Kiwi wedding #7 Godincidences

One of the joys of visiting New Zealand is the connections we always seem to find.

It's not difficult, in some ways. Christians connect, Guerns travel...there is always someone who knows someone who knows someone else...

Today, two delightful meetings.

We tore ourselves away from lovely Ohope and made good time to Auckland - so much so, that we were early for our meeting with Cat. So we rocked up to her friend Gael's house, prepared to wait outside, but realised that Gael's sister and brother-in-law were at home.  So were Gael's parents, Ian and Linda.

Originally from Zimbabwe, they moved to New Zealand and now live in Australia.  Before I knew it, I discovered that Ian Spence had been one of Aldwyth and Renee Cowan's young men who would gather at their house on a Sunday for lunch and Bible study. Not only that, but he was the same age as Renee's daughter, Wendy.  Renee has been one of my closest friends since I arrived on Guernsey over eleven years ago: she is my mentor, my guide, my inspiration and my encouragement and I love her. And I loved connecting with friends from Renee's past.

And then I discovered that Linda's father had worked on the same nuclear power stations as my father had done - we threw the names around with familiarity...

Later, I met a friend of one of Cat's flatmates. 'You're from Guernsey?' she asked.  'Do you know the Parkes family...?' And of course I do. She had been at Hillsong college in Sydney and had worked with Chris and Tash Parkes, son and daughter-in-law of my dear friend Ros...

...and just today I had an email from a friend who knows Andy's parents, Sue and Allan, from when they all lived in Arusha, Tanzania....after I had read a book which profiles and praises my friend Lisa's father, Denny Repko, who, in his eighties, is still serving in the Navigators' ministry.

I love these God-connections. His family is worldwide and He loves to connect his children together...

Book review: A February Bride

Lighthearted romance is an easy way - for me - to switch off, so when Booksneeze emailed me with the possibility of a  free review copy of another novella in the 'A Year of Weddings' series, I was pleased to accept. What's not to like about a free book, anyway? I had already read A January Bride and A December Bride, too, which I enjoyed.

So, this was a girl-leaves-boy-meets-boy-again story. Marcus and Allie had been a couple for years and it was a foregone conclusion that they would, in time, marry. We begin reading at their wedding - only to find Allie leaving just as she is about to walk down the aisle: literally. Wearing the dress which has been worn for many family weddings - not least, by her mother through several marriages - Allie notices a tear in the fabric. That is enough to trigger an all out panic attack and she leaves, convinced that the dress is cursed and that it would only be a matter of time before her marriage, too, would be doomed. Because 'Andrews women break hearts before theirs get broken' she believes that wearing the dress will make her ruin her own marriage, too. She loves Marcus too much to let that happen, so she walks out...

Four months of avoiding Marcus and his family later, and Allie's best friend Hannah, who also 'happens' to be Marcus' sister, gets engaged - and Allie has to be bridesmaid. Thrown together again, the romance rekindles, even though Allie is convinced that Marcus is better off without her. She is still full of fears and 'what ifs'. Dare she risk it?

If this all sounds a bit ridiculously full of convenient relationships, meetings and coincidences, well, yes it is. It was almost impossible to believe that Allie would walk out of her own wedding and not see her fiance to explain - or even send him a letter.  But Betsy St Amant weaves a convincing tale which drew me in and I eagerly read on to the predictably happy-ever-after ending.

Of course. And thoroughly enjoyable.