The Cruise....

Just a few moments before I go over to Hylands Park for Race For Life – we have had the most amazing time on the Oriana for the last 4 days – will write more later – but thought you might like to see the three of us all dolled up for the Captain’s Gala Dinner…

Suffice to say, I think Mum found it a great way to celebrate her 70th birthday, and today we race for those we love, but have lost, and between us have raised over £500 in sponsorship.

Am coming straight back from Hylands Park to pack up the car to go off on a week’s family holiday by the seaside in Norfolk. Will catch up after that

Cruisin'.....

Just a few minutes before we leave for the Oriana – terribly excited now that the day has finally come.

Typical Kennett planning, though – we get back to Chelmsford Saturday afternoon, just in time to do a laundry load, before re-packing, as we will be travelling up to Norfolk for a traditional seaside family holiday on Sunday afternoon – all 4 of us – for a week – that’s AFTER I take part in the Race For Life on Sunday - have managed to raise an amazing £241.62!! HUGE THANKS to all who have sponsored me, and hopefully it will be one way of working off some of the 5 course meals on board over the next 4 days!

See you when we get back, hopefully with some pics

Barbecues....

It’s that time of year again – we get enough sun so that everyone’s mind wanders off to – Barbecues!

I found this in last week’s Mail, and for those of you who have missed this essential bit of Barbecue etiquette, please read on…

When a man volunteers to do the BBQ, the following chain of events is to be set in motion:
1. The woman buys the food
2. The woman cleans the salad, prepares the dips and makes pudding
3. The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils and sauces, and takes it to the man who is lounging beside the grill – drink in hand. The woman pours herself a large drink

Here comes the important part:

4. THE MAN PLACES THE MEAT ON THE GRILL! Commander of the Coals, he brandishes the tongs in a manly fashion. Everything about his posture says, “This cooking lark’s a doddle”
5. The woman goes inside to organise the plates and the cutlery
6. The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is burning. He thanks her and asks if she will bring him another drink while he Deals With The Situation.

Another very important part:

7. THE MAN TAKES THE MEAT OFF THE GRILL AND HANDS IT TO THE WOMAN.
8. Inside, the woman cannot find a clean glass and starts drinking wine from the bottle. She scrapes the burnt bits off the lamb steaks, and, from the oven, produces some M & S kebabs which she has bought, just in case. The woman prepares the plates, salad, bread, cutlery, napkins, and sauces and brings them to the table.
9. After eating, the woman clears the table and loads the dishwasher.

And most important of all:

10. Everyone PRAISES THE MAN and THANKS HIM for all his cooking efforts
11. The man asks the woman how she enjoyed her “night off”. Woman grips barbecue skewer tightly. Says nothing

I showed this to John, who has a great sense of humour, as we had a family Barbie last week, and we had a slight variation on the above.
Our Barbie is a gas one (really fast), and the instructions recommended that we lay new cat litter on the drip tray underneath to catch any grease. Worked a treat last year, so we got some new for this year.

Just around Point 6 above, my 11 year old nephew calmly said, “Uncle John, the barbecue’s on fire”
"It’s supposed to be, Reece”
“ But look, Uncle John……”

Yes, the cat litter had caught alight! Enter Pat with a water spray while John is frantically Dealing With The Situation and trying not to drop burning cat litter on the grass!

The British Summer – don’t ya just love it?

Flypast and fanfares....

I suppose I’d best let a cat out of the bag – I like watching the Trooping of the Colour

I indulged myself this morning and watched the whole event on TV – makes it worth the TV licence! I love the precision marching, the attention to details, and all the ceremonial.

This year was a bit special – yes, I know the Queen is 80 – but it was the turn of the Welsh Guards to parade their stuff. So I got to sing along to a great medley of classic welsh music as well! One special highlight was that part of the fabulous flypast came over Essex, so we were dashing out into the garden to watch them fly overhead, and when the last group passed over, we dashed back into the lounge to see the first group come in over the Mall – amazing!

Got me thinking, though, about how much of a team event it is, and all with one purpose – to honour the Queen. We are all called to play our part on God’s team, from the oldest to the youngest - the flypast encompassed planes from the Battle of Britain to the latest RAF jets.

And we all should have one purpose in mind – that whatever we do, honours the King of Kings

Happy Birthday Ma’am, and God Bless You

Oriana, here we come!

This has been the picture on my screensaver for about the last 5 months!

Just 5 days to go before our Cruise – and a few more hours in work before I can leave it all behind for 2 weeks.

So looking forward to spending a few days of pampered luxury on board. It will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, not just to be on board, but also to share such a special time with my mum and sister.


So if I look as if I’m far away on Sunday, I probably will be…..

Thank You

Thanks for all the prayers and encouragement re; today’s meeting.

The outcome was both bad and good!

Bad – in that I will have to effectively take a wage cut – basically I have to cut the number of sessions I am able to offer to clients, due to budget restrictions.

Good – in that because I have been messed around a lot, they have allowed me to negotiate reducing these sessions by not working Thursday nights. This will take quite a while to work through my current contracts, but I get the feeling that God may have intervened to allow this to happen. I don’t yet know if or why it might be important for me not to have to work on Thursday nights anymore, and it might cause the Agency even more headaches that they have with me now (!), but that actually isn’t my problem.

Would appreciate ongoing prayers, as although I have been asked not to boast about this, and be as discreet as possible, sooner or later someone will notice that I’m not around at certain times. I will need a lot of wisdom to walk in integrity when that happens.
Thanks again

To anyone reading tonight – I have a potentially difficult appraisal meeting with my Line Manager at 9;30 a.m. tomorrow, where I hope to clear the air regarding recent difficulties at work.

I am a little anxious, and would value prayers that the atmosphere will be condusive towards sorting out what is right for me and right for the Agency I work for.

Will update ASAP

Many thanks

Who do you listen to?

I had to miss church today – had a bit of a rough night with a tummy bug – but I watched the broadcast on God TV from Abundant Life Church, Bradford. Paul Scanlon was speaking on Proverbs 15:22:
“Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed”

Having recently updated our version of PC Study Bible (now includes the Life Application Bible Notes), it made the following comment on this verse: -

“People with tunnel vision—those who are locked into one way of thinking—are likely to miss the right road because they have closed their minds to any new options. We need the help of those who can enlarge our vision and broaden our perspective. Seek out the advice of those who know you and have a wealth of experience. Build a network of advisers. Then be open to new ideas, and be willing to weigh their suggestions carefully. Your plans will be stronger and more likely to succeed.”

On the Church weekend away at High Leigh, I shared something with the people about new ways of thinking. Talked about Noah, Abraham and Moses. Noah had no blueprints for an Ark – he could not go on the Internet and check out how you were supposed to build one. They didn’t even have a concept of rain, let alone floods. So he had to rely totally on what God told him to build, and get the blueprints for something never before conceived directly from Him. No wonder they thought he was mad!

Abraham had no map to get to the City God had for him – God simply told him to pack up and leave. I was also listening to Bayless Conley yesterday, and he used a great illustration. He said that when you drive somewhere at night time, you don’t stay outside your house with the car running and the lights on, but refuse to move until the headlights light up the entire journey! You have to move forward 50 yards at a time, and then the headlights will light up the road ahead for the next 50 yards, and so on. God leads in this way – he asks us to take a first step of faith, and you can’t move into Step Two until you have taken Step One.

And then there was Moses. He had no satellite Navigation system through the Wilderness – maybe that was a good thing! - but God led them supernaturally, and made every provision for the journey.

But along the way, these people also had the opportunity to take counsel – for support, wisdom and encouragement. Noah had his family, who were supportive enough to help him build the Ark. Abraham took counsel from Heavenly visitors, and Moses took counsel from his father-in-law

Pat’s Thought for the Day;
Whose human voice do you listen to? Is it the one you think is the most encouraging one? Sometimes, we can be too “nice” in our encouragement, fearing to be honest and truthful with our words. Flattery, it is said, will get you anywhere – usually means “lost”, though. Far better to seek out wise counsel, even though it might seem confrontational, and then consider it carefully before taking actions.

And the next one is.....

It may have been quicker just to get a new kitchen…..

Last night, the grill on my 14 year old cooker died. John is going to try to fix it, but we also have one of the rings not working, so it’s looking like next month might mean another trawl round the shops for a new cooker. Thankfully, when we had to buy a new microwave a few weeks ago, we got an option which was both a microwave and a griller, so we’re OK for the moment, but it doesn’t do family-sized grilling all at the same time.

I have to say, I am getting SO cheeeeeesed-off with so many things breaking on us at the same time. It’s hard not to feel that this attack is personal, now

All I can pray is for strength and patience, and to choose to rejoice, because if Satan is behind this, then he must be trying to get us rattled, and thereby take our focus off what God is doing, and is yet to do

Pat’s Thought for the Day
"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colours. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way." (James 1:2-4, THE MESSAGE