Monday 28 November 2011

Eden's Class Assembly



Last Thursday Eden and her class performed an assembly on WWII.  They were focusing mainly on the children being evacuated from London.  It was a great play and Eden was one of the ladies taking in evacuated children.  You will see her on the top left hand side of the picture, she is wearing a grey wig and no school uniform.

The class has really enjoyed looking through WWII and how it affected children in London as the school they attend would have been one that most of the children were evacuated from.  We have been told that our area of London was on the route the enemy planes would take leaving the city so any extra bombs or such that they hadn't used would just be dropped which is why our area was so heavily affected by the bombings.

Eden and her classmates did a great job and we are looking forward to her next assembly!

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Windsor is ready for Christmas!





Last weekend we escaped away without the children.  The idea was to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary but also came at a good time to relax and have some time together before another child is thrown into the family mix.

On Sunday we woke up to an amazing fog over the area.  We went walking around Windsor in the fog.  It was a beautiful mixture of fog and Christmas lights. I am attaching a picture through the fog you can just make out the castle on the left.

Nathans New Glasses

Nathan was very excited on Monday to collect his new glasses. He asked us to put them up so anyone who is interested can take a look.

He has always had a slight stigmatism in his eyes but the optomitrist said it was so slight he would not need glasses for some years.  Recently he has started seeing double when he focuses on something.  It now appears that his muscle in the back of his eye is weakening and causing the double vision.  This muscle weakness means he is unable to go crosseyed.  A very strange thing really but we are doing excercises for his eyes twice a day and I am sure he will be crosseyed in no time.

Monday 21 November 2011

Caleb's Soccer Game

This past Saturday (November 19th) Caleb's soccer team took on the Willesden Constantine team.  This is a team that is continually hard to beat and have proven to be difficult for all ages of our team.  This is the team that Nathan lost to last week.

We were excited to watch the team and see the boys really working together to do their plays and see the team move forward.  They were rewarded for their effort with a 4-1 win!! 

Caleb's next match is not until the begining of December!

Tuesday 15 November 2011

Summer & Fall

What we were up to this summer

Eden went to Germany
Teen Street is a week long Christian camp/conference in Germany for teenagers to come, enjoy and connect with like minded peers and be encouraged and strengthen their walk with God.  Eden was invited to go and be part of KIDS STREET which runs alongside the youth event for staff kids.  Her 2 cousins Lily & Iona invited her to spend time with them as their parents worked, Grandma Lawler was their to watch them all. They all had lots of fun!!
Caleb went to MTO in the Netherlands
MTO is Missionary Teens Only.  It is a camp for OM Kids. The idea is to help them develop friendships with others who deal with the same kind of issues that they have living outside of their parents home culture and on an OM team.  Caleb had a great time and made some wonderful friends.  He is already looking forward to going again next year. 
Nathan stayed home
Well, when your 8 years old there aren’t a lot of options.  Nathan had a great time staying at home and he seemed to really enjoy some alone time with each of his siblings!  He missed each of them while they were gone and can’t seem to wait until he is old enough to!

A lot has happened this year...

Well, it is shocking to think that Christmas is almost here again.  In less than two weeks it will be Thanksgiving and then another year will have come and gone.
Caleb will be 13 in January and in his second year of high school. Eden is now 10 in year 6 and will be starting high school in September. This is a big step! Nathan is 9 and in year 4. They are all enjoying being at school, spending time with their friends and moving along as expected.

This year we have also had unexpected growth in our family.  It turns out their will be another little one running around at some point in early 2012. This was a complete shock but we are getting use to the idea, as we remember that Children are a blessing from God.  The kids are excited and looking forward to having another little brother or sister.  Nathan is most excited as this will allow him to lose the tittle of ‘Baby of the family’. 

in light of this news we will not be sending out a new family photo until the new year, we trust you understand. 

on going discipleship
As many of you will know I have been living life with and a long side two Somali guys for a while now, Simon for about 3.5yrs and Moses for about 1.5yrs. Early this year I started also meeting regularly with Adam the nephew of some Iranian friends.
It’s great to see how God works in each of our lives and the journey he is on with us all.  Our Wednesday Bible study has now turned in to a preparing for baptism class with Caleb my son also attending. The last few weeks all of the guys have been giving their testimony and are taking the time to write them out.  It has been great to hear but also great for them to look back at all that God has done in their lives and all the people and situations He has used so far in their journey with Him. Once they are all written out I would be happy to send anyone a copy who would like one. We are also looking forward to the upcoming baptisms.
Last night I went to spend time with my former boss who is in his mid to late 80’s.  We have always got on well and I do pray that even now in his later years he would find a relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Maintenance projects
I would really appreciate your prayers for the closing of a land deal I have been working on and off for about four years with the developers of the land next door to the Ministry Centre.  Please also pray for the situation with the local government who i will need to get approval from to get the 2nd vehicle access to the street for parking (in London that is always so needed). 
The finishing of the Mens Toilets/shower rooms and extra office room also took place this year at the centre.
Can you imagine that on Sept 18th 2011 it had been 10 years since the purchase of the Trinity Centre..... where does the time go?




Man of the Match


This September we signed both Nathan and Caleb for football/soccer with a local team.  The South Ealing Saints.  This team works great for us as everything happens on a Saturday, we had been hesitant to sign them up for a team before this as we don't want to have to deal with games and such on Sunday.

So, they both started in September and seem to be loving it.  Nathan will be able to play with the team for 4 years but Caleb will only have this year as he is in the final school year that they are allowed to play with the team.

This past Saturday Nathan had his first match.  He was very excited and looking forward to playing with his friends.  Unfortunately they did not win but did give it a good try.  Nathan who generally plays defence was put in goal for 3/4's of the game.  So even with playing a position he isn't used to he walked away with  MAN OF THE MATCH.... he was very excited!  We are looking forward to the next game.

Caleb has a game this weekend!!  should be fun!

Monday 14 November 2011

A late announcement....

Well, i was sitting down and writing a letter to some friends and including the attached picture....


then realised that many of you might not have heard this news.

at the beginning of 2012 we are expecting a new little one to join our family.  This is a surprise to us and something we have needed to get used to but at this point all are excited for the new addition to our family.

We will post an updated family pic and some of the new little one when it makes an appearance.

Tuesday 3 May 2011

Easter 2011

The past few weeks have been busy. The kids have had 3 weeks off school. It has been a great time but life can become very busy as we try to participate in all the things that are happening around us. During the Easter weekend we tried to take time out to do things as a family that would help us remember what Easter is really about.

Good Friday, we went on Ealings walk of witness where we walked through the main Ealing area collecting more church groups as we went along and arrived at the final church for an outdoor service. it was great as this year the weather was beautiful allowing us to really stop and enjoy the event. After having a quick lunch at home we headed up to Primrose Hill to meet up with some friends who had carried a cross that Aaron had built through this area of the city. It was interesting to watch as they approached the hill dragging this cross in what turned out to be a very hot day. I was shocked to watch how things unfold. As they walked up the hill carrying the cross people were actually mocking them, one even had the nerve to yell "Now, thats a buzz kill". We did proceed to have two services one at the top of the hill and one at the bottom, it was great. The guys running the event did an amazing job at maintaining control of the situation during the various comments, laughter and mean comments.

Easter Sunday came in with a sunrise service on Primrose Hill, followed by a great Iranian breakfast. unfortunately due to the long day ahead Aaron had to go to this one on his own as it was just too early in the morning to pull the kiddies out and expect them to still make it through the day.

We hope your Easter was wonderful and throughout all the busyness you were able to take time out to remember the true events that happened at the very first Easter.

Tuesday 22 March 2011

Whose call would you decline?

The other day I was sitting with a friend trying to have a very serious conversation and my cell phone kept ringing.  Thankfully my phone has this great feature that while it is ringing I just turn it over and it goes to silent.  Each time the phone rang I quickly glanced at the phone to see who it was explaining to Laila that I need to look incase it is the school. On one of the calls it was my son Caleb so I did excuse myself from the conversation to answer the call just incase it was something important, it wasn't important as you can imagine but that wasn't a chance i was willing to take and Laila having kids of her own completely understood. 



The part that really struck me was that when I returned she asked me "wouldn't it be great if God had a cell phone".  I agreed this would be wonderful but then she asked would you ever decline a call that comes in from him? This made me really think. Laila knows that I believe I can talk/pray at any time and about anything. This is great because I would be making the call, it then made me wonder are there things I do that i would not want to call him about? The unfortunate reality is probably yes, or at least for me it would be.  The conversation did make me think and I did share this verse with my friend Laila. 


"Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching" John 14:23a

Friday 18 March 2011

Celebration Evening


We were excited to get the invitation from Caleb's High School to attend the Celebration evening for this years YR7 class.  All parents of all of the yr 7's are invited and it is the place where the teachers just acknowledge the children for their work.  (year 7 is the first year of high school in the UK)

It was great to sit through the evening and hear all of the wonderful things the teachers had to say, they were very generous with their kind words to the children.  It was clear as the evening went on and various groups made their presentations and photo's were shown from other events throughout the term that the teachers words were not all out of kindness but out of truth, these kids have worked really hard and had fun doing it.

Caleb was pleased at the end of the evening when he was able to take his various certificates home.  He has worked hard and earned them. WELL DONE CALEB!

Saturday 19 February 2011

The London Zoo

This week I had such fun going with Eden on her school trip to the zoo. It was my job to walk around the zoo with 5 little girls and NOT loose any of them. Thankfully I was pleased to meet up with the teacher and the rest of the class and still have all 5 of my little charges with me.

Throughout the day we saw lots of different animals and got through most of the zoo. The two week old Gorilla named Tinnie was a big hit. I was surprised how much the girls wanted to see the reptile house, they seemed to really enjoy it and all willingly stuck their hands in the cockroach space. I didn't, even whe they dared me.

A really fun day out! Everyone should go!!

Wednesday 16 February 2011

A date with the littlest man in my life

So, as we all know Valentines day has come and gone. It was a lovely day and each year it reminds me that I want to take more time to to make those around me know i appreciate them.  Easily thought of but not always remembered.

As a desire to start as I mean to go on, yesterday I went out on a date.... and not with my husband!  Nathan our youngest son and I went to a local coffee shop while we were waiting for his sister to finish her dance class.  We had a nice hot drink and a little snack, such a simple thing to do.  I realized after we had been sitting there for 45 minutes (and we really needed to leave to be able to pick up Eden) that Nathan hadn't stopped talking once.  He spent the full 45 minutes telling me about his day, his friends and all that he felt was important.  I have many things I could have done with that 45 minutes but none that would have had so much value.

I can't wait for our next date!

Tuesday 8 February 2011

A verse I am always challenged by.....

Today as many days we see on the news crazy stories of things happening all over the world.  I can't control any of these things, we pray for good to come of them and that the suffering will stop.  Even with all of these prayers I am still unable to make any major changes on my own.  Realizing I can only control my reaction to what happens around and not what actually happens. I love this verse below it is a strong reminder for my daily actions and reactions.

Matthew 5:43-45

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."

Monday 31 January 2011

Your God Listens

Over the years I have been blessed with many friends who want to hear about Gods love for them and why it is such an important part of my life.  I have also had many friends who although spending time with them and their families they are just not interested in spititual discussions.  This is something i have gotten used to and part of everyone's life so can not be avoided.  although i know this i often pray for the opportunity to step out of that relationship and share with these friends the things that are important to me.

Recently I had a phone call from a friend in the later group. It was bad news as she was struggling with an issue with a family member.  The encouraging part of the phone call was when she said "I need you to pray because Your God Listens".  We prayed for her family over the weekend and waited to see what God would do for her family. At the end of the weekend when i met up with my freind I was so excited to hear her say "I know you prayed" and she continued to tell me how the sittuation had been resolved.

It was exciting to see that although our beliefs are different and she has never really been interested in talking about spiritual things when something did go wrong she called and did know praying would help.  I am looking forward to see how God will continue to work as i try to share more with my friend.

Monday 17 January 2011

The blogging begins

 
Hey Everyone,

So this is my new attempt to communicate better.  Do to issue's with our family website i am planning to use this blog instead.  Well, you know what they say... start as you mean to go on.

We are all doing well and enjoying 2011. 

Caleb is enjoying being in High School and had his 12th birthday last week. To celebrate his birthday we had a family dinner and then over the weekend Aaron took Caleb and a couple of his friends to see The Green Hornet. Fun was had by all.

Eden is still in Junior school and really enjoys the school. Her two favorite things are her violin lessons and art.  She is 9 and already looking forward to her 10th birthday, which is months away.

Nathan is in his first year at junior school and enjoys it. His favorite thing about school is being with his friends, he also enjoys science and math.

Well, that looks like a start....

Our New Normal?

Our New Normal? It seems like with all that is happening in the world we are all trying to understand what are new normal looks like...  ...