Maddie (my 3yr old niece) has come to stay tonight! I painted her toenails and fingernails, we read stories, she used my bath confetti, drank milk and ate chocolate on the sofa and snuggled up in bed to more stories and songs. I had to take the clock out of the room because it was too noisy and change the light because it was buzzing. She wouldn’t go to sleep unless I stayed with her. She fell asleep just after 9pm.

I’m sleeping on the floor next to her so lets hope she doesn’t fall out in the middle of the night! I’m hoping I don’t sneeze and wake her up. Also hoping she has a lie in in the morning…not expecting much though!

Last night Lois stayed over and we had a proper girlie sleepover. It was wonderful! I loved chatting and giggling with her…she totally understands me, its great! She went at 9am this morning and then I’ve had a bit of a lazy day. Went to visit my nan in Braintree and then off to meet Tim at Costa. We haven’t seen each other in probably a year and it was great to catch up and talk about anything and everything!

I miss having conversations with friends outside of Viz. Especially talking about Jesus and Church and opinions on things. I guess I get a bit wrapped up in Viz and everyone there…it’s really good to talk to people out of the bubble!

This seems to be becoming a Christmas Tradition.

I started to feel a bit yuck Christmas Eve, then woke up with a sore throat on Christmas Day, then sniffles on Boxing Day, then the whole lot this morning.

It’s ok though, hasn’t affected the festive celebrations! Christmas Eve was busy getting everything done and visiting my nan in Braintree, then Christmas Day was Church in the morning and Sarah, Matt, Emi and Maddie came round for dinner and the afternoon. Boxing Day we went to see my nan in Ongar and today we’ve been to London to see the lights.

It’s been a good few days spending time with family. I quite enjoy the kind of days that only happen round Christmas…where it’s perfectly ok to sit down in the afternoon and watch TV and it’s fine to just eat all day long!

The next few days will be a bit busier, and then it’s up to Lowestoft on New Year’s Eve for a party and for Dan and Jen’s Wedding on the 2nd Jan. I can’t wait!

So I’ve been pretty rubbish at blogging lately…I hope to fill in the gaps as and when I have time!

Its Christmas Eve Eve…I’ve made gift tags but have run out of enthusiasm to wrap presents. Me and mum made mince pies and sausage rolls this morning, a true Christmas tradition. I then had an opticians appointment and am hopefully back on monthly lenses, but this is unlikely to be straightforward. Where my eyes are concerned it very rarely is! I spent the afternoon at my sisters. She went out to Freeport while Maddie and I made snowflakes and covered them in stickers, pom poms and glitter and stuck them on the windows. Emi was asleep and when she woke up she had some lunch and then we played together. It was Maddie’s birthday on Saturday (3!!) and I bought her a till from the Early Learning Centre. It’s actually amazing!! Properly calculates the cost and has chip and pin! We spent some time playing shops…I loved it!!

Christmas this year will be at home with Sarah, Matt, Maddie, Emi and bump coming round for dinner. We’ll see Russell, Becci, Chloe and Sam on the 30th. I’m looking forward to seeing people, watching Christmas TV and eating the sausage rolls I have made.

Was thinking today about the panic that leads up to Christmas. Braintree town centre today was packed and ridiculous. There’s just so much stuff that has to be done, traditions, presents to be bought and the pressure to have a good time. What is it that makes Christmas a good time? Why do we do it? What are we celebrating?

I’m remembering the incredible birth of Jesus. We all know the story, but it’s not just a story. It happened. And Jesus didn’t stay a baby. He grew into a man, transformed lives then, and now 2010ish years on is still transforming lives. Wow. That’s what I’m celebrating. And while all the frills that come with Christmas are nice and fun and I will enjoy it…it’s not the be all and end all. Maybe that takes the pressure off a bit.

I hope you all have a really lovely Christmas and enjoy spending time with the people that are important to you. Here’s to a fabulous 2010.

We travelled down to Hawick on the Saturday, via Braehead Shopping Centre in Glasgow. We stopped in Newcastleton at Esther’s house (The SU worker responsible for our trip) for dinner and then on to Hawick to our hosts. Myself and Becca stayed with Stephen and Liz, Salvation Army officers. On Sunday we were at Burnfoot Parish Church in the morning, spent the afternoon at Andy/Joy/Jack/Ben’s hosts in Denholm and then were at the launch service at Hawick Baptist in the evening. It was a united service which Joy spoke at and we spent time praying for the upcoming week.

The week at Hawick was different to a ‘normal’ schools week we would do. It was called Peace Week and we were going in to take RE, Music and PSE Lessons for S1. Other outside organisations and youthworkers were taking other lessons – people from Whitaugh Park took PE and Business Studies Lessons. Also the newly appointed Chaplaincy Team were around all week helping out. We didn’t have a totally full timetable so had 2 or 3 lessons free a day which was in some ways helpful to do bits and pieces but also a shame that we didn’t get to spend as much time getting to know the students. We set up in the hall on their stage (I was very excited that we had proper wings so we didn’t have to invent changing rooms with black material!) and took assemblies, lessons and lunchtime activities all week. The week was a challenge as La Roche was off ill on Monday, and then Keel was off ill on Thursday (with the gig planned Thursday night). Thursday was the day it poured with rain, roads to surrounding villages were cut off so students were being sent home; the river swelled almost to bursting point and the decision was made to cancel the gig. We were all very disappointed but were given the opportunity to perform a sort of gig on the Friday morning to S1 which was good. I guess we may not have had many on the Thursday night anyway so it was good to be able to perform to all of them and Andy shared a gospel message with them. The headteacher of the school, although not a Christian, had come to the service on the Sunday night and was very encouraging of all that we were doing which was fantastic.  

We packed down and left the school at lunchtime, heading to Beanscene to organise Secret Santa and to relax for the afternoon! Me and Keel went for an explore of the town and ended up at the top of the hill, overlooking Hawick, it was really beautiful. In the evening we went to Whitaugh Park and the rest of the team went Wall Climbing and Abseiling while I watched and shivered!

From the very first meeting in Hawick back in March there was the sense of a real spiritual battle and the week was tough. However there were so many positive comments from teachers and Esther was really pleased with how it went. A Check It Out group was started off the back of the week and we pray that amazing things happen!!

Our week in Oban was brilliant. We spent the week taking RE and music lessons across the years. We had an opportunity to spend an afternoon with a group of special needs students. We did a mixture of drama performance, drama workshop and music for the 6 students and had a really good time. The teacher was really encourage how well the pupils engaged and worked together for the hour and a half we were with them. On the Friday we were involved in an S3 conference on Conflict Resolution (organised by H2O and involving many outside speakers) which involved us performing Abi 6 times! We only had half an hour for each session so didn’t get much of an opportunity to expand on the play but I was really encouraged by some of the comments that the students had written in their evaluation. One said ‘It made me realise how one decision can have such a big effect on people’ and another was about focusing on the decisions that they had to make. Its brilliant to hear such positive comments, when I felt that what we did had had very little impact! The gig on Thursday night was great, about 130 kids came and we had at least 17 responses from young people who wanted to find out more. The week was made extra special by visits from SU Workers Martin (worked with him in Port Glasgow in January 09) and Gordon (the clown(!!!!) we worked with at Hamilton College and Stonehaven in November 08).

On the Tuesday evening we hung out with the youth group at The Well – GFG (Games, Food, God). We all shared our stories, chatted with the kids and had an awesome competition – getting the entire team through a loop of material in under 10secs! The team I was in also had Andy and Joy in it…so the other team had no hope!! We won by a good few seconds! On the Wednesday we headed over to a hostel that many of the young people live in, just hanging out with them and then Andy got out the guitar and we had a sing (Wonderwall being my favourite) and then Ewen taught us the three blind jellyfish song…hilarious first time round, after that it just gets stuck in your head and very annoying!

The guys at H2O are incredible, their endless energy and dedication to the young people is truly inspiring. After a ridiculously busy week they were then off on a weekend away with some of the young people!! Take a second to pray for Ewen and Rachel as they give so much of themselves to building relationships with the kids and sharing Jesus’ love with them.

Some feedback from teachers at Oban High School…

Support Department Teacher:

Hi Ewen, 

Just a few words regarding the team’s Wed. afternoon work with the students from the Support Dept. I feel that they adapted their programme to suit the needs of that group and gave them an excellent mix of music, drama and team building. I appreciate that they were probably not used to working with such a small group, nor with such wide ranging abilities, but felt they overcame the challenge perfectly. The fact that we agreed to leave the session open ended, but used all the time available is an indication of how well the group were kept active, engaged and interested. From my point of view, much of the benefit came from having the group work with other people that they are not familiar with, so all in all, a great success – and a thanks for devoting an afternoon to such a small group. 

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Head of Performing Arts:

Hi Ewen 

This was on my things to do list for this week!  All of our guys had a really good time last week.  It was great how the check-it-out team were able to work across the year groups and adapt their delivery to suit whatever age/ability was with them at that time.   

I really enjoyed the junior workshops and they were able to involve so much into the 50 minute workshop from drama to music to literacy to RE whilst delivering a powerful message.  As we all embrace curriculum for excellence it was an excellent example of sharing and experiencing the 4 capacities and it certainly hit them all. 

Thanks again for a wonderful week 

The Performing Arts Gang

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Department of RME and Philosophy:

Hi Ewen

 In a word I thought they were excellent in their presentation and professionalism. Before each lesson I spoke to them and told them what we were covering in class and they pitched it well and at the right level – very impressive. I also thought the message was clear and to the point. Interestingly, at the start of the week the pupils seemed to be suspicious of the group but by Wednesday all of my classes wanted to go see them – even the ones that had already done so. One point I would make is that the lyrics were not too clear – I realize this was down to the venue rather than the performance but I think in future it may be worth projecting the lyrics for the kids to follow them – otherwise they may just be singing baa baa black sheep as no-one has any clear idea of what is being sung.

Would have them back in an instant though!

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