Off to uni...

All packed up and ready to go...

Halls - Lafrowda Block C - home for the next year.

View out of Bex's flat window

Bex in the middle of unpacking in her new room

The kitchen...one way

The kitchen...the other way

Comfy sofa area (this man is not a student...just contemplating being one as the accommodation is so nice...)

Campus

Campus

Campus

Block where Bex will spend a lot of time studying...hope they remove the scaffolding soon!

Campus

Campus

A very special day!

September 9th 2012 - a very special day for us as Bex was baptised on her final Sunday at KRBC before heading off to university. 

Within minutes of Bex being born I thanked God for her safe arrival and then when she was just 2 months, I dedicated myself, along with our fellowship at the time, to sharing my faith with her as she grew.  Then as Andy and I got married we dedicated ourselves to sharing our faith with the girls in our new family in a very poignant part of our marriage ceremony.  So to see her take this step herself - to claim her faith as her own was a very special moment indeed.  So very very special to witness my lovely girl make the declaration that her faith is her own and that she wants to live for Christ every day. 

 

My lovely girl - just before.

Giving her testimony

Elders going in!

Bex going in...



Declaration of intent.

Preparing for a soaking!

Down...

And up!

I need my glasses :)



Being prayed for.

After she was prayed for, people had an opportunity to bring verses for her - many from Philippians - and offer words of encouragement.

I brought Zechariah 13:9 - "This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.'" But as I began to speak the phrase that God laid on my heart for her was 'I have set my seal upon her heart'.  Nearly, oh so very nearly, cried - it was a very emotional moment - but I held it together (just)!
Bex has grown into such a wonderful young woman - with so many gifts and talents - I am so truly blessed to be her mother.  And I pray that as she steps forward into university life that she will know Him more deeply and depend on Him more fully each and every moment.  Love you Bex!

Musings on the Friday they call good...

I will be taking the Good Friday service at our church this year and decided to make it focused on key objects in the text from John 19.  I collected together some things: nails, a cloth, a bowl and some vinegar, but I needed a crown of thorns...which is not a normal everyday item that you might have hanging around... 

So...armed with secateurs and gardening gloves I set off down the road to a patch of waste ground covered with brambles, etc.  The first problem was collecting anything that might do.  I found some tangled creeper that looked useful, but couldn't collect brambles as they were too prickly - bizarrely enough -almost impossible to get hold of to even cut, let alone bend and get into the bag I'd brought with me.  I then found a shrub with fairly substantial thorns on, but fitting that into the bag was also beyond me so I walked home carrying the branches I'd cut off rather gingerly, as even with gloves on, the thorns were pretty vicious.

Once home I sat on the doorstep and began to try and figure out how to create the crown.  And as I twisted the branches together and snagged my fingers through the gloves on the sharp thorns it got me thinking - who was it who actually made the crown of thorns for Jesus on that fateful day?  The Bible says it was the soldiers - but who was it who was left with torn and bleeding hands - skin sliced open by the cruel woody spines - and what was he thinking as he entwined the branches...and scored his own hands...winding thorns together that would've scraped and torn the head upon which it was about to be forced - what thoughts went through his head?

Maybe it wasn't a soldier...maybe it was a slave...maybe it was someone who believed that Jesus was the longed for Messiah...but whoever it was - creating this barbaric item was not a pleasant occupation.

This Friday, as the crown of thorns that I've got ready, is brought up to the table that will stand in the centre of our gathering - and laid at the foot of the cross that will be standing there - this year it will have a different significance for me - for it was my hands that made that crown - my hands that created that nasty, vicious item of torture...

World book day...



Off to Grandma's house...might take some time though...skipping to London!



I found a Hobbit in the garden...not sure where it lives though...



C'est fini!

We LOVE LOVE LOVE our new room!!!

So worth waiting for :)

You might notice that the bookcases I mentioned in the last post are missing from the 3/4 wall - this is for two reasons...firstly that they were too tall(!) and secondly they're too deep(!!) Not sure how we'd figured that they'd be ok...silly us!

Et voila!

We need to fit the skirting boards, but we are waiting for the step through the doors to be finished (hopefully soon) before we can fit them and then finally move everything in.  We can't wait to get the shelves out of the office - they'll go along the 3/4 wall (on the left in the picture above) so we can get the office sorted - it's been a bit crowded for the past year or so.  Will post another few pictures when we're properly in :) 

Well and truly plastered...