Messy Church

Back in late May we took the girls to Messy Church being run by one of the other churches in Stirling. They had a great time and we were all able to share in learning a Bible story. Essentially Messy Church has a few stations where there are different activities - usually craft of some kind related to the story of the day - and you can wander round these in your own time. There is then a bit of focused time where everyone comes together and has a wee song and a short talk, and it closes with some food. It worked really well for us and we've been planning to go back, but each weekend has coincided with some major event or travels since. Hopefully we can get to the next one.

See if you can guess the story!

Celebration

Is what you need, apparently (see here and here to get that joke!). Lydia is now 2 - and dedicated too! Really, it's already been two whole years.

Not wishing to have too quiet a day, we arranged Lydia's dedication for the same day as her second birthday, with a party for both in the church after Sunday service was done. A genuinely tiring day but one that seemed to be fun for all. So many friends and family managed to be there to join us and make it extra special for our little girl.

Lydia loves her new dolly pram and various dolly related toys

Also plenty of new stories

Bath drums - these really do exist - and she really loves to play on them. She even has a bit of rhythm!

Fancy clothes on for the dedication

The beginning of a lot of cake and treat these past two weeks. Jay has really been excelling herself.

The furthest traveller by far was our friend Rick who had "just popped over" from Pennsylvania. He is Lydia's god father and beyond proud of her! He is also good at reading stories.

Lydia is only briefly mentioned in the Bible - a businesswoman selling purple cloth, but also importantly appears to have been a leader of one of the first churches - but my Mum was determined to get "her story" as she did for Naomi and Miriam. Here it is.

An excited godfather and goddaughter.

Happy Birthday too!

Lydia

Lydia, you are one! I've done my best to somehow make time stand still but I can't and here you are, one year old!  As you will learn over the years, it is my custom to write a letter to each of you girls on your birthday and so here is your first letter from Mummy.

It has been quite a year, from the dramatic entrance you made to the world right up until today you are always making sure that your presence is known and that even though you are a third baby you are not willing to be forgotten. You might be small but you are mighty, it might have been you that Shakespeare was talking about when he wrote the line in A midsummer night's dream "And though she be but little, she is fierce." You are an ever present feature in our family now, I saw a photo a few days ago from just before you were born, it took me a long time of studying to work out what was "wrong" with it, it was just that you were not there!

I shall take this brief moment to take the opportunity to thank you for looking a bit like me! You look so like me that even I can tell you do and I am normally rubbish at seeing family resemblances. Thank you for teaching me to love the way I look a bit by looking so much like me and being *beautiful*. You are truly stunning, a truly beautiful human being both in terms of your looks but also your character.  Your default setting is one of joy. You are happy to be here, happy to be alive, happy to be joining in, happy to be part of the gang and we are so happy to have you here.

Just now your main passion is learning to move, to walk, to climb, to get over there (there normally being wherever your sisters are).  You are so close to walking, I'm sure it will happen any day now.  That said, I told people weeks ago I would be surprised if you weren't walking by your first birthday and you have shown me wrong. You like to try and make me look like I am making things up though, never showing off a skill or character trait if I try and get you to show others.  You also like to wait till you are sure you are able to complete a task before you try it, I am sure the day you finally walk will be the day you run across the room.

You are an anomaly to all that know you when it comes to eating, you can eat and eat and eat and eat, and yet at 12 months old are still wearing mostly 6-9 month clothes. I have no idea where you put all this food if you don't use it to grow, it makes you very happy though. Little makes you more visibly happy than being told it is a meal time of some description.

You love to dance, and to bounce. You love going on our little trampoline, you love to dance, bobbing up and down. You love to clap to the music and sometimes even try and sing along too.

You definitely love to join in with your big sisters, you want to be like them and do whatever they are doing and put up with a lot of being pushed/pulled around and squashed just to be able to be part of the action.  You are definitely one of them and I can't think how much mischief you will all be getting up to once you are probably only a tiny bit bigger.

If life were completely down to you, you would live in the bath. You *love* the bath. On the nights we don't do one we can tell you are less than impressed and from a really young age the bath was always something that helped settle you down if you were sad. In fact along with the sound of the electric toothbrush the bath was one of only two things that helped you feel better during the colic months!

One thing you are definitely not so keen on is sleep, why sleep when you can see Mummy several times a night!?! I love you baby, I really do, but I'll find it easier to show you this if you could let me get some rest! Maybe this can be the next thing you work on, right?

Lydia, you are an utter joy to parent, a true blessing to have in our family. Thank you for helping us find simple pleasures in being alive for teaching us to find joy in every situation.

My prayer for you is that you would maintain your sense of joy, that life won't beat you down and that you will continue in your masterful skill of brightening up a room just by being in it! I pray that you will grow into a woman of God who will be a warrior for Him, that though you be but little you will be fierce. Oh my special Lydia, I pray that you will grow to know Jesus, love Jesus and fight for the things Jesus loves.

Thank you for being in my life, my beautiful, joyous, special little girl.

My Dearest Baby Girl...

Naomi,

It is time once again to write you a letter, to tell an older you about what you like and what you are like.  I have a confession to make, last year when I wrote your letter I was struggling.  I found being mummy to a nearly three year old incredibly challenging and sometimes I felt like I wasn't doing a very good job but as I came to write this letter I realised that those feeling have passed that I find a huge amount of joy in being your Mummy and watching you grow, learn and interact with the world.

You are very much enjoying being a "big girl" just now.  You told me recently to stop calling you "baby girl" because you are a big girl.  You know what darling, you *are* a big girl. A beautiful big girl and you can do so much.  You can get dressed all by yourself, you can eat with a grown up knife and fork, you can write your name without any help and you can even climb into the bath all on your own.  That said, you are very sure of what you want, so just because you *can* do those things doesn't mean you choose to!

I am loving watching you learn to read and write, I am not sure I will ever tire of watching this skill develop and you are so hungry to learn more.

Books are one of the few things that make you sit still (although not for long).

You also love drawing (this was a monster eating ants)

In fact you love crafting of all kinds, this was a house for your barbie

You love to dance, you love going to your ballet classes and all the girliness that comes with it.  My favourite place to watch you dance is in Church when dancing is your act of worship for the God you are getting to know.  You've told us many times that you are thankful for Jesus in your heart and this brings me more happiness than I think you will ever understand.

It's not just dancing though, you love to be on the move

I think, though, one of your best giftings is being a big sister.  You and Miriam love each other dearly

and you are so happy to play with Lydia too

You continue to love all things pink. If it comes in more than one colour, you want it in pink. You love all the girly things and will always make sure you look fabulous!

This next year ahead will see you grow so much more.  This year will see you start school! I know you are ready for the challenge. I will worry about you so much because as I told you the day you told me to stop calling you baby girl, you will always be my baby girl but you are my big girl too. My beautiful, loving, caring, creative, energetic, passionate, empathetic, determined big girl.

Let's go get this year together, let's see what we can do.  I think with you at the helm that the sky will literally be our limit!

Loughborough

I found this post sitting half-written. As noted at the time, in February we had a trip down to Loughborough to join the Open Heaven weekend away, and have a catch up with our various friends there. It's long enough ago that I've forgotten some of what was to be written here, so it's mostly just the pictures now. As it happens, most of them are of the day trip we had to London, but it was a nice holiday all round.

FOOD! A welcome stopoff at this place on the way down.

As part of the trip we went to London for the day so Naomi could finish off her time with the EAT study. 

Outside St Thomas' Hospital. EAT is now all done!

A visit to the London Eye also went down surprisingly well with the girls.

Belly Baby

As my due date approaches (two weeks tomorrow) and I am feeling about as practically prepared as I can for our impending arrival, it comes time for my now traditional letter to my baby about everything I hope, pray and dream.  So, here goes.

Baby,

I am sorry, you are a third baby, you have no nick name, you are lucky to have middle names after your Dad and I had kind of forgotten to get round to picking any for you.  You are going to be born into an environment that is already really rather busy and you'll just need to fit in.  You will be expected to do nursery pick ups from only a few days old and you'll spend much time sitting on the edges of dance classes and gymnastics classes. You'll be taken to toddler groups because they are where your sisters go.

Please do not mistake that for me not having any hopes or dreams for you, though.  Especially having two siblings already it has taught me how different all children are and I now realise more than I knew I would, that you will be your own person with your own aspirations and hobbies and loves and desires.

I am so excited to learn who you are.  As your arrival into the world draws nearer I am particularly keen to know if you are a boy or a girl, it feels odd not to know "who" you are! Who are you? Are you my son or my daughter? Will you be a brother or a sister?

I am so excited to see what kind of child you are, in my belly you don't move around to much, I suspect you are rather placid, when you do move though, you REALLY move.  You do big flips and kick hard! Are you just trying to make sure we don't forget you are there? Do you already have a sense that as a third child you will need to fight to make sure people don't forget you are here?  Don't worry sweetheart, we know!

I am excited to see if you like to read books, play music, play with trains, do dressing up, play sports, be outside or inside.  I am excited to know if you like science and engineering or arts and crafts or maybe both? I am excited to know if you will love school for the education or the people you meet, maybe you won't like it at all but I hope that isn't the case.

Will you love Naomi's rough and tumble or Miriam's reserved, quiet patience? At least we have both although whichever you prefer I am sorry you have to deal with the other too.

Baby, I hope you know you are precious, I will be praying you continue to know you are precious all your days.  I will be praying that as well as knowing you are my child and your Daddy's child that you personally know your so-much-better-than-us, perfect Daddy in Heaven.  He loves you so much more than I ever could because He IS love and because He is perfect.  I pray that you will know God even now, I am have taken great comfort during my pregnancy with you in knowing this (from Psalm 139)

For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.

My main prayer is that you will ALWAYS "know that full well".  Your Daddy and I are so pleased you are in our lives and while we don't promise to never get angry or frustrated with you we do know that the privilege is all ours.  God is giving you to us and we are grateful, so grateful.  But I pray you will always know that you are GOD's creation, GOD's child and the apple of GOD's eye.

Mummy is starting to feel rather uncomfortable and so I am becoming anxious that you make your appearance sooner rather than later but you come when you are ready and show us just how incredible you are.  I love you already, baby and looking forward to meeting you and seeing your face (in related news, can you have brown eyes? I have always wanted a child to have my eyes and your sisters haven't complied!).

Come on baby, it's fun out here, we have milk!

Cornton Baptist Church

Having been in Stirling a few months now, we thought we'd share a little about the church that we've settled in to: Cornton Baptist Church. We spent a little while praying and searching for churches before the move, and it was proving a little difficult as not one place seemed to be quite right. Just a couple of days before the move Jay heard from someone that CBC existed: after a quick look at their website we found that they believe about the right things, are doing a lot of good things, and the church building was very close to our new house (with the implication that it was a church serving our local community - something we were keen to be part of if possible).

We went along on the first Sunday that we were in Stirling and have stuck there ever since. Jay has recently joined the church as an official member (Sandy hasn't yet - a condition of membership is a believer's baptism which he's not had), we're both getting involved in small groups and serving teams, Miriam's been dedicated and with the appearance of some pictures from the church Christmas party we thought it to be a good time to share a little about our thoughts on the church and why we feel God wants us to be there just now.

We'll try to avoid too many comparisons with our previous church Open Heaven as God puts us in the right place at the right time, and all churches have their pluses and minuses. However, there is a quite visible difference form OH, and that is that CBC has a really broad mixture of people and demographics. It's quite balanced between all age groups, with children the same ages as Naomi and Miriam, students, people our age, middle aged and retired. Also worth saying is that the people are really friendly: we were made very welcome from the first week, with simple things like people remembering our names and making offers of practical help like babysitting.

It's a fairly small church - maybe 70 or 80 people on a Sunday - which is good because it's much easier to get to know people well, and it's easier to find a place that we can serve. It's also growing, which is a reflection of the good job that's being done of reaching out to local people.


The teaching is really solid - Bible focused and accessible with a clear gospel message every week. We also think the church's priorities are in the right place - that is, for Kingdom growth - early on we were told that it didn't matter which church we joined as long as it was where God wanted us. As in Loughborough, there is also a good relationship between the different churches in the area.

The church are also open to trying new stuff - we gather that the church has changed quite a bit in the past few years. One example is that Jay has offered to start a toddler group for the community and the response was pretty much - "how do we make this happen?" The church also has a good focus on social justice and wider mission, supporting a number of charities and agencies that do these things.

We're sure that God has put us here for at least the next wee while, and we're quite happy with that. It would be great if those of you who pray can give thanks that we've been led to a good church and that God leads us to the best places for us to serve now that we're here.

Finally, some pictures from the Christmas party...

I see party food...

Smile please.

Yes, actual ceilidh dancing. Awesome!

Party games with prizes!

Dedication

... is what you need (apparently).

The day after Miriam's first birthday was her dedication at our church. This is a bit like a baptism but without the water: we give thanks for her, ask God to look after her as she grows up, and we (as parents) and the wider church promise to bring her up right.

If you'd like to see it, the church were able to take a video and we've put it on our youtube channel, below.

Imagine

We've just been for a visit back to the north east (now we can be more specific than "Scotland"). In the main this was so I could help do tech stuff at Imagine - which we've blogged about before here and here. Jay took the chance to catch up with a lot of our friends who'd come to the event, and still managed to fit in both childcare and some volunteering with admin things herself.

We packed a lot in to the week and a half. We started with a visit to Granny and Grandad (Jay's parents), then headed out to the McCalls in Kintore, who very kindly put us up while Imagine was on, their house being only a few minutes' drive from the event. (John McCall was my PhD supervisor so you can guess that there was also a good chance to talk research for a little while too!) I briefly saw my old friend Tom in Old Deer, we dropped in to Oldmachar church for a Sunday service, and we saw our friends Anne and Dan Pearson at their new house. We stayed for a couple of days at my parents' house in New Deer - although they were on holiday in France so this was simply a place to stay while I returned borrowed kit to different churches, and it allowed a brief catch up with my sister Allison and her daughters, and my brother Ian and his wife Christine. Ian was also on my team at Imagine, but naturally we didn't have much time to ourselves there! Finally, one the way back south, I got a quick look around RGU's new building at Garthdee and we stopped off with Lizzie Bird.

On the way up we stopped at Peggy Scott's again for a nice cup of tea and some cake. Clearly this went down well:

While we were at Granny and Grandad's we nipped over to the park in Keig.

Those action shots above where quite hard to get, as we have very fast-moving children. My camera is full of pictures like this:

Jay also took the girls to the park in New Deer while I was out delivering kit...

The whole week of Imagine was a tiring exercise. I was working from about 8:30am through to midnight each day. The girls had a lot to do as well, so Naomi much appreciated the double bed at Grandma's house:

This provided somewhat more space than the former cot mattress we'd taken with us for other places. Apparently our luggage was more comfortable...

Of course Miriam was happy to just sleep anywhere.

Here is where I spent most of my week - the tech desk - complete with various gadgets and a hefty supply of Irn Bru.

Our job was making things appear on the screens, working the lights, and doing pretty much everything electrical in the smaller breakout venues.

The venue for Imagine is Thainstone Mart, usually used for selling cows etc. In fact, we had to clear out of this venue on a couple of days to make room for a sheep auction! Here's the room set up for the talent competition, which was excellent fun.

The week is also good for getting to play with lots of toys, like this neat little digital audio desk. It has colourful lights, what more could you want? (seriously, this is one of the best digital desks I've used, very logically set out and easy to pick up, and ideal for the small set up we had for the talent stuff - well done to Soundcraft for this one)

At the end of the week I delivered kit back to various places it was borrowed from. Some had come from NESYFC, which is about to move office from Crown Terrace Methodist Church to Deeside Christian Fellowship Church. NESYFC has been at CTM since 2000, almost the whole time I was volunteering with them, and it's a bit of an end of an era. This is the last time I'll see the office there - a little sad as there are a lot of memories there. Here it is, already in a bit of mid-move disarray...

Back to the children. You can guess that Naomi sees me sitting at a computer a fair bit. While at the McCall's house, she made herself a laptop with two coasters (one of which was a magic square so it looked like buttons). We thought this was just excellent...

She's also quite adept at the real thing. Here she is playing on Wii Fit at Anne and Dan's house (friends we visited just after Imagine)

Naomi's getting really good at drawing and painting, and really enjoyed the space made for such things at Imagine.

Jay asked Naomi if Jesus was giving her any pictures to draw, and Naomi was adamant that these two were such:

I was particularly pleased with how well the car was packed for the trip back to Stirling! I don't expect it will be this good next time.

Lastly, we thought that you might enjoy this picture of Miriam being thoughtful. We do :)