Ramblings...

Here we are again at the end of another week... and we are that much closer to Christmas, ladies and gentlemen! This misplaced Canadian is extremely excited. I have a Canadian colleague who keeps telling me what NOT to expect about the holidays here. “Don’t expect to find any pumpkin pie or egg nog etc”. So this Christmas is definitely going to be an amalgamation of my traditions and the traditions of jolly old England. For example, I had NO idea that every Christmas, families gather around a brandy-soaked Christmas pudding and light it on fire! Or that the Queen makes a speech. Or that they say Father Christmas.... But I intend to listen to my traditional Christmas music (Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole etc). I think for me it is the music that immediately puts me in the Christmas frame of mind. The Glee Christmas soundtrack will go a long way as well.  I also have my baking list all ready to be used. ALL of my Christmas shopping is finished (shocking!!) and it is waiting to be wrapped (which will happen this weekend) and shipped. Advent services are starting this weekend at church, and it will be so important to have that weekly reminder of the fact that this season is about so much more than food, shopping and music. It’s about the greatest gift of love, sacrifice, and salvation. How blessed we are.

I have really been trying to get back into running, but it’s not going so well. I need a running buddy! The wonderful Jennie Piedalue held me accountable last year until we crossed the TC 10K finish line... I miss you! Apart from losing weight, I need motivation or a goal when it comes to running. I’ve been toying with the idea of re-training and building up to a half-marathon. I’ve been thinking about it since the 10K, and now my former running buddy is training for one. I don’t know when there is one in Portsmouth, and I will need to find someone to train and do it with me. It’s just an idea, and I don’t know how realistic. I will do one at one point in my life. It’s just a matter of getting off the couch. I really have no excuse though. I am about 2 minutes away from the seafront, and it is a perfectly flat and beautiful run. I just need someone to kick me out the door!

This weekend promises to be wonderful. I am FINALLY getting my hair cut today – I am at that stage where I really wish I was bald. That’s always a sure fire sign that the old side fringe needs a trim. Tonight will be about wrapping Christmas presents and watching Eclipse with a couple of girlfriends. Tomorrow, a couple of my friends are getting confirmed down at the Cathedral in Old Portsmouth. There is also a little cafe on my way to work that I have ALWAYS wanted to try out. On Sunday, I will go to church in the morning and the evening, but confirmation is finished for the time being (which leaves the afternoon open for a run? Probably not...). I have also been given the opportunity to help out with a 16-18’s young adults evening through the church. I am so excited and so incredibly blessed! So far I have been learning that my gift does not lie in the area of instruction. The two times I led a section at confirmation were an incoherent, long-winded, side-tracking mess. But I absolutely loved studying the Scriptures, and researching, and coming up with lesson plans. It was just the actual presentation of materials that didn’t go so well, albeit we were on a time crunch. So hopefully I will learn just as much as the teens at the group will. I so want this to be a good place for them – I want them to be able to talk about the really difficult issues that they struggle with. So many times, a youth group discussion setting gets really dumbed down to make it appropriate. But I really don’t think that life is appropriate a lot of the time, and these teens are smart. So I could use prayer that the Lord will prepare my heart and mind to help lead this group. I could also use prayer that God makes clear to me exactly what my gifts and passions are. I’m starting to think about next year – reapplying to university, what program I should be in, where I should be... I literally have NO idea where I’m supposed to be or what I’m supposed to be doing. So just that that comes to clear to me over the next months.

I love you all! Happy First Weekend of Advent! xoxox