After well over 3 weeks it’s good to be back in the blogo-sphere and only right that I should bring you up to speed on what’s been going on for myself and the clan in recent days (and why how I spend my time is now more of a juggling act than ever!)

The day after term ended my uncle died so we headed up to Manchester and had some time with the family before the funeral. My brother Paul gave a lovely family tribute, and a large number of folks came to the service and shared the day with us.

After the funeral we headed across to Pwhelli (a place in Wales which is very difficult to spell!) for New Word Alive, a spring conference. The strapline ‘Serving the Church, Reaching the World’ is very apt and it was a joy to be amongst a vast group of people seeking to serve God and learn from his Word.

A large percentage of the attendees were students which made me feel immensely encouraged and quite nostalgic. I was a student at the first Word Alive 15 years ago (the accommodation hasn’t changed much!) and it’s wonderful to see these guys with the same passion for life and desire to serve God as I had back then, with the same hunger to get into the Bible.

That hunger for God’s word and desire to serve Him still remains, and J and I thoroughly enjoyed the high standard of teaching. Don Carson did the Bible Readings on 1 John, and Terry Virgo and John Piper did some evening meetings. There was also great worship - Stuart Townend and Lou Fellingham led us in some truly God-inspired praise.

Even though there was only about 500 people on site under 18, they put on an excellent kids’ programme and Noah and Esther are keen to return. Although I’m sure we will return many times as a family, my prayer is that one day they return one day as students, with hearts fully committed to their Saviour, and a desire to serve Him wherever He may lead. (I told Noah when he comes as a student he can stay in different digs to dad and me - with his pals in a caravan no doubt!!)

The week flew by, and on Friday we made the 8 hour trek back to Brentwood (Groans for the traffic!). We haven’t had a dull moment since returning, and the kids returned to school with their usual bounce and enthusiasm on Monday. I now have a new job, 20 hours a week as a carer/companion for someone with Huntingdon’s disease so that certainly keeps me busy. I’m still trying to do some writing but I need to be more disciplined in that department. The Inspire website printed some stuff I wrote on the fun run with pics if anyone’s interested.

I have done a fair bit of reading in recent weeks so will fill you in on that in due course with a ‘book-fest’ blog. I have also contemplated doing a ‘nosh blog’ as my eating habits need a little attention!! Have been a bit lazy on the running front as well so need to get back in my trainers… so until the next time…!2171717361_2b1559e20c_m.jpg