Doesn’t this look like a glorious view, to drink a cup of tea and watch the wintery sun slowly set?  This has been my view for the last week and I am still pinching my arm to make sure it is not a dream.

Our sea change year has started.  Keith is on study leave and we both have long service leave.  In fact, I won’t return to work until January 2013.  Keith is working on a number of different projects, but we are working on one together – developing our marriage “stuff” into a package that others can use.

I have other plans – I would love to devote time to writing and develop confidence that perhaps I can write – we will see.  I have many sewing projects too – different quilts that I have started.  We have brought our bikes, forgot our helmets and have many places to walk.  We have started some mornings with an early walk along the beach – cold but amazingly glorious.

We are heading off overseas in a month “Paris to Pakistan” is what I am calling our trip, but we will spend our first two and a half months in England working – mostly on our marriage material.

The only trouble is that I have brought me on this venture.  Why is this a problem?  Because I am not perfect – I still get grumpy, I still struggle to sleep, my wibbly wobbly bits still wriggle and my desire to be fit and healthy and trimmer – well, they are hard work!  However, I am counting my blessings and am filled with thankfulness for this opportunity to do some different things.

I am reflecting a great deal on 1 Corinthians 13 – the passage about love and thinking about love, what it is and how to be a person who loves.  Keith bought me a wonderful book by Phil Ryken called Loving the way Jesus Loves – it has just been published and consists of a number of reflections on this chapter.  It has challenged and stretched my thinking enormously.

I might even have the space to write more regularly on this blog!  Who knows!