Last week went well, managed to sort out my hair for the photoshoot (last minute curling in the tech office!) – photos to come once Simon has sifted through and picked out the best ones! We had a great time on Wednesday morning going through one of the lessons with the guys, getting them to pretend to be 12 year olds! Our day with Den was fantastic – despite having done the session with him before, it was so good again! Looking at the Bible and how it fits together – in 2 hours we got to the beginning of Exodus! I had a really lovely time with my cousin as well, we had dinner at Prezzo and then went back to my house. We chatted non stop and I found out loads that I didn’t know and generally a really good catch up. The weekend was busy but i always love spending time with my sister and the children, babysitting was good fun, even being woken up on Sunday morning by a very excited Maddie and Emi bouncing on my airbed! Was also treated to Mum’s Gammon Roast Dinner and home-made apple crumble…yum!

This week began with a bit of sad news; Tom Tonks decided that Taste wasn’t for him right now and so unfortunately won’t be continuing with us this year. This has big implications both for us and him and we’d really appreciate your prayers for him as he seeks what is right for him, and for Andy and Joy as they make decisions about the future. For now Andy is swapping back to guitar, Joy is singing and bass is on backing tracks. This is as temporary measure for the events coming up.

So this week…

• Monday: We had a session with Beth Powney (Rich’s mum) on surviving spiritually which was very good and challenging, then more rehearsals in the afternoon.
• Tuesday: This morning Keel and I took Andrew and Jonny to McDonald’s for breakfast and a chat about office etiquette and host housing…we made it fun! This afternoon has been Abi Rehearsals and admin.
• Wednesday: Planning meeting for ‘More Than A Story’, Media meeting, more rehearsals and then a trip to Lakeside in the evening woop!
• Thursday: Photo shoot for All About Abi visuals, writing and more rehearsals.
• Friday: Day in the barn for rehearsals and set up practice.

Sunday is Taste’s first gig in Gorleston. Please pray!!! Andy, Joy and Andrew are rehearsing frantically to be ready in time. Keel and I are going along to help with tech.

I read this yesterday and was really encouraged:

1 Corinthians 3: 5-9
⁵What, 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. ⁶I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. ⁷So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. ⁸The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labour.⁹For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Actually it’s not down to us to make people ‘grow’, to ‘make Christians’ – it’s only God that can do that. We’re all called to our own individual tasks, but ultimately it’s God working through us.

Tags: 1 Corinthians 3:5-9, All About Abi, Bible, Exodus, Gorleston, More Than A Story, Roast Dinner, Taste

I now have a week off and it’s very strange! It’s great, but strange. Having spent 13 days with the team, being crazy busy it’s kind of an anticlimax feeling to then be without them!

Saturday was a lazy day, unpacking and sorting out my room. Went to the cinema with Lewis to see Up (it’s brilliant…totally recommend it!) and then caught a lift back to Braintree with him. Sunday I woke up at 12.30pm. I NEVER sleep that long! 13hours sleep! Clearly I was tired! Spent the day with Matt, Sarah, Maddie and Emi which was lovely. Monday morning I spent sorting out my stuff and then went to Sainsbury’s in Stanway with Mum. I bought a grey cardigan and a black jumper and introduced Mum to Vanilla Lattes. Had roast gammon for dinner, apple pie and custard….wonderful! Today I looked after Maddie and Emi while Sarah went for an ante-natal appointment; Jasmine, Joseph and Samuel came round - was so lovely to see them. Can’t leave it so long next time! Went to Pram Service with Sarah, Emi and Maddie in the afternoon. This is a Mums & Toddlers group at St Michael’s Church in Braintree. I used to go there when I was little and it still smells the same!! Amazing. It was really cute – they sing songs off an OHP and everything! Me and Mum made Toad in the Hole for dinner tonight and then watched Holby City…oh my goodness! Got to watch the second part tomorrow now!

I’m going back to Wickford on Thursday.

Tags: Holby City, OHP, Pram Service, Roast Dinner, Up, Vanilla Latte, Week Off

The idea was that I was arranging a team trip to the cinema to see Fame. One of those occasions where you mention it and everyone’s like ‘Yeah!!’ and then the excuses come in when it actually comes to it. (I’m totally usually one of those people!) So Saturday Me and Keel went to Chelmsford. It was crazy!! I forgot how much I hate town centres on a Saturday anyway, but there were loads of weird and wonderful things going on. Photos here: Street Diversions show a little bit of some of the things. There were some builders performing outside the old Woolworths which was quite good fun. So we wandered round a bit, I went to O2 to try and get my phone sorted, got a coffee from Costa (poor girl wasn’t having a good day!) and spent much of the afternoon in the park watching a sculpture which breathed fire and water! Went to see Fame at the cinema in the evening…hmmm. I was so excited, but actually left disappointed. I really enjoyed the film while it was happening…but when it finished I realised that nothing had actually happened, and they didn’t even do the song!

Sunday I went to LWCC again with Tricia, and really enjoyed it. They have custard creams at the end of the service…always a good thing! We had roast dinner and plum crumble…can’t remember the last time I had a roast and crumble, good times! By this point I had spent much of my time texting round people to try and organise some sort of gathering. So i headed off to Lake Meadows in Billericay, met Keel, Becca and Ben and we spent a couple of hours in the park. Ben climbed a tree…that was about the height of excitement. Then he went home and the three of us went for cranberry juice/J2O/Orange and Lemonade/Chips/Chocolate Fudge Cake/Pepsi/Coffee at Wetherspoons!

So overall I enjoyed my weekend. Now for rehearsals and preparations for Grantham. And we’re off bowling on Tuesday night.

www.85design.co.uk is now up and running. Very exciting!

Tags: Becca, Ben, Bowling, Chelmsford, Chocolate Fudge Cake, Costa, Custard Creams, Fame, Grantham, Keel, Lake Meadows, LWCC, Plum Crumble, Roast Dinner, Street Diversions, Woolworths

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*

Tags: Contact Lenses, Hope, Lewis, New Car, Roast Dinner, Saffron Walden, St Marks, Thomas Hardy