well, it would seem that the war (of the blogging variety) is being rapidly pulled to an end - without any peace talks either. i am gutted.

but, due to my immature and petty behaviour yesterday i ma going to allow ant to have the last word. i was going to post about last night's cluster which was amazing but andy did that already. then i was going to reminisce (sp?) about children's toys that you always wanted but were never allowed, such as mr frosty. but really that's ant's baby as he sparked the conversation and said all the profound things that needed saying. so instead, i am going to enjoy my day off this friday (as with all fridays this term) - i will have a friend for lunch and go to the sauna and steam room with jen. then i'll return to watch the end of contact with andy and finally will end up at the amazing viv's house for tea, tequila and hopefully a good game of domination.

have a fab weekend and i'll chat again on monday...

all this war/ anti-war stuff is hurting my head!!

man! i just read some of the stuff derek and amy have been writing - i dont normally check their stuff cause they never seemed to write, and suddenly, in one day, theres loads of it, and its all well worth reading too. awesome stuff.

anyway, enough of this. something serious.

um. let me think...

well, we've just had our cluster for the week, and it was really good. everyone (i think) got to share what the dreams and visions are, the kind of pie in the sky/ anything is impossible with God kinda stuff, and it appears we have some very interesting and visionary people in our cluster.


so maybe the cafe may actually happen.

something i was talking to mitchel about yesterday, i find myself with quite a black and white attitude to things, and trying to understand all the stuff about talking to the mountain and knowing you have received somethingbefore you ask for it, and how it fits in with a worldview that (at least spiritually speaking) we are at war, and that there are things that will oppose Gods will in situations, so i was there saying that i believed all this stuff, but the war thing is a real spanner in the works, as it meant i couldnt ask for anything in the confidence of recieving it. anyway, to cut a long story short.... could cost bea and i our top spot!!! errr... no , basically it once again, seems i'm being a little short sighted, etc etc and is all alright now.

and so then, am i going to ask for something and believe i'll recieve it, without doubt? even when it seems like i didnt receive it, will i still believe that it has already been given to me? i think, for me, this is where the war is - i think if we really were that certain of what we believe, we have the most powerful weapon, the most powerful form of prayer. i think.... too much.

hmmmm.

go girl! go girl! go girl!!

oh dear. it appears my wife has taken it too far..... or has she?

ouch - is the response to the anger i displayed in the post immediately below. hope noone got offended.

enjoy my ridiculous posts and be warned that the blogging wars are to be handled with the pettiness and irresponsibility as blair is handling the looming war in iraq.

watch contact - a great movie. matthew machonohy (sp?) is a man of the cloth but without the cloth and he decided not to be a priest cos he couldn't be celebate.

but there is also lots of snow in other areas whch would be fun

God is great - he has given me sunshine all day today

matt, i hope you are taking my efforts into account

blogging

i hope that this will bring some sense back to the world of

in order to do this i am going to be just as crafty as ant, but more irritating...

so, i want to be back at the top of the blogging charts.

wow - derek and amy are blogging again and i feel so amazingly blessed to be able to share in their adventures and wanderings. they are so precious and have this amazing ministry that transcends all distance and medium to be able to touch you right at the centre of your heart and make tears well up which you then try to choke back down so that the rest of the world around don't think your a loony.

I LOVE YOU DEREK AND AMY AND I LOVE YOUR BLOGGING AND YOUR UNION AND YOUR COLOURS AND YOUR CIRCUS ACTS AND I LOVE THE SPARKLE YOU SEW INTO MY CLOTHS OF HEAVEN

i've just been cruising around my blogging community and kerry in usa has posted something really cool about abiding in christ. i have copied it to below for ya'll:

i've been wanting to know more about the whole abide in christ thing for awhile now and last week while digging through my library (my one bookcase) i found a book entitled "abide in christ." cool thing about it is that i wasn't familiar with this book, meaning i didn't buy it, it just showed up. the book is a 31 chapter daily read to help one understand the principle.

this morning's chapter dealt with the parable of the vine and the branch. learning that the value in each is interdependent upon the other is what makes the story come alive. Jesus (the vine) needs us (the branch) to produce fruit to reach others while at the same time we need the nourishment that can only come from the vine. neither the vine nor the branch can be effective acting alone. for me it was a valuable lesson to be reminded that i don't have to do anything under my own strength. it was also refreshing to see scripture encourage me as valuable to the work of the Father. Understanding this relationship does wonders for helping me get a better grasp on the abiding part. PAX.

posted by Kerry | 8:38 AM

hello everyone. i am at work and the lecture i was just in was so intense that for the last 5 minutes i've had shooting pains up my right arm. andy thinks this is exciting but i don't!

today is very sunny and VERY windy. freezing infact but not as cold as the outskirts of london where our friend nick is experiencing a snow storm. now that is exciting!

for those of you aware of the blogging war that parkins has instigated, it would seem that ant is cheating somewhat by creating blogging accounts for his 9 month old son ben and also for his cat, called will. now, in some ways this wouldn't be too much of a problem if will was left to clamber over the keyboard and ben was permitted to drool and bounce his posts into fruition but the fact that ant is writing for them is downright against the unwritten rules.

a little joke for you all that phil king told andy whilst at university:

a man walks into a fish and chip shop and is perusing the menu. the girl behind the counter says to him, "would you like a battered sausage?" and he replies, "not unless you want a slapped fanny." boom boom!

ant and i spent one of our semi regular night watching horror movies, and what an odd pair they were - it started off with apretty grim, but also quite impressive opening sequence in "ghost ship" and turned out to actually be quite good with a cool sequence in the middle where the whole story unfolds. meanwhile, pizzas, staropramen and ass ale was consumed in appropriate quantities. ghost ship ended, and we moved on to the suspiciously titled "demon island", which turned out to be most likely the worst film i've/ we've ever seen - even worse than jeepers creepers - at least that started pretty good - the effects were less convincing than jason and the argonauts, the acting was worse than.... anything, ever, the plot was more predictable than you thought possible, making the most rediculously pathetic, boring, unconvincing and unscary "scary movie" ever to have been made.

so all in all, quite an amusing night in. and a lovely lie-in in the morning.

actually, i just remembered, last night, ant asking me if scary movies ever affect me emotionally/ spiritually, and i said that i'd never once dreamt about a scary movie before. and then last night, demon island figured in one of my dreams - i only vaguely remember it, but i think i was telling someone who was going to the cinema, not to watch it for the reasons given above. not exactly nightmare material then...

my husband is so surreal!!!

well, for those of you who don't frequent thethingaboutit i have been hanging out with some refugees this afternoon and also with the amazing viv who i love. God found us a parking space just as i was reminding him of his power and ability to get me a space if he wanted! anyway, viv thought it was better to leave god out of it and to praise the farmer somewhere who grew the green tea leaves which made the tea that i drank at hers before we headed into town via the paternoster in the arts tower which meant we arrived at the parking spot just at the right time. i then suggested we thank God for the farmer which she agreed with!!!

back to the refugees... there are drop-ins and conversation clubs throughout the week and there are two which fall into my timetable quite easily. i will be going on a tuesday between 2-4pm and then on friday 1-3pm. both are city centre and if you want to come then give me a ring. meanwhile, pray for me as i do this and also for the refugees - so far met a girl called lisa from bangladesh and a bloke called ali from suddan.

i'm off now to learn BSL - last week we did food but i don't know what we are doing this week. byeeee!

wow!!!



sorry - i've never been to this site before!

just to say that the pianist was/ is very good indeed - there are some amazing shots of wartorn warsaw, and it really is quite scary how bad it must have been for the pianist (based on a true story written by the man himself) with loads of incidental moments that really get across what it was like to be there. and a lot of dead polish people - not an easy film to watch, and pretty long, but definitely worth watching.

also had a trailer for irreversible thats supposed to be very good but incredibly hard to watch/ difficult subject matter.

anyway, not alot other than that, except to say a big well done to be for taking on the challenge of getting our blog at the top of matt p's blogging hotlist!!

abigail - please write something.... on your blog. maybe you're sick of writing - dont blame you...

also toying with buying sim city 4 for our pc....

ben is so cute although maybe a little scared by his crazy dad!

make george w bush dance!

by the way, in case some of you don't know yet... our cluster/mini church/community/group of people getting to know each other and God is now the proud owner of a name!!!!!!!!!

we are called S O F A yeehah!

oh, and as far as cluster is concerned - sofa so good!!!!! (i am sooo funny!)

morning bloggers!

last night andy and i had date night and we went to the cinema - no surprises there! we decided to go and see the pianist which was unbelievable. this was one of the most moving films i have seen about the 2nd world war. there were times when i almost wanted to walk out because i couldn't bear to see what the protagonist had to go through. it stars adrian brody and maureen lipman and also God right at the end. the film is by roman polanski, which may have prevented me from seeing it had i know that information before.

THIS FILM IS DEFINITELY WORTH WATCHING!

as an important aside, i noticed in tadays metro that uk and usa are planning to go to war with a new deadline of 14th feb for saddam to sort his stuff out. please can we all pray about this. i'm holding a real burden for it and i need to know that there are some of you out there helping me carry it. Praise God though because ultimately he does have the overall victory.

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if you are interested in purchasing this item or another karaoke machine, please go to the singing machine site.

below is a snippet of an article i found today on the guardian site. want to read more?

Despairing of conclusive proof and losing the battle for public opinion, the US and Britain are not just moving the goalposts. They are widening the goalmouth and doubling the size of the penalty area. After all, the WMD sites pinpointed in Mr Blair's dossier last year have now been inspected; nothing incriminating has been found. The US has been feeding its famous intelligence to the inspectors; nothing incriminating has been found. Palaces have been raided, scientists interviewed, defunct warheads seized - and while there is much that remains unsatisfactory, nothing that remotely justifies a resort to war has been uncovered.

hi there everyone. i'm back at work now after my 5 weeks off and so the blogging season is back in full swing. rest assured that our blog will continue to entertain and amuse you whilst keeping your lives well-informed of our perigrinations. oh, and of course, i'll now be able to get into all your blogs and be praying for you on a daily basis - hooray!

a little something that i got via email today:

"¾ of the people don't know how the other ½ live."

"Before humans were around to milk them, cows were huge round creatures that would roll around pastures in much the same way as the giant balloons in The Prisoner, only with udders."

"You should never push your Granny when she's shaving."

"I think that because America was late for the last two world wars, that they're trying to be punctual for the next."

"The Russian/Ukrainian word for 'Freedom' is svoboda - which is strange because that's the name of the oven glove that lives in my toilet."

"My Hamster died lastnight. He fell asleep at the wheel."

"Bramwell Bronte, brother of the writers Emily and Charlotte, died standing up leaning against a mantlepiece, just to proove that it could be done."

.

first proper day back at uni today. eeekkk!

we had a very cool weekend though - lots of yummy food, and friday went off without a hitch, in the end starting the day off with i spy, followed by chicago, then about schmidt and lastly 8 mile. all pretty good really...

i hope everyone elses weeks a bit less depressing as mine will be.

well, we've got our new tv and already watched a few films on it (erin brokovich, the last castle, and some of the lord of the rings features) and its wonderfull. also sitting right in the window for everyone else outside to see. please protect it God!

bea and i have just got back from nottingham an hour or so ago, and the interview went fairly well. the 2 people interviewing me were both lovely but didnt give much away, although were very positive about what i could do if i werent to get the job (i dont think it was a subtle hint but we shall see) in terms of freelance work etc. we also got to meet up with my contact/ friend in the studio, nuala, and her boyfriend/ fiancee warwick who said himself that they're looking for people to do freelance work aswell, so all in all fairly promising looking. wont actually hear for a couple of weeks i think...

and of course tomorrow is the 4 film day, looking to be about schmidt, chicago, the good girl (?) and lastly 8 mile (coming highly recommended by all who've seen it (in england that is - nathan!))

i also learnt a valuable lesson last night at the devonshire cat - the wierd beers are not neccesarily the best ones - i started with timmermans greuze (sp?) a belgian lambic beer that was virtually cider, then a wierd beer, apparently being the strongest beer in the world called semiclaus, that is brewed on one day a year, and comes in at a cough mixture like 14% alcohol content!! - odd, a novelty, but not to be done again - more like port than beer! and then there was the red rudolph at £1 a pint that tasted like all those thin bubbly beers you get at the camra beer festivals. again, odd, and not worth repeating in a hurry. sensible people stuck to the german lagers, belgian trappist ales, i.p.a.'s and porters and i think enjoyed them a lot more than i did. we all learn dont we (?).

dan cooper also found out that there are various tours round belgiam going to all the brewery monastaries like chimay. the first drink he had was from a monastry that brewed their beer in silence and didnt allow women into it!!

the dunkel dark lager rob and i made should be ready for bottling this weekend...

hi everyone. andy and i now have a smashing blog 'new look' which has been created by ant. we are VERY happy with the visual feast you are currently experiencing.

so, i am still raving on about the possible war in iraq and i have chosen to sign an online petition via a proper organisation called move on. this is different to the email petitions that get sent around so if you are interested in trying to make a difference then please go to the win without war bit of their site.

arrgghhh. first day back at work and i really do hate this job.

bea and i had a fairly good weekend, albeit a bit busy, but this week we've got off and are getting our 28" flat widescreen tv on tuesday (mmmm), and watching 4 films on friday. and of course, i have my interview for the games workshop painting job in nottingham on thurday, which is kinda scary but very exciting too - my dream job.

actually feeling a bit ill today - not sure why - its quite unusual for me.

anyway. hope all are well, and still blogging on their own sites and not just the thing about it .

oh yes, and a massive public thanks to ant who has given our somewhat ailing html template a brilliantly new lease of life. hooray!!

hello - sorry we have been sparse on the blogging - it should start to pick up now that we are back in sunny sheffield. God is great. Deuteronomy 6 and end of Acts 2 - yipee!

at last!
finally back in sheffield!!

signed on today - the joys of (un)employement.

tried a bottle of the indian pale ale with ant last night - wasnt bad actually - quite a bit of sediment though....

bea and i are getting a little restless here in sheffield and are kinda wishing we were back in englands murder capital, sheffield. err shouldnt joke - thats our street....

its good to see an idea for another way of getting community happening on the thing about it - somewhere to look for things going on in our area (and beyond slightly).

and i'm so gutted to see the photos on the cliffords blogs of rachels weekend away - looked soooo cool. doh. i always feel like i miss the best things.

i dont, i just miss spending time with people i love. cant get anough of it i guess...

theres a good beer shop in geneva that does beers from around the world - i've been living off bottles of kwak and chimay blue, white for the past week. mmmmm....

seeya all not soon enough.

andy and i are in geneva visiting his dad and step mum. we arrived on sunday night after our plane had been delayed for an hour which wouldn't have been too bad except that we couldn't find a burger king in heathrow and marie clare magazing seems to have got smaller giving me less junk to read!

we went to jo and shawn's wedding on saturday in oxford at st. aldate's church which was great. it is so nice to go to a non-sheffield wedding occasionally just to remind ourselves that it is ok to break the mould! while we were at the wedding i got to see mary black and gabi dixon, friends from school, who i hadn't seen for 7 years - very weird!! fab though to get together and still be going for God and get excited together about it!

i was challenged about being culturally sensitive - not something i do particularly well - sensitivity has never been my strong point!

poppy has now been cremated (which was awful) and his ashes are now buried in the village churchyard where my granny lives. i've been thinking a bit about death and how our culture is so de-sensitised to it all - even to the extent that they drain the blood from dead bodies and refill with a pink liquid to get rid of the grey, ashen colour that death brings. when i went to see poppy on the morning of the funeral, i didn't expect him to look 'normal' - i thought he would look pale - that he would look 'dead' - the give-away signs were the fact that he wasn't breathing, his normally rounded tummy had sunken into his lower back and although he appeared as if sleeping, his mouth was uncharacteristically closed - not the 'catching flies' position that was his trademark!

nick beese has admired my use of html to create the wide expanse on our blog - he even suggested we market a t-shirt which uses this unique design!!

H A P P Y N E W Y E A R ! !

hope you all enjoyed your celebrations. we hada great night with barnaby, crazy man hodgson, ant and caroline.

today we had the service of thanksgiving for poppy. it was strangelyuplifting although very sad. it was great to cry and to be with family and so many people were there it was amazing. we are going back tomorrow for the cremation which is in the morning. last night while i lay in bed i was remembering lots of things about poppy and the kind of guy he was and i smiled as i remembered that one dayhe was driving granny somewhere when they were younger and he went a little too fast over a small hill/bridge. the speed meant that the car felt like it had taken off and granny was a bit shocked but poppy thought it was great and so he reversed back and did it all over again!!