New Wine 2011

We've just returned from another amazing week at New Wine. 12000 people gathering on an agricultural showground turned camp site/Christian conference. An opportunity to come together with people from my church, with Christians from around the Central South Wast Region, a chance to spend time with God, further away from the distractions of every day life.

 

I love New Wine.

 

Put aside the noise, and the queues for the showers, the variable quality of the loos (including more queues) and the lack of sleep (caravan helped but the site is only quietish between midnight and 6).

 

Focus on time with God, time to praise Him through sung worship, prayer and silence. Time to learn more about Him, through good quality bible teaching. Time to be encouraged ( He really does love me just as I am, and is pleased with me, His beloved daughter), time to be challenged (about creating balance between solitude, community and mission, about being true to the person He wants me to be, about working in a job that leaves me vulnerable to attack so I need His protection daily, and so much more).

 

Time to give to my relationship with Him. And time for friendships, old and new, to talk, to be honest, to say sorry, to recommit to Him, and to my community.

 

I have been blessed, and I have been used - spiritually and practically - more blessings.

 

I'm not naive - I will fail to follow through on much of this - but I am renewed, and energised, and have new insights and knowledge.

 

So as I plow through the washing, and as we unpack and sort and put away, I will give thanks to my Lord, the God of the Universe.

Normal service resumed

I debated deleting my last post but thought that would only confuse folk - have had a good night sleep and am no longer feeling sorry for myself - thank you for indulging me :)

Home alone.....again

So this is a bit of a self pity post - but I'm sitting home alone.....again.

 

We got home from Egypt on the sunday, Paul went to New York on the monday. He stayed there for 12 days, getting home on friday, was horribly jet lagged saturday and sunday (imagine physically present but mentally absent) and today he's gone to Manchester. Now its only for one night, he'll be back tomorrow, late tomorrow, and as at one point we thought it was 2 nights this is marginally better. But he'll be back up there 2 nights next week. And I'm fed up with it :(

 

And whilst I have had company some of the time, Sarah is currently in Guernsey (having a fabulous time) and PJ is at work. I could've invaded some friends tonight but I had a very early start to be in Southampton by 9 this morning, and had some work to do... and I'm probably only feeling sorry for myself because I'm tired. But I decided that a little moan wouldn't hurt and would probably do me some good as a vent, and I'm about to eat chocolate and then have an early night, so I'm sure normal service will be resumed soon.

 

Egypt

At 4 am this morning Paul and I arrived back from a week in Egypt, staying at a glorious hotel in Sharm El Sheikh, by the Red Sea. We dithered for ages about going away, wondering if it was worth the money, and decided only about a month ago that it was, that unless we went away we wouldn't switch off from the world and relax, have some time to invest in us.

So with this, and some guaranteed sunshine, as our goal, we booked into an all inclusive hotel, for a reasonable amount of money, but encouraged that we weren't being too extravagant by Val and Ivor, who had a lovely holiday in Scotland for about the same amount of money (they had 2 weeks but were camping)

Apart from a very cramped, noisy flight we had a fantastic time. The weather was wall to wall sunshine, daytimes of 34C, dropping to maybe 28C overnight. Every day beautiful blue skies, spent lazing by the pool, or the beach, reading, listening to music or talks, or just chilling, swimming, or in Paul's case snorkelling.

Evenings started with a glass (or two) or champagne (ok Paul - the heathen - drank beer) followed by a lovely meal, then sitting out on the terrace, chatting over a glass (or two - do you see a pattern!!) of brandy - putting the world to rights or planning future holidays ( that safari we've been talking about for ages, a villa in Italy with kids and whatever co they have), talking of friends, family, life.

Decent sleep in a lovely room with aircon and blackout curtains and a seaview.

Lovely people, nothing too much trouble, who remember what you like to drink......

I'll gloss over the evening wasted by the stomach bug, even though I was very very careful.......

Paul had an amazing trip up Mount Sinai but wrecked his feet with blisters and aching muscles, I had a lovely manicure...I do feel a little guilty that I didn't venture outside the resort but maybe next time. This time was for chilling.

And I feel rested, and that our marriage has benefited from this investment, we, Paul in particular, have been very busy, and he flies to New York for nearly 2 weeks tomorrow, and this is how we chose to live but its important to give 'us' time too.

And of course I missed home, and the kids, who coped amazingly without us, and I'm glad to be home, and whilst I'd rather have another week off, I'm happy to go back to work tomorrow. This time last year it was very different.

So I have much to be very grateful for. Photos to follow..

Blogging?

I follow a number of blogs- friends, family, children, some near, some far. Most (like me) blog intermittently. I love reading them - I love the insight into their days and weeks, to know some of what is on their hearts and minds, it helps me think of them, and pray for them. Some are more prolific than others. And this caused me to a) write a new blog myself and b) use it as a gentle prompt (not to be misconstrued as a nag :P ) to said people to blog themselves :)

 

So what is happening in my life? Work is going well, ignoring my part is some toe trodding last week (not deliberate - far from it, but as someone said maybe new teams entering 'storming' phase). I genuinely enjoy this job, the work I get to do, the people I work with, the amazing kids and families.

 

Sarah is done - completely done, in a week. She's waiting for a job, hopefully peacefully, cos we are, God has a plan.

 

PJ comes home tomorrow for the summer - I'm sure he'll be busy but I'm really looking forward to it.

 

Hannah is still busy busy, started new placement.

 

Paul is mega busy too (he's working at the moment!) but we're going out for a meal tonight and in 2 weeks we'll be in a plane on our way to Egypt and lots of sun sea and sand :D

 

So all ticking along nicely - which I've realised is when I tend not to blog, but I enjoy hearing nice things happening in other people's lives so you may too....

 

Phew!

The last 10 days have been the most intense I've had to experience for a long time. If you've read my previous post you'll know one of  the reasons, I was glad that I could be there for his parents, although when they asked me to give the tribute I nearly crumpled completely. Because I also had a huge exam on tuesday and I could not see how I could manage to do both. Which was the point......

So I said yes, and spent time talking to his parents, and lots of their friends. And I revised and practised and then revised and practised some more. The bank holiday weekend disappeared in a blur.

On sunday, at church in the evening I had time to cry a little for this young man, and time to lean on God, and hear him whisper that the point was that not only could I not do these two things in my own strength I wasn't meant to - I could only do them in His strength.

And on tuesday I spent 2 hours being observed and questioned on my assessment skills, and early on wednesday I discovered I'd passed.

A few hours later I attended his funeral and did my bit and his parents were happy with what I did - I think I did him justice.

And now I'm really relieved and I have a lovely weekend to relax and sunbathe. But I am aware that for his parents this is just the beginning....

 

sad.......

Yesterday a little boy I had the privilege of knowing for 6 of his 7 years, died. It was time, some might say more than time. He had been poorly for so very long, but even on the day that turned out to be his last, he smiled, he enjoyed stories, he welcomed his family. And then he left, very very simply, leaving everyone reeling with shock, even though we knew we should have been expecting it.

 

But I wanted to remember him, and record somewhere, how special he was, I will forever remember his smile and his gorgeous curls. And to say how amazing his parents are. They have walked an impossible tightwalk, between doing everything that made his life as free from symptoms as possible, and not doing too much, or too little. And they did it with love and care and humour.

 

So in what have been the 2 most difficult days of my new job (so far), I can say that I wouldn't have been anywhere else, that I am very grateful that I was there, at his 'parting' and afterwards for his parents. And that I hope that I helped. I think it did. My hope is that I was able to be God's presence in that place. That I was able to walk as Jesus walked.

 

And I know there will be more days like this - it is inevitable in this job. Which makes me very grateful for all the people who have carried me (and the family) in prayer. Thank you.