Half Term travels

This half term holiday week has been dominated with activities for Jacob.

We started with a tennis tournament in Taunton, not too flooded near the tennis centre.  We then had a tournament in Southampton.  Both tournaments were outdoor events, but thankfully the rain held off long enough each day for the games to be completed and 3 more wins were logged and progress against a mutch higher ranked opponent. Jacob has then had a social event with the Wiltshire Unit for the 2015 World Scout Jamboree and has another tennis tournament tomorrow.  Jacob now has his own blog, detailing his preparations for the world jamboree.  You can follow him and his fund raising and training at www.j2jjamboree.blogspot.com.

23rd World Scout Jamboree Blog - j2jjamboree.blogspot.co.uk

I have still found time for some crafting and made a valentine's card, inspired by the Docraft weekly challenge.  This was interesting for me as I don't normally put a lot of elements on one card, but I was rather pleased with the outcome.

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Valentine Card #docraft weekly challenge

Josh has been busy with some tennis coaching work and kicking off the revision for this year's AS level exams in May/June.

The grand cleaning challenge has continued and we have decluttered and tidied the conservatory this week.  This room meets so many needs and functions.  It stores some of the outdoor items during the winter, I keep all my craft stash in there, it has our "launch pad" for morning items for the "school/college/work" run, the recycling lives here between fortnightly collections and it is a family space to sit in the sunshine (yes we even had a little of that this week!).

This is just some of my craft stash tidied and organised, ready to work on.

This week's Bible passage has inspired my crafting as well:

There is no fear in love.

But perfect love drives out fear,

because fear has to do with punishment.

The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:18

Our prayer as a family this week is for all those involved in working with children and young people, especially volunteers, who give up their time to inspire and encourage young people to find their place in society.  May we recognise the good in our children and young people and not hear and believe the reports in the press that paint them in a bad light.

With God's blessing from my family to yours,

Jo x

Divide and conquer

The weather has not been very settled this week and we have gone from mild sunshine, to heavy rain & high winds to frosty mornings and now we have sleet and snow forecasted.  It must be time to display my word of the month.

Word of the month - Snow

I have mentioned before that I am following the New Year Grand Cleaning Challenge and this week I have been concentrating on the lounge.  Our lounge is a multifunctional room as it is the place where we watch T.V., the boys play computer games, use the computer, eat and store things.  The good thing with the challenge is that is recognises this and enables you to break it down into its function rather trying to complete the whole room in one week.

So this week I concentrated on the end where we relax and use the computer.  I have decluttered the DVD drawer and the filing cupboard. 

I have also decluttered and cleaned the computer cupboard.  To store some of the items that live round the computer I went shopping at home for storage boxes. 

We had some food boxes from IKEA, which contained some very small boxes.  These were ideal for the little bits that needed a home.

My other task that I have divided up through the year is my Christmas preparations.  I know its only January, but I have found that if I make a few Christmas cards each month then I all the cards I send can be homemade.  I aim to do this around the 25th of each month, a little bit of Christmas, throughout the year.

This week's Bible reading for focus is a reminder that we are just a small part of this world and nothing should be greater in our lives than God.

Humble yourselves before the Lord,

and he will lift you up.

James 4:10 

Our prayer as a family is for those affected by the weather and who are not in their own homes this week.  May they know God's peace in their disruption and God's love and presence through the help of those around them.

With God's blessings from my family to yours,


Jo x