Grab your running shoes

Now, when it comes to supporting charity, I am very happy to help. However, if I am going to choose between running in the rain to train to get fit or sit down with a friend chatting with a cup of tea in my hand, I know which I pick!
But now I have been challenged with Diabetes UK to run only 5K (I say only!) to raise money for diabetes research. This is so close to my heart and for my daughter and many kids like her and for the future of understanding and treating diabetes, i am going to leave my comfort zone and my cup of tea and start to train to run in September. So in the next few weeks, expect either lots of breathless, sweaty blogs or no blogs at all (that mean I am collapsing somewhere on the bottom of my stairs). On a serious note, I want to physically do something and help to raise as much money as I can for a very good cause. The race will be in September, so I have the time to grab my running shoes and to start to train, bring it on!

School Photo time

Yesterday, for a special time together, me and my daughter went through my old school photos! Of course part of the fun was the whole "strange" idea that i was once at school, wearing a uniform, or a silly hat (as in the photo). But on a serious note it was really nice to see and go through lots of memories and try (very hard sometimes) to remember people’s names. My mother used to say we should write people’s names on the back of photos and put the date on and I used to laugh and think there is no way I will forget these friends, but as time goes on memory start to fade and putting names and dates on photos become a very good advice indeed.

It made me think and I got on the email and I sent a “hello” to all my school friends that still in touch. Somehow, old friends have a very special place in one’s heart and no matter what happen we can always pick up where we left off. The trick is not to spend all the time remembering the good old days but to think about the here and now as well.

God is showing Himself to us though the love of our friends.

What do you think?

I agree!

Time to wake up!

As British summer time is about to start this week end, we will loos an hour of sleep and waking up might be more of a challenge than usual. Here are two genius new alarm clocks for those who basically CAN NOT get up (I have few people in mind who might benefit from these as gifts!). The flying alarm clock and the clocky should come with a health and safety warning as you chase them round the room to stop them going on. Fantastic!

Happy Anniversary!

As the world remember 5 years since the invasion of Iraq, Jon Steward's show celebrated the anniversary in such a wonderful and painfully true reflection on the war. Enjoy!

Ho..Ho..HO..Merry Easter everyone.

This is the view this morning, Easter morning...i guess it is better late than never as far as the snow is concerned this year.

Happy Easter. HE HAS RISEN.

That is Why...

It is never too late

As my friends get ready to leave the UK for their new life in Australia (this is not them in the photo!), I remembered this story of the 102 years old war veteran who decided to leave the UK to go to New Zealand . I was touched by the story and loved what he said about his move. He said: "What's important is that when I'm 105 I don't want to be thinking, 'I wish I had moved to the other side of the world when I was 102'."

There was also some other news about another man who is - you guessed- 102 years old who has been granted a 25-year mortgage. It seems that 102 is the golden age. Few more years to go yet!

No “good byes”, just “see you soon”

Two of my best friends are immigrating to Australia, a decision that left me so emotional and very upset. After I stopped crying, I decided to write about it here. I know it is just purely selfish on my side. I know that for my friends and their family it is the right move and I am sure that God will use them and bless them in Australia as much as He did over here and more. However, it does not make it any easier saying good bye. I thought there must be a law whereby you can stop your friends from taking such a decision! Our lives is shaped by the people around us and those who are close to us and so I feel part of me will be down under (I would not mind the sun shine over there). It is very sad to say good bye but it should not be, it should be “see you soon” instead. Nothing like having a cup of tea with a friend, a good chat, a shopping trip or a holiday together, however, we thank God for all the new technology that allow us to keep in touch so “No excuse”!
I thank God for all my friends and family, near and far, may the Lord bless you all.

Ready for another christmas?

After all the busyness of Christmas and after all the carol services, Christmas eve service, opening presents and cooking the turkey, I am glad to say that I am getting ready to celebrate another Christmas (the Egyptian Christmas is on 7/1). So as I gear up to celebrate again (on a small scale this time) I was thinking about how it feels to celebrate Christmas without believing in God. Then I saw this interview with Will Smith, he was asked this simple question "Do you believe in God?" instead of a yes or no answer he gave the following one:

"I believe that there are forces at work in the universe that science can’t explain and I think there’s an end to human knowledge. Let’s call it the unknown, the higher power. Let’s call it God or Allah, but let’s just agree that there is something beyond what we know. There are things like karma. There are things beyond what we understand. So, yes, I believe there’s an energy and I try to use it and be in the good graces of that energy so things in my life go the way I want them to".

I so much liked the last sentence, he believes that there is an energy and that he tries and be in the good graces of that energy for his own benefits. Well, this is really understandable, we try and protect ourselves and if there is a higher power somewhere out there we try to stay in its good books so our life can carry on as normal and as successful as possible. But the thing is even when we believe in God we treat him in the same way sometimes, we forget the relation and care about the customs and the traditions, we forget the intimate closeness and focus on a list charities and meetings and we worry what might God do next if we do not behave ourselves. The helpless child of Bethlehem was born with a plan to save me and to die for me and my prayers in this new year that the relation between God and me will be about enjoying walking with him not worrying what he might do to me if I am not in his good books.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

Education, education, education

Love them or hate them, beauty pageants produce some interesting people, ideas and opinions. This video has been seen all over the Internet and viewed by more than 4 million people world wide. I was not surprised watching it as Mr Bush sets a very high standered to answering questions on the spot, so I do not blame Miss South Carolina for her answer. So just in case you did not see it, here it is, so funny, enjoy!

Superstitions

It has been some time since I updated my blog, I was so busy with so much. However, today I came across some of the most commen superstitons things and wanted to share few of them. Some you will know and some I am sure you will laugh out load about. Enjoy!



-Toads cause warts
-A cricket in the house brings good luck
-Crossing your fingers helps to avoid bad luck and helps a wish come true
-It is bad luck to sing at the table
-It is bad luck to sleep on a table
-After receiving a container of food, the container should never be returned empty
-A lock of hair from a baby's first haircut should be kept for good luck
-A bird that comes in your window brings bad luck
-To refuse a kiss under mistletoe causes bad luck
-Goldfish in the pond bring good luck
-Goldfish in the house bring bad luck
-For good luck, wear new clothes on Easter
-An acorn at the window can keep lightning out of the house
-If the bottom of your feet itch, you will make a trip
-When a dog howls, death is near
-It is bad luck to chase someone with a broom
-A sailor wearing an earring cannot drown
-To find a penny heads up, brings good luck
-To cure a sty, rub it with a gold wedding band
-Animals can talk at midnight on Christmas Eve
-A drowned woman floats face up, a drowned man floats face down
-A person cannot drown before going under three times
-To drop a fork means a woman will visit
-To drop a knife means a man will visit
-Smell dandelions, wet the bed
-To give someone a purse or wallet without money in it will bring that person bad luck

Confused.com

This is a famous car insurance and they have their adverts everywhere now. I thought about them today as I read this article about the local rotary club that has been forced to fit a belt to the sleigh that SANTA uses there - or face a £200 increase in its insurance premiums. I am sure this is essential as going about 2 miles/hour in a sleigh is pretty dangerous for a big guy like SANTA. I just hope that SANTA will find good insurance for his deers on Christmas eve, I hear that they leave the sleigh parked in double yellow line while SANTA is delivering gifts!

What is next for Christians?

I received this article with just one example about Christians treatment in Egypt. The article is published in Arabic in Arabia Net and here it is in English. All i can say is that we keep praying.


Egypt Copt jailed.. 45 years after father's conversion

(AFP) — An Egyptian Christian woman has been jailed for three years
because her father's brief conversion to Islam 45 years ago made her
legally a Muslim while her official papers said she was Christian, her
lawyer said Thursday.

Shadia Nagui Ibrahim, 47, was charged with fraud for stating
Christianity as her religion on her marriage certificate, unaware that
her father's conversion to Islam in 1962 had made her officially a
Muslim, Michael Maurice told AFP.

Nagui Ibrahim left home in 1962 when daughter Shadia was two years
old, converted to Islam and took on the Muslim name Mustafa.

Three years later, after a reconciliation with his wife, he moved home
and re-converted to Christianity. In the process, he got someone to
forge his documents back to say he was Christian.

State reluctance to allow citizens to put their religion of choice on
national identity cards means many seek forged documents that can
result in criminal prosecution, New York-based Human Rights Watch said
in a report earlier this month.

In 1996, the man who forged Ibrahim's documents was detained for
falsifying dozens of documents and confessed to changing Ibrahim's
papers.

Authorities detained Ibrahim and also informed his daughter that on
paper, Ibrahim was still a Muslim and therefore so was she. Children
in Egypt automatically take their father's religion.

Under Egyptian law it is also illegal for a Muslim woman to marry a
Christian man.

She was charged with "providing false information on official
documents" for stating she was Christian on her marriage certificate
in 1982.

After a lengthy trial, she was sentenced to three years in absentee in
2000 but the case was subsequently dropped.

She was detained again in August this year and sentenced to three
years on Wednesday after just one brief court session, her lawyer said

Gingerbread "person" anyone?

This is the last straw I think. The news that we are now supposed to change the name of gingerbread man to gingerbread person or gingerbread people as it is not politically correct anymore.

I don’t like gingerbread anyway (nothing personal really) but I had so much fun helping in my local school with making gingerbread man with the kids, it was fun and messy experience. I was trying to follow the recipe while running after the kids who are trying to taste the dough that had raw eggs and stopping others from dipping their toys in the honey or making tracks on the floor with the flour. However, eventually we made the gingerbread man and they were really nice.

So what is the problem with calling them gingerbread man? And who exactly got offended by that? And where is all this political correctness taking us? and what is next? protest against snowman? Most women -in my opinion- do not actually mind what we call those ginger cookies, and it is not– as far as I am concerned - an equality problem in anyway. When God created us both men and women, He created us on His image, equal in His sight. Equal in being sinful, equal in our need to His grace, equal in being human and equal in our need to be accepted and loved. But saying that, He gave us different talents and different characters and so different ways to contribute and make a difference.

So when it comes to fitting that IKAE bookcase with instructions that only an expert in Egyptology can read and understand (as it seems to be in Hieroglyphics), men are well talented to do that and most women will have no problem accepting that. On the other hand, cooking, tidying and baking “gingerbread man” is enjoyable and women love doing that. I might be still sticking to the old stereotype but I believe that the issue is not who does what or what do we call things, gingerbread men or postman or chairperson etc. The point is that we are all accepted as equal in God’s eyes and that if I was the only woman on earth , Jesus would have still died for me and for my sin. It does not matter who does the ironing, what matter is that we are equal in being people who need to be loved and accepted as we are.

Mr speaker...Big brother is watching!

Yesterday the BBC showed the first of a series about the Blair years. Yesterday it was about the relation between Blair and Brown over the years and the reality of different stories about the tension between the two of them. Here is a clip that shows at least the funny side of Mr Brown or the side of him that forgot that Big brother is ALWAYS watching.

Beware, Christians approaching!

I tuned in to listen to a program on a Christian radio station and just before it was about to start, there was an announcement that said: “the following program contains material that may let you reflect on your life style”. The program was on how our diaries reflect our priorities and commitment to different things. It also did ask the question: where is God in our busy lives. However, the interesting point was in that early “warning” before the program started (it certainly felt like a warning). Do we now need a notification on a Christian radio stations before hearing God’s word? that we are actually about to listen to God’s ways being preached? Or are we so worried about offending people or saying things that do not conform with their life styles? If we are going to do that we should have a warning on every printed bible; “this book may actually change your whole life, you may be living in peace, you may be saved for eternity and you may actually start to love your neighbours as yourself”. And what about going to church: “becoming part of this community may lead to a real fellowship, less gossip and spiritual fulfilment, beware!” I may have read too much into that little announcement, but Jesus was also clear from the beginning, he did say that it will be a hard and narrow road walking with him (Mathew 7: 14) and that in this world will have troubles (John 16: 33), but the biggest promise is that he himself will be there every step of the way. So if we are going to put warnings up about Christian values, let us put the promises there too.

I have won the Lottery!

YES! I have.
I have won the €UROMILLONE LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL. The good thing about this lottery is that you have a chance to win if you play and you ACTUALLY win if you don’t play. I received a letter informing me that “due to the mix up of numbers, addresses and the holidays, the results were released on the 2nd November 2007, your name attached to ticket with serial number 7216-05 drew the lucky numbers which consequently won the lottery in the 3rd category. You have therefore been approved for a lump sum payout of € 785.790.00 in cash, congratulations”
But this is not the exciting part, the important part is that for “security reasons” they are asking me to keep this from public notice until my claim has been processed and the money is safe in my account. There is also another “little” form to fill in with few needed information that is important to claim my prize. The form includes my name, address, date of birth, my bank account and sort code (obviously to transfer the money) and some identification.
I am just amazed with how brave those people are, the envelope got my name and address printed on and the stamp is a Spanish stamp too. I think this is the new age lottery, where it does not matter whether you play or not, you still have a chance as long as you hand in all you personal and bank details they will grantee a win. Just a minor change in details though, THEY will win the millions out of naive people.

Christams shopping list

As Christmas approaches, i thought a helping hand is needed if you are stuck and need few new ideas. so here it is..enjoy!


A Japanese boy looks at a 10 cm (4 inch) model of Japan's rocket-powered boy Astro Boy encrusted with diamonds, rubies and emeralds worth about 100 million yen (£415,000) displayed at a Tokyo department store April 7, 2003.
Artist Osamu Tezuka, considered the father of Japan's animation or "manga" industry, created Astro Boy as a serialised comic strip in 1951 and set his character's birthday far in the future-April 7, 2003.


A shark-shaped model inlayed with 4,276 diamonds is displayed at a shopping mall in Shijiazhuang, north China's Hebei province in this picture taken on May 24, 2005. The 26 cm (10 inches) long model is made of 18K platinum and worth 18.8 million yuan (about £1.15 million).

A model demonstrates the use of Umo Inc.'s 24-carat gold leaf "Gold Facial Treatment" at the Beautyworld Japan 2007 trade fair in Tokyo. The treatment costs 30,000 yen (£130).