A Little Bit Of Inspiration

A few pictures I found that have inspired me today and made me want to create something.







And loads of this lady's stuff is absolutely gorgeous and makes me want to try to do something similar!
Joleen's art
Joleen's studio
Just so you know what I was up to this evening, and will be up to the next couple of days...

Bowling, travelling and learning

Those are probably the best three words to sum up the past couple of weeks or so. I was reprimanded (kind of) by my mother on the phone because she got back from a trip and I STILL hadn't updated. Ops! Sorry!

Let's start off with a couple of pictures to show how well I faired when a group of us went bowling last week...

"What am I meant to do with this thing?"

Jonah celebrating his millionth strike.

So yeah... I did good! But it was so much fun, in spite of my arriving last out of 8 people. That's about the bowling.

When it comes to travelling, I have booked a lot of trains. On the 9th April, I'm going to Birmingham for a couple of days to stay with Gillian, my godmother and her family, seeing them probably for the last time before they head off to New Zealand for an unannounced period of time. Then I'm going just down the road, to Coventry, to see my friend Ruthie who I haven't seen since she got married, at least 4 years ago, who already has one 21 month old wee boy and is expecting her second. So that should be interesting, seeing as I get to meet her husband and son and see her again after such a long time. And then I'm going to London with the primary purpose of saying goodbye to my godfather and his wife who are now retired and are going to live on a barge. Wow. But I'm also going to see my friend Cecily who now lives in Wimbledon, and possibly some other friends from Edinburgh who now live further south. And then I'm going to Paris for 5 days while my friend Janelle from the USA and my friend Colin from Australia will be there. How exciting!!

Learning has been a rather huge thing the past couple of weeks, with uni, my SVQ in Childcare, and various things going on at church, both sermons during the services, books that have been recommended to me, Foundations, a discipleship course I do and today a little "index extra" on a variety of topics mainly touching on the source of our faith and the condition of our will, so basically God's sovereignty in relation to our salvation. It was very interesting but has messed with my head quite alot. I guess the key is that no one deserves to be saved, and God has chosen to give some us (chosen not because of anything we have done or not done compared to others - so He has not shown favoritism) salvation. In a sense it doesn't matter who He chose, because His purpose was to glorify Himself. It occurred to me that we as human beings are all the same, because when Adam and Eve sinned, we were all them sinners. And it is nothing to do with us that we have been saved. God chose us. It's such a difficult thing to understand or even accept. *sigh*. Grace.

I was thinking today as I looked at jobs offered by Edinburgh City Council that being a Parks and Greenspaces Manager could be quite cool. Unfortunately the job is going now. Maybe next time.

Today, a Special Day...

Today is a very special day. No it's not National Poetry Day, nor is it Jigsaw Puzzle Day. It's Joe's 15th birthday.


To commemorate, here is a cool picture of your band, for everyone to see. Now the whole world knows about The Desasterz. Happy Birthday Leudjeuf!

This past week has not been of much particular interest. I've been working at the club lots, since I've been given an extra shift each week (helps with going to the USA in June, and down to London and Paris in April) and covered for quite a few people off sick during the February Holiday Camp. I've also filled in a large amount of forms for Summer Camp and written an essay for class. It's funny. The last class I'm ever taking at uni is the one that has had the biggest impact on me. I'm actually starting to think I could get a job working on sustainability, which is part of ecology. I could do this with lots of large companies as well, which opens quite a few new job prospects. Part of my role at camp this summer will be teaching the kids about sustainable living (ride your bike to school instead of taking your car, etc). Do you know that road traffic accounts for about 27% of carbon emissions and air travel only accounts for about 6%? Also, if you are travelling locally, don't fly, cause it's the taking off and landing that pollute the most, and it's not efficient to do so, however flying long distances is ok. The things you learn.

My flatmate Arpita got back from 2 months in India on Wednesday. It now feels like she was never gone. :o)

There's really not much to say, I've been keeping myself busy, but not overly, with interesting stuff, but not overly and nothing out of the ordinary has happened really... I think I need some excitement!

God's got it!

A few nuggets to enjoy, though without the gristly, grossness of chicken nuggets. These are nice nuggets. More like gold nuggets (weren't they a breakfast cereal?), full of richness and encouragement. When you have God as the focus, everything else just fits. It's true. There are things bugging me but they're not at the foreground of my mind. In spite of them, I was walking through the meadows yesterday and could not stop smiling. I tried really hard, but I couldn't. "My flesh and my heart may fail but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Psalm 73:26 "The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed." Deuteronomy 31:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:8-9 Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord we will wait upon the Lord we will wait upon the Lord Our God, You reign forever Our hope, our Strong Deliverer You are the everlasting God The everlasting God You do not faint You won't grow weary You're the defender of the weak You comfort those in need You lift us up on wings like eagles Chris Tomlin, Everlasting God. "A woman's heart should be so hidden in Christ that a man should have to seek Him first to find her." (unknown author) This is my favorite quote of the moment, ever since Lauren put it on her blog. I cannot cease striving for this. That my life would be so permeated by God and His effects that anyone should see Him and not me, and come to know Him better when getting to know me. A long way to go yet, but God's got it. He's there working every day. Yay! :o)

Ooooh yeah!

How much fun was the weekend!!! Truly excellent. John Meadows, an excellent speaker from Carrubbers spoke excellently on John 20 and 21. Very good. We split into groups after each talk and chatted about what we'd each learned which I found beneficial and very entertaining at times.

As well as good seriousness, good fun was had. Highlights included finding out I was rooming with 3 other girls in a special room with its own wee kitchen, crowd surfing over a rope, eating a smore for the first time (they hurt your teeth from all the sweetness, but it's totally worth it!), enjoying a bonfire (and fire alarm that went with it), ceilidhing my little heart out, and making some new friends around a log fire or over a pack of cards.

Unfortunately I caught the flu just before going and have also wound up with a chest infection the doctor has given me antibiotics for (he checked for bacteria first though, which makes a change from French doctors who give antibiotics for everything). Because of this I slept a whole lot more than I usually would, missing out on an afternoon of free fun (nothing planned) and on breakfast and morning group games on Sunday, which is totally pants because they were ace on Saturday. I also missed the first part of Sunday's meeting. Bou. So all this makes me think. If I had a great time while feeling like poo, how much fun did everyone else have and will I have next year. I assume this means that me passing on the flu to the majority of participants is a small price to pay for the amount of fun that was had... does that even make sense the way I've written it? I don't know.

Other news, I have taken on an extra day's work each week, now working every day but Tuesday. I just can't get enough of those kids!! Actually, it just means I can pay my uni fees and my trip to the States this summer as well as a wee trip to London and Paris in April - goodbye do for my godfather and his wife onto an exciting life on a boat, and a visit to my best friend who lives in Tennessee who will be in Paris for a few days in April. Oh yay oh yay oh yay! And also, mum and Joe and Ben are going to try come over to visit in April. Amazing!

So a few photos before I bid y'all farewell! In a random order, but still good.