Really?!

Some things that are as real as real can be about me right now...

1. Running is still very hard. Last night's training session was rubbish. I got stitch and I just wanted to cry! Starting to wonder why on earth I agreed to be a part of this!

2. My hair is bothering me and I can't decide what to do about it. Leave it? Cut it? And I'll probably do nothing about it which is potentially more depressing than having the hair issues in the first place. Why is it we are always frustrated with what we have and want something different?!

3. Work is seriously boring me right now.

4. The sunshine is starting to break through the fog and that cheers me up immensely.

5. House group was good last night. God was there and you could feel it!

6. Should I really be doing this blog or is it just another distraction from things that I should be doing or that are more important?

7. I feel like I have too much to do and not enough time to do it all (which is why I'm sitting here blogging and not doing any of it. See number 6!)

8. I want to take lots and lots and lots of pictures this weekend. And I want to have the time to edit them and post them and write nice things about them.

9. I really like the freesia I bought on Tuesday (should really take a photo to show but keep forgetting!)

10. I don't really know where I'm going with things at the moment. But I have lots of exciting ideas about where I could go...

11. I'm starting to think I'm probably getting a bit boring now.....so, I think I'll have a break from blogging and return next week with more interesting things to look at from an adventurous weekend!

Holding Things with Open Hands

This is Eric and his family. They live in southwest Uganda, right next to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Eric supports his family by farming his land and selling what he can. He is also the local pastor and looks after his ‘flock’, all those that live around him.

Eric travels many miles, often on foot, to the Community Hospital at Bwindi. He often brings other people and children with him that need medical care, and he often stays with them until he knows they are well.

Most of the children in the picture are not Eric’s biological children. But children he has opened his home and his heart to, children he has adopted into his family so that he can care for them. Sometimes these children have families of their own but they cannot care for them or feed them so Eric takes them in.

Eric has an amazing testimony of how God has transformed his life and given him a new start, and now Eric looks for opportunities to allow God’s transforming power to work in others.

When we met Eric he gave us a large pumpkin. I was excited as I’d never had pumpkin before, and when Eric found out he went away and came back with a second one! I was amazed by his heart to give and to share, knowing that these were from his own garden and could have fed so many of the children around us.

Eric has so little compared to what we might think we need to survive. But what he has he holds with open hands. Knowing that everything is given from God and is to be used for God. Hands open, ready to give to whoever might need it, ready to support, care for and bless those who are around him.

I pray that I may learn to hold the things I have with open hands. Not hoping for some kind of return or special favour. Not holding on and possessing. But hands open, directing towards others, ready to care, ready to support, ready to bless. Knowing that everything we have is from God and is to be used for God.

Why?

So, I wasn’t sure if I should have written this post when I started blogging, but I didn’t, I just started. And now I’m not sure if I need to write it at all, if anyone is really bothered, if anyone even reads the things I write here!

But because I want to, and because I can if I want to, I’m going to write it now…and explain a little about why I blog.
There are many reasons why I thought having a blog would be a good idea…so in no particular order here are some of my thoughts…

1. I like to think and I like to write. Having a blog gives me the space to write down my thoughts, and my thoughts about my thoughts. To explore the things going on in my head. That’s how I learn and understand. And documenting it helps me to see my journey, my progress, my growth.

2. I like to dream and to hope. A blog provides an outlet for my hopes and dreams to become more, to take form and to grow.

3. I like to be inspired. By words, pictures, people, places…all sorts of things can ignite a spark in me. This blog offers a space to record those things that catch my eye, my ear and my heart. Those things that pull on something inside and inspire me to grow, change, step out of my comfort zone, be creative and experience life. And maybe I can inspire someone else too.

4. I like to be creative. I just can’t help it. Whether with art or words or other little things, I like to create, to experiment, to try. I enjoy the creativeness of an amazing God and I enjoy the creative heart he has placed in me. I love photography although I’m only a complete beginner. This blog allows me to share my endeavours and plot my experiments and progress as I get out and about with my camera. I enjoy sewing and making things and hopefully I’ll be able to share some of that on here too. (I also like dancing but my dancing creations only make an appearance at very, very special occasions!)

5. I like to share. I don’t know what it is about me, but when I see something that touches me, challenges me or something I enjoy, I can’t shut up about it! Ask my husband…he knows how much I can talk about things! I just like to share things, even the things that go on in my head! So this is also a space where I can share. I only write about the things above because I want to share them…my thoughts, my dreams, my hopes, my inspirations, my creations…shared with you.

So, there you have it…some of the reasons why I blog.

Embracing the Season

Recently I have been thinking a lot about time, God’s time…or rather God’s timing.

In our humanness we are bound to think about time in seconds, minutes, hours, days. We think about yesterday, today and tomorrow. We live by day and night. But God doesn’t.
God created time for us, but he is not limited by it like we are. He does not think in terms of days and weeks, but rather moments and seasons.

One thing I have noticed is that as women we tend to endure the season we are in, rather than enjoying it. When we are single, we want to be married. When we are studying, we want to be working. When we are married, we miss our independence or we long to become mothers. We are always looking to the next thing, maybe the things those around us have, the things we think will make us more complete.

I know that I sometimes struggle to be truly satisfied with the season I am in right now. I often think to the future and long for the things in my heart to be available now. I know that I question why God sometimes makes me wait; I wonder what I am meant to be learning or what changes I need to make.

For us to grow strong, we must sometimes grow slowly. And sometimes the learning is in the waiting and the process, not in the gaining and having.

As the Easter weekend has passed, I have thought more about why God chooses to do things when He does and how He chooses to do them. I don’t always understand how His timing works, but I believe that His timing is the best.

I still long for things in my future, I still wonder when it will be my time to live out the things in my heart. But in the meantime I don’t want to live a life where I endure each day. I want to enjoy every day, every hour, every minute and second.

And so for that reason I am choosing to enjoy the moments and embrace my current season.

Outside

To be outside
Wandering, free
Breathing
Fresh
Air
Invigorating
Enlivening
Reviving

Berry Nice

Why is it that conversations with some people can leave you feeling not very nice?!

So, to make me feel better here is something that is nice, very nice, very berry nice!

Taken on my visit to Elie last Wednesday.

Patchwork Windows

Beauty is not a singular thing.
It is a collection of things...moments, experiences, understandings...each making the other more beautiful.

Check out the cuteness...

I had a lovely day on Wednesday here...


With these two cheeky chaps...




There are many more photos from Wednesday to share...but not just yet!

I'm about to head into a crazy weekend of family celebrations and catch ups! Hopefully there'll be even more photos to share when I get back!