Things that made me smile today......day 12

Hearing happy birthday being sung downstairs to a very special friend.....croissant for breakfast.......Christmas decorations in Jacksons nurseries......9 people eating fajitas around a table........launching a Chinese flying lantern to celebrate a friends 40th birthday x

Things that make me smile......day 10

So am a little late & have missed 2 days but never mind........
Being first to drive in a car park of freshly fallen snow.....Christmas lunch for £4.....being asked to a family birthday tea, when I'm not technically part of the family.....watching a child be in awe of a snow fall for the first time in her life.....friends never wanting the evening the end.......happy days!

Things that made me smile today.......day 8

Friends who encourage & believe I can be so much more than I am-especially in my photography......Christmas dinner out with my youth & secret Santa presents.....a houseful to come home too & say how your day is going

Things that made me smile today.......day 7

An e-mail first thing with a prayer request from one friend & a response already from another-love the way God can pull people together as friends wherever they maybe in the world......The dog "dancing" with my Dad......bread & butter pudding with friends

Things that made me smile today......day 6

...........making Quesadilla's in the kitchen at church for the AGM while listening to laughter and chit chat in the main hall.....Starbucks spicy chai latte-mmmmmmm.....sitting around the dinner table laughing & chatting......hearing a 7 year old & her mum laughing, chatting and playing as she's preparing for bedtime

So why am I doing this?!?!?!

The question maybe that after months/years of not bothering that much with the blog, I've suddenyl turned up 4 days on the run! Why?!?!?!?

Well I realised that I can become so focused on the negative - or looking for the "big" things in life that make me smile, that I forget about the moments that you need to pause and recognise as special - even if in the scheme of things they aren't monumental, we still need to recognise them.........

So that's what I'm trying to do here; remember them, appreciate them, and recognise them.........those special, fleeting moments that we all too often take for granted or don't even realise they're there........

How long I'll continue this for, I'm not too sure - but I'm hoping that my perspective, attitude and outlook will change with it!

Things that made me smile today.......day 4

A trip round Ikea with a friend..........a family atmosphere around a dinner table that I was part of (that others may class as the mundane but I find makes me smile)............fresh bedlinen and pyjama's for tonights sleep..........*sigh*

What made me smile today........day 3

Little bit late with yesterdays but here it is.......an e-mail from a friend saying that God had used me to strengthen, encourage & guide her.......there are so many times I feel I fail at friendship-this made me really smile & thank God

Things that made me smile today-day 2

The roasted red pepper & butternut squash I had for lunch, as well as the fabulous friend I had lunch with..........the 75 year old woman in the long queue at the bank with the red beret that spoke loudly about the problems in the UK being down to the fact we've never had a revolution - she said "I mean look at all this civil queuing, you don't get this in France, we need a revolution". I'm still laughing now!

What made me smile today

GeoTagged, [N53.36602, E3.17997]

...........making a hot chocolate for my lovely ladies in work & making them smile.......wearing my £1.99 ring that matches my earrings & someone commenting on how nice it was.......putting up Christmas decorations in work.........cleaning with a friend in church

True reality

"If my heart is overwhelmed and I cannot hear your voice
I hold onto what is true, though I cannot see
If the storms of life they come, and the road ahead gets steep
I will lift these hands in faith, I will believe

I remind myself of all that you’ve done
And the life I have because of your son

Love came down and rescued me
Love came down and set me free
I am yours
I am forever yours
Mountain high or valley low
I sing out and remind my soul
I am yours
I am forever yours

When my heart is filled with hope, and every promise comes my way
When I feel your hands of grace, rest upon me
Staying desperate for you God, Staying humbled at your feet
I will lift these hands and praise, I will believe"

The lyrics above are from Brian Johnsons song "Love came down" and has been a source of truth through some rough waters recently. It's a reminder that was we see before us, the situations that we are in, are just still pictures in the movie of life. These moments, struggles & times that we face are such a small fraction of the life that we live that we can't & shouldn't be come hung up, halted or discouraged by them.
Our God is the one who sees the big picture, He knows how the works of this moment will impact & shape us for 1 month, 1 year, 1 decade down the road. An encouraging truth when we lift our eyes to this.
There has been great stuff going on too & I'll blog this when I get to a computer-I'm very blessed to be the owner of an iPhone-which kind of means you can contact anyone, anywhere, at any point without going near a computer....but I still need to upload my photos from my camera!!

conversations.........

These are the kind of evenings that I'm glad I don't live by myself. Sometimes I'll get a bit down about the fact that I don't own my own place and live alone......but I also know that I'm such a people person and get my energy from being around people that I don't know how well I'd do by myself.

I had my youth group this evening which went well, but there was just a conversation at the end of the evening that left a bitter taste in my mouth.........you know one of those conversations you're having with someone where they just don't get what you're saying, you know that they're skirting around things instead of facing it head on and hiding behind religious jargon and wording.......it was one of those conversations........and having just poured myself into a youth group for 3 hours (with setting up, organisation time, talk, games etc) I just didn't have the energy to sift through what had been said and figure it all out.

Anyway when I got home I got into a conversation with Mair and she was showing what she'd bought me on her shopping trip with her daughter today, the art project she's currently doing, what swimsuit to buy next and whether Birkenstocks are a good buy (which I think they are by the way;-)........we just chatted about the mundane things.

And as I was walking the 2 flights of stairs to my room, I realised I was thanking God in my heart for where I live, the compainionship and the conversation that had just occurred had completelytaken my mind off the earlier conversation, and it meant I was now in a better place to go and deal with this conversation. I had a clearer head and heart, and could look at the objectively rather than out of a place of exhaustion and emotions........

I have no idea whether all that makes sense, but it's been good for me to write it down!!!

Remember, remember...............

God is good.....all the time.

When life seems to overwhelm, when promises seem to be lost to the wayside, when all seems on it's head - I remember I serve a faithful and good God. One who has my name tatooed on His hands, who loves me with an everlasting love, who has a plan and a purpose for me this day - not just 10 years down the line, and who desires to be glorified through me and through my actions.............

This is my God and I love Him

Photographs

So I was working in Picasa on some photos the other day and realised there was this option where you could 'tag' people in photos.......it's a little more sophisticated than the one in facebook which you have to manually tag people on. In Picasa you tag someone once and then the software will search through all your photos and find other photos of this person and ask you to confirm or not the selection.

What was interesting was how many faces it picked up in the background.....the software would ask me the name of the person and whether I wanted to tag them........

It got me thinking - how many peoples pictures am I in the background of that I'll never know about; a simple click of a button and you're captured in someone else's world for what could be years.......what are these peoples stories in the background of our photos......are they happy......are they even with us in this world anymore.........

It's a bit like the seven degrees of separation idea - that we're only a maximum of 7 people away from someone else........

Anyway, just me and my random musings again!!

learning to live better.......

So recently the phrase thats been going through my head is one from Lord of the Rings. It's from the part where Bilbo informs Gandalf that he's planning to go away and he says something similar to below

"I feel thin...sort of stretched, like butter spread over too much bread. I need a holiday. A very long holiday"

Truthfully, I know it's not a holiday that I need but to get a handle on my lack of time management.......I find myself "relaxing" in front of the TV which does nothing to refresh or relax me..........and also on my lack of ability to say no at times.

So I know I have to put other activities in place - I haven't done my card making in a while, it feels like ages since I've finished a book (I get half way through and get caught in something else or lose interest), I've had sewing projects on the go since last summer that I need to continue with.........

So hopefully, having put it on here, will give me some kind of spur onto do these things.......I know I need to do these things.....therefore feel free to ask how it's going!!!

Radio 1 Alicia Keys North Wales Parody

Every year BBC radio 1 do a "big weekend" festival with loads of well known bands and artists. Anyway this year it's being held in a town called Bangor in North Wales about 40 miles from where I live.

Anyway Alicia Keys has done a song to the music of Empire State of Mind about North Wales.......I love it!

Listen and enjoy xx

post continued

So here are the rest of the pictures.

The next one is of a cake I baked for a friend back at the end of March. She was moving into a new house so I made a three tiered Carrot and Walnut cake covered in cream cheese frosting from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook. We left it in her kitchen while we were at work so that why it looks like its sloped a little to one side - because the kitchen was warm......I have to say, it's a yummy cake.

The next is the most recent photo of my 2 nieces Lowri (at the back) and Seren. They are like rays of sunshine and I love them so much. I love that I can have conversations with Lowri now and she is so passionate about mundane things, like a tv character or an event that happened - love it!

Of course I couldn't publish one of the 2 girls without publishing one of Osian so here he is......cheeky grin and all. Whenever I go there the first thing they ask is whether I'll go on the trampoline with them......honestly if you could see me in my work clothes bouncing on this trampoline with them, it's hilarious, but I love it - they keep me young!

I had to publish a couple of photos from last weekend when I visited Ramona and Matt in Caen, France. What an amazing blessing. They travel back to the States in July for them both to start new jobs so I knew that this was going to be one of the last oppurtunities that I'd have to see them both until who knows when. I don't think Ramona and I stopped talking from the moment we met to the time I left, except for sleep. It was like trying to cram 2 years of catch up, hopes, dreams and memories into 48 hours......so bittersweet as it was too short.

So I will attempt to promise now to be more regular and thorough with updates - there is a sense of satisfaction in updating this. It may only be musings and ramblings at times, but I must do it - use it as my outlet or sounding board for myself.

Anyone still out there?!?!?!

I know, I've been hopeless at keeping this blog up to date recently..........I think it's been partly busyness of life, sporadic internet connection and a lack of knowledge of what to write.......my muse seems to have disappeared!

Anyway I thought I would update from my last post in October (!) with pictures.......and then hopefully keep on top of this blog with some consistency! I know that Amy O-DeG at least still reads this! Anyway, here are some pics from the months between October and now!

The first picture is one of my now 6 year old nephew in his school Christmas Nativity play. He told me he was playing Joseph. The conversation went something like this -

Auntie Emma - What are you in this years Nativity play Osian?

Osian - I'm playing Joseph, Jessica is Mary and Spencers the donkey

Auntie Emma - Wow, Osh, am well proud of you landing the role of Joseph - well done.

Osian - Mary gets to ride the donkey; Joseph doesn't.......but if I have a headache on the day I may do

I had to try and keep a straight face (and an eye on the road) as he told me this in the car.......but you can also imagine my shock when we were in the church, and out walks Osian as a King, not Joseph......the little rascal was lying through his teeth!!! All said he was a very good King - full of expressions that I'm sure the original wise men didn't have; like thumbs up and a form of moon walking!!

The next picture is of the coldest winter we encountered for 30 years in the UK..........sadly people died, it took my cousins wife 7 hours to make it the last 5 miles home as the weather was so bad.......some friends made the 10 mile journey home in 7 hours, it was all a little insane. Picturesque but insane. We are now hoping for a better summer to compensate the frustration of a cold, long, dark winter. I have to say that I quite enjoyed winter being "winter".....though I was lucky. I wasn't stranded anywhere and the worst journey I did was along on the M56 motorway, driving 50mph tops while lorries were overtaking me........my hands gripped the wheel as Sharon prayed all the way home beside me, believing God would get us safely from the leadership conference in Leicester.....an interesting time!

The next three are of a vacation I took in California in February......my first complete solo vacation, and it was over my birthday too! I really enjoyed it and was proud of myself for doing it. I'd definitely do this type of holiday again - a city break with a conference as it meant that I was pretty busy in the city and then when I went to the conference I knew that I'd meet people there that I could chat with. I flew into San Francisco, spent 2 nights there and then travelled to Redding in Northern California to spend a couple of days chilling and then went to a Prophetic Conference that was being held at Bethel Church, Redding. What a great place to go on vacation....one of the best times was just lying on the floor in their prayer house. The presence of God was wonderful and it was great to just lie in His presence, chatting to Him while not having to worry that you were meant to be somewhere else. The conference blew my mind away and God did some amazing things........all I can recommend is get some books or the podcasts that are coming out of Bethel as they speak Gods truth and His life into every fibre of your being.

The first picture is of course the "7 painted ladies" in San Francsico......I completely fell in love with this city and all of California that I saw. For me it's amazing how whereever I seem to go in the USA, whether I've been there before or not, it feels like home. I get off the plane and feel completely at home.......maybe I need to begin to truly explore this further!

This picture below is of Bethel Church with the prayer house in the left of the picture. It was great to go there- you can sometimes put well known Christians on a pedestal and make them "celebraties" but it was great to see the leadership in their home church, serving their own people and loving their own community - what a privelage to have spent time there.

The weather north of Redding was colder and there was still snow on the ground as you can see. I was able to visit some beautiful parks in the area and the picture below is of Mount Shasta. It truly is a ruggedly beautiful part of the world and even now I crave to go back and spend some more time there........hopefully when its a little warmer next time. And with someone 0ne - I did take a couple of risks with the parks I visited and being the only car in the car park yet still hiking to the look out points after reading what to do if I came across a bear or a mountain lion.....hmm, not the best choice in hindsight!!! ha ha!!!