This is going to be a very quick post. I have lots to say about my weekend/week full of blessings.
Today's post is going to be some fun photos taken this morning at work. Today was my first day back after 6 wonderful days off. I usually have an attitude when I am going back to work after time off. I always pray that I will forget all the anxieties that I associate with work. I have to admit that this time I was really looking forward to seeing my colleagues. They definitely encouraged me with messages while I was away, telling me how much they missed me! I am sure that they are full of it but they definitely made this girl smile!
Anyhoooo...As you well know I was off on Friday the 29th, enjoying the beautiful Royal Wedding. I was a little (and when I say little, I really mean little) bit upset that I wasn't working because I knew that there would be a great atmosphere and that they were going to be dressed up. I cycle to work and this morning when I was setting my bike down I thought there was some creepy guy watching me. This was no creepy guy. In fact it was HRH Prince William. Yes, that's right.
Alright, so he was there with Catherine too. Oh, and they were actually cardboard. But other than that I was pretty excited that the Royals were waiting for me at work.
The Queen was there too! It was a family affair really. You might find this hard to believe, but that is in fact me behind a mask. I know, it's pretty realistic! (wink, wink!!)
Who knew that the Queen had moves like that?
She is just so proud of her grandson.
So this morning I had a really fun morning. The Lord really blessed me with friends who had no trouble putting a smile on my face. After we finished work I stayed for 2 hours chatting to the Queen, otherwise known as Abbie.
Today I am thankful for friends and all the joy that they bring!
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:4-7
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.
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.
Today I got to chat with one of my best friends. We planned our Skype date yesterday and I was looking forward to it all day. Our conversations usually involve lots of laughing. Today there was laughing but we were having more of a grown up conversation. It has been a couple of weeks since we have spoken so we had too much to catch up on. For a while we would talk everyday so we would always be up to date on everything going on in each other's lives. Lately I haven't been calling because I am working late and then too tired, or time differences don't work out (my dear friend lives in California, while I live in Scotland. Hopefully soon we will be in the same country. Pray.)
It is so easy to get so caught up in all the busyness that life brings. I am constantly telling myself that there is not enough time to do all the things that I had hoped to do with my day. I am really bad for thinking...I'm far too tired to do anything...I'll just sit down for a minute..hour... This is not cool.
I love the song Ain't No Mountain High Enough. I enjoy singing this song at the top of my lungs..maybe with the hope that all the people I love will hear it and know that I am talking about them.
If you need me, call me
No matter where you are
No matter how far
Just call my name
I'll be there in a hurry
You don't have to worry - Eh, I mean this.
I am gonna change my attitude. I am gonna call you more often, friends. I am gonna give you more of my time.
Because I love you.
p.s. And how can I resist seeing this face more often?
Yesterday I was feeling a little bit low. I had such a great time last week with my wonderful friend and I am already missing her. This special time with her made me miss other people that are so dear to me. Today I woke up to a few different emails/messages from my best friends. YES. Thank you Lord! It surely added some sunshine to my rainy day in Scotland. What a blessing friends are. I am so thankful for them.
"I thank my God every time I remember you"
Philippians1:3 ♥
- I really do!
p.s. I will be back tomorrow with something (hopefully) more interesting..!
This week I had a very unplanned visit with one of my best friends, Laura. This girl is seriously one of the greatest people I know. She totally challenges me to be a better person. Everything she does is for someone else, she never thinks of herself. She is definitely the best listener I know, when I am rambling on about everything and nothing she sits there quietly taking it all in and getting ready to pass on some of her wisdom. She is awesome.
So that's Laura. I went down to spend the night with her on Tuesday. It had been a over 6 months since I had seen her. That is just ridiculous. That will never happen again. We both barely took breath for the first hour trying to fill each other in what's been going on. We sat for probably 6 hours talking and talking and talking. It was just what I needed. We then watched a movie...let me think what it was called...A thing Called Love..maybe? It had a bunch of country music in it, which and love, and also Dermot Mulroney, who I also love! Then she brought in all her karaoke DVDs. Oh my goodness, we laughed. We both love to sing, Laura is an amazing singer..me, not so much! We both tend to be very theatrical with our karaoke performances. One day I will remember to take my camera. Then she whipped out her guitar and we sang a few praise songs. We used to do this every week when I lived closer to her. I definitely missed this. It was probably 3am before we finally decided that we had probably rehearsed enough for our big show (ha) and we hit the hay.
Wednesday was pretty much filled with more of the same, except me had a wee nap thrown in their somewhere. I was (very easily) persauded to stay an extra night, so that I could be deprived of sleep some more! Another friend came over and had dinner with us which was lovely. We were then going to an open-mic night at a wee bar in town. Laura has gone there a few times because she is trying to build her confidence so she will be able to perform more easily in front of people. It is a great place to do it because it is not too big so there are not too many people. The guy that runs it is lovely and really makes everyone feel welcome. It was lovely because another guy, Stuart, that we used to go to Church with was there performing too. He is awesome. Him and his wife were such an encouragement to me. He is a phenomenal musician. I love listening to him sing. Laura and Stuart were definitely the best performers there. I may be a bit bias, but I am right! We really enjoyed ourselves, lots of laughing. When we got back to Laura's flat we had a wee dance with Paolo Nutini. Now when I say that we dancing with Paolo Nutini what I really mean is we put on his CD and danced our socks off in her living room. It was awesome.
I was really sad to say good-bye to my lovely friend. But I am already looking forward to going back to visit her again soon. Even though it had been so long since we had seen each other it felt like just the other day. She was an answer to a prayer of mine and I thank the LORD for her. I learn so much from her and she is a joy to be around. There are some people you know you are going to be stuck with for the rest of your life. I am SO thankful that I am going to be stuck with this wonderful friend!
I have put in a link for Mr Nutini's song Pencil Full of Lead. I am sure this will make you dance...or at the very least get your foot a tapping! Enjoy!
p.s. can you believe that I am posting my second post in one day? Well technically it might be Saturday now so I might not be quite as good as I think I am.
I know already did a post with the title "NEW year"..but I really didn't talk about 2011 at all. So here it is. I am excited for this year. I believe that it will hold many changes and challenges and I so ready for this. Last year I was so sure that I would be moving to California at some point during the year. This year I know that I will be moving to California, but I also know that this will be in God's time NOT mine. So maybe not even this year (I am praying that it is this year though) I am very encouraged by the fact that this is bigger than me and that there are many people praying about this with me. You can pray with us if you like? ♥
I am preparing myself to say good-bye to many dear friends, people that have been around me my whole life. This makes me a little bit sad. But I know a lot about being far away from friends and still being close to them. I am not worried about losing touch with friends. I am worried about missing people, also something that I know a lot about. But aswell as saying farewell I will be saying a huge HELLO to my American family. And this I am excited about. When I first went to California in 2004 the LORD planted something sweet in my heart, in 2006 I said to my dear friend, Nikki, that one day I would be living over there and in 2009 the LORD told me it was time to get moving!
So really, I don't know what 2011 is going to hold. But I do know who's hands it is in and this fills be with confidence!
I got baptised when I was in California in 2009. Another dear friend of mine, Karen, read out the bible verse I chose. I should do a post on my baptism, it was definitely the LORD's decision. Anyway, the verse that I chose was Psalm 51:10
"Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me."
This is still my prayer.
One things for sure, in 2011 I will be praising the LORD.
Happy New Year...a bit late! I guess I am still in shock that it is now 2011. WOW.
I have actually been off work and had lots of time on my hands. I have loved it. I have watched movies, spent precious time with my family, baked (of course!), spent hours talked to friends who are further away and had some much needed rest. There have been many times that I have sat down to post something on here but, as you can see, I am only now getting round to it.
A little reflection on 2010. In some ways this has been a crazy year for me. This time last year I was such a horrible mess. Probably not the best way to put. If you remember back to them I had just quit my job with the intention of pursuing what I believed to be the LORD's plan for me. At that point I hadn't really, completely thought things through I was just thankful to get out of a job and course that was not right for me and that was making me almost ill with worry. But I had not given a thought to where I would get a job. I remember meeting with my friend at the time and she encouraged me with Matthew 14:22-33. I had to step out of the boat with 2 feet and put my trust in the LORD.
Early in January I was still jobless, and getting a bit worried about it to be honest. Of course, the LORD provided a job for me that was 5 minutes from my mums house. I was SO thankful for this job. I think I cried for probably the first week I worked there. But it was a new job and different to anything I had ever done so I fully put it down to that! It has turned out to be a great job for me and I have made many friends there.
It has been a year of a lot of learning for me. Putting my trust in the LORD completely has been the best thing for me and I totally take comfort in knowing that He already has the perfect plan worked out for me. I have learnt to work on the LORD's terms, and not mine. In MY plan I would be in California right now. I have learnt that the LORD will work everything out, and if this is His will then He will work it all out in His time, not mine. That has been the biggest learning curve for me.
I was able to spend the summer with my Californian family. I really felt the LORD's hand over the whole trip. If you have read this before you will know that I went with the lovely Anna. She stayed for 2 weeks and I stayed on for longer. When I was booking the tickets my return date seemed to just come from nowhere, but I believe that the LORD guided me to that date. There were a string of events that all took place after Anna had left, even on the way to the airport with her, that I believe that LORD had planned. If I had of gone home with her then I would have probably missed out on the events that took place after this. What a blessing. The LORD definitely confirmed last summer where He wanted me to be and I have, with the help of many great people, been working on getting there ever since.
Honestly, I feel like I have been rolling down hill since then. Time has just flown by. I am soo thankful for this year and all the experiences that have come with it.
It seriously looks so beautiful just now! I went for a drive today and the sun was shining and the leaves are golden. Pretty breathtaking. Tomorrow I am going to try and get out to take some photos before it all fades away. Last year I remember thinking how wonderful this season is and loved walking to work all wrapped up and drinking in the Autumn colours. Then we had a crazy, wild, windy couple of days and there were no shining golds anymore. The worst part was I had been telling myself to take photos for weeks and I missed it. So I don't want to miss it again this year.
A lovely girl I work with is expecting a baby. It was completely a shock. Somehow there are only 3 weeks to go, so we are having a baby shower on Wednesday. It should be a fun day of friends, baking, games and laughs. I will take photos. Tomorrow I will be baking away in the kitchen. Say a little prayer for Jenny and her wee baby boy who will be with us soon! Hopefully I will have all sorts of photos for you next time I blog. :)
I am finally finding time to sit down and blog about my summer. Sorry it has taken me so so long. It was a pretty exciting summer filled with fun, friends and family.
The first time I went to California was way back in 2004 with my sister. We were invited by friends we met at a wedding in Scotland. Long story short, we met a lovely couple there who invited my sister and I to spend the summer with them. We were very excited about the opportunity to go over there having loved the time that we got to spend with them while they were here. So off we went, I was 15 and my sister was 17. We all hit it off straight away and had a wonderful summer together. The last week we were there we went to their Church Beach Camp. My sister and I were both really, really dreading going to this camp. We had no idea what it was going to be like and didn't really know anyone that was going to be there. Little did I know that this would be a life changing week with lots of learning. It was so hard to leave them when we came back to Scotland. We didn't really know if we would see each other again.
We shared with our Church what we had experienced that summer. We were able to show them the Beach Camp baptism video. This really moved them and they were encouraged by this. We wanted more kids from Scotland to be able to experience what we had. So we pitched this idea to the Elder board and they loved the idea. The Church were happy to pay for the flights for the kids to get over there. In 2006 we were all set to go over, myself and another guy who attended our Church. At the last minute her pulled out so I went over by myself again. Of course, I had another great summer there.
I come from a small Church so for the next few years there really wasn't any kids that were old enough to go over. Until last year, 2009. My baby brother was now 16 and I thought it would be great for him to experience this before he finished school. And a close friend of mine was also in her final year of school. So we got ourselves oganised to all go over. I was so excited that finally I was going to be bringing more students over with me. It was a wonderful summer. They both learnt a lot and got to share their summer with two wonderful families who fell in love with both of them. I was able to go along to Beach Camp with them and help with the childcare there.
This year we were fortunate enough to send another student over again this year. I went over with her and was able to go along to Beach Camp with her. Anna is such a beautiful young girl, inside and out, and it was a real joy to have her there this year. She has a such a sweet spirit about her.
This year I was blessed with a lovely group of girls. They are all such sweet girls and loved having the opportunity to spend each evening with them at Beach Camp.
This summer I was so happy to spend more time with my very special friend. It is very hard being so far away from someone the is so dear to me but I am very thankful for the friendship that we do have. I have so much fun with this lady. She is such a blessing. Love you, boo.
Every year that I return to California I always make new friends. This year was no exception. I was lucky enough to share a tent with this girl as well as LOTS of laughs. She is a close friend of my lovely boo so we were sure to have a great time together. And we certainly did. The Lord definitely blesses us through friendships, and that is exactly what He did this summer. We had a lot of fun together this summer. I miss seeing these lovely faces each day.
For some reason I seem to have NO photos of my dear family over there, The Allens. They know how much they mean to me. They are famly for sure. I was blessed with many laughs, long talks, hugs, grandkids, "taking the mic", delicious meals, and even more special memories made. I love you dearly and miss you lots.
I will leave you with just a taste of what it is like when Karen and I are together. Lots of faces that look like this.
"Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart." Philippians 1:3-4
