Ups and downs.

It’s been a bit of a mixed up week full of stress and worry; some good news, some bad. David is still job-hunting at present, though he had two second interviews this week, one of which has led to an invitation for a third interview with HR for one of the positions. This is a [...]

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On the outside looking in

At the weekly session at the Bakers’ on Thursday, everyone was discussing Sunday’s ordination service. People were describing it as wonderful, uplifting, stunning, awe-inspiring and discussing how they felt.
I felt as though I had missed out on something beautiful, even though I was physically present at exactly the same event as they were. It reminded [...]

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Summer Solstice

The Summer Solstice occurred this morning at 5:45am GMT. I wasn’t at Stonehenge to see the sun rise, though apparently 36,500 people were. Nor, later in the morning, was I at church. I was at home instead.
On this, the Longest Day (and thus, last night was the Shortest Night), I find myself caught between two [...]

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Eve of Pentecost

The actual anniversary of my baptism was May 11th, but Pentecost is a little later this year; it’s tomorrow – so as of tomorrow, it will be a full Church year since the morning I was baptised. It rather looks as though the weather tomorrow will recapture that day last year; bright, sunny and warm.
It’s [...]

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Parental Worry

The past week’s normal routine has been thrown entirely up in the air and topsy-turvey; last Sunday Freda started vomiting, soon developing diarrhea. She’d picked up a case of viral gastroenteritis. She couldn’t keep anything down or in. It’s a good job that I’m still breastfeeding her (yes, at nearly 2 years old!) because breastmilk [...]

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A Dark Night

They say that the night seems darkest just before the dawn.
They also say that pride comes before a fall.
Time does not record who these mysterious “they” are; undoubtedly different authors in both cases, and yet the sayings persist – cliches, yes, but only because the test of time has made them so.
Last year, I grew [...]

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Baptism at Pentecost

I could not have asked for a more perfect day upon which to be baptised. Pentecost dawned clear, warm and bright, and we were all up early this morning to greet the day. I couldn’t quite manage to drink my customary second cup of coffee for the nervous butterflies in my tummy which were somersaulting [...]

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Back into routine again

The past three weeks, our usual routine has gone completely out the window, what with first my eldest two girls (D, 15, and K, 13) coming to stay with us over Easter, the usual Wednesday group being on Easter hiatus, and then all three children and I going back to Wales – the elder two [...]

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A Trying Week

There were three baptisms last Sunday; a baby, her older brother, and an Egyptian man – the same one mentioned by Simon in this post on the Wednesday Focus blog, in fact, back in January. Simon wrote at the time of how he felt this encounter was a kairos moment for him; and I imagine [...]

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Baptism news

Simon, the vicar, came round this afternoon for a long chat to discuss baptism with me over tea and cake (I forwent the cake myself, as I’ve given up sugar for Lent).
We agree it does seem that baptism is the logical next step forward for me, so he’s going to email me later this week [...]

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