Anyone still out there?!?!?!

I know, I've been hopeless at keeping this blog up to date recently..........I think it's been partly busyness of life, sporadic internet connection and a lack of knowledge of what to write.......my muse seems to have disappeared!

Anyway I thought I would update from my last post in October (!) with pictures.......and then hopefully keep on top of this blog with some consistency! I know that Amy O-DeG at least still reads this! Anyway, here are some pics from the months between October and now!

The first picture is one of my now 6 year old nephew in his school Christmas Nativity play. He told me he was playing Joseph. The conversation went something like this -

Auntie Emma - What are you in this years Nativity play Osian?

Osian - I'm playing Joseph, Jessica is Mary and Spencers the donkey

Auntie Emma - Wow, Osh, am well proud of you landing the role of Joseph - well done.

Osian - Mary gets to ride the donkey; Joseph doesn't.......but if I have a headache on the day I may do

I had to try and keep a straight face (and an eye on the road) as he told me this in the car.......but you can also imagine my shock when we were in the church, and out walks Osian as a King, not Joseph......the little rascal was lying through his teeth!!! All said he was a very good King - full of expressions that I'm sure the original wise men didn't have; like thumbs up and a form of moon walking!!

The next picture is of the coldest winter we encountered for 30 years in the UK..........sadly people died, it took my cousins wife 7 hours to make it the last 5 miles home as the weather was so bad.......some friends made the 10 mile journey home in 7 hours, it was all a little insane. Picturesque but insane. We are now hoping for a better summer to compensate the frustration of a cold, long, dark winter. I have to say that I quite enjoyed winter being "winter".....though I was lucky. I wasn't stranded anywhere and the worst journey I did was along on the M56 motorway, driving 50mph tops while lorries were overtaking me........my hands gripped the wheel as Sharon prayed all the way home beside me, believing God would get us safely from the leadership conference in Leicester.....an interesting time!

The next three are of a vacation I took in California in February......my first complete solo vacation, and it was over my birthday too! I really enjoyed it and was proud of myself for doing it. I'd definitely do this type of holiday again - a city break with a conference as it meant that I was pretty busy in the city and then when I went to the conference I knew that I'd meet people there that I could chat with. I flew into San Francisco, spent 2 nights there and then travelled to Redding in Northern California to spend a couple of days chilling and then went to a Prophetic Conference that was being held at Bethel Church, Redding. What a great place to go on vacation....one of the best times was just lying on the floor in their prayer house. The presence of God was wonderful and it was great to just lie in His presence, chatting to Him while not having to worry that you were meant to be somewhere else. The conference blew my mind away and God did some amazing things........all I can recommend is get some books or the podcasts that are coming out of Bethel as they speak Gods truth and His life into every fibre of your being.

The first picture is of course the "7 painted ladies" in San Francsico......I completely fell in love with this city and all of California that I saw. For me it's amazing how whereever I seem to go in the USA, whether I've been there before or not, it feels like home. I get off the plane and feel completely at home.......maybe I need to begin to truly explore this further!

This picture below is of Bethel Church with the prayer house in the left of the picture. It was great to go there- you can sometimes put well known Christians on a pedestal and make them "celebraties" but it was great to see the leadership in their home church, serving their own people and loving their own community - what a privelage to have spent time there.

The weather north of Redding was colder and there was still snow on the ground as you can see. I was able to visit some beautiful parks in the area and the picture below is of Mount Shasta. It truly is a ruggedly beautiful part of the world and even now I crave to go back and spend some more time there........hopefully when its a little warmer next time. And with someone 0ne - I did take a couple of risks with the parks I visited and being the only car in the car park yet still hiking to the look out points after reading what to do if I came across a bear or a mountain lion.....hmm, not the best choice in hindsight!!! ha ha!!!

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

My holidays........

Oh my goodness, I didn't realise that it'd been that long since I'd updated......I can always tell whether life is going good or not by the number of posts that I make on my blog!!

Anyway as an update before I went to the States on my hols there was lots of family drama going on with my brother and I was signed off work for 2 and 1/2 weeks with back pain. Sadly the back pain has returned but I'm trusting in God that I'm going to be healed.

The holiday in the States was awesome and though I didn't get to spend as much time with people as I wanted to (I'd have liked to have caught up with my host family and some other friends) it was still a jam packed time. As it was my Dads first time over there I didn't want to overwhelm him or do too much so hopefully I'll be able to catch up with some people when I'm back there next summer!!

We did so much....Chicago for 2 days........Holland, Michigan for 4 days........Niagara Falls for 2 days........... East Jordan/Charlevoix, Michigan for 3 days........Holland, Michigan for 3 days.......and then the final day bumming around Chicago.....a lot of travelling (in particular me driving) while we were there! Had an awesome time and think that my Dad would move over there if it weren't for the grandchildren!!! Anyway here are some photos as promised!

Blessings!!

Dad and I at Cloud Gate or "the bean" in Chicago

Kendra and Quincy on their front porch

Amy and Rodrigo making Smores over the fire on July 4th before the fireworks

Myself, Amy, Rodrigo and Dad on Grand Haven Pier

Dad and I in our gorgeous Poncho's on Maid of the Mist, Niagara Falls

Dad and Pancho on Amy's parents coach! I promised you this photo Amy!!!

Dad having a Root Beer float before we flew home from Chicago....he can't be related to me, he loves the stuff!!!! To me it tastes like toilet cleaner!!!!

Watch out America!!!

Well, I've given in and booked the flight to go back to the States in June/July time. I was going to hold out as long as possible but there were 2 factors

1) The prices were steadily rising o the flights and they've just announced that they're going to be increasing the cost of passenger tax from £40 to £80. This will be introduced next month but it will be retrospective, so we're probably going to have to pay another £40 on the £370 that we paid today just to leave the country.

2) Dad is coming with me this year and I knew the longer I left it, the more likely he'd be to get cold feet....so now he can't back out of it.

Am still in a bit of shock that Dad is going to see where i lived for a year; visit my old stomping ground and get to tour Chicago; but it's gonna be so cool!!!

Roll on June 21st!!!!

~Blessings~

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!

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