Food .... for thought

Well, I have to say this a much more reasonable time of day to be writing this. I could have been doing this at 04.30 again this morning but decided to try and get my body clock into a more reasonable pattern. At the moment I’m waking up so much during the night the alarm clock has very little effect on me and I keep over sleeping! Not conducive to
getting in to work on time.


I know these aren't daffs and tulips
but don't they make you think of spring?



Glancing out of the window there’s a tantalising promise of

a nice day with possibly even some sunshine. I’ve recently been bought tulips and daffodils which are so cheerful and make us think of spring. They’re certainly brightening up my living room and spurring me on to seriously consider starting the annual ‘sort out’. Not that I ever really complete it. My daughter would be the first to confirm her Mum and ‘spring cleaning’ are not phrases she’s ever associated together in the same sentence! Whenever I start clearing out cupboards, boxes, drawers and the ‘treasures’ in my study I always seem to get waylaid by things I thought I’d lost, or forgotten I had. Or I end up sitting on the floor going through old cards and letters I’ve found remembering people, instances, and times gone by.


Invariably I then get side tracked by the skirt I hadn’t got round to finishing altering, or the cross stitch picture I know would be a great present for someone or even emailing an old friend I’ve not been in touch with for ages when I’ve found a letter or card from them.
Then there’s the inevitable ‘changing around of the room’. I can almost guarantee if I start sorting out cupboards I become convinced whichever room I am in would benefit from a complete overhaul. I remember getting up one Saturday morning and deciding the living room in my old house would look much better with all the furniture moved round. It was a really big lounge/dining room with quite a bit of furniture in it. By the time my husband came down for breakfast everything was in a different place. He thought he’d woken up in the wrong house! He was used to my bursts of spontaneity by then having come home from work on a number of occasions to find me standing paint brush in hand and a wall or even a room a completely different colour to what it was when he left in the morning. But as I point out to my family at least they can’t complain I’m boring and predictable. Manic, disorganised and very annoying at times yes, but not boring!

Anyway, enough of this frivolity as there was a more serious reason for writing this morning.

I was at a church meeting last night where we had an update on the costs of a school the church has helped build for Dalit children who come from some of the poorest families in India. I haven’t been one of the key people involved so am not going to try and go into huge detail here as if you’d like to know more just click on the Bromham Baptist Church link on this blog and you’ll be able to read about the project for yourself on the overseas tab.

We had a discussion last night about the money which would need to be raised to continue to support the pupils and staff at the school over the next 5 years which we’d agreed to do at previous meetings. The support includes running costs, wages, school uniforms, teaching materials and lunch. Again, I’m not going to go into all the ins and outs but a significant proportion of the rising cost is to enable the children to have 1 meal a day at school.

The school is built, currently has 60 pupils and is on track to grow that number to 150 over the next 4 years. There was some discussion about can we afford it? Like everyone else in this country many of us are feeling the effects of the economic recession we are going through. Some people are facing very uncertain futures and have genuine concerns.
But as we talked and looked at the photo of a group of smartly dressed, smiling, keen to learn children and various people spoke it became apparent that whatever hardships we are facing here we knew we had to continue to show these beautiful children God’s love in this practical way.


One comment in particular from last night sticks in my mind –
‘Children don’t learn if they have empty tummies and isn’t this why we’ve helped build the school, to give them an education?’

So can I encourage anyone reading this blog to think about how they can support and help others who cannot help themselves. We have the big celebrity driven events such as Children in Need and Comic Relief (imminent as I’m sure you know) but there are also thousands of ongoing projects by churches, organisations and individuals which any one of us can get involved in.

I don’t very often quote scripture but I’m always struck with how much sensible, practical, thought provoking, conscious pricking words were spoken by Jesus. I think these words sum up everything we talked about last night and should make us all think........

‘This is my (Jesus) command: Love each other’ John 15:17

I’m sure it comes as no surprise we agreed to continue to support this project and I for one will be looking to see how I can encourage the fantastic fund raising team.


Did I hear someone say how about a sponsored silence!??........................................


God Bless
Jules xx

I knew there had to be a positive, practical reason for hot flushes in the middle of the night.....it’s the ideal time to write! I’ve been woken up at least twice tonight feeling hot, throwing the duvet off and then lying awake as my brain starts to kick in and all sorts of random thoughts start marching through my mind.

Must get the car washed – it’s beginning to look grey instead of metallic green.
Mustn’t forget I need to get into work early Monday morning
Hope the weather forecast is right for today as I really want to go for a walk in the park
And what is it with these flippin’ hot flushes!!!

My daughter told me to keep a pen and paper the side of the bed so if I woke up in the night I could write my thoughts down and then I’d be able to get back to sleep. So this is my version of the pen and paper technique for a good night’s sleep.

I had made a new years resolution to post at least two entries a month on my blog but like most people only managed that in January. February whizzed by and before I knew it March was laughing at me going ‘what, only one post in February – useless!’ So, have to make up for it this month. Mind you, between the hot flushes and my cranky left knee keeping me awake I’ll have plenty of spare time!

It’s now 04.45 and it amazes me how quiet it is in the early hours. Admittedly I live in a market town so not exactly a thriving metropolis but I do live in an apartment building (it’s an old converted shoe factory so I like to say I live in an apartment – so much more interesting than ‘flat’ don’t you think?). I’m on the top floor and it’s on one of the main roads through the town but even so I can’t hear anything. Even the birds have got more sense than to be awake this time of the morning! It’s a different story in the summer. By now they’d be twittering away and the sun would soon be streaming through the big Georgian window in my bedroom which still hasn’t got any curtains to it. I love the natural light so now I don’t have any curtains up anywhere in the whole place. So come the summer there’ll be something else waking me up in the early hours......probably won’t be worth even going to bed at this rate.

Anyway, I’d better see if this exercise has worked and try and get a few more hours sleep. I’m playing in the worship group in the morning and rarely manage to get to rehearsal on time even after a good night’s sleep. The combination of a late night due to watching the James Bond film (it was Piers Brosnan so you can’t blame me...), being awake half the night and the fact I must wash my hair in the morning does not bode well..............

So night, night for now and I really hope no-one gets to read this until a sensible time of day. Otherwise it means you too have been denied a satisfactory visit to the land of nod!
God bless and sweet dreams.
Luv Jules x