The meaning of Dumb Ass...

Is me! I've done something totally stupid.

For those of you who know anything about Easter, you'll know that it happens in April. For those for you who know about Spring Harevest, you'll know it happens during the Easter holidays, which are in April.

So what have I done that is so incredibly stupid (and I must say easy to do, and easy to miss) I've only gone and put MARCH on the letter that went out to people 2 weeks ago.

Idiot - am going to apologise to everyone now and feel incredibly small for weeks and weeks until we go away in APRIL.

Though it's some consolation that my boss hadn't even spotted it until it was mentioned to him by a member of the youth group!! (she's a very sensible girl.)

Umm...

I did post while I was in Southampton, I'm sure of it!! Oh well, if it appears you'll all know, if not - I had a brilliant time down there. Adrian Plass is awesome, he can pick at every aspect of church, in a funny way, but still have a serious message. Some of his stories had me crying tears of laughter! Which doesn't happen very often.

Work as ever has been very busy and we're under attack a bit, I think. Everything that wanted to happen yesterday before Youth Alpha did. Someone doesn't like what we're doing. Not all bad stuff, but things to throw us off course, so we're not completely focused on telling the truth of Jesus Christ.

One thing that did happen yesterday was a phone call I had just before 7:30pm. From the vicar of the church where I was going to get married. He was genuinely concerned about me, and said that he would pray for me. That made me cry, just as all of the youth alpha crew were arriving, brilliant!!

Today has been slightly more relaxing. Writing Annual reports, having lunch with Wiz and just generally updating everything. I'm now on Facebook, after Alex decided to add photos of me that are truly hideous!!

I did have a rant, but maybe for another day.

Glasses

Its been 13 months since I had a new pair of glasses and now I am going to have to replace them, seen as the arm broke clean off last night, and there is no chance of even salvaging the parts. I have a hectice lifestyle so I'm going to get some glasses that are bound to last longer than 13 months. Although when you pay £120 for something that you wear all the time, don't you expect it to do its job for a good amount of time?
Generally annoyed this morning. This week is getting worse. Lets hope the weekend is better, despite not being able to see much.

Assembly, lists and justice

Today started with an assembly at St Michaels school, lots of faces, some I recognise, most I don't. I'm not as scared of primary school aged children as Ant is, so I really enjoyed it. Though I am reminded of what one of my friends used to say about primary school assemblies - "Its like looking at a sea of maggots". Now if you have ever stood in front of a group of 4-7 year olds, you'll totally understand that comment, if not, I challenge you to take an assembly! It was about Jesus the healer and involved a lot of imagination. The first one is always harder and poorer than the second one. But it's done and makes me want to go back to telling stories for 3 year olds.

The rest of the day has been spent trying to tick off various things on the list that I wrote myself before I went to sleep last night. It was good to get all of it down, I'm starting to forget things now. But I feel more productive having things to tick off. Funny that.

I'm getting Sunday sorted too. As well as making sure I pack for Saturday and Sunday, as I am seeing Helen and her church. Yeay, just a tad excited!!

(Have just has a fight with IE7 and the pop-up blocker! Looks like I'm going to have to read my blogs carefully cos I can't spell check!)

Beautiful people

St Mike's Youth Social Photos

A collection of photo's since September of Ice Skating, Laura's baptism and, of course, the Banquet!

Have a look...

Myspace

Again, is being ridiculous. I think someone may have done something to it, which means I can't do what I wanted to do today, which was set up a group for the students and tell them all about it on wednesday. I'll try again this afternoon and tomoro, and if it still isn't up and running, I'll use someone elses computer.

Today I have the office to myself, which is great. But it also means that I'm cold, constantly. There is a draft that isn't solved by shutting the door or putting the radiator on. So I'm sat as far away from the window as possible and wondering why I've never spotted it before.

I'm speaking at Youth Alpha this evening, so pray for me. I've never done an Alpha talk and I'm a) not sure how long its going to last and b) whether I'll be any good at it. It involves power point so I'm a little worried about that too!

Here we go...

Handsets, myspace and Globe Cafe

Friday is Globe Cafe and RE:fresh day. Lots of fun, but hard work.

My new handset is playing up slightly (surprised? not me!) so I spend 10 mins on the phone to Orange just to get a text that should magically fix everything!

Mysapce is playing up a little too...so this week I wanted to set up a students@stmikes myspace but haven't! I'll get around to it and tell everyone, so that we don't have to spend loads on texting each other and can have conversations with people who are at uni.

I'm going home to rest up before the joys of this evening...which also means I get to turn Madonna off!!

A very happy un-birthday to me!!

22 years and 6 months today... scary stuff.

I thought I'd better blog cos I got told off for not doing so the other day!

There's not a lot to report really, its raining and really windy out, so I don't want to leave the warmth of the office. Plus I have to wear uncomfortable trainers at the moment because my 'chav' shoes have a hole in them! So I'm happy where I am, but I can't stay here, cos I won't get fed and I'll get bored very quickly, when I run out of things to prep.

I'm at Rock Solid tonight too, which is always a joy. I have to get rid of my headache before then, otherwise I won't be much fun. Although Trev and I did spend the whole lunch time with some of the main players at rock solid. They are good kids, it just takes a while to see it. Its all about relationships with the kids, so the more often we see them, the more likely they will turn up other events. I think I may have eaten too many sweets though.

I received a new handset from Orange after having to speak to them about making sure they tell their shops what goes on at customer services!! So now it takes me 5 mins to write a text!!

I was listening to the radio this morning and heard a song by a guy called Mika. I found his page and listened to the snipits of the album, and although his first song its good, the rest is too Scissor Sisters for me to like it! Still check it out.

I'm done, I'm going home to sleep!

Youth Alpha amongst other things

Youth Alpha session one: outcome good!
This is all I will harp on about for the next 11 weeks or so, get used to it. We put the kids into their small groups yesterday with minimal fuss, and we were fed by Wiz, who does an excellent spag bol! Ant's talk went down really well. We've changed the stream, so now we're mainly on the Active stream and the kids respond a lot better to it, so far. Apparently they were talking about the Holy Spirit last night, which again is a promising start!
Other thing: not so good. Scared a little of what is going on in other people's lives. Pray for Helen, Michelle, Kay, Emma and Mary. (Told you I was doing a lot more talking!)
Mettle A tonight, which I am looking forward to!

Prayer please

I seem to do a lot of talking and not a lot of listening. I guess I've got a lot to pray about at the moment though.
The first week back at work was a little up and down for me really. It was good, one of the best weeks the groups have had since September. Like I've said Rock Solid was good, and RS2 went well yesterday morning. The 11-14's have their moments and the rest of the time they are tuned in and answering left right and center. So it was good, and air of contemplation for once.
Youth Alpha start last week. Definitely a high, I'm going to be teaching in just over a week, so I'm looking forward to that to an extent.
Everything really hit me yesterday evening though. I've been surrounded this week and felt cornered some of the time. I've been thinking a lot about other people, and not very much about myself, which means I let my emotions get on top of me really.
So I'm going to say thank you to those who prayed for me yesterday, who built me up in the right places, I've taken stock of all thats going on, and I'm starting to let my soul sing again, seen as it's been pretty quiet for a while.

My Bible reading notes reminded me of a Bible verse that equates to my life and the life of those around me at the moment

'For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.' Jeremiah 29:11

All God, His way is the only way...looking forward to the future but living for the moment!

Rock Solid

I was speaking at Rick Solid last night, and it went really weel, the whole evening had a positive feel to it, and although there was an awful lot of rubbish floating around at the end of the evening, the kids really are behaving themselves.
At the moment, I'm looking at our Spring Harvest accounts and trying to get hold of our Tresurer! Lots of fun. I've also got to set up RE:fresh and write a shopping list for RS2 on Sunday, all before I leave.
Day off tomoro!! Yeay...

Youth Alpha and moving house

Youth Alpha went very well yesterday, even though we had enough chinese to feed 30 people. Think about what you need and half it! Good advice! The guys and girls are really responsive to every thing, the surroundings, the layout, the teaching and most importantly each other and the leaders.
This morning I moved house. I'm now living with a wonderful woman called Yvonne. I'm looking forward to the next part of this year out. I'm further away from the office, which means I'll be doing more walking.
At lunch I was at PBF which is always a source of joy, although I felt totally under prepared. Theclubwithnoname is tomorrow, so I should do a better job of it second time around.
Just a few bits and pieces to sort out before I go home and unpack!!

Back in Stokey G...

And straight to work. Trev's going on training with YFC, which means the first full week of term is going to be incredibly busy.
Last night I started work as soon as I arrived. We had a RE:fresh and Mettle social, which was a film night. We watched a movie about Nascar racing, a little too male for me, but I am so tempted to use the dinner scene where Will Ferrell is saying grace to baby Jesus to challenge peopole about prayer and who Jesus was! Still they seemed to enjoy the evening, and the tuck shop went down really well.
I'm off to pack some more, because I am moving again! Not quite sure when, but that'll all be sorted by tomorrow morning. I'll be further away from the church which means I'll get more exercise! Yeay!

Templates

The template for my blog is playing up a little today, since I decided to add another blog. I can't see any reason why it would play up but still, we'll see what I can do, when I can be bothered.
Right now, I'm wondering what to do with my day....

Discovering

Another blog. Mary is a top lady who has so much going for her. Check out her blog and Windows space here.

I'm watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the moment and will probably fall asleep some time soon. I was woken at 11.30am and told that we were going to help tidy the church after last nights party. Although we were the last people to arrive, it still took two hours to get the church back to normal! It looks good though, nice and clean. The church does need to invest in some kind of super cleaner though. Its such a large space and hoovering takes so long. Any ideas?

RIght I'm going to catch up on some sleep...

New Year

Happy New Year...Lets hope 2007 brings lots more joy than 2006. Already three hours in and I'm managing to be pessimistic, a new record.
I was definitely in the right place tonight, in my home town, with my long standing friends. The people who make Billericay what it is. Of course my parents were there too, which always makes for a laugh, although my Dad seems to be abstaining from dancing, a good thing? Possibly. Apparently I get louder and more overt every year, which kinda shocks me, cos I think I've been this way for a few years now. Maybe I don't see it...

Anyway, I'm tired, so I'm going to post some photos and then I'm going to bed...

The Gang at the beginning of the night



Anything but Rough...



The Organiser



And finally...



Well...a good night had by all. I'm going to remember tonight for a long time, for all the right reasons.