Wallace Monument

Despite being here more than 6 years, I've not been up the Wallace Monument (it's quite expensive usually!), but a couple of weeks ago they were doing a free admissions day, and Miriam was due a treat, so the two of us went up to take a look. Miriam was very good on the narrow and very busy stairs. We went straight to the top for a look, and after a couple of minutes Miriam was done with "the view" so we went to the lower levels where there are now a few child-friendly activities. A bit different to usual and she had a great time - so much so that Naomi asked to go to Stirling Castle for her treat the following week - and Miriam now wants to go to the Castle too!

Our house will be just about visible in the distance to the left here.

One of the activities was to design a shield on a table, that then got projected onto this life-size one.

Miriam wanted a photo next to the floodlights!

We had a quick stop in the giftshop on the way out and Miriam got a very brightly coloured lollipop!

Stirling Castle

We've been in Stirling for nearly six years, and have finally made the long-awaited trip to Stirling Castle! This was largely possible thanks to Granny and Grandad's provision of Historic Scotland membership for us so we could all get in for free and have things like audio guides. Our friend Rick (Lydia's godfather) also gave Lydia some money for her birthday, and a wee bit left from that meant a trip to the castle cafe too.

Just after we got there a children's tour started, with a very energetic chap shouting BANG BANG whenever we were near any cannons (that's most of the time!). There was a room for dressing up in, and some impressive views of Stirling too. A great day out and seemingly well enjoyed by the girls...

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!

Permanent!

Most of you will know by now but I've now got a new job: from 1 June I'll be a Lecturer at the University of Stirling (technically it's "Lecturer in Cyber Security"... more on that some time!) In practical terms for our family the crucial thing about this is that it's permanent, so for the first time since the move to Loughborough we can properly plan long-term! We no longer need to worry about relocating, changing schools, whether it's really worth commiting to that, or painting this or that because it won't be long before we move etc, etc. Work-wise it means I can also do my own research rather than working for someone else (though in practice I've been more-or-less doing that for a while), and I'll now have a load of teaching to do. Somewhat excitingly I'll also get an office to myself (I have never had this before!) and I took a look at it today, it's great! Here's the view from the window...

Very exciting indeed, and as always God's timing is perfect. Being a post doc researcher has been a lot of fun and gave us time and flexibility to figure out family life right when we needed it. Now we have security at just the right time too.

New House!

So, we moved house. We now have an extra bedroom for all those children that seem to be around here!

I thought before the whole process kicked off I'd get a picture of the girls' room at the old place. This was Lydia settling down to sleep.

The day we got the keys for the new house. Excitement all round!

Ahead of the move, we got all the childrens' clothes and other storage things down from the loft.

Maybe we need two houses :(

 

Moving day - oh dear, snow. The only weekend of the year when it snows.

Thanks to help from a lot of family and friends, we managed to move with pretty much only this van. Yeah, I got to drive a van. Awesome.

Despite having A LOT of help (thanks very much), moving day is still tiring and stressful.

Nevertheless, it's pleasing to have a new house.

 Another pleasing thing about the house is that it's ours...

So the girls can have pink walls in their room 

We can hide washing machines in another room, and have our dishwasher back

 and I can cut massive holes in the ceiling to give us a rather safer means of accessing all that gubbins in the loft.

The view from our bedroom window.

The girls settle in to their new bedroom. Lydia also made the switch to her big girl bed.

and we can now resume with all the usual stuff of life! Settled just in time for Naomi's birthday!

Misc.

A few pictures covering the past couple of weeks...

Time for a delicious meal cooking by our girls

Apparently imaginary portions are large enough to require shovelling.

Yes more Stirling prettiness. Now With Frost.

No comment :)

Well, that's where socks go, isn't it?

Lydia had an injection last week, and both her sisters were witnesses. Now there is a lot of "doctor" play as well as "mummy and baby" - here's me getting some much needed meds.

Some advanced play from Miriam - taking Naomi's order for breakfast.

Sunrise

This is the beautiful sight I was privileged to see on waking this morning. I always imagine God taking extra time to paint the sky when I see things like this...

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!