I am so sorry for such a long gap. I have been writing a blog for our church website (you can link to it through my profile) and so I am determined to update in here too. So much has happened since I last wrote that this will only be a very brief summary.

Saturday club now has a completely new intake which is proving challenging but also rewarding. The majority of the children come from a non-Christian background and we are finding this very different from the last 3 years. God is so good in entrusting us with these young ones and we pray that lives will be thoroughly turned around as we see these children so in need of the Saviour.

Stephen has just returned from another stint in Azerbaijan to return to his own house in Bristol! We are soon to see it and also help to work on it as it needs a lot of updating...particularly putting in some kind of heating!

Ben’s house in Reading is a gem! We went to take a look at it back in the summer just as a last minute addition whilst viewing other properties and fell in love with it.! I shall never forget standing by the front gate after the estate agent had gone just knowing it was the right one. So came the testing time… plenty of other people wanted it as well! But after a roller coaster ride the keys were finally in our hands. It is a family home and has been in the same family for over a century. It has known love and laughter, births, weddings and funerals and has character which has to be felt to be appreciated! The pantry, the outside toilet, the coal bunker, the birds in the attic, the air raid shelter…well, you get the idea. The first visitors of course had to be the Bancroft family on their way home from Dartmouth. Harri had a scary time helping clear out the shelter and came away with a first class presentation for back-at-school. Next on the list is to light the fire and hope that soot doesn’t spread back into the rooms over the freshly plastered and painted walls! History already casts its charm throughout the house. Furniture from Daniel and Grandma; Mum and Steve. Items from Tanya, Joe and Bronny, people from Hurst and the church at Hertford. Even items from when our church was the gospel hall 100 years ago. And now that it is beginning to look more up to date by the day Ben has bought a one-way ticket to Australia. Never a dull moment!

So Julian has been up to his eyes in house work! After Dan’s house was completed and sold early this year he has worked on our house, knocking down a chimney breast single handed; then on Ben’s house; then on the church; then ‘Granma’s house’ as we still call it and soon on Steve’s. But it’s all been fun, well, most of it, and he’s still been using his computer skills at the same time.

A joyful event this year was Susie’s baptism on Daniel’s birthday. Very poignant as he was the one to lead her to Wormley free church where she has been so blessed and has been a blessing. It wasn’t exactly a very warm day but the outdoor swimming pool provided a wonderful baptistery and the service was truly beautiful. Another event which stands out in my mind is the meeting in London with Naomi and Rita, my childhood friends from primary school. We spent a lovely few hours catching up and intend not to leave it so long until another time. Then of course there was the snow which fell on Dan’s anniversary and our precious Amanda took the opportunity to build a snowman on his grave.

I have a note found in Daniel’s bible on my fridge…he wrote we “need to realise the whole point of being a super-hero is not to please yourself but to help others.” Dan you were one of the many unsung superheroes in my life. We look forward to seeing you and Andy again….

Thankyou to everyone who is following in here.
cilla.