“When you are grateful fear disappears
and abundance appears” Anthony Robbins
April
began with midnight Easter celebration service at the parish church. I was
happy to ride for the midnight service with my daughter, as David was very
tired and preferred to go for morning service. So I and Dorothy came back after
midnight service and enjoyed having some cake and wine sharing some funny jokes
and slept till late morning. The same day evening we attended a 50th
birthday celebration of David’s friend and we had a great time- as we watched
the brief power point of the last 50 years journey in 20 minutes… it was
gratitude moment for everyone who had come for the celebration.
This
month we as a family are grateful for one of our friend who volunteers as a
nurse in the weekly clinic at the parish. She delivered a cute little boy- as
there was some complication expected in her delivery, we were praying for the
child and the mother and by Gods grace, both the mother and child are safe and
out of danger. Looking at the child brought so much happiness and joy to
family, friends and relatives.
This
month we also had Programme on humanity and peace – a talk by Shri Prem Rawat
in the Engineering college at Osmania University, Hyderabad. I was glad to be part of the program along
with my colleagues, we did not get full participation from students as they had
exams – it was a small number and first initiative to promote peace and harmony
within self and around.
I attended the World health day celebration at the
Young Women Christian Association; it was an invitation for members. The topic
for learning and discussion was on Solar Food Processing Technology with
special emphasis on dehydration of fruits and vegetables in the form of fruit
bars, dried fruits and vegetables. An NGO by name SEED – Society for Energy,
Environment & Development has designed and developed a unique solar cabinet
dryer and has been using in drying forest produce, fruits, vegetables and
spices. The group demonstrated how they used the solar food processing and also
got us to taste some very good snacks and drinks J
There
was a YWCA Day Celebration with a dress code on saree and the sharing the story
of the saree you are wearing. It was fun filled as some had witty stories to
talk about and some others sentimental and warm memorable ones.
This
month I am glad to be blogging on books and authors A-Z April Challenge 2018
and was quite a busy month, learning to balance everything happening in life
and at the same time preparing and scheduling the post and dealing with the
power cuts and work commitment kept me on toes and I was determined to ensure
that I complete the challenge J I struggled with certain alphabets and
pushed myself to rearrange my old books and picking out all my old books and
checked on the names and authors and managed posting every day. I found it challenging to visit the other
bloggers- I did visit a few of the bloggers and was happy to connect with them.
This month I am grateful for some dental issues that
made me take care and despite all the pain I could go for a tooth extraction
followed by root canal treatment J I went for
three sittings and I am glad its over now .
April
being a holiday for my daughter, it’s time for decluttering home – starting
from books, clothes, gifts and everything that is occupying unnecessary space. This
month I am glad that David created lot of space for some more new Plants in the
balcony and cleaned up the grills, painted and put things in order. He also
cleaned up the alter, and painted the interior walls and giving it a new look.
There
was a retirement function of another friend of David, followed by 25th
wedding anniversary and it was opportunity for us to go out as family and meet
common friends, enjoy the delicious dinner and destress ourselves.
Summer
camp at YWCA for the adolescent children in this month, and taking a couple of
sessions was fun; the energy is high when we talk to youngsters and Dorothy has
agreed to volunteer for 10 days and David is busy with the church activities
and planning for the small celebration as the clinic he initiated at the parish
community will be one year old. We are grateful for all the members who
volunteer their time and energy to be available every Sunday to help in the
clinic.
This month I was glad to be part of the training
sessions – which kept me busy working out the details and preparation of materials
and also interacting with the participants. I
am also grateful that Dorothy completed her intermediate first year and she has
done very well in her exams and has qualified for second year, which will be
final year for the Intermediate Board. Myself
and David are happy with her progress not only in academics but she has been
active this summer- volunteering, making positive choices in changing her daily
schedule and keeping herself busy for two months.
Despite
the busy schedule this month I am happy to participate in the Tree Love posts,
Gratitude posts and the WATWB posts… here are the links below.
This
month one of my friend’s father expired and so I attended the funeral mass –
death always hurts and I feel sad despite the fact that it is inevitable and
none of us can escape. Death brings memories of the person and all the
experiences one has with the person when he/she was alive. I am grateful to God
for the memories and keep reminding myself
to constantly improve the quality of my life.
This
month we attended 4 weddings of our friends and extended family J
and at one point of time we had to divide ourselves to attend the wedding as
each one was in one corner of the city.
I
am glad to attend a yoga classes near my residence, for two weeks to refresh
myself of the learnings and felt quite rejuvenated as it disciplined me to get
back to the practice and do it with dedication. These sessions reinforce and
motivate me to take the inward journey and focus on myself – getting back to
health.
I am also happy to have been successful in coming to
the end of the April Challenge, 2018 and I affirm myself for the initiate and
effort to accomplish and feel a little more knowledgeable learning from the
other bloggers.
How was your April 2018! Would love to hear your
thoughts, and thanks for reading my post.
Be Blessed & Be happy!
Wow what an eventful month you had. Glad for the safe mother and safe delivery of the baby. Congratulations to her. Baby looks adorable. I love dried fruits alot, they are better than candy and I have dried them in oven here few times. But solar dryer seems best. Root canal, I have heard it is too painful, I dread dental visits. You look beautiful in saree, loved your smile the most. Loved reading the post.
ReplyDeleteThank you for connecting with me here; and for lovely compliments. I purchased that saree from coimbatore for myself as a gift:) I have never used a solar dryer but I found that session interesting. I enjoy dry fruits too specially cashew nuts are my favourites.. Root canal was not that bad and painful as I expected but I am glad its over.
DeleteSaree is gorgeous, I love cotton and Silk sarees, my mother wears them too. Although because of not living in India anymore, I dont get a chance to wear them. I do miss India.
DeleteThank you Shesha:) I picked up that cotton saree from coimbatore for myself. Usually I am comfortable in a salwar and when I saw this saree I felt like taking it. Saree being the dress code that day, was glad to wear ... May is hot and saree is not recommended .. wish and hope you get some opportunity to wear, if not now sometime when you visit India:)
DeleteGoodness Gracious Genevive that is one seriously busy month! Four Weddings & a Funeral - do you know that there was a film some years ago of that title - Hugh Grant & Julia Roberts I think were the main actors. Your photos are gorgeous - the little baby looks too sweet and glad he and mother are out of danger ..:) Hope you're ok after root canal - ouch!
ReplyDeleteYes Susan:) I remember years ago, this movie but I thought it was three weddings and one funeral ...:) :) not sure it was years ago, may be you are right, I recall watching this movie with friends. Thanks for the compliments and yes I am fine after the root canal treatment:) small victories of overcoming pain:)
DeleteYou had a packed month. I can see that you had a blend of things that make us happy and sad. I am happy that you were able to complete A to Z this year. This is one challenge that is never easy.
ReplyDeleteWishing you a fabulous May. And before I before thank you again for being regular at Thursday Tree Love. I have so glad and grateful to have your support. <3
Yes Parul by the time I realized the month is over:) I just went with the flow of whatever was happening in my life this month, some things are not in our control- but responses are :) am glad to choose gratitude for whatever happens and everything leads us closer to discover a little more about our self. I am fascinated by the tree love initiative and would not want to miss a single post... as trees have always been my favourite. I admire and marvel at them and there is something spiritual about being surrounded by trees. Thanks for your kind and encouraging words, I appreciate you Parul.
DeleteWhat a great month you had! I've also had an amazing month including the A to Z Challenge. Thankful Thursday Week 18 and the importance of interacting with other blogs.
ReplyDeleteSo happy to know that you had an amazing month with inclusive of A-Z challenge.. glad to connect with you here and thank you for being here, I do appreciate you:)
DeleteHandful activities in one month! such a big list! Congrats on completing AtoZ challenge along with so many activities Angela.
ReplyDeleteYes this month was quite hectic, but not stressful as I enjoyed doing everything I loved, thanks for your presence here and appreciate your kind words.
DeleteThanks for your link on my Thankful Thursday post. Next week is up. https://shirleycorder.com/thankful-thursday-20/
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome shirley and am glad to connect with you:)
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