It’s June already, it often feels to me as if time is running late for an important appointment and is frantic to get there without delay.
Don’t get caught up in the mad rush to keep up with time. Stop and savour.
Wild things
Forget me nots.
Anyone know the name of these flowers?
La Familia
Well I did it! Finished the set I was making for the Katsidzira kids. Gugu the giraffe came pretty close to driving me crazy haha! Definitely not repeating that pattern for awhile.
Come already
Daisy season will never ever get old for me 🙂 Can’t wait to be enchanted once again by these Northern beauties.
The hymn “Fairest Lord Jesus” has been on my mind the whole day! I can’t help it, I am anxious for spring. I grew up on hymns, it doesn’t matter how many contemporary songs catch my attention, hymns will always hold a special place in my heart.
Fairest Lord Jesus,
ruler of all nature,
O thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish,
Thee will I honor,
thou, my soul’s glory, joy, and crown.
2 Fair are the meadows,
fairer still the woodlands,
robed in the blooming garb of spring:
Jesus is fairer,
Jesus is purer
who makes the woeful heart to sing.
3 Fair is the sunshine,
fairer still the moonlight,
and all the twinkling starry host:
Jesus shines brighter,
Jesus shines purer
than all the angels heaven can boast.
Amigurumi
I have given myself a project of crocheting adorable animals for my friends baby girl 🙂 Last night I made this little basket in one sitting.Probably took me 3 hours to make. The plan is to fill the basket with soft, squishy delightful animals.
For the colourful basket, I did not follow any particular pattern just scrolled through Pinterest looking at different crochet patterns and using the ones I liked. As for the stuffed animals, I am following patterns. So far I have made one and it came out so well I just had to share. I am completely hooked to amigurumi!
Can you tell what it is?
When I have completed Evies set, I will be sure to post all that I have made.
Beautiful things.
Last week, I spent two days and a night in Pikangikum helping my friend Wendy run an art workshop for children and teens at the local school. It was a lot of fun and a good experience to reconnect with the many children I taught the two years I was there. The exuberant warm welcome I received from the elementary school children blew me away, I was not prepared for it at all!
Here are a few of my favourite pictures from the workshop.
Hopefully, Wendy will return again!
Just keep swimming.
If you have followed this blog for awhile, these girls must look familiar to you. My friendship with them began 3 years ago when I moved to Pikangikum.
The desire to keep to myself in the first few weeks of arriving in a new place is very strong. Especially when I don’t know anyone and I am the only black person for miles! Because of this, I push myself to do the very opposite of what my mind is telling me to do. I purposefully put myself out there and go make friends. It is with this determination to make friends that I walked over to their home unannounced, not quite sure how I would explain my sudden appearance. By the time I was at their doorstep I had decided to go with the typical greeting that everybody back home will use when they rock up announced, ” I have come to visit.” I wasn’t quite sure what to say after that but my determination to make friends was stronger than my fear to stay away.
These girls decided they did not like me the moment they saw me. Their first reaction to seeing me was a lot of screaming, crying and hiding away. The panic lasted awhile but their grandmother was very accommodating and in the midst of the wails and calls for grandma to come to where they where we tentatively held a conversation of two people getting to know each other. I must have spent an hour in their home that day and thankfully by the time I left, the girls had calmed down completely. Even after they realised I was quite harmless, they would not come any closer to me. I assured grandma I was not bothered and confidently told her, eventually, the girls would warm up to me.
I made a point of visiting the family once a week, a month went by and the girl’s reaction remained the same. That month turned to two then three, rolled into four, passed five and still the girls would not accept me. On my part, I did not impose myself on them, I waited. It was sometime in my sixth month of knowing the family when the change occurred, by this time grandma and I were very comfortable with each other. That afternoon, I walked into their home fully expecting the usual cries but instead, I was greeted with three toddlers joyously shouting my name, running towards me each clamouring to give me a hug. I was amazed. I knew there and then, I had just made life long friends.
I have often times found that we long for the fruit that comes with genuine friendships but we cringe and hide away from the work that needs to be put into making community happen. Obviously, my case with these adorable girls is extreme but the lesson is still the same. Healthy, long-lasting relationships are hard work, there is just no way around it. Most times pursuing friendships takes patience, sometimes it is messy and occasionally the temptation to walk away is strong. The Bible shares an incident when one of Jesus friends asked him how many time he had to forgive his friend.The Bible does not give a back story to his question but I can only assume the man was deeply offended with his friend and wanted nothing more to do with him. Jesus answer raised the bar for any of his followers, his response to the question was, he had to forgive 70 times 7. In other words, you never stop forgiving and you never tire of loving.
When was the last time you stepped out of your comfort zone and pursued a friendship that you know would stretch you to the limit? Sometimes some of the best relationships are made when we courageously step out in faith even when we are afraid and have no control of the outcome.
