Sisters.

So, yet again it has been forever since I have blogged. I am going to try and find time this week to update my blog on the past month.

Thought I would leave you with a recent photo of my sister and I after a girly dinner we had a couple of weeks ago. We both have different hair styles just now. I LOVE my sister's new hair, I think she looks great! It makes me want to get my hair cut short again but I am determined to grow it longer. I think that this photo shows how similar me and my sister look, but also how completely different we look. I am so pale and she has a lovely tan. I have lighter hair, and she has much darker. But we do have the same blue eyes

Hair.

I am hoping to get a hair appointment next week. My hair is a mess, and it is getting long. I am trying to grow it out but I haven't had anything done to it since last November! It is needed some attention and is really feeling neglected. Below is a recent photo of me, just so you can see hoe long my hair is getting it. I can tie it up! It has been at least 4 years since I have been able to do this, I was still in High School! So I am enjoying it, but it is still a mess! Hopefully next week I can show you my new hair style and my hair will feel loved again.

Be still.

Tonight at work something so lovely happened, and something that I have never seen in the 4 months that I have worked there. One of the groups said grace. I was serving them their starters and when I came back to the table saw that they all had their heads bowed and were quiet. To begin with I thought they were all looking at their food, but they didn't all have meals so I soon realised that it wasn't that. Then one of the men said grace. It brought a smile to my face and a tear to my eye. It was just so lovely to see over here, it's not something that you really see when you are eating out in this country. It is always so busy at work and everyone is rushing around so it was just lovely to see these guests having a moment of still and thank the Lord.

"Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth"

Psalm46:10

i carry your heart with me ♥ by E.E.Cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

(this is a photo I took of a beautiful ornament that my lovely American family gave me titled, Kept forever in the heart)

On my heart. ♥

One of the many lovely book that I got for my Birthday was a book titled Praying God's Will on your life by Stormie Omartian. I am really enjoying reading it and applying it to my life. It is very fitting to everything that I am going through just now. So it is very encouraging to have a book that can guide my prayers. I often struggle to hand everything over to God and it is often the last thing that I do in a situation. I am slowly learning to look to God in every situation as He is the only one who has control over every aspect of my life. At the end of each chapter there is a prayer. This was today's prayer:

God I acknowledge You as Lord over every are of my life this day. Help me walk in Your perfect will in all that I do and everything that I say.

I am always aware of trying to be a good witness, and find this difficult at times. It is much easier to go join in with everything that is going on around you but MUCH harder to not join in. I carry a card round with me in my purse that I got from my lovely American family.

The GROW Principle.

G: Does it glorify God? (1 Cor.10:31)

R: Is it right? (2 Cor. 8:21)

O: Is an act of obedience involved? (John 14:21)

W: Does it violate my witness? (1 Peter. 2:11-12)

I have looked at this card SO often that it is now instilled in me. When I am making any decisions, big or small, I always come back to this. It has really helped and guided me through the years. I have Tim and Margie to thank for this. I have them to thank for a lot of things, I don't even know where to start. I might have to save this for another blog.
Well, I just wanted to share with you what was on my heart right now. Time for bed.

Birthday weekend.

It has been over a month since I celebrated my birthday and I'm not really sure why I didn't blog earlier about this! Anyways, here I am doing it just now. :)
I had a wonderful weekend celebrating with my friends and family. I made a lovely meal to have with my sister and a close friend of ours. It was lovely. Then we met a few more of my dear friends and new friends of mine from work. I had a great time and was so glad that so many of my lovely friends were able to make it. It meant a lot to me.

The sun was shining brightly on my birthday and it was a beautiful day. My sister and friend stayed over with me and we had breakfast and opened presents together. I felt very spoilt, and very loved. My sister and I enjoyed a very lazy day together in the sun. We had a little picnic in the garden and laughed as we listened to my iPod on shuffle. Christmas songs kept coming on but neither one of us could be bothered to go and change it!

That evening we had a lovely Birthday meal together with my whole family. My Granny and Aunty made it aswell! We went to Kenmore Hotel and the meal was just delicious - everyone enjoyed it which is very unusual for our family! Take a look at some of the meals in the photos.

My lovely weekend was topped off with a phone call from my best friend in America, Nikki! I miss her a lot and never really realise how much I do until I hear her voice and get to chat with her. I am looking forward to the day that we live in the same country! A couple of weeks after my birthday I received a package from my American family and it was just lovely. It made me cry. The package was full of cards from different people over there and it really touched me. I love the dearly, and miss them too. One day we will celebrate birthdays together. I got some wonderful books for my birthday but I still have to get round to reading all of them! For the longest time I have been looking for a good book to read, then my birthday comes along and I have too many choices now!

My 21st Birthday was probably one of my favourite birthdays! Thank you to everyone that made it so special. I love you! Now, take a look at some of the photos that were taken over the coarse of the weekend!

Psalm 5:11-12 ♥

"But let all who take refuge in you be glad;

let them ever sing for joy.

Spread your protection over them,

that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous;

you surround them with your favor as with a shield."