From Liechtenstein To Darlington

This is a little article about one of our recent signings at Darlo:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher/2008/09/from_liechtenstein_to_darlingt.html#037148

I think his last five fixtures are definitely interesting playing Macclesfield one week and Germany the next!

The Shack

I was recently lent a book to read. It is called The Shack by William P. Young.

Now apparently this book has caused quite a stir (just look at the sheer amount of customer reviews on amazon.com!) but I hadn't heard of it until it was loaned to me. When I took it to one of the girls' soccer practices two of the mums jumped on it and told me that they had heard rave reviews on it.

I can understand why this book has had such an effect on people because it challenges so much about modern Christianity. The problem is that it really does not challenge it in a biblical way. The book left me confused as to what it was really talking about and when I came to discuss it, I was really lost for words. I felt so muddled up about it and I knew that The Shack didn't sit right with me but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

I was also given this critique to read on The Shack and found it extremely helpful. It raised all the points that were nagging at the back of my mind and couldn't put into words.

I think the most worrying part was when he creates the idea that Jesus is only one of many ways to get to God. Here's the thing:

Jesus is the only way to God.... He is not just the best way but the ONLY way!

No doubt I am glad that I read the book. It gives me a new understanding on what I believe but probably not in the way that the author intended. He has challenged me to look more to scripture than to other people and books for what I believe (He hardly mentions anything in Scripture at all in the book). I just hope that those who read the book will not take it as another Bible or a holy book. That would certainly be very dangerous!

Trash Cans and Big Bottoms

Last week Vinny bought a new bin for the kitchen. It is not just any bin, however, oh no! It is an Automatic Infrared Trash Can! Who'd have thought that we needed one of those! The girls had great fun with it when they came home from school on Friday - who needs expensive toys like a Wii or a Nintendo DS when you have an Automatic Infrared Trash Can??
I say all this but actually it is quite a handy thing. No hands required! The only problem is that I walk passed it and my bum sets off the infrared causing the bin to open! Now that is an incentive to lose weight if ever there was one! I think I'll just try and give it a wider berth in the future... it really isn't good for the morale!

Summer 2008

Such a long time since I've posted!! Ooops!!

I had a great summer, despite the fact that Darlo didn't get promoted!!

Spent most of the time in Rhode Island getting very burnt at the beach. It was so fun and it turns out that I love the water... except when there are jellyfish! We went crabbing which was great! I caught four - I'm an expert already!! :-)

The highlight of the summer was my two weeks at home. I surprised my Mum, Beth and so many others by arriving a week early (it was always planned that way! Aha!).

I had such a good time surprising them all!!

We had a week at Keswick - wonderful as always! We went to the meetings, sang lots of Stuart Townend songs (cos he was leading the worship!!), went geocaching, rowing, had two birthday parties (for Beth and Meg), had a girly day with face masks, popcorn & M&Ms and Cranford! and finally made beautiful music with Beth's Boom Whackers! We got the William Tell Overture down!!Beth and Meg blowing out the candles!

Our girly day!

Geocaching with the Hackers. Ben was our guide!

Castlerigg Stone Circle. With Ben and Bethan!Boom Whackers! So Keswick was fun but there was more!! At home we had a 'Pudding Party' Open House - lots and lots of desserts! Wonderful! I made a chocolate meringue pie! Glad it worked out cos it was the first time I made it!

Over that weekend I met two new little people who I've never met before:

Molly, the third little one next door.

and Jack, Lucy's little boy.
On Sunday afternoon I drove up to Glasgow and went to church there in the evening. Then Dad came up by train on Monday morning and we drove up to Grandpa's. Grandpa took Dad, me, and the Dunballochs to The Priory for high tea, then I watched the girls dance in the Inverness Tattoo.

We drove home again on Tuesday (stopping at the Ross's in Edinburgh where Mum met us - not totally sure why!). The rest of the week was filled with seeing people and being places. Sarah and I babysitted Jack, I had tea at the Hackers' new house.

Mum, Dad and I went to Betty's and we had the prayer meeting at our house because of all the work going on at the church! I even managed to visit the shrine....... no shirts! Still waiting, Dad!!

All in all, an amazing trip home! I think I got the only two weeks of nice weather that Britain had this summer! Saw many people and many places...... felt like I'd never been away!

Back in NY we were visited by an old nanny, Liz (great girl!!) and an old friend, Sophie! (I love ya!).

With Liz we were in Rhode Island..... we went to Six Flags New England and Mystic.

With Sophie I stayed in the city for the weekend. It was awesome! We went EVERYWHERE!! It was so great to have a good friend around!!

Well, that just about brings me bang up to date. The girls are back at school, Michella turned 6 yesterday........ We're all just trying to get back into a routine!

At the moment I'm pretty much gutted. Darlington lost the play-off semi final against Rochdale. Believe me, it went down to the wire. Penalties. Jason Kennedy missed. We lost. Gutted.

I'm annoyed for a couple of reasons. The game was at 12pm UK time which means it was on at 7am here. So I had to get to Nevada Smiths for then which meant I had to catch the 5.51 train. Not fun. Especially since one of the neighbours decided to have a really loud party until 2am this morning.
Darlington had a 2 goal lead at one point. We should have held it. We should have gone to Wembly. I'm annoyed. I'm gutted. I'm sick of League 2!

Ok, so I never did review the year. I think basically I was going to say that the year ended in a way that I could never have forseen at the beginning of the year! I thought I would be in my fourth year at Glasgow Uni but I ended up in Westchester in New York looking after 3 girls.
Who'd have thought it??

I've now been here for 7 months and I can't quite believe it! Time really does fly!

I'll have to write more later!

Some time soon, probably later on in the week, I think I am going to sit down and review my 2007. A lot has happened!

To be honest, not much has happened here lately so I don't quite know why I am updating this. I'm sure I'll be able to find something to ramble on about though!

On Saturday it was Julianna's last official Saturday in the city. It was a bitter day..... so cold! We wandered round China town trying to find things for her to take back home as presents. I hate China town. It is so busy and people are always in your face trying to sell you things. It is grim. But eventually Julianna got what she wanted (or didn't want as it turned out) and we headed to Times Square and met with Sara........ and had some pizza, looked around a few more stores.... I bought Relient K's new record called 'Let it snow baby.... Let it reindeer'. Catchy! We went to the Rockerfeller Center to check out the famous tree. Pretty impressive. Then a Starbucks stop where we met up with Carina. Finally the Connelly's the Irish pub. Great fun.

Will be very sad when Julianna leaves!

but at least England won't be going to Austria and Switzerland either........ shame!!..........

Just a quick note on the Scotland match being totally objective.....
Now I know Italy had a goal wrongly disallowed but (ok, objective bit over!) COME ON! That should never have been a free kick to Italy at the end.
We deserved to go to Austria and Switzerland more than anyone. We worked our socks of (and by we I include the fans!) to get where we did and it all came to nothing!
My Dad said, 'It is just sport.'

Yeah. Whatever.

Wow! It has been so long since I updated my blog!! Ooops! Been kinda busy!

So I'm in the US of A. At the moment I'm having a great time (even if I did weep a lot on Saturday when Scotland lost to Italy. So emotionally draining!). The family that I am working for and living with are great. The girls are generally ok, although can be difficult. I'm making some new friends..... two of which are the ones I hang out with most - Julianna from Brazil and Sara from Italy. Wonderful girls!

So I'm living about 40 minutes on the train away from NYC. It is great. We go there almost every weekend. I love it, although when it is really cold it ain't so fun!

Have been to two amazing gigs since I've been here - Kaiser Chiefs and Switchfoot and Relient K. Going to see KT Tunstall on Wednesday. I love that I have the opportunity to do that kind of thing.

It is also Thanksgiving on Thursday. Of course, I am going to the Thanksgiving Day Parade in the city and I'm really looking forward to it even though I'll have to get up excessively early! But it is a once in a lifetime thing so I can't miss it!!

This is just a short update. But I will post some pictures soon!!

I also agreed on a placement yesterday. I am really happy with the family that I am going to live with next year! They live in New York and have three girls aged 12, 8 and 4. Six families contacted me in all which I was really pleased with but it made for some difficult decision making!
I am now really excited to start my year in America!

I am now:

Miss Joanna Macdonald MA (Historical Studies) with Merit!

Ok, some pics from Austria...... This is the view from Sophie's garden!
Her house
Sophie and her Mum and Gran
Sophie's younger sister Valerie
Sophie and me

And again
Peter (whose flat we stayed in in Vienna) with sons Bernhard and Georg with Sophie

Gosh! It has been a long time since I posted on here........ I guess that is cos I thought no one reads this but now I now that at least one person does! Hi Sophie!! :-)
Quick round up:

Had a brilliant time in Austria..... just fab! Apart from shoes that ruin feet in Vienna.... not fun and they still are not back to normal! Was awesome to see Sophie and her family and mainly just relax! Brilliant! I will maybe try and put some photos up when I next use the laptop!

I managed to pass all my uni exams so I am graduating next Wednesday at 4pm. I really can't be bothered with it all but I guess it is just one afternoon.

Finally, I got accepted onto the au pair program. SO excited and extremely nervous!!!!

Also the Campbells are coming to Darlington today. I can not wait to see them! It is a shame that David isn't coming too. It is weird that he won't be preaching in our church at all this year. But it shall be great to catch up with Mairi, Meg and Tina!

I'm currently totally stressing about getting my au pair stuff organised before I go away to Austria. I am not stressing about my World Religions exam. It is just a complete nuisance!

ANNOYING!!!!!

I can't believe that I only have a couple of weeks left at uni. It is such a strange feeling! I am currently working on my Christian Theology project which I am doing on The Truman Show. After that I only have two exams and then I am done!! WOOHOO!
I'm really excited because at the weekend I booked my tickets to go to Austria to visit Sophie. I haven't seen her for a few years so I really can't wait. We are planning to go to the Austria-Scotland friendly (football) if we can get tickets for it which is amazing! Hopefully there'll not be too much tension! lol

Not too much news at the moment because I am so busy with uni work! Joy of joys!!

I am not skilled to understand
What God has willed, what God has planned
I only know at His right hand
Stands One who is my Savior

I take Him at his word and deed
Christ died to save me this I read
And in my heart I find a need
For Him to be my Savior

That He would leave His place on high
And come for sinful man to die
You count it strange, but once did I
Before I knew my Savior

My Savior loves, my Savior lives
My Savior's always there for me
My God He was, my God He is
My God He's always gonna be.

Yes, living, dying; let me bring
My strength, my solace from this spring
That He who lives to be my King
Once died to be my Savior

That He would leave His place on high
And come for sinful man to die
You count it strange so once did I
Before I knew my Savior

My Savior loves, My Savior Lives
My Savior's always there for me
My God He was, My God He is
My God He's always gonna be.

~ Aaron Shust, My Saviour My God

I realise that I haven't updated my blog for a long time now! Not that anyone really reads it!! lol
Anyway, what have I been up to? Well, I'll give you a rundown of what I've done over the past week.....
Monday: drove to Glasgow to get some library books, bought lots of decorations etc for my party. All in all I spent about an hour and a half in Glasgow before driving home again. I wasn't expecting to do that, I thought I would stay longer or even overnight. But I'm glad I did it cos now I know I can! I didn't think that I could drive so much in one day! I enjoyed it!
Tuesday: I got up, had breakfast and then went back to bed until about 1pm!! In the afternoon Mum and I went round to June's house (she is a lady from our church) to help her clear her sitting room and bedroom to have new carpets fitted. It was fun.
Wednesday: I didn't do much during the day. Then in the early evening June called because she needed a lift to the hospital so Mum and I took her. After June was safely back at home again I went to pick up Beth to just hang out.
Thursday: Beth and I went to a party shop in the morning to buy a few more things for my party. Also went to a craft store where I had to reverse into a bay in between two cars for the first time!! It was awful! In the afternoon Clair came round with Bethan and Ben. We took her car to the garage and while we waited for it to be fixed we went to the park. After that Clair and I went into town because she needed an outfit for a wedding - she had most of it sorted but needed a top to go with it.
Friday: Dad, Cath and I went to Chester. We saw Darlo play absolutely appallingly! But we managed to get a draw 1-1. At least we came away with something but we certainly didn't deserve it. I was thinking while watching the match that Sam Russell was the only one who was playing for us at the end of last season. The rest were all new (apart from Alun Armstrong who went away then came back). It's weird.
Saturday: It was another glorious sunny day and Mum, Dad, Hattie and I went for a walk. Just an easy one but made very tough due to the lack of shade (we went at lunch time as well - on reflection that was pretty dumb!) and the fact that we didn't bring any drinks. So I did struggle a bit but still enjoyed it. Hattie certainly did! She loves going into the river!
Sunday: church as usual - a bit thin on the ground though this week cos everyone was away! But lovely to see those who were there! It was nice to see Sarah again because she was away last week.

Today I came back to Glasgow again. The roads were so quiet! It was great. I have an exam on Wednesday that I am not looking forward to.... joy of joys! Can't wait till it is over and I can go home for my birthday!! YAY!

This is a Tennents advert that was on the back of the match day programme at the Scotland v Georgia game on Saturday. This is about football (or soccer!!) for those of you who don't know. The first time I saw this was on the Glasgow subway and I couldn't stop laughing. I think it is just brilliant! At the moment we are topping our group for the Euro 2008 qualifiers. It has been dubbed 'The Group of Death' because it includes Italy (world champions), France (runners up at the world cup), Ukraine (also a very good team), along with Lithuania, Georgia and the Faroe Islands. It is amazing that we are in the position that we are in and who knows if we will qualifiy so I will savour it while it lasts! But heres hoping!!

So here it is:

Scotland Hopes.

Hope is knowing that football fans, like the scarves we wear, are made to be lifted up.

Because our greatest glory consists not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall. Confucius said that. Or was it Steven Pressley?

Like Hampden’s fearsome roar, hope arouses a passion for the possible. It helps us achieve the unthinkable –

Scotland 1 France 0

Hope 89’

We can live 40 days without food, 3 days without water and 8 minutes without air. We can live 4 days in the Ukraine without changing our replica shirts. But we cannot live 1 second without hope.

Hope is not caring if we lose every game, as long as we top the group.

Hope is calculating that we only need 6 points from our last 2 games, provided the Faroes hold Italy and Ukraine beat France by 2 clear goals. And Hope is pricing flights from Glasgow to Zurich ‘just in case’.

But most of all, hope is like a path in the country – there never was a path, but when many of us walk the same ground, the path comes into existence. This is the path we follow – WHEREVER IT TAKES US, WHATEVER IT TAKES.