2013

Well the world didn't end in December and we survived Christmas too, so happy new year!

As a bonus treat Lizzie and I went to Glasgow twice and were there over 3 months. Go figure that out*! At the end of November we were up for a wedding where Lizzie was a bridesmaid so were returned in December and Lizzie had short notice annual leave so we were able to pop up for the new year. 

There was lots happening in the gap between our trips to Glasgow with a Church Christmas party, which went really well and plenty of friends and neighbours came along. Another great time was the Sunday before Christmas, which now seems ages ago, when the children and youth in the church put on sketches during the morning service and the toddlers sang some carols. Impact did a sketch covering key events in the Old Testament as seen through the eyes of some angels, up until they were called off to sing to some shepherds in Bethlehem's fields. 

Carys and I wrote the sketch and despite some illness on the day it worked very well. Christmas wouldn't mean anything if it wasn't for the rest of the Bible and that was what we were trying to show in the sketch. A big thank you to all those who took part and we hope our ill performers made a quick recovery.  

We had a very modern Nativity play with Mary being a single parent, our Joseph was also ill. Coincidently the infant school had an ill Mary and they worked round this by dressing Joseph up as Mary. He was very convincing until they took the hood off to reveal an almighty scowl. I'm sure he'll remember his role as Mary for the rest of his life, just as one of the girls in Impact always remembers, rather resentfully, being the donkey at her school when she was 5. To make matters worse I did a de-constructing Christmas quiz with them, think QI  with Christmas questions. We have a great way of dressing up Christmas to be very sanitized, warm and, magical, although for the cynics out there make that commercial. I'm sure it was anything but. The main thing that upset her was learning there was no donkey in the story and she had therefore crawled around on the stage with Mary on her back for no reason. Christmas is gritty and grimy. Think about it - a young girl giving birth in an animal storage area. It's anything but sanitary. However, Christmas is about Jesus coming into the world as one of us. The pagans used to celebrate the passing of the winter solstice round about Christmas. When Christian missionaries came along instead of abolishing the practice the changed it into a Christian festival. No longer was it about the coming of spring with lighter nights, it was now about the coming of the Light of the World, and the new life available in Christ. Besides nobody knows Jesus actual birthday - it could well be the 25th of December.

Up until the 1950s Christmas was not a public holiday in Scotland, something to do with Catholic superstition, so the new year was the big celebration up there. Now they have two big celebrations. It was great surprising family members who didn't know we were up. My brother in law, David, opened the door, jaw dropped then said "What are you doing here?" Charming. It was great being able to see so many family members whilst being up there and do things with them. We went to see the Hobbit with Lizzie's parents and my youngest sister, and we spent Hogmanay with some friends before going to my other sisters. We partook of the traditional viewing of Only an Excuse? a satirical look at the past 12 months in the mad world of Scottish football.
I can only wonder at what's in store for 2013 in my own mad world.
*For those struggling to work this out: Visit 1: November/December
Visit 2: December/January (albeit very briefly)
PS I wrote this ages ago and only discovered I never posted it! Doh!

13 days to go...

Okay so a quick update...

Thursday was the wedding of the new Mr and Mrs Boyce, congratulations to them! It was a great wedding and a privilege for Lizzie and I to be there and the way they expressed their faith throughout the ceremony and reception was beautiful. And like I said in my previous post it was great that we didn't have to move up and down the road to attend which was a bonus although we are looking forward to our new start in Caerleon. Speaking of which we're leaving in 13 days time for Wales and as you may know I'm big on prayer. Incredibly we've managed to get our flat rented, although our flat is well worth renting so that's not so amazing, but what is amazing is the first person who viewed it a day or so after it went on the market loved it and will be the living there very soon. We were quite worried about this aspect as having a mortgage on a property we wouldn't be living in without any income from it would be a challenge. People may say this isn't an answer to prayer but it is. We prayed and God graciously answered, we could have waited a while before we got a tenant but we got one straight away. It's a burden off our shoulders knowing that we don't need to be worrying about the flat. Interestingly she moves in on the day I start my new job. 




The Burrell Collection cafe
looking nice and clean

Some of the residents of Pollok Country Park

So the next thing on the agenda is me finishing up work this weekend. Since November I've been working with Cordia in the Burrell Collection, in Pollok Country Park doing cleaning so from Monday it won't be as clean as it has been! It's a nice place to work and I've enjoyed working with the people there so I'll miss that. I still have several shifts at my other job to go but the money will from that will get us to Wales and to be honest I love working in Adelaides having been there since 2010. So things are taking shape nicely and we've packed, well mostly Lizzie has packed, a few more boxes. On Sunday the 29th of July at 7:30 I'll get to say a few words at the church Lizzie and I go to, about that I'll be doing in Wales, which will be the day after our going away night out. I'm excited about both of these things as I think it is important to go with the best wishes of friends and family and the prayer and blessing of our home church. It's the people we're going to miss the most and part of the reason for this blog is to try and keep in contact with our friends and family wherever they are. 

Sleepy Cow!

Hopefully we'll have a chance to catch up with as many family and friends before we leave Glasgow. I hadn't intended on putting these pics on my blog but these are just some of the views we'll be missing. I never thought I'd say this but we're going to miss Glasgow too.

The west end of Glasgow.
Our flat's down there somewhere!

Hard to believe this is 5 minutes walk from our flat!

What we wake up to every day,
 although normally there's no snow.

Till death do us part...

2 weddings and a funeral

Hello everyone! I had read on the rules of blogging you should never start with an apology for not posting in a while, so with that in mind sorry for the delay in updates. I hope you can accept my apology but there has been a lot going on with me since I last posted.Most notably my (great) uncle died which was a shock given he wasn't that old. That was a hard day.I've seen dead bodies before but I've never had to watch someone die over the course of a day. It was tough emotionally and spiritually and even physically. There was a lot happening in the aftermath with regards to funerals and sorting out his estate but most of that has died down now so we're now getting used to him no longer being with us.
My uncle and I were very close especially when I was younger I'd see him a couple of times a week up until my great-grand parents died after which he moved to England to be with his lady. When she died two years ago he moved back up and we saw each other a lot again. He didn't have any children of his own so my sisters and myself were very close to him. He used to give me and my sister pocket money and he was giving my youngest sister (she's 10 so that's allowed) pocket money up until he died. I've said this was a tough time and I spoke to the pastor at church and he said something I didn't expect. I told him that as far as I knew he was an atheist, although my gran was praying over her brother a lot, so I was expecting a little bit of sympathy with a dash of Hellfire thrown in. In stead he said something very different. He said Death sucks, I hate death, you hate death and God hates death. It was never meant to be. You need to find a way to redeem this situation. Redemption was two fold; I said that his death was a shock and it was. Although he was ill, we never thought he would die like he did. However, he was reluctant to see a doctor and even more reluctant to go to hospital ( he thought if I go there I'm never getting out) but I think he knew he was dying. I say this because the day before he died he gave me his car. Secondly I've said he was an atheist and had as far as I know never darkened  a church's door since he was a teenager. That changed, he was at my wedding last year and more than that he donated money to the missionary organization I'm going to be working for. Ironically he died on the day of my sister's birthday.
Work wise everything has progressed well for us. My funding is in place and my CRB check has also come through so I'm starting work on the 6th of August down in Wales. This has worked out well for us as we have house arrangements with regards to mortgages and renting our flat to be dealt with. Who knew going to the bank and sorting out paper work could take so long?
It also means we've been able to go to 2 weddings without going up and down. Gordy's wedding was nearly 2 weeks ago, congratulations to him and Debbie and we have our other friend's wedding in 2 weeks time. These weddings are in stark contrast to Jimmy's funeral. In one way a wedding is like that start of a new life, for the couple anyway, a funeral signifies the end of a life. One talks of the future and is a joyous occasion the other reflects on the past and is marked by tears. 
Lizzie has also handed her notice in at her current work so she'll be starting round about then too. We also have 2 cars which will be good for moving stuff to Wales and also for work when we are down there. I don't know how we would have got ourselves to Wales with just the one car. It's a small car. With one person and the seats down it should be ok and the same again for the other car. They're both small, actually they're both Vauxhall Corsas, even though the newer one is slightly bigger.
This has been a tough time for the family, with my uncle dying and also our move to Wales with new jobs and all that entails. so we would appreciate prayers for us.