Easter Making

Happy Easter everyone! 

He Is Risen - He is Risen indeed! 

I am unable to change the position of these pictures so can't write near them! Ho Hum! These are pictures of our making weekend!

Simnel Cake

Lemon Pavlova-  thank you Mary Berry for recipe

Ed made a neck thingy for skiing without a pattern.

Chloe made a onesie - with a pattern

Easter biscuits - Ben's butterfly and Eds crazy rabbit

 

Flowers in a trolley

Flowers arranged

Thank you - no other words are needed.

 

Nails driven

As surely as the dawn will come
it was for me he died
my hands drove in the nails
my selfishness, my pride.
And though my heart is black with sin
the morning light breaks through
and hope has been reborn
for mercy comes anew
as surely as the dawn

As Easter approaches I am reflecting on those nails driven into His hands for me. Because of my sin He went to the cross, because of my failures He died that I might have life. Wow! Mercy and grace wrapped in a parcel and given to me. How easy it is to lose sight of this in the business of life. Please take time to reflect over this weekend. His life given for yours - no greater love. 

Today beautiful flowers. I have missed doing flowers over lent and I am glad to be back doing them today. It is such a peaceful thing to do - in the beauty of the church often in total silence. Then a weekend with my girlie and her boy, a day celebrating my nieces birthday on Sunday and lots of lovely food. Tonight I am cooking a duck for the first time - hoping it goes well.  Happy Holidays to all my school friends.

Where is Spring?

 I have decided to update my blog template in the hope that it will remind the weather that 

IT IS NOW SPRING!

This picture was taken of our garden on Saturday. I know that many people have much worse weather but - I am fed up with snow and cold. My fingers are so sore from being cold all the time. Enough already! Time for sunshine.

A cheerful Ed and a grumpy Chloe in the snow on Saturday!

Our plans for our weeks holiday at home have turned into a cleaning out week. We did a great job yesterday with the kitchen and threw out lots of stuff - sorting into - nobody would want, recycling and to give away. I have no idea how we managed to gain 10 ice blocks, 5 flasks, more bowls than we could ever use and 5 graters!

 These photos are to show that despite the weather the plants are trying to say - it's Spring. There are some beautiful colours in the garden - especially the Christmas/Lenten Roses.

I am now off to do more clearing out!

Alice

 I wish I could describe how wonderful Alice as a ballet is. The scenery, props, costume, dancing, choreography, music etc... is truly breathtaking. The pictures here taken from the Internet just don't do it justice but do give you a flavour. If you get the chance to see it - do. I think it is going to be in the cinema - maybe Thursday? Not quite the same seeing it on a flat screen but still good I should think. The Opera house had lots of children on Saturday. A perfect first ballet as there is so much to see

 We had a lovely time with Chloe and Ed - thankfully Chloe was feeling much better. We celebrated Ed's birthday and Chloe getting into South Thames. We now wait to see where she will actually be - she has ordered 270 jobs and waits to see where they will put her. I think she will hear by the end of April.

After 2 very busy days I was exhausted yesterday and spent the day in bed! I am still quite tired now. This week is our holiday at home and as it is SO cold we are having a spring cleaning week in doors instead of the trips out we had planned. I think we should have ordered a skip! 

 Paul and I are both hoarders so we need to be disciplined to sort and throw out. I am trying to keep the premise - only keep if it is useful or beautiful. But so many things might be useful!!!! I have written a three sided list of what I hope to achieve this week - there is no way I will manage it all but hopefully some of it will get done without me being too distracted along the way!

I think our aim is to have a home for everything (apart from Chloe's boxes of stuff) rather than the piles we live amongst!

I am being quite ambitious as I am still in bed typing this at 10.00 on Monday morning and Wednesday and Thursday are taken up with buying and arranging the Easter flowers at church - oh well better get on with it!

Purple lunch

 Our purple lunch for Kidney Research went very well. A lovely way to end the term with my ladies. Then a great dance show - wonderful to see so many girls taking part. Extra special to come home to Josh - watching football. Even though it was a short time it was great to catch up with all his news.

This morning - snow snow snow! And it is settling! Whatever has happened to Spring? 
Next week we are having a holiday at home. We had one last year in brilliant sunshine - wearing t-shirts at the beach. We won't be doing that this year!

Today we are off to Royal Opera House to see Alice in Wonderland as a ballet and hopefully have lunch with Chloe and Ed to celebrate her place in South Thames. I say hopefully because she has been proper poorly this week so we are hoping she will be well enough to come today.

I hope you all have lovely warm weekend plans which include fires and soft blankets!

Happiness/joy

 

I have been wondering recently about the difference between joy and happiness. We often talk about being happy when good things are happening but joy seems to be more abiding and can be present even in the worst of times. Happiness seems to be connected to an external event or ‘happening’ and is often shown by physical expressions, smiles, laughing, jumping up and down etc… But joy seems to be that deeper expression of inner feelings not connected to external circumstances. Joy seems to be linked to thankfulness. Interestingly it seems that joy and fear can’t go together – if we are fearful we will struggle to be joyful. By focusing on thankfulness we can choose joy – as we learn to look for the good things joy develops, whatever our circumstances. When we moan and groan and focus on what is not good we loose joy. So easy to say – so much harder to put into practise. 

My writing is coming on - slowly. It is hard to go back sometimes and remember what has happened, especially thinking about all that my family went through while I was just getting on with it. I wish I had been able to think more about their needs at the time. Illness makes you so selfish and me centred. 

Tomorrow I am having a purple lunch party to raise money for Kidney Research. How perfect that they want us to - go purple for kidney awareness month! (I love purple). Look out for the photos! Josh is coming to stay for the night before he goes to a stag party and I am going to a see a dance show which  one of my tutees is performing in. Busy day!