The New Year. Reflections on the old. A 'gratitude' map:
Of course, many of these things I think about when I write our annual Christmas newsletter. But it's good to add in other little things as well as significant names:
Journeying through 2016: trains, planes and automobiles. Or,
rather, planes, bikes and a motorhome.
Like the wise men of the nativity story, or Bilbo Baggins in
The Lord of the Rings, we too have, in many ways, been on quite a journey this
year. In January we returned from the Other Side of the Earth, after seeing Cat
marry Andy. They wanted their wedding to be God-honouring, inclusive, as
families and friends met and mingled, and fun. And indeed it was. After the
ceremony (conducted by Andy’s brother) in a historic church, we had the
reception in a marquee in an idyllic setting on the edge of the ocean.
Afternoon tea on the lawn, games, and a NZ buffet dinner. Such a joyous
occasion, tinged also with bittersweet as we realised afresh that Cat will be
making her home there in the future.
For the present, she and Andy are in Vanuatu where he works
for UNICEF as a water and sanitation engineer and she works in project management for the Food and Agriculture Organisation, a branch of the UN. Come
January, they head off to Dohuk, Iraq, joining Medair’s Disaster Relief
Programme where Cat will be Project Support Manager and Andy will head up their
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programme. Jonny and Adele too may be
adventuring further afield than Norwich, where they have been teaching for some
years.
Our feet have also been VERY itchy. For the last couple of
years we had considered moving to New Zealand, a decision with which we
wrestled long and very, very hard. The
weather and the spacious lifestyle appealed and we had been granted immigration
rights. It is a long, long story, but in the end – despite the All Blacks
winning the Rugby World Cup - for a hotchpotch of reasons, we decided to settle
down in Guernsey instead. After a few months of house-hunting, we found a home
to buy. We had loved the house we had been renting, with its peaceful location
and huge garden, so thought it would be a wrench to leave.
But not at all. Our new home is a spacious bungalow in a
very rural part of Guernsey, a stone’s throw from the south coast cliffs. (It
is a full 8 miles away from where we lived before which, for Guernsey folk, is
almost equivalent to moving to New Zealand. They check they have their passport
before coming to visit us.) We benefit
from the sun streaming through the windows from sunrise to sunset and outside
there are several sheltered sunny nooks. Buzzards and harriers glide over our
large, shrub-filled garden. We have lovely neighbours. The house has ticked
more of our boxes than we could ever imagine and it has quickly felt like home.
Do come and visit!
Tradition says that Mary travelled to Bethlehem on a donkey.
The wise men almost certainly rode on camels. Bilbo walked. We cycle, mostly,
in Guernsey, often with the dog who has her own seat, but we have also acquired
a motorhome. So the summer holidays were spent journeying down through France
to northern Spain, with the blessing of Jonny and Adele’s company for a couple
of weeks. Cycling, surfing, even walking the Ceres Gorge through the Picos de Europa.
Many adventures. It was good, too, to catch up with 9 different lots of friends
and family in England over half term, driving 1000 miles in 7 days.
So...Richard is now retired, with gradually improving health
which has enabled him to enjoy the gardening and home improvements. Angie still enjoys the
teaching aspect of teaching: children never fail to amuse. Pickle has adjusted
to her new life, enjoying barking
through the fence at the neighbouring dogs.
In all this, we are grateful for so many blessings and we
look back on the year with immense thankfulness for God’s guiding hand on our
lives, for family and friends, for the gift of a beautiful place to live, and
for new opportunities as we explore new expressions of faith with a group of
friends. Exciting times.
We treasure our friends, old and new, and wish you a year
full of blessings and much happiness. We hope you have a wonderful Christmas
season and look forward to hearing about what 2016 has brought to you J