"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" - so goes the opening quote from 'A Tale of  Two Cities'.  Not that I've ever read the book, but the quote did spring to mind as I was thinking back over the last few weeks.

To be honest I should actually be working on the next module of my accounting cert. as I haven't done anything for the last 2 weeks, but I felt inspired to write instead.  And when inspiration strikes you've got to go with the flow.

So why the opening quote - well these last few weeks have been full of blessings and ........hmmmmm, the antonym of blessings would be curses, but I wouldn't say that has been the case.  Lets rephrase then, they have been weeks of highs and lows, positives and negatives, good and bad, happy and sad, encouraging and discouraging - take your pick!!  I'm sticking to the quote as that really describes it best - they have been weeks of the best of times and they have been weeks of the worst of time - leaning heavily towards the best of times of course.

So let me give you a run down of the best and worst of the weeks that have been.

My friend Diana and I decided to use our free birthday movie tickets to so see a movie together.  It took a bit of work to find something we would both like to see as we do have different tastes in movies.  We finally settled on the the new Will Smith movie Focus.  The plot was great, but the bad language at times was terrible and kind of spoilt the movie. Diana and I felt pretty special though as we actually had a private screening of the movie as we were the only 2 in the theater, but I guess that's to be expected when you go at 1pm in the afternoon - lol!!

I have been inspired this past month to get back into card making.  Betty - wife of our interim Pastor is a very talented lady and she has been teaching some of the Church ladies card making.  It was so much fun, not only creating beautiful cards but also fellowshiping together.  Sadly Bill and Betty have returned to Australia, but I am planning to take up the mantle and continue were she left off.  It is good to be able to use my gifts while I have the time and 'freedom' (read no job) to be able to do so.

Mid March Noah turned 2. He was very excited to get his big boys bed and proudly had to show it off to everyone.  His birthday party was a great event with good weather which meant everyone was able to be outside.  Aimee did an amazing job on the decorations and catering.  She is one talented lady.

I think in past blogs I have written about the fact that the house shakes in the evening when the big truck go by heading north.  Well it's been fixed. I decided to do some ringing to see if I could get the problem sorted out.  I had the usual thing of being passed from one organisation to another, but finally I was connected to who I needed.  The girl I spoke to was very nice and took all my details and said someone would be in touch - and I thought 'Yeah right!!'.  Well a week later they were - in fact he was standing on my doorstep and we had a lovely chat about the road, road bounce, ripple effect, bitumen thickness, culverts etc.  Some of what he had to say actually went over the top of my head but I nodded politely like I got it - lol!.  Anyway he did say he could see the exact 2 spots the trucks were hitting and he even marked them on the road.  He logged the info into their system and he hoped something would get done within 6 months.  I got his name and number so that I could get in touch should that not be the case.  Two weeks later a road maintenance truck pulls up and they fill the 2 dips in the road with a layer of asphalt.  I must say I was pretty skeptical that it was going to make a difference, but it really has.  The house still shakes but no where near as badly has it had.   I wondered if maybe it was just that I was so used to the shaking that I didn't notice it, but visitors have also noticed the difference.  In fact the wood-burner flue doesn't rattle anymore which is good.

I have had a few Skype sessions with Ryan, Ineke and Inge which has been awesome.  Noah joined in for a couple too which was great.  He often asks to talk to Inge on the 'puter'.  At the end of March Ryan turned 30 - wow where has that time gone.

My course is going really well, it is hard work but eventually it does make sense which is good.  I got 100% on my last assignment on the Trial Balance - a great boost to my confidence I can assure you. The next module is on Financial Statements (sounds heavy going) - I plan to start work on it this afternoon motivation allowing ;0) and if I don't get too side tracked with making a birthday card.

I have had a wee holiday down in Christchurch to catch up with Tim, Yvette and Asher.  It was wonderful and I had a great time getting to know Asher better.  He is a real cutie and a generally happy wee man.  He is crawling everywhere and standing up and walking along the furniture.  He loves being outside and is a real chatterbox.  Sadly near the end of my stay he got a cold and was pretty miserable.

While I was away I applied for a job - a clerical position for 30 hours a week (the things you can do thanks to modern technology). As you can imagine I was pretty excited to get a phone call half a hour after sending off my application asking me to come for an interview.  Explaining that I was currently not in Levin we arranged an interview for first thing Tuesday morning (I arrived home Monday afternoon).  I was a bit surprised to see that the job had been removed from TradeMe on Friday but didn't think too much of it really, except to think that maybe this was a good thing for my chances.  I left Christchurch pretty excited and nervous about the thought of finally having a job interview the next day.  I felt like my ship had finally come in, that this was the answer to all those prayers ............................... however..................................... I got home to a message that the interview had been cancelled as they had filled the position!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Yip you definitely read that right.  Gutted doesn't begin to describe how I felt.  It was a blow to my confidence like nothing I've ever felt before. The wind wasn't just knocked out of my sails the whole mast was cut down and my boat scuttled.  Even now 2 weeks on and having 'processed' it I'm still find I get upset by the whole experience, it has left a very bitter taste.  I mean who does that?????  You don't treat people that way. If I had received the usual (and I've had plenty already this year)  'Thanks you for your application, but you were not successful' letter I could have coped. Probably muttered a bit as you do, but shrugged it off  and moved on.  But to have this happen is just.....just.... beyond words!!   It's just not right. Or am I being naive??!!

Anyway I am taking a wee break from job hunting (not that there is anything going) to concentrate on the things I have going on that need my attention, esp my study  and I have 2 orders for sewing items to get onto.  I still believe that God is in control and has a plan, but I must admit to being pretty cross with Him that day,  I know that He will have something better planned for me when the time is right and I guess this experience will definitely make me stronger.

The rest of that week pre Easter was actually great with 2 sessions of card making, work, a catch-up afternoon tea with my friend  Jackie from Wellington who had a work meeting in Levin and a movie/dinner night out with friends to see Cinderella - which by the way was a fantastic movie, although I am just a wee bit biased as it is my favourite fairy-tale.  On the Thursday before Easter I went to pick Noah up and he came to stay until Easter Saturday afternoon - we had an awesome time together.

Although the week was good I kind of felt a bit meh!!  I just lacked some energy and wasn't sure if it was post holiday blues or job let down related.  Turns out I was getting sick.  That cold that I said that Asher had, well not only did Tim and Yvette get it but I got it too.  And sadly I have passed it on to Noah.  On Good Friday I woke up minus my voice - well a good part of it anyway.  Having no voice I can cope with, but the coughing is driving me crazy.  By the end of the day my chest and head hurt.  At times I feel like I'm about to expel my lungs. And the voice - well lets just say that resting your voice by not talking isn't making it any better, if anything it gotten worse or should I say less.  I  feel fine now, but am still coughing although that too seems to be a bit less.  Maybe with less coughing the voice will recover as well.  Time will tell.

So you can see why I wrote that it was the best of times and the worst of times.

Well I think I'll leave it there for now.  This has already taken up more time than I expected - but then  good things always do.

I will leave you with the following verse which I read this past week and which has given me great comfort.

Till next time.

Love and blessings
Jolanda