Two months in.

So the big day is two months gone by, we're moved into our first home and I'm starting to enjoy watching people squirm under the pressure of having to spell my new last name. 

Suddenly all of this free time has fallen into my lap. For a long time up until this point I can only ever remember feeling busy or tired. It started with working six day weeks alongside church service. Then I had a four month process of uprooting, saying goodbye to all of my family and friends, leaving my job, church and beautiful homeland. Next came moving to the new home, new church, adjusting to city life, job hunting and planning a wedding.

Then came the wedding day.

My favourite day.

A new era of 'we' and 'us' began. We had a week together in the Lake District, came back and fairly quickly and seamlessly started to settle into work and living together.

But now there are empty pages in my diary. Whole evenings with nothing planned to do. Its been lovely- but also a brilliant opportunity for a challenge at the same time. 

I've started to realise that when left to my own devices with no agenda planned in for me, my default is laziness. Unfinished projects and to do lists have sat untouched while I've wasted whole evenings in front of the TV or on the internet, looking to be entertained. I can't lie and say that I haven't enjoyed the late night binges on courtroom dramas and mystery thrillers with Mr Pumba, but I've started to feel my brain and my spirit go to mush while I've been feeding my head with mental junk food. It just doesn't satisfy. 

So this Thursday night I felt the need for a change, and after watching my brother-in-law bake five loaves of bread last Saturday, I was in a kneading mood. Mixing bowls and flour and yeast all came out of the cupboard, and I started to feel the satisfaction of baking something for fun, and not just because we needed dinner. I made pizza dough and an easy tomato sauce base. Leftover sauce went into a jar ready for next time, and then I started on a round loaf. 

It tasted less anaemic than it looks.

I presented it to Mr Pumba with pride and he got the honour of knocking on the bottom of the loaf. 

Even just knowing that I'd spent an evening away from screens lifted my mood. 

Then today I went shopping, and finally bought fabric to cover a book that I'd sewn up over two years ago. Two years!! How could I have left a project unfinished for so long? I got home and added a card front, back and spine and covered it in the new fabric. I'll be using it to record shopping lists, meal plans and keep receipts from our big shops so that I can track what works and what doesn't. I saw a lovely idea online - a lady kept a diary of dinner parties over the years, including who her guests were, what she cooked and what they chatted about. She had recorded fairly normal evenings, but they were years worth of meals shared, friendships built and chats that turned into key moments. I have a tendency to get nostalgic easily, so I love that idea. 

I'm realising that I was so used to being busy that I've completely forgotten how to enjoy hobbies. So when all this free time suddenly arrived, I didn't even know what to do with it anymore.  I don't know what I like doing for fun. I've forgotten what I'm good at. With little and big things. Passions that I started to cultivate on Impact Training in 2010 have been deserted, and now I need to pick up where I left off. 

 So I'm pledging to try and create something each week or month just for the pure enjoyment of it. Even if it looks rubbish or doesn't work out, I'll try not to get disappointed and frustrated at the money I spent on ingredients or paper or whatever supplies are needed. And looking past just me and my own little life, I can start to use this time to learn more about my new husband's hobbies, and the things that I can do to help and love others outside of my comfortable life. A big challenge for just a small town girl (living in a lonely world). But with the help of the Holy Spirit, what an adventure with Jesus. 

Any suggestions for projects that you've enjoyed will be more than welcome!