3.30am Soph’s up, time for a snuggle!

6.30am Soph’s up and wants to see my Mum and Dad. Time to distract her with my phone.

8.15am Dad, the legend that he is, has been and got Maccies for breakfast. In other news, I’ve had enough of the baltic house, wet floor and washing that won’t dry properly. Time to call the emergency number.

9.15am Off we go! Nathan to St Giles, me to ASSF, Mum and Soph to Tappy Toes. Dad is staying here because somebody has turned up to fix the heating! Miracles do happen!

9.50am We are ready for our first service of the day. It’s a reading of the trial, torture and execution of Jesus, with prayers and some hymns. We will depart in quiet and go down to Crosby Village for the walk of witness with other Christians in the area.

10.55am So that was an interesting service. I found it all quite emotional at the beginning. Towards the end, I went to feel woozy and dizzy again. I steadied myself with my stall and managed to get through the last few lines. I was very grateful for some fresh air!

11.20am I’ve just met up with Mum and Soph at the walk of witness, and I’m feeling a bit better. By the time I got here, two of my amazing church members had already been to Sainsburys to get me some plain biscuits. People really are wonderful!

11.40am The Walk of Witness is over and I’ve been told to go home and rest before Hour at the Cross at 2.

12.15pm I’m home and the heating is fixed! Hooray! And Dad has made butties and done lots of other jobs, including drilling a draw back onto the kitchen unit, which I was desperately trying to do yesterday.

2.15pm I’m back at church setting up for the next service. I like to keep this service super quiet, with lots of space for people to pray and just be in the silence. I’ve put together some readings and poems to read about every ten minutes. I’ve also set up some candles and props to symbolise different parts of the story.

Last Friday I spent a couple of hours putting together Stations of the Cross using images taken from Gaza. I’ve always wanted to do a modern day version of Stations of the Cross using images taken from prominent news stories throughout the year. I had the idea when the little refugee boy washed up on the beach a few years ago. I prayed ‘where are you, Jesus?’ and I kind of felt him say ‘I’m right there, broken’.

So when I was thinking about hour of the cross this year, I decided to produce the 14 Stations using images taken in Gaza or around the situation. I spent 2 very unpleasant hours at my laptop last Friday scrolling through hundreds of pictures. I needed to find ones from reputable sources that had captions, but mainly, that fit the narrative. Such as, ‘Jesus is condemned to death’, ‘Jesus falls for the first time’, ‘Jesus is stripped and beaten’, ‘Jesus is nailed to the cross’.

By the time I’d finished, I was so drained. I went to the park with Sophia just to clear my head. I also checked them over with a few people. Mum and Dad, who have Palestinian friends like I do, and who went on my first pilgrimage with me, checked them over, as did a couple of people at church who I really trust. I wanted to make sure that I could defend my choices and interpretations, even if others didn’t agree with them.

So, I’ve pinned these images up around the church in 14 different places. People don’t have to engage if they don’t want to, because they are around the edge. Let’s see how we get on.

3.30pm Well that was dramatic! The thunder and dark skies at about 2.50 very much added to the drama! I had those props on display but I couldn’t have even dreamed up weather like that!

From the people who spoke to me, the pictures were appreciated. I don’t think anybody enjoyed looking at them. Who would? But I think people found them powerful and thought-provoking.

Time to head home via the shop for some milk, and finish my risk assessment for the Fun Afternoon tomorrow.

6.30pm after a glorious chippie tea, which I had a bit of a go at, Mum and Dad have gone to the shops, and we are doing bath and bed.

8.05pm It was nice to play in the story room together as a three. Christmas and Easter are tough on Sophia. Much as she loves seeing people and she likes joining in with things, it’s a big disruption for her. She sees less of us, and we are inevitably more distracted when we are around.

But tonight we’ve had a play and she’s even down at a good time! I’m so pleased some of the sleep coaching seems to be working. Clearly, being more intentional about her bedtime and what she does in her days is helping. I put this step off for a long time. But Sophia’s sleep has had a tremendous impact on every area of my life and my whole wellbeing for a long time. As I said to somebody today, ASSF are yet to see me well rested and energised. Not that I want to scare them…

11.40pm The risk assessment is tweaked and everything is ready to go for the morning. Tomorrow is Easter Saturday. Liturgically, it’s quite an empty day of sorrow and waiting. Missionally, it’s a great day to engage the community. So we’re all go for the Family Fun Afternoon, starting at 2. I’d best get to bed!