funky doo

an early monday update on sunday night!

the weekend that was: by Friday this week I was pretty knackered. It wasn't a much busier week than normal but it was more full of meetings than normal, and by that I mean the formal type with agendas and minutes and lists to work through and speaking through the chair etc. It's not run of the mill in my line of work. I talk about having 'meetings' with people but that's usually over coffee and cake (hmm, waist line explained there!!) and to mentor and relate with them and perhaps to plan an event or to talk through a parish issue or consider youth work developments. I don't enjoy meetings for meetings sake...but I survived this abnormal routine and was consequently wacked on my day off. Matilda and I skived Tumble Tots as she was pretty pooped too and then went to get Andy from work and stopped off at the Deli and had a cake and coffee (again, hmm, beginning to see a pattern!). Baggy came over (Matilda's godfather and our long time good friend) cos his wife was having a Murder Mystery party at their place and he wanted to escape.

Saturday was a last minute visit to IKEA (last minute because we didn't know I would be around this weekend) and we got there for breakfast and then did some good work planning our new bedroom layout and Matilda's new big bed for sometime soon. In the afternoon, Lewis and Evie came to hang out for the rest of the day and sleepover and the boys took the little girls to the park and the farm, leaving me for some chill time and to do some baking.

As you can see later, we watched The Devil wears Prada and ate carrot cake (Hmm, again) and today has been a nice Sunday with good food, friends, chill time and no Giraffe (which is good and weird...)

where i am at the moment: in the lounge, on a different lap top. The ongoing saga of the Diocesan office IT server means I get easily stressed with my work laptop so have left it alone for a night! I'm watching Celebrity Come Dine with Me, loada rubbish but mindless enough to have on in the background. In fact, as I read through this post, I have now switched over to God TV and am watching a Soul Survivor festival talk with Mike Pilavachi, much more effective and imparting!!

on my to-do list this week: I'm on annual leave from Wednesday so I have loose ends to tie up during the next 2 days, like expense claims and the flipping funding applications which I still haven't got done. I'd like to have the desk clear by Tuesday night - might need to make some space in the cupboard to shove stuff away til next Monday!

procrastinating about: doing anything this evening to be honest. Just mooching and feeling a bit sorry for myself with no Essential Calling weekend and also our Giraffe youth group cancelled...but it's because I'm not very good at being bored and I need to enjoy the time off and with nothing pressing...

book i’m in the midst of: Plunged straight into the Phillipa Gregory when I got it back from the library on Monday last. It's good/Okay; I've read this particular trilogy in the wrong order so I have some benefit of foresight but it's all a bit of a romp so far. I'm hoping for some plot as well as boobs and all that!

music that seemed to catch my attention this past week: Andy and I both went 'ooohh' when we heard Gary Go's 'Wonderful' track on Radio 2 and 1 today. Have downloaded it from Itunes and we feel some teaching coming on based on it's fantastic lyrics...watch out CGC youth!!

next trip: as I said, I'm off on Wednesday til Sunday, visiting my parents in Surrey and then off to Bath until Saturday. Not sure what to expect about that trip really - as an extension of our Discipleship Group it's going to be fun, intense, challenging and stuff. However, it holds mixed feelings too as things are not as they were and there's a missing element to what the group could and should have been when this time away was first planned.

stuff I'm into on TV/films right now: enjoyed The Devil wears Prada last night with Andy and Lewis and started watching 'Over the Hedge with the little girls this afternoon. They fidgeted too much so we gave up about 15 minutes in!! Strangely, I'm also enjoying Peppa Pig aswell right now - it has a number of different levels which are quite amusing for the adult viewer! That's quite an admittance isn't it!!

how i’m feeling about this week: kinda just want it to start. It's 9pm and I'm ready for bed. I always feel a bit sapped on a Sunday afternoon. Not sure why it's a more snoozy time than other afternoons...we don't always eat huge lunches and stuff! I'm looking forward to some time out as the week goes on, and seeing my parents and sister who I haven't seen for ages - but as I mentioned before, I also know that it won't be entirely relaxing as we do some in depth ministry with our pastors and friends.

the monday update gets later and later...

the weekend that was: it didn't start well. After a meeting on Thursday about our Essential Calling vocations weekend (13-15 Feb) we had to make the decision to cancel because we just didn't have enough numbers. I was hugely gutted and disappointed...firstly cos I still haven't managed to go on one of these events (this should have been the 3rd, last year's was cancelled due to different half term dates across the Diocese and the one before that I was on maternity leave) and secondly cos I had really enjoyed preparing the sessions and getting things together to help young people think about where God might be calling them in life. This was to be the real deal of this job, why I do what I do, getting alongside young people, journeying with them as they explore their calling and God's destiny for them. Youth advising is all very well but getting into the nitty gritty is why I'm passionaite about this particular job at this particular time. This event was to enable young people to explore but also to support youth leaders who could 'send' their young people away and as we all know, residentials get more done in 48 hours than a whole term's worth of Sunday nights.

So on Sunday and Monday, I had to make phonecalls and email people to let them know the event was off...It definitely affected my mood and the weather with it's coldness and yukkiness didn't help. However, the Equipping session on Saturday morning was a wake up call and kept me motivated, great to see people back for year 2 and (despite the cold) enthusiastic about what we were teaching.

Andy was on a Men's Conference with church, playing in the band and hanging out with the guys. Titled 'Clearing out the Clutter' he came home with lots to think about and chew on. We had a curry night in on Saturday with our friend Lewis. Sunday took it's usual pattern of church, hanging out at home (with Karen and Shaun this time!) followed by GIraffe and considering the Woman caught in Adultery and Jesus response to sin. (from a great resource from Scripture Union called Substance)

where i am at the moment: in the office...doing some financial accounting, downloading some of the Proost resources which I get free cos of my subscription and getting print outs done for meeting tomorrow morning.

on my to-do list this week: less work than I expected to have this week, because of Essential Calling being cancelled. I'm taking the opportunity to keep on top of admin and filing at home. Essentially Be for 14-18's at the Be Conference is now not long away and I had a planning meeting for that yesterday so I'm following up on the decisions made and starting to prepare my Bible input on 1Peter 1. I also have some funding applications to do in connection with our training course which will help us plan for future events and get our resources and equipment up to scratch...that's amazing, 2 financial items in my to do list, pretty unheard of!!

procrastinating about: doing the ironing. it my worst job and I hate doing it, although I hate having hardly any choice of clothes so I should just get on with it...will need to sky+ tonight and just switch off and iron. left, right, stretch...it's almost exercice!

book i’m in the midst of: returned to the library this week and got out the Phillipa Gregory Wideacre book which I haven't read yet - I've done that trilogy in the wrong order but it doesn't seem to matter. I also started 'Jesus wants to save Christians' by Rob Bell in the bath the other day which is pretty meaty stuff and will be taken slowly I think!! Especially if it gets stolen by Andy - it's currently on his side of the bed ("just looking" he says)

music that seemed to catch my attention this past week: We've started to listen to BBC 6 radio on digital and it's very ecletic, I have a list of tracks to download while I'm on the computer...Noah and the Whale, some Temptations stuff and Florence and the Machine - awesome!!

next trip: we're away next week in half term, visiting my parents and having a couple of nights in Bath as an extended Discipleship group with our pastors, Trevor and Susie. Should be fun and relaxing, but I never like leaving Matilda. She will be with my mum and dad and be oblivious to how much we miss her!!

stuff I'm into on TV/films right now: Around the world in 80 faiths on BBC2 is brilliant, as is Christianity: A History. I am learning so much, feel very liberated by it too. Ann Widdecombe's perspective on the Reformation made me want to go back to Uni and do history. I have a secret addiction to America's next top model too, which is quite a confession. However, I do forward through it to the 'arty' bits as Andy calls them!!

how i’m feeling about this week: I'm looking forward to having some time off next week. It's been a frustrating week so far - with cancellations and stuff and pointless meetings today which I find infruriating. I was in a bad mood by 1pm today and it's still hanging around...quite unlike me really! Tomorrow is a meeting day again which doesn't bode well but I do get to have a cuppa at the end of it with my friend Emma which will always be enjoyable. Finally, I need to appreciate the free weekend I have been gifted with and we are planning a 'FUN with the SMITHS' day on Saturday!! probably incorporating a trip to Marsh Farm and Ikea! Yay!

Also, by this time next week, the new Colchester Area Youth Adviser will be in post which will be great, to have a full team and someone to rant with, give Andy P a break!!

tuesday monday morning update

the weekend that was: once again, a full one in many ways! I'd had more of a normal week last week as our American guests headed off to Cambridge for a few days before their conference in Derby. They were to return on Sunday before heading off the Heathrow yesterday (yes, yesterday!) I had a busy day off on Friday with Tumble Tots and then my friend Emma came over with her daughter, also 2, and we did some measuring and designing for our bedroom which we hope to do this side of 2011! On Saturday, I had been invited back to deliver Child Protection training to the team of Chelmsford Street Pastors as I did last year. This time, however, because my Andy is in training with them and has as much expertise (if not more!) than me, we delivered the training together, which was fun, weird and something we haven't done together for a while. While Andy stayed on for the afternoon session, I went off with Emma again (who had had M for me) to look at fabrics and to generally mooch around Chelmsford. We had a lovely catch up early dinner with our godchildren and their parents and then Andy headed off for his shift as a Street Pastor from 10pm-4am in Chelmsford.

Sunday - we all got a lie in! Our church couldn't meet in the town hall as normal because of the Pantomime so we had an evening Baptism service instead at another church that has a full immersion pool. It was great to have 2 of our GIraffe young people being baptised and hearing their testimony and being able to pray and speak words of Scripture for them. During the day we had got lots of chores done, had naps, eaten random food as leftovers and generally enjoyed family time. The evening at church capped it all off and we returned home to have a Thai take out with David and Brandy who had got home safely, in some snow, from Derby!

So, without going into too much details - D&B ended up heading off for Heathrow yesterday in their hire car instead of me driving them. They missed their flight by 40 minutes (it took them 4 hours to get there anyway) but were put on a flight that left about 4pm yesterday afternoon and we hope to hear they are back in Knoxville (which also has snow!!) by about 3pm our time today. Having had them with us, on and off for 2 weeks, it feels strange not having a full house. Mixed feelings too about them going back to Knoxville and them seeing Jack and Emily and us not getting to go aswell!

where i am at the moment: in the office in my Pj's still. I had a day at home yesterday (which is normal for me!!) but with Andy and Matilda too as schools were all closed. I am pleased to report that I managed to get all my filing done yesterday and am now in fine fettle to tackle some projects that I have been putting off because my filing was growing and I couldn't find anything. No excuses now!! While I did that boring stuff, M and A had fun in the garden!!

on my to-do list this week: Be conference prep for meeting next week. Equipping session 7 last minute details although we have cancelled the session tonight due to the weather. Trying to finish off grant applications for training money to help us through the next year. Also, just bits and pieces that come in which I will need to respond to asap.

procrastinating about: getting dressed

book i’m in the midst of: Finished Jodi Picoult on Sunday afternoon - amazing! Now working my way through the 'house and home' magazines that Emma brought me last week, searching for inspiration for our bedroom!

music that seemed to catch my attention this past week: Had Seth Lakeman on repeat on ITunes while filing yesterday.

next trip: nothing til next weekend 13-15 February.

how i’m feeling about this week:I feel a bit bereft if I'm honest. House full to very quiet in the space of a few hours really. It was lovely having A and M home yesterday and getting brought tea and biccies at various intervals. I miss people when they are not here, but I know I need to make the most of the time I have today and enjoy my own (and God's) company. I'll appreaciate having got lots done when the next crazy week comes round!