Happy Birthday Benjamin!

Our first yellow belly (lincolnshire born and bred!)has turned 4... life is moving on a pace and all we can do is watch and guide and teach as best we can. May God give us the courage and strength to raise them in his word.

WOW Matthew!

Well here he is (having just taken off his cap) in the pool lucky in one of the few sunny spells today; and the outcome? A most impressive 48 lengths in the ½hr he was in the water. He had to get out to go have his lunch! (He had wanted to round it up to 50!!) So thank you all who have sponsored him and be thankful you didn't make the mistake that we did, sponsoring him by the length!! ;) lesson learnt, never underestimate the ability of your own child
I will post his total raised but to give you an idea his efforts have earnt him or rather the pool just about £200! Well done Matthew, great effort! we are really proud of you!

A beautiful walk...

After a sodden morning of heavy showers, what change! The sun was out to greet us as we arrived at Ostler's plantation for yet another Billinghay Family Walk. New comers are always welcomed and it was lovely to have new faces join us. Not five minutes into the walk and what did we see coiled up at the side of the path? An adder warming itself in the sun. Steve who knew what he was doing picked it up so that everyone could have a close look. WOW! (Please note: Do not EVER attempt to pick up an adder unless you have done it before!)Next Penny picked up a sloworm sp? a legless lizard who'd been stunned when accidentally run over by the buggy!! Together with a grasshoper and pretty flowers our walk turned into a nature and wildlife fest! As usual, good company, friendly chats and fun in the woods with a bounce on the tree and cooling refreshments courtesy of Chris made for delightful afternoon. Thanks to all for joining us and see you all (and any new comers tempted to join us) at the next walk on Saturday 2nd August @ 4pm!

Billinghay Pool

You may or may not be aware that our local open air heated pool "Billinghay and district Community Pool" is threatened with closure because of high fuel costs. (BBC article here)
Now we fully appreciate that high fuel costs is a worldwide problem but we are talking of a volunteer run and maintained community facility which uses funds to cover it's costs... If they were to raise their prices 215% to cover their fuel increase then no-one would come!!!
As well as a tv appeal, the children of the village are participating in sponsored swims on various days to 'fill the coffers' so that we may have a pool to use this summer!
Matthew will be doing his swim on Monday 7th July and if anyone would like to sponsor him we would greatly appreciate it. (just contact me: b5kidz at gmail.com)
Alternatively you could simply make a kindly donation!
Thank you all.

Arrrrrrrrrrgh!

How quickly we become reliant on modern technology..... after a fair bit of use, at least four 2lb loaves /week for the past 4yrs, our bread maker can longer be of use, the tin itself has worn through and is leaking when we put in the ingredients!
Now I'm not averse to trying to make it by hand... but my family may just have something to say about having to eat what is equivalent to a doorstop!
we will be looking for a replacement ASAP as the shop bought stuff is ...well.... tasteless and horrible!
For once my husband has given me the OK to go to Amazon!!!!!!! See you later ;)

A quiet weekend in...

Anyone for a BBQ breakfast?
With Joseph on camp, we were all in a mood for an outdoor breakfast, so we started cooking... and it started to rain!









We ate in the sitting room.
Yummm...............









Later it was time for Isaac to join the Billinghay under 8's football team for their first training session.













The rain wasn't easing but Tom unperturbed set out to start clearing the beds which have, with the warmth and rain, been overun with a variey of unwelcomed weeds.

Life goes on...

And with children there are developmental milestones met, 'firsts' in their lives. Some obvious, first steps, riding a bike, some unseen like a sudden comprehension of consequences, some vocal, first words and sentences... and then there is the first tooth falling out! This as a family is our third 'first tooth' but it still twangs my heart just the same to see a gappy smile!!!

Happy Birthday...

To my darling Tom, a wonderful loving and caring husband and father. Have a lovely fun day. A day of family and friends and fellowship... and I'll join you this evening! The children have all your presents stashed away somewhere safe!!

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