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Posts Tagged ‘humour’

Possible Solution for Musicianless Churches?

Posted in Church, Fun, tagged , , , , , , on 5 March, 2012| 1 Comment »

A friend recently linked to this excellent video on Facebook and suggested it might be the solution in small churches where musicians are thin on the ground. We’ve been blessed recently by musicians playing in our services and replacing the cds and midi files, but one (Rocky, our Ministry Trainee) is leaving in the summer, so we’re praying for reinforcements. If you know any musicians, or even some helpful robots, do please send them our way…

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Wriggly Reading Kids

Posted in Books, tagged , , , , , , on 1 March, 2012| 6 Comments »

Kids find it hard to sit still at the best of times, but as I read with children at our church school I’ve noticed a few who just can’t keep themselves in a single place when they’re reading aloud, let alone doing it whilst listening to others read or reading to themselves. I liked this illustration of the phenomenon I found recently:[HT: Abraham Piper]

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Vicarage Top Tips: How to Cope on Sundays

Posted in Fun, tagged , , , , , , , , on 12 July, 2011| 1 Comment »

Not that I'm advocating heavy alcohol consumption or anything...

Sundays in the Vicarage can be rather busy and stressful. This Sunday was no exception, as you’ll know if you follow me on Twitter. I thought I’d share a picture of the Vicar helping me (and some lovely visitors) to cope before we ate lunch.

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A Formula for Trouble?

Posted in Fun, tagged , , , , , , , , , on 16 June, 2011| 2 Comments »

As we nibbled our rhubarb crumble cake and gingerbread loaf at Cake and Chat this morning, we were discussing (as usual) the state of the neighbourhood. Our local PCSO was visiting to eat cake catch up on intelligence and he and I were talking about the broken Vicarage windows and the local children who play together most evenings. Often there are more than a dozen of them, and they can often be playing out for four hours until the dark drives them home.

We decided that there is likely to be a mathematical formula for the likelihood of trouble eg broken windows that could be developed, using the number of children (C), the number of hours they spend unsupervised (H) and the amount of trouble (T). Something like this I would guess:

CxH = T

So if there are fewer children, or they are driven inside by rain after only an hour, or parents come and supervise, the amount of trouble is much less. The broken Vicarage windows didn’t happen first thing in the evening, but towards the end of things, and there were always a good few kids playing together.

Of course, the formula is really more complex than that, and should include such factors as emptiness of tummies, sugar recently consumed, time since the last big telling off and air temperature. Perhaps if I work on it I can develop the definitive predictor of Trouble and head it off before it comes. Or maybe I should stick to prayer and building relationships.

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Books for Busy Mums (and Dads) Part 2

Posted in Family, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 27 May, 2011| 1 Comment »

Last week I blogged about some poetry books that I like to read with my own kids, and with the schoolchildren that I spend time reading with each week. The other resource that I use every week at school and that my gang at home have loved are a series of short stories, two in each book which come in a series as ‘A Pair of Jacks’.

There are four books in the series, written by Michael Lawrence and illustrated by Tony Ross. Each story is about 60 pages long, with large print and good pictures. What makes them great for readers all through Key Stage 2 (the Juniors to those of us who went to school before the National Curriculum) is that although there are not many words, there is much rich vocabulary and lots of fun with literary form in just a few pages.

Fiction-averse boys have enjoyed these stories as much as the girls – they are clever and humourous. They often play around with classic stories – the first one in the book shown above is called ‘Jack and the Broomstick‘ and is a parody of Jack and the Beanstalk – great for more able kids to think about how the original story has been subverted, but simple enough for the less able to enjoy aswell. This week I was reading from Jack-in-the-Box with a few of the children and we were discussing the meaning of ‘console’, ‘magnanimous’ and ‘ingrate’ as well as the frequency of orphan stories in children’s literature.

I’m planning a bit of a Jack-fest this half term with my kids – I’m going to see how receptive they are to guided reading with Mummy. Wish me luck – it’ll not be the books that are the problem if it goes wrong…

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Easter: is it all about bunnies?

Posted in Fun, tagged , , , , , , , on 11 April, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I meant to post this last year but somehow missed the slot. Now the Easter school hols are upon us I thought you might enjoy this:

The linebacker’s here to take the eggs out of Easter.

[HT: David Keen, sadly only blogging about once every six months or so now]

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Acts of God

Posted in Fun, tagged , , , , , , , on 8 April, 2011| Leave a Comment »

What exactly is an Act of God? Bill Bailey asks some excellent theological questions here, and very amusingly.

[HT Abraham Piper at 22 Words]

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Theological Words (or not)

Posted in Fun, tagged , , , , , , , , , on 24 January, 2011| Leave a Comment »

We had an interesting discussion at Sunday lunch with our kids on the meaning of ‘Calvary’. As well as its primary Christian meaning, it’s the name of another congregation that meets in our church building and they were interested in the origins of the word.

The Joker thought it was a brand of chocolate.

Then someone suggested something about soldiers on horseback.

And there was a protracted discussion about pubs that serve roast lunches.

Thankfully noone came up with yellow birds or long green salad sticks.

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Calvinist Pick Up Lines: Because We Were Meant to be Together

Posted in Fun, tagged , , , , , on 7 January, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Caught this clip the other day – there are some very funny lines, although the delivery leaves a little to be desired(!).

Having made some v tasty date and coconut slices today, I particularly enjoyed the line about the dried fruit.

[HT Abraham Piper]

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The Kapoors/Coopers Go To Church

Posted in Fun, tagged , , , , , , on 23 August, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Another Goodness Gracious Me clip to cheer your August holidays.

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