erm...

everywomanministries.com

2009-05-01T14:15:00.003Z

A friend of mine has just set up this new blog for Christian women called everywoman. It's the first one I've come across which isn't purely US based, although Jo lives in the US and there are US writers, Jo is actually British and there are quite a few British contributers as well, including me!

Here's the blurb about it...

"Welcome to Everywoman! Welcome to what we hope will be a gathering point for all things woman—women at work, in leadership, at home, single and married, women missionaries and more. We’re simply sharing our thoughts and reflecting on being a Christian woman in today’s world."

Cadbury Dairy Milk to go Fairtrade!

2009-03-09T13:54:00.003Z

Ok, so I am VERY excited and pleased that Cadbury are going Fairtrade for their Dairy Milk bar as, probably like many others, I do try and buy fairtrade chocolate where I can but honestly nothing has ever beaten Dairy Milk for taste - there really is nothing quite like it so I am glad that I shall be able to eat it completley guilt free soon!

In fact, I wonder if actually I may need to increase my Dairy Milk intake in order to show support to Cadbury and the cocoa farmers. Hmmmm, I think so.....

I have noticed that the people who are late are often so much jollier than the people who have to wait for them [E.V. Lucas]

2009-03-07T21:12:00.005Z

We've had a busy couple of weeks. Seems like our break in half term was a LONG time ago! But in tonight and enjoying some time just to chill. Last weekend we had Ben's parents to stay and we discovered Cannon Hall Farm which was just brilliant. It was pretty cheap to get into, free for Callum and had lots to look at and do, including the biggest and best playground I think I've seen. Needless to say we spent a lot of time there! Unfortunately Callum got scared by some rather loud sheep, and was then rather wary of the other big animals, but we did get to see brand new baby rabbits and guinea pigs, as well as piglets, lambs, albino wallabies, lots of birds and the other usual suspects on a farm at this time of year. Their cafe was also rather good, lots of home-grown food and not bad prices. They also had a farm shop and deli which we couldn't resist and have just eaten a game pie which the in-laws bought for us. I wasn't too sure about it at first - it tasted nice, just tried not to think about the contents too much! Don't think I'll be having another one anytime soon.

Yesterday we looked after our god-daughter and C's best friend Sophie who is lovely. She and Callum get on like a house on fire, except when they're fighting, but they're quickly friends again. We went to see more farm animals - what else there to do with a toddler!?!?!?

Today Ben went to lead a morning quiet retreat for some churches in the Peaks whilst I toddled off to brunch with our church community. This afternoon we decided to take a rather last minute dash to Meadowhall and timed it COMPLETLEY wrong and ended up getting stuck in match traffic as everyone was pouring out of the stadium. In the end we didn't make it to MH but ended up just doing a loop back round to our house, which probably wasn't any further than a couple of miles in all but took half an hour. Hilarious waste of time and fuel/the environment etc. Never mind. Took a stroll to the 'geeseyducks' in the park instead and ended up playing silly running games with C and I took a few goes on the slide. I love pretending to be a kid again, it's a lot of fun. Felt like a bit of a release from all the craziness of recent weeks.

And so, looking forward to tomorrow, a day of total freedom, nothing planned, noone I need to see, a day to do with what we please. Fabulous :)

an old favourite game I used to play with my dad...

2009-03-02T13:33:00.000Z

bus fun

2009-02-06T14:45:00.001Z

from here via here

2009-02-06T14:27:00.005Z

With all the snow we've had this week I've very much been on the side of the 'stop moaning and enjoy it' party. Whenever it does snow in Sheffield we almost always get very little as we're quite sheltered and down in the valley, so it's been rather exciting to get several inches, enough to build a snowman in the garden and to go sledging in the park. I don't think I've been sledging since I was little so it felt like a great privilege to introduce Callum to it; he kind of enjoyed it until he fell off - after that, not so sure but we will persevere!

I was reading Maggi Dawn's blog and she wrote about snow being something which seems to bring out a really child-like spirit in most people (except those who moan about it instead!) Grown adults go silly at the thought of sliding down a hill on their bottoms, or about throwing balls of frozen water at each other :) all good fun and for a brief moment yesterday I thought that it might be quite nice if it snowed more often.

Anyway, here is some of what Maggi wrote which I liked:

G K Chesterton captures the childlike quality of sheer, unadulterated joy when something good happens. Never mind restraint, never mind whether you have stuff to do. If it's fun, pleasurable, life giving - there's only one response a child will give: "Do it again!"

"Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we."

elbow live with bbc concert orchestra

2009-02-03T13:51:00.004Z

I've just discovered that Elbow did a live concert with the BBC Concert Orchestra for Radio 2 and I am a big Elbow fan so this is very exciting for me. You can watch one of the tracks 'Grounds for Divorce' below or press the red button on BBC if you're in the UK and have digital tv or here's the link to the full concert on the Radio 2 website. Go watch - you have until 10pm Sat 7 Feb!!!!

a little toy ben introduced to me this morning...

2009-01-31T11:37:00.001Z

one of callum's favourite stories right now in a more pictoral form!

pirate

2008-10-31T21:44:00.004Z

just been to a pirates and princesses party with Callum. He had so much fun and was such a cute pirate!

home alone

2008-07-23T18:57:00.002Z

another sporadic post from me...hey ho!

I am home alone today as Ben flew off to Peru this morning with a bunch of young adults from our church. He'll be gone for 11 days which is the longest we've been apart since being married. I know some people do it quite regularly but today I have found it HARD! I expected to just carry on as usual with the things I had planned, and expected to miss him more as the week goes by, but no! It feels like a huge emotional thing, I think especially as I've been ill for the past month and still not better yet (sinusitis - got drugs now so hopefully on the mend!), and obviously I've got to look after Callum on my own.

I think the thing which really got me was coming downstairs this morning feeling ok about it all and then seeing Ben crying as he was holding Callum. Well that set me off too of course and it feels like I've been hit with a big emotional bulldozer all day. In trying to figure out why I think it's partly the length of time, but also the fact that it's PERU!!! thousands of miles away, having a significant experience out there which we're not doing together (which is really unusual for us).

all is not gloom and doom though as I am off tomorrow to my parents for a couple of days - it's my dad's birthday on Friday so we're going out for the day which should be nice, and then I'm off to help at a kids camp in Dorset which should keep me nicely occupied and I hope the week will fly by!

If you feel like praying for me that'd be grand....and Ben and the team too!

Thanks x

fun in the sun in the yard

2008-06-04T17:08:00.002Z

Callum's April Greeting to you All!

2008-04-07T20:55:00.000Z

bleurgh

2008-02-25T16:01:00.004Z

Today I have a cold, am feeling very weary from all our busy-ness and have ordered myself not to work and instead to have an afternoon on the sofa in front of trashy tv. When you work from home it's soo easy just to log in, check the emails and do a few bits and pieces and before you know it you've spent an hour or two working. This does nothing for my rest levels!!!! So I have just checked my emails, I'll admit to that, but I've logged off again and it's only because I'm waiting for one in particular which is holding some stuff up....still waiting, grrr.

I can report this afternoon however that Neighbours looks different on Channel 5, not just cos of the ads, and Flog It comes from Cheltenham this afternoon - ooo, interesting!

Callum is still napping. We took him to church last night for the worship which he really loved. His best friend Sophie was also there and they loved running around making lots of noise and making people giggle. They're a funny pair. Sophie's mummy is cooking us dinner tonight and tomorrow (she's a real gem).

Callum is growing up! He's a real copy cat at the moment so we are trying to teach him lots of words - especially 'Granny' in time for Ben's parents visiting at the weekend. Trouble is he can copy lots of words but has no idea what they mean. Favourite words at the moment are: Duck, Quack (every time he sees water!), star, weeeeee! (especially when putting toys in the bath), wow!, yup, up (a new one for going upstairs), bear (for any soft toy), Stooooooo (for his uncle) and Emma (his aunt). He's also started making brooom noises when pushing his cars or trolley truck around and he's good at copying actions; he's been copying Stu doing a little wink/nod at him which makes him look like he's got a nervous twitch when he's trying to do it. Thanks Stu!

Right, off I trot, Ready Steady Cook is about to come on.

bunting and snow!

2008-02-03T20:27:00.000Z

This week I managed to complete something I've been trying to get finished for ages - making bunting from one of Ben's old shirts (yeah I know it looked like a horrendous shirt, but it wasn't, I've just picked out the pattern, it wasn't like that all over!) Big thanks to my friend Lorna (via Becky!) for the use of her sewing machine,and to Bek who taught me what to do! It's gonna go up in Callum's room once the birthday season is over in a couple of weeks.

We had snow yesterday morning (all gone now sadly) but Ben took the opportunity to give Callum his first proper snow experience in our garden quite early before breakfast.

getting ready

first steps

encouraging

kicking

wellies

Callum's first picture

2007-12-10T22:18:00.000Z

He did this today at the playgroup we go to - how cute! It now has pride of place in our kitchen. I'm sure there'll be many more to follow...

In other Callum news....he's still not walking (crawling is much more 'in' don't you know), but he is beginning to make sounds that sound like actual words, including (with a bit of an optimistic parental interpretation!):
du (duck)
dya (dylan - our cat)
wow (!)
woo ooo (like a train)
yeah (!)

I don't think he knows what he's saying when he says wow and yeah, I think he's just copying us and his childminder Becky cos we all say those words quite a bit, but he definitely recognises ducks and dylan!

2007-11-16T14:10:00.000Z

We've just had a great week. It's been Visitors Week at church meaning that lots of people from all over the world come to visit to see what we do and we've had a guy staying with us from Kent, who was great to have around. It's always a good time to re-evaluate what we do because invariably people ask lots of questions about what we're involved in and that gives us an opportuntity to make sure that we're actually doing what we believe in, and also that what we believe in makes sense and has integrity.

It's also nice when your visitors leave nice chocolates as a thank you ;)

Ben and I also got a night out this week so we went to Cafe Rouge for desserts. They've changed their menu since I was last there and they now do this AMAZING dessert which is basically three different mini desserts - one little creme brulee, one little fruit berry crumble with creme anglais and one little slice of the most gorgeous chocolate ganache - yum yum yum. Would have taken a picture to show you cos it looked amazing but didn't have the camera sorry.

This weekend we've got cluster brunch tomorrow and then Ben's parents and brother are coming up in the morning to visit Callum (well I expect they want to see us too but we all know who the main attraction is!)

The other thing we've been trying to do this week is to teach Callum to walk. He's been really great at walking holding onto stuff for a while now, but I decided it was time he learnt to stand on his own two feet as it were. So most evenings B & I have been sitting a little bit apart from each other and then encouraging Callum to walk to the other. Depending on the time of day (and how giggly he is) determines how many steps he takes. The record I think is 5, but most of the time it kinda goes 1, 2, then either lean forward and fall towards you, or his legs crumple and he crawls the rest of the way! We'll get there no doubt, but we might have to put in another practice session for granny tonight. I'm gonna go buy him some more shoes later too so he can walk ouside more. He especially loves walking outside and kicking leaves with daddy so new shoes will keep his feet a bit drier too!

Half Term!

2007-10-28T20:50:00.001Z

Well we're at half term and it's been a bit frantic since September! Thankfully we've got some time off now and a chance to relax and rest a bit.

This weekend we've been away with our brand new cluster Roots. We went to Knutsford in Cheshire and stayed at the huge house belonging to our friend Phil's parents. It was brilliant and we had nearly 20 of us come and go throughout the weekend. It was pretty chilled out. Saturday we went to this random garden centre/antique centre/spa showroom/outdoor cafe/junk shop and to Tatton Park for a nice walk, which also turned out to be Callum's first go on a merry-go-round which he seemed to enjoy. In the evening we did a murder mystery game which we all dressed up for and was really good, even if I did get a little confused! This morning was more chilling out and we shared communion - I was on creche duty for Callum and Sophie. Big thanks to Becky and Phil for organising us all so well!

We're off to Bristol tomorrow to visit friends there, back on Thursday, then hopefully a quiet weekend before the beginning of the next half term!

catch-up

2007-10-16T19:59:00.000Z

Well as usual it's been a pretty long time since I posted. I have so many photos I'd like to show you of what we've been up to (mostly of Callum!) but we'd be here for ever so I'll just show you a few. If you wanna see more you can always go to our flickr account.

So the most exciting thing which has happened was Callum's first birthday! His actual birthday (1st Oct) was a Monday so Ben was at school, but we got up a little bit earlier and opened some presents in bed with Mummy and Daddy. Little boy
wide-eyed at the pretty coloured parcels!

Then Daddy went to work whilst me and Callum had breakfast and a short nap before going off to Playtime where he was given a card and cake and some bubbles and everyone sang happy birthday to him. Then off to meet Aunty Emma for lunch yum yum! When Daddy got home later we went for a birthday swing at the park and then home for tea and more presents!

We had a party for him the following Saturday and we went to Heeley City Farm which was brilliant, followed by tea and cake back at ours. I impressed myself with the cake I made - take a look!

Callum has also started going to a childminder 2 days a week this month, and seems to love it. Becky is a really good friend of mine, and is one of Callum's godmums so it all works out rather well. I spend those 2 days working with form, our year out programme at church, which is proving to be a lot of fun too.

Last weekend we were in Peterborough for the wedding of some good friends who have now left Sheffield to live in Cornwall - a perfect place for holidays!
Congratulations Tom & Ellie!

All this updating has tired me out now (plus the new series of Spooks has just started on TV) so I'm gonna go now. Will try and remember if there are other things to tell you about another day! Here's our latest family pic from the weekend - aww!

funny politics

2007-07-21T18:50:00.000Z

I was sent an email the other day asking me to sign a petition against something on the Downing Street website so I went on and had a look. Now I signed the petition, kind of agreeing with the subject but not really with the wording of it and now I wished I hadn't, mainly because the basic facts that I was being asked to express my disapproval of weren't true. I naively assumed that being on the Downing Street website meant that at the very least the facts were correct!!! Apparently not. Turns out that anybody can create a petiton on there! Fancy that.

Now I do think it's a great idea, but whilst I was perusing the other petitions requesting my support I came across some rather amusing ones which I thought you might enjoy too. They all start...

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to…

* Declare the possession of a car to be illegal by 2015 Erm, why?

* Setup the Motorway information systems so it actually provides real information! Hear hear!

* send more helicopters to save trapped people in sheffield Yes I'm still waiting for mine.

* make cheese free for students who wish to make toasties My personal favourite.

* have a public inquiry into the behaviour of liverpool supportors Yes well.

...and some of those which were rejected for various reasons (yes all of the above were taken seriously!)...

* To remove the smell that comes from vile park Birmingham yes we can smell it from here!

* Ban saggy trousers This is a warning Ben, next time it might make it through.

* stop Chris Eubank from burning unreasonable amounts of diesel in his truck and banish him from Brighton & Hove I think you're just being unreasonable now.

* lobby Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber to free Lee Mead's curls Quite.

So there you go. The most important issues facing British politics today.

new photos from the weekend

2007-07-09T20:39:00.000Z

sorry for lack of posting and news....been busy! all good fun though. We were at Ben's parents in Hertfordshire over the weekend and played in the garden cos the SUN CAME OUT which I think I'd forgotten existed. Callum is a lot of fun still and really enjoyed spending time with his grandparents. I think the feeling was mutual! Enjoy these pics and I promise I'll post more actual news soon!

who is enjoying this more?

2007-06-15T22:06:00.001Z

2007-05-17T21:25:00.000Z

2007-05-16T14:09:00.000Z

Well now I have done the washing up (well almost) and Callum is still asleep I thought I'd take the opportunity to update you all on recent askew news.

Firstly, Callum has been doing a lot of growing. He now has two bottom teeth, can eat allsorts of things, including baked beans, toast, cherries, mashed potato...in fact most of what we eat will now go in Callum too! It makes life easier in one sense, but harder in another. Easier, cos I can just mash up what we have and give it to him the next day, harder because I have to actually think about what I'm giving him and make sure there's appropriate food in the house! Not always the case.

The main recent development is crawling! He can now get everywhere, albeit slowly, which meant a bit of a re-shuffle of our living room, moving freestanding cd towers into the attic, and removing cables, flashing lights of the wrong kind, ironing boards etc etc! Much fun. Photos and videos are forthcoming! Can't see to be able to get the compter to recognise the camera right now :(

Ben is still working in Rotherham, and will continue that for 4 days a week next year too.

I am doing some work from home of different kinds. I'm working mostly for St Toms, my employer before I had Callum, doing some Communications and IT stuff for them e.g. producing newsletters and literature and helping the staff to use computers better. I'm also customizing a new-ish programme for them called SharePoint, which is something I'm told that lots of companies are wanting to begin using so I hope to be able to get some work doing that too through a friend's IT company. I enjoy it, but I mainly do it as we need the money. It's useful to build up some skills that I'll be able to use wherever I am in the world too.

Oop, boy is up! Gotta go!

achievement

2007-04-17T13:57:00.000Z

i made this!!!!!

it's a peg bag (obviously ;) and I made it out of one of Ben's old t-shirts and a wire coat hanger. It's not very neat and tidy but it does the job and I feel very proud of myself.

UPDATE ON THE TOASTER: working well and looking lovely. 0-toasty in super quick time!

toaster

2007-04-14T08:00:00.000Z

Exciting news today - we have a brand new toaster!!! Well that is exciting to me as for quite a few months now ours has been broken and you have to turn the toast so it takes twice as long to get your crumpet nicely browned. The even better thing was that also in the post today arrived an unexpected cheque to pay for said toaster!! Yay :)

Off to see Ben's brother Tom and his wife at Lyme Park near Manchester today so better get cracking. Still not dressed or ready to go even though we've been up since 7.15 and its now 9. Have put some washing on though so I do feel extremly efficient in the housework department.

Enjoy the sunshine today!

new people

2007-04-12T21:40:00.000Z

New people I have recently discovered are now blogging include....

The Manserghs

Katie Hartless who is in Oxford now

Richard England's deep thinking blog (as opposed to their family blog)

The Absaloms in preparation for their move to the States

The Sissons

go check em out.

rambling update

2007-04-12T21:00:00.000Z

Well now, Ben has said I need to post something so here goes.

We've been having fun over the school hols, me especially cos I don't have to do all the Callum stuff - in fact Ben's been letting me sleep in a bit and doing breakfast duty which has been fab. We've done lots of fun stuff together, including....

** Faithless live at Sheffield Arena. Absolutely flipping AMAZING!!!!! Huge sound, presence, visuals and lights. Best gig I've ever been to I think, certainly for wow factor.

** Day out at Clumber Park, near Worksop...really gorgeous huge park/lake and so hot. Forgot to take Callum's hat with us as I wasn't expecting it to be so warm so he was plastered in sun cream. He seemed to have a lot of fun in the backpack for the first time too, as you can see! He's becoming quite a flirt with the camera. At first it was really had to get him to smile for it, but now you point it at him and he's grinning away. Consequently we have HUNDREDS of pictures of him!!!! Snap happy me.

** Holy Week and Easter services at church. Pete James had constructed this huge stone looking tomb. It was pretty awesome, but did make the stage look a little like the set for a musical. Tres impressive however, and worked well being opened, closed then opened again at the appropriate times.

** Callum's got his first 2 teeth!!! No pics of them though...Makes me slightly reluctant to let him chew my fingers now as it can be pretty painful! Think we'll stick to toys and bangles from now on. He's coped with it well, but is off his savoury food which friends say is common.

** Ben's parents have visited us this week and we've spent time in the city centre, at Yorkshire Sculpture Park (no photos - got deleted by mistake!) and Manchester for Ben's godmother's 80th birthday party. Nice to have time by ourselves again today and tomorrow.

** And not forgetting Callum's baptism on Palm Sunday. We got him fully immersed which was a whole lot of fun and he seemed to enjoy it too. Brilliant time with family and godparents afterwards. We had lunch at ours and I got eveyone to bring/make something to eat so it felt like a real team effort (plus I didn't have to do it all!) which is how we do family/community so it really felt like our kind of family celebration which was cool. It's fun working out our own family traditions and ways of doing things.

** Also...getting addicted to facebook, enjoying eating chocolate again, getting ready for the impending safety audit that must happen of our house as C is kind of on the move and wishing I had more time to sort out our garden.

Tigger!

2007-03-27T10:23:00.000Z

five new things

2007-02-25T16:37:00.000Z

four new things that callum has started doing this week:
1. grabbing his feet
2. sucking his bottom lip
3. sitting up when he's leaning over to grab his feet (i.e. his centre of balance is pretty low so he can just about sit up without toppling over!)
4. blowing raspberries

and one new thing i have bought today on ebay
1. mobile phone

i like new things :)

wot we have been doing

2007-02-22T19:07:00.000Z

well, it's been a busy week or two, with lots of ups and downs...let me tell you all about it!

Last Monday (half term) we spoke to the guys in Seattle and found out that our move there is definitely off for this year :( So it's back to the drawing board so to speak about what we do next. We're using Lent to reflect a bit before making any major decisions, so there's no rush there.

Tuesday we visited the Millenium Galleries' latest exhibition, Abstraction. I liked this one - the lights swung to and fro.

Then we paid a visit to my parents in Surrey which was fab. We got a good mix of time together and time with them. Here are some pics....

my parents

having fun on the kitchen floor...we discovered callum could turn a full 180 on his tummy - he'll be crawling before we know it!

Doing origami with Mummy, courtesy of The Guardian, and the finished origami zoo!

'Playing' with Oscar, one of my parents cats...he was very patient!

C on Ben's shoulders which he loves!

This Tuesday was Ben's birthday. We went for lunch in Thyme cafe which was deeelicious, and Callum stayed asleep the whole time which was even better. We had a pancake party in the evening to celebrate! Here is a picture of Ben and Tom pancaking.

Tuesday was also an eventful day for other reasons. Dylan (our cat) came home in the morning having been hit by a car :( But Ben took him to the vet and thankfully he wasn't injured too badly, no broken bones, just needed a couple of stitches. He's on the mend now.

Our new highchair which also arrived on Tuesday.

So that's a quick update of all our adventures. Ben's parents are visiting for the day tomorrow so another dose of grandparents!

Me, running?

2007-02-19T13:20:00.000Z

Well for some reason or other I have agreed to do the Cancer Research Race for Life this year in June with my sister Emma and possibly a couple of other friends.

It is five whole kilometres.

And that seems like quite a long way to be running anywhere to me. Those who know me well will know that any kind of running is not my forte shall we say. At school it never took me less than 10 minutes to run the 1500m, and most people did it in about 3-5 mins.

So why am I doing it? Well since having Callum my attempts to lost weight have been sporadic at best, deeply confounded by Christmas and my birthday and lots of chocolate and good food. Emma asked if I'd like to do the race with her and I figured a challenge like this would give me the incentive I need to get going. Plus I couldn't really think of a good reason not to.

My Granny Pip died from cancer and both my grandpas have had skin cancer so I guess I'm doing it for them too.

If you'd like to sponsor me then click on the wee little box on the right ->

If you'd just like to come and laugh at me then it's on June 3rd starting at 11am at Don Valley stadium. Don't worry, I'm sure there will be pictures for those who can't make it!

Tim and Jo's wedding

2007-02-12T21:20:00.000Z

So the big day arrived a week last Saturday and Mr Spikey Tim Blundell Jones got married!!! It was a great day, nearly covered in beautiful snow (if the rain hadn't washed it all away :(), and lovely Jo looked amazing in her dress - which she made herself I hasten to add. They really tried to make everything as fair trade and as ethically sourced as possible which I really admire and the whole day was totally them which was great. So many people there from the olden days or elsewhere who we haven't seen for ages so that was great, especially to see Miriam, KT, Helen & Peterson and Steve and Hannah.

So, some photos! I hardly got any good ones because I had to hold Callum and take pictures at the same time so most of them came out really wobbly. And Ben and Stu were brilliant best men...video of their speech to come - got to sort it out first cos it's too long for youtube! Emma took some better pics I think so I'll get those up once she's emailed them to me.

Mr and Mrs Blundell Jones!

what a way to start a friday...

2007-02-02T12:52:00.000Z

being woken up at 3am because someone has got their leg stuck through the bars of his cot, then again at 7.15am cos he's hungry. After feeding dealing with the biggest smelliest poo incident to date (massive leakage, all up his back, leaking right through 3 layers of clothes onto the sheet), during which we had not one but two wees, typically just after I'd cleaned up and ready to put nappy on - not a good day for efficient use of baby wipes :)

We decided that the best way to continue was to go back to bed, both of us! So we've had a lie-in which has meant the rest of the day so far has gone fine. And Callum is now enjoying his newly borrowed door bouncer. He seems to love just hanging around, swinging and kind of bouncing, all the while gurgling lots! Whoever invented these was a genius!

Hopefully the rest of the day will be a lot less messy.

seattle highlights

2007-01-25T12:28:00.000Z

We haven't really said much about our trip to Seattle at the beginning of the month so here are a few piccies.

The house we were staying in, Ben and Callum and some big trees, some very big shoes in a shop, like sizes 15-20!!!

Us at the famous Pike Place fish market where they throw fish, and at the aquarium which Callum loved!

A beautiful sunset over Lake Sammamish and Helen in Starbucks!

John and Cheri who we stayed with and then the team from the church we were visiting in a Chinese restaurant we visited on the last day.

working hard

2007-01-19T16:41:00.000Z

Last night I had an induction at the Hillsborough Leisure Centre gym. I've decided something has to be done with baby fat+Christmas fat and the gym was the place to do it.

Here is proof of how hard I worked out last night...

Yes, that's right, my trainers completley disintegrated!!! As much as I would like to claim that it's because I worked so hard I think it's more to do with their age...gives a whole new meaning to 'air' I think!

...it's all a bit pink...

2007-01-11T18:04:00.000Z

please excuse me whilst i upgrade to blogger beta and play with the new formats etc. it's all a bit pink round here right now and i need some time to sort it out. right now though, it's the simpsons on channel 4 with my boys and maybe a little bit of chocolate...yummy.

super boy traveller

2007-01-11T16:38:00.000Z

well i am thoroughly amazed at my boy's ability to go with the flow. we've just spent the week in Seattle and he really coped very well. he was great on the flight there and back, sleeping lots of the time and then although a bit disorientated and obviously tired whilst we were there he did brilliantly.

now we got back on tuesday and drove back up to Sheffield yesterday and he's almost just slotted right back into his routine, except for waking up at 12.30am this morning and struggling to get him back to sleep. He's been really good today though and he rolled from his back to his side for the first time, clever boy :)

here's a picture of the 3 of us in an amazing burger place on the seattle waterfront. yummy!

someone told me jet lag was worse coming from the US to the UK but so far it hasn't hit and i actually feel pretty good. i guess i'll just wait and see what tomorrow brings!

...and a Happy New Year!

2007-01-06T22:59:00.000Z

We had a great time at Ben's parents in Hertfordshire over Christmas and then went to mine for New Year. It was all great fun and especially great to have lots of people willing to hold Callum and play with him. It'll be a bit of a shock when Ben goes back to work and I'm on my own again!

Right now we're in Seattle, visiting a church here. The people are ace, really friendly and really generous. We're back on Tuesday and will let you know all about it when we get back.

Right, off to a mall! Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-26T11:07:00.000Z

Happy Christmas from the Askews! Hope you had a good one.

Chatsworth

2006-12-13T17:24:00.000Z

We went to Chatsworth House on Saturday and met up with Tom and Naomi (one of Ben's brothers and his wife). It was a really beautiful day so we went round the gardens and went into the maze.

Then we had lunch which was lovely and then went into the house which was decorated with the theme of the 12 Days of Christmas. There were lots and lots of fairy lights everywhere, as well as 2 real turtle doves and 3 real french hens! It was really really pretty.

There were lots of lovely lights in the courtyard too, as well as lots of lovely Christmas
decorations to buy. I bought a small gold wreath made of pine cones and a little wooden stocking tree decoration for Callum.

friends and family

2006-12-08T19:57:00.000Z

We've been visiting and being visited by lots of different friends and family since Callum was born.

In chronological order...

Aunty Emma and Uncle Stu in the hospital when Callum was 1 day old

Grandad and Granny Askew in the hospital when Cal was 2 days old

Grandpa and Granny Mathieson in Sheffield at 6 days

Uncle Tom and Aunty Naomi in Sheffield at 1 week

Great Grandpa Fred with Granny Mathieson, and Great Great Aunt Edna in Widnes at 3 weeks

Great Grandpa David in Ilkley 2 weeks ago...(no trip there is complete without a visit to Betty's)

Mummy's very good friend from home, Sophie who visited yesterday and today!

Tomorrow sees another rendevous with Uncle Tom and Aunty Naomi at Chatsworth. Looking forward to going round the maze and maybe the farmyard, and enjoying all the Christmassy wonderland there!

little boy

2006-11-30T19:07:00.000Z

Was going to post on Sunday but it's taken me until now to have a spare minute to do this....now I don't have the energy or witty remarks so for now I'll just give you some new piccies of Callum who is smiling lots and being cute (apart from when he won't go down during the day and just cries instead....evenings and nights are good though!)

enjoy :)

perseverance

2006-11-18T10:21:00.000Z

trying to take a passport photograph of Callum this morning...

...hopefully one of these will do!

links for a thursday

2006-11-16T12:52:00.000Z

got our new laptop now which is very sparkly and lovely and means i can get online during the day now which is fab. highlights from this week include being able to email my sister at work, chatting on gmail to my friend sophie who is teaching english in sri lanka, ordering a wireless router from ebuyer, taking part in some research about women in church leadership and creating a little video of callum (not ready yet, will post when done!)

Other interesting things I have come across include:

Spiderman 3 trailer - this looks great, can't wait to see it.

Uncle Francis' pictures of Callum - Ben's brother who visited last weekend

Csiro wearable instrument shirt - play the air guitar and get ACTUAL SOUNDS!!!! Genius! via Hippy Shopper.

Doing December Differently - a new book from the Iona Community. This looks great and we have ordered our copy. No doubt Ben will tell you all about it when it arrives. Via Jonny Baker

1 month on...

2006-10-31T22:03:00.000Z

so unsurprisingly i've not had much time for blogging recently, and no time now as it's feeding time again in a minute, but I thought you'd like to see some more recent photos of Callum. I especially like the second one :)

progress report

2006-10-07T13:04:00.000Z

Well we've been home since Tuesday and have been having lots of fun working out this whole parenting thing. Sometimes it's been really hard, but it's getting easier. We had our first major breakthrough yesterday/last night when Callum decided he would sleep on his own in his crib. Up until now he wouldn't sleep except when attached to one of us, which as you can imagine made getting any/much sleep difficult! We'd worked out this whole tag team thing on Thursday night, taking it in turns to be awake with him and sleeping, which worked better, but last night he slept for 2/3 hours at a time in his crib without needing either of us to be awake to cuddle - which meant we both got a few hours sleep each (Ben more than me as he doesn't have to wake up to feed him! To his credit he has been sorting out lots of pooey nappies for which I'm very grateful.)

Things seem to be getting easier, a couple of days ago I was feeling completley out of my depth and useless but we seem to be getting the hang of the basics like feeding which gives me more confidence. We also took our first trip out yesterday for a stroll in the park which was really nice. I needed the fresh air and exercise and the buggy needed a test drive! It was great to get out. Ben has put up some photos on his blog.

We're on a fattening up regime over the weekend as he's lost a bit more weight than he's supposed to so I'm feeling a lot like a dairy cow right now but as long as he's put on some weight by Monday I don't mind. He's also got a touch of jaundice but that should disappear soon hopefully.

Another upside is I've been enjoying eating some of the things that I haven't been able to since Christmas - especially BRIE!!!! Looking forward to re-acquainting myself with other banned foods like stilton, prawn sandwhiches and cured meats like proscuitto ham - yum yum.

Just waiting for the arrival of my parents now who are coming up to meet Cal for the first time. Ben's parents visited on Tuesday.

Finally, before I leave you with a picture of my beautiful boy I just wanted to say a massive thanks to all of you who have left comments, emailed, texted, sent cards and pressies, cooked for us or offered to, gone to the shops etc etc.....we feel so amazingly blessed to be part of the community we are, both locally and globally, you all rock!

A little introduction...

2006-10-03T08:30:00.000Z

I'm very pleased to be able to introduce you to Callum James Askew. He was born on Sunday at 9:30pm, and weighed 8lb 8oz.

It was a long delivery, and Helen is exhausted. But both mum and baby are well and happy. He's so awesome!
Posted by Ben.

Dog starts car after eating chip

2006-09-26T21:13:00.000Z

found this funny today...

Dog starts car after eating chip
A breakdown patrol man who came to the rescue of a woman motorist has managed to get her car started using her dog.

Juliette Piesley, 39, had changed the battery in her electronic key fob but was then unable to start her car.

When AA patrolman Kevin Gorman arrived at the scene in Addlestone, Surrey, he found its immobiliser chip was missing.

Ms Piesley said her dog George had eaten something, and realising it was the chip, he put the dog in the front seat and started the car with the key.

Mr Gorman said: "I was glad to get the car started for the member.

"They will now have to take George [the dog] with them in the car until things take their natural course.

"It is the first time that I have had to get a dog to help me to start a car."

from the bbc news website

more photos with our new camera

2006-09-24T12:54:00.000Z

On the way to our friend Graham's wedding in Wales the other week I decided to have a play with the camera and the manual settings. These are some of the results which I quite like, even if I do say so myself!

still in one piece

2006-09-24T12:12:00.000Z

...although I'm wishing I was in 2! Due date is on Friday and a bit of a false alarm last week means I'm getting a bit impatient now. It's not that I'm really uncomfortable (although walking any distance is slow - the sofa/kitchen/bed loop is just fine right now), but I'm just a little impatient to meet our baby and get going on the adventure.

I've been trying to do lots of things to keep myself occupied, like reading, making biscuits, cleaning the fridge, ordering things from Mothercare etc etc, and Ben has been wonderful too - he is currently putting up 2 new shelves in our kitchen which I've been wanting for ages (pictures of his handiwork below). Actually it's been rather nice having lots of space and time to do very little - I just hope I don't have another 3 weeks of it!!!!

I've also learnt some stuff about myself which has been good too. Like even I need some discipline and structure to my day (I'm not very good at discipline generally and like to be a bit more go-with-the-flow). I've realised that staying in bed all morning actually doesn't make me feel good, even if I'm reading. I need to get up and get dressed and have that little bit of routine to make me engage with the day. This is also good if the postman or a man who wants to change your gas meter bangs on the door - pjs and bed hair don't make for a good look, especially when you're the size of a small hippo. My lunchtime routine goes as follows: 1.30pm get lunch in time for 1.40pm showing of Neighbours (and hasn't it been exciting recently!), then Doctors of course but usually resisting Diagnosis murder, prefering instead the washing up or some other exciting household task.

I've also discovered that I can actually amuse myself all day (which I thought I couldn't), but maybe that's in part due to lower energy levels...anyway there'll be lots to keep me amused soon so that certainly won't be a problem!

On another note, Dylan seems to have decided that he likes us again and has started making an appearance every day, rather than once a week, even being very friendly again. I think he's just coming out of his little rebellious teenage cat phase, although Ben reckons it's cos the weather has cooled down a bit now. Whatever, it's nice to have a cat again.

lovely shelves

lovely shelves and bob the builder

baby shower

2006-09-05T10:37:00.000Z

My sis Emma organised a baby shower for me on Saturday. It was really good fun, especially the getting presents part! I was given lots of really thoughtful stuff which was really lovely. We also played a 'guess the flavour of the baby food' game, and we all concluded that the savoury stuff tasted disgusting, whilst the sweet stuff was not so bad. So thanks to everyone who came (and those who couldn't and sent pressies anyway) and a big thanks to Emma for organising it (and especially for the gorgeous chocolate cake too)!

Feel like everything's getting quite real now. Midwife reckons that baby's going to be a chunky monkey so I'm hoping it doesn't decided to leave it too late to make an appearance. Head is down and going in the right direction so that's all good.

Here are some pictures of the baby shower.

he came back!

2006-09-05T10:34:00.000Z

So Dylan turned up again this morning - hurrah! very pleased although he's gone to hide under our bed now...

welcome back dylan, we missed you!

changing seasons

2006-09-04T10:00:00.000Z

As I was clearing my desk on Friday I took down all my little pictures and stuff. Amongst them was this prayer.

Flame Dancing Spirit,
Come sweep us off our feet and
Dance us through our days.
Surprise us with your rhythms;
Dare us to try new steps, explore
New patterns and new relationships;
Release us from old routines
To swing in abandoned joy and
Fearful adventure.
And in the intervals,
Rest us in your still centre.
Amen.

It really seems to sum up the change of seasons that's happening right now. I finished work on Friday so am in a new season of rest (albeit temporary!) and preparation whilst Ben started back at school today. The old routines will certainly be gone soon and we're definitely on a new adventure. Our prayer is that we find the stillness of God right in the middle of it all.

missing cat

2006-09-04T09:55:00.000Z

come home dylan!

he's been missing for 10 days now and we'd quite like him to come back now.

nearly at the end

2006-08-25T17:47:00.000Z

i've been training up my replacement this week at work. well, for 2 days of it. the orginal plan was that he'd be here for 2 weeks at least getting to know stuff as he's new to Sheffield, the church and everything so 2 weeks would give him a really good time to get to know how stuff runs. somehow that got narrowed down to 2 days so i've spent those 2 days basically about my job and explaining everything i'm doing - this is very tiring! but he's a good guy and should figure it all out ok. my last day is next friday which i'm looking forward to, although it'll be wierd to leave after 4 1/2 years (almost as long as I've been married!)

my wonderful ben has been doing the transformation of study to nursery this week. it's looking really great; we just have to put together the flatpack tomorrow and move all the baby stuff we've accumulated around the house into it. we've been given 3 bags of clothes by different people, and sorting through it all this week realised that we've got pretty much everything we need which is fantastic. a trip into mothercare and boots in the city centre today means that we've almost got all the essentials now i think (like nappies, sheets etc). it's feeling more and more imminent! can't wait;)

...a few pictures from the askew household this weekend...

2006-08-20T18:02:00.000Z

(can you tell we've been playing with our new camera?)

ben's lunch today;)

2006-08-20T18:01:00.000Z

home grown tomatoes

2006-08-20T18:00:00.000Z

dylan comes home after doing a 5 day disappearing act

2006-08-20T17:35:00.000Z

looking down from my perspective!

feeling pleased with myself

2006-08-17T20:10:00.000Z

I am feeling a little smug having just come back from my first ever aqua natal class at Hillsborough pool with my friend Becky. Ok, so it's highly unlikely my career in pregnant water aerobics is going to last very long, but it does make me feel like I'm doing something like exercise which is what I probably should have been doing for the past few months. It was fun, if not a little wierd to be in a pool full of pregnant ladies, all of us waving our arms about and trying hard not to lose balance or appear too uncoordinated; we probably looked pretty ridiculous!

On a completley different note, I'm feeling quite excited as we're going to ikea tomorrow afternoon - yeah! We're primarily going to get stuff for the nursery, but, well, I'm sure I'll find lots of things that I didn't realise I can't live without as well! Good thing Ben's got a little bit more restraint than me...

funny fings for friday

2006-08-04T10:34:00.000Z

Mentos and Coke This is a very funny video...

...and some funny pics my mum sent me today...

maybe this is why i haven't posted for ages...

2006-07-12T20:55:00.000Z

 
Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

go check out the other cartoons. they are very funny.

pregnant brain drains any creative thought

2006-07-12T20:31:00.000Z

well, 2 months since i last posted and i can tell you that baby A is much bigger now than in the scan piccy below! Must be it's father's kid too cos it sometimes feels like it's dancing like a crazy thing in my belly! am coming up to 29 weeks now and can't wait to hit the 30 mark and start counting down instead of up.

suddenly realised a couple of weeks ago that we need to do some sort of preparation for the little tike. like, clearing out the study of what seems like 100s of books and cds, redecorating in baby-friendly colours and buying baby stuff like pushchairs and the like. Still, i keep telling myself that's what Ben's 6 weeks off work is for!!!!!!!

no recent pictures of me with a bump yet (for those that have requested/are interested); the lack of digital camera in our household makes this slightly more complicated than you might think....however did we cope in the pre-digital age??

anyway, things are going well pregnancy-wise, only 7-and-a-bit weeks left at work (yippee!) and 2 of those are going to be spent away at New Wine North and time with family. Nice.

countries i have visited...

2006-07-12T20:29:00.000Z

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

i was kinda surprised at how many european countries i've actually been to. i do like europe. it's familiar enough not to be too scary for me (i.e. they have flush toilets!!!!) but different enough to be fun exploring. That said I do enjoy exploring the UK too.

Baby grow

2006-05-17T18:15:00.000Z

Well we had our 20 week scan yesterday and everything looks good! It's so amazing when they zoom right in to different bits of the baby and you can see the heart with the 4 chambers and even the valves - it's so intricate and incredible to look at.

2006-05-02T21:00:00.000Z

ebay song

i loved pez dispensers as a kid...

good friends

2006-04-10T12:02:00.000Z

Having been away for a few days it was really nice to come back to see lots of different people over the weekend. We spent Saturday evening with Andrew, Jo, Susannah and Noah and had a very nice aubergine and lentil curry. Then we went to Morning Gathering on Sunday morning where we were able to catch-up with lots of people we hadn't seen in ages (since we're not normally there), then out for a quick drink with a few of them, followed by a yummy Sunday lunch with Dave and Miriam. Sunday evening was spent catching up with old friends from where I grew up, Rachel and Paul, who were on their way back from a frisbee tournament in York!

Looking forward to more family time at my parent's house with Emma and Stu this weekend as well, preceeded by the usually brilliant Holy Week Meditations at church this week. I love these short services - a nice mixture of tradition and newer creative stuff; takes me back to my routes yet helps me engage in new ways too.

Good News for a Saturday morning

2006-04-01T11:40:00.000Z

Well, after much nervousness, worry, emotional highs and lows we're ready to tell the world that I'm pregnant again! All seems to be going well so far, I've had 3 scans in all and the last one looked like I was growing a frog (it had quite long legs, perhaps unsurprisingly given the father!).

Anyway, would appreciate your prayers for us in the next few months - hopefully we'll be able to introduce you to him/her at the end of September!

not much going on...

2006-03-22T13:56:00.000Z

so I haven't really had much to post about recently (as usual).

Been enjoying 24 with Emma and Stu. Friday night is becoming 'family night' with them and Jack is becoming just as much a family member as the rest of us! So we pop round to theirs, have some dinner then put on the latest Jack episode recorded from the previous Sunday (we have neither Sky nor a video recorder so it's E&S's every week.)

Tis fun.

Also...been sowing seeds (of the the real kind, not the biblical kind as my brother-in-law-tom asked me the other day). So hopefully in a few weeks I should have little sunflower, tomato, poppy and sweet pea plants and a whole host of herbs.

kairos

2006-02-27T20:18:00.000Z

You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavour? Can you make it useful again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. You are the light of the world - like a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see. Don't hide your light under a basket! Instead, put it on a stand and let it shine for all. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

In our tour of the Sermon on the Mount in Kairos we got to Salt and Light yesterday. Ben's creative team did a brilliant dramatic/creative reading with pitch darkness and then lots of candles being lit, and then Alex and Giles talked about the passage. Giles did a couple of great science experiments to demonstrate light and salt, although at the point when Giles was burning magnesium something-or-other quite a few of us were a little nervous as we realised that the fire sensors are triggered by smoke and that Giles was producing quite a lot of it! Thankfully we didn't have to evacuate the building.

The thing that struck me new about the passage yesterday was that really salt and light are (amongst other things) pictures of the two ways that we talk about doing and being church: Attractional vs Incarnational. Light by its nature is attractional; people are drawn to places that are brightly lit, moths gather to light. Salt is much more a picture of being incarnational church; getting out, even lost into the mix and flavouring as it goes, making people thirsty. I think we need both. There's no point in having a holy, brightly lit huddle, however good, if there's noone going out and making people thirsty for God and flavouring our world with the values and vision of the Kingdom of God. Equally if everyone is out and there's no light, where are people being drawn to? There needs to be a place where the love and discipleship of Jesus is displayed for all to see.

So sometimes when we talk about whether we should be either incarnational or attractional church and which is the best model for our current contexts and all that stuff, I think now I would say probably both, for each is useful, powerful and necessary for different purposes.

happy birthday ben!

2006-02-20T10:38:00.000Z

A very happy birthday to my lovely Ben who is twentyseven today!

xxx

2006-02-03T21:55:00.000Z

he he. it's pink! and it's geek! and i just bought one!

In the Pink USB Flash Drive

the truman show

2006-02-03T21:26:00.000Z

As I've been walking to work recently I've begun to notice the same patterns repeating themselves. Most annoyingly, I am always about 5 minutes late. I think the fault lies with me thinking it takes 5 minutes less time to get there than it actually does, but leaving 5 mins earlier seems like such a big deal!

More oddly I am seeing the same people on my journey at pretty much the same places along the road every day which is starting to make me think maybe I'm in the Truman show.

There's the guy in his 30s who looks like a doctor who I always see walking in the opposite direction to me round about near the pork shop at the bottom of my road, although sometimes he's only at the shops in hillsborough. I often see him on my way back as well in the same place. Bizarrely, today, when I finished at 1pm instead of the normal 5pm I saw him in the same place again on my way back! I see him most often and we never look at each other. I wonder if he's noticed me like I've noticed him?

Then there's the little girl who has long straight hair down to her bum who's walking to school with her mum, usually on the stretch between Hills Park and Leppings Lane tram stops.

Somtimes there's a mum on the tram (if I'm feeling too lazy) with a pushchair and a 3/4 year old who gets on and off at the same stops as me.

Every Monday morning the woman in the prize-winning sausage shop is cleaning the window.

I often see my friend Sarah at Hillsborough tram stop on my way through.

Just like clockwork there's a jaguar just like my dad's which turns into a road I have to cross about the time I get to it.

Freaky.

I wonder how many people notice me and think the same thing?

2006-02-03T21:21:00.000Z

a big welcome to the robinsons into the blogging world. nice to see some photos of their time in phoenix so far, looking forward to catching up on their news as they post!

2006-01-27T09:50:00.000Z

to celebrate my birthday tomorrow we are having a little soiree at our house from 7.30pm...you are all invited!

Soiree, noun, formal: an evening party, often with musical entertainment

well we'll put a cd on anyway...bring a bottle!

sigur ros

2006-01-05T15:04:00.000Z

have just followed this link from jonny and am now enjoying the wonderful sigur ros live from iceland as i work. they're coming to manchester in march and i think i might get tickets...

distraction

2006-01-05T14:51:00.000Z

have just received an email from one small barking dog about their newly refurbished site. we've used their stuff before at kairos but now the site looks amazing. you can preview and download individual clips or rushes which you couldn't do previously and there are 2 new sections to the site which I've yet to explore but which look great.

must get on with some work right now though...this particular distraction will have to wait.

nice skating

2005-12-30T12:07:00.000Z

We also went open air ice skating yesterday somewhere near Westminster. It was fun, although I do have a little blister now. They didn't have any size 14 skates for Ben so he stood at the side and took photos. Here are some he took.

nice photos

2005-12-30T12:03:00.000Z

we saw the wildlife photographer of the year exhibition yesterday in london. Ben has blogged about it so I won't repeat here but I just wanted to post one of my favourite pictures of the exhibition for you all to enjoy as well.

there you go.

2005-12-28T12:05:00.000Z

so christmas has been a bit wierd. four out of six of us were ill and everything was a bit subdued. my parents got back from my grandad's on friday night. we had planned to go for a meal on thursday night to celebrate my mum's birthday and we all had tickets to the panto on friday night (we took some friends instead). it was good to be able to help my mum out with the christmassy stuff she hadn't done and we all kind of pitched in to help with everything. it was good to spend time together all the same, although this holiday time hasn't been the complete rest i had hoped for.

the funeral is next tuesday which means i'll miss the first day back at work and the beginning of term will be a little rushed, but it does mean that ben can come too which will be good.

on the plus side, i have spent some good time with mum and we've talked about how we're both feeling (not a common occurence!) and I was able to help her plan the service which I think she appreciated.

please pray...

2005-12-20T09:31:00.000Z

i've just heard that my nana (mum's mum) died in the night. She had dementia and was in a home, and so in some respects it's relief, especially for my grandad, for whom it's been really hard work.

i'd really value your prayers for my parents though. my mum is on her own at home right now as my dad works abroad in the week, although he is coming back today because he's got a chest infection and has been ill for a few weeks now. please pray for my mum, that she'd be able to get through to her brothers who both live abroad, that they'd be able to come to the UK quickly and help with everything so that mum isn't doing all the work. please pray for healing for my dad, partly so that he can support mum (she'll be going up to cheshire where they live from surrey - a 5 hour drive and she won't want to drive there on her own so he'll want to - but he needs to be in bed!), but mostly so that he'll be well again.

also please pray for my grandad.

me and emma went to see them at the weekend, first time in ages, so i'm really glad that we got to see her before she died. Even though she didn't know who we were there was definitly a connection with her.

thanks guys.

2005-12-18T16:13:00.000Z

Jack Bauer

Which 24 Character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

2005-12-12T20:36:00.000Z

heard this on the radio for the first time this morning. it's strangely beautiful, as is the video.

jcb

i particularly like the line
'the engine rattles my bum like beserk'

[courtesy of Ben Edson]

2005-12-12T20:25:00.000Z

i've just found the new, ethical habitat/ikea....

Biome Lifestyle

[courtesy of Hippy Shopper]

they've got some really nice stuff, although it will take a good deal to justify spending £45 on one of these:

christmas decoration

2005-12-10T10:54:00.000Z

Was looking for a way to use all the oranges we get from Beanies in other ways (than eating!) this morning and particularly wanted to make Christmas decorations with them when I came across the perfect solution here. Thanks very much to Nikki Mayfield from Oxford, whom I have never met but who has made me happy this morning! I LOVE GOOGLE!

kairos ball

2005-12-08T16:54:00.000Z

here are some piccies of the kairos ball - was a fantastic night and loads of fun. nearly got hooked on gambling. Ben's thinking of giving up his career as a teacher to go into professional croupier-ing!

new old friends

2005-12-06T20:56:00.000Z

have recently discovered the virtual whereabouts of chris and jo saxton. we saw them at the weekend which was great - had not seen them since they left and it was lovely, especially so to meet baby Tia who is gorgeous.

chris, jo and tia
just jo

have also added a couple of other people who should have been on the links a long time ago, but i never was very good at housekeeping...

phil
naomi

copycat

2005-12-06T20:34:00.000Z

not wanting to copy everything ben posts about, but....

this is funny

more here

online advent calender

2005-12-03T13:46:00.000Z

have enjoyed this today

might show our new next door neighbours todays entry (dec 3rd) -they've been starting loud building work on their house in the room next to ours from about 7.30am most days this week. hmmmph! Although it does make me get out of bed on time...

ball

2005-12-03T13:42:00.000Z

we've got the Kairos christmas ball tonight. going to help set up for it soon. we've got a (non-money-strictly-for-fun-only) casino which should be a laugh, along with sheffield uni band competition winners 'Something Beginning With' playing and a host of other entertainments.

looking forward to it! (tickets still available on the door if you want to pop down from 8pm!)

bad christmas gifts

2005-12-03T13:29:00.000Z

excerpts from the guardian family section today which made me laugh, on the worst present readers had received...

'my dad once bought my mum a new iron. even as a six-year old, i knew that wasn't good.'

'every year i get given bubble bath. we've only got a shower.'

'one year my husband bought me a garden strimmer. he's now my ex.'

'a banana holder from my brother. i hate bananas.'

reminds me of the time that someone i know got given brightly coloured in trays for his birthday...useful (not from me i hasten to add)!

i on the other hand would appreciate anything from this store. we visited the manchester branch last saturday with my brothers and sister in law which is HUGE! had to stop myself drooling over the latest patterened storage jars and stripey tea towels.

thawing out

2005-11-28T18:43:00.000Z

...the boiler which operates my radiators at work wasn't working today...this means i have spent more of the day in my coat than out of it so far (and I've still got it on). i hope they get a plumber in soon!!!!!

supermarket elite

2005-11-28T18:11:00.000Z

we did our pretty much annual trip to Waitrose yesterday. There's a very good reason we don't go there that often - there are far too many tasty looking things and it's all too easy to spend lots and lots of money.

Yesterday was quite a dangerous experience too. Because of the aforementioned tasty goods for sale most people wander down the aisles oogling the shelves instead of keeping their eyes on the 'road', making it all too easy to crash into someone else's trolley. It's a bit like the supermarket equivalent to a motorway car crash. We managed to escape serious harm though and made it to the car park only to conclude that really they should make Waitrose car parks a little bit bigger than the average one, just to accommodate all the 4x4s and SUVs.

Does it make me sad that I woke up with a little grin on my face cos I knew we were going there yesterday?

2005-11-17T14:47:00.000Z

Word for Northerners

ee by gum

psalm 31

2005-11-04T17:16:00.000Z

O LORD, I have come to you for protection; don't let me be put to shame. Rescue me, for you always do what is right.

Bend down and listen to me; rescue me quickly. Be for me a great rock of safety, a fortress where my enemies cannot reach me.

You are my rock and my fortress. For the honor of your name, lead me out of this peril.

Pull me from the trap my enemies set for me, for I find protection in you alone.

I entrust my spirit into your hand. Rescue me, LORD, for you are a faithful God.

I hate those who worship worthless idols. I trust in the LORD.

I am overcome with joy because of your unfailing love, for you have seen my troubles, and you care about the anguish of my soul.

You have not handed me over to my enemy but have set me in a safe place.

Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am in distress. My sight is blurred because of my tears. My body and soul are withering away.

I am dying from grief; my years are shortened by sadness. Misery has drained my strength; I am wasting away from within.

I am scorned by all my enemies and despised by my neighbors-- even my friends are afraid to come near me. When they see me on the street, they turn the other way.

I have been ignored as if I were dead, as if I were a broken pot.

I have heard the many rumors about me, and I am surrounded by terror. My enemies conspire against me, plotting to take my life.

But I am trusting you, O LORD, saying, "You are my God!"

My future is in your hands. Rescue me from those who hunt me down relentlessly.

Let your favor shine on your servant. In your unfailing love, save me.

Don't let me be disgraced, O LORD, for I call out to you for help. Let the wicked be disgraced; let them lie silent in the grave.

May their lying lips be silenced-- those proud and arrogant lips that accuse the godly.

Your goodness is so great! You have stored up great blessings for those who honor you. You have done so much for those who come to you for protection, blessing them before the watching world.

You hide them in the shelter of your presence, safe from those who conspire against them. You shelter them in your presence, far from accusing tongues.

Praise the LORD, for he has shown me his unfailing love. He kept me safe when my city was under attack.

In sudden fear I had cried out, "I have been cut off from the LORD!" But you heard my cry for mercy and answered my call for help.

Love the LORD, all you faithful ones! For the LORD protects those who are loyal to him, but he harshly punishes all who are arrogant.

So be strong and take courage, all you who put your hope in the LORD!

2005-09-21T07:59:00.000Z

Sadly we've lost the baby. Helen had a complete miscarriage. Physically she is feeling fine, but we're both gutted.

This has all happened very fast and hasn't really sunk in yet - I can't believe it was only a few days ago we were announcing the pregnancy.

Thanks for your messages, comments thoughts and prayers.
We really appreciate our family and friends right now.

Posted by Ben

2005-09-17T21:12:00.000Z

We've been sitting on this news for a while, but now we're ready to go public...

Ben and I are having a baby; little Askew is scheduled for arrival late march.
We're both very excited (and a little impatient!)

lovely :)

2005-08-24T11:31:00.000Z

well we're back from barcelona which was fun. lots to see and do and nice warm weather. we're off to greenbelt this weekend which should also be great but i'll be glad to get back home after then and stay at home for a while. whilst it's been good to get away it does feel like i haven't been properly at home for a while so it'll be nice to put away the bags when we get back!

emma and stu will hopefully complete on their house next week, but it'll be sad to see them go. it's been a lot of fun having them live with us, including regular sessions of the first series of 24, ebay bidding and bread making (i'm gonna miss their bread machine!) it's really made me aware of the benefits of community living and i'd really love to do it again sometime soon. right now though we're trying to decide whether to stay in our rented house or try and buy again. just can't decide - can't really be bothered with the moving all over again, but buying may give us some benefits we don't have now!

counting the minutes

2005-07-27T14:06:00.000Z

have been feeling pretty tired lately - definetly time for a holiday and some decent rest!!! am really looking forward to our trip to barcelona in a week and a half - can't wait. work is dragging on though so it feels like forever away.

spent an interesting evening in manchester last night at blah...manchester with andrew jones. he was talking about aggregation (as opposed to congregation), new media, communication and emergence all relating to the emerging church. he put forward some interesting thoughts, but as ever i didn't come up with any decent comments/discussion contributions until on the way home when they kept coming into my head - maybe i'm more of an introvert than i thought!

lava prayers

2005-07-04T13:58:00.000Z

just discovered this new online prayer tool - it's a lava prayer lamp! it's so cool to write your prayer then watch it merge and float around. cool.