"Spring has Sprung...

...da grass is riz,

I wonder where da boidies is?

'Da boid is on da wing'

But dat's obsoid,

I taut da wing was on da boid?!"



I love that rhyme!!! (Best said out loud in a broad Brooklyn accent!)



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I'm off to Spring Harvest on Saturday. Apart from joining in as much of the worship, workshops and sessions as possible I'll also be exhibiting and possibly even selling some of my work. I've had five 10x15" prints framed and will also have some greetings cards and 6x4" prints for sale.



But the real aim for me, personally, is not to sell but to praise God and share the gospel through the artworks. I'm volunteering to work with Veritasse - the Christian Arts Society - who have a stand at Springy. It was there, at Minehead, in 2002 or 2003 that I first discovered Veritasse. At that time I didn't even consider photography as a viable career move and it certainly never occurred to me that I could actually minister through the medium!



For ages I prayed and prayed that God would help me be a better Christian witness and that He would use me in the church. As ever with prayer, God answered in His own time - which is fair enough, He is God, after all! - but answered in a way I couldn't have imagined! Not only has He found a way for me to stay 'in my safe place' behind the lens and still work for the church as an events and portrait photographer, but the final images can be used to spread the Word! He's given me my own ministry!!! The work has already begun. Last year one of my 10x8" B&W prints - The Boot - was used as an A3 poster by a church in Wallington, Surrey, to promote their church and Christianity in general.







A few weeks ago I took part in 'An Audience of One' - a day of worship through creative gifts and art followed by an evening worship session. It was such an intense and amazing experience! We're planning more ways to continue creative worship. I'd love to see artistic and creative gifts used for praise in regular worship services. Somehow I know we can implement this - everyone is too passionate about it for it not to happen! The weird thing is, even though I'm sooo passionate and verbal about this, when it came to talking about my photos in church, I had a 'wobble' and couldn't do it. God knows this and has given me other ways to 'shout' about it and about Him - the final images and something else which I'm keeping under my hat for the moment in case it doesn't come off... ;-)

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Anyway, Springy 2009 is about to kick off! We thought we wouldn't be able to go this time, due to lack of finances, but where God guides, He provides and I had a little windfall in Autumn which meant we could go after all! I felt God wanted me to volunteer for Veritasse and for Healey to help out with the youthgroup -Discovery - so we put down to lead one of the chalets. As it worked out, we won't actually have any teenagers in our chalet, so William will have his own room! We are, however, sharing with a lovely girl we've both known for ages, but haven't seen since she moved away. Result!!!

I probably won't be able to post here for a few days, so I'll see you soon!
Emma x

Ouch!

Had a very 'exciting' day yesterday. When I woke up my depression had caught up with me and I was feeling very miserable and ready to burst into tears at any moment. I don't think being on my period helped either...

Anyway, I took William to toddler group as I always do on a Tuesday and just sat by myself in a corner while William played. We decorated some Easter biscuits together then I returned to my lonely spot. My friend Sarah noticed and came over to ask if I was alright. Now, if you're anything like me, as soon as someone asks you that or is even remotely nice to you the tears will start to flow - which is exactly what happened! She asked if she should 'stay and chat' or 'go away and leave me alone' and I asked her to stay. Another mum came over and joined us and as the morning wore on I seemed to cheer up considerably - although the mask was firmly in place!

During songtime however, it all came crashing down - literally! Wills and another boy ran into somewhere they shouldn't so I went after them. Squeezing back through the chairs, though, my foot got caught and I fell down flat on my face...well, flat on my hands and chest. I just lay there, flat on my front, as some mums/organisers came rushing over. The perfect end to a perfect morning. It was just all too much. Weeks of stress and anxiety welled up and finally spilled over, as did the tears. Well, I hate crying in front of people (it's one of my 'issues' which I'll fill you in about at a later date) so I just lay there, facing the wall. I could hear William crying at the edge of my hearing but I'd sort of 'zoned out.' I just wanted everyone to leave me be, but at the same time I sooo wanted someone to just hug me and let me let it all out! Then someone actually did all that and I couldn't. Typical!

Anyway; when I sat up no less than three nurses were taking care of me, including my friend Sarah! The side of my hand had a nasty bump appearing so they decided I needed checking out at the hospital. Sarah offered to take William to hers and give him lunch while one of the ladies who make the teas and coffees took me up to the hospital. She stayed with me and let me chew her ear off until my husband arrived. I just want to say at this point that I am sooo grateful to all the lovely women who took such good care of me and William yesterday - and kept my embarassment to a minimum!

Upshot: I have a fractured fifth metacarpal (the side of my hand) and my little finger is numb as a result of the swelling. I also have a painful right hand and bruising on my upper left breast, which really hurts! I've also bruised the bone on my arm, just below the elbow and I have a weird, sore little bump there now! I've also damaged my already bad right shoulder, for which I'm already awaiting an MRI for a suspected SLAP Lesion (torn cartiledge/ligament or something like that...)

Positive note: After Sarah explained to William what was happening he came over to me and said; "I'm going to have lunch at Sarah's and play with N***'s toys and you're going to go to the doctor and he's going to make you all better." How cute and grown-up! After that some other little tots came up to me and gave me toys to make me feel better. How cute is that?!!


Soooo...my husband had to tell my boss at work that I wouldn't be in today. Seeing as Monday was so bad and everybody was doing the job of two people and there's just as few staff in today I wouldn't want to be in earshot of my supervisor!!! Seriously though, it is a ridiculous situation and something has to be done soon...but that's a moan for another day!

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BTW; no April Fools' so far...how disappointing!