May Scavenger Hunt Complete

You can see the set in all it’s glory here.

The Gallery: Friendship

Over on The Gallery this week the theme is “Friendship”. I have 2 best friends and I feel truely blessed to have them both.

3 years ago today I married my soul mate. Here we are with our precious girls after we signed the registers in church…

The 26th May 2007 was THE happiest day of my life. I know it’s a cliché but it’s true. First and foremost Anthony is my friend… 

But he is also my wonderful husband…

Happy Anniversary my wonderful Anthony. I love you xxx

See now I couldn’t mention friendship without talking about Lorna… I have known her for 14 years.

Here we are on the day of Robyns baptism…

Here we are on a rather drunken night out…

And here we are on my wedding day… did I mention that it was 3 years ago today lol.

We can go for weeks without speaking what with busy lives and living a few hours apart from eachother but when we do speak it’s as though we’ve never been apart. Friends like Lorna are very special.

So cheers, here’s to friendship and also to marriage. Long may they prosper xxx

Thankful Friday is back

Apologies for my absence. Life has been really very good lately. Anthony has been enjoying his new job and I have been enjoying being a mummy. We finally seem to have found our roles again and it is having such a positive effect on family life.

This morning I was showering both the girls and I said to Robyn “It’s Friday! We’ll be able to have a lovely weekend together”. She replied “Yes we will. Daddy doesn’t have to go to work at the weekends anymore and he is not as grumpy at his new job is he?!”. I admit that what she said really choked me. Even she has noticed how much happier we all are.

So many things to be thankful for:

• My family. Every day I am astounded at how much love is in our little family.
• The sunshine. We have been blessed with good weather the last couple of days. It makes such a difference.
• Birthdays. Robyn turned 7 on Sunday and she had a lovely day. She also had a birthday party last Friday which was wonderful. She has a great group of friends.
  My best friend also had a birthday this week. She turned the big 3-0. Gutted I couldn’t be there to help her celebrate but we will make up for it in the summer.
• Ice cream. Yum!
• Paracetamol. I had some horrible headaches this week 😦
• Winning £5 on a scratch card this morning. It paid for coffee and cakes in a café.
• Friends. This morning I went out for a walk with friends and then to the park after the café. Without them I would have sat indoors with Katie and probably wasted this beautiful day.
• Make-up. I’ve finally decided to start wearing makeup again. Only a little bit but I’ve realised how much better it makes me feel. Who’d have thought that a bit of confidence could be found in a pot of eye shadow?!

Have a lovely weekend everyone. We are hopefully heading out for some picnics so we can enjoy the sunshine that is forecast.

The Gallery: Taizé

This weeks theme for the Gallery is The World We Live In.

It is no secret on my blog that I love Taizé. It is a tiny village in Burgundy, France. In that village you will find a monastic community that welcomes people from all around the world. In the summer months there are thousands of young people all there for the same reason… to worship and learn more about their Christian faith.

I first went there when I was just 17. I fell in love with it immediately and returned the following year. Then I had a 13 year gap until February of this year until I could go back again.

The food and accomodation is… well, let’s just say “basic” is being kind! It is all part of the experience though. It must be ok to keep thousands of people going back time after time!

I cannot describe how I feel when I am there. I don’t think I’d want to try too hard. It is a very personal feeling but it is enough to say I feel spiritually uplifted and always leave feeling I have had a fresh breath of life pumped into me.

Yes. Taizé is the corner of the world that I adore. It is a truly special place for me.

What a difference a day makes

Bear with me while I tell you a story…

Anthony started his job at the Carvery pub a few weeks ago and halfway through his first shift he called me while on his break and said “It’s really dire, I want to just drive home!”.
The food was awful and Anthony had no authority to change it. Customers were few and far between. The rest of the staff were dull and had no real cooking skills. It was soul-destroying for him to be working there so while keeping the job he was determined to find something better.

Last weekend he had an interview and trial shift for a head chef position at a local pub. It seemed like the perfect job. The interview and trial seemed to go very well and he was very excited at the prospect of being offered the position. He wasn’t successful though and while the pub said they would contact him in the future if the position became vacant again he was very fed up and disappointed.
That Sunday evening here was very solemn. The thought of having to go back to a job he hated on the Wednesday was making Anthony very sad. Seeing him so sad made me sad and there was a lot of sighing and moaning going on. Anthony got straight back on the job centre website and searched for new adverts. He saw one that looked good but couldn’t ring up about it until the morning.

The next morning as the girls were eating their breakfast he was on the phone. He was asked to come for an interview at 4pm that day. After a day of shopping for Robyns birthday presents he went off to the interview while I went to the weekly family service at church with the girls.
At 5pm he called me to say he had just left the interview. He said it seemed to go well and was feeling quite confident but at the back of our minds we knew that we had thought that about the last interview.

He arrived home and said that he would know about the job by Wednesday morning at the latest. We started the kids tea and tried to forget about the potentially exciting job that was on the horizon. Working in a staff canteen at a huge banking headquarters serving people ranging from office assistants up to Managing Directors. The hours: Monday to Friday; 6.30am til 3pm. No bank holidays, no weekends (EVER!), no evenings (EVER!) and a secure job with a very well-known company.

By 6pm the phone rang. Anthony had been successful and been offered the job!

He started on Wednesday morning and is loving the job. He never had to go back to the awful pub and he is working somewhere that values him. His colleagues are happy, friendly and polite and he feels like he has a purpose again. He is happy, therefore I am happy and the children are happy.

On Monday afternoon after we’d bought Robyns birthday presents we went into Wing Yip, the Chinese supermarket. I bought a box of fortune cookies (aswell as a whole load of other stuff!) and opened one when I got into the car. I was a bit taken aback when I read my fortune…

All too often we dwell on good things that end. Sooner or later your troubles end too. It’s true! Good things can go on and on and on if you only let them. Bad things can stop. Right there. It’s all about making that choice and being brave enough to make them stop.
Sometimes you can make your own fortune. Applying for that job might end in disappointment but try again and again and your troubles will end. Choose happiness.

Nothing last forever – not even your troubles!

May Scavenger Hunt

1. Rambling Rose
2. About a Girl
3. It’s All in Fun
4. Nick of Time
5. Bread & Butter
6. Rhapsody in Blue
7. It Takes Two
8. Nothing But the Best
9. Games People Play
10. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
11. Me and My Shadow
12. All By Myself
13. Yummy, Yummy, Yummy
14. Fragile
15. Lean on Me
16. On the Sunny Side of the Street
17. What’s New Pussycat?
18. Escape
19. Ring of Fire
20. Surf’s Up

365 Project: April 2010