Love: Community

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How many of us actually take in our surroundings when we are out and about? Whilst walking along the streets, are we taking in what we see, looking for those who need help or are we more concerned about getting to places on time, seeing who has texted us or fitting in a phone call? I know where I fall in.

Recently, I have been challenged by the actions of a very close friend of mine. Whilst we were on our way out, we briefly noticed a lady who was walking in the opposite direction to us. Upon our return, we noticed this same lady in the same area as before. She was walking very slowly, as if she had no real destination; she looked cold (it had just snowed) and ill. My friend, immediately showed concern (I think because we had seen her before) and wanted to offer her gloves that he was wearing. Without much hesitation, he crossed the street, asked her if she was ok, to which she replied that she was fine but was on her way back to the hospital (so obviously wasn’t too good), and then offered her the gloves for which she was really grateful.

That simple act of kindness, I’m sure brightened up her day, even if just for a short while. And I hope that in some small way will have a positive effect on her. Now every time I think of gloves or see them, I think of her.

How courageous are we to be selfless? Personally, I know that I am lacking in this area. The act of love should not only reach those that are closest to us but reach out to those that are in need. This is a challenge both to myself and to you.

Deuteronomy 15:11

There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.

Proverbs 19:17
Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done.

Perfect Love

1 John 4:17-19

In this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgement; for we are as He is in this world. There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love.

I came across this passage over the weekend, and the final sentence got me. It states quite clearly that to love perfectly, that we should fear nothing. But is this really achievable. I know it is because it says so in the Bible, but how? Thinking of myself and the many “fears” or “anxieties” that I have (which I have also learnt is not fruitful) I do wonder if I will ever get to that place of perfect love. How do you feel about it? Do you even think that it is necessary?

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Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Wishing you love and happiness. 

Here are some pics/wallpapers that I've found online that I thought were cute:

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This is a reminder that I need to go out and get me some so I can make the cookies for my man.
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Go on.... tell someone you love them.... you know you want to. 

Does Valentine's Change after Marriage?

This is a re-post from writer Katie McCarthy. What are your thoughts? Is Valentine's important once you get married?

As kids, everyone loves Valentine's Day because it means you get to buy cards with your favorite pop-culture characters on them and give them out to everyone in class; you also get cards from everyone in return, not to mention candy and a break from the school day for a "party." 

Fast forward a few years and things start to fracture. Some people still love the day, others call it a "Hallmark holiday," others derisively say it's Singles Awareness Day and opt to get drunk with all their other single friends.
I always claimed as a young adult that I hated Valentine's Day. I felt it had no fundamental meaning or purpose, just another way for all those lovey-dovey couples to rub their happiness in the faces of single folks. 

So before we even started dating, when my now-husband and I discussed Valentine's Day, that was how I framed my feelings for it. "Eh, I don't really care about Valentine's Day. It's a stupid holiday."
But we officially became a couple on Feb. 12 and I couldn't help but feel just a little excited by the fact that I'd have a Valentine that year.
Four years and a wedding later, I'm still trying to take back my anti-Valentine's Day sentiments. Though I still feel that Valentine's Day is of lesser import than most holidays, I'm still a girl and I want flowers damnit!
Last year, when we were engaged, he did pretty good — Godiva chocolates, a bag of "New Moon" conversation hearts (don't laugh, they were awesome!) and a sweet card, lovingly signed "Here's your valentine, now quit your bitching!" or something to that effect. 

Ah, sweet romance. 

Now, in his defense, I've known how he feels about Valentine's Day from the start (thinks it's stupid and cliche) and his view hasn't changed. He's pretty ambivalent to all the hoopla and he tells me I misled him. Oops. 

I don't imagine this year, my first Valentine's Day as a wife, will be too different.
Chances are our first Valentine's Day as husband and wife will go one of three ways: I'll nag him until he begrudgingly gets me something just to shut me up; I won't say anything and he'll totally forget about it; I'll casually mention how I've already bought his Valentine's Day card & present and he'll come up with something he's already done/bought for me and how that can serve as my Valentine's gift. 

He's a pretty funny guy. But he has been known to surprise me on occasion, so ... we'll see. 

As with many other personality characteristics, if a man isn't into it before you get married, he's not likely to be into it afterwards either. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. A lack of participation in Valentine's Day does not equal a lack of love, even though the opposite has been drilled into our heads for so long. 

I've got a built-in Valentine for life, not just on Feb. 14. And that's worth more than all the long-stemmed roses (with their holiday-inflated prices) you can buy. (And besides, I prefer lilies. Hint. Hint.)

Posted here  on 02/08/11.

P.s MR O - my fav flowers are peonies and African Lilies

Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2011/02/08/1451397/does-valentines-day-change-after.html#storylink=cpy

"What you thinking?"

Men and Women are very different. What’s new in that piece of analysis I hear you say. Well, I’ve been experiencing this very fact for the last 6 months now. In my ignorance I had assumed upon getting married, all problems of miscommunication, feeling like we just don’t get each other would just simply disappear. Needless to say that in our pre-marriage counselling it was heavily highlighted that such aspirations are just that, dreams – but a girl can dream, no? We always think, “Maybe it’ll be different for us” – oh how simple as humans we are.

Men just don’t think! Well in the same way as I do at least. My mind is constantly ticking over something. Whether its mulling over what to prepare for dinner, deciding how I’m going to start a career, what career I should go into, whether the oven needs a clean and if I can fit it in today, or if I’m ready to reproduce – I’m always thinking. Guys on the other hand, don’t seem to undertake such complex/long-winded trains of thought (they may deem them to be unnecessary).

Now me being me, I’ve always tried to “understand” men. I figure that the best way to achieve this is to try and understand what goes on in their heads, so you can try and figure out what makes them tick. I think in large this has been a futile exercise, well at least in the way I have approached it.

“What you thinking” I think is probably the worst thing you could ask a guy….. regardless of who is responding, even my husband who I thought “definitely, we’ll be on the same wave-length” it is always “erm….nothing”. How can it be so? Do men really not think? And why don’t they have the same thoughts as I do? Life would really be a whole lot easier if we could just understand each other.

Living with another person is definitely a challenge. We are all different and approach things as it suits us best. Thinking back to the days of shared accommodation in Uni, I realise that my current frustrations aren’t new. But there is a VERY big difference now. At Uni, you know that you will not be living with your student friends for ever, and you just don’t love them like that. Now, we have to work on ways of compromising, which sometimes means just letting things go. To be honest, life is just too short to worry about who makes the bed in the morning or the fact that the cushions haven’t been fluffed up recently.

Nevertheless, I do hope that one day I get to the stage where I no longer have the urge to ask “so……. what you thinking” because we’ll just get each other. Right? 

Month of Love

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As the name of my blog suggests, the main topic of discussion is usually that of the emotional character. So it would be fitting that in this month of February, also a synonym for love, that I should share with you my words of wisdom. So watch out for various posts this month as I share my experiences.

xxx

Project 52

As one of my Christmas pressies, hubby bought me a brand new Sony NEX C-3. Apparently, it’s the new development in the photography market. It’s a combination of the best bits of technology from the SLR cameras and digital. He has great ambitions for me. According to his time plan, I will be hosting my own exhibition by the end of the year…. But we’ll see about that.

I guess in response to that, I took upon myself a project. The project originally started as Project 365, the idea being, that I will take a photo every day of the year. After the first two weeks of enthusiasm, I quickly realised, that this task would be more difficult than I had imagined. My daily activities are not as varied as I would like and when I do go out, I see the same things (I guess that should inspire me to get out more). Plus it’s just too cold at the moment to try and fiddle with buttons/touch screen whilst being exposed to the elements. So my Project 365 has now dwindled down to a more manageable Project 52: one picture per week. So here is my offering for January!

I'm back!

It’s been exactly one year since I last did a post. In that time, as I predicted in my penultimate post, many things have changed; some that were anticipated and many not so. I took a break as I couldn’t keep up with all the demands; I guess life is like that sometimes. There are seasons as they say. Sometimes you will do everything and sometimes you have to choose.

Overall 2011 was a good year. A good year and a significant one. The biggest change for me is that I am now married! Yep, I am now a fully-fledged WIFE…. Whatever that is supposed to mean – rather I mean it means different things to different people. I’m still working it out. With this change, I have moved house, changed jobs, become unemployed and had a severe heartache along the way too. But all is well, I am alive and kicking and looking forward to what 2012 has in store.

This year I pray and hope, will also be one of significant changes. I also hope it’ll be a year where I can put all the lessons learnt last year into practice. Some of which I will be sharing with you.

I feel that when we start a new year we need the first month to sort out our heads. The new year tends to creep in on us, and with Christmas and holidays so close by, we tend to have little time to ourselves to just think and reflect and work out a plan of action. January offers me that luxury. So you could say that my new year starts in February. So with that in mind …. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!   

Pause for Thought - 1st Feb 2011

Feb 1st 2011 - They year is rolling by!

I have some thought provoking news for you to consider - really makes you think:

Mass Rape in the Congo Made Headlines in August 2010 from Aids-free World (Click Here to read)

What distinguished that atrocity from the vicious, relentless rape of Congolesse women throughout the conflict?

Answer: Media attention. That's all.

It is a bit of a long article but it is definitely worth the read.

Uproar at Gay Activist's Funeral by Brisbane Times (Click Here to read)

Happy 2011

Everyone I've spoken to seems to be really quite excited about the New Year and what it may bring. I hope that you too share in this excitement.

Looking ahead, I know for sure that where I am today is not where I will be at the end of this year. There are many changes coming my way, those that have required months of preparations, but also those that I don't know about yet. Either way, I remain expectant and look forward to where God will lead me.

The New Year brings a mood of reflection. What have I achieved in the last year? What was the most signifant, why and how can I make it more so this year? Where have I been hurt? Who am still in contact with? - Do you ever find that every year, we stay in contact with fewer and fewer people, or is this just me?

Anyway, was listening to this on the way into work this morning, thought that I would share it for some inspiration:

Eco-Tourism - Sierra Leone

I came across this on my rounds for news articles. Looks interesting, and definitely warrants a visit.

I'm glad to see that nationals are also taking part in the initiative.

Peaceful Beauty

I'm trying to make an effort to read up more on my work area. I spend a lot of time in the office writing (re-writing) other peoples words and not a lot is invested into increasing my knowledge. And I have only one person to blame for that.

So this morning I decided to read one of the daily emails (which I usually delete instantly) from The Economist (i'm also a weekly subsriber - but this lands straight in the hands of W). I ventured to my favorite topic - Africa, looked up my home nation - Sierra Leone - and was really excited that in some vague way the article was infact linked to trade, which is what I work in, but also had some fashion (ish) aspects to it.

My excitement quickly dissappeared as I read through the article:

ON NOVEMBER 13th Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, had the fortune to host the 2010 Miss ECOWAS Peace Pageant. The contest, which pits young women from the 15 countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) against one another, is no mere beauty pageant, say its organisers. They are looking for a "peace ambassador" with intellectual substance. The competition still includes a swimwear round though.

The event got off to a rocky start. The website still bears the proud headline “Welcome to Sierra Leone: The Loin Mountains”. The pageant took place in the compound immediately behind Freetown’s main ministerial pile which boasts an erratic elevator and apocalyptic lavatories. When the 28 competitors arrived their changing area was still under construction. Young men were stripping the insulation from electric cables with their teeth and taping the wiring together to light naked bulbs. Despite prior clearance Baobab was ejected three times from the backstage area by the increasingly frantic Ghanaian organisers.

The pageant itself ran far into the night. The competitors waved their national flags, read meandering messages of peace, and strutted on stage in their swimwear. At one point Miss Niger nominated Muammar Qaddafi as her favourite African leader.

The eventual winner, announced in the small hours after a performance by reggae singer Jimmy Cliff, was Ghana’s Shirley Nwangere. Alongside a new car and $5000 in cash, she wins the heady prospect of “a year of ambassadorial work spreading peace across the sub-region.”

http://www.economist.com/blogs/baobab/2010/11/west_african_beauty_pageant

Why do our nations never learn? When are we going to host an event that we can be proud of? If we know we can't deliver in time, why take it on? Why are we hosting events that we play no part in organising? Does anyone see the link between the winner and the organisers? - Need I say more?

Snow is falling.....

Snow is falling (Snow is falling), All around me (all around me) children playing, having fun, te de de de...



So it’s been snowing here for the last week or so, and in true British style, things have come to a standstill. It’s given us the excuse we needed not to go to work and for some I can imagine given us a much needed break from the daily slog of a working life. It is very much appreciated seeing as the period between the last national holiday and the one ahead was soooo soooo long.

Snow brings out the child in everyone I think. We wake up in the morning, see a blanket of white, and immediately our faces light up as we think of the possibilities of making snowmen, having snowball fights or better still, being snowed in! Oh how I have wished it to snow just a lil bit more so that I could stay and rest my weary bones. But no, it’s just enough to slip on, but not enough to stop work from going ahead. Doh! If only I lived out in the sticks where they have over ground rails only. I shall count my blessings, because I cannot be sure of what they are going through right now – ice sculpture competition anyone?

Wintery Blues

So it’s been a VERY long time since I last did a post. I’m not even going to bother to try and give you a catch up session because that would take too much of your time and tbh I can’t really remember all that has happened. Just to say though, that A LOT has happened since May, and not just the changing weather.

I’ve decided to recommit myself to writing on the wall, sharing my thoughts, trust me it’s more for me than you, but I honestly hope that in some small way it’ll help you too.

So here we go once more:

I’ve been in my head a lot recently. Thinking, contemplating. But I haven’t got very far. I’m still where I was, which is exactly where I don’t want to be. - It never ceases to amaze me that thinking about doing things don’t actually get things done. Hmmmm.... when will I learn? – I feel like my circumstances are beyond my control, and they are, and they should be. But my problem is letting go, and letting God control all. I know, I know, I preach, but I have failed to heed the word for myself.

I want to make a lasting change to my attitude. I’m tired of going around this circle of uncertainty. I am ready to change. And I know for that to remain and for me to achieve I need the help of The One above. I need you Lord. Do you hear me?

R Reviews: La Tasca

We resumed our dinner dates after a two week gap (we got busy and ended up spending an extended weekend together to make up for it). It was a bit impromptu but sometimes that's the best. I was feeling something light and not too fussy so we went to La Tasca West India Quay. The last time we went there, we ordered WAY too much, our eyes got the better of us. This time round, we learnt from our lesson and only ordered half the amount - Calamari, Aubergines, Chorizo, Meat Balls, Battered Fish.

The food was good, filling and varied. The Battered fish is the best I think. Service is good. The food arrives quite quickly and there's variety. But the tables are a bit small which can get a bit irritating as there are so many plates on them.

Bar 38 was our next stop. Desserts are a must there. I had a Chocolate Mint warm gateau and W had a Bannoffe treacle thingy bip bop. They were both ……mmmmmmmmmmmm. So good!!

Take a stroll along the quay, walk along the cobbled ground and generally chill.

Oh and don't forget to get your discount vouchers from www.discountvouchers.co.uk