friends & food

I've said it once, and I'll say it again....I have some amazing friends. Friends that live close to me, friends that I see every week, friends that I have lived with, friends that live thousands of miles away across the pond...ahh I love them all.

Yesterday I got a lovely Christmas card from one of beautiful friends who lives in Canada and it made my day. Today I'm posting all my Christmas cards and letter to America/Canada (...I know, they are totally going to be a bit late in getting to them seeing as Christmas is next week, my bad!).

I'm so excited to hang out with my friends over the next two weeks during the Christmas/New Year season...OK, so I don't actually know just how much time I'll actually get to see them, Christmas is a pretty busy time of year...but it also a very food filled time of year...and friends + food = good combination, hahah!

And I'm blessed to have a job which always guarantees me Christmas day and boxing day off...perfect. Better than that in fact, I have the next 6 days off....SIX DAYS! And I only had to use 6 hours of my annual leave to get this....yesssssss :) Very excited for the next two weeks. Bring on the food and banter. 

Revelation Song

Worthy is the, 

Lamb who was slain

Holy, Holy, is He

Sing a new song, to Him who sits on

Heaven's Mercy Seat

Clothed in rainbows, of living color

Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder

Blessing and honor, strength and

Glory and power be

To You the Only Wise King! 

Filled with wonder, 

Awestruck wonder

At the mention of Your Name

Jesus, Your Name is Power

Breath, and Living Water

Such a marvelous mystery

Holy, Holy, Holy

Is the Lord God Almighty

Who was, and is, and is to come, 

With all creation I sing:

Praise to the King of Kings! 

You are my everything, 

And I will adore You!

Ottoman

A few months back my Granddad and Grandma moved out of their farm house and into a little bungalow. A few of us went to go help them pack up some things and move them to their new place. 

As we were packing up all their things we came across toys that we used to remember playing with when we went to visit. We found my aunties old wedding dress which I tried on (....absolutely hilarious!). We found old photo's of my Granddad and Grandma, and of all my aunties and uncles as they were growing up (there were some serious hair styles going down back then). It was like talking a trip down memory lane.

Along with all these fun memories, and cool things that Grandma had collected over the many year they had lived there, there was also a LOT of junk. It's kind of crazy how much you can accumulate over the years! Thank goodness bonfire night was coming up when we did this...it was a decent bonfire once all the junk was piled up! I was kind of keeping my eye out as we were packing up all the things for a good find...something old that was going to be chucked that I could maybe bring back to life...and I found this...A very old, and very tatty and worn, ottoman...

And so this ottoman was added onto my 'project list'. I have to admit, it sat in the extension for a little while. I tend to get there project ideas, get all excited about them, buy all the supplies, do a little bit of work on them...and then leave it for a few weeks unfinished. But I just got round to finishing off this one! ...well, I think I might add a few finishing touches at some point, but for now I'm pretty impressed.

OK, so maybe it isn't the most professional of finishes, but still, I'm kinda proud of my little ottoman. 

annual leave

Today is the last day of my annual leave off work...and its been bliss!

What have I done with all my time off I hear you ask?! ...To be honest, not all that much! I've caught up with sleep and life. My room was cleaned, and then re-cleaned, and then tidied once more (turns out I cant keep my room tidy anymore, I'm turning into a slightly messy person!). I did a little bit of Christmas shopping, little being the operative word there as I came home with more for myself then for other people, whoops. Myself and 2 of my close friends went on a girly date, heading out for a meal then catch up with Mr Bond. And we also went to pack some shoeboxes for the Operation Christmas Shoebox appeal. Possibly THE most addictive charity activity ever. Defo going to do that again next year. And thats about it. That's a weeks worth of activities right there.

But tomorrow I'm back to it again, back to early mornings and the long commute to work. But I feel like the next few weeks are going to go by pretty fast...the run up to Christmas always does go kinda fast right!? It'll be here before we know it! And I have a few exciting things coming up too! Next weekend I'm going away to Liverpool to see Michael McIntyre which should be hilarious...not just his show, but the general banter of the group I'm going with. Christmas shopping and crafty-ness...kinda already started making some presents this week! I LOVE being crafty....thank you pintrest for all the inspirational ideas, I've never been so excited to get making things. Christmas youth group socials/games nights...these are always SO much fun.

Even though work starts again for me, and I don't know when my next bit of time off will be, I'm kinda looking forward to the coming few weeks.

Wait...as I type this the Coke-a-Cola Christmas advert has just come on TV...Yep, Christmas is DEFIANTLY on its way now. 

mission praise 436

A few weeks ago (well, a good few weeks ago actually) we sung this some at church  I'd never heard of it before, but as we sung it I was like, wow, these words are awesome. 

I feel like I have a love hate relationship with these old type hymns that we sing at church. Some of them I just don't really like singing; I don't know...they feel too 'old' sometimes. And there are always like a billion sharps in the key which make them a flipping nightmare to play on the piano!

But some of them, like this one, are simply great. Classic hymns which I think we will be singing decades down the line. When I have my 'piano days', where all I want to do is sit down and press the keys and make some music, I'm starting to open my mission praise music book in the first half where all the old hymns are. And I'm finding some great classic songs; I've forgotten how great some of them are... And Can It Be, O Lord My God, Be Thou My Vision... yeah, these can be pretty tough to play, but I LOVE THEM. The words are awesome. And they are songs you just want to sing at the top of your voice.

As much as I love some of the new worship songs we have these days, I don't think you can beat a good classic traditional hymn. 

And mission praise number 436 is now one of my new favorites... 

Lord make me a mountain, standing tall for You

Strong and free and holy, in everything I do

Lord make me a river, of water pure and sweet

Lord make me the servant of ev^'ryone I meet

Lord make me a candle shining with your light

Steadfastly unflickering standing for the right

Lord make me a fire burning strong for You

Lord make me humble in ev'rything I do

Lord make me a mountain, strong and tall for you

Lord make me a fountain of water clear and new

Lord make me a shepherd that I may feed Your sheep

Lord make me the servant of ev'ryone I meet