A thoroughly modern Christmas

A thoroughly modern bouquet - a vase of sweets! sadly, you can guess the amount, but you won't be getting any sweets from me!

This Christmas was a little different this year. I spent all of Christmas Eve doing Christingle services, leading them none the less. now I can normally do three Christingles but before it has been 'just for fun' as it were, no direct pressure on me, and not really a huge deal of preparation either but this year, I had to stand at front of church, prepare a power point, write a service order and learn it and remember to light the advent wreath. I also had to do a song sheet and speak to a number of people about how the whole service was going to work. The adrenalin soon wore off at the end of the last service and I came crashing down. It's tough working for 6 hours straight.

Then my sister returned home and after resting for a little bit, we watched the Gavin and Stacy Christmas special...which was a little long and I didn't really get it, because I've never really watched it before. We then headed to church for midnight communion.

All normal so far...other than being really tired.

Christmas Day, I spent the whole day with my family, not really unusual, but we had a change of plan mid-way through December my Nan decided that she was going to spend Christmas in London with my Aunt and Uncle, so no chance of a Christmas dinner at Nan's, which after spending 24 Christmases there, to not be at hers was different. Normally we head to church and then to Nan's where we sit and chat and dinner just appears, this year though, I helped with dinner. I really enjoyed it, I didn't over indulge but had enough to eat and then for the first time in 24 years, we opened all of our presents. After a couple of hours watching TV and playing about with new things, we headed to my cousins for dinner and more presents. I ended the day very tired but happy.

Doing all of this means that Boxing day was unusual too, I've spent part of the day outside and the boys have gone out to a friends house. We would normally have a family dinner and watch tv together, but that hasn't happened.

I feel like I've lost a day somewhere, but I really haven't, it was over a lot quicker than I expected and I've already done some sale shopping!!!

Merry christmas to you all and I hope your celebrations have filled you with joy, just as mine has!

P.S. Don't watch POTC before Christmas, you'll end up watching it twice!

The Office

No - I'm not going to talk about how Ricky Gervais only has one acting style or that one of his co-stars is far better than him...

No - I'm going to talk about my office, the hub of all the youth work at Christ Church. Since I began working for the church in July there have been various bits and pieces going on while I've been out of the building, and it's nearly finished, so here are some photos for you...


Ok, so it's a mess at the moment, but it's functioning as a great space for me to check my email, write letters and create talks...

Check out my lazy chair in the corner - from IKEA - an at a third of the cost, that is my bargain buy of the year! I love it! (it does need a cushion though!)

There's still a little bit to do, it's got to be painted, and I've got to find a sensible way of cutting out the draft...

A special Event

Want to meet some new people, but not sure how to? Well, come along to the event above, spend a couple of hours in the company of young adult christians, in a safe environment and in the knowledge that you'll come away knowing more people than when you started!

Search for us on Facebook, you can't miss the bight orange picture that's being used for our publicity! If you're not on facebook and would like to join us, please leave a comment and some contact details and I will get back to you as soon as I can... (I check my blog every day!)

Photo Blog!

Just some of the things I've seen over the past week or so for you to take a look at!


A rainbow above Mayflower School - yes we were stood in the rain, and yes, we all got our phones out to take a picture, whilst Gary proclaimed "That's a sign that God will never again flood the earth, that is!" Brilliant! Isn't it funny how God reassures us?



At the end of the Youthwork Conference on the way home, driving through the countryside - couldn't ignore the sun shining in my eyes - so had to take a couple of photos! We had a really good weekend. I still haven't really thought about it, I can't get my head around the weekend, it started well and had various highlights, Mike Pilavachi, Ben Cantalon and the Sunday morning seminars being the ones I can remember the clearest. God has definitely started speaking to me in a loud and clear voice again, so I've got to keep listening.

The next event was Jen's birthday, here's the lovely lady herself...


Ten of us went out to celebrate her birthday this year. We had a great time at Macaroni Grill (which I've never been to before) and then on to Chicagos, which has had a complete refit and looks absolutely amazing now. We had so much fun, dancing, laughing and eating that we're going to do it all again very soon!


Also, a formal congratulations to Mandy and Rob, who got engaged at the end of November. I'm very happy and can't wait for the wedding!!

And finally...


A packed church for the Advent Carol Service. A lot of work went into making a very special service to celebrate the start of the church year. We welcomed all of the different schools in our district and were blessed with a choir and hundreds of stars to decorate our stunning tree!

I have really loved the last couple of weeks, there's been so much good news. Looking forward to spending the next few preparing for Christmas with friends and family. I don't know if I'm ready for it, or even in the mood really, but whatever happens I'm sure it'll hit me soon and I'll get a little panicky!

P.S. This is for the third time of trying - for some still unexplained reason, connecting to the internet is still hit and miss.

Pulling a muscle

In more ways than one...

It's true, Wii sports is dangerous... I've pulled a muscle - how unfit am I? But it's totally addictive... especially if a young person has beaten your score and you know you can do better!

And laughing too hard... Mike McIntyre is hilarious! You know how your sides ache... He's someone I'd really like to see live... he's really clever and Live at The Apollo is so much better... I didn't like Jack Dee... he's far too dry.

This week has been good, I haven't been in school as much as normal, due to lots of things going on for other people.

Tonight we're out celebrating a birthday of someone who is very dear to me! I'm quite excited, we haven't been out as a group for ages, we get to spend a lot of time together which is great!

Also this week, a member of the same family got engaged to her long term boyfriend. I cried, I'm so happy for them!

Youthwork: The Conference

Spending a weekened in Eastbourne, wet, cold, windy, by the sea, in a hotel which bearly had a sea view...

The highs and lows of youthwork. Above the lows. Below the highs (does someone feel I'm doing this the wrong way round?)

Ok lets start with company... I joined the youthworkers of Luton on the retreat day after spending some time with my sister in Luton, we travelled down together and shared in a 24 hours of being fed, both spiritually and physically, in a lovely church called All Saint's. Luton youthworkers are great... very funny and they do get on with each other really well. It was good to spend time with people just chatting and chilling.

The rest of the weekend was just right, I took time out, I listened to seminars all of which was helpful to me. The worship from Ben Cantalon was brilliant (if in my old age it was a little loud at some points) and I've got some good resources to read and use.

I absolutely love the 'We love our youthworker' which is a new charter for churches and youth workers, which helps youth workers and gives them a voice...

More when that comes into the fore during 2009! More when I've reflected some more!

Good clean fun...

Just watching some of the Children in Need programme from last night... It's a fundraiser for children in the UK who are disabled or struggle with life in some way.

It's good clean fun, there's nothing that's close to the mark or controversial... Terry Wogan is always a laugh and they focus so much on English bands and artists, it's nice to see the stars of our small screen enjoying themselves (newsreaders, soap stars and lifestyle shows)!

(Unlike Comic Relief/Red Nose day, which is just cringe worthy i.e. Tim Westwood pimping some old people's minibus - they don't need DVD players installed! and Ricky Gervais' sketch that was just wrong)

Personally, I spent the day collecting money from people, at a fundraising concert and with the young people of Christ Church, watching the evening unfold.

Last night alone £21.9 million was raised, I don't know when the final figure comes out, but I'm sure it will be a lot higher than that, for a start, I've got to add £20 to it!!

Something less fun was shopping in Basildon for a birthday present... so many people around, the Christmas lights were switched on this weekend and it seems that people have started to panic a bit about Christmas being just around the corner... 5 weeks 5 days....

Playing with fire

Well, not quite fire, but definitely sparklers. And not really playing with them, more watching the young people to make sure that they didn't attempt to hurt each other.

For something that happened and we weren't quite sure of how it would go, all of the leaders were positive at the end of the night... 20 young people from two youth groups... sparklers, food and a uni-hoc game...oh and some indoor fire works that set off the fire alarm (which reminds me that I don't know where the smoke alarm is or how to shut it up). It was a good night and we've been invited across town to the christmas party in a month or so.

It's saturday, yeay!! I've almost got rid of my cold, after spending a lot of today in bed...

Going to Come Dancing at church this evening... Should be interesting, I always enjoy learning new things and raising money at the same time. There will be photos!

Where do we go from here?

This is a question that haunts me. It's one that is always being asked...no doubt there's one man who's asking it more than everyone else.

If you've slept for the last 18 months or so, you won't know that the American election has happened and the new president of the free world is Barack Obama. I couldn't get to sleep last night, so I ended up watching the BBC results programme for two hours. They talked and talked about how much McCain was like President Bush, and were absolutely sure that he wouldn't be in power when the presidency changes hands in January.

I guess one of the reasons I couldn't get to sleep was because I'm worried (as well as being ill). I'm worried about how Mr Obama will put in to practice the ideology that he's talked about for so long. I'm worried that if it doesn't work out (in my very English way of not trusting politicians) there may be a horrible backlash and America will take some steps backwards (dare I say, more steps backwards).

I saw a postsecret that said 'It's only a matter of time' - a postcard of famous political faces who had been assassinated, people who wanted change. You can take that two ways, either as a threat or as someone who is worried for safety. I'm the latter.

I want to see this world get better, in so many ways...

I'm praying hard for the government that is going to surround this man.

We're also asking the question about our alpha group...but we haven't come up with any ideas yet!

At it once again...

Ok, so when did I last blog? An hour and a half ago...?

Guess what my little brother is doing again...yes, drinking soup and eating as noisely as he can... do things not stick in peoples minds? Does being told off, or warned against something not make an impact in the minds of teenagers any more?

I know the answer to the last question, there is no impact to be made, no matter how many times...

Here he goes again...

Youth Alpha talk is going well so far...blogging and facebooking takes my mind off it temporarily, so that I can refocus and get it done for tomorrow evening.

There's doing things quietly

and then there's doing things noisely...

I'm complaining quietly about my brothers noisey soup drinking...don't get me started on how annoyed I am today...

I had to ask him to do what he was doing quietly (or I would've taken his soup away from him) and he gave me a dirty look!! It's rude to slurp at the best of times, but least of all while I'm quietly stewing about how the next couple of days are going to turn out.

I've always been concerned for safety, for good teaching and for everyone to have a good time. So to be told that I've got to be careful with the sparklers that I'm going to give to my young people next friday annoys me a little. I've had all three things drill into me since I was very young. I know the rules inside out, and I will be passing my knowledge on to the young people who will be holding the sparklers so that no-one gets hurt and everyone can have fun.

I don't make up the rules as I go along and everyone will get a fair chance - those who play up will feel the consequences. I've got a mobile phone and I will have all of the young peoples names and emergency contact details so if anything goes wrong there is a plan.

I really don't know what else to say...some poeple are helpful, others not so. That's life and we give thanks in all circumstances - so thank you Lord, that there are people who are concerned for my safety and thank you that they haven't completely scuppered all of my plans as the new youth worker in town.

I'm sorry that's the wrong answer

I'm always facinated by how things work, how they are made and what drives the people to create things that can make our lives easier, or more fun.

Finding out the answers to my questions though is sometimes a little frustrating - big companies like to keep secrets.

Take walkers for one - they pretty much run the snack empire in the UK at the moment, so they can reinstate crisps and the like at their will. They've brought back monster munch, quite successfully, which leads me to me first question - How is monster munch made?

Being internet savy that's where I'll always go first. Type in whats in my brain and see what happens...normally I don't get the answer straight away, because my mind seems to work slightly differently from those who add to the internet daily. But I keep searching and eventually get some sort of answer...however, there's nothing online, so I went to 118.com, because they've got an 'ask us anything' policy, so I did - guess what? They haven't got the answer either. ARGH...so I'm going to suffer for a little longer. I don't understand the snack world and I probably never will!!

And I'm trying to find out the background song to the new Rimmel London advert with Sophie Ellis Baxter - no joy there either, the other problem with the internet is that you can always find outdated information...I won't tell you about the time that I asked about a job only to be asked where I found the ad and that the position had been filled for over a year.

Talking of outdated...I need to update the CCYM website!

(P.S. Kate Moss looks awful on the Rimmel London website - how is having your mouth open in a photo ever attractive?)

I had an interesting day yesterday...it started with purchasing tickets to see Take That in concert on Saturday 4th July 2009. Fastest ever sell out tour, it took 9 excuricating minutes for me to get on to See Tickets to buy tickets, but here I am, still alive and very happy that I won't have to take a day off work to see them, and I will be taking all of my best friends with me.

The rest of the day was taken up with prep for the Club night at St Marys, a very successful night, and we're hoping that it will grow and grow in the coming years!

A Nautical Night

Happy 21st Birthday!!!
So the images loaded backwards, and it takes a lot of effort to move them around. So this is Helen, hugging her balloons. Very pink and very big...Post cake at the end of the night...


Post blowing out candles...speeches time as always at 21st, the dad just has to say something. I can't remember what my Dad said at mine, simply because I was a little embarrassed, and probably too stressed out by the whole day.


This party, however, was a lot different, here we are (Heather and I) waiting for everyone to arrive so that we could give Helen her 21 presents. We were rushing around like lunatics in Basildon shortly before hand...but Sailor and Lifeguard...we were ready and Helen got the shock of her life when we arrived!

So its half term at the moment...there's not a lot going on, which is relaxing, but frustrating too. I know that I've got a busy term ahead of me...Christmas is racing up on us really quickly and I know I've got a lot to do, but I can't plan for it, until I've got an idea of what actually needs doing.

Still, Friday is a big day, Take That tickets go on sale and we've got our second club night at St Mary's on the High Street. Big smiles all round! :-D

You can't stop the Beat!

It's Saturday...Yeay!!

For the second time this week I have watched Sky 1's 'Hairspray: The School Musical' and I'm absolutely besotted by the whole thing. Teenagers doing something enjoyable and showing the world and themselves that they are totally capable of producing a West End production in such a short amount of time. A couple of well known celebrities took a group of students and coached them through 6 weeks of rehearsals, and at the end they went to the Lyric Theatre and preformed to a sell out crowd of friends and family.

If you haven't seen any of it, see if you can find it online...when I was their age I just didn't have the confidence to do anything like that, even now it would take a lot of convincing. But seeing young people working hard and producing something that they're going to remember for the rest of their lives really makes me smile.

Tonight we're all heading to church to celebrate Helen's 21st birthday...all in Nautical gear...it's going to be so much fun...we've got a lot of different outfits and of course there will be photos!

Christ Church Weekend Away 2008

Here's the official report of the weekend away...

We started by getting lost - or at least I got lost on the way to High Leigh Conference Centre...more stressful than I'd ever imagined, and I now know that following someone other than Jesus is an experience that's not so good for me!! Thank you Helen and co for being patient with me though!

We had a good weekend...the young people learnt a lot...here they are with 'Loser' written on their foreheads after the second session...


For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. Luke 9v24

Bravely showing off that they'd give up their lives to be followers of Jesus.

In the afternoon, we went to Lee Valley Boat hire to have a go at Pedaloing...

Us after hour on the river...it was really good fun, I'd suggest it as a good afternoon out, if the sun is shining and there's a pub you can get to afterwards!

The rest of the weekend was interesting, I shared my time with people I'd not really spoken to before and having communion altogether on the Sunday was a really good idea.

Stars in his Eyes is our regular saturday evening entertainment, and hopefully everyone enjoyed it, from those taking part or those just watching. I'm very proud of some of my young people who thought of things to do.

I'm still recovering after being at work for the whole weekend, but it does take time. I have a day off this week, so hopefully I can use that time to think more about what went on, and make some notes for the next time I have to do something of this magnitude!

Restrictions

Mainly parking ones atm. There were people in our road putting out notices for the local council this afternoon. I don't know how long they have to be up before the council can start painting yellow lines on our road, but that's what is going to happen. They're also going to put up signs that say 'no waiting 08:30 - 09:30 and 14:30 - 15:30' it's worded slightly differently on the actual sign but you get the drift.

Now the problem with this is they won't actually enforce the no waiting thing at all. Well maybe for the first week. But after that it will be a free for all, and there will still be people parked across our drive come 3 in the afternoon, or whenever one of us needs to be somewhere and the car they are using is on the drive. Yes, mothers, fathers, guardians and carers will intially be scared out of their whits, but the fear will subside and life will continue on as normal.

I've seen it happen, nay, I have parked my car in a zone similar to the one that will be implied and I did not feel the wrath of the council bearing down on me for disobeying their rules.

One problem we have is that we have 5 cars in our family currently, and only three have spaces on the land that my parents own (or are leasing permenantly - not sure how it works, not being a home owner an' all!) So two people will potentially get fined (if a traffic warden would like to watch the road for a whole day). There are two (possibly three) arguments to this -

One - no-one who can prove that they live in the road should get fined for parking on it - it's where we live, we should really have space outside our houses to park our cars.

Two - We as residents should have room for the cars that we own on our properties, so that they can sit during the day without getting fined.

Three - We should have less cars (which is impossible)

And this won't solve the problem, it'll only move it somewhere else...

I don't know how many people protested, but it doesn't seem to have done any good. Which just leads me to believe we're heading for a world where the opinion of the public doesn't matter.

Andy says he will rip up a parking fine if he gets one...We'll see....

Off to High Leigh this weekend, but first I have to pack, go to youth group, lead emarge and raid the hall of all the fun things that I own as a youth worker, and finish what I'm going to say on Sunday morning!! Not busy at all... :S

All wrapped up...

In my own little world recently...lots has been going on, but I still feel like I've got loads of time, when really actually I probably haven't.

I think the problem may be to do with the strange times I'm sleeping at the moment, I really can't seem to get into a routine that means I get up at a sensible time, work through the day and go to bed at an equally sensible time.

I'm working on it...I just seem to be lacking discipline right now. It's like living at home seems to have bitten me and I feel like I'm a teenager again, waiting til the last moment to crawl out of bed and go to school. It's got to change...but as with getting up, I keep putting off that change...

At the moment, there is only so much I can do at home, I'm currently suffering some interference technologically at least...the laptop has decided that it won't connect to the internet, even when it's sat next to the router, and the booster...Dad can't figure out what is wrong, so a phone call to Dell may well be on the cards...but I'm saving that until after the church weekend away.

Yes, we're near October half term, which means its going away time for many churches. This time we're going to High Leigh Conference centre in Hoddesdon. For teaching (which I will be doing with the young people and so will Karen), music and games, as well as a little bit of fun chucked in for good measure. I don't know quite how I'm going to survive, but I know that I'm going to need prayer and sleep.

Episode Two

I feel like I've had an episode, nevermind watched one...I'm going to have to watch the last 5 mins of S3 E2 again, just to understand what went on in a little more detail, cos iPlayer is brilliant, but big screen tv is better!

I'm talking about Heroes, if you're totally lost...it's so much quicker than Series 2, jumping from story line to story line, without losing the intensity of it all and moving rapidly forward with each shift.

I watched the sneak peak build up the other day and now I seen everything twice. I want to give the story line away and say 'wow, this happened' and 'woah, she/he....' but I can't for fear of people hating me because I just don't do cryptic very well.

I'm refusing to watch BBC Three this time round, just because I did exactly what i'm trying not to do right now...

Roll on Wednesdays!

Lee Evans live at the O2

This man is a comical genius...I must have been following him for a good 8 years...but he's been doing observational comedy for 20.


Last night, 4 of us headed to the O2 arena in North Grenwich, to join with 20,000 other people in the biggest stand up tour this country has ever seen.

I love it, I would add explitives...but I really don't want to offend anyone... The second half was better than the first and the experience was made better by Mike having and O2 contract, so we could get exclusive access to a horribly over priced bar. (£7.50 for a cocktail) The bar was nice, forking out £20 for four drinks hurt lots.

Speed dating, footballers, referees, all were mentioned in some vain and I can't wait to buy the DVD to see it all over again and relive the memory of seeing him live for the second time.

It was all new material, a Lee was at the top of his game, I don't know how he does it, but I've got a huge amount of respect for him!

Harvest Service 2008

Aren't we a clever bunch? Three crosses (the yellow one created by members of Christ church) to signify the local harvest (red), the global harvest (orange) and the harvest of the people who are in the world (yellow).


The cross at the front of church, drapped with the colours.

I really enjoyed the service, it got a little heavy, but all the commets were positive.

So thank you CMS for providing and inspirational service pack, to Mark and the band for the brilliant music, to Stephen for creating the crosses on the floor and the Pathfinders for their prayers. (And thank you to everyone who did something in or for the service).

I'm tired now though...I've been building myself up for a long nights sleep. It's not over yet!! I've got Evo to entertain first...