and the memorable words: 'Go to the Lord through baby.' At first, all I could understand from this was that there was a new method of prayer and meditation I was going to need to learn. It had something to do with gazing into my child's eyes and finding God there---seeing Christ looking back at me.

Over the last few weeks (yes, I'm still pregnant---just reached the halfway mark!), this advice has really begun to unfold itself to me. In the middle of excitement over picking out baby clothes for our daughter, decorating the nursery, arranging the home, or enjoying the prospect of the baby shower, I found myself beset with the constant anxiety: 'Where is God? Have I forgotten Him? Have I been thinking about Him? Am I consumed with things and the human side of life?'

Answer: Well, God is concerned with the human side of life. Why shouldn't I be? But the human side of life and existence finds its place and its fulfillment in God. How can having a baby (with all the girly trimmings) teach me about that?

First, pregnancy brings you down (if you were ever above it) to your most human level. Life becomes basic and simple again. You realise the things that need to be done, and the things that 'want' to be done. In your mind, you watch Mary going about her daily routine in the simplicity of Nazareth. The aspirations of the past evaporate. You realise there's nothing better or more worthwhile to aspire to, than this holy simplicity.

Second, at this very human level, you begin to wonder in awe at the Fatherhood of God. You're not just living human life from the inside anymore. You're seeing it, observing it, pondering it from the outside: from conception to death. You are watching the whole human journey unfold; something we usually think of as being reserved to the sight of God. This is where the question of what it means to be human, and what it means to be God, and how the two are interrelated, arises. Thomas Aquinas' principle of 'exitus' and 'reditus' comes to mind: all things come from God, and are going to God.' And what, or who, is God, you ask?

As a convert from atheism, my first impressions of God were mainly philosophical, and at best, theological. The best descript

“Higgledy, piggledy,
Here we lie,
Picked and plucked
And put in a pie.”....an old nursery rhyme!

Here they are - all washed and topped and tailed ready to be made in to a franzipan!

Gooseberries are one of my favourite fruits though I've discovered that some people have never eaten them. That’s not altogether surprising because their season is quite short so you don’t see them in supermarkets for long. The best bet is to go to a fruit farm and get them ready picked if you can! The little devils hide amongst wickedly prickly bushes so if you have to pick them yourself go armed with long sleeves and thick gloves and preferably a stick to hold the branches away from you – they really don’t want to get picked!
But the effort is all worth it in the end because you can turn them in to the most fantastic things to eat – gooseberry crumble, gooseberry fool, gooseberry franzipan etc etc
Some can be eaten raw – the red ones are called dessert gooseberries and you can eat them raw - but the ones I like best are these green ones which need to be cooked and with sugar as they are quite sharp.

Gooseberry Franzipan is one of my favourite sins though there is a price to pay similar to chocolate, the penance is much the same.... but so what who cares!!
(The almond flavoured filling is often referred to as frangipane, dates back a long way)

Here’s the recipe if you want to have a go – hope you enjoy it if you do!

Gooseberry Franzipan

French flan pastry
5 oz plain flour
2 oz caster sugar
3 oz butter or marge.
1 standard egg yolk
gooseberries (enough to cover pastry base)
apricot jam

Franzipan
4 oz plain cake crumbs
4 oz caster sugar
4 oz soft marge.
2 eggs
1 teasp. almond essence
1 oz plain flour
1 oz split almonds to decorate

To make the pastry...
Place flour in a bowl. Add sugar, butter and egg yolk and blend together.
Line flan dish / 8” sandwich tin with pastry, keeping remainder for decoration. (I use a slightly bigger, shallower glass dish)

To make the franzipan mixture...
Mix together cake crumbs, sugar, marge, eggs, almond essence and flour and beat well in mixer.

Spread some jam over pastry and cover with gooseberries.

Put in franzipan mixture and smooth it evenly over the gooseberries then make a lattice decoration with strips of pastry with split almonds between the lattice. (If you find there’s not enough pastry for decorating, it really doesn’t matter!)

Bake for approx.1 hr. 10 mins. in the oven – gas mark 4.

Leave to cool, best eaten slightly warm!

You've seen all the fancy diaper cakes online and you're either thinking, "I can do that!" or you have a very specific baby shower theme and you "can't find one that matches just right!" We've done the hard part for you and now you can let your imagination run wild. Don't get stuck buying a whole box of cake boards, or trying to figure out how to wrap the cake-it's all included: 40 stage 1 Pampers Swaddlers (because they're oh so soft and ultra, pure white), Wilton cake board, cellophane bag for wrapping and a baby enclosure card.