Holidays

Since I was young I have always wanted to travel the world and see different places. So far on my list of countries I have visited there is: Menora, Gran Canaria, Greece, Dublin, South Africa and Russia. Now, I can tick off Estonia. My friends who moved to Russia to plant a church in 2008 have now hopped across to Tallinn the capital of Estonia. So I booked some tickets to come and visit them. 

One part of Tallinn is very old (hence the name Old Town) and quite medieval, with cobbled streets, places lit only by candle light and people around dressed in traditional medieval clothes. The other part is new, full of hotels, skyscrapers and busy roads. 

My friends live very near to the Old Town. I love it. It's full of character and personality. My favourite place in the Old Town is this...... 

.....a tiny little coffee shop.  Lit by very dim lights and candles. We put our feet up and enjoyed a hot chocolate which had real chocolate melted in the middle ... One word ... Amazing. 

It's feeling very Christmassy here, the Christmas markets opened on Saturday and the atmosphere was great. Children on stage were singing Christmas songs in Estonian and in English, the smell of mulled wine and Estonian food was in the air and there were stalls full of goods. It was magical.

Engagement Story

         

On April 1st 2012 after nearly two months of dating me and Dan officially became a couple. 

Like a number of Christian couples we knew pretty early on that we wanted to marry each other but it was just a case of when. We had only been "going out" for a month or so and for me, I felt that next year was too soon but the year after was too long away. So we decided we would pray about it and see if any doors opened up. Things started looking up for Dan almost immediately, he spoke to his parents who said if you both know you want to marry each other then go for it. This was a big nod for Dan as his parents are sensible and think carefully about things and so them giving their blessing was huge. My parents were also thrilled and got on board and from there things started falling into place. Dan asked God that if it wasn't his will that he would put an end to it. He didn't, Dan kept receiving more confirmation through a variety of different ways and so began to plan the proposal. As he is planning .. secretly .. I'm still praying. Hearing nothing, reading nothing, getting not a single sign or word from God. 

My four week adventure to South Africa is approaching and I am worrying that Dan will change his mind about me, not knowing that he has flights booked, a ring in his pocket and a certain question to ask me on my final week there. 

During my second week in South Africa I go along to a 'small group' with people from the church that are involved with Destiny House and a guy called Mike says to me "I feel that you have come to South Africa with a question, I don't know this question only you do, but I feel that you will get the answer during your time here. Before you go back home you will know the answer" ... I started thinking that I would get another word from someone or what I secretly hoped for was that it would be written in the clouds!! .... A week or so before Dan was due to fly out, when all the plans for the proposal had been made and booked, I had a dream that we went for a picnic in a fancy garden, sat on a bench that was next to a lake and he asked me to marry him. I told Dan the next day of this dream and he started panicking that someone had let slip of his plans......

Saturday 4th August I wake up and get told I'm being taken out for breakfast. I was staying with my brother in laws parents and they had decided we'd go out. A couple of things happened that morning that made me question what was happening, the first being getting a funny look from Ivan when I told him I was 'ready' - no one told me to dress nicely - the second being Stacey was far too keen to take her camera, the exact thought that went through my head was "we're going out for a fry up, why does she need her camera". These thoughts lasted a second and we headed on out. We pulled into Botanical Gardens which is a stunning place. As I'm walking around I think "this would be an amazing place to get engaged". We are walking down this path and there I see a person who looked exactly like Dan, same clothes, same style of hair. I again brushed these thoughts off as Dan was camping with his friends. As I got closer and realised it was him like most girls my eyes filled with tears. I walked up to him, we hugged .. I told him I hated him - I apologised afterwards - He told me how he felt and about all the things that had fallen into place, he got down one one knee and asked me to marry him. 

We then took a walk further along the path and set up next to a bench, by a lake was a breakfast picnic ... Sound familiar? ... The answer to my question didn't appear in clouds or from someone else, it got answered by Dan flying out to surprise me and asking me to be his wife. 

 Knowing I'm going to spend the rest of my life with this man makes me very happy.

Seed Of Hope

This post should have been posted a lot sooner than now but I've been a little distracted, getting engaged an' all ... Eeeek!!!!

So my final week in South Africa was spent with this charity, Seed Of Hope. This charity has it's own building where they hold an after school club, a clinic with a HIV testing and counseling room, a sewing room to teach people skills. They are very community based and go out into the community everyday, cant quite remember what exactly it is they do when visiting people but it makes a difference in peoples lives all the same. 

I was only spending three days with Seed Of Hope due to one day being a bank holiday and the other traveling back home. The three days I was there were not exactly my favourite out of the four weeks. I spent the whole time painting!!! ..... They needed their sewing room decorating and therefore that was mine and Dans job. I had to keep telling and reminding myself that even though painting is pretty boring and not what I paid £900 to do I was helping them and doing it would allow them to help the people they help.

  

Dan being there was a total blessing. The weather was rubbish, it was cold and rainy and after a few hours painting I was feeling pretty miserable. So having him around definitely lifted my spirits. On the first day, Dan too was getting a little fed up and so we spent an hour or so playing outside with the children. They LOVED Dan, they took great pleasure in climbing on him, pulling his hair, his nose and his ears. It was so lovely .. and funny .. to watch.

I would love to be able to go back to Seed Of Hope in the future and experience more of what they do. Hopefully one day we, me and Dan, will pay another visit.......

Brighter Futures

As you all know I've been at a children's home in South Africa and I've already mentioned how amazing these children are and how I bombard them with hugs and kisses as a lot of them have never been given the love and attention they need and crave.

As most of you, if not all of you also know I work in a nursery. We nursery nurses work so closely with children every day, caring for them, loving them, playing with them and it's impossible not to build special bonds and love them. I'm not a mother but if I feel the way I do about the children I look after I can't begin to imagine how a mother must feel when she brings her own baby into the world, which is then why I find it so hard to understand why a mother who has carried her very own child for nine whole months, who is a part of her abandons her child for the man who raped her child or the father who abuses his own daughter, his precious little girl. It's heartbreaking and makes me sick to my stomach.


The people who are supposed to care and love these children more than anyone in the world let them down, the people who these children should trust and feel comforted the most by let them down. I only hope that the little amount of time I have spent with these children ... in fact, any child, anywhere .. has been beneficial for them.


Luckily, these kids are now in a much better place, have a BRIGHTER future ahead of them and are surrounded by people who do LOVE and CHERISH them.

 

Love

I have spent two days at Destiny House now and I LOVE it. The children who live in this home are amazing. There are nearly fifteen children aged 3 months to 11 years (I think) and they are so smiley, chatty and friendly (most of the time). The mornings are fairly quiet as the older ones go to school, so I've been spending that time doing puzzles, playing in sand, giving the 3 month old his bottle, wiping snotty noses ... My day to day job at home. The main thing I have been doing is BOMBARDING these children with HUGS and KISSES. Every child was either taken away from their families or abandoned by them and so a lot of them have never been shown love or given attention and I'm learning that sitting and playing with a child is a bit alien to Zulu women. 


The afternoons are a little wild. The school children arrive home and the peaceful house turns into a loud house. I have the girls coming up to me and playing with my hair, the little ones climbing on me demanding cuddles with them saying ''and me''. Yesterday a few of us were playing outside in a small sand area and we all had a lot of fun.


In some of the older ones you can see they've had a troubled up-bringing. They seem to take pleasure in winding the others up and seem to get annoyed quickly if you ask them not to do something, so I'm learning different ways of how to control situations like that. 


Each and everyone of these kids are amazing.

Pregnancy Resource Centre - PRC

So my first week in South Africa is over. I can't decide if it has gone fast or slow but 
either way it's been awesome. It's been quite laid back but the people I have met are so lovely and are very special.

To sum up, the PRC give advice, support and councelling to pregnant girls of any age. They go into local communities and unversities and wait for girls to come up to them wanting someone to talk to about their options and how to stay safe. I was able to go on two of these outings, unfortunatly no one came but it was cool all the same being able to get an idea of what can happen. 

The PRC can house up to six pregnant girls of any age needing support through their pregnancy and advice on what the best is for her and her child. Each morning the girls get together and a staff member will lead a conversation on anything that is worrying the girls and how they feel. I was able to lead this one of the days, I was so nervous, the girls were pretty quiet so I don't know if what I shared with them helped at all but it was good all the same. The girls also spend an hour or so each day sewing or baking, this is so they learn new skills. Each girl makes a blanket for their baby wether or not they are keeping it or putting up for adoption. It's a lovely gift from mother to baby and something the girls can be proud of. 

On Wednesday they had something called 'Mandella day' where everyone had to spend 67 minutes doing something for the community. The staff and girls decided to buy cupcakes for a local creche to hand them out and spend time with the children. Well I arrived at the creche and it broke my heart. The babies and toddlers were in a little wooden shed which contained two cots, two car sears and a floor full of dirty blankets and mattresses. The space was tiny and there must have been between 10-12 littlies in here, with no toys. I wanted to take photos but I wasn't allowed. The older kids were in a bigger building, again didn't see many toys which is so upsetting to see. I work in a nursery and we can sometimes complain about putting the same toys out all the time or toys not being entertaining enough, I forget how lucky the kids I look after are, at least they have toys. Every child at the creche looked so happy and they were all waving and smiling to us, we handed out the cupcakes, sat them in a big group and one of the pregnant girls, Trudy, read them a story. They were mesmorised. 

Each afternoon I would just hang out with the girls, they would talk to me and ask so many questions about work, my family, my boyfriend whether HIV was common, whether black people lived in the UK, everything. They were interested in so much. They fed me most days, some days I wish they didn't as I wasn't the biggest fan of what they ate but hey, that's what people over here are like. So friendly and loving. I wish I could be more like them.

Changing the way I think

So with only four days until I fly off to South Africa my suitcase is slowly being filled. I'm the kind of girl who doesn't like to wear the same clothes too often as I get bored and feel like I always look the same. So as I'm beginning to throw clothes into the case I'm beginning to worry about my weight allowance, especially because I'm taking two bridesmaid dresses, three prom dresses and clothes for children. The dresses I am giving to a lady who give them to girls who cannot afford to buy their own dresses for weddings, proms and other fancy occasions. As for the clothes, they are going to children who have a pair of shorts and a t-shirt to wear during the winter months or who have to walk to school with no shoes and socks. 

As I sit and think about the four weeks I will be away for and the weight allowance I begin to question whether I should take all five dresses and start wondering whether the children's clothes will take up too much room....

This afternoon I come onto my blog account to see if there are any updates on the blogs that I follow. There was one of a friend living in South Africa who I volunteered for in 2010. She has written a blog about being a 'Practical Christian'. This lady spends a lot of time in a homeless shelter (a place I was able to visit when I was out there) talking and showing love to the people who live in there. She explained how she sees other Christian groups going into this shelter and lecturing them about their life styles. Instead of lecturing she talks to them, she listens to them, she takes them to rehab centers, gives them clothes, food etc etc. The more of post I am reading the more it is touching me and then I come across this, 'My mind has been blown over the past couple of weeks. I have had many people donate clothes and money to buy baby items and blankets, clothes and towels for the families in the shelter. Around 15 people have given of their belongings and their finances. Out of that 15 people only 2 were Christians! I find this so interesting. We say that we want to make a difference in this world; we want to reach others with the love of God. What I think we really mean by this is we want to make a difference in our own household. And anything outside is bit of an inconvenience. We want to keep the money that we make, the clothes that we buy. We want to live a comfortable life and once I am comfortable in what I have then I will consider giving to others. But only when my finances and house hold is secure.' Reading this bought a lump to my throat. I always say I want to go out and help the children and people who need it most, yet I had a thought of not putting all five dresses and clothes in my suitcase for the people I have a heart for just so that I could take a few extra pairs of shoes and tops.


So after reading her blog I will be putting all five dresses in that suitcase all the children's clothes as well as some of my own clothes that are in good condition that I don't wear but I keep "just in case". 


She ended her blog with  'How can you be a PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN today? Think on it, pray on it, and ACT on it!'

If any of you fancy reading her blog it's the top one titled 'Practial Christianity' .. www.littlefingersandfrosting.blogspot.com