The House of Grace...

This summer my brother is going on a trip with his youth group to Romania. I am so incredibly excited for him but also extremely jealous! I have been to the same place in Romania twice before in 2010 and 2012. The trip is to help run a bible camp for Romanian children who are from deprived areas and many of them would not get another holiday.

The camp is at Casa Harului (which translates to the house of grace.) It is such an amazing, beautiful and peaceful place. I would not be the person I am today if I had not been. Every trip we go with the aim to serve the Romanian leaders and children but each time we leave feeling like they have blessed us far more than we have blessed them!

It always amazes me how much joy the kids have considering many of them are from very difficult backgrounds. It means so much to me that we could bring them more joy through games, photos, songs and lots of other things. 

These are the girls from the team I went with, we have all grown up through church together so it was an amazing experience to go abroad and serve together.

This is Emma, a little girl I met on my first trip in 2010, she became my best friend for the week and we had a great time! Although I do think she was mainly attracted to me because we have the same name!!

In 2012 she was at the camp again and we had fun together again! It was lovely to see some of the children we had met before looking so much more grown up.

I love this picture so much, this little girl is called Andrea and she was just gorgeous! Gorgeous looking and gorgeous in nature. 

This Emma again, she is also gorgeous! She wrote me a letter all about how much she had missed me and how she hoped she would see me again! They were all such beautiful kids! I wish I was going back. 

I love this photo so much! It is the only photo of everyone! It makes me smile!

 The days were filled with lots of games and fun, here are a couple of pictures!

During the day there were a few meetings with everybody together. With games, silliness and some stories.

https://plus.google.com/photos/108533572800585656577/albums/5789213165034152705/5789213169089024066?pid=5789213169089024066&oid=108533572800585656577

This is a video we made about our last trip to Romania, I love it so much! It shows the craziness of an average day in the life at the camp. So much fun! 

Once the kids went to bed we had a bit of free time as a team. On both trips we lay on the field outside stargazing. AMAZING. As the camp is in the middle of nowhere the stars are so visible. In 2010 we were lucky enough to witness a meteor shower. AMAZING. Creation just makes me speechless sometimes!! 

I'll finish with this picture. I love it so much! So cute! 

Emmie x

Summer Sun...

Today there has been the most glorious sunshine and surprisingly it is warm as well which doesn't happen very often. I embraced the weather and I have been out for two walks, soaking in the rays! First of all I was just popping to the shops but it was so lovely outside I took a long route there and back. I made the mistake of going out in a cardigan and a jacket as I was expecting our usual weather but I was pleasantly surprised! 

Yesterday it seemed lovely and sunny but by 8 o'clock in the evening when I had to walk somewhere and it was beginning to rain. I was only walking for ten minutes before the thunder and lightening, I saw an amazing fork of lightening which must have been incredibly close! Creation never fails to amaze me! Then the torrential hail started! It was awful, it was so heavy it soaked all the way through my waterproof coat. Not so amazing. I am very grateful for the sunny weather today! 

My little brother is hilarious, he wears his massive winter coat no matter what and won't unzip it or admit that he is too hot! Today I collected him from school and walked him home. We live about a 30 minute walk from the school, it was great to be out enjoying the fresh air. 

Obviously it being me I couldn't help myself taking a few pictures so here you go! 

The sky was so blue! It was beautiful! 

Emmie x

Food Glorious Food...

If you know me you will know I LOVE food! 

I have been making use of my free time (and my cravings) and I have been baking! I love baking and cooking, I find it so therapeutic! It is also great to see the finished products. (I also love eating the finished products!) This week I baked my all time favourite, cheese scones, so good. Love them. They were only baby scones but they were  pretty tasty! I got the recipe from an old recipe book that my Mum has has since she was small. 

Then I made shortbread, I had never realised how simple it was to make. I found a great simple recipe online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/shortbread_1290 and the results are delicious if I do say so myself!! My mum and I also worked out that they only have 80 calories per biscuit making them a fabulous wee cheeky snack.

                                   

Tonight I am cooking tea for my family. When I cook it is usually just a concoction of bits and pieces and I just have to hope it tastes good! Tonight will be no different! I'm attempting a concoction of Thai flavoured chicken with rice that will be flavoured with various things. Hopefully it will turn out ok!! 

I should stop talking about food now, I am making myself hungry!

Emmie x

Crackers, Celebrations and Cake...

I've been home now for 5 days now and so far everyday has been different, here are a few pictures and memories of the week!

 Monday was a bank holiday so I went with my family on a trip to Souter Lighthouse and for a small walk. I successfully climbed the lighthouse in a dress, not a wise idea! Very self conscious when climbing up and down ladders to the top!! All in all it was a fabulous day minus probably flashing my knickers to strangers! 

Tuesday was more laid back as everyone else was back at school or work but I picked my little brother up from school and we had a lovely walk home chatting and giggling the whole way. 

Wednesday was my birthday! Happy days! The morning was however spent doing housework but after that it perked up. I had a great phone call from my boyfriend who is in the middle of exams so still away at uni. He always makes me smile! My day was made by a parcel arriving from my best friend who is on a gap year in South Africa! I got some fabulous presents, she knows me so well! Speaking of presents, I was very blessed, so many pretty cards and I'm very grateful for all the presents I received! I also went out for lunch with mum. The food was so good. I had potato skins, and then carbonara. Amazing. Then for tea as a family we had fajitas, they were also amazing! At tea mum decided we would use up the left over christmas crackers. I love my family! Mum and I then finished the day by watching Rent and drinking Malibu. Not so bad! A very blessed day, I'm so lucky!

Emmie x

First day of freedom..

Today was the first official day of my holidays, I've had such an amazing time! I made a trip to Glasgow to see my boyfriend for the afternoon and that is always a treat! We watched a film and laughed the time away! He knows exactly how to crack me up! He also got me some fabulous birthday presents, chocolate (always a winner!), rent on dvd and a really pretty necklace! I'm so blessed! He also cooked me dinner! It doesn't look so good in the photo but it tasted incredible! Korean mixed rice, there was cucumber soaked in balsamic vinegar, bean sprouts, garlic spinach, amazing chilli chicken and a fried egg on top. So good.

Then when I got back to my flat, I had a hilarious time with my flatmates! They bought me some Malibu and wrote me cute cards! I'm going to miss them so much. We ended up just chatting for hours!

Flat selfie time...

All in all it was a fabulous last full day!

Emmie x

Goodbyes...

Now that first year is over I have to move home for the summer! There are lots of things I won't miss about living in halls but there are so many things I will be sad to leave behind. It is crazy to think that this is now my 8th month living in Edinburgh, it feels like yesterday that I moved in. I will miss my flatmates from this year a lot (some more that others!!), we have had so many laughs this year! It has been a pleasure to live with them. 

I will also miss having all my friends living so close by. Our campus here is tiny so it isn't far at all from block to block. We have had so many good times, film nights, pizza and parties. I will miss that next year. Today is the day I have to say goodbye to most of my friends and it is so sad. I won't see them for 4 months! 

Finally and here is my photo, I will miss the incredible sunsets. My window in halls has a brilliant view and the sunsets in the evenings are just amazing. So beautiful! I have so many pictures on my phone of various sunsets from this year. I will share with you the most recent, the sky was incredible and pink. Plus there is a pretty view if you ignore the pylons! 

Emmie x

Summer time..

It is now officially the summer holidays and it is only May! Crazy! Today I had my last exam of first year at university and I am so relieved to be finished with exams, lectures, books and revision! I really don't like exams, they stress me out too much! I'd much rather write essays but this semester I had 3 exams. Very sad but now I can't wait to enjoy the sun and relax. It is going to be great. 

Celebratory end of exams photo! Love these girls! 

I don't know how I would have survived revision without those girlies. They have been my moral support through tedious psychology revision! 

I've already embraced the freedom in my 4 hours since finishing! Went for a lovely walk with some of my friends from my course. It was great to be able to spend time together without the stresses of revision. I have also painted my nails! They are now very summery and pink! 

Now it is time to finish packing up my life here in Edinburgh before I head back home for the summer! I have so much stuff, I don't quite know how I will manage to pack it all up! 

Emmie x