Summer of joy :-)

I feel like I have to blog because I feel that I need to keep up with updates and that I've read so many great ones from various themes and I continue to do so fervently, that I owe it to myself and everyone reading to do a quality blog entry.

Right now there are a few things occuring in life - as there always are so I ought to get on with the show!!

Today is the last day of June, so now we're officially over half way through the year! Wow. We had a mentally hot day last week, where everyone pretty much melted but that was a rarity amongst a month of torrential showers and cold weather. Now we're in a warm spell and the days just seem to melt away. Its a mere 15 days until Keswick and I'm well up for it!!

We had the Planning Day in London on Saturday and it was wonderful to see all of the familiar faces and hear people's news and also meet new team members (that always makes me feel a little bit old, as they're all 18ish)! I also love getting to grips with a bit of the Bible and its nice to work with it in a child-friendly way, so its nice and simple in my mind!
I've been planning and organising my little bit of the craft over the last couple of days and I'm looking forward to designing my cave with actual stone being rolled away (courtesy of the very-hard-to-find butterfly/split pins).

Some of the highlights of Keswick for me:
Sleeping in the dorm with all the other girls; late night chats, deciding what to wear each day and doing everything as a group.
Sense of community: everyone eating together and working together, having team meetings and prayer meetings, going out into town-there's always someone to go with!
The town of Keswick: wherever you go you can see majestic mountains, lots of cute tearooms and unique shops, great features and attractions and of course the Convention!

This year for the first time I'm looking forward to actually being a conventioner as I'm staying, with Ruth, for Wk 2. Should be great to be able to attend the main meetings, the seminars, the young people's programme and to see more of the town and the wonderful Lake District!
Derwentwater, about a 10 minute walk from where we stay, is an absolutely beautiful lake and it is a fantastic - and semi-traditional - way to start the Convention, to go and see the Lake. Here's a picture of it:

So that's Keswick....now to the wonderful world of Beauport Park! There've been some highs and lows over the past couple of weeks and, not that you're really that interested in that, so I'll give you a little taster....
O A romantic interest
O A "I'd never work with her again - and I'm 100% serious" episode
O Family troubles far away
O New staff
O A few nights at the bar and a lot of gossip
O Mistakes to be corrected, dark moods to be appeased, rumours to be quashed, jobs to be done, office politics to manouvre and friendships to deepen and so much more besides :-)

Right now I'm watching The Choir that Rocks and I love the idea of Rock Choir, wish we had one near to me cos I love to sing and with no audition required it would be absolutely awesome. Its a shame that they seem to have completely missed out the county of East Sussex when deciding locations! Should they reconsider in the future, then watch this space....maybe I'll suggest it!! It would be so great to have it in Hastings or even in Eastbourne or just anywhere near me!!!

Today was just a normal day at work, but it was given a very nice silver lining by the fact that I got paid 3 times over the course of the last 3 days. Get in!

Linked to that is the sense of infinite possibility (can be likend to the feeling that Harry Potter has when he drinks the Felix Felicis) that you feel when you see your bank balance the day after payday. I just feel impulsively drawn to booking a travelling trip; I have the money, I'll most likely have the time (especially with the off season in the winter) and now I have to find someone to go with / somewhere to go and just a plan in general.
I've got to do something before I turn 24!

So what are you all up to??? Lovely people whom I'm lucky enough to call my friends - and you know who you are - I wish the very best summer ever!! I'll probably be back with a pre-Keswick (aka crazy, manic, pre-departure/preparation) blog for 2 weeks away (one of which will be in a tent)!

Here's to July!

Taxies home in the rain and buying tickets for the train!

Hello people! Hope you're all well and haven't got colds bought on by the ridiculous weather we are currently enduring. I keep sitting there shivering and sniffing and thinking any day now I'm going to come down with a cold - or worse, the flu - in June. So far, luckily, I remain healthy despite the draughty caravan I work in.

Since I last blogged Mum and I have been to the Forces Festival in Amesbury and despite the bad weather and the car breaking down between Salisbury and Southampton, managed to enjoy the weekend. Here's a picture of the Human Pyramid perfomed by the Royal Signals motorcycle stunt display team The White Helmets.

So I am glorying today in a day off of work. Yes, that's right, an entire day off. Happy times. I do feel I need it after the events of Friday, Sunday and Tuesday.

So I went to work on Friday 9am - 6pm as is the usual for a Friday. I stayed for a drink after work, also not unusual. Except, I couldn't get away! Drinks kept flowing and we all kept drinking them and then at 11pm (knowing I had to the same hours the next day) I thought it would be a good idea to head home. The guys had promised me a taxi home - at their expense - if I stayed, so I did. So I got a nice warm, dry taxi the 0.4miles and 3mins to my house from work. Aren't they nice!?!? It was absolutely heaving down in the way that it can do only in the middle of summer - reminded me a bit of our Dubrovnik downpour, just without the danger of being swept in to the sea!!

So I was back in work the next day bright-eyed and bushy tailed. Sunday, on the other hand, was the day I felt the effects of Friday. That was not a good day. Enough said about that, the better.

So I'm back in work tomorrow, not sure if I'll stay for a drink though. We'll have to see...

I've also bought my tickets for the train for Keswick. A day return to London with my Young Persons (which runs out 3 days afterwards), a single to Stoke and then a single from Penrith all the way home. Lovely. That little lot cost me £105. This year we also have to have new tshirts and we have the option of hoodies for Kids Team. So I've just ordered a new polo shirt and a hoodie...now to see what they actually look like!!

So with all that, you'd think it was certain that I could actually be on team wouldn't you? Well not so fast!! The Keswick office had a few problems when it came to checking my reference and then I heard no more after a brief phone call with them. So I emailed Tom and basically asked if I was on Team or not. He said I could be, but we HAD to clarify somethings IMMEDIATELY, all surrounding my church attendance and spiritual life.
Basicaly that was very scary and I was like "what do I say, what do I do, argh, oh no..." etc etc. Then I decided that to save confusion, assumptions and all other issues I would just write the whole story down from start to end and email Tom the whole thing. So it was about 2.5 pages of A4 buuuut now Tom has read it, he understands me and my situation entirely. Obviously he has to check and make sure because we have access to young people and are charged with their care and spiritual education during Keswick. I'm glad now that I was honest, that Tom knows the whole story, that I can go to Keswick and that I trusted in God to sort the whole thing out!!

We have exactly one month until I get on the train and head for Stoke to overnight with Ruth and head up to Keswick the next day. Well excited! The Training Day in London is in 9 days time and I'm looking forward to seeing as many people as I can there. Its also nice that we kind of get the big catch up out of the way so that we can also focus when we arrive, on getting ready for the Convention.
I'm even more excited to stay for Wk2 and attend the convention as a conventioner, as I'll get to partake in everything. Happy times ahead.

As I draw this short entry to a close, I'd like to acknowledge how awesome God is: in whatever ways He chooses to act and that has been apparent very much so over this past couple of months. I am reminded that He knows the Big Picture of my life, not me, so to leave the worrying to Him is clearly the best thing to do.

Well I'll leave it there for now. Have a happy weekend.