From C.S. Lewis

"When the author walks on the stage the play is over. God is going to invade, all right...something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left? For this time it will be God without disguise...

it will be too late then to choose your side.

There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up."

C. S. Lewis

Painting and pushing

Doing BCM Duties ... painting the walls outside the units ... they are looking 200% better ... here's Simon and Kevin going hard!

Hard at work ... as always ...

And later ... someone left the lights on in the van ... so Mat discovered when he had to leave ... here is Marcus helping push start ... photos were taken by Hudson

The Craft Show Fundraiser

Uh yes ... so the big fundraiser for the William Booth Educare (preschool) each year is a Craft Show, where all sorts of local people come and buy a table at which to sell their crafts and let me say, they came in droves. Now, I have never been before so I have nothing to compare it with but there was definitely some cool stuff.

I was just trying to find my wallet at home when I had a knock on the door to find my friend Kelly standing on my doorstep with Suse (sorry if I've mispelt that!) and so we all wandered up to the main building together.

Now, to give a bit of background to this story, Kelly used to be my flatmate up in Hamilton and we both trained as primary school teachers at Waikato Uni. When I ended up going into ministry rather than teaching, Kelly was kind enough to take all my resources off my hands - no small feat either, her car was chocka! So she has it all now in her classroom over in J'ville.

Anywhos last night, Kelly and I were looking at these alphabet cards teachers put on their classroom walls - you know the ones: each with a letter of the alphabet and a picture of something starting with that letter on it.

The convo started out with me saying, "Kel, you should get these."

"What am I going to do with them?"

"Stick them up on your walls."

"I've got stuff on my walls already."

"That's true," I said. "You have lots of rubbish already."(Meaning all my old stuff!)

Of course, the craft lady of that particular table misheard us and thought we were saying her stuff was rubbish.

"Oh no," says Corryn. "She's a teacher. I was talking about her stuff."

Then we heard about how this on her table was good quality stuff and very educational. We felt very tut-tutted by the time we walked away.

If that was the final end of the story, fine. But Kelly went home, as did I, only I had to go back up to pick up something, and guess who I met as I came out the door! Let's just say the alphabet card lady didn't smile at me.

Eeeh.

But it was a great night. I didn't have lots of money so I only bought a necklace and some fudge. Anyway, there's always next year ...

Goodbye cornet

Well, we had our big Bible in Schools production today - the one where we played brass style for the carols. We roped in 5 altogether - Kevin and I were the only cadets but the Majors (Robert, Jennifer and Garth) all joined in and, in all honesty, carried us.

I ended up playing 2nd cornet, which was fine with me, after all this time not playing it would take practice to get some of those high notes and hold them, so Garth played 1st. I found it amusing that the way we arranged ourselves meant he played into my ear, meaning I literally couldn't hear myself so I had to play louder and not completely fade into the background. I haven't worked out yet if that was their plan all along....

Fortunately it's all done now and I intend to not play for another decade. If not longer.

The Christian Ideal

"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting;

it has been found difficult and left untried."

G. K. Chesterton

The joke's on me

So after our last two days gardening, I woke to sore thigh muscles. You just don't think of stretching before gardening.

And this morning, as I pulled back the curtains in my lounge, I saw this sight:

And I cracked up laughing. The joke is fully on me. Congrats boys.

A good chunk of the leaves etc are now blocking my exit out the back door. I haven't pinned it down yet as to exactly who was responsible, so I am just doing to have to prank back all the suspects.

I'm now just waiting until Gabbie, Kendal and Hudson come to play later in the day and I'll make some game out of moving the leaves before they completely compost.

The face it aches

Oh the things you do at College that you never thought you would do again!

It has been over a decade since I played a brass instrument (cornet to be precise) and now I find us getting a small group together to play at a Bible in Schools production next Tuesday. The funny thing is that most of us haven't played in years and let's say if my playing today is a glimpse of what Tuesday holds in store, it is going to be very interesting indeed!

I have pretty much completely lost my lip and struggle to reach the higher notes unless it is going up on a scale. And my attempt wasn't overly helped by my session all cracking up laughing, which of course got me going too - and have you ever tried to blow an instrument while laughing?!

Kevin gave me his big Eb Bass to have a go and it took me the better part of five minutes to find C. Sheesh that is a big monster of an instrument and one huge mouthpiece. The entire bottom half of my face feels tingly and numb.

Anywhos... it's for the children! (That's what I keep telling myself) so I'll be practicing this weekend, and come Tuesday I will have that cornet bringing a smile to my Dad's face - one way or the other!

Prayer, Revival and Obedience

"Have you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of late - and how little revival has resulted? I believe the problem is that we have been trying to substitute praying for obeying, and it simply will not work. To pray for revival while ignoring the plain precept laid down in Scripture is to waste a lot of words and get nothing for our trouble. Prayer will become effective when we stop using it as a substitute for obedience."

A. W. Tozer

Ahhh.....the memories!

I often get hassled at the College because I am the only cadet born in the 1980s (Dec 1980 to be precise!) But I've been watching some of the kids programmes on TV as I eat my breakfast and it's got me thinking about those blessed 1980s years ... So join with me on a trip down memory lane...

Turn the lock, open the door... Playschool!

Down in Fraggle Rock!

Before the latest reinvention of My Little Ponies ... I was an original fan ... with about 4-5 ponies of my own from memory...

Jem .... Jem is fantastic ... Oooooh Jem ....

Who could forget the Muppets?

Heroes in a half-shell - TURTLE POWER!
The original (and much better) Michaelango, Donatello, Leonardo and Raphael ... together with Splinter and April. Cowabunga dude!

RAINBOW!
There was Geoffrey (I liked him cos that's my Dads name!),
Bungle, Zippy and George

My brother had a blue one ... Wish Bear ... and I had a green one called Good Luck Bear.

Rainbow Brite ... now they are some cool shoes!

Sooty and the gang!

Dangermouse ... and his sidekick Penfold

One laugh down, 299 to go!

I read yesterday that a six year old laughs on average 300 times a day while an adult laughs 5-100. That's truly sad! I am determined today to reach as close to that 300 as I can! (And since I often laugh at myself, surely this is attainable.)

So let me share my first laugh for the morning!

After duties I was wandering down to the computer suite for my early morning email check and Karen was walking up the stairs to my left (back away from me). So I wolf whistled but by the time she would have turned around, I would have been out of her line of vision.

The funny thing (that I was completely oblivious to!) was that Kevin was right behind me. Thus it didn't look like I had whistled, but Kevin! Lol. Sorry, Janette! (Kevin's wife)

7am Duties and Walking Trees

I wanted to write something of value, of purpose, of meaning. Something in which I can express my deepest feelings and really connect with you, my bloggers and readers.

I couldn't think of anything to add until Mat (not my brother Matt ... one 't' Mat, this is...) just came into the computer suite and when I expressed my lack of inspiration, he suggested writing about my early morning stagger.

Ah yes ... this morning was difficult getting out of bed to be at duties at 7am. I literally climbed out of bed, put a jersey on, jeans on, jandals on, made sure I had my keys (for once!!) and wandered excitedly up to the main building. Only to meet Mat on my way coming in the other direction.

In all honesty, I never saw him coming. My eyes were still shut. Which is what I think contributed to the staggering ... I was trying to head in the major direction of the building and occasionally peeked through an eyelid to check I didn't wander into a wall or tree. (Sadly ... this has happened before!) I would like to apologise to the tree that walked out in front of me. Sorry tree.

Oh it's a good thing I am a teetotaller! Thanks Mat with one 't' for encouraging the opening of mine eyes as I walk. Cheers.

(See ... living in community is a GOOD thing!)

Interpersonal Thinking...

So I was surfing the net and came across this guys blog and thus this link. In doing a few short questions, I find I am an Interpersonal Thinker, meaning:

Interpersonal thinkers:

• Like to think about other people, and try to understand them
• Recognise differences between individuals and appreciate that different people have different perspectives
• Make an effort to cultivate effective relationships with family, friends and colleagues

Other Interpersonal thinkers include:
Winston Churchill, Mother Teresa, William Shakespeare

Careers which suit Interpersonal thinkers include:
Politician, Psychologist, Nurse, Counsellor, Teacher

Gollum lives at the College!

Grandpa John said to put this on my blog for a laugh ...

(he said "Cos I'm the head of the house ... when Shirlee's not there!")

"My Precious..."

Poor baby Noah ... you just know this will come out at his 21st!

More photos

Ok ... I just love adding photos ...

Babysitting baby Noah on Friday ... Daniel smiles

At the top of the cable cars ... Liz and the Wellington horizon

After lunch on Sunday ... Daniel and Matt check out Wayne and Bridget's dodge.

Cousins Isaac ...

... and Joel (with Rebecca in the background)

The Whanau Visit, Levin and Popa Casanova.

And now I have a little more time .... it's time to review the last couple of days of life in Corrynland.

Thursday night, as I've mentioned, the cousins, the brother and his girlf arrived for a few days on their way to the South Island. Liz, it turns out, is a big Lord of the Rings fan, and so has loved being in Wellington despite the bad weather. It's too bad the LotR exhibition at Te Papa finished. But I've showed her a couple spots where people told me it was filmed (I was still living in Hamilton, not down here at the time).

Friday I got up at 5:30am (!!) for collecting on Street Day (see Karen's blog for more on that) but I was at the Railway station with Janet. It's amazing how many people are up at that time of the morning. When I got home, we kinda mucked around the place and then headed off to Kelly and Tom's for dessert. Great catching up with them. They are such lovelies!

Saturday, as I mentioned, we went to Te Papa and the Cable Cars, looked at the shops in the CBD.

And yesterday (Sunday) we went to Levin, where I was both leading and preaching. A few funny (and not so funny) things happened there.

Like Karen gave me the lapel mike so I went to the toilets to put it on (under the blouse and skirt) and talked to the ladies for a while in there. Then when I came out I had several people tell me the mike had been on and everyone in the main hall had heard!! Hahaha. Funny.

I did the children's story in the meeting and didn't realise how close to the edge of the platform I was and my heel (yes that blasted tiny stilletto) went off the edge. Fortunately I didn't lose my balance and go completely backwards into the band. Funny.

I preached the whole sermon, only to have Karen whisper to me when I sat down, "Your mike was off the whole time." No one told me. Not so funny. Especially when being assessed.

And at the end of the meeting, Karen said, "When is your verbatim?" D'oh. I was meant to video the whole meeting to transcribe it later for assessment. Not funny.

But I showed a clip from Ice Age in my sermon and I had Joel, who is not quite one, watching it and giggling. I was the first sermon he listened to! Funny.

Oh and one final note to end on, some news Mum texted me last night about Popa ... Apparently he has become somewhat of an attraction at his retirement home. He told Mum the old ladies are all hitting on him. Haha. Nana always said these old lady widows were always after Popa. Mum told him it's only been four months since Nana died so he can't go there and he said he's living to 100 and has 7 years. I find it quite funny but I'm not sure I would actually like it if Popa remarried in his 90s.

Anyways, there's a brief rundown on my life the last few days. I'm still tired and feeling in need of a holiday after the last couple of weeks but I'm going to chill today once the whanau have left.

Just like Matt

Hahaha... Matt phoned up the ferry booking thing and he had the wrong time, thus staying with me for a little bit longer...

Photos...

So TC, Dan, Liz and Matt are all still here ... I'm feeling quite shot, but it has been nice catching up ... for about another 7 hours at least, in the mean time I thought I'd attach a few photos from our weekend thus far ...

Saturday we spent ages at Te Papa "Our Place" ... Here's Liz taking a moment to relax her feet.

Daniel makes himself comfortable on the couch

At the top of the cable cars ... Wellington put on the greatest weather of course ... wind and wet.

We all went up to Levin Salvation Army for church today and over to Wayne and Bridget's for a delish lunch afterwards. Here's Stephanie, Karen (a.k.a The Kaz) and Polly.

Coming up to the main building at College for a bout of table tennis and email checking, Talia gives Matt a ride.

The Update on the Trial of the House Key

Oh...and I have to add this (well, I shouldn't cos it makes me look blonde as - which isn't even my natural hair colour) but last night when I left home to come up to the library for night-before cramming, I shut the door and it hit me. The keys are inside. Twice in one day - hows that! lol.

Ode to Marcus

You would not believe the hassles I have been getting since getting a blog. For example, my dear friend Marcus, whom I greatly admire and respect, mocked me just now then said, "Oh I have to blog this."

I, personally, think Marcus is just a little jealous that he has no said blog of his own in which to express his manly feelings.

I would also like to take this opportunity to teach Mr Marcus how to speak. The name is pronounced Smith. Not Smiff. Smuff. Smoff. or Smythe.

But, Marcus, I hope now, seeing your name on my blog 4 times, your friend tank has been filled.

When they say Windy Wellington, they aren't kidding.

Now I am a chick who loves the wind, but while today is great, at the same time it is incredibly crazy. The wind is ripping around these buildings like it is going out of fashion.

Not the elegant breeze in the hair either. This wind has my hair escaping from it's ponytail and standing on its end - fun for anyone with naturally aff and curly hair (or not). It is extremely frustrating as I have to redo my hair everytime I come inside. I don't even think a whole can of hairspray would hold it down in this weather.

(Obviously this monkey just came inside from being in that Wellington wind!)

Take the washing as another example. I keep adding one peg every time I do the washing in the hope it will break the pull of the wind, but to no avail. As of yet, I am still to work out exactly the amount of pegs one needs to keep washing on the line in Wellington (I am still collecting my sheets from the Collings fence!) If the sheets were out today, I would be picking them up from Palmerston North.

"Oh, I know," I hear you say. "That's Wellington." I just don't think you get the full picture. This is insane wind, the fight-to-stay-on-your-feet type of wind.

But then, every city has its quirks. It hasn't felt like a proper winter this year without regular thick fog a la the Waikato. And I dare say, I shall miss this crazy, giggly wind when I'm in Timaru. But at least my hair will look as good on arrival as it did when I left home!

Don't it make ya wanna go "Awwww!"

Last summer when my cousins came out from the States for Christmas:

Walking to the dairy at Waihi Beach for ice creams,

Genevieve never let go of Matt's pants.

Monique playing peek a boo around the playground tyres.

It was one of those moments when I fluked what has become one of my favourite photos ever: The girls were enjoying the sunshine on the College playground and I snapped this gorgeous moment with Emily.

The Trials of Only Having One Key

There is a reason people aren't meant to be up and out of bed before 7am. And it is the reason by I am sitting in the computer suite at College alone writing in my blog. Your mental gears just haven't kicked in at that time of the morning!.

I got up, pulled on some clothes and headed out the door to come up to the main building for morning duties (which start at 7am) and was woken by the sound of my shutting my front door, only to realise my keys were still inside.

I'm losing track of how often this happens, and it is ever so slightly embarrassing having to go to the appropriate persons to get the spare key - this time, I have decided to wait until they arrive for work at 8am, hence me sitting checking my emails and blogging so early on in the day.

Last time (well, I think it was last time...it happens so often) was in the middle of the night after Livefire (the Youth events) at New Zeal (an Army conference about a month ago). That time, being past midnight, I didn't want to wake up the Donaldsons (the training principal) so I rang Simon, who used to be a fireman and has a knack for breaking into houses. But Dad would have been soooo proud and the house was so secure that even Si couldn't get in. Fortunately, about an hour later after many, many attempts, including trying to bash down my front door down, I did get inside. But that was definitely the most dramatic of all the times so far this year I have locked myself out.

Simon didn't offer his services this morning, though, so I guess I will just patiently await the arrival of the staff at the main building.

Mum's 50th

You will still be able to tell I am procrastinating. I had one exam this morning that went alright (I think!) and I promise, after this blog, I will get back to those other assignments.

Until then... some photos from Mums 50th in Palmy last weekend.

Mum just about to blow out the candles on the cake. The funny thing is that Matt and I put 50 candles on it, and so by the time they had all gotten lit (no small venture), we had sung Happy Bday, and Mum finally blew all 50 out, the formerly solid chocolate on the top of the cake was sliding down the sides.

Aren't they cute? My little bro Matt and his girlf Liz took off with my camera, resulting in a gazillion photos, but this is my favourite. Only 3 sleeps til I see them again! :)

Driving with the Kaz

As many of you will know, I am the most sophisticated, graceful woman around. Okay, maybe I have some improvements to be made but I take great delight in informing the world that I am rubbing off onto others.

For years my driving abilities have been the butt of others jokes, particularly all year by Miss Karen on our way to Levin cos if I start talking and get excited, I lose concentration. Imagine my delight, yet secret fear, when Karen - in the BCM van - kept driving erratically up onto the curb recently. (She also has this habit of honking the car horn in the McDs drivethru. If anyone has ideas as to how I can encourage the end of this shocking behaviour, let me know.)

You will also know my poor hand-mouth co-ordination when it comes to feeding. I don't know how I do it, but I always spill something. Another skill, it appears, I have passed onto Karen. Yesterday, on our way back from Levin, we stopped for a drink and Karen spilt diet coke all down the front of her uniform. I haven't laughed so hard in years. Perfect Karen has a flaw - she can't sip through a straw! Hahaha! I love you Kaz! Truly!

Assessments, Out-Training and the invasion of the Smiths

It is crazy to think that this time last year the countdown was on and I was preparing to move to Wellington. And looking back on the last year it is crazy to think of all the new and different experiences and such I have had, how much God has shaped me and taught me.

At the moment, I have my mind set solely on surviving the next few weeks, with final assignments, exams, sermons and leads to get done ... and then the commissioning week. I am also quite looking forward to the visit of my brother Matt and his girlf Liz, and my cousins Talia and Daniel, who are coming down for a few days on their way to the South Island. Their timing is absolutely shocking. And if honesty prevails, I am wondering if Booth College will survive this invasion of the Smiths in one piece. Lol.

Another exciting happening is the prep for Out-training in Timaru. I was kind of hoping to get these final assessments out of the way so I can fully focus on that, but hey timing never works out quite as planned. Allied Pickford (the moving company) came out yesterday to suss out the amount of stuff we have to move and I have a whole stash of boxes in my entry just waiting for me to begin packing.

I had Sue McG, who is from Alexandra (somewhere way down south), trying to tell me that it gets hotter there than in Wellington, which made no sense to my logic. Surely the closer you get to Antarctica, the colder it gets. So Garth and James both backed up Sue's theory and Garth explained the science of it, something about the rain clouds coming from Australia and leaving the rain on the Alps then just the hot air going across the eastern part. But then what dosn't make sense to me is this: Do rain clouds not come from the East as well as the West? Regardless, it appears I am wrong and Sue is right. (Fancy...a southerner knowing the weather in the South Island!) Anyways I am just rambling now and no one really cares. The fact of the matter is, it will be summer so hopefully I get away at least some of the time in short sleeved attire.

I'm babysitting Hudson tonight and also cooking chicken and veges for the Bonds so must head off home. Hopefully dinner turns out edible. Here's hoping. Ciao.

It happened.

Hi. My name is Corryn and I am a ...blogger.

I said it would never happen and I would never cave to the pressure.

But with everything constantly evolving in my life, this is probably one of the easy ways to keep in touch. Plus I always have found it difficult to keep some of my opinions to myself. hehehe.

So toodles for now.....I'll write properly soon....

Crin

xoxo