Exit Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher..

So the curtain finally falls on Ashton Kutcher's and Demi Moore's union. I'm kinda sad. I know its ridiculous because they're part of the empty, vain, shallow life that is Hollywood. But yet am sad.

This breakup, makes me sad for so many reasons. First of all, they're people and it's tragic when a marriage ends in divorce. Then it just makes me think of how desperately we need Christ in our lives and in our relationships. When we see the world and others through the lens of God's Word, we rise above ourselves and our nature and like Christ, learn to lay our lives down for others. Loving them even in they're weakness and imperfection, God gives us the strength.

It makes me think of how frail and weak we are. Our femininity and masculinity is flawed. Therefore we constantly have to look to God to redefine us and write the story of our lives afresh.

This break up also saddens me because I liked them. Yes, I admit it, I was rooting for them. They were different. Defied tradition. I like different and tradition defying folks. Its just me. Normal bores me.

Anyway, these are just my thoughts.

Have a happy day people! And strive to walk with Christ, in the end He is the only Truth we have.

Vanilla/Cinnamon Pancakes for dinner

So today I was struck by this sudden, strong urge to eat pancakes for dinner. Yap, for dinner. And I thought why not. Life is blissful! But I decided rather than making them the old dull way, I would jazz them up a bit. The result was delish!! I can't believe I didn't try this earlier. So next time you're making pancakes, consider using milk only rather than water. Add a dash of cinnamon and a teaspoon of vanilla essence. The result? YUMMYLIOUS!

Ni hayo tu kwa sasa :-)

Yummy, one minute breakfast!

If you're like me, then you often get stuck in the 'toast and tea for breakfast' routine. Its boring, I know but it's so darn easy! So imagine my delight when I came across something equally easy, if not easier, than my dull tired excuse of the most important meal of the day!

It's delicious and healthy, which we know, can be a rare blend :-)

I thought I should share it:

Banana Whips
(makes 2 glasses)

Ingredients
2 bananas
1 cup milk
1 to 2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, if desired
1 cup ice cubes


Place bananas, milk, honey, vanilla and cinnamon in a blender. Blend until smooth. Add ice cubes and blend until cold. Serve.


Enjoy!

Time and flowers :-)

Boy have I missed this small space of mine! You would think now that am at home, I have more time on my hands. Well..wrong! I have very little time. No time in fact. You simply cannot pass a smiling, blabbing little face that loves kisses and cuddles and games! It's too hard.

He's sleeping now, so atleast I get afew hours to myself. Meanwhile, I have nothing much to report on, just this strong urge to type and post something.

Oh and since I have to leave something fab for ya'll. I leave this bouqet of beautiful flowers that I picked from my aunt's garden last Saturday. I don't know what they're known as but they're gorgeous! (Check above)

Thank you Tata Njambi and cousins for the hook up!

Today's the day

It's such a beautiful, bright day today. It just inspires writing and cleaning and shopping and taking long walks with my baby boy and his dad (some of the world's greatest problems are solved during or after long walks!). It inspires a trip to Mombasa or Malindi or Lamu, or Mfangano Island or Zanzibar or anyplace that's tropical.

It inspires newness and freshness and freshly squeezed orange juice and flower picking (especially hot pink roses:) and attending an arts festival (Kinanda Fest would have done so good to be held today!). Today inspires deep soul searching, to face yourself naked and all, so healing and truth can finally reign.

It inspires bravery, to make the big scary decisions, like quitting a job you hate, or walking out of a dead end relationship, or having a baby, or standing up to someone who frightens you.
Today is a good day to live. Today is a good day to enjoy what God has to offer. Today is a wonderful day to love and be loved.

Psalms 118:24 This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Walking the talk can be so hard at times..

We've had this conversation over and over again. I think it must be around two thousand times that we spoke about it, and we have always been on the same page. The mother should raise the child. Period. How do you bring a child into the world only to leave him behind, with a standard 3 dropout? That is not only unfair , it is cruel. That much we agreed on, 2years ago

So now the rubber meets the road (cliche, I know). Baby's here. He needs me more than ever and I am called to raise up the next generation. I am scared to the core, scared of losing my identity, scared of saying 'Hi, my name is....and I'm a Stay at Home Mom', scared of disappointing my family who declare so proudly that 'Our daughter has a (well paying) job'.

And so I wear that power suit, paint my face, pull myself together and leave my barely 4month old behind, to appease my ego and those of others, I die to Self to serve Self. Such a bizarre way to be. I live for today's comforts and manage to convince him and myself that that's whats best for baby.

But what about the values, the conversations, the promise I made to God that I will one day be accountable to? Only time will tell.
For now, I am here, and my baby is being raised by a 20 year old. Cause that's what's best for him?

Bringing forth into the world..

It's funny how in Kenya and Africa in general, issues that surround being a new mother and the difficulties it comes are hardly ever talked about. The main focus is often the excitement of the new baby, the addition in the family, grandchild, niece, nephew, brother, sister. And it is exciting, a new person has now joined us. But two new people have also been made. Father and Mother.
Rarely do you hear about this very scary transition into parenthood.
Birth, like death, is deeply impacting. And the difference between these two events is that, while in death the community circumvents the entire family, in birth only the baby is surrounded and taken in.
The parents of the new born are left to deal with feelings of excitement and intense fear. Happiness and being overwhelmed.
Issues such as Post partum depression or 'the Baby Blues', which are a reality for most women, owing to the traumatic nature of childbirth, are not discussed. This leaves a mother reeling in the after effects of childbirth alone.
I once read somewhere that in order to embrace motherhood, one has to mourn the lose of her girlhood. And I did. I faced the fact that there were things I would no longer be able to do because I was now a mother. It was bitter sweet. I was happy to join this new club but it pushed to a very new and strange place. This was a role I had never played before and noone, not my mother, nor my husband could help me. Teach me to be a mother.
In this new place, only God lived. It was just the three of us. God, my son and myself.

Motherhood has brought me to the realization of so many things. Some I cannot even begin to express as they are far too intense and amazing to be told. Being a parent brings you right to the feet of God. Because as soon as you become a mother or a father, you realize that you are all alone and only God can help you parent.

The truth about art and beauty, Edith Schaeffer style

The desire to surround myself with meaningful and beautiful things was first roused in me after reading Edith Schaeffer's book 'Hidden Art'. I was in campus and I started by making my bed and picking flowers around the compound to put in my room. It seemed a small and time wasting activity but it gave me such pleasure to come to a neat and pretty space. It made me feel connected to the earth and to God, who I believe, is a lover of beauty Himself. I still place flowers in my living room and am constantly looking for ways to add to the beauty around me. I think I honour God and in one way live out my purpose. Here's a quote from Edith about creating art and beauty around you.

'It is true that all men are created in the image of God, but christians are supposed to be conscious of it and should recognize the importance of living artistically, aesthetically and creatively, as creative creatures of the creator. If we have been created in the image of an Artist, then we should look for expressions of artistry and be sensitive to beauty, responsive to what has been created for our appreciation.'

Edith Schaeffer (The hidden art of homemaking)