Photos of Dogs

Heart Touching Photos of Dogs with Humans

Some cute pictures celebrating dogs and the relationship we have with them.

Apparently we have cats.... not entirely sure if Mum and Dad have agreed to this... I haven't and I'm not sure our dog is very happy with it either... still they are up in my brothers room, probably causing havoc.

I am trying to write a 5 to 10 min talk for Sunday and look for an appropriate craft activity too. I'm thinking about bandages and sinners... I think I have something that will work, but I'm not entirely sure that it will occupy the young people (there were 4 or 5 in church on Sunday) for a while. Still I will find something for them to do. Might steal some Schools work ideas.

We're barely a week away from Soul Survivor, Verity is on training this week for her African adventure and my other volunteers have been giving me lots of opinion on how Shaken Up should work in September, some very exciting ideas, hopefully facebook will help us get some ideas...

Onwards and Upwards... Nan is recovering well from her operation on her hip, in high spirits after seeing her Daughter, Son-in-law and grandchildren yesterday (who loved the crutches she's been given!). Mum and Dad are at New Wine with various church members and the young people are preparing to lead worship next Sunday.

I'm looking forward to spending more time with Chris this week as he is photographing a couple of horse events. We've been together for over two years and celebrated on Saturday (belatedly) by going out to London for lunch, dinner and a show. I am very fortunate to have a wonderful boyfriend. The Lion King was awesome. Dinner at Circus was slightly disappointing - Chris came away hungry and we both had a headache by the end of it - nothing sweets from Cybercandy can't solve...

All exciting. Tomorrow I'm going to pop into Basildon to sort out holiday things, visit my Grandad's grave on his birthday and pack a bag to spend time with Chris!

Robbie Williams confirms Take That exit - Behind The Music

Robbie Williams confirms Take That exit - Behind The Music

This is totally not a surprise... and actually I am quite pleased that this is happening.

I am a Take That fan and have been since the band began their career all those years ago. When Robbie left the first time, I didn't cry, I was upset when they called it a day but wasn't everyone? It was only every going to be a one term thing and it feels like Robbie has ridden the wave of the Take That come back for all it is worth and decided now to write again and tour off the back of it. What a surprise. I am a little angry about it as well.

I know plenty of people love Robbie so I won't say much more about this, it just not a shock at all.

In other news... transition lessons for year 6 groups have been really good, and finish today. Also, CCS finishes today, so I have to try and remember where I'm going this evening and leave a little early with the food in tow.

Tomorrow we're off to SOLID for the weekend with 11 boys and 3 other leaders. It's going to be an awesome weekend. I do have to print out some more behaviour agreements though, for the boys who haven't signed them! Pray for us, that we will be safe, that we will have an opportunity to chat and that we can connect with what is going on. Pray for changed hearts! (And that we get some sleep!) And for the weather... the list is endless!

What a rip off

Premier League - Parents to complain over kids' kit prices - Yahoo! Eurosport

Have a read of the article above and ask yourself the same question the survey asked.

Are replica football kits too much money? Are they a rip off?

In my opinion, yes the are. I brought my brother an Arsenal shirt last year and that was expensive (and simply because I'd gone to Lakeside before looking online).

We live in a world where things are expensive, cost of living etc, and a football shirt is a luxury - but it shouldn't be the sort of thing you have to dig into your savings (or take out a mortgage) for!

Well Done mumsnet for taking this to the top and asking the question about the massive mark up... if a shirt didn't cost so much, the team wouldn't have so much and the players wouldn't be paid a stupid amount for 90 mins on a pitch.

Rant finished... I have become a reactionary blogger :(

YouTube - ‪theshures's Channel‬‏

YouTube - ‪theshures's Channel


Late night giggle! I won't be at work until lunch time tomorrow!

This made me laugh. I love good covers - and The Shures are amazing! I would love to be this good! and obviously there's Nick Pitera - if you can get over his cheesy 'I'm on my own but I'm pretending I'm not' face! Best to just listen to him, rather than watch him!‬‏

24 Hours in A&E - 4oD - Channel 4

24 Hours in A&E - 4oD - Channel 4

If you can watch a couple of these (but only if you are over 16, please) I would really recommend it. It might restore your faith in the NHS and in hospitals or it might not, but the least you can say is that it will open your eyes up to the world of an E.D. no end.

This weeks episode is a bit of both... watching humanity ruin itself and also watching the older generation benefit from health care (private and free).

The couple who talk about having a spliff in a hospital and the little old lady who just wants a man like her husband.

Today has been a really quiet day and watching 24 hours in A and E finished it off nicely for me.

GirlTalk

It is dangerous for me to be outside today, so I am hiding from the sun...knowing that if I go and sit outside, I will shortly become very pink and very ill.

So I thought, amongst emails and preparations for camp, I would tell you about a amazing Thursday that I had last week. Often my creativity flows from writing something unrelated to what I am thinking about.

It was an early, panicked start for me, but Margaret and I got on the train with seconds to spare and headed towards Denham station, stopping at Paul's Patisserie for 'breakfast' and once we got there we were greeted by our transport to the venue. If you have never been to Denham Grove, can I encourage you to go. It's a little bit lush!

At 10am we started with worship, led by Nicki Rogers,and we quickly moved into hearing from Mary Pytches who was just amazing. She told a bit of her story and used the time really well to teach us about the work of the Holy Spirit.

After coffee, we had time with Julie Sheldon, who was a Dystonia sufferer and again, had an amazing insight into the work of the Holy Spirit and how to evangelise to a group at a specific event. if you don't know Julie Sheldon, her story is amazing - she was bedridden for a while with Dystonia and was completely healed in one morning. I couldn't believe it and I can't wait to read her story.

After an awesome lunch (Prawn curry and Tiramis-oooo!) we heard some more from communicators who are trained professionally and use unusual forms of communication to tell the story of the Gospel. Then J.John spoke on some really practical pointers for preaching in general.

I really enjoyed the day and came away from it knowing that I have some really practical points to make writing talks easier and getting the evangelistic point across. I will probably use the points in my next talk as it is probably the most evangelical talk I will have done.

Yesterday we spent the late morning in the park, joining with all of the other churches, to praise in the sun and see some of the work that the churches are doing throughout the town. It was a good morning. Not a lot of people around, but the heat was getting too much for me.

SENNA

YouTube - SENNA International Trailer

If you are a motor sports fan, you will know the name Ayrton Senna - if you're not, then just read a little bit of what I have to say abou the movie chris and I went to see.

Chris had mentioned the Senna movie a number of times and I'd seen it on Twitter - because I follow a lot of motorsports people. We'd been to Le Mans and quickly booked the tickets of the only showing we could make, which was a wise move, because when we got to the cinema, they were already queuing. Full of high spirits, not entirely sure what to expect, we were chatting to chris' friend Alex on the way in.

As we sat down, for me, the anticipation grew and I really began to wonder whether I was going to make it through the movie without crying. People had said it was quite a rollercoaster ride and they weren't wrong.

I am a tad nostalgic about the early 90's, so hearing Murray Walker's voice set me off. There were a number of moments where the whole audience shook in shock and laughed at some of the small things. If you know these characters, you know their little things and spot them. Seeing Damon Hill as well was quite funny.

Towards the end of the movie, when 1994 came up, Chris took my hand and didn't let me go. (For that I am hugely grateful)

Ayrton Senna's death will always be a shock to me and knowing what he went through makes it harder too. He died doing what he loved, what he felt he was made for.

I cried solidly and I'm told I wasn't alone. Death, in any way it happens is never easy, this programme doesn't make it any easier.

I can't say much more, but I know it's had an impact on me. Hopefully I won't forget it any time soon.

I am pretty certain that the advances made in safety started at that point, the world was shocked into doing something so effective that 18 years on, the world can watch a car desinegrate upon impact and then not 5 mins later, the driver is talking and walking about and at the very worst knocked unconcious. We will continue to see crashes in motorsport for all the years there is racing, but, and we have to know we aren't invincible, we hope no more death.

In other news, and possibly related, I feel like I've been crying in my sleep. Strange! And I've got my tax disc for the next year!

Dear Photograph

Dear Photograph

This website looks like an awesome idea. Makes me want to dig out the photo of my 13th (or 12th) birthday and do the same. There are so many photos I could chose from!

Tomorrow is another day though and there are a lot of new things to do. Lots of memories to make.

Le Mans

You may or may not have caught the news over the weekend that there was a bit of a major race on in France.

Chris and I were there, our first experience of camping together but not of travelling a couple of 100 miles to get to our destination. I wasn't worried about travelling, Chris' driving is good and his awareness of what is going on, even in a foreign country, is impressive. we both found it a bit weird being on the 'wrong' side of the road, but you get used to that when you decide to travel through every town from Calais to Le Mans! We skipped the toll roads, thinking that it would be cheaper but it definitely wasn't quicker - as we found out when we travelled back on the toll roads.

After doing our shopping in Carrefour in Calais - which was a good idea - we made our way to the circuit. Along the way we saw some amazing buildings and towns. The countryside is really flat for the most part, there are some lovely scenes (French people have a thing about putting things in very straight lines - trees and wind turbines in particular)  but mostly we were so focused on following the sat nav that we may have missed some things. Still here are a few pictures.

Lovely buildings that caught my eye. I don't know the name of the town they were in but I would go back and shop there in a flash!

We got to Le Mans and then spent an hours sitting in traffic to get to La Sarthe, to the campsite. We were shown to our pitch and quickly realised we had quite a lot of space, because the people either side of us hadn't arrived yet. We set up camp, which is fairly easy when you have a pop up tent, blow up bed and a pop up gazebo. If there were more people involved I would show you some pictures of set up! Chris and I work really well as a team, we both know what needs to be done. One annoyance was that the gas cooker had become a little stiff, so we botched a solution for the first night and had a very good bolognese! We then headed to the circuit for night practice and a chance to look at the shops on the outside of the circuit.

It's a big site, but we happened to be quite close to the main entry point and so was our stand. It's better than I expected! Plenty of people, places to get food, and excellent radio service to tell you what is going on. we watched the end of night practice and walked back.

On Friday, we spent the whole day in Le Mans, waiting for the drivers parade - here's a picture of my favourite driver

Giancarlo Fisichella - on the left. We waited for the whole day! Travelling on the tram was fun, nice and smooth, easy to get around. We spent time eating good french food and drinking with Chris' friends. We walked back through the village, looking at all the car stalls and different sponsors.

Saturday was race day and a chance to see the start of the race. We hung around for a bit and saw the Alan McNish crash. I surprised myself by sitting for 4 hours watching what was going on. There were 20 hours left but dinner was calling. We went back to the track at about 9.30pm to see what was going on, only to witness another crash, from the same team. 2 Audi cars down, one to go, 18 hours to go.

The good news is, that when we woke up the following morning, the Audi was still running, and eventually, we watched it cross the finish line, only 13 seconds ahead of the Peugeot. Giancarlo Fisichella finished second in his class. It was an astonishing race, lots of drama and plenty of stories, that will hopefully turn into a classic! (We also saw Stirling Moss retire at the age of 81, though we didn't know it at the time!)

An amazing weekend, rounded off by a trip to the museum and a second BBQ!

We travelled home so quickly and watched the Canadian Grand Prix, so all in all it's been a pretty amazing weekend for the high end motor sport world!

Onwards and upwards...back to work today to mentoring and meeting with youth workers. Getting ready for a trip to Ely... going to have some Brie and pack my bag.

Shocking headlines

Teenager Kills Girl To Feed Video Game Habit - Yahoo! News

I have read this article several times, one because I cannot get my head around how a young adult can do this and two because it is badly written.

Sorry for blogging it, but i will try to focus on the story, rather than the way the story is written.

There are few things that I am addicted too... at 2,852 tweets (at time of publication) since December, I am not shy of sharing my thoughts in less than 140 characters - in fact I shall probably tweet that I have written this! I am mildly addicted to shopping, shoes and my hair straightners. Things that give me little comfort, but some none the less, whilst I go about my day to day life. I was addicted to blogging for a while, but even that I have kept in check and understood when enough is enough.

Where do you draw the line for the things you really like doing? Do you have a voice, a feeling that tells you to stop?

I have little understanding of addiction on the scale of the boy in the article, so I only really have a lot of questions in my head and most of them point fingers at the obvious missing pieces in his life... We will see if the answers come in the days to follow. I guess the good news to come from this is that there is a group for Gaming Addicts - and I applaud anyone who works with addicts, it is often thankless work and quite hard too, from what I know.

There's not a lot else of me to say. I started to write in shock, but I realised that it's probably not best to rant.

The sheer power of it

I know I have a really odd relationship with God - especially for those who are looking from the outside in. Sometimes I really can not believe that God loves me and wants me to hear and then share what He's telling me. I tend to get extremely emotional and find it really difficult when I tell God's truth to other people, even thinking about it now, I'm getting a little upset!

This has happened a lot recently - I'm having dreams about what to say to people and the pictures and visions are becoming clearer. God is definitely moving towards something big, He doesn't just drop me in it, I can feel that he's surrounding me with something, getting me ready.

Before I went to pray at lunch time for a local school I felt a bit battered and bruised, I'd been worrying about a number of things and people recently... so on the walk to school, I took a deep breath and said 'here, you have it, I don't want it any more' to God and what followed was a time of connection that I haven't had for some time. I had two visions of trees after the lady I was praying with said she felt like she was in a forest of bad stuff.

God has a thing about trees - I can think of several times when I have used them in illustrations, where God uses them to teach. I can see how important they are for the landscape, for the wildlife and for us. I prayed once that the students would be like the trees that surround the school, with deep roots and tall branches and that imagery has continued and developed, this afternoon it came to a crescendo with the vision of the tree being full of good fruit and bad fruit - and guess what? It has deep roots and tall branches, and the classroom it grows through is in the school's RE department.

There is a constant battle that we must not forget we are fighting... we must have the fruits of the Spirit and the Armour of God to help us!

See... weird... but helpful for me, none the less, and it makes me ready for every day that I have to face, knowing that God is right beside me, continuing the battle over this world.

TV Adverts

I love TV adverts at the moment, there are some really clever ones



and some that are just right to lift my mood when I need it the most



Love!

That's clearly two people in that jacket... that must've taken a lot of practice to be able to move like that!

I'm sure I have said before that I have a fascination with the way things work... Cadbury's have always flumuxed me! Enjoy! And if you can find something impossible, please share it!

Ready for more?

Can you also tell that I'm making a concerted effort to blog again. I need to start writing about things to help me realise the important things in life. 140 characters is not enough! I do think in more than one sentence and I have quite a lot to say, I'm finding new things to be excited about all of the time, sometimes I just need to talk about them.

I am coming back to quoting Romans 8 constantly as a reminder to myself that God will love me, no matter what we go through together.

Here's hoping networked blogs on Facebook catches up with me soon! how social networking has changed my life. Sorry little blog and the audience that keep checking up on me... I will try to get the balance right!

Match.com

I have mostly spent Bank Holiday re-introducing my friend to Match.com.

The last time I was on Match, was two years ago, and boy, how much has the service changed. It's more expensive, more interactive and generally very different. It is really interesting to see that there are nearly 70,000 people at one time. THAT amazes me. I know there are 60 million-ish people in the UK, but still... who would've thought that it would take off like that AND they are still running adverts for it... it must be worth millions!

Well, it has been interesting to see what is now going on in the world of match and to help someone get back on their feet a little bit too.

Chris and I met through Match and we have not looked back since. I am kinda kicking myself that I deleted all the emails he sent me, cos I thought I wouldn't want to look back at them, but after this weekend I do.

It's just over a week and a half until we go to Le Mans too. we're getting things ready and that means that I have to pack for France, though I don't know what the weather is going to be like! Tomorrow will be the day to get the suitcase down (because the weekend bag will not be big enough) and try to fit the first attempt at packing in! I have grown to love camping since forcing myself to do it with young people in 2008 at SOLID, so I do know what to expect... it's just being in a different country that scares me!!

And finally....

If you haven't seen this, you need to. I showed it to my youth group for the first time on Sunday and it went down well I think.

I cry every time I see it. It really brings home to me the love that Jesus has for me and that he will not let go whatever is going on.

'We're convinced that neither death nor life, angels nor demons, nor height or depth or what's to come, can cut us off from the love of God, God is still for us, turn around' (Jonny Parks 'God is still for us' and Romans 8)

Follow Up

or possibly something to do with food.

Eric Lanlard is a little bit of a favourite at the moment... he's been Baking Mad on Channel 4.

Then there's Cupcake Wars and good ol' Duff over at Charm City Cakes. If you've ever seen Ace Of Cakes, you're not missing out at all. I love Man vs Food, though I am completely surprised that the guy who presents the programme hasn't had a heart attack yet.

Too many food programmes when you have Sky and the BBC. I'm still quite glad I missed out on Stacey Solomon on Saturday Kitchen, it's bad enough that she's on an Iceland advert at the moment.

24 Hours

A lot can happen in 24 hours and a new documentary on Channel 4 is showing us the ups and downs of Kings College Hospital Accident and Emergency. 

It has always been interesting to see how documentaries are done, how reality television has changed over the last 10 years or so, since the rise and fall of Big Brother and what affect it has on the people involved.

'24 Hours in A and E' is not very hard hitting, but it does use the experiences of the staff and the reactions of the public to tell stories. The amazement of one professional was quite interesting - I found myself smiling at his disbelief. A man had come in via the 'red' phone, the one that rings when someone is severely ill, he had been trapped, folded in half at the waist and was in danger of losing his life. The staff reacted calmly and quickly to finding out what was wrong, what needed to be fixed and how. The doctor who was overseeing the whole department spent the rest of the programme complimenting his staff on their hard work, on the phone to a loved one and shaking his head in sheer disbelief that this man was still alive.

It was wonderful to see the man who arrived on a bed, get up and walk around his flat at the end of the programme. Modern medicine is a wonderful thing... and Bizarre ER is another programme that proves that the work of the NHS is invaluable to some. although, rather unfortunately I watch it on iPlayer too late at night! I'm not very squeamish so it's not too bad for me, but i do wonder what goes though the directors mind when he's ready to show a mangled finger!

Whatever I'm watching, it tends to be something to do with the emergency services. I love Police Interceptors and the Paramedics in Birmingham that have their own show on 5. I can't believe, still, that there are people who treat the Police, Fire and Ambulance services with contempt, it is really disrespectful and makes their job a lot harder.

For me, I'm hoping that 24 hours will make a difference to Chris, because he's been in bed for nearly that long with something nasty.

Post-Easter Blues

After working so hard at Easter and having so many things to do, I have found that people are asking me if I'm ok. Apparently I look really tired. Some of the time I am genuinely tired, I don't sleep well when stressed and I get flustered more easily when I am tired, some of the time I jusy have a lot on my mind and it shows in my face. Really, I think I am still trying to get over all of the things that have happened... I have to think more about what I am doing day to day, but I am processing what I have done and what there is still to do.

My boss and I are having important conversations about the best time-management stratedgy - blocking out days at a time to do the work that needs to be done, well in advance of what is happening, hence I have meetings moving around and am more willing to say no to people, because I do need the tiem to prepare. I still don't get it right some times, but I am learning from my mistakes and taking my days off seriously.

Time for photos briefly before I sign out again...

The happy couple

Sophie and Tim worked really hard and the whole day was really good fun.

I can't get the fully length photo of Chris and I to work, so you will just have to wait to see how beautiful we looked!

The Passion

We're now half a week away from Easter, having suffered a Bank Holiday or two, it's back to work briefly and doing prep work, catching up on emails, sorting out all of the stuff that is going to happen over the next bank holiday and the next term.

I've already had a wonderfully productive and funny meeting with the schools workers about the half term that already feels so short. It almost shocks me that soon I will be having conversations about Christmas and Harvest. In fact I have been already with some people! How can we invite more people, how can we work with our community, how can we make it inclusive, how can we be better at what we do?

It is a lot of fun at Easter, this year we had a holiday club that I was involved in, albeit in the most background way, but I got to learn how the sound system at church works, after years of abusing it, I know that you can't have things up too loud, or you'll scare yourself as well as the rest of the street!!

We saw a smaller number at Eastingle than we have done in previous years, this was most likely down to the glorious weather we've had and a long holiday before good friday. It is really easy to forget that there is something to be at! But we had a lot of fun remembering the story and eating hot cross buns.

Throughout Holy Week I was expecting texts from The Passion Experience, a different telling of the story of Holy Week, but they didn't arrive and I was less impressed with the facebook and twitter feeds that were supposed to be in real time, but they were talking about the world going dark at midday, which if you read scripture at all, it says 3pm on that friday... so I wasn't really very happy to correct that, but I did any way! I have re-read the tweets (only 39) and some of them are good, but it is just a retelling of the story, Natwivity did better at christmas, for me any way. There is something about only familar characters 'talking' that makes something exciting, for example, we had Peter speaking... but he only denied Jesus once... that's not how it happened, it seems that it has been thought through, but not written well enough for it to really be worth while following, and the phrase 'We Jews do it each year' is just wrong, Passover is so scared for Jewish people and it needs to be treated that way to have a real impact on the Christian community, it is our heritage after all and deserves the proper respect.

The rest of Holy Weekend was spent with Chris' family and family-to-be celebrating the wedding that is coming up. I'm so excited for Tim and Sophie! Looking forward to being involved and watching Chris in his suit!

So you're a little bit up to date with what is going on... Sorry I have been so quiet, my life has actually taken over!

Fabulous things!

Few things make my day much like an early morning tweet that is about typography!

If you head to here, you'll really see what I mean by beautiful.

Seriously, some of the detail is amazing and some of the rest of the posts are amazing (even a quick look at restaurants and coffee shops will blow your mind!).

The words of some of the type are really good as well... and I have been really encouraged by the words of Abraham Lincoln recently. People have started to quote him on twitter and I never really knew that it could have the impact it has. Certainly a very good American man, who spoke a lot of sense. I wonder if he knew that he would have a great impact on a little English girl in the 21st century? I don't know the impact on his own country, but I hope there will always people speaking sense.

it's realy time for Easter. I'm preaching on Sunday and then the following friday... lots to do, and now less time to do it in!

Filling out the Census

I'm sure if you're a UK resident, you're probably sick of hearing about the Census for 2011 or you're already over it and have sent it off in yesterdays post like I did (on behalf of my parents, who then wondered where it had gotten to!).

If you're a similar age to me, the last census was in the middle of A levels, or just after we'd done our GCSE's. I'm 26 and I am already nostalgic about the last time I sat at the dining room table and filled out a form, with my Dad's help, knowing that I was helping in some way, but not really sure how or why I was having to fill this form out as the fourth person in the house. (At this point I feel sorry for the family with more than four children).

I am now the third person in the house and wondering (probably like my parents) where the last ten years have gone, what have I done that has brought me to the point where I am back at home and what did I think all those years ago about where I would be in ten years.

I certainly thought I would be married and living with my husband, but my world has changed so much that I can't afford a mortgage. I can't see how I will ever afford a mortgage. I thought I would have children, but I am simply not ready, because of the first thing not happening. I have found that I don't really want to bring children up at the moment either.

I know that just because I haven't done these things, doesn't mean I am a failure. I have a job I love doing, with colleagues who support me and a family who were more excited than I was when I started working for the church. It has been a journey and I have used this blog to tell you a little bit about it. At times, I have suffered from randomness and boredom, other times I have been busy, I have not felt happy about blogging what I was going through, so things have been quiet, but I hope that the next ten years will see me blogging still, telling the stories from the past and future hope and dreams. One day, I will set up a mobile blog properly!

Here's to marriage, to children, to a house of my own, to a family that continues to grow and share the love and hope of Christ, in the local area and further afield.

 

Fair trade!

Hello, I am just resting up, whilst at the start of a very busy week. I managed to work 5 and a half hours before 1pm today, which is highly unusual for me, being a youth worker and all, things don't normally start til 10am or at the latest lunch time, so I'm flagging, but I have a meeting later on, so going to bed and staying there for the rest of the day is not an option.

I have been gathering helpers for fairtrade activities for a couple of weeks now and I'm happy to say that the church were willing to help serve the community for the third year in a row. This year we have upped the anti a bit and have started doing breakfast as well as afternoon tea.

People are really excited about fair trade, heck, fair trade is excited about all of the things that are now fair trade, the food, the clothes, the craft, the kitchen stuff!

If you haven't seen the absolutely huge list of suppliers on the high street (and on the interweb) head here. You will be as surprised as I was by this list! Also, I found my fairtrade skinny jeans, on the web, from Marks and Spencer. Woop! Trusty M&S.

These are not just any skinny jeans...

Uh hummmm... yes, moving on.

This weekend has been different from any other. I have spent two straight days in school, dealing with a very sad situation, with my colleagues from schools ministry. It is such a privilege to be asked to help and being the first port of call, knowing that the school recognises that we can help them in their time of need. I spent Saturday morning with a fair trade producer, listening to his story about carrying fruit 5km (and being annoyed by the old women who talking over him - when you travel a couple of 1000 miles to talk about how fair trade has changed your life, you can talk all you like) then Chris and I went over to Basildon to buy pre-made pancakes for this week. I'm cheating a bit, but it is a lot easier this way (and would anyone like a jar of ft chocolate spread. I have 5). Then we went to Lucy's 30th Birthday Party and it was a surprise! I've known Lucy for two years now and we have done lots of fun things together, including living on a boat and celebrating her move to full time youth ministry. This girl is wise and wonderful and full of cracking ideas! I don't go to surprise parties that often and almost played a part in spoiling it for her, but had the sense of mind to be sensible about it. Luke, her boyfriend, had arranged it all and chose an awesome restaurant. We got to sit with some wonderful friends and made some new ones too.

Sunday was busy, with fairtrade stuff, left right and centre, lent things starting and young people to talk to about attending a course for young people, run by Alice. I then had a couple of hours at home and headed to see Alice for the course and promptly got pulling into Looking @ Jesus too!

Here's to the busy life, and the sleep that is needed for it. As part of Lent, I think I might go to bed a little earlier, after being told by someone younger than me that midnight is not sustainable!

I'm also going to stop buying clothes after putting out four bags of clothes a couple of weeks ago. And shoes, no more shoes for lent. I'm not even going to tempt myself by looking at the converse website!

Fair trade

Soon it will be fair trade fortnight, and we will be 'showing off' our labels, in support of fair trade and to promote clothing etc.

So part of that is actually finding something to wear during fairtrade fortnight that fits, won't look to shabby and will allow me to do that. I've already got a tshirt that is branded by fair trade, so that's not a problem, but I wanted a pair of jeans to go with, so that I can show people what the cotton can be made into.

Problem is, I can't find any... I want a skinny pair in black or dark blue and there's nothing :(

I shall search high and low, but if someone can point me in the right direction, I will be grateful... I might tweet this!

 

Valentines Day

I started off late out of bed and arrived at church with the vicar hot on my heels!

Every Monday we gather at Christ Church for morning prayer, which is Bible reading and obviously, praying for the community. This morning, our readings, which are set by the lectionary (I think) were from 1 Chronicles, Psalm 44 and John 15.

John 15 is a very famous passage about vine and branches, but of course with it being Valentines day, what stood out for me, was entirely different, yet still in the passage.

⁹ “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

A good passage for today! 

Love is some times a hard thing to do and sometimes it's the most natural thing in the world, but knowing that the love I have comes from God is really helpful for me. It's a gift that I can share with others and I hope I'm doing some good by doing so.

It's all fun and games at the moment. We headed to the cathedral for SOLID Remix, which was a really good night. we had a few little glitches but actually, the young people enjoyed it and gave some good feedback on the night about how they would like it to develop! I do love that my young people are so engaged with everything and I'm hoping that it will continue throughout their lives. 

Saturday was the most relaxing day and recharging after a pain in the neck stopped me from being able to work properly (though I think I tried too hard), a chance to go to the football and spend some time with Chris. Sunday was the launch of the quest for volunteers for Fairtrade fortnight.

I'm hoping the next couple of weeks will be fruitful... looking forward to a half term recharge in Brizzle!  

Blogging more often

You know what? I can be a numpty sometimes. I thought I had a problem but I don't. I wish I paid more attention to what is really going on. Although sometimes, I'm too switched on to miss anything and end up over thinking something.

I haven't been sleeping well this week, probably because I stayed up to watch Superbowl on Sunday night. I got to half time, but still that is 1am and the knock on effect means I didn't get to sleep til two this morning, and that was only after deciding to read my Bible for a bit, in an attempt to pray myself to sleep - which works for me, as does counting!

I was watching 'Young, Unemployed and living at home' too last night as well, as the last bit resonates with me (I'm not young and I'm employed) and I wanted to see what Greg James looked like, as he'd been talking about it on the radio during my travels yesterday, constantly. It was interesting to hear about how many young people are struggling to find a job. My family are fortunate, my sister and both of my brothers have jobs that pay over the minimum wage, I think, and although it is tough sometimes, we all have a skills set that could get us a job elsewhere, when the time comes. Unfortunately, three of us are still living at home, because it is just not worth moving out. We all work in Billericay or commute to London, so prices are high, because we live within 40 miles of London. I would live with someone else, but finding the right person or people is difficult. And I'm not living with my brothers!

There were occassions during the programme when I wondered how the young people Greg James' was talking to were unemployed or struggling. Most of them were on job seekers allowence, which is only £50 a week, but some of the circumstances they find themselves in, makes you wonder why they aren't claiming more, or what help they are getting from the government. I could say more about this, but I have never been unemployed for more than 6 weeks, so I can't really say very much about the situation.I have been very blessed in my life with the jobs I have done (most I fell into or was asked to do).

Any way! I have to get back to finding out more about India for SOLID Remix on Friday!

'But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.' Rom 8:25

Wonderful blogs that make me spend my money

I have a little obsession with something the webworld would call 'noms' and 'squee' - in regular terms, well made, cute food and well made, cute items. I am semi-concious of things being ethically sound, fairly traded etc... so when I come across websites that combine these things I tend to get very excited and normally end up spending some money on things that reflect my personality or things that I would like to define a little bit of who I am in the future (I have a pink bible I'm known for and at one point, I had a felt covered bible). So let me point you in the direction of some of these, that I visit regularly, to aid my sense of self and deminsh my money pot!

The people that started it all are the wonderful world of icanhascheezburger.com where you can find noms and squee to your hearts content - it's a little addictive I warn you! (Some of it is also not safe for work, so please be careful bloggers, and small children!) I love IMMD and LFMF, you just need to type these into google and there are hours of good/bad short stories of how to make people happy and how to get away with not doing stupid things!

I visit cake wrecks on a regular basis (just for Sunday sweets mostly) and less often I visit Epbot which is the sister site to cake wrecks and often directs me to another site to have a look at, so the writer came across Dude Craft which put me on to loads of websites (I would go three or four pages in to see some really amazing paper/book craft and I so want a steamed wood coffee table when I'm all grown up!) which has just blown my mind... now you might be put off by the amount of adverts on the site, but I emplore you to click Cosa Verde which is all about things that are ethical etc! And that is where I came across my latest purchase from REDSTARink. So gutted that they don't have a UK shop, but hopefully that will change, because there are some amazing stationary bits to be had!


Also I love Pink Whisk which is a blog of one of the finalists from The Great British Bake Off from the summer. I'm going to try macaroons soon! 


I'm sure there are plenty of other blogs that I haven't come across, but I will definitely be keeping an eye out for some more wonderful food blogs and ethically trading etc blogs/shops.


And if you haven't come across Heaven's Attic please have a look and see if you can buy something for your family from there, it's a eally worth while cause.


I'm done!

More from Twitter and life to challenge me!

I thought that since we were nearly in February and I hadn't said a lot, that it was time to talk about January and all of the exciting things that have happened in the last couple of week, plus the things that have reminded me of who I am and what I can do. I've only got half an hour so I'll be short!

Like I said in my last post, I have an addiction to twitter. I don't have normal conversations with people any more and Chris and I often chat abut what's been said by people we both follow, or sometimes I'll talk about the slightly more obscure people/ideas that I follow. I am currently proving that I can exist outside of 140 characters, so that's really good news for me.

I follow Twitturgies which is 140 or less characters of pure God gold, now they don't tweet as often as everyone else (I think it's meant to be less than once a day) so it becomes exciting when they have done the deed. And it is always challenging, which is why most of the time I will re-tweet. Yesterdays was interesting as it fitted nicely with what I was watching on TV. The BBC has a habit of showing Open University programmes after the 10 O'clock news and last night was about pain and pleasure, the things that cause it and the things that stop us from feeling pain. The final statement was 'The greatest pleasure is sharing things'.

'Right' I thought, 'I'll tweet that'! And so I did. I didn't get much of a response because it was late at night, but hey-ho. I looked at twitturgies and they had this 'I set aside hostility to practise hospitality. I journey from exclusion to embrace. Help me God to find your grace in every face I see' which in a way speaks more to me more than the final statement of the programme I was watching. (it's called Pleasure and Pain with Michael Mosley and will be on iplayer for a week! and you can follow twitturgies here)


'Help me God to find your grace in every face I see'

It's a challenge for me, because we are all human and some of us are nastier than others, yet of course there are some real saints in the world. It's easy to see God in the things we like, what we enjoy doing (I love my job, but what about those that don't?), who we like but what about the negative aspect of all our lives, where can we see God in that? 


I don't know the answer. I'm trying to figure it out for myself as it is regularly something that smacks me in the face and well as the sort of human I'm called to be in God and that nagging voice in my head of 'you shouldn't' or 'don't do that'. I am free, I know that, but I'm not sure how to live it and how to make a difference by living it.


I think that is something that a lot of my generation struggle with as Christians from a church upbringing. We are the generation who could probably put down our faith and not really be bothered. The rest of the world has, those in their 20's are not really fussed about attending church (making it hard to find someone for marriage!) and those who do attend often don't have the teaching background to further their faith or aren't passionate about what Christ has done for them, or they simply don't see the relevance of their faith to let it shine though, for fear of being ridiculed or put down, or being asked tough questions.It can be something we just do on a Sunday because it's something we have always done.


I was privileged enough to be asked to join my friends on a weekend away to Longleat for Momentum Weekend. It was exciting, I love centre parcs a little too much sometimes, so spending a weekend worshipping as well as being in the middle of a forest, yes please! Also, one of my favourite speakers is part of the Momentum movement, though he does go on for a bit! My friends were introduced to the delights of Mike Pilavachi and Andy Croft - who have a wonderful relationship and a go at each other now and then to show that off! Their teaching was fab and it was a great encouragement for me to see 300 young adults (and 2 babies!?!).


They started the weekend with this video but also got us talking later on in the weekend about how we worship as a church and when our worship occurs. I came away with a greater understand ing of my faith and my friends, and hopefully an opportunity to take them to momentum or Soul Survivor later on in the summer.


I have now talking about far more than I wanted to and the blog has fallen into Friday afternoon, rather than Wednesday before school (all the best things take God's time). There are plenty more things to discuss... like the creeds from the early (300 year old) church at CCS and the new phone I have and how I can't find an app for anything I want to do, as well as the ridiculously small manual they sent me and the work we are doing in school and at Shaken Up.


Any comments...??

Twitter addict

Maybe it's time to add my twitter feed to my blog as I have already tweeted over 500 times since joining up to the thing just before Christmas. I am a fan of tweetdeck although it doesn't really help me to type in names of people I want to tweet, none the less, it does spell check for me... though currently I'm sticking to simple words and just replying to people I know.

I'm still not 100% sure on etiquette for twitter and sometimes I feel as thought I am breaking some unsaid rule about what I'm allowed to say. It seems that my facebook friends know be well enough to know that I occasionally ramble in scripture or chat about what God is doing in my life, whereas the twitter friends I have are all by some sort of motorsport association, so it's interesting to me when there is loads of reaction on facebook, but barely any on twitter. Still there are things that will always be taboo, no matter where you are and what you are doing.

The life of the youth work carries on (and every so often explodes) I have found myself in bed for the most part of the later half of this week, working out a cold that has taken over. My body was waiting for the 11th Jan to completely break down on me, having fought off every other thing going to get me through the Christmas busyness and New year celebrations, plus a weekend away at Centre Parcs with 300 young adults (well 18 - 30's (why would you bring babies on this sort of weekend)). So the last couple of weeks feels like it's taken forever, yet it's now really far away. We're already up to the third Sunday.

God, in His infinite wisdom (yes, surprise!) Has taught me a lot about love and worry in the last couple of weeks as well as mission and Biblical perspectives on things that I never thought I would understand. Amos keeps cropping up in my life and has done since I turned 16. I would say that it's odd, if I didn't know any better!! But I do and I'm grateful for the work that God is doing in my life and in the life of those around me to work for His glory.

I have an over-riding sense of the Holy Spirit resting on my life right now, like He's waiting for me to catch up with Him, to figure out what I'm actually doing and where I need to be in the next term or so, to have those moments where I learn from God and gather myself for another wave of work.

Right, I need to get my sleeping sorted, otherwise I'll never get well!!

Christmas Day 2010 (2)

Quick Christmas

December has come upon us rather quickly and without little notice it must be said! I have had a few moments of dis-belief in the past month or so.

The first one is a wonderful moment though. As part of my job I get to go into school and run lessons. It is always really interesting to see how much students know... It's a lot of fun to get students thinking about things from a Biblical perspective, the new things that we can teach them about the Bible and the characters we can read about. Recently we were talking about New Starts and the story of Nicky Cruz. One class we spoke to knew so much about the questions we asked them that we sailed through the lesson and felt truly elated at the end of it. I feel to my knees at the end of the lesson, knowing that God was working in all of their hearts and minds, teaching them about His goodness and grace. Today we were in a different school, but still came away feeling the same, Christmas lessons are always good when you get questions that enable you to tell your story and God's story in more depth.

The other dis-belief was a bad one - in fact things come in threes and I understand that a little more after having a wingmirror broken, a dead laptop and a maxed out overdraft (due to paying for a new wingmirror and paying to fix the laptop). It was a bad week for me.

Any way, the laptop is still not back, after the problem was not fixed the first time around, so I'm working from the home laptop, hence the lack of posting and general quietness.

In a few days we will definitely be in the run up to Christmas, there are carol services to be had, there are talks to be done and there are parties to attend.

Shaken Up has finished for 2010 and we will be back on 14th Jan.

There are lots of things happening over Christmas, new things to do. Things we will do once, things that will start new traditions. I'm apprehensive about this Christmas, but that's mostly because I will be in Church for three days in a row. Three Christingles, one midnight communion, one Christmas Day communion, and a Boxing Day service at 10am.

I would like it to be over so that I can rest! I've had one cold so far and seem to be really tolerant of illness at the moment. I'm praying that continues.

Sorry

My plan was to blog this afternoon, but life has taken over. I am thinking about what to write about and I hope that I will be able to do it soon. Apologies for the silence... I'm thinking and I will put it all down soon!

4 years ago

Today is the anniversary of my last big break up. I split from Henry, who was my fiance. The last four years have been difficult to put it in a word, though that doesn't explain why or how, or how different things are now. I'm still really rebuilding my life I guess.

It's sent me into a bit of a wobble really. I was blogging nearly every day at that point, so re-reading the account is hard to do. I still can't learn a lot from it and it seems like this time of year is the moment where I step back at take account of what I've done, who I have surrounded myself with and where I am with God. I wish I knew how to put it all into words, but I only have sounds right now and a sense of wanting to give up.

I always underestimate this time of year. Last year I had a wobble, almost out of nowhere and almost lost someone close to me because of it, the year before was not great either and in 2007 I was decorating my room this weekend with two wonderful friends who are now married.

The next couple of weeks is looking good for being busy and having space to think too. I'm working this weekend, so I've got a day off in the middle of the week. Seeing a good friend too for quite a lot of the time!

Remember, Remember

It's November and the world is changing, colours are now oranges and yellows, there's a breeze running through the house every time you leave a door open and there's an unmistakelable chill in the air, that won't be gone until mid-May! (I really wanted to say April, but I would be lying) It's that time of year when I lack motivation for wanting to get out of bed too early, though this week I have felt the benefits of early nights and early mornings, happily! I think the clocks going back has helped this a little, but my enthusiasm will soon die, I think!

Once again, we've had a debate about switching the clocks. In the spring, it's because the animals get caught up in traffic when the nights get lighter (and not in t good way) and during the autumn it's all about trading hours for business people, as I understand it. Now I don't normally listen to the news very carefully, but it seems that this time around, in 2010, there have been some lengthy discussions about taking action - do we stick with GMT or BST. The days get longer no matter what the time is, we definitely get more sun in the summer and less in the winter, but the system is so old that it would be too different. And it's not something you can change at half an hour a time, or even by fifteen minutes! I don't know what the solution is, but I know you can't please everyone, so you've got to put up with it. It's not the reason the economy is failingg, if that was really the case, we'd have gone bankrupt a loooooong time ago!

You may or may not know that my sister is married. To Robert, who is an American. He's living here now after what must seem like an age of waiting for my sister. It's been an interesting time, but I'm going to meet him on Saturday and we'll see how things go. Sorry if I caused any alarm with my last post. It was the night before they got married and emotions were running high.

As time goes by

The last ten or so weeks have been a rollercoaster for my family, in it's many different forms and ways. Maybe one day I'll write about it in full somewhere, but for now, please pray, if that's what you do. God knows what is going on and if you could just say my name to him that would be great.

Thank you to every single person who has already prayed with me or for my mum and dad, who I'm missing so much already. Your support is invaulable and of the highest praise, so please, if I don't thank you personally, take this as some way towards a thank you. It is times like these when I know I couldn't do things on my own.

I thank God for you.

Harvest pt. 2

My brother said yesterday that he was buying a Euromillions ticket with thoughts of becoming famous if he won... A good idea, but on the fame stakes for the family, I am miles ahead of him already. Two Blue Peter appearances under my belt and various news articles, prove that I'm a little more famous than he is (does infamy count though?).

My latest escapade comes in the form of a newspater article... the last time I had my photo taken for the paper was when I had curly hair! So a very long time ago... but here's the evidence



Don't I look good!?!?! Bear in mind that I had spent a wet afternoon in Norsey woods... but I look happy at least.

Today we have had the second harvest festival from Brightside school. They do a wonderful job of putting things together for an event that, according to the BBC, is dying out. We are living in a constantly changing world - and that shows by not hearing any familiar songs this morning - so children are viewing harvest differently. It's interesting though, school is already different from what I remember. I sound like an old woman :( I guess I am though.

Time to get my act together!

Last night we had J.John chat to us (DVD!) about adultery, which was really interesting. It was a fresh look at some of the things we're told not to do... but positively what we should be doing in our relationships - particularly with those we are in love with. If you're interested in Just 10 - have a look at the website or youtube for a glimpse of how good Just 10 is!

Harvest Festival

The last weekend was taken over by all things harvest-y. A chance to celebrate the things that we count as our own harvest. For me, it's how thankful I am for the hard work of the people around me, that we've created a space for young people to come to on a Friday and in school too. For the relationships that continue to grow and the opportunities that I have to share the gospel with the community around me.

We celebrated this year by holding a scarecrow festival, our first ever festival, which went down really well with the younger families and some of the adults, we had two entries from St John's school so a dozen scarecrows were voted on and the winner is.... ME! My 'Young person 101' got the most votes but it was a close one. I really enjoyed the problem solving aspect of it, but I think that is partly because I have an artist inside me and she quite enjoyed being let loose for a little bit. Here's my young person



Sport loving, laces undone, hoodie and jean wearing! Typical really!

Here's a really scary scarecrow!



My good friends Helen and Emma spent over two hours putting him together! He did a brief preach, before being dismantled.

We had a lot of fun at the barn dance and Sunday morning was about celebrating everything that had happened and was going to happen. I was most impressed with the pathfinders and the brilliant mime that they did to tell the story... Margaret's message was really good too and we held a collection for our mission partners in South Africa. The band were really good and the whole thing just hung together.

After that I walked around a very wet norsey woods with my parents and some others for 2 and a half hours. I got lost, but it's not difficult to find your way again... At the moment the rain is depressing me a bit as is waking up in the dark too. I'd rather stay in bed! But life goes on and so must I. We then headed back to church for the voting of the scarecrow contest. A man from the paper turned up, so I am going to have my photo hopefully in that this week. All good fun!

It's an interesting time of year.

Eating well

Eating is one of the things I love to do. I have always been near food, I have done a little bit of experimenting in the kitchen, some has worked, some hasn't, but I am a follower of instructions, so I find making things really easy. I also get distracted easily, so I'm often blaming my tools when something doesn't turn out right.

I want my own kitchen most of the time, but I love cooking with Chris and Mum though I love it when Chris cooks for me! I'm looking forward to having a house and being able to fill my cupboards with basics and my freezer with meals. I'm hoping that I will have more than 7 meals in my repertoire when I have a family (after I saw the BBC report the other week!). I'm hoping I'll learn something from Chris' mum and my mum too, as well as my Nan who makes a mean roast.

It's interesting to me when I find a flavour that I didn't expect but tastes like something that I've eaten a lot of the time. I found some crisps that fit that description... here they are



The taste exactly like a curry I've had and I think it's the one that Chris' mum makes! It smells divine though and they aren't too spicy, though if you like a mild curry, it's best to stay away. If you can get hold of some Hairy Biker crips, I would recommend them. Full of flavour!

Cadbury

P.S. I've just heard back from Cadbury and they have taken ywo years to get to the point where their pure diary milk products are fairly traded... they didn't really answer my question.

Does an Advent Calendar not count as pure dairy milk?

I'm disappointed by the answer I've been given. Booo. Not good enough Cadbury! On with the fight!

We also found out from the Kenyan's about their involvement in fair trade... it seems to be helping!

Time for a breather!

This is my wonderful boyfriend, doing something that he really loves. I am really happy that this is a picture in the public domain... it puts a smile on my face every time I see it, every time I remember being at Silverstone for the very first time, knowing that he was wandering around with a media pass. This weekend he was doing the same thing at Brands Hatch... his work for The Checkered Flag has taken over his spare time. He works his socks off with his paid job and then works twice over at the weekend. The life of a sports journalist isn't all flowery shirts and iPads (take note Eddie Jordan)!



This is my lunch today. I am sick again. Not 100% and grateful that I spent all of yesterday afternoon sat down, doing some cutting out. I hope I haven't given what I've got to anyone else. I feel really rubbish, but I have a lot to do still, so onwards and hopefully upwards.

Yesterday we had the ladies from Ciamanda in Kenya at church. It was good to sit and chat with them, and find out about their youth groups and how thing are the same and different in the part of the world that they have come from. I wonder what it is really like. The last time I went to Africa, they were only advertising mobile phones, but in the 8 years since then, everyone seems to have them!

My parents are on their way home from a weekend away to celebrate their 27th Wedding Anniversary. With a wedding on the way... it's their last chance for a holiday. It's nice to have the house to myself for a bit, but it's always nice to have them back!

Not a word....

I finished Her Fearful Symmetry over a week ago and I was a little bit confounded by the ending. I think confounded is the right word. It finished abruptly and it is rather strange, though the whole book leans to strange. Anyway, back I go to the Phillipa Gregory books that I brought a year or so ago and haven't picked up after being a little bit disappointed by one of a trilogy she had written.

I don't really like being disappointed by books. I find it sad that I can leave a book half way through reading it, but some subject matters just don't capture my imagination, and I guess that you can't please everyone so I am going to be disappointed.

This week has been a week to get back into a routine, although every September since I have been a youth worker (volunteer or paid) has been slightly different from the one before. There are days when I suddenly realise that every week is different from the one before, that I can't possibly think of my life ever being the same again. I am a fan of order and knowing what's coming next. I like to have things planned, even though to some it seems that it's chaotic!

I tell you something that is not chaotic at all, and that's the supermarkets already having their christmas stuff on the shelves. It's very organised of them to be thinking about it lng before the rest of us!

I was out last night, after my first night of my second year at CCS when I came across a whole isle dedicated to all things christmassy. Here's the evidence -



Shocking. I know we say that Christmas gets earlier every year, but this is seriously early... there isn't even any hallowe'en stuff in the shops and they have the Christmas stuff out! Sadly, once again, nothing fairly traded (not even the cadbury calendars) so I am on the hunt to find out how I can petition cadbury (and find a fair trade chololate calendar).

Here's hoping that Christmas won't come to soon!

Ch-ch-changes!

I have a pocket bible that my mum gave to me as I started my first year out, and because it is brown in origin, it has taken many different disguises, partly to disguise that it's a bible, but also to give me something to talk about when I meet people for the first time. I normally carry my bible with me, so it gets a lot of wear and tear.

Here's a picture of another makeover that it's just gone through



Twist your head and you'll find that at t the bottom of the picture is the old skin, and above that is the new skin that was used for the refurbishment.

I love my Bible, it's accessible to me and others, it's got notes of talks I've listened to, important reminders of where passages are that are important to me, how I've put Bible verses into context or they've been broken down for me. I have not read all of it, I hold my hands up to that, it is difficult some times to read it. i try to though and when I need it the most, it's more reliable than anything else!

The view from above

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100918/video/vod-amazing-video-of-workers-scaling-hug-dfc7e2c.html

Have a look at this - I couldn't even watch it all the way through without feeling incredibly wobbly!

There are people in the world who appear to be a lot braver than myself. I guess the only way to get to the top would be to climb up - using a helicoptor would possibly be too dangerous.

Her Fearful Symmetry

I am reading a book I can't put down. I think it's because it's a book about twins and there's a cemetery as well, and it's set in England, and most reference points I can get along with. I am only about 250 pages in, so not finished yet. But I am enjoying it. Not as much as TTW, but I want to find out what is going to happen to the twins and their neighbours, plus other residents.

We are trying to get back in to the swing of things. Dealing with Christmas and Harvest, New Year, All Saints Sunday, tea and coffee, schools clubs, carol concerts, Christingles, Boxing Day being a Sunday this year, the town's fun day, the new members of staff. So much to think on, thankfully I can see a light at the end of the tunnel, but it's tiny and there is a long way to go!

I am happy that I get to be in a different place for half term this year. I'm looking forward to it.

Birthdays

Recently, facebook has told me that there is at least one birthday a day of the people I have added (or have added me). For some of them it's difficult to remember what we did to celebrate those birthdays, but mostly I have some recollection of what birthdays in early September felt like. Being amongst the youngest in the year during my school days meant that there were people in my year who were over 10 months older than me, the way school works in the UK is very strange.

I digress, I'm talking about birthdays because last Sunday, when I was blogging about books, my family were converging on the house to share with Mike as he turned 21. We share stories, about younger days when we were silly and things that have happened more recently. My cousin was unfortunate enough to burn the back of his hand (and some of his kitchen) in a deep fat fryer incident. We were all told about Karen's wedding and talked about dogs, now that we can share stories to help understand how best to look after our dog.

We will always do this I think, pick on each other, call everyone old, find reasons to laugh and joke about the past. Of course we're creating new things to talk about, but the old ones are the best!

Books

In the last 50 mins before the family descend on the house for my brother's 21st birthday, I thought I'd tell you a little bit more about me and my relationships with books.

I can imagine that I am much like the rest of my generation when it comes to reading... otherwise I may start to sound weird, you can let me know what you think. Close family and friends already know I am weird.

I have read a number of books in my time, some were really good, others were awful, there have been easy reads and some have been full of difficult words that I have used a dictionary so that I could get through them.

One book took my imagination and I have written about it and the movie many times. The Time Travellers Wife is one of those books I will read for the rest of my life. I hope.

I do own a lot of books, not nearly as many as some people I know, but I have brought a book case to specifically keep my books in. I own a wide range of books and find that when I'm reading, I sleep better and my imagination gets a work out, when normally I over think things, if I'm thinking about a book, I'm not thinking about other things that might be more harmful to me.

I started with Stephen King and progressed to things about theology and sociology for my degree. I have a number of cookery books and a number of bibles, two very good types of books to live well. My most prized books are the few that are signed, mainly by Jamie Oliver, as my Aunt worked with him for a few years during the beginning of his Sainsbury's campaign. I have a few books that have been brought for me, and I find that buying a book for someone is a highly personally thing to do. One book reminds me of a life that was never meant to be, but once it has been written in, I find it hard to give up. The book I carry around with me the most is my brown NIV, the bible that was given to me by my mum at the start of my first year out. It has pages of notes and little bits of knowledge that I keep going back to. I have lots of books that are waiting to be read.

I recently spent time in Yorkshire with Chris and he took me to a second had book store that had all sorts odd things. I came across a big fat bible, that would have been amazing to own, but I have no where to keep it and it was an odd translation, so I would have little use for it.

You think you're busy!

So the first of September is here, just about.

Today has been a London day with the male youth workers in the town, something that has been in the diary for a long time. I'm glad I've spent the time with them, glad I've got something out of it too. I always find myself having honest conversations with the people that do the same job with me. Something that I think is harder to do with people who don't understand or don't know. Of course it also depends on how long and how much time you spend with someone too. But I digress!

We were in London for a teaching session about CRB and ISA forms. ISA has been put on hold by the most recent government as they think they can streamline it more so it's less complicated for people to understand. Good for them, as it all came a bit out of the blue for me and I still don't really understand why a second regulatory body is necessary, but then, I don't much like the way CRB's have worked any way. So new forms and a promise that it can be done online (making it easier and quicker) in the future. Though one question is popping into my head as I write - surely a signature is a good thing?

Lots of fun to be had and a chance for a rare moment of youth work...talking about life instead of work!

But now we are back and I feel that we will race towards Christmas, very quickly. There is a holiday on the horizon though.

This term is exciting, I'm building relationships with a lot of people and gathering information that I simply wouldn't have come across two years ago when I first started. There's a first, a third and a fifth Sunday to sort in October, and once we get there, we'll be thinking about Advent and Christmas Eve. A youth work conference, a Christmas party, so much more and meetings too! I am glad for flexible days, time off and friends who see the need for relaxation in my life!

What's on my mind...

I'm hoping that doing a short blog will inspire me to work on my talk a little bit more, perhaps putting down some of what is in my head will clear the cobwebs and get me writing.

This weekend I spent time in two places that I've never been to before. I was on the outskirts of North Swindon for a wedding and then to Silverstone for some racing.

On Saturday, we celebrated the marriage of Julie and Paul. Paul used to be the vicar at the church I work for now and Julie was a volunteer. They've been friend for a very long time, so we were all excited when they announced that they were going to get married.

Here's the wonderful couple



With Bridesmaid. I could've put up a photo of the aftermath of the confetti moment, but I know Julie would never forgive me! We spent time as a bunch of friends, chatting and catching up with people that we haven't seen for a long time. Very happy to see my old boss for a few minutes with her wonderful husband



I was at their wedding too! It's exciting that they are moving on and my old boss is going to be a vicar's wife soon! She's even learnt to make marmalade! :) Very happy for all four of them, it's exciting to see how things have changed and what has developed.

On Sunday we got up early, again, and heading two hours north to Silverstone. The journey there was interesting, the sat nav doing it's best to take us off the M1 too early, especially when there isn't much traffic around. We got to Silverstone and were instantly confused. It's a huge circuit, so finding a programme and getting some idea of what is going on was really hard. The staff were ok, but information about important things, like the pit walk and changes to the programme were hard to come by. It's different at Silverstone, because it's not owned by Motor Sport Vision, it's difficult to get my head around how different it can be. The other thing about Silverstone is that there's no cash point at the circuit (in a place that probably needs two or three.)

Any way, we had a really good day, sat in the sun, walking around and watching the BTCC races. Here's a video of Tom Chilton and the boys going round the bend at Maggotts.



Chris and I watched the highlights on Tuesday, only to hear Jason Plato complain all of the time! The less I say about it, the better. I'm still a bit annoyed about all of it really!

Still it was a good result for Team Aon over the weekend and Chris got some good photos. It was his first time with a media pass at a big event, and it was nice to have a conversation with him, whilst he was in the media centre and I was on the pit lane!

Here's a photo to prove that I was there



I love the races and I love that Chris has spent a summer doing somethig he loves. He has worked really hard recently, all of free, so here's hoping he gets some sort of recognition for it in the future. We're hopefully heading to the DTM on the Saturday again in a couple of weeks. More load cars and clever driving.

Other things are happening around me at the moment, some of which are exciting, but others are harder to take on board. There is a lot to do before term starts in a couple of weeks, I've got to get my head around what happened at Soul Survivor and how best to work with it. Seeing what God has put on the hearts of the young people and try to think about my own experiences. Lots of exciting conversations to happen.

There is a wet dog sat at my feet, looking at me, telling me to move on. So I will. There is more to come I promise!

I am still here!

I will blog about the weekend at some point, it's been a hetic one, and I've got some videos to show you too! Promise I will do it before this week is out.

Soul Survivor

Sadly, a lot of people faired better than me upon our return to Billericay. I have suffered for my faith this week, with a nose that's so full of gunk, I can't breathe through it and a stuffed sinus too. It's been painful, but is really insignificant compared to the work of my Creator and the freedom I find in His love.

There are things for us to work through, ideas, prayers to pray and hope. Dreaming big and gathering those around me who can really do wonderful things. We have to dream big, we have to change the world and start with love.

Waiting on God to send the Holy Spirit is something that scares a lot of people, but it is worthwhile, He healed a lot of people while we waited and even healed me! My knees have always suffered from camping and walking, but some of the youth group prayed ovver my knee and the pain went, it was really amazing!

If you want to have a look at the Soul Survivor website (and find the dates for next year) you can click here, if you want to have a look at the videos from God tv to see what it's like of an evening, have a look here.

I do recommend it, it's a 12,000 strong crowd. We witnessed over 500 people start their lives as Christians, and many many more taking a stand to change the world.

I got home, feeling slightly better than when I left the showground, hoping that everyone would turn up soon so I could go home and have a shower. I quickly did that and sent my wonderful boyfriend a couple of messages about how I missed him... little did he know that I would turn up on his doorstep to surprise him on his birthday. it had the desired effect... happy boyfriend!

We've spent time doing the things that he loves, mainly various forms of golf (though none of them proper) and watching the A-Team and eating. I have enjoyed myself, despite the illness of the year knocking me out in the afternoons at the moment. Today I am writing through it, though I may fall asleep before dinner gets called.

Tomorrow we celebrate the wedding of two good friends, who have taken their time to get to this place, but we are all happy - firstly that the groom is recovered enough and that they have stuck together for so long.

Sunday is race day for everyone - we're heading to the BTCC, so were praying for sun and a good couple of races to get the drivers and spectators going. Chris got a media pass for the weekend, so we're both super excited that he will get to stand amongst the drivers (most of whom he has met) for two days.

I need to defrag my computer and sleep!

Off to Soul Survivor

This time, I must remember to change my voicemail so that people know I am on holiday (of sorts).

Staying in a field of five days (the long-winded way of saying 'I'm going camping') is going to be really interesting for me, I've done it before, but with Scouts, which is once again another experience that I can add to the list of things that I have done in my long life. This is different, we are in a field that has portable showers and toilets. With a lot of other people. I know that when there is a shower available I would really like to have one before I start my day, but I think that everyone will be having showers in the morning, so I may have to default to a time that is unusual, but at least I will be clean.

I will do a full write up of the Soul Survivor experience when I get back.

I've finished The Time Travellers Wife, finally, it's not like it was hanging over me, I just knew what was coming and didn't really want to partake in it, knowing how it would make me feel, I still cried and cried at Henry and Claire's story, i think I always will - it is tough knowing that, but at the same time, I have another outlet for the stress and the worry that I come across at certain points of my life.

So now I am reading the sequel to Man and Boy which is another book that I will hold on to in my life. If you haven't read any Tony Parsons, I would recommend you give him a try, if you like real life fiction, he's very good. Dysfunctional families and characters that somehow find their way in the world, very heart warming. I have an even longer relationship with his books. But that's another story.

The really good news is that my best friend is engaged! I'm waiting for a picture of the ring - but here's a picture of us in the mean time



We were celebrating Take That Day - the greatest day of my life! I love Kay very much and I wish her many blessings as she prepares for married life!

Posting videos to blog

In a response to a comment on 'Funsies' - posting a video to a blog isn't difficult at all.

In the post create window, you can hit the last icon on the bar directly above the place where you write your script, and if you have a video file you can post it directly to your blog. If you have youtube videos you can post them by creating the url for the video and pasting that into the script window.

It's that simple - the only problem I have found is that the youtube videos are a little big sometimes, so you can fiddle with the height, but you have to be in the Edit HTML tab to do so.

It can take a little bit of time, but once you've done it once, you can do it again and again.

I use my phone and my digital camera to make videos.

I hope that helps... if not, have a look at blogger help and they might be a bit better - although possibly use more jargon.

Funsies

I just had to share this with you. We don't normally have a games night, but when we do, it gets funny and competitive, due to the nature of the people I spend my time with! This is a video of some of my best friends playing Just Dance on the Wii.

Helen, the shortest of them all, gets a little bit excited by Just Dance and to be honest, pulling faces and dancing to make evryone laugh!

I love my friends and the things that we do together, I don't see them as much as I would like, we're all really busy so it's becoming harder to meet.

I think the video explains it all!

Looking forward

Everyone keeps saying I look tired. It's not really a surprise to me... I am tired, probably more than I'm letting on really.

I'm praising God that I got an opportunity to sit on my own this morning for most of the service, I know I haven't really been to church during July so to be there this morning felt a little strange! It was a good atmosphere though, Mandy and co led really well for the sung part and Warner did an excellent job too. Dad spoke on greed and what it does to us.

Chris is at a race almost every weekend from now until late September, so I will be spending my weekends mostly on my own, when I'm not with friends or family. It's really exciting for him, this time last year he was tentative about spending the time doing it, but now he's writing for thecheckeredflag.co.uk I will be spending my week nights with him, rather than weekends. With the little bit of spare time he has, he's using it doing something he really loves, so although I don't see him, I'm happy that he's getting so much out of it.

Here's to some thinking time over the next couple of days, before the final push to SS...