January! Journeying on...

The year began well - not that I am a fan of New Year. After all, every day is a new beginning, God's mercies new every morning...

Still, this year heralds the beginning of a new decade, also.

It had been a good Christmas holiday, with still a few days into January before term started. Began the year with satisfactory body-boarding adventures in the waves; some long overdue decluttering (taking our old mattress to the tip) and tidying up (the ManCave is seriously over-stuffed with all kinds of tools and equipment, especially motorhome paraphenalia); and manouevring a vast canvas cover over the motorhome, to protect it from rain and damp. As it is, we have to make a trip over to England to have the damp sorted under warranty. Bonus: we'll get to see Phil and Judy, Adele's lovely parents. They are so precious.

The rest of the holidays was spent with friends - we seemed to average some sort of social engagement every day, one way or another. Walks; coffee; meals shared; New Year's Eve spent very enjoyably with Bel and Richard and family, dear friends with whom we have shared holidays and feasts over the last ten years or so.

Then back to school. Children still in holiday mode, but all of us beginning to settle to the challenges of the new term, albeit some rather reluctantly. The rainy days yielded to drier spells, including some wonderfully warm and sunny days mid-month which gave us lavishly coloured sunsets and sunrises.

Outdoor learning this term involved a visit to the Guet (Guernsey-French for the Lookout, a fortified hill above Cobo Bay) where we found a fairy door...

Another trip was to Havelet Bay, creating art on the beach.

I took my camera...then couldn't find it later on. After a fruitless search of my classroom and every other place I had visited during the course of the day, I cycled down to Havelet...only to find the beach - and my phone - underwater. Still, the next morning, I couldn't help still praying for a miracle, almost 'seeing' it on my desk...and there, indeed, it was, when I finally got to school.. My phone. Completely intact. And a mystery as to how it got there..#thankfulthankfulthankful

The weeks, though, seemed long, punctuated as they were  by home group meetings and meals with friends. We spent one evening with Guernsey Welfare, who hosted an evening as a 'thank you' for all their volunteers. We attended with our 'Nightstop' hat on, but there were folk from the six other projects which Guernsey Welfare support and promote. Interesting to hear other voluntgeers' stories and see how they were helping. Guernsey seems so safe and well-off, yet there is real need lurking beneath the prosperous exterior.

I took part in a fund-raiser quiz, organised by a friend: good fun, especially when we came fourth, even scoring quite highly on the sports questions - on a non-sporty team... Brunch with friends one Saturday, ladies here to breakfast on another... coffees; a dinner out, with friends; even a curry night at church... the month passed.

I began the New Year pondering what it would bring. My heart is burdened with heart-wrenching stories of unhappy foster care and dreadful modern-day slavery - 8 million children, worldwide. What to do? The temptation is to bury my head in the sand, and do nothing: yet I pray that this year, this January, would be the start of some new purpose in my life...