Hey guys!
Hope everyone is well. I am soooooo glad that it's Friday, it feels as though its been such a long week even though we had Monday off as it was a bank holiday.
Am very much looking forward to next weekend. I am going on a course to Ellel Grange in Lancashire. It's called "Healing through Creativity" and it looks at how God is a Creator God and how He can bring healing through creativity. There are times of praise, worship and teaching. There are also oppurtunities for 'hands on' involvement including banner making, card making, creative writing, collage, dance and drama, silk painting, wood carving and lots more. I am so excited to see what God is going to do and the way in which He can speak to me through a new medium.
Anyway thats about it from me will e-mail you all soon.
Love Ems x x

Warrior biscuits!!!!

It's amazing the things that God uses to remind you of who you are in Him.

I was on a ladies weekend these past few days and one of the talks was on the victory of the cross. It talked about the victory of who we are in Christ and how we should live as Christians. The lady talking used a line from a Peter Kay sketch which talks about the perfect 'dunking' biscuit. Rich tea biscuits just whither and collapse as soon as they feel the heat of the water. They are the 'wimps' of biscuits. Hobnobs on the other hand are the warriors, they can withstand the heat and be continually dunked in and out of a cuppa and not fall apart and whither. The 'ultimate warrior' is the chocolate hobnob!!! She was saying that that is what we are, and what we should be living like the warriors and the victors that we are in Christ.

Well I walked into the garage this morning to pick up some biscuits for some of us in work and what was there but chocolate hobnobs!! God gave me the reminder there and then of who I was in Him and to live in that victory that He has given. Great boost for a Monday morning!!!

So blessed

I was on some site visits with my job yesterday morning. It was one of those gorgeous days where the sun was out and though it was chilly there was the promise of Spring in the air. Anyway I managed to grab some photos with my phone. The one below I even managed to get the snow that is still on the Snowdonia range.....amazing to think that we are into April and it still feels chilly enough to be January here at times. Anyway hope you like the photos. Images like this just make me realise how blessed I am to live and work in such a gorgeous place.

My Dog

I know some of you were wondering whether the 3 dogs below are mine or not.....gladly they are not!!! This is a picture of my Dad's dog Penny though. Becky R took it when she came to visit a while back and we went for a walk up to the castle in Denbigh where my Dad lives and where I used to live. I think most people know her to be the barmy animal that she is!!!!

No comment really. I have to say that the Yoda one is my favourite!!!! Hope you have a good day!

I feel so old!

Well the time has come when the little man will be trotting off to school, next Tuesday, with his Bob the Builder backpack, new uniform and the world ahead of him...........he's only 2 and 1/2 how is this happening!! He is joining the nursery at the school that both myself and my brother attended. Only going 2 afternoons a week but it's great as it means that he will have interaction with other children and learn about friendships and socialising. As Amanda has been able to look after him until now he hasn't been to nursery but am hoping that he'll enjoy it and it won't be too hard for Amanda to leave him there. Anyway here is a little photo from my brothers phone of him......I'll try and get a better one when I see him next.

More snow!

As predicted we had more snow fall last night. Am determined that I am going to be taking advantage of it this time though and going out for a snowball fight or sledging! Here are a couple more photos that I've just taken while popping my head out of the door!! I know for all my dear friends in the States that you will be laughing at the moment (Sadly not enough to go snowmobiling Kendra!!!) ....it seems such a small amount but it is such a novelty here! Anyway hope you enjoy the photos and have a fab weekend.

Snow!

Well......woke up this morning to find the snow that they have been forecasting for the past couple of days. I've included a couple of pictures below though they're not great quality as they were taken on my phone.

Makes me giggle so much when we get snow here in the UK. While in Michigan it was a foregone conclusion that snow is part of winter, get on with it, work around it and people were prepared for it. Here everyone goes into panic mode when we get snow. I grant that there were certain parts of my 40 minute drive (which normally takes 25) to work this morning that were trecherous, but there were also parts where the yellow car in front of me did not need to be going as slow as 20 mph! Also it was amazing to cross the Flintshire County boundary into Denbighshire. Granted I work for Denbighshire and suppose should show some loyalty but oh my goodness!!...I went from lovely snow/ice free road to something that resembled a skating rink....without even changing roads!!!
Anyway where ever you are, hope you are warm, happy and able to enjoy the day!

Embarassment

Hello

Hope everyone is well. Not enitrely sure what it is I'm going to post this morning but thought that I hadn't for a while so I better post something!

Last week was a funny week....in the middle of a lot of down times there were some that were just hilarious.....basically involving me and a lot of my underwear!!

Firstly I went to work one day last week wearing a pink blouse that I hadn't worn in a while. I'd forgotten that the buttons on this blouse weren't the most secure. Anyway I got into work and in reception we have to clock in on a touch screen with our extension number and pin number. The caretaker of the building was sitting there chatting to me while I was doing this........it was only when I looked down to clock in that I realised that part of my blouse was open and showing my bra! Aaah, embarassment central.....the next question was what to do; to button them infront og him would have been highly embarassing yet doing nothing was very uncomfortable. I managed to bid good morning and make a swift exit and do the buttons of my shirt up as I went up the stairs. Strike 1 of Emma's underwear embarassment.

The second installment of that happened when I was in work on Tuesday. I'd stayed at my Dads the night before and so had my overnight bag woth me. I was just checking that I had a book in there and realised that my knickers had fallen out and were currently sitting on ym desk. I discreetly managed to slip them back into my bag, but not before turning the colour of a tomato!!

That is all on the underwear front but there was one other funny story. My car broke down on Sunday evening while taking Becky Rasdall back to the train station. I rang my housemate to see whether she'd be able to take Becky to the station. I was parked in a lay-by on a dual carriageway/interstate. Much to my dismay I'd forgotten to leave the torch in the car so we couldn't look at the engine and decided that the best option was to call the AA to come and tow me home. While chatting with the call operator she gave me lots of tips as to what to do; put my hazard lights on, leave the car by the passenger door, stand on the grass verge away from the car (in freezing temperatures!) etc. With all this safety advice I didn't think it was the best thing to share that the current idea floating around the car was for my housemate to move her car from behind mine to infront of mine and then attempt a three point turn in the lay-by so she was facing me and we could shine the headlights into the car........only 3 women could come up with that idea!!

Anyway hope they've made you chuckle......signing off now x x

Weekend

Just wanted to post about the weekend.
I was up in Yorkshire in a cottage with Esther, Rachael and Jon. It was a lovely cottage, right by the steam railway in a village called Oakworth near Haworth (Bronte Country).
It was nice to get away from the mundane, day by day life really and it's such a beautifu part of the country. On Saturday we went to Bolton Abbey an absolutely gorgeous place. It was so lovely to go walking there. For once fear didn't get the better of me and I actually crossed the river on the stepping stones that are in the picture on the right, not an easy thing to do when you have short legs like me!!
We also went to some lovely tea rooms for lunch, nothing like homemade chicken soup to warm you after a walk.
I think one of the funniest parts of the evening was the many games of Cranium that we played. I was on a team with Rachael and Esther was with Jon and we both got stuck on the datahead questions for 1/2 an hour.....by this point I think Jon was praying for the second coming!!
On Sunday we went to Abundant life church in Bradford. It was quite interesting to go there and see how their church has worked. God is using them immensely and they have been blessed with such wonderful provision. It's just sometimes diffcult to pickup the complete dimension of a church when you are only there for one service.
Anwyay am back now, it was a nice weekend away.....just need another break to look forward to now!!