Offline Lovelies

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Hello Lovely Readers,

I am taking a few days off from the blogging world as I head to Denver to see my sister, my niece, brother-in-law and the baby bump. 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend,

-Blaire

What did you want to be when you grew up?

I am excited to announce my first guest blogger.

Hi readers of A Journey Through Writing!  I’m Laura from Girl PlusEverything Else.

I like this picture because it makes me feel glamorous as if I was a celebrity being snapped by the paparazzi.  I am probably the least glamorous person I know so that picture is probably false advertising, haha!  I love reading what Blaire has to say on her blog and I was excited when she asked for some guest bloggers.  I tend to use my blog as a journal and write about what’s going on in my life and the things that interest me.  And I like to ramble.  So here is a little something that I have pulled from the nooks of my brain.

I never really had a clear career path.  I was jealous of those kids that knew they wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer or a teacher.  That seemed so easy to me.  You would go to university, study for the set amount of years and then you would have a proper career at the end of it.  A job that is always in fashion.  And one that was always useful.

I remember a constant horrible panicky feeling in the back of my head that stayed with me from about 14 til 24.  Because I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up.  And you reach a stage in your life when people start asking you ALL THE TIME what you’re going to do after school and I didn’t have a response to that question.  I hated the way people would look at me, like I was wasting my parents’ time and money for sending me to a good school, like I was lazy because I couldn’t think of a job or that I was a lost cause. 

I discovered an old school book of mine a while back.  I was probably about eight at the time and we had to write a sentence or two on what we wanted to be when we grew up.  This is what I wrote.

“When I grow up, I would like to be a farmer’s wife.  Or a parrot trainer”

I really like that I didn’t want to be a farmer.  I wanted to be his wife!  I still have a very romantic view of farm life and is pretty much encapsulated in this picture.

 I imagine waking at the crack of dawn (and enjoying it!) and making fresh bread to be eaten at breakfast.  I imagine I would have had three strapping boys that would help their father on the farm.  I think I just liked that there would have been lots of animals around.  I would have dogs (to help with rounding up animals) and cats (to help keep the rats out of the barn).  I would probably have to feed baby lambs in the spring time. 

Also side note, a farmer’s wife is not a career option.   It’s just what occurs if you happen to marry a man who is also a farmer!

Option two… Parrot trainer, I have no idea where that sprang from!  Nowadays I can’t think of anything worse.  Parrots sqwak all the time, they have to be constantly mentally stimulated and they have giant beaks that do an awful lot of damage.  No thanks!

I think that what eight year old Laura was trying to say was that she wanted to do something that made her happy and that was with animals.  I’m now in a new career as a veterinary nurse and I finally feel like I’ve landed on my feet.  I wish I could go back in time and tell my old self not to worry because it all works out in the end.

Birthday wish

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Hello Lovely Readers,

My birthday is not for another couple of months. But I already know what I want. Every Christmas my church does what we call Advent Conspiracy where we readjust our out look on Christmas from buying lots of gifts to keeping Christmas simple and sacred. My church give a special offering every year to organizations like Living Water International and local organizations.

Advent Conspiracy Video

While we give money every Christmas, this year we have wanted to raise more awareness of the water crisis around the world, we also want to build a team up to go on a missions trip to help dig a well, teach the people about clean hygiene and spread the story of the true living water, Jesus (John 7:38). 

Personally, I was really touched when I saw that 1.8 million kids die every year because they lack clean water. If you hang out with me long enough you will know I have a heart for kids. So this statistic really pulled at my heart strings. During advent I gave up buying drinks in order to save up money to give to living water. Also for Christmas I bought my parents gift cards to living water, this allowed them to chose what country they wanted to give money too. But I immediately had it on my heart to go to a country and dig a well. (Something I have never done). I am still praying to God that if this is something He wants me to do that he will keep the doors open. But I am hoping to go to Honduras in August with Living Water International and invest in a community down there. I would love any support and prayer on this. 

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For my birthday I want people to give to Living Water International click here for the Donation page and if you want to learn more about Living Water click here. If you want to support me and my trip to Honduras please contact me, but as I am not 100% certain I will go I would like it more if you guys would directly give money to Living Water International.  

Videos from Living Water...

The Birth of Living Water

A trip from Honduras 

The Story of the Thirsty

Thank you very much. 

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Bits of Splendor

I had a wonderful relaxing weekend, which is a nice way to start off Spring Break but my Bits of Splendor come from moments with some kids. I work in the church nursery so having little tender moments with kids is not unusual but this week these two moments caught me off guard as I was not in the nursery for either one of them.

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The first one happened on Saturday. I was at a leadership meeting for my church and after catching up with some people I ran to the bathroom, when I cam out I realized I was one of the last ones there. I came down the stairs to leave and little boy "M", who is six years old, and I have taught in Sunday school and baby sat for was at the bottom of the stairs. He had his jacket on with the hood hanging over his head like a cape. I said "goodbye M." He looked up at me and said "goodbye Miss Blaire" and when I got to the bottom of the stairs he said "you are always willing to help, thank you," and gave my leg a little hug. I said "of course I love to help" and I think I patted his head. It was a very sweet moment. "M" and I have an up and down history, as his Sunday school teacher some times I have stop him from running and being a typical six year old boy and I am sure he doesn't like it at all. But when I am his baby sitter he gets very cuddly and likes to sit on my lap. So I was very touched that he hugged me and recognized my willingness to help. 

There is this little girl "E" who every time I see her for a the first few minutes looks at me as if I am a stranger but then after a bit she is very chatty. I have grown accustom to this so on Sunday when I said hello to her I was happily surprised she waived at me. Then later after church I ran into her and her dad and she just started talking away about her purple dress and how she got to wear a pink one Saturday and she really wanted me to see it. Her dad wanted to get her brother from the nursery but "E" didn't want to go so her dad asked if she would like to stay with me, she said yes. Then to talk to her better I knelt down on my knees so I could be eye to eye with her. But then she too knelt down. It was very cute. 

Sorry I do not have any pictures of "M" and "E" they are really cute kids.