Anniversary celebrations

Well the sun has finally put in an appearance this summer and just in time for our wedding anniversary.  It was beginning to feel strange that we might be celebrating a summer wedding with this almost wintry weather we have been having, but not quite as warm as it was all those years ago, the summer has arrived.

Anniversary flowers from Andy

So this year we were able to celebrate with a meal on the new patio, under the new parasol and then a lunch which was not cooked on the new BBQ, as the bits didn't go together as easily as we thought.  Oh well another day for the BBQ then.  We also had friends round and enjoyed a lazy Sunday lunch in the garden before heading off to church as I was singing and Josh was on the sound desk.

Anniversary meal in the garden

For dessert today I made a huge meringue using a Nigella Christmas recipe, which makes a soft marshmallowy middle and a crunchy outside.  I must remember next time to measure the circle for laying out the mixture using the plate I serve it on rather than any other circular object.  However this meant that when my friends' boys wanted meringue without the cream and raspberries, they could have all the bits that had fallen off the edge of the serving plate.

Nigella Christmas meringue

This week we held our holiday club briefing meeting and went through all the material we will be using this year.  It was great to meet with nearly everyone who will be helping, as we come together from four different churches to present holiday club.  We are using the material from The Sports Academy by John Hardwick, but as this sounds like a nearby senior school, we have called our club "more than gold" as this is the Christian response organisation for the Olympics.  It promises to be a great event and is linking in with the very relevant sporting theme.  So our craft time as a family this week has been geared towards holiday club demonstrations; we have made a shield, a harp, a trophy, some binoculars, a crown tealight holder, an edible medal and some other items we'll share with you in the coming weeks.

Holiday club craft

Both the boys have been on school trips this week to mark the end of term and both chose theme parks to visit.  Josh had the longer trip to Alton Towers and had to be at school for 5.50am!! (Andy did that school run!) Jacob didn't eave until normal time for Thorpe Park.  I did make up for the early morning start by doing the tennis coaching run at 6.45am on Friday morning, shocking Josh when I returned and was already dressed before he even thought about getting up!

That brings us to this week's bible verse which is from Psalms and is really fitting as several people I know have this week felt pulled to be led astray by evil influences:

God blesses those people

    who refuse evil advice

    and won’t follow sinners

    or join in sneering at God

Psalms 1 verse 1

And so our prayer as a family this week is for strength to fight against the evil around us.  As we stand up for God we find that evil tries to tempt us and we must hang on to promises of God and take courage from other Christians around us.  We pray for all who are struggling that God will guide and protect them this coming week.

With God's blessings from my family to yours,


Jo x