littlelaughalot

Adieu!

2008-04-29T21:02:00.005Z

Well, I think it's about time I said adieu to the blog. I don't find myself having the time these days. I have been thinking over this last wee while that sometimes blogging can be an amazing thing...sharing with others what is going on in your life, and where you are in your journey. Others can celebrate good times with you and offer support and comfort when times are tough. For those who have done that....thank you!

But then...I have also wondered whether there is a negative side to it all too!. I think if we all knew what everyone else was thinking all the time, the real truth about how we feel about an individual or a situation, then we would all be at war with one another, and I don't think we would have any friends. No one is perfect, we all moan about someone, at sometime....we all let our hurts show and our anger flare....but mostly in people lives these truths about how you feel at that time are unseen by others, even by our closest friends. Sometimes blogging about what you are thinking, or what you are going through in your life, perhaps in a time when you are just expressing how you feel about something... ...then you open yourself to criticism and to the dangers that someone will be offended...and all sorts of other negative things that just set you back even more in your life, and make your worries even bigger ones.

We all own our own feelings and should feel free to express them...and the truth of the matter is that if you share them on such a thing as a blog, then there will always be someone who is offended, even when that was the furthest thing from your intentions. There will always be someone who reads into something you've written that was never meant to be taken the way they have taken it. Sharing your world, and your inner most thoughts with everyone, although the majority of the time is a liberating and wonderful experience, can also at times be the worst thing to do.

I've come to the conclusion rightly or wrongly that in my experience, it's not worth it. I've seen recently nothing but bother from bearing your soul. I've seen loved ones who are just being "real", expressing feelings that they rightly own...only to find someone...and sadly most times someone who is close to you.....take offense at it. The very people who should know you the best, and have just a little bit more respect for you and your feelings, should at least know where you are coming from.

Anyway.....I shall say my farewells. Thanks to everyone who has commented on the blog and for all the help and support you have given me. Thank you Thomas for all your love...I love the fact that you "keep it real"....there is no covering up with you.....you say things the way they really are. You are brave about your feelings at times even when you know that others will always be ready to pounce on you and criticise. You are always ready to accept when you are in the wrong, and you handle such things very graciously. You are human....you are not perfect....you are "real"...and I love you for all of those things. All the best with your blogging. As for me.....I'm not strong enough to handle other people's feelings. I am too weak inside...too sensitive and I care too much about what others think of me.

We need to stay strong together as a couple and family....even when the world seems at times like it's falling round about us....I pray that we will always seek to put God first in our lives, and that we will never forget how much He loves us. He will never seek to destroy us, but only build us up.

God Bless and Adieu!

C.S. Lewis Song by Brooke Fraser

2008-03-16T22:47:00.001Z

If I find in myself desires nothing in this world can satisfy,
I can only conclude that I was not made for here
If the flesh that I fight is at best only light and momentary,
then of course I'll feel nude when to where I'm destined I'm compared

Speak to me in the light of the dawn
Mercy comes with the morning
I will sigh and with all creation groan as I wait for hope to come for me

Am I lost or just less found?
On the straight or on the roundabout of the wrong way?
Is this a soul that stirs in me,
Is it breaking free, wanting to come alive?

'Cos my comfort would prefer for me to be numb
And avoid the impending birth of who I was born to become

Speak to me in the light of the dawn
Mercy comes with the morning
I will sigh and with all creation groan as I wait for hope to come for me

For we, we are not long here
Our time is but a breath, so we better breathe it
And I.....I was made to live,
I was made to love,
I was made to know you
Hope is coming for me
Hope.....He's coming!

Something to prove!

2008-03-14T23:56:00.011Z

Last Saturday night, a dream of mine came true. I am a big big fan of the Gaither Vocal Band, and so when my sister phoned to tell me that The Gaithers were having a homecoming tour for one night at the SECC, I was certainly not going to miss it. And boy...I was not disappointed.

They are from America and the last time they were over was 5 years ago and I unfortunately never got the chance to go to hear them then.

The group that came over consisted of Guy Penrod....(Yeah....Big cheer!...love this guy), Bill Gaither of course, Marshall Hall and Wes Hampton ,and this made up the Gaither Vocal Band.

Then there was Ernie Haase and Signature Sound, whose members consisted of, yes....Ernie Haase!, Tim Duncan, Doug Anderson and Ryan Seaton.

Janet Paschal, whose many backing tracks I own was there, and brought great delight to me when she sang Written in red....the woman who first challenged me with the song and enabled me to use it on many occassions.
This amazing lady has been battling with breast cancer for quite a few years, but so gladly testified that she has been cleared of all cancer just recently.
Of course, we had Gloria Gaither, Bill's wife whose gift of the spoken word put to music was just spine tingling. For those of you who haven't hear of the Gaither's......they are the couple who wrote that well familiar piece of music "Because He lives" and have been responsible for writing many many lovely songs over the years. Bill and Gloria are such a Godly couple whose love for their Saviour is just oozing out of them. In fact I have to say, that love for God was so evident. to see in all of them.

Then there were "The Easter's".....Husband Jeff and Wife Sherrie have been singing for many years together and they were great.
Playing guitar and being the comedian of the night was a guy called Kevin Williams who has been playing guitar for the gaithers for years now, but he also has his own solo career as well. He was so so funny, the whole mickey take out of Bill and the way Bill responds is all good fun and a great laugh. There was lastly but by no means least a guy that was led onto the stage and seated at the keyboard. This guy called Gordon Mote is blind and he just blew me away with his playing and his singing. All of these guys were just so note perfect and the songs that they sang were just so uplifting, challenging and encouraging.

Ernie Hasse and Signature Sound teamed up with the Gaither Vocal Band and performed as a double quartet. Words cannot express, at least mine certainly can't just how truly beautiful their singing was....but more beautiful was the sincerity that they all had.
It's no secret that I have been feeling really quite lost for quite some time now, and to be honest, that's kinda still the case, and because of a whole bundle of different issues I have, without intending to I guess I have pushed God away. And I hate acknowledging that because I know and have always known that I can't live without Him but I have to be honest with myself and Him and say that I haven't spent much quality time with Him lately.

Whenever I have listened to the Gaither Vocal Band, I have always been blessed and been so brought close to God through their music and their harmonies. With everything that has been going on for these past months, I just haven't allowed myself to indulge in listening to them.

When the concert was over, and the purchasing of CD's were bought, and the getting squashed, and I mean squashed trying to get signatures and photos was all done I came away feeling that part of my emptiness had been filled with a new hope. Some of the words to the songs just blew me away and I just felt God so near.

Well it's no surprise that I have hardly had the CD's off. One is of Ernie Haase and Signature Sound, and the other is of the double quartet. There are many wonderful songs I could pick out, and I am sure on some other post I will comment on them...but there is one that has done me the world of good. It's about what I have been truly missing. It's called "Sitting at the feet of Jesus". Through listening and being challenged by these words I feel a flame is burning within me again....gently. Each time I listen, it seems to fan the flame more.

Here are the lyrics....they are old words but just so strong.

"Sitting at the feet of Jesus
Oh, what words I hear Him say
Happy place, so near, so precious
May it find me there each day
Sitting at the feet of Jesus
I would look upon the past
For His has been so gracious
It has won my heart at last

Sitting at the feet of Jesus
Where can mortals be more blest
There I lay my sins and sorrows
And, when weary, find sweet rest
Sitting at the feet of Jesus
There I love to weep and pray
While I from His fullness gather
Grace and comfort every day

Bless me, O my Savior, bless me
As I sit low at Thy feet
Oh, look down in love upon me
Let me see Thy face so sweet
Give me, Lord, the mind of Jesus
Make me holy as He is
May I prove I've been with Jesus
Who is all my righteousness"

Such powerful words, so sensitively sung as you will hear from the clip below. And I challenge anyone to hear this and not be blessed. What does it do for me?.......What's my challenge?...these last few lines
"Give me, Lord, the mind of Jesus
Make me holy as He is
May I prove I've been with Jesus
Who is all my righteousness"

What a challenge.....for others to see the living proof that we have spent time in His presence, sitting at His feet....that people may see Him in us....in me. There is no time to waste....life is too precious and too short....and there are far too many souls out there who don't know Christ and I've got something to prove. I want to prove that I have spent time with my Saviour, sitting at His feet.

Please watch and listen.....and when the last verse is being sung and they sing a few lines accapella, just watch out for those tingles!

Lost

2008-02-27T22:29:00.003Z

Not been on the blog for ages! A mixture of reasons why really, but I mainly haven't had much spare time and have had a lot on my mind for quite a few months now that have just left me feeling pretty uninspired.

Thomas and I are at a crossroads in our christian pathways just now as far as our place of worship is concerned. A feeling of uneasiness is on our hearts each Sunday and has been pretty strong for about 6 months now to be honest....and perhaps to a slightly lesser degree for the past 2 years. Can I give a reason why we feel this way...why I feel this way? Not really!

Don't get me wrong... I could pick out lots of little reasons from things that have happened over the last wee while which have contributed to feeling this way, but it's more than that. It's a constant feeling that we aren't home anymore. God is still the most important things in our lives and always will be....it's just that we don't feel that we are where He wants us to be.

That's the scary part. With two kids whose spiritual teaching and happiness is of the utmost importance to us both, making a decision to be somewhere else becomes even more harder and frightening.

I'm scared because Thomas and I have been at our corps since we both got married 11 years ago. It's where a lot of good treasured friends are. It's where we have felt God calling us to be active in for so long...yet recently I have felt a strong need to just pull back and take myself out of things. There are a few issues for me personally that I am struggling to deal with, with a few individuals, and I know that this isn't helping, but unfortunately I know that feeling like this is affecting how I worship.

I feel at the moment that I just want to throw myself into my family because that is where I feel truly at home and where I can be myself and feel loved and safe. For these other areas in my life I feel exposed, broken, depressed and lethargic. Bitterness is creeping in and eating away at me big time, making the whole situation even worse.

My mind feels so noisy...there just seems to be so much going on in my head that I can't think straight. I feel as if God is calling to me and I can see Him standing a short distance away, but all this mess, all the thoughts, all these bitter feeling, all the pressures, all the activities....they are all making too much noise and I don't know whose voice I am hearing anymore.

I don't mean this all to sound depressing. I have to keep reminding myself that God has good things in store for us....it's just being patient and waiting to find out what that will be that is so hard.

I know I have been pushing people away in our Corps, and if your one of them, then I'm sorry, but it's not been on purpose, it's just that I have felt so tired and depressed to have to explain how I feel. Keeping people at a distance, although not a great thing to do, is sometimes the only way one can cope.

Anyhow....that's where I am at. A bit confused and lost as you can probably gather from reading this but at the same time even more aware of just how important my family is to me. I thank God so so much that you are in my life. You are my safe place...my haven!

Suddenly listening to Brooke Frasers "Faithful", means an awful lot to me.

There's distance in the air and I cannot make it leave
Iwave my arms' round about me and blow with all my might
I cannot sense you close, though I know you're always here
But the comfort of you near is what i long for

When I can't feel you, I have learned to reach out just the same
When I can't hear you, I know you still hear every word I pray
And i want you more than i want to live another day
And as I wait for you maybe I'm made more faithful

All the folly of the past, though I know it is undone
I still feel the guilty one, still trying to make it right
So i whisper soft your name, let it roll around my tongue,
knowing you're the only one who knows me
You know me

Show me how I should live this
Show me where I should walk
I count this world as loss to me
You are all I want

Guy Fawkes

2007-11-06T22:44:00.000Z

Just a quick wee post about last night. We are quite fortunate at this time of year to live close to Strathclyde Park. When everyone else has to travel down to the Park and stand for a few hours and get crushed and not particularly get the best view, we can stand from a field near our patch and watch the whole fireworks display on our doorstep.

Gran Elizabeth and Papa Angus were over, and Jane, Ross, Joanne and boyfriend Ritchie came over as well. We all got our scarves and gloves on and ventured out! It was a bit chilly but the fireworks were amazing! Thomas was taking pictures with his dad's fancy camera and we were taking the mickie a wee bit about him standing click clicking away like a wee pro!
Oh Thomas...you do make me laugh!

Great night....great company!

Highlight of the Congress

2007-11-06T22:10:00.000Z

The highlight of the congress this year for me was the Belfast Drama Group. I was just absolutely blown away by their presentation and performance. They performed four times over the weekend and I could have watched them all night.

On Saturday night they did "The big climb" and then later "The big stick". On the Sunday morning they led in prayer with "Help, I'm too busy to pray" and then in the afternoon they really challenged me with "Six of the best"

Every single one of the group were so passionate about what they were doing...they were professional and were just so together.....it looked as though they all really connect with each other spiritually as well as socially.

I would love to see more of this kind of expression of worship and do hope this is not the last that I have seen of them!

Obviously my other highlight was singing with the A Chorus from music school under the leadership of the wonderful Ann Howlett-Foster. I sang with a tear in my eye on our last song as I realise that I probably won't experience that again. Very doubtful that I will be able to take a family holiday and go to music school next year. So so so sad!

It was also great to hear our A band as well. I absolutely loved the cornet solo from Craig Kilgour from Govan Corps of "In the love of Jesus" which was wonderful.

And then of course I couldn't leave out the African Choir who are now serving at Manchester Corps. They were so full of the spirit and their love for God was so evident to see. No inhibitions...just letting go and letting God!

Out in the foyer before the Saturday meeting started they were singing and dancing and praising God. I couldn't believe it when one of the babies strapped to his mummy's back fell asleep while his mum danced about.

One minute awake........

...the next...fast asleep!

Truly amazing!

Christmas Decorations up?....already?

2007-11-06T22:02:00.001Z

I could not believe it tonight when we saw someone had their Christmas tree up and window lights on already....the 6th of November. Guy Fawkes was yesterday....that's crazy. I mean ...don't get me wrong I absolutely love my decorations up....and I put mine up early enough on the 1st December, but I think that this is way to early.

In saying that I have managed to wrap up quite a number of my Christmas pressies tonight!

Mortified!

2007-11-03T22:41:00.000Z

I'm just in from our Saturday night Congress Meeting. I had received an email a few months ago saying that I was opening the congress with Christ of Calvary to the too high for me tune Annie Laurie. That was news to me as I had never been asked. I'm sure like most vocalists choosing a song that suits your style and singing is extremely important. Annie Laurie is never one that I would attempt unless the key could be brought down. The idea was that I would sing and then in the last verse I would invite the congregation to join in.

I've been dreading it to be honest for quite some time, but I thought, never mind I'm sure the pianist will be able to lower the key so that I can comfortably sing. Unfortunately for me I was being accompanied by the band. No lower key for me! One very quick run through this afternoon and that was me.....left feeling sick for the rest of the day.

Most folks are kind and say 'don't worry about it, you'll be just fine", and in normal circumstances with my own choice of song, at least you have a pretty good chance. Standing up tonight with all of my confidence running off the stage.....looking out at a couple of thousand folks, knowing full well you are not capable of being yourself and instead trying to just scrape by is terrifying.

The first verse didn't go particularly well. No volume was coming from my mike and so i was trying to sing as loud as I could...then it came on. Got to the chorus...painfully high for me. I was shaking. Inside I was trying to tell myself to calm down and just do my best. The rest went a bit better but I didn't enjoy singing......and left the stage feeling so let down by my inadequate vocal range.

I'm not trying to big myself up at all, please don't get me wrong, but to get the opportunity to sing in front of so many people and not be able to sing at my best for God just leaves me feeling utterl gutted. The majority of people there would have no idea that I was under duress with the song and so no doubt will have been saying, oh she's not very good. Why have they asked her. I am by no means a Marjory Watson or a Jane Brill...I just have an ordinary voice...but I know if I could have had my choice I could have done so much better.

Never the less, I can't undo what is done and I will just have to face more people tomorrow like tonight who so kindly are saying..."you did fine" and you know that they are thinking the same as you.

Halloween!

2007-10-31T21:32:00.000Z

Another Halloween has come and gone again. Dayna was dressed up as a spider and Miriam was a ladybird.

Here they are along with our neighbour, little Elly dressed as a pumpkin! We are exhausted after our trek around the streets, and with carrying the heavy bags of goodies. Unfortunately Thomas couldn't go around with us tonight as he is away to hear Shane Claiborne, but Janey came down to help me go around with the girls. We then went up to Jane & Ross' where we spend a lovely night along with Ross' Mum and Dad dooking (don't know if that's how you would spell it!!) for apples......

.....having a halloween quiz, and strangely enough showing off some of the strange things we can do!

Jane was lifting Miriam up with her feet, and then went to try to lift Ross at which point Ruth nearly had kittens.

Miriam was as per usual HYPER and was jumping on top of everyone.

A good time was had by all...and a big thank you to Ruth and Jim for the lift home.

"Hosea's Wife" ...Brooke Fraser

2007-10-25T22:49:00.000Z

I just spoke silence with the seeker next to me
She had a heart with hesitant, halting speech
That turned to mine and asked belligerently
"What do I live for?"

I see the scars of searches everywhere I go
From hearts to wars to literature to radio
There's a question like a shame no one will show
"What do I live for?"

We are Hosea's wife
We are squandering this life
Using people like ladders and words like knives

If we've eyes to see
If we've ears to hear
To find it in our hearts and mouths
The word that saves is near
Shed that shallow skin
Come and live again
Leave all you were before
To believe is to begin

There is truth in little corners of our lives
There are hints of it in songs and children's eyes
It's familiar, like an ancient lullaby
What do I live for?

We are Hosea's wife
We are squandering this life
Using bodies like money and truth like lies

We are more than dust
That means something
That means something
We are more than just
Blood and emotions
Inklings and notions
Atoms on oceans

If we've eyes to see
If we've ears to hear
To find it in our hearts and mouths
The word that saves is near
Shed that shallow skin
Come and live again
Leave all you were before
To believe is to begin

from Brooke Fraser's album "Albertine"

In us I believe

2007-10-23T20:49:00.000Z

I don't know how you feel about weddings and newly weds but they always help me to take stock of what I have in my life. Jane and Ross, as you may know already, got married a month ago (can't believe that...already?). Since then I have never seen two people smile so much. We see each other regularly but when I was over last night after our bible study Jane and I chatted for a while. Ross was upstairs doing something and Jane was just casually chatting about how great it was to be married and how it just felt so natural and right to come home to Ross and to be man and wife. When Ross came downstairs both their faces lit up and it was just the most amazing thing to witness. I have known Jane for many years...she is my dearest friend. She has known many heartaches in her life, the worst being the loss of her mother. To see that she has found true happiness in someone who has become special to us over these last few years is just such a blessing.

All of this and seeing them so in love has been in my mind these past few weeks. There is nothing like falling in love, when everything is new and fresh and exciting. It's only the start of hopefully a lifelong journey together and with relatively little to worry about at this stage, you can really just wallow in the love that you have for each other.

Naturally this has all been getting me thinking about Thomas and I. Remembering with fondness way back 10 years ago when we had just got married. Remembering the times when we didn't have many things to worry about...remembering coming home to one another after work and just cuddling up together and just soaking up the opportunity to be in one another's company.

Over the years as children come along and the stresses of life come too, finding time like in those days to just cuddle up, is sadly at times just a memory. I don't think I am alone in feeling this way, I think it's a reality for most married folks. However I don't want to look back and feel a sadness because things aren't the same now as they were then. My love for Thomas has grown stronger through the years...he is the father of my two beautiful girls...we have been through and shared so much together. I simply couldn't be without him.

I really don't ever want to take what we have for granted. I don't want life to pass us by...I want to cherish every moment. So Thomas, I know we may have lost that freshness of love that once we had, and we can't really get that back and on thinking about it I don't suppose we should want it back because our love has matured and grown into what we have now.

I heard this song from the new Ryandan album while you were out at Songsters tonight. And I wanted to let you know that "In us I believe"

At the first sight of you
I knew that you were special
Oh you left me warm but confused
I loved you so that I
Could not breathe
Because in us I believe

When we are apart
I still can feel you with me
I can trace every line in my mind
You are etched all over the heart of me
Because in us I believe

And we have all the time in the world
You and me
Because in us I believe
Yes, in us I believe

Thomas......I love you!

Good times

2007-10-23T20:12:00.000Z

These last few weeks have been so busy, what with work, house, kids, church, card-making etc...it's been really hard to find much time to be on facebook or the blog. A few weekends back we had the return visit from Croydon Salvation Army band.

Our two billets for the weekend were a delight to have....one of them being of course the lovely Johnny Laird who along with his beautiful wife Jeanette and two gorgeous kids Mia and Noah looked after Thomas and I when we were down at Croydon.

We also had the priviledge of meeting Darren Luff who was just so at ease in our company (at least I hope so anyway!) and ours with his instantly. Miriam loved it when Darren lifted her up on his shoulder....he is quite tall, so she was well chuffed to be up so high.

Unfortunately I never made it to the Saturday night concert at the Bellshill Academy as I was helping in the kitchen at the Army Hall to feed the band before the concert. By the time we cleared up and I got home to change it was too late. I did however thoroughly enjoy both Sunday meetings. The speakers on these two occassions were very challenging and I felt really encouraged.

We decided that because we only had a short space of time between the march of witness that we had and then getting back for the afternoon meeting, that it would be better time spent chatting if we went out for dinner. So off to Nando's we went.

Jane and Ross came too with their lovely billet Carolyn McDevitte. Followed with a hot beverage from Starbucks, it was pretty much the perfect afternoon....just didn't get long enough with Darren, Johnny and Carolyn.

On the Monday morning unbeknown to Dayna and Miriam we were off to Scarborough for a few days. I had booked the holiday a while back and thought it would be great to keep it a surprise. So when they were sleeping on Sunday night, Thomas and I got packed, and in the morning after we had the girls fed and dressed we sprung the news on them. They couldn't believe it.

We had the best time. Pippin thoroughly enjoyed the beach, the weather was fantastic....

......the donuts were to die for....

......and the company was as usual just so special.

Check out our photos on flickr.

RyanDan

2007-09-29T19:02:00.000Z

Don't know whether you have heard of the new sensation of music that is RyanDan. They are canadian twins who have amazing voices. One's called Ryan and the other Dan....any surprises there with the name and all!

Anyway, I saw an advert on the tv advertising their self named debut album "RyanDan". I heard just a short clip of their latest single, "Like the Sun". I instantly loved it.

You just have to check the song out....youtube aren't really showing the full video so the best place to check the song out is on their actual website. As soon as you visit their site the video will play....check it out...www.ryandan.com

Charlotte's Web

2007-09-28T20:13:00.001Z

I love friday nights! As much as possible we like to spend quality time with the family watching a film. As a child I read Charlotte's Web and loved it......cried my eyes out but loved it none the less. I always meant to get round to watching the film.....but with a fear of spiders...sitting watching a film with one in it...playing one of the main roles, well i would miss most of the film if I looked away everytime it came on.

Anyway....we went to our local library and rented it out. Thomas cooked Chicken fajitas...the kids helped set the coffee table in the livingroom, and we all knelt round the table eating together. The dvd was popped on and although briefly I felt uncomfortable with the sight of little old charlotte......................

...........................................I soon began to warm to her.

Little Wilbur was just the cutest pig EVER!!! (When I was young I always said I was going to own a Vietnamese pot belly pig!!!!) Julia Roberts voice is well suited to Charlotte the spider, and there are lots of other voices like John Cleese, and Oprah Winfrey starring in it too. The girl playing Fern is the beautiful Dakota Fanning, who also starred in "War of the Worlds" alongside Tom Cruise.

She reminds Thomas and I so much of Dayna. The ending was still incredibly sad. There is nothing like trying to hold back a flood of tears trying to hide that fact that you are indeed crying....and then someone in the room just happens to catch your eye and it all comes out.....no holding back....full on sobs. Yeah...that's pretty much what happened....then Dayna started, and of course Miriam joined in too. Thomas avoided all eye contact from that point on so I think we can safely say that he too was feeling the pain.

Anyway...if you haven't seen it, give it a go, even if you don't like spiders like me...believe me you will still fall in love with Charlotte. It's a great film for the family to share, and it certainly warms the heart....and that's not too bad a thing to happen these days...is it?
Here's the trailer...

I survived

2007-09-27T16:26:00.000Z

Isobel, the community manager whom I assist was off today and is off tomorrow, so today was my first proper time to be managing everything. Firstly I had to set up for the toddlers and manage that until 11.30 while preparing food for the luncheon club. A 3 course meal is served every week day and then obviously all the clearing away and tidying up the hall all has to be done. So hooray....I survived. It's always good to get something you've been dreading happening out of the way. At least I know what I'm doing now.

The new Mr & Mrs Pentney!

2007-09-26T19:52:00.001Z

Congratulations Jane an Ross who are now married! We had an absolutely wonderful day on Saturday. Jane looked stunning and Ross was very handsome in his "Spirit of Bannockburn" kilt. Thomas was Ross' Bestman...............

.........................................and looked HOT!

Joanne, Lauren and Dayna were bridesmaids and they all looked beautiful....Miriam was a flower girl, and she certainly got the aw's from everybody! Jane's two nephews Euan and Andrew were so cute as pageboys.

Jane and Ross had asked me to sing at their wedding, so as you can see the whole family were involved, and we are so grateful that we could be so involved in such a special day for Jane & Ross. Everything went perfect. Beautiful sunshine..........

great wedding service led by Major Alec Still, lovely hotel, fantastic speeches..(Thomas' was sooooo funny!) lovely food and a great ceilidh at night.

What made the whole experience even more wonderful was being able to share in breakfast with the whole family (including the very tired new Mr and Mrs Pentney!!!) the next morning at the hotel. We have always been close to Jane and her Dad, but to be made to feel as if we were part of the family and not just "cling-ons" was the icing on the cake for us.

I took lots of photos and I took some video too. I'm currently working on editing various folks film and I'm going to try to bring the whole thing together and make their wedding DVD....NO PRESSURE!!!

Just lastly before I go I just have to say that my two girls were perfectly behaved, and really made Thomas and I proud. They looked so so so beautiful. The picture below has to be my favourite.....everyone is commenting on it. I saw this lovely tree with the sun shining through and I thought what a perfect backdrop for a photo. I grabbed Dayna & Miriam and got them to pose and I am delighted with the outcome. I have one already blown up and framed in my livingroom.

Now...are those not two beautiful girls?

Janey's Hen Weekend

2007-09-05T16:13:00.000Z

On Saturday three cars travelled down to York filled with friends and family to share in Janey's Hen weekend. Janey and Roscoe's big day is on the 22nd September...so we thought York would be a great location for the weekend. We stopped for a break at Lockerbie because we know the officers stationed their at the Salvation Army.....Major's Margaret and Jim Prescott, and they have a lovely coffee shop. We spent about an hour and a half there enjoying the excellent food put on for us. I had the most tastiest bacon and tatty scone roll I have ever had. Not a bit of fat on the bacon, and that was just spot on for me. So thank you Margaret and Jim for the lovely welcome and hospitality.

We then headed off to York, and besides traffic jams at Scotch Corner, the journey was pleasant and trouble free. We arrived in York around 1.45pm and dropped off our stuff at the Ramada Encore Hotel. We were so fortunate as the hotel was situated right beside the main shops and 10 minutes walk from York Minister, which is beautiful!

After popping our stuff into our rooms,we all headed out to the shops as we needed to meet up with Janey's sister-in-law and her friend who had travelled from Husband's Bosworth....and yes...that is the name of a place! Joanne and Lauren, who are the bridesmaids had some plans up their sleeve for the weekend....all clean fun. The first task was a scavenger hunt.......to find things such as a bus ticket....a button...5 York Tourist attractions leaflets....something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue......a foreign coin and then one of the hardest things, which none of us were able to find was a coin dated with the bride's birth year!

We had a coffee stop at Costa's and then headed back to the hotel to get freshened up before going out for our dinner. Ruth. the Mother of the Groom had booked us into another hotel for dinner, and so we headed there for 6pm. Joanne and Lauren had brought lots of wee goodies for Jane to wear. The essential thing for a bride to be...a flashing learner plate....she also had to wear a crown, and a pink fluffy wand which made Janey all excited...anything pink and fluffy and she's happy.

Both Joanne and Lauren wore crowns which said "bridesmaids", so I think Jane was quite glad that she wasn't the only one wearing something embarrassing.

We shared a lovely meal together and at the end of it Jane was presented with small memento's from each of us. We had been asked by Joanne to bring a small thing that reminded us of Janey and she would be able to keep everything as a keepsake. She got all sorts of lovely things such as photo frames as she is forever filling her house with photos....fluffy socks, another favourite....nurse teddies as Janey is a nurse....and so on. Now what did I bring for my best friend? Well I have known Janey for a long, long time....we go way back....and I thought really hard on what reminds me of Janey. I decided it could only be one thing....a whoopee cushion....let's just say that she isn't called bright and breezy Janey for nothing. Thomas always says that Janey is like a sister to him, and believe me, there are definite similarities between them both in that department. Janey took the joke in good style as always.

We then headed over the bridge for a ghost walk which was starting at 8pm. We all didn't know what to expect and were a wee bit concerned about Sarah in case she got a fright and the baby popped out too soon. You will be glad to hear that it wasn't too bad at all, infact it was really enjoyable as the chap leading the walk was such a laugh and was so nice. He even slipped in a few bride ghost stories to wind up Janey....and I think it did a wee bit! The look on her face! Infact while on the ghost walk I took a few pictures and they came out very mysterious......spooky!

Afterwards we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed coffee's, teas and hot chocolate's at the bar. Here more games took place.....each of us putting three items from our handbag into an envelope, and then having to guess whose stuff belonged to who was quite good fun. Of course Janey was set up....Joanne had made up a special envelope with stuff inside just claiming to be Janey's. There was a pen....no big deal there and then a Purple Ronnie book came out with let's just say an ever so slightly embarrassing topic about men's delicate areas.

Janey couldn't believe that everyone thought it was hers, and even when Joanne opened up the book to read the inscription "this book belongs to Jane Anderson" she insisted profusely that it was not hers. She knew she had been well set up. And as for the third item....I couldn't tell you....we paid no attention after laughing so hard to Janey reading out some poems from the Purple Ronnie book. After playing another game some of us went back to our room, and had some chocolate and crisps and tea, while having a scream with the whoopee cushion. What a laugh!

It would be fair to say that Janey was exhausted after a day of shinanigins!

On the Sunday we shared breakfast together and then went out shopping before heading back up home. It was a great weekend...lots of fun and laughter was had by all. Roscoe's stag weekend this week! Behave yourself boys.

So here's to you both, Jane and Ross and your married life together.

Community Co-ordinator Assistant.

2007-08-27T21:00:00.000Z

This is my job title for my new job. I am currently working two jobs at the moment. I am working my 4 weeks notice at Hamilton Salvation Army and have started work at Bellshill....so life is a wee bit busy and tiring at the moment.

I have been in my new job now for just over a week and I'm really enjoying it. At Bellshill we have a luncheon club on every day from 12-1pm and mainly elderly people come along and for the bargain price of £2, receive a three course meal. I assist the Community Manager and help to get set up and ready for the meals to be served. Most of these folks are lonely and enjoy the company of others who come along, and it's great to know they are getting well fed and for the bargain price of only £10 a week. At night time they only need to think of getting themselves a snack and that's them.

Obviously there is a lot of clearing up, washing and scrubbing involved...but I am enjoying being part of some community work at our church. The only thing I am a bit apprehensive about is when the Community Manager is on holiday, as I will have to go in early and run toddlers, and prepare and make the food and set up and all that stuff. Aaagghh! I'm sure I will manage but it's just the unknown at the moment.

So I am looking forward to having just one job to contend with in a few weeks time, but in the meanwhile, I just have to get on with it!

Christmas cards?

2007-08-21T23:07:00.000Z

Yes... believe it or not, I have been given an order from a lady who wants 30 Christmas cards made. She likes to be well organised and so I have been trying to come up with some fresh new ideas. And these are the finished results.

I am quite pleased with them and so they are now the latest addition to my freewebs site believehandmade.

I will hopefully sell these individually as well as in packs.

Remember this?

2007-08-17T21:37:00.000Z

I was listening to Radio One the other day, and Jo Whiley has a spot at round about 11.30am which is called changing tracks. This basically is a chance for people to send in stories about their lives and then give the name of a song which has helped them through some tough time. This particular day, Jo read the story of a young man who basically chose the wrong path in live, turned his back on his family and started to steal and do other stuff just for attention. He used to have a close relationship with his sister but she moved away and this seemed to be the catalyst for the bad behaviour. One day the song "Everybody's free to wear sunscreen" by Baz Luhrmann came on the radio and although he had heard it before, he found this time that it really spoke to him and challenged him to think about his life choices and about his family. I'm glad to say that the song literally changed his life. The life of crime is no longer one that he wishes to pursue and family bonds are being joined back together.

I remember sitting in the car park at New Lanark with the girls in the back, Thomas and I listening with amazement to this track when it first came out. I had forgotten all about it and just how thought provoking it is! Go on...have a listen!

Feels like ages

2007-08-14T14:33:00.000Z

It feels like ages since I've been blogging....that's probably because it has been ages! This past month has been CRAZY...but a good one! First of all our holiday to Fort William which was fantastic but seems like an age away already, then a week back quickly unpacking, washing, ironing and repacking again for our stay at Summer School.....which was AMAZING! As you can guess it wasn't a relaxing holiday but certainly a working one, but one that I and Thomas enjoyed tremendously, and would absolutely do again. So many wonderful people, and what a wonderful God..put them together and you have a taste of heaven...can't wait!

The girls stayed at my mum and dad's for the first part of that week and then they went to their other gran and papa's for the next part. They had a ball. Thanks to both mum's and dad's!!!

Unfortunately during these weeks we had some times when we were being pestered by my "stalker"...which I don't want to go into too much detail about on the blog but this was a situation we had to deal with on a number of occassions and it did give us a bit of bother. I do have to say a huge thank you to Janey who passed on the message of the "stalker's" telephone calls left on our answering machine to us both times when we were on holiday. Janey was looking after our house and our pets and kept us informed on the latest from the "stalker".
So thank you Janey and Ross for you help and support and for allowing us to hide up in your home on a few occasions worried incase "he" just popped by!

Thank you too, to my dear Thomas who phoned "him" and tried to tell him in a firm but gentle way that this wasn't normal behaviour. Unfortunately he still turned up on Sunday Morning at our church with more gifts for me, but again thanks to all of those who stayed beside me when he was talking to me, and for helping to support me through such a weird situation.

Also while we were at Summer School one of our gerbils, "Heidi" died, and it's cage mate "Woody" didn't look too well when we got home. She looked so lonely and didn't look as if she had been eating. She also seemed to be disoriented and kept falling over to one side. I checked out the internet and one site said that they can just be so lonely they just give up and die. I obviously didn't want this to happen so I spent a few days really giving her lots of attention and making sure food and drink was close beside her. She's still quite sad looking but putting weight on which is good.

I am also going to be starting a new job next week working at Bellshill Salvation Army helping there with the Lunch club Monday to Friday, and am looking forward to meeting new people and being able to share with them....although I am pretty apprehensive about doing the cooking when the cook is on holiday!....AAAaaaaghh. Never mind, I'm sure I will learn! Unfortunately I have had to hand in my notice to Hamilton Salvation Army where I have worked for the past three years, and it was a pleasure doing my best to keep the church clean, tidy and fit for use, and I will miss it!

So...yeah...it's been busy, and I can't believe my girls go back to school on Thursday, ALREADY. I hate getting back into a routine...I like the unpredictable days that school holidays bring. These past weeks have just flown by.....hey Dayna and Miriam...I will miss you!

Off to Fort William!

2007-07-13T14:50:00.001Z

Tomorrow we will be off to Fort William for a week. We will be taking Pippin our wee dog and we will be staying in a lodge which the girls are quite excited about. I'm especially looking forward to eating out as often as possible.....no cooking and cleaning up...sounds like heaven! Hopefully the weather will be kind to allow us to get out and see some lovely scenery....long walks and picnics sound wonderful, and Pippin will just have a ball.
Hoping to go to Mallaig and to Morar to see the lovely beaches there!

I would also like to visit Skye for the day as well....so plenty of things planned. Most of all I just want us all to have the opportunity to relax and just enjoy each other's company.

See you in a week!

Our new charity shop

2007-07-12T13:54:00.000Z

I am very proud to say that we now have our very own Salvation Army charity shop, pride of place, in the Bellshill main street. An ensemble from our band played for 10 minutes before the official opening of the store took place. Trevor Caffull, who is the Managing Director of the Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd....(who had come all the way up from down South for the occassion).... spoke for a few minutes, and then Ivor Telfor our Divisional Commander read the love passage from the bible and said a few words and then he officially opened the store with a few cuts of the red ribbon. There was even a red carpet rolled out for customers.

Within seconds the shop was absolutely stowed out and remained so for about the next hour with long queues being a good reflection on the quality of stock found in our store. The band played another piece of music and then we were invited through the back where a lovely spread had been put on. However, I decided to just go through to the store and have a good nosey around myself instead!

I have to say without being biased, that the shop has been fitted so well, the staff and volunteers have done an amazing job. It looks very professional....colour co-ordinated clothes are all kept together and all the accessories have been placed together in lovely displays around clothing that matches. There was no "smell"...everything was totally fresh and just immaculate.

I spoke to Ivor for a wee while and he was just so chuffed that the shop was open. To be able to have the store in the main street where the presence of the Salvation Army is seen and felt is just such an amazing opportunity. Leaflets and info about our church are on display as well as the store being staffed with ordinary folks who have a love for God and a love for the community....for all the people that they will come in contact with on a daily basis.

Yeah..it will be great to raise more funds for the army, but this is not the main aim. Friendships hopefully will be built between the staff and the customers, and hopefully through time we may see some more new faces in our church, or in coming to Alpha, or house groups..ect....and see more people coming to know God as their personal Saviour. This would just be wonderful.

I managed to buy a lovely lilac and pink wall clock for the girls bedroom which was still in its original packaging,....brand new.....still screwed into the back of the cardboard!....£1.49!!!
Chuffed!

Laughter is good medicine!

2007-07-10T16:47:00.000Z

On Saturday I had a wonderful time with Thomas and the girls. We spent quite a long time in the Hamilton Museum which is a place the girls like to visit often. The displays were absolutely top class..very informative! They had lots of info about the history of Hamilton and of the old Hamilton Palace...(not the night club )...which was owned by the wealthy "Hamilton" family, who also owned and built the Hamilton Mausoleum. The museum also had a fantastic exhibition on Sir Harry Lauder, whom I didn't know that much about but enjoyed learning just how much of an important Scottish figure he was.

One of the things I really think is important in places such as these is to make sure that there are some interactive stuff that you can do with the kids. There were opportunities to dress up as Harry Lauder. Now... the sizes of clothing are really intended for kids, but with much persuasion from myself, I managed to just about fit Thomas into some Scottish Harry Lauder regalia.

Now as per usual Thomas has given a very descriptive account of the days events, but has left out some of the best photos....on purpose I feel, so I just have to show them...don't I?

and the best one...
We also managed to just about to squeeze into some royal clothing...although I look more like a skivvy than someone royal. I thought since Thomas likes to spend such a lot of his time on the "throne"....dressing him up as the king was suitable.
We actually had the opportunity to go inside the Mausoleum in the afternoon which was amazing. Thomas has some wonderful pictures of the inside of it...so check his blog out and then visit flickr to see most of them. All in all a very educational day.

So we definitely had lots of laughter today...and at night it was no different as we got the good old tennis table out. Such fun! So...thank you Thomas, Dayna and Miriam for a truly wonderful day.

Thanks Papa!

2007-07-06T13:09:00.001Z

My Papa taught me many things in the years I was priviledged to have him in my life. One of his greatest passions was for gardening. He didn't have the biggest garden in the world, but what he did have he looked after so well. The edges of the grass were so well manicured...none of this strimmer business. My Papa detested them when they came out...he stuck with his garden shears and had razor like edges to be proud of.

When we moved into the house we are currently in, my Mum and Dad kindly gave us some money from my Gran & Papa who both by this time had passed away. I wanted to do something good with the money, not waste it or use it for something that wouldn't last. So I decided to do my gardens up with it, as a reminder of what my Papa held dear...to care for nature and for wildlife.

Everything that you see in my garden was done by my now not very lady-like hands. I'm not a professional gardener but I have such a passion for plants and nature in general. I edged my lawn with cobble stones and laid some slabs and put some decking in...and it may not have been done by a professional but I'm glad that I did it on my own, because I truly feel that it is mine, and I designed it all thanks to the good advice that always echoes in my mind from my Papa.

My front garden doesn't get much sunshine so I have had to rely on a lot of evergreen plants. Round the back suffers terribly from clay soil, resulting in a terrible lawn and the need for raised beds to stop the risk of the plants drying up in the clay in the summer and drowning in swamp in the winter.

It's been a lot of hard work, and still continues to be, as I, in true style like my Papa still have my trusty garden shears at the ready, always trying for as sharp and clean an edge as possible. Many a neighbour over the years has come out and asked if I would like to borrow their strimmer, obviously feeling sorry for me with my shears...I then get strange looks when I say "no thanks, I choose to use these!" If you have a massive garden I can see the need for the strimmer for certain things, but not for the edges of your grass, it just turns the grass yellow eventually..it burns it! Get down on your knees, grab a pair of garden shears and take a great deal of satisfaction from a lovely clean edge. I'm sad...I know, but it's just something I am passionate about.

When I come in the house with filthy hands and nails and a sore back, I know I've done a good job!

As for attracting wildlife....I get many different birds visiting my garden, and at the moment we have our own little field mouse which can be seen in the picture above. We sit and watch it from our window. As long as it stays out there and doesn't come in, I don't mind!

Dunk Mug

2007-07-06T12:43:00.000Z

Saw this mug and loved it. They are certainly not cheap...and for someone who tends to be a bit on the clumsy side...maybe at this price it wouldn't be the best idea. But I think this is just genius! I found it at Cool Hunting

"Who doesn't love a little biscuit to dunk in his coffee? Dominic Skinner must because he designed this mug to hold them neatly inside the bottom. He was even smart enough to make right and left handed versions so there's no worry of losing your cookies while taking a sip."

Josh Rubin

LOVE IT!

Garlic card?...love it!!!

2007-07-04T15:12:00.000Z

I was on Facebook and was checking out Darrin Reeves page. I was very intrigued with his latest buy which is a garlic card. I did a search for one and I must say I am loving it. One site describes what it does...

"It comes in eight colors and has little embossed letters all over it that allow you to puree garlic without much mess or fuss. And it is the size of a credit card so you can carry it with you for any garlic pureeing emergencies that may occur."

They are not expensive at all and I think this is great design and great fun. Thanks Darrin...I think he's got a red one!

Feeling uplifted

2007-07-03T10:48:00.000Z

I am currently listening to an artist known as Rita Springer. Some of her lyrics are just amazing. I have it up full blast singing along with her at the top of my lungs whilst cleaning up the house. I love it when you can have God moments when doing menial tasks! Fantastic. Here are the lyrics to two of the songs so far this morning that have just struck such a chord with me.

"OH GOD OF MINE

Oh God of mine, I’ll have no idols
Oh God of mine, come lead the way
Oh God of mine, I’m greatly humbled
This sinner’s heart You came to save
Oh God of mine through storm and trial
Oh God of mine through death and grave
Oh God of mine in resurrection
Your scars display my soul’s refrain
Oh God of mine Who holds all nations
Oh God of mine Who saves the day
Oh God of mine, Your grace sufficient
And tender mercies new by morn
Oh God of mine, forever faithful
Oh God of mine, forever stay
Oh God of mine, forever after
These eyes upon Your face will gaze"

'YOU'RE MORE THAN A FRIEND

In the quiet of my soul
In the stillness I hear Your voice call
And I am overwhelmed
I am lost for words to describe You
Jesus, You’re more than a friend
Jesus, You’re more than my heart could ever express
Your love and your grace never fail me
Your merciful touch always heals me
You bring joy to my soul
My heart longs to worship You my King
And I long to bring You a pleasing offering
And I am overwhelmed
I am lost for words to describe You"

Go out and get a copy....she's got such a great raw and textured voice and it will just lift you up! the album is called "I have to believe". Also her rendition of the amazing Delirious song "Rain down" has been done really well.

Rob Bell...third way?

2007-07-02T22:07:00.001Z

It's very hard to try to explain in any way how wonderful it was to hear Rob Bell speak without doing it any justice. All I can say was that he has inspired, blessed and challenged me. He spoke for an hour and a half without any pieces of paper or notes in front of him, and I could have sat there all night listening to him. Thomas has blogged in far better detail than I ever could on his blog so please check that out...but the one thing amongst many that stood out...was this "third way" thing!

In life we react to things mostly in two ways. We either let someone walk all over us and humiliate us and do nothing about it....keep allowing ourselves to be humiliated, or go to the other extreme, of reacting back in as equally if not worse an act than was was thrown at us...in doing so making ourselves just as bad if not worse than the aggressor.

Rob spoke about how wonderful it would be if the world tried to find a third way of dealing with situations such as these. Jesus was the best at finding third ways. Diffusing situations where people where desperately trying to irritate Him...where people were trying to accuse Him of breaking some sort of law.... God's law!....where people tried to bring Jesus down.....He found a third way...He found a way of diffusing it all without allowing people to humiliate Him or drag Him down or worst of all allow people to say that He wasn't who He claimed to be...The Son of God...the Messiah! Yet He did it with such class! He didn't just walk away from the situation and just give up, but yet neither did He retaliate in the same manner as what was done to Him.....He found a third way, and in doing so, didn't lose face. He put his point across with such great authority and with such clarity that the disgruntled people were left at times speechless and with the ball well and truly being out of their court.

I really feel that for most people, finding a third way in which to react to a situation, especially one that comes unexpected and fast, is incredibly hard! We usually react quickly in one out of the two ways...and I desperately need to find a way of letting this third way of reacting come naturally to me. When I look back over my life and even at this very moment in my life I feel that I allow or have allowed people to put me down which is really in essence trying to humiliate me. It may be that they are unaware of what they are doing, yet it hurts. How do I deal with it. Well in my past I have usually "sucked it up" and as I don't like confrontation and animosity particularly much, I usually just smile and pretend I don't mind, and then go home upset about it...knowing full well that if I allowed myself to respond in the other way it would only be to my own shame the next day when I remember back to how I let it rip!

Tonight I was in a situation with someone who I have been struggling with for a while with the odd condescending remark being thrown at me here and there for the last few months, and another situation was starting to happen again! And I really felt such an anger welling up in me and I would have let it rip, because it's been building up to a climax for such a long time. Instead I answered back as honestly as I could without being rude or retaliating in the same manner, and then excused myself from the company.

I felt quite peaceful when heading home, in that for me I had found the third way in that particular situation. Normally I would have just laughed it off in some way, or in feeling the way that I did tonight would have said something that I would deeply have regretted, and in doing so would have only let myself down. So I answered pleasantly but still firmly and got myself out.

Hopefully I have let that particular individual see that it's not on to keep trying to put me down...that it's not acceptable, but also in doing what I did, may they also have seen that I didn't return the same behaviour. In doing so I hope that the individual tonight may realise that maybe he/she had went to far and maybe as Rob Bell said...allow them to change their behaviour and change their mind about how they behave in the future.

We are only human...I'm only human! I get frustrated, angry and fed up like everyone else, but I never want to let my Lord down. I never want through some burst of what seems like righteous anger to ever hurt someone, even when I feel hurt myself. I want desperately to be able to put this third way of "reaction" into "action" in my life. I really need God's peace to reside in me in difficult times. I need to feel a real "shalom" with Him.

Make me a channel of your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me bring you love;
Where there is injury, your healing pow'r,
And where there's doubt, true faith in you.
Make me a channel of your peace:
Where there's despair in life let me bring hope;
Where there is darkness, - only light,
And where there's sadness, ever joy.
O Spirit, grant that I may never seek
So much to be consolded as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love with all my soul - .
Make me a channel of your peace.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
In giving to all that we receive,
And in dying that we're born to eternal life.
PRAYER OF ST FRANCIS

Table Tennis

2007-06-29T23:02:00.000Z

Here is the table we now are the proud owners of. We absolutely love it. We've had such a laugh....and everyone who has come over has had a game and loved it. Even the kids can have a go ...it's great. Everyone out there should buy one, even if it is a bit difficult storing it. Ours is currently folded in half in our dining room. I will need to come up with some idea of disguising it when it's not in use so that it is aesthetically pleasing.

2007-06-29T22:49:00.001Z

Olly as a Simpson character... What do you think?

Go http://www.simpsonsmovie.com/ to create your own.

Hello again!

2007-06-28T16:24:00.000Z

It's been a while now since I have been on the ol' blog! I'm still crazy but then somethings never change!

Yesterday was Miriam's birthday. She was 6 years old. I can't believe it and tomorrow she spends her last day at school as a Primary one. However, we had invited all the family over for a barbeque, using our very trusty large George Foreman grill...(everyone should own one, they are fantastic).

The weather in the morning did not look promising and the weather report was for rain, but it stayed dry! We were so chuffed because all the family including ourselves were all keyed up for table tennis.

Thomas and I celebrated our ten year anniversary last week and had decided to buy a full size butterfly compac table tennis table...(as you do!). It is amazing.

It was such a success...everyone loved it and we had such a laugh.

Big thanks have to go out to my brother-in-law Daniel and to Roscoe who helped me out on the grill with big orders, of sausages, beefburgers, pork and apple burgers, veggie-burgers, and skewered chicken! They really helped out...so thanks guys.

Unfortunately my phone is out of order at the minute pics, so I've pinched some of Thomas'.

Thanks to everyone for their support over these last few months, and especially for the encouragement shown from the lovely Johnny Laird in me getting back into blogging again.

Back soon!

2007-04-17T20:34:00.000Z

Sorry I haven't blogged for a while....actually I won't be blogging for a wee while. I'm temporarily "closing shop"! I've got a number of things going on in my life just now and my heart's a wee bit heavy...and I struggle sometimes with a busy schedule to manage the time to post something.

Thanks for all your support, and maybe I'll be back sometime soon!

love Olly
x

Great product!

2007-03-30T11:10:00.000Z

I'm the car washer in the family, and I've been getting really frustrated lately because of all the little black dots that just refuse to come off the car.

So I went and bought some of this...
...and it actually works. I just tried a bit of it on a section of my car, and those mean little stubborn black tar marks just melted away...wiped away by one swipe of my cloth. Fantastic.

Planning to clean the car tomorrow, so can't wait to get all of those little brutes off my paintwork.

Happy Birthday Elizabeth!

2007-03-29T10:40:00.000Z

It's my mother-in-law's birthday today. Happy birthday Elizabeth.
Hope you have a lovely day...you deserve it! You are one of the most kind and thoughtful people I know...always near at hand and willing to get stuck in when help is required as seen in this photo of her painting Dayna & Miriam's room. Angus and Elizabeth were only supposed to be painting the ceiling, but had very kindly started on the walls to give me less painting to do.

So thank you Elizabeth for all that you mean to Thomas and I, and for the fantastic Gran you are to Dayna and Miriam. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Useless information

2007-03-28T12:35:00.000Z

For some bizarre reason I decided to put in a search for "useless information". This website came up [[link]]. I scrolled down and came across a story about a man called Jack Hall, who used burnt wooden matchsticks to build musical instruments.

Check it out...absolutely useless info, but still amazing!

For some more photos visit here.

Oh and here is another piece of useless information...this is my 100th blog. Not very much in comparison to the headphonaught's, but never the less is an achievement for me!

Grace

2007-03-28T11:33:00.000Z

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard.

He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the market-place doing nothing.

He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.'

So they went. He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing.

About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?'

'Because no-one has hired us,' they answered. He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.'

When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.'

The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius.

So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius.

When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner.

These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.'

But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius?

Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you.

Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?'

So the last will be first, and the first will be last.

Matthew 20 verses 1-16 New International Version

I've been reading Philip Yancey's book "What's so amazing about grace? I'm just really taking my time to go through it because there is just so much to take in and learn. Yesterday I was really challenged by reading a part which refers to the scripture above...the parable of the workers in the vineyard.

This story to most people as well as Philip Yancey would on face value seem to be extremely unfair. Why should someone get paid the same for an hours work as someone who has worked for a full day. That's unfair! Surely?
In today's society, people just wouldn't stand for such nonsense. After all this would be classed as ludicrous behaviour.

The thing is...the full-day workers did get what they were promised. They got their denarius.

"The employer in Jesus' story did not cheat the full-day workers by paying everyone for an hour's work instead of twelve. No, the full-day workers got what they were promised. Their discontent arose from the scandalous mathematics of grace. They could not accept that the employer had the right to do what he wanted with his money when it meant paying scoundrels twelve times what they deserved.

Significantly, many Christians who study this parable identify with the employees who put in a full day's work, rather than the add-ons at the end of the day. We like to think of ourselves as responsible workers and the employer's strange behaviour baffles us as it did the original hearers. We risk missing the point: that God dispenses gifts, not wages. None of us gets paid according to merit, for none of us come close to satisfying God's requirement for a perfect life. If paid on the basis of fairness, we would all end up in hell."

Philip Yancey

This really challenged me...I see this parable now in a whole new way and with a whole new sense of understanding.

"In the bottom-line realm of ungrace, some workers deserve more than others; in the realm of grace the words "deserve" does not even apply."

And then further on he writes...

"I believe Jesus gave us these stories about grace in order to call us to step completely outside our tit-for-tat world of ungrace and enter into God's realm of infinite grace....../

/.......From nursery school onward we are taught how to succeed in the world of ungrace. The early bird gets the worm. No pain, no gain. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Demand your rights. Get what you pay for. I know these rules well because I live by them. I work for what I earn; I like to win; I insist on my rights. I want people to get what they deserve- nothing more, nothing less.

Yet if I care to listen, I hear a loud whisper from the gospel that I did not get what I deserved. I deserved punishment and got forgiveness. I deserved wrath and got love. I deserved debtor's prison and got instead a clean credit history."

Philip Yancey

Looking forward to reading more of the book...there maybe some more quotes to blog some time in the future...it's one of those books you see that just may you go....."aha..I've never thought of that before!" So get a copy if you can.

Songbird

2007-03-27T13:27:00.000Z

Eva Cassidy was an amazing singer, with "Over the rainbow" being a favourite amongst many. One of her other tracks, "Songbird" has been covered by a group of classical singers called "All Angels". My sister has the album and loves it. I have to confess I haven't heard it yet mainly due to the fact that I'm not overly keen on classical singing, but I have to say I was impressed by these four girls. The harmonies are beautiful. Enjoy!

5th April

2007-03-27T13:06:00.000Z

Glenrothes Salvation Army are having an informal worship night on the Thursday before Easter which is the 5th April. For more info check out Dan's blog.

A warped sense of humour!!!

2007-03-26T22:07:00.000Z

Just had to do a quick post before I went to bed. I have been wanting a phone that warps pictures for ages and finally I have one that does. If you have this on your phone you will know that you need the person quite near and a straight on view of the face is essential for a good quality warp!
I get my kill at the effects...the laughs just keep rolling!

Well tonight our Songsters were doing a programme for the women's guild at Viewpark and at the end we shared in a lovely tea that the ladies had provided. Bobby, Diane, Helen and John had came along to support the Songsters which was really nice of them. Helen was sitting across from me when suddenly I remembered my phone's ability to warp! Helen was sitting a bit far away to get a good warp....or so I thought. Because she was further away it created an even more amazing effect. BIG BODY...wee heid! Hilarious...I mean really....tears rolling down my face funny! Bobby and Diane thought it was hilarious too, and I have to say, Helen, you are a good sport...she thought it was funny too and even gave me permission to put it on my blog. Cheers Helen!

and sorry Trevor.....(our Songster Leader)..I just couldn't resist!

Jesus is on board!

2007-03-26T13:40:00.000Z

"Late that day he said to them, "Let's go across to the other side." They took him in the boat as he was. Other boats came along. A huge storm came up. Waves poured into the boat, threatening to sink it. And Jesus was in the stern, head on a pillow, sleeping! They roused him, saying, "Teacher, is it nothing to you that we're going down?"
Awake now, he told the wind to pipe down and said to the sea, "Quiet! Settle down!" The wind ran out of breath; the sea became smooth as glass. Jesus reprimanded the disciples: "Why are you such cowards? Don't you have any faith at all?"
They were in absolute awe, staggered. "Who is this, anyway?" they asked. "Wind and sea at his beck and call!"
Mark 4 verses 35-419 (The Message)

I don’t know if many of you like being on a ship. Maybe if I was to say that I was talking about a cruise ship with a huge swimming pool, luxury accommodation, shops, cinema, restaurants galore...maybe more of you would think that being on a ship is okay.

I don’t particularly like being on a boat. And so one of the first things I do when getting on board is to find out where the lifeboats are and I’ll pretty much take residence there for the remainder of the journey. Any chance of the boat sinking and you can forget all my manners....I’m on first!

But the boat that we are talking about in this story is no luxury cruise liner. It would have been a plain old fishing boat. And here we have a situation where Jesus has come on board.

Now there are two questions that I have when reading this passage of scripture.

Firstly, these fishermen, Jesus’ disciples would have seen many storms,I’m quite sure, in their many times out in their boat. So was this storm even more wild and dangerous than anything that they had ever experienced before?...or secondly, was it that by having Jesus on board, they just didn’t think that they would encounter such a storm, and such a threat to their very lives.

I really feel that the second one may be nearer to the truth...and this challenges me every time. Even with Jesus on board, this certainly doesn’t make the men exempt from the storm. It still happened.

I don’t know about you, and what you have experienced, but I think that a lot of people think that because you are a Christian, because you have asked Jesus into your life, they think that we have a pretty cushy time. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. Dare I even say that as Christians ourselves, sometimes we expect to have an easier ride...after all Jesus wouldn’t want to put us through such a stormy time?

But one other amazing thing happened through experiencing this storm for those disciples. They learned something about Jesus. They realise that he wasn’t just a prophet, a teacher, a friend and someone who performed amazing miracles...he indeed was the Son of God, so powerful that even the wind and the waves obeyed Him, and through this experience these men acknowledged Jesus for what He truly was.

So take comfort from this story, that even though you may be experiencing rough waters in your life, just remember that Jesus is on board,.....He hasn’t jumped overboard! He is simply waiting for you to ask Him to take over and to take control. And although you might find it hard to comprehend why you are being put through such a testing time, just remember how much more you will have learned about your Lord and Saviour, and how much closer you will be to Him through allowing him to take control.

Great day

2007-03-25T20:39:00.000Z

On Saturday it was lovely to wake up to some lovely sunshine. It's as if we have turned a corner with the weather. I had to pop up to the GLO centre (Gospel Literature Outreach) which is a Christian bookshop in Motherwell to buy a present for our neighbours who are having their baby girl Christened. Thomas caught the train to Glasgow to be part of the "stop human trafficking" prayer time held in George Square..(he'll blog about is soon), so the girls and I went shopping for some new shoes for them both and went back to the house, packed a flask and some juice, crisps and chocolate and water for the dog, and waited for Thomas to come home so that we could head off to Tinto, one of our favourite places to be, for a walk.It was glorious. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and Pippin had a ball! We have taken the girls there a few times, and each time we are trying to encourage them to go a bit further. One day I'm sure we will make it to the top. But just being out together enjoying lovely sunshine, and breathtaking scenery, and just being together as a family can't be beaten!There were quite a few paragliders venturing up with their massive bags on their backs. It's hard enough walking up, never mind a 20kg weight on your back. We saw one lady paraglider who was commenting on the fact that she weighs 60kg, and so she was carrying an extra third of her weight! We also met an elderly lady of 80 coming down when we were going up, and although I don't know how far she went up, I was still amazed at how she managed because she looked as if she had some disability with her back...she really inspired me and so I urged the girls on that bit more, after all they are young and should have loads more energy.

Dayna was jumping over muddy bits...fell and got a big slab of dirt on her knee which she wasn't too amused about. It's really funny because Miriam would just stand up, and get on with it. It wouldn't bother her. But Dayna is a bit of a clean freak. She hates the slightest bit of dirt on her, and with no sink nearby to run to wash up, she was not too amused. She eventually laughed about it, especially when we joked that she had landed in fox's poo!

We let Pippin off her lead and she was just in her element running free amongst the heather and the rocks, jumping and splashing through the muck and sniffing everywhere. When we got back down to the car we had our refreshments and I sat in the boot with Pippin with the door up, lapping up the sunshine and watched the paragliders descending graciously from the top of Tinto. Pippin just lay in a towel that I had wrapped her in to keep her cosy, and she was so content.

We then headed home, gave Pippin a shower..... and just relaxed together...I did a bit of blogging and then had to make a Christening card for our neighbours baby, Hannah...

....so all in, a wonderful day and hopefully the start of many more lovely days to come.

Destiny

2007-03-24T23:16:00.000Z

On Friday night we headed through to the Destiny Church in Edinburgh. They host a film night every fortnight, and Kirsty and Fraser are responsible for this venture.
Kirsty used to go to our corps at The Salvation Army in Bellshill..... (her mum, the wonderful Liz is part of B.L.O.C.) ....but then she went to uni and hooked up with the Destiny Church there, which has proven to be a really good choice for her and for her husband Fraser.

When they had been through at S.N.A.C. they had let us know about these film nights that they host....(full size cinema screen!!) ...and we just hadn't been able to fit it in our diary at the time, but we managed to have a free night on Friday and enjoyed our visit to "Destiny"

The interior of the church is amazing. The architecture is gorgeous..right up my street...and they have just made an excellent job of making it so accessible to the community. They have a lovely welcoming entrance hallway with lots of good quality flyers for numerous events that are going on in and around Destiny, and then you walk through to a small cafe area which is great....good use of space...and the serving area for the cafe was well designed and just looked professional. They are doing what I believe to be really important....reaching out to the community and letting them know that the church today CAN be relevant and "with it"!

The film nights are free...refreshments are provided by "The Reel" cafe and they make amazing popcorn too...(Thomas will vouch for that)...tea, coffee, chocolate, crisps..etc and all at very reasonable prices. It was great to see so many non-churched people come in and just relax and not feel anxious about being in a church building. Other than announce the times of the meetings on a Sunday there was nothing else said of a religious nature, which I think was really important.

The reason that I think that is important in this situation is that they have many other outreach activities on during the week and obviously on a Sunday when they have their 3 meetings, (their two morning services are the same, but at different times due to large numbers) but for this night, it is simply as case of letting people feel comfortable entering a church building, and of simply just meeting the people...start building up a rapport and possibly even a friendship....and to allow them to experience "church" through people like Kirsty and Fraser.

I'd ask you all to pray for Kirsty and Fraser and for the work that they do in Destiny. They put so much of themselves into God's work, and they do it not out of a sense of duty.....but out of a real desire to serve God and the community that they live in.

So thank you both for a great night...we all enjoyed watching "Return of the Jedi" and those really cute Ewoks that our two girls love so much.
So folks...the next showing is "The Miracle Maker" shown on Good Friday. The time as far as I know is 7.30pm, but that is when the film starts...doors open at 7pm...arrive then and grab and wee refreshment and a blether before the film commences.

Everybody loves Raymond

2007-03-22T21:26:00.000Z

I absolutely love this sitcom. I have to confess I don't follow a lot of programmes, but everybody in our little family loves Everybody loves Raymond. There are 9 series in total, and I'm thinking about trying to collect the whole series. I love to have a good laugh and I always do when watching Raymond and the gang.

If you haven't seen it, I think it comes on channel 4 in the mornings, but we watch it on the Paramount Comedy channel at dinner time.

Go on, check it out and have a laugh.

Bug on a wire!

2007-03-22T21:09:00.001Z

Been really enjoying the hamster game that Chris Hinton blogged about. It's addictive. Been looking at some other games on the same website as the hamster one and there is another one that is great fun too. Check this out...."bug on a wire". It gets a bit tricky. Let me know how you get on!

New Phone

2007-03-22T21:09:00.000Z

Our new mobiles arrived today. We both went for the lovely Sony Ericsson K800i...I went for the brown one and Thomas went for the black. I think he does like the brown one better, but in order for us to differentiate them he has been really nice about letting me have that one. Looking forward to playing around with it. It's quite a lot different from my Motorola Razor. At last I can get Cherry Blossom Girl by Air as a ringtone.

Thanks Joanne!

2007-03-22T20:25:00.000Z

Many of you will know or be familiar with Ross aka Roscoe...well he has a lovely sister called Joanne. A few weeks ago my best friend Janey asked if I could use a corner unit because Joanne was looking to get rid of one that was in her room. Funnily enough Thomas and I had been looking at some in Ikea a wee while ago and thought it would be a really good thing to use as a crafting table and being able to shut all my bits and bobs away would be great as I hate a mess.

So Joanne let me see it and I say "yes please". On Wednesday Roscoe and his dad came over with the unit. They had to dismantle it all because of the size of it, and then reassemble it for me, which was really nice of them both. Thank you Jim and Roscoe.I spent the rest of the afternoon just getting it into position and filling it. I was really looking forward to moving our G4 mac into the unit as I mainly use it, and Thomas mainly uses the laptop. I planned to move the printer as well so that everything would be at hand for my card making. I just unplugged the computer and lifted it onto my new unit...plugged it back in and it wouldn't work. Thomas said that it happened once to him but eventually it did come on. Unfortunately for me...no matter how long I tried, it wouldn't.

I love my computer, and all of my card templates and worship band stuff is on it. I can't do without it. So today I took it to Scotsys to hopefully find out what is wrong with it. Poor wee thing! Hope she's okay!

So I can't fully enjoy my unit yet until all systems are go, but I am ever so chuffed with it....so thank you Joanne, and to Jim and Roscoe for being so kind to deliver and reassemble, and of course to Janey who let me know about it.

All ipod lovers, look away

2007-03-08T16:30:00.000Z

This clip contains scenes that may disturb and upset any ipod lovers out there!

This guy blends all sorts of crazy stuff in his "blendtec", diamonds, golf clubs, plungers and who knows what else. CRAZY...but I wouldn't mind one of them...to do smoothies and soups with of course...I'm not into the hard stuff!

Tidy up

2007-03-08T16:12:00.000Z

I have spent the last few days working away in my back garden. I needed to cut back a lot of dead growth in order for the new growth to come in. A whole lot of weed pulling and pruning back was certainly required, and after a really hard days work today I'm glad to say it's done!

I never cut my grass until the end of March, but I had to cut mine today believe it or not. The grass was extremely long and with our little doggie going out to do her business, it was becoming increasingly difficult to firstly find those little parcels but secondly to doggie bag them with most of it going all over the long strands of grass....(I think you get the idea!). So it was really needed! The edges are all trimmed the way I like them done and I have already started on a few plans I have for extra plant bedding this summer. So all said...I'm aching, but very happy.

A wonderful time!

2007-03-08T15:52:00.000Z

Last weekend was fantastic. My only complaint was that it passed by too quickly! Staying at the Point Hotel was a great experience, and we would definately go back. Being in Edinburgh and so close to the castle and the shops was also ideal. Our room was amazing, and the Jacuzzi even more so.

We had a laugh when we arrived in our room. When I went into the bathroom to check out the double jacuzzi, I couldn't believe my eyes. The bath was huge about 2 and a half times the width of a usual bath...but at first I thought there were two of them...couldn't quite understand why and then as I went to investigate and nearly smacked into the wall of mirror, I realised that it was only a reflection and a pretty good illusion. Hopefully the photo reveals what I saw!

Spending time with Thomas with no distractions, or things to comsume our time was truly wonderful. I enjoyed every moment of it. Check out the pictures at flickr, and also check out Thomas' blog aka headphonaught for a more detailed recap of our time in the auld reekie!

Happy 40th Alastair!

2007-03-05T21:29:00.000Z

It's my oldest brother's birthday today...and he's now 40, much to his disliking... and so all the family have been out enjoying a meal together to celebrate his big day. I have another older brother Colin...then there is Caroline, and then little old me...the bairn!

So anyway Alastair...happy birthday...can't believe your 40!....SCARY. It will come to us all unfortunately. I have another eight and a half years to go..and that is one birthday I will not be looking forward to.

Maggie's Monster Bike and Hike 2007

2007-03-01T23:10:00.000Z

Ross...aka Roscoe, our good friend and fiance to Janey (as seen above), is taking part in a bike and hike, in aid of Maggie's cancer care centres. He's made up a wee webpage for online sponsorship. Here's a wee bit about the charity:

"Maggie's Centres help people adjust to living with cancer. Its pioneering support programme has been developed for patients, their carers, family and friends. Each centre is located close to an NHS hospital and they have been designed carefully and imaginatively to make sure people feel at home."

With the percentage of people nowadays being affected by cancer, I don't think that there are many of us who don't know of someone who has or has had cancer. Just last year alone, Thomas aka the headphonaught lost an uncle and an aunt to cancer.

Check out the link for Roscoe's webpage and read about what exactly he is going to be doing. So please, please sponsor and support him for this really worthwhile cause.

Thank you Mum & Dad Mathie

2007-02-28T00:22:00.000Z

Thomas usually wakes me up in the morning before he leaves for work, and so with him being away I'm scared that I won't hear my alarm or it won't go off. Thomas' mum and dad get up at 7.30am and said that they would call me and make sure I'm up...which they have been doing these last few mornings. So thank you Angus and Elizabeth...it's very much appreciated!

Some weather!

2007-02-27T23:57:00.000Z

What a miserable day today has been, weather wise. As I am blogging just now the winds are really strong. That aside, it's been a nice but busy day. After dropping the girls off at school I decided to go to East Kilbride shopping centre. It's all undercover so I stayed nice and dry. Later when I got home, I got the washing done and tidied up before the girls needed picked up. On Sunday it was our Young People's Annual at our church, and they got their prizes in the afternoon. In each age category a dice was thrown, and whatever was written down on Captain Stephen Poxon's (our visitor for the day) book that corresponded with the number on the dice, that was to be an extra treat for all the kids in that section. Dayna and Miriam were thankfully in the same section, and they were delighted to hear that they were to be taken to McDonalds at some point this week.
This off course was a treat to be given by the parents not the church. So tonight I took them to McDonalds at Braehead...
......and afterwards we went to Ikea where I bought some nice things..can't say what because it's a surprise for Thomas coming home. Then when we got home I started dealing with the new purchases and before I knew it, it was 10.30pm. I then had to finish a few cards off while I was waiting for an ichat with Thomas. He's having long working days over in Philly but he's enjoying the mall at night. Won't be long till Friday...can't wait....miss you and so do the girls. Dayna said she was sad because she just wasn't getting the tickles her dad normally gives her.

Salvation Army Cards

2007-02-27T23:43:00.000Z

When an occassion such as a person being enrolled as a Junior or Senior Soldier arises within the salvation Army, you can't just go out and by a card at the local Christian bookshop. you can get Baptism, Confirmation and things such as these, but nothing personal for the Salvation Army. I decided to make my own and have given these out on a few occassions recently.

The colours, yellow, red and blue are quite important to a Salvationist. the yellow signifies the fire of the Holy Spirit.....red, the blood of Jesus.....and the blue, the purity and holiness of God.
I have put these on my website in their own section....."Salvation Army"

My retirement!

2007-02-27T23:30:00.000Z

On Sunday I officially retired as Assistant Singing Company Leader. I took on the position 7 years ago and last year was approached by Ruth (the Singing Company Leader) and was asked it I would take on the role of leadership so that she could retire after 17 years of service. I decided to take a few weeks just to pray about it, and I really felt that the Lord was telling me no. I am involved in Alpha, house groups, B.L.O.C., senior band, songsters and singing company and I am also quite frequently out singing somewhere....it's hard trying to be part of all of these things without it affecting other parts of your life especially family. I knew that B.L.O.C. Alpha and house groups were my passion and I truly feel that God is wanting me to focus on these things and to "hand the baton" so to say on to someone else. Pamela is now leading our Singing Company and has a new way of leading the kids. I didn't want to stay around too long and then leave and cause more disturbance for the kids, so I thought this was the best time and it just allows Pamela to get into her own routine and hopefully soon chooses a suitable assistant.

On Sunday afternoon I was presented with a gift from the Singing Company. It's called an Infinity Candle, and it's really quite nice. Hopefully the boys in the alto section will sing up now that they are one down.

LIVE TO TELL

2007-02-22T16:52:00.000Z

This is my big sister Caroline and her husband Daniel who it just like a brother to me. We love to sing together and have been out on a number of occassions doing programmes. On Friday we will be singing at the Pentecostal Church in Whitburn, and we have been practicing a lot of new songs together which we are really looking forward to singing.

We love singing together and have been thinking of a name for our wee trio for a while now and have come up with "Live to tell". As follower's of Christ, our responsibility is not to hold on to the gospel but spread it...to share God's love wherever and whenever we can. Our lives belong to God, and so our main purpose for our lives is to tell...tell others about this amazing fact that God loves them. Caroline, Daniel and I have a great desire to share God's love through our singing and so "Live to tell" really sums up what we are trying to do.

Looking forward to seeing Bobby (my mum's cousin) and his wife Jeanette, who organise the whole event and have asked us over. Don't know whether we will see Dionne or Derek, but it would be nice to see them (second cousins). We were there last year at their annual dinner and have been asked back. So Whitburn Pentecostal...here we come...we're really looking forward to seeing you.

Great news

2007-02-22T16:42:00.000Z

After a lot of hassle and uncertainty, Thomas will be going to Philly now from Sunday to Thursday, bringing him back home early Friday morning, allowing us still to go that same day for our anniversary weekend away.

Thank you Thomas for dealing with all of this at your work. I'm going to miss you as are the girls when you are away but I know that the weekend will be even more special now because I will be so glad that you are back....as they say "absence makes the heart grow fonder"

Crazy Hair Day!

2007-02-21T16:33:00.000Z

On Friday, Dayna and Miriam were to go to school with crazy hair styles to raise money for Unicef. I was quite chuffed with my efforts and I thought the girls looked CRAZY! They had great fun at school and enjoyed wearing casual clothes for the day and being able to buy books and toys at the stall. I gave them both a pound to spend (that's the most they allow the kids to bring in) and it's amazing what you get for the pound these days! Miriam came back with about 3 books, a barbie doll, and she had also bought a couple of cakes, and she still gave me change back.

Alistair Smith

2007-02-21T14:29:00.000Z

Alistair Smith is an amazing young man. We had the priviledge of meeting Alistair many years ago (through Janey), when he was really quite young, and even then have always found him to be nothing but pleasant and well mannered. Now that sounds really motherish (is that even a word?) but it's true, and it's rare to come by. He is only just 18years of age, and his head is well screwed on. This guys faith just comes over to me as being so natural to him. He's at real peace with God and overall is just one inspiring lad! Bless you Alistair...your family should be really proud of you. I know Thomas and I are proud to know you and think you are a real wee gem and a great example of a true worshipper. Thanks for being you!

House Groups

2007-02-21T14:16:00.000Z

The past few weeks at our church house groups have been fantastic. Ruth, Roscoe's mum has kindly opened up her home and has been facilitating the topic and discussion which she is great at! We've been studying the book of Exodus and have been following the story of Moses over these past few weeks. It's amazing what comes through a passage that before you would never have given any thought to. We have another house group being run at Kenny and Sarah's on a Monday as well, so numbers are growing and things are going well. If you are not involved in one, or don't have one.... get involved....create one...they are such an important part of "Church" and such an important part of our individual, as well as corporate, spiritual growth.

So thank you Ruth..."you da man!" or should I say "you da woman!" (just a wee joke from previous week)

Sweeeet!

2007-02-18T23:29:00.000Z

Loving these! Thomas showed this to me tonight. They are anamorphic cups...what?...don't worry all is explained if you visit their site..[[link]]

To check out other stuff from this company just visit www.normal.as
I love my tea, and I love my cups..these are sweeeeet!

The future looks bright!

2007-02-18T22:40:00.000Z

Today's meetings were really great, and helped in some ways to amend a not so nice weekend. Alec posed a question in the morning service..." What is it that made you believe in the first instance that Jesus could help you? " Some of the replies were through seeing what he had done for others...just feeling his presence and being fully aware of him.....of just believing on God's promises..etc and he used the story about the Roman Official who asked Jesus to help his dying son. He had heard how Jesus had helped others, and so had went to Him and asked for help. He also finished with posing another question....When you come before Jesus, are you coming simply just for what you can get....or are you coming out of an act of devotion, to the Son of God who loves you, and died for you?

(if you want to download and listen to Alec's full sermon then look out for it at www.councilofwar.co.uk)

We were all given the miniature edition of "The purpose driven life", with the plan that for the next 40 days we would each take time to go through the thoughts and devotions within this book. In the evening service Andrea said something that really jumped out..and I probably won't be able to word it exactly, but she was asking us what we thought the difference was between a good person and a Christian? What is it that makes us different? She then went on to say that a good person has been shaped by their past...but a Christian is shaped by their future...a future that has been planned for them by God... a future that includes a glorious and wonderful future in heaven that he has already prepared for us.

This got me thinking. So many times we allow things in our past to creep into our lives today. We carry around guilt and shame about things that God has already forgiven us for. Instead of claiming his wonderful forgiveness we continue to punish ourselves. We keep letting it get in the way of our todays as well as in the way of our relationship with God. We can't allow ourselves to be shaped by our past.

I think it's wonderful to know that I can never wander so far away that I can never be brought back into God's loving care. There is nothing that I can do to stop God loving me. What a hope...what a promise! I thank God that he has a purpose for me and that my future shapes who I am, as long as I simply trust and allow Him to be part of my life... today!
There is a familiar saying from the phone company Orange.....

"The future looks bright, the future's Orange".....

but I can say for sure...that my future looks bright..after all...my future is in God's hands!

Thanks to our officers Alec and Andrea for another challenging day!

Where did the weekend go?

2007-02-18T22:15:00.000Z

After the previous weekend being so busy, I was really looking forward to this weekend. We always have a busy week with so many things on and so the weekends are really precious to us. Nothing had been planned for Friday night or for Saturday, and so I was really looking forward to chilling with the family. I picked Thomas up from the station only to be asked...would I like to hear the bad news or the bad news? Thomas is more than likely to be going back to Philly for not one week...oh no....two! Oh and when would that be...oh yes when we had our anniversary weekend booked! I was absolutely gutted..to be honest I still am...but to have been given such short notice just enraged me....I am expected to just drop all of my plans...really special and worthwhile plans to suit a last minute decision at the workplace. To say the least Friday night was ruined, as was pretty much all of Saturday. Obviously we were both unhappy and the disappointment of it all was pretty much aimed, by me, at Thomas...indirectly of course because it wasn't his fault.

This weekend had been picked due to a particularly heavy period for me between now and May and so being realistic, we may as well forget going away now..I can't see it happening. But to then have Thomas away from two weeks is not particularly cheering me up either.

You see...this was never really in the job description..that was never the way we wanted work life to be for us, but I know that I can get by...but it will be harder because the girls really struggled the last time when it was only for a week, never mind two. I'm the one who has to pacify them...not his work!

So emotions have been running extremely high this weekend, but I'm feeling a bit more settled today. It's awful when you wish you could just have those few days back again to just enjoy and spend together...but they're gone you just can't have them back.....and as my mum reminded me....enjoy every moment together..you never know when it will be your last...and then she reminds me of the chorus of a song I think was written by Gloria Gaither....

"We have this moment to hold in our hands
and to touch as it slips through our fingers like sand;
Yesterday's gone and tomorrow may never come,
But we have this moment today."

Thanks mum...and sorry Thomas....I just hate the thought of being without you.

Believe Handmade

2007-02-15T15:27:00.000Z

Just a short blog to say that my handmade cards are still available to view on flickr, but I have also created a freeweb website for the time being until I can go about getting my own website. please check it out, its www.freewebs.com/believehandmade... It's nowhere near perfect...still lots of cards to upload, but I thought I would make a start. I'm a wee bit annoyed because I made lots of cards over the last few months that were kind of special one off's at the time...but ones that I would like to bring into my range...but I never took photos! So I will have to get busy making more samples to display!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2007-02-14T11:05:00.000Z

"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times.....always with the same person"

Thomas and I are kind of postponing our Valentine's Day in a sense till in a few weeks time. This year Thomas and I will have been married 10 years, and although we don't celebrate our anniversary until June, we decided to book a weekend away in March for just the two of us. June is a busy time with the summer holidays and everything so this seems like a good time. We have booked into the Point Hotel in Edinburgh for a few nights and I can't wait. We have a double jacuzzi suite and it has its own separate lounge with a 42" plasma screen. Looking forward to a wee bit of luxury. I will most definately be coming home looking like a prune....spending most of my time in the jacuzzi.

So, we decided that we would give each other cards and declarations of our love to each other then. But I can't let the day go by without saying "I love you Thomas" and to thank you for all that you mean to me.

Nice week!

2007-02-14T10:43:00.000Z

This last week has been a mixture of a few really relaxing and some really busy days. Enjoyed spending some quality time with the girls and with Thomas on a few evenings last week which was really lovely. On Saturday Thomas and I were asked to help out at the "Outside out" Youth Rally that was held in Glasgow. We were there from 10.30am to about 9.30pm so it was a long day, but not as long as some of the technical team who had been there from 7am and were still about when we left. My lovely husband Thomas aka the headphonaught had blogged about the day and has some pics too so check that out!

On Sunday it was just as busy. Morning service, then Singing Company (Junior Choir) practice, home quick for lunch, back out to the church for 4pm for a B.L.O.C. practice and then into our evening service followed at 8pm by S.N.A.C. Exhausting but well worth it. Another great day. We were able to share in a love feast together in our evening's fellowship during our S.N.A.C. get together and the whole evening was just a great success and God's presence was ever near.

We had a laugh on Monday. I was dropping Thomas off at the train station in the morning so that he could catch the train to work, and he said in the car on the way...I have a strange feeling I have a holiday off work at round about this time. When he got to work and checked, he realised that he was supposed to be off that very day as well as the Friday before. Thomas you are such a numpty! Never mind, it was nice that you were able to get yesterday off instead and another day in a few weeks time.

Couldn't believe it last night! We have our church choir, our Songster practice on a Tuesday evening and Thomas and I usually take turns each week to go so that one of us are in the house with the girls. Last night we forgot all about it. I couldn't believe it. For some reason it didn't even click with either of us that it was Tuesday. I think because Thomas was off and the girls were still off school on holiday that it just threw us. Didn't realise till about 10 ish...Ooooops! But don't worry I have sent a very apologetic email to our Songster leader.

On the positive side though we did spend that time in a quality way...we watched a film together with the girls.

No promises

2007-02-05T16:17:00.000Z

"No promises".....love, love, love this song. It sends shivers down my spine. Heard it at the early part of last year on the radio just the one time and instantly loved it, and because I wasn't sure who sang it, I kind of had to forget about it. But hey, I found it. It's sung by Shayne Ward and was originally sung by Bryan Rice....a song from the soundtrack of the film "Nynne" which I'm not familiar with.

Anyway the song is amazing......the video is beautiful but incredibly sad!,,,huge lump in my throat!!!...anyway...enjoy!

Old table....new table!

2007-01-20T19:42:00.001Z

It's been a really nice day. Janey stayed over last night, and in the morning Roscoe came over to join us as we all headed out for the day. Next Saturday night a bunch of us are going to a murder mystery night at a friends house. My character is to come wearing a Sari, and a while ago when we were in The Salvation Army charity shop in Byres Road, we saw a rail of beautiful Sari's....so I thought that I would have nothing better to do than to go there and pick one up! Unfortunately it didn't work out so well because there were none to be seen. Aaaahhhh! Don't know what I am going to do now! Anyway...it wasn't a total disaster because while looking around the shop I saw a beautiful coffee table which I have seen in other shops priced around the £100 - £150 price range, and it would just have went perfectly in my living room. There was nothing wrong with it...it was in mint condition. So I asked how much it was expecting around the £60 mark...and the lady said £20! WHAT!! I couldn't believe it. I love, love, love a bargain. So we are now the proud owner of a gorgeous chunky dark wooden coffee table.

Before we came across this great find, we had been to the Kelvingrove Museum which was good fun. Later after Thomas and Roscoe had carried the table back to the car,we went to Beanscene and spent a couple of hours just sipping tea and coffee, and just relaxing which was great. Check out the headphonaught's flickr photos of our day!

Bus spotting?

2007-01-19T17:51:00.000Z

Saw the strangest thing today. A man sitting on the island of a roundabout. I mean this guy didn't just find himself on the island trying to cross over and decided to take a rest.....he had a bag that looked like he had a flask and some lunch in it...one of these fold out seats and a camera in his hand. He was franticly looking around him at all the traffic coming from different directions. It was the most bizarre thing, and it obviously wasn't just me that thought that....all the drivers were staring and the passers by just stopped in their tracks and some were taking photos. I was mad because I had left my phone on charge in the house because you just had to have seen it! There was a bit of traffic leading up to the roundabout so I was able to just watch him for a while. He was just oblivious to what everyone thought was a crazy thing to do...he was content and didn't seem to notice. He was so into whatever he was doing. So maybe you can help me..I think he had a pad of paper on his lap as well....is there such a thing as bus spotting? The roundabout he was sitting on was just before the one way system at Motherwell and a lot of buses pass that way. So is there really such a thing?

Two peas in a pod!

2007-01-18T23:03:00.000Z

Thomas brought work home and came downstairs at 10.30pm and fell asleep on the couch. On the other chair..there lay Pippin.....obviously today was a tiring day for her. Was just sitting watching the both of them lying almost mirror image to one another..and I just smiled and had to get the camera out.

Today!

2007-01-18T16:05:00.000Z

Have been busy these last few days with my cards. One lady had asked me to make quite a few cards for some birthdays coming up. On Wednesday she asked if I could make another one for her daughter to give to her daughter for her 16th. She said that she was really into Scottish Dancing and if I could make something along that kind of line then that would be great. PANIC!!
I hadn't done anything like a highland dancing card before....and I wasn't sure how to go about it. I didn't want it to look tacky. I found a nice image that I felt I could use, and although I am not really into the whole decoupage thing...for this particular card I think it was necessary...to help make it more 3d and more interesting rather than just a flat image. Hope they like it!So I finished that card this morning, and then I had to get ready as I had been asked to sing at Shettleston Methodist Church. The folks there have a short service on a Thursday between 1.30and 2.30 and so I said that that would be no problem as it would give me plenty of time to get the girls from school. I sang three songs, and although there were only about a dozen folks due to sickness and flu etc, they were really appreciative. I love being able to do this kind of thing, and being available during the day enables me to be able to go and help if I can. I really love the fact that I can be at home for the girls but still being active for God whenever I can. I would miss out on these opportunities if I was out at work. It may not always work out that way for me, but while I can, I will.

Colon plaque

2007-01-11T17:05:00.000Z

This my friends is colon plaque.....yes indeed,...colon plaque. No matter how regular you are on the loo or how healthy you think you are in that department, we all have it. Through the years, our colon gets coated with this mucoid plaque which harbours toxins and other harmful things for our bodies and our health.

I've always been quite intrigued about the colon irrigation business...(does that make me weird!), but it's just that we make such an effort to clean our outside...I think it would be really great to feel cleaned and purified inside. I always thought you had to go somewhere and pay a horrendous amount of money to get this done....but after watching "Spa of embarrassing illnesses" (10pm UK Style), I've learned that you can but these enema's to clear out your bowels and strip this plaque from your colon in the comfort of your own home....Wahey!

By doing this it clear the toxins away, and overall combined with a healthy diet will make you feel so much better. Apparently, headaches, lethargy, and overall ill health can all be caused by these toxins.

So if you have managed to get to the end of this blog without being sick or pretty much disgusted then check it out..... this may be just what you need [link] Believe it or not this is a coffee enema, and unfortunately, you can't get this blend in Starbucks. To read more about this just go to this [link]

This may indeed win the prize for the weirdist and most sick blog, but hey what can I say....I'm interested in things like that. Does that make me sick?,....yeah, well maybe!

Detox

2007-01-11T16:38:00.000Z

I've been watching quite a few health programmes lately one of them being "spa of embarrassing illnesses". I love watching all of those kind of things. The one downside to watching these programmes though is that I have been starting to feel pretty guilty about the amount of junk I eat. I absolutely love chocolate, and sweeties and crisps, and I am always looking for something to have with my cup of tea.

With Thomas trying to lose weight as well as having problems with the whole tummy thing, I thought that I would get loads of fruit and veg and think of healthy options for dinners and snacks. I have bought a variety of fruit and have made some fruit salad, which I intend to keep making every couple of days. I've also bought houmous (Thomas loves it!), wholemeal pitta bread, wheatcrisp cracker things that look really good for you, and crackerbread etc....to help with snacking and lunches for Thomas. Baby spinach with some rocket, organic cherry tomatoes and some feta cheese and cucumber drizzled with Carotino Oil (which is really good for you) will make a lovely salad along with dinner or as a lunch.

I'm going to make tomato rice soup, and try to do as much as I can to encourage the two girls to join in to with the new change. Even if we don't manage to change our diets completely, I am pretty confident that we will still see and feel a difference by just changing some things. I got Dayna and Miriam to help me make the fruit salad, to encourage them to eat it later. Dayna will no probs...but Miriam needs more coaxing....but it obviously worked because she was nibbling on everything as we were making it.

I'm really proud of Thomas who has been exercising on the rowing machine each morning before he goes to work and I'm hoping to join him with some other forms of exercise and some yoga, which Thomas used to do....so he'll enjoy that.

So, we are going to give it a shot..and I'll let you know how we get on!

Prayers please!

2007-01-11T16:34:00.000Z

Thomas aka headphonaught is really having an awful and stressful time at work. He is in a job firstly that he is pretty much hating, and things are just going badly for him. He is so down and that's not like him. Please could you keep him in your prayers and give him your support. Thanks!

Something's churning!

2007-01-07T23:58:00.000Z

I wonder if you are like me and just can't sleep when you have things on your mind...or are you someone who can just manage to be able to just switch off and slip away into a peaceful sleep. Tonight I finished "Flowers for Algernon". The girls got me the book for my Christmas...I had read it in high school and really wanted to read it again. Maybe the fact that I can't sleep may have something to do with the rather sad ending that the book has. Perhaps that hasn't helped how I am feeling....but I don't know what I am feeling and why? I just knew I had to get up out of my bed and do something.

Just before Thomas fell asleep tonight I said to him that my stomach was churning at the thought of the kids going back to school and with the holiday being over. I don't just mean churning, but that deep horrible feeling in the pit of your stomach that you experience when you really are not looking forward to something. Why I am I feeling like this?.....hey I don't really know...why were the tears rolling down my face...one after another when thinking about this week...about this year? I don't know. Why am I getting myself into such state? Sometimes at night things can always seem worse and can blow out of all proportion....maybe thats what it is....but I hope that maybe somehow just explaining how I am feeling will help me to understand what the churning and tears are all about when I've made some sense of it... I can get to sleep.

These last few weeks have been amazing, and I've been trying to think why I have enjoyed them so much. Is it the fact that I have spent so much time with the girls and with Thomas? Is it the fact that time seemed to slow down....a day felt like a day...and life seemed to be more relaxing? Is it because we played games together...went walks together, and watched films together? Yes...all of these things and many more I suppose. Most parents are glad when the holidays are over and the kids go back...but I enjoy it when they are off...but why the horrible churning in my stomach...because when they are at school I can at least get stuff done!

It's true what they say. Time flies when you get older. One minute I was at high school reading "Flowers for Algernon" and now I am 31 (no longer in denial!) and I don't know how that happened. I love life...and more than that, I love my family, and of course it goes without saying, that above everything I love God. Life is so precious and it passes us by so quickly.

This week I will get up, get ready, get the kids washed and dressed, fed, make pack lunches, make the beds, get the school bags ready, do their hair, get their jackets on and rush them out of the the house for school. I will then go to work, come home have lunch, clean the house, pick them back up at 3pm, do homework with them, pick Thomas up from the station, make dinner and for the majority of the nights in my week, go out to some form of practice or meeting or whatever. And so it goes on each day....the next day pretty much like the day before...little time for any kind of quality time...just the four of us. Sundays are pretty busy, so Saturday becomes our only full day together, and that's if we don't have something on that day too. Even thinking about the lack of time gets my stomach in knots, and my eyes start to well up again.

And that's it....sometimes we have so much on. Life flies by...I can have so much going on that I feel I am missing my kids life's. Dayna will be 8 this year...I can't believe it. I said that to Thomas tonight...I said "She'll be 8 then she'll be 9, then 10, then 11, then 12" He laughed and said..."That's usually the way it works!" I know I was stating the obvious but hey...that's scary.

So I guess that I am just freaking out a bit...but only because I love my family so very much. I love my two beautiful girls with all my heart, and I have enjoyed spending time with my husband....I don't want this to end. I want every day to be like these lat few weeks. I guess this week will start again another hectic period where we as a family will have very little quality time together, and Thomas and I will see each other over dinner and then that will be that as we go out for various commitments in the evening. The thought of this busy life again with little quality time together really frightens me....

...and so as I sit here typing away at 12.30 after trying hard for an early night, I think that I understand why I feel the way I do. These past few weeks have been the way life is meant to be....indulging in our children's lives and growing closer as a family unit. Somehow going back to the busy routine of life is the part that spoils that indulgence.

But hey...I can't stop my kids from growing up...and I certainly cannot slow time down. I have to learn to just take each day as it comes and soak up whatever precious moment I can with my family...even if it's when I'm brushing the tugs out of their hair, or wiping the chocolate spread off their face.

I've never been career minded. I never had the desire to be anything more than part of a family, to be a wife and to be a good mother. To care for them all and to love them and be loved. Sounds pathetic?...maybe to some...but not to me. My family and my faith are my life. I've just got to remember that although we won't have as much quality time together for a wee while...I've just got to steal as many moments as I can in these busy days ahead.

A weird sort of blog really...but necessary none the less...at least for my benefit. It always helps to get things off your chest. Thanks for listening.

P.S. I love you Dayna, Miriam and Thomas with all my heart...and "I will love you 'till the end of time"

Productive day!

2007-01-06T22:10:00.000Z

Today has been a good day. We took Pippin out in the car with us. She absolutely hates the car. Just one mention of the word car and she runs upstairs and hides. It's quite ironic really! We got a dog partly because as a family we like the outdoors...we like to go for walks...and we always try to encourage the girls to enjoy the great outdoors, and having a dog we felt would just enhance the whole outdoor experience. We like to drive out to Tinto, to Lanark Loch and to Chatlerault Park, and so Pippin enjoying travelling in the car would really help. Don't get me wrong, she manages it, but it can be a bit of a struggle, especially on the way there. Thankfully on the way back she is quite tired and so she settles a bit more. We decided to go to Drumpellier Park. So we dragged Pippin into the car, got the girls in and off we went. We enjoyed the walk around the loch and Pippin got absolutely filthy...but she was quite happy. The girls played in the park there for a short time and then after popping the rather filthy Pippin into the car (with the window down off course) we nipped into the cafe to grab a bit of lunch. Pippin looked zonked when we got back to the car.

Later we headed to the Industrial Estate at Uddingston as I was looking for a few black and white accessories for my hallway. I wasn't too successful in that department other than purchasing a rather lovely black orchid plant in a white wooden box (artificial of course) which was a bargain at £4.99......and a beautiful tea light holder with a £2.50 reduction because there was little chip at the back of it, which can't be seen anyway. Then I saw some beautiful curtains with 20% off, and thought that they would just be perfect in my hallway. I have a window in the hall downstairs as well as at the top of the landing, so these were ideal. I think they look fab...I'm dead chuffed!When we got home I put my new curtains up, and then made dinner. I made my mum's famous cheese and bread pudding (which confusingly isn't really a pudding!) with some roast tatties and peas. Lovely...just a nice wee tasty bite as my gran would say! We then settled down together to watch Cheaper by the dozen 2. It was on the Sky movies and we hadn't seen it yet...so as the kids enjoyed the first film we knew they would enjoy it too. It was actually a really good laugh. I love Steve Martin, and although he maybe isn't in as many funny films as he used to be or because he isn't quite the same as the old Steve Martin as we all remember, I still think he is brilliant.After that Thomas got the girls into a bath. I then started to build the new rowing machine I had bought for Thomas to help him with his new year resolution. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. When I opened it up I thought "Oh no!".... and actually left it for a day because I had a sore neck and thought it would be a real struggle to build...but it wasn't really too bad at all. So Thomas, I am going to help encourage you all I can....I love you and although it wold be nice for you to lose some weight, it's your health that is most important to me.So, it has been a good productive day...and those are usually the best. What kind of day have you had?

Ugly Betty

2007-01-05T22:43:00.000Z

What a great show. Did you watch it? Tonight was the start of "Ugly Betty". I wasn't really intending on watching it until Thomas suggested it...but it was absolutely brilliant. Can't wait till next Friday to watch it. Thomas will give a far better report on it that I could manage. I wouldn't do the show justice. So keep your eyes on the headphonaught's blog to find out all about it.

CONGRATULATIONS!

2007-01-04T17:24:00.000Z

Big congratulations to Chris & Dawn who are expecting their first baby. I was so delighted to hear the news from Thomas today and also to have seen the baby's first picture on Chris' blog.

I must confess to feeling a bit clucky lately...I'll have to shake that feeling off. The thought of starting all over again is a scary thought. Our wee family is starting to become a little more independent now as the girls are growing up....but still the thought of another wee baby does appeal....but I guess it always does....maybe that never goes away.

Anyway Chris and Dawn....this is wonderful news....and Dawn take it easy and look after yourself!

The Headphonaught's Designer Jewellery!

2007-01-02T23:03:00.000Z

These are the pieces that Thomas made for me...two necklaces and a wrist/bicep band....I don't know what the official name for that is...but bicep band has a kind of ring to it I think....so that's my official name for it. So thanks honey....any orders required contact the headphonaught!

Martyn Layzell

2007-01-02T18:51:00.000Z

My good friends, Yvonne and David gave me an album for my Christmas which I am just loving. It's a great worship album by a chap called Martyn Layzell. The album is called "Turn My Face", and there are just so many tracks which I like, but the favourite so far has to be a track called "I stand in awe". He's a worship pastor at St Aldgates, Oxford and has worked alongside Tim Hughes...I think they recorded a live album together in 1999...I definitely need to check that out.
So thanks Yvonne & David...great choice....I think B.L.O.C. will have a few new numbers coming up soon.

Family

2007-01-02T00:55:00.000Z

This last week has been wonderful. Christmas day was just great. The girls were delighted with their room that I had been decorating for them. They had been sleeping in one of the spare rooms for the whole of December while I was doing the room up.

They really were delighted with everything that they were given. I received lots of lovely gifts myself as well as plenty of money to enjoy the sales. The girls got me Lemar's album and a book that I had asked for called "Flowers for Algernon" which I had read at school and was really keen to read again.

Thomas made me some lovely jewellery which at the time I wasn't sure if they were really "me" but have been really enjoying wearing these unique items over these last few days...so thank you Thomas...for taking the time to create something for me by your own hands...very thoughtful.

What I have really enjoyed is spending time with family...especially just the four of us! Boxing day was lovely...Janey and Roscoe popped in for a while...but just spending time playing games and watching films together is so wonderful....and there have been many days this week that we have been able to do that. Thoroughly enjoying Cluedo....wonderful game....Dayna loves it!

On Saturday we spent the evening with all of my family at my mum and dad's. My mum put on a lovely spread and we played Bible Bingo which all the grandchildren absolutely loved. Round the table later on we all started talking about eye sight and started swapping glasses for each other to try on. When Thomas tried on my brother Alastair's glasses he was doing his Mike Myers impression which was hilarious from the film "I married and Axe Murderer"...which is just so good.

Last night (Hogmany) we had Janey and Roscoe over and again enjoyed chatting and playing games and eating. Hey you guys....you are getting married THIS YEAR! After the bells, (which both girls managed to stay awake for) Kenneth, Sarah and their son Robert came over for a few hours. Another great time was had!

Today we enjoyed the annual treat of being at my Mother and Father-in-laws for New Year's Day. A lovely dinner was put on for us all as per usual...thank you Elizabeth! Thomas' Aunt Ann and cousin Emma and husband Stuart were also there. Again...spending time with family, just enjoying each other's company.

So I wonder what kind of week you all have had. I hope you have had time to relax and enjoy the company of those you love dearly. I wish you all a good year and all the very best. I don't really make New Year Resolutions...but I think mine would be this year...since last year passed so fast...that I would just try to enjoy each day as it comes...to not try to rush the days on by concentrating on a particular event coming up, and most importantly to enjoy my kids growing up. To enjoy them at their age and basically just enjoy having them.

Have a blessed Christmas

2006-12-24T20:03:00.000Z

Just a wee blog to wish you all a very blessed Christmas. I pray that this Christmas you will truly experience the joy, peace and love that can only be found with our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Tomorrow when you are busy opening presents and cooking dinner, don't forget to stop and wish Jesus a Happy Birthday.....take time to remember what this season is really all about.

God Bless you all

Aren't they stunning?

2006-12-24T20:00:00.000Z

Here are my two beautiful girls ready for their school parties. Scary to see them with make-up on. They look so grown up.

What....pour homme?

2006-12-22T23:52:00.000Z

I like to find a nice fragrance. There's not many I can pick from as I can quite easily take a bad headache if the aroma doesn't agree with me. We had been at the Asda Living store one night and there was a perfume counter with two trays of sample bottles. Obviously I went to the ladies tray and was having a gentle smell of the perfumes. One in particular just seemed to go down well with whatever picky smelling senses I have. This particular scent passed the test...no headache or feeling of sickness was coming over me. I of course had a wee spray, and we went on our way. As the night progressed I felt the smell was even nicer and I told Thomas that I was really keen to get a bottle of it.

It was "Colours" from Benetton. Tonight I decided to go and get a bottle. I went into Asda...over to the perfume counter. The bottle was still on the ladies tray, and so I had another sniff to make sure I had the right stuff, and then asked an assistant if she could find me a bottle from the cabinet as I seemed unable to pick it out. She too struggled to find it....until....we saw the colours perfume was in a "pour homme" box. The lady searched through the boxes and couldn't see anything else, so the last thing to check was just to open the box up and see the bottle. It was identical to the one I had sprayed. The lady couldn't believe it...they had believed it to be a ladies perfume and plenty of women had been trying it out. She had a spray herself and couldn't understand why it would be a guys perfume. It didn't smell like what a man would wear...it also had reminded me of a perfume a few people I know wear.

So I said to the lady, "never mind I like it, tell me how much it costs."...expecting about £25 or so....she checked it on her till and said..."Wow...it's down to £5....I think I'll get some too!".
So of course I said..."I'll definately have it." The bottle itself doesn't say anything on it regarding gender so it doesn't matter but I just thought that it was quite funny. So there you go....I'll be wearing man's cologne. It will be quite interesting to see what the response is like from people when I wear it.

Pippin

2006-12-22T23:44:00.000Z

This is my sweet dog, Pippin. Most of the time she is quite independent and certainly isn't much of a lap dog...but she is still very affectionate in her own wee ways. The last few days she has been very sweet and has followed me about the house. Last night she jumped up on my lap and went for a sleep for about an hour...she never does that. It was lovely. Thank you Pippin, you are my special wee girl!

Great company!

2006-12-22T23:29:00.000Z

Just spent a lovely evening with Dawn & Chris who are the officers (ministers) for the Glenrothes Corps. We were supposed to meet up with Jon, Lorna and Kenny & Sarah, but unfortunately they couldn't make it. Poor Jon has the dreaded sickness and scoot bug that has all too familiarised itself with so many of us this Christmas time! It was nice to get out for a while as I feel as if I have had this cold and headache business for ever! The cold just doesn't seem to want to go away. So it was just Dawn, Chris, Thomas and myself. We had a lovely meal at Nando's, followed by a drink at the famous Starbucks, and then back to our house for a wee while for another cup of tea.

These guys are so wonderfully nice! It's great when you can just relax in each other's company, even although we haven't known each other too long.

So thank you both. Thomas and I thoroughly enjoyed your company, and can't wait to hook up again. Have a blessed Christmas!

Hope you are feeling better soon Jon!

Lordsong

2006-12-18T23:28:00.000Z

Anyone that knows me will know that I love three part harmony. I love listening to "The Martins", who are a Christian family who sing together, (although recently have decided to follow their own solo careers)... and their harmonies and choices of songs are amazing. I use a lot of their backing tracks for my own use when singing. A year ago my sister and I discovered this group..."Lordsong". We hadn't heard of them before, and so we were pleasantly surprised when we discovered the similarity was there between them and "The Martins" in their style of singing and harmonizing.

My sister and brother-in-law and I love to sing together....but we don't get a chance to as often as we would like due to the fact that we attend different corps. Thankfully recently we have been able to sing out a few times together and we just love it. We love to harmonize and people often say that we sing well together and that our voices blend well. We find "The Martins" and most recently "Lordsong" to be our inspiration, and we are currently trying to get our hands on more "Lordsong" backing tracks which are pretty hard to come by.

Anyway...found this video on youtube. It's called"Wandering Heart"

Just checking in

2006-12-16T21:16:00.000Z

I really feel bad that I haven't been able to blog much these last few weeks, but unfortunately Dayna took really unwell on the 8th, and didn't really get better until the 14th, and now I have been given this wonderful gift of heavy cold from her. Unfortunately for me I had severe aches and pain in my neck and back, stomach cramps....(not quite sure whether things were going up or down!), and worst of all yesterday I had the most awful full on migraine.

Today, after an terrible night's sleep (or should I say lack of it, which pretty much covers the last week in regards to sleep), I was relieved to have at least a regular headache, which normally wouldn't be appreciated, but on this occasion it was. All the family are out tonight at Airdrie Ebenezer Church where our junior choir and band are leading a Saturday night Christmas service. As the assistant in the Singing Company I have had to miss this. Dayna was singing a solo as well, so I really have missed that.

Anyway, I thought that I would check in to let you know I am still alive and kicking...but with the twinges of a possible migraine attack coming back upon me, I think I will say goodbye for tonight!

Angus' blog/thought!

2006-12-05T00:12:00.000Z

Due to the comment restriction at the moment my father-in-law, Angus, has been unable to comment directly. He sent me this e-mail and as usual he was pretty spot on with his thoughts. So here is today's blog from Angus....

9 And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.

10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;

11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

12 "This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

13-14 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."

15 When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, "Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us."

16 So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger.

17 When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child.

18 And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds.

19 But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.

20 The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.

Luke 2:verses 9-20 (New American Standard Translation)

I cannot comment directly at the moment but just wanted to share my appreciation of the item and a little thought:

Perhaps one of the loveliest and most telling verses in the Christmas narrative is in Luke 2: 19, "But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart" [NASB].

Did she treasure the fact that wise men traveled a great distance to see the Christ child or her "15 minutes of fame" or the gold, frankincense and myrrh? Probably all the circumstances would have had an impact but I believe what she treasured was what was said.

In what was said was the confirmation of the fulfillment of the long awaited hope. She cradled none other than the "Saviour, who is Christ the Lord". [11].The Lord Jesus Himself would later teach, : "..lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven .. for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" [Matt 6: 20 - 21].

Christmas is all about what we treasure and ponder in our hearts...

Love Dad M.

2006-12-01T22:36:00.000Z

Well it's the 1st of December and my tree and other decorations are up. I love Christmas and all the lights and music....it's such a lovely time! All the presents have been bought and some have been wrapped...I've even got some food and drinks in for Christmas day as well. I like to be as organised as I can. Christmas is a busy time for anyone...but as a member of the Salvation Army, I go carolling each Saturday and the occasional Sunday too...as well as going to other Churches to provide them with a programme, and that involves quite a few nights as well due to the fact that I am involved in the Senior Band, the Senior Choir and the Junior Choir! When each of these sections are doing Christmas programmes, you can see that it becomes very busy for me. And then of course there are the school concerts and practices, as well as parties galore! Fit in a night out for dinner with my mum and sister (housewives night out!) and I'm pretty much free for the rest of December.

All the hustle and bustle of Christmas can be hectic, but you just need to remember what Christmas time is really all about. Our Lord Jesus came as a baby to give the greatest gift to all mankind. The gift of His love and forgiveness, and for this free gift of eternal life! How awesome. What more do we need? So just try to relax....don't rush around too much! Take the time to listen to some carols....allow yourself to be immersed in what it's all about. But most of all...enjoy yourself and spending time with loved ones...after all....it is a great time to celebrate!

4 YEARS OLD?...WOW!

2006-11-23T00:04:00.000Z

This is amazing....this little boy is brilliant...check this out!

Can't wait!

2006-11-22T15:44:00.000Z

The love of my life is coming home tomorrow...and the girls and I can't wait. It's been a long week....and I've really missed him. I'm glad for the experience that he will have had... but it's always nice to be back home. So...roll on tomorrow morning!!!

A visit to the Police station!!!

2006-11-22T15:28:00.000Z

I had to pop into the Police station this morning as I received a phone call last night from a very nice constable, informing me that my handbag had been found. Now for those of you who don't know what happened...my car was basically broken into over 4 weeks ago now, and my handbag was taken. You know what it's like...all the hassle with cards, cheque books, national insurance cards, and driver's license.

Anyway the cards are all replaced more or less now but the pain was having to reapply for a new driver's license and national insurance card...and I hadn't got round to it yet. I also didn't like the idea that someone knew so much about my details, like my address, date of birth..and all that kind of stuff as well as a photo and signature.

So the phone call last night was well received. Pretty much everything is there except for any cash. Everything's pretty soaked with all the rain....the thought of it lying out in this mad weather we've been having for the last 4 weeks doesn't really thrill me...so I don't think that I will be keeping the bag or purse....but the license and national insurance cards are gladly back in my possession. Certainly another answer to prayer!

So thank you to strathclyde police for the nice way in which you handled my unfortunate incident from the break in to the recovery of my bag. You were all very pleasant which really helps.

Bright and Breezy!

2006-11-21T01:16:00.000Z

My dear friend Janey had joined the world of blogging! She may not be able to blog quite as often as she would like as she is a nurse and works crazy hours...but check her out at www.brightandbreezyjaney.blogspot.com

George

2006-11-21T01:08:00.000Z

Hey Thomas....we have another pet. Yes that's right...another one! We already have a dog, two gerbils, and 3 budgies...but now we have a hamster called George. Why George...well Miriam said that he looked like a George...so there you go! Went into pet shop to buy budgie seed, had my two girls crying and pleading for George...and my heart was torn. Will I buy him...no I won't ...well maybe I should....no don't be silly...and then when Miriam actually went and got the woman to get George out and into a box, I knew that that was that! We were now the proud owner of yet another pet. What a sucker!

Anyway, he is pretty lovely. The picture above is not George.....I couldn't take a picture as Thomas has the camera away with him...but this is pretty much what he looks like! Quite chubby and fluffy!

So...Thomas what do you have to say to that?

Junior Soldier!

2006-11-21T00:56:00.000Z

On Sunday my nephew was enrolled as a Junior Soldier. The service was led by our own Captain Alec Still and he really had prepared a lovely service. My nephew sometimes goes into fits of giggles with nerves but he did really well on Sunday. My sister had asked if I would sing, as I have done for her two other girls when they were enrolled, so I sang a beautiful song called "Hold me close" sang by Twila Paris. It really felt right for the occasion. It was so nice to be together worshiping with my family, as the rest of my family serve at a different corps from Thomas and I...and so it was just wonderful to be all together worshiping God just like the old days.

On Sunday night after the meeting we had a practice for B.L.O.C. and enjoyed fellowship with the guys...we then shared in a time of prayer for alpha..as our next topic is about "How do I resist evil?". Last time we got to this topic we really felt in the week following that we were certainly under attack from the devil...and so we really wanted to bring this concern before God.

And now...since I'm back in from Alpha...I can say that our night was really beneficial and the discussion went well. Just need to keep alert for the devil's attacks!

Holy Spirit Day

2006-11-18T22:02:00.000Z

Today we were at Stepps in the Salvation Army Divisional Headquarters, to host our Alpha "Holy Spirit Day". There were 12 of us and we had a really great day. We started off with a time of "B.L.O.C." worship, using the songs...Heart of worship...Open the eyes of my heart, Lord....King of Kings, Majesty.....and finally How deep the Father's love for us! This really helped us to relax and focus our minds on why we were together...to find out...what is the holy spirit?... and how can I receive the holy spirit?

Alec led us through the talks and was superb as per usual! He just gets things across really well and makes things easy to understand. Sometimes we make things far too complicated.

At lunch time we all went to the local Brewer's Fayre and enjoyed a lovely meal together..which is a really important part of the day. Everyone was chatting and laughing and just enjoying each other's company and it was great to be part of it. Needless to say with a deal like, "any starter or dessert for only 1.50 when purchasing a main meal' we were all rather stuffed by the time we got back to start off our discussion groups. Bobby had asked if I would sing "Written in red" but I have to say I've never sang with such a full stomach! Usually I prefer not to eat before I sing.

To close off the day we finished with another two songs....The power of Your love....and...my favourite at the moment...How great is our God. We then had a cup of tea or coffee, tidied up, and went home.

Great day...sad you missed it Thomas..and we'll miss you at Alpha on Monday too...but these things can't be helped.

Felt like a change

2006-11-18T21:40:00.001Z

I decided to change my blog template...and I am pretty impressed as I did it without my husband's help. So Thomas...I do watch what you do...and learn! The annoying thing is that half of the design of this templet can't even be seen while using Firefox...but when I am on Safari..(which isn't very often as it seems to just crash)..I can see the full design. It was the same with the last template as well....half of the design was missing. Does anyone know why that is?

Good friends!

2006-11-17T19:31:00.000Z

On Wednesday Janey my wonderful friend and Claire who was up to stay with Janey for a few days came over to stay for the night. It had been over a year since I had seen Claire and it was great to spend some time with them both. We had some brilliant times together when we used to go to the Salvation Army's music camps every year. That is how I actually met Janey and it has been about 16 years since we became friends.

Claire works for the Salvation Army as a Children's Officer and I couldn't think of anyone better for the job...she is an absolute nutter. She loves activities with the kids and puts her all into everything that she does. She just overflows with energy, and is a real inspiration. On Thursday along with Roscoe, we all drove through to Livingston to the McArthur Glen designer outlet (obviously once I had dropped the kids off at school)...so that was really nice.....Needless to say that in order to catch up with my cards and housework, it was quite a late night for me. Of course I did have an ichat with Thomas at around 11.30pm which was fantastic.

Unfortunately for me (or maybe more so for him) with it being so late by the time that he can check in...I am tired...AND IT SHOWS!...so I am not really looking my best....meanwhile with the time difference he looks quite chipper and he's all ready to go for a nights shopping at "the mall"! The ichat stuff is great...and because I can see him and obviously hear him I can be in my computer room either engaging with him face to face...or still be in the room bobbing about doing other things and still chatting, just as if he where at home, and I think that that is making a real difference for me. I feel as if I still have spent time with him even though he is so far away.

Anyway...it's Friday night and I am off to watch some "Children in need" and soon Janey will be coming over to spend the night again. She is watching the girls tomorrow with Roscoe while I am away on our Alpha "Holy Spirit Day!..It's going to be great!

P.S. We were in hysterics using Janey's new phone with the picture warping you can do. Probably most of you have it or have seen it, but I never knew about it....everyone got a shot at being warped...but the best had to be Miriam's. Oh...it's good to laugh!