Ma Baby...

Well not mine exactly, she was mine for a few mintues on Friday afternoon as I spent some time with her lovely family. Lydia is less than 3 weeks old at this point in time and I really look forward to watching her (and the whole family) grow up. It's like having 4 little sisters!

At this point Liz said 'Babies suit you'. I think I scared enough people for one night... One more photo!

joy

One of the joys of my job (apart from working in front of wimbledon) is being able to encourage teachers that I come across.

Last week when I was in MV, a different teacher than usual helped me out at Lunch time club. I see all the teachers quite regularly, but don't really interact with them becuase of the times I arrive and leave. So there we are talking about David, doing a bit of acting and finishing with Joshua 1 v 9.

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you will go"

What I didn't know was this teacher had been having a rough day. As we left the classroom she told me that school was not great for her at the moment, but that verse had refreshed her and she went off with a huge smile on her face.

The teacher who normally helps out was back this week and reminded me of what had happened last week, so I thought I'd share with you.

Happy Birthday!

Church had all their celebrations for the 40th anniversary of the newest building this weekend, so it's been busy, but much fun. It was lovely to see everyone dressed up and enjoying themselves.
This is a banner that the young people and children made a few weeks ago... they are amazingly talented.


As busy as it was I still found time to eat an entire chocolate cake to myself!

The sponge cake that Ann made, and yes it had little people all the way round the edge! It was amazing and tasted so so good!

And Ben, trying to be clever when we asked 'what is your favourite memory of St Hugh's?' But he actually got me thinking and it makes me smile when I'm having a hard time!

Home

I was at home at the weekend to celebrate Mandy's birthday. Went out for lunch and shopping... was very lovely to be home if it was just for a few hours. Set Dad up on Facebook too, or 'myface' or 'facespace' whatever. It's getting too busy.

The babies came back from Cambridge safely and Charlie (my white boy who has been mistaken for my son) was on parade today. I'm taking him out on Wednesday if I can get the biro ink off his face. - if what I just wrote has made no sense, check out here.

There is a real baby at church. Lydia Gendi was born at 23.14 last monday and is very very cute. I'm a long way down the matriarchal list when it comes to holding the new baby, but I do have the other 3 Gendi children to keep my busy. Liz knows all about that!

Next weekend St Hugh's celebrate 40 years in their current building with bouncy castle, pimms, chocolate, cocktails, worship and dinner. It's going to be a great weekend. I'm anticipating lots of dancing and being shattered.

Working Weekend

So I didn't work too much this weekend, but I still had to work. The young people spent some time creating a banner and a board for the church's 40th celebrations in two weeks time. Bless them they worked amazingly hard for a whole hour.

I'll take some pictures of what they produced, and I'm pretty sure the church will be impressed.

The world is a pretty dangerous place to live in, a policeman was stabbed and killed in Luton today... it's quite scary. But Luton is a big place and I happen to live a few miles away from the action. So I'm safe, and I'm amazed some days at how safe I feel.

raaah

Things that make me angry:

ER being bumped to 11pm for Big Brother.
I really hate it when good TV is moved...

Other things happening.

St Hugh's is amazing still, they are so good to me. They let the young people lead services, run lunches, get invovled in everyday church things. Life is so full on for them in a good way and they've got older people to back them up too.

Liz is back in Bristol and there has been a promise of a trip from my Essex buddies, I'm looking forward to it lots. Summer in Britain draws ever closer, but it's still a bit of a lottery when you wake up in the morning. Before you know it, it'll be gone and we'll be heading full on in to Autumn, but thats a bit too negative.