Well, first of all I cannot believe how long it is since I have blogged. I am not without excuse however, as you are about to find out! This festive season has been absolutely cram packed with great fun, dear friends and beloved family. We were so blessed to spend two weeks in England catching up and swapping news with those we left behind all those months ago when our lives were transported to Switzerland. So, without further ado I will endeavour to tell of our adventures and try not to bore you with too many photos!
Friday 17th December-Youth group Christmas party
Before we left for England we arranged a party for the youth, we had around 40 young people turn up in a vast array of ‘Christmas’ costumes ranging from elves, to presents, to angels and shepherds, and of course a Christmas party wouldn’t be complete without a panda...yes, a giant panda!! We had a deleicious meal prepared for us courtesy of Gabriel and Carl our wonderful hosts and played games and did quizzes it was a fantastic way to celebrate with everyone before we all went our separate ways to spend Christmas with family.
Saturday 18th December- Free ski day in Villars
Although we had a crazy schedule ahead of us, and although we were shattered from the past few months of change and transition we just didn’t think it would be right to pass up a FREE ski day in Villars!! Yes, completely no charge was demanded of us as we spent a whole day exploring the slopes of a beautiful mountainside resort. We had a really valuable time together and saw it as a bit of a Christmas present to us from our generous Heavenly Father. I am reminded of the free gift of grace that He offers to each of us. I can imagine that many locals here in Switzerland were put off by a ‘free’ day on the slopes, thoughts like ‘there’ll be no room on the slopes, it’ll be sooo busy’ or ‘nothing’s ever free, they must be only opening one piste’ etc. I must admit that even I had the “what’s the catch?” doubts. But sure enough we weren’t charged a centime and had a wonderful time. Oh if we would just receive God’s grace in the same way, lay aside our doubts and questions and just RECEIVE the gift as a child would; with excitement and eagerness to see what it does and how it works. There were plenty of excuses for us not to go; we were travelling home in two days and hadn’t packed anything, Mark was teaching in church on Sunday, it would leave us feeling tired etc etc etc... but I was persuaded and we went, and oh what a glorious day! Thank you God for that gift and also for your gift of grace!
Sunday 19th December- Mark’s Christmas message
As previously mentioned, Mark delivered his second message here at Westlake Church Lausanne on the Sunday morning before we left for England. His message was the last in our advent series and is entitled ‘Responding to Jesus’. In it he speaks of the four different reactions to the coming of Jesus that we see in the gospels; that of the shepherds, the wise men, Herod and the Scribes and Teachers of the law. I was so challenged and convicted by this message as Mark encouraged us to check our own hearts and our response to Jesus. Whatever you think your response to Jesus is can I encourage you to listen to this message and be challenged to really review which of the four responses best describes your heart.
Click here to listen to the message
Monday 20th December- A grand day out!
At 4am on Monday morning we woke up very excited to make our first journey back to England since we arrived here in Switzerland. The car was all packed up (we did that on the Sunday afternoon) and we were ready to go by 4:30am. We got into the car and to our utter dismay Mark turned the key in the ignition and there was no response whatsoever! Not even a cough. As you can imagine our hearts dropped into our bellies with disappointment. We had no idea what could be wrong; we checked the lights and they worked fine-so it couldn’t be a dead battery. We tried again but got the same thing-nothing! We decided to pray-when all human options are hopeless we have a God who knows all, sees all and can do all!! We prayed and asked God to help us, to start the car for us so we could set off. I had a quick look in the manual for the car which is all in German...sigh...the first page I turned to showed a picture of the ignition dial thingy and I noticed a word ‘LOCK’ written on the dial. Now, I’m not the kind that gets ‘heeby-jeebies’ and over-spiritualises things but I do believe that God caused me to turn to that page and pointed that word out to me. I told Mark to wiggle the key around till it gets to the ‘LOCK’ then try again. Sure enough, after we’d prayed, the car jumped into life. I needed that start to our journey; it really reminded me of our insufficiency and showed me that God was there with us and in control. Before setting off on long and complicated journeys like this one I can tend to get stressed and anxious at all the practicalities. This was God’s way of showing me that, right from the word ‘go’, He would guide us and be with us and would take control of things! The journey through France was pretty treacherous-we began over the mountains with wind and rain, fog and poor disability. This then turned into snow and one-lane motorway traffic in scary conditions halfway through France. But sure enough; God showed His faithfulness and sent snow ploughs!! Then we came through the snow clouds (they honestly looked like they weren’t going to let up at all) and managed to make it to the ferry with not much time to spare at all! The crossing was extremely smooth, which was great for me as I usually get sea-sick! Once we were on the other side of the Channel we could relax and make our way up to Bradford. It was interesting switching sides of the road and driving a left-hand drive on the left-hand side! But we arrived safely at the Batemans at 9:30 pm where we were warmly received! Thank you God for being with us the whole journey.
England Christmas antics
To tell you all the things we got up to over the Christmas break would take up too much of your time, but let me summarise by saying we packed as much into every minute of every day that we had!! Shopping, meeting with people for breakfast, meeting with people for coffee, meeting with people for lunch, meeting with people for tea! I got a stomach bug just after Christmas and was sick (yuck!) but soon got better. Various gatherings and parties, numerous walks in winter chilly weather, curry! Yum! Intense games of ‘mafia’, copious amounts of food and chocolate consumed! Bountiful catch-up stories and plentiful memories made! Let the pics tell you more....
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| Our little man hadn't forgotten us...and we hadn't forgotten how cute he can be! |
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| Wintery wonderland! |
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| Isaac enjoying his present form us! |
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| Lumberjack shirts!!! |
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| All of us with the cousins...did I mention that I got a perm??!! |
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| New years eve was spent playing an intense game of mafia...! |
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| Four brothers reunited before going their different global directions! |
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| This was the best version of around 50 attempts at a family photo!! |
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| Christmas dinner at the Clarke's |
Monday 3rd January- A long journey home, with a couple of extras!
Soon enough our time in England came to an end, it was bittersweet really; we were sad to say goodbye to friends and family but at the same time looking forward to returning to Switzerland where we feel God’s call on our lives and anticipate His work here in us and through us. We brought Tom and Britney, our beloved brother and sister-in-love, with us. The journey seemed to take a little longer on the way back but we also took more time stopping. The weather and driving conditions were great and the journey was without major catastrophe! Praise God yet again for His faithfulness. We arrived home at 1:30 am and crashed into bed!
this is what happens when you have spent too long in a car....ahem!
A week with Tom and Britney in Switzerland
We really enjoyed having Tom and Britney stay with us for a week, we had fun introducing them to our adopted family, the Slacks. Tom and Mark had a wonderful brotherly day skiing whilst Britney and I explored Lausanne and, of course, did some shopping!
Followed by a relaxing hot spa experience and raclette memories back at the Slack household! We also fit in some countryside exploring and Swiss coffee sampling. We had a lovely tapas-style meal out with Tanya and Nathan (some of our great friends from the 20s and 30s homegroup). And squeezed in some ice skating before they had to fly back to England on Friday afternoon.
Only God knows when we might be able to be all together again (as they live in California), so we cherish every moment we get to be together.
So, today is Saturday the 8th Of January and I just sat down to start getting prepared for restarting at Edukids on Monday...but got a little distracted by blogging and filling in all about our Christmas adventures! But now I have done that I guess I should get on with my work... I must be honest here and say that I am lacking in motivation a little and not really looking forward to restarting. But I am also honest when saying that I am sure most of the problem lies with me and my attitude: So my prayer for this year is that I do not waste it! I know God is doing a refining work in me, which is not very enjoyable most of the time but is absolutely necessary. I am learning, slowly not to shy away from the challenges God sets me to make me rely on Him all the more. I often think I can handle things in my own strength and that is when God turns up the heat a bit to make me realise that, without Him, I am utterly and completely useless! So I intend to start this new term at Edukids with the attitude that with God, all things are possible!
May God reveal Himself to you more clearly this year and may you be truly blessed as you draw nearer to Him in the circumstances (both the enjoyable ones and the challenging ones)that you find yourself in during 2011
xxx
