Friday 16th January 2009

A friend took the above photo of Rydal Water in the Lake District when she was there this Christmas. I just love it. What is it about lakes and mountains that I love so much? I know that I marvel in God's creation, and mountains and lakes are where I see the splendour and majesty of God's beautiful creation the most.

I've had a good few days, and have been swimming on two further occasions this week, swimming a mile each time. Today I haven't used any inhalers and actually feel 100% better. It is brilliant to be able to breathe freely! Praise God! A friend phoned last night and prayed over the phone with me, which I know has helped.

Graham and the children are well. Rosie had her transition exam for the senior school yesterday. Charlie is working hard and playing hard with social events at church tonight and football and rugby this weekend. Harry has been asked to lead worship in his cell group next week, which he is so excited about! Both Rosie and Harry have parties this weekend. Rosie has a hockey match tomorrow morning which means I can't go to a meeting at church. Graham will go instead. We've been asked to talk about Shuttleworth. As I don't relish public speaking I'm quite pleased that Graham is going instead.

Today has been spent catching up with friends. After swimming I went round to see the neighbour whose partner died three weeks ago. It was good to spend time with her and she is bringing both children round tomorrow afternoon to see Lulu as they are planning on getting a kitten soon. Another friend came for lunch which was nice. I should have been working today but the phone line and computer have been down all day. I eventually called BT who rectified the problem which was due to a fault at the exchange.

I did a spot of housework this afternoon before collecting Harry and a friend from school. Charlie went to his friend's and then I collected Rosie and her friend from gym club. Must go as Graham and I are going to have a game of MarioKart on the Wii, much to Rosie's embarrassment. Good job the boys are not here..

Monday 12th January 2009

Had a good weekend. All the children's sport was cancelled due to bad weather ( hockey, football and rugby). Graham went to see his dad in hospital on Saturday and I went on Sunday. Church was amazing on Sunday morning. God's presence was awesome and I found the whole service, worship, sermon and prayer afterwards so uplifting. We took Rosie for her golf lesson and then had lunch at the golf club and then some friends joined us for coffee. Graham then played golf and I did some ironing before going to pick up Graham's mum to take her to the hospital. Rosie went to her friend's and Charlie back to church for a youth meeting. Watched Lark Rise to Candleford in the evening which was brilliant. I am so enjoying this second series.


Today has been good so far- apart from the cat breaking a pot containing a beautiful orchid given to me for Christmas!

I went swimming this morning and managed 1 mile. It is the first time since I became ill so I was slightly apprehensive and used my inhalers as a precaution. I do feel so energised though and realise how much I have missed exercising.

I then went to Sainsbury's before going home. After unpacking my shopping I did a small amount of work ( no writing though) before a friend arrived for lunch. It is her birthday soon and we are having a big party for her here in a few weeks time, so we discussed who to invite and food etc.

I then drove to MK to collect Graham's mum to take her to the hospital to collect Graham's dad. He was sat there ready and eager to be taken home. I'm so pleased he is much better and pray his health doesn't deteriorate again.

We have booked a holiday which I'm so excited about! We are going to Switzerland for a week in February and will sledge and ski. I'm so looking forward to the break.

The above photo is a picture of the hotel we will be staying in. We will be in a self catering apartment at the top of the hotel. The mountain in the background is the Wetterhorn.

Friday 9th January 2009

God has been teaching me to trust Him more over the last few days and 'the joy of the Lord is my strength' at the moment. Whatever life throws at us He is always there supporting and comforting us. I experienced such a range of emotions and feelings during our friend's funeral yesterday. I cried, I laughed, I questioned, I was apprehensive but ultimately I came out of the church and knew I trusted Him more than ever in all this. How do people cope with death, dying and suffering if they have no faith in Jesus Christ? 'Never will I leave you or forsake you' ( Hebrews 13:5).

I turned on my phone after the service to hear a message from Graham's mum to say that Graham's dad has been admitted to hospital with heart problems. He has been unwell with heart failure for some time and had been to see the consultant at the local hospital who thought he should be admitted for observation. Apparently his condition is stable. Graham is going to visit him tonight and we'll all go tomorrow.

I am feeling almost back to normal and nearly went swimming this morning but didn't in the end as the cold weather put me off! I reckon by Monday I will be ready to go back to the gym. The cold snap has returned! I guess I need to stop complaining about it, accept it and look forward with anticipation to warm, sunny days.

Feeling cold

The older I get the more I realise how much I love hot sunny weather. It is soooo cold here with -10 degree temperatures. It is warmer today though and was -7 degrees when I was driving to work yesterday. Apparently the cold weather is from Siberia but should warm up by the weekend.

The children enjoyed being back at school yesterday and didn't have too much homework. I went back to work and had supervision. My supervisors are so understanding and told me to take it easy until I am feeling 100%. I have got a lot of work to do though, but two weeks to complete it. I'm quite looking forward to getting stuck in again. I am writing this from home as my office was too cold to work in so I came home at lunchtime. My home environment is definitely more conducive to write in as I am nice and warm and am sat in my conservatory overlooking the garden with UCB radio on in the background.

Rosie's hockey has been cancelled due to the weather- it's supposed to be an all weather pitch but it is still covered in snow.

Snow

Woke up to a slight dusting of snow. Harry and Rosie were desperate to get outside which they did. Lulu also went with them and it was fun to observe her take in her first experience of snow. She wouldn't come back in and was shivering. Harry pounced on her in the end making her hiss and brought her back inside.

Went into town and did a bit of sales shopping. Bought a couple of pairs of trousers from Debenhams for work. Yes, it's back to work and school tomorrow. I'm still not feeling 100% and have a couple more days of antibiotics left. I will see how I get on tomorrow. I also bought a lacrosse stick for Rosie who starts the sport this week. Harry is starting rowing also. Don't know how I'm going to manage getting up at 6.45am tomorrow. The children are also in for a shock, particularly Charlie who enjoys his lie ins.

Yesterday afternoon was spent with the neighbour whose partner died. She had several friends over and it would have been a nice girly afternoon in other circumstances, drinking tea by the roaring fire. We are lending her a projector screen so she can play a slide show in the church. Her son wants to read a poem he has written about his Dad and her daughter wants to play his favourite piano piece. I didn't realise that they had been together for over 25 years. It is so sad.

I must be feeling slightly better as I have not stopped today and have managed to clear half my huge ironing pile. The children have almost got their school stuff ready and my briefcase is in the hall. I plan to have a relaxing evening and have almost finished my black cardigan. I am knitting the last sleeve.

Perseverance

The last three days of bible readings have been about perseverence which have been apt as I have been thinking that I will not be able to continue with my PhD due to being ill for over a month. ' We will reap a harvest if we do not give up'. Galatians 6:9 NIV. Perseverence means stopping not because you're tired, but because the task is done. I am only three months into the studentship as well! I'm just hoping that my supervisors will understand next week when I see them for supervision.

Yesterday I went to Tesco and did a huge shop- my first one since December 22nd. Charlie and I watched Dances with Wolves in the afternoon. What an epic! I hadn't seen it before and I cried in several places. I took Harry to his friend's in the afternoon. They were going to see Aladdin for his friend's birthday treat and then have a sleep over. I dropped Charlie off in town to meet his mates and Rosie had her friend round.

Today has been spent cleaning upstairs and taking down some of the Christmas decs. Graham took Rosie and Harry to play badminton and Charlie is catching up on about three months worth of homework. A friend called round for coffee this morning. She only found out about our neighbour yesterday and is also really shocked. Her school friend died from pneumonia aged 43 years two weeks ago and the funeral is the day before our neighbour's. So many people are mourning and I pray they will draw on Christ's strength and biblical promises to help them i.e psalm 23.

It is still so cold with temperatures around freezing. Graham played golf first thing this morning and it was -6 degrees c

Happy New Year 2009

We drove over to Cambridge yesterday afternoon to our friends for the evening. It was great to spend time with them and we had such a good evening drinking expensive champagne ( what a treat- Billecart rose ), eating a lovely chilli and pavlova and fruit and cream for pudding. The children had a jamming session with Harry on the guitar and his friend on the drums. We saw the New Year in and then played Singstar which I was pretty hopeless at.

Had a huge lie in- didn't get up until 11am and then we went to a nearby village pub for a lovely lunch. We then went back to our friends' house for coffee and got home about 4pm. It is so cold again with temperatures around freezing.