It is difficult moving to a new place without constantly comparing it to your previous home. We moved from a rapidly gentrifying, but still largely deprived inner-city borough to an outer-city estate. As much as I hate gentrification, I would also be the first to admit that I like using my laptop in nice coffee shops... Continue Reading →
Saying goodbye
They did not teach me about saying goodbye at theological college. There wasn't a module on "how to hold on to your broken heart" as part of my pastoral training. And so I swing between the anticipation and excitement of new adventures and challenges, and the hollowed out grief at the prospect of moving away.... Continue Reading →
Sit, watch, pray
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
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 →
On the turning of the year…
(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 →
To my student-self… hang out with the CU and the SCM
I started university in 2001. That seems like an impossibly long time ago now, although I regularly believe that I am still 19 years old. I arrived at Edinburgh University not really knowing what to expect, just happy to be in a big city far from home. Before leaving home, I was given all the... Continue Reading →
Good days…
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 →
Being a parent
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 →
For the love of Prague
I arrived in Prague in the sweaty heat of August 2006. DH and I had been married just over a year and we were here to try to figure out what we should be doing with our lives (obviously that was going to only take a year or so!) I began my Masters in Applied... Continue Reading →
Trying to write…
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 →
stumbling hopefully in the right direction 