The cake!

Whew!

What a truly amazing day we had on Friday. From start to finish it was just about perfect. The bride was breathtakingly beautiful, (I know I'm biased but think Audrey Hepburn/graceKelly combined) she was so poised and elegant, the groom handsome, bridesmaids wonderfully supportive. Father of  the bride gave her away and also officiated at the marriage, shedding a few tears overcome with emotion ( which made me look bad as I didn't!) the service was so personal with the minister where I was attached and in whose church the wedding took place, conducting the rest of the service. There was so much laughter and joy in the whole week it was mind blowing and really special. The venue was a fairy tale complete with fireworks laid on as a surprise. It made me realise how blessed we are to have such wonderful friends. Cars supplied by undertaker as a gift ( not hearses but huge Toyota something's) which they filled with balloons after the service for the journey tothereception. DVD by another friend all fantastic acts of kindness. Happy couple now in Mexico on honeymoon! Back to reality essay time again and leading worship at my old attachment (my supervisor told me to have a day off) I was amazed by the comments at the end of the service when so many people remarked on a new maturity and depth in my preaching. So many people saw a change, which I must put down to the last five months at my placement taking on board my supervising ministers comments. I must admit I felt I was preaching with a new authority. It has been a weekend of heightened emotions and sadly our old Westie Lucy died this afternoon. So much packed in to one weekend,  its going to take a while to top this! One wedding down heading towards the next in June!

The night before

Can't believe my youngest child gets married tomorrow. I've had a really special week with
Her. It's strange to think that tomorrow her dad is going to marry her!  Wedding rehearsal last night seemed rather fraught I must say. I hope he doesn't shout at all his brides like that!  Reflecting
on last weeks conference and church law and weddings it was interesting to hear some of the things couples expect. There is o much I still have o o back over but given that I've an essay deadline
of Monday and trying to keep this week as clear as possible it's been a challenge fitting everything in
Thing in.. It's like Christmas Eve here full of anticipation. So hair and make up arrive at 9 ish
Then the ceremony is at 2 .30. What are the odds that I'll cry?

Sacarments

On last day of probationers conference, its been a very full prograame with not much sleep due to being in a hotel built on a roundabout surrounded by nightclubs so plenty of time in the middle of the night for reflection!  The seminars ave been super so far with brilliant speakers. Though the one tht stood out for me was the one on ordination and its implications for us. To have that spelled out and illustrated in such a gentle and spiritual way was both thought proving and very humbling and moving.
A whole day of church law yesterday from 9 - 5 could have been a drag but which found 42 of us taking part in a role play as a kirk session of a newly vacant chrge meeting our new presbytery advisory ommmittee and interim moderator for the I first  time, everyone  embraced their given characters with enthusiasm and wht followed wa a scarily familiar scene tht could have been straight from any vacancy meeting. The thing that made it so funny was ... It could have been real. But it brought home the point being made that we need to approach these tasks fully prepared wont be forgotten , I don't think, by any of us! One more session then home to the bride o . I'm getting excited!

Probationer Conference 2

Off to probationers conference! Where did that 6 months disappear to! Last time I was doing this I was leaving my Old Man wondering if he'd be still be alive ( and he was) but he died on the Friday! This time I'm leaving my gorgeous daughter, and when I come back on Sunday we'll be on the countdown to her wedding on Friday! Now how did that happen! Happier days though:)

Time management

One of the things discussed at my interim review was how I managed time. Well the next couple of weeks will be areal test! Bible study preparation. School assembly essay deadline, pastoral cover, tutorials, probationers conference,  service preparation and just eleven sleeps till the youngest child's wedding! At the moment everyone seems quite calm so hopefully that will continue. I'm looking forward to the conference as the last one was really overshadowed by my dear Old Man facing his last days. This Wednesday would have been his birthday and its now almost 5 months since he died. I still miss him and I expect I'll have a bit of a down day on Wednesday:( in spite of the endless reading, I am finding my Sacramental course surprisingly interesting, discovering how our heritage was shaped. Just a shame about the clash of deadline and wedding!

Essay Stress

Living eating breathing Luther Calvin and Zwingli and the more I read the more confused I become. The actual essay deadline is March 11 th but since my daughter gets married on the 8th two weeks today!! I'd really like to have cracked it by next Friday before I head off on my probationers conference for the weekend. Everything is remarkably calm on the wedding front even though the photographer phoned on Monday night to say he'd been knocked off his motor bike ( on its maiden run) and was in hospital ( broken femur) and likely to be so for at least a week,  good thing his daughter is a photographer too so no stress there! And I'm relieved he didn't come off any worse. I experienced one of those moments of total calm yesterday as we looked at our ecumenical Lent Bible study, led y the parish priest, that sometimes God just seems to send when you most need it. We were looking at the betrayal of Jesus in Johns Gospel which highlighted the total calm of the events. There was no sense of panic or stress as portrayed by the other Gospel writers. Something the majority of the group hadn't really noticed before. It's worth a look. So, next week essay, essay, essay!  Feedback for first ( ungraded ) essay was " covered salient points but needs to be more prosaic!) any ideas what that means in relation to essays?