Showing posts with label missionary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label missionary. Show all posts

Thursday, November 1, 2018

Hello November

Hi friends,

It's been raining heavily for much of the past week so I continue with my decluttering. Actually I haven't been decluttering so much as I've been posting my decluttered things for giveaway and arranging for people to pick things up. I took the photo of the sky and trees a few days before Halloween just before the heavy rains started. I love the colour of the leaves and the blue of the sky peeking out above the clouds.


I've been busy making my crocheted afghans and trying to finish the ones I'm gifting. My hope is to find time to make a few others for possible sale but we shall see how things go.  The berry coloured afghan is finished but I must still weave in the loose ends before it will be ready for gifting.  I tried hard to get a photo without shadows but it is difficult getting indoor shots at this time of year.


I also finished the other afghan I shared in my last post (the gray and gold one below) but didn't take a photo of the finished project yet.  The third afghan I am currently making is the same colour way as the gray and gold. I must  have been getting too tired as I ended up ripping out almost one third of it today. Actually it is the 3rd rip out I've done in 2 days due to mistakes I didn't like.  I don't usually make a lot of crochet errors but lately haven't been getting enough sleep.  I really love to crochet. I find it very relaxing and gives my hands something to do during long, dark, rainy nights.


Last week I was decluttering and this week I was posting stuff for giveaway and communicating with people to arrange pick up times.  The big balls of yarn I gave to a missionary ladies group that I've donated to before. they have a large group of industrious woman who are always making things and sending them abroad to Asia and Africa.  I love knowing that things will be put to good use and benefit others.

In future I will not be buying so much yarn in advance of actually needing to use it.  I thought I was saving money by buying yarn on sale but it takes too much room to store and if I haven't used it in 3 years then it's not likely going to be used soon.  My new approach is to buy one or two skeins at a time for projects I am currently working on though I also still have a stash of smaller skeins in a few colour ways. You will likely see some of them on this blog in a future project/s.

 

The photos below show other things I was able to give to others. After buying velvet hangers for my closet I had 70+ plastic hangers in a variety of colours to give away. Someone gladly took them off of my hands. I also had various tops and jeans, shower curtain and bath mat and an artificial Christmas tree (not in the photo) to give away.  I'm still waiting for someone to arrange to pick up a few smaller items at a mutually convenient time.



I meant to share the next photo long ago. I took it a year ago in October down at the English Bay sea wall on one of my walks. I stopped to buy a coffee and saw this gentle, old dog quietly waiting for his master.  He was very sweet.

 



I took a photo of the ducks down at the same beach. I like the way the sun is shining on the water.


A week ago Friday I went to dinner with two friends, one is a missionary to Taiwan.   It was really nice to chat with Cindy and find out more about her life and work in Taiwan. She has already worked in Uganda, the Philippines and Canada's far north. She's spent the majority of her time in Taiwan and it is her home now. She loves the people. I still remember the day we prayed for her at my former church as she was preparing to leave for Taiwan. I haven't seen her in many years and we had a good catch up.


Here is a photo of what the day looked like early evening Thursday on the first day of November.  We have a rain warning starting around dinner time tonight and ending Saturday morning.  As you can see by the photo, my plans to clean the garden up at the end of September never came to fruition. It's still a job I have to do and will try to do in the next little while in preparation for the winter months.



Good weather for one of my other main hobbies, reading.
Here are my current reads.






I found this November inspirational verse on line.
 

It will be  a good reminder for me to remain positive as we head into my least favourite time of year weather wise.


Here's to November.
May you have a blessed and adventurous one.

Thank you for visiting :-)

Joining in with




and

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Valentine's Day & Updates on Missions

Hello friends,

I hope you are doing well.

Photo Credit: Mine ~ Sunset from downtown Vancouver hotel one summer night

I am keeping busy and still behind schedule. So many things to do but not much get up and go to do them. I will get there just a bit slowly it seems.

I wanted to thank those of you who prayed and those of you who gave to help the young Kenyan mother who lost her baby at 31 weeks. If you are new to my blog or haven't visited in awhile, you may read the story here.  A few blogging friends and I have been trying to help the young mom get out of hospital. Other friends in Kenya have also held two fundraisers but the mom remains in hospital.

Yes! She is still there. In Kenya you are not allowed to leave hospitals until you have fully cleared the bills. This bill was very high and we haven't quite managed to clear it.  But it is much closer than it was to being cleared and fortunately for this humble family they have had outside support as well as community support. I'm sure it makes the load of the hardship a little less heavy.

Please continue to say a prayer for this mother and her young family. As you can imagine, it isn't good to have had to be in hospital all this time.  She should be with her family members all of whom live two hours away. She has a husband and another child who need her and they need to grieve together as a family. Sadly, she was in hospital when her unborn child was released for burial.

I had another friend contact me last night for prayer. His mother-in-law (MIL) went missing when she went to try and seek medical help as she wasn't feeling very well. I think she was probably a bit delirious and lost her way somehow. My friend  and his wife live several hours away from this woman and her husband. So I prayed and they prayed. Thank God the MIL was found today.  She is now in hospital being treated for typhoid. Typhoid is a very serious disease and hopefully she will fully recover with the help of medicine.

Today many around the world are celebrating Valentine's Day. I hope you all have a blessed day and that you a get an opportunity to show your loved ones (or they you) just how much they mean to you.

A life worth living is one filled with faith, hope and love.

We never know exactly how long we have left here on earth or what tomorrow holds. 

Today we may have abundance and tomorrow we may have lack. 

Today we may have beautiful shelter.  Tomorrow we may lose our home due to man made or natural disaster. 

Today we may have health but tomorrow we may get the dreaded news that we are sick.

Today we may have a wonderful job.  Tomorrow we might be redundant and given the "pink slip".

Today we may have loved ones all around us. Tomorrow something might happen to one of  us.

Today we may enjoy reading, writing or crafting. Tomorrow we may lose our sight.

Today we may enjoy hearing and watching television, talking on the phone, listening to music. Tomorrow we may lose our hearing.

Graphic credit: Lovely & Beautiful

Today we might have hope and opportunities, something to give us faith in the future and love in the meantime. Tomorrow these might not be present.

Today you may be able to share your good abundance with others. Tomorrow you may need them to share their abundance with you.

~~~~~~


Even a bag of seeds is so precious.  Especially to a small, barefoot child a half a world away who has never had a chance to go to school, who sleeps on a dirt floor, who doesn't know the security of clean water to drink, or a meal every day to fill his empty belly.

He clutches tightly to this donated bag of fertilizer that his mother will plant in hopes of keeping her children fed.

Photo Credit ~ Jonah, Missions of Hope, Kenya

Let's live a  life of gratitude daily for the things many of us take for granted.
If you are reading this, or know how to read, you are one of the many blessed of the world's people.

"Sympathy is no substitute for action."~ Dr. David Livingstone, missionary to Africa


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