Grant and Jenny Morris

Attractive young wife and mother, Jenny (Powrie) Morris, grew up in Cape Town, although she now lives in England and is soon going on to New Zealand. This is a very busy young woman, whose life is lived with passion. Some of that passion is in an area that perhaps many people would not identify with, and yet might wish we all shared. The good news is that Jenny is a giver – she loves to share her passion and talents with others.

Depression Overcome

Jenny and her husband, Grant, moved to the UK 15 years ago. Moving countries is never an easy thing, and Jenny already suffered from depression. This illness was still to dog her for some time, most especially after each of her two sons, Daniel (9) and Noah (6), were born. Anyone who has suffered from depression will know that this is a debilitating illness – so much more than just “the blues”. Antidepressants helped, but with unacceptable side-effects. Five years ago, Jenny decided to try the Omega oils and Vitamin D (the Vitamin D being in an attempt to counter the effect of lack of sunshine in England) – and for Jenny this combination has worked. (I must just add a rider here that this alone is not necessarily the case for everyone. But for Jenny, these over-the-counter supplements have worked wonders.) The result has been a newfound happiness and purpose in living. Frequently she finds herself delighting in the simple joy of living her life.

Jenny, Grant, Noah and Daniel

Photography

When her older son, Daniel was a toddler, she decided to set about the process of learning something she had always wanted to do – photography. She taught herself with a film camera (as opposed to digital) and a book. And her creativity shone through. Before long she was able to set up a business at home as a portrait photographer. She continued this with creativity and flair for some time, but then one of her other passions surfaced – Food. And she began photographing food. One of the pleasures she found in photographing food, is that it is so cooperative – It doesn’t move or argue, and it can be put where and how she, the photographer, chooses. One of the problems with photography in a country with a lot of grey skies is the lack of natural light. So, Jenny finds it a pleasure that the food that she is photographing is something that is easy to move to get the best natural light. Here is a great link to her blog about the art of photographing food - http://jengrantmorris.blogspot.com/2011/01/food-photography.html There is so much more to it than simply "point and snap".

Food

This next passion in her life was able to occupy her more than just from the point of using her skills as a photographer. It could satisfy her in terms of bringing pleasure and delight to others. She loves to bake and send her goodies to work with her husband, Grant, who is a policeman. When he gets home, she wants a blow-by-blow, bite-by-bite account of his colleagues’ responses to the munchies. In fact, he has a camera at work, and she has him take pictures of his friends as they bite into her delectable morsels. She enjoys knowing that they enjoy what she has made. No need to wonder whether or not she must be one of the most popular police wives around. One would expect that she must be the most popular mom in town too. She says her younger son, Noah, is the “cake monster” and that he loves to eat what she bakes. But Daniel would rather eat a stick of celery. Children are the most interesting puzzle. Perhaps we aren’t really meant to understand them.

It is perhaps only natural that Jenny would want to take her enjoyment in sharing what she bakes with others to the next level. She has just had a recipe book published as an e-book – a compilation of delicious recipes that she enjoys baking. Naturally, each recipe is accompanied by an artistic photograph of the baked delectable. Turn to this link: a thousand words: Sweet Things recipe e-book and you will get a little taste of what this clever lady has put together.

The Organizer

Now we come to the particular talent and passion which Jenny has, which I think is rather unique. Take Jenny into a room which is filled with nothing but chaos, a room that you can barely walk into, and her eyes light up as though she has just been given the greatest of all gifts. Most people groan when they see this kind of mess. Not Jenny. This is like Christmas to her. Since they got married 15 years ago, Grant and Jenny have moved house 13 times. And the reason is largely because Jenny loves to organize. In fact as she put it – she gets to a point where she has “organized her home to death”. And then she gets restless – and starts to look around for something else to organize. And so this has frequently meant moving home, finding somewhere else to fix up and organize.

But a couple of years ago, she decided to try employing this passion to help other people. This was at the stage that she came to the realisation that not everyone sees organizing in the same light that she does. She realised that most people actually have some feelings of guilt over the clutter and untidiness in their homes, and really can’t face the idea of getting stuck in and sorting it all out – no matter how often they say : “I really need to sort some things out.” And so, just as a voluntary “gift” to some friends, she helped them get started. And now she has a number of glowing testimonials about the blessing that she has been in their lives. Have a look at these blog posts of hers showing some of this work: http://jengrantmorris.blogspot.com/2009/06/lauras-study.html http://jengrantmorris.blogspot.com/2009/06/lauras-shed.html

Plans for Future Opportunities

Now, with the prospect of moving to New Zealand, Jenny has determined on plans for starting three different businesses. The first will be her “organizing” as a business. In New Zealand, there is a body called the Professional Organizers’ Association, which she plans on joining. Evidently this is an association who do just the kind of thing that Jenny does. She plans on calling her business “Neat Ideas”, and hopes to be able to, apart from anything else, run workshops on topics like De-cluttering, and Finding Space. Listening to Jenny on this topic, one cannot believe that anyone can get so excited about helping people to organize their homes, but she really is excited about it – passionate about it.

The next business that she wants to run, takes her back to her photography – she wants to do infant photography. And then, finally, she wants to continue with her baking – supplying a shop that will sell for her.

This is definitely not an idle young lady, and she loves to give. She has great drive, and things that have become important to her include the fact of always finding a way to do what she wants to do – “Never say never.” To her it’s essential to get on and Do things, and not to drift. She asks herself questions like: “Is this where I want to be? Where do I want to go?” This positive attitude is typical of Jenny. She fought off her depression, and she is making something great with her life. Her talents are passions, great loves, in her life – and she makes them work for her.