I have popped back home from our mad sailing holiday to get some washing done, and am staying overnight to pick up some food for tomorrow...
The last few days have involved waking early and walking long distances to watch my family sail; Norfolk Week involves sailing from 6 destinations along the North Norfolk Coast, for the last two days the starts have been early and have meant waking at 5am _ most people would not call that holiday!
Yesterday we walked the length of Brancaster Beach apparently 21/2 miles
to watch this....
While today we walked the W
ells footpath
To watch this...
Tomorrow we move on to Blake
ney Point.
It has been a good but really hectic week, being close to home on holiday has its draw backs including members of the family who want to be ferried back and forth. On Tuesday night there were 8 of us for a Barbecue- we were then joined by 2 more sailing club members..
It is great that everyone wants to join in- they have all been swimming and sailing and kayaking, but I am shattered, possibly because in many ways my family is recovering from 5 very difficult years of moving home and changing schools/ jobs etc. Em keeps on having to adjust back to family life which must be tough after the independence of Uni- (she is moving back to Canterbury in September to share a house with a friend work and take up some lessons working towards a Post-Grad diploma.)- Jo and Em have to adjust back to sharing a room, Jn who likes to be doing finds summer holidays hard and tensions build- I asume the role of peace maker but am not always helpful on that score.... Chris is still recovering, he is frustrated, and although we try not to be sometimes we all get frustrated with him; not because he is recovering, but because of all the complications that brings along with it. Emma teases him, but I have to remind myself she made a 3 hour journey just to bring him some slippers while he was in hospital...
I had a conversation with someone the other day about appearances- the masks we wear before other people- working for the church brings about tensions of its own, but one thing I am very clear about is that I do not want to wear a mask that says all is well when it is not... there are times when I simply could not if I tried, also I have found that vulnerability before others and before God helps both me and them to grow...
So my family fight (old as they are) and argue, they also pretend they do not like one another much, and while this may be true at some level I have seen that when push comes to shove that they care and how much they care..
And whilst I am feeling overwhelmed by people, by tiredness and by the mad amount of driving I have done this week, I am grateful for my family and in different ways very proud of all of them.
And when I feel like I have reached the end of my tether I know that God's grace is sufficient for me!
