Houses and More in My Neighbourhood

After the snow on Sunday it was so nice to be out walking in warm sunshine by Wednesday.

Sara of ‘Much Ado About Something’ has recently been posting pictures on houses in her area of Southern California. I have enjoyed seeing the diversity of these houses and thought I would like to do the same in my neighbourhood.
I walked to Havering-Atte-Bower which is a village just 30 minutes uphill walk from my house (when not taking pictures!)

You can see different aspects of this same walk here.

There are houses, cottages, bungalows, old, new and everything in between and all so different so I selected a few to post.

The garden gate to the above

Yes, this is a house - it is called The Round House

and dates from 1772

It has 3 storeys and the top tower was used as a lookout during the war

Because it is at the top of the hill one can see over the River Thames

For that reason too I can see it from my garden

I have been on a tour of the house as the owners take part in

London Open House Weekend

The Parish Church of St. John's

The garden here is pretty but the house is out of view

Royal Oak Pub

The Orange Tree Pub

I met this dog on my way home - Charlie is his name

I walked a while with the owner and the dog ran and played and wagged his tail

Although it looked sad, the owner assured me that he was happy, active and not in pain

after surgery on disintergrating joints

I returned by a totally different route and got a good view of

the London skyline on the way

April Musings

Having come to the end of my story I want to thank you all so much for your wonderful comments and encouragement

Even though I very much wanted to do it I found there were times when I just could not face it and wanted to give up

Whenever I sat down to write I found it flowed easily, the hard bit was getting started

Your encouragement helped me finish it

Well as you see Spring is here

I was out walking Friday without a coat

Sunday we woke to this

It did not last long but

Monday we woke to a hard frost

Last week I took off our winter duvets and changed them to the spring tog rating

I was looking out of my kitchen window yesterday and to my horror saw a Heron on the side of my pond
These birds amaze me as they stand about 3 feet tall
That evening there was a programme on TV which said that the Heron population was increasing rapidly on the River Thames
At this time of year they have chicks so often catch goldfish from ponds to feed them
The conservationists were thrilled - I was not
We have lost fish to Herons in the past





Looking out of the kitchen window

Looking out of the back sitting room window


Saturday we spent the day with Oliver at Jane's place

He is now 20 months old

(These pics were taken by his Daddy)

He loves his jig saw puzzles

Here he is contemplating where to put the next piece

He's almost finished

Here he is dancing

I recently received this award again

This time it was from Vee

of A Haven for Vee

Thank you so much Vee, I do not take these awards lightly

I am honoured

MY STORY - Chapter 23 Full Circle

Blogger is not letting me do any formatting

I began this story in 1938 and am finishing it in 2008. Is it possible to cover 70 years in a few pages, absolutely not, but I hope I have managed to convey the nuts and bolts of the amazing journey that God has taken me on. He has plans for every one of us and this one just happens to be mine. It has been exciting, amazing, painful, and traumatic and every other emotion that one can imagine, in other words, normal. There are events and circumstances that I have not been able to disclose in order to protect the privacy of others but what I have disclosed is for the sole purpose of showing the faithfulness and constancy of God. He never gives up on us; He knows what is best for us to bring each one of us into all that the Bible promises us. He is a God that can be trusted and His desire is for us to know our completeness in Him. So in a nutshell what are some of the things I have learned on this journey?

I can thank God for every minute and not regret a thing. Even the times of mistakes and suffering are redemptive, not only for us but also for the people God brings into our lives.

I know that feelings are not reality, they are just that – feelings. At times there can be a great difference between what we know to be true and what we feel and the enemy is very quick to use these situations. These are the moments to get back to faith and believe against all feelings and appearances. These feelings are very often our calling card to get us back into alignment with God.

I know that His life within us can accomplish all that we cannot do of ourselves. Even Jesus said, “Of myself I can do nothing”. I have learned that God allows us to try until we come to the end of ourselves then as we give up then God takes over.

I know that we can trust Him in all things and that He will never let us down.

He always answers prayer, but not always with the answers that we want, rather the answers that will grow us up into maturity in Him as He knows the beginning from the end.

I have come to see that there are seasons in our journey and we benefit most as we give ourselves to whatever season God takes us into. Seasons can be many things. A new church, a new vision, an alone time, health problems and many more. His timing is perfect.

He positions the right people and the right circumstances for every event. About 1997 in one of the quieter and more alone times in my life I decided to do a year long course in Therapeutic Massage. I had no thoughts at the time other than a whole year of free massages as we practiced on each other. Little did I realise that I would end up treating clients and that many of these times would be times of sharing my faith as people opened up about their lives while on the couch.

I know that God never closes one door without opening another. We can make our plans if we are walking in His way and there is nothing wrong in that because we know that God is behind those plans willing our actions every step of the way, but that does not mean that everything will turn out the way we think it will. God has ways of getting our focus on Him and it often comes from what looks like our own confusion and mess. The paradox in this is that God allows this seemingly confusion and mess. He is after a minute by minute walk of faith, trusting every moment to Him. As the Bible tells us that which was meant for evil, God means for good.

He desires that we see ourselves perfect and complete in Him and the more we believe this the more we will see the evidence in our lives. We are vessels to contain deity and God picks up the broken and cracked pots of our lives and moulds them into something worthy of His indwelling. I could go on and on but instead will return to where we are now.

You may remember that I talked about our involvement in the house church movement in chapter 13. We are now again in a pioneering situation. A new church grew up out of the remnants of our old house church in the 70’s/80’s. This was not a house church but a large church that met in the hall of the Christian school that we began in the mid-seventies. There are 17 houses in my street that are part of this church. The Community church that we became a part of when returning to fellowship in our immediate area were very much in relationship with this church and the Pastor lived next door to us.

About 4 years ago this very local church were called by God to break down again into house churches. This was where we came in; this was why we came to live in our house in the first place, so with the blessing of our then Pastor and leadership, we came full circle and returned to the house church set-up. Many lessons have been learned since the old days but we are still very much in a pioneering situation, learning what “church” is really all about. I know that church is a body of believers and not a building and that it is very much about relationships and 24/7 living, so we continue to seek God as to what He has for us in this situation and this community. We are stepping ‘outside of the box’ and ‘off the road map’ and again find ourselves in a place where trusting God is our only option.

I could not finish this story without a mention of our Grandchild. We waited a very long time to be proud grandparents, and it wasn’t until we were that I understood the sentiments of many other grandparents that I knew over the years. I was so overwhelmed by love for this child in a way that I had not expected. In my years of waiting, hoping and praying I had never imagined anything other than excitement, being in denial I guess to the prospect of harrowing problems. When my daughter was diagnosed as a high risk for Down’s syndrome with abortion suggested, it came as a complete shock. I was so proud of my daughter’s decision to carry on with her pregnancy no matter what. In fact she said, “A Downs’ baby would still be a baby to love”

As it happened Oliver was not born with Down’s syndrome and it makes one wonder how many healthy children are aborted in this way. He was however born a very sick baby. This is Jane’s story and not mine so I will mention only the briefest of details. After a very long and difficult birth Oliver was born not breathing but he was quickly resuscitated when a doctor was called. He was however suffering from Septicaemia and had to stay in hospital and undergo a brain scan, lumbar puncture and numerous other unpleasant tests. On visiting I prayed over him that his little body would have no memories of what he was going through. At this point a strong prayer support went into operation, not only in my country but through a number of contacts in Africa, France and the U.S.A. I was not in denial any longer but wondering if all of my dreams had been shattered, and as any parent knows how difficult it is to watch one’s own child suffer no matter how old they are. However, thanks to prayer and the quick intervention of the medical staff, Oliver recovered and is now a happy, bright and adorable 20 month old. Another learning curve that things do not always go the way we think they will in this life. How reassuring it is to know that we have a God we can depend on no matter what the outcome in these painful situations.

So in wrapping up my story I will leave you with a few of the Scriptures and quotes which have been and are very meaningful to me.

James 1: 2-4

‘Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish it’s work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything’

Galations 8:17

‘We are co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings, in order that we may share in His Glory’

Thessalonians 5:18

‘Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Jesus Christ’

Galations 2:20

‘I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live b y the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me’

Paul Claudel

‘Jesus did not come to explain away suffering or to remove it. He came to fill it with His presence’

Corrie ten Boom wrote:

‘Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only God can see’

Norman Grubb, my late missionary friend wrote:

‘As Christians every situation we go through is God’s perfect will.
It is precisely the necessary one so praise God for each situation.
Accept yourself exactly how you are and how you feel.
We have to be content with what He chooses for us at this moment.
You cannot tell what God has for you, or what future purpose He might have in the experience that you are going through right now.
Just keep doing what you feel at the present He is giving you to do. He has perfect purpose for all that is happening to you, even if at the moment it is not clear.
The single eye of faith enables us to remain free within,
regardless of outward circumstances.
We are to accept fully the situation at the moment and the way we feel towards it,
Knowing that it is for the purpose of manifesting His Life in us.
Because He was determined to take us this way.
He does not see the confusion, heaviness or perplexity,
But only His next step in His perfect plan.
And He is the one who will bring it to pass.



THE END
OF THE STORY
BUT NOT
THE END OF THE JOURNEY

……..as the Apostle Paul said, “I press on to the goal that is set before me”

Winning Again

Look what arrived in the post today

One of the prizes from a Giveaway hosted by Cindy of In A Garden

A book on pressing flowers and a very informative book on

fragrant herbs

plus a watercolour painting, done by Cindy, of a basket of roses

Thank you Cindy

The painting will be on the wall somewhere near to my computer

reminding me of Cindy every day

Not much colour in my garden today but everything is

'budding up'



The Hyacinths are gorgious with lots more to open up

We are laying a new path

The old path was arranged around a large Weeping Willow tree that we had in our garden at the time. This tree eventually had to go because we had some subsidence at the back of the house.

We had to cut it back a quarter at a time over a period of four years so as to not affect the water table too drastically

There is apparently a stream somewhere underground so without this tree areas of our garden are under water during much of the winter

It is heavy clay so as soon as the ground dries out and it gets hot it begins to crack

The plus side is that the clay is brilliant for the roses

As for the path it is not so easy to step onto the small stones when they are covered in water and

they were never really close together enough for comfort when everything was wet

With possible snow, hail and sleet forecast for the weekend we had better get it finished