How does your garden grow?

There is nothing like fresh pesto made in your own kitchen from basil that has just been picked from your own plants! Having given my herbs a loving home with our mates, Hannah and Tim Hupfield, before we went to the US, I needed to start my windowsill garden over again. I was looking at the herb plants in Sainsbury's when I realized, "I have pots. I have dirt. Basil roots in water. I can just buy a package of the cut stuff and get several plants for the price of one."

The only problem with rooting basil in water is that since the cuttings tend to be top heavy, it is tricky to keep the stems in the water. So, as I was filling small jars up with water, I was thinking, "I wish I had some chicken wire or something to get these stems to cooperate."

And then, "Aha!" Oranges, lemons, garlic, and some other fruit and veg often come in a mesh bag. It being my regular practice to evaluate the packaging of almost everything before sending it to its doom in the bin, I keep these mesh bags. They are generally subsequently used as "fibers" in craft projects. Here are a couple examples.













But, in this case, stretched over the mouth of a jar and secured with a rubber band we have a better way of keeping those stems in the water!

...in a foreign land

How could we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? Psalm 137:4

Well, it was supposed to go like this:
-we would sell our house in Michigan (by the way does anyone want to buy a house in Michigan? It's four blocks from the lake!)
-we would get student loans and forbearance on the ones we already have. -we would come back to the USA in the summers and I would work as many hours as Wal-mart and Lawndale could give me
-we would use our savings

All of these things would give us three happy years of simple living in the UK. But of course our house in Michigan has not sold and we have run our savings dry paying the mortgage. So we decided to rent the house and that when we returned from the States I would get a job in the UK. Unfortunately, I cannot work as a pharmacist without going to and paying for an additional year of University and doing a year internship. Not really practical in our situation. So I figured that I would get a regular job, at the University library, or a store or something like that.

We went back to America during the middle of June. My schedule was quite full, but we did squeeze in a few visits with family and friends. After the first day I had my pharmacy groove back. It was great! It was especially wonderful working at Lawndale. I worked hard, but I was doing the work that God has called me to do. I even had the stirrings of some vision for exploring the role of pharmacists in promoting public health.

I decided to look for a job via the web in pharmacy. I knew I would have to accept not being a pharmacist. Happily, there was an opening for a pharmacy technician position at our local hospital in Cambridge. So, I applied online. I got an email back that they were very interested in my application, but that they could not hire me as a technician until I became registered with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. They did have, however another position that did not require registration and perhaps they could phase me into the technician position after I became registered with the Society. The position has a fun title Senior Assistant technician Officer for Quality Assurance. But translated, it essentially means that I will keep the clean rooms where they make IVs and chemo clean and deliver IVs and chemo to the proper wards of the hospital. So, I had an interview date (yesterday) and I decided to start the process of being registered with the Society.

Unfortunately, I don't even qualify to be registered as a pharmacy technician by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. Well, I do in every way except one.
"In order to apply for registration, work experience must have been undertaken in the United Kingdom under the supervision, direction or guidance of a pharmacist for a period of either
-Not less than 14 hours per week for four out of the last eight years; or
-Not less than 28 hours per week for two out of the last four years"

It is very frustrating, and I know that in the USA foreign pharmacists also have a difficult time getting licensed. Of course our governments make it difficult in order to protect the patient, and I would never suggest putting the patient at risk. But at the same time, being a pharmacist is such a part of who I am that when Jason and I have discussed living in the UK permanently, this is the deal breaker. (Well, that and the mountain of debt we have in US dollars!) How can I feel truly at home in a place where I cannot do what God has called me to do?

The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself. Leviticus 19:33

I was reflecting on all this, Sunday morning as I cycled to church. It was my first Sunday back at St. Mark's since returning from the States, and I was feeling joyful. I realized that the reason I was feeling joyful was that St. Mark's is a place where I truly feel at home. It is a place where I can be myself. It is a place where I, as an alien, am treated as a citizen. And I wasn't disappointed. We were welcomed home with open arms.

Perhaps, for a little while at least, I can sing the Lord's songs in this foreign land.

Serendipity

I saw this technique in one of my favorite craft magazines, "papercraft ESSENTIALS". Basicly, you rip up pieces of paper and glue the pieces randomly and ---- Serendipity! The technique is described in full at www.createforless.com/advice/tech_serendipity_paper.asp

I was trying to think of something unique to give as gifts to some family members back in the US and frames using this technique for these pictures of the sweetest girl in the world seemed well--Serendipity!

I rescued the following items from the bin:
-paper (from the recycling bin at the library)
-cereal boxes and the like (4 thicknesses of cardboard for each part of frame, 1 thickness for "embellishments")
-bottle caps

I also used:
-decoupage finish (as glue and sealer)
-transparency film (for the "glass")

I used digi-scrap kits from the following sites to print out coordinating embellishments and papers to tear up.
www.citrusblossoms.com
www.shabbyprincess.com
www.scrapgirls.com