On my mind

I'm relishing this song today.
There are numerous You Tube versions but I'm drawn to this one because it has the verses. It sounds a little ancient but it is nice.

Let's turn our eyes upon Jesus.

Just found out that a close friend lost her dad. Sad that I can't be there with her :-( but Jesus is.
RIP Mr. Nangwale.

1.  
2. O soul, are you weary and troubled?
   No light in the darkness you see?
   There’s light for a look at the Savior,
   And life more abundant and free!
   • Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
     Look full in His wonderful face,
     And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
     In the light of His glory and grace
3. Through death into life everlasting
   He passed, and we follow Him there;
   O’er us sin no more hath dominion—
   For more than conqu’rors we are!
4. His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
   Believe Him, and all will be well:
   Then go to a world that is dying,
   His perfect salvation to tell!

For the record

A day after President Obama's second inauguration, I walked passed the U.S Capitol.

The bitter cold made me empathize with the cleaners. Clearing up under these negative temperatures must have been torture.
A well dressed man rolling a briefcase seemed a little undecided as he walked passed a cleaner. He seemed interested in something in or near the trash. When he finally gained the courage to pick it up, the cleaner claimed ownership.
I was obviously curious about what had caught the mans attention. As I walked passed I glanced and saw a single glove on the pavement.The well dressed man had no gloves and this was his chance to save one hand from freezing over but his hopes were dashed. It was that cold!
My fingers hurt, it took will power to press the shutter release and it wasn't even a paid job, just my madness.

Seats still in place

It was still closed off

There is nothing earth shuttering about these pictures, I just wanted to take record of the day after the 57th Presidential inauguration.

57th Presidential Inauguration

D.C is where it's going down this weekend!

Every third sentence on radio has the word "inauguration".
People are flocking from all over the world. Hotels are booked out and locals are renting out their rooms and houses for some extra money. A colleague of mine is renting his apartment to visitors from New York who are paying $300 per night for 3 nights.

Since I will not brave the cold or the crowds on Monday I took a stroll on Pennsylvania Avenue and took a few pictures. There is a lot of construction going on, certainly not as much hype as in 2009 but enough to feel excitement in the air.

White House

White House

Inaugural Parade viewing stand

In front of  the inaugural parade viewing stand. These Bakiga refused to move, too much maalo I tell you!

Picked up some souvenirs  on the way :-)

Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House

Seats that will be filled on Monday

Some crazy gadgets

At least I can say I walked the grounds 3 days before President Obama's 2nd inauguration as the 44th President of the United Stated.

It is squares, circles and black and white stripes

Black and white and oh so beautiful

He is a boy, she is a girl and they have 6 years between them.

He can fix her a snack and keep her entertained when mum and dad are busy.
She makes him laugh; it’s great to have a little sister!
They run and jump and roll all over the carpet.
They laugh and cry and want to pull out each others hair.

On the other hand ...

He is 8 and excited by spooky stuff, weird looking creatures give him a thrill; She is 2 and little Miss A bursts into sobs at the sight of a robot. 

Mummy says "Okay! Let’s find something you can both watch. How about Caillou?"  He rolls his eyes. "Wonder Pets?" He goes, "mom seriously?!".  

 "Alright! Sesame Street?" He screams, "No!"

 So, 2 kids will not agree on what to watch because he is a boy, she is a girl and they have 6 years between them. Makes me wonder how I lived with 5 older siblings. We watched the same shows and everyone was happy... I think.

He thinks in clear squares. Please give one instruction at a time " Clear the table full stop.Wash your hands full stop. Bring your books full stop". If I say, "clear the table, wash your hands and go bring your books", there is total chaos. He cringes, his eyes water because he thinks he has to do everything at once which in his mind is simply impossible.
She thinks in circles. Give her the same instructions and she will want to wash her hands, clear the table (with water dripping everywhere) and probably drag the table cloth along as she goes to pick her books.

She loves clothes, shoes and accessories. She beams her sweet smile, cuddles up close, raises her eye brows and asks “For me?” “Can I try?”. He will leave new clothes untouched and get upset when asked to try them on.

Give him a 3DS and he will hibernate, never to be seen. Little miss has a knack for sniffing him out and then I'll hear grunts “leave me alone!” or “go away!”

He doesn’t want water anywhere near or on his  head, face, mouth, arms, legs, back, stomach, basically!... ; If she could only figure out how to breath and eat in water, life would be perfect.

He could live in a cave; she thrives on relationship.

Writing on walls was never his thing ; crayons, pens and pencils seem to constantly call her name.

They are simply different

He is "allergic" to Vaseline; she could smear the whole house and then some.

She loves to sing; he would rather cry.

She lives by the DIY (do it yourself) motto. She would rather brush her teeth, comb her hair, dress up and feed herself, my only job would be to provide the instruments. He would much rather lie there and imagine all these things happening automatically.

He wants a perfect life where everything falls in line with his wishes and is totally crushed when reality sets in ; she dances to whatever tune is played, there may be disappointments, she will cry her little heart out, when she's done she will move on.

She is constantly closing doors and putting things away; he doesn’t know what that means.

She loves hugs and kisses; if he could, he would pay for personal space.

She wakes up in a good mood; don’t wake him up if you know what’s good for you - dreams are interrupted at the most critical points, thought patterns are disorganized, generally you mess everything up.

When one tosses me over the cliff, the other provides a safe landing with a glass of juice and a plaster to boot. They are different but very beautiful in their individuality.That is the awesomeness of God - He made us fearfully and wonderfully. Hehehe get the joke? "Fearfully and wonderfully?" oh well, never mind.

He says

She does

And that sums it up.

The More I Seek You

The more I seek you
The more I find you

The more I find you
The more I love you

I wanna sit at your feet
Drink from the cup in your hand.
Lay back against you and breath, feel your heart beat
This love is so deep, it's more than I can stand.
I melt in your peace, it's overwhelming.

Investigate my life

May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless . . . —1 Thessalonians 5:23

“Your whole spirit . . . .” The great, mysterious work of the Holy Spirit is in the deep recesses of our being which we cannot reach. Read Psalm 139 . The psalmist implies— “O Lord, You are the God of the early mornings, the God of the late nights, the God of the mountain peaks, and the God of the sea. But, my God, my soul has horizons further away than those of early mornings, deeper darkness than the nights of earth, higher peaks than any mountain peaks, greater depths than any sea in nature. You who are the God of all these, be my God. I cannot reach to the heights or to the depths; there are motives I cannot discover, dreams I cannot realize. My God, search me.”

Do we believe that God can fortify and protect our thought processes far beyond where we can go? “. . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). If this verse means cleansing only on our conscious level, may God have mercy on us. The man who has been dulled by sin will say that he is not even conscious of it. But the cleansing from sin we experience will reach to the heights and depths of our spirit if we will “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7). The same Spirit that fed the life of Jesus Christ will feed the life of our spirit. It is only when we are protected by God with the miraculous sacredness of the Holy Spirit that our spirit, soul, and body can be preserved in pure uprightness until the coming of Jesus-no longer condemned in God’s sight.

We should more frequently allow our minds to meditate on these great, massive truths of God.

This excerpt is taken from Oswald Chambers - "My Utmost for His Highest". 

I pray that the Holy Spirit would search me, cleanse me and organize me. The message translation of Psalm 139 says, "Investigate my life". In luganda I would say "Njagala onterere" or "Nterera mukama". It may be grammatically incorrect, I don't mind that, my desire is that He would organize me so that I can finally say "kati nteredde!".

A wrong turn...

A Global Positioning System (GPS) is a great navigation device, however, in the hands of a poor geographer with a lousy sense of direction, even the GPS gives up.

 One Saturday on a journey to a destination I don't remember, Sally gave me directions but I took a wrong turn. Sally by the way is the name I gave my automated GPS voice. She said she was "recalculating" when all over a sudden she went dead so I looked for a place to park.
I saw a nice cul-de-sac off the main road and turned. The road was winding and because I couldn't stop in the middle, I followed it all the way to the end. It led to a not-so-ordinary office. I realized I was in a not-so -good place when tire shredders emerged from the ground behind the car and a road block was placed in front of the car.
A policeman stepped out of the checking booth and I thought "oh oh! not good". He was over 6 feet tall, his dark shades reminded me of "Men in Black". As he approached the car he spoke into his walkie-talkie. I thought he was going to pull out a device that would freeze me over and erase my memory.
I rolled down the window and explained how I lost my way. I'm sure he was thinking "uh huh! a likely story". It didn't seem like a place one would wonder into. He asked for my ID, took the car registration number and walked back into the booth. Meanwhile his colleague stood in front of the car with a gun, ready to take action in case I decided to pull an unnecessary move. To keep him off my mind, I struggled to get Sally to guide me out but the phone went dead, there was no network in the area. I had landed in the "wrongestest" place possible.
After what seemed like an hour the policeman came out, directed me to another exit where the gates automatically opened and sent me on my way.

I was still not sure which office I had stumbled into until I got home and shared my little adventure with Mr. O. It was the National Reconnaissance Office. Click on it if you would like to know more. I don't have the strength to explain what they do.

But indeed "Mrs. O, you don't finish!"

On another note, I'm glad that even when we get lost in this world, we have the Holy Spirit and the Bible as our guide. SPS - Spiritual Positioning System or LPS - Life Positioning System.

Happy New Year? (SMILE)

I kneel to pray

Dear Father,
Thank you for 2012.
You kept my family safe and healthy. 
I grew and discovered, faced my failures and faults and watched them sink in your grace.
Thank you for my family.
Thank you for friendships old and new.
Thank you for your loving kindness towards me. For showing me you are always there and that you care about my needs. You provided from your bountiful stores.

It is special to be alive in this New year 2013. It is comforting to know that you have wonder-full plans for me. It is freeing to know you as my Savior and Lord, my life is covered and insured in you.
You are the essence of life. You are the reason I live. 
Jesus be glorified in this broken vessel. I may not be the most intelligent, or the life of the party. I may even feel lonely sometimes. But you teach me that it's okay. You made me fearfully and wonderfully and for a purpose. Help me to constantly remember that I'm valued especially when my sense of self worth gets confused by the standards of this world.

Thank you for Jesus. I can't do life without Him. He means the world to me. He is my inspiration, my wonderful counselor. There is no better person to talk to than one who can say "I know!" and truly mean it.

Holy Spirit fall afresh on me. Give me a fresh revelation of what I need to do every day. Guide me. Lead me. Quiet me that I would listen and obey. Melt this vessel. Shape this vessel. Use this vessel. I want to be flexible and yielded. Yes, I'm stubborn I know, please help me.
Help me to prioritize, to see and do that which is most important to you.

Thank you for my abilities. Sometimes I need to be reminded what they are (Smile).
Open my eyes to the opportunities you place before me. I don't want to bury or return my talents the same way you gave them to me.
Show me how to raise these children. They are precious, but parenting is frightening, I don't know. Anyway, lets do it together, you gave them to me because you knew I was capable right?

Aah! God, this is only the first day of the 2013, there is always going to be a lot to say so let me pause and give you a chance to talk too.

Me