Christmas

Well am back home now having visited my Dad for the last 6 days. I say that but I see him every day as I go to his house for my lunch due to working in the same town that he lives in so its not like I travel miles to see him only once a year!! Think that he's glad to get rid of me though as he reclaims control of the TV now that I'm home.

Sadly the washing machine broke before I left so am waiting for a new one to be delivered on Tuesday; an interesting event as my Dad had to come down to Holywell with me so he could drag the machine into the backyard, lean it on its side so all the water would drain out and then prize the door open screwdriver to get the washing out!! All for a few towels and the mat set from the bathroom. There was no way I was trying it in my party clothes!!

Anyway here are some of the pictures that I took over the holiday....hope you enjoy!

Dad and Lowri: seriously, I am no longer the apple of his eye!!

I love this picture of me and little-un......she is so precious and just grins and giggles whenever she sees me now! She's learnt to say Dada and so my brother cannot go out of her sight now as she pulls a tantrum if he disappears anywhere!!

This was the little man surrounded by all the packaging of his presents.......my Dad was wrestling with the package of a 3 and 1/2 foot long fire truck that he had......was funny that at one point, though he was surrounded by all these hi-tech gifts he was walking around the house with a penny whistle!!

This was Osian parading around the houses with his prizes from the cracker!! Thought you may like this photo Amy as he's wearing the sweater that I bought him from that little shop in Charlevoix after we'd had dinner at that Pizza place! So cute if a little big!

Sadness

Today we cremated my Uncle who died a week ago. Though he had cancer of the bladder it was unexpected. He'd had chemotherapy and then they removed his bladder in an operation a fortnight ago. Sadly he developed pneumonia, a thrombosis and then heart failure. We are such a close family, especially on my Dads side and it was such a shocking devastating loss to the family.
It was a really tough day as this is the first loss in the family since mum died 11 years ago. For me it was hard as I've never been to a cremation before.....There was to be no service at the church and in all truth I really had no idea what to expect....Dad was going to be one of the bearers which I know he was paniced about.......

Anyway it all went very well (though I always feel a little strange saying that about funerals!) and felt like it was a real celebration of his life......my heart just broke for all members of the family......his wife has MS and he was her main carer.......his children, though in their 30's/40's were heartbroken and the grandchildren were gutted......I think it has brought the issue of their own mortality to each of the siblings including my Dad......Uncle Bob was the middle brother with my two aunts older and then my Uncle Dei and my Dad being the youngest, and so Dad says they feel like the link has now been broken......

I thank God that I know Him and I can rest and trust in Him......I wonder how I got through mums death without knowing Him (I can feel the Holy Spirit saying 'But I knew you then')

On a happier note I was able to go with Gareth to pick Osian up from school and took this photo of them walking back to the house......the future.

Washington DC photos

Pretty cool photo of the Capitol building from the Washington monument....it was amazing how many American flags were around the city.......do we have that many British flags around in the UK and I've just never noticed?

This was at the Korean Memroial about 3:30pm.....we were blessed with such awesome weather while we were there
Sunset at the Washington Monument.....words not needed, though photo doesn't really do it justice

Micihgan photos

This is a tree on M-66 that I saw on the way to Amy's parents place and then asked her to stop of the way back so I could get a photo. I have no idea why the tradition of throwing your shoes up into the tree began but it looks pretty cool......suffice to say, mine stayed on my feet!!!

This was when the much desired snow hit.....desired by me anyway!! I didn't want to go home and everyone think I was lying about the amount of snow that they get there.....so was glad that I could get this picture of the college chapel......it was pretty cool!!!
Just thought that this made a cool photo with the red berries and the whiteness of the snow

Some photos

So have actually gone through my photos and sorted them out......a little over 160 taken in 2 and 1/2 weeks!! Madness!! Anyway here are a few of friends and fun times and I'll post some others later of scenery and touristy things. It was such an awesome break with so many blessings....one thing I figured in Michigan was that the whole time I was there, I paid for one lunch and that was it.....you guys are so generous!

Anyway, enjoy!! ;- )

Amy and Emma in Grand Rapids airport

Becky, Emma and Kendra at Pietros

Rachel and Emma

Ramona, Becky and Emma on college campus

Emma and the Williams clan

Am home.......

Arrived home yesterday morning after an awesome holiday....

Thank you guys for blessing me so much....

Sadly am back in work now, was I ever away!!

Jetlag is a bummer, was exhausted yet awake until 2am this morning!!

Will post some pics later today or over the weekend.

This time next week!!

Woohooo!! This time next week I'll hopefully be sleeping peacefully in Becky Rasdall's apartment in Washington DC, ready for a day touring Congress and the Holocaust Museum!! I am so looking forward to it....my first real break from home, Holywell, Church and family in 2 years (though that was a holiday in Greece with Dad!!) and I am definitely in need of it...just to get away, refresh, get a different perspective on things.

Between now and then though I still have to work my normal week, 2 lunches out with work colleagues, a dental appointment, youth group, ladies cell group, meet a friend, dinner at Anne's, a weekend in Ellel doing the course, pick Becky Hill up from the airport, School of Leaders.....oh and pack!! I'm hoping I'll sleep on the plane as don't think there'll be that much on the agenda otherwise!!!

On another note I was so blessed last night, a dear friend/encourager/mentor e-mailed me what she saw as my good qualities and gifts....I cried while I read it as I found it difficult to believe that someone would think such nice things about me...awful how we believe the lies of the devil so much easier than the truth....and I am claiming it to be the truth what this person has written about me.....I was so blessed by it. We live in such a society at the moment where it's easier to rip people down than build them up. Where we fear encouraging people incase we look like a goody-too-shoes or we will have risked something of ourselves with gaining nothing in return. I know in youth group last week we did an exercise where you wrote your own name at the top of the piece of paper and then it was passed around the group and everyone wrote a positive comment about you...some of the kids were blown away that others actually thought that they were pretty and had a nice a smile, were fun to be with and had a caring nature. So sad that this isn't the norm.

Anyway must run and start my hectic schedule for the day!!!

Bonfire party

It's Guy Fawkes night here tomorrow evening which is normally celebrated with bonfires and fireworks. We had ours (as a church) as it was a Saturday evening. Had a good time and I was really blessed as my Dad came along. He normally keeps away from these kind of things as he fears that he's going to be hit around the head with a bible and told to convert, but he seemed to really enjoy himself....was such a blessing.

Apart from that, seems to be all quiet. Am shattered and though it's only 21:50 on a Saturday evening, think that I'l be going to bed once Friends finishes on TV in 10 minutes! How sad!!

~Blessings!~

What a cool evening! A group of 10 of us went to Manchester to see Delirious in concert with Tim Hughes supporting! They were awesome....it was worshipful and their music definitely seems to have taken on a more challenging and 'calling' tone than what it was 3 or 4 years ago. It got me thinking about the first time that I saw Delirious and that was in Michigan when I was living there and was in April 2001. I had only been a Christian 2 months, but it was such a great introduction for me into the Chrisitian music scene. I have a photo up of all of us at that concert; myself, Amy, Becky R, James, Brandon, Cherry, Tomo, Chris W, Keith and Mawasi....as well as some others that I can't remember the names of! Such a great time!

Anyway just wanted to share....off to bed now! Another late night! I need to get off this merry go round of life soon! ;- )

My Dad and his gadgets!

I just had to blog about this little thing. My Dad keeps ordering things from those little magazines that you get in the newspaper. So far he's ordered a feather mattress topper, 3 pairs of trousers, a pair of shoes, a single persons deep fat fryer and now this which would you believe is a single persons cooker!! I will explain...
The black tray on the top is the frying pan; when you open the glass door you have both a grill and an oven in there; on the side there is a coffee machine and the jug is enough for a cup of coffee for one person and the finale is that there is a built in radio!!
I was chatting to him today and asking whether or not he'd used it; he was quite excited to tell me that he'd used the radio and that was fantastic...he was then slow to admit that he was a little nervous about using the rest of it, but reitterated that the radio was fantastic!! Bless him!

I had an awesome conversation with him yesterday when he admitted that he thought God had a lot to do with the fact that he gave up alcohol last year......you know when you have one of those moments when you're quiet on the outside but on the inside you are jumping up and down.....it was definitely one of those moments as this is a huge step for my Dad to take!