Good news

Before I launch into my piece of news just wanted to mention something about my sisters' party this weekend. Thankfully it was a success, but finished quite late in the evening - and clearing up seemed to be a formidable task whilst half-asleep. But the whole family pulled together and managed to clear up so my grandad was able to sleep comfortably - and to boot we managed to clean up and put all the lounge furniture back in its place within only half-an-hour. A subtle reminder of the power of teamwork and if everyone contributes a little - a great deal can happen.

And now for my bit of news: Earlier on this week we received a letter explaining that an emergency meeting had to be held for the membership of a group that my father is part of. The group seem to be about to lose a large investment and need to trump up a bit more cash to keep that investment afloat.

This would be fine if the meeting wasn't on the day of the wedding. Unfortunately, this put some of our guests in a difficult position having to choose between the two commitments. Thankfully, most of our guests seem to have chosen to come to the wedding instead over the emergency meeting. Its an honour that they value our family friendship higher than any material investment they've made - and I'm grateful that I know such kind and loyal people.

Busy, busy, busy

Family from all around gathered yesterday at my grandmother's home all working together to put up a flimsy gazebo for my sister's pre-marital party on the weekend. It was great to have us all grafting together and supporting my sister - taking time out of their works schedules and even sacrificing their annual holiday just to be here for us.

I'm thankful I have such a supportive family :)

A day of lessons

Today, has been filled with lessons and points for reflection.

Firstly, a lesson in patience with our parents. Except it was not my patience being tested, but my mother's. Seeing the parent-child relationship from a generation beneath is refreshing way to approach th problems within one's own mother and father relations. It gives some objectivity - without entire removal from those subjective feelings and emotions.

Another lesson gleaned from this episode was about intentions. Trying to keep our parents happy is ultimately doomed to failure as is trying to keep our spouse, children or even ourselves. Humans are fickle, ungrateful and unworthy of these efforts - which should be directed to pleasing God. The resulting blessing will be manyfold of the effort put in.

The blessing of food

Yesterday my dad fasted and so my mother and I had to wait till sunset to have dinner (so we could eat with him). Near the end I was getting irritable and complaining (as I often do when I'm impatient or angry). But when we ate together, I was better satiated than I normally would be (and not because I ate more than usual).

The whole episode just had shades of Ramadan and day-in-day-out fasting. The blessing within this month are immense and I can't wait till it comes round again (Aug 20th expected). I'll guess I'll have to. I'm looking forward to it. I also had memories of a trip that I went to last summer (which, I'll explain in later posts)

Food is such a abundant thing in our part of the world that it often gets taken for granted. Sometimes a little hunger makes you realise that blessing.

So today I'm thankful for two things: hunger and food :)

It dawned...

So my whole family have been running around all day. Why? Its a Sunday after all. The day of rest. Well, my sister is getting married in little over two weeks - and there are lots of little jobs to be done that will make the whole day smoothly. Tempers are flying, stress is rising and its finally dawned on me that its time to go into robot mode (i.e headlong thrusting oneself into the line of action and tackling jobs left, right and centre). Its the only way to get things done under pressure.

One can go oveboard and lose sight of the bigger picture however, these are the days to appreciate my sister and our family unit, which in two weeks time will never be quite the same again.

I'm grateful for all the years I've known my sister and long may our close relationship continue :)

Eye test

I had an long overdue eye test today. My prescription is worse and I got lured into a contact lens trial - I thought it was free but I glossed over the T&Cs.

I have to say though, the few minutes for which the contact lenses were in were brilliant - acute and full field vision is something I haven't experienced for about 14 years. Clear and crisp edges, no squinting and the vibrancy of the world's colours - it was something to behold - even in the confines of the examining room.

I'm glad I can see :)

Great-ful

All I intend to achieve with this blog is just capture small snippets of my daily life that need savouring and remembering - otherwise they'll just pass me by and I won't even know what happened. My life is so full of blessing; and this blog is a form of thanks for the life I'm living.

Today, I'm just grateful I thought of this idea :)