ruth E

I'm a Blether

2011-02-16T18:34:00.000Z

My vlogging on RuthEVlog on YouTube continues...

Gettin ma hayer did

2011-01-27T16:10:00.001Z

Mr Ministry Man

Rend Collective Video Shoot - Behind the Scenes

2011-01-23T18:10:00.000Z

My 2010 in pics

2011-01-01T18:07:00.000Z

Bunch of whiners

2010-12-03T17:16:00.000Z

What would you do?

Thank you, webale

2010-12-02T18:05:00.000Z

During my time in Uganda I got to play some music and learn Lugandan.
Michael, my Ugandan friend urged to to write the rest of the song we wrote... this is the result

Dear 16 year old self

2010-11-23T18:19:00.000Z

Inspired by the recent #tweetyour16yearoldself I decided to make a video

Dear 16 year old self...

Travel, Walking In The Rain and Slow Cooking

2010-11-06T16:31:00.002Z

Travel

Walking in the rain

Slow Cooker

Vlog channel

2010-10-21T20:15:00.002+01:00

I've started a vlog channel on YouTube to separate vlog stuff from other videos I make. I'll be posting them here too so here are the first few I've posted.

Go to youtube.com/ruthEvlog

Geocaching - Alice in Wonderland

2010-10-02T15:00:00.004+01:00

Clue: when I fell down the RABBIT HOLE I was amazed to see the MAD hatter sitting on a THRONE, he gave me cake that made me very SMALL to go on my search...

In colour by Hey!Hi!Hello!

2010-09-22T13:12:00.000+01:00

This was a music video collaboration between 2 girls from my youth group and me.

Yet again I'm out in Banbridge in pyjamas for the third time ever... you would think I liked wearing PJs in public but I know it ain't a normal thing... unlike some....

NI Gurls Media Interest

2010-09-21T23:29:00.000+01:00

BBC Radio Ulster Interview...

NI Gurls Video Follow up???

Vote for me in the Hillsong Live Music Video Comp!

2010-09-09T23:28:00.000+01:00

Vote for me in the Hillsong Live Music Video Comp!
http://live.hillsong.com/votenow
Rate "Ruth Elkin" as 5 stars please!

Full Time YAC Workers Day

2010-09-09T23:27:00.000+01:00

Vlog University 1 - Colouring in

2010-08-18T23:05:00.001+01:00

Youth Ministry YouTube Recommendations

2010-08-11T11:46:00.000+01:00

http://www.youtube.com/godrox
http://www.youtube.com/tfneditor
http://www.youtube.com/youthspecialti...
http://www.youtube.com/thatjustinguy
http://www.youtube.com/chooseshalom
http://www.youtube.com/xbox360fanboy131
Ignatius: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLGLBVSpBzY

Northern Irish Gurls - Parody of Katy Perry's California Girls

2010-07-01T22:06:00.002+01:00

My YouTube Story

2010-06-11T22:37:00.001+01:00

It was YouTube's 5th birthday recently and as part of the 'celebrations' people were sharing their YouTube story. Here is mine, however it does miss out the vitally important detail that one of my youth group (TheOriginalMcGoo) was the one who inspired me to start making videos.

The rest of our trip in Lebanon

2010-03-22T15:30:00.000Z

Day 2

Days 3 and 4

A day in Lebanon

2010-03-17T10:34:00.000Z

A bit about our trip and the Lebanese food we've enjoyed...

Free Christian Children's Talk 6 - Humpty Dumpty

2010-03-09T15:55:00.003Z

So I've just got back into doing children's talks in church since the new minister started back in September. Was a bit nervous but people seemed to enjoy this one so here it is for all to read/share/use etc...

Who knows of any nursery rhymes?
Let the children give a few answers

There are lots of different nursery rhymes, but I want to talk about one in particular, it's Humpty Dumpty. Can you say it with me?

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the King's horses and all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again

Excellent! I wonder does anyone know what Humpty looks like?
Let the children answer, they'll hopefully know the answer is...

...an egg! Yes he looks like an egg! I have one with me here. I didn't have Stewie as an aide at the time but he wanted to help today...

And what happened to Humpty when he fell? He cracked! So let's crack this egg (be sure to do this into a bowl or something and not just the floor!)

Oh dear! Look at poor Humpty! He's not in a good shape at all is he? I wonder how we could get him back together? What do you think the king's horses and king's men tried to do to fix him?

Allow a few answers - I got some funny ones including sellotape, superglue, masking take, staples, blu-tac and magic!
If you have time you cold try and get the egg back in the shell and try to stick together to show how difficult this is

I don't think we can do it. But you know sometimes we can be in messy situations that seem hard to get out of, a bit like poor Humpty. Maybe you've fell out with a friend over something and it seems there's just no way to sort it out, or maybe you're having trouble at school and it seems no one can help, or perhaps you've done something wrong and you don't know how to fix it. We can all get into hard and messy situations like Humpty from time to time.

But we're not like Humpty are we? We're not eggs! We're people and even better we're God's people! And when we have problems we don't need the King's horses or the King's men, because we have God who is the King on our side! When we ask him for help and allow him to help us, the King will get us out of the sticky messy situation we're in

You got the love

2010-03-02T16:45:00.001Z

A step into the world of vlogging with a cover of Florence and the Machine's version of "You got the love"

Oopsy Cakesy

2009-08-20T17:57:00.001+01:00

Today we had a "Fun Day" at church and I had bought a High School Musical box of cake mix for the group to make to go with lunch. The girls got into making it while I got o with sorting other lunchy bits out, so they emptied the box and got on with it. Apparently Katie asked me if both the bags of stuff had to go into the mixture and apparently I said "Yes" but I can't recall this conversation. So she chucked it all together, mixed in the butter, water and eggs and poured into the tray then put it all in the oven to bake. While I was clearing up the rubbish I wondered where the icing had gone to and discovered that the icing had been put into the cake mixture and was now in the oven. We worried it all may turn out a little too sweet but left it to bake and we got on with lunch and playing with HSM stickers.

When it came to eating the cake it looked good, smelled good and had a slight glaze on the top from all the sugar in it! It was real good, even with the icing IN it not ON it. So an experiment gone wrong but that turned out good and we had fun decorating it with the HSM rice paper decorations and sugary stars.

my albums

2009-03-19T21:13:00.004Z

Jools posted this great little "meme" thing-a-mee that I couldn't resist doing - so much so I did it twice!

Here's what you do
1 - Go to "wikipedia ." Hit “random article”
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to "Random quotations "
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to flickr and click on the “explore" tab and select "the last seven days”
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.

Here's the results of my two.

Happy St Paddy's Day

2009-03-17T11:00:00.000Z

Very true indeed

2009-02-18T20:21:00.007Z

Paul Bowman blogged recently to highlight a cartoon by Dave Walker from Cartoon Church which I had seen a while ago and forgotten about.

But there is another who agrees to this idea of where the youth worker falls in the church hierarchy.... Jon Birch from ASBO Jesus posted a similar one today...

I must have moved up a few places seeing as we've no organist/choir master, or vicar/minister/curate! LOL

Free Christian Children's Talk 5

2009-02-12T22:41:00.006Z

I hesitated about posting this one because its rather personal to our church, but the morning I did this talk in church the convenor for our vacancy was leading the rest of the service and asked me for the details so she could use it in her own churches the following week so it seems right to post it for others to use seeing as it has been reused already.

You'll see as you read this that you'll need to rewrite it slightly but it shouldn't be too difficult.

I've a picture on the screen and I have the actual thing in my hand here, can you tell me what animal this is?

It's a kangaroo! They don't have boxing gloves like this one normally but can anyone tell me which country you'll find kangaroos in?

Let kids have guesses

In Australia! It's very far away from here, you can see on this map.

That blue country at the top in the middle is where we are and the blue country in the bottom corner is Australia - all the way on the other side of the world from us.

I want to tell you about one of the bigger boys in our church called Mark who was in Australia in January taking part in the Youth Olympics shooting some arrows in the archery.

And he came back with 2 of these toy kangaroos, and he came back with 2 of something else too!

TWO GOLD MEDALS! One for the individual mens and one for the mens team! And it wasn't easy because everything was working against him
- Mark was sick and not well when he was in the final
- He was far from home with no family to support him
- He was competing against the junior world champion
- Who also was an Australian so the crowds were cheering on that boy instead of Mark
- The boy Mark was against was 3 years older than him
- And it was tense in his final shot because the Australian was 9 points ahead, so Mark had to shoot a 10 which is a perfect bullseye!

Talk about pressure! But instead of paying attention to all those things and worrying about them, Mark looked straight to the target and focussed on that. He was so calm and so cool that he was able to shoot a 10 and win! He kept his focus.

I want to read from Hebrews 12v1-2
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. " (NIV)

Did you hear that? "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus"? Just like Mark was so focussed in the target not letting anything distract him we also need to be focussed on our relationship with Jesus and not allow anything to get in the way of that.

Let's pray

Dear God, We're sorry for the times when we forget to put you first and are distracted by other things. Help us to be focussed on you and your plan for our lives. Help us to give you your rightful place as number one. In Jesus name, Amen.

If you plan to use this I'd love to know!

LifeHouse - Everything

2009-02-06T13:06:00.003Z

I first saw this being performed at the MAD weekend in Coleraine back in October and remember quite vividly how moved I was by it. So when one of the girls in the Girls Brigade suggested performing it for the display I was excited to hear that it had impacted her so much that she was still thinking about it almost 4 months later!

Here it is for you to watch -

Free Christian Children's Talk 4

2009-01-27T19:39:00.008Z

It's been over a month since I posted here and I've felt bad about it, yet the longer I left writing a new post the more I felt it had to be something good. It's bizarre the effect blogging can have on you.

With our church being without a minister we have had lots of visiting ministers each Sunday which hasn't allowed me to do children's addresses during the service until recently and here's what I said:

"I have some pictures of different characters here that I want you to tell me who they are. Here's the first one....

...it's Wallace and Gromit. Great work, let's see the next one...

...it's Bill and Ben. A lot of the grown ups will remember watching them when they were young too! Who's next?

...it's Bob the Builder, excellent. And here's the last one...

(the children will probably not know this one, they didn't in my church and I didn't expect them to, so I said....) .... you don't know? Do any of the grown ups remember who this is? Yes, it's Morph. Morph was a little plasticine man who lived amongst the pens, pencils and paint brushes of an artist and he gets into all sorts of mischief, mostly caused by his friend Chas. Let's watch one of the cartoons...

(I had a DVD lined up to show but the guys on the screens couldn't sort it so next time I'll use one from YouTube)

Morph was a very popular character and he must still be today because do you know what I got for Christmas? I got a 'Make Your Own Morph' set. It came as a box with some blocks of plasticine and instructions on how to make him. Would you like to see how my Morph looks? Ok here he is...

..What do you think? Does he look like the real Morph? Well the instructions for making him were really easy looking but when it came to it there's a lot of detail and attention that has gone into making Morph. It took me a couple of hours to get him right! I really wanted him to be just right.

You know when God made us He thought very carefully about how you should look, how you would think, what you be good at and even who your family should be. He didn't stop there though, you see when I made my Morph I put a lot of care into making him, but since then he's sat on my desk at home not doing very much. God didn't just make us then leave us to get on with things, He wants to be a part of our whole lives, he wants to put even more care and attention into our lives, but for Him to do that we need to talk to him and allow Him to work in our lives.

We should tell Him what we’re thinking about, what we’re happy or sad about, what we’re worried about – anything, He wants to hear it all. He promises to always be there for us, listening to our prayers and helping us everyday."

If you're using this talk, please let me know.

Images found through a google search - sorry I can't be more specific. The only exception is the photo of my morph which is obviously my own

chocolate nativity

2008-12-20T12:55:00.006Z

The Girls Brigade leaders in church decided that instead of buying presents for all the girls and wrapping them, that they would have Thorntons come with a whole pile of advent calendars and lots of icing filled piping bags. I was able to make one myself and was so thankful my name is so short!

It was real hard for some girls with longer names like Christine or Danielle or Rebecca trying to fit their names on. But it was so much fun and the girls all enjoyed it.

I've had fun opening my advent calendar this year, it's been the first year in a while that I've had one.

The first few days started off with chocolate stars and trees and crackers but the last few days have had kings with gifts, shepherds, angels and now today the nativity scene....

It excited me to see that the birth of Jesus hasn't been completely forgotten by a commercial chain store like Thortons. I couldn't help but say a prayer for everyone else opening their Thorntons advent calendar today that the chocolate treat would be a little reminder to them of the reason for the season too.

Christmas No. 1

2008-12-15T23:16:00.004Z

I'm so "uncool" according to my youth group cos I don't watch shows like Strictly Come Dancing or I'm a Celebrity or even worse.... X Factor!!!!! It makes me the weirdest person ever apparently, but hey I'm not that worried - I kinda suspected it.

X factor just annoys me to be honest. I like hearing people sing and do it well, but I get a bit fed up watching the same people every week and in the end whoever wins gets fame and fortune handed to them on a plate. I just think it's a little unfair given that so many have worked hard to get where they are but it's no newsflash that life ain't fair.

What really annoys me is that every year the winner releases their first single the week before Christmas and are pretty much guaranteed a Christmas No 1. When I was growing up I used to have fun trying to guess who it might be and often bought a single that week trying to help my favourite to number 1. Now though X Factor has taken the fun out of all that given that the past 3 years has been an X Factor winner and now it looks like Alexandra will be number one with her cover of 'Hallelujah' which isn't a great version of the song really.

So now I guess all the fun is guessing who'll be number 2.....

Ammo

2008-12-12T13:00:00.000Z

Part of what I enjoy in my job as a youth and family worker is that I get to know parents and through them I get to know their kids better too. This past few weeks have been enlightening in lots of ways as I've spoke to several parents and ended up in conversations about what their kids did when they were little. I love it, it fascinates me how parents recall certain events and when they retell them they seem to become more animated and excited. However, with hearing all these stories I'm learning one of the darker sides of parenthood - storing up embarrassing stories about your kids. I wasn't completely unaware of it, sure I have parents too who liked to embarrass me by recalling the stupid/weird/crazy/mortifying things I've done, but I was a little surprised at the lengths some of these parents have gone to in keeping evidence of some of these embarrassing things. Photos, videos, diaries, the items involved in these stories etc all stored in little safe places that the kids don't know about (or at least they hope they don't know about). What's more is that they use these stories as ammo in order to get their kids to do something or even not do something..... it's scary the power people can have over each other.

the real x factor

2008-12-10T12:30:00.000Z

I want to tell you about 'J'. I first met J in September 2008, I can't remember where we were exactly when we met (though it was bound to be somewhere at church), or what was said but I remember being struck by his generosity and his concern for others, but most of all how alive his faith in Jesus was. As the years have gone on I have heard many many stories about J, stories of how he has gone out of his way to care for others, how he has welcomed people to our church with such great warmth and sincerity which has led them to join our church, stories of his patience in many circumstances, stories of how he has led others to care for various groups of people too and stories of how his relationship with Jesus has led others to faith too.

I have visited with J and his wife M quite a bit and everytime I have they sing each others praises - "he's one in a million", "she's my precious wife". It's refreshing to see a couple expressing their love and admiration for one another instead of complaining about how "my husband doesn't do this" "my wife doesn't care about that", J and M can't help but show how much they love each other and weren't afraid to tell others. This has been a real lesson and example to me because in the time I have known them I have gone from being a singleton to being part of a marriage myself. I learnt from them how to respect and honour your spouse, to speak words of love and how to strengthen a marriage.

A year and a half ago J was taken into hospital. It shocked so many in our church because J was extremely fit and able for being in his 90s. He was always more involved in things than the average person, he always stood at the door to the church on a Sunday morning welcoming people in whether his name was on the rota or not and he came to any and every event he had time for. I remember praying that if ever I get to be his age that I'd be of similar health and able to do all he was able to do too - a selfish prayer, definitely not characteristic of J.

His health improved enough for him to be at home again, however a week ago he was taken back into hospital after not feeling too great and then on Wednesday he passed away. I thought I had already heard such incredible amazing stories about J while he was alive but since his death I have been in such awe of the wonderful incredible man he was. He was humble, patient, kind, generous, caring, genuine and most importantly a true man of God, an inspiration and example to us all.

J had the real X factor in his life - Jesus - and it was evident to all he met and has impacted on them in ways they probably never expected to be impacted. I can't help but think that as amazing as J was and is, how much more amazing is Jesus for J to have followed and served Jesus all his life?

I miss J a lot and have been fighting back tears when I talk to people about him, but I praise God for J and being able to know him for the little while that I did. I'm thankful and excited to think that J is now in heaven amongst Abraham, Moses, David and all those other great witnesses in the Bible and that they're all cheering us on to reach that goal too.

I'm thankful for J, for the life he lived, the love he shown and the example he shared. I hope and pray people will see the x factor in my life too.

Apples on apples

2008-11-19T23:43:00.003Z

After my last post about Apple Cake I couldn't help but share this pic I came across.

A Japanese farmer put the Apple and the iPod logos on the fruit while they were growing, making these crazy fun looking ones! [via Gizmodo]

"Apple"Cake

2008-11-16T08:00:00.000Z

It was Rob's birthday recently and I couldn't help but make my Mac loving hubby an apple cake to celebrate....

... it's a Victoria Sponge inside (his favourite) so no edible apples unfortunately.

Thank you Mr Jobs!!!!

2008-11-12T21:46:00.005Z

Hi!

Well it's been a long time since I've posted on here and I'm sorry about that. If you have been speaking to me recently you will know that my iBook was in with Apple getting some much needed repair done to the casing. I was told it would be 7-10 days which seemed long enough already considering I do a lot of work on my laptop. After it was away for 11 days and I had heard nothing I called the lovely new Apple store in Victoria Square to find out what was going on and it apparently needed a few more days work.

After a few more days and a few more calls I was able to collect my wee iBook - except when I called to collect it there was another problem with the casing so it had to be left for a bit longer with them. A few days later I got a call saying it was almost ready and just had a few more things to sort. The day after I got a call with very different news - the guys who were working on it discovered some more problems with the casing and to save me waiting forever and to make up for the hassle of it'll be ready soon/it won't be ready soon the decided to give me a brand new MacBook!!! I was in shock - firstly cos the guy on the phone seemed to think this was bad news to me, but because I never ever expected that to be the outcome!

Th next day I went to the store and picked up my new MacBook that had all my files tranferred over for me and everything! The past few days have been fun on my new machine playing with new features and getting all my music and photos etc sorted.

hurting

2008-10-17T16:00:00.000+01:00

The past 3 years at the Youth Ministry Summer School there has been a lot of focus on teens suffering more hurt and pain than they have in the past. The first 2 years we had Chap Clark who wrote Hurt and Deep Ministry in a Shallow World as one of the keynote speakers. Marv Penner, who wrote Help My Kids Are Hurting: A Survival Guide to Working with Students in Pain was a key note speaker at the last Summer School. So each summer school has featured a lot of discussion around the subject, leading us into the thinking that as youth workers we need to set up communities for young people to feel loved, accepted, valuable and worth something. I have to admit that at each discussion on hurt and pain I was struggling to relate personally because I couldn't remember going through anything similar myself.

When we were in the airport on our way to Egypt a few weeks ago I couldn't help but have a look in the book shop. I'm not much of a reader usually but on holiday I read 2 or 3 books - I ended up reading 4 books and got halfway through another. I left the shop having bought 2 extra books to take away with me, one of which was called Loose Girl. It's a book about the author's struggle as a teenager and beyond to feel accepted and loved. She journals how she discovered a way to be accepted, loved and attractive was to use her feminine powers over men. In a search for attention and love she went down a path full of meaningless one night stands and emotionally unsatisfying relationships. Ultimately using and being used in order to fill a void.

As I read this book I couldn't help but think about Summer School and my own experiences of wanting love when I was a teen. I was reminded of times when I felt desperate for a boy to notice me, not just as someone else in the crowd but as someone special. I remember thinking that if anyone ever did want to be with me that I would have to be someone different than who I am so they would like me. I was insecure and rejection made me feel more insecure. I identified with the author in her quest to work out what it meant to love and to be loved. I identified with her as she dealt with her insecurity and compared herself to other girls. From reading magazines, watching TV, seeing movies and more back then I thought love was about feeling loved and thought nothing about returning love to that person too. I thought about how all this made me feel unattractive, unloveable, unaccepted, useless and worthless. Yes, I had friends who cared about me, but this still didn't make me feel like I could be loved. Thankfully I'm past all that insecurity and am a very happily married woman - though I still have my insecurities but they're not related to feeling loved or valuable anymore.

Thinking through all this helped me to identify more with what we have been talking about for the past 3 years at Summer School. It's helped me think more about how I as a youth worker need to get alongside young people and show them a God who loves them and cares for them as they are and not who they think they need to be or act like. It has helped me to see more of how God has created me and is using me to do His will and show His love. I can see more of how He's using me and my flawed humanity to serve others.

Incredible talent

2008-09-26T12:00:00.000+01:00

I can barely draw a straight line, but this is incredible. A 3 year old boy with ann amazing talent for drawing and painting

Shine FM shines farther!

2008-09-21T23:18:00.000+01:00

102.4 Shine FM has moved (no, not the studio!) but its transmitter to a great, high, high position courtesy of Toymaster in Banbridge. The community station which broadcasts on 102.4 FM to the Banbridge area has improved its signal significantly after the move, which has also enabled the station to broadcast in FM stereo. Shine FM

Shine FM is an OFCOM licensed community radio station with a Christian ethos; all its Directors and Presenters are volunteers.

The youth group at Bannside should still be doing a show, but the schedule is getting a major overhaul so we'll have to see when we will be on.

If you're ever in the Banbridge area.... or just passing via the A1 or something, be sure to tune into the station!

Blast from the past

2008-09-17T13:00:00.003+01:00

Because of the change in our holiday plans I was able to go to church with my Dad again and visit the church I grew up in. I was so excited to see everyone again, but also cos my Dad brings Wine Gums to church too.

It was strange, because it felt like I'd never been gone, but at the same time so much had changed - kids had grown up, there were more regular family services, there were new groups, new people (and new babies!). I miss my home church a lot, and now I've been back for a visit I miss it more. Please don't interpret that as being unhappy at Bannside because I am happy, and I'm excited about things to come - we'll be officially without a minister this time next week meaning we can start looking for someone new. I'm excited about potential, I'm excited about change, but I know the journey to change will be long and hard.

Imitation

2008-09-13T12:00:00.000+01:00

I recently saw this video on YouTube and I have to say I was well impressed by this little bird's skills of imitation. You have to watch it to understand and to believe it.

As I watched it I got to thinking about how as Christians we're supposed to be imitations of Christ which then lead me into a whole line of thinking for a youth talk or childrens' talk. I'll not be posting that talk just yet - need to flesh it out a little more first but I thought I'd share the video for those who may be interested in creating their own discussion or Bible Study or talk of some sort using

Walk like an Egyptian

2008-09-10T22:31:00.006+01:00

After all the chaos of our holiday to Cuba being cancelled we got another one sorted and for cheaper than our original plans too. So next Thursday (18th) we will be heading off to Egypt for 2 weeks!!! The place we will be staying in looks gorgeous and the weather forecast.....

Compared to Cuba.....

Just got to unpack now but leave everything ready to pack again in a week!

Weather forecasts taken from Weather Underground

What a difference a day makes....

2008-09-09T12:52:00.006+01:00

.... 24 little hours....

On Sunday night I was packing clothes and suncream for going on our long awaited holiday to Cuba on Tuesday morning. Monday night came and so did a phone call from our travel agent saying the holiday was canceled because of Hurricane Ike working its way through Cuba - more specifically the resort we were heading to.

We were gutted - we had been looking forward to this for so long. We spent the rest of the evening trying to find a holiday we could take the next day from Gatwick seeing as we had booked flights with sleasy jet to London and back that we couldn't get refunded. We ended up missing the flight this morning because we didn't find anything, so if anyone needs a flight from Gatwick to Belfast on 24th September give me a shout... otherwise it looks like we're loosing it too.

So right now we're in the middle of trying to get another holiday sorted that will leave over the next week.

It's amazing the difference a day can make.

Image from sxc.hu

I shouldn't have said anything

2008-09-01T12:00:00.001+01:00

So I'm back from Summer School where I had a really great time, full of great fellowship and teaching. I've come away with lots to think about and work on implementing in our own youth ministry.

In getting ready to go away I wrote a post about the end of summer and yesterday I was leading the congregation in prayer, introducing it with the words "we're approaching the end of summer". I really shouldn't have said or wrote either of these things because I can't help but notice leaves falling off the trees and other signs of Autumn. Normally I'm not bothered because I love the beauty of Autumn but having not really had any real summer this year again I just don't feel ready for it all.

It got me thinking about the changes we go through in life and how often changes of season come without us being ready for them, even if we have known about the change coming for a long time. I remember being in university knowing God was calling me into a full time youth work job so after university I spent a year at Belfast Bible College preparing for full time ministry, but when that year was up and I got a job I still felt unprepared and a little overwhelmed. Looking back on that time now I can see how God was using my struggle to make me stronger, better prepared for things to come and to make me more dependent on Him instead of me.

I don't feel ready for Autumn, not just the changes in nature but the change back to the routine as our church organisations start up again. I haven't had time to prepare much for it yet or to think through programme much yet but I need to remember God is using this time of change and unpreparedness to make me stronger, better prepared for things to come and to make me more dependent on Him instead of me.

The end of summer...

2008-08-27T20:22:00.002+01:00

..... is now taken over with the Youth Ministry Summer School run by the Presbyterian, Methodist and Church of Ireland Youth departments in Ireland. This is the 3rd year of it's existence but it seems already to be "the norm" for me. So tomorrow morning, bright and early, I'll be leaving Rob and Stewie (and Boomer - my sister's hamster who we're looking after while she's on holiday) to look after themselves for a few days while I swot up on youth ministry once more.

This year Marv Penner and Kenda Creasy Dean will be the keynote speakers. I'm quite excited to hear from Marv about family ministry as that's part of my role in Bannside and something I really want to develop more. Mind you I'm also real excited about meeting with other people who love working with young people too.

I'll be back in a few days but I'm sure I'll be way too tired to post for a few days!

You spin me right round....

2008-08-26T15:18:00.003+01:00

...though maybe not with this worship. Yes I'm sure God is pleased with this worship, but I'm not sure I could praise by singing this and being able to focus on God too.

HT to me in my small corner

I'm such a wuss for puppy eyes

2008-08-21T17:21:00.000+01:00

I've mentioned before how fond I am of my wee pup (yeah he's a fully grown dog now but he still acts like a pup): I've made him Doggie Treats and Birthday Cake. And spoiled him with other treats like bones, pigs ears and toys and even little bits of bacon buttie. He gets great big long walks and lots of mad fetch. He is a spoilt wee boy who has taken over our sofa, well not only the sofa but the whole house and garden, and often takes over ownership of my lap.

I've become such a sucker for big puppy dog eyes and it turns out it's not only Stewie's eyes I fall for. In the past I've fallen for dogs who've been lost and followed me like "Mustard" and Digger who I couldn't help but try to get back to their owner. In fact I did the same once about 12 years ago when I first had a dog (a cute and chubby little Jack Russell called Mutt) and an old english sheepdog pup followed us home one day - my sister and I loved this wee dog but couldn't help but try and get them back to their owner again.

Today I was driving home from the holiday Bible club and almost ran over a little Jack Russell. I had to pull over and see if I had and if he was ok. As soon as I got out of my car this little dog came running over to say hello. I didn't see anyone around and I couldn't find a tag for a name or number on him so I decided to take him to the vet to see if he was chipped or anything. He was so cute and tiny and kept trying to sit on my lap (I don't think he liked the smell of Stewie on the passenger seat).

It turned out he wasn't chipped, the vet couldn't take him in and the dog warden wasn't answering the phone so I decided I'd bring him home and call the warden later after lunch time, but I ended up driving past where I had found the dog again and found someone who knew where the dog was from. I couldn't help but like this wee dog, he was so friendly and sweet and I admit I did ponder how Stewie and Rob would react to this new dog, but then I remembered how spoilt Stewie is and I'm not sure he would cope with the competition.

Mega Quest

2008-08-20T15:08:00.004+01:00

This week our church is running the annual holiday bible club for primary school kids. The past few years I've always felt a bit panicked about it and rushed about prep at the last minute. This year for the half hour before we started on Monday I stood in the middle of the hall and couldn't think of anything else that needed done and it made me panic that I may have forgotten something. The thing was that this year I was much more organised than the previous 2 years. Maybe it was experience or maybe it was that I have become better at planning my time but either way my lack of last minute panic made me panic anyways. Funny isn't it? Perhaps next year I'll have learnt from this and won't be panicking.

We've been using a resource called Mega Quest which we've mixed a little with Desert Detectives. Monday we covered the story of creation, Tuesday we looked at Moses receiving the commandments and today we heard the story of Jesus' death and resurrection. Tomorrow is the disciples on the road to Emmaus and Friday is about what heaven will be like. We're basically covering the Bible cover to cover - something which some of the parents have really appreciated this and how a couple of the kids have been asking where other Bible characters fit into the story. A couple of the younger kids are experiencing worship led by a band playing songs they know for the first time and they've been excited about this - one was asking his mum "will the big boys and girls be playing the fun music again today?" It really excites me that kids are engaging and are excited about what we're doing and it excites me to see what God is doing through our club in these kids' lives. Another thing I'm excited about is how our young people are getting involved and gaining leadership experience through it all too. I need to work on ways to continue developing and using the talents they have and finding ways they can serve God more.

I came across the cartoon on Geek and Poke and couldn't help but add it in here.

1 year blogaversary!!!!

2008-08-13T08:30:00.000+01:00

OK so I've been a sucky blogger the last couple of months but hey I'm still posting occasionally so I think I deserve to celebrate my 1 year blogaversary!!!!!! It's been one year today since I made my first post and I don't think I've done too badly this is my 248th post too which would be an average of about 21 posts a month so I'm happy with that.

I've wrote about my life as a youth and family worker, blogged some youth work resources and childrens addresses, talked a LOT about my wee pup Stewie (yeah he may be 19 months now but he'll always be my wee pup), posted some videos that have amused or inspired me and also about my food blog (Ruth's Kitchen Experiments).

To mark this occasion I spent part of yesterday baking (predictable eh?) some Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Chocolate Ganache

Cute eh? And very tasty!!! I took them to youth group tonight and with only 3 of us there tonight we ate 9 of the 12 between us then Lynn took the rest home to her family to devour so I'm sure they're long gone now!

Animation

2008-08-11T21:31:00.003+01:00

Well Tech Camp is over now for 2008, but there's still a couple of little things to do before I can say it's officially all done for this year.

It was a fantastic camp and I'm surprised it went so well seeing as I was organising it this year!!!!! You should head over to the PCI Tech Camp 08 blog to see what all we were up to.

Anyways about a week or so before the camp we leaders headed over to NI Screen to learn more about animation and here's the little video Rob and I made on the day - wish we had more time for it but hey not bad for half an hours work!

If people were like fonts....

2008-08-06T11:24:00.002+01:00

I'm posting this geek type video because I'm in the middle of Tech Camp and feeling the need to extend the sharing of geekiness to my blog. Someone (sorry can't remember who) Twittered about this video. So very funny, a lot of thought went into this.

It's day 3 and we've been having a great week so far at camp. On Monday we did some filming and editing and went out on a photo scavenger hunt round Belfast - you can see the photos from that on our Tumblr Account. Yesterday we focussed on the internet. We reviewed some church websites and discussed what was good and what was bad about them, then we set up the tumblr account, set up a uStream and a Tech Camp Blog. And today we're working on some animation and making little cartoons which I'm sure will appear on the blog at some point soon.

I'd better head on now though and get some juice and biscuits sorted for break. Ciao!

Tech Camp

2008-08-01T15:49:00.002+01:00

I can't believe it!!!! Tech Camp starts on Monday! For the past week I've been sorting out little bits and pieces for it but still feeling that there is loads to do..... like cleaning out my car for a start! I'm really hoping and praying that it all goes well this year, it's my first year organising everything whereas in the past I came as a leader and helped out in whatever way I could. But I'm really excited about what we'll be doing, which I don't want to reveal here for fear it may spoil it for our campers but I promise there will be a Tech Camp 08 blog which I'll add a link to during the week.

I'd best get back to getting this prepared!!!! But keep the camp in your thoughts and prayers please!!!

Different busy

2008-07-14T14:32:00.003+01:00

When I get to May/June things seem to slow down that little bit as the young people are doing exams or enjoying the sunshine, more people are heading off in their caravans for the weekend and organisations are closing for the summer time. I enjoy this time in youth group because we don't plan anything really and just have the time open as a drop in and decide what we want to do when we're there.

July is when the busyness all kicks off again and a lot of people in the church don't understand and think surely all the organisations have stopped, what exactly do i do with my time? But this is a time when I'm cooped up in the middle of planning for the Holiday Club for the children, running weekly events for our youth, planning for a youth camp called Tech Camp run by the Presbyterian Church in Ireland as well as preparing for Autumn (and even next summer!) and this year preparing for our minister retiring in September. There really is a lot to be getting done

I have to confess that this must be my favourite time in the year because I love the change in pace, the change in the attitude people have over the summer and the fact that I get a little time to myself to think through and plan properly for everything, whereas the rest of the year I feel so rushed from running between one meeting and the next.

However I'm sure once I'm in the middle of September with all our organisations starting up again I'll probably be at the point where I'm glad to have the structure back again! In the meantime I'm just loving the summer!!!!!

Photo sourced from SXC

Multilingual

2008-06-27T09:42:00.000+01:00

How cool is this kid! He talks all sorts of languages: French, German, Italian, Japanese... so much more! I'm sure his vocabulary is somewhat limited though but impressive nonetheless

Amazing Kid - Speaks 13 Languages - video powered by Metacafe

Recently with exam season just being over a lot of our youth group had been conversing in French or Spanish to practice for their oral exams which led to arguments about how to pronounce words or if they were using the right words. I haven't studied Spanish before and it's been almost 10 years since i did my GCSE French so I'm quite rusty, but it was fun trying to remember it all and have little conversations.

A wedding to remember

2008-06-25T16:19:00.005+01:00

A few months ago on twitter a comment popped up from marramgrass saying "So many people keep asking me to shoot weddings, I'm starting to wonder if I should stop saying no out of hand." and a brief twitter conversation began where in summary I suggested he get a youth group to pose as a wedding party and then link it into a Bible study on Christ as the groom and the Church as the bride. A few days after suggesting it the cogs started turning in my head and I thought....

1) I could make a whole series of wedding related Bible studies out of this
2) There's bound to be some children's address potential too and most importantly.....
3) This could be a great end of year bash!

So about a month later after all this thinking I fired an email off to Mr Marramgrass who was keen to give it a go too. We set a date and the next time I met the youth group I announced it and had volunteers to be the bride and groom thus unofficially engaging them to be married in 4 weeks time. Now a lot of people have laughed at me for having had a brief engagement myself and trying to plan a wedding in such a short space of time but thankfully there wasn't as much planning for this one given that we already have a church, have halls for the catering etc, the date was set and I was ready to just wing it. The bride got a little carried away in the planning and had gone to the props department in school to try on about 12 different dresses out of the 30 or so they had (the local wedding dress shop had donated them all) and picked one and nearly each time I was speaking to her since there were conversations about how she would do her hair etc. In contrast most of the guys were wondering what food there would be lol.

Well the big day rolled round and pretty much everyone had a job, there was the bride and groom, the "minister", the organist, the father and mother of the bride, bridesmaids, best man, dj, father of the groom and me the caterer who also doubled as the mother of the groom. It was all pretty thrown together with "vows" written at the last minute and the praise and reading being sorted about half an hour before we began.

It was hilarious, the most surreal wedding I've ever been to. Well it's just funny when the bride and groom give each other jelly shaped rings vowing:
"With this ring I promise to make your finger sticky, I promise to laugh at your jokes in your speech when no one else does and I promise to eat your share of the cake"

After all that craziness we posed for some photos then went to eat and dance the night away! It was a fab day which they've been asking to do again ever since! I think I'll wait a couple of years to plan another one. in the mean time enjoy some of the fab photos Mark took for us.

The guys all waiting on the girls.... what else is new?

Here come's the bride at a million miles an hour!

This is one really casual minister...

The bride and groom....

.... you would think they actually liked each other!

Hitting the dance floor

The Wedding cake I made that was devoured in a matter of minutes

Everyone together

The plan is to prepare a series of Bible studies for the group over the summer so they will be ready in time for the Autumn when we start back again.... and maybe sneak in a few children's addresses about it over the summer.

Better than Wii?

2008-06-14T14:52:00.002+01:00

Hey... I'm shocked because I haven't posted here in over 2 weeks!!! Sorry folks, have had a busy time of it. I do have lots going on that I want to blog about like our big end of year bash for the youth group (which I promise I will soon) and PCI's Youth night and Kid's Praise Party last weekend or maybe even just some new children's talks and youth Bible studies. For now though please accept my apology and enjoy this video. I think this has loads of potential

10 optical illusions

2008-05-29T09:00:00.000+01:00

Another great video courtesy of Marko

10 optical illusions in 2 minutes....

Our first anniversary celebrations

2008-05-27T12:00:00.000+01:00

I've been really bad and not blogged this sooner, but I hope you'll forgive me for the tardiness of this!

It all kind of started on the 19th April (day before our anniversary) when we took a bit of a road trip with Stewie and his belongings up to Conlig because he was going to stay with friends for the weekend.

We traveled home via Belfast and decided to stop into the Odyssey to get some food from the Indian Ocean. It was delicious (as usual) but the dish I ordered reminded me more of Chinese than Indian food, besides the point though, because we had a lovely meal then headed home to get tucked up in bed to watch a movie and eventually fell asleep.

We got up the next morning after a long lie in, which is very strange for me seeing as it was a Sunday and that's usually the busiest day in my week. We got up and packed our overnight bag and headed down to Newcastle for our overnight stay in the Slieve Donard Hotel. Neither of us had been before (at least as far as we can remember) and as we drove towards the building I think both our jaws dropped. It's a stunning hotel built right beside the sea with a beautiful view of the Slieve Donard, so it was a great place to go away to and relax.

The Slieve Donard Hotel

We walked up to the door and were greeted by a doorman holding open the door for us... I felt all posh already! We walked in and I was breathless at the beautiful reception hall. We got all checked in and headed to our room - we dumped our bags and headed straight for the spa to enjoy the swimming pool with an incredible view and the heat experiences. This was sooooo relaxing! We hadn't booked any treatments but this seemed to be enough on its own.

When you visit Newcastle, it seems like a law that you have to get some ice cream - after all you are beside the sea! So we headed into Newcastle to get some Maud's and couldn't help but get their top selling flavour known as "poor bear" but used to be (and still is in my eyes) "Pooh Bear" because it's ice cream with honeycomb through it. It's such a delicious treat and something we try to make ourselves at home but it's never as good as Maud's version.

We walked back to the hotel and up to our room, then watched a little tv while we waited for the time to head downstairs for our evening meal. A very posh affair indeed!!! As soon as we were seated the wine waiter introduced himself and took our order, as soon as he left a waitress offered us some bread rolls, then shortly after that we were asked for our order from the menu. And what a menu it was!

I ordered the barberry duck with rhubarb chutney and potato gratin and Rob ordered the fillet of beef. Both very delicious dishes! And came to the table looking rather classy too....

Then for dessert I went for the hot dessert of the day - sponge pudding with custard.

We had brought our top tier of wedding cake with us so Rob skipped dessert and had some of the cake where as I was a pie and had both!

I can't believe it has been a year where we've gone from this:

to this:

And it's a shame we didn't get to have any of the cake a year ago at the wedding because I would imagine (well I hope so anyway) that it was tastier than the top tier was after being frozen for a year and defrosted. The marzipan kind of "sweated" through the cake making it all taste of marzipan and it was also quite a hard cake (and yes it was defrosted fully!) so we didn't eat very much of it at all. Still we had a beautiful meal and were well looked after.

After what I thought was a great night's sleep on a really comfy bed (Rob wasn't fond of it and thought he was getting a sore back) we woke up and headed for breakfast with almost everything you could want for breakfast, the option of a cooked one, cereals, fruit, cheeses, hams, toast, bagels, croissants... and much more. It was a lovely relaxing breakfast in a dining room while some guests read the morning paper and sipped their tea.

I was sad to be going home so soon after this but we had an incredible time there and I'm pretty sure we'll be back, if not for the night at least for the spa!!!! We had a fantastic time celebrating our first full year of marriage and we had a fantastic first year together. I'm excited to see what the future will bring for us and what other things we will be celebrating together.

Free Youth Bible Study 2 - Clay Pot

2008-05-20T14:30:00.004+01:00

As we're coming into the summer and the tone and speed of youth group slows down due to the warmer weather, exams, families going caravaning etc I decided to take an idea that Duffy Robbins had shared at summer school last August. He spoke about a youth worker (whose name escapes me but if anyone knows please fill me in!!!) who took a large clay pot and broke it into lots of pieces, gave a piece to each of the young people in his group to decorate then glued it all together again.

When I handed out the pieces they were rather confused but loved the idea of expressing themselves also once we'd finished decorating we got to play some rounders outside in the sun.

I took all the pieces home and spent all of the following week gluing it all back together again but it turned out real well -

The following week we had a relaxed casual Bible Study and used the pot as a prop.

Click here to download the Bible Study

If you're using this please get in touch. I'd love to know where and how it's being used - just because I'm curious.

A song and dance over crisps

2008-05-20T14:27:00.002+01:00

HT to Alan in Belfast for this video. I absolutely love these videos with the element of surprise, and the fact the are filled with the unexpected. Simple and extraordinary.

Backstreet's back

2008-05-13T17:27:00.005+01:00

OK, I know I'm not a tweenager anymore, but when my friend texted me a few months ago and asked if I wanted to go to the Back Street Boys concert I thought why not? Now I'm not a big fan of them... in fact I don't even own any of their albums or singles etc so when I said yes and told some family and friends they were quite surprised.

Well last night was the night and I have to say it was great fun. I haven't been at a concert in ages, so that was part of the fun too I suppose. The warm up act was a guy called George, who was being managed by one of the Backstreet Boys, who was really quite annoying. To start with he came out and the music started and he did this Justin Timberlake type dance thing for a few minutes then sang along with his own voice on the track for a bit before going back to the weird dancing. Then he really made me unhappy and completely massacred a classic: Eric Clapton's "Tears in heaven". He sang some more songs which were his own - "Lie to me" and "Talk to me" I was waiting for "Run to me" or something similar to be the next song. Then he went on to take off his shirt, which made me wanna barf because I just hate stars who flaunt their bodies to get more of a response and they usually do it to cover up for a lack of talent anyways (which I thought was obvious). All in all I really didn't like him as an entertainer, he may well be a lovely bloke though so I'll hope that maybe he is.

He cleared off and about 15 minutes later the main act came on stage. It seemed a little tacky to start with being that they'd dressed in boxer's gowns and were coming on to the stage on a boxing ring "fighting each other along to the "Eye of the Tiger" tune, then they started singing one of their own songs to the tune which sounded really good! They sang some of their older stuff and also some of their new album, as well as some of each of their own solo work. Nick got on a drum kit and did some great drumming to a dance track. Near the end of the show a couple of them went to the crowd so the ~~crazed fans~~ people at the front could see them up close - the guys just looked to be having so much fun which makes it fun to watch too I suppose. There was loads of variety in the music so a lot of different people would have enjoyed the show. It was a great night, and I even woke up this morning singing one of the songs! It's gone now though.

I didn't really get any photos cos I've only got my camera phone which didn't work so good, but when my friend puts her pics online I'll add them here.

Milky fun

2008-05-11T15:11:00.000+01:00

What a cool video!!!! I'm still thinking through how I can use this in youth or children's work sometime.... it's too cool to not use it!!!

HT to Marko

Digger

2008-05-09T12:37:00.004+01:00

I've posted before about having a random dog start to follow me round the park but it has happened again, and with a labrador again too!!!!

Stewie and I were enjoying a walk round Lurgan Park this week and loving the short heatwave we've had here the past few days when a labrador started walking along with us. To start I just ignored it thinking it's owner was somewhere near by, but after a while I looked around and saw no one. He started lifting sticks and trying to play with me, I tried to look at his tags to see his name or get a number but he kept growling at me so I left it.

Eventually though he stopped the growling when he didn't have a stick in his mouth so I got the number and called the owner, who told me that "Digger" just likes to take off sometimes for a wander round the park by himself and once he's done he makes his own way home.

How cool is that?!?!?!? I'd love it if Stewie was able to take himself for a walk when I've got really busy days but then again we do have great fun on our walks together.

Sun shiny shine

2008-05-07T13:00:00.004+01:00

It's May and the sun is splitting out of the skies and forced us to have a mini BBQ last night which was fantastic. I also had Stewie out for a longer walk yesterday as well as him wanting to keep playing fetch with the ball. He was having so much fun playing fetch and his eyes were all sparkly watching the ball anytime I lifted it:

But there came a point when he kept coming back with the ball and collapsing on the ground like this:

That didn't stop him jumping up again ready to go everytime I lifted the ball again. but we headed home for fear he'd die of thirst, heat or exhaustion. He ended up trying to find nice cool spots to lie down round the house for most of the rest of the evening.

I love the sunnier weather too because it marks a big change in wardrobe -

I read a few blogs recently from California saying it was in the 60s (fahrenheit) and they were freezing! Well it's about the 60s here at the minute and we're loving it!!!!! I am at least anyways!

Yay Marko!!!

2008-05-03T01:14:00.003+01:00

Congrats Marko on the results of his recent "Are you a bigger looser than Marko?" contest loosing a total of 60lb over 12 weeks!!!!! Check out the difference!

And while you're at it check out this hilarious video....

George Street

2008-05-02T13:35:00.001+01:00

I was emailed this YouTube video for some encouragement - just in the middle of a time when I really need it - but I was just in awe of this story. I suppose we may never know the impact we've made on others but this man was very fortunate.

Enjoy Taste of Scotland Review

2008-05-01T00:16:00.000+01:00

Well Enjoy a taste of Scotland was last Friday and only now have I had time to stop and write a report on how it all went.

It all started at 5.30am on Friday when I woke up and got ready for the day then started the drive up to the airport for my flight on sleazy jet. As I arrived in the queue for check in I turned around to see who was behind me and to my surprise there stood an old school friend. We ended up chatting all the way to Glasgow - in the departure lounge, on the plane, waiting for luggage and on the bus into Glasgow, then we went our separate ways but I really enjoyed our chat and it did keep me awake seeing as I'm not used to being awake at that time of day!

I arrived in Glasgow about 9.30am and the event wasn't starting until around midday so off I went for a walk down Sauchiehall Street - this street became famous for me when I was working in WHSmith because we were almost always in tight competition with the Sauchiehall Street store for all sorts of things. Anyways, I had a walk round and decided that although I'd be spending all my afternoon eating and nibbling that I was rather hungry. I had to laugh at myself because I had travelled to Glasgow to try some new and different food and I end up going into McDonalds for a Sausage McMuffin and OJ - yes I'm ashamed but I far prefer the breakfast menu in McD's to it's main menu.

Noon rolled round and I had just arrived at the big white tent in George Square.

There were lots of people running around like mad trying to set up last minute bits and pieces and me standing wondering where on earth I'm supposed to go or who I'm supposed to see. I end up grabbing someone who was trying to rush past me holding a radio (that must mean they're important right?) and asking where the press go, I was pointed in the direction of "Reception" while the girl rushed on to her emergency. I walked up to the desk feeling a little out of my depth and said who I was and that I was looking for Craig (my contact). Craig turned round to greet me, he handed me a press pack, a press USB pen and a press badge.

I was sent off to play round the various stalls and taste lots of different samples. I first arrived at Kingsmill and despite having a big bag for collecting samples and info was given another bag full of loaves and baps - a very generous gift and gesture but unfortunately I had to give the bag away because there was no way I would be able to get it on the place home. Warburtons tried to do the same but I had to refuse.

I went on and chatted more with lots of other food companies and brands including Border biscuits who sent me home with some lovely butterscotch crunch and chocolate chip shortbread (they went down well with a cup of tea!).

I got chatting to Greenvale - a potato producer - who mentioned knowing Wilsons Potatoes here in NI to which I replied "oh you know Angus? He's a good guy" and the guy looked at me blankly leaving me thinking that either my friend Angus Wilson is a liar (highly unlikely) or that this guy was just clueless.

Patterson Arran have also sent me home with enough oatcakes to last a life time! May need to use them to cater for youth group a few times.

I was still walking round nibbling almost anything people were offering and ended up feeling like something a little fresher than Mrs Tilly's Butter Tablet or Dean's Shortbread or some First Milk cheese - don't get me wrong I loved all of these tasty treats but my mouth was just a little dry and in need of something a little sweeter. I stumbled across Good Natured Fruit with some tasty strawberries - they're a pesticide free strawberries and raspberries. I got talking to a girl about how they go along the rows placing ladybirds on each of the plants to get rid of nasty bugs out to destroy. You could really taste the difference!

I also stopped by Oleifera who apparently are posting out a complimentary bottle of rapeseed oil, which I'm quite excited about. It has half the saturated fat that olive oil has, can help to lower cholesterol, has your essential omega 3 and omega 6, and even has a high smoke point. I'm really looking forward to getting to use this in a few recipes.

I went into the kid's zone for a nosy and got talking to a girl about an education scheme by the Royal Highland Education Trust for schools that is aimed at raising awareness of the importance of red meat in a healthy balanced diet and teaches children about the journey of cattle, sheep and pigs from farm to plate including animal husbandry, basic nutrition and what various world religions believe about red meat. Being the nerd that I am I was quite excited about this scheme.

I came across R & K Drysdale who were giving away a sample of peeled swede in a plastic bag that can be microwaved in the bag then mashed or sliced or whatever. So expect a blog post shortly about the results!

I decided after all that walking around Sauchiehall Street and then all around the exhibits that I needed to take a seat and the only seats I could find was the rowed seating for the cookery theatre so I got comfy and rested my feet for a bit. I had a look around and spotted Nick Nairn, who had almost run me over a few minutes earlier by running around the place pushing a trolley and being followed by a camera crew, getting set up to film a cookery demonstration.

It was also at this stage that I had spotted the walking Macsween haggii looking like happy chappys but I'm sure the people inside the costume were melting with the heat. (I also spotted a Baxter's soup man walking around waving and skipping too).

As I was sitting resting weary bones I also spotted someone sitting on her own also chilling out a bit. I decided to go over and introduce myself and it turns out I'd just met Lynn from Lynn's Cooking Blog! We ended up being buddies for the rest of the day. We hung around for the opening speeches then headed out for some tea and came back to do a little more browsing of the displays again.

This time round I got talking to a guy in a kilt giving out flyers on how to cook steak to perfection - I'll be sticking that up in my kitchen for future reference! I tried some Mackays marmalades and preserves and really enjoyed the variety of flavour and the natural flavours that came through in them. And also got talking to a girl from the Really Garlicky company who gave me a great press pack that included a bulb of smoked garlic (again expect to see some blog posts including this!). Then stopped by the Tunnocks stand to get some tea cakes for Rob who I had left at home alone with Stewie for the day.

Not all of the food on display has originated in Scotland - but then I suppose that's a difficult thing to do anywhere now. I came across Monaghan Mushrooms, who have some farms in Scotland too apparently. I also was given a packet of Yeungs chinese curry mix which I'm pretty sure isn't traditionally Scottish, but they are Scottish based and have been for over 18 years! There was also a stall for Edinburgh Tea and Coffee which prompted us to ask exactly where in Scotland they were growing the coffee beans and tea leaves.

There were also some cookery demonstrations on in the "Cookery theatre". I sat, watched, listened and even smelt my way through one by Joe Queen from Macdonald Hotels which I really enjoyed. I would have loved to have seen more cookery demos and in particular by some of the exhibitors themselves to show the versatility of their product and also introduce new ideas for using their product.

It was an interesting day, particularly when exhibitors asked "Which publication are you from?" - I eventually learned that saying I was 'freelance' was much less complicated than saying 'I'm a blogger' (which the writer for Farmer's Weekly who I got chatting to for a while at the airport on the way home told me was much easier than saying any publication sometimes). All in all I really enjoyed my day, despite my flight home being delayed a few hours and making my day that little bit longer. I enjoyed talking with food producers and cooks and bakers about food and learned quite a bit about the Scottish food scene, however I really would have liked to see more primary produce instead of the sweets companies, bottled water companies, and a few other random companies. And as I said earlier in this post I really would have liked to see more cookery demos and things from the actual exhibitors themselves as well as the scheduled cookery theatre program.

It really was quite an adventure for me trying out some products that are either hard or impossible to obtain in Northern Ireland. There were so many other companies there that I could talk about but this post is already long enough, so check out the Enjoy the taste of Scotland website for more details on that.

I really hope something like this can happen over here sometime! It would be great to see some more of our local produce getting a plug.

Thank you to Craig from Denvir Marketing for helping me work out how to get over to Glasgow and also for making me feel all privileged as "Press" for the day.

Married to a Youth Pastor

2008-04-29T18:12:00.002+01:00

HT to Matthew McNutt for this link to Married to a Youth Pastor. I've only been reading this blog for a couple of days but it's been very informative and interesting in all sorts of ways. I imagine it might be of interest to others who read this little corner of the web still and that it may be of use and/or interest to youth workers, ministers, and of course their spouses!

Going to Enjoy Taste of Scotland

2008-04-25T05:45:00.004+01:00

Today I'm away to Enjoy Taste of Scotland being held in George's Market in Glasgow. I posted about it before on my food blog but can't belive it's actually today! It's going to be a great event. If you're in Glasgow or near Glasgow this weekend I recommend checking it out. The details are all on the website and it's absolutely free!

Odd jigsaw

2008-04-23T20:53:00.003+01:00

I've been having a bit of a rough time lately, mind you our anniversary weekend celebrations did help, but I'll not go into details here, however I'll post soon about the weekend.

Anyways I spotted a post on Marko's blog about a fun little jigsaw found here where the pieces of the jigsaw are little individual pictures that somehow fit together. It took be a little while to do that with some breaks in between, but it was a fun distraction from thinking about my bad mood.

Have a go I think you'll like it.

Our First Anniversary

2008-04-20T08:00:00.001+01:00

Today Rob and I are celebrating our first wedding anniversary! It's a year to the day when we stood in front of all our family and friends and became husband and wife, then went off and started cooking for them all!!!!

Only kidding, but it's one of my favourite photos from the day.

It's been a fantastic year! I've really loved being married and making a home with Rob. I'll share more tomorrow about our celebrations and what we did to mark the occasion.

Photo meme

2008-04-18T15:21:00.005+01:00

I saw this over on my name is cool... so I have to do it now, but hey I like the sound of this meme anyways.

Photo Meme:

If you read it you gotta do it!

1. Go to photobucket.com
2. Type in your answer for each question into the Photobucket search bar.
3. Only use the first two pages.
4. Copy the html and paste it here.
5. You can only answer in picture form.

What is your name?

When is your birthday?

What kind of car do you drive?

Where did you go to school/university?

What is your favorite season?

What is your favorite type of shoe?

What is your status?

What is your favorite movie?

What is your favorite song?

Who is your favorite Disney character?

What is your favorite vacation destination?

What is your favorite dessert?

What is your favorite drink?

What are you most afraid of?

What is your favorite TV show?

Now you've seen it give it a go!!!!

Spray tan

2008-04-18T14:42:00.004+01:00

This time last year (almost to the minute) I was standing in a booth getting a spray tan done.... my sister was treating me to this in preparation for mine and Rob's wedding 2 days later. I remember my sister and I feeling wet and sticky, I remember going into Debenhams to pick up the guys suits, I remember the Bible Study I led that night where I was surprised with a mini party and was also bashed for being so orange. I also remember the shower the next morning with the orange water running down the plug hole and how clean I felt after it!

This Sunday is our first wedding anniversary and I'll not advertise what we're doing to celebrate but I promise to tell all afterwards.

Picture from Online Tan Shop

Monthly review 8

2008-04-17T23:44:00.004+01:00

It's that time of month again.....

Here are some of the stats (obtained via Google Analytics) from the last month (13th March-12th April 08) for this blog, with last months numbers in brackets:

1. There have been 740 (701) visits.
a) 311 (254) of those have come via referring sites
b) 151 (225) of those visits are direct traffic
c) 277 (222) of those visits are from search engines
d) 1 (0) of those visits came from "other" ......... I have no idea what this means!

2. Searches that have brought people to this site are:
(I'm not going to note last months stats for these cos it's too complicated now the list is getting so long)

ruth e babes - 14 times
christian childrens talks - 13 times
christian children's talks - 8 times
juice loose about this house - 6 times
e babes - 4 times
belfast babes - 3 times
free christian talks - 3 times
rob and ruth elkin - 3 times
ruthebabes - 3 times
banbridge babes - 2 times
children christian talk - 2 times
children's christian talks - 2 times
childrens christian talks - 2 times
christian childrens talks free - 2 times
christian kids talk - 2 times
christian kids talks - 2 times
floating lemons and sinking limes - 2 times
free childrens christian talks - 2 times
free youth bible study - 2 times
god pie - 2 times
portadown babes - 2 times
ruth bible youth - 2 times
ruth elkin - 2 times
ruth in the bible - 2 times
there's juice loose - 2 times
why do lemons float - 2 times
www .babes.blog.spot .com - 2 time
zombie attack plans - 2 times
all ruth +pics
all ruths are toothy
andy flan girl
christian kids talks
funny bible studies
god pie
ruth little ireland
ruth patience + bebo
a funny chicken race. kids love it.
afrika babes hunter
alife4sale book download
all ruth free pics
babe+bebo
babes blog -sex
babes blogspot
babes size 5
babes spot blog
bacon buttie
banbridge graffiti
bannside presbyterian church
bbc "are you one of them"
bebo glengormley
belfast graffiti bebo
bible character david
bible clothing of ruth
bible gateway com daily verse
bible gateways
bible pictures of david and bathsheba
bible study david and bathsheba
bible study in pictures running the race with patience
blogspot.com download babes hot
childre's talk christian
children christian talks
children talks christian
children talks-christian-
children's bible study on ruth
children's christian talks free
children's free bible talks
children's religious cartoons
children's talks christian
childrens christian talks and stories
childrens free christian talks
childrens talks cross
christian children talks
christian children's address
christian children's family talks
christian children's talk
christian childrens talks and stories
christian garden of eden pictures
christian kids talk love
christian talk on flowers
christian talks for children about sheep
christian talks kids free
chritian childrens talks
church of ireland email scam
church of ireland phising
com babes.ni
come to canada for your free bible studies
cross children's talk
david and bathsheba children's lessons
downloadable youth bible studies
e babe
e number day
e typing
e-typing download
e.babes picture
ebible gateway
ed's diner banbridge
ed's grill banbridge
eds bar and grill lisburn jobs
edun live bebo
email contacts of ruth
follow-up to harry potter
free babe art
free bird banbridge
free children's christian talks
free children's talks
free childrens talks
free christian children's talks
free christian photos for children
free range chicken race
free youth bible
free youth bible study resource
funny belfast
funny bible organizations
funny christian talks for children
funny church graffiti
funny graffiti
get free youth bible
ghana volunteer bebo
god pie video
google ruth
hoots man
hot northern irish babes
how can i download the singing polo dog onto my phone
how cool is ruthie
http://ruthebabes.blogspot.com/
i love mondays
i love mondays belfast
images of ruth from bible
indian babes "blogspot"
indian babes blogs
indian babes blogspot
indian restaurant menorca
inhaler
ireland gymnastics bebo
juice loose 'but this hoose'
juice loose about the house
juice loose hoose
kid bible study in singapore
kids christian talk
link to verse on biblegateway
local butcher
long hair babe blog
long hair babe indian
loose aboot this hoose
maryland "robert elkin"
mataheah
menorca honeymoon
monthly review + netherlands + 2008
new zealand babe blog
nigerian babes and flowers
nightreach northern ireland
noah's ark children's talk
northern babes wife pics
northern ireland asbos 2008
paki british babes
pampered chef at church
personal babe blogspot
philippine christian babes
phishy email
photography hillsborough forest march
picture of ruth in the bible
playpump
portuguese babe video on blog
re/ school assemblies/ why jesus died for us
religious picture of ruth
ruth - bebo
ruth bebo
ruth bebo ballymoney
ruth blogspot
ruth children's talks
ruth e snow
ruth image bible study
ruth in graffiti
ruth in the bible with pictures
ruth mary hunter facebook
ruth's biblical characters
services@paypals.com
short christian talks
short hair babes
shorthair babes
simple picture of bible character ruth
studying babes blogs
take a test on ruth's story in the bible
talk 2 children
talk for children christian
talk to babes 100% free
the chicken race jamie oliver
the story of the lost sheep for kids
there juice loose about this house
there's juice loose aboot this house
theres a juice loose
theres a juice loose about this house
theres juice loose aboot this hoose
theres juice loose about this house advert
this aint daft punk shirts
typing test in ireland
uk babe blogspot
video faith the dog
vodafone
well i'm a man and i can't help but love you so volkwagen polo advert
what is the difference between a heron and a crane
where buy chickens northern ireland
where did lydia of the bible get purple cloth
why do lemons float in water?
youth bible david and bathsheba
youth bible lessons on ruth
youth bible studies free
youth bible study - david
youth studies parting red sea
zombie attack prep
christian childrens talk - 0 times
are/ school assemblies/ people taking the blame for us like jesus did - 0 times
christian childrens talks cross - 0 times
chritian children's talk - 0 times
ruth children's talks bible - 0 times

3. Number of visits from each country that visited.
472 (496) visits came from the UK
157 (123) visits came from the USA
22 (21) visits came from Australia
16 (5) visits came from India
11 (16) visits came from Ireland
11 (4) visits came from Canada
4 (3) visits came from New Zealand
3 (3) visits came from Italy
3 (1) visits came from Pakistan
3 (3) visits came from Germany
3 visits came from Norway
2 visits came from Sweden
2 visits came from Hungary
2 visits came from Egypt
2 (1) visits came from Japan
2 visits came from Brazil
2 (1) visits came from Greece
2 visits came from Turkey
2 (2) visits came from Singapore
2 visits came from Spain
1 (2) visit came from South Africa
1 (2) visit came from the Philippines
1 visit came from Bahrain
1 visit came from Kenya
1 visit came from Switzerland
1 visit came from Iceland
1 (1) visit came from Indonesia
1 visit came from Malta
1 visit came from Cyprus
1 visit came from Serbia and Montenegro
1 visit came from Belgium
1 (1) visit came from the Netherlands
1 (1) visit came from United Arab Emirates
1 visit came from Taiwan
1 visit came from Ivory Coast
1 visit came from China
1 visit came from Senegal

4. Top 10 referring sites
Ruth's Kitchen Experiments - 69
Blogger - 56
Google Images - .com - 43
shot in the arm - 18
Bebo - 14
Debs Erwin - 11
Google - 10
Alan in Belfast - 9
Livingloud - Bowmanblog - 9
Google Images - .co.uk - 8

5. Top 3 blog posts
Free Christian Children's Talk 1 - 93 views
NaBloPoMo 2 - 47 views
Free Christian Children's Talk 2 - 45 times

Sesame Tree

2008-04-14T21:57:00.004+01:00

I finally got to watch some Sesame Tree: Northern Irelands new kids show. Alan in Belfast has posted loads about a Northern Irish version of Sesame Street hitting our screens and it keeps reminding me to check it out everytime I check out his blog. Getting to see it today was helped satisfy some curiosity about the show and made me remember loads of the little clips from Sesame Street that was on almost every lunchtime as I was growing up. I loved the show: it's great to have local kids learning and teaching each other too alongside some really cool muppets. But what I loved most about the show was how Hilda the Hare says "that was beezer"..... now that's "beezer!"

Free Christian Children's Talk 3

2008-04-11T18:49:00.004+01:00

It's been a while since i posted a children's talk so here's a copy of the very first children's talk I ever did! Looking at my notes it wouldn't mean anything to anyone else so I've rewrote it to make sense and also to sounds like how I actually said it.

Recipe
You will need to set up some things in advance:
2 tables - 1 with all the right quantities for the recipe, the other with either wrong quantities or wrong ingredients, along with bowls and spoons for mixing the ingredients together
Copy recipe to powerpoint and project on screen if you have them.

"I rushed out of the house and didn’t get breakfast….

I'm so hungry! You might have heard my tummy rumbling during the last hymn! Well I hope it's ok, but I'm going to need to eat some breakfast now. Can I have someone to help me make breakfast?"

Pick a volunteer who'll understand the recipe and be able to put everything together

Muesli
Add the following ingredients to a large bowl:
• 1 crushed up weetabix/wheat flakes
• 4 spoonfuls of oat flakes
• A handful of bran flakes
• A small glass full of banana chips
• A small glass of raisins
• A glass of milk

"OK right well let's see the recipe for first thing we need to put in the bowl is the weetabix, oh wait I have 2... well I'll add them both and make it extra weetabixy

Next some oat flakes.... oh wait i have some almond flakes, but I suppose they're kind of like oat flakes... they're both flaky right?

Next some bran flakes.... i only have 1 flake... well sure i have the extra weetabix in there to make up for less bran flakes."

Look at volunteer's bowl "Yours looks very different to mine, are you sure you're doing it right? Anyways next we need some banana chips.... I have a whole banana, same thing really.

Next a small glass of raisins... do you think jelly beans would work ok? That's all I have here. I'm sure it'll be fine.

And finally the milk, sure coconut milk will be great... it's a type of milk right?

OK I'm starving" Have a taste, pull faces to show it doesn't taste good

"That's horrible! It doesn't taste good at all!" Look at volunteer's muesli

"Well mine doesn’t look like yours! Let me have a taste of that!" Have a taste, pull face to show it's tasty

"How come yours is better than mine? We both were given the same recipe! Well I suppose I didn't follow the recipe properly, I used different ingredients and had more of some things and less of others. And when you're cooking it's good to follow the instructions. Mine would have tasted nicer if I had done what the recipe told me to do.

You know this reminds me of the Bible, because the Bible is like an instruction manual, it gives us guidance, it teaches us to live the way God wants us to and shows us how to be friends with God.

Sometimes we think it's best if we just do things our own way and ignore the advice and help that God gives us in the Bible. But God is so much smarter and wiser than we will ever be and he knows what is best for us.

In the Bible, Jesus gives us 2 very important instructions
To love God with all our heart, all our soul and with all our mind. That’s a lot of love.
And the second is to love each other the way we’d like people to show us love.

The whole Bible tells us how we can do that and how we can follow God better by living the way he wants us to. Because God is smarter and wiser, knows what's best for us and wants to be friends with us. The Bible really is a great book that we should try to read everyday."

If you are using this talk please let me know for curiosity's sake, I'm just interested to know where it's being used.

Picture sourced from Diary of a Food Nobody

Nasty hailstones

2008-04-10T22:00:00.004+01:00

I'm going to be typically Northern Irish and talk about the weather here... but what the heck is goin on with the weather lately! I mean there was snow at the weekend, a warm sunshiny day on Monday, then windy then rainy and now today there was hail! And it was BIG hailstones.... not golf ball sized or anything but still pretty big.

I'm glad I was inside!

Anyways it's given me more ideas of children's addresses, which reminds me that I really need to post more of them.

Hoots man there's juice loose aboot this hoose!

2008-04-09T20:10:00.002+01:00

It makes me so happy to see this ad back on tv!!! I love it!

Welcoming church

2008-04-06T21:58:00.004+01:00

Today I was in Donaghadee in between the morning service and our youth organisations this evening.... cos I decided to make my Sunday that extra bit busier by driving for an hour and 15 minutes there and an hour and 15 minutes back as well as spending an hour and a half there. However there was an actual reason for going: my friend's little girl was being baptised and having a bit of a birthday bash at the same time and I was so excited about it because I don't get to see this friend often. I was there on my own, which I didn't mind much. I had planned to head back home shortly after the service, but the "tea ladies" of Shore Street Presbyterian were sitting beside me and poked me on the shoulder as soon as the service was finished and asked who I was, where I had come from, how I knew my friend and was I coming for the tea and coffee upstairs. Well Jean and Joan ushered me up and had me sat down and had found out all sorts about me, made sure I had a cup of tea, some sandwiches and a traybake.

It was so lovely for me as a stranger to the church, for them to not just spend their time with the people they knew but to also invite me to their group for tea and a chat. I wouldn't have minded going for tea or coffee by myself but to be given a "personal" invite and to be made to feel like I was already a friend made me feel very welcome.

So my prayer for today is that every church has a Jean and a Joan like these 2 who make people feel welcome and like they've always been there.

Ed's Bar & Grill

2008-03-29T23:36:00.001Z

Rob suggested going out for dinner last night and I jumped at the chance. We decided to try the newest restaurant in Banbridge: Ed's Bar and Grill I've held a few meetings in there with some of my volunteer youth leaders and so on but was excited to go for a proper meal and with Rob too because we usually get takeout instead of going out for food.

I was also excited because they have a great mix of a menu but not so mixed that it overwhelms you.... OK I did struggle a little to narrow down my choices to what I was actually going to have, but it gives me more reason to go back and try all the other dishes I like the sound of!

It's a fantastic atmosphere, perfect for families, parties, couples and lots more. The staff were very friendly and in fact while we were having our order taken a customer interrupted and handed our server the bill, he looked at us with that look of "I'm sorry" mixed with "What was that about?", but he was very professional and carried on with our order after that.

We were served quite quickly and everything was hot, fresh from the kitchen... in fact so hot that when I ate one of the chips I burnt my throat swallowing it meaning that today has been a struggle swallowing. But they were good chips!

I had some delicious "sweet and sticky chicken" described as marinated and seared chicken, in a sticky mild whole grain mustard and honey glaze....... how good does that sound?!?!?!?! And it was, absolutely delicious, but I would have like a little more of the marinade for some of the chicken that had none underneath... or even just for having as a dressing on the salad bed it came on.

My dear plain eating hubby had a plain burger and chips... that he says were very good, he was well happy with it.

I was very impressed with the friendliness of the staff, the great atmosphere, great menu, quick service, very tasty food... however there is one thing that has bothered me each time I've been there, which I'm sure some think is an excellent idea. They have nintendo DS and mini DVD players along with a selection of games and movies for entertaining your children during the meal. It makes me sad that families can't sit down to a nice meal together without distractions or having to be entertained, but then again I'm not a parent so I shouldn't judge. But a great place to go for a meal, I highly recommend it... but if you can't get to Ed's Banbridge, check out their Lisburn branch.

Bacon buttie time!

2008-03-29T20:37:00.000Z

I love having a bacon buttie! It's just fab, cooking the bacon, buttering the bread, mixing it all together.... so simple yet so delicious!

I was getting the bacon ready for one today and wee Stewie was being the cute pup that he is paying close attention to what was happening!

And this is him watching me eating.... it's so hard saying no to that cute face!

He loves sitting and watching me cook, think it's so he can work out whether or not it's worth his while eating his own food or trying to blag a bit of our food!

What's happening in the blogosphere 1

2008-03-27T18:11:00.005Z

I feel really bad. I feel like I've been neglecting this blog lately while Ruth's Kitchen Experiments gets loads of attention! I haven't forgotten this blog, just that I've noticed myself thinking about food, recipes and in particular food blog events pretty much all the time! Yes I need out more, but when I do go out I end up going into a butchers, greengrocers, tesco, sainsburys or somewhere food related.

Anyways, while I ponder what I'm going to write about for my next post I want to share some links to posts by other bloggers that I found rather interesting or something like that:

1. Maggie Dawn - Retouching Beauty

2. Why you should become vegetarian - YUCK!

3. Grannymar's Thursday Special - My next life

4. Tim Schmoyer defines the question about the 20 somethings dropout from church

5. Alan in Belfast shares a story about paying congestion charges

6. Marko asks for some help with his upcoming book: Youth Ministry 3.0

Search for Cook of the Year

2008-03-25T12:17:00.001Z

I posted a few days ago on my cookery blog - Ruth's kitchen experiments about RTE looking for people to enter a new show looking for cook of the year. I got a phone call from one of the show's organisers this morning talking through some of the details, but she also said they are still looking for people from the north to get involved! So if you live in Ulster please send an email to kathylittler@greeninc.ie and get involved.

You really don't have to be a master chef.... I mean look at me and I'm entering! You just have to enjoy cooking! It's just a bit of craic! So there's no reason not to!

See here for more details

ASBO Jesus: Easter Sunday

2008-03-23T00:47:00.003Z

Happy Easter everyone!!!

Source ASBO Jesus

Christmas movies at Easter?

2008-03-21T18:43:00.002Z

Just a question to ITV2...... why on earth is the Grinch being shown today, Good Friday? Weird

Man's Life in Australia for Sale Online

2008-03-21T12:40:00.003Z

I can't remember how I came across this, but here's an extract from the article from the San Francisco chronicle

A painful breakup with his wife has prompted a man to put his entire life — his house, his car, his job, even his friends — up for sale online in an effort to start over.
Ian Usher, a British immigrant to Australia, said Tuesday he would auction everything he owns and more on e-Bay starting June 22.
"On the day it's all sold and settled, I intend to walk out of my front door with my wallet in one pocket and my passport in the other, nothing else at all," Usher says on his Web site. (Read the rest here and read more on his own website: alife4sale.com)

I find this just incredible and amazing. Really seeing as a Christian I am challenged to do and give everything to God; my heart, my mind, my body, my soul, my time, my talents, my energy, my possessions, my everything. Yet it's just so hard!!! I'm sure I'm not alone, but I fail so often at this. I fail to put God first, I fail to give Him the first say and I fail to give Him my all. I pray that God will take my imperfections and my failings as well as everything else and use them to His purposes.

Phishy email

2008-03-19T16:23:00.005Z

I received a bit of spam/phishing email from a "services@paypals.com" today saying the following: (click on the image for a bigger version)

It makes me mad that people do this, and even worse can trick people into giving away their details! Here's some contacts and information about what to do if you think you've received an email like this.

OnGuardOnline.gov
"Phishing

Forward spam that is phishing for information to spam@uce.gov and to the company, bank, or organization impersonated in the phishing email. Most organizations have information on their websites about where to report problems. You also may report phishing email to reportphishing@antiphishing.org. The Anti-Phishing Working Group, a consortium of ISPs, security vendors, financial institutions and law enforcement agencies, uses these reports to fight phishing.

If you believe you've been scammed, file your complaint at ftc.gov, and then visit the FTC's Identity Theft website at ftc.gov/idtheft. Victims of phishing can become victims of identity theft."

eHow - How to report a suspicious site

Direct.gov.uk - Beware of spoof emails and phone calls
Contact HMRC
If you have an email you believe to be a scam forward it to HM Revenue and Customs email address at domains@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk

Monthly review 7

2008-03-19T11:58:00.004Z

I almost forgot about this!!!!

Here are some of the stats (obtained via Google Analytics) from the last month (13th February-12th March 08) for this blog, with last months numbers in brackets:

1. There have been 701 (640) visits.
a) 254 (316) of those have come via referring sites
b) 225 (159) of those visits are direct traffic
c) 222 (165) of those visits are from search engines

2. Searches that have brought people to this site are:
(I'm not going to note last months stats for these cos it's too complicated now the list is getting so long)

christian childrens talks 8
rob and ruth elkin 8
ruth e babes 7
christian kids talk 6
ruthbabes.blogspot.com 6
christian children's talks 5
free youth bible study 5
ruthebabes 5
children's talks christian 3
christian children's talk 3
e babes 3
free youth bible studies 3
banbridge babes 2
bebo sites in banbridge 2
christian children talk 2
e in graffiti 2
free youth funny bible studies 2
funny graffiti pics 2
larger babes 2
pictures of ruth of the bible 2
short hair babes 2
"children's talk" church
"children's talk"+bible
"graffiti pics
"heavy cream means"
"mark goody"
"rspca monitored" +chicken
"swallowed a crown"
.blogspot.com babe art
all ruths
art depicting ruth of the bible
assemblies lost sheep
babes blog spot
ballygilbert+bebo
ballywatt church
ballywatt presbyterian church
bannside oh brother
bebo banbridge people
bebo belfast babes
bebo glengormley
belfast babes
belfast babes ni
belfast graffiti
bible gateway daily
bible gateways
bible study ruth youth
biblegateway daily
biblegateway daily verse
blog from turkey
blog ruth blogspot
call center babes blogspot
cartoon of ruth of the bible
cecil the lost sheep
children talk love
children's addresses about water
children's addresses on love
children's talk forgiveness
children's talk on ruth from the bible
children's talks on ruth
children's talks on the apple of god's eye
children's talks on the cross
children's version of the biblical character of ruth
childrens addresses christian
childrens christian talks
childrens talks on ruth from the bible
christian children recycling
christian children's address
christian children's groups
christian children's talks on giving
christian childrens talk
christian childrens' talks
christian kids talk show
christian kids talk to other kids
christian kids talks
christian's free things
clothing of biblical ruth
dafter punk
david & bathsheba+bible study
david and bethsheba youth study
david is crazy in love with ruth
debbie mcgee glengormley
difference between a crane and a heron
difference between a heron and a crane
download overnighter video
download youth bible studies
downloadable youth bible
e typing
facebook 102.4 shine fm
floating limes
free bible lesser
free bible studies for youth
free christian children's talk
free christian children's talks
free christian childrens talks
free christian images of god holding earth in hands
free downloads youth bible
free short christian talks on flowers
free youth bible
free youth bible study books
free youth bible study programs
funny belfast pictures
funny graffiti post
gateways bible
god pie
great talks for christian kids
hair chopped
honeymoon babes
honeymoon menorca
hot gymnast babe bebo
i want to ride my bicycle cartoon
jamie oliver's the great chicken race
jesus talks to people- pictures for kids
john 4 "children's talk"
johnny vegas christianity
kids talk christian resources
lemons float limes sink
live chicken race
long hair indian babes
lost sheep assembly
moses parting red sea
netherlands babes
nightreach ni
outlets banbridge reviews
overnighter music video
overnighter video
patience christian kids talks
photos of bad ruth
pictures of ruth from the bible
portadown babe
psalm 139 kids talk
ruth 2 bible lesson for youth
ruth 3 childrens talk
ruth bebo belfast 24
ruth bible study youth
ruth clothing in the bible
ruth e babe
ruth e wikipidia
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ruth elkin cookery blog award
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ruthe
ruthe plan
ruthie +portadown +bebo +23
shine fm banbridge bebo
special school babes
story of ruth bible + cartoon
talk to children religious
video of church "overnighter"
water "children's address"
wedding photos at malone lodge
what the difference between a crane and heron bird?
why do lemons float and limes do not?
www.ysmarko.com
youth bible notes ruth
youth bible phrases
youth bible study download
youth bible study on ruth
youth bible study ruth
youth from the bible for free
youth group bible study ruth, mary, bathsheba
zac hunter africa charity az
children's addresses christian - 0 times
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portadown babes - 0 times
youth talk ruth - 0 times

I need to work on getting some youth talks about Ruth on here

3. Number of visits from each country that visited.
496 (402) visits came from the UK
123 (125) visits came from the USA
21 (14) visits came from Australia
16 (15) visits came from Ireland
5 (2) visits came from India
4 (32) visits came from Canada
3 (3) visits came from Germany
3 (2) visits came from Italy
3 visits came from Saudi Arabia
3 (2) visits came from New Zealand
2 (1) visits came from Mexico
2 visits came from South Africa
2 (3) visits came from the Philippines
2 (5) visits came from France
1 (1) visit came from Japan
1 visit came from Indonesia
1 (1) visit came from Greece
1 (1) visit came from Czech Republic
1 visit came from Slovakia
1 visit came from Nigeria
1 visit came from the Netherlands
1 visit came from United Arab Emirates
1 (2) visit came from Singapore
1 visit came from Ghana
1 (2) visit came from Portugal
1 visit came from South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
1 (2) visit came from Argentina
1 visit came from Austria
1 visit came from Pakistan
1 (1) visit came from Romania

4. Top 10 referring sites
Blogger - 73
Google - 21
Debs Erwin - 18
Livingloud - Bowmanblog - 17
Ruth's Kitchen Experiments - 14
Alan in Belfast - 12
Bebo - 11
Google Images - 11
Marramgrass - 11
shot in the arm - 11

5. Top 3 blog posts
Free Christian Children's Talk 1 - 89 views
Free Christian Children's Talk 2 - 54 times
Free Youth Bible Study 1 - 32 views

What American accent do you have?

2008-03-19T11:40:00.003Z

Yes I know I'm not American but I thought it would be funny to take the test:

What American accent do you have? Your Result: Boston You definitely have a Boston accent, even if you think you don't. Of course, that doesn't mean you are from the Boston area, you may also be from New Hampshire or Maine.
The Midland
The West
Philadelphia
The Northeast
North Central
The South
The Inland North
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Right now to find out what a Boston accent sounds like for real.... here's wikipedia's answer and here's a little video I found on YouTube

Hmmmm I think I'll have to record myself saying some of those lines for you to compare but I can safely say it don't sound like me or anyone else from around here.

Well "Mataheah.... I'm goin' ta tha pak."

Napkin please

2008-03-14T23:19:00.003Z

After seeing a Frozen New york I enjoyed watching a few similar videos on YouTube but didn't come across this one:

How fun would it be to live a musical for a day!?!?!?!

HT to Josh Griffin

Toffee yoghurt taco

2008-03-14T22:58:00.002Z

I forgot to post this after last Saturday when we had friends over for dinner. We had made a bit of a mexican feast of tacos and fajitas and burritos to make up for ourselves. Well near the end of our meal Rob dared Paul to eat some toffee yoghurt with what he had on his plate and he did!

From what I remember it included hard shell taco, taco spiced mince beef, barbeque sauce, cheese and toffee yoghurt. If I've left anything out I'm sure Paul will correct me. But apparently it tasted good.

It sounded gross to me but then reminded me about how when i was a McDonalds employee I used to enjoy dipping my fries into my ice cream and still do occasionally now.

So what food combinations that sound odd together do you like then?

I need a polo!

2008-03-14T22:56:00.002Z

I've fell in love with an advert. It's the latest advert for the Volkwagen Polo with a dog singing in the front seat of the car, but is all scared and timid elsewhere. Great ad.... I just need to get a polo to see if Stewie will sing.

Zombie attack plans revisited

2008-03-10T19:00:00.000Z

After blogging about preparation for a zombie attack i've unleashed further discussion on the matter.....

Rob and I had friends over on Saturday for some dinner and then what turned into watching Family Guy: Blue Harvest (Great by the way!!!) while looking at maps discussing potential rendezvous and hideout points in the event of a zombie attack.

Paul had even brought a book: Max Brook's Zombie Survival guide and maps of the Sperrins and the Mournes to think through where we would hide out and then move onto after hiding out for a while. We discussed what kind of vehicle we'd need to get, what supplies we'd need and much more. it was all rather surreal! But I'm reassured to have a man who's looking out for me!

(Excuse the washing in the background!!!)

Frozen New York

2008-03-10T13:16:00.002Z

This is a video of a prank/performance art type thing involving 207 people freezing on the spot at the same time at Grand Central Station

HT to Marko

200 posts!!!

2008-03-10T12:24:00.004Z

This is my 200th post on the ruth E blog! I'm impressed I've kept so loyal to this!

When I hit 100 posts I highlighted 5 of my favourite posts from that 100 so I'll do the same for the last 100 posts now to mark the occasion.

1. First year out - a a photo essay from The New York times about a man who was wrongly convicted of raping and murdering at the age of 16 went to prison and served almost 16 years of his prison sentence before DNA tests proved him innocent.
2. 2 million kids infected every year... - a video about a disease that affects over 2 million kids each year. Shocking stuff!
3. Loosing control - a post I wrote about the hectic time I had over Christmas, feeling out of control but another step along the path of learning to delegate, ask for help and remember that God is in control
4. All Ruth's are toothy - It's just cool... i still have to get this book!
5. Encouragement - Me finding encouragement after my skepticism

Also I want to re-highlight, not as favourite posts but a couple of posts I wrote about edun live and Free Rice.

Here's to the next 100 posts!!!!!!

Playpump

2008-03-10T12:17:00.001Z

How cool is this?

HT to On the edge

Re-tagged

2008-03-07T13:02:00.004Z

Colin tagged me back, so here goes....

1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

1. My right foot is size 5, my left foot is size 6
2. My first drive on my own after passing my test was to Castlewellan from Glengormley
3. I worked in a pizzaria when I was 16
4. I worked in McDonalds for 2 years after that as a birthday party hostess.... So. Much. Fun.
5. I've lived in 5 houses
6. I've a guitar that I've called "Courtney"
7. I love singing to myself in the car.

I'm not going to bother tagging 7 new people seeing as I've already done this.

Where in the world is Mr E?

2008-03-06T22:27:00.004Z

I got this photo emailed to me from Rob today....

Can you tell where he was?

Lucky duck.... I'll just have to beat him to the new one in Belfast tomorrow!

Uses of salt

2008-03-06T22:10:00.002Z

Marko has posted about how there are over 14,000 uses for salt and it already has me thinking about a million different youth and children's talks... maybe it would be useful to others out there?

Video tips

2008-03-06T15:15:00.002Z

Josh Griffin has posted some great links on how to use and source videos for youth work, and well I suppose anything really.

A lot of these sites I use, but some I was unaware of, so hope it's of use to others too.