Hi everyone Happy New Year if you haven’t heard from me since the ball drop or the sound of Big Ben chimes. I hope your year is starting off well. In the US it has been a little crazy so far with two events happening in New Orleans and Las Vegas on new years day as well as the fires in California starting this week. I honestly at times don’t even like to get on my phone or turn the tv on. I used to tell myself that it was better just not to know, but I have realized that’s not true. I wish at times, I could live in this world surrounded by a bubble where I can be immune from the crazy and the heartache going on around me, but I also know that is not what we are called to do as believers in Christ. If I stay in my bubble how can I ever reach out to people and show them Christs love? I cant, so that’s where the faith part comes in. I have to make myself engage at times, even if I am unable to not absorb the cruelty, pain, heartache of this world. I also pray to God for almost everything. My prayer/ thankfulness journal is off to a lengthy start! In recent years and especially the last eight months I have been diligently writing what I am thankful for every day and telling God my heart. I feel like sometimes I sound like a broken record with what I talk about, but God is patient.
As T and I start off this year we have had a few weeks off. We are getting ready to welcome a new group of SOWERS at the camp we are serving at in the Hill Country of Texas. The weather is chilly for Texas today with a high of 35 degrees Fahrenheit and its raining. An unusual day for us as this area doesn’t get much rain, but a good opportunity to catch up on things I would normally put to one side choosing a walk instead. T has been busily working on RV tech related stuff preparing to hopefully do his first RV inspection and repair in the next few weeks. I have been in the kitchen this week baking sourdough bread and attempting to make my first batch of face cream. I definitely learned a lot from each experience and I am looking forward to trying again. My sourdough was a little dense, still tasty, but dense. I am going to stretch the dough more and not be so afraid to handle it in general. Its a learning experience so its okay to make mistakes and I am not making it to sell to anyone. The face cream formulating tested my patience. I realized pretty quickly after trying a water bath without direct heat underneath that I was going to be standing there with a thermometer and not getting anywhere. My two beakers with their contents was not going to reach the optimal temperature that was required without increasing the heat. I now understood the need for a single hot plate, but I didn’t have one so my RV stove top was going to have to do. I had to be very careful, but after much patience the two solutions reached their perfect temperature to be able to join together and mix. After that, active ingredients was added which gave the cream its colour and fragrance. It had been a while since I had watched the instruction video and did not have access to it anymore on YouTube, so there was a couple of steps at the end I could have done differently and more efficiently, but the end results was still a face cream that I have used several times since its inception. I hope to play with ingredients and try more of the suggestions on the website I use, so continue to watch this space.
How are things starting out for you this year? I would love to hear from you. Anyways, until next time here’s a recap in pictures of our first few days of January 2025. Love to each of you- Lou
