wow

well, its been a busy summer, not as busy as some folks though- james- take a bow.
so i'm settled into my new flat- though my room is currently a tip and i can hear the kids in the school across the road playing games- yup its lunchtime.. mm, food.
anyway, so this summer.

well, it all started with a trip to the states to see my sister- she graduated from high school out there this year- she was only there for a year, but still. so we did a tour of new york washington dc etc, bit of a road trip, but really good fun. meggie even made me wear a dress for her graduation- not something i usually do a lot of, but there are always exceptions. hmm.. so america was good fun. then i was back to glasgow to work and move out of the flat and then it was my birthday, laura and debbie made me a beautiful cake and we got locked out of the flat. good times all round!

soon after that i was off to camp. firstly to creative arts camp in blaithwaite- which is pretty close to keswick. we spent a week there, getting to know our campers- a lot of whom had been at camp the year before as well, and having discussions about God and scriptures. i was lucky to be co-leading a group with harold, who had been in ministry for 40 years, so although i could talk about my life, it was awesome to have the back up of his age and experience and knowledge. i was challenged that week, to become more like God, hard as it is, but not to do it on my own strength, to do it with God's power and love behind me. which i am still trying to put into practice. not sure last night was a good outworking of that, but never mind.

i went straight from creative arts to urban camp, and had an amazing time there. just such a lovely bunch of people on the team. there were so many crazy connections within the team, everyone had a connection to everyone else- we all bonded really quickly, twas awesome. i was tired the whole week, but not so much as i thought i would be, which was awesome. i read about elijah being refreshed by sleep and two meals and that was my prayer for the first day or so that i would be refreshed by the rest and food and companionship before the campers arrived on the monday. and actually, i was refreshed, i had really good chats with the rest of the team.
the week went really quickly as well, my group was really small, ronnie and i had just three campers, but it meant that we could really get alongside the campers, get to know them really well and have time to chat to the rest of the campers. i made some good friends that week, there were some of the campers stories that just really break your heart, but they were such nice kids too.. so that week was a really stretching week, just in terms of tiredness and patience with the campers, their temper tantrums and needs. but an awesome week, it really made me appreciate what i had- my friends, family and church. i really enjoyed phoning friends at midnight and leaving random rambling messages on their voicemail. the view from the front porch was beautiful, especially at night, when the clouds were all pink and grey and gold and violet and beautiful. just a really good week.

so the day camp ended, i was off to the wedding of my friends jules and laci, in perth. dashed off to the hotel to get myself all prettied up and showered and de-campified. it was a really nice day- jules looked stunning and everyone really enjoyed the day. nice to see folk that i hadn't seen for ages. i am so glad for jules and laci- they were so happy that day and they're such a nice couple, i really think they can last the course.

the week after that, i spent my time at home, planning for camp, sorting out my life- ie sleeping lots, making posters, doing lots of exciting things like that and generally preparing for yet another week of madness with children.. although this time not so much children but actually teenagers.. anyway, a relaxing ish week of planning and stuff..

off to camp again and another wedding, this time it was jenny and cosmin- jules sister. fairly mad day- had to help set up at camp then drive to glasgow to go to the wedding, go to the reception and then back to lendrick muir. jenny also looked stunning, and the speeches were all beautiful... cosmin was so sweet- i want a man who'll say beautiful things to and about me. ah, gorgeous.

so, onto camp- kinda strange to be an actual leader, rather than a cook or a camper. it was a learning curve, for sure. pip and i had a group of four girls, all of whom had been at camp with us before which was realy exciting and also really scary. we spent a lot of time talking about what they were going on to next year and just praying through that- the thing was, two of our girls were really good friends from home and had spent most of the summer together. so they were quite distracted together. however halfway through the week, we had a big session on prayer and caro went up to be prayed for by some of the leaders and was asking for prayer to be less distracted. so that was awesome and our group times did get better- the last night- when everyone else was wanting to get ready for our annual ceilidh, our group were still going strong when the others were hammering on our door to get in and changed.. so that was really encouraging. i had to learn alot about patience- how to work with my parents as the team leaders, which was hard. i love my parents, but it can be weird, and i find it really strange to pray with them- i have no idea why, but there you go... we did loads on knowing God, it was a really good week, good teaching.

other highlights of the week included my campers stringing me up a tree and leaving me dangling there for five or ten miuntes. they were just a little cruel. nathan scubbing me at archery- sam trying to help me at archery and making me worse- me not knowing how to tell left from right, getting lost on the a9 to lendrick muir, and in perth, being called antisocial- again by nathan- he was on his phone first, cheeky boy. honestly, campers these days. we had great fun with birthdays and trips to go waterskiing and really good conversations- a conversation that i have just remembered happened in the first week i was at camp- one of my campers was talking to me at supper time- she sought me out to speak to, which was a great honour. we were chatting about her life- her various foster parents and the fact that she doesn't think she has found God yet, and that she owns tarot cards- at that point i was scared, a friend had a really bad experience with tarot at one point and that has put me off for life. so we were having this discussion and it really taught me about the way God uses things and situations from your past in your present.

hmmm. so yeah, camp. nothing else really i can think of that sticks out- i spent my summer fancying myself in love/or at least lust with any eligible christian boy i came across- but i had some really good chats with God in the car on the road up and down from glasgow to newport, one in particular where i spent a good hour or so talking to him about this gift of singleness that he has placed in my life and realising how much i have enjoyed the past few years being single, the friends i've made, but still, seeing all my friends get married off, or get pregnant i just sometimes wish it was my turn- but on the other hand i am getting so much out of my life right now. agh- God never teaches me anything easy.

after camp i spent a few days in glasgow getting moved into my new flat, losing my phone (grr) and going to yet another wedding- this time as a +1. i was debbies date for colleen's wedding. again another beautiful day. debbie was soooo tired, it was awesome. i loved being her date :)

after the wedding, mum was having a yard sale and we had to finish getting ready for holiday club, so i went home again for that, it was fun. holiday club was hard work. its always a bit strange working in your home church, things just change faster than you realise or not at all. so we did waste watchers (what a load of rubbish!) (that was our catchphrase) this year, which worked out really well. my group were interesting. challenging. two girls- sisters, the youngest of six, who needed lots and lots of attention. they are lovely girls, but they really do get unsettled quickly. i pray that the example we set that week was the most telling thing for these girls, the two sisters and the other two in my group. it was a hard week, but i hope seeds were planted, it took a lot out of me, more so than the urban camp, probably because they were much younger and less able to engage in the activities we had planned. i am ashamed to say that i was not so well prepared as i could have been, so while i could have made the group times more useful i never bothered my bum to do it. however, on the wednesday of holiday club, my dog, midge died. she'd had a stroke earlier in the year and had recovered qute well, but she had another massive stroke in the night and couldn't move most of the day- no power in her back legs and not very able to smell or hear or see us well all afternoon. so we took her to the vet and she was euthanised. so sad- i cried most of the day, but really the only merciful thing to do- and since she didn't struggle at all but went really quickly and peacefully, i have to believe that she was ready to go. she was 14 years old and had had a great life, so i don't feel too bad that way, but still, it was a hard thing to do.

anyway, holiday club finished on the sunday with a service, and i headed back to glasgow on monday. have spent this last week getting settled properly into the flat and just enjoying hanging out in glasgow, back to work on friday and then to church on sunday. aaah, i'd missed church in glasgow. today i saw jules and laci for the first time since their wedding which was lovely. we had a picnic in the flat and i bought a dress in the sale at fat face which i am going to wear tomorrow- tomorrow is a dress day, catherine and i agree. :) i am also going to go to the oriental supermarket and then into town.. fun fun fun!!

and then, a week tomorrow (the dress day!) i head down to chirk! for forum! yay! very exciting! God will be there and doing amazing things. i can feel it! :)

anyway, thats my life.