Much better

Hanah ended up having three days off school last week and still has a nasty cough. Chris succumbed to the dreaded lurgy and spent a day in bed, got up too early, over did things and had to have Sunday off as well. Zach was back to school Tuesday and Chris is much better today!
Katarina is off to ski camp this week with school, after a very social weekend with a sleepover and a youth group event and a netball breakup and - gosh, she really is a teenager. Her parent-teacher interviews went well, she has lovely teachers, all very sensible!
Janine has also finished netball for this year.
I had three, no, four nights out last week, not all church mind you, but things are getting busier! I am trying to get some work done today - see how well I am doing....

Three out of four...

We've three children home today, Katarina has a teacher only day and Hannah and Zach both have the nasty coughing bug complete with temperature and wan looks. Mind you, Janine had a day off last week so we are about even. It is not often the children are off sick, for which we are grateful.
It has been a busy week, with Session Retreat over Friday night and most of Saturday plus a full on Sunday complete with house blessing for one of our parishoners, Bruce Fraser.

This will be another full on week with school interviews for Katarina, session and another evening meeting plus a 50th birthday parth at the end of the week.

There is no progress on where we might be next year; nothing for it but to trust in God!

What was that again?

We are being hit with a batch of winter ills at the moment; Hannah came home at lunchtime one day last week, missed lunch and slept for a couple of hours, and Janine is home recovering from a tummy bug today. Chris and I are both slightly under the weather with colds and Katarina almost lost her voice last week!

We've had a busy week picking up some extra jobs as Ken is on sick leave at the moment, mostly working on communication issues. Chris celebrated his birthday on Sunday, but between preaching at two services and youth group at night, there wasn't much of a party, well, actually, the theme of Sunday night was "Parties are God's idea!", so there was a party after all.

Janine has finished her science fair project, which is up for display today, I will go down and see it later today. And Katarina has come home with a pretty good report, some areas to work on.
Zach is busy playing his recorder; the two younger ones have a concert coming up and Zach is practising hard, playing 'Hymn to Joy' and "Big Ben". I have suggested he might like to fill in for the clock while they are cleaning it!

On Sunday, I took the intercessory prayers at church, and asked for contributions from the congregation. Zach suggested that we needed to pray for the Chinese as they prepare for the Olympics, because they are having trouble with pollution. I was gob-smacked, I had no idea that issue was on his radar. Apparently they have talked about it at school. So, well done Zach, both for speaking up in church, and it is a big church, so that isn't easy, and also for making an excellent and relevant contribution. Not bad for an eight year old. Hey, he was paying attention in church!!!

Ch..ch..ch...changes

With the minister on sick leave at Mosgiel, Chris has picked up the role of interim moderator for Mosgiel in the meantime. This means more meetings for both of us, so it looks like we have a busy four months ahead of us. We have no idea what we will be doing next year and will let you know when we do. I am hoping we will be in Dunedin but realistically have to keep our options open in the meantime. Janine has been accepted at Columba College, as the sister of a current pupil (and in her own right, of course!)

We have enjoyed having Siliva and Aaron with us for a week, having a catch up while Silvia attended a block course at SOM and my brother Tim has spent the weekend here, before he flies off to London for more OE. His firm has managed a job for him in central London, Covent Garden, Museum of Natural History sort of area. Wow!

Janine is enjoying a new MP3 player, thanks to Uncle Tim, who is always very generous with his presents. Katarina is enjoying the challenge of the murderous maths series, which makes math fun for her age group, and she managed to score some books in this series. Zach and Hanna have some new bits and pieces as well.


The days are starting to lengthen out again and the last couple of weeks have been quite pleasant, temperature wise although I see we are in for another 10 degree high today. No frosts however, which makes travelling around much more straightforward.