Having caught my trousers (again!) while cycling to the station this morning, I’ve realised that there is a purpose behind either bicycle clips or wearing copious amounts of lyrca when cycling.
Neither is an attractive look and I’m trashing all my boot cut trousers. What should I do??
Well, the programme is out for our auction of promises. Some good things have appeared as well as the slightly ‘unusual’.
I think there will be a good take up of people wanting to go on a tour of the shiny new air traffic control tower at Edinburgh airport (me included!). Myself and my sister-in-law have offered a “Trinny and Susannah” experience day which should be a laugh – already had some interest from ladies in the congregation with weddings to go to and nothing to wear. And then there are lessons to suit everyone: French, guitar, swimming, singing, ballroom dancing, golf, badminton.
Our Rector has also put in the chance to choose the hymns for 2 weeks. Tempting to dig out all those Sunday School favourites with actions just for a laugh!
I’m sure either way, lots of money will be raised which is going to build a church in Lira, Uganda. And I’m going to make sure I win one of the babysitting lots too!
Filed under: Uncategorized
Something from a church sunday school volunteer manual.
It struck a cord with me in terms of children in church being ‘tolerated’, an ‘interruption’ or a ‘complication’. That just about covers off my children, one of whom started a fight with another child on the way back from communion on Sunday and required removal to calm down.
A child is…
… a human being with feelings and emotions like our own.
… not someone to be tolerated so that we can do our own thing.
They ARE our own thing.
… not dependent on us. We are dependent on them.
… not an interruption or complication of our work, but the purpose of it. We are not doing them a favour. They are doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to invest in both their future and ours.
…
a GIFT from God!!!
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We’ve had my husband’s teenage cousin and her pal staying with us this past week. As all cool teenagers, they came armed with technology and they took literally hundreds of photos during their wee holiday.
What I had never thought about until now was about other people taking photos of my children in my own home. Digital cameras have changed the rule book so completely. When I had realised that the girls had been taking photos of my son bouncing on his bed straight out of the bath I started to feel uncomfortable. The pictures were indeed funny, but not for the world to see. That type of picture should only be held by the child in question’s parents.
I’d never be suggesting that these girls had any motive for taking these photos, but it made me think a bit. What if my children have prominent jobs in the future? What if the girls just uploaded their holiday snaps to a publicly available photo-sharing website? I just didn’t like it.
So last night their cameras were both edited by my husband when they were not looking. All naked photos have vanished.
I don’t want my children to loose their happy confidence by telling them they can’t be naked in their own house (they are half German after all). And I didn’t want to offend the visitors by telling them not to photograph the children.
Funny situation really, but I imagine I am not the first parent to have that feeling about taking responsibility for their child’s welfare.
I am playing with the latest technology – a brand new shiny EEE PC 901. It is what is called a ‘netbook’, although I see it as a mini laptop as it has all the software I need for work on it. It fits in my handbag (very important, of course) and has a 9 inch screen and weighs about a kilo making it completely portable.
I chickened out of the Linux version and went for Windows XP as it is what I know and wouldn’t be all new. So I could take this little baby beauty out of the box, plug it in and off it goes.
I’ll be looking pretty flash taking the minutes at the next vestry meeting, I can tell you. Maybe I should put a 15 minute slot on the agenda at the start of the meeting for people to wonder at how technology has moved on!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: church, funded, opportunities, overseas, volunteering, youth
I just heard about a fab looking volunteering scheme through Christian Aid for 18-25 year olds.
There are 10 week long, fully funded trips to Ghana, Peru and India leaving at the end of September 08 and there are still spaces. There is then the chance to creatively express the experience had once back in the UK.
So anyone lucky enough to be in that age bracket, check out their website www.myplatform2.com.
Spread the word!
I went to the cinema last night, I think for the first time since having children (that’ll be 4 years??!) and saw Mamma Mia.
Loved it. I’d put it in the same category as Dirty Dancing – one to own on DVD and an instant sing/dance along pick-me-up on a rainy day.
I’m now wondering whether my 4 year old is old enough to go and see “Wall-e” as his first cinema experience??
It’s 10am and the visitors are just crawling out of bed. Is there any point being hospitable and cooking a decent lunch today? Hmmm..I think I’ll remain hiding on the computer.
I had some very challenging behaviour in our Sunday Club on Sunday and I’m still pondering how to deal with it. It was made worse by having a new helper who I’m pretty sure will now not be willing to help very often, if at all, after that experience. If I speak to the parents, I know the children will get a sound rollicking which is not what I really want. At the moment I’m wondering if they are old enough to be taken aside next week and told that they don’t have to be there and neither do I. If they don’t participate and just disrupt things then nobody will want to help, including me, so there will be no Sunday Club.
Some people have suggested taking the boisterous children to the local park and kicking a football around. But that is not church, that is babysitting, and not what I feel I should be doing on a Sunday morning.
If I wasn’t in this job, I guess I wouldn’t feel the pressure to try and run perfect Sunday club sessions. To be honest, I’d be trying to find excuses not to help out either. But it is frustrating when you have put in the effort to prepare stuff which the majority of the group would enjoy and get something out of, just to have the session turned into a battle of how to introduce some level of discipline within a church setting without employing threats of time out etc..
Roll on the conference I’m going to in September which introduces a training module on dealing with challenging behaviour.
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The coach of visiting Bishops that left Edinburgh at 9.30am for the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury finally arrived over 17 hours later at 3am the next morning, due to a bus driver with no sense of direction and travel chaos caused by an accident on the motorway.
I’ve been wondering what the mood was like on that journey from hell?!
Were they playing I-spy? Or a bit of jovial singing? Was there cursing and swearing? Did they have enough crisps and sweeties? And did they say evening prayer together?
I guess we’ll never know!
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I’m pleased to say that the fish survived the night!
I wonder if I need a permission form from the visiting goldfish’s parents before publishing this photo??!
