Elaine's Austrian Adventure

A garden of thoughts, dispersed through flowers, that grow and reflect the glory of the sun... They take in the nutrients of the living water, the Son-shine via their leaves, and the foundational soil as a place for their anchoring roots... A garden of beautiful thoughts, the flowers, the plants, where to be planted? In the shade or in the sun? In the space, or close to others? Stand-alone or mixed in... Thoughts planted. - In the tub of a whatsapp group? - Or lieber* (preferably) over coffee with a friend? - In the crowds of a Facebook feed? - Within the picturesque Instagram or a tiny, tight ten-second story slot? - Or perhaps in the stillness of a blospot? - In the dynamic accessibility of Youtube? - On stage, or from the pulpit? - The dreamy TedTalk place, with waves of applause... - Or like rain drops landing on the stranger passing by... - Or maybe the pages of a book; - Maybe first a journal. That intimate place with you and the trinity. Behind closed door...

*Slurps a huge mug of tea and pauses in comfort from the "hug in a mug"* January. If I'm being honest, my head is currently talking to me in Denglish (Deutsch & English), so the caffeine should help the focus kick in! ;) It's also a Wednesday: "hump day" as I've heard the term affectionately coined, and so I'm sure I'm not the only one running on tea & grace! ;) No? Oder? :) Focus. This word I feel I need to take this year and run with it! Digging deeper into all what God has in store for me in 2019. I have a couple of New Year's resolutions...  How about you? On the 1st January, the anticipation of the new year struck in the hearts & minds of many of us, with a whole fresh 2019 year ahead of us, opening up in window for us to dream again. Time to look forth at our plans and things we have set-out before us, and perhaps goals we hope to achieve...  A conversation that day brought me to reflection, with someone commentin...

Sometimes I sense that I need close friends around me who speak my mother tongue to really connect allowing my words to speak passionately and emotionally, in freedom from the heart (with exact precision and grammar 😅)... but then I think of my beautiful friendship with my Austrian friend, Julie- and we only ever speak German together. And she just totally gets me!! 😍👭💖👌 Another heart that connects so naturally and understands so well (sometimes me better than me myself 😂 Despite my occasional language errors...). So I guess Henry David Thoreau was right when he said, "The language of friendship is not words but meanings. It is an intelligence above language" (1849). Twas such a blessing to see this lovely friend again yesterday and have a good chat and catch-up! ♡ (Professional photos; photo credit: Bekki Hoffman Fotografie)

Dear Blog, I'm tired. But I'm enjoying what I'm doing! Dear God, I'm tired. But I'm enjoying what I'm doing! And what you've given me to do. <3 I'm thankful for the Kaffee and the cool location before me. Thank you for the gift of writing- to help us let go of thoughts and inspire others. Oh how they flounce! Help me wieder zu bounce! Strength, power, wisdom and provision are yours! To you be the glory. Thank you for coffee today. Amen. So many adventures and thoughts stand before me- what a journey! :) More coming soon... With love <3 #thereality #inYourtimethereisrest P.S. I'm writing with my fairly new German keyboard and it took me forever to locate my beloved hashtag! Haha. *Peace & Love*

As we stood at the bottom of the mountain, in the valley, waiting for the ski lift to take us back, we observed the snow tustle off the tall pine trees and into the air where we stood, almost confusing us into believing it was real snow fall. A little while later, my new awesome friend exclaimed "Elaine, I think this time it is snowing!", "REAL SNOW!!!" I was grinning excitedly, gazing into the sky, inspecting the heights clear of branches: the source of this snow. Yes, this snow really was coming from the heights of the sky this time. My companion and I joked about my exclamation of "REAL snow" as if the former were not also natural snow! "Ah, but you know what I miss??! Those days when you could see snowflakes... not just lumps of snow!!" My new friend laughed at me, also slightly confused as he claimed he'd just seen one- but I wasn't so convinced! Probably just a clumped lump of the beautiful white stuff. I swear the last time I s...

Whaheyy! Liverpool (my home city) has just been voted 'The Kindest City in the UK' once again. See here:  http://independent-liverpool.co.uk/blog/liverpool-has-been-voted-the-kindest-city-in-the-uk/ So proud to belong to a city which is known for it's kindness <3 People from Liverpool are a special bunch. I always tell my foreign friends that we're certainly one of the friendliest cities with a great sense of humour. Some of the best comedians originate from Liverpool or the northern parts of the country- it's boss! ;) It's a lovely thing to be characterised by kindness. I love 'loving on' people (hehe there's my adopted american phrase coming out!) and being generous with what I have. Sometimes I forget to be kind to myself though (!), being naturally competitive (more about that in that in my post about basketball tomorrow probably!) I always wanna do my best and work hard. Sometimes I have to remember to give myself a break though and overco...

I'm so thankful for friends, I have to say. This afternoon, rather than being tempted to do something that might not be so helpful for me, one of my best friends encouraged me to get out into the great outdoors, 'cease that day' (and sunshine- though not sure where that went!) and go for a walk- and as a good, life's running partner: to share some pics with her of my discoveries on my exploration. I do love a mini exploration- anyone else?! So stepping out into the chilly weather with my many comfortable layers on of course, and my favourite cool rainbow trainers, I was on my way! Where to go I thought...? As I caught sight of the florist across the road; surprisingly looking open on a Sunday- I headed in that direction. Gazing at the beauty of nature's creation,  inhaling their sweet aroma, flowers of all kinds... oh happy soul. We both enjoy this tulip season and co-incidentally both currently have pretty tulips in our homes. We'd joked (my best friend...