New seasons

I love it that God is always doing something new! Every day there are new things to be grateful for and new things of Him to discover. It's so easy for us to get comfortable and stuck in routine, so this blog post is me trying to intentionally pay attention to the new and ask God to increase my "interruptability" and my faith levels as I keep walking with Him.

I am really enjoying teaching my new Grade 2 students (who aren't really so new any more!) - they are full of enthusiasm, full of questions and they love to pray and to worship. I have a Grade 2 playlist which I am adding to most days as they are always requesting different worship songs to have playing in the background in the classroom! So there are lots of new soundtracks to my days in this season. I feel so grateful for the privilege of being able to pour into their lives this academic year.

My students investigating shadows in Science

At KISC, we now have a new Director! Thank you for your months of praying for us as a school as we have navigated an in-between time. He is European, spent time growing up in Nepal when he was a child and he has been living and teaching in a different South Asian country for many years. Please keep praying for him as he settles into life here.

Wedding season is upon us! I'm going to a wedding tomorrow and then another one in November. Please pray for these two beautiful couples who I know from church here, and for the new journeys that they will be embarking on as they get married.

As I spend time with my friends on the street, I am grateful for new connections, new encounters with Jesus and new babies that I get to hold and pray for.

Such a precious baby girl

I am also grateful to visit new places - I went to Dhulikhel with a group of fellow-KISC teachers over one of the recent breaks and it was so much fun.

Amazing views from Dhulikhel on the rim of the valley and amazing company!

Hiking through the forest

Nepal as a nation is very much in a period of change right now with an interim government. Please pray for this beautiful nation - for peace, for hope, for justice, for protection and for the new generation of Nepalis who are rising up. Thank you to the many of you who have reached out over the last few weeks to let me know that you have been praying through the uncertainty. And during the curfew times, we got to make new friends with the neighbours as everyone was home!

Beautiful new friends who live close by!

I love the seasons. Each one has their own beauty and I like that they keep us in a rhythm. I remember it's something that I really missed about the UK when I lived in Singapore. In Nepal we don't have the seasons in quite the pronounced way that we do in the UK, but we do have monsoon season! And there's definitely summer and winter. October and March are the clearest months in terms of the air and the mountain views. We are seeing the mountains so much at the moment and it makes my heart really happy! In May, during the "jacaranda season" suddenly loads of the trees that previously just looked like normal trees, burst into purple jacaranda blossom and it's breathtaking.

Mountains from my rooftop!

Walking home from school seeing the mountains glowing in the sunset

Nichole Nordeman wrote a beautiful song about the seasons which I have found myself coming back to again and again over many years and many seasons of change in my life. Here are the lyrics and the YouTube link is below.

Every evening sky, an invitation

To trace the patterned stars

And early in July, a celebration

For freedom that is ours

And I notice You in children's games

In those who watch them from the shade

Every drop of sun is full of fun and wonder

You are summer

And even when the trees have just surrendered

To the harvest time

Forfeiting their leaves in late September

And sending us inside

Still I notice You when change begins

And I am braced for colder winds

I will offer thanks for what has been and what's to come

You are autumn

And everything in time and under Heaven

Finally falls asleep

Wrapped in blankets white, all creation

Shivers underneath

And still I notice You when branches crack

And in my breath on frosted glass

Even now in death, You open doors for life to enter

You are winter

And everything that's new has bravely surfaced

Teaching us to breathe

And what was frozen through is newly purposed

Turning all things green

So it is with You and how You make me new

With every season's change

And so it will be as You are re-creating me

Summer, autumn, winter, spring

I pray that you will know that whichever season you find yourself in right now, God is faithful. He is good all the time and He is right there when you call on Him. He is the author of your life, my life and the One who carries us through every season.

Thank you for continuing to remember me and pray for me. I am so grateful for and blessed by each one of you.

With love

Hannah

"He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6