Life in Colour

Besom has a day of prayer today. I spent extra time there on Friday afternoon setting up for it, and loved being creative with the different areas of the hut. I have to head over there in about half an hour. As it's a late start today I decided to use my extra time productively by doing some cleaning. I'm on a bit of a clearing, tidying, re-organising kick at the moment. I'm hoping to repaint some drawers this month, and I cleared some messy paper filing trays this weekend.

My lovely Besom boss also brought five of her ballgowns over for me to try on as I'd mentioned a fancy wedding we're going to in November. I had a lovely dressing up session in the evening.

We went to visit T's parents on Saturday and I swapped Human Traces for Beijing Coma by Ma Jian. (I liked hearing some of your reading thoughts last post. You're obviously better at seeing books through than I am!) We went for a lovely autumny walk in the woods and enjoyed the colours...

Noisy and Quiet

Today I am appreciating the contrasts in my life.

Yesterday, Besom was busy, noisy, full of energy, talking, vitality, demands, music, people, it had a schedule and a timeline.

Today I am at home. I am my own boss. I have a list of tasks. No one needs me to do them. I am free to do whatever takes my fancy - craft, cook, read, shop, eat, drink - whenever I want to. There is no one else here. It is peaceful.

My Autumn goals are going well. Here is photo number three from yesterday:


I left it until half an hour before bed to get round to this one. But I liked that I was pushed into being creative, rather than just waiting until it came.

My other projects are also progressing - but for now, my fun with paints:


Just to round off my day in the best possible way, T came home this evening with an anniversary present...


It prints gorgeous photos. And it's wireless. I'm a very happy lady this evening.

Blessings

Basil seedlings are growing on my windowsil.


I am spending today at Besom and then having dinner with a schoolfriend in London.

Tomorrow will be spent packing. We are staying Friday night in Dorset with T's aunt and uncle, and then on to Cornwall on Saturday for our holiday with my family. A week of sun, beaches and family. So blessed!

Have a good week everyone.

Odds and Ends

This week has been made up of lots of small pieces - there's nothing major to tell but here are a few highlights...

• I telephoned someone the other day at Besom but hung up when there was no reply. A moment later she called back and I began to ask her about what she needed. "I'm not sure right now," she said. "I'm actually in labour at the moment!"
  
• Our plants are doing well since my gardening session last weekend - the strawberry runners are planted and a tiny pot plant has burst into pretty white flowers.
• We saw T's parents last Sunday. His mum got back from a trip to China last week and brought us a present. I cooked sweet and sour chicken with egg fried rice for dinner on Monday and we used them. They're so pretty!

Cutlery and Why it is Exciting

We had a lovely day at Besom today. Sadly my lovely Besom boss was away so I missed seeing her but things went so well. The hut was FULL, so much beautiful furniture. I'm not sure I've ever explained Besom - basically people give us second hand furniture, clothes, linen, electricals etc that they don't want any more. We get clients referred to us by social services, churches and other charities, and then we call them and find out what they need. When it comes in, we deliver it. Simple as that. The whole thing is prayer based, and really wouldn't work without God - we pray the whole day - especially when collecting or delivering things, but often also we ask God to provide things.

So on Tuesday afternoon, a few of the ladies at Besom prayed for some cutlery - just a set to send to a man who had requested some. We were down to two (non-matching) spoons, and hadn't had any in for months.

Today we were sorting a load of stuff that had been brought in last thing on Tuesday. One of the items was a tray of cutlery.

After lunch a lady brought in a whole load of stuff and towards the end of the day, as we were waiting for the van to come back I unpacked some of it - two more sets of cutlery, one brand new.

When the van came back, the lady we had visited had given us even more than she'd first said, and among the items, yes you guessed it - another set of cutlery.

I love it when you get to see how huge and generous God's love for us is - he didn't just give what we'd asked for, he quadrupled it! We prayed. God answered. God answered big time.

Look Around

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around every once in a while, you could miss it.” - Feris Bueller

A couple of posts have caught my eye recently - this quote was in one by Sam at Life is Like A Box of Chocolates. There are often milestones we strive for, things we hope to achieve and places we want to get to. When I was at secondary school I couldn't wait to leave and go to university. But looking back I wonder if I fully appreciated the time I had there with those friends. In my third year of university I was looking forward (understandably) to getting married and living with T. Looking back, although tried to enjoy the time I had living with the girls, I probably didn't always appreciate it.

Recently I decided to do the graduate teacher programme. I wanted to start as soon as possible, to get on with it. It's pretty clear now that I won't be able to start in January, I'll have to wait until September 2010. When I stop and think this is probably better for me. I'll have to learn to be a bit more patient, sure. But I will have time to find the right school and the right mentor for me. I will also have time to do more work at Besom which I love.

At the 20-something stage of life, there are always milestones we long to reach - whether it is in our career (new job, new qualification, new promotion) or personal life (marriage, buying a home, having babies). Sometimes we forget that life isn't just the huge milestones, it's the little bits in between as well. I want to try to appreciate how life is now, and be happy with it. Being happy with how things are rather than focusing on how you want them to be is such a skill. Kayla Aimee wrote recently about this - that sometimes, you have to choose to be happy.

So I'm working on being patient. On appreciating having to wait. On thanking God for the life I have right now. I don't want to look back on this time, which actually is pretty perfect, and wish I'd appreciated it more. I'm going to trust that a career, a house of our own and children will come when we're ready, and when God is ready. And I'm going to appreciate the journey.

A Lovely Weekend

Six people filled up our little house this weekend. We spent Saturday enjoying some beautiful weather and scenery with a long walk around the park...


We had a late lunch and dropped by a local artists exhibition. We were a bit late so we only got a quick glance at the paintings before they started to clear up, but it was fun anyway. The girls had some school work to do so T and I introduced Mum and Dad to our 3D Settlers of Catan set (a wedding present from some friends). We had Chinese takeaway for dinner. On Sunday we went to church and then came back for roast dinner and an afternoon of playing games.

It was lovely to spend a whole weekend with my family, just relaxing. Last year when we'd see them there was often wedding planning/discussion to be done - this year we don't have anything to do but catch up and enjoy ourselves. It really felt like a holiday, a very lovely weekend...

Today we are back to work after the Easter holidays. I'll drop by Besom before I have to go to my first afternoon session of playgroup. It's a beautifully sunny day, and as we only have a week at work before we're off on holiday again I'm feeling very relaxed.

All Over the Place

This weekend has been a bit mad. We were supposed to go to a "pub quiz" at church on Friday night but had to miss it after I spent the afternoon being ill. That was a bit rubbish as we'd been looking forward to it. Also we found out that our team were doing brilliantly until the Dingbats round which T rocks. I'm terrible at them - any answers from you guys for these...?

Anyway, they came third out of eight teams in the end which is pretty good. On Saturday we went to the wedding of two people T went to school with. It was lovely and considering I barely knew anyone I enjoyed it more than I expected. Although I loved planning our wedding and the actual day was even more perfect than I'd imagined, I wouldn't want to repeat it. On the other hand I'd love it if we could have another "honeymoon" - a two week holiday for just us would be wonderful. This week/month/year is feeling very full - we're rushing around a lot seeing people and doing things, and while that is lovely I'm feeling pretty worn out this last week! A holiday would be nice...so I'm looking forward to a couple of family weekends we have planned and then the Easter holidays.

On Sunday it was beautifully sunny when we woke up, grey when we dashed out of church (after hugs and a quick chat with last weekend's newlyweds) and pouring with rain as we went off to see some university friends who are now married and living about an hour away. We haven't seen them since before Christmas and it was our first visit to their new house so it was lovely if a bit short as one of them had a concert to go to. On the way back we dropped in on T's parents for a delicious roast dinner. We also played a new game called San Juan (which was a Christmas present for T from his aunt and uncle) - it's quite like Puerto Rico but simpler to set up as its just a card game.

So that explains where I have been and how I managed to go a whole week without filling you in on my life (for those of you who were wondering!). As a general update on today, I have been at playgroup-work in the morning (one of the kids made me laugh but I'll tell you about that tomorrow) and Besom-work this afternoon (eek, the van has broken down, lots of prayer needed!). Tonight we will be having plaice for dinner which I have never cooked before (this recipe looks good to me) and the church prayer meeting is this evening.

And by the way I was tempted to make a terrible place/plaice joke in the title of this blog but I resisted. You're welcome.