My Special Birthday.

17 April was my Birthday.
So what makes this day special?  for starters, it was my first Birthday to be celebrated. And not just being celebrated, but by people that love me.
My four friends Sarah, Erin, Kyle and Trey said that my birthday was worth celebrating. So they started planning my Birthday.
The first question was, how many people i wanted to attend. At that time i could only mention 3 people. I was not not sure about how i felt at that particular point. It was a whole new concept for me. I needed time to accept that it was going to happen. My Birthday was going to be celebrated.

After a couple of hours, i sent my dear friend Sarah mail with more names. The number kept growing. They all did not mind me adding another name to the list. Finally i realized, we were going to have a party.
So i asked Sarah to help with the invitations, so the 4 of them tasked to make sure that all my friends were invited before Saturday ( my Birthday was Tuesday). They were so excited about my Birthday, they started preparing. It was becoming more and more real.

On Tuesday, we all went to the house of my four friends, every thing was ready. There was so much to eat.  We invited a few more friend to join us. 

All i can say is that it was the most beautiful Birthday ever. It was special. And i had all the people that love me there to celebrate with me.

A few friends playing arm wrestling. It was fun.

The food

My friends and I.

I had to make a speech. I was very nervous. 

Thanks Erin, Kyle, Trey and Sarah. And to all my friend that made my Birthday worth remembering.

My friend Sanyu, like the Orchid

There are times in every person’s life that something beautiful happens.

Something wonderful has happened to me. God Blessed me with a friend.

Sanyu is the name of my friend.. Sanyu literally means happiness.

It is exactly what I feel around my friend. She makes me feel so much happiness.

Some people come into our lives and  touch us in ways that are noticeably God-orchestrated.

I had a friend who used to send me flowers. My favorite was the Orchid. 

This flower is beautiful. To me, it is by far the most beautiful.

My friend Sanyu reminds me of an  orchid. It brings a beautiful fragrance to those close to it.

However My friend does not wither as the orchid.. Her friendship is all season.

Thank you My friend. You are surely heaven sent and I Thank God each day for the Blessing you are to Hamlet and I.

Sad

Today i discovered something about my friend that made me sad.. It hurts so bad that i just need God's Grace to take it all in.

I need to understand how to respond to such situations.

Women Of Grace Retreat.

Last year was one of a kind. But for now I will focus on one particular event that has special memories for me. The women of Grace (a church fellowship for mostly unmarried women) had a retreat to reflect on God for three days in a not so familiar place, away from the city.

We had a 2 hours drive to the place. It was far. Not leaving out the fact that we got lost and the network wasn't good. We eventually got to our destination. All the long hours and trouble of being lost paid off once we got there. The experience of that weekend is something I will always have close to my heart.

The time we had, just listening to some ladies take us through sessions, were great.

I had time to sit in a hammock and just reflect on God’s amazing work. The view itself was splendid.  Tents were available for some girls.  I was in the cottage that was set aside for the mamas. I can only tell this story in picture. What a great way to close 2011.

Our Home for 3 days.

 

Our amazing host Lillian 

My small group. Our leader was amazing

A time of reflection and sharing

Hamlet had a great time.

 

I had  a great time too. No wonder I was smiling .... "Darling Mummy" is what my son called me all the time we were there.

 

Then we had time to go and sail on a canoe that was small, a little scary. But who cared at that moment? Crazy!!!

right before we jumped on the canoe

We are sailing away...…

Time by the fire

Our Fellowship leader and our Host.

"Teach Us To Love"

Lord, we thank Thee for all the love
that has been given to us, for the love
of family and friends, and above all
 for Your love poured out upon us every
moment of our lives in steadfast glory.
Forgive our unworthiness. Forgive the
many times we have disappointed those
who love us, have failed them, wearied
them, saddened them.
Failing them we have failed You,
and hurting them we have wounded our Saviour who for love's sake died for us.
Lord, have mercy on us, and forgive.
You do not fail those who love you.
You do not change nor vary.
Teach us Your own constancy in love.
Your humility, selflessness and generosity.
Look in pity on our small and tarnished loving, protect, foster and strengthen it, that it may be less unworthy to be offered to
You and to Your children.
O Light of the world, teach us how to love.
Amen.

Investing in things that matter most.

I have often wondered at the busy-ness of humanity. I experienced what it means to feel unwelcome. Do u ever get the feeling that someone would rather be alone than have u around them even for a short while. Often I am saddened at how busy (Martha style) we have become. We would rather spend time busy, comfortable than show love (Mary way) even for a short while. I love having friends come over to my small room, take a cup of tea, share stories and have a great laugh.  Often times, we are afraid that our jar of oil will run dry if we share the little left and we will lose our source of survival. This reminds me of Elijah and the poor widow. Look at this scenario:


One day a poor gaunt starving woman gave up something . She was weak from  lack of food. Her husband was dead and now her son was too weak to help. Her legs and arms were thin spindles and her face was bleak. There was a great depression and poverty had depleted her provisions. It was time to let hope die. They just had enough food for one scant meal. Then perhaps God  would be merciful and let them die. Meanwhile, weary, travel worn, hungry Elijah trudges into town from a long 100 mile walk through the burning sand. God sent him here. He has hope that God has everything organized and finally for the first time in nearly a year he will eat a nice warm meal cooked by human hands. He arrived and realized that God's provision happened to be an undernourished widow with and very hopeless. There must be a mistake here. When he asks for help from his appointed benefactor she tells him that she is at the bottom of the barrel and about to cook her funeral meal. If i was Elijah, I would have said: "Pardon me Madam, but I have obviously confused you with someone else. --Lord: How about a rich widow? How often the situations of life seem just the opposite of where we think God is leading. But she was willing to stop, think and be merry! How  ironic this might appear.


At times we make others feel  unwelcome, draining us of  our precious oil (time, resources,), consuming our space. If only we took time to love, to share, how wonderful it would be.

What a week.

This week has come with it’s challenges. It’s just so hard for me to have the joy I would wish for. Something ends up taking my joy.

There is fear I can’t tell the source from which it is coming.

I strongly need Strength from above.

Sunday saw my little boy with little strength (ill), so I rested Monday to make up for the long nite of constant wake-ups to tend to him.  

Tuesday would have been joyous had I not been disappointed by the guy who takes lunch for my boy. I called him 3 times and he assured me that he was thinking of my son and that he would take him lunch. I called at 3:30pm to check out, only to be told that he had forgotten to feed him. That was too much for me!!!! My poor little boy, recovering from illness and hungry too.

I totally need refreshing. I don’t know when it will come  but I badly need it. Wish i could be able to see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

Living with a lot of uncertainty is not cool.  Being Afraid of what to say, how to live, afraid of  how to feel.........