Echoes Of My Neighbourhood#4…

January 7, 2016January 7, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha49 Comments

On Thursday’s, I share a picture about ‘Echos of my Neighbourhood.’

I would like to invite you to participate. The challenge is quite simple.

Every Thursday, share a photo of bits and pieces of wherever you are at any point in time. It could be houses, backgrounds of your neighbourhood, activities and so forth and you can tag it Echos of my Neighbourhood, add my link to your post so that I will get the ping from your post.

Every other Thursday, I will publish a post with the links of all those who participated the previous week.

This is just a fun way of getting to see more of the World around us through your eyes, since we cannot all be at those places, we can at least see them through you.

I look forward to seeing your pictures.

Best regards,

Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

The Burj Khalifa is the title holder for the tallest building in the World

It stands proud at 830m to the top with 163 floors.

Dubai · Gratitude · Life · Personal story

They All Work Together…

January 6, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha31 Comments

In my native language, we have a saying that ‘if I start to count the goodness of the Lord, night will come and the day will break over and over again.’

They may sound like mundane stuff but in my heart they speak of the abundance of God’s grace.

There were very trying moments of 2015 for me and my family, but one big lesson that I learnt and would continue to carry over is that being thankful and committing my prayers to my Lord and Master eases my burden for sure.

This time last year, I was ensconced in my lovely house back in Houston. No way on my radar did the move to Dubai really feature.

Like the saying that, tomorrow is pregnant and backing a child as well, by the second quarter of 2015, we made a major migratory move across the Continent from US to UAE and I am grateful that it went smoothly.

I am grateful that we have adjusted to our beautiful environment and embracing it as well. It has not been a seamless effort, but since I chose to look at the rickety parts of the bigger picture with positive lens, it has made the journey more interesting and adjusting far easier.

I look at 2016 with expectant eyes. I have no idea what it will bring forth, who knows?

There might be major changes yet again or minor ones but this I know for sure ”that all things work together for my own good.”

Have you taken a look at your big picture lately? What do the lines tell you? You might be surprised to realize that as displaced as some of your lines may be, they fall in perfect places and that is enough reason to be thankful.

You can join Colline’s or Maria Jansson gratitude challenge platforms.

A link to my neighbours/Community · Blogging · Echos Of My Neighbourhood · My Thinking Corner · Reblogs

Where Is My Blogging Heading To?… I need your input.

January 5, 2016January 5, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha101 Comments

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‘What is my 2016 outlook for my blog?‘

When I started blogging in May 2015, I had no idea what tangent it would take and how engaging it could get.

All I knew was that I had this burden to write poking me in the ribs. I had started writing so many stories and books but never arriving at the end. I needed something that would hinge and balance my writing lifestyle so, I decided to poke my toes in, to feel the waters, to be motivated and to learn.

I find that I like these blogging waters. Truth be told, I love these blogging waters 🙂

Even on cold days, there are voices to keep you warm and to encourage you on the journey. I wanted to feel the pulse of my own blog first before wading in deeper and I believe that I am gaining a little more confidence as I go on, which brings me to this point.

There are Two (2) ideas that I have been fomenting and have actually started on my own. I wish to push it a little further by inviting you to join me and to also seek your counsel just in case you have ideas on how to make it work a lot better.

I want to invite you to join me on any or both ideas enunciated below:

My Thinking Corner: In my attempt to grow, I always strive to keep a positive frame of mind especially in these trying times. I would like to invite you to join me in sharing on Tuesdays, your short snippets of positive, inspiring, motivating, health, spiritual, advice, clips and posts that can serve as a prop for others. I call it my thinking corner because, I actually take out a bit of time in a day to think, encapsulate my thoughts and detoxify my mind.

Echos Of My Neighbourhood: This is a little space to share your photos of bits and pieces of wherever you are at any point in time. It could be houses, backgrounds, activities and so forth. No hard and fast rules. Just ping-back’s and we can build it from there.

I would appreciate your feedback if you are interested in this. It may be possible to get the WP engineers to advise on how to create a page for any of this, but that would depend on the success of response received and I will enunciate the modality for both a bit further in another post.

Let’s talk about Re-Blogs:

If you’ve noticed, I have been doing a bit more re-blogging than I used to and it hasn’t affected publishing my own posts in any way.

Why? On the average, I read at least a hundred posts a day and sometimes more, leaving comments, likes – when I don’t have comments and so on. I always find posts that resonate, motivates, inspires, teaches me and a lot more and would love to share them with you as well.

I waited to understand a little bit more about re-blogging and I know that not only is re-blogging all part of networking, sharing, complimenting and encouraging others, it is a practice that I want to embrace a bit more.

Initially, I must express that I was a bit concerned about re-blogging so much of other people’s work, worrying over the fact that it might reduce the authenticity of my work. I did not really want to start something that I didn’t have much understanding of.

Now, I think I feel more comfortable to re-blog as many posts as possible on specific days and times.

I find no problem in writing my posts from scratch, but there are also loads of beautiful, inspiring and wonderful posts by others out there which needs to be shared and it would be a shame not to do so if you can.

Although, I always recommend and link other bloggers posts on my Short Stories Series each week, there really is always room for more. ‘The generosity you extend is also the generosity that you receive.‘

I am giving you the heads up in this direction so that it doesn’t come as a surprise.

If you have any issues about your articles being re-blogged, please do let me know so that I don’t offend anyone.

Lastly, let me reiterate that I would really appreciate your candid feedback on this post with regards to my challenge invitation and your opinion about re-blogging.

Dubai · Echos Of My Neighbourhood · Musings · Poetry/Poems · Quotes For You

To get a rainbow….

January 3, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha17 Comments

Call me cuckoo,
But that’s okay too,
It just rained.
Like really rained.
Here in Dubai,
And it gives me delightful tickles,
That it’s not just the few sprinkles,
That barely causes tinkles,
Showers and puddles of blessings,
I care not what anyone thinks about these things.
For blessings are truly abound,
Yes indeed, they are.

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

A link to my neighbours/Community · Dubai · Gratitude · Life · Musings

To all the Fire Service Men/Women out there…

January 2, 2016January 2, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha51 Comments

You know at times, we tend to take a lot in life for granted, going about our daily business grumbling and sometimes without care or in-depth thought as to what others pass through in the course of their jobs.

It took watching the luxurious building of The Address Hotel rage with fire on the Eve of the 2016 New Year’s day at a close range, to serve as a big eye opener for me, as to the enormous pressure and brave exploits of Fire fighters all over the World.

They put their lives on line every time they step into such blaze and even though some of us will very well say that it’s their job after all and that they are trained for it, it takes a heck of gumption to do the stuff that these courageous humans do.

For All the TEA in China and all the Swiss CHOCOLATES and a million dollars on top, I, Jacqueline, would not venture near that raging inferno that I witnessed.

The orange tongues of the fiery blaze licked with thirst and reckless abandon, in search of who and what to consume. The billowing smoke was choking even from a distance and yet these service men, did such a fantastic and efficient job even as others (including me) were watching in silent prayer.

Since the night of the 31st, the image of the burning skyscraper has been stuck in my head and my vivid imagination has been in overdrive ever since. On television, fire service men tend to look glamourous and sexy, but, gosh, when the chips are down, their job is one tough cookie to bake.

To the brave men and women of the Fire Service all over the World, how can one say thank you to your selfless services?

How can one appreciate the utmost help received from all of you for fire incidents which sometimes stem from actions of irresponsibility of others.

Yet, all I can say, and I know some people have this in mind as well, is thank you very much. Thank you for being there to mitigate a situation that could be worse. Thank you for giving so much of yourself. For your courage and faith in the face of such scary adversary.

Respects.

Bless you all.

Dubai · Gratitude

Happy New Year From DXB – UAE… Double Fireworks

January 1, 2016January 1, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha35 Comments

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It’s was an exciting evening as we ushered in the year 2016 with fantastic fireworks, which went on for well over fifteen minutes.

I like to be in the thick of such positive memorable moments, so we set off early enough to get a vantage viewing point, because I can assure you that people traveled from all over to Dubai in their thousands for the New Year Eve’s party at the foot of the Bury Khalifa, the title holder for the tallest building in the World.

It was well organised but a bit of misfortune was unfolding at the same time.

For several hours just adjacent to the Burj another high rise – The Address 5 star hotel was on fire. We experienced initial moments of panic, watching in despair from outside, but things were quickly brought under control.

The response team was quite swift in evacuating people thereby minimizing casualties. No deaths have been recorded thankfully.

Edited short video clips are attached.