solanky event 2008

angie, caleb, joshua & i gave a short presentation about ourselves and the work we do at our church this past weekend.

it was a precious time of sharing the whole why we do this.

here are a few pics :)




we also showed this video about last year's Give Me Shelter (courtesy of Nat & Pete):

bank holiday weekends

for me bank holiday weekends are all about a pub lunch.

it's not so much the case anymore... having a family means that any sort of venture out is a treat... but i remember the many many monday's that i'd have in the pub, usually of nice location and preferably with beer garden, sitting in, or out, with friends enjoying some fine ales and good catch up.

i loved the pub philosophers/politicians positions that we'd assume to put the world to right... and it seemed to always be a winner and a good opportunity to gather friends in the same place.

there's something about lunchtime drinking that i'm particularly fond of. perhaps it has a different context and hence free from the "big night out" feeling.

i have many fond memories of sitting in pubs (the vine, the white hart, the thirst & last, the brasserie, the buck's head or the spotted dog) at lunch time with a few friends enjoying company and conversation over a fine ale or larger.

not sure i'll be in the pub this weekend... but still... i always think of pub lunches when there's a bank holiday weekend.

i lost it today

i'm usually a calm person but i lost it today.

as per usual i awoke. got joshie. brought him into our bedroom. realised i need to change his nappy. got nappy. forgot wipes. got wipes. changed nappy.... i could go on but you get the picture :)

eventually when we're all together on the bed, reading stories or playing, angie asks "you fancy some eggs for for breakfast?". now being a man of simple pleasure i found the prospect of a boiled egg quite egg-citing.

so i went down and started to get to work. we had been given an egg measure for boiled eggs, amusing titled "egg-xactly", and worked out the timings. got the soldiers ready.

eggs on the egg cups and then off to serve breakfast. as i walked up the stair to the dining room my foot trailed. i slipped and one of the eggs went flying onto the floor. splat.

all that hard work, all that egg-citement and all that hunger crashed and turned into anger. anger that i screwed up. anger that i've got to start again or give up.

i lost it... and kicked the cupboard in frustration.

caleb ran in and saw the egg and got very egg-cited. angie salvaged the food as not much was damaged. i had had enough and gone off it whilst caleb was stoked to be eating papa's food.

whilst i was feeling sorry for myself... the people around me were picking up the pieces and turning it into a feast.

egg-cellent. (i hope you're not thinking that this blog entry is a blatant egg-scuse for getting egg puns in)

preparation...

we try once a year to hold an event where angie & i explain a little bit about what we do and, importantly, why we do it.

already we have a number of supporters who help us in so many wonderful ways... it is our pleasure to say thank you and give an update of the work and ourselves.

additionally, we find that many people would like to know more.

we're holding this year's event at st john's church, tunbridge wells at 2 pm this coming saturday.

it's always an emotional time for me as i prepare because i'm overwhelmed with gratitude. as i sit and write i realise that many have encouraged and got behind us as a family. they believe in what we do, they believe in enabling us to do what we do... they have partnered with us.

as i reflect upon the hard and the blessed times that we have experienced, i still cannot believe that we've survived... but we have and we've got a lot to be thankful for. the miracle of partnering has been a powerful one in our lives and something that we promote passionately about professionally.

caravan-ing

we have just returned from a few days at a caravan site.

some friends from our church not only lent it to us, but also towed it down, paid for our time and supplied us with some great yummies. i don't know what we did to deserve such grace, but we're utterly thankful and it was an interesting experience into the art of living in a confined space.

the thing that you immediately notice is all the facilities within the caravan. the fridge, heating system, the beds and the kitchen... all incredible and have a real gasp factor.

i have a confession here. i suffer from camping envy. whenever i have been on camping expeditions or in the great outdoors i have always taken precious little (the laws for packing take a whole new dimension and i still haven't cottoned on to this) and seem to be surrounded by those with amazing insights and preparedness for the elements.

but.... but, i didn't pack. and thank God too as we had pretty much everything even down to a Cafetiere... i was a happy camper, or caravan-er, this time.




oh and we had a great time :)

voting

we just voted. we all walked up to the local polling booth at st luke's church round the corner.

it's local election time. we had three candidates from the liberal democrats, the green party and the tories.

i'd read their leaflets apart from the green who didn't really inform us of their policies by the usual leaflet drop (perhaps this was deliberate).

found myself disinterested in anything that they had to say and failed to understand how these people are serving to represent me... the main things we were being asked to vote on seemed to be about education or recycling. both important issues and i was wondering about local poverty, community and family breakdown and employment.

i was still undecided on the candidates. so i whispered to caleb who was with me who i should vote for... he answered, resoundingly, "caleb".