Home home on the range

Well, I'm pretty sure there is no 'range' round these parts but it is nice to write this post from my couch at home.....One thing I miss at uni is a couch, I would say good tea like this cup i have next to me but this term Kat has made my tea and she makes it great in her cool teapot.

It is a happy happy day because today was my LAST EXAM. My tired brain can't quite comprehend the concept that there is nothing to study for, no pressure, no exam dauntingly hanging over my head....maybe this will really sink in over the next couple of days. I think on the whole they have gone well, I've come out of most of them pretty happy, we'll see what the results are in a couple of weeks I guess if the strike finishes (does anyone know when we get results????)

Today was a nice day. My Mum and Auntie Sue (her twin) came to visit and had a great day mooching round the shops in Durham. I had fun showing them a few sights, recommending shops and hanging out. I walked into town with them and we had lunch at Venels. Then I disappeared to my History exam (with a ton of dates hanging from my brain by very fragile threads....ready to drop at any second) we met after for coffee at Brown Sugar then went for dinner at Pizza Express......very yummy.

Nice to be home to get some things done, prepare for summer, visit with family and relax a bit. I'm excited to be back with my friends in Durham in a few days...in time for our houseparty weekend away, midsummer ball and THE 24 marathon.

Psalm 37:23-24

The steps of man are established by the LORD,
And He delights in his way.
When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong,
Beacause the LORD is the One who holds his hand.

movie kissing coffee and country

After a killer marathon studying session with Helen (oh me oh my what a brain work out) a half an hour of nothingness was on the cards during which we found the ultimate blogger quiz site. It's all quite pointless I have to say but there are occasions that pointless time wasting is ok. This was one of those occasions and in the process I learnt...
1 that my coffee style was Capuccino
2 that were I to kiss in a movie that movie would be Romeo and Juliet apparently.
3 that if I was in a girl band it would be the Dixie Chicks
I don't think these tests are very accurate because i would much rather have a latte than a cappucino and I would never want to kiss Leonardo diCaprio (ever) but I guess being in the Dixie Chicks would be a bit more reputable the the Spice Girl label I am usually attributed with...

You Are a Cappuccino

You're fun, outgoing, and you love to try anything new. However, you tend to have strong opinions on what you like. You are a total girly girly at heart - and prefer your coffee with good conversation. You're the type that seems complex to outsiders, but in reality, you are easy to please

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Your Famous Movie Kiss is from Romeo + Juliet

"Has my heart loved 'till now? Forswear it, sight! For I never saw a true beauty 'till this night."

What Famous Movie Kiss Are You?

You Should Be In The Dixie Chicks

You're down to earth and never forget your roots... But that doesn't mean you can't rock out

Helen discovered that she should also be in Dixie Chicks and so did Naomi...after exams we'll have to start rehersals for our first tour!!!!!!!!.
These quizzes have become crazy popular around here, everyone is at it as a break from revision or post exam chill out. Some are posting about one or two they've done....
Kat
Ffion
Helen

My lifelong dreams........

When I was little I had a lot of ideas of what life would be like.....I wanted to be Elizabeth Bennett, Josephine March, The President of the United States, A Princess, I wanted all the Disney Characters to come live with me (and wrote a letter to them to that effect), my Honey moon was going to be on the actual moon, I was going to go the Congo and save the Rainforest, have my own orphanage, set up a homeless shelter and save most the world in the process (I'm still holding onto that one) I was always going to have a really cool car, write books, I thought I would like to be famous...probably in movies, for a little while or maybe a modelling career, I wanted to be a Mum. Everytime I watched gymnastics or figure skating or anything impressive like that on TV I had hopes of that too......the list goes on and on and on really.

When I realised that I was English and couldn't be the President of the United States it all started going down hill.........Prime Minister wasn't nearly enough power for me at age four or five. Then I found out there were no orphanages anymore in England. The Disney Character's sent me a very nice letter and signed picture explaining they had jobs to do in Disney Land, at age six I 'broke up' with the boyfriend who was supposed to build me the rocking horse shaped space ship that would take us to the moon for our honey moon, I quit gymnastics when I had to go up to the big class with the mean teacher, I broke my leg ice skating.............

God knew!!! I'm so glad Life is turning out way better than I could have ever planned it

I wanted to be Belle.......oh well

At least I still have the Jasmine costume and mask from when I was jasmine for my birthday party when i was little.....not that I fit into it....I was 9 after all!

Which Disney Princess are you?????

Princess's click here!

this was in a psychology paper i was reading on Vygotsky today

......A child’s selective appropriation of a new idea from a social ex-change can be seen in the following conversation between a mother (P. Miller) and her (then) 4-year-old daughter:

M: What do you think you’d like to be when you grow up?

C: A mommy!

M: That’s nice. . . but if you want you can be a mommy and something else.

C: I just want to be a mommy.

M: You know, I’m a mommy and a teacher—two things. You could do that too.

C: I just want to be a mommy.

(This continues for a while until the child concedes—sort of.)

C: Okay. . - I’ll be a mommy and a bird!

The child appropriated certain meanings from this conversation and ignored other aspects of the mother’s meaning.........

I thought it was kinda funny

Meanwhile in Durham.....

Today was a rainy grey day that got rainier and rainer........ On days like today you have to embrace the rain!!!!

In the opening words of Jane Eyre....

"There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.....the wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further outdoor exercise was now out of the question"

Well that wasn't going to stop us this evening. We headed out to church a couple of hours early tonight because Rachael was getting baptised and we wanted to go to Brown Sugar beforehand and we needed to get to church almost an hour early just to get seats....Nic's was PACKED tonight!!!!!

So Brown Sugar for mocha's and hotchocolate


Church was great, I love baptisms and being reminded of such wonderful truths, it was great to witness Rachael take that step and enjoy being there.

Since we were out we needed to have some fun. Walkiung home was SO wet we figured we might as well get wetter. A LOT of slashing and puddle jumping was on the cards tonight....oh yeah (although really I had been wanting to play sardines...oh well lsome other time)

We got VERY wet and now is time for hotdrinks in our warm room in warm comfy clothes.

Feeling far away on a very special day

My Mary Kate gets married today!!!!!!!!

Canada seems a long way away a lot of the time, when so much of your heart and so many people you care about are on the other side of the world it's difficult. ESPECIALLY on such momentous days as today. Today all my first year roommates are together for Heather (aka Mary-Kate) and Edwin's wedding in SK. I am so excited for her and enjoying thinking about her and praying for her minute by minute as she goes through this day. Later this week our roommate (and friend) Chelsea follows her down the aisle as she marries Jeff. I would give so much to be able to be at the weddings of two of my closest friends, watch them get married and enjoy the day they have both talked about for so long. At least, even from rainy, exam laden Durham, I can still pray for them and enjoy the pictures and stories afterwards.

last summer, before either of them were engaged, the three of us got to spend a few days camping together. It was pretty hilarious, it rained and we realised none of us could chop firewood. I have such precious...and CRAZY...Memories with these girls, from the random insanity of cabin life at Capes, to road trips, camping and Chelsea's (very determined) mission to convert me to a cowgirl, outfit, rodeo and all. I can't believe they are getting married!!! Edwin and Jeff are very lucky men

Brown Sugar

I would have to say Brown Sugar is my fave coffee shop in Durham, it makes the very, very best Vanilla Latte's of anywhere, is surprisingly cheaper than most other coffee shop and has by FAR the best loyalty card, you only have to buy half as many coffee's to get the free one as anywhere else.

TODAY was exciting because WE GOT A COUCH, oh yeah!!!! It's a small thing but if you saw the couches you would get the significance. They are HUGE, you could fit so many people on them, the backs are taller than me, they are super deep huge leather couches that you can curl up on with your coffee. It made my day to sit there with Helen and chat after swimming.

My crippled hand

I think my hand will never be the same again. I had English exams staring at 9:30 and I was finally done at 5:30, six essays later.
i was just talking to my roomates about how my hand hurts and trying to explain how I hold a pen.....I COULDN"T REMEMBER HOW TO HOLD A PEN!!!!! I think I am officially spent! It amazes me how exhausting writing essays can be!!! I had a coke right after the exam and my mouth tasted like blood, I bite my lip or the inside of my mouth when I am concentrating. I had been concentrating so hard for so long I hadn't realised I'd been chewing my cheek and biting my lip for that time.
The upside is I'm done with English modules for this year now AND I realised i have memorised way more poetry than I knew I had (although even then i don't know if it was enough)
We are quite a sad room right now, I'm tired, Naomi's exhausted and kat's ill, I think a movie is on the adgenda for tonight. Next exam is Tuesday!!!

Career fair

I remember at bible school being surprised that so few of the girls had any career aspirations. It's something that is almost bred into you that you should have career aspirations. I would never have had the confidence in high school to have said "actually i want to be a wife and mother and be involved in ministry." It was just expected that you would have "big" dreams, or at least dreams that are considered 'big' by the world. I remember saying I wanted to be a teacher and having my teachers tell me to dream bigger, outside the typical female vocations.

When I first started working summers at Capernwray I remember being really surprised that girls "just" wanted to get married and have babies, yeah I wanted to do that but first i needed to prove myself by getting a degree, 'exhibiting my potential' I felt the need to 'BE SOMETHING' like a doctor or teacher, even if only for a year or two before I had the right to 'settle down' and do the family thing, which was really what I had always wanted to do.

Like I said, I was surprised when other girls didn't have this, it seemed at first like they were selling themselves short by not getting a degree first, even if they weren't going to use it. It was only then I started to challenge the pre conceptions I'd held for so long.

So my views changed and I started realizing there were many different tracks and ways of doing things. I think the thing that has really surprised me is being at university is that when I talk to all my Christian friends who are girls, or to girls in the Christian Union, they are training for so many different degrees, sciences, law, history, psychology, languages etc. The thing is, when you ask them what they want to do with it, most of them don't have a clue and practically all of them will tell you "actually, I really want to get married and have kids and be in ministry, I don't really have plans of having a career." Obviously there are exceptions to this but I would say it is true of at least 90% of the Christian girls I have met since being in Durham.

It's interesting, the battle between the inner desires and the outside expectations. Not that everyone I know is here because of external expectations by any means, but still, it's an interesting thing I have been observing. I don't really have any conclusions drawn yet.

Updating YOU

I've not posted much on here recently but in some ways it's felt like there has not been a whole lot to say or a whole lot of time to say it in. A lot of time is spent studying, a lot of time is spent sleeping and snacking trying to avoid studying and then the rest just on living, being with friends, talking on the phone, running errands around town, thinking, etc.

A few things have changed in the last few weeks... I started leading a bible study group in CU and that has been great. We are studying Daniel this term and I am loving studying the word again. It's one thing to read it but it's another to really dig deep and study and I would say this is something I've been missing out on doing a bit so it's been really refreshing to 'have' to take that time to study in preparation. I've really enjoyed the group too.

Exams are getting closer, my first is on Tuesday, I have 3 hours to write 3 essays on 4 novels so right now I am trying to re-read the novels very fast and learn critics and stuff. Friday I have 6 hours poetry and drama, one exam the following Wednesday then the last two are the following Tuesday and Wednesday. So that's what the next couple of weeks look like right now, we'll have to wait and see what else they hold. After exams I will go home for a little while i think, then come back to Durham for CU houseparty weekend (in Yorkshire) and the midsummer Ball (among other things) then at the end of June back to Capes for Holiday Bible Weeks. I am excited to give more thought to planning stuff for HBW's after exams are over.

Ecclesiastes 3:11
"God has made everything beautiful in it's time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

Waiting Room

waiting room
by shane barnard

i will run when i cannot walk
i will sing when there is no song
i will pray when there is no prayer
i will listen when i cannot hear

sitting in the waiting room of silence
waiting for that still soft voice i know
offering my words up to the rooftop to Your heart
trusting that this closet's where You are

Lord i know if i change my mind
You will change my heart in time
Sovereign Lord this time's from You
so i sit in the waiting room of silence
cause its all about You

i will fight when i cannot feel
i will trust when You dont seem real
i will tell when i cannot speak
i will step when i cannot see

YAYAYAYAYAYAY

I handed my last essay of the year in today!!!!!! Just exams to face now!!!!

They're at it like rabbits

It turns out that the rabbit's have had A LOT more babies than we first thought. I am very thankful that my neice Evie posted SO many ideas for names because I think we are really going to need them!!!!!

Two of them are SO tiny, i mean REALLY, REALLY tiny, they are the length of my little finger. It's hard to tell in a picture just how small they are. One is called 'Little one' (thanks Eve) and the other is called "wee Bairn" which is 'little baby' in Jeordie (the dialect spoken in Durham)

I don't know if you can see but the daisy is the same size as it's head!!!

There are twins who both have white underneath their tails

this is Peter


There is Tigger who loves to bounce.

Then there is our fave, his name is speed gonzales because he is SO fast, I've never seen a rabbit move so fast and he never stops running.

He is the black blur in this pic...that's how fast he is!!!!!