A whole load of packing!

I'm being concise today. With my packing for Bristol that is. I'm moving into a double room that I've slept in before so I know there is not a lot of room for all of my things, and I will be living out of a suitcase for a while. So I've brought a few boxes to make me look a bit more professional and I'm being careful about the amount of clothes and shoes I take with me. I threw away another load of stuff today, so now I have half the amount of shoes I had this morning!

One thing I can't find is my huge amount of photos that I have taken over the years. I had a massive collection at the beginning of the summer and I have lost them in the transition from cheltenham to Billericay some how. I can't remember where I packed them, so I will spend tomorrow looking for them! It's just incredibly frustrating!

Karen - the outcome of fabric shopping was that we found some really expensive stuff that would be wonderful, but can't afford it, so we're going for cheaper stuff! Jen's going to order the pattern from vogue and modify it so it looks like the Amanda Wyatt dress!

So tomorrow is my final full day in Bristol, and then I won't be coming back to live in Billericay ever again, unless something horrible happens! Your prayers are always appreciated and so are your comments. I will keep you up to date on life in Bristol!

Bubble shooter

256,440

Aren't I amazing? Brilliant, courageous? Ok maybe not, but I am pretty good!

I've spent the day in London so I deserve some time to relax! I was out with my mum and my friend Jenny who is making my wedding dress for me. We were looking for fabrics, and it was so much fun. I got dressed up by a guy in Broadwick Sliks, he decided that the best way to show me how fabric looks is to coat me in the stuff, it was great fun.

I've found that people are either really helpful or shockingly awful when it comes to sales. I've had the experience of both, but only in specialist shops, it seems.

Now I'm off to the pub to have a meal with some mates and sit and talk about moving to Bristol again!

Summer school

Memories come back to haunt - particularly this one



It's being posted around the web by many a bebo'er, much to my joy, and some times disgust!! Those were the days! I really really want to do summer school again, but unfortunately graduates can't take part in it. Still, maybe there's time for a reunion?

Back in 'ricay

Back home again, blogging in comfort and safety! I've had a rough weekend, but sharing it here would not be appropirate, because its incredibly personal, so ner nicky ner ner ner! I heard from Helen (blog link below) about her situation and now I'm totally worried about her.
I have less than a week at home and then I move to Bristol for an entire year to learn more about youth work. I also have to cope with being away from everyone again and moving to an area that is familiar yet strange to me. Learning how to deal with new people and trusting that God is doing the right thing for me at the moment. I'm going to be receiving lessons in life it seems over the next couple of months. So pray with me, that I'm happy and I manage to sort things out so that I don't have my head permenantly stuck in a cloud from now until christmas. That I have strength to cope with whatever is thrown at me and I understand that I have to be praising if things begin to go wrong.
Here I come Bristol - don't you just love an emotionally unstable woman!

A week in a field just outside of Cirencester, how much fun can a group of people have? Well I was quite a bit of fun actually. The scouts that I joined for the week are a great bunch of people. Becca and Jeremy are wonderful and well organised. We always do a lot of things and there is time of leaders to take time out from looking after teenage boys. We went swimming twice, I helped with pioneering and general leadership tasks. So now I can probably lash you a tripod if you ask! I got a little attached to one patrol because only one of them had been on summer camp before, I helped them with a lot of their cooking and making sure they were dong the right things. Henry's cryptic clue day in Cirencester went really well. He has an evil mind, but a very clever one at that. It worked, the scouts were really interested and worried about being chased by The Faceless. They were so scared that they thought Henry was going to jump out during our last night around the camp fire! It was hilarious. They even managed to scare me.

So now I'm back from scout camp and have just a week to say goodbye to everyone and work out what I want my wedding dress to be made of! Packing, drinking and shopping, its going to be an interesting week. I have to make sure I know where I'm going next saturday and speak to various people to create a few structures so I don't fall to pieces over the next year.

I told you so!

Dad, my current top score is 131810. Beat that!!!

I'm off to Malvern and scout camp today, so I won't blog for a while I can imagine, because it's difficult to blog in the middle of a field, in the middle of nowhere! And I am not mobile blogging because my battery can be put to better use, like phoning the NHS Direct line to find out if we should take a child to hospital.

I am currently trying to find a way to rip a CD to .mp3, because my trial ran out, so i am lost for ways to copy it to my MP3 player, which only takes .mp3 tracks! Argh! There was me thinking it was going to be easy, a five min thing max, but oh no! Which now means I won't be able to take Martyn layzell on holiday with me :( I will find a way!! I've got two hours til I have to leave!

Family competitions

How competitive are you?

As a person, I've been told I am quite competitive. The girls I was bowling with at Summer school, spotted that I look at my performance and know that I can do better or I've done well, i.e. I was the only one who is disappointed with 7 pins down after two bowls and I was level with one of the male staff members at the end of the first game and was disappointed. As a family I really shouldn't compete with my dad and brothers but I do anyway, I'm on course for a fail if I try too hard. So when we were invited to go bowling with my brother's girlfriend and her family, we jumped at the chance to show we were better. Even mum got in on the act - scoring highly in the last game to win 2-1. So we are competitive and its harmless fun (some of us get upset though).

When I introduced my family to the delights of Bubble Shooter, I didn't think much of it, until my dad started boasting about his score - so then it started, I knew I was better than him and promptly set out to prove myself. My top score for today is 63820, and I know that it's not my best score. So here starts a family competition that will go on until Dad wins! And he knows it...

on other (much more important things) I'm becoming obsessed with an ex-busted member who has progressed beyond cheesy pop. Matt Willis! Out on his own and a lot better than Fightstar and Loserville (or whatever James' band were called)!

I may have been caught up in myself...

For the last few days I have been in the little world of Liz - not quite with it, and only concerned about the amount of sleep I seem to be having recently, which equates to a lot, by my standards. Ok so I do have an excuse - new painkillers (men you would not understand) and the permanent loss of my sister to that lovely town of Luton - she moved on Friday and so I'm not going to see her other than to chat about weddings and commissioning services.
So now I'm almost back to normal and blogging to tell you about a trip to Tanzania that is happening at this very moment. A group of church members managed to fly out before the kerfuffle that happened this week at all major British airports, shutting down flights for a whole day (and service is still not at normal levels) and finding that Britain is on High alert for terrorist activity. To be honest they are probably in a good place at the moment. Not only have they managed to fly out but they have also been blogging. Nifty little link for you that will be updates for the foreseeable future is here. There is quite a bit already, but prayers and good wishes are always necessary!
For those of you who are reading because Helen isn't blogging - good news is that she's back tomorrow and all is well with the teenagers, prayer for her knees as ever and for Ali and Phil who are in charge of her. Ali is driving for her tomorrow so pray for that too. I'm sure she'll blog when she's rested.
Right on to emailing my friends in Africa!

Top marks

Today I have said good bye to my sister, so that she can start her new job as a fully paid, full time youth worker in Luton. I've also received my dissertation back for the uni, with two marks - 62 and 57, so my diss was actually quite good, by my standards. Reading the comments I can see the 'must try harder' areas, where I lost marks. I also got my exam papers back with a little bit of disappointment and a clear indication that at least one member of staff hates me (despite the fact that exam papers are anonymous). He changed my mark, so I ended up with a 47 - rather than something a lot higher for that particular module.
I've also got an application form to fill out for my job in September - thus is the way of church youth work - incredibly backwards, but knowledgable that God is in every step no matter what order it's done in! So that looks rather scary, but I'm told not to be afraid of it, just make sure it finds it's way back to Bristol before I go to Scout Camp at the end of next week.
Finally, I found myself buying the TES for the second time in two weeks, knowing full well that I would see a picture and an article about summer school on one of the pages. It was smaller than I'd hoped, but still something to be majorly proud of. If you didn't buy it, I'm afraid you won't be able to see the article - sorry. The students who were quoted did a good job of promoting the idea of summer school, and hopefully the work will be there for those who need it. I would love to be AimHigher officer, but I'm in Bristol, doing my bit for the kingdom.
This is the last thing, I promise. I need your prayer, I don't have anywhere to live as of january 2007, and it's vital that I do, if I want to carry on with working and developing my skills. I can't live with my boss and his wife so pray that we can find someone over the next few months who's willing to cope with me in panic mode when it comes to wedding prep and able to give me space when I need it! Lastly, Helen needs huge amounts of prayer as Soul Survivor is not going well for her. There have been numerous ill people already, not to mention the amount of pain that poor woman must be feeling (and I'm talking about Ali!! Joke, Helen!). Seriously, an army of prayer is needed for her to get through the next few days! Monday must seem like a life time away!

Bridesmaids

Not the people this time, but actual dresses. I'm spending most of today with Karen looking at possible dresses for all bridesmaids (not including flower girls). We've had lots of success with the dress shop in town. They actually stock every dress in every size, which is really helpful to see what a dress might look like in a bigger size! We're off to chelmsford to try on some more from other designers.
Yeay.

Then its dinner at Nan's and an evening out with the Williams'.Great. I'll blog tomorrow!

Summe school 2006

My photo's from summer school can now be found on my flickr account. YOu can find it either by typing in colourfultshirts or summerschool2006 in to the start page, which can be found here. Have a look, and tell me what a pretty bunch we are!!

Just a quickie

We're going to move some things for Soul Survivor soon, so I am just going to say that holiday club is officially over. It ended this morning with a final redition of Rainbow - which is an excellent song for the kids. Look up Hillsong if you're interested in kids ministry. Helen's done a brilliant job, despite the amount of pain she's in. Andy is also brilliant at what he does, again, even with everything that has gone on outside of holiday club. The fun day was just that, fun. Harmless and really wet. A chance to just be with the kids and parents, teaching them what the church is like outside of teaching and worship. Alpha have jumped on the holiday club wagon and done very well at getting leaflets to every parent or carer.
As I said at the beginning, we're moving things for Soul Survivour, which starts on Wednesday, and then going to a prayer and praise service to be refreshed, because I know that I've been giving out a lot over the last two week, so it would be wonderful to do some receiving.
Going home tomorrow, so I shall be seeing everyone in Billericay for a bit, before beginning to prepare for scout camp!

Day 5

Final day of holiday club. I've been given flowers and chocolates to say thank you, from two boys in my group who were absolute angels all week. The BBQ is tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to that, knowing that I'll get a chance to talk to some of the parents and discuss the week in lots of detail with them. Having 18 boys and girls as been a great challenge and I know I keep going on about it.
I have learnt a lot about myself this week, I now know that teenagers are probably the best age to work with. I can get on with pretty much anyone and I dislike negative atmospheres and people who slink off unnoticed when they've got a job to do, also not everyone is cut out for young people's work. There are loads of people in Helen's church who are extremely talented when it comes to drama, getting involved and leading (Helen being one of them).
So this week has been overly positive, all of the kids wanted to stay and no-one could pick out their favourite part. Here comes a harder part, knowing that the evangelism on the parents has to begin, and the staff and congregation have to hit the ground running.

Day 3

Helen's long gone, and I'm heading for a break down. I'm looking after 14 boys and 6 girls, nearly on my own. I've shouted at them today, for running, for playing up and for being generally the messiest group in the history of holiday club!! I have discovered that my patience stops when I'm working with 8 and 9 year olds. Anyone under the age of five and over the age of 11, fine, easy(er), but those who just fall short of secondary school age are probably the hardest to get on with, because I can't remember what it's like to be that young and how mature (and immature) some of them can be. It's incredibly challenging and not particularly rewarding at the moment, but I'm sure when sunday comes round, I'll feel a lot happier about the whole thing.
So we've only got one full day left, and a weekend of activities, then I get to sleep and travel home.

Jungle Jazz - Day 1

For the next six days Helen's blog and mine are going to be pretty similar. Jungle Jazz began today (for the children) and boy was it hard work. Getting to know 22 7 and 8 year olds, and calling them all by name is difficult, when tiredness kicks in - even when they have name badges and are relatively well behaved. I've being pulling boys into line all day, and consoling girls who stick their hands in maggots! (Did you know they chrunch under foot? Yuck!)

So anyway, its been a good day, but as with summer school, there are people doing too much and not doing enough.

I ended up working my socks off at summer school, but at the same time I enjoyed the challenge and the amount of trouble shooting I had to do, because 15 year olds don't eat and not everyone is up for the academic stuff that is part of a residential. I got mentioned in two presentations and there were lots of tears - from the staff and students. I was stil crying on Saturday!

Tomorrow is another day!