After moving to our new house last week, we hung our first bird feeder out on Monday and waited (im)patiently for the birds to come eat, but they didn't. No birds to be seen at all. We were disappointed, but I knew that they would come - they just had to discover the spread first.

After days of silence and stillness in the garden, on Wednesday morning a brave little birdie came hopping along the fence to inspect the spread. He was very nervous and dashed away at the slightest noise or movement.

He came back though. A few times throughout the day. And then he brought a friend.

Welcome to another guest interview in our Faith Through Illness series. In each interview we will meet a new warrior who'll share their faith journey with us. How does chronic illness affect their faith and how does their faith affect their condition?

This week I have the honour of sharing Tracy Cooper's story. Tracy has a beautiful blog where she writes about faith, family and life as she deals with chronic pain. She is also a freelance writer and speaker who is passionate about encouraging others.  I hope you will be as encouraged by her story as I am.

Summer can be a really difficult time for people with chronic illness. Regulating body temperature is a common problem. Add in a rare summer heat wave and you have a recipe for horrific flares including utter exhaustion, weakness, headaches and so much discomfort and sweating!

If you have a chronically ill friend you'd like to bless or help out this summer, I am sure they would be so very grateful. I'm really excited to share these great items I've been using this summer as well as my top tips for keeping cool if you don't have air conditioning and can't leave your house.

I hope these tips will be beneficial to you or somebody you love.

Welcome to the second interview on Faith Through Illness.  In this series we will meet a variety of Christians from around the world, people who all struggle with different chronic conditions.

We will hear from them how their faith has been affected by their health and how the Lord gets them through it. Their struggles and their victories. 

It's been a while since I posted my last round-up of paintings for The 100 Day Project. That's because I actually took a whole month off! 

I am very pleased to be back to it though and have thoroughly enjoyed painting each evening. The sunny summer evenings are just perfect for painting!

This week I picked up where I left off at the start of May with Sunsets as the theme. I will also reveal next week's theme today.