Little man's birthday

It was Osian's 2nd birthday yesterday...that makes me feel old! He had a big birthday party on Sunday and then him Gareth and Amanda came over for a birthday tea last night! Was great fun. He most certainly enjoyed all the food!!

Sunrise ~ I'll let the pictures speak for themselves

More random photos of weekend

Bridge at Beddgelert

Est and Jon in Betws Y Coed

Em and Jon in Betws Y Coed

The beautiful Esther

Gwern Y Gof Stream behind the campsite

Jons unique way of opening a gate

I survived!

It really wasn't that bad I promise. The weather wasn't the best but you are 350 mtrs above sea level at the camp site, before you start walking anywhere. The photo on the left is of Tryfan. We were camping at the base of this mountain. It is such a stunning area and you feel as if you are cut off from civilisation, it's fantastic!






This photo is from the campsite we were staying on looking West and through the valley over Llyn Ogwen. Sadly I am not a hardy camper at all and whereas you had other people camping in little 2 man tents and cooking outside whatever the weather; Esther, Jon and I were in a 6 man tent with duvets, sleeping bags, airbeds, camping cooker and coolbox!





While we were there we began to see the effects of Jon being by himself for a period of time. Not only was he obsessed with the flies around the tent (going into great detail explaining how they attacked and got into the tent) he had also named the sheep on the footpath behind the campsite and the horse that was in the field over the stream. I now introduce you to Herbie the sheep (Sadly I didn't get a photo of Steve the horse!)




Though it appears that the weather was bad, and it would have been lovely to have done some walking up the hills, the way the clouds shifted and changed was amazing and the views it created was spectacular. Sadly I am not very good with a camera and I don't think that a camera could fully show the amazing colours we saw, but here is a taste.

Madness.....

Well we've just had pretty much 24 hours of solid rain and Esther and I are heading up to a campsite near Capel Curig to camp for the evening. We are joining Jon who has been up there for 5 days already.....it's misty.....cloudy.....and I think we've lost the plot....but we want to try out this hardcore camping and walking so that's why we're heading there. It's in Snowdonia Park where the highest mountain in England and Wales is. Should be fun! I'll post on Monday when we get back!! Picking fish and chips up on the way up there.....mmmmmm! PS the camp site is somewhere down by that Lake, Llyn Ogwen.

The Vision and The Vow

I'd never heard of "The Vision" (posted below) until a friend of a friend recommended Pete Greig's book 'The Vision and the Vow' to me.
I bought the book the other week while I was in Soul Survivor and started reading it once I returned home I started reading it (sadly reading didn't really happen while we were away at camp. I took 8 books with me for 10 days-living in cloud cuckoo land I know-and didn't read one of them!). I am near the end now and will post a full review once I've finished but up to this point I have only one thing to say - GO AND BUY IT!
Esther has practically read the book as I kept reading exerts of it while we were tanning on the beach on Saturday!
Hopefully I'll finish it tonight so I'll post more tomorrow!
Love Ems x x

The Vision

'THE VISION'

So this guy comes up to me and says "What's the vision? What's the big idea?"

I open my mouth and words come out like this… The vision?

The vision is JESUS – obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus.

The vision is an army of young people. You see bones? I see an army. And they are FREE from materialism.

They laugh at 9-5 little prisons. They could eat caviar on Monday and crusts on Tuesday. They wouldn't even notice.

They know the meaning of the Matrix, the way the west was won.

They are mobile like the wind, they belong to the nations. They need no passport.

People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence. They are free yet they are slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying.

What is the vision?

The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes. It makes children laugh and adults angry.

It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars. It scorns the good and strains for the best.

It is dangerously pure. Light flickers from every secret motive, every private conversation.

It loves people away from their suicide leaps, their Satan games.

This is an army that will lay down its life for the cause.

A million times a day its soldiers choose to loose that they might one day win the great 'Well done' of faithful sons and daughters.

Such heroes are as radical on Monday morning as Sunday night.

They don't need fame from names. Instead they grin quietly upwards and hear the crowds chanting again and again: "COME ON!"

And this is the sound of the underground.

The whisper of history in the making.

Foundations shaking. Revolutionaries dreaming once again. Mystery is scheming in whispers. Conspiracy is breathing…

This is the sound of the underground.

And the army is discipl(in)ed. Young people who beat their bodies into submission

Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrade at arms.

The tattoo on their back boasts "for me to live is Christ and to die is gain". Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their upward eyes.

Winners. Martyrs.

Who can stop them? Can hormones hold them back? Can failure succeed? Can fear scare them or death kill them?

And the generation prays like a dying man with groans beyond talking, with warrior cries, sulphuric tears and with great barrow loads of laughter!

Waiting. Watching: 24 – 7 – 365.

Whatever it takes they will give: Breaking the rules. Shaking mediocrity from its cosy little hide. Laying down their rights and their precious little wrongs, laughing at labels, fasting essentials.

The advertisers cannot mould them. Hollywood cannot hold them. Peer-pressure is powerless to shake their resolve at late night parties before the cockerel cries.

They are incredibly cool, dangerously attractive inside.

On the outside? They hardly care. They wear clothes like costumes to communicate and celebrate but never to hide.

Would they surrender their image or their popularity? They would lay down their very lives - swap seats with the man on death row - guilty as hell. A throne for an electric chair.

With blood and sweat and many tears, with sleepless nights and fruitless days, they pray as if it all depends on God and live as if it all depends on them.

Their DNA chooses JESUS. (He breathes out, they breathe in.)

Their subconscious sings. They had a blood transfusion with Jesus.

Their words make demons scream in shopping centres.

Don't you hear them coming?

Herald the weirdo's! Summon the losers and the freaks. Here come the frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes.

They walk tall and trees applaud, skyscrapers bow, mountains are dwarfed by these children of another dimension.

Their prayers summon the hounds of heaven and invoke the ancient dream of Eden.

And this vision will be. It will come to pass; it will come easily; it will come soon.

How do I know?

Because this is the longing of creation itself, the groaning of the Spirit, the very dream of
God.

My tomorrow is his today. My distant hope is his 3D. And my feeble, whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous, resounding, bone-shaking great 'Amen!' from countless angels, from hero's of the faith, from Christ himself.

And he is the original dreamer, the ultimate winner.

Guaranteed.

Pete Grieg

Momentum 15th - 19th August

Momentum was amazing. This is a picture of myself, Rachael and Heather, 2 of the girls that were camping with me. It was a great 5 days. A real time of getting to know God a better, spending time with friends and getting to know myself better also. The things that I hold close to my heart... some good... some bad. Some views and opinions that need to be changed because they are not in line with Gods word and I've been putting them off for a long time.




Rachael is holding the Irish hand that belongs to Heather and I'm wearing the Welsh bandanas that we had for the whole team when the kids came down. Was such a giggle and amazing how many conversations it opened up! (Sorry Heather, was going to put the one of you and I on here but I look as rough as old boots in it, I'll e-mail it to you!)



Am finishing work now so will get going. Will try and post more on Monday. There are some great stories from the week! Blessings



Ems x x

I'll allow the pictures to speak for themselves for now!

The beautiful Miss Pegs sporting this seasons new look
Very tired and feeling a little smelly at this point! Last night, looking forward to own bed
Still looking semi-normal!! : )

Sadly I have some other great picturesbut they have the kids in them and due to child protection I cannot post pictures of them. The Welsh bandana that Esther is wearing... we all had them...except we all wore them the correct way...as did Esther....most of the time!

I'll post somemore stuff about the couple of weeks in a short while

Love Ems x x