Have you Ordled yet?

I thought it might be nice to see some early daffodils. They are starting to appear both outside and in the shops.  Our orchid table is still doing well, though the African violets are not flowering at the moment.

Captain B and I compete at Wordle/Quordle/Octordle every morning after breakfast.  So first question of the day is usually: Have you Ordled yet?

I am aiming for a draw - best for marital harmony in my opinion - but Col likes to win. And strangely, given he is the science graduate - I am on the arts side - he often does.  Which seems unfair somehow. He beat me on Saturday, though I did win on Friday.

It seems frivolous even to mention this, given the news...  the war, if war it is, continues in the Middle East, causing immeasurable suffering.  And the headlines yesterday were about the death of Alexei Navalny, a political prisoner, in a Russian gulag.  God knows what the poor man went through before he died.

And:

A woman who flew a British girl to Kenya for female genital mutilation was defended by the victim in court after being slapped with a seven-year jail sentence.

Amina Noor, 40, who was born in Somalia but moved to Britain when she was 16, took the three-year-old to a 'clinic' while she waited outside as the horrific procedure was carried out.

Medical experts who later examined the child found she had suffered severe mutilation of her genitals, which would have caused significant bleeding and extreme pain. 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13094103/Woman-jailed-flying-three-year-old-British-girl-Kenya-female-genital-mutilation-DEFENDED-victim.html

The mutilated 3 year old, now a young woman, who will have pain and medical issues for the rest of her life, and who must have gone through unimaginable pain at the time, spoke up for the accused lady saying she was not able to resist the pressure from her community.

Which is very likely true. But suppose this had been taken seriously and prosecuted years ago, would that have given her the incentive to stand up to the pressure, or maybe even given those who are pressuring mothers to mutilate their children to have some second thoughts?  

Will this prison sentence help, or will it deter other victims from coming forward?   I truly do not know. I cannot see the perfect way to deal with this.  But doesn't it all, yet again, demonstrate that we, the children of Adam, cannot successfully rule ourselves?  As the Hebrew Scriptures (Jeremiah) warn, "it does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step".  It is the heavenly government, the Kingdom of God, alone that can and will put things right on the earth.

It can and will heal all mutilated children - and it will heal their mental and emotional scars as well!  

Here is a beautiful promise from Isaiah 65:17:

For look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth;

And the former things will not be called to mind, Nor will they come up into the heart.

What human government, even with the best will in the world...?

Despite a bad night I did suddenly get some energy from somewhere on Thursday, but will it last? I made the effort required to contact the doctor, got another sample in, though it has done me no good - no diagnosis or anything.  I am wondering if this is going to be my new normal - if it is all in fact caused by my crumbling back.

Then I managed to do some much needed housework, and put the rubbish and the recyc out. Someone has fitted an new handle on our bin store, one that works!

Thanks.

And I did the rest of my study for the evening meeting.  Plus I had to go to the meeting via Zoom as Captain B and Jim were very late back from The Field and not only did not I not feel equal to driving myself in the dark, but also I needed his help to get dressed to Kingdom Hall standards.  

They say old age is a second childhood. And, yes, there are now times when I need help getting myself dressed.

I paid for all the energy on Friday morning as I woke up with a swollen, blistered and painful left ankle and had to lurch from bed to zimmer frame to make sure I stayed upright.

I am in what is a Catch 22 of old age. To support my crumbling back, I need to do regular exercises; but when I do, my other joints become swollen and painful.  Heading further into my late seventies is all new territory - scary, painful, strange - but I am so grateful to still be here. 

Anyway, I did make it to the meeting today - for some comforting teaching - and even managed a quick shopping trip afterwards, I got some rhubarb and have made a crumble, as the poor Captain is only having chicken veggie soup for his tea, so I think a crumble (his favourite dessert) and custard will make it a much better supper.