I am off on retreat tomorrow. The next time I blog I will be a Deacon...which for me is a scary yet exciting thought. I'm not going to say much more here and now, just that I would value your prayers both over the next few days and in the weeks to come. When God takes control of your life my advice is to hang on tight, because you're in for a rollercoaster ride which is like nothing else you have ever experienced before!! But the upside is...the view from the top is spectacular...

Less than two weeks now and I will be sporting a dog collar... The last couple of weeks have continued to be lovely with so many good wishes from friends and aquaintances. I don't think I have ever had so many parties before.. it has all been quite overwhelming. To put the icing on the cake, all those being ordained this year were invited to Lambeth Palace to mee tthe Archbishop of Canterbury. We had a wonderful, weekend of fun, friendship and thoroughly enjoyed our time at Lambeth...Some of us are pictured above in the gardens...Thanks Rowan!

A week on Thursday I go on my pre ordination retreat. We are fortunate enough to have David Runcorn as retreat leader, whose books have been used on the course and who I am told is very good. It is all very exciting.

But am I ready for this? Well; my robes are bought and hanging in the wardrobe, my course is finished and I have passed, I am assigned to a church as curate...but all of these things are outward trappings of what is actually an inner less tangible thing. Ministry is all about my strong vocation, calling and very necessary equipping by God. I need so much help to do this but I know that because He has called me to it, He will provide all I need.

The whole thing is quite unreal and rather mind blowing..Why me? I still wake up and pinch myself sometimes...

If you are reading this, please pray for me...I have come to realise that prayer will be vital to my ministry if I am to keep going, both my own prayer life and the prayers of others...So please if you have a moment pray that I will be equipped, that I will know the closeness of God and that I will be a blessing to others.

Well!! What a HECTIC few months it has been. I really haven't had the time or the energy to blog at all since Easter and no wonder! The end of the course with a big glut of assignments (all due at once) coincided with the end of year Drama exams and me finishing teaching for good. Immediately after all of this we were to move house - half an hour away into deepest darkest rural Cheshire.

I am pleased to say that all of these things have happened and have happened well.

The last course weekend ever was an emotional affair not least because of the lovely Valedictory service we all attended. The assignment marks were not as bad as I feared (in fact some were a pleasant surprise!)

Work were lovely both pupils and staff. Amongst other stuff, one of my Speech and Drama pupils made me a fabulous cake (see picture above)and I had a fabulous lunch out at a posh hotel with the girlies from the drama dept who made me feel very spoiled.

We have moved house and I am thrilled with the new place. The living room is enormous ans our new sofas look amazing.

All in all it has been an exciting few months and it isn't over yet. In the next three weeks I preach my final sermon at my sending church, attend a garden party at Lambeth Palace...Rowan watch out...have one leaving do and one pre ordinaton party, watch some of my friends get ordained in Manchester, go on retreat, get ordained and start my curacy...phew!

In all of this God has been faithful and his goodness and blessings have been so apparent. I am completely thankful to him and really looking forward to the next step on this exciting journey.