Dream big...

My soundtrack for the week.... 

Why dream big?

Well, as a teenager, I used to fantasize - about my future life.... I used to think about what my home would be like, what my Husband would be like...what it would be like to be a Mum...what kind of job I would have and so on....

But now, when I think about the future, our future, I am thinking about such bigger things...I sometimes doubt myself and I can hear the little red guy on my shoulder saying

'hey, you're just you, why are you dreaming so big'

Thankfully, there's a little guy in white on the other shoulder saying

'why ever not! you are you and that is exactly why you should be dreaming big'

Sure, I still want the huge house where all my family can feast at Christmas, where Little Miss O could decide to get married if she wants to (can you tell I grew up watching Father of the Bride) ...but now I want more.

Despite feeling really content with my life at the moment (and I really am), I find myself feeling HUNGRY. HUNGRY, THIRSTY and constantly wanting to achieve more. Perhaps its because I'm a project-oriented person and so now that my PhD is done and collecting dust, I'm looking for a new challenge. Something to sink my teeth into and to run with...

The ideas have been brimming for a while now, but now the time has come...

Mr O and I are cooking up a little project - together. I'm so excited by it and so is he! We motivate each other and it's great to have the support that he offers me on a daily basis. He is actually my rock!

Every time I think about our plans and where they could take us, a cheesy grin just takes over my face. I am dreaming big again (!), and I feel that no obstacle in our lives can or should stand in the way. We have the big J.C on our side and are praying for our venture and for our family.

I think that every person is here to do something - whatever it is, we're all here for a reason. We are all blessed with different talents and its our duty, surely, to figure out what our passion and talents are and how we can use them for good. Even just by smiling at a stranger or telling someone that you like the way they are wearing their hair...we're showering blessings onto others, we're making someone else's day brighter and the effects are cumulative - trust me on this guys...

I am generally a smiley person (maybe annoyingly so) and I'm told that I have an 'infectious humour' about me. I decided to take this as a compliment! : )P But, other than people being happy to be around me (most of the time), I want to do more...

I want to serve more...

I want to achieve more...

I want to be more...

I want to be the best possible version of myself that I can be. Darn it, I want our family to be the best possible version of ourselves that we can be!

Am I asking too much? Am I egotistic? A narcissist even? Personally, I don't think so...

I suppose today,  I am realising that actually Mr O and I are on a great path.

We're so so blessed and have a lot going for us - we're still so young and have the whole of our lives ahead of us...

So, here's to a new week - of dreaming BIG! For all of us to dream big...

Someone once challenged me with these questions: 


What do you dream of achieving?
What do you love doing?
What are you good at?
and
What are you doing to make your dreams a reality?

 If you're reading this, I challenge you to do the same....share your visions for yourself in the comments box and I'll add this to my prayer list... (go on, it can't hurt right?!)

Have a great week - dreaming big and fabulous things!

Mrs O
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40 days of being thankful

DAY TWO
So, yesterday I started on a journey, a journey of positivity and thankfulness. Today, I've actively sought to recognise my blessings and think about what I'm thankful for. It's ironic that when I am actually looking for good things, there seem to be so many. I really am a very blessed gal!


Today I had Bible study class, aka 'footsteps' and as I drove there, I was thinking "mmmm perhaps I'll pop to the Krispy Kreme drive-thru after class"...
Low and behold, I arrive at my course and what is sitting on the table???? Krispy Kremes...! My favourite...cut into halves, so I could sample more than one flavour. This was the first thing I am thankful for...being able to tuck into my 3 favourite flavours without having to eat three whole donuts!


The second thing I am truly thankful for today is new opportunities...


In our class we were talking about things that we can get out of church, like opportunities and a church family, opportunities to fellowship and so on. We were also talking about what we can give back to the church... and this is where I am thankful. 


I have been thinking for a while about volunteering in some way towards the upkeep of our church. It is an amazing building (A.M.A.Z.I.N.G), an amazing church, a society, a family if you will. When I go there I know without a shadow of a doubt that the holy spirit is alive, present and thriving in everyone in the church. You go to our church and you just wanna be on whatever everyone else is on....you would even take a double dose! I just love it.


Anyhow,  somebody mentioned that there is a church-run charity shop that needs volunteers. 


I heard my name...


Now, I didn't know where the charity shop was, but I felt that the call was for me and that I had to answer - and today. Not just because I wanted to have something to write about on this here blog (I was already thankful for the krispy kremes!), but because it is a desire that has been playing on my heart for a while now. I just had to stand up and say - PICK ME! 


Now, volunteering takes time and let's face it, between working a 40 hour week, date night with Mr O, catching up with friends, Mummy time with Little Miss O, attending burlesque class and reading for pleasure(!), I don't have that much 'spare' time. BUT I definitely have time to give back to my church - I get so much from my church that I feel compelled to do this really. I have to make time for this and on days when I think I can't, I'm pretty sure that God will show me just how I can make the time... So, then I ask 'where is the shop' and I'm told that it has just opened about 7 minutes walk from my house! 


God is good! He knows I don't have time to galavant, so he puts it right on my doorstep. I have no excuse!


So, as of Saturday (yes, this Saturday!), whilst Little Miss O and Mr O are off having 'Father-Daughter' time, I'm going to be working on the new charity shop project. I'd usually spend these few hours cleaning the house or some other mind-numbing task, but not this week. In preparation for not being able to do my obligatory chores this Saturday, I've just done a blitz of the bathrooms...if I focus on one room each day of the week, then I wont have as much to do on Saturday morning - thus making time for my volunteering! Woo hoo and then all will be right with the universe again! : )p

That's day two for you: I'm thankful for and feeling positive about new opportunities... 


Mrs O
x

40 days of being thankful...

Yesterday at church, I was totally inspired and motivated. I loved every minute of the three hours... to be honest, I think three hours was a bit much for Mr O - but me - I was in my element... 


We had about an hour of pure singing and worship, which really just lifted my spirit and properly got me warmed up for connecting with God and my fellow-believers. I was ready to receive the message and my heart was wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide open - it really was great. 


The message from our Pastor was 'be positive'... I know its a simple message really, but when its delivered with power and belief, you actually believe it and take it as Gospel... Our Pastor explained to us that can't just get up one day and win a 400-metre race - you have to train - and train hard! I felt quite smug at this point because I definitely fall into the 'work hard...' camp! He explained that if you want to succeed, you have to arrive early and leave late - basically, you have to put the effort in. A good starting point for this is to have a plan A. Sure, Plan A might fail (see many many previous posts from me for evidence), but, if Plan A fails, there is always Plan B... 


if Plan B fails, then there is always Plan C. If that fails, this doesn't make it time to fall to the ground in a heap (our Pastor demonstrated this!), wailing that the Lord has forsaken you.. .heck no he hasn't, he gave us the whole frigging alphabet (OK, our Pastor didn't say 'frigging'!)... we have all the letters up until 'Z'; failing Plan Z, we can create Plan double A! Now, in fairness, if I reached the point where Plan C failed, I'd probably develop a new Plan and call it Plan A2, for no other reason than because I have an attitude about me which screams  'I refuse to accept defeat'.... It's not necessarily a healthy attitude, but we can deal with that in another post! : )


So, anyhow, our Pastor went on to tell us how in life, the negative things seem to jump out at us at every turn. We don't even try to find negative things, they're just there, annoyingly surfacing left right and centre.... but positive things, well sometimes we have to rack our brains to think of them. The problem with negativity is that is stifles creativity and innovation. This is so true. So true, I feel that I should say it again:


Negativity stifles creativity and innovation.


This one sentence screamed out at me louder than anything else our Pastor said yesterday. It got me because I often say 'my creativity has been stifled by academia'... I wonder now though, has my creativity been stifled by my negativity. Although, I don't regard myself as negative, I (like everyone) have my moments... today, I started thinking, what if I spent more time thinking about the positive things and actually cancelling out negative things in my life. Seriously. What if for every negative thought/action, I cancelled it with a positive?! Does it work like that? Do thoughts and actions work like that? I don't know...but I wanna find out... it can't hurt, right?


So, back to the point of my post... each day I plan to consciously think of positive things in my life. My blog is called 'planning, praying, playing', so it wouldn't be fun for me unless I zapped the fun out of it by creating 'rules' and a plan!!).. So, my rules are:


1) I can't repeat the same positive thing on more than one day


2) It has to be something that I properly, truly and consciously feel thankful for or positive about on that day


3) I have to do this for at least 40 days. Why 40, well Goliath came for 40 days before David managed to kill him... Jesus fasted for 40 days....Moses was on the mountain with God for 40 days and Noah waited 40 days before opening the window of his ark... sure the numbers 3,  and 12 are also significant, but 40 just seems like it will require more effort... surely, the more I put into this little task of mine, the more I get out of it.


So, with that - my first thing to be positive and thankful about is:


DAY ONE
Today, I received a book sent to our daughter by a loving friend of ours. Less than a week ago, said friend and I spoke on the phone (the first time in a while) and I told her about how Little Miss O thinks that every birthday is her birthday. This reminded her of a book that she read as a child 'Too much Birthday'. We laughed and carried on our conversation. Today, we got back from work and found this book lying on the doormat. Said friend had ordered the book for Little Miss O and had it delivered straight from Amazon. It only occurred to me that said friend had texted me a few days ago to 'confirm' my address so that she could update her address book. So, in short, I am thankful for my dear friend 'M.D' : ) She is from India, Hong Kong and now Cardiff.. we met in the North East of England and for her, I am truly thankful. In her presence, I feel positive and every time we speak, she brightens my mood. I feel that 'M.D' is very worthy of being my reason to feel thankful and positive today... thank you M.D - here's sending much love, sunshine and positivity your way sweets!!!!


Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmwah!


Sunshine, light and positivity - for 40 days (and maybe for always...let's see how this goes...)


Mrs O
x

Hallelujah!

Wow - the past 12 hours have been go-go-go!

Firstly, work was just a comedy of terribly unfunny errors, then baby girl started wheezing at nursery, we collected her and headed straight for A&E, it appears she may have asthma! : (

Baby girl stayed home with Daddy and I had to shoot back to work (gotta love a Daddy that steps up to the plate!). I was totally worried about Little Miss O (who wouldn't be) but she was home, playing with Mr O, having fun and not really understanding what that prescription on the kitchen counter meant. Mr O convinced me that this little hiccup gave them an extra half-day of daddy-daughter bonding time, and that if I stayed I would be depriving him of it!

Hmmm, so I went back to work. I did that 'compartmentalising' thing..... you know that thing you do when you feel you just HAVE to get something done, despite a gazillion other things going on at the same time....

...anyway, so I managed to get some stuff sorted at work... headed out of work, lost my swipe-card, found my swipe-card, grabbed a packet of crisps for emergency energy, ran for the bus (I wouldn't never usually, but I wanted to be there to put Little Miss O to bed), found a spare seat and started proof-reading chapter 6 of my 10 chapter thesis (whilst eating hula hoops!)...got off the bus...popped into tesco for provisions requested by Mr O - meanwhile, filling my sister and Mum in on the days hectic events

I walked the 10 minute walk from the tesco to our home, readjusting my handbag, shopping bags, file and phone as I went! I got home.... (yey!) played with and read to Little Miss O, got her ready for bed and stayed with her till she fell asleep....returned downstairs to Mr O with a headache(! - now it was his turn to need me!), searched for paracetamol, found paracetamol, returned to lounge, Mr O asleep!. So, I dried the laundry that I put in this morning before work! inhaled my dinner (lovingly prepared by Mr and Little Miss O during daddy-daughter bonding time, watched a TV programme about a Nigerian family, sent emails to the team for tomorrow (in anticipation that I will oversleep!), finished proof-reading chapter 6, checked my blogger account...started writing this post after realising that this has been one he$% of a day!

I kind of like recording days like this - because it helps me to appreciate the straight-forward and uneventful days! If ever there was a day that I was SURE that the big JC carried me through - it is today! By reciting the serenity prayer and by JC putting the right people in the right place, at the right time - all has ended well with the day.

Hallelujah!

Mrs O
x

Wives submit to your Husbands...

I could write an essay on the topic of us Wives submitting to our Husbands, as the Bible suggests we do in Ephesians.

Being submissive is actually something that had never crossed my mind before we got married. That isn't because I have disregarded the concept, I simply haven't given it any thought before. Until now. I figured I would do my research, I just can't help myself it seems. Obviously, the main thing from my perspective is that both myself and Mr O are happy with my degree of submissiveness and we both believe that the way I conduct myself with him is pleasing to the big G.

I am very much an independent, confident, free-thinking and ever-so-slightly random woman - apparently that's why he loves me *blush* I like to think I am God-fearing and I've noticed that focusing our marriage on what has worked for generations before us, has so far set us in good stead for handling the challenges that inevitably come with being married - in the real world - where everything doesn't smell of roses and where we run through the rain, rather than stand kissing in it as they do in the movies.

I have to be honest, sometimes the Bible doesn't always make sense to me, some things appear to contradict each other and I don't yet feel comfortable to approach my pastor or Church elder with every little query I have with it. Instead, I search online - I especially like Christian blogs such as boundless  and simple marriage. I also seek out books to help me understand things better. 

Most recently, I ordered Debbie Cherry's book - The Strong Willed Wife - Using your personality to honour God and your husband [good ol amazon!]. So far, it is making for a very interesting read. I'll keep you posted as I make my way through it...and as I decide what 'submitting' to Mr O means for our marriage...

But for now, I'm still pondering... Should us Wives submit to our Husbands? If you're not married, do you plan to submit to your future husband? 

Mrs O
x

'The God-Father'

This is a mobile upload of Little Miss O and her God-Father. Now, I am joining the club - woo hoo, I'm a God-Mummy!

When my cousin first announced that she had 'something to ask me', I couldn't imagine what it could be...she is intelligent, loving and an amazing Mum to 3 gorgeous kiddies... what could she POSSIBLY have to ask me?

Yep - she asked me to be a God-Mummy! It came as a complete surprise....she was still pregnant at the time!!!

I was over the moon, jumping for joy and have slowly, but surely, told everyone I know - and a few strangers too.

The christening is on Sunday and I am really REALLY excited...more than thinking about what I will wear, I've been thinking about what kind of God-Mummy I want to be. When I was first asked to be God-Mummy, I asked my cousin why she chose me and she said 'cos you'll be a good role model for her' - that was good enough for me, and I can do 'me', so I thought it couldn't be that hard - right?

Recently though I was asked, 'how are you enjoying your duties as a God-Mother?'. I didn't quite know what she meant? Unfortunately, I'm not a big fan of 'duties', 'musts' and 'shoulds', so, as I just avoided the question.

I guess it's a bit like asking, 'how are you enjoying your duties as a Mummy?' - surely the only real duties of a Mum are to keep your child safe, healthy and attend to their needs and wants without spoiling them too much? Isn't anything else a bonus? But what are the 'duties' of a God-Parent? I was really grateful that she asked the question though, as it did leave me thinking, what could I do as a God-Mummy?

I thought about my own God-Parents. One has always remembered my birthdays/Christmas, helped with planning our wedding and is always a source of the brutal truth - gotta love her! She has also ALWAYS been there to support my parents. As for my other two God-parents, I have had little to do with them since about age 9 or so... sad really, given that my parents probably thought long and hard over selecting them too.

In thinking about what kind of God-Mummy I am going to be, I also thought about Little Miss O's God-Parents. We chose loved ones who (outside of our immediate family) we would want to be a key part of our childrens' lives if the worst were to happen to us. The three of them are equally fabulous and appear to enjoy their 'status' as God-parents. We also chose them for their kind hearts, good nature and because we thought they were strong in their faith and great role models for our little cutie.

I have to say though, the male God-parent, who Little Miss O calls 'The God-Father', hasn't bought a single present for our daughter. What he does do, is teach her to dance, make her smile and best of all, sends daily scripture readings to inspire both Mr O and I - and this, I absolutely LOVE! It's the biggest gift that money can't buy and amazingly, is worth more than all the clothes in Mothercare plus all the toys in toys 'r' us! Don't get us wrong, we LOVE receiving gifts for our daughter and are always very grateful (as of course is she) - but fortunately for everyone else's wallets, we're simple people and don't, even for a moment expect gifts! For Mr O and I, there is no better way to nurture a child than to support their parents in their spiritual growth and personal development.

You've gotta love The God-Father!

If I could be anywhere near as good a God-parent as our daughter's God-parents, then I'll be one happy God-Mummy!

Have a great weekend...

Mrs O
x