An Update, and Some Project 125 Stuff..

So once again I must start a blog post with an apology. I'm just not very consistent with posts. Some people update every other day, and I can only admire and be absolutely baffled by them. But hey, ho!

In case y'all hadn't noticed, IT'S CHRISTMAS! A very good time of the year. Yet, with my first AS exams looming in January, I get a feeling that this Christmas isn't going to be quite as care-free as previous years.
Nonetheless, I am determined to enjoy my holiday amidst revision. Two of my favourite people will be returning from uni, the tree is going up this afternoon, it's my second Christmas with Christ, family are coming to stay with us, the next few weeks of church, lots of giving and receiving of presents and, of course, the Dr. Who Christmas special to look forward to. I'm so excited that I may even try my hand at cooking again, having found a yummy recipe for 'Christmas Bread' by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, whose name is positively spectacular.

Also, come the new year, Beth Rutland and myself will be raising money for Project 125 in a Doctor Who related way. We will be competing to see which sucker lucky person will be able to eat the most fish fingers and custard. Yep, I wrote that right, fish fingers and custard.

For those of you, who aren't Doctor Who fans (although why you wouldn't be is beyond me), you will need to watch this clip for full understanding:



The idea is that hopefully kind people such as yourself will sponsor us, and we'll make a beautiful video as proof that we did indeed eat the fish custard. This is all for the girls dormitory in Serenje, so please sponsor us! If you want to, just leave a comment on this post, or donate on the JustGiving page leaving a comment of 'Fish Custard' so we know that's what it's for.

If I don't get a chance to blog again, although fingers crossed I will, HAPPY CHRISTMAS :)

p.s. You know you want to sponsor us

What is Today's Subject?

Today's Subject is:

It's a good subject, don't you agree? Optimism (or blessing counting) is most definitely the best outlook for life. I can manage to be negative for perhaps a few days at most. On that rare occasion the sadness continues, I am blessed with great friends who will gatecrash my pity-party, eat all the cake, and burst all the metaphorical balloons. I don't know where I'd be without them.

Naturally, my friends are some of the most brilliant blessings in my life. But there are many more.
My college is a huge blessing. That I can study and learn and be educated is amazing. I love learning about new things, gathering up the knowledge, using it. And I get to do that every day. I'm also very aware of how fortunate I am. It is safe for me to go to school. Some teenage girls don't have that luxury.

In Serenje, Zambia, girls of my age leave their homes in the countryside to go to school in the main town. The only accommodation their parents can afford for them is in the slums. They are vulnerable and unprotected and taken advantage of by men. Only 2% finish schooling, the rest return home, often pregnant or infected with HIV/AIDS. That's a horrific statistic, what if only 2% of girls at my college completed their A-levels? And the only difference between us and the girls in Serenje, is that of birth. We are blessed, blessed, blessed and should never take it for granted, but help others to have the same blessing. Donate to Project 125, so we can build a girls dormitory and these girls can be safe. Do it now!

So now that you've donated to Project 125, as I'm sure you have, I can go to bed. I'm ridiculously tired and need to sleep now.I'll most likely do a part 2 to this "Count Your Blessings" thing, because I wasn't actually going to talk about Project 125, it just wriggled its way in. I'm surprised by how much I want to see it happen, and indeed by how much it's gone and planted itself in my heart. I never particularly wanted it, but God just went and stuck it in there. He's brilliant like that.

Count Your Blessings, Not Your Worries.



To be continued.. (or just written properly without any strange side-tracks about Zambia)