Sunday Smile Sermon - 17th August

CONGRATULATIONS SHIV & MARK!!! 

Well, I had an amazing time last night, at my good friend Siobhan and her Fiancé Mark's Engagement party! It was great seeing all the girls and a lot of friendly faces, some people who I haven't seen in years too, like some of the lads from Archbishop Illsley, who I haven't seen for so long! It was a really good night. And there was a constant flow of Prosecco :) I thought I would be sensible and try and have just a couple and then just a few Guinness's, pregnant women can drink Guinness, so it must be relatively ok for me to drink with all the meds that I'm on. BAD idea!!!! Prosecco and Guinness together, is a very bad, stomach curdling, mistake! I do have a bit of a dodgy head and stomach today! It was well worth it though. Great night!

So, I digress, the things that have made me smile the most since my last sermon, my trip to Ireland was lovely! It was great seeing all the family over there, more importantly my mom! It was a lovely trip over on the ferry with my Nan and Granddad and then back with my brother Dan, Grace, James and Isabelle. Thank you all for such a lovely little holiday for me. Thinking I had to come home a week earlier to have my pre op. As my operation was suppose to be 21st of August, with a pre Op on the 14th. But no, that was cancelled. I'm not going into that now though, it was a serious time of stress and no smiles. Grrr   It's not like I was really looking forward to it. Like I'm so excited about having an operation, I just want these things to be sorted out as soon as possible. I want to look as good as new with no more pressure garments and masks. I can not wait for this to all be sorted for me. It's a good job I've got short term memory loss, otherwise these things would be so irritating. Although, last week does feel like last year to me too, so it feels like I've been waiting for this operation for years!!! That alone is annoying.

I did have an appointment at the QE last week though, where I saw Faye, she looks after me and my scars. She gave me lots of little samples of various other scar treatments to use, I also had a little moan about the mask, the whole face covering mask that she had made for me to wear 23 hours a day! With a little moan about this mask, she gave me a little pressure garment that I could wear around my face to bed, so I could have a good sleep! And I have! My sleeps are great these days. Faye also gave me the contact details of the 2 surgeons secretaries. I'll be giving them a week to do there thing, then POW I'll be on them day and night to try and get a date down for this Op!

I have been writing a fair bit too, I'd say the first 3 or 4 chapters of this book of mine are all done and good. I've sent copies to both of my aunties, Theresa and Eve. I can get a good feedback from these two. Once I've heard both of their comments/feedback, I'll crack on with the next few chapters. In no time, it will be complete and on the shelf at Waterstones. I'm picturing a book signing day and all sorts, like I'm some sort of celeb!

I've been pretty good with my healthy eating and exercise, apart from today, where I just HAD to have Nutella on toasted crumpets. It just needed to be something yummy and stodgy today! I have been swimming with Anna a few times a week though, so that's good. I'm aiming on getting a running blade soon too. It will be so good to go for a jog with one of those! I'm far more confident on walking around without a stick now too, my balance and confidence has really improved the last few weeks. I only use a stick if I'm going to be walking a lot or if I'm walking in a crowded area, like last night for example, I had my stick with me because it was crowded and I was drinking. I was dancing around no problem though! :)

  I also booked and paid for a course of Advanced Creative Writing with WEA college. It will be good to get back into an academic flow of work. It will be good to improve my writing too, if I'm going to become an author! It's only a 10 week course. 10am every Friday for 10 weeks. Eeeek I'm excited already! I think once that one is done and dusted, I'll move onto another course, something like psychology. I've got to get this brain of mine fit and ready for a Masters! A 2:1 Theology Degree at the UofB was a piece of cake for me. But now, a Masters in something, is a bit further away from me, with all of the chaos going on with my spaghetti brain.   It will be fine though, I'm working on it all. In no time at all I will be back to myself, physically (minus the leg) and mentally.

Watch this space people!

And a BIG thank you to my lovely Sister in Law, Grace, who signed me in a slate during her adventure  on a Zip-line day out. She signed my website there and left it in a place where lots of people would see it when they are doing the Zip-line adventure day out too.

 This week, I also decided to learn a little bit of Spanish, it's a language I've always wanted to learn, and have never gotten around to it. So, after reading a book called, Brain Injury Survival Kit, it was mentioned that learning something new and fresh to the brain, is a good way of training it to get fit and back to it's normal capacity. So with my Advanced Creative Writing course at the end of the year and a few Spanish words here and there, I'll be back in game!

The sentences I have written down to remember (and which I can remember right now) is;

Mi hermana Alex es tan hermoso

Well, I couldn't remember how to spell it, but I got the pronunciation spot on!

To end it on a quote, "I am not what happened to me. I am what I chose to become." Carl Jung

Until next Sunday, BYE!!!