Happy Easter everyone! May God bless each and every one of you today and may you be filled with hope, peace and love.
Yoh! I was up before four o’clock this morning but feeling a little wilted around the edges as I am so used to going to bed early and going to bed late unravels my energy!
Nevertheless, I fed my feline, made myself a mug of coffee and then tiptoed up the stairs to my studio to have my Quiet Time.
A little later I ran over my talk for church again to make sure that I did not need to change or add anything. Tony (our pastor) had asked five of us women to speak in church this morning and to talk on ‘What the Resurrection Means to Me’.
Dee my sister, said she would love to come with me to church, so at about nine o’clock us two aunties hit the road together. It was lovely to have that time on our own as we beetled on into Wauchope. Nice sister talking time!
In the end (at church) it was only Julie (Tony’s wife) who spoke plus one of the men in our church and me. It was so nice that Julie did speak as that was the first time she has done so, and we were all so proud of her as she is terrified of addressing a crowd.
From church Dee and I drove around to the big IGA and waited for Steve (our church finance guy) to get $500 of $100 Food Gift Vouchers for me. These vouchers I will take to school on Thursday to give to the headmistress to give to the family/families that are struggling.
Although our church I small the people who belong to it are generous and faithful in their giving. So, apart from our bank savings accounts we also have one we have called ‘The Barnabas Fund’. That is used for any need we see in the community – it could be to help someone who has suddenly lost someone in their family and are facing funeral costs unexpectedly, just the pressure of the cost of life now days, illness, paying for some child or children to attend a camp. or whatever. It really is such a blessing to be able to do that.
Then I bought Dee and I a Magnum ice cream which we slurped sitting in my little car pulled off onto a side road before we headed home again. In town I stopped to fill my car up with fuel and while I was doing that my sister went in to, I assumed, buy something to drink or eat, but she paid for my fuel before I had even walked into pay! How nice was that but very wicked of her too! She is generous to a fault - both my sisters are.
When we got back home everyone was here, there and everywhere. Some were fishing, some swam, some were shooting clay pigeon style with a dirty great big shotgun, some were sleeping or reading. Dee and I quickly changed and while people were just enjoying themselves, I tidied the kitchen area again and made a large, tossed salad for the braai tonight.
I then sat outside with my niece and had a heart-to-heart talk with her as I have not seen her for a long time. While we were chatting, Paddy and Matt’ brought their new electric plane up to the ‘yards and they planed a couple of pieces of the old ‘yards fencing posts - creating some truly beautiful pieces of wood. I want Paddy or Matt’ to plane a smaller piece for me to hang Ken’s running medals on. Paddy is wanting to create a stunning entrance to the farm using these pieces of planed wood. I look forward to seeing what they create.
Us ladies – well those of us who were here and willing, played a game of 'Balderdash' as Ange’ had never played it before (and we cannot have that!) but she soon got into it and seemed to thoroughly enjoy the experience!
Then slowly, as the crowd drew back together again, we played ‘Celebrity Heads” using Tamryn’s phone – that was hilarious. After that as it grew dark outside, they played the last game of ‘Werewolf’. While they were playing that I came back inside to cook the mielies (corn,) bake the garlic bread and generally oversee the braai. Paddy, bless him, cooked all the meat over the fire for us.
After supper we all came back inside and played ‘Pictionary’ – another game than neither Ryan or Ange’ had ever played, so their education was not complete! We set about to correct that. Oh! My goodness gracious golly gee! What a noise, what hilarity, laughter rivalry and ribaldry! We had two teams and our team lost but it was a close call!
I eventually got into bed at half past eleven. I am not sure if I will be able to get up early tomorrow morning!
I went to sleep smiling. It had been a good, good day and a very Happy Easter!
What lesson did I learn today? To enjoy our family.
What am I grateful for today? A fun day!
My saying for today is …
