Lynda's Blog

  Last weekend I attended a fun fortieth birthday party with my daughter. It was fancy dress—come as something starting with the letter s (the birthday girl was Sammy). My daughter went as sushi and I went as soy sauce! We were amazed at the variety of costumes. Some costumes were simple—one of our friends went as ‘shiny’ wearing a shiny hat, shiny beads and bracelets. Others were very inventive. We had S.W.A.T. teams, sheriffs and secret service agents. We had spies. We had the Spice Girls, scarecrows and sponge bob. One extended family had dressed up as surgeons and scrub nurses including the toddlers and baby. Sammy’s enterprising husband came as spaghetti although his noodles kept knocking people’s hats off! We also had a Salvation Army soldier. So with approximately seventy people participating there was quite an assortment of costumes. Everyone was dressed differently but were gathered for a common purpose; to celebrate the birthday of a friend. I thought about our church. ...

  It’s a beautiful day today and although I have had a busy day I have enjoyed some of that in the sunshine. Coffee with a friend, some shopping, clean the car and pack for a weekend away. It’s amazing how a clear, still, sunshiny day can raise your spirits, particularly after rain and gale-force winds. I was challenged at my Bible study this week. One of my friends commented that she made a choice a long time ago to always be positive! I also made that choice some years ago as I had grown up with a wonderful but very anxious and negative mum. I want to honour both of my parents. They were both fantastic parents and I am so blessed to have had them. Mum's anxiety was due to a difficult childhood and it carried over into adulthood. I realised one day as a growing Christian that I needed to have a better attitude. A few months after that, someone said to me that they loved how I was always positive. That was so encouraging. However, when my friend said that this week I realised t...

  Another update on the ongoing saga of the renovations. The new kitchen has now been pushed out until September with no date given. The flooring has now been pushed out until the 19 September and wallpapering sometime after that. We have to wait for the wallpapering before we install the new heat pump and the range-hood. The new lounge suite will take three to four months to be ready in the colour we want. Family are coming for our 140 th church celebrations the second week in October. I’m praying that the heat pump is up! There will literally be no chairs for them to sit on. Hopefully the new kitchen will at least be installed so I can unpack all the boxes that are currently stored in the spare bedrooms otherwise I have no place for them to sleep. I am laughing at the thought of sleeping bags in the lounge around the piano which is currently right in the middle where we moved it to allow painters to get around it. But today, I had a lovely relaxing morning. My friend is stil...

  This morning I did one of my absolutely favourite things—I met a friend for brunch. There is a small café five minutes down the road from me which is extremely popular and rightly so. The coffee is great and the food fantastic. I haven’t seen my friend Lou for some months so it was with dismay that I noticed her limp as she entered the café. Having settled, she updated me on her life. She fell off some decking some time ago and badly injured her hip and now needs a hip replacement. She lives in constant pain and has been on crutches since the accident until the preceding week, when a steroid injection has helped considerably. Unfortunately the waiting list in the public system is long, and the Accident Compensation Corporation isn’t accepting her claim because X-rays show some arthritis in her hip. It seems so unfair. As a Christian, it is tempting to think our lives should be easy and enjoyable. But of course we know better! Jesus himself told us we would have trouble in thi...