This evening was our first Havering Christmas Carol service as part of the Urban Expression team and Church community. Unfortunately, it was also the last time that the Carol service will be happening in the local pub, as it is now owned by a housing developer and will be closing at the end of January 2016. We... Continue Reading →
I’m sitting in an old chair. It was given to us when we moved to Shadwell to join E1 Community Church, very nearly 6 years ago to the month. When we first moved we didn’t have any furniture at all. The very precious Kathryn Copsey and her husband Nigel, gave us various bits and pieces... Continue Reading →
A Mother's Prayer for Her Daughter (by Tina Fey) First, Lord: No tattoos.May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches. May she be Beautiful but not Damaged, for it’s the Damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the Beauty. When the Crystal Meth is offered,... Continue Reading →
(Janus - the ancient Roman god of beginnings and transitions - who looks to the past and to the future) As much as I dislike the ending of a year, I love the beginning of a new one. So January is always a month that I enjoy. I love new year for its unrealised possibilities... Continue Reading →
Just when I was thinking that I just couldn't handle all.the.things, life has thrown me a bar of chocolate and a warm duvet. The last couple of weeks have been full of good conversation, cuddles with my gorgeous children and praying and thinking out loud with others walking the road of "we don't know what... Continue Reading →
Today has not been such a successful day in our household. It has been fraught with arguments and "scwabbles" with my dear children, and I've suddenly understood why some parents send their children to boarding school: you love them so much that your heart could break as you watch them sweetly sleeping at night, but... Continue Reading →
It was Mother's Day in America last Sunday but not in the UK. I did not mean to be blogging about parenting so soon after this 'celebration' but last night after a long day of being a mum I still somehow ended up on my iPad searching for great apps for my 4 year old... Continue Reading →
Living in TH naturally means that I have Muslim neighbours. It is part of the reason that our family moved to Tower Hamlets: to live our lives alongside people of different faiths, cultures and backgrounds to us. I love that my children will grow up with children from such different places and cultures than their... Continue Reading →
Today is Mother's Day in the UK, or 'Mothering Sunday' in Christian circles (a name which, for some reason I can't explain, I hate...) I have been a mother on Mother's Day for 5 years now - my first one was in 2009, and DD was only a few weeks old. It is a strange... Continue Reading →
- Billy Joel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4D40r-E7yk This has been a hard week. I'm not sure exactly why, although for some strange reason spending time with my extended family often makes me feel unsettled. I think it comes from a clash of the different things that I want from my life being crystallised in some way. On one... Continue Reading →
stumbling hopefully in the right direction 