I found this on my friend's blog! Well it is Valentine's Day and I was honest. I think I am a reformed character now! H xx

Your Kissing Purity Score: 31% Pure

You're not one to kiss and tell... But word is, you kiss pretty well.

Kissing Purity Test

A Day Off!

Firstly I thought I would share this very silly picture of me and James. This was taken by the Bat Tower at Toys Hill in Kent about five minutes after he proposed. Yes he was wearing that silly hat!
Today is a day off that I have treated myself to. I am supposed to be tidying but I slept in, checked email, spent time on the 'confetti' message board - they are addictive, and I've only started one argument about getting married in church if you don't believe in God: Confetti Message Board I'm sorry if my reasoning is wrong so please feel free to comment!
I've also finished and submitted a job application to Croydon Council. So no more excuses, I must delve into the murkiness of my room armed with binbags and Hoover.
Feeling better in myself at the moment. I think God is saying stuff about prayer and church, had random dream and other stuff keeps coming up. James has also started listening to God, and is open to being more influenced by Him. Things are looking up. H xx

Nice Things

Good things happened yesterday including:

• a man letting me on the train first because I was a woman - now I don't neccessarily agree with Ladies First but it was good to see old fashioned manners at work.
• Getting my normal train home, even though all the trains were messed up at Vauxhall.
• Going to the gym - and blitzing my workout. I need to start shifting pounds of the weighty sort rather than the monetary sort.
• Seing Helen S and giving baby Toby a cuddle. He is turning more and more into a little person all the time.
• Having two hours to myself in front of the TV watching trashy TV without James complaining. I know that 'America's next Top Model' is not intellectually challenging but it is good enetertainment!
• Booking Friday off work!

Let's hope the weekend is good too. I'm hoping with Friday to sort stuff out and tidy the house I can relax, which I really really need. H x

Monday Monday.......

I hate Mondays, they creep up on you every week with stealth and cunning and attack you like a cold blast of air, with the intrusive sound of the alarm that has fallen silent for two days. Today arrived with a headache, a left over from last night and I fear my rugby game in the afternoon - what am I doing to my body on that pitch? It's also James' 24th birthday so trying to be bright, breezy and excited at 7 am on a Monday whilst making tea, feeding the cat and fighting a tin of salmon to give up its contents so that I can stick to my diet this lunchtime were difficult. James opened some of his presents with is family yesterday - which I say is cheating - so the four cards and two small presents looked rather meager this morning. My parents had bought him a smart Worcester Rugby tie, and I bought him a smart pocket sized bible. He asked for this because his other one is rather cumbersome and not commuter friendly. He seemed to like it in its smart black and silver leather cover.
It means now that we can now put into action some of Katy's points from her sermon last night about becoming a People of Faith: Let God in, by simply asking, Tell Everyone, Christian and Non-Christian, Know God, by reading the Bible LOTS, Listen to God, take the time to do so and Live for God - Just Do It. Sounds easy! I'm looking forward to giving it a go...
Anyway lets hope the rest of the week starts better, if only the train could run on the time and the bus not be so slow..............
H x

Decisions Decisions

My sister Alice came to Visit this weekend which was really nice. It was good to see her and she's enjoying her new job at Leukemia Care a national charity based at home in Worcester.
One of the purposes of her visit, other than to say hi, was to try and start to get me thinking in an organised way about the wedding. This started with me getting into a flap on Friday, after a panicky call to a well know 'Bridal Shop' in Croydon. I thought 15 months was plenty of time to plan a wedding and it is but 'Bridal Shop' made me panic.
So Alice made me start thinking about what I want from my wedding, with some handy notes from Mum too. We went to the reception venue so Alice could take pictures and she asked all the right questions about the stage and lighting etc.
Saturday afternoon was hilarious - we were too late to book an appointment at any wedding dress shop - so we meekly went to Debenhams wedding department and peered at the sorry array of 10 or so dresses and the little note blu tacked to the rail saying you needed an appointment. We shuffled forward and actually took a dress down from the rail. Sweat broke out and amongst much giggling we RAN. We tried on some formal dresses, mine made me look like I'd lived in a dark cave for years and Alice's made her arse look like a badly parked Volkswagen! So disaster all round.
Over a civilised and size free coffee we made decision about colours for all my bridesmaids, and for James and Doug's waistcoats. We picked a theme-thread to run through the day and the style of the day I wanted.
Excited we ran home to tell James who grunted and went to play PS2 over the road!
But still decisions have been made. 3 out of 5 Bridesmaids have been asked and accepted and I'm going home in a couple of weeks to try on dresses and face my worst nightmare: "The National Wedding Show: Bridezilla returns!"

More on Walk Thru the Old Testament

Walk Thru the Old Testament
This is the organisation that organised the Walk Thru the Old Testament. It was billed as a day to help you understand the main people, places and events of the Old Testament. I was quite keen on this because I spend quite a lot of time in the New Testament - Gospels of Jesus and after - and inwardly groan when someone suggests reading anything from the Old Testament which is Creation to 400 B.C.
It was a day of interactive learning. The story of the Old Testament, or the histories, runs from Genesis to Esther. All the other stuff runs in parallel, not in series. Which makes sense. The day taught us hand signals for the story and keywords for every book.
One of the main aims of the day was to encourage us to go and put the 'meat' of the stories on the bones we had learnt by reading the Bible everyday. At the moment I am encouraged and trying to work through the 30 day plan from the seminar book. Now I have the events and people straight in my head the whole thing seems less daunting.
In reply to Aeileish I don't know how much is fact and how much is allegory but I believe that the main events are historical and therefore factual. God is the same God yesterday, today and forever but Jesus changed the way humans deal with Him. I'll learn more as I read and get back to you!
H x

Blinked and Missed It

I think I missed this weekend! Well I missed the resting bit anyway.
TGIF was awesome, the kids have turned a corner, they listened and interacted well. I did my 'God Spot' bit and got a spontaneous round of applause. Thank You God for your inspiration and support. I couldn't have done it without you.

On Saturday I walked through the Old Testament. It was wonderful, I get it now and I can't wait to walk through the New Testament to complete the story. All the big scary murkiness of the 39 books of the Old Testament has been lifted and now I want to get in there to fill out the details of this amazing story.

Felt God was close again this evening. Guest Preacher at church induced 'get out there and DO IT' feeling. I guess I should talk to someone about this it could be BIG. I feel like I know that God it too big to be put inside this box called Church and that I need to be a Passionate Christian. But HOW? Well that is the question ...

I love this picture. This guy Craig Gilles plays for Worcester. He is an awesome 7' something tall. I like the way he is head and shoulders above everythign else here like he is in his own special world, and the only thign that matters is the ball. Wow.

Tired

This week has been irksome. I've been fairly busy, well busy out of work anyway.

Monday the cat went to the vet for her jab, she was fine but it's the first time I've had the pleasure and I had to do it on my own. There was a family there with their elderly Dog who was about to be put down. Their sadness was written on their faces and it got to me a bit.

Tuesday was a perfect example of me trying to fit too much into too little time. I got back from work early and decided to do the Tesco shop. It was easy enough but the new diet means shopping quite carefully. I got back home 45 minutes before I was due back out the door for a Rugby Players meeting. In that time I unpacked, with James' help, then decided to cook too. I didn't have time to eat before I went the meeting so when I got back at 9 I had 45 minutes to myself before going to do an overnight shift at the homeless shelter at church. I have no idea how I managed to stay awake.

Wednesday was a day of sleeping till half past one then washing up, which neither James or I had done for three days. Then I went to the cinema with my godmother and three of her four wonderful daughters. I would recommend 'Memoirs of a Geisha' to all who enjoy love and art. James and I also managed to squeeze some US time in to he evening and actually prayed together.

Yesterday was rugby and tonight is TGIF - Friday night youth group at church for 11 to 14s. I am doing 'The Spot' this evening which is the 15 minute slot to try and impart some sort of message to 30 or so assembled kids, a few of whom are intent on causing havoc. I think I have it sorted but we'll see. I just hope that the kids will begin to want to know more about God, and that God will help me to share His message.

So that was my week. My job is frustrating at the moment. The funding runs out in two and a half months and the PCT have not yet chosen to share whether we are getting more money. This means I can't start anything big, and it's driving me nuts. Again this is a situation I need God to step into soon.

Sorry for the BIG massive long post. Please feel free to comment if you're reading this, no matter who you are. H x

Birthday Girl

A short post cos it's late.
Today was my birthday. I have now reached the grand age of Twenty Six. I had a fairly low key day, but I shared it with good friends and a good chocolate cake! I know cake goes against my diet but if you can't eat cake on your birthday when can you!
I once again realised how lucky I am to have people who care about me around me.
Right must sleep, reality returns tomorrow.
H x