This page is aimed at family, people from Sewardstone and other friends who want to know how we are getting on. So here is the latest news, our lives laid bare...
What an amazing few days! The sheer miracle that is the birth of your child has reminded me just how amazing life really is, and how, therefore, intelligent design (theory) must be true...but anyway.
The birth went very smoothly, Kathy did amazingly well, managing to last until about 5 mins before Joanne came out before using gas and air. Our midwife was a Christian and strangely enough goes to our church! Easter Sunday, what a cool day to be born!! Both mother and baby are fine, Kathy's a little bit sore but no surprise there!
The first night at home was, well, a nightmare. We got almost no sleep and J cried most of the time. However the 2nd night was much better, I think she'll be a good sleeper. I've got this week off work to be at home which is nice. Lois (Kathy's mum) came up straight away to look after tj and went back home today. My mum is coming up next week which is useful because I have to go back to work. Special mention and deepest thanks here go to Hannah and Darren who very graciously looked after tj until Lois arrived.
Work is going well. I've settled in nicely and am gaining some useful experience. It's also really nice to be working normal hours again, so much more family friendly.
Well, I'm going to go now, need to get to bed, I'll probably be up at least a couple of times in the night. Take care.
Ha ha, I've just read the last through the last day I wrote!! God certainly answered everyone's prayers because I have a new job! In finance, wahey!!
It all came about through Martin, Kathy's dad. Looking back I can see God working in the situation all the way through. A man that Martin knows from somewhere bought this company (called RDS, in Derby) a few months ago. He asked Martin to do some general business consultancy for him and it was then that Martin mentioned me. Nothing happened for a few months but then one of the finance employees had a baby and went part-time. This combined with a general lack of staff in the finance dept. meant that the new owner was on the look out for a new member of staff. He had tried advertising in various places (none of which I saw) but got no-one reliable or good enough. Martin re-mentioned my name and I was called in for a chat. Now, a couple of meetings later, me and this new owner have agreed a role and salary and a start date of 3/1/06. How cool?!
The best thing is that it will be normal office hours and (after an initial 3 months) a higher salary than at present. No more shift work!. God's amazing, but I can't help feeling a bit slow sometimes!
Also, if you haven't heard - where have you been?!! Kathy is 21 weeks pregnant with our second. All is well, though Kathy says she feels enormous while everyone telling her she looks really small! Have a look at the scan picture on the photo's page.
That's enough for now, take care.
We were in bed at 8.30 in the morning (last Sunday) and K said, "Wouldn't it be funny if we just turned up in London and surprised everyone?!" So at 11.30 we turned up on my Grandma's front door step, and boy was she surprised! Then we surprised dad and mum and some people at church (especially June!) and then we met up with Kas and Steve in the pub for lunch. It was a good, and long, day!
I didn't get the job, unsurprisingly by now. I phoned the lady for some feedback from the interview and she said that there really wasn't anything wrong, the interview went well and they were happy with my skills and experience but in the end I was beaten by other people who were already working in the NHS. I know God has a plan somewhere!
Since we moved to Derby 2 and a bit years ago I guess I've applied for about 12 - 15 jobs in finance and nothing has come of any of them. Now I'm starting to wonder if I should try and get back into finance or not. I think I've come to one of those indecision points where I don't quite know what direction to go in. I want to do what God wants me to do but I don't know what that is!! K and I had a talk and I think I might start exploring some avenues, do some research, find out stuff and see where it goes. I'd appreciate your prayers that I'd have some idea which is the right way (at least for now). I don't want to say what the options are just yet but I will tell you when the time is right.
Thanks for all your interest in us and your prayers, we miss you, though not quite as much at the moment 'cos we saw you!! Take care all, in Christ, R
So, we got the new car, and it's really cool!! It's like a real obvious next step up in car nice-ness - air con, alloys etc. I'm happy!
Still haven't heard from the job, so I'm taking that as a 'I haven't got it'. Though it would be nice to have some feedback from the interview.
The other thing I was going to say last time was that we had Marc Dupont and Sue Rinaldi at our church last weekend for various things over the weekend. It was good fun and I think we (as a band) learnt some stuff and all had a good time. I even got a hug from Sue at the end!!!!! (wow, privelidged I know)
Well, that's all for now, I'll let you know about the job when I know. Take care all.
Some interesting stuff has happened over the last week, so I thought I'd share with you.
Our mortgage came to the end of its offer period recently and in getting a new one we decided to release some equity so we could do some home improvements. So last weee, we ordered 8 new windows and 2 new doors in uPVC, which was kinda fun. We also decided hat we would re-do our bathroom. Any of you who have seen it will know that we haven't done anything to it since we moved in over 2 years ago, and it needs doing. Finally, our little car is dying of old age and so we decided that while we have some money we should invest in a new car. Not brand new, but new to us, so we're now the proud owners of an X reg Mondeo, which is a better size for a family. It's great fun spending money, especially when it's in large amounts!! (The windows are costing almost �5k!)
I went for another job interview last Thursday, I should hear back in the next few days. I'm praying that if it's God's will (and I hope that it is) then I will get the job.
Finally, there is a new post on my blog for you to read.
Well not really anything exciting to say, thought i'd just let you know that we're all still fine and happy.
I'm leading worship on Sunday morning and next week both services, wow! They don't know what they're letting themselves in for!!
I've been at Arriva for 2 years now, which means my pay goes up. Albeit 25p per hour, but it's the other things that go with it that are more exciting. Unfortunately, not enough space to explain them now, suffice it to say, they're good!
In case you havent heard, Dan and SarahJane had their baby 6 days late, called Reuben and weighing an almighty 10lb 4.5!!
Cos it's school holidays at the mo K and TJ are at the holiday club run by our church. It's for 5 - 11 yrs so I expect K has got landed in it to help out with stuff and TJ probably running around causing mischief (as per usual!!). But I'm sure they're both having fun really.
Well, the holiday was really good fun and TJ enjoyed himself. He really likes animals and loves seeing them so that was good.
We are all well and life is going along as usual.
I'm getting quite excited that Dan and Sarahjane are having their baby any day now! (Due 24th) I'd like to be able to get up there and visit them sometime soon (but not too soon!) but I don't know if that's going to be feasible or not. Have to wait and see, eh?
As you can see, after months of toil and hard work (well, I don't get much time to play) the new front page is up and looking good if I do say so myself. Many thanks go to my uni friend Rob Hulme for sorting out errors in the Java Script (the scrolling box and the rollover buttons). I'm hoping to redesign the buttons soon so they are a bit more exciting, but that'll probably be about 6 months before I get any time!!!
Well, signing off now. Hope you are all well and hope to see you sometime soon, whoever you are!!
Well, to get some easy things out of the way, K is still at home with TJ and I'm still driving buses. Church is good but not much has changed.
So what else then? I'm on holiday at the moment so we're spending our holiday doing 2 things. 1st is relaxing and 2nd is doing day trips to various places around. Mostly for TJ's benefit but its nice for us to get out and do stuff! We've been to a big farm, on an 8 mile walk (yes you read that right!!), been to the National Tramway Museum, been on a heritage steam railway and most exciting was watching a real knights jousting tournament! and some other stuff! Both sets of parents have been up and K's sister is coming today. Phew!...busy...but fun!!
Yes, it's been a while hasn't it! Well I spoke to someone at the weekend who said that she still read this page to find out how we are doing, so for the benefit of those who still care about us enough to read this page, here's a little update
TJ is still growing at a phenominal rate and becoming more of a monkey every day! I call him 'monkey boy' because it seems to suit him, though we still call him 'squeaker' as well. He's still a bit hit and miss with eating but he is getting better slowly.
K is still at home looking after TJ. I think she gets a bit fed up sometimes, especially when TJ plays up. She has got involved with the women's ministry at church, called 'Soul Sista'. I think she enjoys getting out without TJ (I look after him) and she seems quite involved with organsing, planning, singing etc. She still attends the mother-and-toddler sessions at church where she also seems to be getting more involved in helping with various things. Come to think of it, she also helps with one of the Sunday School goups, 3 - 5 year old's I think. Busy bee!!!
As for me, I'm still driving buses, and still wishing I had a 9 - 5 so that I could see more of K and TJ. I went for promotion recently, to be a junior manager, but I was pipped at the post by a friend of mine, aaaaarghhh! Other than that, I have been allowed to lead worship regularly, one Sunday every month (both a.m and p.m services) which is good considering there are 2 other worship leaders as well as me! So that's fun and I'm enjoying that. No hint of "We Are[n't] All Together" though!!!! Other than that, not much changes in my life. Same old, same old! I'll have to write when there's something exciting to write about!
Take care all
Well, I said I'd write soon!
Where to start... TJ is now getting much more steady on his feet. He's choosing to walk around the house instead of crawling. He can scale the stairs before you've even realised you left the gate open! He's still a bit hit and miss with eating, seems to eat loads sometimes then hardly want anything the next time.
K is still at home looking after the squeaker (TJ) and I'm still driving buses, though wishing I could get a job with normal hours so that I can see more of K and TJ. And I would be able to guarantee to be able to go to band rehearsal and church on a Sunday, but until God provides the right job then I'm stuck where I am. Having said that, I have had some good conversations with guys at work about God and stuff. A few of them are Indians who have no idea about Christianity at all, which makes for ineteresting conversations! One has borrowed a spare Bible because he's interested in the story of creation, which is cool. Others have borrowed the Bible I carry around with me to read little bits. The guys in my core group (housegroup) have been encouraging me to persevere with these people even though it doesn't seem like I'm getting anywhere. Somewhere in the Bible it says that the Word of God never returns void so I'm just hoping that something comes out of these conversations.
Which leads me nicely into church. I'm enjoying playing in the band and still looking for more opportunities to lead. Core group is good, it's nice having a few people who look out for you and you can get to know better. The Pastors feel that God is telling them that it's time to move buildings because our current building isn't big enough and has a few other problems so we (as a church) have started the moving process. We're still in very early stages so it's a bit hard to really get excited but it's looking to be a good time in the life of the church.
Not sure what else to say at the mo so I better check with K and get back to you...
Just a quick one cos I've got to give the laptop back! I'll write again soon, but for now we're all good enjoying a few days away in Bristol.
We are still alive!! For the any of you still checking this page then well done, and I think you love us a bit too much!! I know, not possible! Anyway...
Timothy has just about started walking, he's taking a few little hesitant steps but seems to really like going between us, plus its really cute!
I'm still 'on the buses' but have officially gone full time, not that that's practically any different to before. I'm regularly playing guitar (and soon drums) on Sunday mornings and I've even led once! I'm hoping to get more opportunities to lead from now on.
Kathy is still at home looking after Timothy which I'm slowly starting to realise is actually a full-time job!
There's not really much else happening of interest, so I'll sign off for now, take care all.
We have an answer to prayer! I have managed to swap my Monday shift for Thursday, this means that I am officially resting on Mondays from now on. What this means in practice is that I can ask not to finish later than 6:30 which means I can go to music practice at Church, yay!! Praise God!
Still no news on the job front. Actually, I'm not seriously looking but I'm checking an NHS jobs website regularly and if anything comes up on that I apply for it.
You know, I just scrolled right to the bottom of the page to look at the list of things we asked for prayer for right at the beginning when we first moved up here. Only 1 hasn't been answered by God, the job one. Well, maybe it has! God has answered or provided in all the others, isn't that cool!
2 messages in as many days, wow, I am bored aren't I!!
Actually, this is just a quick one. Thanks to all who prayed for me, I only had it for 1 day and I feel better now. The job didn't want me, they said I didn't answer the technical questions well enough. It's hard believing that God has a plan when you can't see it, but I just have to trust in Him. Easy to say isn't it?... If you want to pray for my job then this is it. I would like to be able to spend as much time as possible with my wife and baby (as most working men do), practically this means probably 2 days per week at home. Therefore, I need a job that pays well enough only working 5 days per week, but on top of that I want Sundays off, and at the moment lots of people up here are praying for me to have Monday evenings off to go to music practice. I don't at the moment so annoyingly can't go. I wouldn't mind Tuesdays off so I can go to housegroup!! I know, a lot to ask! Basically, I need a 9 - 5, Monday to Friday.
Oops, this turned out longer than I expected. Love you all.
Finally, a spare minute to let you all know what's going on!
TJ now weighs 11lb 14oz and is getting quite heavy in the car seat! He can now stand up (supported, he's got the leg strength), he smiles at us which is really cute and is starting to make different noises.
K and TJ had a stomach bug the last couple of days and were both very off-colour. Thanks to those who prayed, they are both feeling much better. Unfortunately now they've passed it on to me and I feel terrible. Hence having the time to do this, I'm not at work. If you can pray again, this time for me cos when I'm not at work I'm not earning money.
The job thing all happened so fast that I haven't had time to tell many of you yet. I applied for an assistant management accountant post with Derwent Shared Services (NHS), I had an interview yesterday and they're going to make a decision this afternoon and let me know. Fingers crossed!
Church and housegroup are both good and we're getting to know more people.
Anyway, better go, I need to have a lie down. Take care all. In Christ
Many apologies for not updating recently, I've been a busy bunny with work and Timothy.
Speaking of which, he's grown loads already. He has already outgrown some of his clothes! After 11 days he weighed 7lb 5oz but we haven't weighed him since. He tends to only wake up 2 or 3 times during the night, which is really good, Kathy feeds him and we change him and he normally goes back to sleep again. Having said that a couple of nights he's been quite bad and I've ended up sleeping downstairs so that I'm not too tired for work.
He has got colic but most of the time he copes quite well. He mostly looks and sounds like he's constipated (breastfed babies that young can't get constipation).
Kathy's bump has all but gone and she's doing really well considering she's with him 24/7
Kathy's mum and dad took Timothy on his first steam train ride last Thursday. We went to the Severn Valley Railway in Kidderminster for the day. At the end of the day when Sarah (Kathy's sister) was going home, she didn't want to give Timothy back! I said that it was fine for her to keep him, but then Kathy gave me one of 'those' looks!! (Only joking)!
We went to our first homegroup meeting last night. A few people weren't there but the rest seemed nice, so we think we'll enjoy our group. Timothy was snoring while we were praying, talk about off-putting!
I've settled back into driving buses now. It's not very well paid so I'm back to working long hours (like I did in London) to make the money up. This means that I don't get to see Kathy and Timothy as much as I would like. I'm not certain that I'll stay that long, but I'll make sure I have another job before I leave.
P.S. Kathy says I have to tell you that Timothy was sick all over my uniform this morning! 10 seconds before I was going to leave! Funnily enough I was late! She thinks this is funny!!!
Not so silly baby any more! He's arrived!!
Timothy Joshua was born this afternoon at 2:15pm, weighing 6lb 13oz. Mother and baby are doing well. Kathy did very well during the labour which was only 14hrs from start to finish! Anyway, gotta go. Take care all and hope to see you soon.
I'll put some photos up when they get developed.
Baby's due today!! But showing no signs of coming at the moment, silly baby!
The sharp-eyed ones among you will see that I've corrected the spelling mistake. The less sharp-eyed won't ever know what it was!!
Sorry for not updating this bit I've been a busy bunny! I went to see the Arriva guy and he did indeed offer me a job which I accepted. I started Saturady a week ago. I spent to the first few days in the training school, learning the tickets and stuff and learning routes. Yesterday was my first day out by myself and it went really well. So now I'm a bus driver again! I managed to wrangle Sundays off but I have to work Saturdays instead but I don't mind.
Church is good. I'm getting involved in the music when practices start up again in September, both guitar and drums. They don't have any acoustic guitars so it's a gap I can fill nicely. I was talking to the Rob (another Rob! who's the worship leader) and he said that he'd been praying for an acoustic guitarist for ages! It's a nice feeling when someone confirms to you that God is working in your life and even more, being a blessing to others!
Kathy is well, but not coping with the heat too well. Still, she knows it's not for much longer. The baby is due in 3 days (Wednesday) but we're still hoping he'll come sooner. It's all very exciting!
For those of you who remember (or scroll down and have a look) I asked you to pray for our frind Nat. Well, he got a promotion at work and has had the opportunity to do some overtime so things are looking much more rosy for them, praise God! Which makes me think - try this one, it's not a joke. Can you praise God without singing and without saying "hallelujah" or "praise God"? "From the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks" It's very easy to sing and to praise God from our heads, but what about truly from our hearts? I'll leave that one with you. Take care all. In Christ.
The NHS job don't want me!! It turns out that I've got too much experience! How's that possible I hear you ask? I don't know either. Something about me being too hard to integrate into their scheme with the amount of experience that I've got. So, I've given up trying to find a job in finance and I phoned the guy at Arriva (buses) again. I'm going to see him tomorrow and I'm sure he'll say yes if I want to. I have a family to think about. I'll sort out the mortgage people when it matters.
Kathy went to see the midwife today for her 38 week check. She (the midwife) said that the baby has dropped 2/3. (Ilse, translation into English??) We've taken that to mean not-too-long-now, yay!! I can't wait. Down Dave! not quite yet! (Sorry, he knows I'm only joking.) We got on quite well with some of the other people at our NCT (antenatal) classes, so we're hoping to meet up with them sometime.
We've met the leaders of the housegroup that we're going to go to, and we've met some other people as well.
That's all for now folks!
Well, so much has happened in the last few weeks. Firstly, apologies to all those people who have been logging on to get the latest news and finding it not changed. We have a temporary computer at the moment, so I'll be able to update again.
I have just finished 3 weeks temporary work, that the lady at the agency found me. It was in the finance department of a pub-management company about 20 mins drive away. It was good fun but only short.
I found out that both the ambulance and the council don't want me. The ambulance because of the 3 points on my licence, and the council one I wasn't really expecting to get anyway. I have had an interview for a different job. This one is back in the NHS again, working in finance, training to be an accountant. It's like the job I did before bus driving, if any of you remember that one! The interview went well, and they will let me know the beginning of next week whether I will get a second round interview. I would like to get this job, so please pray for this one!
We have decided to stay at DCC (at least for the time being). But we've been away for the last few weekends, with funday etc, so we haven't been all that many times. Still, we hope to get involved in our usual ways.
It was great seeing you all last weekend, hope you are still well.
Went to see the agency lady yesterday. She still seems quite promising and is even looking for stuff back in the NHS! Went to DCC on Sunday, quite a lot of people not there, at a weekend away or something. We're going to go again when they're all back.
Other than that, no other news.
Jobs
I have registered with a number of agencies including financial ones. So far I have only done a couple of days temping for the post office as a postie! The last agency I registered with sounded quite promising, but that was only yesterday, so early days! I have 2 applications in for different jobs. 1. The ambulance - I have been told I have an interview but they are staggering sending out the letters so I have no idea when one will come, and 2. The council - A well-paying job in the finance dept as an 'External Payments Officer', again early days.
I have spoken to the bus company and they are happy to take me on, but they know I won't stay long and also the basic pay probably won't be satisfactory for the mortgage company. (At the moment they still think I'm driving buses in London, even though they know the house is in Derby! I don't get it either.) Therefore I have left it so that I can contact them again if I want to. I know that any pay is better than no pay, but if I get a new permenant job then I'll have to declare it to the mortgage company, and they'll say that you cannot cover the mortgage payments etc. etc. It's not worth the hassle.
Now that Kathy is more than 29 weeks we can sign-on for Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) and she won't have to look for work as well. We did that yesterday (4th June) and we have an interview on the 12th.
Church
We have spent Sundays going round to different churches to see what they are like. We've been to:- Woodlands Chapel(where we were before), Community Church Derby (CCD), New Life Christian Centre (our nearest), Osmaston Road Baptist and Jubilee Church (N.F.I church like Colin Potter's). We've got Derby City Church (DCC [not to be mixed up with CCD!]) and St Alkmunds left to try.
Once we've been round to all of them, then we'll decide which ones we'd like to go to again and hopefully then decide on one to stay at, at least for the time being.
Other
Kathy is now 30 weeks and getting bigger by the day. We call him bumpy because we haven't decided on a name yet. We have a shortlist, well quite a long list which we are slowly narrowing down. Most of the names left are biblical which is good. We won't finally decide on a name until we actually see him! He wiggles about a lot and pokes limbs out at Kathy which I think is quite funny.
Other than that we are both well and settling in nicely. We have seen quite a lot of a couple of friends I knew from university (Claire and Nat, they are also married and have a 7 month old girl called Daisy) and life here is good.
Prayer
We are grateful for your prayers, especially housegroup and pray too that you are all well.
Please pray for:-
See you all in July on Funday weekend!
For those of you with non-frames browsers here's the links... Home God Music Family Feedback Links