I've got sunshine, on a cloudy day.

I said that I would fill you in on how the Lord has been blessing me these past few days, so I thought I had better do that! I have a habbit of saying I am going to write about something on here and never actually getting round to it (btw...I am actually still planning on writing a lengthy post of my baby brother's passing out parade...we will see when that happens!)

Anyway, back to this. I have seriously had such a mixed up week with lots of mixed emotions. There were many times I got back from work last week and just cried. Now, I do enjoy working there but there are a few (when I say a few I mean LOTS) of things that happen there that make angry and upset, well both bounce of each other really. I'm not going to go into it, partly because I will get myself upset and who wants to do that? And also because I don't want you to have to even hear or know some of things I have to put up with from my colleagues. So you can just pray for me, please. Sometimes it is a struggle to get through the day there.

But a couple of days ago I had just a lovely day at work. I had a breakfast shift, ok wait. I work at a Hotel, waitressing for those that don't know. This might help make more sense of what I am talking about, probably won't help you though. So yes, I was working a breakfast shift and then I was helping my lovely friend in the laundry. I was scheduled to work with her but I usually try and help her when I can anyway. We had the day planned out. I made some delicious banana and choc chip muffins the night before (at like 10:45pm...and I wonder why I am always so tired?) so first off we had a nice cup of tea and a muffin. They were yummy. Such and easy recipe, so tasty. mmmm. We both share a love for Motown music so I brought my little iPod down to join in the fun. And oh what fun we have. We definitely cheered each other up. We were singing, and dancing when we could. Other people were walking in and out and couldn't help but smile. We were contagious that day. Then our boss came in and I'm pretty sure he was trying not to laugh at us...by this time I think we were onto Disney's greatest...or something like that. Then it was time for Hairspray. Oh my goodness, we laughed with this one. I came home from work feeling great after spending some time with my friend and knowing that she was happier too. We had so much fun.

I then came home to find an e-mail from a friend of mine in California. She encouraged me about my waiting game (more on that this week) and told me how SHE was looking forward to getting me over there. It was just what I needed, and the Lord knew that. Then I got another email from a family member in Australia. She encouraged me by guiding me in my prayers for her, and asking me how she can pray for me. I am pretty sure she only ever thinks of other people. She is so good at asking about specific prayer points for you. So lovely, and again, the Lord knew what He was doing.

This whole story has been an encouragement to me too. I shared in my last post a link to a special blog, and I'm going to do it again today. Go HERE and read about their new daughter finally getting home. I cried. What a blessing. A great reminder the God is in control and His timing is perfect.

So there is a little insight into how God gives me great friends to get through not-so-great days! I am blessed. Thanking God for throwing things my way that aren't always easy, and surrounding me with friends to build me up.

 "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."

1 Thessalonians 5:11

Who have you encouraged today? Who are you going to encourage tomorrow?

This is my Desire.

Have a listen to this song by Hillsong. It is one of my favourites. This is my prayer today.

I have had such an ecouraging day. I will share more on how God blessed my day, tomorrow. ♥

Spring Cleaning.

I have had a very productive day off. I have been doing laundry and ironing, I cleaned the kitchen and tidied rooms. And I did the thing that I haaate the most - I cleaned out the fridge. I know this is disgusting but it was so gross...I have been putting it off for weeks. That's gross. I am gross. But all is well now and I have some happy little vegetables in my fridge now. This makes me happy and I feel very proud of myself.

I did it again. I ordered food online again. This time it was a little better because I got to speak to the driver. So it was kinda like speaking to the person that checks through all your items, right? Well that is how I took it. And with all that lovely food that came, I made a lovely dinner. Roast Chicken...my faaaavourite! I made some sauteed potatoes and cauliflower cheese, add some broccoli and carrots and that is our dinner! Yum, yum, yummmm. I am just about to make a delicious, easy dessert too. You should try it.

500g frozen fruit

500g natural yogurt

2 tablespoons honey

Mix it all together and you get yourself a yummy, ice-cream-like, dessert! DO IT.

I have also been Spring-cleaning my mind...does that make sense? hmm. Let me try and explain myself. I have been reading different bibles passages and reading 2 books. One that I am reading is called Promises From God for Single Ladies - this has been just the encouragement that I have needed! The other one is called Simple Prayer - I have only just started reading this but I am hoping I can learnt a lot from this. So far it has been pretty good (all those 3 pages that I have read...I will keep you posted!) I am trying to keep my time filled with good things. There are soooo many things all around that scream at us to do the wrong thing that it makes it hard to do the right thing. Let me tell you this, I have never been happier than whe I am fully relying on the Lord and trusting in Him, losing myself in His word and doing what is right in His eyes. Of course sometimes I mess up, but the Lord continues to love me.

I have been really encouraged by this blog and I know you will be too. Especially just now. Go and check it out and find out who sweet Elsa is, and then praise the Lord! He is soooo good. 

I'm leaving you with this lovely photo of me and one of my best friends, my sister. Miss Lucy. So this was a few years ago now. But it is adorable. We were adorable. We liked to play in the dirt. I'm not sure if we would do this today still..? Who am I kidding, of course we would.

Happy Tuesday!

Encouragement.

"For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place,

when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all the days ordained for me were written in your book

before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts, God!

How vast is the sum of them!

Were I to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand—

when I awake, I am still with you."

Psalm 139:13-18 ♥

I came across this verse a couple of days ago and was really encouraged by it. Nothing that happens in my life, or yours, is surprise to God. We are wonderfully made. All our days have been ordained. I don't know about you, but this definitely puts a smile on my face. I take comfort in knowing that the Lord knows every detail of my life..even before I was born. When I am having a great day, the Lord already knows about it. When I am having a horrible day, He knew about that too.

Four years ago today, a friend of ours from Youth Group passed away. This verse comforts me greatly on days like these. Everything happens for a reason. We don't always know why some things happen, but the Lord does. Today I am remembering a guy who was a blessing to everyone who knew him.

Praying for the wonderful Murch Family today. ♥

Oh Happy Day!

Just a very quick wee post. Such a lovely weekend was had by all celebrating a special little lady! My dear mother turned 49 today! WOW. I have been telling her that she is soooooo old... but I have also been telling my sister who turns 24 this year that she is soooooo old, so really it doesn't mean anything if I tell you that you are old...because I tell everyone this! - that wasn't confusing was it? Anyway...a HUGE

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

to my mamma! I love you. ♥

My sister and I secretly put 49 candles on her wee birthday cake. It was probably the scariest thing I have ever seen. It just looked like we had set fire to a cake and shoved it in her face! There were huge flames and then so much smoke. It did melt the chocolate icing which made it pretty tasty though! You can see some of the decorations peeking in at the corner of the photo and at the top. I will post more about the decorations tomorrow and let you know where I got my ideas from.

Tomorrow..it's only a day away!

I am so looking forward to tomorrow. I can't share much more just now...I'm not sure who's eyes are reading this, I fill you in tomorrow. But for now I will leave you with a sneak peek at some things that may make and appearance tomorrow!

Online shopping.

Tonight I received my very first online shopping delivery. It was weird. The guy delivering the stuff was really lovely and clearly had a few formalities that he had to go through because it was my "first time". So I greeted him half way up our path as I thought I would just be getting my stuff and that would be that. He then proceeded to tell me well, silly things. He handed me a piece of paper that had the details of what I ordered. There was a section for groceries, chilled and frozen. He informed me that the items I bought from the frozen section would be underneath the title frozen. Yeah, that's what I thought. But whatever, he was just doing his job. Then we went to the truck that had all these shelves and bags and I thought to myself...we are going to be here all night, in the dark, looking through all these bags for the things that I have ordered, and I don't even remember what I ordered!! Lucky for me he kinda knew what was mine. He pulled out all these crates, put some back it, pulled some more out and then there was my shopping. He asked me "Is that it?" As I said before, I had no idea what I ordered....so yeah, that was everything! Seriously though, he was lovely and I really felt for him. It was 7pm and he still had a bunch of stuff in his truck. His night was not over yet.

So I brought my goodies into the house and checked all the items off my list (it had to be done. What if they cheated me out of something? What if they gave me the wrong shopping? I had to do this.) It was all there. YAY for me. Successful first online shopping date!!

But...I didn't really enjoy it.
 I didn't get to walk round a shop handpicking the items that I was going to bring home with me.
I didn't get to smile as I walked past people, or bump into people I hadn't seen for a long time.
I didn't see extra things that would be perfect for something I am planning and grab them.
I didn't get to buy a little chocolate bar to eat on the way home (ok, maybe that one is a good thing!)
I didn't get to chat with someone at a checkout and ask them how their day was.
It was convenient, definitely. But I don't know if it was worth it or not. If I knew that I wasn't going to make it town for a while then I would maybe consider doing it again. Don't get me wrong. The service was great and I am happy with my purchases but I feel like I missed out on something.

This girl will be walking round stores for her groceries in the years to come. Well, that is until we have robots to do it for us of course.
♥

Sick of being sick.

Ok. I have been sick since Tuesday. I hate being sick. I am getting no sleep at all. I wake up pretty much every hour from 3am. Argh. Not cool. Then I wake up in the morning and I can't breathe. On Wednesday morning I went into town because I had to get a few things for this weekend (it's my mum's birthday) and it felt good to get out of the house. It was such a beautiful day, the sun was shining but it was still cold. I had been there no longer than 30 minutes when I started to feel horrible again. My head actually felt like it was going to explode, I had a temperature and my throat was so sore. So I spent the rest of that day recovering from my little venture into the "Big City". So I was off work yesterday, and again today. I didn't do an awful lot yesterday, then I changed the sheets on by bed and worked up a cold sweat! AHHH. I'm off work again today but think I will  probably go back tomorrow. I have so enjoyed not being at work just now. I need to fill y'all in on why work is driving me nuts! It will be nice to get out of the house though. There come a point when you just get bored with sitting around trying to feel better. And there are only so many times you can watch Gilmore Girls. Now I do love Gilmore Girls but yesterday I watched the same episode 4 times. Yes, 4 times. One thing that is lovely just now. That it is not dark when I am walking to work.

And I think that is probably enough rambling from me...today! Sorry for going on about being sick.

♥

Vanilla memories.

This little beauty above has been a great friend to all the baking I have done for years. I'm pretty sure that it is what makes my baking taste so good! Let me tell you about how this came to be in my kitchen.

This was a gift from my dear friend, Margie. She gave it to me when I was visiting her in California in 2006. If I remember correctly, she askes a friend to get this while they were in Mexico. I still don't know how I managed to get this gem home. When I was flying home that summer my flight was early in the morning from LA so we all spent the night at a Hotel near the airport. We woke up in the morning to find the news littered with everything that was going on at the airports. There had been a bomb scare at one of the airports and they were being extra cautious about all liquids that were going on the flights. When we got to the airport there were queues going all along the side of the airport. It was making me very uneasy, aswell as being upset about saying good-bye to my American family. I was sure that they would put my suitcase through the scanner and see this huge bottle and think for sure that it was that "B" word!!! But thankfully for me, and everyone that I bake for, the vanilla made it all the way to Scotland.

I have had some great times with my Mexican vanilla and will definitely miss it in my kitchen. I might just have to make a trip to Mexico for some...it would definitely be worth it.

But, after writing this, I would much rather make a trip to California to make more memories with American family. In fact, I would love to be booking a one-way ticket. Praying that this will happen soon.