It SNOWED last night....hmmmm...
As I was waiting for my train to London from Portsmouth, despite the fact that I was pretty "well-wrapped", it was so cold that I had to walk up and down the track platform to keep from freezing..then as I got off my train at Waterloo I saw everybody walking in the station shaking & brushing stuff off their shoulders half in disbelief...I looked out the station door & could not believe my eyes...thankfully none of it stuck & that extremely cold front has blown off now...
It shouldn't be snowing in London now!!! It's October, for God's sakes..
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Autumn!
It's been about 6 years since I saw Autumn...actually, no..I saw a bit before I left the UK to Nigeria (2 years ago)...
In any case, it's a season of such color & variety in the nature...since London has so many parks & so MANY magnificent trees, Autumn is extra beautiful here..
These taken just the other day at Kennigton park--enjoy! (thank you Photoshop)...
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
2 prayer requests!
Getting my passport renewed was a major run-around due to the American Embassy requiring not only a mail-in application (since it was a standard renewal, doing it in person was not an option) but extremely restricted payment options, not to mention the selective passport photo locations which I had to travel far for...big headache..
After running around for a week trying to buy an international money order, which had to be in dollars, but which every British monetary institution would only issue in pounds (figures, we are in "Pound land"), I was able to complete all the requirements & pay via a friend's credit card, Hal!
Prayer request 1: Now I need help in praying that my new passport will arrive back here in the UK within the 2 week time-frame that it's meant to, which will be well in time for me to travel.
2nd prayer request: (& the more important one, obviously) is that my Mom will be moving house--just where she'll be moving is not yet confirmed. Though she does have a house that she's claiming by faith, she's still not sure whether or not she'll get it.
Please pray, claiming the keys of supply & timing, that the real estate agent will confirm this week that she can have the house & that next week we'll be able to start the move.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!--Much appreciated!
After running around for a week trying to buy an international money order, which had to be in dollars, but which every British monetary institution would only issue in pounds (figures, we are in "Pound land"), I was able to complete all the requirements & pay via a friend's credit card, Hal!
Prayer request 1: Now I need help in praying that my new passport will arrive back here in the UK within the 2 week time-frame that it's meant to, which will be well in time for me to travel.
2nd prayer request: (& the more important one, obviously) is that my Mom will be moving house--just where she'll be moving is not yet confirmed. Though she does have a house that she's claiming by faith, she's still not sure whether or not she'll get it.
Please pray, claiming the keys of supply & timing, that the real estate agent will confirm this week that she can have the house & that next week we'll be able to start the move.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!--Much appreciated!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Belgium!
Spent about a week in Belgium with...well my whole family apart from Phebe and her sister..including my Dad, & meeting his new wife & kids for the first time...
In random order:
Brunch at Stein & Gunther's...
Falling in the lake after volleyball at one of Belgium's largest parks "De Ster"...this was going waaaaaay back down memory lane...back in the day we used to meet here for area fellowships during the summer months from when I was like 15-18...I'm gonna try to get my hands on some of those archaic shots & post..
Saturday night out with the Maurits & Ms. Kempeneer...Photo by John..
Left Janet's eyes red for the effect..
In random order:
Brunch at Stein & Gunther's...
Falling in the lake after volleyball at one of Belgium's largest parks "De Ster"...this was going waaaaaay back down memory lane...back in the day we used to meet here for area fellowships during the summer months from when I was like 15-18...I'm gonna try to get my hands on some of those archaic shots & post..Saturday night out with the Maurits & Ms. Kempeneer...Photo by John.. Left Janet's eyes red for the effect.. 
w/ Nina Maurits...back at her place, she teasingly asked me to show her my "moves"...that resulted in some serious "shakin' " on the hip-hop floor...we all got our exercise for the week between 1 & 4 that morning..
Don't mind the quality of these next ones..these were taken from my sisters still & then I snapped them with my digital...
Dinner at Dad's...he was doing curry, but threw in some fried chicken for old times sake.. 
Emilio entertains Christina...probably w/ a story...
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Tina's Abuja post!
I don't actually have the URL to this post, as it's Tina's blog, but if you click on the 3rd link in my 'Friends in Far-Out Places' section on the right side of this page titled "Tina-Jungle Rumblings", you'll get a good bit of insight into our home & work from "supervisor's persepective"...The post about us specifially is currently the 3rd from the top & is titled "Abuja, Nigeria".
Enjoy!
It was actually really good seeing Tina again, even tho I only got to speak to her for about 10 seconds, as I had to dash out & buy my ticket & I flew out to London the same day. Ironic. But it was nice of the Lord to work it out for us to see each other briefly after 2 years...cool..
Enjoy!
It was actually really good seeing Tina again, even tho I only got to speak to her for about 10 seconds, as I had to dash out & buy my ticket & I flew out to London the same day. Ironic. But it was nice of the Lord to work it out for us to see each other briefly after 2 years...cool..
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Uplook!
In light of the recent economic crash & the seemingly imminent meltdown, this article I'm writing for activated may be a comfort. The following is likely to feature in an activated magazine sometime in 2009.
Enjoy the "rough" for now..
THE UPLOOK!
A good friend of mine once said “even when all is bleak around you, you can always look up”. What a true statement. Indeed there is always a way that we can be positive in the midst of adversity, however hard it may be to do so. The sky is no limit for someone who needs a new vision. Blindness should be the only hamper for not viewing the sky.
Time & again I’ve found in my life that when I was so absorbed in the moment of loss, anger, sickness, financial difficulty, or whatever my current “frustration” was, I had failed to take comfort in the fact that God had a future for me & that whatever today brings, we always have tomorrow. Sometimes that’s the only key: looking ahead to the future. Similar to how at times our only outlook may be an uplook, sometimes the best way to make it through the present is to look to tomorrow.
But don’t limit yourself to just looking at tomorrow--think beyond that. Rejoice in the fact that if you have Jesus in your heart, he’s given you eternal life. Then, after you’ve taken heart in that fact, educate yourself as to what that means for you. Refresh your mind & heart with the passages on Heaven in the Bible & rest in the promise of that which is to come. (see Revelations 21 & 22; 1st Corinthians 13:21) Instruct your heart with the vision of the future promised to you by Jesus that will result from your bond with him, your faithfulness to Him &, yes, even your suffering w/ Him—“If we suffer, we will also reign with him.” (2 Timothy 2: 12; Romans 8:17 & 18; 1 Timothy 4: 10)
Taking your heart to Him in prayer can also help you overcome the moment of distress, anguish, heartbreak, or loneliness, or the seeming failure you may be facing. There are so many ways to let our souls fly free from our undergoing troubles if we can learn to see things through the eyes of the Spirit. Remembering that we are spiritual beings housed in physical bodies can help us to search for spiritual solutions to our seemingly “physical” problems. Knowing full-well that we can rest in Jesus at any time & that we have His love unconditionally, can actually be a spiritual “life-saver”.
Many times when I seem to find no solution to my present problem, the one thing that pulls me through is just meditating on the magnitude, depth & personality of Jesus’ love for me. This always pulls me through--at least for that moment. And then if I can’t seem to find any other good in that moment…Well, I can always look up to the sky, focus on Jesus' love & remember that at least I have tomorrow. 'Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.'
Enjoy the "rough" for now..
THE UPLOOK!
A good friend of mine once said “even when all is bleak around you, you can always look up”. What a true statement. Indeed there is always a way that we can be positive in the midst of adversity, however hard it may be to do so. The sky is no limit for someone who needs a new vision. Blindness should be the only hamper for not viewing the sky.
Time & again I’ve found in my life that when I was so absorbed in the moment of loss, anger, sickness, financial difficulty, or whatever my current “frustration” was, I had failed to take comfort in the fact that God had a future for me & that whatever today brings, we always have tomorrow. Sometimes that’s the only key: looking ahead to the future. Similar to how at times our only outlook may be an uplook, sometimes the best way to make it through the present is to look to tomorrow.
But don’t limit yourself to just looking at tomorrow--think beyond that. Rejoice in the fact that if you have Jesus in your heart, he’s given you eternal life. Then, after you’ve taken heart in that fact, educate yourself as to what that means for you. Refresh your mind & heart with the passages on Heaven in the Bible & rest in the promise of that which is to come. (see Revelations 21 & 22; 1st Corinthians 13:21) Instruct your heart with the vision of the future promised to you by Jesus that will result from your bond with him, your faithfulness to Him &, yes, even your suffering w/ Him—“If we suffer, we will also reign with him.” (2 Timothy 2: 12; Romans 8:17 & 18; 1 Timothy 4: 10)
Taking your heart to Him in prayer can also help you overcome the moment of distress, anguish, heartbreak, or loneliness, or the seeming failure you may be facing. There are so many ways to let our souls fly free from our undergoing troubles if we can learn to see things through the eyes of the Spirit. Remembering that we are spiritual beings housed in physical bodies can help us to search for spiritual solutions to our seemingly “physical” problems. Knowing full-well that we can rest in Jesus at any time & that we have His love unconditionally, can actually be a spiritual “life-saver”.
Many times when I seem to find no solution to my present problem, the one thing that pulls me through is just meditating on the magnitude, depth & personality of Jesus’ love for me. This always pulls me through--at least for that moment. And then if I can’t seem to find any other good in that moment…Well, I can always look up to the sky, focus on Jesus' love & remember that at least I have tomorrow. 'Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.'
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Reunie!
We hebben een hele leuke tijd gehad in het midden van de boederijen van (hoe heet die plaats alweer?..oh, Nijverdal..) Wij waren lekker gewoon op onszelf...of dat denk je dan wanneer je van de "Velzeboer Reunie" hoort, tot dat je nog en keer kijkt, dan zie je dat we eigenlijk en heel nieuw en groter team zijn met al de "aanhang" die er de laatse 6 of 7 jaren of zo bij zijn gekomen. Dat was natuurlijk geen nieuws voor idereen, maar voor mij was dit de eerste Reunie sinds een jaar of 10. Tuurlijk heb ik m'n nichten & neven door de jaren heen gezien met een bezoekje hier of daar met ma, en ik ben nog een keertje zelf bij Oma geweest in het jaar 2005 of zo..maar verder niks. Dus deze reunie was niet alleen heel speciaal, maar haalde ook veel herinneringen op bij mij.
Dus...geniet van de fotos & de korte uitleg erbij. :
This bonfire doubled as both "Cousin bonding" & "Operation-Cold-Escape".
Enjoying "volleyball tournament"..
Thrashing my sister in ping-pong, after thrashing both Matthijs & Nando...ha! (actually she did beat me on this match)
during "quiz night"...this was quite fun actually...Aram & Roy (seated at the high seats) compiled a bunch of questions that we'd all asked seperately on different forms...then they divided us in teams & we all had to try to answer the combined questions correctly... this pic also showcases how nicely my sis, Christina, (far right) did the party decor..
Helping Oma get to her multiple cakes as we celebrate her 90th B'day...
the "briefing" before the "shooting"...it's just as well that I'd already gone paintballing before, as this guy's "Nederlandse uitleg was toch een beetje te snel voor mij" & I only understood about half of it..heh..Aram kept translating for me..
going back in for the final chase...in "sudden death" see comment box for the rest of that story..we'll get the shap-shap official photos taken at the photoshoot sent to us soon...then I'll post again.
click on the following url for more pics taken by Matthijs of Ilona..
click on the following url for more pics taken by Matthijs of Ilona..
Friday, October 03, 2008
Flights..& making it to Holland in 1 peice!
I have this thing for posting what’s current & in the immediate now… so usually when I miss something that’s happened, even by a week or a couple days, I just skip. But I’m gonna back track for a change...as my friend Anj recently said “change is good”).
My flight was definitely eventful, so I’ll mention moments most noteworthy.
The most noteworthy part being that I flew the same day I booked & bought my ticket (talk about last minute) which was a miracle in itself—I’ve honestly never done that in my life.
For months I’d been preparing (22 months in prayer, knowledge, mental preparation—2 & a half months raising funds for my trip/ticketing etc.) for a family reunion on my Mom’s side that was to take place from the 26th to the 28th of September this year. Until the same day I flew out (2 days before the reunion—there’s that number again) I was banking on a donated ticket by a helpful chap who had helped bring about 3 donated tickets for our other volunteers earlier this year.
When I found out that from his side I wouldn’t be able to make the free flight the same week of the reunion, I immediately went & bought another ticket, which my solicited donations in the past 2 months just “happened” to cover.. Ha!--Another miracle. 3rd miracle was that originally there was no flight with the same airline from Abuja to Lagos for that day & I would’ve had to buy yet another flight with a different airline & paid yet another transfer fee for a taxi between domestic & international airports in Lagos. But there was a little 1 hour margin of time when I went back to the house to pick up the rest of the money to pay for my flight, and in that time, an economy class seat cleared on the 4:00 flight for the same airline that would connect me for free to the other airport & with which I’d fly to London (Virgin Atlantic).
My flight was uneventful for the most part. But then again-- …..There’s just something about the safety procedures before every international flight that are just so routine, but at the same time, I make a conscious effort to tune in each & every time. I will not even get into quoting all the safety regulations, as my fingers won’t allow..but basically a quick run-down on the seat belt, oxygen mask & in-seat button uses…then on to a little run-down of where the emergency exits are, as well as how to use them and the emergency slides, and how to adopt the brace position in case of a crash landing. Then a little more about how we can’t use any electronic…ok, you know the rest.
Back to my story.
I was glad that I was able to fully absorb for about the 120th time the repeated safety procedures before the flight, but when we hit a 10 minute turbulence so hard that I would’ve left my seat had my seatbelt been on (to put this in perspective, just imagine yourself on a night flight rocking & reeling about 8,000 feet in the air—pretty scary), I was sure glad that I had prayed a serious prayer for the whole flight, the pilot, every part of the plane claiming the keys & the help of any & all travel angels I knew. Wow! Came in handy!
Anyway, we made it in one piece…which was the good news..I landed at Gatwick by 6 in the morning, met up with my Mom & them by 10 & connected by bus to Breda (Holland) with Eurolines by 8 that evening after a quick jog in Kennington Park, a nap, and a haircut...
and that's the full run-down...
Reunion post next..stay tuned...
My flight was definitely eventful, so I’ll mention moments most noteworthy.
The most noteworthy part being that I flew the same day I booked & bought my ticket (talk about last minute) which was a miracle in itself—I’ve honestly never done that in my life.
For months I’d been preparing (22 months in prayer, knowledge, mental preparation—2 & a half months raising funds for my trip/ticketing etc.) for a family reunion on my Mom’s side that was to take place from the 26th to the 28th of September this year. Until the same day I flew out (2 days before the reunion—there’s that number again) I was banking on a donated ticket by a helpful chap who had helped bring about 3 donated tickets for our other volunteers earlier this year.
When I found out that from his side I wouldn’t be able to make the free flight the same week of the reunion, I immediately went & bought another ticket, which my solicited donations in the past 2 months just “happened” to cover.. Ha!--Another miracle. 3rd miracle was that originally there was no flight with the same airline from Abuja to Lagos for that day & I would’ve had to buy yet another flight with a different airline & paid yet another transfer fee for a taxi between domestic & international airports in Lagos. But there was a little 1 hour margin of time when I went back to the house to pick up the rest of the money to pay for my flight, and in that time, an economy class seat cleared on the 4:00 flight for the same airline that would connect me for free to the other airport & with which I’d fly to London (Virgin Atlantic).
My flight was uneventful for the most part. But then again-- …..There’s just something about the safety procedures before every international flight that are just so routine, but at the same time, I make a conscious effort to tune in each & every time. I will not even get into quoting all the safety regulations, as my fingers won’t allow..but basically a quick run-down on the seat belt, oxygen mask & in-seat button uses…then on to a little run-down of where the emergency exits are, as well as how to use them and the emergency slides, and how to adopt the brace position in case of a crash landing. Then a little more about how we can’t use any electronic…ok, you know the rest.
Back to my story.
I was glad that I was able to fully absorb for about the 120th time the repeated safety procedures before the flight, but when we hit a 10 minute turbulence so hard that I would’ve left my seat had my seatbelt been on (to put this in perspective, just imagine yourself on a night flight rocking & reeling about 8,000 feet in the air—pretty scary), I was sure glad that I had prayed a serious prayer for the whole flight, the pilot, every part of the plane claiming the keys & the help of any & all travel angels I knew. Wow! Came in handy!
Anyway, we made it in one piece…which was the good news..I landed at Gatwick by 6 in the morning, met up with my Mom & them by 10 & connected by bus to Breda (Holland) with Eurolines by 8 that evening after a quick jog in Kennington Park, a nap, and a haircut...
and that's the full run-down...
Reunion post next..stay tuned...
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