Meri Kirihimete! Feliz Navidad! Merry Christmas!



I love this time of year. Not only is it busy and therefore totally exhilarating for an extrovert like me, but it's when we get to hang out with family and friends and enjoy each others company. This year is the first time that I get to cook Christmas dinner for my family. What fun! I've been planning menus and shopping for months so all that is to happen this weekend is to clean the house, buy the strawberries and cream and have fun while everyone is caught up in the last minute panic. We are closing the office until the 7th January so we are in for a great break.....and hopefully some lovely, summer weather.

The flower above is from the Pohutukawa tree, New Zealand's Christmas tree. The large, full tree blooms over Christmas and often lines the streets and beaches. It is just gorgeous! We planted a little one outside our house and it should bloom soon. It is a definate reminder that we are back in NZ.

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! Enjoy your time with family and friends, remembering together that the Son of God came as a baby to grow and learn like us and then die for us so that we might be with God. How cool is that!

With love and blessings to you all

Richelle

House Renovations





October was a frantic month for me, mainly by my own doing. I decided that I wanted to do up our wee house and make it more our own. That meant painting 2 bedrooms and creating a new garden. Dear hubby would roll his eyes as I outlined my plan but he lovingly helped look after the children while I created a unique space for each of us.

First to be hit was Isaac. His favourite colour is orange, and it has been ever since he was very little so it was only natural that his room would include it. I had taken the boys to choose their own colours which they really enjoyed although mummy was on hand to give some creative direction. In just a weekend I had completely changed his room and by the end of it it was even tidy! (No mean feat in a boys room!) He was thrilled. The next weekend was the rose garden. Ever since I can remember I have always dreamed of a rose and lavender garden but having always rented homes we were never able to complete one. It was a BIG job digging up grass, turning the soil and planting the plants but the outcome was just gorgeous. I have been enjoying the roses since. Then the following weekend it was our room's turn to be made over.....in red! Now I have to admit that there were many people who have questioned my colour choices but not a one of them has a bad word to say about the final outcome. And if I was truly honest I would have to say that there were times (after I had bought the paint) that I wondered what it would look like in the end but I'm pleased to say it looks fab!!!!

I love to be creative and I love colour....bright, bold colours. My family would expect nothing less of me then to speak loudly when colours come into play. Definitely no pastels for me! I miss being creative and have found art and music a hard thing to find time for in my busy life. One day I dream of learning how to dance with my hubby, of creating works of art that inspire and encourage, of wistful days full of colour and fun. Those days will come in time and I'm going to make the most of them when they do. Until then I will take pleasure in the simple things and enjoy the amazing colours that God has put into place throughout creation.

Riding the waves of change.....again!

My darling is home again after travelling in Asia for the last 2 1/2 weeks. It's nice to have him home again but with it comes still more change.

The boys and I find that when he goes away it always takes us a litle while to settle ourselves into our new routines and expectations. We kind of get ourselves settled and then he comes home again. That always requires another change in routine.

We are always really excited as we count down to his arrival. This week I have spent many hours tidying the house and organising things so I could spend time with him when he got home. I didn't sleep well last night as I ran through our reunion and all the things I wanted to finish before he arrrived and then I was up super early this morning to arrange all the last minute things. The boys and I skipped school and work and went out for lunch on our way to the airport which was nice. We were all really excited to see him. He was through customs and immigration really quickly and soon we were on our way home. And then it happened....an arguement! All over a misunderstanding but it was all about re-adjustng ourselves to each other again. Silly how that happens. Most of the trip home was in silence with just the boys chattering about what pressies their dad had brought them.

Don't get me wrong. I do love having him home again, I just hate having to ride those waves of change yet again. Things will be better tomorrow. I think I've spent 5 minutes alone with him since he arrived and now he is snoring away soundly in the bedroom. The boys have had some nice time with him which is good. I'll get a couple of hours tomorrow between work and when the kids arrive home from school. It's not enough by far but we are taking Friday off to celebrate our wedding anniverary so I will hang out till then. We'll have to plan something nice to do together.

Thankfully there are no more trips planned until at least February and before then we will have a couple of weeks holidays together as a family. That will be nice. We're not very good at taking a break so we're all looking forward to that time. We're hoping to improve next year and have already marked out holidays and weekends fo breaks away from work. I just hope we're good enough to stick to the plan. We'll see :-)

I'm struggling with Church.

It's not that I don't believe in it it's just that I don't like what it has become. To be honest we haven't really been much this past school term. In fact I could probably count the number of times I've attended since August on just one hand. I haven't been going to my women's bible study either mainly due to work pressures and family stuff.

We have been attending the same church all year. The boys love it and I guess I realised on Sunday that we need to keep going for them. The friends that they have made and the good influence of their leaders are what they need in their wee lives. But what's in it for me? I looked aound on Sunday and thought about the sturcture of the service. Why do a bunch of people, who don't really know each other, stand and sing together? The whole singing thing just seems wierd. The performing aspect of worship leaders and musicians drives me nuts. I feel like I'm in school when someone stands at the front and lectures me. I've sat through many a sermon in my life and many a service and they just all seem to be missing the mark. Not that it's about me! I know that but I'm feeing isolated and foreign in my worship.

People who I have been talking to regularly this year or I have prayed with don't remember me the next week. No one has called me to say "where have you been? How are things going?" Do they assume I'm ok because I'm a missionary? They shouldn't, 'cos I'm not.

I fully believe in the community of God's people. I guess, for me, that's my work community. We have devotions every moning, sing together (at least here it makes sense), and pray for one another. We have shared communion, tears and joys and it's far more meaningful to me than the big church thing. I don't know what we are going to do next year. Unfortunately Nigel feels much the same so that doesn't help things. I guess we'll think and pray about it over the Christmas break and see where the Lord is leading us. It's a tough one.

Another Gold Star for me and another 5 kilos down. That's a total of over 10 kilos (22lbs) lost!!!! Yippee!!!! My aim is to reach my 10% body weight loss by Christmas which is easily achievable (or so I think today).

With any milestone being reached we are asked to share with the others in the group our pearls of wisdom. For me it was something that the leader had said the previous week. It was just a 2 word phrase but it rang true in my head....."Expect success". That was it. "Expect success". I wrote it down on every page of my journal and saw it every day as I tracked what I was eating or even as I was just sitting watching TV. It rang true in my head and heart and obviously changed my perspective on a few things. I realised that I have always been happy to accept whatever came my way. I never really put high expectations on myself and certainly never gave myself any weight loss goals to achieve except to be fit and healthy by the time I turn 40. I guess with a change in attitude and thinking to always "expect success" I will achieve that goal and with a more determined path to it.

This morning as I left the house the thought struck me that perhaps my life has always been marked by my lack of successful expectation. I am the kind of person who can generally wing her way through things and achieve a successful outcome but perhaps I need to be a bit more determined in hunting down that success rather than happening on it by chance.

My leader will be so pleased with me! It's amazing how two little words can make a big difference in how we view the world.

School work has changed a lot since my day! Makes me sound old but the coolest thing I got to do in a days work was use three colours of felt tip pens to decorate my headings!! I was the hipist thing around :-)

Caleb has been working through various modules at school including cooking, woodwork and music. These past six weeks he has been working on a computer animation which he proudly showed us yesterday. I think he's pretty clever. What do you reckon?

It's been a while since I blogged. Sorry about that guys. I've managed to steal the computer off the kids tonight and shoo them all out of the room so for a few minutes at least I have a little space. It's nice to sit quietly. I don't seem to have too much of that time at the moment.

Work has been hectic as we brought 2 new staff members into our personnel team and I have been the one helping them, orientating them and answering all their questions. I feel like I am literally running around the office then racing home to the boys and hooning round the city dropping kids off at their various actvities. It has been a really busy few weeks and I don't see it getting much quieter any time soon. Although I do have to admit to also pushing myself at home to get things done which is another post in itself. God has been teaching me things about myself which will make it here when I can find another spare moment.

Anyway this is a lighter post. I have managed to catch up on some friends blogs and have seen a couple of cute videos which might cheer you up. The first is a fun look at language learning and thr sometimes inane things we actually learn.



This next one is all about mother's and the many words we use in a day. I have to admit to finding bits funny because they reflect my own language use. You'll see what I mean.



Hope these have brightened your day a little. Blessings!

Meet Saskia Lily Connors born Sunday 30 September 2007 and cute as a button!!!!!

This past week has been full of excitement for us as a family as we welcomed wee Saskia into our extended family. She is the first born daughter of Nigel's youngest sister and her husband. We have prayed for her for many years and have trusted the Lord to bring her into the world after Jill and her husband suffered 4 miscarriages in just 3 years. It has been heart breaking for us all but especially for them. Saskia is the product of much prayer and pleading with God. She is a very special baby indeed.

As soon as she was born we raced down to Rotorua and Taupo to meet her and have plenty of cuddles. She is so little, just 7lb 11oz (my boys were never that small!) and man, what a placid baby she is! They tell me she has a good set of lungs on her but from what I saw I don't believe them. My boys were so proud to be able to hold her and kiss her. They know how special she is and just delighted in her.

I love babies! I'm very glad not to have to do the whole sleepless nights and dirty nappies again. It's cool being an aunty. you get to hug them, spoil them then hand them back. What fun!

I'm Home and feeling great!

I know that might not sound like much but after all my world travels recently it is nice to be home and hanging out with my boys. Needless to say they were thrilled to see me which was nice. They literally hung off me for my first week home, always pouncing on me and hanging off me whenever there was a spare leg or arm to go around. They loved their gifts that we had bought (always a bonus).

Nige came home last week and brough with him more goodies. Even some for me which I love! I have to admit though that it has taken a little adjusting for us all to be back together again. Just a matter of realigning ourselves with each others annoying little habits! Not that I have any mind! We are all back at work this week although it is school holidays again so I am trying to get as much done while looking after the boys full time and organising a big list of things to do.

My big hooray though was when I went to Weight Watchers upon my arrival. I was thrilled to only have put on 400g in the whole time I was away. That was amazing!!!! Last time I went away to a conference I put on 1.5kg in a week so this feat in just 4 weeks was awesome. It has been hard to get back into counting points again and even sticking to what I am allowed but I will just have to pull my brain back into line and get on top of it again.

One of the good things about being away is coming home and this time it felt like I was coming "home". A really nice feeling to be settled and enjoying life again in the place the Lord has me.

The trip back to Niamey was supposed to be a cruisy flight of just 2 hours but again plans changed. The plane was not able to get to us in Maradi due to the weather so after waiting 4 hours for a final decision to be made we realised we had to go by road. I was prepared for anything but a plane ride would have been nicer!!!!

We are so thankful for the Nicholson family (kiwis) who were travelling to Niamey that day. We hitched a ride with them and set off. The first part of the trip was to Galmi where we rested the night in the guest house run by still more kiwis. That meant 3 hours had been done and we slept well that evening. Unfortunately the morning came round too soon and at 5 AM we piled into the cars again and began the marathon drive to the capital. Many had spoken of how bad the roads were but I'm not sure I believed them until we got onto them:-)

We had divided ourselves on gender lines....the boys in the HiLux and the girls in the Toyota sedan. Many a time we were lured into a false sense of security as we whizzed along tar sealed roads only to find huge pot holes in the middle of the roads. And when I say huge I mean HUMUNGOUS!!!! There were times when I was sure our wee car would be swallowed whole by the gaping caverns. The boys just flew over them all but Frouke took her time and took great care of the car. Many a time the tar seal disappeared and we were left to drive through thick, red, slushy sand also with huge holes. We liked it when the boys were ahead of us as we could see the holes and work our way around them but often they would hoon off and forget us girls. We travelled on detours of detours as roads were wiped out due to flooding. We sat, trapped by two big trucks as they tried to fight each other for the little passing space that there was. We drove through ditches that had been filled with tree branches to stop you getting totally stuck and then we met up with a huge traffic jam where trucks had spun off the road and caused a back up that would last for hours. All the time I was fearful that we wouldn't make it in time to catch our flight this morning but God was good and kept us and our vehicles safe. We snuck onto a new road that had been closed off by trees and bulldozers but that wasn't going to stop ingenious kiwis from going where they needed to. We just drove off road, round them all!

Twice we had toilet stops. I hate public loos but couldn't hold on any longer. The first was my first ever squat pit loo complete with horrible smells that made me gag and millions of mosquitoes buzzing in the nether regions. The second was a millet farm where I squatted behind a tall plant hoping no one could see me from the road. Little did I know but a Nigerien was riding behind me on his horse and got a full view of my little white behind! You've just gotta laugh!!!!

Nine hours later we arrived into Niamey totally exhausted but thankful for the Lord's protection and mercy. My African experience was complete. With 3 more days travel ahead of me I am tired but really excited to be heading home to NZ and my boys. I have missed them terribly so am looking forward to lots of snuggles and kisses. This afternoon we fly into London and then I will hit the sack again before my marathon 26 hour flight back to Auckland tomorrow. Nige leaves me and heads for the USA but he will be home again in just 10 days. I'm really looking forward to hanging out as a family again.

I have so much to tell the boys of my adventures. More than I could possibly write. It has been a thrill to see how the Lord has been using kiwis just like me in Niger.I do miss being on the field, at the core of missions work but then again it was such a joy to see kiwis thriving in difficult places. I'm glad I can go back and send some more.



PS...I was told to look out for giraffes as we travelled yesterday but despite 9 hours of looking I never saw one. How disappointing. Nevertheless I found this one so thought I'd pop him in here :-)

Niger!


What a trip! Just a few minutes ago we arrived back in Casablanca, Morocco after spending 10 days in Niger. We have had a whirlwind visit but a great time all in all. The weather was gorgeous....quite like Guayaquil in the hot season and then again in the cooler season when the rains began. It was nice to sweat again after freezing our butts off in NZ this past winter. As can be expected in Africa things did not always go according to plan but we were flexible o see where the Lord was leading us.

After arriving in the capital, Niamey, early Wednesday morning we visited Sahel Academy which is a missio school established by SIM. It was exciting to see people really enthusiastic about ministering to kids. Great stuff. The next morning we jumped on the SIM Air plane (a little Saratoga Piper, 4 seater) and flew to Galmi. It was a beautiful day to fly and we saw so much of Niger from the air. It was fun to land on the dry, red sand airstrip with all the village kids and young mums running out to see us. Thankfully they had scared off the cows!!!

Galmi is a mission hospital established by SIM many years ago. I'm not very good in hospitals as the smells and sights of sick people make me quite squiffy (nauseous). I did do very well though and even got to goo over newborn twins. So cute!!!

My African experience was almost complete the next day when I got dreadfully sick. The old vomiting and diarrhoea with high, high fever. Not nice at all. Thankfully I was in the right place as I had doctors fussing over me and people visiting my room to take blood samples. No malaria was present so I was even more grateful for that. After 24 hours of feeling like total crap I perked up and was able to travel the next day to Maradi where we currently have 2 kiwi families living. It was great to be able to see them in their context and get a feel for their struggles and joys. All the families we saw are doing so well. I was so proud of them!

Maradi is a biggish town and we enjoyed poking in the markets and seeing the many ministries that are going on there. We visited a tree planting project, a Bible translation project and even another hospital (this time I nearly did puke!) I faithfully wore my skirt and head covering every day which was driving me nuts by the end of it. I'm so glad I could wear what was comfortable in Ecuador. Yesterday I rebelled and wore my capri pants but regretted that decision when I had to pee behind millet plants in the middle of nowhere!!!!! But that's another story.

The trip continues!

It seems ages since I left NZ and began this big trip. I am really missing my boys but I know they are doing well at home with the grandparents. Nige joined me in London last week and we have been tripping around since. Currently we are sitting in the airport at Casablanca, Morocco awaiting our flight to Niger.

We have had a great couple of days here experiencing Moroccan culture. We have managed to ride a camel, eat pomegranates, relax at the beach and shop at the markets. All heaps of fun. At times we felt as though we were back home in Ecuador. Things are very similar except the fact that they speak French and Arabic and the women are covered from head to toe. The men still leer at the women and I did feel a little underdressed in my capri pants at times but all in all it was fun.

The weather has been a lot warmer than in England for which we are very thankful. It honestly couldn't have gotten much colder! Now we head into 40 degree temps so expect to sweat a lot more. I have my skirts and head scarf packed so I suspect I will be quite hot most days.

In the next 10 days I am hopping on 10 different planes. Not too enthralling I'm afraid. My tail bone is already really sore and the seats on the planes seem to be made in such a way that I'm always sitting on it and hurting it more. I guess I'll pop some pain killers and that should help.

It's nearly time to board so I must pull out my French dictionary and try and learn a little more than hi and thanks. I'm thankful for people in Niger who will be able to speak for me. Still half the fun is in the trying.

Greetings from England!!!!

I've been here for the past 5 days and it hasn't stopped raining since! They say this is the worst summer in 50 years but I think it's like this all the time. It has drizzled and been grey ever since I arrived.

The great thing though is that I have seen some amazing countryside and the manor where SIM UK has it's offices and guest house is incredible. It's like living in a castle. There is an amazing story as to how the Lord provided for them. The manor is just gorgeous.

The meetings are going well. It is so inspiring to be around professional communicators who have a passion to see God's mighty deeds shared with the world. I mentioned the other day that I dreamed of being a journalist when I was younger but for various reasons that never happened. Now I feel like God has brought me back full circle with a way by which I can express myself and God's work creatively. There is much that I can and want to accomplish in the communications area in NZ it will just be a matter of time and resources. Watch this space!

Nigel is currently flying the world to catch up with me. He should be landing in London in just a few hours so I'm really looking forward to seeing him. The boys are doing okay at home although they are missing us both terribly. Caleb has been sick a couple of times this week with a migraine and ear infection so that has been hard to be away as a mum. I'm so grateful for caring grandparents.

After we leave here on Saturday Nige and I are going to do the sights of London including the London eye. Should be a fun weekend and we'll have to make sure there is a visit to an English pub as well.

One Year On.

Yesterday was one whole year since we left our beloved Guayaquil. We can't believe where the year has gone. So much has happened....good and not so good. I've just written a newsletter updating people on where we are at and it caused me to reflect on the past 365 days. As I said before...where has the time gone?

To celebrate we went up the sky tower here in Auckland. It is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere and has a revolving restaurant. What fun to see over Auckland city. It really is quite breathtaking with the water surrounding it, the boats, the tall buildings and the volcanoes. You really must come sometime :-)

So here are a few picis of our afternoon out.


The Sky tower, right in the heart of Auckland City















With my two lovely boys.



The thing to do is to bungy jump off the top of the tower! Here a brave soul (hanging in mid air in the blue and yellow suit) tries it. Not my cup of tea!



In the observation deck there are glass floors that you can walk over. Caleb and I did it but it was fun to watch others edge around it. Here Caleb is lying on the lfoor, thundreds of metres up in the air.










The boys had fun making this photo.

I just love it!!!! Makes me giggle every time I see it. It also reminds me that in a couple of weeks this will be me....but having to deal with French!

Our big trip is upon us. I leave Friday 17th August for a week in London for the SIM Communications consultation. This is where all the people involved in media/communication work in SIM get together to ponder the bigger issues and get inspired. I'm going in my role as NZ Editor of our magazine, "Serving in mission Together." I'm really looking forward to the time away although I must admit that I'm not so keen on the long haul flights by myself. It's something like 28 hours to get to London with just a brief stop in the middle somewhere.

Nige is meeting me in London on the 23rd and then when the conference finishes we are stopping off in Morocco for a couple of day en route to Niger. This is where we are going to be spending the bulk of our time, travelling the country, encouraging our kiwis there and having our first African experience. We are really looking forward to it although the French is going to throw us a little! I studied French in high school and only know a little...enough to introduce myself, count to 10, ask if they speak English and maybe a swear word or two :-) Not sure how far that is actually going to get me. But we are going to make the most of it and I hope to see some giraffes while I'm there.

After 2 weeks there we hop back on a plane to London where Nige and I part ways....him heading to the USA for meetings and me back to NZ. After 3 1/2 weeks away I will be well and truely ready to be home again. The boys are staying in NZ with grandparents who will look after them. It will be the longest time that we have all been apart so there are going to be some tough days. They have primed us up to buy them pressies from every country we visit so that's their incentive to letting us go so far away.

I'm not sure that I will get to post while I'm away but will try. Otherwise I'll just have to recount all my experiences when I get back. This week is hectic with all the things that need to be done before I go, one of which is our one year anniversary of leaving Ecuador. Can't believe the year has gone by already. We're going out for lunch together as a family so that will be special. Hopefully I'll get to write about that before I leave as we're going to a really neat place.

Until then it's time to get some more work done and then it's onto packing. I thought I had finished with all that!!!!!

The Haka.

For those of you who know New Zealand at all or for those of you who have ever seen the All Blacks play rugby you will know that the Haka is a traditional Maori dance. It is very spirited and revs up even the most timid Kiwi. When you are away from your home country it can even bring a tear to the eye :-)

My eldest son was sent this version of it the other day and I liked it so much I thought I'd share it with you after all my heavy posts of late (more to come). Do enjoy a take on Maori culture.

As I look at the ticker above I see that we are fast approaching the one year anniversary of our departure from our beloved Ecuador. I can't believe it has been a whole year! At times it seems like it was just yesterday and other times it feels like the place never really existed. It's another part of balance that I'm not coping particularly well with.

I'm finding it difficult to keep both parts of my life on some kind of equal level. There are days when I really miss Ecuador and my special friendships there and then there are days when I actually enjoy living in NZ. But when I feel happy to be here I feel as though I am betraying the love and care of those I have left so far away. I find it tough to keep memories and my life now all together in my brain. Most of the time I seem to push one to the side and try to concentrate on the other. At the moment I am trying so hard to keep it together here in NZ that Ecuador hardly features at all and then when I think I am doing well something reminds me of all that I have lost and I lose it completely. I try not to allow myself to grieve or remember as it is so painful and I feel as though I can't keep doing a good job pretending that all is okay here. Does that even make sense? I have so many emails from my friends in Ecuador and I haven't responded to them in months. I feel terrible about it and it makes me feel worse but how do I explain to them the inner battle that I have everytime I remember them? I long so much to just talk to them but even thinking about calling them makes me run for the bed covers and hide. Nige has spoken to them a couple of times and I have been secretly glad that I was out when he did so I didn't have to speak to them myself. Doesn't that sound horrible!What I really want is just to see them and hug them, to take them out for coffee and dessert or empanadas, to just hang with them but that's not possible and that's what hurts.

The other day in church the woman who prayed for us looked at me and said that she could sense that I had deep grief which I wasn't allowing out. How true was that! I hold it all in to protect myself and my family. I hold it in so that I can be strong for everyone else in my family who is falling apart. I have to be the strong one. I have to be the one they can rely on and turn to when everything else turns to custard. I know that one day I won't be able to hold on any longer. One day it will all just fall out of me and I will finally get to grieve for my heartland. I'm scared that once I start I will never stop crying.

I guess I had better stop here. My eyes are moistening up and I still have emails to answer. I think we might just have to do something special together as a family on the 12th August to remember and celebrate our Ecuadorian-ness. Perhaps I should go hunting for plantain and make Caldo de bolas. Que Rico!!!

Keeping your life in balance is a tough thing to do sometimes. I haven't written for quite a while because I just haven't been able to bring my head into a space to be able to do so. There is so much running through it that I chose to steer clear of writing it all down. Now that I've worked through some stuff I'll post over the next couple of days what has been happening. Needless to say it's all about balance.

The past two weeks have been school holidays so I have been mainly at home with the kids. The first week Nige and I took as holidays and tried to do something fun every day with them. We went to the city centre on the train then walked for hours up and down the main street. We went ten pin bowling, shopped, took in a couple of movies, had a late night up where we watched videos and ate popcorm until midnight and other things. At times we all had fun but all of us were very tired and stressed so most days ended up with someone being grumpy and that getting us all in a foul mood. Not pleasant at all! We were glad to get back into some kind of routine the next week with Nige and I balancing the kids and our jobs.

We tried to begin a bible study group with some young marrieds at church so I spent the day cooking desserts and cleaning. All to no avail. No one turned up!!! At least in NZ you can actually get to a certain time after the start time and say no one was coming whereas in Ecuador everyone's sense of timing is so up the wop they could still turn up 2 hours later and be on time. In the end we took our desserts to a friends house and shared them with them which was nice. We weren't too disappointed and will try again next week but this time I'm not making so much to eat :-)

It's just been a really hard month of late. Work has been so busy and stressful for both of us that that has impacted on our home life. The boys have been busy, tired and stressed (more on that later) that they have been unbearable to live with and Nige and I have also been having trouble keeping in check our grief at leaving Ecuador. It tends to sneak up on you when you are feeling most vulnerable. One Sunday we went forward for prayer and since then have had much better days. God just seemed to step in a lift our burdens and heartache. He's good like that huh? I'm so glad I have him to rely on. Some days that's all that gets me through. I remember once being told that cultural change is like being tossed about in the boat on the sea. The sea can be fierce at times and holding on difficult but the boat (God) remains the same. He will always be my refuge. I'm so thankful for that.

So I'll ty and post more later. I'm doing this while at work....the only place I seem to be able to use the computer. Hope the boss doesn't mind :-)

Injections! I hate them!!

I feel like a pin cushion sometimes. It seems that I have had more than the normal person when it comes to jabs. I guess living overseas means you need to be up to date on all those nasty bugs like typhoid, rabies, yellow fever, meningitis, TB, tetanus etc etc etc (the list could go on for ages!) This past week Nige and I have been updating our jabs in preparation for a big trip to Africa in August (I'll tell you all about that another time). That means that between us we have had 9 injections! Nige was brave enough to have all his on one day but I spread mine over a couple of days. They have left my arm red and sore, not to mention a little itchy and blistered. The biggest hassle has been my mantoux (the TB indicator jab in your forearm). If you have antibodies you have a small reaction....mine was massive. So big in fact that the nurse called the Doctor in for a look. They promptly sent me off for a chest xray and blood tests as well as several urine tests all with the purpose of checking that I am actually TB free. The only good thing to come of all this is that I can't ever have another mantoux which I am quite thankful for (apparently the reaction only gets worse everytime). So that was my last week and this week taken up with bldod tests. Yuck! I guess it's all in the name of good health.

This week I reached my first 5 kilos lost! YAY!!! That meant that I received a bookmark with my first gold star to mark those 5 kilos. For every 5 you lose you get another gold star. What a great feeling. It has taken me ages to get here but it is great now that I've reached this first milestone. It makes the rest of my journey look possible.

We are invited to give a pearl of wisdom when we receive our award. Mine was "Don't give up". It doesn't matter how much you might have fallen off the wagon one day or one week there is always a blank page the next day so you can start over. That's how I live sometimes. I think it's a good motto as well in our every day life. No matter how much you might have stuffed up you can always start afresh tomorrow and not look back.

Be encouraged today.