2.45am. I’ve had a bit of a shock. I have gone all the way back through my blogs and worked out that this is my fifth Holy Week in ministry! Each year during the week leading up to Easter I write a series of blogs, one for each day. First there was Holy Week as a Deacon (2018), then as a Priest (2019), then in a pandemic (2020), then 2021 (as a vicar, pregnant and in semi-lockdown) and now here we are in 2022!

Anyway, you might wonder why I’m awake. Well, it’s the first feed since midnight. Off to catch some Zs!

4.30am. Another feed.

5.30am. Feed time again! I’ll move her into our bed and feed her tummy to tummy – this usually means that she sleeps for a bit longer.

8.06am. That wasn’t a bad night, it could have been a lot worse! Anyway, I like to read to Sophia every morning if I possibly can. Today we’ve gone for Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Nathan has gone over to church to do his early service and once I’ve finished my tea I’ll get Sophia and myself up and dressed.

10.06am I’ve just done the notices for today. I go live on Facebook every Sunday morning with the updates and info for the next few weeks.

Nathan has just taken Sophia over to church with him. She’ll be at St Giles this morning, which is unusual because she’s often with me. I’ll let you know how I get on without my little sidekick!

10.45am Doesn’t church look gorgeous?

1.20pm I’m back home after a lovely morning. It was really weird being at church without Sophia, I felt like I’d lost a limb! But I had great morning and our reader, Ann, preached. We had a couple of little lads come with their parents so I got a box of toys out of the cupboard for them. It was a really nice morning.

3.10pm Nathan’s brother, Dan, has come over so we have a great excuse to go to the pub. Oh dear, how sad, never mind!

7.05pm Sophia seems to have had a lovely time at St Giles this morning. Apparently there was a bit of banter as she contributed to Nathan’s sermon! At least she didn’t yawn loudly as she’s been known to do during mine!

The rest of my tasks for the day involve editing the banners for outside church to advertise our services this week, emptying the dishwasher and bulletpointing my sermon for Easter Day. I find that it’s much easier to get Easter Day sermons written early on because if I wait until the end of the week, things are too heavy. It’s hard to write about the resurrection on Good Friday! Anyway, we’re not there yet…

8.40pm Here is banner number 1. I’m quite pleased with it!

10.20pm I’ve emptied the dishwasher, done the washing up, taken out the recycling and done my two banners. The sermon, on the other hand, is another matter. I’ve reminded myself of the reading and the first thing that strikes me is that women have been ignored and silenced throughout history, and this is a classic example. It’s going to take a bit of effort to save this from being much more than a feminist rant come Sunday!