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!

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.

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!

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!

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.