Getting Started on the Right Foot

Hi friends and fellow bloggers,

I've been silent for awhile. That isn't like  me. But everything is okay. I have just been very busy trying to get organized for the new year so I can get started on the right foot. Also, to be honest, I haven't felt up to blogging. I feel I have too much to say and I have no idea where to begin. So I simply stayed quiet for a few days so I could focus on some other tasks.

Some of you know that last year I began to work on a number of projects after being sick for several years and not being able to do too much. I haven't much experience with written goals but in the last two years or so I've found it is one way to help me keep on track and try to focus on those things that are most important to me on those days when I actually feel up to doing things.

I shared my goals for the first time here on the blog in  2010 and I'm happy to report that I was able to accomplish almost everything on my list over the course of the year. At the same time, I stated in early 2010 that due to my illness,  I was not going to pressure myself with deadlines for accomplishing my goals in 2010.  Whatever didn't get done in 2010 would simply be carried over to the next year.  I have now identified my goals for 2011 and posted them.  But again, I am not putting pressure on myself to reach all of my goals. I will do what I can and carry over anything left undone to the next year and so on.

I have a huge decluttering project that has been underway for some time. I do make progress on it from time to time but there is still much more to be done. This is really a project in learning to live more simply and scaling back on the material things so that I can focus my time and energy on things that are more important to me. Unfortunately, this isn't as easily achievable for me as it is for some people because I am a pack rat at heart.

I do tend to accumulate things and I have this idea when I come across something that I can always read it later, use it later or even give it to someone who needs it.   Often however these things end up collecting dust and becoming clutter. I know it will take time to achieve my goal of decluttering and simplifying but I am sure it will happen if I continue to plug away at it. One thing that motivates me in this area is the fact that my mom is also a clutter bug but unlike me she has never really organized her clutter. Now that she is too sick and disabled to do anything for herself, I find myself having to attend to it for her and this has been a huge burden on me. Doing so however has forced me to be ruthless in getting rid of things and has also helped me to think about being ruthless in streamlining my own possessions.

Some of the giveaway bags.

Just before the world rang in the New Year I began working in earnest on my big decluttering project. I cleaned out my dresser drawers and my closets and threw away a garbage bag of tattered clothes/  I also put together 4 large shopping bags of clothes for give away and  went through several boxes and bags that hadn't been unpacked since the fire we had over a year ago.  I was able to shred and discard so much of it. I also made some progress in cleaning the master bathroom and finding some spaces for the overflow of bags/suitcases I have in my bedroom.

One of my cleaned out drawers. This one houses summer shirts & t-shirts.

In the main living area, the slipcovers for the sofa and arm chair were washed and mended.  They look much better now. I moved my armchair from the window wall so I could put my stationary bike in its place. I also moved my weights closer to my bike and found a space for my Swiss ball and yoga mat in the corner of the living room.  This means I will use my living room for a work out room.  Hopefully this will help me be more consistent about working out, getting healthy and losing weight as I spend much of my time in this room. So far I have managed to do my cardio exercise every day of the new year. I am keeping things simple and starting off with 20-30 minutes daily on the bike and hope to do resistance training every other day or so. The idea is that once I feel a bit stronger and have more endurance I can increase my exercise time. I also hope to get back to my swimming lessons which were at a bit of a standstill due to family responsibilities, Christmas and travel.

I can watch TV from this perch. Hopefully that will help keep me consistent with the bike.

I am also determined to make more time this year for bible study and have been researching new study aids and bibles. If any of you have recommendations (along with reasons for your recommendations) please send them my way.

My bible is King James Version.

In terms of my hobbies, I haven't had so much time for them. I am just trying to get my books out of nooks and crannies and place them in readily accessible places. I am talking here of books that don't fit onto my crowded bookshelves. These days I mostly buy second hand books and I borrow books whenever I can. That way when I have finished reading them I can pass them along without feeling any reluctance. Of course I return borrowed books to my friends.

Recently, I finished reading Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky and am currently reading a number of other books at the same time, including Véra by Stacy Schiff and A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth.   A Suitable Boy is a book I started a long time ago but put aside because it was packed away after the fire. I am happy to begin reading it again but have decided to start once more from the beginning to enjoy it more fully.  Véra .is about Véra Nabokov; the wife, muse and translator of Vladimir Nabokov who translated Dostoevsky into English.  Vladimir Nabokov is also the author of the controversial book and movie of the same name, Lolita. I am finding that I am learning a lot about both Nabokovs through the book about Véra.

Right now I have two 6 foot high bookshelves which are full of books and there is an overflow of books in the living room and bedroom. When I buy books at full price, I tend to want to keep them for later reading and that is why I have altogether too many books. My goal is to scale back my books as I read them and give them away so that I never have more books than will fit on my two bookshelves.  Perhaps when I get to that point I can make a new goal to scale back even more.  That would be ideal.

As far as other hobbies go I intend to continue to make doilies, experiment with embroidery, make a garment or two for my mom and continue to knit.  Hopefully I can perfect my slipper making ability as well as learn how to make basic sweaters.

Early knitting projects.

Rounding out my goals for the year are plans to save for emergencies and wants, pay down debt and get control of my spending. This is no small task as most of you can imagine. I did make significant progress on similar goals over the past year or two and I'm sure I will continue to do so in 2011. I also have plans for being a good sponsor mom to my two boys in Kenya. I will be writing them letters and sending little things to them in the mail. In addition,  I have some small projects I am involved in in Kenya as my desire is to help widows and orphans in a few villages.  Of course I also have family here at home that I need to engage with and help in various ways. One of those ways is helping my mom to get settled in the nursing home when her room becomes available. In talking to the home today it sounds like they are taking all the right steps in readiness for mom's arrival. It is difficult to say exactly when the move will happen but my hunch is that it could be very soon.

As you can see things have been busy for  me as I gear up to make the most of 2011 and get things started on the right foot.  I must say I am looking forward to 2011 and I pray that you and your household are also looking forward to 2011 and making new goals and plans.

Blessings to you and your household as you embark on 2011. 

May it hold everything you seek.

Happy New Year 2011

How are you Spending Christmas?

Hello blogging friends,

I am sending you Merry Christmas wishes and praying you are having a good time so far for the holidays. I myself am visiting with my family and will shortly begin to prepare our traditional breakfast waffles before putting in the bird for the dinner later in the day. We are not extravagant in our meal as we once were when my mother was well and able to prepare food. She was well known for hosting large dinners annually for the relatives. It was a bit of an open house at our home every year as children growing up. We always had many drop in guests on Thanksgiving Day, Easter, Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

Those days may be gone but mom still likes to host the gathering at her home with me doing the preparations and cooking. I am able to help her in this way to keep her connection as strong as she can as our family is no longer very large and we live far from most relatives.

I am grateful I can provide this support to my family at these special times of the year. This year will be somewhat poignant as mom is not well and she will go into a nursing home in order to get more daily support and overall help.

One of my own personal traditions is remembering those who are not able to have a Christmas full of food, gifts and goodies. I have several places where I like to help a bit and bring some cheer. Recently I took a visit to Kenya. There I distributed some small food items to widows in several villages. You would not believe how HAPPY they were. It warmed my heart so much. I wish I could have done a lot more for these precious people.

Here are a few photos of that special day.

Being led into one of the village homes by the ladies.

Greetings are being made as we settle into the cooking hut.

A widow leads us in prayer.

Waiting for the program to begin.  I don't have all my photos uploaded yet of all the day's activities.  I wish I had one for you now showing the actual food distribution. But I will add more photos later when I get back to  my own home.  These are some of the widows and orphans who were assembled.

The following photos were added December 28, 2010

The widows speak.

A local leader who supports the widows self-help group. He acted as my translator.

The chairwoman of the widow's group smiles broadly after receiving her gift of food.

The secretary of the women's group receives her food.

Widows and orphans gather around and sing a song of happiness during the food distribution.

See the smiles. I was told that they were singing about how God is good and had not forgotten the widows at this time of Christmas.

Here the widows pack up the food and children and head home. Some of them headed to the food that had been prepared for us.

It was a wonderful day there in the village near Kericho, Kenya. I would like to go back again and do more of this kind of work as God enables and blesses me. This distribution of food came about because of the Jiko Stove Project I was working on. You can read more about the project here.

  I'd love to know how you are spending your Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas to each of you. May you find a special day wherever you are. 

If you are alone, reach out to someone else or volunteer your time to help someone in need if you are able and help to spread the season's cheer. 
God bless you all.

I'm Back to Wish You a Merry Christmas

Welcome to Rhonda who became my 51st follower.

 

After a long break from blogging I'm happy to pop in and say "hello" and "Merry Christmas" to my readers. I  did not plan on being away so long and meant to post some blogs while I was on holiday in Kenya.  However, I had limited time for blogging as  most of you will understand. Then when I did have time to blog, the power did not cooperate.

I've been home for a week now.  I had hoped to log on and blog a bit sooner but despite taking two cameras and three memory cards with me on holiday,  I had no access to photos!  After several false starts to recover the photos, I did at last find a reasonable digital photo recovery program and have recovered at least half of my photos.  I lost a second memory card,and so those images will forever be lost to me.

If any of you ever find yourself in a similar situation, I can recommend the reasonably priced "Digital Photo Recovery (DPR)" software. It allows you to download a demo program before you purchase and enables you to preview how many of your photos are recoverable. Also the recovery program doesn't modify or overwrite your original data. I tried several free programs (File Scavenger, Recuver and some others), including those with demo capabilities before purchasing DRP software.  None of the other programs recovered anywhere near the photos I had taken.  Even the DPR program did not recover many of my  photos but enough were saved to make me feel that some of my holiday memories were captured.  Now enough about photo recovery.

The main purpose of this post was to say "I'm back" and "I missed blogging - a little". But mostly I wanted to send you the very warmest wishes of the Christmas season.

This tree is located in Schipol Airport, Amsterdam. I like the theme of red and gold decorations.

An African Christmas card.

May you all have a safe and blessed Christmas season.

Internally Displaced People in Mau Forest, Kenya

Friends, 

You know my heart is with the Kenyan people. Recently one of my friends was part of an initiative to bring humanitarian relief to the over 4000 Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) who currently live in the Mau Forest. These people have nothing, absolutely nothing and you can see the destitution and hardship written all over their faces. 

Please, I ask you to read this report with a prayerful heart as to what you can possibly do to help them, especially as we near this season of Christmas. God bless you.  Now here is the post from my friend. You can also read it directly on his blog here.  You can also read more about the conditions of the IDPs here.  The situation is dire as the people have been evicted from the forest but they have no where to go.
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We still have many Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Kenya. I am just hoping this will be a thing of the past soon, but the challenges are still there for all to see.

It is foggy as we head into the Mau Forest IDP camp.

 I guess we need a marshal plan to end this kind of disaster.

Team leaders gather and speak to the people.

There are over 4000 people in this camp. They need a permanent solution soonest. Please pray for them.

Every face in this next series of photos tells a story of the hardships these people face.

Look how frightened and uncertain this young girl looks. Young children should be free from hunger, homelessness, illness and uncertainty. You can be a part of putting a smile back on this young girl's face by helping to ensure she gets all of these necessities of life.

This man has lived a long life. He should now be enjoying his later years with dignity and certainty of food and housing.  Just think about how he feels about now being landless and unable to work and provide for himself and his loved ones.

In this entire crowd of mostly women you can see the hardships of life etched on every face.  Some of these women are young and some are old but they are all living a very hard life with few people to care about what happens to them.

Hardship is written on his countenance.

Continue to support us as we meet the needs of these dear ones as we did this week. We had a lot of contributions from the doctors and VCT counsellors who helped us in providing medical services and testing the folks here.

Hospital help with doctors and medicines was a huge part of the day's help for the IDPs.

Some medical supplies.

Food relief.

Medical help.

IDP patients in the medical tent.

People line up for medicine.

What a challenge it was! Especially driving on the roads. But we did really love this great work of service to help the Mau IDPs. 

The roads are really difficult to traverse. There is thick mud everywhere. You need a really good four wheel drive.

Me with the IDP camp and humanitarian relief effort in background. It was touching to help these people. Will you join with us?  I hope to hear from you.

Enjoy the pics.
God bless,

Scenic Sunday ~ November 14, 2010

I love this photo. I took it from my hotel balcony in downtown Vancouver. I think it almost looks like a painting.

For more Scenic Sundays, click here.

Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day.  It's easy to remember the time we are to take time to remember; that is, the eleventh day of the eleventh month at the eleventh hour, or November 11th at 11:00 a.m.

I am so grateful to the veterans that fought and died and those who fought and lived to tell the tale. They will forever have a place of gratitude and remembrance in my heart. Let us never forget their sacrifices.

When I was in grade school, our school used to broadcast a program over the public address system every Remembrance Day.  Our teacher would place a cross at the front of the classroom. On top of the cross she would place a soldier's helmet and some poppies.  She would read from soldier's war journals to give us a sense of what the soldiers were dealing with on the battlefield.  The principal would play a narration of the famous poem by John McCrae for the entire school and we would all stand in our respective classrooms for a minute of silence and the playing of the bugle call.  I believe the bugle call played was  "Taps" though am not 100% certain.

The poem "In Flanders Fields" has always touched me. I am sharing it with you now in the hopes it touches you too. Right now there are many on the battlefields. Let us remember them and those that have gone before so that we can live in a free land.

In Flanders Fields

By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)

Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Photo info: Poppies on the Downs at Winton, near Alfriston by Rosie Hibbs, from http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/leisureandtourism/pictures/poppies.htm