A Hull of a weekend...

Was so excited about my exotic bank holiday girlie weekend in..... HULL!
Arrived friday afternoon after a great train ride where a very nice Indian lady sitting next to me, didn't want to chat but kept randomly pasing me sherbet lemons at intervals in the journey! Thanks love!
My lush girlies picked me up from the station and our first stop was the Sun cafe. Alison is trying to convert me, to lure me away from the home that was Planet Coffee, for 3 years, to this new little chill out coffee house. I was sceptical but soon relented when the lovely chinese owner bought free cake round. Then we went home and Abi cooked up a fab korma and we chatted til the wee hours!
Saturday was so exciting as Alison, kath and I ventured into the city centre to get pierced/tattooed. Alison has wanted her nose pierced for four years and saturday was the day! I wanted a teeny tattoo but was very apprehensive of the agony it might be (low pain threshold!). We went to the new primark store and other such boutiques before finally going into "Classic Piercing". What happened next should've been enough to put us off, as 'Steve' and Mr 'Entire body tattooed' greeted us with a string of sexual harrassment abuse and F words. We saw some girls come out from being tatooed and i saw how sore it looked and though nup! No way!
Decided to get my nose pierced again instead, I had it done 6 years ago but let it close up after much skanky green stuff took over the look in 2004! This time instead of when steph and i got them done, for a fiver in a back cupboard of a shop with an ear piercing gun (illegal!), it was a needle job. Again, not very appealing, but we did it! Kath got her ear done halfway up and we all went to the chinese eat as much as you can with metal adornments! That night i saw like, the soppiest but best film ever, after watching mean girls, my lovely mates put on The Notebook. It's so lovely! sob sob!
Sunday was ace, as i got to go back to St Johns and saw my old Explorer kids and all the students and church family i miss so much! Was so good to spend time singing, praying and being taught by God together again.Then had a lush lazy afternoon with Graham and Ali and the girls. My goodness they've grown, Alys is so tall now! She's nearly 4! And Rosie has hair now and looks less baby like and more young ladylike! it was so much fun. it may be the last time i get to hang with the Sayers before they emigrate to Taz in the summer! So it was a precious time.
Alys just choked me when she sang "Jesus all for Jesus" to me, the whole thing! Ali and G have been singing to the girls Christian songs after their bible time! It really was beautiful and I pray Alys will give her life all for Jesus. The evening service was great and lee preached a brilliant and challenging sermon on Deuteronomy. And the challenge for us to enter Gods rest and not miss out as many of Israel did, due to disobedience and grumbling. It was a real encouragement for us sisters and brothers in Christ to keep each other accountable and encourage one another to keep on, even when we're apart geographically. It's been great so far that 3 girls i read the bible with in Hull have gone into gospel ministry full time themselves, and Abi is about to do that in septmeber, praise God for his transforming work in her life from her early shaky days as a fresher. I give great praise to God for his mercy and grace that these girls are soaking up and living out.
That night we had Prima Pizza (ouch the next day!), managed to get one free somehow and played THE BEST GAME EVER - Mrs Goggins old maid. It's amazing and kept us up late! Monday morning we were up early at starbucks in town for a final coffee before i got the train back. And those crazy four were can-canning on the platform, running after the train as it pulled out, waving feminine hygiene products (wrapped) at me! Thanks God for great sisters in Christ and for allowing our lreationships to flourish despite us being apart. May you keep them to that finishing line!