The temperature hasn't been much above freezing for the last week. We've had lots of snow which seems to disrupt the transport system in the UK. I had to go to London for two days last week which was an endurance test in itself before I even started to tackle the NVivo 9 training course.
Graham and I are being challenged at the moment by our forgetful children. All three seem to be losing and forgetting things most days. Here are some of the things which have been lost this last week:
Charlie's testimony just before we set out to church!
One of Rosie's brand new school shoes which fell out of her bag on a games field
£10 worth of guitar picks which were left in an envelope
Harry's busking money was left on a cafe table yesterday in Cambridge. Happy ending though as somebody had handed it in and a friend of mine will collect it this week for him
Two school coats- both found
Harry's mobile phone- not found
Games kit left at home twice last week and once today ( Rosie)
Usual stuff like house keys, phones, school books which happen most days anyway!
We are thankful though for what God is doing in our lives at the moment. Charlie's baptism was amazing.. Harry and another person prayed for someone who had injured his arm and God took the swelling away! God has been teaching me about perseverance and remaining faithful to Him despite circumstances.
We've had a great week-end visiting friends on Friday night, rugby for Graham and Charlie on Sat, Romeo and Juliet theatre trip for Harry and friends round for Rosie and a bit of peace and quiet for me. Yesterday after church we went to Cambridge and Harry and two friends played Christmas carols and we met up with some friends.
Monday, 6 December 2010
Friday, 19 November 2010
19th November 2010
My eldest baby is 17 years old today!!! Really can't believe it. We are buying him driving lessons for his birthday. Driving is another hurdle I'll have to overcome as a mother. The challenges of parenting are changing all the time with each child and I pray for wisdom and guidance for both Graham and myself with all our decisions we have to make.
Anyway, Charlie and Harry are off to Norfolk with church for the week-end. It will seem strange not spending the evening with Charlie on his birthday but we will celebrate on Sunday when he gets back. Rosie is going to a friend's for a sleepover on Saturday, so we will be childless for the evening! We are to going to Cambridge for a meal and then are meeting up with friends later on.
Charlie is getting baptised next Sunday! Praise God. Both Graham's mum and dad and my mum are coming to the service, and possibly my brother and family. We are so proud of him making this decision.
Anyway, Charlie and Harry are off to Norfolk with church for the week-end. It will seem strange not spending the evening with Charlie on his birthday but we will celebrate on Sunday when he gets back. Rosie is going to a friend's for a sleepover on Saturday, so we will be childless for the evening! We are to going to Cambridge for a meal and then are meeting up with friends later on.
Charlie is getting baptised next Sunday! Praise God. Both Graham's mum and dad and my mum are coming to the service, and possibly my brother and family. We are so proud of him making this decision.
Friday, 12 November 2010
12th November 2010
Can't believe that I haven't blogged for a whole month. We've had a break in Interlaken for four days which was a great opportunity to recharge our batteries and spend some time together as a family.
Life continues to be busy but fulfilling. Church is amazing and God is moving in our lives. Charlie is getting baptised in a couple of weeks, a week after after his 17th birthday.
My work continues steadily. I have finished data collection and am swimming in a sea of data.
Our flat will be ours on the 17th December- just got to pay for it! Cut backs in force big time to cope with the second mortgage. Looking forward to going out there during the Christmas holidays. Graham will fly out on the 17th for the handover.
Christmas is just around the corner. Winter too. Very windy here. We had winds up to 70mph last night.
Life continues to be busy but fulfilling. Church is amazing and God is moving in our lives. Charlie is getting baptised in a couple of weeks, a week after after his 17th birthday.
My work continues steadily. I have finished data collection and am swimming in a sea of data.
Our flat will be ours on the 17th December- just got to pay for it! Cut backs in force big time to cope with the second mortgage. Looking forward to going out there during the Christmas holidays. Graham will fly out on the 17th for the handover.
Christmas is just around the corner. Winter too. Very windy here. We had winds up to 70mph last night.
Friday, 15 October 2010
15th October 2010
Half term already. The children break-up today for two weeks which is great. My mum is coming down on Sunday for a couple of days which will be nice as we haven't seen her for sometime.
Feeling challenged in several areas of my life at the moment and also excited about the prospect of a new leader joining the church. God is definitely in control. So pleased to read about the faith of some of the Chilean miners. God was evident throughout the whole process of their release and I just pray that the whole world will see what He has done and that He will get the glory.
Off to Interlaken for 4 days next week which will be a good time for us all to re-charge our batteries and to view the flat.
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Thankful Thursday
Can't believe that three quarters of 2010 has passed. Time flies by. Tomorrow will be the first day of my (hopefully) final year as a PhD student.
It is a beautiful day today and I'm sat in my usual position, in the conservatory overlooking the garden. The sun is shining and I want to sit outside. But I can't. I have so much work to do and the deadline approaches. I will be working for a lot of the week end too. Apart from work we are going to Cambridge on Saturday to see some friends which I'm looking forward to.
Today I'm thankful that God never leaves me and is by my side in everything that I do. I'm thankful for my church and for the ladies event tonight. I'm thankful for Graham and the children of course and my health and for my many interests. I'm thankful for the apartment opportunity in Interlaken and pray we can use it for God's glory. I'm thankful and appreciative that life is good, very good and it is only by God's grace that it is.
It is a beautiful day today and I'm sat in my usual position, in the conservatory overlooking the garden. The sun is shining and I want to sit outside. But I can't. I have so much work to do and the deadline approaches. I will be working for a lot of the week end too. Apart from work we are going to Cambridge on Saturday to see some friends which I'm looking forward to.
Today I'm thankful that God never leaves me and is by my side in everything that I do. I'm thankful for my church and for the ladies event tonight. I'm thankful for Graham and the children of course and my health and for my many interests. I'm thankful for the apartment opportunity in Interlaken and pray we can use it for God's glory. I'm thankful and appreciative that life is good, very good and it is only by God's grace that it is.
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Autumn
I'm sat writing this in the garden. It is lovely and sunny and hearing the birds singing in the trees the weather is almost Spring-like instead of Autumnal. It was the first day of Autumn yesterday and I'm noticing the shorter days already. As I spend so much time in the car from 4pm onwards transporting the children to various activities the darker evenings are very apparent. A new season is definitely here in more ways than one in my life.
Almost finished interviewing my participants and am preparing for 3 months of intensive data analysis which will take me up until the end of December.
Our Saturday morning church group has started back with the possibility of 4 more people joining us. Praise God.
We are almost the owners of a Swiss apartment and Graham flew out there on Monday to sign the contract. We plan to visit Interlaken for a few days during half-term so we can decide what furniture we need before we take ownership of it on the 1st Jan. Interlaken is our piece of heaven on earth and has been for over the last 20 years. We plan on sharing this piece of heaven with family and friends once it is furnished.
The children are busy with their new seasons too. Charlie is enjoying the sixth form and is working so hard. Harry has started his GCSE coursework and continues to songwrite and play his guitar. Rosie is back in the routine of hockey, swimming, lacrosse, badminton, church groups and being full-on with everything she does. There seems to be party after party and friends here there and everywhere. We had to make some decisions during the week about the HPV vaccine which I'd gaily signed the consent form about without putting much thought in it. However, the day before she was due to have it I just kept thinking she was too young at the age of twelve to have it and after researching the incidence and risk factors of cervical cancer and taking into consideration that I would hope Rosie will have regular smear tests and won't be sexually active for a long time yet we decided to postpone it. I sometimes feel that financial health service targets coupled with the invested interest of drug companies pressurise us parents to subject our children's immune systems to drugs that have not been around for long enough to guarantee their safety 100%.
Well, we were in the minority with our thinking as the majority of her year had the immunisation. However there were a few girls who didn't. As it turned out Rosie was unwell with a cold and cough that day and although she didn't have a temperature I wouldn't have felt happy with her having an immunisation that day. She is still unwell but has gone to school.
God and church continue to be my raison d'etre and on Sunday 5 people were baptised and a couple of healings were also witnessed! The Alpha course was launched last night with an Alpha Grill where we ate a bbq followed by a questions and answer session where 4 Christians were 'grilled'. It was an excellent and innovative way to launch the course.
Looking forward to the week-end already and a quiet one is planned after a hectic one last week where we had a dinner party followed by attending Rosie's friend's baptismal lunch after church which was really lovely and such an honour for us to be invited. Family XFactor night on Saturday followed by roast dinner on Sunday are the only things that are planned.
Almost finished interviewing my participants and am preparing for 3 months of intensive data analysis which will take me up until the end of December.
Our Saturday morning church group has started back with the possibility of 4 more people joining us. Praise God.
We are almost the owners of a Swiss apartment and Graham flew out there on Monday to sign the contract. We plan to visit Interlaken for a few days during half-term so we can decide what furniture we need before we take ownership of it on the 1st Jan. Interlaken is our piece of heaven on earth and has been for over the last 20 years. We plan on sharing this piece of heaven with family and friends once it is furnished.
The children are busy with their new seasons too. Charlie is enjoying the sixth form and is working so hard. Harry has started his GCSE coursework and continues to songwrite and play his guitar. Rosie is back in the routine of hockey, swimming, lacrosse, badminton, church groups and being full-on with everything she does. There seems to be party after party and friends here there and everywhere. We had to make some decisions during the week about the HPV vaccine which I'd gaily signed the consent form about without putting much thought in it. However, the day before she was due to have it I just kept thinking she was too young at the age of twelve to have it and after researching the incidence and risk factors of cervical cancer and taking into consideration that I would hope Rosie will have regular smear tests and won't be sexually active for a long time yet we decided to postpone it. I sometimes feel that financial health service targets coupled with the invested interest of drug companies pressurise us parents to subject our children's immune systems to drugs that have not been around for long enough to guarantee their safety 100%.
Well, we were in the minority with our thinking as the majority of her year had the immunisation. However there were a few girls who didn't. As it turned out Rosie was unwell with a cold and cough that day and although she didn't have a temperature I wouldn't have felt happy with her having an immunisation that day. She is still unwell but has gone to school.
God and church continue to be my raison d'etre and on Sunday 5 people were baptised and a couple of healings were also witnessed! The Alpha course was launched last night with an Alpha Grill where we ate a bbq followed by a questions and answer session where 4 Christians were 'grilled'. It was an excellent and innovative way to launch the course.
Looking forward to the week-end already and a quiet one is planned after a hectic one last week where we had a dinner party followed by attending Rosie's friend's baptismal lunch after church which was really lovely and such an honour for us to be invited. Family XFactor night on Saturday followed by roast dinner on Sunday are the only things that are planned.
Friday, 10 September 2010
Prayer and fasting
Almost at the end of a week of prayer and fasting. As a church we are doing this in anticipation that God will become closer to us, change us as we seek to get closer to Him. It hasn't been easy and most of the time I've found it difficult to remember to pray, read my bible etc in place of the things I'm fasting from. For example, I haven't been on Facebook at all and I'm not eating junk food. I know I have lost weight which is a good thing and I know that too much Facebook is not good for me, and perhaps God is telling me not to go on it all, as it is just wasting time.
There have been extra praise and worship times at church during the week, including a 6am prayer meeting which Graham went to before work. We will go to the 8am service in the morning. All this is making me think that this is how we should be living our lives at all times.
Looking forward to the week end with the village show on Sunday. Harry and his band are playing which is great. Rosie has a hockey match tomorrow at Graham's old school and Charlie is starting to help out at youth club tonight. But most of all I'm looking forward to a Saturday night in as we haven't one for absolutely ages. Staying in is definitely the new going out for me! Perhaps I'm just getting old.
I've had a busy week work wise and will have interviewed 6 people by the end of tonight! I now have 19 participants which means I'm running to schedule. If I write about 500 words a day for the next couple of weeks I'll be on target to finish a piece of work before the end of the month.
Our flat in Interlaken looks set to go ahead which is so exciting. We have paid the deposit and have secured the mortgage at a very low rate of interest. Graham flies out next week to meet the notary and a completion date has been set for the 4th Jan. Ikea here I come, but won't be able to rent it out for a while.
There have been extra praise and worship times at church during the week, including a 6am prayer meeting which Graham went to before work. We will go to the 8am service in the morning. All this is making me think that this is how we should be living our lives at all times.
Looking forward to the week end with the village show on Sunday. Harry and his band are playing which is great. Rosie has a hockey match tomorrow at Graham's old school and Charlie is starting to help out at youth club tonight. But most of all I'm looking forward to a Saturday night in as we haven't one for absolutely ages. Staying in is definitely the new going out for me! Perhaps I'm just getting old.
I've had a busy week work wise and will have interviewed 6 people by the end of tonight! I now have 19 participants which means I'm running to schedule. If I write about 500 words a day for the next couple of weeks I'll be on target to finish a piece of work before the end of the month.
Our flat in Interlaken looks set to go ahead which is so exciting. We have paid the deposit and have secured the mortgage at a very low rate of interest. Graham flies out next week to meet the notary and a completion date has been set for the 4th Jan. Ikea here I come, but won't be able to rent it out for a while.
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