House Plants

For the first time since June I've just had 2 whole glorious days off in a row! It's incredible how free you feel when you get 2 solid sleep-ins and all the time in the world to do anything you want, or nothing at all. And you better believe I've soaked in every last wonderful minute of this weekend:

- poolside dinner and beers with my team

- a solid, long overdue catch up with a friend over a delicious cappuccino

- rooftop beers with a friend who's just arrived back in CXB after 4 months away

- rooftop tanning with a good book

- more sleep than I know what to do with

- bonding time with my flatmate

- time spent further exploring the depths of this town, and....

- the addition of 4 new members to our household!

My flatmate Anne and I have been saying for awhile that it's about time we start making our flat feel like home. So today we finally did it. We bought plants!

For months now, I've driven past what appeared to be a nursery alongside one of the roads close to our house, and after mostly hand signals (and the help of a google image search for "potted plants" so the driver understood what we were talking about) we arrived at the Cox's Bazar nursery. I have no idea what plants are meant for indoors, or outdoors, need shade, or full sun, but after a conversation in broken English... ok no, it was more like:

"Where are your indoor plants?"

"Yes"

"Are these indoor plants?"

"Yes"

"No sun?"

"Yes"

"Ok, so you're sure these are ok indoors?"

"Ok"

... we ended up taking home 4 beauties!

We had a blast wandering around the nursery. It was small, but lush, green, and had a fairly decent selection. The men working there were all friendly, and as helpful as they could be - they searched through to find us the best ones, re-filled the soil, brushed the dirt off the pots, and even carried them to our car. Despite the lack of verbal communication, i'm super stoked on our new house pets and excited to see what will become of them over the next 8 months. So if anyone knows what they are, or how we're supposed to take care of them, please feel free to pass along this much needed information.

They look pretty good, don't they?!

This past week has been very cleansing for a number of reasons (and I feel like ending it with the addition of rich greenery has been a great way to top it off).

After posting about my struggles last week, I was surprised at how many people reached out to offer support and encouragement (whether a text, e-mail, or a phone call). It means the world to me to know that I have so many people standing behind me. Your words of encouragement, and conversations, have been very uplifting, so from the bottom of my heart, "thank-you". Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to make my day a little brighter. It means more to me than you'll know.

In adding to my week of cleansing, this past week I have also been taking part in a "sprirtual fast" with some of my co-workers. As there have been so many uncertainties within our program in terms of what 2019 is going to look like, as well as many other internal battles (a lot of which has contributed to my feelings of being overwhelmed), we decided to take a step back and spend some time in purposeful prayer for the future of our program. It was also also perfect timing for me to let go of all the things that have been weighing me down, and just give them all up to God. Though we've each chosen to adapt our fast to what each person feels called to do, I decided to fast for all but one meal, as well as "fast" from social media. I've never fasted for this purpose before, so I didn't know what to expect. And though it was difficult at first, especially the first 3 days, it got easier. I let myself become more intentional in my thoughts, actions, and prayers. I gave all my worries and troubles up to God, and feel this new sense of peace. And the way in which our prayers have been answered over this past week has even brought me to tears (happy tears this time). We have a new, hopeful outlook for 2019, we have new staff coming to help carry the burden, and we have exciting plans now financially secured. I'm truly amazed at the power of prayer, and how everything always works out in the end.

But that's not to say that the next 5 weeks aren't going to be crazy, because they are, but at least now there's a light at the end of the tunnel. At least now I can breathe easier... especially knowing that in 5 weeks time I'll be breathing in fresh Canadian mountain air :)