Filed under: Cambodia, God thoughts, Reaching out, at home, garden, loving others, marriage
Life is rapidly falling into a routine in this new world of no-longer-working of mine. Are you suprised that I am actually rather busy? 
The days are melding together, passing by like the drip-drip-drip of the constant rain, and overshadowed by the leaden, glutinous sky that reminds me of winters in England. I love winter. It is relatively short, here, and I relish each day of crisp cold, still warm enough to sit in the sun with my coffee, but cool enough to need a couple of layers of clothing. I love the grey sky and the rain, making it easy to stay inside and cook comforting meals and read, leisurely, on the sofa.
Somehow, too, I am learning a new skill, and have been doing a lot of work on our church’s website. I’m not sure if I will ever grasp the intricacies of the technical side, but I am enjoying designing the pages and writing updates on our blog and providing much creative input. I am finding this very satisfying.
I enjoy having time to exercise each day, dashing out in the morning then coming home and spending an hour or so making our house a home. I am delighting in making sure that my busy husband has very little to do around here once he gets home from work apart from that which he wants to do. We shared chores for so long; now, it is nice to do this for him, because I can. 
I have been gardening and cleaning long-neglected corners. I have had plenty of time to pause and dwell on my Father, in the midst of ordinary things. I have seen friends, too, and had plenty of time for fun.
Yesterday, a dear friend of mine and I went to the opening of Tiffany’s in Perth. We weren’t part of the glamourous champagne set, but watched the festivities from the warmth of the coffee shop across the street, over big bowls of porridge and roasted fruit. We went in afterwards, with an abundance of women from Perth – such fun! It’s our anniversary, soon, and my husband sent me in to peruse the display. I have my eye on this: what do you think? (I notice the link didn’t work. It is on the first page, bottom row, second from the right. )I’d like to have a ring that I can wear on its own, particularly for travel, when I don’t want to take my other rings.
On the subject of travel, we are preparing for a trip to Cambodia next month, just my husband and me. We will be doing some financial teaching, relating to the ministry our church has set up (micro finance loans, giving, managing money – that kind of thing) and then spending a few days building into all the church leaders. I haven’t been to Cambodia for about four years. It will be a joy to reconnect with dear faces old and new.
So, you see, life can take on a new structure and purpose very quickly! You were all right about that!
It’s pretty hot around here. Our mornings consist of opening up the house first thing for an hour or so, then battening down the hatches with the a/c running and a glass of cold water somewhere within reach. I can’t remember a day below 35, lately, and there are a lot more to come. I hate drinking a cup of tea with the fan going full bore just so I can bear it. We’ve got an evening sea-breeze, tonight, so everything is open, but it is still pretty warm.
I can’t believe that school starts next week. These have been the fastest six weeks! About two weeks ago, I had a very strong feeling that I wouldn’t be teaching for much longer. Over the last couple of days, the feeling has become even stronger, almost to the point where I’m wondering if I did the right thing in saying I’d work this year at all. I just have the strongest sense that my time there is Done. We’ll see what the next few weeks hold. I can’t pull out without reasonable notice, so I’ll have to see how the term goes.
I’ve also had a strong sense lately that the Lord is bringing back into my/our lives some people from the past. I have some very dear friends who just kind of meandered away out of my life for the past three or four years, but I really sense that the time has come to renew some of these ties. There have been some interesting things happening lately that have kind of shoved people back into our sphere. I have a sense of expectancy about 2008.
On a different note, did I mention that I’m only teaching three days a week this year? That is going to be a blessing in itself! One day will be my day ‘off’, and on the Wednesday I will be working at the church office, which I’m really excited about. I’ll be working on ourtreach stuff – we’re setting up child sponsorship in Cambodia, as well as supporting our church there and a number of pastors and leaders. We also have six remote villages that we help out, financially and spiritually. I’ll be co-ordinating much of this, jsut while the project gets going. I’m also the co-ordinator of our Children’s Church, and we are doing lots of cool stuff this year, so I think my Wednesdays are going to be rather full!
And on another entirely different note, I took great delight this evening in the fact that I could go into our garden, gather about twenty little tomatoes from three or four different varieties, slice them in half and drizzle them with olive oil, and then scatter wild rocket on top, also from our garden. It is very satisfying to eat something you have grown. I am also enjoying right now a cup of peppermint tea, made with mint from our garden topped with boiling water. We did not, however, grow the dark chocolate M & Ms I’m about to have with the tea.
The thing about elephants is that they don’t often do what you want them to. This pesky elephant persists in hanging around, and I’m tired of waiting for it to go. Thus, I will keep blogging even though that darned mammal steps on my toes every now and then. I know I’m vague; it’s just that this is something that I don’t want to blog about. It has to do with waiting, and heartache and deferred hopes and dreams, and knowing that God is still good despite the suffering that seems to go on forever. Sometimes the Lord takes you down a path to teach you beautiful and holy truths that are learnt through pain and grief. He allows to experience pain that we may one day alleviate and understand others’ pain. We are told to bear one anothers burdens and we have certainly experienced that through the love of friends and family. I marvel at His goodness even though the path is rocky.
In the meantime: it is spring and the air is like champagne and the flowers are blooming riotously. I am on school holidays and am knowing the delights of hours in the sun-lounge with a book and a nice drink. The vegetables are growing and the herbs are beginning to flower and there is so much of life that is sweet and good.
This new theme is called ‘Almost Spring’. It definately is almost spring, here. About a week ago there was that almost indiscernable shift in the air, a sudden softness that comes with the change in seasons. It is still drizzly and rainy, but the air smells completely different and many flowers are beginning to bloom. The trees are misted over with soft green leaves. We have been blessed, this year, to be a part of two springs, one in Europe and one here.
We worked on the garden all day on Saturday, and it is slowly changing from being a fairly barren patch of grass with a garden bed on either side, to a lush patch of green, with a promise of colour to come. I simply love flowers, and have thrown in all kinds of seeds. I hope they all come up; it should be a veritable cacophony of colour and life. The garden has become a place of afternoon solace, for me. I come home from school, and on fine days take out a cup of tea and a book and savour the sunshine and solitude. The contrast between the noise and bustle of school and the quiet of the garden is so soothing to the soul.
