24 September, 2013 by thevicarswife
We have a Vicarage first – a Ministry Trainee recruited through The Vicar’s Wife! Our newest attic dweller moves in this coming Saturday after a whistle stop application-interview-appointment process following my blogpost advertising the vacancy only a couple of weeks ago. The children’s worker at our new lodger’s home church is a reader of the blog and when she saw the ad, pointed him in our direction. It will be great to have a full house again and we are looking forward to getting to know BytheSea (as the Joker has titled him) in the coming weeks. We are grateful to God for such a swift answer to prayer.
All full in the Vicarage attic
Posted in Church | Tagged apprentice, CofE, lodger, Ministry, ministry trainee, recruitment, training, Vicarage | 7 Comments »
23 September, 2013 by thevicarswife
I know we’re all thinking about Back to Church Sunday and Harvest and everything (gosh, it’s a busy term – and we’ve got a confirmation to factor in too), but before you know it, it will be Halloween. And the brilliant Glen Scrivener (of Anti Santy Ranty fame) has produced a great new video to get your congregation or youth group thinking. A great reminder that the light triumphs over the darkness.
Posted in Church | Tagged 10ofthose, All Hallow's Eve, Christianity, Church, darkness, evil, faith, Glen Scrivener, Halloween, light, redeeming Halloween, resource, saints, triumph, video, Vimeo, YouTube | 1 Comment »
11 September, 2013 by thevicarswife
Well, the new term is underway and we’re back to parish life in full swing. Our midweek groups are back on, we’re getting frequent callers at the door and there are kids squealing in the churchyard in the evenings. And coats being thrown on the church hall roof. Of course.
Wondering if a ladder and a tall vicar will be enough to solve this one
Posted in Church | Tagged Children, church hall, Churchyard, coat, Kids, parish life | 1 Comment »
10 September, 2013 by thevicarswife
It’s not all cake in the Vicarage. There’s bread too. Last week I made my first couple of loaves of sourdough.
I’ve been making my own bread on and off ever since we lived in Singapore and the only bread to buy was either ridiculously sweet chewy sliced rubber stuff or tastier but eyewateringly expensive. I started with a bread machine that broke from overuse and since then I’ve generally used my Kenwood mixer to make the dough. I very often make dough for pizza at home or for breadsticks for our weekly Cake and Chat community coffee morning. Although, after watching The Great British Bakeoff the other week, I think I may be making the sticks all wrong – they’re doughy rather than snappy. Still tasty though. I hardly ever make a proper loaf.
I’ve been thinking about sourdough for a while. It’s the bread of geeks, as you’ll see if you google it, made without any added yeast but a starter made from flour and water which is left to brew its natural yeasts. And then I was reading the side of my flour bag (I suffer from acute narrative hunger and need to read everything – one reason why the internet is so bad for me) and there it was – a sourdough starter recipe. So I consulted Annalise Barbieri’s lovely blog because I knew she made sourdough and also some recipes I found online. And then I gave it a go.
The flour and water concoction magically became my starter over the course of a week and a very sticky dough became my first loaf. Although it spread out rather alarmingly, it came out of the oven with a lovely crust and proper airy texture. The second loaf was less airy but less spread too. I’m finding it a fun way to make bread, especially since the recipe I’m using doesn’t involve much kneading, just a brief punch a few times over the course of a morning. It also keeps really well, although there’s not much been kept. Sourdough has a low GI and is easier to digest than bread made with added yeast. And a loaf cost less than 50p to make. Brilliant.
A couple of days after starting my starter, I discovered that it’s Sourdough September. So I seem to have timed it quite well. Anyway, I’ve just pulled a new loaf out of the oven and I’m going to call a friend now and invite her over for coffee and a slice of bread.
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Posted in Food | Tagged baker, baking, bread, dough, Food, frugal, homemade, loaf, low GI, recipe, sourdough, Sourdough September, starter, yeast | 3 Comments »
9 September, 2013 by thevicarswife
The lovely Radiohead left our attic yesterday. He’s headed back home and is busy applying for jobs in teaching. So now there’s a space in the Vicarage for a new Ministry Trainee.
We’re looking for someone who has a passion for people and for seeing God at work in their lives. You don’t have to be considering ordination, although the Diocesan Director of Ordinands would be very happy to see you and two of our previous attic dwellers have taken that path, and Red, who’s still here, is aiming for a dog collar. Perhaps you’d like some time to think about ministry life, or just want to serve in a church before going into something else.
A fondness for cake and the ability to negotiate your way around a cluttered family home might be an advantage. And you should know that we have a cat, a fish and a rodent. But you don’t have to have the rodent sit on your head if you don’t want to. If it’s not for you, maybe there’s someone you know who might be up for Vicarage life. Do please point them in our direction.
More details can be found on our church website. And below you can see a pic of Radiohead and Red in their attic living room, where they are able to escape from the pets, the clutter and the mayhem. If the kids don’t follow them up there…
Working hard. Or possibly playing games. There’s time for both.
Posted in Church | Tagged apprentice, attic, Church, Church of England, CofE, DDO, diocesan director of ordinands, Fun, Inner city, intern, internship, lay assistant, Ministry, ministry trainee, ordinand, ordination, parish, parish assistant, priest, training, vicar, Vicarage, vocation | 1 Comment »
28 August, 2013 by thevicarswife
Yesterday was all about bouncing, bad backs and the trimming of teeth. I don’t really want to talk about the green goo that found its way into the Queen’s hair in the middle of the night, via the cat’s hindquarters. You will be pleased to hear that shampoo removed it effectively from hair. We haven’t yet dealt with the duvet and carpet…
The Vicar needed a new desk to counter the middle aged arrival of back issues. So we loaded the kids into the car for an Ikea breakfast (guaranteed to counter a bad back, although possibly not the middle aged spread). As we loaded the car with myriad packages, pleased to have avoided tealights for once, the kids took advantage of a free bungee bouncer outside the front of the store.
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And the teeth trimming? That was a trip to the vet’s with Squeak the Rodent, whose bottom left front tooth had grown ridiculously long over the summer. So he had it it cut back to prevent it beginning to slice into the top of his jaw. A quick and fairly untraumatic procedure, both for him and for my purse.
Posted in Family | Tagged bad back, bouncing, desk, family life, green goo, hair, Ikea, rodent, teeth, vets | 5 Comments »
26 August, 2013 by thevicarswife
Hi there. Long time no blog, eh? Back from my hols now, though, and full of good intentions about nearly everything. I was reflecting yesterday on the bonus of living in a country where a new academic year starts in September, so that we get two ‘new’ years. I certainly need two stabs at a new start. I could do with more, to be honest. Perhaps one a month?
And whilst we’re talking about new starts, this is something I came across when I recently discovered Adam Ford and his web cartoon site. I found this cartoon very helpful when thinking about a ‘new’ year for my prayer routine. Always good to have a reboot.
Posted in Church | 1 Comment »
12 July, 2013 by thevicarswife
I was recently sent a pile of books by 10ofthose.com for review. As I’m letting myself slowly back into blogging, I thought I’d review the shortest one first.
10ofthose have produced a lovely bath book telling the story of creation. There’s a smiley picture of Adam and Eve on the front cover and then the seven days of creation are pictured. The words and illustrations are taken from the popular Beginner’s Bible. It’s a standard bath book with squidgy plastic pages. I’m going to give it to our youngest congregation member to try out on his holiday and will report back on robustness at a later date, but it feels good quality – the edges are soft and the pages are bound together securely.
A fun gift for small children – only £4.99 for one, but prices down to £3.24 if you order in bulk. Why not club together with other church members and take advantage of the discounts available?
I gave our copy to a lovely baby at our church. Here he is reading it with his mum on holiday a couple of weeks ago:
Posted in Church | Tagged 0-3, 10ofthose, babies, baby, bath book, Beginner's Bible, Bible, Kids, reading, story, The Story of Creation | Leave a Comment »
9 July, 2013 by thevicarswife
It was too hot to wear hats at our door yesterday
Things always get busier in the Vicarage when the sun is out. We get a lot more callers. So yesterday, just before teatime, we had four rings at the doorbell in the space of about twenty minutes. It was busy but fun and I enjoyed interspersing the construction of last night’s mango and rice noodle salad to chat with people visiting at random:
1. Charming called round with her brother and another boy who’d been playing with him to collect the water pistol that had been left in our garden on Saturday. And to ask for an orange for a cake they were about to bake at home. We had no oranges but I gave her a lemon as a substitute.
2. Lovely had a pair of summer shoes she’d bought in a cheap deal at the market and didn’t need, so she brought them to us. They fit the Queen, who was delighted to have a new pair of mucking about pumps.
3. Then a gaggle of half a dozen lads in their early teens called. They had in tow a shirtless chap in his twenties who looked a bit befuddled. The boys explained that the chap needed a taxi to the next town. I explained that we didn’t give money at the door, but if he came back later, the Vicar (who was out) would help him catch a bus. The chap didn’t seem to speak much English. He didn’t return, so I assume he made it home under his own steam.
4. Wildchild rang the bell continuously until I opened the door. She was with two of her friends and they wanted forms for the youth trip to a laser game tomorrow. I redirected her to Dreamer’s house, where the forms were to be found, and gave the girls a few pointers on doorbell and asking-for-forms etiquette (one ring is enough, it’s ‘please may I have’ not ‘I want’).
I do love the unpredictability of Vicarage life. You never know who God is going to send to your doorstep.
Posted in Church | Tagged callers, Children, door, doorbell, summer, sun, Vicarage | 2 Comments »
5 July, 2013 by thevicarswife
I came back from a day off trip to look at pianos to a bit of a surprise today. Our ancient piano was condemned by the tuner the other week because a bunch of keys have stopped playing and are only fixable at the cost of more than a replacement instrument. And the Engineer is just starting some new pieces and is finding the absence of random notes rather tiresome. So off we went to inexpertly chose one.
When we got home there were a few posts on my social media to tell me that the ever-enterprising Jonathan Carswell at 10ofthose has started to offer my book on pre-order. And my publisher IVP, are also offering it from their bookshop. I’m still needing to finish my approval of copy edits but there it is, on proper websites, with Ian Mitchell’s great illustration on the front. Ian’s never seen my kitchen but seems to know it surprisingly well, including the design of the chairs, the countless piles of clutter (tax files this week) and the iron left out optimistically in case I am suddenly overcome with a spurt of domesticity.
When I saw this I wondered if IVP had organised it to give me the jolt I need to finish the editing tasks that are waiting in my email inbox. Since I finished all the tax forms this morning, I really have no excuse now. Apart from the lovely sunshine. Have you seen how gorgeous it is out there? I promise I’ll do those edits next week. Honest.
Posted in Books | Tagged 10ofthose, Amanda Robbie, book, ivp, Jonathan Carswell, Messy MInistry, piano, publishing, The Ministry of a Messy House | 7 Comments »
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