How many oranges does it take to make a glass of orange juice?

The answer is 5. I figured it out this morning. I wanted some fruit juice but we were all out and there was a massive pile of oranges in the fruit bowl so I got out the "juicer thing" and started squeezing away.

I've actually had a pretty good week so far! It hasn't been overly quiet at all. Monday I came into the office and a couple youth lads stopped in to work on a top secret project. They're going to be doing a secret drama at out youth service this Sunday and it's hilarious.

I've started getting to know one of the women from my church, Sonja, who's originally from California and has been over here about 2 years. She's a fair amount older than me but it's been fun getting to know her. I went around to her house on Tuesday and we took her dogs for a walk around some fields for like an hour. I was pretty muddy by the time we got home and had to stay out in the porch with the dogs and get a bit cleaned up! The rest of the afternoon we just sat and talked and then ordered in pizza and I was able to catch the 3rd period of an Olympic hockey game. Canada vs Czech. I almost felt a bit like I was at home....pizza, hockey, the two go hand in hand at my house. My dad and brothers would be proud. Canada won which was great but I haven't managed to catch any of the other games since so I hope we're still doing well!

Yesterday I went into Newcastle with Sonja to the Quayside. I'd never been before so she took it upon herself to make sure I got there. We had lunch at this really nice restaurant called Azzuri. It's Italian and the food was really good for a very reasonable price. I had pollo maria hose which was chicken breast with a sage and white wine sauce and it came with this huge plate of vegetables. It was great. If anyone comes over to visit me at all I will take you there.

After lunch we had coffee at this trendy bar called mal maison that overlooked the river and we could see the bridges. I felt a bit like I was briefly stepping into the society of trendy city living. I even had a cuppucino and enjoyed it! It was quite scary! Sonja used to have a job in sales and knew all the places because she'd taken clients out a lot.

We then walked across the river and went into the Baltic which is a contemporary art gallery. Contemporary art is always interesting but there was a particularly peculiar exhibit by an American artist named Spencer Tunick who likes to use naked people. He'd done a project in Newcastle and taken pictures and films of tones of naked people along the river and bridges. It was very bizarre and shocking. I didn't look around very much!

I had housegroup last night -every wednesday I meet with friends for a bible study - and it was one I wont forget. A situation that had been brewing for a bit with someone who comes finally blew up. The end result is that they decided they don't want to come anymore. They don't feel they're getting anything out of the housegroup and that we aren't passionate about God. I was a bit hurt as I think we all were but I felt more sad for this person and grieved. I'm not sure quite what to think about it all and I think I'm still processing the whole situation. I don't understand why someone would deliberately chose to isolate themselves from people who just want to love and encourage them. I don't understand why someone would chose to watch the God channel 24/7 instead of enjoying fellowship and teaching from people who are actually around them. I don't understand how someone can say God hasn't been allowed into our conversations and the Holy Spirit is not allowed to reign when the purpose of our meeting together is to meet with God. I don't understand how someone who wants to reach out and so desperately impact lives is instead pushing people away. That's not the kind of ministry I perceive Jesus to have had in the bible, he had one that embraced everyone, even the pharisees who had things wrong. He didn't push them away, but he did challenge them. I suppose the best thing to do is to just pray, very fitting considering the topic we were studying was prayer.

Anyway I'm off to the library and to pick up a few other things. I'm attempting to make "Greek Chicken" tonight! Wish me luck!

Are You Up For The Challenge?

Take my Quiz on QuizYourFriends.com!

Left Behind

Shrek: "WHY ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME?"
Donkey: Because...(singing)...: Cause I'm all alone. There's no one here beside me..."

Well, if only I had some people to follow!

Yes..it is the Saturday after schools have broken up for half term and I have officially been abandoned. Ok well not quite yet, there's still some guest staying at the Hatch's until tomorrow. But THEN I will have officially been abandoned. Mike has gone off to Germany, Lisa has gone home to Lancashire and the Hatch's are off skiing in France. It'll be nice to have some space for a bit but I'm afraid that I might go stir crazy before the end of the week. Lisa suggested that I go see a film in Newcastle but that would mean going alone and that's strictly against my policy for watching films. Apparantly it's quite liberating but I've only ever seen it as lonely. Maybe I need to change my perspective.

In other news I received a piece of mysterious mail today. A letter addressed to me had been delivered to the wrong address so the neighbors brought it by this afternoon and all that was inside was a little English/American dictionary. No letter or anything. The post mark said it had been sent from Tyneside but that doesn't really help me out at all. Perhaps someone is trying to tell me I am using to many "American" words and I need to learn the "English" equivalent instead. I'm not sure if I should be offended or not because I'm not even American!! This is exactly the sort of thing that will annoy me until I figure it out.

Does anyone have any clues?

Just a Bit of Fun

John 10:10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

"For since most of our living is unconscious, play is like matchstrokes in the void, bringing into light the structures we behave by, illuminating for us, however briefly, our deep meanings."
M. C. Richards

"Remember to play after every storm"
11-year-old poet Mattie Stepaneck in Journey Through Heartsongs

"If you never have, you should. These things are fun and fun is good."
Oh, the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss

"It takes courage to play in a world that does not play."
Fred Donaldson

"To live is to play at the meaning of life...The upshot of this . . . is that it teaches us once and for all that childlike foolishness is the calling of mature men."
Ernest Becker - The Denial of Death pp. 201-202

"Have fun even if it kills you!"
Howell Norfolk

"We don't stop playing because we turn old, but turn old because we stop playing"
attributed to Satchel Paige

"You go for it. All the stops are out. Caution is to the wind, and you're battling with everything you have. That's the real fun of the game."
Dan Dierdorf

"Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious."
Brendan Gill

" When the fun goes out of play, most often so does the learning".
Joanne E. Oppenheim

"To live exhilaratingly in and for the moment is deadly serious work, fun of the most exhausting sort."
Barbara Grizzuti Harrison

"The word 'silly' derives from the Greek 'selig' meaning 'blessed.' There is something sacred in being able to be silly."
Paul Pearsall in The Heart's Code

The Many Faces of Jenny

What happens when you're bored on the weekend and have a digital camera? You find out exactly how flexible your face is.

Significant Accomplishments

ac·com·plish·ment
The act of accomplishing or the state of being accomplished; completion.
Something completed successfully; an achievement.
An acquired skill or expertise
Social poise and grace.

I'm sure that there are many profound, significant accomplishments which I have accomplished in my lifetime but for this blog I am going to focus mainly on the specific, significant accomplishments which I have accomplished over the past couple of weeks.

Using the word accomplish 4 times in one sentence.

Running 7.5 miles.

Cooking two successful meals ( move over suzy home-maker!)

Being successfully conned by a phone prank ( one word: "Sammy"....grrrrrr!)

Cleaning a printer and it's colour cartridges at least 10 times in one afternoon.

Only slipping up twice by not thinking about what I say:

"We thought it would be appropriate, since we work with youth, to sing a song that we do at the youth service. It's a bit loud and lively but don't let that stop you from worshiping!"

Head Teacher: " I never get a round of applause from the kids, well done, actually...You're not allowed to come next time!"
Me: "Fine with me, I'll get a chance to sleep in!" (resulting in some wide eyes and nervous laughter from Mike and Lisa)

Watching 4 episodes of Smallville in one day. ( I plead innocent as I was influenced by another source)

Writing a 3 page report for my church back in Ottawa.

Watching Elizabethtown legally before it was even released on dvd (I've got connections!)

Finding a restaurant named "Jenny's" and taking my picture beside it (to be posted later)

Cleaning my room!!!....and keeping it clean!!!! (my how things have changed!)

Thank you, thank you, you may all line up for congratulations on July 28th,2007 as I have a free day available then.

Grace

Something that I realised today is that I have been finished high school long enough to have repeated it twice! I have entered into my 5th year since finishing. I have also been finished long enough to have completed a degree and moved into a career had I chosen. Sometimes I wonder if maybe that's what I should have done. I suppose it's in us all to ask the "what if" questions at one time or another. What if I hadn't moved to Ottawa when I finished high school? What if I hadn't done team Canada? What if I hadn't come to England? I suppose it's so easy to get caught up in these thoughts sometimes. Perhaps because I'm continually finding myself at a place where I'm searching out my next steps my mind tends to wander to the ones already taken. Eventually, though, I will be in a place where the steps I'm about to take will be the one's I look back on and wonder "what if"

Ever look back over the past and notice how much you've changed? I mean in so many ways I'm still the same me, yet there are lessons I've learned and experiences I've had that I didn't have back when I was in high school. How would I have lived then if I knew the things about life I know now?

We were talking about Grace last night at youth group. What is grace and why we sometimes live outside it trying to please God with our own actions. I'm so thankful for God's grace in my life. I can look back and know that even though there have been times I've made mistakes, times I've acted less than Christian like, times I've made wrong choices and know that God has never loved me less through any of it. His love has been constant and available even if I have been hardened to it at times or have not received it. It has never been about me, it has always been about Him and always will be.

New Hair

Morpeth

Here are some pictures of Morpeth and the road towards Mitford. They were taken on a Saturday towards the end of January.