The main event before Christmas was More Than A Story, the event that Andy, Rich, Sam and Myself had been busy putting together for the previous few months. Unfortunately we only ended up with one booking, at my home church in Braintree on the 18th December. If anyone was in the area that day they’ll remember that a ridiculous amount of snow fell in a very short time! The consequences of this were that Den couldn’t physically get to Braintree from South Woodam Ferrers so Rich had to step in to his role as main speaker and I took over from Rich as one of the quiz hosts. The snow also stopped many people from coming so we only had about 25 in the audience but it was still brilliant. My Dad did his best to embarrass me at every turn but this just added to the fun and relaxed atmosphere. We were really happy with how the event went and hope that it made an impact on those who were there. I was very happy with my newly purchased fairy lights to decorate!

Christmas break was spent with various combinations of mine and Andy’s family. I stayed at my sister’s on Christmas Eve and helped Maddie and Emi get ready for Father Christmas…when they woke up in the morning (surprisingly not til 7.30am) he had left footprints on the floor which made them so excited!! Then he came back while they were eating breakfast with more presents! It was very surreal and for a small moment I felt like it really was Father Christmas and not Matt’s Dad in a very good hire suit! My parents and Matt’s parents came for dinner and we had a really lovely day of present opening and fun together. I travelled up to Andy’s in Selby on Boxing Day and we spent a few days relaxing there with his family and then came back to Braintree to see my brother and co who were staying at my parents. It was a really nice time and made me rethink the things that were important to me. I think my 2 favourite moments over Christmas were when Maddie almost fell asleep on me on Christmas Day – the feeling that she felt perfectly safe in my arms (plus she never normally sits still long enough for cuddles!); the other was taking Chloe and Sam to the park and Chloe saying ‘This is so much fun, I love my Auntie Laura’. Knowing that you can make someone happy, knowing that they want to be with you is the nicest feeling in the world!

Now it’s back in the swing of things – preparations, planning, events etc! Andy and I went to Holland with Taste 14th-24th January which was great. We did a few church services, gigs, a children’s club and a day of workshops with youth leaders from the area. Our hosts Sieb and Douwe were incredible – so welcoming and constantly feeding us amazing food!! It’s great to meet people who speak a different language, do things differently but know we’re worshipping the same God. It’s difficult to know the impact of what we have done, we just have to trust God used us!

Now back and refreshed after a couple of days off I’m concentating on the next few things. Have a look at my calendar for more details on what I’m up to but here’s a rough idea:

Sunday 30th Jan: Helping Ed with a Family Service in Sandy
Fri 4th- Sun 6th Feb: Going to Children’s Ministry Conference in Eastbourne to help with the Arise Exhibition Stand.
Fri 11th Feb: Solid Remix at Chelmsford Cathedral

Please pray for all the preparations and safe travel as well as good health for everyone involved!

I would also really appreciate your prayers for my finances. Currently my monthly incoming matches my immediate bills (rent, phone, contact lenses and travel), so that doesn’t give me anything left over for food, leisure, and buying birthday presents!! Please pray whether you might be able to support me with either a one off gift or more regularly.

Thank you!

Tags: Arise, Braintree, Chelmsford Cathedral, Children's Ministry Conference, Christmas, Finance, Holland, More Than A Story, Prayer, Sandy, Selby, Solid Remix

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