Very British

We're still enjoying the sun! I thought I would post two pictures of two very British items...

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This little Mini is always parked down the street, and Cerys thinks it's cute.

This afternoon, we went out to Penarth Pier to have a stroll about and we came across a lady and her 13 month old with this lovely Silver Cross Pram. I love knowing the history behind things, so I just walked right up to her and said, "I love your pram, it must have been in your family for years!" She responded, "Thanks, actually it was in someone else's family for years, I got it off Ebay." We had a good laugh and she let me take a picture of it. We had to do a little work on the photo because her little girl walked right up to it as I was taking the picture, so excuse the quality. But I just had to share this photo. It seemed appropriate since we were on an old Victorian pier, and there was this lovely old pram. You can see in the picture that there is a little black seat attached to the top, she just straps her little girl in and off they go! They were just precious strolling down the pier, especially when she put up the canopy.

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What Exactly Do We Do?

Several of you have asked what exactly we "do" here in Wales, so I thought I would try to give you a brief explanation.

We are here to work with university age students, doing discipleship and church planting. One of Marc's roles is working with a local charity (non-profit) that runs gap year programs in youth work and performance skills (creative arts, drama, etc.) - a gap year is typically a year off between high school and university. Marc is involved in the teaching/training aspects, as well as organizing an on-line community for keeping in touch with and supporting previous gap year students.

When we arrived back here in January, it was the middle of the school year so we have been observing a lot and trying to get to know people, etc. This past week the gap year program wrapped up the year and they had a lovely graduation. We will have about 6 weeks until a new year school starts, and we are really looking forward to being in on things from the start. We've enjoyed getting to know the gap year students that just finished the course, in fact one of them lives right next door to us in our old house!

Well, that's just a little glimpse into our life here and a little bit about what we do here. We have been back here almost 7 months now and life seems a bit more settled. The past 7 months have been filled with many ups and downs, adjustments, struggles and let's not forget the rain.

We could not do this without your prayers, so thank you to those who are faithful to pray for us. We love you!

Kambry's Light

Last summer we met Barry and Kimber. They sat quietly in our Bible Fellowship class at church. The Sunday they were there, our class went out to lunch together. As they sat near us, it suddenly hit me that they were the couple I had heard about. Our leaders of the class, Chad and Amy, had told us about this sweet couple. Amy is a Labor and Delivery Nurse and was with Barry and Kimber when sweet Kambry was born. Kambry was diagnosed with Trisomy 13 when Kimber was 19 weeks pregnant with her. She was born at 35 weeks gestation and lived for, in their words, "4 wonderful hours and 21 minutes." That day at lunch, I was sitting there eating and trying to keep 2 month old Bailey content, when I suddenly remembered that this was the family I had heard about. I felt sad, guilty, and unsure of what to say. I was almost embarrassed because there I was with a healthy baby, just a few weeks older than Kambry would have been. I don't think I even talked to them that day. I was so afraid I would say something stupid or insensitive.

As we got to know Barry and Kimber, we heard more of their story and we got to hear all about sweet Kambry. You can go to Kambry's Light to hear more about her.

They are also currently pregnant, expecting their second child in November! They have just recently found out it is another girl. As you can only imagine, the range of emotions that this couple has experienced the past few months has probably been overwhelming at times. If you get a chance, I know they would love to know you are praying for them!

Rainy Days

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You would think we would be use to the rain, since we live in Wales. But we are so tired of it! It typically would stop raining in June, and then pick up again in September. At least it did the previous 3 years we lived here. Not this year!

The girls are so tired of not being able to play outside. Yesterday, after dinner, we got our gear ready (stroller with rain cover, wellies, sweaters- it's been in the 60's) to go for a walk. Right as we zipped up our sweaters we heard the crack of lightening and it just dumped! The look on Cerys' face was so sad, I felt so bad for her. She has been waiting all day to go on a walk and now it was absolutely dumping! Anyway, it did clear up just long enough for us to make a circle around our block. Not 10 minutes after arriving back home, it started up again.

This morning it was still raining and the girls were feeling rather gloomy. So I dressed them in sundresses, hoping they would feel a bit more cheered up. After all, Cerys would wear this dress every day if I let her. She loves it! So, here are some rainy day pictures of the girls!

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Everyone SMILE!

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Her face says it all!

Our weekend and an Organic Welsh Beef Burger

We've had quite an enjoyable weekend, so I thought I would let you know what we've been up to! On the edge of your seat, aren't you?

It all started on Friday night when Marc had made all arrangements and surprised me with tickets to see Beauty and The Beast at an old theatre here in town. It's actually called The New Theatre and has a lot history behind it, but I won't go into that right now. He had gone into town one day last week and bought the tickets and then arranged a babysitter for us. We had a great time, the show was fabulous and we really enjoyed our date! The costumes were just fantastic and it was just a great show!

The girls have been sleeping amazingly well for the last 2 weeks! Both girls slept in till 8:00am on Saturday morning, so we were already off to a great start! I had made French bread earlier in the week with some yummy dipping oil , so I decided to use the left over bread for French toast which was really yummy! Then after nap we headed down to the Bay for the annual International Food Festival. It was really crowded, but we did enjoy walking around. They had booths of all kinds of food- cheese, pastries, bread, olive oils,etc. You could sample anything you wanted! Our friends were with us, and since they had gone last year, they knew of all the yummy places to visit, so we ate an organic hamburger made from Welsh beef. OH MY. Marc even went back for seconds....if you know Marc, you know they must have been yummy for him to have 2! They were the best burgers we've had in this country, ever! Guess we'll have to wait till next year to try another one!

It's been tipping down rain all day today, but we had a fun-filled weekend and are now getting ready for a busy week. Bailey has a doctor appointment in the morning to check her ear tubes, so I'm sure that will be interesting. If you've read much on this blog, you know about our doctor's surgery experiences. Marc has a big project/event going on this coming Saturday with the Gap Year students we work with, so he'll be busy getting ready for that!

I'll leave you with a few pictures from the weekend...

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The girls chatting to grandparents on the computer! (Marc bought these left over desk pieces at IKEA for 50p. to better organize his office/desk, and the girls thought they were just perfect!)


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We had Dream Whip (like Cool Whip) on our fruit for dessert, and Bailey really enjoyed it and we even got a smile this time!

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Cerys, staying busy at the Food Festival!

Lessons

Things seem to be pretty slow around here, which is okay I guess. My sweet friend from Texas called yesterday and just made my day! I had been feeling really down, discouraged and lonely and the phone rang at just the right time! The girls were sleeping peacefully upstairs, so we got to chat for about 20 minutes and it just did my heart some good. I was telling her that I often battle boredom here. Sometimes I find myself thinking about all the things I would do if I still lived there. I would probably find a mother's day out and enjoy at least one day of running errands or shopping or whatever! I would eat at Chili's because I love their chicken quesadillas. I would go to Willow Bend mall whenever I wanted and let the girls play in that fun play area. I would visit with my friends while our children played together in the next room. I would go to my brothers' basketball games and enjoy watching Cerys cheer for them. I would go to Barnes and Noble and browse around. There's just so much to do there! I don't mean boredom in the sense that I have nothing to do! I have plenty of house work, laundry, and playing to keep me busy. I was just explaining to my friend that there are so many distractions in DFW that it's easy to run to Target or the mall when I'm feeling down and get my mind off things.

As I thought about that, I realized that this is probably a good thing. Being forced to "deal" with stuff is more like what I've been experiencing. I can't do much retail therapy or eating out here, so I am faced with the real me. And it's hard. Really hard. The Lord has been teaching me so much this past year. It's been a year full of change. And I see so many things in me that I hate. But God has my full attention and we are working through things. I'm so thankful that we have a God who cares about us enough to help us sort through our "stuff" and challenges us to give it all up to Him.

PawPaw

My Paw-Paw passed away when I was 6 years old. Even though I was so young when he passed away, I still have very vivid memories of him. My aunt sent me this picture today and I just thought I would post it. I'm sure my Aunt is loving the fact that I posted this picture, circa 1980 something. :) What surprised me was how much Cerys looks like me. That could easily be Cerys standing there, attitude included. :)


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