Thursday, September 27, 2007

Emotional Roller Coaster

It's like I've been on an emotional roller coaster in the last few days. I thought last week was full of highs and lows, until this week began! And it's not even over yet. I've already had good and bad news in the space of three days. Oh dear heavenly Father, help me before I drown! OK, enough with the theatrics, FG, get to the point of this blog.

Hubby and I had a nice time at the Christian Blog Awards last Friday. It was an honour to be invited to the event, as it was the first of its kind. We met so many people: the Bishop of London was there, journalists, other Christian bloggers, people from Premier Radio, and so on. Hubby and I sat on a table with a team from a church in Surrey, they were nominated for the Best Church website award, and it was really nice to chat with them throughout the ceremony. We had a champagne reception and a four-course dinner which was very nice. After the meal, it was time for the awards to be presented. Winners got a trophy and a chance to give a small speech. I was quite nervous when the list of nominees were being called out. I didn't win in my category, but I was the runner-up! I got a certificate with my name on it, which I am proudly looking at now. Here's a list of the awards and the winners:

Best Creative Christian Blog or Website - Dave Walker at http://www.cartoonchurch.com/
Most Inspiring Leadership Blog - Colin Adams with http://www.unashamedworkman.wordpress.org/
Best Christian Newcomer blog - Dr. Krish Kandiah http://krishk.wordpress.com/
Best Young Christian Blog (under 25) - Emily Woods with http://www.unfurlingflower.blogspot.com/
Best Church Website - King’s Church, Manchester http://www.makingjesusfamous.org.uk/
The Most Original Worship Blog - Worship Central- http://www.worshipcentral.org/
Best Provision for Youth Website - Soul Survivor http://www.soulsurvivor.com/
Best Christian News and Reviews Site - http://www.christiantoday.com/
Best Christian Social Action Website - http://www.stopthetraffik.org/
Most Successful Evangelistic Blog - http://www.rejesus.co.uk/
People’s Choice Award - http://www.mindandsoul.info/

After the awards were given out, the presenters thanked the judges, sponsors and everyone that made the event successful and the evening came to a close with a prayer. We got lovely goody-bags to take home filled with worship CDs, DVDs, chocolates, and lots of other treats. I'm glad I attended and got to mingle with lovely people. Many thanks to the good people at Premier Christian Radio for organising the awards and inviting me.

The rest of my weekend went well, I attended a friend's wedding on Saturday and that was lovely. So I was just feeling much better and my mood had only just lifted when I got some more bad news on Monday night! My grandmother had passed away on Monday afternoon. I can't describe all the emotions I'm dealing with right now. It's a mixture of sadness, disappointment and regrets. Mostly because death is so final, at least on this side of eternity. She was 79, and we were already talking of marking her 80th birthday, but that's not going to happen now. Since Monday, the memories of her have been swirling around my mind. The last time I saw my grandma was in 2005 and I've been wishing I saw her more often, I've been wishing I spoke to her more often and so on. I wish I'd I let her know I love her. I wish I had known she was ill. I wish I had seen her one more time. I pray her soul rest in perfect peace. She was a wonderful woman.

So I've been making plans to attend her funeral. If all goes well, I should be in Nigeria by next week. I haven't been home for a while and I do wish I was travelling under different circumstances, but what can I do? We just have to deal with the things life throws at us sometimes.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Criticism and Nominations

What a week I've had. I had been having a bit of writer's block so my work wasn't flowing very well and I got frustrated. I was feeling guilty because I spent all week in front of my computer and I still didn't have much to show for it. Then I finally finished writing the second chapter of my book and got negative comments! I was quite discouraged, to be honest. I had got good feedback with the first chapter and I was excited because that encouraged me to think I was good at writing. Now what? I was hoping I would continually improve with my work, not get worse. The truth is the criticism is quite valid too, which makes it more crushing. Gosh, dealing with criticism is so hard because I feel the person is critical of me and not just my work. I guess I have to go back to the drawing board and really assess what I'm trying to achieve with my writing. Maybe I should leave it for a while and come back to it when I feel better.

Then I got some bad news that made me sad for a couple of days. When I couldn't bear it any longer, I went on my knees to pray about it, and God gave me His peace. So I feel much better. The issues are still there, but I feel God's grace and assurance that He is with me no matter what happens. I'll be alright, I need to trust God to work everything out in His own time and in His own way.

Thank God I've got something nice to cheer me up at the end of this week. My Journey Down the Aisle blog was shortlisted for one of the categories in the Premier Christian Blog Awards so I'll be attending the dinner and award ceremony tonight! I'm taking hubby with me and I'm really excited about it. Well a lot of the stuff I've been writing on the blog is about him so it's only fair. He's also been patient with me when I'm glued to my laptop and I appreciate that. I would never have imagined though, when I started that blog that an organisation such as Premier Radio would find it interesting at all. I just started writing it for my sisters to read about my relationship and maybe learn a thing or two. I've been surprised with the response I've got from people who've read it. I hope I win the award but even if I don't, I'm still excited to attend the ceremony, wine and dine and meet a lot of inspiring people. I'll take my camera with me, so I'll try to get a couple of photos if I can. Should be fun!

I've also got a friend's wedding to attend tomorrow. Between now and the end of the year, six of my friends are getting married. I love weddings though and since I'm not under pressure anymore, I just enjoy the celebrations. So I'm looking forward to a nice weekend- I really need it. Hope you have a nice weekend too.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Another Start

So I begin another year on blogger now. It's almost unreal that time has flown by so quickly.(Thanks everyone for coming to the anniversary party, it was fun!). I hope we will all still be blogging for many years to come. Although I can imagine how much technology will change in the next few years. Perhaps, blogging will not be as popular as it is now. Perhaps some other Internet phenomenon will come around and take its place. Like we've seen with the social networking sites hitting the news almost everyday now. My parents' generation would never have imagined where the world is now, when they were in their 20s. I can't imagine too, where the world would be, by the time my children are in their 20s. Communication and technology will be so vastly different to what's the hype at the moment. My goal is to keep up to date with the technology, so that I won't end up like the 60-year olds of our time who don't know how to send an email or a text message!

Speaking of those social networking sites, has anyone noticed that hi5 is now copying Facebook lately? Before Facebook became so popular, hi5 didn't have a lot of features. Now I just checked my hi5 account after many months of neglect and I noticed that hi5 now has the photo-tagging facility, mutual friends, activity and news feeds, and some other features which were exclusive to Facebook before. I don't blame them sha, somebody only has to come up with a good idea and before long, other people copy it.
I spend so much time on Facebook right now, even I am getting worried. I only have to be away from my laptop for a few hours, and as soon as I log back in, I have to login to Facebook to see what's been happening since I left. Oh no I'm addicted! Somebody please tell me there's a cure for this. I may have to go cold turkey and not sign into Facebook for a few weeks, otherwise at this rate, my life would be more virtual than real. I suspect the interest will fizzle out after a while, fingers crossed.

Hubby and I were invited by a couple of our British friends to come on holiday with them to Prague. We agreed to go, but we told them not to book the flight tickets yet because we would need to apply for visas. They looked shocked! They could not imagine why we would need visas just for a short weekend trip. We had to start explaining to them that even though we are resident in the UK, we are not citizens, so we are still subject to passport and immigration control. They were just saying "So you mean you have to plan holidays in advance?" "So you mean you cannot fly to Prague as a last minute trip?" "You mean you need permission to go to Europe?" and so on. In the end, hubby and I just shook our heads. They just didn't get it. I now realise that they can never understand what it means to be a foreigner living in the UK. It has never happened to them. It got me thinking about so many situations that people try to explain to you, but until you have experienced the situation for yourself, you cannot understand where they are coming from. For example: If someone has just lost a parent, can you understand how they feel, if both your parents are still alive? If someone has just been told they have terminal cancer, can you really put yourself if their shoes? I doubt it. Even when I went with my mum to her physiotherapy session, the exercises they told her to do looked so easy to me, but she was finding them difficult. I had to remind myself that she is not as strong as me, so I shouldn't expect her to be able to do those exercises so easily.

I'm beginning to question my own fitness levels anyway. I went for an hour-long exercise class two days ago and I still feel uncomfortable! Now it's going to take me longer than I thought to get back to the level of fitness I'm dreaming of: where I can run for a bus or train and not get out of breath. Maybe I should keep dreaming... lol

Friday, September 7, 2007

One Year on Blogger!


Wow, it's been a year since I started blogging! I've had so much fun in the past year writing and reading other people's blogs. It's been like a hobby, a passion, a job and an addiction rolled into one. I didn't start blogging with any particular purpose in mind, but it's been a very interesting experience so far. It's been fun writing things that come to mind, and getting comments from the good folk of Blogville.
Soon I started writing another blog (JDTA) and I've been really encouraged to see that people actually read and enjoy my posts and find them inspiring. I've enjoyed documenting the changes going on in my life, life's ups and downs, random tit-bits of gist and thoughts in my mind. I've enjoyed getting a glimpse into other people's lives, and some of the episodes on blogville have cracked me up, some things have made me sad, some news has made my day or week! I've even gotten so used to my "Favoured Girl" pseudonym, it's almost like my second name now!
Sometimes I've been inspired to write something while I'm away from my computer and I couldn't wait to get home to blog it! Sometimes I've spent so much time online, blogging and reading other people's blogs that I've lost track of time. I would like to thank my wonderful hubby for being patient with me when I haven't made dinner because I've been blogging!
In the past year I've joined a community of "Blogville" residents, made both online and offline friends, laughed and cried over posts I've read, and rediscovered my passion for writing. Now I've even been so inspired, I changed my career path! It just goes to show that even the most insignificant things we enjoy doing can change our lives.

So, to celebrate my one year anniversary on blogspot, you are all invited to my palace for a grand affair tonight. There will be six-course meal, lots of drinks and live music, you don't want to miss it. Here's to many more "favoured" years in Blogville!
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