It's only just begun

Yes I have made yet another appearance in the newspaper....stardom here I come. Well not quite, but it all begins somewhere!! Last week we had a photo shoot for the Carols in the City event we're involved with on Saturday. Lots of preparation and work has been done and amazingly we're all organised and sorted - we just need to get on with it. So if you're around in Birmingham on Saturday 16 December go to Victoria Square for fun and an outdoor Carol event at 4.30pm. Oh and take a look at Birmingham Forward newspaper!

Not surprisingly life has been busy with Christmas not far away. From the beginning of December we only had 3 free evenings! But the good thing is most of our evenings were/are nice social things and catching up with friends.

Little Lou-lou is doing well, she doesn't quite understand the whole Christmas thing..... she is only two and half! But seems excited, when you ask her what Father Christmas might bring her for Christmas, she has a little think and says "maybe he might bring me a present" very sweet. What's probably even cuter (if that's a word!) is that she opens her calendar every day and is amazed there's a chocolate there, every day! But then tries to stick her fingers down behind the doors to find more chocolates!

I'm really looking forward to Christmas, as I'm looking forward to going to Kent for a week and seeing family, with no agenda or things to do but enjoy myself, relax and catch-up with peeps.

Oh my goodness...

I can't believe it has been so long, in updating the blog - sorry. But hey, life has been busy.

We moved into out house a couple of week ago, and it's fantastic to be in. So nice to finally feel like I can sort and order things. There are a few boxes we've yet to unpack, but as storage is a little issue, unpacking becomes a little harder! But we're getting there. Lucy really loves her bedroom, we were given a cabin bed, which is fantastic - it takes up most of her room but she loves it, loves playing with her toys underneath, and generally can't wait to get to bed... now that can't be a bad thing! May it continue. Oh, and of course she loves to have Erin round to play now she's just round the corner.

There's a few jobs to finish, but that's probably always the way with houses, it's just so nice to be in, to have a kitchen and bathroom and bedroom and .....space. We're really grateful to those that have had us staying, they've been such a blessing.

So now we're in life is steaming towards Christmas and I can't believe it's nearly here already!

Work seems to be busier than ever, both for Gary and I. There's lots going on and our office is excitingly preparing for Carols in the City. The beanie hats have just arrived, the chocolates have been delivered, the glowsticks are here and the flyers are being sent out. Just a few more things to get and we're ready!!!

Well that's it for now. When I've got a bit more time I'll put some photos up of the house.

Should i be proud?

Am not sure whether this is something to be proud of or not????

For the first time ever I finished a whole balti; Balti Chicken Dhansak was the lucky dish! Had to take a picture as evidence, even though I did get a few 'weirdo' comments as I was taking the picture from Mr Jones!

Proud or not? What do you think?

Can you believe it

Well the busy weeks go on, but next week we finally have the carpets arriving.... YEAH..... Then we move in - on that same day, next Tuesday, am really looking forward to it. I'll keep you posted, and take some pictures with the carpets in so you can see the transformation.

Crazy or not, probably crazy but hey, my parents are coming up on the Tuesday evening - hence moving in on the same day as Carpet day. I'm not quite sure who's more crazy.. my parents.. or us! Anyway, Dad is going to help put a shed a up, amongst many other things I'm sure. I'm going with my mum to have a 'style consultation', Trinny and Suzannah fashion, but hopefully not quite as brutal :o)

So I'm finally looking forward to next week.

From one to another

Weekend to weekend, it's what it feels like at the moment - bit of a mixed blessing, but we're nearly there! I'm loving what we've been doing at weekends but also feeling slighty tired (!!!).

Last weekend we were away at a church leaders weekend at Hothorpe Hall, which was lovely. However it was still quite busy for me as I was working here and there, but nevetheless it was great to have the chance to catch-up with some friends that we don't always have the time to catch-up with. God also did some fantastic stuff at the weekend, for both Gary and I. I have found things quite tough lately because there is so much going on, which has often meant that when I spend time with God or am in worship I have a bit of a barrier up as I feel there's too much to think about or sort through. Well, as you can probably guess, God decided to sort through some of the stuff at the weekend and break the 'dam' that I had built, so that was good.

Lucy enjoyed it, playing with friends and generally having fun, she loved her little bed. On the Sunday we had chance to pray for all the kids that were there, this was a brilliant time and at the end of it Lucy was telling me about the Angels that were at the back of the stage area that she was singing with - fantastic.

This week has so far proved to be fairly busy, with a long unexpected trip to Ikea, don't we just love that place!! We got our kitchen from Ikea - it looks great - but have had a few broken things and things missing. Anyway after that I went to Netball - must be crazy as really was shattered but needed some Sarah time. Last night we had cell, tonight we've catching up with some friends then tomorrow we off to Kent for an 80 celebration at the weekend.

Oh it's a busy time in murray's house going from one to another......

In the loop

Well a lot has happened since i last posted, and i can't possibly write it all down - you might get a bit bored!!

The house is nearly there, can you believe it, we will soon be in... i'll hold back on giving a date though! When we're done, i'll do a little 'from this.... to this...' film strip. And of course we'll have a house warming party, which you just can't miss.

We've got a few busy weekends, in September, the weekend before last Gary worked on the house, and i went to London to the 125 Anniversay of the Church we use to go to. It was a great time, very nice to catch-up with people and i was amazaed at all the info they had including originals from when the church started in 1881. So that was a good time, tiring as i was trying (not very well!!) to stop Lucy sticking her fingers in the cake, climbing up the stacked charis, removing her clothes and dancing round the grass with nothing but her socks her because she was hot... and and catching the buggie (or not catching it) as it fell backwards whilst lucy was supposed to be 'sleeping' uuuummm!

Last weekend was the youth weekend away - it was a really great weekend, God did some fantastic sutff and we all had a lot of fun. Lucy and Erin made a great terrible twosome running here there and everywhere - most of the photo's are blurred as it was tricky to get a photo of them standing still!! But they had a good time too.

Well, this weekend we've got the church leaders weekend away, no doubt Erin and Lucy will have fun at that and i hope we will too - i'll let you know.

if only....

If only there was a camera in the office (not really) but just on this occasion, we do have them now and then.

Nige and I just had a 'Wayne's World' moment to queen - you can't beat that for Wednesday morning office work/entertainment. You've really missed out on that one peeps :o)

What happened to the week?

No really, what happened to the week - it's suddenly disappeared!

At the end of last week, we went down to Kent for Gary's Nan funeral, which went well. It was really nice to see family but not so nice circumstances! Gary's Nan was 87, and there's no doubt she's in heaven having a good time, or as Lucy said "She's a having party, like Noddy!". When she was ill in hospital, the chaplain came to see her, and after much chatting said "Marjorie, can I pray for you", to which see replied "don't pray for me, lets pray for all these other people in here that are poorly and don't know Jesus or where they're going" - what faith!

So we had a nice time seeing different people and staying with my family - and of course Jordan the dog. Then when we came back we went to the 'secret Garden'.... Across the road from where we are staying there is a park that you have to have a key for, which Lucy loves, and so do I. It's surprising as you'd never know it's there, and it's so big, with a lovely lake, great for picnics... although they'll be few and far between now we're getting into September, and as Suzie said...Christmas is coming! Then I'll really be asking, what happened to the weeks.

Thank You

Gary and I have been married 9 wonderful years today, and he bought me some lovely roses.

I can't believe it's 9 years, it's been great to share those years with Gary with all the up's and down's life brings . We've moved about during that time, but most of the years we've been in sunny Birmingham. So we look forward to the future years, and all that God has is in store for us.

The colour goes on

Yes.... finally the colour goes on - in more ways than one!

Last weekend we spent a fair bit of time painting, it's great to see some colour go on the walls, and it's amazing the difference it makes. It's really beginning to look like a house, and also feels like we're nearly there. We've not got much left to paint now, just one bedroom upstairs and two main rooms downstairs. The 'sparkys' have been doing the finally fittings, we got the lights today to go up, so really not long now. So here are some lovely pics so you can see how we're doing, and yes to prove that I have been painting!!!


I know it looks yellow, but it's not - that's the flash on my camera, it's magnolia ceiling with white walls.

Now the other colour that has been going on is me, not just when painting the walls - I do look like I've been rolling in the paint before putting it on the wall - I just like to get 'in there'!!! Anyway, I went with a couple of friends and had my colours done - this was part of a birthday present for my big 30!

I have learnt that I'm a "sunny spring", and that nearly all the clothes in my wardrobe are the wrong colour! Oh dear, what a shame I'll have to go shopping :o) but seriously I was surprised the difference it made when the lady put a colour against me that wasn't right, I either looked 'blotchy' or I looked pale and washed out, in fact slightly blue! Not a good look. But before I get into buying the right colours, another present I had for my birthday was a 'style' consultation - so I'll let you know how that goes. Once I've done that I'm hoping to be transformed..... mmm.... let's just wait and see.