What is in your basket?

Today, I was helping at my daughter's school all morning. It is a great chance for me to give a hand to the teachers and support their work. This is something I have been doing for a long time, but today for the first time I was looking at all the kids in a very different way. I was thinking about Mouses and his mother. This mum was so worried about her little boy, afraid for his life and decided to do something very brave just to -may be- give him anther chance to live. She had no choice, she wanted to try and have one last attempt at saving his life. I was thinking about her getting the basket ready, making it comfortable for little Moses, covering the outside of the basket so it does not sink in the river. When she put her little son in the basket, what did she see? I think she saw a helpless little boy, a baby who can not defend himself, she saw a tiny person looking at her for protection and love. But God saw something else, He saw a leader, a great man, a man who will have problems and make mistakes, but a man who will trust in God and lead Israel.

So, what does that got to do with anything? I felt overwhelmed with the idea about what we see in our basket. seeing the kids today, learning, laughing and having fun made me think that sometimes as parents we see just what is under our nose, but God sees something else in my basket. A great child, a wonderful individual, a promising future. All I need is to tune in to God's vision and see what He sees in my basket.

Behind every great man..

I was asked to give a short presentation for a meeting at work. The session was really interesting and it ran till 8 pm. Sitting down listening to various speakers, I scanned the room and there were about 25 men and 4 women attending this meeting. It made me think that behind every great man there is a women. But what about great women? I think behind every great women is an army of people, friends, family and good kids. So, big cheer for those who are working behind the scenes for so many people.

I am the teapot short and stout...

Today I got a teapot and matching mugs to go with it. There should be nothing significant about this, however, it felt as a milestone towards being "old"! The idea of having "a proper cup of tea" with a nice teapot and matching napkins, a milk jug and some scones. I think the time of poring hot water direct from the kettle has gone and now I have to sit down and have my cup of tea at certain time with some cream cakes. I told my friends that with this new addition to the kitchen, there should also be no "pot noddles" and no out of the cans fruits! So, tomorrow I will enjoy my outdoor run followed by a nice cup of tea from my new teapot. I may be reading too much into this but I feel a bit older already with that new teapot.

Happy Easter

Old letter...same reality

Few days ago, I was going through some of my old cards and letters. I found this old letter from 2 of my friends which they sent me in the first term of going to university. We were in the same school, studied together and they went to university to study medicine and I went off to do dentistry. The letter was 6 A4 sheets (front and back) and it was all written in a poem style apart form the first part which included names and info about different people, teachers, lecturer, etc that were going to be mentioned later in the letter. It was hilarious to read then and when I sat and read it again it still is. All through the letter they explained about their frustration about the system and the different attitude in university life in comparison to being in school. How that success was not anymore dependant on your studying and more on how on board you were with students life and connections. Difficult tutors and problematic lecturers. That was a long time ago now but the experiences is still the same for many students I deal with on a daily basis. My friends now got their PhD and I did too, and it seems that we were not put off by the first change that we all encountered in the first few months of university life. We now miss being students and think back of these days and remember all the good times and the fun we all had. After reading the letter I thought I must get in touch with my friends again before our kids make the same learning choices and end up writing to us with similar letters!