I was recently asked by a close friend to start blogging again. It is something I've been considering for a while but the busyness of life and the challenge of what to write has kept me away. There are certainly several 'controversial' topics I'd like to talk about, but the knock-on effects of those are always a challenge and the question remains of what is the best forum for such discussions. I've not yet made my mind up on whether or not to discuss them, and over the next few weeks I'm going to put a lot of thought into them and will come to a decision. But for now, I should probably update you on my life!
I'm currently in the heaviest part of my masters! (LLM Human Rights Law at The University of Nottingham! Exciting!) I have, since the beginning of March, written two essays of 4,500 words (roughly), and have another three to do before the 17th May! (Wah!!) On top of that I have an exam on the 1st May (worth 100% of a full-year module!) and one on the 7th May. So, life is certainly not pressure-free. It's also my birthday on the 4th, and there are some major social events happening on May bank-holiday in Aber that I'd love to go to, but I really doubt I'm going to have the time!
Although life is busy, I'm feeling really quite relaxed and at peace about it - I know God has it all in control! :) Woop for Jesus! It's so freeing to be able to sit back and know that it's all in His hands. The burden is lifted and I'm not panicking anywhere near as much as I was a few months ago!
I've settled in much more to my mum's house now too. Its a really beautiful place and my room, despite not being big, is beautiful. (and very girly). The only downside is that it is 45mins (with no traffic) from uni. This is a real pain when all I need to do is pop in to collect some books. Especially as the uni has a silly system of only giving out the same student parking permits to those that live miiillleeesss away that they give to student with their cars on campus - which means I have the joy of driving for what feels like forever, then walking up a hill lugging masses of books, my lunch, my dinner, a laptop, etc... pah! (You can tell this has been a cause of great frustration!) This is only made more annoying because staff that live close by can park right by the doors - unjust or what!?!
Tom and I have managed to see each other roughly once every two weeks which is great. Although when we have to stretch it to 3 weeks its much harder - 2.5 weeks is definitely my limit! We've also been able to see some of our really good friends a lot since we moved to the midlands which is really good as we had found really hard getting to see them whilst living in Aber because of the time it took to get there and Tom's work commitments. They've had a beautiful little girl this year and it has been great fun playing with her :) It's been especially good for me as I've had a fear of children (especially babies) for a good few years now so it's wonderful being able to deal with those fears and put them away :) Praise God!
I've also been going to a really great church in the centre of Nottingham - I'll post another post up about Gracechurch soon as I've been waffling for too long now and really should be writing an essay! I'm writing this one on philosophical arguments for why abortion and killing and eating unwanted children is wrong! Interesting, I know! (Follow the link for a wiki explanation!)
Showing posts with label Tom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tom. Show all posts
Wednesday, 10 April 2013
Monday, 4 June 2012
Aberystwyth Comes to an End...
These past three years have been amazing and have meant so much to me... Let's take a walk through my time at Uni.
First Year
First year brought the joy of a new place, new people and lots of excitement...
First Year
First year brought the joy of a new place, new people and lots of excitement...
'Anti-Halloween Party' (for scaredy-cats)
The St.Mikes' Ball
CU House Party
Whilst I really enjoyed moving to Aber, didn't find moving away from home too hard, and thoroughly enjoyed making new friends and having a new adventure, November 2009 saw my family break up.
After a difficult Christmas I was thrown into depression. All I can say is a massive thank you to everyone that stuck with me and showed me such amazing love and support over the year! Especially to the amazing Hannah Sweeney...
and my fantastic boyfriend, Tom Lott...
Thankfully, through His love and grace, God broke my depression in June 2009!
Second Year
Second year was full of change and the joys of cracking down a little bit more with work and growing closer to different people... now for the pictures!
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| Isaac, Toby, Laura and Me |
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| Me and Laura |
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| Phil, Ben, and Mark - Ali's birthday celebration |
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| Laura and I go to Marseilles |
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| Harry, Dan and Tom playing FIFA |
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| Josh, Tom, Rachel and I welcome the summer with a walk along the sea-front |
Third Year
So, third year saw me become a bit more of a hermit :P I really put a considerable more amount of time and effort into doing my work, but I have had so much fun! I've learnt so much and thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with such amazing friends! So, here comes another year in photos...
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| Katie |
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| Isaac eating cake off the floor! |
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| Amy and Amy |
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| Laughter in the house with Kirsty, Jo and Chris |
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| Surprise!! Kirsty's 21st |
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| Isaac and Toby in the SUN! |
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| Me and Tom on my 21st |
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| J-Wo! |
So now all that is left to do is to say thank you to all the amazing people that have made my time at Aber what it has been.
Thank you so much to all my friends for providing so much fun and laughter over the past three years! It's been a joy :)
And a massive thank you to St.Mikes (both staff and the congregation) for growing with me and encouraging me in my walk with God and being a support in times of hardship.
Bye bye Aberystwyth...
Saturday, 28 January 2012
Injuries and drama
Well the last few days have been pretty dramatic...
On Wednesday night, walking up the stairs, I hurt my left hip. I have no idea how but it just started grinding so much that I was carried to bed. The next day attempting to walk carefully downstairs after getting all dressed up ready to meet Tom, I slipped and fell down 5/6 steps. While falling I whacked my right elbow along the banister several times then fell onto it while attempting not to land on my left hip. I screamed out and my friends came running, in the midst of tears I decided that the pain was just shock and so Chris went to get me a drink and Laura returned to her cooking. A couple of moments later I was in tears again and realised that I really probably should go to hospital. Laura drove me up - abandoning her home-made soup.
We rang Tom on our way up and he came and met us after rushing through the getting ready process - we realised just how much he rushed when we were waiting in the waiting room and I commented on the fact that he was wearing a top I had got him... at which point he looked really confused thinking that he was wearing a top that his mum had bought him. That was really quite a funny moment.
Well, I had an X-ray and they said that there aren't any breakages, but as there is so much pain coming from one part that I'm to go back to the fracture clinic on Monday... so we'll see what they say then!
In regards to my hip... I rang NHS Direct on Wednesday night and they said to take pain killers and wait a couple of days and if its not better then to go to the Doctors. So yesterday I took a trip to the Doctors... they have decided that my hip pain is due to the physiotherapy I'm receiving for my back.. GREAT! The Doctor has told me not to do any exercise which is a bum as I was hoping to do pilates which would fix my back problems. She also gave me some super-strong pain killers (which still don't really do much) and told me to see how it goes for the next 10-14 days and if its not better then they'll x-ray it... this would be fine if it didn't hurt to walk so much...
This has all meant to doing anything is really difficult so I basically have to rely on everyone else to do everything for me... which is fine if I'm with Tom, but relying on anyone else is really difficult. So, I'm not getting much work done (its my right arm) and I'm in pain and I have to rely on others to do anything... so, things are going great!
Oh, Tom, my dear boyfriend, has started writing a blog. Its mainly on sports stuff so if you/someone you know is interested in sports then send them over to Tom's Blog. I hope all is well for you :)
On Wednesday night, walking up the stairs, I hurt my left hip. I have no idea how but it just started grinding so much that I was carried to bed. The next day attempting to walk carefully downstairs after getting all dressed up ready to meet Tom, I slipped and fell down 5/6 steps. While falling I whacked my right elbow along the banister several times then fell onto it while attempting not to land on my left hip. I screamed out and my friends came running, in the midst of tears I decided that the pain was just shock and so Chris went to get me a drink and Laura returned to her cooking. A couple of moments later I was in tears again and realised that I really probably should go to hospital. Laura drove me up - abandoning her home-made soup.
We rang Tom on our way up and he came and met us after rushing through the getting ready process - we realised just how much he rushed when we were waiting in the waiting room and I commented on the fact that he was wearing a top I had got him... at which point he looked really confused thinking that he was wearing a top that his mum had bought him. That was really quite a funny moment.
Well, I had an X-ray and they said that there aren't any breakages, but as there is so much pain coming from one part that I'm to go back to the fracture clinic on Monday... so we'll see what they say then!
In regards to my hip... I rang NHS Direct on Wednesday night and they said to take pain killers and wait a couple of days and if its not better then to go to the Doctors. So yesterday I took a trip to the Doctors... they have decided that my hip pain is due to the physiotherapy I'm receiving for my back.. GREAT! The Doctor has told me not to do any exercise which is a bum as I was hoping to do pilates which would fix my back problems. She also gave me some super-strong pain killers (which still don't really do much) and told me to see how it goes for the next 10-14 days and if its not better then they'll x-ray it... this would be fine if it didn't hurt to walk so much...
This has all meant to doing anything is really difficult so I basically have to rely on everyone else to do everything for me... which is fine if I'm with Tom, but relying on anyone else is really difficult. So, I'm not getting much work done (its my right arm) and I'm in pain and I have to rely on others to do anything... so, things are going great!
Oh, Tom, my dear boyfriend, has started writing a blog. Its mainly on sports stuff so if you/someone you know is interested in sports then send them over to Tom's Blog. I hope all is well for you :)
Friday, 26 August 2011
Mr and Mrs Bright
Another summer month, another wedding...
The 20th August saw another two of my friends get married. It was such a wonderful weekend!
Here are some photos from the wedding day...
I'm looking forward to going back in September and spending some time with them both :) They're going to be living in the flat above my boyfriend :)
They're wonderful individuals and are a wonderful couple. I'm sure God will bless and use them both immensely... to the happy couple! :)
The 20th August saw another two of my friends get married. It was such a wonderful weekend!
Here are some photos from the wedding day...
I'm looking forward to going back in September and spending some time with them both :) They're going to be living in the flat above my boyfriend :)
They're wonderful individuals and are a wonderful couple. I'm sure God will bless and use them both immensely... to the happy couple! :)
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Sunshine and sleep
A week and a half after Marseilles and I need a holiday again!
After handing in two essays on Monday, I'm not happy that I have yet another two essays to write before the end of next week. It has completely worn me out! Though I don't think the essays are all to blame. The SUN!
The sun has been absolutely wonderful over the last week, really bright and warm... BUT when it comes to being woken up at 6.30/7.00 every day, it's not so great. I do love my window and my amazing sea view, but I really wish the sun would wait till 7.30/8.00 to wake me up! I'm looking forward to the clocks changing in two weeks time so this will be the case. I just want to be able to sleep! I try to be in bed around 12 every night (tonight I've been in bed since 9.30!) so I can get a good nights sleep, but I just don't want to be woken up before my alarm. It's nice every now and then, but not every day, and definitely not during essay period!
So, rant about the sun over, essays... So I've written an essay on conflict in Africa, which was actually really enjoyable to write, and an essay on on-line news sources, which wasn't so enjoyable, but now I'm writing an essay on the Rwandan genocide, and an essay on human trafficking. Makes for a pretty fun week, not! Though I do find it interesting, and maybe if I was getting proper sleep I wouldn't be so wound up.
However, on a more positive note, I had a pretty good weekend. Saturday night was Tom's birthday 'do'; 12 of us went to Pier Brasserie for a meal and then some of us went back to Tom's to play Scattegories and Jungle Speed. It was quite weird for me as it was the first time I've ever been the girlfriend for someone's birthday, so things like cake came down to me. I was actually really nervous. There was no way I was going to bake a cake as that would have made me so much more nervous, what if it went wrong and no one liked it?!, so a Cadbury Flake cake it was. Can't go wrong with chocolate!
Sunday was also a really good day. I spent the day with God. I came back from church, put some worship music on then did some painting while singing. I then did a bit of reading and listened to a talk while sat in my window watching everyone on the beach and the promenade. It was a beautiful day. I'm still working through Faith Like a Child and what I read on Sunday was really great. At church we were told to offer a gift that we have to God and ask him to use it. I had absolutely no idea what to write, and after a while I settled with empathy. One of the chapters I later read was on exactly that. It started off with a little story:
'I'm fond of the story about the young girl who took a while returning form the candy store. Her worried mother met her at the door and inquired, "Sweetheart, what took you so long?"
The girl replied, "I saw a little girl crying because her doll baby was broken."
The mother said, " That was nice of you to stop to help her fix it."
"No, mommy," said the girl. " I stopped to cry with her".'
After reading this, I sat and wept. It was just beautiful, and I could totally understand. Several months ago Tom and I were watching Spooks, in the episode we were watching one of the main characters, Danny, died. The episode, and the one before, had been on torture. After this episode I sat and wept for about 2 hours! I was heartbroken at the torture. Just to explain, it wasn't solely because of Spooks, I was also doing a module on terrorism at the time and we had been looking at torture. I was gutted at the fact people torture and are tortured all around the world. This is a personality trait that I have and it is why I am doing my course, I cannot sit back and just let this pass by. Today I've been looking at human trafficking and the statistics are terrible! We cannot let things like this go on around us, especially as Christians!
Anyway, aside from the terrible state this world is in, I found Sunday really encouraging. God really spoke to me about the way He sees me. Galatians 3 vs 16 says 'Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "and to offsprings", referring to many, but referring to one, "and to your offspring", who is Christ'. Galatians 3 vs 29 says 'And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise'. These two verses are saying that when God looks at me (and you if you are in Christ) he sees Christ! He does not see me and my sin, but He sees Christ and His righteousness. Another real encouragement was found in Galatians 4 vs 6, it says 'And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"'. This means that when I am feeling distant and cold, the Spirit of Christ is still in me crying "Abba! Father!" ("Daddy, Father" - really intimate!). This is so encouraging, as I know that, even if I feel distant, God is called, by the Spirit, to look at me, and when He does He is filled with such love and joy because He sees His Son!
I just need to keep reminding myself of this fact, it is so easy to forget when living day-to-day.
After handing in two essays on Monday, I'm not happy that I have yet another two essays to write before the end of next week. It has completely worn me out! Though I don't think the essays are all to blame. The SUN!
The sun has been absolutely wonderful over the last week, really bright and warm... BUT when it comes to being woken up at 6.30/7.00 every day, it's not so great. I do love my window and my amazing sea view, but I really wish the sun would wait till 7.30/8.00 to wake me up! I'm looking forward to the clocks changing in two weeks time so this will be the case. I just want to be able to sleep! I try to be in bed around 12 every night (tonight I've been in bed since 9.30!) so I can get a good nights sleep, but I just don't want to be woken up before my alarm. It's nice every now and then, but not every day, and definitely not during essay period!
So, rant about the sun over, essays... So I've written an essay on conflict in Africa, which was actually really enjoyable to write, and an essay on on-line news sources, which wasn't so enjoyable, but now I'm writing an essay on the Rwandan genocide, and an essay on human trafficking. Makes for a pretty fun week, not! Though I do find it interesting, and maybe if I was getting proper sleep I wouldn't be so wound up.
However, on a more positive note, I had a pretty good weekend. Saturday night was Tom's birthday 'do'; 12 of us went to Pier Brasserie for a meal and then some of us went back to Tom's to play Scattegories and Jungle Speed. It was quite weird for me as it was the first time I've ever been the girlfriend for someone's birthday, so things like cake came down to me. I was actually really nervous. There was no way I was going to bake a cake as that would have made me so much more nervous, what if it went wrong and no one liked it?!, so a Cadbury Flake cake it was. Can't go wrong with chocolate!
Sunday was also a really good day. I spent the day with God. I came back from church, put some worship music on then did some painting while singing. I then did a bit of reading and listened to a talk while sat in my window watching everyone on the beach and the promenade. It was a beautiful day. I'm still working through Faith Like a Child and what I read on Sunday was really great. At church we were told to offer a gift that we have to God and ask him to use it. I had absolutely no idea what to write, and after a while I settled with empathy. One of the chapters I later read was on exactly that. It started off with a little story:
'I'm fond of the story about the young girl who took a while returning form the candy store. Her worried mother met her at the door and inquired, "Sweetheart, what took you so long?"
The girl replied, "I saw a little girl crying because her doll baby was broken."
The mother said, " That was nice of you to stop to help her fix it."
"No, mommy," said the girl. " I stopped to cry with her".'
After reading this, I sat and wept. It was just beautiful, and I could totally understand. Several months ago Tom and I were watching Spooks, in the episode we were watching one of the main characters, Danny, died. The episode, and the one before, had been on torture. After this episode I sat and wept for about 2 hours! I was heartbroken at the torture. Just to explain, it wasn't solely because of Spooks, I was also doing a module on terrorism at the time and we had been looking at torture. I was gutted at the fact people torture and are tortured all around the world. This is a personality trait that I have and it is why I am doing my course, I cannot sit back and just let this pass by. Today I've been looking at human trafficking and the statistics are terrible! We cannot let things like this go on around us, especially as Christians!
Anyway, aside from the terrible state this world is in, I found Sunday really encouraging. God really spoke to me about the way He sees me. Galatians 3 vs 16 says 'Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "and to offsprings", referring to many, but referring to one, "and to your offspring", who is Christ'. Galatians 3 vs 29 says 'And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise'. These two verses are saying that when God looks at me (and you if you are in Christ) he sees Christ! He does not see me and my sin, but He sees Christ and His righteousness. Another real encouragement was found in Galatians 4 vs 6, it says 'And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"'. This means that when I am feeling distant and cold, the Spirit of Christ is still in me crying "Abba! Father!" ("Daddy, Father" - really intimate!). This is so encouraging, as I know that, even if I feel distant, God is called, by the Spirit, to look at me, and when He does He is filled with such love and joy because He sees His Son!
I just need to keep reminding myself of this fact, it is so easy to forget when living day-to-day.
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