Missing my husband and my bunnies...

I'm in Derbyshire tonight,alone in a room...
A residential weekend at The Hayes conference centre (very nice)as part of my year long "Mission Shaped Ministries" course I started earlier this year. I am learning so much about my journey with God and about my call to Vision, together with how best to live my Christian life, something which is all too difficult at times.
We arrived for dinner at 7pm followed by the first teaching session: talking through Spirituality for Mission... So what does spirituality mean to you?
Su is in the room opposite (just in case I need to knock on someone's door!!) and I'm up for breakfast at 0830... so Bonne nuit.

OK can sit down and catch my breath now...

The children are back at school, I have finally caught up on the washing (although with the rain there isn't much drying going on!!)
firstly:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSEPH, BIG BOY OF 9

(photo to follow... can't find the camera just now!)
A big thank you or should I say " un grand merçi" to Christophe and Véronique as well as Victor and Paul for the warmest welcome in Ballon. It's a brave person to take on the whole Stainsby clan! We had a great time despite a few less than dry days!We visited LeMans old town and the cathedral (very much like Lincoln's). Together with the twinning group we learnt about how Rapeseed oil is made, the use of sunshine solar panels to sell green electricity to the grid, had an impressive restaurant lunch followed by a demonstration of heavy horses used in forest management to clear old trees in sensitive areas too fragile for heavy machinery... the skill involved with working those horses was amazing. Another city trip taught us about environmentally friendly city transport systems with trams and cycleways, with impressive tramlines set on lawns to be proud of! right in the middle of the city! We missed out on the bio-fuel run buses as Matthew and Joseph joined me to visit the village primary school where the year 6 had prepared questions to ask us! It was really interesting to compare the different schooling systems, or at least the pupils' take on them! We joined in with the main group again for a good knees up on the last night.

We were unsure about what to expect from our twinning trip... but good memories, good food and good wine with new friends made it a fun and most enjoyable break.
So if anyone wants to have a go.... language needn't be a barrier, hosting a couple or a family doesn't require much of a commitment but what an experience you can offer yourselves of sharing in a different culture, different food and making new friends.
Contact your local twinning group and widen your worldly horizons! Ballon and Billinghay

A taste of France...

We are off to visit our twinning village of Ballon this weekend! All exited we are setting off tonight.... lots of tidying, packing and last minute shopping to do... and the children are joining a school race for life today, raising money for Cancer Research.
Believe me it was not easy getting the boys to wear pink for today (as you can see by our eldest's enthusiastic demeanour!)
Remember click on the link here-> daily, to provide free mammograms!

Update: both Matthew and Joseph were the fastest boys for their respective years and each got a medal. Well done!

A stunning sunrise

Was up too early this morning... but look what I was treated to! Bless our Lord and all his creation.
(the photo doesn't do it justice, the sun was a deep pink and the pheasant in the middle of the field and I, just watched on)

... and home again!

Following a rather energetic swimming lesson, Isaac was limpping Sunday night, by Monday morning he could barely walk and by lunchtime he couldn't bear his weight!
A visit to the doctor and an immediate referral for an Xray got us going into Lincoln again! (we had zipped in in the morning to drop off a load of donations for the Nomad Trust!)
Silly Mummy forgot the referral letter! In such a rush to get to the Xray day clinic before it closed. They couldn't see him without the letter..... So we went to A&E and following an examination was referred for... an Xray (at least the doctors were in agreement!) The registrar then came through to say no fractures or breaks but they would like to have him admitted to be seen by the othopeadic team. So Tom in Billinghay with four children and no transport (his van being in the garage) and the minibus in Lincoln hospital car park with Isaac and I staying on the children's ward. Bloods were taken and after being seen by the a junior we snuggled in for the night.
Isaac was somewhat apprehensive but we decided to tackle the unexpected enforced overnight stay as an adventure for him to recount to his teacher and school friends!
All was better this morning on waking, he was seen by another team of doctors who initially told Isacc he would be spending another night in bed! NOT a happy bunny. However although still limping he was weight bearing and with medication for pain management he managed to walk to the playroom and visit the teacher in the schoolroom! She gave him some jigsaws and some suitable worksheets which he set about to tackle back at his bedside.
By the afternoon the nurses decided that he would be allowed home but he had to promise NOT to play football, climb trees, ride his bike or run around until he goes back to the clinic in a fortnight.
Try telling an energetic little five year old he can't play football!!!
A lot happier now we are home, we are going to snuggle in for a good night's sleep!

Thank You!

Mamine and Papytail for coming up again so soon after the last visit because we needed you!
We are so lucky to have you and really appreciate you looking after all the children whilst we went on our course and then in the evening went out for some "wine and wisdom" fun! Merçi XXXXXXXXX
I know the weather wasn't at it warmest! but with the deck and the BBQ meals we made it feel like summer... didn't we? ;)
And the children thoroughly enjoyed their Mamine getting in the water with them for the Family fun swim after their lessons.
Lots of good memories... it's the little things that stay in their minds!
The children's table!













Warming those old bones......

Is it really time to go and get the big boys from school?

Pentecost

Feel the Holy Spirit work on you when you open yourself up to his transforming power.
The children had a birthday party for the chuch in Sunday club as we discussed how to serve God's purpose with the help of the Spirit's gifts...
I felt truly energised coming out of church today.
Such a beautiful day... we enjoyed a tasty BBQ and although David had forgotten his sunhat, we found a shaded part of the garden to eat "al fresco" (or could we say it was too hot to be considered "al fresco"?!!!!, then the children played happily in the garden as Tom worked his talent in creating our patio...
I'm a happy girl.... look what my husband built this weekend!


Have a look at it being built here!

This has been one WOW day!

Another Vision weekend and what can I say? Chris and Su kindly took on the session, and told us about Street Pastors as well as the worship and fun table challenge. It was great, empowering, we need to learn to remember that all we do is successful when we do it in God's name with his empowerment.
David, Jo and Rhona kindly took on the challenge of inviting our "little" family to theirs for tea! The weather was so nice, a BBQ was the order of the day. A fun evening was had by us all, the food was delicious and it's so nice to get to "know" people rather than just greet them regularly...I think they found it a positive experience! Although apologies for the punctured dice! (blow up garden toys and rose thorns shouldn't meet up too closely...but boys WILL play football with anything...Sorry!)Thank you so much for having us over, we had a great time.
We came home late to find.... a piano on our doorstep!
Our most kind and extreemely generous neighbours thought of us when they upgraded to a "three pedalled piano". (not sure what the difference is...yet, but we will learn and hopefully will look at getting some tuition)
We have found it a new home in our sitting room:

The weekend Poppy came to visit...

Mamine and Papytail got back from France this week so they came up for a visit... with a surprise... cousin Poppy! Lots of fun on a Bank holiday weekend.