First day off!!!

Alarm went off at 8 and I snoozed it til Lewis called to say he was setting off which meant I had 45minsish to get ready. Very excited to see Lewis and his new car!! Changed my contact lenses today (thats for my record, unless you are particularly interested in my eyes….) About 50mins later I saw him pull up and bounced outside to say hello and stroke the car which is very nice!!! Lewis came in and i finished getting ready – he straightened the back of my hair for me coz i apparently had missed a bit!

We then went to pick up Matt and SammyJ because they were too lazy to walk to us and went to church for 10am. Very weird being in a car with Lewis driving! Went to Billericay Baptist Church which was where the Baptism was last week. Was a nice service, few people came up and said hi which was nice. We gave Matt and SammyJ a lift back and went for a short drive, came down Norsey Road with insanely big houses on it!! We were home by 12 which NEVER happens back in Braintree!

Beth cooked an amazing Roast Dinner while I caught up with all the news from Braintree, how can so much happen in one week?! Rich (Beth and Stephens son) came for dinner too so we were hearing very interesting stories of his time in Uganda. Also how small a world it is as Rich is now living with a guy Lewis studied with in Cambridge!

By the time we had finished dinner and sat down for a cup of tea it was about time for Lewis to go I tried to persuade him to stay longer but he wasn’t having any of it! Oh well, was really nice to see him! Love you x

Spent the rest of the afternoon on my laptop playing about and chatting to a couple of people, watched a programme about Thomas Hardy which was quite interesting. Uploaded some photos of Lewis and Me onto Facebook.

Been packing stuff tonight ready for the residential training week this week in St Marks, Saffron Walden (where I had my interview). Should be a good week, if i can stay sane!! Not sure if I will be able to keep my blog updated, so forgive me if you don’t hear from me for a while!

*Hope. We have a hope, a certainty of Heaven through Jesus Christ*

So i set my alarm for 10am, thinking i would be awake long before….I woke at 10am when my alarm went off! Dragged myself out of bed at 10.30 with a headache. Showered, dressed, had some toast, hung my washing out etc whilst practicing being a chav and rehearsing my lines!

Rachel picked me up at 12.30 and we picked up Ollie and made our way over to Southend. Arrived about 1.15, met Den there. The church building had lots of rooms and the main hall was really lovely. We set up our table of literature, both Rachel and I have slight OCD over symmetry and leaflets being straight etc. I was shocked to discover that the change in the cash tin was i any old compartment, so separated it all out into it’s proper places! Had a cuppa and prayed as people started coming in.

(Ok maybe i should explain the event…It was basically all the yuoth and childrens workers from churches in the area and the point of the meeting was to equip and resource them for youth and children’s work.)

We found a room to rehearse while Ollie was running round with cables and testing mics and powerpoints. Got changed into my chav clothes and waited in the corridor for our moment! Den was speaking and his introduction for us was very long! The performance went well, although i was convinced I said a line wrong apparently I didn’t and it was all very good, hurrah!! Den continued speaking and we slipped in at the back after changing out of costume. Then there was a Q&A session and a chat about what Viz-A-Viz does. Then there was a tea break in which our table was flooded with people wanting literature and to buy the book and DVD at special offer rate of £5 for both! Rachel manned the cash tin and i did the writing down!

Then was the workshops; there were several on puppets, music, art, God’s play, Den did a discussion session and we did a Drama workshop. We had 10adults and started off with a warm up session and then made them come up with a story from the sentence ‘Boris was driving in his car when all of a sudden on his dashboard appeared…’ Very imaginative stories involving a wasp and being arrested, and a very surreal one with lots of doors and stairs that went nowhere…hmm…

Then the groups were given a Bible story to act out in a way of their choosing, we had the Good Samaritan, football field styley, and an amusing version of the Prodigal Son! Lastly we introduced a simple sketch called ‘Life, What’s it all about?’ involving one narrator and as many people as you like acting out the sketch. Its very effective! After the workshops we all went to have dinner together, under strict instructions not to sit with anyone you knew! I had interesting conversations with people about what i was doing, youth and childrens work in their churches, holidays and Comic Sans Font…thanks to Rob the Graphic Designer!

By the time we packed up and came home it was about 8pm and now i’m just in my room writing this!!

Very excited to see Lewis’s new car tomorrow (And Lewis of course!), woo day off!!!

Felt a bit better this morning but didnt eat anything.

Worked on some lines this morning, completing ‘All About Abi’ hurrah! Walked to Sainsbury to get myself some cuppa soup that i really fancied. Spent the afternoon watching Catherine Tate to practice being a chav, and rehearsing the sketch for tomorrow.

Went to Lakeside with Rachel after work, was good and didn’t buy anything!!

Now just having a lazy evening, feel really tired!! I’m housesitting and cat sitting tonight. Feel a bit sick so may just go to bed soon!!!

So back to the office today.

Learning lines this morning then it all sort of when downhill. Felt a bit sick but thought I was hungry except eating didnt help (the apple doughnut was lovely though thanks Rachel!) and i spent most of the afternoon running downstairs and sitting by the toilet…lovely.

Came home early and was sick. Stayed in my room for a few hours, well Beth pretty much refused to let me out until the kids went to bed…heehee. I’m not allowed anything except water until i’m better!

Found out I am actually performing on Saturday morning in Southend so gotta do some practising tomorrow!!

So now i’m babysitting Evie and Euan while everyone is out celebrating Stephen’s 60th Birthday.  Oh my goodness Hollyoaks…well technically tomorrows Hollyoaks…..nooooo!!!!

Sorry for the lack of interestingness in todays entry, but staring down a toilet isnt especially interesting!

Lay in today!!!! But i was awake at 6.38…doh! Rachel picked me up at 8.55am and we picked up Ollie from his house and Ami from the station. Off we went to the Barn. Yes this truly is an amazing place in amazing grounds with lots of random statues. Inside are lots of very random and distracting pictures!

So there are 3 retreat days in a year where all of the Viz-a-Viz Ministries people meet. So this was the first time I met the 2nd years and the church based people. We started off with some Worship and then a kind of introduction to all the various ministries of Viz-A-Viz which was realy interesting, they do so much!! Found out plans for a youth event INSIDE chelmsford cathedral involving skate ramps! We had a time of prayer in twos, and later on walking around praying for all the various ministries and people. Lunch was at 1pm by which time everyone was starving and our stomachs were rumbling loudly, especially during the quiet times! Then the afternoon was a little education on ‘More To Life’, and we discussed a question, well I wrote all the notes while everyone else watched and talked about other things! We had a time of worship and communion and then Kathryn (who has done 2 years with Optimum, and is about to go off to Spurgeons college to train to be a baptist minister) spoke which was really good. The chairs were really squeaky which was especially awkward/amusing when everyone sat down ‘remaining in a state of worship’ *SQUEAK, SHUFFLE, CREAK*

Then a group of us (La Roche – Taste’s DJ, Matt – Taste’s Drummer, SammyJ (Gammy) – Taste’s Bassist, Keel – Taste’s Techie, Claire – Taste’s lead vocals, Rachel, Ollie, Ami and Jenni (second year optimum students), Dan – techie, Paul (not sure who he was!) and me) went bowling. It was fabulous fun, involved me getting laughed at, ridiculed and entirely surrounded by the taste boys who thought it was hilarious! Randomly you only give one shoe in when you get your bowling shoes…so of course there would be one who lost their one shoe they had to look after…Dan! I got two strikes in a row – my moment of glory but then it kinda went downhill, though i beat a few boys first time round

Came home and had chilli and rice. Settled down to watch Hollyoaks on E4+1…steph, what were you thinking?!?! Watched ‘Lost in Austen’ on ITV1 which was actually pretty good!

Bedtime now….

*1 Corinthians 3:5-9 ‘What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.’*