Christmas update

Well Christmas dinner went superbly well!There were some minor difficulties en-route; As I walked down Manchester Rd to Christchurch to help out with the children's service Natalie took Hannah to the GP. In the surgery her ear drum burst! So much pain - she cried many nights before and last night was the first silent night since! The children's service went ok it seems - I certainly enjoyed myself, nice to work with Tom Pyke. Then Christmas eve, Lisa started throwing up! Twice in the night. By morning we were tired and I still had a turkey to roast. I woke up late - not the 7:30 begin I had hoped for and got the turkey in the oven at 8:45, didn't exactly follow Jamie or Gordon's recipes but did listen to them and stuffed the turkey breasts with butter and cranberries and the bird with a tangerine. We moved the venue from our place to Marlene's as we were worried that maybe Lisa would be infectious and our house as well - however Lisa cheered up and by 11 was fine and eating again. The meal was bring and share and Simon and Heather provided the vegetables - and they were the highlight for me - goose fat roasted potatoes and red cabbage cooked in balsamic! Lisa and Jude had a great time playing games with Ashish who had found some little plastic hopping bug toy in his cracker, Aimé joined us all about an hour later. We ate wonderfully and had left-overs to share.
Then boxing day we went to visit my Dad and his family in Surrey and the girls got suitably spoiled with gifts - we ate a tasty left-over turkey and gammon meal and finished it off with trifle, yule log, mince pies etc... 

Christmas busy-ness

December is almost gone - Christmas is two sleeps away and a lot of wonderful moments have already been had this month. We had a visit by the Koper girls (Brenda, Inge and Abi) from Secunda at the beginning of the month and Hannah and Lisa had one week of feeling like they had BIG sisters. Definitely little girls heaven.

Then we had the City of Peace Christmas service, Lisa was an angel and Hannah was Mary - she remembered her lines word for word - "I am the Lords servant, let it be as you have said." She was off school all of last week, and still is very ill with some sort of virus, has got some terrible ear ache as well as very high temperatures - divine intervention is required.



Then Sunday 23rd I was fortunate enough to be able to give the talk at Christchurch on the Isle of Dogs. It is a beautiful building - has some magnificent wooden beamed ceilings with beautiful art and carvings inside. The service is very different from our own with a sung liturgy, incense and bells ringing. I used texts from the book of common worship which was provided for me by Tom Pyke. I looked at Psalm 80 and Hebrews 10. I talked about how the psalmist looks to God enthroned for leadership and the Hebrews writer about the God who has got off the throne and descended to us to lead us. Apparently it was an excellent message and received well. On the 24th I will be helping out there again for their children's service, and on the 25th we will be having Christmas dinner with around 15 locals at our home. A really busy time, fun, but not made any easier by Hannah's illness - I really do not like to see her so sad. I pray that she will get well soon.

Things can return to normal

One of my regular visitors seems to do ok during the week and then things kind of fall apart on the weekend. It is evident that they are looking for friendship - deep meaningful friendship other than that which their current relationships are giving them. He tends to calm down after a day or two, but last monday he came in and practically begged me for my ear, we sat together and I prayed with him. Life is really tough living in council estates and I can only wish things would be easier.
Another regular visitor tells us a story of how she had been ill over the weekend (in her own words she thought she was going to die) and in her delirium Jesus came into the room and pushed a needle into her chest in her heart, whereafter she fell into a deep sleep. Next morning she said she woke up feeling fine. She is busy working through 'Christianity Explored' with Marlene and Carol. It is an amazing story, and one that requires a decision.

Lisa and Jude get Read to by Steve

Then on Friday the women from the City of Peace church group came in with their children, Natalie and Lisa included. One of the regular visitors, Steve, was sitting down having a cup of coffee, quietly by himself. My youngest daughter went over to him with a book and asked him to read it to her. It is a lovely innocent moment and I got a picture of it. It is one thing I will remember, the joy on his face and hers as they read together. It felt as if the world had returned to normal for a moment.