I mowed the yard this afternoon. When the mower stopped just after I finished the front yard, I thought it that maybe I should take a break and come back to it "some other time" but I knew if I did that, I would use mowing the lawn as an excuse not to study and then get neither done. As I mowed up and down the rows, I kept trying to measure how much I had left. e.g. "I am halfway" ... I would mow a few more and think, "No, I'm only a third of the way." and then I would include the front yard and think, "I am more than half way." It took me a couple hours to finish off the mowing as I had done some yesterday. I am so thankful Dave taught me how to use a self-propelled mower and I am looking forward to getting my own. At the moment, I am still using the store's mower because the new ones haven't come in yet, much to their frustration.
Milly played games with me while I was mowing. She would run around in circles with me in the centre of the circle. When she tired of that, she would run along beside and sometimes behind me, trying to catch my jeans in her teeth, playfully. She would chase after the sticks I tossed out of the way and give them a bit of a chew then come back to me. Sometimes she would play chicken with the lawnmower. She would run up ahead, wait until the lawn mower was close, then run away. It meant I had to know where she was every moment of the mowing. The dog next door came out to play so she spent some time at the fence, running up and down it to play with the neighbour's yappy dog. Milly rarely barks which is nice.
This morning I decided to visit a different church and the Watoto Children's Choir was singing there. The choir is made up of African children, the youngest is only 8, who have been abandoned or made homeless. Some of the young children shared their stories. One young boy and his mother were running when soldiers called out "Stop!" but they kept running and his mum was shot. One young brother and sister watched their mother and younger sister leave and waited for them to come back but they never did. Other children had lost their mums to disease or had been abandoned on the steps of a hospital. All were now properly cared for and looked after at Watoto. It was inspirational and heart-touching. I had tears running down my cheeks. There was an African girl sitting in front of me with a church family and she was crying, too. I wondered what was going through her mind and what memories it ignited in her. The choir had been in Australia for 2 weeks but are going to be here for 4 months. How amazing is it that not long ago, they had been in 'hopeless' situations and now here they were dressed in colourful costumes, singing and dancing with big smiles on their faces.
God is good. All the time. I will say it over and over again, While I sat in church, I was again reminded of how much I have to be thankful for. Yes, I have been through hard times and heartbreaks but never once has God left me to fend on my own. I am blessed with love, good friends and family and I can ride a horse, walk along the beach and play with my dog. I can teach and I can learn and tonight I get to sleep safely in a warm bed with a roof over my head and know that I am loved.
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