When a plan comes together

It has hit me this weekend that things are finally happening! I've had that slightly nervous feeling that you get in your stomach when you think oh my God (or 'OMG' as my two girls say regularly) I've got a lot to get done!  And in moments of mild hysteria such as these I resort to list writing.  So, here's a list of all the things I've got to do:

• learn French by Wednesday (see next item)
• prepare for a week's work in Senegal (training 40 NGO personnel on children's participation) 
• worry about the flight, visa, getting a window seat (claustrrophobia), packing appropriate clothing for a Muslim country, buying 'good' presents for the girls
• write a concept note and budget for a funding bid worth $25,000
• write my blog
• investigate organising a charity trek in Nepal for Children Unite that I drag all my family on
• research suitable venues for a launch event 

As you can see, writing the blog is the least of it...but this blog is supposed to give me space to reflect on my week and, if I force myself to do this...give me a moment....

OK....I can see that although things have been gradually building up - over the past year in some cases - this week is the week it is all kicking off.  And, as list writing is my coping mechanism, here's another list of what happened this week:

• The funding for a new project was approved and I started working on it.  The proposal for this project was submitted in September last year. 
• I met with a group of former child domestic workers who were trafficked to the UK and will be helping them to launch a film they've made on child domestic work - I've been trying to set this meeting up for a year.
• I will be going to Nepal in March, along with Jonathan to discuss a future project with our Nepalese partner organisation - although this was a very recent opportunity, it was one of those things that we didn't think we'd actually pull off!  Tickets are booked now though.
• I had my brainwave (see last week's blog) and need to turn it into a proper proposal.

When things are HAPPENING, I have an energy, a buzz that tends to mean that more things happen, I find that ideas come through thick and fast and I have to stop myself from going off in a million different directions.  Figure out which ideas to follow through and which ideas are ridiculous and deluded (sounds familiar?!).  For example, the Nepal trip - in investigating what  Jonathan and I could do on our day off in Kathmandu I found an advert for a charity trek to the Everest base camp and thought that my dad would love that (for Children Unite obviously), then thought that actually my brother would also like that, and his fiance and my two uncles and an aunt and my sister....and, of course, that I would like to do that too.  (We're a bit of a mountain loving family).  So, I'm now investigating how I could organise a family charity trek (with half of the group in their 40s and the other half in their 60s) in the Himalayas.

I love this feeling though!  I love it when a plan comes together - to coin a phrase from a much loved childhood TV show; and it feels like this is the week when some quite long held plans/dreams have come together!

A la semaine prochaine mes amis (had to google translate this though just to check!)