Gals' Dayout

My DH went away on a work trip. The girls were left home alone. By girls, am referring to my little J, and her nanny Sarah and myself.

It had been a while since we had taken little J out to a play center. And yet nearly every week, I bribe her with "taking her to swimming pool" if she does one thing or the other. Thank God for children's innocence because had it been a grown up, the demand to fulfill the swimming pool promises would have been up the roof.

So, what better time than this (well, yesterday) when the girls were all home alone on a quiet sunny Sunday afternoon...to effect all my promises to the little one, and have a treat at the same time! We purposed to head out to a nearby kids play center to enjoy the afternoon.

And off we went....

Thankfully, the place was not as crowded as I anticipated. There were lots of activities to try out and little J was completely spoilt for choice. We managed to make a plan for her to go onto one by one until we'd explored everything. Oh, the fun and laughter that filled the air, let's just say is one of those priceless moments in life :-)

the famous swimming pool

dear nanny, aunt Sarah 

 At the end of the afternoon, I was as exhausted as the main participant, but oh so thankful for the outing. Till the next play date, let's continue sipping on our ice-cream, adieus!

October Birthday

So am here to congratulate my self upon pulling off the Surprise of the year (in my small world, at least)... I love planning for celebrations & events. I like doing the behind the scenes work and seeing it come out beautifully at the end. I derive a sense of joy in seeing my loved ones happy!

Let me back track to how it all started...Being that the hubs birthday this year fell on a busy Monday day, am talking first Monday of the month when I have like a hundred reports to submit 😆😆😆 I simply had to rise to the occasion and make lemonade, as they say... "when life hands you lemons,..."

So, somewhere every September, my head starts to spin and wonder how to celebrate our October birthday. The last birthday I had done a surprise weekend getaway, and the year before, I sent a present at the office, hmmm, so this time, I decided to go with a surprise birthday dinner on a Monday evening, inviting a few close family friends.

Here goes, our invite... which I somehow crafted with the help of my dear friend Google, and Ms.Paint program.  Sent these out on Whatsapp for the guests.

Then, I decided to go with the black and gold theme to make my own simple table linen & decor; since I hosted the dinner at a restaurant (for obvious reasons), I needed to sort of customize the table settings a lil bit... Didn't turn out too shabby, I guess... Even my random home decor projects I do in my rare free time, got to work as a center piece...(yay!)

Then, the esteemed guests did turn ALL turn up, as were invited. Was extremely honored for getting a quorum in these our busy days of our lives.   And our B-day boy was extremely surprised, seeing as he hadn't even reealised the day was his birthday (!) Well, the story of tricking him to come to the venue, is clearly a story for another day. It wasn't any near easy...but I still smile whenever I remember it.

Moral of the post: Is to try to appreciate our dear ones in whichever little way, whenever we can. Life's too short to keep whining and bottling up so much negative energy. Choose positivism, any day. Thank you God for the gift of family & friends!

And what's a birthday without cake...?

What do you do when celebrating birthdays for loved ones? Hmmm, sharing is caring...

Where did the time go?

Hey Readers,

I've been away for a couple of months, years, I sorta lost my way to blogging....But over the past few days, here I was thinking to myself, how life is happening...so fast.... and I am not even recording any of the beautiful memories anywhere.....hmmmm...

Where do I start? Maybe 1st off with a big vote of thanks to God for seeing us through everything. My little angel is turning 3 soon...! She was only a few months old yesterday...Where did the time go????

She's talks, sings, dances!!! Oh, does she love to dance. I don't know where she gets that from...Certainly not in my genes. She loves to travel a lot and watch all these youtube videos of nursery rhymes...And she loves to play, all the time, anywhere, with whoever cares...

A few pictures of the fun times....

In other news, we had our first saloon visit today. For some reason, I have always handled baby J's hair requirements in the comfort of our home, with the help of our wonderful nanny Sarah. So, this time, I was heading out to a saloon, and guess who tagged along..? Right. We went and little madam sat in that salon chair like a pro. No crying, whatsoever...and just looking at the mirror the whole time at what was being done on her little head. Boy, do I have a little fashionista in the making!!!

We just came back from a wonderful family trip away from home...and it was so much fun! I can't wait to share...But that's for another day. For now, am so glad to actually be writing on the blog. I have forever been procrastinating. Not anymore. Watch this space ladies and gentlemen!

Let me know what you've been upto lately?

Cheers! Adios! Au revoir!

Baby J in the equation

And while I was away, guess what happened? Well, I already gave it to you in the post title...

Love happened and came to us in form of a bouncing baby girl 3.6kg on a sunny Monday morning on December 29th 2014! I didn't for the life of me ever imagine people ever give birth during the day. All the stories I'd heard and read were night, wee hour horror stories (horror =just an exaggeration).

The little miss came 3 weeks in advance but I must say, there was no better time than that. Birth story is a story for another day but we're glad and ever so thankful for our precious gift!

This was, without a doubt, one of my best moments in life!

What are some of your best moments in life?

Thankful Tuesday

Dear Lord,

Thank you for this day, for the gift of life and good health, for our families and friends, for the jobs that help us get an income-which we many times take for granted...

Thank you for your hand of protection every night and every day, as we move through the busy streets, you have watched over us. Even when we forget to pray and ask, you still look out for us.

Thank you that I was able to finish my grad school and for the bout of malaria you smoothly took me through last week. Thank you for the opportunity to have a place I call home and for my constant supply of sukuma-wiki and other greens which we planted. And oh, for the first tomato I harvested on Sunday.

Thank you for Fathers Day which we just celebrated and for all the wonderful fathers out there who do a good job in teaching their children your ways. Thank you that I got the opportunity to share 24 years with my father.(RIP).

Thank you for the joy and love and laughter we share with our loved ones. For the good times we share, and the challenges from which we learn and become braver.

We look forward to the wonderful master plans you have for each one of us. Help us be patient as we watch them unfold.

Bless everyone who is reading this right now and please meet them at their greatest point of need!

lots of thanks,
Your daughter

Salad Recipes

I live with a Salad Freak! Seriously, my DH likes LOVES salads, anytime, all the time-breakfast or dinner. Well, these are the two meals I often prepare.

Even before I came into the picture (as lady-of-the-house), he used to buy a pack of salads at those food section at Mega or Shoprite and have that with yoghurt. Seriously! You now know I have a BIG job to do in trying to organize formal meals in our lives.

So, here are my three favorite salads to make. The nicest thing about this meal is that it takes less than fifteen minutes to prepare a mouth watering salad. And they are healthy, so, why not indulge...?

1) Potato-Egg and Mayo Salad 

I first saw this one at a supermarket and was intrigued by it. It does taste nice.

Ingredients

Boiled Irish potatoes

3 hard boiled eggs
1 medium onion (sliced into very small pieces)
1/2-3/4 cup mayonnaise

Slice the potatoes into small cube size shape, then bring them to boil. Cut your already boiled eggs into similar small cube shape sizes. Mix the two into one bowl. Cut up very small pieces of onions and add them into the mayonnaise. Add the mayo into the bowl that has the eggs and potatoes. You may sprinkle some parsley if you have. Re-fridgerate and serve. 

2) Coleslaw Salad

Forget the fancy name…this is basically cabbage carrot salad.

Ingredients: Sliced cabbage, grated carrots, onions, one tablespoon vinegar, salt and sugar, plus a drop of oil. Dress the salad with mayonaise or salad cream.

  

3) Cacumbali (Tomato-Onion Salad)

1 cup cucumber pieces, cut into  small pieces

1 cup tomatoes, cut into eighths
3/4 cup onions, chopped

1 garlic, chopped

Small cut pieces of fresh coriander (what we call coat-meal here)

Black Pepper

Salt to taste

Put the cucumbers, garlic, onions and tomatoes into a medium sized bowl. Add the coat meal and sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Mix and serve immediately for freshest taste.

Cooks Note: For a more adventurous cacumbali, very small pieces of pineapple may be added.

This can be served with any roasted or fried meat i.e. pork, chicken or even fried eggs!

What's your favorite salad? Plus, feel free to share any salad recipe you may have! 

Three Months Today!

Today marks 3 months on this tremendous journey of wifey-hood (Warning: Don’t look that up in the dictionary. It’s my concoction). I know it may not sound as a big deal, but I am grateful to God for the far He’s brought us(me). Aren’t we supposed to give thanks for both the BIG and small things? So, here’s my small BIG thing I would like to thank God for. Thank You Lord!

I asked my mentor in the Godly Marriage business, April about what exactly she recommends for a wife who wants to lead a submissive/respectful life to a husband. Well, if you’re frowning to that, let me just remind you that its God’s orders not mine.  You can read a lot more about that topic on April’s blog. One of my-all-time-fave blog The Peaceful Wife. 

So, some of the tips she suggested  a Christian wife has to do, here’s some of the list. Enjoy…and prayerfully think about this.

1. Stay as close to Christ as possible. Abide in Him. Be Spirit filled. You can’t be a godly wife without your power source!!!!!

2. Focus on God’s sovereignty. Trust God. Trust God to lead you through your husband. Realize that even if you don’t get your way, God is able to use your husband’s good and bad decisions to accomplish His will. This is the greatest test of faith most wives will ever experience.

3. Do not ever allow a little decision to become more important to you than your obedience to Christ or the unity of your marriage or your husband. There is no issue that is that important.

4. If your husband asks you to blatantly sin, then you will have to respectfully refuse to submit to him.

5. Watch your motives every day all day long. Pride and self-righteousness can easily creep in.

6. Watch your self-talk. What are you saying to yourself? Are you putting your husband down or criticizing him in your heart? Repent and turn to Christ right away!

7. Guard your heart and your marriage from other men. Set up healthy boundaries to protect yourself and do not seek to be close friends with other men.

8. Accept him, don’t try to change him. Appreciate and enjoy him as he is.

9. Share all of your emotions and feelings in a way that doesn’t blame him but be honest about your feelings. Don’t hide your heart from him. I like to share positive and negative emotions by simply labeling them. “I’m feeling so happy!” “I feel sad.” “I feel afraid.” “I am thankful!” “I love being your wife.”

And here's my home-made dinner to celebrate the beautiful 3 months!