Sunday goodness

I'll start from the beginning. 
After returning from Bristol I must admit I was rather unimpressed with the prospect of an all-night event in the forest and having to finish organising. But lucky to say, it all seemed to go pretty well, teams had fun, cheated only minorly and no one died. HURRAH! Mission accomplished. 

However, a night in the forest and no real sleep for approx 26 hours left me feeling a little unhinged. So, saturday day I slep (HOW do people who do night shifts manage?!!) and spent the evening chilling out with pizza, mulan and the girls. Not a bad way to recover, and we had fun watching Hazel becoming a caterpillar in her sleeping bag. A dancing, spotty caterpillar at that. 

I have also decided I would like a cape. More on that later.

Sunday rolled round again, and with the wonderfulness of an extra hour of sleep and only needing to be at the second service, the day began pretty well. We had an exciting service for the gift week, and lots of talk about the lost - nothing like a healthy challenge to get your hear in the right place.

A nice bring and share lunch followed and we had the most epic amount of chicken I have ever seen. It was nearly a chicken party.
Everyone went to Becky's house and we ate the leftover biscuits and quality street whilst drinking tea and watching the Notebook which is definitely a favourite film of mine. Interestingly, the guys seemed more in support of The Notebook than anything else - definitely became a little soppy. (Which of course I would never ever, ever do...)

[This is where the cape comes in, after Saturday's fun with a sleeping bag, and the lead in mulan wearing a cape, was astounded to see Ryan Gosling wearing a cape in The Notebook. And a red one at that. HOT is all I have to say]

The day wound up with some time at the pub, chilling out and chatting. We said bye to some friends who are off to India (of which I'm pretty envious) and had a nice little catch up.

Home now and fearing insomnia or nocturnalness as a result of LOST. The cat is trying to attack me and I think I need sleep for the madness that is my week ahead.

Check out Heather Woods Broderick if you also need some sleep.
Much love, especially those who made this weekend pretty fab.
xoxo

Training Time 2

Just back from our second block of FP Training. Covered Church History, what we see of Jesus in the Gospels and then the Church in Acts. Big stuff.

Was great to see people, see I wasn't alone in the madness and get a little refreshed.
I've had copious cups of tea and feel like I've eaten a life's supply of biscuits in three days.

Feel like I need to process things a little more - give me a chance to mull things over a little.

For now, time for bed.
Impacters, you are cool kids and I love you a lot.
x

A little all over the place.

It has arrived. That not so pleasant state of 'I'm tired, have a lot on my mind and therefore EVERYTHING makes me emotional'.

Now, I'm quite an emotional person, I've said before that when I love people, I love them a lot, and things tend to affect me pretty easily - books, films, music etc. Sleep also affects me a lot, and lack of it even more so.

After my rather extensive and rambling blog about the madness of my weekend, I can confirm that I am now in the state otherwise known as blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

This involves slight emotional melodrama. Today I watched some great friends and one of my youth get baptised and another friend preach a fantastic gospel message. Normally I'd hold it together. Instead the mixture of beautiful testimonies and amazingness of God has left me in a slightly raw state.

Then, messages and things from old friends. Blah. That's about the extent of my vocabulary for that one.

And finally I come home to find that none of the things that I need to take to Bristol tomorrow are washed and ready to pack. This sends me a little over the angry edge.

I'd like to say that I am a normal person who can be normal and sensible about these things. However, I'm not. I struggle to keep the crazy inside as it is, and a whole heap of madness doesn't aid my sanity.

Tomorrow I go to Bristol and I am seriously hoping that I am not a mess, wreck and pathetic person but can actually hold a proper conversation and not babble trash for the whole time I'm there.

Despite my moaning I have truly had a wonderful weekend and loved seeing old friends, new friends and good friends. I am blessed, I am fortunate and I have God to thank for all of that. Going to repeat my request of the previous post - If you're of the praying kind, please pray for me.

Lots of love coming your way via cyberspace.
x

I don't particularly have anything to blog about

but I'm going to blog anyway.

I took my own advice and caught up with the journal-ing (?) so my brain is a little less full of confusion.

However it is now full of 'ahhhhhhhhhhhhh' due to some upcoming events which I am finding a tad scary.

This weekend I'm cooking a three course black tie dinner for 40 people. Stressful cooking isn't fun and I really don't want to poison anyone...

Sunday I'm doing a talk on creation for my youth. It's just quite...big. And the guy really in charge is going to be watching. I have a feeling it's going to be a 'constructive criticism' moment. And those are all well and good but not when I feel a little vulnerable.

Still, I'm sure it'll all be fine and dandy :/

Sunday afternoon we're taking 60 or so people to O'Neils. And O'Neils won't answer the phone so I can warn them. Then in the afternoon a great friend of mine is having a bit of a baptism party before her actual baptism. There are lots of people being baptised! So that's exciting stuff!

Then we'll have a nice little social time at the pub a la evening, which hopefully will calm me down a little.

Monday afternoon I am off to FP Training in Bristol which I am mega excited about but it means organising LOST (our event in the forest with loads of people) beforehand, aaaaand, using my brain.

Then I come back and DO LOST and am not allowed to sleep.

So, all in all, I think I could easily be accused of having too much on my plate and burning the candle at both ends. I seem to be notoriously good at that.

So if you are of the praying kind, a little prayer would certainly be appreciated.

As would post. I do love post and no one has sent me anything for a while. So, a nice little postcard, message, epic letter or something would be wonderful.

Apparently I may not have a lot to blog about, but I do have a lot to say. Or maybe I don't even have a lot to say. Hmm.

Post love to me.

Because I love you.

x

Just another manic monday

Or manic weekend really!
But, it has been fantastic so I wont complain. Saturday was an entire day off, yes a whole 24 hours without any responsibilities of the official kind. That in itself was quite a relief. I spent the day shopping, seeing the amazing Sarah who I hadn't seen in forever and surprised me by being in Bournemouth and then a little trip out for dinner and a movie. Sounds romantic eh? More just a big girly group thing actually but, delightful nonetheless!

We had some tasty mexican food which reminded me of the guacamole song. Look it up on youtube if you have never seen it. You are definitely missing out. It's a recipe for guacamole done to music. Truly special. Anyway, we saw 'Eat, pray, love' which I was uber excited about because in many ways that's the catchphrase to my life.

I love food, God and people. Not necessarily in that order.
Anyway, I digress, the film was disappointing. Julia Roberts, whom I normally love, just runs away from her problems, travels a bit, meditates and then ends up with a hot brazilian man. All nice and innocent I guess for a couple of hours of entertainment but I just found the whole thing empty and sad.

At this point, friends may say I'm being too serious and it's just a film but I think it's so representative of how the western world sees things and it's just total rubbish. Pursuing those things is empty, it's not going to satisfy or give you peace.

So that was one half of the weekend. The second half was just as busy, with a guest speaker at church called Adrian Holloway and thereore our building was absolutely heaving.Seriously exciting stuff. We had a student lunch, saw over 120 people there and then I finished the day with Why Jesus (our version of Alpha), a drink at the pub and then a spontaneous trip to the forest to star gaze.

I am a sucker for star gazing.

In the process we thought we were being attacked by a demonic horse. It was truly terrifying and then I couldn't get into the car because my door was locked. Scary pyjamas to say the least. Oh, and I dropped the coffee flask. Madness and mayhem but some seriously fun times with friends.

So, for anyone who actually wanted to know, which in reality is probably not many people, that is my weekend. Not in enough detail, or with enough explanation of the hilarity that was had but a nice little explanation of what I've been up to in days gone by.

It's funny, I get teased a lot that I just share 'non-stories' a lot. I think my blog is a little like that. I tend to burble and ramble about what I'm thinking. Perhaps someone out there in cyberspace might find it funny. Or helpful. Or just a suggestion for something NOT to do.

Again babbling. I am pretty happy. In a week I'm going to be in Bristol for some more FP training and I have that excited anticipation butterfly feeling. Not quite sure why. I am looking forward to seeing people again. It's funny, I have this weird ability to love people that I don't actually know that well...and it means I miss them too.

Okay, definitely need to write more in the diary and less in the blog.

I hope you are all going to have the most amazing week and you get up to all sorts of fun things. If you ever want to check out some other stuff I'm doing, see

http://citygatestudentsandtwenties.blogspot.com/

Lots of love and hugs (hugs are great aren't they!?)
Sleep time for me
xx

Jolly

Feeling rather jolly today. I think this is what I would feel like most of the time if I got sufficient sleep and wasn't a grumpy pants!

I am going to have a good weekend and hopefully see some very nice people and do some very nice things, like dinner and the cinema. Ooooh.

For now I'm going to go be my jolly mad self, continue to terrorise my sister by pretending to be the germs that are going to get her because her room is totally filthy, and dance a little more to the yummy voices of Noah and the Whale.

They're pretty cool. They sing lyrics like this...
"If you don't believe in God, how can you believe in love, when we're all just matter that will one day scatter, when peaceful the world lays us down"



Enjoy dancing you crazy people.
xxx

Pineapple saga once more?

Tonight I begun learning guitar. I fear that I may have no finger tips and continue to sound like a seriously slow and dying cat when playing.

However, I did achieve every chord from my sister's guitar book...just not in any semblance of a listenable song.

I somehow doubt that I'm ever going to be a genius guitarist... I just don't think my skills lie in that direction. Requires some sort of knowledge of pitch and notes. This sadly, and despite my interest is not really knowledge I have.

No doubt I shall update you on my slow slow progress. Lets hope it's not like the pineapple growing which died a slow, disappointing and surprisingly smelly death.

In other news, I was asked today what I thought my 'good qualities' were, which unearthed the whole boasting/humility deal, as well as a genuine contemplation of what they are. It's harder than you think to come up with things that aren't just things you're good at, but qualities...
Someone tell me how you manage to not be proud about those things but still recognise where your strengths lie? Hmmmmm

So there we have both the skills dilemma of the day and the philosophical. Someone respond to one or both. Definitely in need of help. No surprise there.

I would also like to say that Katie Millwe is an absolute legend and I love her billions. She makes me think about things differently. Find her, meet her, and learn from her - she's the coolest.

(AND no, she didn't pay me to say that. 1 - I don't submit to bribery and 2 - I don't think she's aware I keep a blog)

Happy Weekend excitement to all, and to all a goodnight.
xxx

Dear

Scrape you up the pavement just like I said I would,
I can't stand to watch the way you break yourself against the ground.
The things you are,
the way you do
shouldn't have a thing to do with anyone but you.

And it may be that things in your life are coming in too clear.
Go ahead, do the right thing
I'll just watch from here.

You're banging on the screen door
looking for the scrats,
any little piece of me
anything you can have.
Well oh so sorry,
oh so sad,
I dont have a thing you want.

Well it may be that things in your life are coming in too clear.
Go ahead do the right thing
I'll just watch from here.

I'm not the girl you think you saw,
popping my knucles just waiting to fall.

Well it may be that things in your life are coming in too clear.
Well go ahead, do the right thing
I'll just watch from here.

Me not caring is the best thing
happening to you

SKYPE

It makes me feel like people are in the same room when really they're in rooms that are in different cities.

I heard some Kate Dey music and decided what kind of animal Bridgette was.
God gave me cool friends. They accept me and all of the crazy, instead of just the bits that are let out involuntarily when I can't contain it anymore.

Mwahaha. I think I have ill crazy.
x

Treasure

Treasure Hunting. Not just for pirates, but for Christians too! Get out on the streets, ask God for the clues and find some treasure.

Met lots of people tonight, had some exciting conversations and prayer opportunities. After a day of reading and writing an essay doing practical stuffs with some friends was uber fun.

God is good. I am ill. I am looking forward to the rest of the week. Woop!

Over and out xxx

The blues

I think we all have those days where we want to hide and can't really face, facing the world. I wonder why we have those? I find that they don't have any sort of rhyme or reason to them and disappear pretty soon.

Still, they tend to make me into a bit of a 'thinker' for the day... It's a dangerous game because I'm my own worst enemy and I tend to get caught in silly thought patterns. Now this makes me sound like a psycho, which I'm not, despite many a sarcastic joke stating otherwise.

So, normally, the solution is a girly evening and an early night. That's what I have planned for tonight, or at least the girly part. Except it's not with the usual girls, and so I'm hoping it'll still have the same effect.

We shall see.
Peace and love and empathy to anyone else having a bluesy day.
x

Cake Thursday

Every Thursday our church runs an over 60s coffee morning, it's pretty popular I believe, although not being over 60 I've never actually been.
Anyhow, as a result, when returning the building keys to the office, the lovely organisers bring a plate of cakes.

Therefore, today was Cake Thursday. As will every other thursday be. I enjoyed a nice piece of Victoria Sponge. It quite literally had my name on it.




I am beginning to find that not having had a day off in nearly 2 weeks is quite shocking to the body. Everyone seems to be getting ill so I'm dosing up on Vitamin C and hoping I don't get the flu/tonsilitus/sickness that seems to be spreading around every sphere of life... uh oh.

Exciting news today is that it looks like I get to go out to Portugal in January! December and January are going to epic months of

- FP Training in Bristol
- Visiting Zoe in Nottingham
- Visiting Bridgette in Liverpool
- Visiting Sam in Manchester
- Seeing ARCADE FIRE LIVEEEE :D
- Christmas and a week and a half of holiday! (Even more exciting because I worked last Christmas which made me cry a lot)
- New Year
- A week at Centre Parks for FP
- A trip to Portugal!


And those are the only things I know about currently!

This week I am missing snuggle time though. Girls, you're just to far away. Miss you muchly.

Ha

This once happened to me. I was hit in the head by an elderly lady with her walking stick. I was 8. She was mean. And yes, I did say in the head.

I've got that monday feeling

I've got that monday feeling, the, wow another week, another to-do list, and a total lack of free time, scary feeling. Makes me a tad emotional. Eek.

I love what I'm doing these days but I'm exhaaaausted. I am going to stay in and have some 'me' time. Something that doesn't involve being sociable.
Yes, monday night, hermit night.

I hope everyone has had a jolly good weekend?
Mine was fabulous and very nice.

Love xxx

A bit of belle & sebastian and a bit of life

Just back from running youth tonight and enjoying a little Belle & Sebastian while I attempt to reflect on my rather manic day. They've got a new album for 2010 which Spotify has nicely provided for my listening pleasure.

Today I got to do lots more organising, had meetings with 3 different people and got to visit some lovely friends at Gateway to do some planning for a great event. It's been exciting but seriously busy.

I think that before I was a Christian I always thought that Christianity was about rules, about doing the right thing. I've begun to see how wrong I was. (That tends to happen a lot tbh!) I know I can't always keep the rules and most of the time I fail at doing the right thing. Just like so many other humans, I think about myself, I see things wrong and I hurt people. So, to understand that's it's not by what I do that I get to call myself a Christian, but through Jesus and His loving sacrifice, is an incredible revelation. In the Bible it speaks of Jesus coming to bring life, and actually that's not just in terms of life again when we die and then are raised to life, it means life on this earth...

In Psalm 16 it says

"You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

You see, following Jesus brings fullness of life, freedom from insecurity, brokenness, and the general trappings of the world. It's not as if I go to church because I have to, but because I love to. I don't serve and spend a year working for the church because that's what is expected it's because I've been given life and that stirs in me a heart for something that 4 years ago I would've shunned and turned my nose up at.

Today was one of those days where you catch a glimpse of the fullness of life. Without trying to sound deep or poetic, I just saw some of the many benefits of knowing Christ, and knowing Him as a friend and not just a nice moral teacher who died 2000 years ago. That idea of Jesus could not be further from the truth.

And these things cause me to ponder, what will I get to do, or see, or be in my lifetime? What has been prepared for me to do? It's exciting because there is no other way, apart from Jesus that I would get to live the life I do, and I know it's not because of me.

In darkness and in light, in times of fog or in clarity, God is good and there have been several incredible blessings today, that remind me how good Jesus is. And though I shall never fully understand or comprehend, I know what I'm living for...