TIMING

Right, it’s time for another catch-up post. 

Fused:

Team Adventurers!

I was reading old posts of mine and saw how I was unsure if I was going to do Fused, the Summer Bible Club which runs for two weeks at the end of July in Newcastle. Now, I am SO GLAD I did! It was absolutely marvelous! I met lots of cool people on the team and felt I fitted in so much better than last year. I even used my talents to help Jo to make t-shirts for our team, the Adventurers. (left) They look so class, is it weird I feel proud? Also the fortnight helped my walk with God; which I was worried about before I left because I felt I wouldn’t be able to teach others if I was neglecting my own faith.
The kids were little sweethearts, we helped with the Primary 4-7s, so they were old enough to listen and behave but still were young and easy to talk to. The girls loved my jewelry and wanted to try on my rings - it was so cute. I had my own Small Group this year - a group of round 7 or 8 girls. This really boosted my confidence because I usually turn into a big, nervous mess when I have to lead anything. By the end of the two weeks, three of the girls gave their life to Christ, two of them which I prayed with. I was so emotional when I came home I sobbed - it’s such an extraordinary thing to witness and share in someone’s life. Other kids made professions too, please keep these kids in your prayers.

With some of my Small Group

If that wasn’t enough for my brain to handle - I SPOKE at the front during the two Josh’s talk...VOLUNTARILY. If you know me at all, there’s no flipping way I would want to speak in front of a crowd unless I had to - but I just felt the timing was right, or else I was losing my mind.
Jeremy, Jo and myself were asked to speak about how God transformed our lives.
Even as I was standing up, I was still unsure what I was going to say, and as I look back on it, I hardly remember what I DID say - basically I spoke about settling into university - having to make new friends and rely on God when alone. I couldn’t have possibly constructed all those sentences in my head logically and articulate them clearly without the power of the Holy Spirit. God is so good. 

So glad I filled in that form back in May time - or else I wouldn’t have be involved in two of the most wonderful weeks of my summer! Time well spent!

The Dark Knight Rises:
Haha I’m very late with this one! I am a massive fan of great GREAT films - like blockbuster films - I guess most people are but it seems to be that most of my favourite films are legendary ones (the other genres would include Classics, Disney or Asian cinema) So naturally The Dark Knight trilogy is included in this legendary list. (Other films include Inception, The Social Network, Slumdog Millionaire and Harry Potter.)
I was very, very excited about this one from geeking out so much in 2008 after seeing the second of the series. It was later I also realised that Batman Begins was the first of the trilogy - not sure how I didn’t realise that before, whoops! 

It was outstanding as expected - it was like a big yummy sandwich with all my favourite actors - Christian Bale (with his amazing sexy mouth) Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman and Michael Caine. Then to top it all off with a small cameo of the wonderful Cillian Murphy as Dr. Crane. (I actually love that man - he’s very charismatic and so striking, could watch him for hours.) So yeah, amazing. I hope to see it again before I go back to university - so if anybody wants to go... hit me up.


The Amazing Andrew Garfield:
Let’s put it this way - it was a mistake seeing The Dark Knight Rises before The Amazing Spiderman. I was very excited because I am a long time Andrew Garfield fan and have waited two years after hearing he was cast as the lead. I really did enjoy this though, it was better than I was expecting... but maybe I’m just being biased. No seriously, it’s worth a watch.

Granny Gordon:
Unfortunately I have even more bad news since my last update. My Great Granny, Ethel (also known as The Granulator!) passed away at the grand age of 93 on the 11th August 2012. The pain was pretty raw since Granny Green’s death so it was horrible that we had to go through it all again. She had fell and broke her hip a few days before, but wasn’t well enough for an operation so she was in hospital. She also suffered from dementia and other health issues, so it appeared she was getting worse each day.
Thankfully I took up the opportunity of visiting her in hospital the day before she died. Even though her condition was deteriorating, I wanted to see her, I was kinda scared though. Astonishing to us all, she was her usual witty, humourous and slightly forgetful self! It was a joy to see her like that, and being able to remember her that way is something I’m incredibly thankful for. She will be sorely missed. 

Family:
Despite losing two members of my family this summer, I feel like I’ve built many new relationships with other family members. Here the impact of death has brought the Green family/McCullough family closer. To be honest, before I wouldn’t really have called my relatives family - because I never saw them and they knew very little about me, same vice-versa. Poor Granny Green would have done anything for the four of us to socialise with the others, but it was only through her death did that become possible. Same with the McCullough family - it was through Granny Gordon’s death brought us altogether as one. Hopefully these relationships will last. It was God’s perfect timing that Charles (my cousin), his wife Kate and 1 year old Stanley arrived from England and were able to see Granny Gordon for the last time, the weekend before she died. It was also my first time meeting Stanley, this was exciting because we haven’t had a baby in the family since Jared was born. My other cousins Gregor and Gareth and their ladies, Sharon and Kirsty also arrived down that weekend too so it was a big get-together for all of us. Above is a photo of us all that weekend, hoorah.

Titanic:

I visited the Titanic Belfast last week with my Parents and Jared. This is a new building opened this year to mark the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the world’s biggest ship. This is situated in the Titanic Quarter, beside where the Titanic’s was built. The building has 6 floors of galleries containing a variety of interactive media including CGI, film, audio, artifacts and replicas. This was interesting for me. Each gallery was well designed and used varied ways to display the historical details of the ship’s construction, launch, maiden voyage and tragic end.
It certainly was a visitor experience - the whole place was packed too. It was a great day out, but wouldn’t be something you’d return to for a few years at least. I think if you’re really interested in history it’ll be very enjoyable to read everything (like my dad), otherwise it’s a great day out - recommended!

Yay,

- Claudia

SOMETHING...

SOOPER MEME MEME MEME MEME

Something you hate about yourself:
What a pessimistic question! I don’t think there’s anything I absolutely hate, just a few flaws in my personality and lifestyle I think I would like to change. One of them would be that I waste my time on silly things then neglect the things which are more important. Appearance wise, I always look really cross, so people think I’m aggressive - it’s just my normal expression though, sigh!

Something you love about yourself:
My wide variety of loud and embarrassing laughs.

Something you regret:
I regret not spending more time with my Granny before she died. I know that’s silly thinking like that because we visited her quite regularly. But I wish when I was there - I listened to what she said, I took interest in the conversation - instead of just sitting texting on my phone. Just thinking of it tears me up. How could I have been so stupid!

Something you have to forgive yourself for:
I have to forgive myself for being such a big horrible mess of a human being a few years ago. I’m trying to make up for it now by being nicer.

Something you have to forgive someone for:
Certain individuals who I felt bullied me in my younger years. Also a couple of people who made fun of my weight. There are some things which are harder to forgive than others.

Something you wish you hadn’t done in your life:
I wish I remembered who was important when I had them in my life. I wish I didn’t bicker with Jordan as much when she was alive. I wish I didn’t beat myself up due to my lack of self-confidence. I wish that I hadn’t told so many lies to my parents. I wish I wasn’t so angry at people for so many unnecessary reasons.

Something you wish you had done in your life:
I wish that I hadn’t wasted my life obsessing over things and used that time and energy to serve God. Why am I so capable of telling others to listen to K-Pop, but massively fail at telling others about the Good News of Jesus?? CLAUDIA YOU MESS.

Something you hope to do in your life:
Oh the usual female ambitions - get married, get a house, have kids, job etc.

Something you hope you never have to do:
Watch someone I love die - that would be a frightening and unpleasant experience.

Something you hope to change about yourself:
Wow these questions are deep! I hope to become 100% reliant on God. I always say I will, but when things are going well, I tend to forget about him. Then when things go wrong, I always expect him to fix my problems.

Someone who has made your life worth living for:
I remember Jordan saying in a post a long time ago: *cheesy Christian answer* My answer here is Jesus. He died for my sins so I definitely owe him one. Living for Jesus is the best decision I’ve ever made.

Something people seem to compliment you the most on:
My blue glasses, haha. Or my hair possibly?

Something you never get compliments on:
Er my eyes? I like my eyes anyway. Maybe no-one can see them because they are distracted by the glasses.

- Claudia