Mummy Jesus is a sheep

Continuing on from Lopes' God is...... series.

Our church has a a newly revamped junior creche and Lopes' went for the first time 2 Sundays ago. They had the pictures, the paintings and made a cotton wool glue picture of a wooly sheep.

The text for the service was that Jesus was the Lamb of God. But not according to Lopes. According to Lopes, Jesus is a Sheep. Go figure :)

Have had a funny old past week, very bad cold and had the flu for the second time in 2 weeks. I kid you not, had it the week before, was fine for a week and then Wham, off again. I wonder if I qualify for a flu jab. Might just go and whinge at my GP. Off work again, I think my body just wants to stay at home.

At the moment, I am puffing 2 different inhalers, steroid and the ventolin and might be getting addicted. Dr Naapali, what is the prognosis? Have the dreaded smokers cough and have only ever smoked 3 cigarettes in my 35 years. I think I need a holiday. :)

Diet going excellently, must get to the exercise phase soon. But in this last couple of days, I have no taste buds and so want to eat all the nasty things that are not too good for me. So far, 6kgs down but I am on a plateau way to soon and need to kick start it once I get rid of these bugs for good.

Got the most amazing news recently. My Godson, got his place at his school. God is a good God

The last one is gone.

I thought I knew you

I staked my life on many things around you

You were the one termed perfection in making
The last bastion

And yet a very dark cloud overhangs
No tears, no pain, only resolute anger

We mourn the innocence of ignorance
The erstwhile blissful ignorance

But we know now and accept the cessation of life as we knew it.

The last one is gone.

PS. Thank you all for your comments and phone calls. A minor blip that I am told happens from time to time. Clouds have turned into rain and now I think I see a rainbow :) I have my umbrella turned upside down to catch those pennies from heaven.

As my grand daddy used to say: And this too shall pass.

Normal transmission starts soon.

Mummy, God is a Girl

As I had been a bit busy over the last few days and did not spend loads of times with Lopes, I decided to veg out this morning. Also nursing a mini headache due to falling of my lower carb wagon with a whole heap of dim sum and cocktails. I could never hold my liqueur, but one cocktail is all it took. I digress.

Anyway we were listening to our fave DVD set given to us by Aunty Ramiji (my friend Ramota who absolutely loves Bollywood, another post), "100 Sing along songs for Kids", a mix of nursery and Sunday school songs and the song "He's got the whole world in his hand" came on. While trying to explain the concept that God is all powerful and has it all under control, Lopes said "Mummy, God is a girl" while pointing at the girl singing. My little feminist!

While watching, my friend knocked on the door with a steaming bowl of Ogbono/Spinach and stockfish stew. I need to learn more non-Yoruba stews, so please point me in the right direction or at least offer to cook it for me.

So, I have been clearing out the house. If I did not know better, I would say I was nesting but it's fun to clear all the junk and clean all surfaces. Getting there and finally accepting that BabaLopes and I are pack rats. But the man is the one with two wardrobes while Lopes and I have one each. I refuse to tell you how many pairs of trousers I counted in BabaLopes' stash. Hmm.

Back garden all clear of BabaLopes shed rejects. Got Mr Hassan to come and cart them away before BabaLopes changed his mind or saw through my cunning plan to have it all clear in time for the first glimpse of sunshine so I can have lovely Barbecues. :)

So today, I will veg out and clear out once the one cocktail haze passes. Cheap date, me. I will also try to eat the aforementioned stew with no carbs. Harrumph!

So how have you all been?

PS. My Desola is back.

E wa ba mi gbe Jesu ga

E wa ba mi gbe Jesu ga - Come Magnify Jesus with me.

We got a letter today. We have a place at the school God chose for Lopes. Okay, if you have not read it all in the archives already, let me fill you in.

We, the Lopes Appreciation group, and our chair lady Lopes, live in North London. There are 2 very good girls schools there that admit at 4+, 7+, 11+ and 16, and one of the schools have an extra intake at 5+.

We had a place at a Prep school but that was only till 11 years which meant that we would have to prepare Lopes for the 11+ exams. I have seen parents going through this and it's not pretty. So for reasons of self preservation, this was not our first choice but we had the prep school place as back up.

We, then had assessments at the 2 schools. We got a call back for a second assessment from one and a no from the other. Now the one we got a no from, had always been our first choice but the second choice was beginning to grow on me. Now the dilemma of which to choose and making the wrong choice was out of our hands.

So now we have a place. I say we, as the education of a child is very much a partnership between the parents and the school. So I am going back to school. God help us. Now the issue of school fees :) God dey.

I am sitting in a quiet house as Lopes is at nursery, and I have just come back from work to reread the letter. BabaLopes stayed home till the letter arrived! Hmm. What cake should be bake??

Mum, let's pray to Jesus

A few days ago, I was looking for Lopes' special cream for her dry skin. She had been using it as a microphone while singing her favourite song:





Anyway, we could not find it and asked her what we should do. She said, "Let's pray to Jesus, so he can help us find it. So we did. We also prayed about her schools. So far, 3 assessments, 1 yes, 1 no and 1 pending.

Now, my friend, Omara gave Lopes a book called A heart for Jesus and since then the questions have started. Lopes in Green. MamaLopes in Blue

Where is Jesus? He is in your heart

Is he eating my food there? No

I have called Jesus and he has not come. Is he pretending? This was accompanied with a big frown.

Is Jesus running in my heart when I am running?

And the questions keep coming and I ran out of answers. Answers on a postcard please.

Lopes and I have made tooooo many cupcakes this year. Not a good idea. Have also resurrected my puff puff recipe. Oh dear. I can see I have my work cut out diet wise this year.

Lopes has settled in nicely at her new nursery and will soon win them over to her kissing bandit ways. They are a lot less cuddly and warm than the previous nursery staff but I am sure we will get there.

O Faith, Faith, wherefore art thou, Faith?

Faith is said to be the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

Lopes went for her first school assessment on Wednesday. I spoke to her tutor on Thursday and she said a mum had received a call for a second interview. I hot-footed it home and had not received any calls. Deep depression set in. Why were we not called....

I then spoke to another mum who said most people get letters and not to worry. Still niggling doubt. Spent the evening surfing instead of packing orders. Read a piece written by Christian Writer on how she got published and one line flashed at me.

"I truly believe that God wanted to challenge my faith"

I have faith, well I thought I had faith and at the first hurdle, I did not say, "my God is able, He is in control". I fell over. I ran home, and sat and finished a bag of Lindt Truffles. Thank God that His actions are not based on my foolishness. We got a letter, we have a second interview :)

Also my father in law will be staying with us for a while. It's going to be a great year.

Happy New Year. Now let the madness commence

Ahh. Another year. We thank the good Lord for continued grace.

Had a great time over Christmas and New Year. Normal Christmas when I was growing up was the whole shebang. Roast Chicken, we hated turkey, leg of lamb/pork, potatoes, stuffing, gravy and brandy flamed Christmas pudding.

Since I got married, I learned that the whole roast dinner thing is not appreciated in some households and after the first wasted effort, I just ask my parents in law what they would like. So for Christmases past we have had pounded yam, ikokore, okra ogbono, efo egusi and the like. This Christmas we had pounded yam. Great time saver :)

Got to church late on New Year's Eve thanks to BabaLopes and was in grave danger of taking my anger into the new year. Had to sit in the overflow section but most people did not take it seriously and chatted throughout. Anyway, got over the annoyance quickly. Spent New Year's day with family eating orishirishi. Big trouble. My diet is shot to pieces and so have to start again. No better time than Janaury 1st or 4th or 10th....


The Madness of school assessment has started in earnest. God help me, is all I can say. Lopes is blissfully unaware and is taking it all in her stride. I am the one with manic insomnia at the moment. Even BabaLopes thinks I am a bit mad and that is saying something. Prayers for the prevention of my decline into panic induced madness are very much needed.

So this year, I will be making resolutions as much as I hate them and my only resolution is:

Don't sweat the small stuff.

I intend to laugh loads, stress less and ignore that which I have no control over. I might cease to be dependable and be a bit more frivolous. I will read more books as opposed to one chapter a year, I will make more time for myself and might even paint my fingernails. I will share the happiness with BabaLopes instead of being a grumpy cow and will buy Lopes less presents as she is beginning to be tad unappreciative of all she has. So let the good times roll.


Ps I got a new laptop from BabaLopes as my present. Considering we had decided not to do presents this year, it was a good thing I got him his coffee machine