It has been a long and hot weekend, very busy and full of different things. Emma came home from Uni on Friday, Paul cycled over from Thetford to stay for a few days, Tim and I travelled down to Bassingbourn to lead the children's work for their Church Away Weekend, Jo and Jon were both involved in helping out at weddings, Jon played bass for one and Jo ran the sound and projection system for another.
The dynamics of the house have changed with Emma and Paul both being around, Jo Jon and Chris are used to one another, the sudden and temporary appearance of older siblings causes interesting tensions that as usual take a while to settle down. Paul is used to caring for himself, and not used to living with anyone else.... Emma has moved from a student household .... it is hard for all of us to adjust to life together again even though we love one another! The usual pattern is that all settles down after a few days, then the tension slowly builds again as time to leave approaches...
Never mind, we have shared 3 good family meals together, my children are more than capable of adult conversation...
This evening Emma and Joanne treated us to a duet, as Emma helped Jo to figure out Tellemans Viola Concerto, the house was filled with beautiful music.
The children's work on Saturday was good, but hard because it was so hot, and the children had been up late the previous night watching fireworks. They engaged well with the theme- God as Father, and with the film we used (Finding Nemo) to bring out the message. We use film as a parable quite a lot- it works well with both children and adults, using something familiar to convey a message.
I preached at one of our smaller Chapels this morning, we are finding that the reserved Fen folk are starting to accept our presence amongst us after 3 years (guess that is quick really!!!). This morning Don- the Steward at Southery prayed for me before I preached and then joined in the more open time of prayer during the service, even reminding Doren to ask for prayer before he operation. Small steps but significant ones.
This evening to escape the heat we went to the beach to walk, the late evening light was amazing- I won't try to describe it- see for yourself:
