My knight

Today I discovered the timer on my camera, while Ben gave my blog a makeover! I made a paint file this morning of how I wanted it to look and then I dispaired, but my handsome knight in programming armour fixed it all for me and it's nearly done now, yay!

Photos

This is one of our new sofas, great for watching films on. Ben is pleased with them!

Yesterday we went to Mum's for dinner and picked up bikes. We cycled back home along Marriott's Way, which was altogether less bumpy than I remember.

On Thursday we had the first mini banquet of the summer with Dave. Strawberries, grapes and kiwis with whipped cream for dessert was yummy!

My week in words

I've had a week off work just for fun, back to work on Friday. Highlights have included having Mark and Hayley over (see Mark's blog for photos), going swimming at the Marina Centre in Yarmouth and the Sportspark at the UEA (tomorrow we hope to try the Riverside pool), going to Ben's old youth group, watching Saving Private Ryan, catching up with Dave of the King variety, and aquiring two new comfy sofas!

I've also done a bit of reading this week. PS I Love You by Cecelia Ahern (daughter of Bertie Ahern) was a sweet read but not much more than that! The writing was sketchy but the plot had a few tear jerking moments which kept my attention. I'm reading The Mermaid and the Drunks by Ben Richards at the moment. Don't be put off by the reviewers on Amazon (who seem to find it difficult to decide if they want to be like Richard and Judy or not!). I'm finding it an enjoyable read and an introduction to what happened in Chilie when Pinochet was around, although it assumes a lot of prior knowledge which I don't have. It has encouraged me to learn more though and I shall no doubt have a browse on Wikipedia later.

If anyone is interested in buying a flute or a laptop (each around £250 and both in great condition) please let me know.

PS If you could pray for Ben about this and for me that would be great. Thanks!

One little speckled Ben

A sunny bank holiday walk in the woods :)

Sacred space

I've used this from the re:Jesus site at work this week and I think it's helped to let more of God into life at work. It's worth a read. I like the idea of having sacred space - whether that's a place to go and pray or a time set aside during lunch to be with God, or just a concept that even my desk at work can be a sacred space as I commune with God throughout the day.

The daffodil picture below is from a lunchtime walk on Tuesday when I took my camera and said thank you prayers as I walked. I didn't work through the 'querty' prayer properly but it reminded me that the people I work with are loved by God too for all their crudeness and gossip, and in some small way that's helped me to open up to getting to know them better and talking to them more.

A parable from Luke 18 is quoted in Sacred Space which has encouraged me to renew my prayers for a girl who used to be a great encouragement to me as a Christian but fell away a while ago. I wonder what God means by 'quickly'...

Daffodil

Tantalizing Twos Game

From Emily via Helen, yay

Two Names You Go By
1. La
2. Ella

Two things that scare you
1. 28 Days Later
2. Being far from God

Two of Your Everyday Essentials
1. Emails from Ben on weekdays
2. Sunshine from God at weekends

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now
1. Jeans
2. Black hooded top

Two of your favorite bands/singers at the moment
1. Can't remember the last time I listened to music!
2. Whatever comes into my head

Two Things You Want in a Relationship
1. Ben
2. God

Two Things that Appeal to You
1. Being Godly
2. Books

Two of Your Favorite Hobbies
1. Reading
2. Sunshine walks

Two Places You Want to go on Vacation
1. China/Japan for pretty and mysterious scenery
2. Italy for all things sunny and arty

Two Things You Want to Do Before You Die
1. Travel lots
2. Be a wife and a mum

Two Things You Are Thinking About Now
1. Reading more of Gone With the Wind
2. Of God and Ben and happy things

Two people you haven't talked to in a while
1. Umm, too many people
2. Sorry!

Two Favorite Sports
1. Swimming
2. Badminton

Two things you did last night
1. Ran outside in the rain to photograph an amazing sunset
2. Watched Good Will Hunting

Two T.V. shows you like to watch
1. Rubbish
2. and repeats, but only when I'm in the mood to waste money on a TV license

Two things you like about yourself
1. Getting excited at silly things
2. Clouds

Two things you ate today
1. Toast and jam
2. Nothing else yet, it was a close call with the cereal but there's no milk :(

Two people you last talked to
1. Ben
2. Dad

Beautiful day

My day in pictures, all from within 200 metres of our home. I went to the top of the hill and read a bit in the morning sunshine, and a few minutes ago, just for about a minute, the sunset was so intense that it was like a giant torch was being shone from the west and there was a huge rainbow in the east. Amazing!