WHAT A SHAME IT'S NOT PINKTOBER YET!

We decided to go out for a drive this morning and as usual, took too long a while to decide which way to go.  I think we need to write the names of several places on slips of paper and put them into one of Mr. HCB’s hats so that we can just pull one out when we can’t decide where to go.

At last we made up our minds to go out on the Cirencester road, but it was very busy - well, it is a dual carriageway and it is school holidays, but we hadn’t thought of that.  Mr. HCB thought it would be much quieter to go along some country roads, and he was right - when they are single track roads, you can’t go that fast and there wasn’t much about - car-wise anyway but there were plenty of bicycles - my Blip friend, Yeeeeed would have been in her element.

We wound our way through Duntisbourne Abbots, through other little Cotswold villages and on to Minchinhampton where I had hoped we could sit on the common, but there is no parking allowed, so we drove through the village and as it looked very pretty, we thought it would be a good idea to stop and stretch our legs.  We came across this vibrant pink front door with a beautiful flower arrangement on it and at both sides of the windows were baskets containing gorgeous pink fuchsias. 

In the window was this sign which I loved and am going to send to my friend, Kathryn.  She is 22 now, but when she was a little girl in my Sunday School class, when we did activities, Kathryn used to have glitter everywhere - in her hair, on her face, all over her clothes and bearing in mind she is Jamaican, you can guess, she looked very “pretty” with all her glitter!   She still likes glitter to this day, so this will make a good card for her.

As you all know, I have now completed my 100 Abstracts to raise awareness of the Mamie Martin Fund, which enables impoverished girls in North Malawi to obtain a good secondary school education and I am thrilled to tell you that the total of my sponsorship so far has risen to £842.75 £852.75 and I am SO grateful to all of you who have contributed to this wonderful total.  

However, I realise that because of their circumstances, some have not been able to give financially, but their prayers and encouragement have also been hugely appreciated. SO “Zikomo kwambiri” as they say in Malawi which means THANK YOU VERY MUCH - to everyone who has contributed in whatever way - you will all make a difference to the lives of the girls that the Fund helps on a regular basis.

“Gratitude can transform common days 
     into thanksgivings, 
          turn routine jobs into joy, 
               and change ordinary opportunities 
                    into blessings.”
William Arthur Ward


P.S.  It's not too late to give - and if you would like to, please click on this link:

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MaureenIles