Happy New Year

Can't believe I haven't been on here since November. Life seems to be getting busier if that was ever possible and I just don't seem to find the time to write on here. We enjoyed a family Christmas and New Year with friends with a short trip to the mountains in between.

No resolutions for 2012 but I intend to do the following this year:

Grow closer to God by spending more time in the word and in prayer. I started a new Bible reading plan this year after following UCB's Bible in a year plan for the last decade or more. This one is a Historical approach which looks at the entirety of the Bible as it happened. Still in Genesis, but it is good and has made me appreciate how much actually happened in Genesis: Creation, the Fall, Noah, Lot, Abraham etc etc.

By walking closer with the Lord everything else will fall into place this year! That is what I'm expecting. If Jesus is by my side in everything that I do I will have a great year!

My draft thesis is being read by an academic within the Faculty at the moment so I am waiting for the feedback so I can progress. Another deadline for Friday which I haven't started yet. I really want to finish now and was disappointed that the jobs that I applied for before Christmas were non-existent! In the meantime I am working voluntarily one morning a week at the local Foodbank which I am really enjoying.

Graham and the children are well. Well, Graham will need a knee operation in a few weeks but hopefully it will sort out his cartilage/ligament damage. Charlie is waiting to hear from two more universities and is busy revising at the moment as he has his Maths A'Level this week. Harry is playing even more music and is practising for Rock night at school. He got a distinction in his Grade 8 guitar and now started some Jazz grades. Rosie is growing into a beautiful young lady and is busy with her friends and socialising. Quick update over and I must get to school to collect Rosie.

November

Charlie's 18th birthday came and went very quickly. He went to Letton Hall with church on the Friday and then came back on Saturday to party and go clubbing with his school friends. We had a dramatic end to the week end due to Charlie developing an allergic reaction to something he ate and we ended up in A & E ! We were told it was due to something he had ingested within the hour so reckon it was the colouring in the BBQ sauce on his ribs! Very scary at the time but thankfully he was ok after Piriton.

Still amending my thesis and looking for part-time work. I have applied for a couple of part-time lecturing posts to start in January but haven't heard anything yet. Sure God has got something planned for me so I need to be patient.

Autumn half -term

Half-term is here again. The children have two weeks off school. Rosie is in Germany this week on a hockey tour and is back tomorrow. I took Harry to visit my mum yesterday. An almost 400 miles round trip to spend 3 hours with her but it was worth it. It was a beautiful day and we went to Rivington and drove over Belmont. We saw for miles and could see Blackpool tower, the sea at Lytham from the top of Belmont, close to Winter Hill. The Autumnal colours looked stunning as a result of the sunshine-which is rare in that part of the country. My mum enjoyed her drive and we stopped off at Ikea in Birmingham on the way home and bought a few bits of tat. Much to our surprise Ikea have stopped selling Dime chocolate which was the sole purpose of the visit to the shop.

Back home a friend came round for the evening and we drove into town to drop Charlie off to go clubbing! I am in a whole new phase of parenting with Charlie as he has discovered clubs. He came in at 4am with a friend and they are both still asleep. He will be 18 in 3 weeks time and I am hoping that his new found freedom won't deter him from other more important things in his life right now.

We're all off to Interlaken for a few days at the week-end. Looking forward to spending precious family time together as I am very much aware that the children are growing up and Charlie will be at university this time next year.

Other highlights during the last couple of weeks include, Graham's parents coming over last Sunday for tea, two trips to Cambridge and a meal with friends at Browns and Harry playing in Evan Roger's band at church. We had a great multicultural celebration at church at the weekend with a huge party and dancing and singing . Apparently there are people from 28 different nations who are part of our church, which is amazing and worthy of celebration. Church is a reflection of our town's diverse population which it ought to be. The two services are going well with 191 people at the 9am service and 192 at the second on the first Sunday.

Working hard to fit my writing in with the family at the moment. A deadline approaches but I am extending it by a few days. My supervisors are fantastic and have been very supportive and encouraging. Not sure whether I'll finish in December now and just need to take it one day at a time.

Knuckling down

I am determined to finish my PhD and am aiming to submit on 31st December this year. So in an attempt to be less distracted by the Internet whilst I am working I have de-activated my Facebook account. However I am now on Twitter and am hoping that this won't distract me either. We have had a heatwave here in the UK during the last few days which has been a lovely start to Autumn and makes the prospect of the predicted Arctic Winter more bearable. We headed over to Cambridge on Saturday ( just the two of us) which was great-we're still thinking about moving back once Rosie has finished her GCSEs, which will be in two year's time.

We are all well and enjoying some of the challenges in our lives at the moment!

New season

The last month has flown by! The highlights include:
A fantastic holiday-the weather was stunning and we visited Italy and enjoyed 3 days on Lake Garda.

Children back at school. Rosie is settling well at her new school and has been picked for the hockey team which she is pleased about.

Two conference presentations for me. One at the University of Geneva and the other here at The O.U. Geneva is such a beautiful city and I managed to visit the reformation museum and learnt about Calvin's life and saw the house where he lived and the chapel where both himself and John Knox preached.

The new season is almost upon us with a distinct drop in the temperature and the nights are drawing in.

Lots happening at church and I am thankful to God for so many things, particularly that He never ever lets me down and is with me all the time in everything that I do.

My boy is home! Thanking God for the safe return of Charlie and how He has protected him during his month travelling and doing community work throughout China and Hong Kong. He has so many stories to tell us and we stayed up late last night so he could show us his photos. What an amazing time he has had.

The other two are at Newday and are also having a fantastic time with over 7000 12-19 year olds. One of Harry's friends who he took with him became a Christian-praise God. They are back tomorrow lunchtime and then all my chicks will have returned to the nest for a short time anyway!

Graham and I went to Interlaken on our own for 3 days this week. We had a great time and did the big walk- I didn't ache as much afterwards this time probably as I had climbed Helvellyn 10 days earlier. Prior to that my mum came down for 5 days which went well. She can't communicate properly but she had a good time and managed the train journey well. We took her over to see Graham's parents too.

I had supervision yesterday to discuss my thesis and for the first time I was told that I could possibly submit it at the end of the year! I have so much to do though but will do my best to finish it asap.

Our family holiday approaches which may be our last one for a while as Charlie won't want to come away with us next year. Looking forward to being together before the new season for all of us- Charlie's final school year, Harry's GCSE year and Rosie starting a new school. Exciting times ahead though.

Mountains

I've had a productive couple of weeks which has helped to take my mind off missing Charlie. 10 days to go until his return and I can't wait to see him. We are all really missing him.

I've completed a complete draft thesis which is a milestone for me even though it made me realise how much work I still have to do.

We are thinking of taking in a German boy for a year starting from next September and the family came to dinner last week as they were in the UK for a holiday. The boy is exactly the same age as Harry and everybody is keen that he comes to live with us for the year. We will just wait and see what Charlie's plans are before we decide.

I am aching so much after a climb up Helvellyn (the third highest mountain in England) on Saturday. I had a great time though. The weather and views were superb and spending time with three friends was lovely. It was the break I needed after the hard work of the previous couple of weeks. We were only away one night but it felt longer as we did such a lot during the time we were away.

The summit of my metaphorical PhD mountain is getting closer with another steep climb ahead before I reach the top! My funding runs out at the end of next month so I have applied for a very part-time lecturing post (6 hours per week) to start in October.

Looking forward to our holiday next month and a couple of days away on our own next week whilst the children are away at Newday.