Thanksgiving

I think a few pictures of my first attempt at cooking Thanksgiving dinner are a must.  After all, for my family, you have to see it to believe it!

potatoes, sweet potatoes, and carrots all bubbling away.

Gasp!  Hope at the hob

the table set

the feast 

Hope and Laura, ready to tuck in

As you can imagine, we had loads of leftovers.  I may be learning to cook, but I still need to learn portions!   I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving meals with your families!

From Whom All Blessings Flow.

I spoke last Tuesday at my house group on Thankfulness.  I've just finished reading a fantastic book called One Thousand Gifts.  Between the book, my thoughts for house group, the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, I've been amazed at how many ways I overlook the blessings in my life.

I had an eye appointment two weeks ago and found out my vision has gotten worse.  I needed new glasses/contacts.  I chose to get new glasses, and I've been getting used to them.  The other morning, I was getting ready and I was getting annoyed by my vision (I had yet to put my glasses on).   And then I realized how ungrateful I can be.  I have glasses to put on.  I didn't have to even think twice about getting glasses.  To me, they count as a necessity and yet for so many in the world, they would be a luxury.

I've been struggling with more headaches lately than I would like.  The other night, my neck and back were aching, as a side effect of the headaches.  As I was boiling the kettle to fill my hot water bottle (it feels so good to lay my head on when it hurts), I realized once again how spoiled I am.  I have medicine.  It may not work as well as I'd like, but it at least alleviates the pain.  I have running water and electricity, and enough of both to boil water for a hot water bottle.

The soles of my favorite boots are worn thin.  I can almost put my finger through the sole.  I've worn them nearly daily over two autumns and winers of walking miles around London.  But I'm looking around for a place to resole them.  And in the meantime, I have a second pair of boots.  And Wellington boots.  And fleecy winter boots.  There are probably more people than I realize, even just in this city, who cannot say the same.

My heart is breaking for Zimbabwe, for so many faces.  Some I've met and many I've not.  This morning I actually thought through what I wanted to eat for breakfast.  You see, I have choices of what I want to eat.  And some mornings, I even make the choice not to eat, just because nothing seems appealing.  What's more, I cannot imagine not having that choice.  I've never lacked in provision.

Tears run down my cheeks when I think of how many blessings I do have.   Lord, forgive me when I overlook them.

The London days are growing short.  Tonight at house group we were commenting how at 4:00pm, it's dark.  The weather is damp and cold.  But I'll be sleeping in a warm bed, in warm pjs.  A friend from house group even drove me home, so I wouldn't have to stand and wait for a bus at night.  Her generosity got me home in 5 minutes rather than 20.

It doesn't seem fair that I have it so good.  Nothing I've done has "earned" this.  Yes, I work and earn my wage, which some might say "entitles" me to housing and food, but I don't think so.  I haven't "earned" the right to clean water, heating, or someone to see me safely home at night.  I want everyone to have this, but I'm not sure how to make it happen.  The answer is probably "one at a time," but I wish it could happen faster!  I just pray that I can see the ways that I can help bring some of these things to pass in the opportunities God gives.

Tonight, I got distracted during our house group.  As the discussion went on around me, I kept coming back to Ephesians 3:17.  (It wasn't even the passage we were discussing!)  It says, "Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong."  What a picture.  It brings to mind Psalm 1:3 "They are like trees planted along a riverbank, bearing fruit each season."  Being rooted in love and bearing fruit to help others.  I want those deep roots.

First and Second Glances

The other day I got on the train and sat down across from a very proper looking English gentleman.  He seemed a little different than the ordinary crowd on the tube.  Dressed in a suit with a color coordinated warm coat and scarf, he looked very reserved and formal.

Then I happened to look down.

I snuck a picture on my phone:  "No. 1 Grandad."  It still melts my heart.  Any proper and completely color coordinated man who will still wear the multicolored socks his grandkids gave him must be a real teddy bear.  First glances aren't always what they seem.  And a loving grandfather is a special, special blessing.  I love you, Pap!  Thanks for being my grandfather!  (I'll try to find a pair of these socks for you!)  

Late Nights and Workshops

Today was a special milestone for me.  I taught my first workshop!

I was asked to do a presentation for a specific group that meetings on Sunday afternoons.  The request came after I shared numerous times about my course on Revelation.  Let that be a lesson!

It was quite a challenge to condense 12 weeks of lessons into 1.5 hours of teaching.  In the end, I just picked a few areas to focus on, and the rest was a whirlwind overview of the book.  I spent hours preparing, with my perfectionist side taking over.  I wasn't nervous about it, because I enjoy public speaking and teaching opportunities, but I do endeavor to do it well.  I did a "rehearsal" last night, finishing at 2 a.m.

It went well!  Only about 15 people turned up, but that is fairly typical for this group lately.  I was given lots of positive feedback, which was very encouraging.

This has been one of several teaching opportunities I've had, for the months of November and December.  I started thinking about the timing of this the other day.  It's seems so interesting that right as I'm about to leave, suddenly I'm getting requests to be investing in a variety of groups.  It is a means of closure for me actually.  I think that learning is complete when you are able to reiterate what you have learned.  In a way, this feels like a final exam.  Can I teach what I've been taught?

I think that's why today felt so good.  I'm not an expert on Revelation, but I was able to take what I learned from a course and put into an accessible summary for 15 other people.  That feels like a good day's work.

Unexpected Encounter

Life is so interesting.

This afternoon, the doorbell rang.  Since I'm housesitting, I was a little concerned as to who was at the door!

I answered and there was a lady standing outside.  "Hiya I'm S.. from nextdoor.  Are J or K home?"

"No, sorry, they aren't."

"Well, do you know, do they have a Bible we could borrow?  My child is doing homework and we need to look up some verses and we can't find a Bible."

Well, that's a change from borrowing a cup of sugar.  I ducked back in and came out with my Bible.  "Here you go, I don't know where their's would be, but this is my Bible.  I'll be here for a while so keep it as long as you need."

Four hours later, S returned my Bible.  She asked me all sorts of questions too.  We stood on the front step and talked about similarities between Matthew and Luke for about twenty minutes.  She seemed a little embarrassed to not know more about the Bible.  She told me her nan, who died in December, was quite devout, but the rest of the family only go to church for weddings and funerals.

I know some people go door to door to talk about the Bible, but I've never had someone show up on my doorstep asking to learn about the Bible!  Now I have :)

Failures and Successes

Friday was a good day.  I skyped with family! I got to speak with three generations of my family, which is always a treat.  While talking on skype, I multitasked by making some chocolate chip cookies.  In the end, I told Aunt J and M that it was good we weren't using video.  They couldn't see how much of the dough I was eating!

My first batch did not meet my expectations.  I am not used to Karen's stove, and I think I turned it up higher than I should have.  I used the right amount of flour according the recipe, but the wrong amount according to the cookies!  They turned out rather...flat and crispy.

Aunt J told me she wanted to see them featured on my blog.  I jokingly told her that I only blog about my successes.  You know, I meant it as a joke, but then I realized, it's true.  We all tend to only share our successes and never our failures.  We learn from our failures, though.  My aunt, the cookie maker extraordinaire, suggested more flour and the next batch turned out just as I like it, soft and chewy.  The others are edible, and actually Laura likes them crispy (or so she says!).  

My father and Leslie both try to remind that failure isn't the end of the world, as I often see it.  It truly is a learning experience.  I know that.  But I don't like it.  I'm slowly growing to accept that sometimes, more often than I like, I will not "get it right."  Being the lover of words that I am, I started reading different quotes about failure.  Here are some of my favorites:

There is no failure except in no longer trying.  ~Elbert Hubbard

Failure doesn't mean you are a failure... it just means you haven't succeeded yet.  ~Robert Schuller

Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.  ~F. Scott Fitzgerald

You can't have any successes unless you can accept failure.  ~George Cukor

There is no failure.  Only feedback.  ~Robert Allen

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.  ~Winston Churchill

It is wise to keep in mind that no success or failure is necessarily final.  ~Author Unknown

Then I read a comment that made me smile.  "Success and failure.  We think of them as opposites, but they're really not.  They're companions - the hero and the sidekick."  ~Laurence Shames

Here is the lesson that I struggle to learn.  It is a bit contradictory, my frustration with failure.  As my family can tell you, I dislike things being easy.  I don't mind "the hard way," and sometimes, I think I make things a little harder for myself than necessary!  (It does keep life more interesting.)  

The next thought might not be connected (or only in my mind) but I started thinking that maybe I should think of this as climbing.  I love the granite mountains in Zim.  I can remember going on hikes to take friends to see cave paintings or to have a picnic.  Climbing Mt. Nyangani was even more of a challenge.  Please understand, I love the view from the top of a mountain.  There is something beautiful of sitting down, catching your breath, and enjoying the magnificent view of the world around from a higher perspective.  But after a little while, I get bored. I want to walk around, explore, take pictures.  

I think this is why I like the more challenging successes.  If you were able to just snap your fingers and appear on the top of mountain whenever you liked, the view wouldn't seem quite so impressive.  The experience wouldn't be as unique.  And you would have missed a part of the experience.  The hike itself.  The laughter with your companions.  Or maybe the silence. The gradually changing perspective.  The thrill of pushing your body to do something out of the ordinary.  The point of reaching the top and just appreciating that your body is standing still, that your lungs feel like they are finally getting enough air, that your heart can finally return to normal.

I read a book a few months ago entitled Kissing Kilimanjaro.  It is a fairly lighthearted story of a man who decided to climb Kilimanjaro, mostly because his girlfriend thought it would be cool!  Sorry to spoil it for you if you want to read it, but he didn't make it to the peak.  However, quite a few years later, he went back.  He did it the second time.  Reading his description of the physical pain made me wonder why he would try it again!  But I really respect his perseverance.  And his situation applies to this whole ramble about successes and failures.  He didn't reach the peak the first time.  But he learned so much about what was needed for the journey.  He learned his weaknesses. He learned the challenges.  And they made his success possible.  I'm sure the same is true in many of the less dramatic situations we face in our lives.  

And all of this started with a batch of twelve crispy chocolate chip cookies :)    

Housesit

For the next two and a half weeks, I'm housesitting for friends who are in the USA for their daughters wedding.  It's both good and bad to be doing this!  I'm someone who loves people but needs time to herself as well.  I've really enjoyed having a house to myself to just...be.  I like the silence.  It gives me to think and ponder and just refresh in the evenings.  I love my housemates and our lovely little home, but this is a good time for me to have the time to be still. 

J&K are really laid back and told me repeatedly to make myself at home.  And I'm doing that!  At the moment, I'm listening to Christmas music, sitting in their lounge as I catch up on emails, facing the window you see here:

It's a pretty view.  K has done a beautiful job decorating their home.  She's also a great gardener, as you can see by all the flower baskets out front.  

It's one of those cold, overcast days London makes famous.  No rain today, and no snow yet for us, but it still has that feel.  Winter is coming.  The leaves are almost gone.  The Christmas lights are being strung.  The air is cold and crisp.  The other day, I was walking down the high road to meet a friend in a coffee shop and it was just one of those days... Twilight, temperatures dropping, dry yellow leaves skittering across the street, brisk breeze blowing my scarf and hair into my face... I just had this sense of anticipation and joy.  Anticipation of the holidays, anticipation of the next year, anticipation of what God has in store.  It was like God was saying to my heart, "The best is yet to come."

Covent Garden

I spent the morning with a young woman who is thinking of moving to London and working with friends of mine.  My friends were out of town and asked if I could take her to a few places and make sure she found her way to the airport. We went to Covent Garden Market and it was lovely.  London Christmas decorations are on their way and they are elegant and dramatic!  

I could not believe this Reindeer! 

And if that wasn't larger than life, look at this Christmas tree!  Do you see the person walking to the left of the tree?  

The candy canes were my favorite decorations in the market.  And I'm glad the young lady seemed to also enjoy her morning.  We were dragging her suitcase along with us, but we still stopped for pictures, as you can see!  We even had time for a few souvenir shops and a proper fish and chips with mushy peas.  She mentioned that she had mostly been eating curries while here, and had yet to have a more "English" meal!  Once she was safely on the proper train to the airport, I came back to finish out my work day, but while listening to Amy Grant's Home for Christmas CD.  

Joshua

I went with A this afternoon to visit our mutual friend Jas.  Jas had a little boy at the end of October, whom she and her husband named Joshua.  Joshua was a tiny little baby, and even now, he's still really small, but he's doing well.  I took this picture while there and I rather like it.  :)

Sunday Sermons

Roger is fantastic.  He is eighty-something, about my height (which means he's short!), he has these little glasses perched on the very tip of his nose.  He came to our informal church, dressed in a suit.  Everyone but me seemed to know him when he arrived.  Perhaps because of that reason, he and I started chatting.  

Adrian called us all together, so Roger moved to the front of the room and I moved to my blue plastic chair.  We meet in a primary school, which means my feet can rest on the floor when I'm sitting in these chairs.  Roger started off by getting out his Bible and after giving greetings, he said: "I know these days it's rather rude to come to speak at a church without a powerpoint presentation.  Well, I simply haven't got one!  You'll just have to use your Bible as your visual."  

I pulled out my Bible and my little black notebook with pink elephants on it.  It's tiny and looks rather silly for taking notes, but I like it and it's small.  It was a gift from someone, although at this point, I'm not certain I know who gave it to me!  However, it is well used for sermon notes, reminders, and anything else I need to jot down.

Roger asked if any of us knew Richard of Chichester.  We did not.  Roger went to explain that he was a Bishop in the 13th century.  He was a Bishop known because he championed the poor and stood up to the King.  He is given credit for a deathbed prayer.  Roger focused on the triplet of the prayer:

"O Merciful Redeemer, brother and friend, may I know thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, and follow thee more nearly."

We then looked to three passages in the Gospel of Luke to illustrate this.  Luke 10:25-37 tells of the Good Samaritan,  when Jesus was teaching about loving the Lord with all your heart and soul and mind and loving your neighbor as yourself.  Luke 10:38-42 shares the story of Mary and Martha.  In sitting at the feet of Jesus, Mary was choosing to know Jesus more clearly.  In Luke 11:1-13, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray and Jesus taught them how to follow him more nearly.

I cannot recreate the sermon here, but Roger had some very interesting points I'd like to share.  

On Love, I wrote his words: "Loving is living and living is loving. And if someone stops loving, they stop living.  The more we love, the more we enjoy life."  He went on to share the story of Dirk Willems, a familiar story to me.  He was an Anabaptist in the 16th century who was tried and convicted.  He escaped from prison, but as he ran, one of the guards chasing him fell through ice and into the freezing river.  Dirk turned back and saved the man from the ice.  Subsequently, he was returned to prison and executed.  He loved his enemy enough to save him from death, even when it resulted in his own death. 

Roger went on to talk about his wife.  He told us, "Many years ago, two people stood in front of their loved ones and vowed, "I will."  I loved Faith then, but there is no way I could love her as much then as I do now.  I didn't know everything about her then.  Through the years, I learned many things about her I didn't know.  And she learned a lot about me she didn't know, and she told me so!"  A few sentences later, he brought it back to God, reminding us that this is another love relationship.  "God wants for us to turn to him and say, "I will."  He is always saying, "I will."  He was hanging on the cross saying, 'I will.'"    

In the story of Mary and Martha, we tend to shake our head at Martha.  How could she just be in the kitchen?  Yes,   Mary chose what was better.  But we very likely would do the same as Martha, and in fact, we often do busy ourselves rather than spend time getting to know God more clearly.  Roger pointed out, Mary was able to sit at Jesus feet, but when we read Luke 10:38, we see that it was Martha who welcomed Jesus and the disciples into the house.  Mary benefitted but Martha opened the door.  Mary does give us an excellent example of how to know Jesus more clearly and that is through sitting as his feet.  

Sitting at his feet includes wanting to follow him more nearly.  Roger commented that the disciples' request to be taught how to pray was the only time they asked Jesus to teach them.  That surprised me!  If Jesus were in human form before me, doing all these miracles and speaking these incredible words, I think I would just keep asking question after question.  However, then I stopped and wondered.  Would I?  Do I now?  There is also a fine distinction between asking a question and wanting to be taught.  Curiosity and teachability are not necessarily the same thing. How often do I react like I did as a small child, not wanting someone to do something for me but wanting to learn it myself?

"O Merciful Redeemer, brother and friend, may I know thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, and follow thee more nearly."

Autumn in London

The English refer to "autumn," not "fall."  But the differences don't stop there.  Sadly, there isn't the dramatic shift of colour in the leaves that we often see in New England.  However, there are some noticeable changes.  This is one such sight on a little residential street I walk along as I go to our office.

Because it's a quiet little back street, the leaves lay on the pavement a little longer than the street sweepers would leave them on the main roads.  It's quite fun to get to shuffle through the crinkly dry ones as I walk.  Yesterday, I saw a little boy enjoying them much the same.  He would look up at his Gran and pick a leaf up, just completely delight by it.  Then he would drop and find another one, and look at her, his expression of utter amazement, as though he were trying to say, "Oh my goodness, there's another one! Can you believe it?"  Such joy in the small things.  It's a good reminder to stop and enjoy the leaves, rather than hurry from point A to B.  

November is upon us!

Friends, I haven't been very regular at posting lately!  It has been hectic, with having a friend visit, and then with the moving of our office and that has entailed.  I can't believe November has arrived, and with it, blustery days and falling leaves.  Christmas decorations are up and I'm tempted to break out the carols!  I love this time of year.

Last night I had the fun of meeting up with some good friends for coffee at a local cafe.  O celebrated her 32 birthday two days ago and L celebrated her 31 on Sunday.  We had a great time chatting.

J, L, and O :)

the Birthday Girls!

Sadly, O isn't feeling very well, so we decided to make dinner plans for when she is better.  In the meantime, I'm about to dash off to dinner with Claire and her kids (Paul is back in the UK on Monday, I think).  Even though we live nearby, it isn't all that often that we get together socially, and the kids have been asking after Hope-nenni. (Paul's family is Hungarian, and "nenni" means aunt...hence, Hope-nenni!  I love it.)

Worker Bees

As many of you already know, our group has found a much less expensive option for office space.  I'm quite relieved because it's now walking distance for me!  Well...It's a mile and a half from my house, which means it is walking distance, but it's bus distance if I'm late or lazy!

When we moved in on Friday, our room was quite bare and dusty.  We had previously ordered carpeting, which was installed on Tuesday.  Wednesday was our cleaning day, and we got to work!  We wiped down the walls, the windows, etc.  Mind you, this building was built in 1924.  It's fairly old.  And out on the street, they are replacing the Victorian water mains!  London's water pipes are the oldest in the country, with some of the pipes over 150 years old!  Clearly some upgrading is needed, but it does take time to do so.  I read online that there is a proposal to replace 16 miles of pipes in one area of London for a grand total of £7.1 million!

The point of sharing that was just to emphasize we have had a lot of dust and grime to clean off the windows.  In the doing so, we of course needed to take some photos!  

Once our furniture is all moved in, we should have a very nice office.  Let the good times roll!