Life..........

So life's been a bit low lately........there's certain things that I've struggled with to do with family, singleness, expectations, loneliness, friendships, burn out, 'church' roles etc etc.........I went away to a camp run by Soul Survivor for students and 20-somethings and whereas I was looking forward to a nice relaxing time, it was a hot house and I felt like I'd gone 12 rounds in a boxing match by the end........I'd love to say that things have come up rosy and my self-esteem and self-confidence have picked up from it but sadly those things haven't happened.........most days I've just found myself crying out to God to give me the strength for that day.........and every day so far He's been faithful in that..........It's some how relishing the journey that you're on and the questions that you have and living life to the full inspite of not knowing the answers.........It's just tough when you think you're holding it together well and then someone that you don't know that well and don't share that many of your hopes, fears or thoughts with strikes right to the core of you as they say "Emma, I can see you're lonely"..........6 words that hit the mark of my heart at the moment.........

Anyway, not to throw too much of a pity party for myself!! ;- ) here are 2 things that have brought me happiness and comfort

The first is of course Seren. That is not to say that the other 2 don't bering me insane amounts of pleasure but I ony had a picture of her! She's over 6 weeks old now and absolutely beautiful with these big blue eyes.......Amanda just wishes that one of them would have the blond hair that she has!

The other is the house that I now live in.........it's taken some getting used to as I've had to stop living on the defensive as I previously was and instead now live in a place and believe that I'm truly accepted and welcomed there........this is taking some getting used to and isn't a resolved issue in me......but anyway the lady I'm staying with is an amazing gardener and seems to know everything about every plant and flower.....it's properties and uses......and things just seem to flourish.....it truly is amazing! These are some lillies that she bought, not knowing what type they were, have bloomed beautifully in the garden and I couldn't resist taking a picture of them......I should take more of the garden as this is only a taste.

Seren Haf

So the third Jones/Wilson baby was born on Monday July 21st 2008 at 9:32pm. She weighed 8lbs 12 and 1/2oz and has baout an inch and a half long hair! There is absolutely no mistaking who her father or her brother and sister are!

Lowri has been funny as she's attempted to comprehend how Seren has gone from being in Amanda's tummy to suddenly being in the Moses basket! But she's getting there!! Osian on the other hand takes it all in his stride.......you can almost see the "I've been through this once already" going through his mind as he gets on with playing and generally being a boy. He is very affectionate with me at the moment and constantly tells me that he loves me........a very very cute boy. Lowri is just beautiful and such a proud big sister.......she loves to take you over to where Seren is to intorduce her to you or to sit on the couch with her on her knee!

Anyway here are some pics......I'll take more soon!

How much like their Dad do the of them look!!

And more.......

And then there was the great blessing of being able to see people that I hadn't seen for so long, 7 years some people! It was great to catch up!!

Amy and I - apparently someone from Liverpool Hope University where I studied wanted a copy of this to strengthen the advertisement of relations between Hope Liverpool and Hope Holland, MI.........Amy and I had many a giggle over that!!

I love this Picture!! First it's Becky from the Isle of Man whom I travel with, the Becky who I know from Hope with her son Emmanuel whom I got to meet for the first time (he's so precious!), then it's Ana from Mexico who I hadn't seenin 7 years!, behind her is Kendra, a dear dear friend how has been with me through good times and bad, then me and then Ramona from Romania who I saw last summer and hopefully her and her hsband are moving to France in the autumn/fall so they'll be a little closer!! Such a good time ladies! You're all such a blessings!!!

I also got to meet up with Mariana (from Mexico) on the left and Cherry (originally from Hong Kong, now married to an American and living in Detroit) a few days before the wedding. I hadn't seen these lovely ladies in 7 years and we just picked up where we left off, it was great!

Melanie- who went to bible school with Amy and we've become good friends. I only met her for the first time 4 days before the wedding, but know that we're going to be firm friends. I look forward to much more laughter and giggles in the future!

OK, my first memory of these 2 is when they were 8 years old and I couldn't tell the difference between them!! They're now going to be 17 in December and are about a foot taller than me as this photo shows!! I am now "shortie" according to them and Zack loves to call me this name!! Thanks for keeping me humble guys!!

Otis-DeGrau wedding

So I said I'd post about the wedding and here it is.......now keep in mind that come this Friday I'll have been to 6 weddings in 16 months!! All a bit mad but know that I'm at that stage in life. I think being involved in this one and knowing that Amy and Rodrigo's faith is central to their lives made such a massive difference to the other weddings I'd been too. They probably spent the least out of all of them, but I had the most fun as I was involved in the set up, there were games during the party and a photo booth that you could get involved with and it was just all such an awesome blessing. It was held at Elme Point in East Jordan and we were praying for good weather all the way up to the wedding day as we'd encountered rain, wind and lightning storms!! I was blessed to see old friends, re-meet old friends and make new friends.........it truly was such a blessing in my life!

Well, I'll let the photos speak for themselves!! They don't do the day justice but I have many good memories so that's awesome!

Amy and her ladies; Yvonne from Germany, me from Wales, Pam from Mexico, Amy from the US and Bonita from Canada

Rodrigo and his men, Zak, Noe, Andrew, Matt and Aaron

Picture time was before the wedding, which was so much better as it meant we weren't hanging around for 2 hours after the ceremony while the pictures were being taken

There was also a cute bridge not far from the park that photos were also taken on, I can't wait to see the professional ones of these

It was such a special ceremony as you knew the commitment they were making to one another and to God was heartfelt and true

Whats in a name?

So - why the name change of the blog....and the style.....and the colour? I just felt that it was time for a change. I suppose part of me was also hoping for a fresh, almost annomous start (though that fell at the first hurdle with me telling people the new name!!) I'd realised that my blogging had become less honest and raw as there were people reading it that I didn't want to see my vulnerable side, or my silly side at times and so I was curtailing the things I was blogging about and the pictures I was posting.

All that said, I do want this to be a new start - whether it be a wandering musing like it had been in the past or something more concrete now, I definitely want it to carry on - even if it's only for my own therapy!!!

OK, well I have no idea whether any of that makes sense or whether this is just me musing and rambling! But I wil post more soon - at the moment, I'm emotionally and physically exhausted as I move house this weekend but I will post pictures of the Otis/DeGrau wedding I was in, my house move (!), Seren Haf who should be born any day as she's running a week late, and Soul Survivor which we attend with the youth a week tomorrow for 5 days! I honestly need time out after all this and am desperate to head off somewhere, but that seems pretty selfish after 2 and 1/2 weeks in the States!!

~You will hear again from me soon!!~

Colour conference 2008

I was also blessed enough to be able to attend this years Hillsomg women's Colour conference in the Royal Albert Hall in London. It was such a great 2 days conference where I was encouraged, challenged and inspired. I have to say i wasn't too sure what I was going to find there; i thought it might be a little too pink and fluffy and not really where I'm at the moment but found that these women are caring, but challenging and not afraid to roll up their sleeves and get involved.

Anyway here are some pictures I took when I was down there. Don't think I've quite processed it all yet, but hopefully will have time on my 8 hour flight over to the States weeks tomorrow; cannot believe that it's all come around so quickly!! Very much looking forward to a break and to the Otis/DeGrau wedding!

Kathy, Sharon and myself outside the Albert Hall

Kathy and Sharon on the London Eye- the weather was awful on the Wednesday, better on the Thursday and Friday and beautiful by the Saturday

The last night of the conference- celebration time

This was cute- they had all the guys that had helped out change into suits on the last night and every woman was given a red rose as we were leaving -such a simple gestures and provoked conversations with people on the tube!!

Sharon and I outside Buckingham Palace - by this point the weather was awesome and I was highly regretting the black top underneath my red top!!!

New photos of kids

So.......I only seem to use my camera on the kids now which is quite sad, though i've found that they're going through batteries a lot quicker than they used too........wish I could afford a new one, but will have to save the pennies up for that one!!

Anyway here are some photos that I've taken of the kids.......Amanda is due on July 10th (though they're thinking that that estimation was now 3 weeks over and it could be any time after June 19th now!) and they've found out it's another girl and are going to call her Seren Haf which means Summer Star in Welsh..........gorgeous.

Osian in Jeronimo's - an indoor ball park in Rhyl - great fun, for me as well as him!!!

Lowri doing an easter egg hunt in the back garden- she looks like such a little poser in this picture with her cowboy boots!!

Osian in the park at Llyn Brenig last week - sucha great time there and it cost nothing!

Lowri in Greenfield valley last week with a daisy chain on her head!

Osian and Lowri in Greenfield Valley last week - great fun just running around for an hour and half

This song above, is just awesome. I've just been away with 3 of my youth from the youth group to an Encounter weekend and it was just awesome........I've never felt the thickness of God's presence in that way before........it was just......awesome......awesome.......

Anyway the song above was sung most of the weekend and is just great.......Oh......God is so great......I can't vocalise what He did this weekend.......He's just The Great God.

Beautiful beach

Amanda and I spent a day at the beach with Osian and Lowri on Saturday. The weather has continued to be beautiful for this time of year, though chilly in the mornings and by 4 O'clock in the afternoon.

I just love this picture of Lowri.......she went running past me giggling as I was taking a picture of the sun over the sea........it was so beautiful!!! Her and the scene!
Osian was determined be was going to build some kind of castle himself.........though he had to stock up on YooHoo milkshake first!!
Osian seems content to play by himself now without adult supervision and he loves having Lowri along with him so it meant that Amanda and I could sit on the deck chairs and just chat
Such a British scene......mid-February, on the beach, flask of tea, box of sandwiches, cakes, crisps, sitting on deck chairs......I truly do think it's only the Brits that do this mad kind of thing and subcounciously think that summer has arrived in mid February!!
Lowri fell over and hurt her hand, and as Amanda and I were carrying everything Osian offered to hold Lowri's hand while walking so she wouldn't fall again! They are just so cute!!!
Sunset over the Great Orme in Llandudno

The little guy in his cool sunglasses that I bought him! He keeps saying "I love you Memma" to me at the moment, while Lowri's catchphrase to everything I do is "Thank you Memma" in the cutest voice........it truly was one of the best days out I've had in a long time

Gods creation

We've had some beautiful weather here the past week or so and it's been sooooooooo refreshing......... there were even people in shorts and t-shirt (though I have to say I think that these people were mad!!!)
Anyway enjoy these photos and look forward to Spring and Summer!!!

The bottom 4 pictures were taken one after another from right to left at a friends house in the hills outside Abergele.........it was such a haven being there and you felt so cut off from society........it was absolute bliss......friendship and Gods creation!!

Jo's wedding-New Years Eve

My friend Joey I've known for about 18 years, though we've been good friends for about 11 years including living together in University. She's a great friend, full of enthusiasm and passion. Damian (her now husband) proposed to her when we are at Ffion and Wyns wedding in June last year and she managed to get her wedding organised for New Years Eve. It was a beautiful affair and the reception was held in the very posh Wood Hall near Wheterby in Yorkshire and rivaled the Affinia that we stayed in in Chicago last year (I nearly fell off my chair when I got my bar bill of £26/$52 for 4 drinks). Anyway the weather held and we all had a great day. Rather than post pictures here as there are too many to choose from, if you want to have a look at the photos then you can click here and it will direct you to the ones I have I on my Facebook account.

It was a gorgeous day and a great way to spend New Years Eve, particularly as there were fireworks at midnight. I was glad to catch up with my friend Sherine and we were both saying how bittersweet weddings were; you were over the moon and rejoicing for these friends that were getting married but it always posed the question "When is it going to be my turn?". That desire within me to be a wife and a mother hasn't diminished and I continue to wait on God for his direction and fulfillment of that plan.

Pictures from Christmas

Chrsitmas pictures!! I love them all!!!

I went to my Dads at about 7pm on Christmas Eve and stayed there until Boxing Day. It was great being with the children as they woke and opened their presents; though it was hilarious that my Dad was awake at 5:45 and getting angsty as the children didn't wake until 8am and he had to wait! The kids had so many gifts it was actually quite sickening, particularly as our youth group sponsors a boy in Mexico and he was over the moon to receive a bible on Christmas day. Dad and I decided that they could wait until New Yeas Day to open the gifts from us and that seemed to work really well.

Here is Lowri with the first gift she opened and played with all day; she wasn't actually that bothered by any of her other gifts. Amanda also got her the pink dress that she's wearing here and she looked stunning in it- the dress had to come off during lunch though as otherwise she'd have looked like she was rolling in mud!!

I can't believe how much the little man is growing up. He expresses his emotions and punctuates his words with his hands and arms now and so everything is so much more elaborate than it used to be!!!

This photo I just love!!! My Dad only has a small dining room table as he's used to living by himself and so there was only enough room for the adults at the table. Amanda was going to sit the children on the floor with their food on their knees but then Dad had this great idea of getting in the table and chairs that Lowri and Osian use in the summer in the garden, cleaning and drying them off, placing a tablecloth on the table, knives forks and plates, and little shot glasses with fizzy pop in and letting the kids have their own table. They loved it and it made them feel all grown up!!

Taking this photo was hoilarioius as Lowri came over, placed the hat on her head, the camera in my hands then put her hands out to the side posing for her picture to be taken!! I love her so much!!!

Dad; typical Christmas afternoon pose. I went to visit some aunts and uncles when he fell asleep and Gareth and Amanda took the children to see her mum. He fell aslep to a house full and woke up alone. Osian was funny though as he was complaining that "Taid is snoring too loudly!"

December

I haven't been as faithful a blogger this year as I was in the past.......not too sure what the reason of that was.....busyness, lack of time management and inspiration probably!!
Anyway December was (as it probably was for everyone!) a busy month. I found myself going into work for 7am (which would mean a 5:30 wake up!) on a number of occasions and quite often not getting to bed until midnight (once again I think a lot to do with my lack of time management!!)
A few things that were great about the month......my Dad actually sought help with the doctors and began a 2 week intensive detox and counselling session. The side affects of the detoxing drugs were quite similar to him being drunk to be honest but at least once he was off them you were able to have a stable conversation with him again! This also made Christmas a much more happier and sane time!
We also had my nephews Christmas nativity play in which he was a sheep! For 2 weeks before hand all we could hear around my Dads house was him singing "tweet, tweet, tweet goes the robin; baa, baa, baa goes the sheep; moo, moo, moo goes the wise old cow; in a stable in Bethlehem". I doubt very much there was a robin at the birth of Jesus but he was a happy young soul singing it all!!

I'll do a serparate post for Christmas with some pictures of the little guys and then another post for New Years eve as I was blessed to be at a beautiful wedding, my friend Jo was getting married; so I'll post pictures of that too.

Does this thing still work?!??!

Well, it would appear so! I can't believe that it's been this long since I've blogged.......I check often to see what everyone else is up to, but have barely had the time to write anything recently, never mind, think about what I'm going to write! I have a couple of posts in the edit section that I started but never got around to posting.........will sort that out today though and get some photos up and news of whats been happening. Bless you if you still check on here; I know I've been hopeless!