This week....

This week is a pretty good one for me for 3 main reasons...

1. I have my interview for beauty college on Thursday,

2. I am leading a new group at Alpha and our first night was tonight with the meal, first proper night next week,

3. An finally, leaving the best til last...my dad got saved lastnight! After years of us praying for him he finally took that step and he committed his life to the Lord lastnight. He headed back to Iraq today which was harder than usual becasue he has been home since 18th December and won't be back now til the end of April. I am just so happy that our prayers have been answered, and is such an encouragement for others aswell...

"Don't expect God's answers to come too easily or too quickly. Prayer may be challenged by evil forces, so pray fervently and pray earnestly. Then expect God's answer at the right time"

love love love!

No more exams....for now!

So I sat my exam last Monday and it feels great to have it over with. It was really getting me down and it just feels like a big weight has been lifted from me. It's great not to have all the revision to do and I can now sit and watch tv or go out and not feel guilty about it! It went just ok, it could have gone alot better. Basically we were learning about the fall of communism in Eastern Europe in the late 1980's and in the exam we had to answer 3 essay questions. Only 1 of the 3 questions was one that i wanted to come up and the other 2 were awful. But I hope I have done enough to pass. I find out on 11th February. But even if I don't pass, I have my interview for the Roberta Mechan College of Beauty on 29th January which will hopefully go well, so at least I have that to focus on. So that means going back to college with more exams at the end!! But at least it will be in a subject I have alot more interest in!

I'm also looking forward to February because Scotty and I head away to Southampton on Sat 7th - Tues 10th. When Scott was a teenager he lived in Southampton and played football there. I have always said I would love to see where he lived, went to school, played football etc.. so for Christmas that's what he got me! I'm so excited! I love heading away for wee breaks as we don't see a whole lot of eachother when we are at home because of work and other commitments during the week, so weekends are our time. So it's always good to spend some quality time together!

Something else to look forward to is the preparations for Laura and Dave's wedding. Our bridesmaids dresses have arrived in so there are a few appointments made for fittings and alterations etc, hair trials, make-up trials and the all important hen party organisation which is starting now! So it's all go! I love it though!

Anyway that's about it for now, nothing else much happening!

Love love love!!

One last shot

I'm sure any of you who read my blog, or even those who know me, will know that I haven't had too much success with my university career. Part of this was due to illness during my finals, but I have to admit that the majority of it was due to my preference of partying and lack of attendance at class. I have never been a straight A student, I was always more interested in sport, music and friends at school. I did no work and always managed to scrape through, I suppose I just thought that this was how it was always going to be. My mum used to get very frustrated with my laid back attitude and on a daily basis when I was sitting my gcse's and A-levels I had to sit through her lecture about applying myself and working to achieve my best results possible because I had the ability to do it. Now about 7 or 8 years on that old phrase keeps popping into my mind, "Mum's are always right!" I was always far too stubborn (still am!) and all her lectures just went in one ear and out the other. Fast forward a few years and I am about to sit my last exam, and if I fail it I walk away from university with no degree.
Tomorrow at 2:00pm I will walk into that exam hall one last time and give it one last shot. Im hoping and praying i pass, but in all honesty I am preparing myself for a fail again. I know thats not the way to look at it, but I believe all my years of not caring are about to catch up with me. I have placed it in the Lord's hands though. I know I am where He wants me to be. But at 2pm tomorrow i would appreciate a wee prayer.

Love love love!

A Mother's Song...

My mum sent me this video in an email and I thought it was great...check it out...

New year New me

Happy new year everybody! I actually can't believe we are into another year, where did the last one go? I'm usually on a downer at this time of the year, christmas trees and decorations are down which makes the house look so bare, work starts back, I feel sluggish after over indulging on all the festive treats.

We are just back from our skiing trip to Bulgaria which was class (apart from the lack of good snow), and on our last night (2nd January) Kerry ann, Laura and myself found ourselves in our room reflecting on the year gone past and the brand new one we are entering into. 2008 was a year which had many ups and downs, Scott's mum was diagnosed with breast cancer, his dad attented 2 funerals including that of his father in the space of a week, my friend Aaron Montgomery had his life taken in Feb. On the up side though, Scott's mum kicked breast cancer's ass, I got to experience Africa for the first time (one of the highlights of my life not just 2008) and we got to see lots of our friends get married.
2009 is a brand new year and so the 3 of us decided that instead of the usual resolutions we all make, we are going to make a list of 3 things which we must strive to do in the next year, and at the beginning of Jan 2010 we are going to see how we have done. I will tell you what 2 of my things are, but the 3rd will have to wait til Jan 2010 (sorry!)

1. I want to spend more time with God, in His Word, talking to Him, talking about Him. I want to grow so much in my relationship with God. Last night at church Alain was talking about "Shalom" and I want to feel that. I want to Rise up and go from here and experience more of God every day.

2. I want to be a healthier person, be more active and get outside more (hopefully i will lose a bit of weight in the process as I have the most beautiful bridesmaid dress to fit into in April!)

And above all, as Alain said lastnight, I want to do everything with a thankful heart. I want to spend less time worrying about myself and my situations and start thinking more about others. I want to live out 2009 like this...

..."Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with eachother and forgive whatever grievances you have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdon, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."

I hope everyone has a happy and blessed 2009.

Love love love!

Act of kindness

I was in work today, i was only in til 1:30pm to cover the morning. A woman came in with her grandson and she wanted to buy him something nice for Christmas, she settled on a lovely little Timberland outfit which one little boy was modelling the night of the fashion show. We started to tell her about this and she said that she had heard about the fashion show through a friend of hers and asked me how it went. I told her that it was a fantastic night and that we raised quite a bit of money for Uganda but that we still had a bit more to raise for the school to be opened in February. We talked for a while and she showed great interest in our trip to Uganda during the summer and wanted to hear about that. It was great talking to her as I love sharing my Uganda experience with people. As she was leaving she opened her purse and handed me £10 and told me to put that towards the fund. I couldn't believe it. This was a total stranger handing me money, I couldn't thank her enough and I actually felt a wee bit emotional (it doesn't take much!!). It was just such a lovely thing for her to do and it really made my day!

Also today, Scotty text me this morning when he got into school as he always does, but this wasn't his usual "good morning" text, all it said was "I might be going to Botswana". Now surely that has to win a prize for the most random text! lol I haven't heard too many details about when and where exactly and for what reason they are going, but what I do know so far is that it is with an organisation called "Dreams and Teams", and they have a link with a school in Botswana. I think it is class that he wants to go and that he is excited about it, especially because of his recent interest in church etc. Obviously I have been praying every day for Scott and i can finally see my prayers being answered bit by bit!

Love love love!

More updates and ramblings...

I don't know if you have read "The Shack" by William P. Young, if you haven't I would highly recommend it. It kind of takes a while to get going but please persevere with it as it is one of the best books I have read in ages. It made me think about God a wee bit differently, which you will understand when you read the book.

I am surrently in the middle of week 9 of university, only 3 more to go then the dreaded exam in January. I am feeling a bit more prepared this time for the exam as I have really tried to focus myself in classes and take proper notes instead of my usual day dreaming and scribbling random sentences on a page! Hopefully this will all pay off in January.

I also found out that I am going to Uganda again next year which I am sooo looking forward to. This time we will be away for 3 weeks and it will be a smaller team, I am looking forward to that as it will be a change from last year. The fashion show went really well on Saturday night and alot of money was raised which is going towards the Uganda fund. Everyone looked so well and the boys got a few laughs from their dancing and goal keeping skills! I have to say that the wedding dress I was wearing (it was the one that looked like a meringue!) was gorgeous, but was quite hard to walk in and I have no idea how a bride could sit down in it to eat her meal! I loved wearing it and I did feel like a bride with the veil on but I really don't think that it wiuld be the style I would go for (you can breathe a sigh of relief now Scott!) It was a fun night and it was all for the kids so it was worth it all!

Oh and on a final note, just to make you all that wee bit jealous, it's 5 weeks on Saturday til we go skiing!

Love love love!