I've done it!

Thanks for all your prayers – I received word in the post this morning that I have passed my Counsellor Accreditation! It’s a huge weight off my mind, and a massive relief all round. After all the blood, sweat and tears, and all the doubts and questionings as to whether or not I am actually doing the right thing, it was really significant to me to be able to pass this. This means that I have now satisfied a national secular professional body that I am demonstrably competent to be a Counsellor, which is also significant in the Christian Counselling world, too. Without it, I would have been stuck at a certain pay scale, but more importantly, the way that Government regs are going, in the next few years it will be impossible to call yourself a Counsellor without this accreditation. It was critical for me to be able to pass this, or I'd have to seriously change tack re; vocation and career.

Huge thanks to all who have prayed me through this, and supported me when I just wanted to pack the whole thing in. When I look back at the comments in my blog archives when I was rejected first time around (especially those re; April 11th), your words made such a difference then, and I am so grateful fro them now. Thanks for believing in me, and thank you Lord for sustaining me

Results are in...

Andy’s A level results came in this morning – a bit of a roller coaster really. The grades were not good, and it looked for a while as if he would not be going to Huddersfield, and so contacted London Metropolitan University (his backup choice), for which he did have the required number of points. They confirmed that his offer still stood.

He then checked with Huddersfield University by phone, who offered him the option of going there anyway to take a 2 year Foundation Course in Computer Games Programming & Design (instead of the more specialist Computer Games only course). He then gets the option (if he works hard!) to change over to the same point on the original degree programme at either the end of Year One, or on completion of the 2nd year, depending on which grades he gets.

He has decided to take up this option, and feels quite relieved that it seems to give him more flexibility, and maybe a gentler start onto a Higher Education Course. He does know, though, that he needs to be highly motivated to make it to the degree course, and so has a lot to challenge him! So Huddersfield, here he comes - we are going to get quite familiar with the M1 over the next few years.

Also many congrats to Rach and Mick – achieving the grades they needed - now off to Brighton and London; and also to Peter, who has achieved high enough grades in his first year to transfer to the Master’s Course at Loughborough – we’re also proud of you, too!

Thanks to all for your prayers. Much appreciated

Waiting...

There are many kinds of waiting, not all of them fun.

Tonight we await Andy’s A-Level results. Also awaiting those of family and friends – my niece Lyndsay, Luke, Shasa, and of course, Rach & Mick, to name but a few. Times like this involve waiting with a date, but unknown outcomes. Other times involve (hopefully) known outcomes, but without dates, such as moving houses.

Then there are times of uncertainty to both outcomes and dates – we have a vague idea of the future, but no idea of the hows or whens.

But we hope in the Lord, we trust in His promises, and look to the One who Holds our Future

“Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.
Psalm 27 v 14 (Amplified Bible)

Complaining...

I caught a few moments only of a sermon by John Bevere a few days ago, which really started me thinking. He was talking about the Israelites wandering around into the Wilderness, and that one of the reasons they did not get into the Promised Land was because of their complaining. He commented that it didn’t sound like such a huge deal compared with, say, the sin of idolatry. But John Bevere went on to say that actually complaining to God is another way of telling Him that we are dissatisfied with His plans for us, and that we have a better idea – the height of arrogance.

But then I know of people who cannot tolerate the concept of a God who has a plan for their life. They balk against feelings of being manipulated, or controlled, as they wish to have their own independence. Yet they are the first to blame Him whenever anything goes wrong.

Can’t have it both ways….

I also realise that there might be times when I do not complain - OUT LOUD. But my heart could tell a very different story. There are times in the privacy of my own room, even in my own head, that I rail against the way things are sometimes turning out. There are times when I put on my “patient face”, whilst inside I am seething at the sluggishness of the pace I believe God has set before me. And like Hagar, I try to figure out a way of “helping God out” by putting my own flesh-like plans and ideas before Him, as if somehow He had never considered them.

And sometimes I feel, like the Israelites, that it’s a case of “round she goes again, folks” – and I know that I will have to re-learn the discipline of waiting without complaining, in word, thought and spirit.

Pat’s Thought for the Day;
Have you challenged God lately? He is big enough to handle our tantrums, but tantrums are for children. If we truly seek to grow up in God, then we need to respond to His plans and His will for us as sons and daughter, not as babes

A cool pic of just some of our very special guests - this is Mike and Elisabeth Sherwood, our Senior Pastors

My present to John was a decoupage picture of a snowy owl in full flight at night - thanks to Tom and Judy Duckers, co-conspirators in helping me make it, and for the fun and cuppas whilst doing so!

An amazing moment, when John goes down on one knee in front of everyone to present me with an exquisite emerald and diamond eternity ring as his Silver wedding present to me....

The cake - a wonderful present from my Mum!

This is my niece Chantal, who wonderfully suprised us on party night by arriving in the bridesmaid's dress that her mum ( my sister Rhi) wore on the day of our wedding!

Our Silver wedding

Just thought you might like to see a few pics of our recent Silver Wedding party. We had an amazing time, with around 40 family and friends at our home.

One last shot from the plane window - chasing the sunrise home across the Atlantic...

Pat helps Grandpa bear to be born at The Bear Factory...

Jesus meeting the Woman at the Well ( John chapter 4) - a wondeful window at Grace Cathedral

Imagine looking up at this hill on your way to church..... If you look carefully, the lines on the left-hand wall give you an idea of the horizontal plane. The steps are put there mainly to help you walk DOWN... otherwise the chances of you falling over are pretty good!

No, this is not a Tidal Wave... this is what happens at 4 pm in San Francisco....the fog arrives

Alcatraz.... otherwise known simply as "The Rock"...

This is still at Vancouver Islands, Pat in front of the Ross Fountain at Butchart Gardens

Canada - Final chapter

One last mega-blog to complete the story…

So at last to San Francisco – named after St Francis of Assisi, and one of the most cosmopolitan cities on earth. Fascinating, weird and wonderful, all at the same time. Our hotel was situated in Japantown – I’d heard about Chinatown, but had no idea that there were so many territorial blocks of ethnic groups there. We were surrounded by Sushi bars, and found a wonderful Italian restaurant... although I managed to keep my blood sugar level down throughout our stay, this could not be said about my weight!!

Anyway, I’ve been asked to comment on the number of “God incidents” that we experienced. Well, we realized first if all that although our hotel was not quite so central to the downtown area as we’d experienced in Canada, God had planned it so that we were very close to Calvary Presbyterian Church, which is home for my friend Robin. Unfortunately, we had hoped to meet up with her during our stay, but vacation dates clashed, and she was out of town. But she did give us info on the church there, and we were able to go to church on Sunday morning – lovely time. After church we went to Union Square, which is the shopping heart of SF, and then walked to Fisherman’s Wharf – most of which is up and down hills! Walked about 5 miles that day, and decided rather quickly that we must figure out the transportation system! Fisherman’s Wharf, and especially Pier 39 (of Alcatraz fame) was heaving with people. We caught a cable car back to Union Square – at that time of day we had to queue for an hour and a half for the experience, but it was well worth it!

By the Tuesday, we had decided that we would like to visit Alcatraz Island, so went to book tickets, only to be told that all places were booked until Sunday – by which time, we would be back in the UK! The only thing available was an Island hop tour, taking in Angel Island as well. We had no idea what Angel Island was, but if that was the price for seeing Alcatraz, so be it. We later felt that this was very much in God’s plans, as Alcatraz is such a creepy, dismal place, even on a sunny day, and Angel Island was this oasis of tranquillity and beauty, that it turned into a magical day of contrasts. Alcatraz was a very interesting place to visit, but not a place to stay, or even linger too long. I think if we’d done Alcatraz without Angel Island, it would have been incredibly disturbing.

So it was that on Tuesday, having thought we would be visiting Alcatraz, we ended up sitting in Union Square, wondering what to do. We felt a little foolish, realising that in fact we had given little, if any, thought as to how best to use our week in SF. Somehow, we should have been madly sightseeing. So we opened up the city map, and just had a look, and realised that there was this place called Grace Cathedral not far away. We started to walk towards it, and then discovered another one of SF’s 47 hills! Photos cannot do justice as to how steep Powell Street really is! Nevertheless, we persevered, and felt like Pilgrims on their final test! The moment we walked in to the incredibly hushed atmosphere, we sensed God’s presence. We walked down the aisle, looking up at the most delicate but enormous gossamer gold, red and yellow ribbons suspended from the roof, a modern “sculpture” depicting Pentecost. It was an inspirational sense of the fire of God in that place. We sat down in the front pew, and just soaked in the presence of God in total silence for about half an hour. Having missed that day’s guided tour, we returned the next day. The lovely lady asked the 4 of us gathered for the tour how long we had available. We had nowhere else to be, but the others said that they could maybe manage 45 minutes! She said that normally tours took an hour, but that 45 mins would be fine. She took us outside to describe the doors to the cathedral – impressive, gilded, and depicting many bible stories. As we moved inside, the other 2 people dropped out, and so John and I had this lady’s undivided attention for the rest of the tour! As we went from place to place, we were adding to her biblical knowledge as she added to our historical knowledge, and before we knew it, she looked at her watch and 2 hours had flown by. She apologised – unnecessary – and we left awed once more by God’s majesty

Next day we took a 3-hour sightseeing trip around SF, to get some landmarks established, and almost got locked in at the Botanical gardens! We re-visited these gardens on our last day, as they were so lovely. However, we had no idea how to return there, but got chatting to a lady at a bus stop, who was able to give us very clear directions – another “transport angel”! On our last evening, we had also re-booked to return to this gorgeous Italian restaurant, and there were a constant stream of customers, as it was so popular. On arrival, we were placed at what John calls “The booby-prize table” right at the back, next to the kitchen, and next to an opened back door with a howling draught. We were surprised that having reserved, that this was all that was available. Anyway, we were about to order, when the manager walked past, did a double-take, and came on over. “Weren’t you two here last Tuesday?” he asked. “Yes” replied John. “We liked it so much that we reserved a table to come back”. “You don’t want to sit here, do you?” he said, and escorted us to the last remaining table, in front of a growing queue of hopeful waiting customers, to a beautiful window-side table, where we again had a fabulous time. We had this mental picture of an angelic maitre’-d pushing this manager over to us and whispering “These are King’s Kids, and I want them to have the best seat in the house…”

On our last day, we had also found this lovely place near Fisherman’s Wharf called the Cannery (original canning factory for Del Monte!) where you could get delicious crepes and coffee. We also discovered the Bear Factory, where I had the huge thrill of making my own teddy bear, who is a silver-grey grandpa bear. Good to be able to act like a 6 year old again!

We learned through it all that we needed a holiday, not a sightseeing vacation; that we needed to rest and re-charge batteries; that we needed time to meet with God and worship His Majesty; that not over-planning was actually a great way to do this; and that if we left the details to Him, then we would be constantly surprised and amazed.

We learned that in all the roles we have in life, that it is important once in a while to be simply husband and wife. 3 weeks of being with each other 24/7 was amazing, wonderful, and is to be highly recommended! What an incredible way to celebrate the joy of being together for 25 years

Our thanks to all who made this possible, and as we are getting photos from folks and family about the Silver wedding party, we’ll start posting some pics of that, too.

Downtown Vancouver at night - the view from our "penthouse" room on the 31st floor!

Dessert on the Rocky Mountaineer Train - A chocolate train filled with pear mousse; Chocolate Brownie "Mountains", and lemon cheesecake with blue spun sugar for the sky!

This is the 4-person gondola to get up to Sulphur Mountain

John's not so keen to be on the other side of the camera - but this one proves that we actually got to stand on a glacier!

Canada part 2...

Well, we arrived in Vancouver, and took a taxi to the Marriott Pinnacle hotel. What we hadn’t appreciated was that this hotel had 35 floors, and the top 4 floors were residential. We were then told that we had a room on the 31st floor! We were on the top level that guests were allowed to use, so for me, we were on the penthouse level! Fantastic views of downtown Vancouver. We were also only 2 blocks from Canada Place, which is where the huge ships dock ready for the Alaskan cruises. We spent some beautiful sunset evenings there, sipping cappuccino at a local Starbucks, and watching the world go by. I know John is handsome, but he actually got propositioned (by a guy!) whilst we were drinking coffee at an outside table! I just sat next to him, gobsmacked!

One day we travelled across Vancouver bay and travelled up in another cable car, this time up to Grouse Mountain. Had great fun watching a very funny lumberjack show, and watching a fantastic bird of prey show, with the Rockies as a backdrop for a soaring Peregrine Falcon. It was there that I realised what fantastic weather we were having, when a lady commented to me about catching the sun “which must be hard for you redheads”! I am in fact brunette (with a few highlights!), but the sun had bleached my hair quite a lot.

Anyway, having sampled the delights of Granville Island’s amazing food market, and Gastown (very touristy, but good fun), it was off to Vancouver Island by coach and ferry. Life settled into a very sedate pace, and we stayed at the lovely Royal Scot hotel. Really friendly – kind of place where there is an automatic sheet-turning-down service at night, and they leave wrapped chocolates on the pillows! We read and walked by the exquisite Inner Harbour, and slowed right down, maximising the “resting” bit of the holiday, before flying over to San Francisco. Very different pace of life, and some real eye-openers.

I’ll try to download some more pics of the story so far, before I bore you rigid with the final installment….

A loveley shot of the bay at Stanley Park, Vancouver

We have over 300 pics to choose from, so I'll leave it at that for now!!

This is the inside of the glass-domed Rocky Mountaineer Train - amazing panoramic views of the Rockies

This is Peyto Lake. Yes, it really is that colour! Peyto is the local First Nation name ( what used to be referred to as Native American) for the word "wolf".

The town of Banff, nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains

Canada pics

This is me on top of Sulphur Mountain in Banff - what a backdrop!

Canada Part 1

We’re still processing pictures, so hopefully I’ll be able to put one or two up here for you all, but until then, words will have to do…

We flew into Calgary airport on Monday 11th July, which for those who don’t know is Day One of Calgary Stampede Week. This is their annual week-long all-singing, all-dancing Rodeo Spectacular. As we’re not really into horses, we had planned to get a taxi transfer straight up to Banff. We were first out of baggage reclaim, and so went to find our driver. Imagine our surprise to be greeted in Arrivals by line-dancers, country and western singers, and this huge cowboy with a lasso! I was just gawping at it all, and looked back to discover that John (trying to push our baggage trolley) had just been lassoed! Welcome to Canada!

We made the 90-minute car trip to Banff without further incident, and arrived at Brewster’s Mountain Lodge Hotel. Sounds out in the woods, but in fact it was incredibly central to the tiny town of picturesque Banff, nestling right at the foothills of still-snow-covered Rocky Mountains. We then discovered that our room had been upgraded to a suite – one of the hotel’s “Romance Suites” in fact - and had the fun of trying out a double-sized whirlpool bath in our room! Banff itself is amazing, and had just had the worst spring/summer weather in living memory. It had only stopped raining a few days prior to our visit, and so the main local problem turned out to be mosquitoes! Add to that the fact that I got quite sunburnt, so we had to raid the local drugstore for both Factor 30 sun block and mozzie cream! However, we managed to cram in to our 3 days there some of the most amazing sightseeing. We went up to Sulphur Mountain, which overlooks the whole town, in a gondola – a mini cable car that seats just 4 people at a time – incredible views. We then took a tour to the local lakes, which are the most stunning shades of blue and green – looks like a Disney animator had airbrushed it – hard to believe it was really that colour. We then had a wonderful day visiting a glacier on the Ice fields Parkway, travelling in a Snowmobile to get right onto the glacier itself.

Then it was onto the Rocky Mountaineer Train – the highlight of the whole trip really. Two days spent on the train that is billed as “The Most Spectacular Train Journey In The World”, and lives up to its name. We stayed overnight in a hotel in Kamloops, but experienced some of the most breathtaking scenery ever. Food was gourmet – I got to eat Eggs Benedict with lobster for breakfast, and Bison for lunch!! We’ll post some pics as soon as we can, but fear that nothing can do the trip justice. We met some great people on the train too, one couple that shared exactly the same Silver Wedding anniversary date as us! Another couple from New Zealand, both Principals of primary schools, and shared two of our meals chatting at length with them, especially about Special Needs Education in NZ and the UK – fascinating…

And so with sad farewells we left the train and made it to the first big city – Vancouver. And we began to see a pattern – that God had definitely gone ahead of us, was treating us like King’s Kids all the way, had provided angels in each place with information we could not have otherwise got, and was delighting in surprising us all over the place. Co-incidences? I don’t think so…..


More soon…..