Amazed & Confused

Half Blood Prince!

Aaaaaahhhh!!!!!!  I am soooo excited I just found out that the 6th book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, is finished and will be released on the 16th July 2005!  You don't know how shallow I feel at being so excited by this piece of news!

Asia Quake

It was very sobering St Steven's day morning to wake to the aftermath of the Asia quake...

Merry Trundle Christmas!

Charlotte and I arrived back in Chi on the 23rd rather jet lagged but excited to be home.  Chichester was abuzz with well wishers and last minute shoppers and as I fought my way through the crowds I was glad to be back.  Christmas Eve I traveled back to Grendon burdened with cloths and presents, took a deep breath and plunged into a Trundle family Christmas...

Against all odds

Ever wonder if God is trying to tell you something?  Today was a strange day, it's almost unbelievable what's happened but I assure you that everything that follows is 100% truthful...

Nordick Skiing!

Today I finally met the infamous Isaac and the rest of the lovely Phillips family in Frisco, Colorado.  Isaac is running a 24-7 Prayer room that has run non-stop for 5 months with a group of 80 people!  We had a look at it today and it's part of a mini-mall with a seedy bar diagonally opposite. It felt like such an amazing place to have a prayer room.   Isaac and his parents Mike and Judy invited Charlotte, Emily and I over for Mexican and chatted with us about 24-7, their church and their heart for other nations.  It was lovely to sit and chat with them...  They're really committed and inspiring people...

Super Trooper!

OK picture the scene... Charlotte and I are looking a little wild eyed and bedraggled in our lovely rented dodge.  We've been driving for eight hours across the state of Kansas and when I say it's flat I mean it's worse than East Anglia!  A change in the colour of a field was an event.  I think it was fair to say the conversation was waning when suddenly we hit on a topic that got us very excited...  snowboarding.  We are totally planning to try and learn while we're here in Bolder so we started to fantasise about how amazing (and painful) it will be when Charlotte glances up at her rear view mirror and turns pale....

Charlotte:  "Oh no!  It's a Police car and it's flashing us!"
Carla:  "What's your speed?"
Charlotte: (looking panicked) "101mph!!!"...

Ocean's 12

So I managed to catch a film in America a whole three months before its release in the UK.  For those who know me well you will recognise the smug satisfaction in my tone.  Samie, Pete, Charlotte and I opted for Ocean's 12 and we were not disappointed (well with such a plethora of fine male actors what's not to like?)...

A Kansas night...

I realise I've been quite silent on my travels but I've got a bit of time tonight so I thought I'd share some highlights of the last week.  We have arrived safe and sound on Bolder, Colorado to find that the lovely Lisa Glassford has blagged us a GORGEOUS little apartment for us to stay in while we're here.  We have our rental car and it's been a busy and fun weekend... but more of that in another post. 

Kansas was really relaxing.  I arrived quite tired and to be honest I found it quite hard to switch off at first.  Pete, Charlotte and I went to buy nibbles and I took over the shopping like it was a 24-7 event or something.  Amusingly Pete just grinned and let me boss him around...

Hit the Road

At 4am tomorrow morning Chives & Corrie, aka Thelma & Louise, aka Charlotte & I are hitting the old Santa Fe Trail to Bolder, Colorado.  With 12 hours of driving ahead of us we've stocked up on Cheesecake and music for our rented dodge and we're excited about hitting the open road.  Please pray for us as we drive.  Charlotte's got the nack of the wrong side of the road so we're hopping for an enjoyable and safe journey.  Love you all, xc

Christmas is all around...

Kansas is wonderful!  Here are our highlights so far...

• Making angels with Hudson and Daniel
• Playing monsters with Daniel
• Watching Hudson fly
• Eating massive amounts of food
• Setting the world to rights over a cup of tea with Samie
• Pot Roast...

Safe & Sound...

We're here!  18 hours of cars and planes later Charlotte and I have arrived safe and sound in Kansas city to a very festive Greig household.  As I'm typing this in the Kitchen Pete's making Mulled Wine on the stove, we just finished making stars and an angel for the Christmas tree and Frank is crooning songs in a Yuletide fashion...

We were awake for 24hours yesterday so slept like babies in Pete and Samie's spare room.  We had a massive breakfast we couldn't finish at the International House of Pancakes and looked around thrift shops.  America - we have arrived!

Thelma & Louise...

For those Chichesterites among you our fair city may seem a lot quieter from tomorrow morning as two of it's loudest citizens are off to the US of A!  Charlotte and I fly out of Gatwick Sunday morning and arrive in Kansas City (God willing) at 17.44 their time tomorrow.  We're gonna be like Thelma and Louise but with better hair, no police and no need to drive off a cliff (we hope)!  All Brad Pitt look-a-likes welcome...

Choc Rock!

One of my most anticipated films of 2005 has to be Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  Purported to be more faithful to the original and starring Jonny Depp as Willy Wonka, it sounds like the adaptation Roald Dahl would have wanted!  Take a look at the mouth watering teaser trailer here.  Very dark, very bizarre and rather freaky!  Three cheers for Mr Burton!

A life in the day of...

Spoke to the lovely Dorle on email today and realised that my blog isn't very helpful for finding out what exactly I do with my life.  It's mostly the edited highlights of my week and stuff that strikes me that I want to share.  Sven calls me a life editor... I edit everything unsavoury and focus on the positive.  Probably very true.  So for one day only here it is; my life, unedited...

It's a Friendly Life!

Continuing on the theme of my lovely community the wonderful Ben Mac came through with the photos from Proxy Christmas!  Hurrah!  Take a look at the mammoth Christmas dinner and the fun and frolicking had by all in the photo album to my right...

And for a further experiment (not sure if this is gonna work) Ben also passed a rather amusing video to me that was taken of the muddy people who came on Muddy Sunday!  If it works it's fairly chaotic and amusing... Download DSCF0960.AVI It's probably huge because it just took half an hour to upload so only the brave should take the pilgrimage to reach the muddy mecca of Bignor Hill...

It's a Wonderful Life

Today, I have mostly been listening to Christmas with the Rat Pack, inspired by the festivity of last night.  Film Club opted for classic over controversial as we settled into David's lounge to laugh and cry (or pretended to have something in our eye) at It's a Wonderful Life.

I've watched it many times but I'm always struck afresh by elements I've previously overlooked...

Holyness that hurts the eyes

Last night Sven informed me (in true eats, shoots & leaves anal form) that I'm a serial miss-speller of the word Holyness.  Apparently it's spelt Holiness - I never knew.  If I can't spell it can I still pursue it?

I'm a pretty bad speller...  Anyone else notice any repetitive mistakes?

Emergent - the next generation

I had a rather uncomfortable morning last Friday participating in the Emerging Church discussion at the Inclusive Church gathering.  What made me uncomfortable you may ask?  Was it the topic of conversation?  Was it the level of thought and intelligence displayed by everyone in the room?  Well, er, no, it was the INCREDIBLY UNCOMFORTABLE PEWS they made us sit on!

I mean how on earth are you supposed to listen to people debating new forms of church with an expression of interest and comprehension when your entire body is screaming for relief!

24-7 UK Day

I began Wednesday bleary eyed and on a train to Reading, trying very hard to focus as I chatted with God in my journal (Just to clarify - God doesn't live in my journal, more I write my prayers in there to him...  I'm sure you were bright enough to know that, but I could anticipate the funny comments that sentence conjured).  I was winging my way to the 24-7 UK Network day where 60 or so people gathered from round the country to pray and tell stories of what's been happening in our neck of the woods... 

Chichester to China...

I'm sitting in the 24-7 office in Chichester and I've just finished writing an email to a guy in China who's organising 24-7 prayer rooms.  The bizaare part was that I had to edit all religious language to get past Chinese email filters. Prayer becomes pr#y*r, God becomes G*d etc., etc... 

Best Advent Ever!

I cannot contain my excitement...

Firstly, Empire has launched it's very own movie advent calendar with classic christmas themed scenes, fav presents, movie inspired sweets (click thumb, hehe) and a guess the celebrity santa comp!  Come on you know you wanna check it out...

And secondly, they helpfully reminded me that it's the 2nd of December and I'm yet to start opening my choccy advent calendar my Mum got me! Two choccy treats are waiting for me tonight, oh the joy!