March! Holla.

Aaaah ha! It’s here. It’s finally out of my head, darling.

This post has been nibbling on my brain for hours, days, weeks, should I say months? I’d rather not. Lol

How have you been? Really, I want to hear. Before I delve into the world of wonder that February has been, tell me, would you?

I’ll remind you to at the end of this read.

---

February holds record as my most delightful month so far and I intend to walk you through every bit of the amazing experience.

My month began with the release of my 2nd professional examination timetable. It was abruptly moved forward by about a week and I had 6 days to prepare for the examination to mark my exit from the class I’d been in since 2019.

By January I’d already started making gratitude notes every day. On those notes I wrote

“Today I am grateful for my 2/2 pass in Laboratory medicine and Pharmacology with no resit or repeat. Hallelujah.”

I made an affirmation of my expectations and used it as my home and lock screen (I shared to a few friends).

My affirmations.

Then I created a playlist on Spotify for this period and I had it on repeat to remind me every moment of the possibilities I was creating with my words.

I’m blessed with the most amazing humans in my life as friends and family members. Every single day for the whole week leading up to the exam I received food deliveries. I got local delicacies, shawarma, small chops, food from home and my dad made a special arrangement with a local restaurant to ensure I have food every day.

Some of the deliveries I had the luxury to capture memories of. Others? You know what happened… 😂

Whilst my department is yet to release the results for the examination, I’m grateful for the entire process.

In this period I experienced the love of community. I have this close knit study group that met almost everyday from 31st December to study and yet another of about 22 persons that studied in the evenings. Most nights I’d have virtual revision sessions with some amazing doctors God blessed me with in this season

And cash flow! I received alerts in this season, enough to cater for all my needs.

My friends and school family (Nesisi, Stells, PP, Awase, Ansah, Serah, Nachi, Idee, Nwike, Ella, Dee, Bree, Nenita, Cece, Ojochegbe, Sheddy, Dorcy, Uteey and Mi), and my doctor community (Dr A, Dr AJ, Dr J for jollof, Dr Atox and Dr Li) and my nuclear family were beyond rock solid.

Post-exams, I returned home to tender love and care. My both parents got me gift items. You know, every day of last week I received a gift. Lol

I’ve been manifesting goodness and mercy this entire month of February and it’s almost overwhelming how much love God can give one human.

Theeen, there’s my hair. Lol. This dear baby is 8 months old. Drum roll, please. And she’s 12.5 inches stretched out fully. However, my locs beg to differ. 😂

Lastly and possibly most importantly, February saw me starting a podcast—the healthy ALian.

The first episode is published and available on Spotify, Anchor, Google/Apple podcast and wherever you listen from.

I will put out new episodes on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of every month and honestly? I can’t wait to share this month’s episodes with you.

I also did a course on digital storytelling and I’m pleased to use that knowledge to serve you better.

So then, now that you’re up to speed on what I’ve been about in the past month and viewed the gallery of my million little miracles I’d love to read yours

How was February for you, dear ALian? Tell me in the comment section.

May March bring Peace and health.

#ememyensonidem

Surrounded by goodness and mercy

Two days ago. About 1pm.

3rd pharmacology assessment has just ended (exams wey we suppose start by 9am o). My stomach is growling for food so I decide to dash in and out of the house and stuff my belly.
On my way back to school I enter a keke that has one passenger, a male. A few meters forward a middle-aged woman joins us. She has two children; a female and a male. I offer to lap the female and we have an uneventful ride with my mind racing through questions, doing post-mortem for the pharm assessment, MB plans and everything between.

I alight at my first stop, pay my fare and unwittingly leave my phone on the seat.

I’m in a bus enroute Ettagbor when I reach for my phone in my bag to check my reading timetable and make good on my transit time by reading a topic, that’s when I notice my phone is not in the (tote) bag.

“No oh, probably a joke” I think to myself as I search my bag again carefully emptying its content. Laye. Futile. Abortive. No phone. Hian.

I gently tap the lady who sits beside me and ask to use her phone to call mine. She obliges. First two tries? Not reachable. Sparks are beginning to go off in my neural wiring, the first thought on my mind is “Jesus, not now”. I begin to say the name of Jesus.

In recent times God has blessed me with the gift of calm and faith in abundance and I hear Him whispering peace as I try again.

It connects. I hear the driver’s voice. He asks me to come back to the keke muster point. I thank him, thank Jesus and quickly alight. I narrowly avoid being hit by an incoming bus in my rush to get back, but with all my rush it takes about 20 minutes to get back there because this is some some minutes past 5pm and everyone is returning home.

I finally arrive and ask a woman who has a nearby stall to help me call my phone after explaining my plight. She’s suspicious, still she calls. It doesn’t connect. Nobody is taking the calls. She’s telling me the obvious, the general reality- a phone dropped in a keke can’t be found again. Not in Calabar. And yet, I know that is not my reality. My confidence is strange but not surprising when I tell her “I know I’ll find my phone, Ma” in response to her insistence that the phone is gone. 30 missed calls later from 3 different people my phone is finally unavailable. They tell me to go home. I’ll not find it again. “Would you recognise the driver’s face?” “No” “Plate number?” “I didn’t notice”.
“what kind of phone is it sef?” they ask, to which I reply “a Samsung”.

The talk is almost getting to me and I begin to confess “… And he delivered me from all my fears.” “Jesus”, I pray, “I’m scared, but I trust you to deliver me from my fears, all my fears.”
In faith I continually repeat “thank you, Jesus”.

6pm.
I can’t stand on the streets forever. The last Kekes are disappearing from the street but my hope doesn’t die. All the adrenaline from before the exams and everything in between the hours is finally getting to me. I board a bus and head back to school.
I sit in the bus in silence but my joy is untouched.
I reach the hostel and try the number again—not reachable. So, I sleep.

I wake up to Mi’s call to check up on me post-exams. He senses something is off and I share hazy details. We agree in faith and the call disconnects.
I call my elder brother, intimate him on the situation and then move to the reading table to read because this MB will not write itself.

One hour later I step out of the room to clear my head and to see my friend, Ansah. We have a conversation about exams, preparations and all.

Just before I go downstairs I pick my sticky notes and write a gratitude note: today I am grateful that my phone has returned to me.

The phone issue comes up in our conversation because I have to check my topic for study class the next day. He says I should call the number back when I’m ready to step out the next day. I agree. It’s an act of faith.

Thursday morning.
After I wake, I have a much needed conversation with our Father and continue my reading from where I left off. I’m unusually at peace as I step out to brush my teeth. When I return to the room I call the number after declaring in prayer. With bated breath I wait. It rings. Once. Twice. It connects. It’s the driver. I almost scream.

We talk, he’s about to mention the location to meet him when the call abruptly ends. My airtime is exhausted. Neni offers me her phone to call him back however, he calls back in a blink. My joy is irrepressible.

Hurriedly, I prepare and step out.

Thirty minutes and a long holdup later we (my friend and I) are finally at the location. He sees me (remember, I wouldn’t even recognise him) and waves.

We share a hug and pleasantries. I’m almost in tears. He gives my phone back after we make small talk.

I thank him, he says I should be grateful to God he found it and not other passengers, because what are the odds…?

And at this time? There’s never a perfect time for loss but 9 days to path/pharm MB definitely ticks the box of crazy timing.

A lot could have gone wrong, but God…

The first thing I see is my phone’s wallpaper: today I’m surrounded by goodness and mercy. I remember that every day of the past two weeks I have constantly affirmed these words. Now I see them in the flesh, in the miracle of my phone.

When I return to the room, I find that sticky note and write again: “this morning, my phone returned to me…”

I think it’s a bit unreal till this moment that this sequence of events happened in less than 24 hours but it did. Jesus answered my prayers in the most dramatic and marvellous way.

To be loved by our Father, our good Father, is an immeasurable blessing.

November!

Dear ALian!

We’re here! It’s so good to finally be at the 11th month of the gregorian calendar year.

Am I excited? You don’t know the half of it!

I think this year more than any other my body has broken down too many times. Or maybe it’s because this year I journaled more?

I’ve learnt a lot this year too. I’m glad I can come back to these lessons here.

Let’s pause this train of thought here and ask, do you have a physical journal?

If no, why not? If yes, how did you enjoy using it this year?

Okay, don’t hold the thought. Just scroll down to the comment section and leave me a reply, will you?

I’ll keep my eyes peeled to read from you.

Now that you’re back, today I’m celebrating 12 months of #nosodadrinks. Yayyy. I know. What started as #nosodanovember and became #nocarbonateddrinksdecember has become a lifestyle. And am I even proud? 😂

I want to share my story, but in a subsequent entry.

There’s something else I’ve had at heart to share for a few weeks.

Some Sundays ago, I visited this amazing family blessed with 3 lovely girls. One of them, the last, is under a month. The older two are an inseparable pair and could be mistaken for twins.

I noticed amusingly how the two of them clung to their Father who they called “Papa”. And strangely how the eldest girl continually stretched herself out on her father’s laps and would even try to push her younger sister away from her father.

Now, here’s the interesting part, no matter how many times her lovely eldest sister tried to push her away, the beautiful second daughter, by simply holding her father’s thumb was never successfully pushed.

Of course, you’d understand that her little fingers would do a not-so-great job of holding her father’s thumb, her Father held her… but she was resigned to never leave, to not be separated from her Papa, not even for her older sister.

As I sat watching, Abba told me “You have to decide to come to me and never leave… That nothing, not even entitled older siblings (other Christians) will make you separate from me.”

Did I want to cry? Oh, yes! Because, omo! The list of things that (in my head) are piled up against my disposition as God’s favourite can be sky-high.

This may be you… And if it is, I write to remind you this month “Gum body with Jesus and no let any pesin disconnect you“.

God loves you soooo much. This November, He’ll be proving it daily, all you have to do is stay connected.

As a parting gift here’s your affirmation for the week. This one, I love with every part of my soul.

Playlist of the week?

• Good and loved by Travis Greene and Steffany Gretzinger
• Jireh by Maverick City Music
• Lover of my soul by Jonathan Mcreynolds