Challenges Report #1.

Regarding Dottie Angel's Challenge to be creative instead of buying new, I decided I should repair my driving gloves, which had become very breezy. I rummaged in my mending supplies and found some darning wool...

...and my mushroom, and set to. Now I would just like to say that I KNOW green wool doesn't exactly blend with black but heck! if I've gone to the trouble of darning gloves I want people to notice!

Have you any notion of what a fiddly job it is? (And by the way when were men's socks last referred to as 'hose', Shakespeare's day??)

Regarding the Creative Every Day Challenge January's suggested theme is 'Body'. I thought I would do the five senses, something to please each during the week gone.

Sight: hoar frost on grass and buttercup leaves.

Sound: the song 'Love Changes Everything' by Michael Ball has some very inspiring words...

....Love, Love changes everything:

How you live and

How you die....

....Love will turn your world around....

...Off into the world we go,

Planning futures,

Shaping years.

Love,

Bursts in, and suddenly

All our wisdom

Disappears.....

Love makes fools of everyone:

All the rules

We make are broken...

Love will never,

Never let you

Be the same.

For me it means the love for my God, my children, extended family, friends, not just romantic love. Love is a gift and it shapes much of who we grow to be I think.



Touch: knitting with this bobbly wool! It was meant to be a cowl, but since it turned out too close Nifty Thrifty here turned it into a beanie hat for Dilly!

Taste: curry and chapatis for supper on Friday eaten with fingers, the African way, very tactile and requiring a certain amount of dexterity....and mopping up...

Smell: scented candles! Love 'em!
A week's worth of creativity from 'Nifty Thrifty' Heckety.

Due to the weather Dilly had to spend the night in Enniskillen with friends since the bus company couldn't guarantee to deliver it's passengers all the way to Sligo. She's due on the midday bus today. B is having noodles for breakfast- NOODLES! I ask you! It's snowed again all morning...

Advent 2009 Begins

Today is the first Sunday in Advent, the beginning of the new Church Year and a time of anticipation. Our Minister takes Advent each year as a time to assess where we are- to look back at what we have achieved in the year gone by, look forward to what we need to do to improve anything for the future, and to give thanks for where we are right now. We have mid-week Services in different Churches around the Parish which are lovely calm times in the presence of our God and separate to the hurly-burly which the World calls Christmas. For me, in Advent the Church buildings become once more, a haven of tranquil contemplation.

Having an Advent Wreath in Church is not traditional for us, but it helps to think about what it symbolises so each Sunday in Advent two children light another of the candles. Last year one of them almost set the Dean's surplice alight but luckily he can move fast! (all those years of playing rugby I should think!)

The First Candle symbolises Hope, the Hope we have in Christ as well as the Hope the Prophets had in their prophecies of the Messiah.

Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the LORD rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.
Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Isaiah Ch 60 v 1-3

Just as a footnote, this is our traditional way of counting off the days in Advent.

Much as we enjoy Advent Calendars, gift boxes and wreaths, this is the way we do it, usually lighting the candle at supper time when we are all sitting at the table. When the candle burns down to the pin it begins to tilt and it is blown out for another day. To me nothing beats the excitement of watching the candle burn down to the pin!

When you sit watching a candle you can see why the Church used to pagan symbolism of a Lamp for the birth of Jesus, Light of the World. You can also see why so many faiths have Celebrations of Light, Diwali I know from East Africa, but Light in all its symbolism is important to everyone.

I wish the Hope of Advent to you all this week.

In Timeless Treasures I am putting up a Jesse Tree. Please visit?