This week we are in St Hughs C of E which is pretty much next to Ambergate.

We arrived at 6.40am, unloaded and have set up in their hall. We were just about ready on time although could have done with a bit more of a soundcheck. We had Year 10s first of all for a Soaps lesson, then Year 7s for a Values lesson. After break was Year 8s for an Abi Lesson and a Year 10 Assembly. Ate with the students at lunchtime, my best compliment was from one girl who said I didn’t look or sound anything like Abi! After lunch we had a Year 7/8 Assembly where myself and Ben ran the Adverts Quiz which was so much fun! After school we had a bit of sorting out to do, then our daily trip to Asda (stock up on Wispas) and back to Dave and Les’s to watch a recording of Abi from last week, debrief and plan tomorrow.

After dinner we spent some time praying as a team. We seem to be under quite a lot of stress so your prayers would be greatly appreciated. Personally, I’m quite tired and in danger of getting grumpy and snapping at people so pray that I don’t! Also been having stomach pains (am on medication for it) which I could really do with not having!

Tomorrow is a full day seeing Years 7,8 and 11.

Tags: Adverts Quiz, All About Abi, Asda, Assembly, Prayer, Soaps Lesson, St Hughs, Values Lesson

Sunday was a sofa day. I thought I was better…but then i felt a bit more poorly. Lewis came to look after me, he brought me a goody bag of grapes, smoothie, Ribena (yay for cosy juice!) and chocolate for when i’m fully better! So I was better in that I had migrated from bed to sofa…but still couldn’t be upright for too long. Thank goodness for Sky +. Watched some of the Girls Aloud Show from the O2 and then on Comedy Central it’s Sofa Sunday, with Scrubs all day. I watched Scrubs from 1pm-6pm, and then they started to repeat the episodes…what’s that about! Then watched Saturday’s X Factor and then bed. Wasn’t really up for eating much although I knew I should have been.

10 and a half hours sleep is amazing. Straight through. So I had been told not to go into work but knew I would go nuts! So I watched Jeremy Kyle in the morning, got ready and went into work for 1pm. Despite the ‘What are you doing here?! Go home!’s I felt very welcome. 1pm-2pm: Lunch Break; 2pm-3pm: Staff Meeting; 3.15pm-4.45pm: Meeting with Dan over Coffee in the Bistro; 5pm: Hometime! A nice relaxing intro back! The evening I spent catching up on Neighbours and Home and Away and worked on ‘All About Abi’.

Now it’s Tuesday and we have much sickness in the team…please pray for us!!! Ben has Shingles and a Cold (which we have decided is flu, purely so we can say he has Flingles), Andy has been at the Doctors this morning with stomach pains, Claira has been signed off work for another month and I’m still recovering. We would muchly appreciate your prayers as we continue to rehearse!

Tags: 10.5 Hours Sleep, All About Abi, Bistro, Chocolate, Comedy Central, Cosy Juice, Flingles, Girls Aloud, Grapes, Home and Away, Jeremy Kyle, Neighbours, Prayer, Ribena, Scrubs, Sky+, Sofa, X Factor

So the end of the first week.

It has taken some adjusting to but it’s great! We’ve spent the week in the office rehearsing, having training sessions, times of Bible study and prayer, as well as scheduling in personal time to pray and reflect.
Taste have been learning songs and Diversion have been re-writing and learning All About Abi.
We’ve bonded really quickly as a team, spending Weds and Thurs (Happy Birthday Ben!!!) evening together socially has really helped. I’m very excited to have another girl on team, me and Becca have already had a good girlie chat over coffee in the Bistro! We’re starting to create our own ‘in jokes’ as a team…but us second years can’t help boring the first years with stories and jokes from last year (we miss you guys!).
See the beautiful new team on my CIO Team page.

**So today in PTO (personal time out) we were looking at Romans 12. 20mins so isn’t long enough to process all that is in it! The bit that really got me was verse 10 – in the NIV it goes something like this ‘Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves.’ What does it mean to be devoted? How do I do that? In my every day life, how do I consistently honour everyone else above myself?**

Tags: All About Abi, Bible Study, Birthday, Bistro, CIO Team, Devoted, Diversion, First Week, Prayer, Rehearsals, Romans 12:10, Taste, Training