If only it was that easy!

"I just decided that I wasn't going to get any older! Aging wasn't for me" - you've got to love Miss Piggy.

Families work together.

I’m sitting here with my feet up after a long, busy day. Today was Linda’s moving day and, although I couldn’t do any heavy lifting I spend my day organizing, directing the carrying (what/where/which room etc), “taxi” driving and making coffee, lots and lots of coffee! All in all there were 18 people involved today getting Linda and all her worldly processions out of a 3^rd floor apartment and into a lovely ground floor apartment. And that’s not counting the people who help pack boxes and paint beforehand.

As one man commented when he arrived “Wow, it feels like the whole family’s here!”. He was meaning the BGAB Church family, and it was wonderful. It reminded me of something I’d watched recently in the TV series “Living with the Amish”. 

Six teenagers from London spent 5 weeks living with 5 different Amish families and joining in their day-to-day lives, including a barn-raising. On this particular day what seemed to astound the teens most was the teamwork within the Amish community and the fact that people came from miles around, worked the whole day and gave their time for free! A type of family-community they had never experienced before and the feeling of accomplishment and being part of something bigger than themselves, they couldn’t really articulate.

As for myself, I’m blessed to have been part of many such days. Sure, it would have been easier to stay in bed this morning, I would have saved myself some stress and been able to spend the whole day with my husband BUT I would have missed out on soo much. We’re not related my blood but today I spent time working with some of my family and I love that!

A New Year - A New Start.

I don’t know about you, but New Year’s Eve is often a time of reflections and goal setting. What have I / we achieved in the last year, what was good, what was bad, what can I change and where would I like to be this time next year?

My “Thought for the Day” email of the 29^th take it one step further and encourages us to examine the motives behind our goals.

VERSE

For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.     -- James 3:16

THOUGHT:

 So, what are your goals and plans for the New Year? Do you have great dreams and laudable goals? I hope so. But, please join me as I seriously look at why I set the goals I do and make the plans I make. In the afterglow of Christmas, that great season of giving, let's make sure our plans for the future are not selfish or based on envy, lust, or greed. Instead, let's set our hearts to reach great heights for God's glory and to do great things to be a blessing to others. Otherwise, all our attempts to reach great things ultimately will end in chaos, heartbreak, and destruction.

As we’re currently visiting friends in Bristol, I’ll write more in a few days’ time. I’m still working on my 10 goals, rather too slowly, but better slow than not at all.

“What’s wrong with your wife? She’s always smiling!”

I've just got back from a trip to Bristol, where Matt and I stayed with our good friends Andrew & Rebecca and their 4 kids. Mungo, their oldest is my Godson and just turned 9. It was great to see how he, his brothers and sister are growing and developing.

Returning home to Old Blighty is always fun and this time was no different. We had some beautiful weather, stayed just a few short steps away from Clifton Downs in one of the many beautiful houses there, got to rest up as well as spending time with each of the kids and even managed to pop over to Wales to visit other friends there.

Apart from family and friends, one of the things I love about Britain is the friendliness of strangers. Just walking around people will smile and greet you, it’s all too easy to have a short conversation with a shop assistant and I always stop to chat with the Big Issues sellers when I buy one. Don’t get me wrong, I love living in Germany but I do wonder it the Germans don't know what they’re missing in their shyness to engage in little interpersonal exchanges throughout the day. Not long after we moved to Germany, one of Matt’s colleagues asked him “What’s wrong with your wife? She’s always smiling!”  !!!!  Also, both times that Kate has been over to visit she’s commented on the lack of smiles when out and about. You’ll be lucky to get a passerby to catch your eye, let alone smile.

Another thing I love is the numerous bookshops, new but most especially secondhand. As I mentioned before, reading is as essential as breathing to me and I wanted to seriously stock up on this trip. If I’m going to read 40 books, then I need 40 books to read, simple! So between raiding my friends’ bookshelves, charity shops and Wesley Owen, I returned with 22 books! 

The visit to Wesley Owen was a joy, not least because I got to take Mungo, he is a young man after my own heart when it comes to reading. After telling me he had either read or been read all the children’s books in the house, I promised to buy him a new book and gave him a budget of £10. He chose 2 books totaling £9.98 (he endeavoured to assure me) and then found another in the reduced section for just £3. “Please Aunty Kathy!” Well how could I refuse? After all, I had 7 books in my hand.

Here he is, pleased as punch with one of his new books.

Anyhow, my challenge for you today; smile at a stranger and get your nose in a book.

"Resolve to edge in a little reading every day, if it is but a single sentence." - Horace Mann

Surely it’s not Christmas-time already?

September heralds the end of summer, apple harvest, shorter evenings, golden leaves and Christmas. Yes, Christmas! The first leaves have only just started to fall and already the shops are putting out displays of Christmas biscuits. It just seems so wrong when it’s still 24°C (75°F) outside.

Although I’m not ready to pack away my sandals and sunglasses quite yet, there are 2 presents I need to prepare long before December, the first for my friends in Mexico (snail-mail takes FOREVER to get there) and the second for an unknown child via Samaritan’s Purse “Christmas Child” action. With only 2 months before the deadline on 15^th November when these shoebox presents have to be at your local collection point, it’s definitely time to get started.

The last couple of years I’ve started buying things throughout the year, partially to spread the cost but mainly to snap up bargains and make my money go further. Spending around about 10€ a month I can keep a look out in the sales etc, for example, last month I picked up 7 cute T-shirts for just 12€! I’ve now got a whole Curver© box full of cloths, toys and school supplies ready to be sorted and packed. I’m going to make up 2 shoe boxes this year and all the “left-overs” from my collecting goes to the main collection point where the volunteers make up Christmas Boxes from all the different donations that come in, from companies and private people as well as checking all the boxes that come in already packed.

So I’d like to encourage you to make your own shoe-box present, or if you can’t afford to pack a whole box for a child, then think about adding just 1 extra thing to your basket each time you shop, some soap, toothpaste or a colouring book, over the next 8 weeks and help bring a smile to a child’s face this Christmas.

New Glasses

Yesterday was glasses buying day in the Harrison household, 3 pairs in all. Poor Matt’s been suffering headaches for the last few weeks and eventually got his eyes checked. Yep, he needs a new prescription for his glasses AND has reached that dreaded middle age marker of needing reading glasses (he’s been doing the “stretched-arm” reading pose for a while now). So off we tootled to check out the heart-stopping costs of German opticians, 2 hours later, a large gulp when signing the credit card payment and Matt gets his new glasses in 24 hours.

I also ordered my new glasses yesterday. I chose an online company in the States – Warby Parker. Now, in many ways I’m very particular about my eyecare. Unfortunately I have a bad genetic heritage where eyes are concerned, glaucoma, macular degeneration and early onset cataracts in my immediate family but my contact lens specialist and ophthalmologist look after me really well in that department and I only want glasses for the early morning/late night anyhow so decided to try a little online bargain hunting to balance out the costs.

That’s rather a long winded way of telling you about the company Warby Parker and a part of their business philosophy that I like. Not only do they want to be able to supply glasses at a reasonable cost, they also promise to donate a pair of glasses to a person in need through their Buy a Pair Give a Pair program.

Over 2 billion people in the world don’t have access to glasses, that’s 15% of the world’s population who are unable to effectively learn or work because they can’t see clearly! A simple pair of glasses can increase their earning potential by 20% so it a very effective tool in helping lift people out of poverty. I think all of us would like a 20% increase in our income but can you imagine what a difference that would make to the 3 billion + people who live on less than US $2 per day?

I can’t imagine how I would manage without contacts or glasses, can you? I certainly couldn’t do the work I do, could not drive, even cooking would be a problem, quite a scary thought! However, just by changing where you shop you can make a significant difference to another person’s life. So if you live in the States (or like me can get a friend to bring them over), next time you need new specs check out Warby Parker : http://www.warbyparker.com/Buy-A-Pair-Give-A-Pair

How do you measure significant?

N° 7 on my goal list: Make a significant (positive) difference in 40 people’s lives.

This sounds great and a very noble goal but I’m struggling with a unit of measurement. I mean how DO you measure significance? Centimetres and metres? Pounds and ounces? Speed or strength? None fit the bill, and then you add culture in to the mix, it plays huge part, something I would never have thought. For example, I just recently did “meals on wheels” and stocked up the freezers for 2 different friends with home cooked meals, one who’s poorly and the other who was having a tough old time of it. That makes a difference, but it hardly seems significant (a couple of hours and a few Euros) however 3 people have told me that it is a big thing here!

My direct neighbour, Kathrin, and I have a great relationship, she borrows my baking equipment or comes round to watch football occasionally with Matt, pizza and movies with me, we do the “post/plants/pets” thing for each other when we’re on holiday, I took ice-cream to the hospital when the doctors stole her tonsils and am currently helping her write her CV in English. Coming from NW England/SW Scotland this is so normal it’s not even noteworthy, but here it’s so exceptional her parents even sent me a small present for being so neighbourly.

A couple of months ago I came home Saturday afternoon and whilst parking the car noticed and heard an older man (German) talking loudly to an elderly Turkish lady. After turning the engine off it became apparent that he was actually mocking her for being poor and using a rollator!!!! I got out of the car and (with a friends’ warning ringing in my ears) chickened out of shouting him down so just gave him The Stare. As he walked away I turned to the lady and apologized that she had to experience that, asked if she was ok and wished her a nice day as she shuffled away. Since then, whenever I see her pass by I greet her and now she smiles back, I hope over time she will eventually talk to me, which I would consider significant even if she doesn’t. Unfortunately this is not an isolated incident, many of my female African and Asian language school colleagues experienced verbal abuse when out alone :(

I recently watched the film Pay it Forward (thanks for the tip Kathrin). Basic synopsis; a class of 12 year olds are given the assignment “Think of something to change the world and put it into action” and Trevor comes up with the idea of paying it forward. Do 3 good deeds to 3 different people, it doesn't have to be a big thing. It can just seem that way, depending who you do it for. Then, instead of paying it back they are then to pay it forward to 3 other people. The film is based on a book by Catherine Ryan Hyde and along with a few others, she started the Pay it Forward Foundation which has spread across the US and into other countries as well. http://www.payitforwardfoundation.org/

So, I’m back to the question, how do you measure significant? To some people, hours of hard work giving your best hardly makes an impression, yet for others a couple of minutes of your time and a friendly smile can make a huge impact. I would love to hear your comments and experiences. AND if I do you a good turn, don’t pay me back, please pay it forward.

Last but not least, think you’re too old or too young to make a difference? Have a look at these 2 links:


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/20/huffpost-greatest-person-kristal-burns-superheroes_n_864784.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmZtoEMiMpk&feature=player_embedded