Time flies....

I can't believe the last post was in September - well, actually I can. The last few weeks have been so busy for us that sitting down to update the blog has been the last thing on our minds. We've been juggling our new college commitments, new church life alongside family life and it has just been hectic.

Firstly, college. We both go in on Wednesdays, Jon has lectures on Tuesday and Ali has lectures on a Friday, at least until Christmas! After that it all changes again. The travelling has added a huge amount to our time commitments and our petrol bill! Still, Ali is improving and managed to actually drive on a motorway for the first time last Friday. Making friends isn't easy because we are both part-time and because we meet with different people on each day. The work varies - the lectures are covering some of what we have already studied at Redcliffe but what is new to us is good. Jon has more work to complete than Ali as she is not studying for her degree (yet!)

Secondly, church. Again we are meeting new people with all the blessings and difficulties that brings. It is good to begin to feel more settled as time goes by. We have led a couple of services and been involved in a few different meetings. We are looking forward to taking a bigger role as time goes on.

Lastly, family. Busy is our watchword. Some of the things we have been doing recently include: applying for secondary schools, making time for us and the girls, keeping up with housework, having new double glazing (courtesy of our landlord), etc., etc., etc.

So, where are we now? Tiredness is a constant challenge and finding some kind of routine amid the chaos is also tricky. We have really appreciated the support we've had from Kendal Road Baptist (the church we were worshipping at while at Redcliffe). Catching up with friends seems only possible in the school playground - though we have managed to pop into Redcliffe a couple of times and we have visited Kendal Road during the recent half-term.

What's next? More study, more driving, more church, more juggling!

One month on...

Time has flown by since our last posting. Through the summer we were really busy with visiting family, attending two weddings (friends from college and Jon's brother Chris) and leading a service at our previous church in London. The girls have settled back into school really quickly and we have just begun our courses at Bristol Baptist College. We had induction week last week which involved a lot of early starts and a lot of driving. This week has been our first 'proper' week and has also involved some early starts and quite a lot of driving.

Last Sunday was our first Sunday with Gas Green Baptist Church, the church in Cheltenham that we will be working with. It was their Harvest weekend and we had a lovely lunch together and met lots of new people.

We are planning on catching up with friends at Redcliffe tomorrow which we are really looking forward to.

Weather report: Clear

We have returned from our summer holiday where we stayed in a cottage in rural Brittany which was wonderfully isolated. We have had a much needed rest - marred only by crazy mosquitos that decided to attack us only after we had put the light out at night. Otherwise the last two weeks have been a real blessing. It gave us the opportunity to stop and relax after one college experience before the next one begins and we also were able to think and pray about the future.

And we have decided to move forward with the church in Cheltenham and told them our decision this week.

Cheltenham says YES!

Yesterday went really well and we had a good discussion with the church after the evening service.

They had a meeting for church members and non-members and very nearly all of them said Yes!

We have still to say yes to them - we want to pray a little more first - so we have omitted their name for the time being.

We are off on holiday now, to taps that work and fresh, drinkable water. :)

It's not drinking water that's the problem!

A week on and we have had to be really inventive this week. On Thursday when it began raining we rushed outside with every container that we could think of and collected rainwater. Very useful for washing, toilets, etc. It is amazing just how much we managed to get in the space of a couple of hours. It has also made us realise just how important it is to have a water butt to conserve water.

With the next bought of rain due tonight, the buckets, plastic boxes and paddling pool will be out on duty again! But as the rain is due overnight, they will be unmanned this time.

We are grateful to Jon's family for providing water and washing facilities - both for us and our clothes. And we can't wait for the water to be turned on again - we have never wanted to flush the toilet properly so much!

Still connected!

Thankfully the power station was not flooded last night so we still have electricity. Apparently the floodwaters stopped short by a mere 2 inches!

Still trying to prepare for this coming Sunday, but current events are distracting us a little.

And the rain came down...and the floods came up...

Today we are letting everyone know that we are ok - we have not been flooded out. We have , however, been affected by the loss of drinking water because of the flooding of the pumping station at Tewkesbury (which got flooded out on Saturday.) We have enough drinking water as we were able to get some from one of the local distribution points yesterday.

We are waiting to find out if we will lose electricity later on tonight if the Walham power station becomes flooded. If this happens we will be moving (temporarily!) to Wiltshire to stay with Jon's family. We did visit them today and experienced the delights of washing machines, toilets we can flush, showers and generally water that comes out of taps rather than bottles or large blue tanks in the street. It is amazing how big an effect one day without water can have. (We trained the children well - they keep flushing the toilet!)

This coming Sunday we are due to lead services at the church in Cheltenham. We are currently preparing for this and all being well this will go ahead as planned.