:)

THANK GOODNESS.

After much stress and worry, my UCAS application form is finally complete and sent off! Having grown huge amounts of hatred towards the UCAS website, whilst everybody is still stressing about personal statements, I can officially relax, leaving my application in the hands of school and the 5 following places:

• Nottingham Trent University.
• Liverpool John Moores University.
• Leeds Metropolitan University.
• University of Surrey.
• Cardiff University. 

Now the only worry I have is whether I get accepted.
oh. and exams.

EEPS!

Joe Jonas and Josh

 

hmms...

same people?

Dad's birthday ...

If you know my dad, you'll know that he hates celebrating birthdays. But as it was his birthday this weekend, and we all wanted to do something, he took us all (bar our josh, who's at uni) to Wetherspoons for breakfast. It was so lovely to go out and spend time together like old times.

My dad is one of the most amazing people in my life. Some would describe me a bit of a daddys girl - which I suppose is quite true! We've been through some difficult times as a family over the years, but no matter what happens, and no matter how far apart we are, I know I'll always be thankful to my Heavenly Father for giving me a dad who loves and cares for me so much :')

^'How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, 

that we should be called children of God! 

And that is what we are! 

The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.'

- 1 John 3:1. 

Be Unto Your Name.

We are the broken

You are the Healer

Jesus Redeemer

Mighty to save.

Over the past week I have had to say a bundle of goodbyes to so many people. My friend Nashra has moved back to Slough, Lisa back to Gibralta, Abi has gone to Nigeria for 8 months, Coxy has gone to Australia for a year ... then everybodys off to Uni. As cheesy as it sounds, saying goodbye to these people has made me realise how some people can have such an impact on your life, and boy, I'm going to miss them all millions.

As part of a goodbye to a few of the people going, we went round my friend Tasha's for a little gathering. It was a really good night and lovely to be able to catch up with people who I hadn't seen too much over Summer, and goodbye to other people. But heres some lovely, and some horrible, pictures of some beautiful people from the night:

Karl Marx, he will rock you!

As part of A Level Sociology, we were asked to compose a song which would help us remember the marxist theory. We each created a verse or two each, to fit into the tune of 'We will rock you', by Queen. Then we combined the song together, and although a lot of the verses make no sense, i thought we did a super dupe job! so good, I think I should consider taking up music combined with sociology (something uni's don't do but should do!) But this is what we came up with:

Karl Marx was a Ger-man, bright man,

Born in 1818 to a Jewish fam.

He had a beard on his face

He ran the Marxist race,

Advocating communism all over the place.

Karl Marx lead the Marxists.

Karl Marx lead the Marxists.

Dialectic movement is a struggle, fight,

Growing in the street creating a collision

It starts again,

It creates contradictions over a hen,

Wavin' your Utopia all over the place.

Karl Marx lead the Marxists.

Karl Marx lead the Marxists.

Alienation is a Marxist concept

Where the workers will inevitabley lose control

of their lives and labour.

The rich aint a good neighbour;

I'm suprised the poor aint tried to hit them with a light saber.

Karl Marx lead the Marxists.

Karl Marx lead the Marxists.

(Rap)

Marx said 'the rich become richer.'

How the poor gonna change this picture?

They're gonna take over, lead a revolution

To stop the Bourgeoisie pollution.

Karl Marx lead the Marxists.

Karl Marx lead the Marxists.

Karl Marx mainly looked at the rich and poor

Everybody in the middle he did ignore

The rich benefited

And the poor they oppress

Leading them into false consciousness.

Karl Marx, he will rock you! (Rock you, Baby!)

Karl Marx, he will rock you!

The youtube video could possibly follow - dancing with cotton wool beards, gold chains and baseball caps. Embarrassing but too funny!

C.S Lewis

  

'I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: 

not only because I see it, 

but because by it I see everything else.'

The Power of the Cross

I love the lyrics of this song:

Oh, to see the dawn,
Of the darkest day,
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men,
Torn and beaten, then,
Nailed to a cross of wood.

This, the power of the cross;
Christ became sin for us.
Took the blame, bore the wrath -
We stand forgiven at the cross. 
 
Oh, to see the pain,
Written on the face,
Bearing the awesome weight of sin.
Every bitter thought,
Every evil deed,
Crowning Your bloodstained brow. 
 

This, the power of the cross;
Christ became sin for us.
Took the blame, bore the wrath -
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Now the daylight flees,
Now the ground beneath,
Quakes as its Maker bows His head.
Curtain torn in two,
Dead are raised to life,
'Finished!' the victory cry.
  
This, the power of the cross;
Christ became sin for us.
Took the blame, bore the wrath -
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Oh, to see my name,
Written in the wounds,
For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death,
Life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love.

This, the power of the cross;
Son of God - slain for us.
What a love! What a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross.

(Keith and Kristyn Getty) 

There is no such thing as mission impossible for my Saviour ...

Our morning service was taken by Ste Barlow, and we were looking at Luke 19:1-10. The message he brought to us really struck me. Particularly the fact that our God is a saving God who can achieve the impossible!

'But he said, 

"The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.'

- Luke 18:27.

Zacchaeus was a man who was despised by many. He was a rebellious man; a selfish man; a materialistic man. He had few friends and his family disowned him. He was a low life and could only associate with other tax collectors. Many people would have seen Zacchaeus' as a man who had such a hardened heart that there was no chance he could be saved. But we see that Jesus reached out to Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a man who responded to Jesus' calling.

This made me realise that there are so many of my friends who I have often thought 'it is impossible to get the message of Jesus through to them.' But God works the impossible and saves lives - even saves those who we do not expect. Sharing the gospel is something that I often find challenging, but it is so important that we live as lights shining for Jesus in this dark world, in the hope that people see Jesus through us. 

How great is our God! :)

'How do you know whether you are on of the Good Shepherds flock?

You will not only hear the Shepherds call in your heart,

but you will respond positively and follow Him.'

'Love the Lord your God:

• with all your heart
• with all your soul  
• with all your mind
• with all your strength.'

- Mark 12:30

Back 2 School ...

Well it was the first day of year 13 today, which was a bit rubbish, I suppose. Summer holidays seem to fly by far too quickly and essay writing always seems to come around far too soon! But it's the final year of college and I'm determined to make it a good one. I'm going to work my butt off, but make the most of it and enjoy it while it lasts :)

I woke up and got ready this morning, then I went to meet Luce for our usual 40 minute walk to school. After a whole summer of being a lazy so and so, walking to school - instead of catching the bus - was a bad move. To my embarrassment, I got a stitch by the time we reached half way! Then to top it all off, despite leaving ten minutes earlier than usual to meet the newly timetabled 8:30 start, we still managed to be late ... so late we didn't even make it on time for the old 8:40 start. Thankfully the morning was just a doss about!

New timetables. Sociology, English and History - thankfully only three subjects to focus on. 19 hours worth of frees. And no more Spanish lessons ¡Me encanta mucho! Looking up to be a good year except for one thing ...

... Nashra, one of my nearest and dearest, is moving back to Slough. We found out that whilst it was our first day of year 13, it was Nash's last. So sociology lessons will officially lose the class clown, Slough will take back their super lovely girly, and I will most definitely be without one of my best friends from this past year. So Slough better be ready for millions of visits from me over the next year! :')

Lu, myself and Nashra.

Anyway... enough blogging from me for one day. I have 2 essays, 2 presentations and a large number of history questions that I should've completed over the holidays, in for tomorrow. eeeps! Great start to the new year :/

'Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. 

Each day has enough trouble of its own.'

- Matthew 6:34

Why get rid of good TV?

Friends has gone, Big Brothers finishing and it was the final episode of 'The Bill' last night - I swear TV is deliberately axing all of my favorite programmes?! 

I am absolutely gutted. I recorded the final episode of 'The Bill' and watched it today. I'm not going to lie, as sad as it sounds, I cried a river through Jack's final speech. Beautiful but emotional. How on earth am I going to fill that hour every week now?

One summer, so much to say ...

Summer 2010 could probably be one of the best summers yet. 

HBC 2010;

The first few weeks were a bit of a bore, but we managed to make our way up to the week of our "By the Seaside" themed Holiday Bible Club (HBC). Every year our church runs a 3 day club for children in the local area to come along, play games, sing songs and listen to daily Bible stories - which this year were based around a "Sea of Galilee" theme. It was a real blessing to see around 60 enthusiastic children taking part in the week, and have the opportunity to share the gospel with them. Praise God for such an opportunity, and I pray that He would continue to work in the hearts of those children and parents.

ABERYSTWYTH;

 Another exciting week, and without a doubt my favourite week of summer, was spent at the Aber Conference. This week I learnt so many things about myself - I talk way too much, I'm not the brightest spark on the planet, geography is not a strength of mine, and I can actually be a tidy person after all! Lu (my best friend) and I have been set the challenge of learning the map of the world for when we all next meet up. After completely embarrassing ourselves with our lack of geographical knowledge at Aber, we've taken up the challenge ... splitting the map in half, of course. No way could we learn the whole thing on our own!

 So lu has the right side, and i have to learn the left 

(i think lu has more to learn though. oops! :P)

The whole seven days was a great opportunity to meet new people - and some lovely people they were! and to share fellowship with one another. We were talking in our flat one night about how weird it was that so many different people, from different places in the world, can gather together and have one amazing truth in common - the love of Jesus! It was kind of a very small glimpse of what heaven would be like ... only heaven will be a million times greater - and more!

Throughout the week there were various meetings and seminars that people could attend. Dale Ralph Davis took the morning services and the evening meetings were taken by various speakers. I found the week particularly challenging and felt I was brought so much closer to God. Although I was a Christian, I needed to ask myself, 'Is the life I am living worth Christ dying for?' I needed to be reminded of the love of God, and how we cannot ignore his word and live a life that is for us ... but we need to live a life that is all for Jesus. Christ died for me - a sinner who didn't deserve his grace, and we need to give ourselves completely to Him.

'For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a righteous person someone would even dare to die. But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

(Romans 5:6-8)'

V Festival;

It definitely felt so good to be reunited with my college friends after weeks of not seeing them over Summer. And what better way to do it than spend it with them at Weston Park, for V festival?!

The girls in this picture are some of the most amazing people I have ever met.

I love them to pieces.

  

Over the weekend, I managed to see a fair few acts such as:

Pixie Lott, Tinie Tempah (HE TOUCHED MY CHUBBY HANDS!), Jason Derulo, Kings of Leon, Scouting for Girls, Eliza Doolittle, Scouting for Girls, The Kooks, Joshua Radin, Example, Peter Andre, Florence and the Machine, Diana Vickers :|, Paolo Nutini, Gabriella Cilmi, Kasabian, The Prodigy, Shaun William Ryder (worst act I've EVER seen in my life, yet they replaced Cheryl Cole?) and the beautiful Chipmunk.

Despite the lack of showers and the mingin toilets, it was a BOSS weekend. Definitely up for it again next year!

Blackpool;

 To end the Summer, my beautiful mother took myself and my younger siblings down to Blackpool for 4 days. We had such a laugh - BANTER filled! and managed to get loads done, such as ...

Pleasure Beach

 (where we managed to get mum on a rollercoaster!)

Crazy Golf

(where mum won - somehow!) 

Visited Costa and the Harbour

Visited the beach 

Bowling Competition

(mum and boc 1 - 2 clo and nomes)

LOSERS!

WINNERS!

 Overall we had a super lovely few days and it was really good to be able to spend time together as a family - especially since we don't have time to do it an awful lot!

'The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.'

- Psalm 126:3