Timely reminders

It's been a hard couple of days with long hours but actually both Nigel and I are pretty good about rememberingt he important stuff.

You may recall our very own 'Hello Kitty'. No, not the cartoon and no the CFH haven't learnt to speak ... yet! The Hello Kitty is a very cute chalkboard cat who frequently says 'hello' to us in all sorts of ways. He celebrates school holidays and weekends, he reminds us of dates and times and events and Nigel delights in putting things on there to make me smile.

Tonight I came home and the Hello Kitty made me smile. Nij knew I would be tired and frazzled and so Hello Kitty had an important message. I am healthy, I am home, and I am happy and ... it's Tuesday so actually three more sleeps till the weekend.

So he is my photo of the day. (and he genuinely does stand next to the calendar)

 

I have soemthing to share today I made ages ago (in December) but I never posted it. Pauline, my sort of surrogate Mummy, had had an accident with her Exploding Box. One of the cats had knocked it off and it was severely nibbled by one of the dogs and I had promised to make her a new one. She is Emily and Elinor's grandma (Bossy Nanny and yes we all call her that!) so I wanted to use some newer pictures of the girls and of her children too. She is a very special lady in my life and so I wanted to create soemthing she could treasure.

 

She was thrilled with it.

 I have uploaded a file you can download if you have never made an exploding box and would like to try one. They are really simple, great fun to make and great little gifts.

Download Microsoft Word - exploding box class for blog

It was actually written for this box here which was used in a magazine.

Today I am thankful for

• Nigel keeping me focused

And my one minute devotional today is really poignant and Oh so true again (I am loving this calendar)

Noelle, my eight-year-old daughter, is in ballet class. She is learning relevés, pliés, and ronds de jambe. The little girls cross arms and join hands and then amble left to right and right to left. Tiptoeing, aware of their posture and position, with their heads held high, they create as much beauty as their little bodies will allow. Truthfully, it’s mostly a chaotic swirl of bodies in motion, but it sure is cute.

There is one girl in the class who, even though she’s dressed in a leotard that perfectly matches the others, doesn’t blend in. Lindsey is in a walker. Her hands clutch the handles tightly. Her legs don’t allow her to do even the simplest dance step. She is assisted by a young woman who moves her from place to place, and oftentimes that is simply out of the way of the others.

After class, Noelle sat on the floor with the other girls, chatting, taking off their ballet shoes, putting on sweaters, stuffing dance clothes into their bags. Meanwhile, Lindsey was being tended to by her caregiver.

Today, Lindsey might not have performed a soaring jeté. But in a sense, I think she did. She took an art form defined by the long lines of an extended leg, the poetry of a turned wrist, and a lighter-than-a-feather gallop across the stage, and said that that definition didn’t apply to her. And so, with a piano clanging in the room, her leotard on, mirrors in all directions, girls flowing all around her, Lindsey stood in one place, not moving an inch, and in a way known only to her, danced.

Lord, no matter what my limitations, give me the courage to try.

—DAVE FRANCO

 

Comments

[Mary B]

Oh how thoughtful of Nigel and isn't that kitty cute.
God bless you

[jane]

thanks for the class, have wanted to try one of these for ages x