Making Hearts Smile

I had a whole other blog post planned for this week but I have decided to bump that to next week (woohoo, ahead of the game for once!) Instead, I wanted to share a poem I read to the boys this evening and then tell you about a few lovely moments we have had at the Honeycomb Hub this week. 

We read to the boys at bedtime each night, and tonight was a ‘Each Peach Pear Plum’ by Janet & Allan Ahlberg, a chapter of ‘Martin the Warrior’ by Brian Jacques and a few poems by A A Milne. The poem that made me think was Happiness. The simplicity of the moment that made John happy struck me and I thought how often are we chasing fleeting rainbows of happiness and not being aware of those small, individual moments that make our hearts smile. So let me share with you a few of the fantastic moments at the Hub this week when our wonderful community made our hearts smile. We had children run in so eager to come and play. Though I’m sure the parents weren’t so happy, we also had children sad at the end because they didn’t want to leave! We had a number of new visitors this week who all came back a second time within the week as their children had been asking to come to play at the Honeycomb Hub. The head of a nursery came to visit as she said “I have been hearing so many good things about your place. The Honeycomb Hub is so often mentioned to me.” One of our lovely, regular visitors asked if she could make some cupcakes for us to sell at the hub and for the money to go to our charity of the month, to which we said absolutely! We told her all about our charity of the month which is a Christian initiative called ‘Miracle Offering’ by Kingdom City and supports a wide range of Christian charities. How beautiful that while she was fasting, a Muslim woman made cupcakes for others to eat to celebrate Ramadan whilst making money for a Christian Charity. A lady who also arrived to Gaborone fairly recently told us that she couldn’t explain to us how being able to come the Honeycomb Hub had helped her as she settled in to life in Botswana. Not only did we get a lovely post about a fitness session the wonderful Sam Moakofi from G magazine attended, we also had a lady tell us she had never enjoyed fitness sessions before but loves Phillida’s classes and has been a frequent attender for some time now. Everyone loves Pass-the-Parcel! After hosting a birthday party, the mother told us it was the best party she'd ever done for her girls and the best bit was, she could go home to a clean house with no mess or washing up to do! Her words were "Thanks so much again, it was the best idea ever ❤" We had leisurely coffee and conversations with lovely people who dropped in, stayed after a class or took a few minutes out while their children explored Tiny Town. We can always make time for a cuppa and a chat! Three friends for coffee by 8am! Finally, we had a lovely, new friend come in who has been coming with his family for the last couple of months tell us what a fantastic community we were building here. Discussing with him what our vision was, how we came to do it and what he saw from his side as a visitor was heart warming and inspiring. www.facebook.com/Karren.Burkett.Artist/ there is a sweet story about this picture I shall add as a note at the end! We are only a small family centre, with frequent bouts of doubt about whether we are making the right choices and doing enough for the community whilst also trying to make ends meet. However, this week reminded us that that big picture of what we are trying to do is made up of tiny, individual brush strokes. (I have watched my amazing mother-in-law paint and observed the thousands of brush strokes that layer up to create her beautiful paintings)  By being open, we made a difference to these lovely people and by their taking the time to tell us how much they enjoy coming, they have made a huge difference to us and made our hearts smile. So this week I urge you, tell the people who are making a difference in your life. It may seem like such a small thing, yet hearing your comment will make a big difference to them, I can guarantee it. A few ideas are: - write a letter to a friend you haven’t seen in a while (post is always exciting!) -drop round an unexpected gift of food … or a bottle of wine (you know your friends best) -Or for a local business, write a review on their page, check in or tag them on social media or refer them to a friend. It will make a huge difference to them. Cabin Pressure by John Finnemore I also couldn’t mention happiness without making reference to the excellent BBC radio comedy ‘Cabin Pressure’ by John Finnemore and in particular episode 6, Fitton, where Arthur talks about how often you can be truly happy – and it is more often than you think. I won’t spoil it but it is definitely worth a listen to and can be found as a podcast by the name ‘Cumberbin’s Treasure’. Let me know if you have a listen!  Have a fantastic week and I hope that you have many moments to make your heart smile x

 Note: Back in the Autumn, our other, amazing sister still in England hosted a coffee morning in our home village in Kent to raise money for The Honeycomb Hub. (It was that money raised that enabled us to buy the soft play which has been so beneficial to many of our play and sensory sessions.) Not only did many people from the village attend, but many f our friends and family travelled over a hundred miles to support it, and us, too! Karren had painted 2 pictures to go into the raffle. The one pictured was won by my parents who said they would give it to us. It hangs in our house and everyday when I look at it, it reminds me of the immense love and support that has got us to where we are, living in Botswana, running a family centre!