Songs that speak of life...

This is a song I came across recently ... I feel sums up how I've been feeling recently ..... 

Josh Wilson - Here I Am Anyway

Enjoy! X

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IJeBFxIKgyQ

Is it okay? Does it make sense ?

Is it okay to admit... I'm starting to feel scared ? 

Well... I'm not sure it is scared as such .. Maybe just very nervous. 

I'm the kind of person who always thinks of the worst case scenario before doing anything. So naturally.. Travelling to a 3rd world country is going to make me feel rather anxious as there are many worst case scenarios. Haha. 

I'm more excited than nervous though which is good because I really want to go so .. All nerves and bad thought are outweighed.. However it doesn't stop me being nervous. 

My mind just goes round and round.. Nerves, excitement, nerves, excitement, nerves, excitement ! Ahhhhhhhh! It's rather frustrating if I'm honest. 

I guess it is okay to nervous .. Isn't it ? And it's okay to be a little scared of the unknown.. Isn't it ? But also be very excited about the unknown ... Does that make any kind of sense?! 

Ahh well.... I'll let you know when I get my mind straight and can explain better the things going on at the moment. 

Time flies by..

So ... At this time in 2 months I will be in The Gambia !! Arghhh I can't believe how fast time is flying by! It was 6 months to go ... I blinked and now it's only 2 months ! 

My fundraising has gone extremely well !! So far I have £456 I think (it's around that number)! How awesome is that .. I am so so pleased. I still have a couple of things to go but I will be sure to let you know my final amount - don't worry !!

I have been doing a bit of research into Gambian and African food, and their customs and eating habits.  I've found a couple recipes that I'd really really like to try so watch out friends and family! Perhaps I could squeeze in one more fundraiser?? Hmmm what do'ya think??

Meet and Greet

Last night I went to a meeting with the group I am travelling to The Gambia with. It was so nerve wracking as I'd only met 1 lady before and I'd only met her once. However there were 17 of us there, and there are 23 people going in total on the trip so I have now met most of the group. And it feels so much better now that I can put names to faces. It has made me sooooo much more excited about just getting out there! 

Some of the group have been before and a couple people have never been. So it's a rather mixed group. They are not all from the same church either, so they don't all know each other well, which makes me feel much more at ease because everyone is making new friends, it is not just me joining with a group of friends being the odd one out. 

We were given our flexible itinerary:

We discussed this and then people who have been on this trip before shared why they are going back and what they got involved in last time they were there. Everyone agreed that being there is life changing and impacting in a huge way. 

We will be in the schools every morning we are there. Then over lunch we have spare time to do what we want to do and then into the local villages and schools in the evening for activities there. So it's not all work which is good, hard work and time to play. Sounds great!

I shared about being on a photography degree course but being scared to take my own camera with me, and straight away 3 or 4 people offered me the use of their cameras. It was amazing! However when I came home and thought about it, I think I will kick myself if I don't take my own camera. I am hoping to buy a video camera because I really am determined to make a film over there so ill definitely be buying a video camera for the trip. 

We have been told the hotel has free wifi in it so we can take phones, iPads and laptops. This means we can contact home for free using Skype and FaceTime, which is great. It also means I will be able to write my blog still while I'm there! Keeping you all up to date each day. 

So, if I'm taking my video camera and my iPad is taking my camera as well just too much ?? But if I don't take it I will literally kick myself for not taking it. And really I won't be carrying much else so it's not like taking a full bag plus these things. It's just these things. Ahhhh hard choice !!! 

Also in the meeting we talked about what we might want to get involved in while we're in the schools ie, teaching songs, playing games, teaching a class, decorating etc etc. I think I would really like to be involved in the painting and decorating. This I think would be a lot of fun... And I do enjoy a bit of painting and messy play! 

I also met the lady I will be sharing a room with over there which was nice. Now we can contact each other and decide who's taking the kettle and who's taking the coffee ( getting our priorities right of course!) and we worked out travel too and from gatwick airport. Our flight is at 9am from gatwick so we have to meet at check-in at 6AM!!!! Which means leaving my house around 3/4am ! So sad! Hehe not excited for that part! 

But I am so excited and just absolutely can't wait to get going! :)

Tea & Cake Overview... and whats next?!

Now i've had time to process and think about it all I am going to do a proper update on my Ladies Tea & Cake afternoon.

We arrived at the venue at around 2pm, after doing a stop at our church offices to collect cups and saucers. I had asked people to arrive around 2.30 with cakes so that I could place them out before people arrived at 3pm to buy the cake. When we arrived, so did 3 other couples and already I was thinking WOW! It took us around 20 minutes to have everything set up, which was amazing! When people come together to help things get done so much quicker!

I had 3 guys serving tea and cake for me so that I could mingle and enjoy the afternoon with the other ladies. This was great, I think that the ladies and the guys serving enjoyed this experience!

I had a total of 14 ladies come along and spend money. It was really lovely to see the ladies chatting and having a good afternoon. There's nothing like good old girly time together hey?

After everybody had left however, we had so much cake!! Even after sending each of the ladies home with extra cake for their husbands and children. So we decided to bring it all home and have some friends over for a social evening, playing card games and eating cake together. This worked really well actually, and I even got a little bit more money from them. 

A few people actually took more cake home with them and then sold it at work the next day! Genius! So I made a couple more pounds from that. 

It was a really fun day, and I raised a total of £83.95

I couldn't have done it without the ladies baking the cakes for me, the guys who served and helped me set up. And i'm just really glad that people had a fun time too because even though I did it to raise some money for my trip, ultimately I really wanted to give people a fun time of fellowship and I think I achieved it! So thank you very much to everybody who came along and helped and donated :D

What next?!

Well.. I think I am going to try and do one more fundraising event. Of which I have no idea yet. But I'm going to try and do something fun, that will involve everybody. I also really want it to be something that I can invite non-church friends too and have everybody mingling and making friends and having a good time together!

If you have any ideas of things I can do.. please please do get in touch :)

End of day ...

WOW !! Today was my fundraising tea and cake afternoon and all I can say is wow! 

I have some very very generous friends and church family !! 

I will do a bigger update tomorrow - but for all my new followers of this blog - from my heart a massive THANK YOU !!!!

I raised a grand total of £81 today!! 

A huge thank you also to all my bakers who made the delicious cakes and goodies! :) couldn't have done it without you! 

And my lovely servers for dressing smartly and serving the ladies this afternoon :D 

Thank you thank you thank you

I really do love the people in my life right now!!

(I think this just proves however that my friends really do love cake :p)