Anniversary Weekend

The Ayr/Largs/Glasgow trip was part of our 23rd anniversary weekend.

I arranged for flowers, chocolates and a pink teddy to be delivered to the hotel, and took a bottle of vinho verde.  So just for once she is not angry at me for messing up our anniversary through lack of effort.  In fact, she made me feel very happily married.  Or maybe she was just under the influnce of the drink.  Or maybe she has read more of that 50 shades book than she is letting on ....

Scotland

I have heard it said that a holiday in Scotland is measured not in terms of how happy it was , but in terms of how dissapointing it wasn't.

That certainly applies to Ayr.  Abandon hope all ye who enter here!  (Its the kind of place where the diesel exhaust from the rides is pointed straight at the toddler's playground.)

But Largs is nice.  And Glasgow (my first vist there) was pleasantly good.  We managed to get onto the open top bus tour through a series of things that I call the miracles of a loving God in the details of life, whereas the cynic would call them chance.

New Wine, women, and song. And healing!?

Well I promised a report, but have been busy, been away, and been frustrated by malfunctioning IT.

We were off-site, with a young child, so each day we only managed to attend one morning seminar and take turns for the evening meeting while the other sat in the creche facility watching the video link.

The teaching was very good indeed, touching on things that were relevant for us.

It was less charismatic than we expected.  The worship was good, and where in the past at such events I have felt like an observer mystified by what is going on around him, this time I was part of it, involved.

There is a strong pro-women-in-ministry agenda, with Biblical exposition showing how the Bible has been translated and used incorrectly, and if used correctly it shows that women should be in church leadership.  (There was some overlap in terms of principles of exegesis with my position on homosexuality)

We ate main meals with our church in the 'village' which gave good times of bonding with people that we have needed to bond with since our return to this church, and we were able to break down some communication barriers.

Mrs received prayer for healing, with no apparent effect.  (Let's be honest about these things).  So after wards, while we were extending our holiday, I prayed with her one night in the middle of the night in the Travelodge (after I had persuaded her that my touch was not for 'marital purposes').  I became quite emotional about her situation.  There was no instant healing.  But in the morning, whereas her first trip form bed to toilet would normally be a slow struggle with stiff and painful joints causing her to gasp in pain and hobble along grasping furniture for support, this time she only hobbled, unsupported.  So there had been a measure of healing following my prayer, and this was not some hyped-up mass hysteria, it was just me in a dark bedroom - moving from theoretical dutiful prayer to actually caring about it.

I think this is very significant.

Now, let's be honest, she still suffers severely from rheumatoid arthritis.  She still can't walk ANY distance without painful hobbling.  Her knees are permanently bent, like her deformed fingers.  And there has been a bit of a relapse since the healing.  So I would say, if she was at a score of 10 before I prayed, she went down to 9 on the morning after the prayer, and is now probably at 9.3.

I think it merits a cautious 'Hallelujah!'

New Wine

Lots to report but not time to do it now.

Around and about

Back from hols.

Been to:

Cambridge, Newark (New Wine), Southport, Hull (suprisingly nice), Leeds, York, Skipton.

York Maze is good.

Thornton Hall Country park is good.

The Deep is good.

Baptism of fire back at work - accused of sanctioning work on site without proper approvals- big stressful meeting - fortunately found the key email with my big disclaimer in bold red font with my project reviewer CCd in.

Fifty shades of grey II

Well, she bought it, but has banned me from picking it up. 

Then we've been through cycles of morality debate.

1. She needs to read it to communicate with peers.
2. That's just an excuse: it's porn and will pollute her
3. She would object to me reading a male equivalent
4. Therefore she will throw it away
5. But before she does she will read enough to get the feel of what it's about.
6. From a human perspective, I would like her to read it all, in the hope that it will awaken her post-menopausal hormones and make her more sexual, both in frequency and diversity.  (but see item 2)
7. Her friends (some aka pastoral cases) are all talking about it (see item 1)
8. etc

I think we are on step 5 at present.

Personally, I flicked through some pages and came to these conclusions:

• It's for women (ie you have to flick through many pages before you get to the 'interesting' bit)
• When it is 'interesting' it is quite strong in content and language - not like Mills and Boon euphemisms.
• If she does try to read it all, since she is really quite civilised, she is most likely to find it too strong and bin it anyway.

Work is finally beginning to pick up a bit.

(See post title)

Fourth of July

Hah!  I get the prize for a misleading post title!

It was my daughter's fourth birthday, 'of July' in the sense that it was 'in' July.

She was very excited, loved her presents (Don't tell her they were cheap because they ware last season's).

Went for  a walk in the park, where she told EVERYBODY "It's my birthday.  I'm 4"

15 small noisy children at her party later on.  Cake in the shape of a pony's head.

She loved it all.

I loved her loving it.

Mid-Wales is dead

Well it is on Sunday afternoon anyway.  Perhaps it is because there are so many churches?

But we did find a very nice cafe in Llandeilo and the Pontcysyllte aqueduct is spectacular and amazing.  Unless you suffer vertigo and the 4 year-old daughter tugging randomly at you is small enough to fall between the railings into the river more than 50m below!!!

Best Dad in the World

I had that panicky email from my Brother in law last Thursday - Dad's gone into hospital - looks like this might be it - if you're going to visit you had better do it quickly.

He's 89, virtually blind, hard of hearing.  Barely able to walk even with help, and at serious risk of falls.

On Thursday he was weak, dehydrated and panting for breath (while proclaiming to be fine).  So they rushed him into hospital.

We saw him on Friday morning.  Looking like a pal;id, jaundiced skeleton.  On a drip, catheter and oxygen mask.  Dr said he was stable, suffering from a chest infection which caused the loss of appetite (hence weakness and dehydration) and the panting.  Antibiotics would fix the infection, and everything else would follow.

He kept saying he was cold.  The nurses dismissed this as just a perception owing to his fever, and would not get him a blanket.  So we had to put a vest on him, which meant disconnecting the drip and then waiting for ages for them to reconnect it.  Ditto, later, cardigan.

We visited again on Friday.  He was in a bigger room, off the drip and oxygen, looking a better colour, eating and drinking more, chatting more, sleeping less.  Dr was right!  Talk was now of what to do with him next.  He is too weak to go home and Mum is too weak (and getting batty) to look after him.  So it will probably be a nursing home.

My Brother and Sister were both there too, and Mum: the first family gathering for years.  So I took the chance to shyly and tentatively do a speech, which came out all wrong.  "He's one of the best Dad's in the world".  Brother jumped on that - "ONE of the best??? THE best!".  I couldn't agree more.  Everything that I am comes from him (with elements of Mum as well of course).

I love him to bits.  It will hurt more than I realised it would, when he goes.  But the time has come when it will be kindest to let him go to Glory.